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lolanreg@smartc · 24-08-2008, 22:58

ude123, if you read the forums as intelligently as one should then you'll find that there's a great deal of wisdom to be had from all the moderators and many others who put their "pen to paper" in these columms, all trying to help, sometimes with a nice little humour. As for sharks, some around this area have been known to be really friendly to dinghys and want to jump in to share the space with the people inside. Bump bump! Just trying to be cosy. By the way whats an m-80? Natureboy

**Ex-Calif** · 25-08-2008, 21:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by maxingout

During that same week of being on call, I had another patient who took a tin can, and filled it with some type of explosive powder. I don't know anything about explosives, but I recall that he used the words "black powder". He set the can out in the middle of the road, and then he detonated it at an unsafe distance. A piece of shrapnel from the explosion hit him in they eye, and he came to the hospital for my examination. His eye survived.

I used to work in theatre many years ago and we used to use black powder as stage effects. A small amount of powder and an electronic fuse was used to make a stage "poof" from which the Witch would emerge.

Unless the tin can was sealed I doubt that it would explode and make shrapnel. However details, lost to history, could be filled in on this one. Likely the can was sealed.

BTW - No accounting for the gene pool. While both events are sad - it's just really incredible how stupid some people can be.

Famous last words, "Hey, ya'll. Watch this!"

Therapy · 26-08-2008, 09:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Famous last words, "Hey, ya'll. Watch this!"

I will be saying that when I cast off for the "sunset".

**GordMay** · 26-08-2008, 14:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

... Famous last words, "Hey, ya'll. Watch this!"

Often proceeded by; "Hold my beer".

**SV Someday Came** · 26-08-2008, 18:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by ude123

no offense taken i just thought about it more and it's a pretty stupid question as questions go. you know what i mean?

One of the most common questions I have been asked by people when they know I dive is "What about sharks????" And as I have been telling people that I know at work as well as my patient about sailing, I am ofetn asked "what about sharks???"

Want to know the funny part? The question I asked over and over again when I first learned to dive was "What about sharks????" And truth be told here in this thread, when I was first exposed to sailing and learned about Man Overboard Drills, the question I first asked on the docks of the sailing club was "WHAT about sharks??"

I dunno what it is about water and sharks, but I sure had the same questions you did. How to get rid of them if they came around was always in the back of my mind. Now I can actually appreciate what the more experienced divers always told me: "Count yourself lucky if you see a shark cause they are more scared of you than you are of them." I would not go so far as to count myself lucky were I to see one, but after all my diving, I can actually understand that statement now.

Anyway, I wanted to throw my two cents in that I do not think it was a silly question.

Michael

bvimatelot · 26-08-2008, 19:24

Not a silly question at all and apart from the thread drift I actually learnt something.....I'd never heard of an M 80 before....this is sure to make me a more productive and useful citizen (as well as bumping up post numbers!) Tony

Dave the Canuck · 26-08-2008, 19:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by MV

One of the most common questions I have been asked by people when they know I dive is "What about sharks????" And as I have been telling people that I know at work as well as my patient about sailing, I am ofetn asked "what about sharks???"

Want to know the funny part? The question I asked over and over again when I first learned to dive was "What about sharks????" And truth be told here in this thread, when I was first exposed to sailing and learned about Man Overboard Drills, the question I first asked on the docks of the sailing club was "WHAT about sharks??"

I dunno what it is about water and sharks, but I sure had the same questions you did. How to get rid of them if they came around was always in the back of my mind. Now I can actually appreciate what the more experienced divers always told me: "Count yourself lucky if you see a shark cause they are more scared of you than you are of them." I would not go so far as to count myself lucky were I to see one, but after all my diving, I can actually understand that statement now.

Anyway, I wanted to throw my two cents in that I do not think it was a silly question.

Michael

Similar reaction to hiking in Grizzly Bear (Ursus Horribilis) country. It's beautiful but your subconcious is screaming at you that you're not at the top of the food chain. We're just not used to that anymore. Maybe not a bad thing. Get's rid of that old complacency really fast.

Sorry, not directly related to the post but....we've gotta chase Gord

.

dogface · 15-07-2010, 15:25

We used m-80 to blow tree stumps out of the ground, small trees but still.
We also used them to fish in the river!
WOW what we did as kids would kill the kids today!!!!
That's my two cents.

osirissail · 15-07-2010, 21:23

Actually there is very little to worry about with sharks anymore - the Japanese have eaten them all - and those still left are being eaten by lots of 3rd world folks. Every time I go the local fish market the vast majority of fish for sale are small sharks. So much so that the favor lunch meal here in Trinidad is "Shark and Bake."

Ahnlaashock · 18-07-2010, 05:55

Years ago, in Arkansas, I purchased some crackers called Rolling Thunders. They make M-80's sound like wet farts. One placed in a large display tube with a thick plastic bottom on top of a flagstone, destroyed about 6 inches of the tube, shattered the plastic base into about 10 pieces, and star fractured the flagstone under it. I don't know if an M-80 would run anything off, but if a one of those Rolling Thunders went off in the water near a shark, good chance the shark is going to be injured badly. That is one side of the story.
On the other hand. I knew a guy that liked to ride around and throw Cherry Bombs out the window, back in the day when one would reduce a brick to little pieces. He forgot he had rolled up his window, and lit one with his cigar. When he "threw" it, it bounced back into his own lap between his legs. He managed to raise up above it before it went off. He got to spend the night in the hospital and buy a new truck seat along with several windows! Lucky it did not rupture one of his internal organs.
Explosives are like anything else. In the hand of a trained sober person with some common sense, they are one thing. In the hands of a "hold my beer and watch this", they are something else entirely.
I was later told that the Rolling Thunders are the crackers used in the big displays like at the Arch each year.

Mule · 18-07-2010, 06:16

Middle of last week a new Darwin contestant was called out for setting off fireworks too close to cars here St. Pete beach. He got belligerent, got into his car and as he was about to drive off he shot off some kind of explosive toward the crowd that called him out.

Yep, you guessed it, he also set off a massive amount of fireworks...IN HIS CAR! The folks he shot at pulled him out of his totaled var as it was burning. One window (all were blown out) was blown about 25 yards and he is lucky to be alive. His car was reduced to a totally burned hulk. Poetic justice?

I feel just a scoch guilty about laughing at another's misfortune, but ya gotta admit!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r92FLEOtx44

Maybe he needed one of these.

**GordMay** · 18-07-2010, 07:05

What is an "M-80," anyway? And why can't you buy one?
➥ What is an M-80? And why can't you buy one?

Firecrackers, legally sold to the public in the U.S. (since 1966), can only have 50 milligrams or less of pyrotechnic composition per firecracker. A true M-80 contains just under 3 grams (3,000 mg) of pyrotechnic content.

Bash · 18-07-2010, 09:43

In a pelagic environment, especially in the tropics, small fish will often congregate in the shade of a stationary floating object. If you get enough small fish to congregate, sooner or later predatory fish, such as sharks, will follow.

Were I to spend an inordinate amount of time in a life raft, I suspect that shark watching would become superb entertainment. And were I suddenly to find myself in possession of a bagful of M-80s and the means to ignite them, I suspect that I'd save them to attract the attention of potential rescuers. A ship might not hear the bang, but at night you'd have to hope they'd see the flash.

I grew up with M-80s, purchased legally. Common wisdom, in my neighborhood, was that an M-80 was the equivalent of 1/6 of a stick of dynamite. Fortunately, we didn't have dynamite on hand with which to test this assertion.

**GordMay** · 18-07-2010, 12:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bash

... Common wisdom, in my neighborhood, was that an M-80 was the equivalent of 1/6 of a stick of dynamite. Fortunately, we didn't have dynamite on hand with which to test this assertion.

Common wisdom, in your neighbourhood, was mistaken:

From my earlier link ➥ What is an M-80? And why can't you buy one?

“... I also read or hear about statements comparing an M-80 to a "quarter stick of dynamite" or similar exaggerations. Wrong. To begin with, a "quarter stick" of dynamite has 35 grams of pyrotechnic content, while a true M-80 has just under 3 grams. So even if they had a same chemical composition, an M-80 would have less than 10% of the power of a quarter stick of dynamite. But the composition in dynamite (which varies widely) is a high explosive, while the chemical composition in an M-80 (so-called "flash powder") is a low explosive, at least from a scientific standpoint. So really there is no legitimate way to compare an M-80 with a quarter stick of dynamite.

Before you send me an e-mail message arguing that flash powder is a high explosive, here is further discussion of that subject...”

Dynamite = 140G
1/6 x 140 = 23.33G
M80 = <3G