Darwin came up just short

[RockChalk]

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/06/29...le-trying.html

A man is believed to have blown off his hand when a homemade firework exploded while he and another man were trying to make a stronger one.

The explosion happened about 10:50 p.m. Monday in the 3100 block of Southeast Third Street in Blue Springs. Police had received a report saying that several people were injured.

When Blue Springs police and firefighters from the Central Jackson County Fire Protection District arrived at the scene, they found a 21-year-old man with extreme injuries to his left hand and arm. He also injured his right eye.

Another 21-year-old man was also injured along with a woman who was in the home at the time.

The explosion occurred while the two men were attempting to make an improvised explosive device by wrapping multiple sparklers together with electrical tape. The device unexpectedly detonated causing the injuries, police said.

The explosion extensively damaged the interior of the home, causing one of the exterior walls to be pushed off its foundation approximately three inches, according to police.

The kitchen was severely damaged too. The explosion pushed the ceiling upward knocking all the ceiling lights out of their supports and all of the kitchen cabinets doors from their frames.

The two men were taken to a hospital for treatment of their injuries. The woman’s injuries were only to her hearing.

Police are investigating the matter and charges are pending.

“It is against the law to create an improvised explosive device,” said Detective Troy Pharr, a police spokesman.

This is the second fireworks explosion in the Kansas City area in just as many days.

Three people were injured — one critically — after they tried to assemble a massive firework at a Raytown home late Saturday night.

The three had purchased consumer-grade fireworks and disassembled them inside a bedroom to create a more substantial firework, according to Raytown Fire Battalion Chief Mike Hunley.

The explosion happened about 10:30 p.m. Saturday in the 7200 block of Ash Street.

The explosion blew out the bedroom windows, cracked the ceiling and blew the door of the hinges.

A woman was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. She suffered severe burns and was placed in a medically induced coma. A second person was treated for injuries and released. A third person refused medical treatment.

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/06/29...#ixzz0sFm7qfCD

[Fish]

Yeah... I've seen some serious sparkler bombs that would have blown somebody in half...

[Bowser]

Hopefully he blew his dick off to save the rest of the gene pool dealing with his ancestors.

[DJ's left nut]

Eh, not gonna go Darwin on him here.

I've made sparkler bombs when I was in High School. We did all kinds of crazy stuff with fireworks, dismantled shotgun shells, just plain ol' black powder...

Kids do dumb stuff, especially with explosives. 99% of the time, nothing happens.

Now if it turns out that his buddy was smoking cigarretes over it or that he was holding it in his hand as it burned, I may have to change my outlook on this one.

[KCGridironBeast]

Probably sold to him by Pyro Joe's......lawsuit!!!

[Radar Chief]

From Patrick McManus “Poof-No Eyebrows” short story.

http://we7590309.terapad.com/resourc...oEyebrows!.pdf

"Ready, aim, fire!" I commanded.
Retch tripped the firing mechanism.
Eventually, the thunder was replaced by clanging bells inside our heads, the shattered pieces of earth and sky fell back into place, and the wobbly world righted itself. Retch and I limped over to the side of a utility shed and sat down to relax a bit and collect our senses.
Presently, a deputy sheriff drove up. He stood for a moment gazing at the haze of smoke wafting gently over the golf course, the patch of smoldering turf ringed by fragments of sewer pipe, baby carriage wheels, and pieces of two-by-four. Then hoisting up his gun belt, he sauntered over to us.
"You boys know anything about an explosion out this way?" he asked.
"What kind of explosion?" Retch asked.
"A big explosion."
I was still so stunned I couldn't even think up a good lie. Anyway, I knew the deputy had us cold.
"Now, what I want to know," the deputy went on, "Is why are you two boys sitting out here behind this shed smoking?"
"Shucks," I said, "if you'd been a little earlier, you'd have seen us while we were still on fire!"

[loochy]

Originally Posted by Radar Chief

Yes, sparklers. Gun powder and magnesium.
Makes for a big boom when done right.
Problem is no one thinks of the little details when they’re screwing around with explosive powders like this. Their IED was probably ignited by something as simple as static electricity discharge.

Yet I never can seem to light them while holding them directly in a flame...

[kepp]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Eh, not gonna go Darwin on him here.

I've made sparkler bombs when I was in High School. We did all kinds of crazy stuff with fireworks, dismantled shotgun shells, just plain ol' black powder...

Kids do dumb stuff, especially with explosives. 99% of the time, nothing happens.

Oh yeah, my friends and I did plenty of that stuff. We took apart many shotgun shells trying to make giant firecrackers and such. One of the dumbest things I ever saw a friend do (explosives-wise) is put a 12-guage shell in a vice, back up about 30 yards, and shoot the primer with a .22 (it may have been a air gun...don't remember exactly). Needless to say, the vice did not hold the shell in place. It came directly back at him and broke his thumb. He's VERY lucky it didn't get him in the face or throat or something.

[Discuss Thrower]

Originally Posted by frazod

Hey y'all, hold my beer and watch this!

FYP

[morphius]

My nephews built a couple of these a few years ago, since their parents were letting them, I finally helped them build one right. I'd never messed with one, but I knew the concept and yeah, big boom.

[MOhillbilly]

we played w/ bags of gun powder. when i was 8 or 9 i poured an entire bag across the yard made a big pile to light just like in the cartoons and preceeded to burn my eyebrows off.

[Chieficus]

Originally Posted by frazod

Hey y'all, watch this!

I'll take "Famous Last Words" for $1000, Alex.

[Valiant]

Originally Posted by RockChalk

I can't figure out how sparklers caused an explosion of that magnitude, but I'm not a fireworks expert. Must have been a heck of a lot different from the sparklers I'm used to.

Sparklers are dangerous when under pressure together.. Just think a gigantic m80...

Found some old old metal sparklers at my grandmas last year... Probably 20years old..

[cabletech94]

i hear the dude bought so many fireworks, that it woulda cost a normal guy an arm and a leg.

[bobbymitch]

I remember those days. While in high school, we lived in Shawnee, KS, and a had a small lake that spanned three back yards. A neighbor kid had a chemistry kit and we decided to make a fountain. We packed an empty glass jar with powder from 2-inch firecrackers and then added layers of stuff from the chemistry kit and used the fuse from several of the 2-inchers, as they were long. Spanning the lake was a footbridge made up of two layers of 2x4s topped with a wear layer of 1x6s. We placed our "fountain" in the middle of the bridge an lit the fuse. It didn't take too long to realize that maybe standing close was a good idea and took off. Our "fountain" made a 6-inch diameter hole in the bridge.

Realizing that making fountains wasn't our thing, we went back to our annual pop bottle rocket fights.

Between cherry bombs, bulldogs, and M-80s, it is a wonder that we made it to adults in one piece.

[Groves]

If he wasn't cross-dominant before, he sure is now.