Dave Gayman on mon 11 mar 02
Record of random thoughts that went through my head while reading this:
-- Trolls occur as often here as in other discussion groups (best to date,
of course, is Mel's "dabbler" message)
-- Darwin works in mysterious ways
-- At some time during elementary or secondary schooling, people should be
led to understand that flammable gases, liquids, and solids will go ka-boom
when adequately atomized and mixed with the right ratio of substance to air
or oxygen. And that many flammables may seem innocuous in concentrations
other than explosive, but that they are not in fact innocuous.
-- Have cigarette manufacturers finally stopped putting those phosphorous
incendiary pellets in cigarettes (so that your butt makes a gentle "feeyow"
sound with a little ring of sparks, and stays lit)? Fire marshals around
the world have been lobbying for this... maybe it's finally happened.
-- Empirical science is alive and well, and these experiments show why all
scientific procedure must be written down with hypothesis before the
experiment, as well as with results after... there's no guarantee the
experimenter will be around to explain things AFTER the empirical procedure.
-- I don't mind people pushing their own luck, but lit cigarettes at
filling stations push the luck of every bystander as well.
-- There's nothing like living on the edge (and potentially not much, after).
-- In the good old days of pottery, many a community lay down edicts that
potteries shall be outside the town walls. I can't remember how many 18th
and 19th C potteries I've read about whose histories end with, "Ceased
operations after the fire of [insert date here]." (I have no idea why this
one popped into my head... maybe potters tend to have special relationships
with fire that lead them to drop their guard...)
At 12:05 AM 3/11/2002 -0800, Philip Poburka wrote:
>Dear Gavin and all...
>
>I have tried many times to get some flammible liquid as 'Gasolene' or
>other...'MEK', Toluene, Alcohols, Lacquer-Thinners, Benzine etc to ignite
>with a
>Cigarette, and I have never suceeded.
Dewitt on mon 11 mar 02
At 10:00 3/11/02 -0500, you wrote:
>-- Darwin works in mysterious ways
See www.darwinawards.com for more details.
>-- At some time during elementary or secondary schooling, people should be
>led to understand that flammable gases, liquids, and solids will go ka-boom
>when adequately atomized and mixed with the right ratio of substance to air
>or oxygen. And that many flammables may seem innocuous in concentrations
>other than explosive, but that they are not in fact innocuous.
Adolescent boys are, of course, thrilled to learn this.
>-- Have cigarette manufacturers finally stopped putting those phosphorous
>incendiary pellets in cigarettes (so that your butt makes a gentle "feeyow"
>sound with a little ring of sparks, and stays lit)? Fire marshals around
>the world have been lobbying for this... maybe it's finally happened.
Huh? As a non-smoker, I don't know if you are serious about this or
not. However, match heads embedded in cigarettes provide an interesting
effect.
deg
---------------------------
Dewitt Gimblet
dewitt@texas.net
Austin, TX
---------------------------
| |
|
