How things have changed...

[stevej37]

Today, in a small town about 10 miles from me, a person found a device laying on the side of the road and thought it might be a bomb.
The sheriff patrol came and picked it up and brought it to a secure place where it was detonated. No word yet if it was an explosive.

I remember as a teen working for a neighbor/farmer that we would sometimes head into town to the local hardware store and buy a few sticks of dynamite for blasting stumps. No permit or special paperwork involved.
The hardware store never kept it on the premises. After paying we would go to a small building on a dirt road, out of town, that only had a simple padlock on the door. Get the sticks and go blasting!

I imagine that will never be available again.

[stevej37]

update...

NEWAYGO, Mich. — A suspicious item was found outside the Newaygo City Hall this afternoon. Undersheriff Chad Palmiter described the item as a homemade device that looked like a pipe bomb, covered with duct tape and including a wick.

Police say that a person found the item while walking along the sidewalk. The person then placed the item in a bucket and drove it to the police department.

Said Undersheriff Palmiter, police saw the item and called the Michigan State Police Bomb Squad, which worked to investigate and dispose of the item.

Citizens were advised to avoid the area around the City Hall this afternoon, but police say that the area is now cleared and accessible.

The Newaygo Sheriff's Department will continue to investigate the item.



Maybe a pipe/bong???

[cabmandone]

We still have tannerite for good old fashion BOOM. And it's more fun because you shoot at it.

[stevej37]

Depending on how good of a placement...a half stick would do a lot of work.
A whole stick was usually the choice.

[WPOZZZ]

This is according to my sister who passed at Xmas. A few years ago, my cousin was cleaning out her mother's house because she passed away. Apparently, she dropped some stuff off at the nearby fire station. https://www.staradvertiser.com/2018/01/31/breaking-news/woman-turns-in-ordance-found-in-kalihi/

[Sooner or later]

Yesterday. Per reports, the "device" appeared to be two small propane bottles taped together.

[VenezianBlau 87]

Edited to two sentences

Originally Posted by stevej37

Police say that a person found the item while walking along the sidewalk. The person then placed the item in a bucket and drove it to the police department.

Is it just me or is this a terrible idea?

[stevej37]

^^^ I'd do it using my new cargo carrier behind the Civic. (Maybe place a steel plate in front of the bucket!)

[VenezianBlau 87]

I would've run a couple hundred meters or until I had a heart attack!

[LEAKYSEALS951]

[LEAKYSEALS951]

[stevej37]

^^^
Neither bucket looks 'bomb proof'...

[KFC911]

My next door neighbor & I placed a lit M80 under an upside down metal bucket and ducked around a corner.... that's the ONLY smart thing we did .

Bucket was shredded with metal flying everywhere...

I sure am glad we didn't have access to dynamite!

[A930Rocket]

Originally Posted by KC911

My next door neighbor & I placed a lit M80 under an upside down metal bucket and ducked around a corner.... that's the ONLY smart thing we did .

Bucket was shredded with metal flying everywhere...

I sure am glad we didn't have access to dynamite!

Oh boy. That brings up the favorite childhood past time of blowing up mailboxes with M80s.

Then we figured out we could empty the powder out of hundreds of firecrackers to make an even bigger bomb. You could order waterproof fuse out of popular mechanics.

A favorite of ours was to pack a CO2 cartridge with powder. It made a little mini pipe bomb.

Good times!

[rockfan4]

Here's my bomb story.
Shortly after 9/11/01, I walked into our data center and saw a box sitting in front of one of the server racks, covered with a towel. I asked the other admins if they knew anything about it, and nobody knew anything about it. So I did what I was supposed to, I called security. Several minutes later, a guard found his way to our floor and went in the data center. He came out a couple minutes later to announce it was a false alarm. Seems like one of the nice old ladies in the billing office across the hall had brought in a box of treats, and as we didn't have a refrigerator, she figured she could put the box on one of the open floor grates and let the cool air from the air conditioner keep the frosting or whatever from melting. I'm not sure how she had a key to the data center, but security was pretty lax back then.

[Solamar]

Grew up in Pt Loma (San Diego) in the 70s. The tuna fleet was still a big deal at that time and had friends whose dad's were tuna fisherman.

Yes, that means as very intelligent early teens we had access to seal bombs (1/8 stick dynamite iirc).

They were waterproof, so dropping them in a drum of water was, a blast. Burying them in the sandbox at the elementary school was a favorite, devastating to mail boxes.

Amazing I can still count to ten 🖐️✋

[Pazuzu]

When we were in college, the rage was chlorine/acid bombs.
2 liter bottle, stuffed with shredded aluminum foil, pour in a few ounces of good old school drain cleaner, seal bottle, set on ground and RUN.


Highly exothermic reaction would slowly soften the bottle, while producing chlorine gas. The bottles would be almost round when they finally burst, and they would leave a crater if half buried in the ground. They also left a hellacious boom, and a gas cloud 15 feet across...

The kicker was you never knew how long it would take, it depended on the amount and quality of the foil, acid, and how strong that bottle was. Some blew in a minute, some took 10 minutes. Just like when a firework doesn't go off, *someone* always gets brave and walks over to check it out, which was usually when it finally blew.


Looking them up, I see that brats these days are setting them up in public places and waiting for it to blow near a random person. Jackasses. We did it in the fields, away from everyone (and away from campus police...)