Random photos, comics, etc.

[Leo Enticknap]

There used to be such a thing as a “fire grenade” which was a glass ball filled with carbon tetrachloride that a person could throw at a fire...

And carbon tet is a politically incorrect greenhouse gas, too, isn't it? I believe that was why it was banned for use in archival and lab ultrasonic film cleaners. 1,1,1,trichloroethane followed it, then that became politically incorrect as well, and most of these machines now use perc.

As for throwing extinguishers at fires, it reminds me of a story I was once told about a fire at an airport terminal building in Saudi Arabia in the '90s. Firefighters arrived to find the building a blackened shell. Strewn around the floor was a bunch of fire extinguishers. They were all charred and blackened, but undischarged. Eyewitnesses reported airport staff repeatedly squeezing the trigger with no success, and then, in desperation, simply throwing the entire unit into the fire. The instructions on the extinguishers were in English, no-one who grabbed hold of one was able to read English, and therefore no-one knew, or were able to figure out, that they had to pull the safety pin out first. When the first person threw his extinguisher, the others immediately followed his lead.

[Martin McCaffery]

I have real extinguishers, too. The grenade is for decorative purposes only.

[Randy Stankey]

I assume that you understand the properties of carbon tet and how to handle it, of course....

There is a firefighter’s museum in town and they have several different kinds of fire grenades in their collection. They have some on display and some in safe storage. The stored ones are kept in locked chemical storage cabinets and the display items have been carefully drilled open and the contents replaced with water then they were marked “Dummy for Display Only.” The carbon tet was disposed of in an appropriate manner.

My ex-wife was in charge of the Erie Historical Museum and I was able to take a backstage tour of the place.

There was lots of interesting stuff in that place!

That’s how I learned what those “ice cream cones” in my old house were and how they worked. When they told me what was inside them I was like “OMFG!”

[Martin McCaffery]

I have one in my house that I got from a closed theatre I was allowed to pillage.

[Randy Stankey]

We used to have them in my old house, too.

They were in cone shaped holders with sprinkler holes in the bottom. If a fire occurred, a fusible link would break, causing a spring loaded plunger to shatter the glass and release the carbon tet.

I used to think they were giant ice cream cones.

[Frank Cox]

In our 1907 farm house (which I sold years ago though my mother forgets that now *sigh*) there were a couple of red fire grenades hanging on special hooks near the ceiling. I've never seen them in-the-wild anywhere else, though.

I think they were up near the ceiling because they were supposed to explode automatically if there was a fire in the room.

[Randy Stankey]

“Grenade” is technically correct... meaning “a container of chemicals” but, in common English, it usually means “a handheld explosive device.”

There used to be such a thing as a “fire grenade” which was a glass ball filled with carbon tetrachloride that a person could throw at a fire but those have fallen out of favor because they release poison gas when the carbon tet mixes with the burning materials.

It sounds like the translator of that sign used the literal translation of “grenade” but probably didn’t think that there could be another meaning to speakers of other languages.

Google Translate strikes again!

It is pretty funny, though!

I wonder what the Chinese version actually says.

[Marcel Birgelen]

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Probably still one of my favorite Chinglish translations.

[Kenneth Wuepper]

Not unlike the warning on the sleeping pill bottle. "Can cause drowsiness"

[Frank Cox]

https://canoe.com/news/world/odds-an...-73dc1758f3ee/

English actor Stuart Antony was befuddled after purchasing a chopping board from home furnishing store Dunelm that had very specific instructions.

According to the U.K. Mirror, ‘The Bar’ star went shopping at the budget home store when he stumbled across the wooden chopping board. He then read the sticker on the back and was confused.

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[Leo Enticknap]

Our fire is now the lead headline on a national news site (Fox), and on the front page of several others. It turns out that not only did it inspire the gaffe of the year, but was caused by the moron of the year (a smoke machine used at a "gender reveal party" being held on state land up in the mountains). The sky here in Loma Linda (about 10 miles away as the crow flies), is dark gray from the smoke, looking like it's about to rain, with a light covering of fine ash over pretty much every exterior surface.

[Leo Enticknap]

My local paper just won the gaffe of the year award.

Here is the front page of one of the sections in today's edition:

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It's a puff piece on the city of Oak Glen, CA, which is a pretty little town in the San Bernardino Mountains. The annual apple picking season is a big thing up there. It traditionally starts on Labor Day, and you can drive up to one of the orchard farms, pay a fee, and pick and take away your own apples. There are restaurants and other amusements in the town, too.

Note the references to "safety precautions" and "back to nature" in the story.

Now, here is a view of this place, taken from our car about 200 yards from our home, yesterday evening - around the time that newspaper would be being printed.

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The fire was already getting bad by yesterday lunchtime, so the fact that they went ahead and printed this either illustrates serious incompetence, or a black sense of humor. I wonder if apple flambé will be on the menu up there?

[Frank Cox]

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[Frank Cox]

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This is one of my regular customers, and a really nice guy. He owns an autobody shop and built this pedal-powered Flintstones car to entertain himself and his grandkids a couple of years ago.

[Marcel Birgelen]

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