Originally posted by oddball: From what I read and saw online, this was not just some safe & sane consumer fireworks item, but a mortar shell type of fireworks device. Poor bastard blew his head off, literally.
Like firearms, automobiles, chainsaws, etc., fireworks can neither be safe nor sane. Safe and sane are up to the person and the guy failed at least one.
Posts: 12712 | Location: SWFL | Registered: October 10, 2007
Originally posted by r0gue: Well, I like his style. I wish he'd not have done that. Seems a good dude, having (a little too much) fun. RIP Uncle Sam Man.
Originally posted by r0gue: Well, I like his style. I wish he'd not have done that. Seems a good dude, having (a little too much) fun. RIP Uncle Sam Man.
My feelings as well. I know quite a few good people who have been seriously injured playing with fireworks. Mixing it with drinks doesn't help.
Posts: 10285 | Location: In the Cornfields | Registered: May 25, 2006
Simulation of mortar fired off someone's head, mortar round inadvertantly inverted:
It wouldn't even take an inadvertant inversion.
Some mortars fail to launch but detonate anyway (aka ground detonation). For many years, I used to light 2 dozen mortars NYE and 2 dozen mortars every July 4th and in that time had one ground detonation. I remember a neighbor having a ground detonation once too. A ground detonation would be a bad thing off the top of your head.
They're all made in China, don't appear to have much QA/QC, and the bottoms could blow out on a surface softer than concrete, asphalt, or wood. Some of the mortar tubes the entire thing (tube & base) is plastic, but others are cardboard tubes with really cheap particle board bases. Due to safety concerns, I always screwed the mortar tubes to a 2x8 so the tubes wouldn't tip over. About 75% of the cul-d-sac's 10 or 12 dozen mortars were shot through the tubes I mounted to the 2x8, and the cheap particle board base ones were in worse shape afterward while the plastic ones looked like they could be re-used (I used new mortar tubes every holiday anyway). I wouldn't want to shoot either off my head.
Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity
DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.
Posts: 24399 | Location: Northern Suburbs of Houston | Registered: November 14, 2005
