"Hold my beer and watch this" (The Darwin Thread)

[KCGeezer]

"Hold my beer and watch this" (The Darwin Thread)

I worked at a place that sold dry ice as a teenager. An empty two liter bottle, some dry ice shards, a cup or two of water and seal it up. With the decent toss towards the block wall alcove that held the dumpsters it was about as loud as an m-80. The cops would usually drive by after 2 or 3 of those going off.

That was much safer than the bottle rocket fights we had. Another story I haven’t shared with my kids.

 

[Koolau]

We used to stick match heads into the hollow cup shaped pellets for our Crossman pellet guns. When the pellet hit a hard object like a piece of wood, it exploded on impact.

At 15, I figured out that one could put a strike-anywhere match head first down the barrel of a BB pistol. Upon firing, the match left a nice trail of smoke in the daytime and a beautiful fire trail at night. How do teen-aged boys survive? YMMV

 

[skyking1]

Another good Darwininan stunt. Anyone ever seat a tubeless tire with a can of ether and a match?

we used ronson lighter fluid. It seems less......volatile

 

[old medic]

Another good Darwininan stunt. Anyone ever seat a tubeless tire with a can of ether and a match?

Dozens of times... but I will suggest you take the valve core out 1st... and I aways stood back and used the can as a flamethrower...

 

[old medic]

After a 36 year career as a Paramedic, I have had the opportunity to ask... " WTF were you thinking" more than I care to admit to... Unfortunately many couldn't answer if I had asked.
But Ive also have to admit... "Damn.. I tried doing that"

 

[Ronstar]

It wasn't really dangerous but when I was working in a gas station I discovered a good way to clean out the 55 gallon drums we used as trash cans. Being a service station that also did maintenance/repairs, the trash cans eventually became very heavy to carry out to the dumpster out back because of the the build up of grease/oil/dirt that collected in the bottom. This mixture was of course impervious to water, so how to clean it out?

When I came across some M80's and "ash cans" the solution was clear: Simply fill the can with water, tape an M80 or whatever to a rock or bolt heavy enough to make it sink, and light it. The resulting compression shock would make the can jump a few inches high and loosen all the greasy gunk in the bottom of the trash can so that it could simply be poured out and the trash can was now easy to carry.

Environmental concerns? That stuff hadn't been invented yet.

Ingenious!

 

[JoeWras]

Somehow, after watching the firework in the bum video, I ended up watching Benny Hill clips after.

Maybe someone needs to hold my beer. I've just lost some brain cells. But I did have a laugh or two.

 

[Ronstar]

Another good Darwininan stunt. Anyone ever seat a tubeless tire with a can of ether and a match?

A group of us bought an old school bus to take to nascar races and other frivolity. We had a flat rear tire (bus had duel rear tires). Wasn’t too much of a big deal because only one of the 2 were flat.

We didn’t know how to fix it so we rounded up a couple neighbors who were mechanics for an earth moving company. Turned out that the tire was ok - just lost its seal. The mechanics knew how to fix it . Torch and ether popped that tire back on the rim easy.

 

[ncbill]

we used ronson lighter fluid. It seems less......volatile

That's what we used in our tennis ball cannons.

We were lucky in that it shot out the tennis ball instead of just detonating the can, spraying aluminum shards everywhere.

 

[freedomatlast]

No use of explosives, but really stupid by any measure.......

 

[travelover]

No use of explosives, but really stupid by any measure.......

I think this is more a case of early onset dementia than stupidity. Sad really.

 

[Pellice]

All I can say is from reading this thread is that women need to rule the world, stat.

 

[aja8888]

No use of explosives, but really stupid by any measure.......

My neighbor has done this twice already with his pull behind camper. Each time he tore the A/C unit off the roof of the camper. Plus, he had to pay the retail facility for a new overhang. Can't fix stupid.

 

[misanman]

When I was a teenager, my cousin and I experimented making "rocket fuel" out of potassium nitrate and sugar. I found I could dissolve them both in water and then "cook" the water out to make an effective compound. One day I left a pan of this concoction on the stove, went upstairs, and promptly forgot about it. It was after I heard my mother screaming that I rushed downstairs to see the mixture had ignited in the pan. There was plenty of smoke and flames but they were pretty much contained. Some minor damage to wallpaper, as I recall. Also used this concoction to make pipe-based "noise makers". Lucky we survived childhood and/or weren't arrested.

 

[NW-Bound]

No use of explosives, but really stupid by any measure.......

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again"

Don't be a loser and give up so easily.

 

[Koolau]

When I was a teenager, my cousin and I experimented making "rocket fuel" out of potassium nitrate and sugar. I found I could dissolve them both in water and then "cook" the water out to make an effective compound. One day I left a pan of this concoction on the stove, went upstairs, and promptly forgot about it. It was after I heard my mother screaming that I rushed downstairs to see the mixture had ignited in the pan. There was plenty of smoke and flames but they were pretty much contained. Some minor damage to wallpaper, as I recall. Also used this concoction to make pipe-based "noise makers". Lucky we survived childhood and/or weren't arrested.

Heh, heh, today, pipe-based noise makers are a Federal rap. Up to 25 years in a Federal pen. Frightening! How DID we survive??

 

[Fermion]

I played around with making gunpowder as a kid but got bored with the crappy traditional oxidizer so starting looking at how to make my own perchlorate. Fortunately the internet didn't exist and I moved on to other safer stuff like high power CO2 lasers.

 

[Calico]

All I can say is from reading this thread is that women need to rule the world, stat.

+100

 

[Koolau]

I played around with making gunpowder as a kid but got bored with the crappy traditional oxidizer so starting looking at how to make my own perchlorate. Fortunately the internet didn't exist and I moved on to other safer stuff like high power CO2 lasers.

And I'll wager you actually got PAID for the laser work! (Not to mention a bit tighter safety control protocol was in force.) YMMV

 

[Fermion]

And I'll wager you actually got PAID for the laser work! (Not to mention a bit tighter safety control protocol was in force.) YMMV

Hah, no, I was in high school when I built my first flowing gas CO2 laser. I was pretty safe overall but the 10kV 160mA neon sign transformer I used could have killed me with plenty of juice to spare if I got careless.

I never did get paid to build lasers (well, except for the ones I bought, repaired and sold) but isn't a hobby always more fun than doing it as a job?

 

[Ger0n1mo]

Reading this thread made me reminisce about all the stupid things I did with fireworks, gunpowder, aerosol cans, etc.

I now have to reconsider being upset with my grandkids that stay on their electronic devices all day during the summer.

 

[Souschef]

Semi funny story. I was making nitrogen triiodide in the cellar and drying it on a piece of filter paper on the workbench.
My dad came down and he thought it was just a piece of dirty paper, so he pushed it aside. Well, it is a contact explosive and it left his hand with a big iodine stain. For some reason, my mom thought it was funny

 

[RobbieB]

My neighbor has done this twice already with his pull behind camper. Each time he tore the A/C unit off the roof of the camper. Plus, he had to pay the retail facility for a new overhang. Can't fix stupid.

Yeah.

Before moving boat to new covered berth ask marina owner entrance height.

Then measure boat height off water and correct if needed -

 

[DrRoy]

If we have more people like this, we'll have fewer people like this.

 

[corn18]

Hah, no, I was in high school when I built my first flowing gas CO2 laser. I was pretty safe overall but the 10kV 160mA neon sign transformer I used could have killed me with plenty of juice to spare if I got careless.

I never did get paid to build lasers (well, except for the ones I bought, repaired and sold) but isn't a hobby always more fun than doing it as a job?

This reminded me of when I built a Jacob's ladder. Got an old oil transformer @ 50kv used for lighting oil burners. It had perfect screw on terminals on the top to mount the wires. Used coat hangers for the ladder. Got it up and running in the lab. It was only running up about a foot so I decided to move the hangers a bit closer together. Of course, I forgot to turn off the power first. Ended up on the floor in a daze. Never did that again. Although I did bring it back to my room and set it up on my desk. It was amazing how many people wanted to touch it.