How do adolescent boys survive to biological maturity?

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - How do adolescent boys survive to biological maturity?

Posted: 2/20/2006 8:33:31 AM EDT

How ~~did we~~ do they live long enough to reproduce? Was trading stories with a friend today:

I was given a can of "Halt" to carry on my bicycle when I had a paper route. I remember wondering "How bad can it be?" I then remember being on my hands and knees, amazed that strings of snot were reaching all the way to the ground.

My friend was painting his bicycle orange with a spray can that clogged. He thought that maybe hitting it with his dad's axe would help...

Some friends and I got ahold of a copy of Abby Hoffman's Anarchist's Cookbook back in the '70's. We made bombs of various sorts and set them off in the woods. It's a miracle that we all still have eyes and fingers.

Posted: 2/20/2006 8:36:01 AM EDT

[#1]

Sounds very similar to my childhood. Were you born in KY?

Posted: 2/20/2006 8:36:31 AM EDT

[#2]

Nowadays it's not a problem, the nanny state is taking the fun out of childhood...

What is "Halt"? I gather that it's pepper spray.

Hell, Rodent, I grew up in the late 80's and 90's, and that stuff wouldn't be done when I was a kid... then again I grew up in liberal Chicago.

Posted: 2/20/2006 8:37:33 AM EDT

[#3]

It was always fun filling a paper cup up with lighter fluid, setting the rim on fire, then hitting it with a hockey stick. Huge fireball.

Posted: 2/20/2006 8:39:47 AM EDT

[#4]

Kids are made out of rubber, and teenage boys really ARE indestructable.

Posted: 2/20/2006 8:41:40 AM EDT

[#5]

I used to make napalm when I was 15. I'd throw it against a tree and light it on fire....

how I didnt start a major brushfire i'll never know, but good times were had for sure

Posted: 2/20/2006 8:42:40 AM EDT

[#6]

I'm pretty sure Abby Hoffman did not write the Anarchist Cookbook...someone with the pen name of Jolly Roger IIRC.

Posted: 2/20/2006 8:43:27 AM EDT

[#7]

Luck.

Posted: 2/20/2006 8:44:59 AM EDT

[#8]

Natural Selection, or lack thereof

adolescence is a natural way to get the REALLY stupid (or unlucky) out of the gene pool, but it's not foolproof

Posted: 2/20/2006 8:46:13 AM EDT

[#9]

Pure dumb luck.

Those Boy Scout first aid badges were a big help too.

Posted: 2/20/2006 8:46:59 AM EDT

[#10]

Oh, just remembered the rope slide we made, slanted between two huge maple trees. Of course it broke. My friend Jason landed in a sitting position, so hard that his face hit the ground between his legs.

Posted: 2/20/2006 8:49:34 AM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
Kids are made out of rubber, and teenage boys really ARE indestructable.

That ^^^ was proven by the little idjit who tried to smack the kid on the bike and fell out of the car he was in--and went face first into the bumper of another car. I still cannot believe he lived--but he did.

Posted: 2/20/2006 8:52:56 AM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:
How ~~did we~~ do they live long enough to reproduce? Was trading stories with a friend today:

I was given a can of "Halt" to carry on my bicycle when I had a paper route. I remember wondering "How bad can it be?" I then remember being on my hands and knees, amazed that strings of snot were reaching all the way to the ground.

My friend was painting his bicycle orange with a spray can that clogged. He thought that maybe hitting it with his dad's axe would help...

Some friends and I got ahold of a copy of Abby Hoffman's Anarchist's Cookbook back in the '70's. We made bombs of various sorts and set them off in the woods. It's a miracle that we all still have eyes and fingers.

Thanks. I'm sitting in the Southwest terminal at Midway airport laughing my ass off. People are looking....

Posted: 2/20/2006 8:57:07 AM EDT

[#13]

In fourth grade we tried to make a bomb out of a lantern battery, spare broken circuits, and various electronic parts as well as a model rocket engine to ignite it all, to blow up the school during our recess breaks. The teachers just stared at us like we were nuts.

A friends kid was just kicked out of school for having a book of matches fall out of his backpack.

My how the times have changed

Posted: 2/20/2006 9:02:46 AM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Kids are made out of rubber, and teenage boys really ARE indestructable.

That ^^^ was proven by the little idjit who tried to smack the kid on the bike and fell out of the car he was in--and went face first into the bumper of another car. I still cannot believe he lived--but he did.

I thought he died? Anyway, karma is a bitch.

Posted: 2/20/2006 9:05:07 AM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Kids are made out of rubber, and teenage boys really ARE indestructable.

That ^^^ was proven by the little idjit who tried to smack the kid on the bike and fell out of the car he was in--and went face first into the bumper of another car. I still cannot believe he lived--but he did.

I thought he died? Anyway, karma is a bitch.

I assumed he died but someone posted a later video where he was interviewed. Just a SFK.

Posted: 2/20/2006 9:11:52 AM EDT

[#16]

I remember a paint spray can that shot flames, and playing with it in the woods near my home.

The scary bit was you could release the button, then press it again, and more flames would come out.

We did not manage to start the forest on fire.

Posted: 2/20/2006 9:21:49 AM EDT

[#17]

Its all in the numbers.....

I think its like 106 boys born for every 100 girls. Eventually attrition kicks in and evens everything out.

Posted: 2/20/2006 9:22:01 AM EDT

[#18]

I get cold chills thinking about all the stupid sh@t I did in the 60s/70s.

Posted: 2/20/2006 9:23:12 AM EDT

[#19]

My most vivid adolescent mishaps started with "I wonder what wil happen if..." and ended with, "If I can just hide the burns/destruction/holes/police report from Mom and Dad, everything will be OK."

Posted: 2/20/2006 9:36:41 AM EDT

[#20]

We messed around with match guns made out of clothes pins and built dugout forts in the canyons down in San Diego. The one explosive moment I remember was when a friend came across some carbide and filled a light bulb with it and buried it in the back yard. We lit it off via a battery device from inside the house and blew big chunks of dirt into the neighbors pool. We pretty regularly blew up stuff with cherry bombs and firecrackers including once, some teacher's mailboxes.

Posted: 2/20/2006 9:38:12 AM EDT

[#21]

Quoted:
How ~~did we~~ do they live long enough to reproduce? Was trading stories with a friend today:

I was given a can of "Halt" to carry on my bicycle when I had a paper route. I remember wondering "How bad can it be?" I then remember being on my hands and knees, amazed that strings of snot were reaching all the way to the ground.

My friend was painting his bicycle orange with a spray can that clogged. He thought that maybe hitting it with his dad's axe would help...

Some friends and I got ahold of a copy of Abby Hoffman's Anarchist's Cookbook back in the '70's. We made bombs of various sorts and set them off in the woods. It's a miracle that we all still have eyes and fingers.

ahaha, i did the same thing with a can of my dads postal issue pepper spray.... not wise....

Posted: 2/20/2006 9:38:54 AM EDT

[#22]

i had a pretty good reply wrote up but... due to paranoia i deleted it. lets say it involved a "dud" going off 5 feet from us. no injuries somehow. that was 9 years ago and i still have all my fingers and toes and quit doing that stupid sh!t

Posted: 2/20/2006 9:40:34 AM EDT

[#23]

They don't all make it.

Surprising how many of us do though.

Posted: 2/20/2006 9:40:55 AM EDT

[#24]

Stealing dads lighter fluid and wondering how much it takes to fill an anthill. Then lighting said anthill when you run out of fluid.

Seeing all the small flames shoot out everywhere in the yard was a riot. How I kept from setting fire to the house is beyond me.

Posted: 2/20/2006 9:41:16 AM EDT

[#25]

Golf ball cannons made from reg'lar ol' plumbing parts and fueled with whatever was handy.

Cannon fuse is to adolescent boys as fine, talented women are to grown men, although I still think cannon fuse is pretty cool, too.

Posted: 2/20/2006 9:45:11 AM EDT

[#26]

Quoted:
Cannon fuse is to adolescent boys as fine, talented women are to grown men, although I still think cannon fuse is pretty cool, too.

LOL, I've moved at least ten times, but I recently opened a box and came across some cannon fuse that must be close to forty years old now, ordered from the back of some comic book during my misspent youth.

Posted: 2/20/2006 9:45:31 AM EDT

[#27]

Using a can of WD-40 as a makeshift flame-thrower.

Posted: 2/20/2006 10:39:22 AM EDT

[#28]

Quoted:
My most vivid adolescent mishaps started with "I wonder what wil happen if..." and ended with, "If I can just hide the burns/destruction/holes/police report from Mom and Dad, everything will be OK."

Oh the memories...
Thank god your juvenile suposably are destroyed after you turn 21 (18??)

Posted: 2/20/2006 10:57:15 AM EDT

[#29]

Ahhhhh....youth.....a few of my favorite childhood toys:

saltpeter
sulpher
charcoal
calcium carbide
powdered aluminum
magnesium tape and shavings
lighter fluid
butane
propane
match heads
gunpowder scrounged from ammo or "borrowed" from a friends dad who reloaded shotgun shells
firecrackers and bottle rockets
tide and gasoline
home made parachutes
magnifying glasses
cannon fuse
rocket engines
bangsite cannons
dynamite
axes and knives

Yes, my mother had prematurely gray hair and my dads hair fell out

Posted: 2/20/2006 11:08:48 AM EDT

[#30]

ah, the joys of homemade fireworks. built one that left a burn mark on the street for months. from one side to the other. hell of a fireball.

Posted: 2/20/2006 11:25:32 AM EDT

[#31]

I can't believe there's no mention of Chinese Stars anywhere on my record. I just laugh when I see a kid on a bike w/ a helmet...that would have gotten your ass beat when I was growing up.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - How do adolescent boys survive to biological maturity?

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