Flag Burning
Jan. 1st, 2007 05:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
billroperI took the new computer to the basement and booted it up. The first thing I discovered was that you need a working computer to get this system set up, because you need to make an install floppy for the disk drivers for this motherboard. Ok, I can handle that. Off to the office computer I go, where I make a floppy to use in the installation. And I eventually get a screen that tells me that it's now installing Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2.
The only problem is that what I'm trying to install is Windows XP Media Center, which is what I bought for the new computer. But these hard drives had been in the old computer and had gotten XP Pro SP2 installed on them earlier and it looks like it really wanted to install it again. Unfortunately, this meant that Microsoft would probably blow a raspberry in my direction once the whole process was completed.
So the hard disks are now being reformatted. Very slowly. We're up to 58% now.
This means that I had time to burn a flag.
You see, Bilbo had done a bad thing to our U.S. flag which we fly irregularly on holidays. And the U.S. Flag Code specifies that the right way to dispose of a flag that you are done with -- and trust me, we were done with this flag -- is to burn it in a respectful manner. We also had shed wax from the blessed candle that had been used for Katie's christening that also needed to be disposed of by burning.
So I got some very old gasoline from the garage that would probably have just killed the snowblower if I put it in there and took it out to the backyard, along with a lighter, some newspaper, and the blessed wax. I removed the ash catcher on the grill, the grill lid, and the grill surface, since I didn't want them getting involved in this mess, placed the flag in the grill with the wax, and doused both with the gasoline -- which promptly ran out through the bottom of the grill where I'd removed the ash catcher.
The last time I'd tried burning something with gasoline as a starter, it hadn't caught well. However, I had a hunch that this had been an outlier as events went. So I rolled up the sheet of newspaper to make a yard-long torch, lit one end with the lighter, and tossed it toward the grill as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
daisy_knotwise stood back and watched.
Fwoomph!
Ok, that caught nicely. The inside of the grill was a fire pit. So was the patio beneath it, where the spilled gasoline was blazing merrily away. This wouldn't have been a big problem (although I'm not sure what the long-term effect on the patio is going to be), except that one wheel of the grill melted, causing the grill to tilt alarmingly. But by that time the fire had pretty much burned out.
No trace of the flag remained, although the wax took a bit of time to finish burning out.
There's a brick holding up that very flat wheel and I've ordered a new grill of the same design. This one was over ten years old and was probably due for replacement, as it was getting fairly rusty. I'll salvage the replacement parts that I've added over time and use them with the new grill first.
In the meantime, I've put a bit of charcoal in the barbecue and we'll be grilling steaks for dinner soon. And no, I didn't use gasoline to light the charcoal...
The only problem is that what I'm trying to install is Windows XP Media Center, which is what I bought for the new computer. But these hard drives had been in the old computer and had gotten XP Pro SP2 installed on them earlier and it looks like it really wanted to install it again. Unfortunately, this meant that Microsoft would probably blow a raspberry in my direction once the whole process was completed.
So the hard disks are now being reformatted. Very slowly. We're up to 58% now.
This means that I had time to burn a flag.
You see, Bilbo had done a bad thing to our U.S. flag which we fly irregularly on holidays. And the U.S. Flag Code specifies that the right way to dispose of a flag that you are done with -- and trust me, we were done with this flag -- is to burn it in a respectful manner. We also had shed wax from the blessed candle that had been used for Katie's christening that also needed to be disposed of by burning.
So I got some very old gasoline from the garage that would probably have just killed the snowblower if I put it in there and took it out to the backyard, along with a lighter, some newspaper, and the blessed wax. I removed the ash catcher on the grill, the grill lid, and the grill surface, since I didn't want them getting involved in this mess, placed the flag in the grill with the wax, and doused both with the gasoline -- which promptly ran out through the bottom of the grill where I'd removed the ash catcher.
The last time I'd tried burning something with gasoline as a starter, it hadn't caught well. However, I had a hunch that this had been an outlier as events went. So I rolled up the sheet of newspaper to make a yard-long torch, lit one end with the lighter, and tossed it toward the grill as
daisy_knotwise stood back and watched.Fwoomph!
Ok, that caught nicely. The inside of the grill was a fire pit. So was the patio beneath it, where the spilled gasoline was blazing merrily away. This wouldn't have been a big problem (although I'm not sure what the long-term effect on the patio is going to be), except that one wheel of the grill melted, causing the grill to tilt alarmingly. But by that time the fire had pretty much burned out.
No trace of the flag remained, although the wax took a bit of time to finish burning out.
There's a brick holding up that very flat wheel and I've ordered a new grill of the same design. This one was over ten years old and was probably due for replacement, as it was getting fairly rusty. I'll salvage the replacement parts that I've added over time and use them with the new grill first.
In the meantime, I've put a bit of charcoal in the barbecue and we'll be grilling steaks for dinner soon. And no, I didn't use gasoline to light the charcoal...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-01-02 12:11 am (UTC)FlagBurning as a sign of Respect
Date: 2007-01-02 12:14 am (UTC)Burning as the proper best way to dispose of a worn symbol.
(An aside to the neo-rightists who want to outlaw burning because of some who do it as Free Speech: I Bite My Thumb, Sir, In Your General Direction -- I, the daughter of a retired Coast Guard Commander.)
Also a little envious of your flagwaving ability -- We had a flagpole in front of our former one-room schoolhouse (the one mandated by 1950's law) when we moved in in '99. In addition to flying Old Glory, we also ran up a Michigan State University Block S flag that we commissioned, and would run it up during March Madness as long as the Spartans were winning -- it stayed up a long time the year they went all the way. But as payback here in Buckeye country, the fellows who mow my yard but are Not paid by me ran it over with the mower tractor, and we've never had the funds to erect a new one.
Just Really glad that nothing irreplaceable and no one was harmed in your pyrotechnical adventures.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-02 12:30 am (UTC)Hyperactive Lad is active in a BSA council that will conduct ceremonies for those who do not know the code or do not have the facilites to properly retire a flag. He's participated in two ceremonies so far.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-02 12:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-02 01:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-02 08:54 pm (UTC)Fortunately (possibly for everyone, but certainly for me), I'm a private citizen...
no subject
Date: 2007-01-02 02:49 am (UTC)I picture something similar to the following:
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=320231496
no subject
Date: 2007-01-02 09:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-02 03:58 am (UTC)I can't believe there are six comments and no one's invoked the french fries verse of Apology yet.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-02 04:34 am (UTC)GHR
no subject
Date: 2007-01-02 08:47 am (UTC)=-=-=-=-=-=
How To Light A Charcoal Grill - Dave Barry
Our subject today is lighting charcoal grills. One of our favorite charcoal grill lighters is a guy named George Goble (really!!), a computer person in the Purdue University engineering department.
Each year, Goble and a bunch of other engineers hold a picnic in West Lafayette, Indiana, at which they cook hamburgers on a big grill. Being engineers, they began looking for practical ways to speed up the charcoal-lighting process. "We started by blowing the charcoal with a hair dryer," Goble told me in a telephone interview. "Then we figured out that it would light faster if we used a vacuum cleaner." If you know anything about (1) engineers and (2) guys in general, you know what happened: The purpose of the charcoal-lighting shifted from cooking hamburgers to seeing how fast they could light the charcoal.
From the vacuum cleaner, they escalated to using a propane torch, then an acetylene torch. Then Goble started using compressed pure oxygen, which caused the charcoal to burn much faster, because as you recall from chemistry class, fire is essentially the rapid combination of oxygen with a reducing agent (the charcoal). We discovered that a long time ago, somewhere in the valley between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (or something along those lines).
By this point, Goble was getting pretty good times. But in the world of competitive charcoal-lighting, "pretty good" does not cut the mustard. Thus, Goble hit upon the idea of using - get ready - liquid oxygen. This is the form of oxygen used in rocket engines; it's 295 degrees below zero and 600 times as dense as regular oxygen. In terms of releasing energy, pouring liquid oxygen on charcoal is the equivalent of throwing a live squirrel into a room containing 50 million Labrador retrievers.
On Gobel's Web page (which, sad to say, appears to be gone now), you can see actual photographs and a video of Goble using a bucket attached to a 10-foot-long wooden handle to dump 3 gallons of liquid oxygen (not sold in stores) onto a grill containing 60 pounds of charcoal and a lit cigarette for ignition. What follows is the most impressive charcoal-lighting I have ever seen, featuring a large fireball that, according to Goble, reached 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The charcoal was ready for cooking in - this has to be a world record - 3 seconds. There's also a photo of what happened when Goble used the same technique on a flimsy $2.88 discount-store grill. All that's left is a circle of charcoal with a few shreds of metal in it. "Basically, the grill vaporized," said Goble. "We were thinking of returning it to the store for a refund."
Looking at Goble's video and photos, I became, as an American, all choked up with gratitude at the fact that I do not live anywhere near the engineers' picnic site. But also, I was proud of my country for producing guys who can be ready to barbecue in less time than it takes for guys in less-advanced nations, such as France, to spit.
Will the 3-second barrier ever be broken? Will engineers come up with a new, more powerful charcoal-lighting technology? It's something for all of us to ponder this summer as we sit outside, chewing our hamburgers, every now and then glancing in the direction of West Lafayette,Indiana, looking for a mushroom cloud.
Engineers are like that
no subject
Date: 2007-01-02 06:26 pm (UTC)Did you or
no subject
Date: 2007-01-03 04:01 am (UTC)No, I wouldn't have brought LOX.
Sam Winolj