[ale] Extreme OT, rocketry: was Engineering Archaeology

[Steve Litt]

On Mon, 19 Jan 2026 20:50:45 +0000
lollipopman691 via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:

> Whoa! IIRC, launching model rockets against ground targets was
> explicitly verboten. And in fact still is (
> https://www.nar.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=114127&module_id=669234
> ), NAR Rule 8.
> 
> GFY!

Let me tell you about my buddy Johnny's ultra-safe rocketry. Rumor
was he'd take a hollow metal fence post for a picket fence, block one
end, drop in a lit M80 firecracker followed by a golf ball, and aim a
trajectory toward the house of someone he didn't like, a quarter mile
away.

I never saw that but I did see this when Johnny and I were 15:

He drilled out a used CO2 cartridge, filled it with match heads, and
tried to light it. Nothing happened. So he poured lighter fluid into
the space not taken by matchheads and lit it. The exterior flamed for a
second and then went out. So against my warning, he refilled the lighter
fluid and took a propane torch to the whole thing. Nothing happened.

Bored, I walked around his yard. A few minutes later I happened to be
about 10 feet away from him when simultaneously I heard a Krakatoa
volume explosion and felt a sting on my ankle, which was now bleeding.
The next sound was shrieks of laughter from Johnny, whose face was
bleeding in six places from the same shrapnel that had sliced my ankle.
Johnny ALWAYS laughed maniacally after blowing something up.

Maybe someday I'll tell you how Johnny brought a harpoon gun to middle
school.

Toldja it was extremely OT :-)

SteveT

Steve Litt 
Spring 2023 featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful
Technologist http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques