stupid human tricks

[Huw Powell]

> BE CAREFUL! Working with gas.

sorry about the NAC...

I finally obtained the rest of the empirical data I needed on the
flammability of gasoline (favorite quote: "You can put out a cigarette
in a bucket of gas").

Ripped out some bittersweet (a vicious, invasive vine) and decided to
burn it per my nurseryman's instructions.  Darn, no charcoal lighter to
get things going... what the heck, why not use some of my lawnmower's gas?

Doused the cubic yard or so pile of brush with a gallon or two of
gasoline, and proceeded to *try* to light it on fire.  I was having
trouble, since most of it just washed off.

The seconds were ticking by... by the time I hit on lighting a clump of
fine roots, where the plant would be more flammable (and might have
absorbed more gasoline), the liquid in the sand below and the pile in
front of me had had a chance to spread out as vapors close to the ground.

Then I snapped the lighter at the chunk of root I saw near the bottom...

Fwooosh!

All I remember is outrunning the expanding circle of flame at my feet,
diving over a pile of sand and hitting the ground rolling, just in case.

All that burnt were a few eyebrows (I had too many anyway) and some arm
hairs.  There were singed patches of scrubby weeds in a twenty foot
circle around the now-burning (success!) pile of bittersweet.

That run from the center is something I can only recommend in the
highest way and with the greatest enthusiasm to anyone looking for a
cheap thrill.

--
Huw Powell

http://www.humanspeakers.com/audi

http://www.humanthoughts.org/