11 January 2011

Today, This Would Be Blamed On Sarah Palin and Talk Radio.

But back in the day, it was still OK for boys to unabashedly be boys.

When I was a kid (about 11, IIRC), my friend Jackson and I built a mortar using old CO2 cartridges (no less), some black powder we made using a chemistry set he got for Christmas (they even provided us with the recipe in a 'Fun Experiments' booklet), some Black Cat firecrackers, and a copper pipe and pipe cap we found under my parent's house. We fired it several times in the alley behind our houses and, besides some scratches on Mrs. Orr's garage from the impact, no harm came to anyone.

Please note that I still have all my fingers and both eyes, and I have not injured - or threatened - anyone because of their political beliefs or because someone on talk radio ordered me to do so. Further, I gained first-hand practical experience in the disciplines of mechanical engineering, ballistics, chemistry, soldering, and master planning. (The latter refers to us pre-selecting a quickly accessible hiding place when Mrs. Munch came out to see what the hell was going on.)

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