Home Made Star Wars Movie Injury 734
SaleNowOn writes "Rather than use expensive cgi techniques to make the light sabres glow for their home movie. This couple instead used fluorescent tubes filled with petrol.
Which they then set alight.
If they don't survive they must be Future Darwin Award winners. It makes me proud to be British." And me embarassed to be a Star Wars geek.
Glow Sticks (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Glow Sticks (Score:5, Funny)
Of course it isn't. That's why you have to crack 'em.
Re:Glow Sticks (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Glow Sticks (Score:4, Insightful)
The original poster had the best idea. Filling clear plastic tubes with a phosphorescent solution would have given them all the effect they wanted, but without the inherent danger. Of course, Adobe After Effects would have been even cheaper and safer, but these guys were obviously amatuers.
Re:Glow Sticks (Score:4, Interesting)
Yes, I've seen this done, but I don't remember the details.... It may have involved a Vandegraaff generator....
Re:Glow Sticks (Score:5, Interesting)
Not that I'd recommend using fluorescent light tubes filled with anything - that's a shatter risk. And while tritium isn't dangerous in most situations, that much tritium in a fragile container is asking for trouble - getting that much on your skin (where some may soak in) and in the air (which you'll breathe), you'll probably get a couple years to a couple decades of background radiation equivalent (based on the fact that drinking an entire tritium rifle sight is a two years dose).
Re:Glow Sticks (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Glow Sticks (Score:4, Informative)
You need tight field lines to get coronal discharge - and if you use them, you'll probably see lightning coming from it in the dark. Tight field lines generally require fine wires. Also, the glow will be unicolor unless you outgas different gasses from your saber.
Not that I'd recommend using fluorescent light tubes filled with anything - that's a shatter risk. And while tritium isn't dangerous in most situations, that much tritium in a fragile container is asking for trouble - getting that much on your skin (where some may soak in) and in the air (which you'll breathe), you'll probably get a couple years to a couple decades of background radiation equivalent (based on the fact that drinking an entire tritium rifle sight is a two years dose).
If you are outdoors, you would probably be just fine. Tritium, after all, is hydrogen. It will rapidly ascend through the atmosphere. If it is inhaled, it is not metabolized by the body or taken into the bloodstream in significant quantities, so no huge problem there. The main with radioactivity is when you inhale a solid dust, and the material sits in your lungs, irradiating them for years on end. Tritium does not do this.
Also, the radiation can't penetrate the epidermis, which is a plus.
Re:Glow Sticks (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Glow Sticks (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Glow Sticks (Score:5, Insightful)
If your institution DOESN'T follow these procedures (and is in the US...), let us all know so we can call your RSO and your state health department and get you shutdown for making the rest of us look bad.
Re:Glow Sticks (Score:4, Informative)
Fiberoptic Lightsabers (Score:5, Informative)
The problem with the segmented plastic lightsabers you can buy is (A) they're weak as fuck and you can't fight with them, (B) you can see the segmenting and it's clearly soft plastic between!
Re:Glow Sticks (Score:5, Funny)
especially when they specifically ordered inflammable petrol and he gave them flammable stuff instead.
Re:Glow Sticks (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Glow Sticks (Score:5, Funny)
Does your son now grow 10 times his size and smashes shit when he gets angry?
Re:Glow Sticks (Score:5, Funny)
Second sign of why you should ignore an overly-judgemental poster: Underwear is too tight to permit blood flow to the brain.
Third sign of why you should ignore an overly-judgemental poster: Making a big deal out of a really small incident.
Re:Glow Sticks (Score:5, Funny)
Master Replica (Score:3, Interesting)
This would be a realistic and safe alternative to playing with gas.
(Whenever he would hold up the lightsaber the crowd would fall silent, waiting to hear the ignition sound - each time followed by a round of applause.)
Re:Glow Sticks (Score:5, Interesting)
I have a friend who is machinist who made a number of beautiful plastic broadswords that were designed to be filled with something like twenty glow stiks worth of juice. The effect was spectacular, even in moderate lighting. They were exquisitely beautiful creations with several different colored plastic, finely shaped, finished and furnished. His best one he took to an Boskone years ago, where Larry Niven, who was staggering drunk at the time, asked to see it. Naturally Niven waved it around and smashed it against an elevator door, putting an ugly chimp and spiderweb cracks in it. My friend was pissed -- it took forever to make one that nice.
Personally I would have got a Sharpie and had Niven autograph the sword for me. Something like this: "To Dave -- Sorry about the sword, but I was being a drunk asshole at the time. All the best, Larry"
Citizen, you have committed thoughtcrime! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Obsession with All Things "Star Wars" (Score:5, Interesting)
Star Wars != support democracy, you dweeb. What, did you attend the George W. Bush school of political science? Where democracy = feel good, with no actual considerations for what defines a democratic society?
The whole point of the saga is that democratic institutions are weak, and we need princely heros (who have the blood of Anakin coursing through their veins) to protect us from despotism. Queen, Princess, Knight...those are the heroes. Who voted for Luke Skywalker? Who exercises civilian control over the Jedi?
The Star Wars story *might* correspond to a desire for a constitutional monarchy, respectful of basic human rights, but with a quasi-religious independent military. No democracy there, bub.
Re:Ed Wood had better dialog than Lucas! (Score:4, Informative)
Yay, validation! :P (Score:5, Funny)
>If they don't survive they must be Future Darwin Award winners.
Oh that would be so cool. Finally, the Star Wars fandom community recognized by a mainstream award!
*crosses fingers*
Better link on BBC (Score:5, Informative)
Re:my home town - finally made famous. Yay! (Score:3, Interesting)
Nonsense - Hemel is already famous for its 'oh my god! oh my god! we're all going to die!' 'magic roundabout' [bbc.co.uk].
But then I live in Milton Keynes - spiritual home of the roundabout - and we're secretly jealous.
Mike.
Re:Better link on BBC (Score:3, Informative)
For all its faults, the UK does allow - and even encourage - a far greater degree of eccentricity than most other countries.
By now obligatory (Score:5, Funny)
someone had to do it.
Re:By now obligatory (Score:3, Funny)
Yeah... (Score:5, Funny)
Are people really this stupid? (Score:5, Funny)
How did these guys make it this far into life?
And, lastly, where's the video?
Re:Are people really this stupid? (Score:4, Funny)
The other day I was talking to someone that couldn't tell me whether the end on what ended up being his ethernet cord was metal or plastic.
Even after he told me he could see the wires inside - He still thought it looked like a metal end to him.
The guy was in his 30's. I have NO idea how people like this make it through an average day.
I was wondering as well - where's the video?
Re:Are people really this stupid? (Score:3, Insightful)
Never understimate the power of stupidity.
The other day I was talking to someone that couldn't tell me whether the end on what ended up being his ethernet cord was metal or plastic.
That's not stupidity, that's him not understanding the information that you needed. Not knowing an RJ45 from an RJ11 would cripple you or me. Some people would be crippled if they couldn't remember the difference between TIA-568A and TIA-568B. This guy probably almost never has to plug a cable in, so it doesn't matter t
ObScotty (Score:5, Funny)
Haven't ye ever heard a' transparent aluminum, laddie?
Re:Are people really this stupid? (Score:5, Funny)
I told her we were all out of them, not being mean, but knowing that if I said there is no such thing as clear paper plates I would have had to argue with her about it.
Don't be a facilitator of stupidity, be a BOFH (Score:3, Funny)
Now she gets into arguments at family picnics because "the guy at the party store did too tell me there was such a thing"!
Re:Are people really this stupid? (Score:3, Funny)
When there is glass and burning petrol (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Are people really this stupid? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Are people really this stupid? (Score:5, Funny)
Should that be a blanket warning on anything with a fillable orifice?
Re:Are people really this stupid? (Score:4, Funny)
This should be a wake up call to the makers of Real Doll.
REPOST! (Score:5, Funny)
WARNING: This Product Attracts Every Other Object in the universe, Including the Products of Other Manufacturers, with a Force Proportional to the Product of the Masses Divided by the Square of the Distance Between Them.
CAUTION: The Mass of This Product Contains the Energy Equivalent of 85 Million Tons of TNT per Net Ounce of Weight. The Manufacturer warrants that this product is to be used only as matter and will not be responsible for injury or damage if it is converted into energy.
HANDLE WITH CARE: This Product Contains Minute Electrically Charged Particles Moving at Velocities in Excess of Five Hundred Million Miles Per Hour.
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READ THIS BEFORE OPENING PACKAGE: According to Certain Suggested Versions of the Grand Unified Theory, the Primary Particles Constituting this Product May Decay to Nothingness Within the Next Four Hundred Million Years.
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ATTENTION: Notwithstanding Any Listing of Product Contents Found Hereupon, the Consumer is Advised That This Product Actually Consists of 99.9999999999% Empty Space.
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Re:Are people really this stupid? (Score:5, Funny)
I can see it now!
Make a noise like this now! ZEWWEEWWEWWWEWW
Now, you do like this: SCCHHHHHHH! PSSSH!
A lesson to be learned for jedis and fans alike: (Score:5, Funny)
The mercury poisoning addled their brains first (Score:3, Funny)
Talk about doing it the hard way! (Score:5, Interesting)
And if you work it right, it also gives you the ability to do the ever popular Jedi trick of throwing someone across the room with the open palm of your hand.
High voltage beats high temperature any day of the week.
Re:Talk about doing it the hard way! (Score:3, Interesting)
Flourescent Tubes (Score:5, Interesting)
Flourescent tubes will also glow if you hold them while standing under high-tension power lines.
Re:Talk about doing it the hard way! (Score:3, Funny)
Positive Side-Effect (Score:5, Funny)
[-4 Poor Taste]
Re:Positive Side-Effect (Score:3, Funny)
OH ANAKIN, SET ME ON FIRE JUST LIKE YOU DID BY THAT LAKE ON NABOO.
Questioning Third person (Score:5, Funny)
"Police say a third person present at the incident was questioned."
Who found the cops' lack of faith disturbing...
Re:Questioning Third person (Score:5, Funny)
Darwin Himself was there to witness it? (Score:5, Funny)
No doubt he was an elderly English gentleman, who had been encouraging our friends to try out their little experiment.
Re:Darwin Himself was there to witness it? (Score:3, Funny)
Slightly more information (Score:5, Informative)
NB : Before you make any cheap cracks, the people involved are seriously injured.
Re:Slightly more information (Score:4, Funny)
Think of it as evolution in action.
Re:Slightly more information (Score:5, Interesting)
Let's make a list here: Fire, Gasoline, Flying glass
You forgot the best one: soap.
They mixed the gasoline with soap. The resulting mixture is a sticky, highly flammable sludge often called poor man's napalm. I'm guessing they did it so they could coat the insides of the tubes with a mixture that would stay in place while being swung around. Obviously, gasoline alone would tend to slosh and pour out.
But when the "saber" shattered, and the stuff splashed on them, it stuck to them, just like napalm does. Gasoline alone would have been much less dangerous since except where it soaked into clothes it would have mostly slid off the people and onto the ground. What little actually did stick would have burned away fairly quickly. This stuff, on the other hand, can stick to skin, hair and clothes in thick globs and continue burning for a very long time. Worse, it's very hard to smother effectively. If you drop to the ground to smother it, the lack of oxygen will stop combustion, but the mixture will probably retain enough heat to reignite as soon as you roll over. It also retains enough heat to continue burning you for quite a while if you wrap up in a blanket or something.
Very, very nasty stuff to be playing with. It's no surprise that these two may not survive.
Real napalm, by the way, is also a mixture of gasoline plus other stuff to stabilize it and slow the rate at which it burns.
Re:Slightly more information (Score:3, Informative)
Real napalm is originally a soap and gasoline.
Sodium (Na) palmitate --> Na-palm, which is a detergent still used today in some soaps.
Although I've heard about aluminum salts being used as well.
Re:Slightly more information (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Slightly more information (Score:3, Insightful)
You're absolutely right. We should set up a foundation for them - donate money to help the victims of this horrible travesty. We should do all in our power to coddle them, make them feel better and be understanding of their plight. In doing so, we should strive to send a message to people everywhere that while there may be consequences to their actions, they will gain sympathy, attention and financial support for their or
Re:Slightly more information (Score:3, Informative)
I know what I'm talking about... they hurt like nothing you can imagine.
They hurt, and hurt, and hurt, and hurt some more, and then even more. It's just undescribable.
Pray that your superior genes and sheer luck preserve you from such injuries, they destroy your world.
Re:Slightly more information (Score:3, Insightful)
If you think your life is worth so little that you're willing to sacrifice it for a cheap stupid dangerous stunt instead of something as noble as helping out in Iraq then yes I AM GOING TO LAUGH MY ASS OFF AT YOU.
Re:Slightly more information (Score:3, Interesting)
You believe that they are there because of lies. Some of them, presumably, are there because they believe those statements to be true. Some are even there because even though they believe the statements to be of questionable validity, they feel that Iraqis can benefit from reconstruction despite that.
Finally, whether Bush "lied" or not is academic only. The fact now is that the people in that country need help of some sort.
Did Bush lie? I am not certain, and I doubt anyone save himself and a few o
Re:Slightly more information (Score:3, Insightful)
Gowen's a maudlin pussy (Score:4, Insightful)
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." --Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
I can feel for the pain that these people are going to feel for the rest of their lives. But they brought that upon themselves by their epic, incredible (as in un-fucking-believable) stupidity. Because of their industrial-strength stupidity, these two are probably be on the public dole for the rest of their painful lives. The ONLY thing these two bring to the rich tapestry of the grand history of Mankind is someone to point laugh at as an example of how to not be so goddamned fucking stupid. If John Fucking Donne himself had heard about these fuckwits, he would have rightfully mocked them himself.
"It may be that your whole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others" -- unattributed
Re:Slightly more information (Score:5, Funny)
Deserve has nothing to do with it. This is natures way of adding a little chlorine to the gene pool. People should realize anytime that someone says "Hey, this would be awesome!"
I'm from the southern US, and anytime I hear the words "Hey ya'll watch this!"
Re:Slightly more information (Score:5, Funny)
That is the funniest thing I have read on slashdot for a LONG time!!! Most of my family is from the southern US, so I can openly laugh at this.
Is it commonly followed by a splash of chicken feathers, cool-whip, and weed-trimmer parts? Maybe that is just my family.
Re:Slightly more information (Score:5, Funny)
Don't share it.
What about his friend (Score:5, Funny)
Around here "hey Yall watch this" Is usually follwed by "aww heck I can do that"
Re:Slightly more information (Score:3, Funny)
Really. Well, call me callous, but I think you deserve to die for using the terms dude and especially dudette. Okay, maybe not die, but a good flogging is certainly in order...
Re:WHAT???? (Score:3, Insightful)
Three humans once sealed themselves inside a tin can sitting on top of tons of combustibles, then ignited them.
Mind-bogglingly stupid simplification. If that were what happened then the Apollo program would have been appropriately mocked. Those humans relied on a lot of work, a lot of dedication, a lot of d
Re:Stupidity is relative (Score:3, Insightful)
THEY
What part of that is so hard to understand? If at 21 you don't know gasoline on fire is not a toy
Tom
Saberology (Score:4, Informative)
hmm (Score:5, Funny)
Re:hmm (Score:5, Funny)
The farce, surely?
Stupid Star Wars stunt, in the woods... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Stupid Star Wars stunt, in the woods... (Score:3, Insightful)
Fluorescent light tubes?! (Score:5, Funny)
But, come on. Fluorescent light tubes?! You would have to be some sort of catastrophically stupid person to not realize how fragile those tubes are. I mean, for christ's sake! Filling a fragile glass tube with a burning liquid and then hitting things with it! Oh my god. If you *have* to do this, and obviously, you do because it's cool and fun, at least put some thought behind the mechanics.
The only thing I can really think about all this is that, somewhere, modern culture isn't teaching people important, basic, rules about material properties.
On a side note, I previously associated this kind of behavior with my fellow Americans. We're a stupid, raucous bunch. I'm glad to open my arms to the UK, I welcome you to our stupid bosom. May you whittle your gene pool alongside us.
Darwin Award winners? (Score:4, Funny)
Hall of fame inductees!
This is worse than powering a powering a go-cart with a chainsaw (not a chainsaw engine, a chainsaw). Or any attempt to juggle objects meant to fell trees.
No, this couple gets a waiver straight into the Hall [darwinawards.com].
They deserve their own wing.
Re:Darwin Award winners? (Score:4, Funny)
Reminds me... (Score:3, Interesting)
He was one of those guys who was incredibly intelligent with absolutely NO common sense. Or maybe better put as, smart enough to be dangerous.
Gotta be said... (Score:5, Funny)
It's in the Mirror... (Score:3, Insightful)
Changing lightbulbs (Score:5, Funny)
A. It depends on the number of light bulbs and the amount of gasoline on hand.
More proof (Score:3, Funny)
call the lawyers (Score:3, Funny)
Well
Napalm? (Score:5, Informative)
"They filled them with fuel and washing-up liquid to act out a Jedi Knight fight scene from new movie Revenge Of The Sith. "
Gas + soap may make a crude napalm [wikipedia.org]
Master Yoda Says... (Score:5, Funny)
p
Which they then set alight? (Score:3, Insightful)
And it says this where, exactly?
Does anyone who post links on Slashdot actually fucking read them before doing so?
Re:Which they then set alight? (Score:3, Informative)
And it says this where, exactly?
Why would you fill a tube with petrol if you weren't intending to set it alight?
Why would you end up in a specialist burns unit if the petrol hadn't got lit?
Genii (Score:3, Informative)
THE REAL QUESTION ISN'T ANSWERED. (Score:5, Funny)
Did anyone get pictures?
Reminds me of when I... (Score:3, Funny)
A horrible tragedy.. (Score:5, Funny)
Obi-Wan: The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together. Though it does not make you flame retardent , ask vader
They Should Have Used Gasoline (Score:5, Funny)
English: If it was good enough fer Jesus, it's good enough fer you.
RP
And so you see Evil will always triumph over good (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Copy Cat'ing (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Copy Cat'ing (Score:3, Funny)
Sorry, but I must have missed that penultimate scene in the final duel where Anakin switches his lightsaber for a fluorescent light bulb filled with flaming petrol.
Re:two people are seriously injured (Score:3, Insightful)
Only if I feel like an elitist asshole who thinks his shit doesn't stink.
I've never fought with flaming flourescent tubes, but I have done stuff that by all rights should have earned me a maming. I seriously doubt you should be casting any stones.