BS: Fun with explosives

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Jun 12 - 10:03 PM

PTSD doesn't mean you're like the movies portray PTSD, Bobert.

Maybe he just liked playing with dynamite and as long as he kept the sticks turned on a regular basis (or so MET tells me) so the nitro wouldn't sweat out AND he didn't hurt anyone, so what? I mean, this WAS West-by-God-Virginia, where someone who doesn't chase their sister and bay at the moon is considered odd.

And he may have gotten help for his problems before you met him at the concert.

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: olddude
Date: 07 Jun 12 - 10:04 PM

Had a guy up the road that was like crazy eddie, Well he had a groundhog at the start of his vineyard. They are destructive and their holes sprain ankles and knees when the guys all trim. Well he figured he would burn the critter out. filled up the hole with his home made napalm concoction... woosh ... flames shot out the other hole and set his barn a burnin. He had some explaining to do to the fire dept.

One thing about Napalm, water don't do much to put it out, just kinda spreads it around

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: Bobert
Date: 07 Jun 12 - 10:15 PM

Nah, my ex-wife knew C.E. well... He never got any help... He just kinda moved on by himself... Maybe ran out of dynamite??? If so, good... I mean, thousands of people went 3-4 days without sleep... Somethin' about hollers where a stick of dynamite going off is something that every one gets to "enjoy"...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Jun 12 - 10:15 PM

Wow. I sure wish I knew how to make napalm!

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: gnu
Date: 08 Jun 12 - 02:21 PM

First time I was close to TNT was in Makkovik, Labrador. This old Powderman was settin caps with a smoke in his mouth. I was green and asked if that was safe. He immediately took a stick and threw it at me. I had my hands in my pockets and watched the stick hit me in the chest and fall to the ground. He said, "Ye can't set 'n it off with fire, b'y. Takes a shock. Better catch the next 'n."

A few days later, I decided to go for a walk on a Sunday. It started to rain heavy so I went back to the mobile home (part of Susie's Hotel) and took a nap. The 90 second to blast alarm went off and I didn't hear it. My boss and a crew member exited the mobile home but they didn't know I had returned and was napping in my room. The powderman signaled them to see if everyone was out of the mobile home and my boss nodded yes. They were blasting to put water and sewer into the mobile home. My room was next to the washroom.

Yup, I was out the door in 2 seconds and the powderman went apeshit! The toilet tank was destroyed and the windows were broken. He didn't seem to care much about me although he gave my boss shit.

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Jun 12 - 02:32 PM

I wish that I had experiences such as being told not to crimp fuse to caps with my teeth.

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: gnu
Date: 08 Jun 12 - 03:11 PM

Whah wong wif at?

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: Newport Boy
Date: 08 Jun 12 - 04:29 PM

In my experience, good advice is rarely heeded. Same job (breaking hard limestone in trenches) we still needed the jackhammer to break up the lumps the gelignite had left.

'Never put the jackhammer bit in a shothole!'

But it's much easier - until the day there was a missed stick in the hole. Being a hot summer day, boyo was working stripped to the waist. He now sports an interesting pattern of scars all over his chest! Luckily, nothing worse.

Phil

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: gnu
Date: 08 Jun 12 - 05:51 PM

Holy crap, Phil! Holey crap indeed!

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 08 Jun 12 - 08:42 PM

yup I bet Rap you even wished you knew how to set up a Claymore also right ... That old front toward the enemy thing can be really difficult :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Jun 12 - 08:57 PM

Gee, I wish I knew how to make my own claymore...antipersonnel mine...anti-lift device...anti-tilt device...barometric detonator...fougasse....

I missed so much, praying all the time.

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 08 Jun 12 - 10:56 PM

..when I finally expire I've always expected to be cremated..

But how much more fun it would be to be vapourised !!!

If money was no object how much explosive and how wide a safe area of detonation
would be needed to grant my funeral whim to be instantaneously atomised
whilst keeping the rest of the family safe...?????

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Jun 12 - 11:25 PM

Depends on your mass at death. MET suggests doing it in a pit so that the mist from your body fluids doesn't bother anyone. MET also suggests that if you just want vaporization you consider cremation by thermite -- in a pit, with folks watching from at least 100 meters distance. Have your corpse well covered with the mixture and have someone to set it off.

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 08 Jun 12 - 11:40 PM

.. sounds positively do-able..

This should be an option provided by enlightened Funeral Homes ..

or at least a definite business investment plan for forward thinking imaginative pyrotechnic inclined mudcat folks

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 09 Jun 12 - 04:32 AM

Yes I can see that, one of those funeral plans ads of f the telly.....

Middle aged ex-punkfolkrocker in cardigan holding mug of tea:-

Its all taken care of when I go. the Sex Pistols playing the Dorset Four Hand reel and they're going to stick some thermite up my jaxie and stand well back......

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Jun 12 - 09:01 AM

Well, they could stand close and toast marshmallows.

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 09 Jun 12 - 05:18 PM

thermite can make a great homemade volcano ... it melts rocks awesome .. it is great at a party to entertain folks ... an real volcano .. easy to make, easy to set off .. just run a great distance after you start it

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: Rumncoke
Date: 10 Jun 12 - 03:07 PM

I did Chemistry up to GCE A level back in the 1960s, but I also did Biology.

Producing alcohol was a lot more enjoyable and something which has been useful ever since.

Anne Croucher

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Jun 12 - 03:23 PM

Potassium permanganate and glycerin. That was also a favorite with me, Raparee.
I got a lickin over it. I mixed it on the settee arm one time. A burn spot that couldn't be repaired.

The most dangerous one of our group tried was a metal pipe, a wax seal in the middle, water at one end and carbide in the other, ends capped. Tossed over a cliff and blew a shed below.

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: Rapparee
Date: 10 Jun 12 - 05:29 PM

If I had done things like mixing dry NH₄Cl with dry a like amount of dry chlorine bleach with a test tube of water standing up in a vacuum-lidded jar, I might have shaken it to get the two chemicals wet and then tossed the entire thing over the edge of a cliff when toxic gasses started to bubble out around the lid. And if I had done this it might have exploded half-way down the cliff and the fumes would have driven the group I was with back from the edge, choking and coughing.

But I never did anything like that because I was too busy with my prayers.

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: Don Firth
Date: 10 Jun 12 - 06:18 PM

This is not "explosives" exactly, but—well, yeah, it is!

In Seattle back in the Fifties and Sixties, there were two Bob Clarks in and around the folk scene (or should that be "two Bobs Clark"?). One owned the Guild 45th art cinema theater, and opened Seattle's second—and nicest—coffeehouse next door to the theater. Hence the name, "The Place Next Door." As I say, nicest. Your elbows didn't stick to the tables, and fairly often, late in the evening, you'd see a few tuxedoes and formal gowns worn by people who were stopping in after an evening at the Symphony, Opera, or Ballet. "The Place was fairly large, art gallery on one wall, good selection of coffees, teas, and snacks, entertainment every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening. That's were I came in. I sang there for a number of years. Bob paid pretty decent money, which some of the coffeehouses didn't.

The other Bob Clark was co-owner of The Chalet, a restaurant in the University District, and a hangout for writers, poets, philosophers, folk singers, and other ne'er-do-wells such as Walt Roberton, Sandy Paton (back when he lived in Seattle), and me. Bob also played the guitar and sang, and took an occasional whack at song-writing. He put together the really brilliant "The Ballad of Giddings' Fall," about a real incident in Seattle, which, as I understand, he witnessed, and thought, "This is the stuff of which ballads are made!"

Anyway, the Bob Clark in question here is the singer-guitarist and occasional ballad writer who was co-owner of The Chalet. The following is from the book of reminiscences I am writing about my adventures as a modern troubadour.

Bob Clark brewed his own beer. It had gained much currency at hoots and songfests, possibly because he usually brought substantial quantities of it in quart bottles, and it was free. People raved about how great it tasted, but to be honest I can't say that I was very fond of it. I thought the flavor was just passable. It struck me as very yeasty.

Someone who knew something about brewing beer told me that he didn't like it much, either. He said that Bob's beer was still green when he bottled it. He should have left it in the crock and let it "work" longer.
This gave it two outstanding characteristics. For a number of people, including me, one characteristic in particular--its aftereffect--was a major drawback.

Now, some people escaped this, but many others did not, and I was among the latter. If you drank very much of the stuff--but still not enough to get a buzz on--you would wake up the following morning with The Mother of All Hangovers. It was a real throbbing, gut-wrenching, nuclear powered, hundred-megaton head-banger. Victims of a religious bent would be convinced that they were finally being visited by the retribution of an angry, Old Testament God. Those who were medically oriented would be certain that the level of agony they were suffering had to be symptomatic of severe brain damage. It was the kind of hangover where every pulse-beat felt as if a hammer were being vigorously applied to the base of your skull. At first, you would be afraid you were going to die; after awhile, you would be afraid you were not going to die. Some drank substantial quantities of it with no apparent problem, but those who were susceptible to this particular aftereffect would drink a thimbleful for the sake of conviviality, then move on to the store-bought stuff.
And the second characteristic: the instant you popped the cap, the contents erupted in a foamy geyser that surged to an impressive altitude. It then returned to earth in a mighty deluge, drenched the carpet and many of the assembled celebrants, and filled the room with odor of hops and yeast.

It was quite a ceremony when Bob opened a bottle. He would usually set the bottle into a dishpan or washtub, apply a bottle opener to the cap, then cover his hand, and the bottle, with a large towel. Apprehensively, he would begin to manipulate the bottle opener until the cap was ready to go ballistic. As he made these preparations, the assembled company would gather in a circle, then carefully back up several paces to a safe distance.

It was like watching somebody blast a stump.

© Copyright 2012, Donald R. Firth.

Don Firth

P. S. A link to the words to, and the story behind, "The Ballad of Giddings' Fall.

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 10 Jun 12 - 09:17 PM

I seem to remember a similar occasion involving emptying a two litre bottle of Coke via the ceiling.

I believe it involved dropping a couple of sugar cubes in, capping the bottle, giving it a good shake and retiring to a safe distance.

Quite impressive, from what I remember!

Pity one can't achieve the same result with white emulsion.

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: Rapparee
Date: 10 Jun 12 - 10:25 PM

So there I was, trying to remove the plastic thingie that holds bottles of soda pop together. It's early morning and I'm possibly not in the best mental state I could be. A pair of scissors was at hand.

Do you know how far a bottle of Dr. Pepper will squirt when you inadvertently jab it with a pair of scissors? Do you know how to get said Dr. Pepper off the walls, floor and ceiling?

I do.

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 11 Jun 12 - 10:35 AM

ROFLMAO!!

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 11 Jun 12 - 01:18 PM

Lets not talk chlorine. Too easy to produce that gas.

Subject: RE: BS: Fun with explosives
From: Sawzaw
Date: 19 Jun 12 - 10:41 PM

Folks, If ya want some real fireworks instead of sparklers for the 4th, I found a place in PA where they got them.

It is on rt 15 toward Gettysburg, just north of the PA line.

You have to have an out of state license and you have to fill out a big form and register.

Then you get a Pyro Card and let in to pick your stuff. I saw those old Ash Cans and stuff I haven't seen for years plus giant arial displays.

All I wanted was some firecrackers like I had when I was a kid. You can't find those Dixie Boys any more though. I never did figger out what Loi Sze Pau Chuk meant.

Anyway back in the early fifty's, on the Fourth of July, the whole neighborhood, neighborhood being a dozen houses in a 2 mile radius back on the Alexandria VA border, would converge on the Barranowski's house just at dark.

Old man Barranowski was a Polish Immigrant that worked in the steam plant in SE DC where they burned coal to make steam heat for several Government buildings.

The Family lived in a ramshackle Civil War vintage farm house on a ridge where a battle was fought. They had a cow, chickens and a few very nasty dogs. The house was used as a field hospital for the battle and had several musket Ball holes in the siding.

The whole Barranowski family was a hoot and the happiest people around although they had an outhouse and had to carry water in from the spring.

They were poor but so generous, the old man would order a big ass crate of fireworks every year. That thing was at least 8 feet long 4 feet high and 3 feet wide made out of plywood.

Long about dark he would pry the top off with a Davy Crockett style hatchet and start handing out the goodies to everybody.

There was roman candles 3 feet long. There was sky rockets 4 inches in diameter. Us kids were handed hand fulls of firecrackers for our personal pleasure.

The stuff would be going off, explosions echoing and lit firecrackers were flying around bouncing off of people for hours. One extra amusing thing was something you light and throw on the ground in a crowd. It would scream and run around people's feet at random, then explode.

Damn it was glorious. Every year around the fourth, I get to hankerin' for some plain old firecrackers like I had as a kid.