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Post by Disgusted-Daily on Apr 21, 2008 12:42:24 GMT -5
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Post by dgriffin on Apr 21, 2008 13:26:25 GMT -5
Good God! I could be doing 20 years in prison, except it was a long time ago and instead of a "teen gone bad," people would have said "boys will be boys." My bomb was to be made of gunpowder, which I planned to make from 10% sulfur, 15% charcoal and 75% potassium nitrate, ala the Encyclopedia Brittanica. The encyclopedia also mentioned that potassium nitrate was nothing more than the common saltpeter, which I remembered seeing high on a shelf behind the counter at Lawrence Luizzi's Drug store on the corner of James and Dudley in Cornhill. So off I went and asked Mr. Luizzi if I could buy the box, and more if he had it. Unbeknownst to me, saltpeter was rumored to have been put in the food of enlisted men during the War to lessen their carnal appetites, "What do you want with the saltpeter," Mr. Luizzi asked me, a 13 year old nascent terrorist. "Uh, you know," I stammered, "what you usually want the stuff for." "Does your father know you're going to bring home all of this saltpeter?" "Sure thing, " I lied, "It's for him!" Larry muttered something under his breath, probably about the Catholic Rhythm Method, but he sold me the goods. The bomb didn't work as hoped. I mixed all the ingredients, poured the stuff in a foot-long mailing tube into which I had mounted an M-80 firecracker as sort of a detonator. Me and my friend George (I blame a lot of escapades on him) carried it behind the garage on Brinckerhoff Ave. and lit the fuse. We got back behind the corner of the garage. Now, if the bomb had successfully gone off as approximately 2 pounds of gunpowder, getting back around the corner of the building would have been about as useful as raising an umbrella in a nuclear attack. Half of Cornhill would have felt the shock wave. POW! went the M-80, but the ingredients (luckily) didn't ignite. Instead, they showered the garden with a mixture of saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal. The tomatoes were great that year.
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Post by clarencebunsen on Apr 21, 2008 21:15:55 GMT -5
In my experience, events like this were usually preceeded by the phrase. "Don't worry, I know exactly what I'm doing."
When I was old enough to know better, my Father told me the story of trying to discharge a shotgun shell by shooting it with a BB. I still haven't told him about the episode of trying to build a bomb by dis-assembling rifle shells for the powder.
The amazing thing is that the species has survived considering the odds against the males living long enough to breed.
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Post by thelma on Apr 21, 2008 21:21:05 GMT -5
Why is it only boys that do these dangerous things? As a mother of 2 boys and 2 girls, it was the boys I worried about the most as they were always getting hurt. One fell out of a tree and cut his finger and tendon right down to the bone. Another one almost got killed riding a motorcycle; his helmet is the only think that protected him from death. The list goes on and on!
Tonight while talking to my oldest son, age 53, he gave me something more to worry about - he just went out and bought himself a motorcycle!!!!!!!
Worry - worry - worry; it never ends!
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Post by dgriffin on Apr 21, 2008 22:42:26 GMT -5
Thelma, my son just sold his motorcycle and my wife, his mother, rejoiced mightily. C.B., the dumbest thing I ever did ... well, that I can think of this moment ... was to hold a CO2 cartridge over the point of a nail pushed through a board and bang it with a hammer. My ten year old mind couldn't comprehend the possible outcomes. Like, what happened. Of course, it got away from me and I remember the whiz past my ear that would have been through my skull if just an inch to the right. But my friend and I ... "Don't worry, I know exactly what I'm doing" ... had a good time afterward scouring the neighborhood for the spent cartridge. Never did find it.
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Post by thelma on Apr 22, 2008 7:09:13 GMT -5
You know, Dave, there comes a time when you are a parent that you just pray - and hope your children know what the heck they are doing.
My son is a loving husband of 33 years, father of 5, and a Grandfather of 3 with another one on the way in July. He works hard and has achieved much in his life without asking for a nickle from anyone. Now he has reached a point in his life where he wants to do something HE enjoys - riding a motorcyle!!!!!
Hopefully, maturity has over rode his daredevil spirit of when he was single and only 19 years old - LOL. He has promised me that he is careful and doesn't speed while riding - but I still worry - worry - worry (but understand why he bought it).
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Post by Disgusted-Daily on Apr 22, 2008 10:25:38 GMT -5
thelma,
It is not usually the person driving the motorcycle that is the danger but everybody else around him. People are crazy drivers that are in a hurry to go nowhere. I am certainly part of this problem, always late for everything including my own wedding. My father used to say (God rest his soul) "you will be late for your own funeral".
I do not own a motorcycle and probably never will. I am an advocate ATV rider with my son. You want to see a mother worry, put her little boy or girl on their own ATV and watch as she stands there and they ride of into the field.
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Post by bobbbiez on Apr 22, 2008 11:01:53 GMT -5
What Todd, you don't want to feel the wind blowing in your face riding a motorcycle? ;D Great feeling. You are so right. One on a bike has to be a damn good defensive rider because of the other idiots out there on the roads. We've avoided many a bad accident just watching the other vehicles around us. NO RESPECT shown to the biker rider.
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Post by Disgusted-Daily on Apr 22, 2008 12:22:05 GMT -5
bobbbiez,
It truly is a great feeling to ride. That is why I use an ATV in the woods. A nice ride on the trails with wild life all around you. But I have no interest in a motorcycle.
The rest of your post I also agree with 100%.
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Post by countrygal on Apr 22, 2008 13:12:56 GMT -5
A year or so ago, my cousin's 16 year old son was messing around with a pipe bomb. He was making one to put in an old pile of hay out back of the barn to see how much of it he could blow up. Well......as he was making the pipe bomb, it blew up and he lost his left hand and had a 10 inch hole in his groin. He was in Upstate for over 4 months recovering. The first thing he said when he came to, was to his Dad " It was my fault, I knew it was stupid to be making a bomb, but I wanted to blow up the hay". He KNEW it was stupid and did it anyway. He has an artificial hand and his groin healed pretty well. But what a shame at 16! He had the FBI looking into it all as well, because of course they thought he was making the bomb for terrorist reasons. They did arrest the 24 year old that bought him the supplies. All of that just so he could blow up hay!!!!
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Post by dgriffin on Apr 22, 2008 14:16:12 GMT -5
C.Gal, that's truly awful about your cousin's son. You're right, he's lucky to be alive. There are many of us alive today who were in fact luckier than we were smart. But things could have easily gone badly. Thelma, you're right, keep praying. Our kids will do what they want. Just like we did.
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Post by countrygal on Apr 22, 2008 14:36:29 GMT -5
What the heck, my husband and I shake our heads at ourselves when we were in our 20's. How we didn't kill ourselves or end up in jail just from the stupid crap we (or any of the other 20 somethings)did, is a miracle!
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