Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/11/10/polish-carbide-cannon.html
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That’s nuts, i presume it’s mostly built to make noise rather than shoot a projectile right?
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I like that the fellow holding the garbage can(non) already has a bandage on his hand.
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Please forgive me, I was expecting an old fashioned Polish joke, and from the still image it looked like they might be lighting farts.
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correct and big noise at that.
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I heard that all the way over here in San Diego.
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Gosh, judging by that video, it would almost seem like holding onto a container with explosives in it would be a bad idea.
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All I could think of was: “Being too close to an explosion, just like that one, is more or less how a person develops PTSD…”
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It is an old trick - put some calcium carbide in a container, pour water on it and close it off. The carbide reacts with water and produces acetylene, which when mixed with air forms an explosive gas. Then ignite it and it goes BOOM. Calcium carbide used to be easily and cheaply available because acetylene was used in lamps.
It is a hack in the same vein as the potato guns - which are virtually unknown in the Eastern Europe.
On the other hand, doing it on this scale is quite insane - if the drum bursts there could be a few maimed or even dead people around and burst eardrums are not fun neither.
Some folks do it on an industrial scale too (it is apparently a Dutch Christmas/Advent custom), but at least in a bit safer way (distance & ear protection worn!):
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These fellows understand the “Safety Third” approach to life that makes it worth living.
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They’re also used for scaring ducks away from rice paddies.
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Poof!
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Two videos today of happy idiots inflicting self-harm (this plus the video of the guy getting a face full of soot). BB’s subconscious mind is searching for some sort of explanation for the election.
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No way man, we haven’t hated Pollocks since I was a kid. But I hear Jews are coming back in style!
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I’ve never liked Pollocks, but then seafood was never really my thing.
Ironically, the word “Polak” is the actual Polish word for a male Pole, even though it’s a slur in the US.
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Really? It’s a slur I haven’t heard since elementary school, back in the 1920s. I didn’t even know how to spell it.
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Yes, but then you’re forgetting the most important ingredient: alcohol.
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Ah, to be young and able to hear again…
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Please change whatever program you use for the preview gifs for RSS. This video it’s a headache inducing 2 frames!
Down in the Ozarks, some fun-loving folks fill big balloons with acetylene from welding tanks, tie a rag to it, light the rag and send it aloft. Best appreciated at night.
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