Boing Boing » fire

Surviving a massive wildfire

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:14:37 +0000

In 2011, the Pagami Creek Fire burned through 92,000 acres of Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area. At Outside magazine, Frank Bures tells the story of two kayakers caught in the inferno. Includes some amazing photos taken by one of the kayakers.

Molotov cocktail in slow motion

David Pescovitz — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 19:57:54 +0000

Slow motion Molotov cocktail! (via Devour)

Homebrew Nintendo laser zapper is powerful, awesome

Xeni Jardin — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 16:31:36 +0000

"The plan was simple. Take a nostalgic NES "duck hunt" Zapper, and retrofit it with a ridiculously powerful laser."

A project from North Street Labs. In case it's not obvious, this is dangerous, and could lead to death or blindness without safety precautions.

Components: "2.1A input buck driver, 2x 750mAh 35-70c Lipo batteries, M140 445nm diode, G2 lens. homemade custom heat-sink, turn key safety switch."

Learn how to build your own, here. But remember, kids, always wear protective safety goggles. And, wear the right kind for the laser you're working with. [Video Link].

Molotov cocktail in the shape of a heart

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 16:45:42 +0000

"Armament" is Francis Baker's Arab Spring-inspired Molotov cocktail in the shape of a glass heart: "I created this work, inspired by the Egyptians and the so called Arab spring. The visual starting point is the Molotov cocktail that has been the weapon of choice for the protesters. There is a connection in any conflict between the combatants."

armament (via Richard Kadrey)

Fire tornado

David Pescovitz — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:11:50 +0000

Chris Tangey took this intense image of a tornado sucking a brushfire into the sky near Alice Springs, Australia. From The Australian:

"There was no wind where we were, and yet you had this tornado," Tangey says.
For him, it sounded "like a fighter jet"; for (firefighter Ashley) Severin, it was like "standing behind a 747". "I've never seen anything like it. I just thought the ground was going to start trembling," Severin says. "The noise it was making, the speed, the red flames in the centre of it. It was like a kaleidoscope show."

"Alice dust devils pack a gullet full of flames"

What would you take with you if your house was on fire?

Rob Beschizza — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 13:58:18 +0000

Maria Popova: "That’s precisely the question Foster Huntington asked himself, so he gathered the belongings he himself would take and photographed them, then asked a few friends to do the dame. Then, on May 10 of 2011, he launched The Burning House with 10 such photographs. Within a few hours, he got his first submission from a complete stranger. Within a few days, he was making headlines" [Brainpicker]

7' fire-breathing, flying dragon built by RC airplane hobbyist

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 23:50:06 +0000

Franceso sez, "Rick Hamel, an American RC airplanes builder, created the Mythical Beast, a radio controlled fire-breathing dragon. It's powered by a Jetcat P80 Kerostart turbine, is over 7 feet long and has a wing span of 9 feet. Beside flying, this scratchbuilt dragon is able to breath fire thanks to a liquid propane and a stun gun circuit. Mythical Beast won Best of Show at the Weak Signal event held in Toledo a few weeks ago."

Drago Volante Sputafuoco Radiocomandato - RC Dragon (Thanks, Francesco!)

Flaming muscle-car stroller

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 19:21:18 +0000

Kaiser21 and child show off this flaming tailfined auto-stroller at the 2010 June 5 Monthly Muscle Car Show in Plano, TX. Papa Kaiser notes, "This little stroller won first place in the Open Car class. It has air-ride, lights under the car, and even fire out of the tailpipes!"

Brady Cash Custom Cadillac Baby Stroller (via DVICE)

HOWTO make a fire-breathing animatronic pony

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:00:25 +0000

Karen sez, "Instructables user lvl_joe has built the ultimate Fire-Breathing Animatronic Pony from a FurReal Butterscotch play pony."

For Maker Faire Detroit 2011, I displayed a hack I made to a FurReal Friends Butterscotch Pony. My fellow LVL1 Hackers and I had taken control of the motor control system of the toy and added a flame thrower to it. It seemed to go over really well with the crowd, so I am putting up the information for anyone to make there own. It was a blast to make and I hope everyone has as much fun remaking it. Just remember that this project uses Fire and should only be built and operated by no less then 2 adults with appropriate experience in fire safety and proper fire safety equipment on hand.

Make a Fire Breathing Animetronic Pony from FurReal Butterscotch or S'Mores (Thanks, Karen!)

Why would a battery burst into flame?

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:23:05 +0000

In several crash tests, the battery on a Chevy Volt began to heat up or burst into flame. The battery problems happened a few days or weeks after the impact and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating. (One potential factor: NHTSA testers didn't drain the batteries of juice after the crash, which is recommended. As a comparison, it's standard practice to drain a gas tank after a similar collision. So this could be an issue of new technology learning curve.) If you want to better understand why a battery that's been through a car accident could burst into flame, I'd recommend reading this piece by the Midwest Energy News. It's a nice summary of how lithium-ion batteries work, and how they respond to damage.

Huge fire in London

Rob Beschizza — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 21:11:55 +0000

The BBC has aerial footage of a huge blaze in the London Borough of Croydon, after violence broke out on the U.K. capital's streets for a third day. Camberwell, where I lived for years, is reportedly in a state of panic, with shops being vandalized in nearby Peckham. Sky News reports that there is now unrest in Birmingham.

The building on fire is the House of Reeves, a 140-year old furniture business.

Residents report widespread looting in Croydon's downtown, with updates appearing regularly on the the local newspaper's liveblog. One odd aspect of all this is that it's unfolding live on TV and twitter in one of the world's wealthiest and most high-tech cities, with politicians on-hand to condemn events occurring in front of their very eyes. But that seems to be all they can do about it.

Labour Party MP Diane Abbott expressed astonishment that the police were unable to prevent the continued looting: "is the Metropolitan Police telling us they can't be in two places at once?" The Guardian speculates that the Police are so accustomed to well-planned "kettling" operations that they are simply unable to cope with roaming groups who aren't filing their protest march routes. [via Mennonot]

London Mayor Boris Johnson, who had refused to cut short his vacation, has finally decided to return to the U.K., as has Prime Minister David Cameron.

The unrest was sparked after Metropolitan police shot dead 29-year-old Mark Duggan and did not contact his next of kin. The force has apologized to his relatives. Forensic evidence from the scene of the shooting is still being examined. [BBC]