My dad was a cop, and he brought tons of confiscated fireworks home;his stories of people getting in trouble were enough to keep me out of trouble. I never got caught with fireworks or explosives. By anyone else, lol.Dad didn't care as long as no damage ocurred, and no one complained. There are tons of deep woods available; I've shot a gross of m-80's over an afternoon, with no hassles. Until the factory exploded.Not worried about me mixing chlorate and permagnate flash in my bedroom, but afraid I might do heroin!. LOL. I usually made $20 a day minimum, and almost $200 once. Talk about stuffed pockets!
I spent most of my summers at the Country Club pool but rarely found moneycash I used to find in the Outdoor pool in the summers.I'd buy a mask, fins and snorkel every year, and the rubber would disintegrate over the summer, but it usually made it thru.
Coins would accumulate under the diving boards.
I used to be into astronomy and one night I was waiting for my wife to come home from the bus stop, so I went outside to my deck, looked up to the night sky and said...
mine too, or so I believe..
Chlorates!!!. Yikes. Nitroglycerin, double yikes. And I thought M-80, cherry bombs and black powder were something. I almost got kicked out of Chemistry in high school twice for making black powder. Now I can make flash powder and exploding rifle targets. I blew up about 30 pounds of it Friday. 8 targets. No enhancements.I've always been a geek. I had a telescope and chemistry set, and learned how to not get caught having fun at a young age.
In the 80's I could get a gross of m-80's for $40.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benton_fireworks_disasterMy neighbor taught me how to make Nitroglycerin successfully, and gunpowder, and flash.
The first time Dad saw me making flash, I was weighing Chlorate, and he was relieved when He found out I wasn't measuring out drugs.
The guy at the shop called him the time I ordered 6 liters of Nitric acid; I asked him to give me a ride back home because my order was heavy, and the guy about died when dad showed up in uniform.
It was amazing how much cash I used to find in the Outdoor pool in the summers.I'd buy a mask, fins and snorkel every year, and the rubber would disintegrate over the summer, but it usually made it thru.
Coins would accumulate under the diving boards.
I've skied that fast, but haven't come close on my mountain bike. I usually keep it in the 15-17 mph range only going faster on longer downhill sections. I was a little over 30 mph on a downhill single-track in southern Indiana and had a hard time keeping the rear wheel on the trail enough to maintain good control. I really didn't want to brush my shoulder or clip a handlebar on a tree. Even so, V brakes weren't much help. After that trip I swapped to disc brakes and eventually a full suspension frame.
I've got a story (or two)...lol
That's the funniest thing...I tell the truth because I grew up with a brother that constantly lied and I thought he was an idiot lolKen, at some point we're going to have to assume you're just making stuff up.
Here's the park I mentioned. I would wait for the light at the top to turn green for me, which meant traffic was stopped by a red light, however at that same time the turn light at the bottom would turn green arrow, so to make that left turn light at the bottom, I had to bomb it otherwise it's a huge mess with cars speeding down behind me and then being in a turn lane with other cars...some making U-turns.I've got a story (or two)...lol
So years ago I lived at the bottom of a hill where the park was at the top. The main road was a 8 lane monster (4 each side) and I had to make a left at the bottom to get home, but to make the light at the bottom I had to bomb it...I got very good at high speed skid at the bottom... leaving 30'+ skid marks. Ah to be young!
Years after that, I was in the NY MS Century and took my mountain bike.
I got stopped at the front of the Lincoln or Midtown tunnel... initially I was annoyed, but then realized it was front row for a high speed bomb run!
Side note: Most don't realize it driving through an underwater tunnel, but it's the opposite of a bridge where the underwater tunnel slopes downhill first, then uphill (for water drainage).
When they let us go, it was insane! I was going so fast and the bike was shaking so much that I couldn't even look down at my speedo anymore (was shaking too much to see anyway).
Volunteers in the sides kept yelling at us "SLOW DOWN!!", but no one listened and we were committed.
Next thing I know I hear a screech behind me, then yelling, then a HUGE and long lasting series of crashes. I was going too fast to slow down and look back.
Once I finally exited the tunnel (after the looong climb), it was maybe half an hour before I saw anyone else come up behind me...this is NYC during a major bike event!
My dad has said that he'd like to write a biography of his parents, but nobody would believe it. One of the highlights was being the first Western missionaries in Afghanistan, in the mid-1960's. Grandma also went to medical school and became a doctor in the late 1940's and early 1950's. The school management thought they could drive her out with hazing, but didn't account for how deeply stubborn she is. Grandma just turned 99 after having two flavors of cancer, two bouts of pneumonia, and a broken femur all after age 90. She's just not ready to go yet.Ken, at some point we're going to have to assume you're just making stuff up.
When I was a kid I was the self-styled King of the Razor Scooter. A number of times during the summer my family went and reserved spots at the Williams Heise campgrounds in the mountains east of San Diego. The sites were all arranged in a loop on a steep hill, so if we didn’t have anything planned for a couple hours I’d take the scooter all the way up to the top and the haul a** down it, probably completing a circuit every 15 minutes or so. I didn’t have a speedometer or anything but I had to be pushing 25 mph in a campground where the speed limit was clearly marked at 5.
I have some other stories which I'm saving for that type of thread. Was actually thinking of starting it the other day...Anyone else have a feeling we should break this thread up... with one for the "Dumb & Dumber", "Hold My Beer", "Darwin Award Runners-Up" entries?
Some of us are too embarrassed to admit them here for public viewing!
Speaking of which..... I worked on a porn film. No, I wasn't in it "that way", I built sets (yes, porn films still need sets). Also, I'm an extra in a bar scene, unless I ended up on the cutting room floor, as I've never seen the movie. It's called 'Stocks and Blondes' and was a sequel to 'Wanda Whips Wall Street', and the film was so low budget that all the sex scenes were "flashbacks" which used the first film's footage. Still when you were in college, nekkid ladies were an attraction, so working on the film had some good points.
I'm seriously thinking this ties with stuff that went to space!
I didn't bother mentioning, but I grew up in an apartment facing a small hobo dive park and we used to get our fill of flies and practice catching and killing them.
I hope you washed it afterward. /duck
No problem. I was told to stand in a line with a bunch of other Boeing engineers when the Pres was touring the Boeing Everett plant. For some reason he approached me and offered his hand. His hand was exceptionally large and unbelievably warm. I failed to tell him I had voted for Ross Perot.
Really? Tell me about Perot! I'm all ears!No problem. I was told to stand in a line with a bunch of other Boeing engineers when the Pres was touring the Boeing Everett plant. For some reason he approached me and offered his hand. His hand was exceptionally large and unbelievably warm. I failed to tell him I had voted for Ross Perot.
