[AKcrab]

Two rural Alaska boys placed mud in the fuel lines of Alaska State Troopers aircraft and allowed them to fly off, which could have endangered the lives of the officers, according to a troopers investigation.

St. Marys trooper Eric Spitzer recommended the 13- and 14-year-old Emmonak boys who admitted the sabotage last summer be taken into custody and charged with burglary, criminal mischief and assault on a police officer.

"I think there needs to be a message sent that this is unacceptable," he said.

Link

[ambush]

Alaska is weird

[starman]

[mitchell_pgh]

ahhh... no big deal...

I probably did things just as bad... I just didn't get caught..

[OldManMac]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
ahhh... no big deal...

I probably did things just as bad... I just didn't get caught..

You may have contributed to someone's death? How comforting.

[AKcrab]

Originally posted by starman:

That's me on the right.

[moonmonkey]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
ahhh... no big deal...

I probably did things just as bad... I just didn't get caught..

I did so many stupid things I can't remember most of them.

One incident with a hot glue gun in an electrical socket springs to mind.

[d0ubled0wn]

Originally posted by moonmonkey:
I did so many stupid things I can't remember most of them.

One incident with a hot glue gun in an electrical socket springs to mind.

Back in jr high in the middle of a boring class, I took a paper clip and fashioned it into a U shape. I was sitting right next to an electrical socket. Guess what I did next. Sparks flew... surprisingly no one noticed except the kid next to me and we were doing everything we could not to lol.

[moonmonkey]

Originally posted by d0ubled0wn:
Back in jr high in the middle of a boring class, I took a paper clip and fashioned it into a U shape. I was sitting right next to an electrical socket. Guess what I did next. Sparks flew... surprisingly no one noticed except the kid next to me and we were doing everything we could not to lol.

I once put a thermometer on a radiator i class to see how hot it got.
Forgot about it, it exploded showering the nearby teacher with mercury.

Smart.

[d0ubled0wn]

Good stuff. But I'm confident I can win the "stupid contest"

I had no respect for animals when I was a kid. When I was about 7 or 8, I chased a cat up into a tree. It was just sitting there on a branch taunting me. So I climbed up and went after him. I got within arms length and then reached out to grab him. The cat fell but latched on to my arm with his claws, scraping the **** out of my arm as he fell. The excruciating pain caused me to lose my balance and I fell about 15' to the ground landing flat on my back.

Ah yes, fond memories.

[voyageur]

Originally posted by KarlG:
You may have contributed to someone's death? How comforting.

Yes, it's one thing to do something stupid to yourself when you're 7 or 8, quite another to do something that could potentially kill someone, especially when you're old enough to know better. Like those teenage Alaskan boys.

On the "stupid things" front I may win the prize for the youngest pre-meditated stupid act--similar to d0ubled0wn's, but I was much younger. At age 3 I was fascinated by electric outlets. I knew my parents wouldn't let me touch them so, I planned my little escapade. When I was supposed to be napping, I stole out of my bed, snuck into the bathroom and stole one of my mother's hairpins, then padded down the hall into the empty living room, and --victory!-- stuck the hairpin in an electric outlet. OUCH! Got a bad shock and a nasty burn on my fingers. Afraid of being punished, I hid behind the curtains till my mother found me. It's one of my earliest memories.

[moonmonkey]

Originally posted by voyageur:
Yes, it's one thing to do something stupid to yourself when you're 7 or 8, quite another to do something that could potentially kill someone, especially when you're old enough to know better. Like those teenage Alaskan boys.

On the "stupid things" front I may win the prize for the youngest pre-meditated stupid act--similar to d0ubled0wn's, but I was much younger. At age 3 I was fascinated by electric outlets. I knew my parents wouldn't let me touch them so, I planned my little escapade. When I was supposed to be napping, I stole out of my bed, snuck into the bathroom and stole one of my mother's hairpins, then padded down the hall into the empty living room, and --victory!-- stuck the hairpin in an electric outlet. OUCH! Got a bad shock and a nasty burn on my fingers. Afraid of being punished, I hid behind the curtains till my mother found me. It's one of my earliest memories.

Don't try that in England (or most other places), 220v, wouldn't be so funny.

[theolein]

Originally posted by voyageur:
Yes, it's one thing to do something stupid to yourself when you're 7 or 8, quite another to do something that could potentially kill someone, especially when you're old enough to know better. Like those teenage Alaskan boys.

On the "stupid things" front I may win the prize for the youngest pre-meditated stupid act--similar to d0ubled0wn's, but I was much younger. At age 3 I was fascinated by electric outlets. I knew my parents wouldn't let me touch them so, I planned my little escapade. When I was supposed to be napping, I stole out of my bed, snuck into the bathroom and stole one of my mother's hairpins, then padded down the hall into the empty living room, and --victory!-- stuck the hairpin in an electric outlet. OUCH! Got a bad shock and a nasty burn on my fingers. Afraid of being punished, I hid behind the curtains till my mother found me. It's one of my earliest memories.

I did a similar thing, when I was 13! Stuck my finger into a bayonet socket in the bed head and danced around for a while to the tune of 220v ac.

[mdc]

Originally posted by theolein:
I did a similar thing, when I was 13! Stuck my finger into a bayonet socket in the bed head and danced around for a while to the tune of 220v ac.

i did the same thing.
my parents bedside lamp was not turning on for some reason, so i put my hand into the top of the lamp to try screw in the bulb. too bad there was no bulb and my finger went straight into the bayonet socket, and the light was on. ouch!

another time my home phone was not working and i was holding the cord and needed both my hands free, so without thinking i put the cord in my mouth. i had *no* idea phone cables carried that much of a charge. and straight onto my tongue. :|
being a sucker for punishment i had to go see if network cables also were just as bad. yes they are.

[theolein]

Originally posted by mdc:
i did the same thing.
my parents bedside lamp was not turning on for some reason, so i put my hand into the top of the lamp to try screw in the bulb. too bad there was no bulb and my finger went straight into the bayonet socket, and the light was on. ouch!

another time my home phone was not working and i was holding the cord and needed both my hands free, so without thinking i put the cord in my mouth. i had *no* idea phone cables carried that much of a charge. and straight onto my tongue. :|
being a sucker for punishment i had to go see if network cables also were just as bad. yes they are.

Maybe we were seperated at birth I did a similar thing with the telephone socket at a friends house. Wise arse that I am, I told him I could fix it, and proceded to muck around in the socket with a steel screwdriver, discovering that yes, telephone wires carry a hefty charge indeed.

[mdc]

Originally posted by theolein:
Maybe we were seperated at birth ...

maybe. my brother kept trying to make me believe i was adopted.

[voyageur]

We are an electrified bunch.

[Oisín]

I think for the electric shock department, I'm quite well up there...

We have horses at home, and a fence running around them with 6,000 Volts in it. One nice summer day, we're letting out the horses, the last one goes in and I grab the "handle" thingy to close the fence - KA-TCHING! The insulation on the handle was broken, and I got it head on.

I was barefoot, and 6,000 Volts kinda hurt... well, no, it didn't really hurt, I could just feel my entire body being jerked half a metre backwards, while it felt like somebody gave me a good punch straight in the heart (not as in straight in the ribs/chest, but straight in the heart).

Ouch.

Took me about ten minutes till I could stand properly on my legs again.

[G4ME]

Both boys also urinated into an officer's water bottles in one of the airplanes. The officer drank the fluid, became "violently sick" and feared he had contracted an infectious disease, Spitzer said.



hahahah

[d0ubled0wn]

Originally posted by voyageur:
Yes, it's one thing to do something stupid to yourself when you're 7 or 8, quite another to do something that could potentially kill someone, especially when you're old enough to know better. Like those teenage Alaskan boys.

How true. I'm ashamed of this next story because the potential was there to harm others (though not intentionally of course.)

I would have been about 13 living near Phoenix, AZ. It was hot dry summer, as always. I had a magnifying glass and was having fun burning stuff in the back yard. I just knew I shouldn't be doing that. Well the dry grass caught fire and within seconds spread over several square feet. I panicked and ran for the water hose, amazingly I was able to put it out before it got out of control.

The really stupid thing about that is I hadn't learned my lesson from the last time I played with fire, 3 years earlier. I was living in Italy at the time... I was at a beach with a magnifying glass and was burning up some dry brush. It got out of control and I panicked and started throwing sand on it, but luckily it was isolated and did no harm.

stupid, stupid, stupid....

[d0ubled0wn]

Originally posted by mdc:
being a sucker for punishment i had to go see if network cables also were just as bad. yes they are.

[d0ubled0wn]

I've been shocked with electricity a few times in my life... the one that takes the cake didn't happen to me though. I had a POS car when I was a teen (who didn't) and it developed a problem where the engine wouldn't shut down, even with the keys pulled out! It happened at work as I got back from a pizza delivery. Didn't know anything about cars but another worker there knew exactly what to do. He popped the hood, reached into the engine and grabbed hold of the coil wire to pull it off. Next I hear a YEEEOOOOWWWW!!! sound effect, you know, the kind you hear in cartoons. But it worked, the engine stopped.

[vcutag]

I think I've got a good lock on the non-electrifying stupidity contest.

I was 16 or 17, I can't remember, and my OA lodge (Boy Scouts) was working on putting together a show for the conclave (state conference, basically). I was in charge of the pre-show stuff, we had these three-man waterballoon slingshots that we were going to shoot little beachballs into the crowd to keep them occupied before the main show.

Well, being the rednecks that we were, we decided to test the slingshots by shooting handfuls of gravel into the lake behind the amphitheatre. It was kinda cool, until the last shot. I put a handful of gravel in the pouch, and pulled it all the way down to the ground. Right in front of my face. I let it go.

It came back and hit me square in the face. Fortunately, I was wearing my glasses, so it didn't put an eye out, but I lost two teeth and shredded my chin. Everyone was aghast at how bad it looked, but I really didn't feel anything until I got to my dentist's the next day (on the other side of the state) and he started poking around where my teeth used to be...

Yeah. So that's my dumbass story. Top that.

[Xeo]

Well, I was in Boy Scouts. 'Nuff said.

No seriously, I was too fond of pocket knives, and using them in unsafe ways. I've had sharp ones close on my fingers, I've been whittling towards my hand, I've stabbed myself in the chest (dull one, no skin broken, but nasty bruise [thank you, ribcage]), and various other sharp object funsies. One of my earliest memories was when I was using a piece of broken window as a sword. I still have the scar on my wrist.

I've had my share of electrical joy too. Finger in a light socket (just had to see what would happen), holding an electric fence (just had to see what would happen), grabbing bare phone cord at the box level (who knew that electricity actually passed through it?), and other stuff.

And fire, let's not forget fire. I've had to put out burning paper in the sink multiple times. I'm surprised my house never burned down. I've almost burned down a tent or two and lost a couple of socks.

I'm not without my share of stupid escapades. But, to be honest, I know a lot about all those things that I probably wouldn't have learned if they hadn't hurt me.

[The Ginger Rat]

Originally posted by Ois�n:
I think for the electric shock department, I'm quite well up there...

We have horses at home, and a fence running around them with 6,000 Volts in it. One nice summer day, we're letting out the horses, the last one goes in and I grab the "handle" thingy to close the fence - KA-TCHING! The insulation on the handle was broken, and I got it head on.

I was barefoot, and 6,000 Volts kinda hurt... well, no, it didn't really hurt, I could just feel my entire body being jerked half a metre backwards, while it felt like somebody gave me a good punch straight in the heart (not as in straight in the ribs/chest, but straight in the heart).

Ouch.

Took me about ten minutes till I could stand properly on my legs again.

You have a good strong heart.

[vcutag]

Originally posted by Xeo:
Well, I was in Boy Scouts. 'Nuff said.

I'm not without my share of stupid escapades. But, to be honest, I know a lot about all those things that I probably wouldn't have learned if they hadn't hurt me.

Ohh, the stories that lurk there, I could write a book.

I remember my dad (our troop's scoutmaster) telling me that if I ever cut myself doing something stupid, it would be the last time I touched a knife. This coming from a man who sliced a joint off his finger as a teenager. Needless to say, he doesn't know the story behind some of the scars on my hands.

[moonmonkey]

Originally posted by vcutag:
Ohh, the stories that lurk there, I could write a book.

I remember my dad (our troop's scoutmaster) telling me that if I ever cut myself doing something stupid, it would be the last time I touched a knife. This coming from a man who sliced a joint off his finger as a teenager. Needless to say, he doesn't know the story behind some of the scars on my hands.

Stabbed my hand on Scoutcamp in Scotland, scar still there.
Rained for two weeks, which maybe explains why I was bored enough to try and open a tin of sweetcorn with a knife.

Only once.

[Cipher13]

They should be done for attempted murder.

[BoomStick]

Exactly.

It's no fun when the fan turns off.

[dreilly1]

Originally posted by moonmonkey:
Don't try that in England (or most other places), 220v, wouldn't be so funny.

It's not the voltage that kills you, it's the current. Tesla, in particular, was known for taking high-voltage, ultra-low current shocks to wake himself up in the morning. I guess he didn't like coffee.

And it matters what path the current takes, too: Putting a paperclip bent like a "U" in a socket sends most of the current through the paperclip. But using two paper clips and putting them into each half of the socket with each hand is very, very bad, since the current path will go through your chest. Even a small amount of current through the heart can kill you.

The guy who touched the electric fence could have been in a heap of trouble, especially if his footwear was wet and more conductive, because the nearest path to ground would go through his body and his shoes rightinto the earth!

[Oisín]

Originally posted by dreilly1:
The guy who touched the electric fence could have been in a heap of trouble, especially if his footwear was wet and more conductive, because the nearest path to ground would go through his body and his shoes rightinto the earth!

What footwear? I didn't have any shoes on, just bare feet!

Of course, due to the shock/lash/whatever, my hand instinctively let go of the handle-thingy the split-second I felt it, so I wasn't even exposed for half a second, I think...

Also, I didn't touch the conducting metal directly, but the plastic handle thingy that was supposed to insulate it was broken, so my hand got so near to the metal (probably about 1�-2 mm) that a spark found its way...

Edit: I guess what I got was basically the same as the principle of defibrillators, wasn't it? Except my heart wasn't stopped when it got, erm, fibrillated...

[Cipher13]

Originally posted by Ois�n:
What footwear? I didn't have any shoes on, just bare feet!

Of course, due to the shock/lash/whatever, my hand instinctively let go of the handle-thingy the split-second I felt it, so I wasn't even exposed for half a second, I think...

Also, I didn't touch the conducting metal directly, but the plastic handle thingy that was supposed to insulate it was broken, so my hand got so near to the metal (probably about 1�-2 mm) that a spark found its way...

Edit: I guess what I got was basically the same as the principle of defibrillators, wasn't it? Except my heart wasn't stopped when it got, erm, fibrillated...

How many amps was the fence running at? Voltage is no biggie, really. I've been exposed to voltages > 3000 several times, but never with high amplitude.

Remember those wind-up power supplies? Used for field phones, etc? They can crank up a good 1000 volts. The amperage, however, is so low that you won't be harmed by it. Just a little jolted.

[Oisín]

Originally posted by Cipher13:
How many amps was the fence running at? Voltage is no biggie, really. I've been exposed to voltages > 3000 several times, but never with high amplitude.

I don't know how many Amps, actually... I mean, I know that 6,000 Volts won't be much if it's only .03 Amp...

But I figure, since this is a fence meant to keep in horses, that the Amp is higher than it would be in many other circumstances, since the horses' fur (sounds stupid talking about fur on a horse? What's it called?) are pretty resistent to electricity... When one of the fillies was a foal, she practically had to lean on the fence to get whipped by it, otherwise it just didn't take. So I imagine the amplitude is relatively high there... We were told by the guy who inspected it that it was high voltage and if you had a bad heart, even brief contact could be lethal...

I'm very glad I apparently don't have a bad heart.

[moonmonkey]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Ois�n:
Also, I didn't touch the conducting metal directly, but the plastic handle thingy that was supposed to insulate it was broken, so my hand got so near to the metal (probably about 1�-2 mm) that a spark found its way...

2mm = roughly 2000v?

am I wrong?

[Oisín]

Originally posted by moonmonkey:
2mm = roughly 2000v?

am I wrong?

Erm... do you mean the spark "lost" 4,000 Volts? That's possible, I dunno... I'm no expert on these things...

Or do you mean that 2 mm is the same as 2,000 Volts? 'Cause in that case, you are wrong. 2 mm is 2 millimeters, about 0.1 inch.

[voyageur]

Just to give Monsieur Ampere credit, Amp = Amperes, not Amplitude.

[Oisín]

Originally posted by voyageur:
Just to give Monsieur Ampere credit, Amp = Amperes, not Amplitude.

Or rather, Amp�re

I thought it was strange that Amp should be an abbreviation for amplitude, that sounds like... something else...

[voyageur]

I can never get those accents to come out right in Safari.

[D. Hendrickson]

when i was 10 my best friend and i hid along the side of a 4 lane road near our homes. one side of the road was a 45 deg., 100 ft drop-off.

we hid in the brush about 20' down and were throwing mud balls up over the embankment at cars as we heard them drive by. i nailed one good and we heard the tires screech to a stop.

it was a cop.



working on large aircraft, 120v, 400 Hz (your house is 60 Hz), 3 phase wiring is pretty good at letting you know it there...

[hyteckit]

I also stuck my fingers inside the bulb socket. Gave me a big jolt. Never doing it again. I also wired a DC 9volt device and connected to the AC outlet and the device sparked and blew up.

[Gee4orce]

You should always touch a potentially live wire (ok - you should never actually really want to touch a live wire, but if you did...) with the back of your knuckle. Why ? Well, firstly it hurts less (fewer nerves in the skin), but more importantly an electic shock will cause your muscles to contract - and if you grab a wire, contracting your hand and being unable to let go is a bad thing !

A stupid thing I did: for some reason when I was about 7 or 8 it was a really cool thing to do to rub your fingernail back and forth on the back of your hand, and give yourself a burn scar. I'm now 33, and that little inch long scar is still there...

[andi*pandi]

wow. just wow! I'm so glad we have those little outlet cover thingies.

I never electrocuted myself on outlets as a child, but I imagine I did get zapped a few times on the horse fence, opening the gate, etc. I don't recall it being that strong, kind of a buzzing feeling that made your teeth feel fuzzy. You could take a blade of grass and put it on the fence and feel the current.

(I don't think a horse fence has to be that strong, since horses are so highly strung a little zap will scare them off. Our horses never leant on the fence. There is a reason though that they don't use electric fence for cows--they're too stupid/dense to be shocked by it and will plow right thru. Same thing with deer. Stupid deer were always breaking our fence.)

[mdc]

i think this thread is like electricity anonymous.

i have a electric fence story.
a friend of mine's apartment has an electric fence around the top of the wall. i do not know the voltage or anything of it. it was not strong. just a little zap, two seconds later another zap comes through.
it has 3 wires making up this fence. so i touched one and then touched a second. i can vouch for Ois�n and his punch to the heart. mine felt it was straight into my kidneys though. it could not have been very powerful since i just stood there and was a bit shaken and then went swimming in her pool.

can you guess where this is going?

after my swim i touched 1, *one*, of the wires and Ois�n's punch straight to the heart came. oh my ***.

i think i'll go back to playing with fire, thank you very much.

[Oisín]

Originally posted by andi*pandi:
(I don't think a horse fence has to be that strong, since horses are so highly strung a little zap will scare them off. Our horses never leant on the fence. There is a reason though that they don't use electric fence for cows--they're too stupid/dense to be shocked by it and will plow right thru. Same thing with deer. Stupid deer were always breaking our fence.)

Generally no, but we have a lot of very long-haired horses, and they can't feel it at all if it's not a strong one...

[Oisín]

Originally posted by mdc:
a friend of mine's apartment has an electric fence around the top of the wall. i do not know the voltage or anything of it. it was not strong. just a little zap, two seconds later another zap comes through.
it has 3 wires making up this fence. so i touched one and then touched a second. i can vouch for Ois�n and his punch to the heart. mine felt it was straight into my kidneys though. it could not have been very powerful since i just stood there and was a bit shaken and then went swimming in her pool.

can you guess where this is going?

after my swim i touched 1, *one*, of the wires and Ois�n's punch straight to the heart came. oh my ***.

Ouch! I'm glad I was at least dry!!!

[wdlove]

If may have been a prank, but a very serious one. I'm just happy that the offiers are OK.

[residentEvil]

i'll start with stories that won't get anyone (including me) in trouble...

fire 1: growing up in the restaurant business, my first job was with the catering department. once i reached age 16, i moved onto outdoor bbqing...pigs, ox, chicken, ribs, etc. well, during a rather rainy august we got the catering gig for a touring country music festivle. some pretty big names...anyway... the bbq feast was on/off again throughout the day because of the rain. finally got the 'it is off, for real' statement and proceded to pack things up. well, no sooner than i got all the food packed back into the deep freeze truck then the promoter came out and asked where the food was. guess nobody told him. so i had to get things going again. you see, we used these large open pit bbqs...all made out of corrigated metal. about 4' wide, by 20' long, 4' high. racks were heavy duty metal grates with handles on the side. the process invovled piles of 80lbs of charcoal in each 4' section...since it was 20' long, that is 5 piles. diesel fuel is the best fire starter. used it then, use it now (if i use charcoal, obviously). anyway, got the first 2 piles going...waited about 5 minutes until everything was nice and gray...spread it out, added one more bag on it and moved the first 2 racks of chicken onto it. moving along nicely. no problems. promotor comes out, demands dinner in 40 minutes. no problem. first 2 racks will be ready in 20 - 25 minutes. oh, by the way...we added another 30 to the guest list. ****. grab the tank of diesel and get ready to lite 2 more piles of charcoal. hmmmm...

the cloud of fire and smoke rose to about 25'. i'm guessing here as people saw it from behind a 2 story building...so it was at least that, maybe a little more. i lost a good amount of hair. took out the power lines near where the pit was (cooked there 100s of times previously for other shows/events...never a problem) so the show got cancelled. and oh, those first two racks of chickens? poor things. black, both sides. instantly. dust. nadda. nothing left. promotor stood there with his mouth open. my mom and other partner in the business, come outside... there i am, standing with a 10 gallon tank of diesel fuel (mostly empty) with a 'oops' look on my face. all i said was, 'we are going to need some more chicken'.

fire 2: previous said partner above also did firework shows for communities in the area. some pretty big ones too. again, once turning 16, got my pyro license and helped. we alwasy bought more than we needed for our own fun later when we camped and what not. well, we took some stuff up north for camping. built a barge out of old aluminum camp chairs to which we would toe behind our ROW boat. got a 15 minute show all wired up. headed out. older brother rowed. mom watched for other boats. i lit. well, heading out into the middle of the lake we started the show. an error in wiring proceeded to launch a n 8" about head high if you were standing. caught our barge on fire. then the other tubes. oh many. looked cool. but got pretty damn hot. and quick. well the current started bringing the burning barge toward us. brother couldn't row fast enough. couldn't turn away from it as it was pretty hot. what to do? use the rows to keep it away.

i got many more fire stories

[GoGoReggieXPowars]

I must be the only one who didn't do remarkably stupid things as a kid. Had a number of incidents with bicycles here and there (with the scars to show it still), but I wasn't going around sticking paperclips into electrical sockets. That's why I'm always curious about all these baby safety products that people go nuts buying: I never went around trying to drink things under the sink either.

Been zapped a few times, but that was an open light switch at the bottom of a dark set of stairs in an unfinished basement, combined with me being in a hurry

Those kids should be charged as much as the law will allow, being young is no friggin' excuse for pissing in water bottles and messing around with aircraft.

[dampeoples]

I've done electrical work for the past 12 years, and yes, I still get shocked

[AKcrab]

Vehicle strikes hanging metal ball

Stephen Seetomona and his wife were driving home to Wasilla in the middle of the night when, at the North Peters Creek interchange that crosses over the Glenn Highway, they heard and felt a violent bang.

Seetomona drove his 2002 Chevy Suburban a little farther and pulled over. The radiator was steaming. He got out and looked at the grill where he found a crater and a rope hanging over the bumper.

He pulled on the rope. It didn't give. He pulled harder, and out of the crater popped a heavy metal ball.

Anchorage police on Tuesday said the ball, which weighed about 20 pounds, was deliberately hung by rope from the overpass, suspended in one of the northbound lanes.

It was hung there to do exactly what it did to the Seetomonas, they said: cause an unwitting motorist to smash into it at highway speed.

"It's fortunate that a Suburban hit this ball," said police spokesman Ron McGee. "I can envision a scenario where a smaller car -- it may have hit the windshield," causing severe injuries or worse to those in the vehicle.

This 20-pound metal ball was hung from an overpass on the Glenn Highway and struck by a car. (Photo by the Anchorage Police Department)

Link

I commute on that highway.