It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time.... Post Your stories Here!

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time.... Post Your stories Here! (Page 1 of 2)

Posted: 1/20/2006 8:37:34 AM EDT

Have you ever done something which turned out to be incredibly stupid, but at the time you came up with the idea, it seemed like it was a winner?

About two weeks ago, my brother and i were "experimenting" with model rocket engines. We decided that it would be a good idea to mount fins directly to the motor and launch them in the circle in front of our house. So i build mine up using balsa wood, model cement, and a 1/2A-3 motor, kinda small. My brother, who does nothing small, uses a C-3 motor. He is tired of waiting for model cement to dry, so he decides to use hot glue. Well the moment of truth comes, i launch my "rocket" and it flys more or less straigh up. Then he launchs his. It gets about 10' of the launch pad and makes a 90 degree turn. it rockets horizontally straight into our house. Mind you, it was night time and our house was 60' or so away, so we thought it had just hit the wall. We run over to look for the spent motor, but we can't find it.
That is when I notice a 3" hole in my brother's bedroom window, that little s.o.b. had punched a clean hole through the glass window, curtain and blinds!!!

. We run inside and open his bedroom door, smoke pours out of the room. we look around and find that the motor, after entering the room, had scorched a wall that it had impacted and it had melted the carpet where it landed. Nothing was on fire, the smoke was just the exhaust from the motor.
Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.....

Posted: 1/20/2006 8:41:24 AM EDT

[#1]

You could have put your eye out.

Posted: 1/20/2006 8:41:37 AM EDT

[#2]

Quoted:
Have you ever done something which turned out to be incredibly stupid, but at the time you came up with the idea, it seemed like it was a winner?

About two weeks ago, my brother and i were "experimenting" with model rocket engines. We decided that it would be a good idea to mount fins directly to the motor and launch them in the circle in front of our house. So i build mine up using balsa wood, model cement, and a 1/2A-3 motor, kinda small. My brother, who does nothing small, uses a C-3 motor. He is tired of waiting for model cement to dry, so he decides to use hot glue. Well the moment of truth comes, i launch my "rocket" and it flys more or less straigh up. Then he launchs his. It gets about 10' of the launch pad and makes a 90 degree turn. it rockets horizontally straight into our house. Mind you, it was night time and our house was 60' or so away, so we thought it had just hit the wall. We run over to look for the spent motor, but we can't find it.
That is when I notice a 3" hole in my brother's bedroom window, that little s.o.b. had punched a clean hole through the glass window, curtain and blinds!!!. We run inside and open his bedroom door, smoke pours out of the room. we look around and find that the motor, after entering the room, had scorched a wall that it had impacted and it had melted the carpet where it landed. Nothing was on fire, the smoke was just the exhaust from the motor.
Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.....

Nelson Munce from the Simspons.......HA HA ............
We've all done stupid stuff,it happens.

Posted: 1/20/2006 9:10:34 AM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Have you ever done something which turned out to be incredibly stupid, but at the time you came up with the idea, it seemed like it was a winner?

SNIP

Nelson Munce from the Simspons.......HA HA ............
We've all done stupid stuff,it happens.

Well lets here some stories.

Posted: 1/20/2006 9:12:34 AM EDT

[#4]

Most of my childhood and teenage years could be summed up by that phrase.

Posted: 1/20/2006 9:13:14 AM EDT

[#5]

Something similar, involing model rocket engines and gasoline. I was able to camouflage the area in the back yard I burnt before my mom got home from work.

Posted: 1/20/2006 9:21:37 AM EDT

[#6]

potato gun fuel

aquanet worked OK, but really stunk like shit
propane seemed the natural choice to try next for me but i saw the oxy acetylene first
two seconds of acetylene worked great
3 seconds of acetylene worked even better
but wait, we have this bottle of pure oxygen too........
2 seconds acetylene + 1 second oxy worked awesome
3 seconds acetylene + 2 seconds oxy left me amazed that i still had all my fingers though
i did count. twice.

Posted: 1/20/2006 9:25:47 AM EDT

[#7]

Winter. Long ago. Decided to start a fire in the fireplace. Wood stacked, kindling in place. Turn on gas. Wait. (First mistake.) Light match on floor. (Second mistake.)

Parents come running, thinking the loud 'kaboom' was me falling down the stairs, see me paralyzed and covered in less body hair than I was born with, and burst out laughing. Twelve showers later, I still couldn't get the smell of gas off me, not to mention my widow's peak never grew back, my eyebrows are much thinner, and to this day, I am not allowed to go near a fireplace. Ever.

Moral of this story in case you're stupid like I was...gas sinks. Huuuuuge 'duh'.

Posted: 1/20/2006 9:28:54 AM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
Winter. Long ago. Decided to start a fire in the fireplace. Wood stacked, kindling in place. Turn on gas. Wait. (First mistake.) Light match on floor. (Second mistake.)

Parents come running, thinking the loud 'kaboom' was me falling down the stairs, see me paralyzed and covered in less body hair than I was born with, and burst out laughing. Twelve showers later, I still couldn't get the smell of gas off me, not to mention my widow's peak never grew back, my eyebrows are much thinner, and to this day, I am not allowed to go near a fireplace. Ever.

Moral of this story in case you're stupid like I was...gas sinks. Huuuuuge 'duh'.

you've only blown yourself up once? rookie.

Posted: 1/20/2006 9:29:28 AM EDT

[#9]

I bought a pack of smokes when I was 16.

Wish I never did that.

- BG

Posted: 1/20/2006 9:31:00 AM EDT

[#10]

Uh, you stacked wood in a GAS fireplace?

Posted: 1/20/2006 9:32:55 AM EDT

[#11]

Something about a woman and a wedding chapel in Vegas....one of my brighter moments in life

Posted: 1/20/2006 9:35:09 AM EDT

[#12]

Anyone else ever make the wooden cars powerd by CO2 cartridges in shop class? I discovered the model rocket engines I had fit perfectly into the hole for the CO2 cartridge.

So I took the car to the bottom of our gravel driveway and aimed it up the driveway. The car started flying after it hit the first large rock. Luckly the car impacted the power pole in the yard and snapped into about 5 pieces. I don't think I ever found a couple of hte wheels.

Posted: 1/20/2006 9:40:59 AM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Winter. Long ago. Decided to start a fire in the fireplace. Wood stacked, kindling in place. Turn on gas. Wait. (First mistake.) Light match on floor. (Second mistake.)

Parents come running, thinking the loud 'kaboom' was me falling down the stairs, see me paralyzed and covered in less body hair than I was born with, and burst out laughing. Twelve showers later, I still couldn't get the smell of gas off me, not to mention my widow's peak never grew back, my eyebrows are much thinner, and to this day, I am not allowed to go near a fireplace. Ever.

Moral of this story in case you're stupid like I was...gas sinks. Huuuuuge 'duh'.

you've only blown yourself up once? rookie.

The second time I went near the fireplace, I threw a log in, which apparently shut the flue. Entire house filled with smoke faster than the speed of light. The FD got there the same time my mother did.

Moral of THIS story: It's sometimes not the best thing to be friends with everyone on the volunteer FD, b/c you tend to never live something like this down.

After that one, I had to swear on the bible that if I went near the fireplace again, it was punishable by death. I do believe my father put it to me this way: "If you're the only person in the house, the heater quit running, you have no jacket, and the outside temperature is negative a million, and starting a fire would be the only source of heat to stave off hypothermia....I'm sorry, sweetheart, but you're going to freeze to death."

Posted: 1/20/2006 9:42:22 AM EDT

[#14]

Been there with the model rocket. C engine, balsa fins, launched at 30 deg angle... spent the whole rest of the day looking for it... never did. But then again we never heard any fire engines either.

Posted: 1/20/2006 9:51:21 AM EDT

[#15]

When i was in highschool, me and a couple friends got a job at "The Bombay Company" in a local mall, you know the ones that sell over priced office/home furniture/shit nobody needs.

We would go in the back of the stock room, climb to the top of the shelves(about 15 feet high) and throw boxes of merchandise off. Lamps, pictures, mirrors, everything they had. Then put the box in the section where the 'damaged during freight" boxes were put.

Friend that got me the job worked there before me and showed thats what he did when bored.

Sent up a rocket during a thrunderstorm wrapped in foil once. Also sent one up that was practically a missile, glued the whole rocket shut, and put clay in the nose cone so it would go straight up, and at the apigal roll over and come straight down. It tore through someones pool enclosure.

Cut the string off a control line airplane in flight to see what it'd do.

Hopped up an 1/8th scale rc car to hit over 50mph and then drove it around my neighborhood.

Taped a straw to a C6-3 rocket engine, and set it off, went up about 30 feet and rolled horizontal directly at a hayfeild.

Put a M80 in a can of sterno with a hole for the fuse punch through the lid.

Multiple dry-ice bombs at school, mostly on the roof.

Wedged a pipe under the open hood of a car and against its windsheild in autotech in highschool, then another kid hit the car with a hammer to piss off the teacher(he specifically said he didnt want anything broken) Teacher got pissed and slammed down the hood, breaking the windshield

I've grown up now though

Posted: 1/20/2006 9:59:08 AM EDT

[#16]

As a kid (8-10), I used to strip the cloth-paper insulation off of two garbage bag ties. The I would insert them into a 110V outlet. The I would take one of my G.I. Joe men and use it to touch the two wires together. There were always lots of cool sparks and I liked the popping sound. Had to reset a couple breakers in my time, too. I never said I was the brightest bulb on the tree.

Posted: 1/20/2006 10:02:28 AM EDT

[#17]

1 water powered pump up rocket
8oz of white gas
1 roll of duck tape
1 blow torch

Fill rocket 1/2 with gas. Put on launcher and pump. Tape launcher to metal folding chair. Light torch and place by rocket exaust. Remote launch.
The rocket wasn't pointed staight and flew into the old outhouse. So we grabbed the windshield washer fluid and anti-freeze. Wow that stuff is flamable.

Explaining to mom why we didn't have any eye browsand how we burned down the old outhouse got us grounded for the rest of the summer.

Almost burned down the Neighbors barn with fireworks.

Two m-80's in a steal tube.

1 beer can full of black powder on the fender of a junk car(thank god).

M-80 on an arrow and not being able to reach the release because it was turned the wrong way.

Posted: 1/20/2006 10:03:20 AM EDT

[#18]

Quoted:
potato gun fuel

aquanet worked OK, but really stunk like shit
propane seemed the natural choice to try next for me but i saw the oxy acetylene first
two seconds of acetylene worked great
3 seconds of acetylene worked even better
but wait, we have this bottle of pure oxygen too........
2 seconds acetylene + 1 second oxy worked awesome
3 seconds acetylene + 2 seconds oxy left me amazed that i still had all my fingers though
i did count. twice.

Why am I not surprised to see you on this thread?

At least it was for something cool, though. Which reminds me: I was on a thread a week or so ago where some dude was talking about making them w/ muffler pipe.

Posted: 1/20/2006 10:05:35 AM EDT

[#19]

Wouldn't it be funny if that dude from Cali who made the hot air balloon lawn chair were an arfcommer and posted in this thread?

Posted: 1/20/2006 10:05:49 AM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:
Sent up a rocket during a thrunderstorm wrapped in foil once.

That actually sounds cool. Get any lightning strikes on it?

Posted: 1/20/2006 10:21:10 AM EDT

[#21]

Quoted:
Have you ever done something which turned out to be incredibly stupid, but at the time you came up with the idea, it seemed like it was a winner?

About two weeks ago, my brother and i were "experimenting" with model rocket engines. We decided that it would be a good idea to mount fins directly to the motor and launch them in the circle in front of our house. So i build mine up using balsa wood, model cement, and a 1/2A-3 motor, kinda small. My brother, who does nothing small, uses a C-3 motor. He is tired of waiting for model cement to dry, so he decides to use hot glue. Well the moment of truth comes, i launch my "rocket" and it flys more or less straigh up. Then he launchs his. It gets about 10' of the launch pad and makes a 90 degree turn. it rockets horizontally straight into our house. Mind you, it was night time and our house was 60' or so away, so we thought it had just hit the wall. We run over to look for the spent motor, but we can't find it.
That is when I notice a 3" hole in my brother's bedroom window, that little s.o.b. had punched a clean hole through the glass window, curtain and blinds!!!. We run inside and open his bedroom door, smoke pours out of the room. we look around and find that the motor, after entering the room, had scorched a wall that it had impacted and it had melted the carpet where it landed. Nothing was on fire, the smoke was just the exhaust from the motor.
Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.....

Next time just tape a chop stick or long wooden skewer to the side of the engine, like a big bottle rocket. Then (optional) fill the empty space at the top of the rocket engine with black powder, and glue a coin on top to keep the bp in. Makes a pretty good firework.

Posted: 1/20/2006 10:21:34 AM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:
Uh, you stacked wood in a GAS fireplace?

Ours has a gas starter, you can burn wood just fine in it as long as the fireaplace insert can handle the heat. Many fireplaces have gas starters.

I hate fake "Gas only" fireplaces.

Posted: 1/20/2006 10:26:04 AM EDT

[#23]

not really a dangerous moment, but a lapse of intelligence when I was 3.

When I was three, we were visiting toys R' us and there was something there that I loved, the only toy there that I wanted, it was a remote control dump truck. Not a very large one mind you, but it had a cord connected to the control to the bulldozer and you could make it drive forward, and pick stuff up, and drop the bucket and all that great stuff. Well this dumptruck, being on a cord could only have so much range, so me in my infinite wisdom decided a way to give it more range, by cutting the cord from the control to the dump truck. Afterwards I stood back at my creation and was proud, until I tried to start it.

Man I was a dumb shit.

Posted: 1/20/2006 10:32:57 AM EDT

[#24]

The Year:
1977

The Place:
A regional park in St. Louis county next to I-270

The Object:
WWII surplus smoke pot purchased for $5.00 with nickels, dimes, quarters.
Side of a pot says "100,000 C Yds. Capacity"

Result:
I-270 closed for 20-25 minutes, fire trucks from all over show-up and hacked-off cops roaming the area for 2 hours thereafter.

Lesson Learned:
100,000 cubic yards of smoke is a lot of smoke, especially when there is no wind.

Posted: 1/20/2006 10:36:52 AM EDT

[#25]

My story concerns white smoke grenades. In college Me and an Army buddy thought it would be a cool idea to use on a car to lay a "Smoke screen".

We went out on the highway at 3 AM (deserted, loop 289 in Lubbock. TX) wired one AN-M8 HC White Smoke grenade on each leaf spring of my '71 Dodge Charger, then ran a nylon rope to each pin, partially eased out, through the removed side marker light opening, through the trunk, back seat opening, to the front passenger compartment, held in place by duct tape. proceed down the highway at 60MPH.

No traffic to be seen.
No wind.

Buddy pulls both ropes. nothing. Yanks again, harder.

Look in rear view mirror. Nothing but white smoke, huge cloud, billowing out behind the car.
Can see nothing but white. Covers both lanes of the highway, which has a large median.

Speed up to about 100MPH for about 2 miles, now realizing that this was a dumb stunt because it will completely obscure the road for other drivers, both ways, making far more smoke than anticipated.
thinking maybe the higher speed will dissipate the smoke faster. It didn't, maybe made it worse.
We pulled over to the side of the highway and cut loose the smokies which were now expended, and head back down the highway a short ways, exit on first exit, park at gas station, and see the smoke obscured highway, two State Police cars punch through the smoke with lights on, speed past the exit, looking for god knows what. (Me?)

We had no idea they would make so much smoke, despite having had used them in field problems. Young and dumb. we checked the police reports for the next week and no accidents were reported on the Loop, Thank goodness. But it was Really dumb thing to do.

Seemed like a good idea at the time...

Posted: 1/20/2006 10:38:09 AM EDT

[#26]

Duct taped rocket engine to Arrow (Dad's Easton hunting arrow's with broadheads).

Arrow goes up and comes down and sticks in neighbors roof.

I guess that wasn't dumb enough, a few minutes later taped the biggest rocket engine we could find to an arrow, launced rocket-arrow.

It went up..
and up....
and up....
and through the clouds....

And we never saw it again. Seemed cool when I was 12. Now I think about what could have happened if it landed on a person or in their car, I can't believe how stupid it was. I hope nothing bad happened, but I will never know at this point.

At night, we also used to tape to carbage baks together (open end together) and make a giant baloon. We would then unhook the balloon, carry it through the house to outside and staple a string of napkins (2 or 3) together and staple them to said trashbags.

We would light the napkins on fire and release the "hindenburg", it would slowly rise and create a giant fire ball in the sky. The downside was the falling ball of burning goo that would be there aftwerward. That never seemed like that big a deal until one windless summer night and the blop hit one of our cars.

Dan

Posted: 1/20/2006 10:44:45 AM EDT

[#27]

A friend and I were at the beach one time with not much to do and we had some fireworks since it was around some holiday, I'm pretty sure July 4th. Anyways we found this SUV with a moonroof open and thought we'd be little shits and throw a smoke bomb in there. So we light it and pop it in through the top. Then we start hearing this banging on the window. Turns out this guy was fucking his girlfriend in the back. We split uberfast before he could get out and kill us. We made a big loop around the area and when we came back the guy and his girlfriend were just sitting on the curb next to the car with this really pissed off look. It was funny but we were pretty scared if he caught us we would get the everliving shit beat out of us. Seemd like a good idea at the time.

Posted: 1/20/2006 10:45:35 AM EDT

[#28]

Marrying the woman I did.

Dating a woman at work.
You seeing a pattern here?

Posted: 1/20/2006 10:52:46 AM EDT

[#29]

Springime...the time to do chores. I thought I would surprise my wife and took a day off to paint our bay window. So there I was, on a wooden ladder, sanding, when the ladder broke. I remember putting my hand out as I hit the asphalt, and my head bouncing off same. I was amazed as I pulled my hand from my head not to find blood, but more amazed when I realized my wrist looked like an accordian. Suffered a Colles fracture, and wore an exterior frame with screws mounted into by forearm and handbones for six weeks.

I use aluminum ladders now.

Posted: 1/20/2006 10:55:48 AM EDT

[#30]

1982 - Lewisville, Texas. New construction site in Highland Village. Power company had just finished putting in those gray power distribution cabinets in the ground.

Me and my buddy Rob C. decided we'd open one of these things up. We were greeted by several very heavy-gauge cables terminated in aluminum blocks, covered with plastic covers. We pulled the cover off one of the blocks.....then pulled the cover off the adjacent block.

KABOOM

Giant explosion, blue-white-purple flash, and Rob and I were flash-burned and lost our eyebrows, eyelashes, and bangs.

We jumped the fuck on our bikes and pedaled the fuck out of there. We passed FD and PD units heading the opposite direction, and when we arrived at Rob's house in Highland Village, the electricity was out. It stayed out for three hours.

We told Rob's long-suffering mom that we were playing with gasoline.

Posted: 1/20/2006 10:57:56 AM EDT

[#31]

Age: about 8

Offending item: metal paperclip bent into shape of a 'U'

secondary offending item: 120v AC outlet

Procedure: grasp paperclip with BOTH hands, crouch down on balls of feet and slowly insert paperclip into AC outlet, await results

Expected outcome: 3-stooges like shaking and smoking hair (hey, I was 8 years old, it looked cool on TV)

Actual outcome: Awakened some indeterminate time later, across the room, wondering what the hell happened then frantically covering up the burned outlet so I can pretend innocence when parents come by and ask if I knew why the breaker popped.." Not me, was just sitting here playing"...

In hindsight, the crouching on my feet was probably the only thing saving me from dying that day. When I got hit with the voltage, my muscle contractions must have thrown me across the room and broken the contact. Oddly enough, in later years I went on to become an electrical engineer...Fate??

Posted: 1/20/2006 10:58:12 AM EDT

[#32]

Quoted:
Wouldn't it be funny if that dude from Cali who made the hot air balloon lawn chair were an arfcommer and posted in this thread?

It would be really bizarre since IIRC he killed himself a few years ago.

Posted: 1/20/2006 10:58:58 AM EDT

[#33]

Not my dumbest stunt but the only one I get reminded about all the time..... I was 6 years old, and I got the idea that I could start a fire using paper towels, a hammer,and a big roll of paper caps. It was raining outside the day I had this brainstorm, and I didnt want to wait so I went to the kitchen with the nice linoleum floor. I wrapped the roll of caps up in the paper towels, set it on the floor and whacked it with the hammer, it worked great, within 20 seconds I had a nice blaze going, just as I put another wad of towels on it, my Mom grabbed me and commenced to beat my ass, while my Dad put out the blaze. Result I had a sore ass for about a week, along with a nice burnt spot on the kitchen floor.

Posted: 1/20/2006 11:02:23 AM EDT

[#34]

Shot a 7mm at a flat rock about 50 yards away to see the "splat". Caught the splat with my neck! Not much damage.

Shot guns at trees while bored hunting. Hunter walks out from behind tree 5 minutes later.

Model rocket engines thown into a fire. Became ahuge fire 5 mins later.

Zip line malfulction. Laundry line doesn't cut it from 30 feet. Only had the wind knocket out.

Calcium carbide bomb went off 1 inch from my hand.

M80's held in my hand.

CO2 cartideges thrown in fire. Big boom + flying shrapnel.

"I bet I can make it" form a 25 foot cliff into 3 feet of water. Big time lucky.

Showed my sister how to block a kick with her hands. Broken fingers and a horrible explanation to my parents of how my 5 year old sister "attacked me".

Posted: 1/20/2006 11:05:55 AM EDT

[#35]

I guess the ultimate was right after my parents refinished the house, I skipped school with my buddies, had a food fight, then took a home movie to remember the occasion.

Seemed like a good idea at the time but here I am 40 years later, still hearing about it.

Posted: 1/20/2006 11:16:18 AM EDT

[#36]

OK, here's mine.

1. Like many, experimented with rocket engines. While the chopstick idea might work, bic pens do NOT provide adequate stabilization.

2. I was about 6 and was catching lightning bugs. I had a good night and had about 20 in a jar. My normal procedure was to tap the jar on something to knock the bugs to the bottom while I put the new bugs in. One particularly stubborn bug led me to smash the jar on a concrete patio. One shard went nearly all the way through my finger.

3. Canoe over waterfall. 'Nuff said.

4. A friend of mine (not me) converted a Tonka dump truck into a carriage for a 2" black powder cannon.

5. Reusable bomb. Coffee can with small hole in bottom. Lady finger firecracker in hole. 2 Calcium Carbide pellets in can. Mouthful of water. Spit in can. Put lid on can and turn upside down. Light firecracker. RUN. Typical results were the can would fly 60-90 feet in air. Dry out can. Do again.

6. Skateboard. Two walking sticks lashed together with garbage bags over them for a sail. Windy day and a large parking lot. Worked great until I tried to turn at about 35 mph.

7. Spear catching contest. Hey, I grew up in Arkansas, what d'ya expect?

8. Last week. My kids were sitting on an old crib mattress and riding it down the stairway. One of them called it "stair surfing." I said "No, if it were surfing you'd be standing up" and proceded to demonstrate. I thought my wife would kill me.

They all seemed like good ideas at the time.

Posted: 1/20/2006 11:16:21 AM EDT

[#37]

Almost all of these stories involve something flamable, explosive or a combination of the two.

Posted: 1/20/2006 11:35:14 AM EDT

[#38]

I was only involved in this.

We were doing some power tests at a generator supply yard. We had our trailer hooked up to the yards shore power. I was standing in the control room talking to our salesman when the lights start flashing and these weird arcing noises start coming out of the equipment room. I tought the engineer doing power measurements was getting electocuted and started into the equipment room as he was backing out. We both ran out to throw the switch on the power stanchion just in time to see the transformer on the pole explode in a shower of sparks. The power lines running down from the transformer were literally on fire and the insulation melting off them. We threw the main and stood there watching the transformer hiss and vent oil for about 15 minutes. While we were standing there, the owner runs up, throws open the panel and pulls the 200amp fuses out of the panel and replaces them with 100s!!!! Seems the 200amp service we told him we needed and that he assured us we had involved him replacing the 100amp fuses with 200s. Shut down the power for about 4 square blocks.

Posted: 1/20/2006 12:03:30 PM EDT

[#39]

Posted: 1/20/2006 12:43:09 PM EDT

[#40]

Quoted:
My story concerns white smoke grenades. In college Me and an Army buddy thought it would be a cool idea to use on a car to lay a "Smoke screen".

We went out on the highway at 3 AM (deserted, loop 289 in Lubbock. TX) wired one AN-M8 HC White Smoke grenade on each leaf spring of my '71 Dodge Charger, then ran a nylon rope to each pin, partially eased out, through the removed side marker light opening, through the trunk, back seat opening, to the front passenger compartment, held in place by duct tape. proceed down the highway at 60MPH.

No traffic to be seen.
No wind.

Buddy pulls both ropes. nothing. Yanks again, harder.

Look in rear view mirror. Nothing but white smoke, huge cloud, billowing out behind the car.
Can see nothing but white. Covers both lanes of the highway, which has a large median.

Speed up to about 100MPH for about 2 miles, now realizing that this was a dumb stunt because it will completely obscure the road for other drivers, both ways, making far more smoke than anticipated.
thinking maybe the higher speed will dissipate the smoke faster. It didn't, maybe made it worse.
We pulled over to the side of the highway and cut loose the smokies which were now expended, and head back down the highway a short ways, exit on first exit, park at gas station, and see the smoke obscured highway, two State Police cars punch through the smoke with lights on, speed past the exit, looking for god knows what. (Me?)

We had no idea they would make so much smoke, despite having had used them in field problems. Young and dumb. we checked the police reports for the next week and no accidents were reported on the Loop, Thank goodness. But it was Really dumb thing to do.

Seemed like a good idea at the time...

Nothing like that's happened in the eight years I've been here (came here to attend TTU, got a good job and stuck around)! Depending on how new your car was at the time of the incident, a friend's dad was going to school here at around the same time. He had a hilarious nickname (can't remember it offhand), but it was directly related to him getting drunk and streaking across campus in nothing but his boots on numerous occasions.

Posted: 1/20/2006 12:49:44 PM EDT

[#41]

This some of the funniest shit I've read. My sides hurt & my eyes are watering.

This is one of those "lucky no one was killed" stories

1971....Me & the neighbor kid took a big pulley from an old dryer & bolted it to the push lawn mower in place of the blade. We tied a 50' piece of rope to the pulley & the other end to a Radio Flyer wagon. Now picture the neighbor kid's little brother in wagon, complete with old aluminum hard hat & a pair of welding googles.

<insert famous last words> "This is going to be so cool"

Pull the starter rope on the mower, it fired on the first pull & immediatedly turned 90 degrees & is headed at high speed toward neighbor kid's little brother in the wagon. Little brother can't see it coming 'cause of the dark welding googles.

We stood there dumb struck at what was about to happen. It took about 2 seconds for the mower to travel the short distance. Yup.....CRASH.....little brother wasn't hurt too bad

After the crash we decided the design needed some rethinking. Never could get little brother to be the test pilot again.

Posted: 1/20/2006 12:50:02 PM EDT

[#42]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Wouldn't it be funny if that dude from Cali who made the hot air balloon lawn chair were an arfcommer and posted in this thread?

It would be really bizarre since IIRC he killed himself a few years ago.

Meh, I always wondered what happened to that guy.

So tell me: suicide, or accidental?

Posted: 1/20/2006 12:53:23 PM EDT

[#43]

Okay, I'll take a turn.

I was about 10 or so. Around the corner from our house was a creek with cat tails in it. I thought they would make a great torch it we could get them to light. So we picked a few and went home to search for something we could dip the cat tails in.
While poking about the garage I spotted the gas can for the lawn mower. Upon shaking it I found it to be about half full so off to the backyard we go. We get to the yard and place out cat tails in a coffee can and pour gas in the can. Not paying any attention to the fact that gas is spilling all over the cement. I pull a pack of matches out of my pocket while extracting a cat tail from the can and ask my friend to light the match. He strikes the match and the whole area lights up with a roaring flame. My back is to the wall so I can't move. I yell at my friend to get the hose so can put the fire out. He grabs the hose and turns it on the fire only to find that gas is lighter than water. This, as you can imagine makes a bad situation even worse.
We did get the fire out with no damage to the house but upon explaining the black stain on the cement I received a well deserved beating.

Posted: 1/20/2006 12:57:43 PM EDT

[#44]

went to see the local army recruiter...

Posted: 1/20/2006 1:06:57 PM EDT

[#45]

Went into business with a "Good Friend."

Did it against the advice of friends of BOTH of us.

Got stabbed in the back...and rooked outta my share/startup.

I've learned my lesson:

Money and friendships don't mix when your friend is married to a demented beyatch from hell....

Posted: 1/20/2006 1:14:13 PM EDT

[#46]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Wouldn't it be funny if that dude from Cali who made the hot air balloon lawn chair were an arfcommer and posted in this thread?

It would be really bizarre since IIRC he killed himself a few years ago.

Meh, I always wondered what happened to that guy.

So tell me: suicide, or accidental?

Suicide IIRC

Posted: 1/20/2006 1:19:56 PM EDT

[#47]

When I was around 8 or 9, I thought I could tie a rope the belt loop of my jeans and swing from the trees like Spiderman. I climbed the pecan tree in our backyard, tied one end of the rope to the branch and the other end to the rearmost loop of my jeans.

My brother was walking under the tree, so I decided to swoop down and scare him. I leaped out from the branch and into the terrible, terrible arms of the cruel mistress known as Gravity.

I have a very faint recollection of a slight delay as the belt loop ripped clean off of my jeans and my brother's expression as I dropped towards the ground. I didn't even have time to flap my arms or yell. I just thudded into the dirt, spread-eagled, at his feet.

It knocked the wind out of me. No real injuries, but everything ached for a couple days. I caught hell from my mom for tearing my jeans too.

Posted: 1/20/2006 1:20:57 PM EDT

[#48]

My friend and I used to buy model rocket engines and nose cones at the local hobby shop, and a jug of gun powder at the local sporting goods shop (See where this is going?). We would fill the nose cones with powder and attach them directly to the engines, then prepare for launch....without tail fins, the flight pattern is pretty unexpected, but the explision is awesome.....until local cops want to question you about it...oh well

Posted: 1/20/2006 1:31:10 PM EDT

[#49]

Quoted:
My friend and I used to buy model rocket engines and nose cones at the local hobby shop, and a jug of gun powder at the local sporting goods shop (See where this is going?). We would fill the nose cones with powder and attach them directly to the engines, then prepare for launch....without tail fins, the flight pattern is pretty unexpected, but the explision is awesome.....until local cops want to question you about it...oh well

Friend of mine a street over did this about ten years ago. Damned rocket landed in the street right in front of my house. I had a 2 foot hole in the street for about 6 months. Stupid idiot.

Posted: 1/20/2006 1:32:43 PM EDT

[#50]

Quoted:
1 water powered pump up rocket
8oz of white gas
1 roll of duck tape
1 blow torch

Fill rocket 1/2 with gas. Put on launcher and pump. Tape launcher to metal folding chair. Light torch and place by rocket exaust. Remote launch.
The rocket wasn't pointed staight and flew into the old outhouse. So we grabbed the windshield washer fluid and anti-freeze. Wow that stuff is flamable.
Explaining to mom why we didn't have any eye browsand how we burned down the old outhouse got us grounded for the rest of the summer.

Almost burned down the Neighbors barn with fireworks.

Two m-80's in a steal tube.

1 beer can full of black powder on the fender of a junk car(thank god).

M-80 on an arrow and not being able to reach the release because it was turned the wrong way.

LOL i did burn down the neighbors barn (bottle rockett war I won

)

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time.... Post Your stories Here! (Page 1 of 2)

General » General Discussion

Warning

Confirm Action

About AR15.COM

Stay Connected

Newsletter

Contact Us