Re: crude childhood submersible death-trap fun

[David Buchner <Buchner@wcta.net>]

At 1653 -0500 07/19/99, Michael B Holt wrote:
>My point in pursing this line was to uncover any good ideas that got
>[....]  I'm trying to suck my kids into a project to
>build a couple of small boats.   No luck so far.

I think it's great to hear two guys *hoping* that their kids are doing
crazy dangerous things behind their backs...

What if you tell them you're building two so you can have a war? Mount a
potato gun on each, on a turret. One guy rows, the other loads and fires.
My dad and I were actually planning something like this over the 4th while
we were together to blow stuff up. My idea is to use old plywood hulls, saw
out holes and cover them with something that will break away if struck hard
enough -- so you can actually do damage and sink each other.

This is of course the ultimate purpose when someone like me talks about
building little submarines. You can bet I'll be asking about the best
material to make torpedo tubes. Maybe I'll build the torpedoes first. Like
that Mad magazine bit about Robert Fulton -- who invented the torpedo and
then had to invent the steamship the next year, so he'd have something to
sink.

Come on. I'm sure I'm not the only one here who has fantasized about arming
his little u-boat, or at least sneaking up on fishermen and swimmers with
it.

Speaking of stupid and dangerous... how come neither of you mentioned BB
gun wars?

"Sure I'll play with it after YOU build it for me" sounds like a fitting
epitaph for our industrial civilization. Tell that kid as long as he's
under YOUR roof, he'd better start building bombs and iceboats, and
climbing around on the outsides of cars as they go down the road.


---------
David
buchner@wcta.net
http://customer.wcta.net/buchner
Osage MN USA