Hi!

Fire, huh?

Nothing teaches you respect like fire can. Well, maybe electricity, but fire
produces a much better visual example...and FAIK most folks are visual
learners.

Two incidents come to mind that taught me a fair bit of respect for fire.
The first was my (admittedly VERY stupid -- Do NOT try this at home!)
spraying WD40 into a bottle I was using to hold spent matches after trying
to light a grill. Just as a point of curiousity, I grabbed a can of WD40 and
for no really good reason, I sprayed it into the bottle. FOOM! That made a
nice little channel of fire...

The second involved my conducting strange experiments on a bottled water
bottle. I put a little (about a teaspoon) of white fuel into the bottle and
tried to light it from a distance with an old pilot lighting stick I have
for such things. It took, and I decided to put it out by stomping it flat.
Bad idea. It went FOOM for a brief moment and then burned out.

I've never had any injuries and I don't plan to do anything foolish enough
to get any. It is a very seldom occurence that I burn anything. Every now
and then I feel that setting some hopelessly beyond repair or just plain
worn out equipment on fire can be quite fun, if done properly and SAFELY in
an area where nothing can get out of control and a fire extinguisher is kept
handy.

As for the thing on lethal amounts of electricity, I just don't think I buy
into it. I know an elderly electrician whose quick and dirty way to find a
110 circuit from 220 circuits (or the other way around) was to simply touch
them and say "this one tingles more". I would never do that myself, but this
guy isn't young and he is certainly still alive...and probably after having
done this very often!

William