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Fire Extinguisher Balls
An Anonymous Coward writes "The Far Eastern Economic Review has this article about a Thai inventor who has come up with throwable fire extinguisher balls. You just toss them into the fire, or place them in high risk areas, and - boom - they explode from the heat and spew various fire-retardants all over the place. According to the article, they will soon be on sale in Thailand's 7-Eleven stores and are being considered by US-based fire and safety supply company Tyco."
Rob Malda and Kathleen Fent are at the hospital, Kathleen is giving birth. Surprise, the child is black. Rob admits "ok I cheated you, I'm sorry honey".
Burn motherfucker! Burn!
If this isn't a case for Prior Art I don't know what is.
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
That was my nickname in college.
We really need your help
http://www.gofundme.com/help-sherry
i've had strange, sexually charged dreams like this scenario
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I mean really. This does make a strange kind of sense. Why worry about high pressure tanks, and proper discharge ratios. Just grab a water ballon full of this stuff and toss it at it!
This sounds like antique fire extinguisher bottles: thin glass "grenades" full of water or other chemicals that were tossed at fires.
-- ;-)
Kuro5hin.org: where the good times never end.
...of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the "NINJA VANISH" balls?
Kids these days. They don't know the difference between classic, and just plain old.
I just heard some sad news on talk radio - Horror/Sci Fi writer Stephen King was found dead in his Maine home this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.
I wonder if it would be possible to create "mini" balls that you could build into structures (ceilings etc.)
so, you roll the ball into the fire, suffocate the burning victim, and then run away from the annoying sound the thing makes? sounds great!
Morphing Software
Please don't confuse them with the salty chocolate ones.
Reach out and put a beating on someone!
tcd004
Please, please, tell me these things are baseball-sized. Please.
There are so many pranks I want to pull with these things.
"I think you guys with quotes in your signatures should go have an original thought." -- Dan Miller
Another spurrious patent ... if I recall this has been done (and patented) a long long time ago.
HARDENS HAND GRENADE FIRE EXTINGUISHER", --> "PATENTED NO 1 AUG 8, 1871 AUG 14 1883
For those who are interested check out the picture of the blue glass bulb towards the bottom of the page. Cached
This Sig has been depreciated.
please do not use the words "fire extinguisher" and "balls" in the same sentence (especially if they are the total sum of the words in it), some of us have dirty minds and over-active imaginations.
sic transit gloria mundi
...when you're trying to run out as fast as you can or the firefighter tries to get in to resque people all they need is one of these to burst in their face and blind 'em.
Goodness gracious!
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
*nt*
I can almost see the commercials now...people throwing these things at fires to the tune of "Goodness, gracious, great balls 'o' fire!"
*shudder*
Gee, sounds like Thai girls. All hot and spicy until you get them in the fire, then they turn cold.
You must be really new to Linux.
Nice concept, but who wants to lug a small bowling ball to a fire, hope it'll hit the right spot, get hot enough to explode (!) and extinguish a measly little bonfire. Not me.
There must be at least 5 Micheal Jackson jokes based on this story/title. I'm am too tired to try right now.
Table-ized A.I.
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball, fire extinguisher model
Sort of like a 3d4 negative fireball, you throw them and they explode to stop fire damage. Hmm, I wonder how many of these you'd need to take on a full-grown Red Dragon?
http://ognet.h1.ru
English translation of the site is, for example:Babelfish translated
So it's at least some prior art present...
Actually, they're headquartered in Bermuda.
Fire Extinguisher Balls??!?! This is not a story worth posting. This is not Slashdot material. Michael, you should be ashamed of yourself. This is not "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters." This is "News for Asians, People with slits"
I have known some geeks that would rather die in a hot blaze with their computer and technology then to live without it. Yes, that's the truth. Who really gives a shit about fire protection? Let the fire departments worry about that. That's what they're there for and that's why we pay that those huge taxes.
Michael, I am sure you could have picked a better story to post. Slashdot's editors reject so many good stories. I hear people complaining their story has been rejected all the time. And when I do read what their story was I think to myself "Why the fuck didn't the editors post that? Are they on cheap $1 crack AGAIN?"
Once again I propose a system where users can rate the stories before they are posted to Slashdot's front page, much like the ass kicking Kuro5hin site has. When was the last time anyone complained about Kuro5hin? Yeah, you think about that for a while.
If anyone is about to subscribe now to Slashdot now is a good time to think again. You might just change your mind. You can reconsider when some change takes place in the craphole we call Slashdot.
Whatever it's called, the result of this single-handed, civic-minded tinkering from Thailand could lead to a day when firemen carry catapults in their trucks as well as ladders.
I don't know about the rest of you but this sounds like it has the potential for one very cool water fight. While settle at catapults though, I want to see fireman running around with a bandolier loaded with these balls. Even better, why not just cram some Pokemon with a water attack into one these balls. The kids would love it!
aus.music.scrapbook
I wouldn't want to be yawning either.
Man this story reminds me of that show "The State" and the guy's catch phrase "I WANNA DIP MY BALLZ IN IT!"
But in August, Thailand-based 7-Eleven convenience stores will put the ball on shelves in their 1,800 stores nationwide.
Huh, that's funny, with this guys name, I would have expected to see these on sale exclusively at K-mart, not 7-Eleven.
"I hate quotations. Tell me what you know." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
Who else read "Thailand's 7-Eleven stores" as Thailand's 7-Elvin stores?
they better be throwing one at their server pretty soon.. won't be long till this site gets /.'ed
...have these things, are they going to squeeze them and ask me to cough before they can stop my house from burning down?
Ergonomica Auctorita Illico!
For some odd reason, Im just picturing a guy throwing a ball at the fire and a big Pokemon coming out and squirting water at it.....
Fire Balls...I choose you! Flame retardant attack! =P
"Fire Extinguishing Balls"
And the jokes just write themselves...
--------
Bleah! Heh heh heh... BLEAH BLEAH!!! Ha ha ha ha...
Now only if they'd come up with a solution to the jew problem!
Send in the Scientologists instead.
,2 and
Just look at their skillz
from xenu.net
It would seem that the first person to reach the state of Clear should stick out in history like a sore thumb. After all, a Clear -
-never has colds or accidents,
-has a soaring IQ,
-total recall of his entire life from conception on,
-has cancer (possibly) and other physical deficiencies repaired,1
-can compute in seconds what the average person needs 30 or more minutes for
-is the first case of a truly rational person.3
As Hubbard states, "We are dealing here with an entirely new and hitherto nonexistent object of inspection, the Clear.".4
----------------
I mean can Cruise, Travolta, Catherine Bell, J. Lewis, Chick Corea and company truly be that stupid. You would have better luck forming a church around my trusty old HP 42S RPN Scientific Calculator.
- can't get a cold. And no viruses yet for my 42s but I have dropped it. only once I promise.
- A calculator doesn't have an IQ but my 42S is sure nifty smart.
- self-repairing? thats a tough one. It is self-CLEARing. Is that good enough?
-has total recall of its life somewhere on its circuit board.
- boy can my 42S compute. this sucker is sure faster than Travolta. next
- truly rational. Yep and can even handle the occasional irrational with aplumb.
Now all I need to do is contact the IRS and I will be scoring with the chicks just like my buddy TOM CRUISE. Maybe Carly can help me out. She knows a good scam when she sees one.
What bullshit - I have been casting Quench Flame since I was a level 4 cleric.
A Beowulf cluster of these things.
BEER, it's not just for breakfast anymore!
yes, i am thai. i am proud to be THAI
: )
Our Yakisoyba. It is HOT. And tasty too.
YES!! WE HAVE YAKISOYBA!!!
42s? I already worship it!
c-hack.com |
Ben Wa balls.
I load up Slashdot only to find an add for Bawls from ThinkGeek acompanied by a story about more balls...
Makes me crave the days when there were stories about Apple's Cube. At least we had some right angles to mess around with back then.
-Xuff
Homepage & W
They are about $35 USD. Not to bad, but i perfer the initial price of $7. Then again, who can put a price on safety, I'd love to have these in my apartment.
"...they explode from the heat and spew various fire-retardants all over the place..."
That sounds like a colorful metaphor for most Slashdot articles about Microsoft. Heh.
"Derp de derp."
... Buy two of our 1.4 Kilogram balls and we'll throw in this free garden hose!
...oOOo..'(_)'..oOOo...
Balls. Is there anything they can't do?
(lame Simpsons rip-off)
Trollaxor sits in a dank cell in Kansas City, Kansas wringing his hands over and over again at what dreadful fate may befall him.
He stared angrily at the ceiling, "I wrote the best trolls. No one could describe ESR's love of scat better than I could describe it. I was the one who brought RMS's penchant for young boys to light." He muttered to himself as his eyes became heavy and his wee head nestled into the prison-issue pillow.
Moments seemed to pass as he entered a dream of Natalie Portman stroking his shaft and whispering the lyrics, "You are... so beautiful... to me... can't you see-ee-ee?" Trollaxor's fat shaft grew firm, his glans aglow with heat and pleasure, throbbing with each heartbeat. Natalie then greedily rammed his shaft down her throat.
He awoke with a start, searing pain on his prick from teeth coursing through his body. He glanced down and saw Malda using him as a snorkel.
Rob lifted his head up, gaze locked with Trollaxor's, and let the softening shaft pop from his eager cheeks. "Hey sugar, I don't remember seeing you on Butt Hill."
Trollaxor cringed, winced and gagged at the thought of his arch nemesis tongue mining him for a sprinkle of hot cum. Rob's head pushed against his soft belly, nuzzling his navel. "You're awful cute. What's your name? You can call me Commander Taco."
Trollaxor cried when he realized he was stroking Rob's head gently, caressing the soft shell of Rob's ear. "Um, hum-hum-hum, you can call me Troy. Troy Luxor." Something stirred deep inside him at the relief of revealing his true self but not really giving everything away.
Rob's face was now inches away from Trollaxor's lips. Trollaxor tried not to gag at the gut-stink of Rob's cum-rotted mouth but he was sorely tempted to explore Malda's soft lips. "What are you in here for?" whispered Malda.
"P-p-p-p-arking v-v-violation." he stammered in rhythm with the thundering of his heart.
Rob smiled and caressed Trollaxor's cheek. "Me too, they didn't like where I was having people park." he replied with a quick wink.
Seconds later Rob was showing Trollaxor where he was having guys park and our hero was root-deep in CmdrTaco's fat manlips and fucking his colon hard. A fist locked around Rob's tiny shaft, ropy spurts of precum sticking to the saggy mattress like Spider-Man's webbing.
"Oh, mmm, open my source!!!" sighed the little man slut squatting submissively before him. "You really know how to work a man from all that practice on a one-button mouse you big Mac faggot!" Trollaxor's thrusts became more insistent at the (-1, Flamebait) comments followed up by "I bet you're a dirty little bitch who uses oh-ess-ecks." At the same time Trolly's fat glans couldn't stand anymore bumping against Rob's nasty prostate and began to fill Malda's gut with eruptions of lust. Trollaxor could only shout, "IT'S OH-ESS-TEN" before collapsing into a whimpering, simpering, Mac-faggot heap.
Shame overwhelmed our hero as he gazed at his spent cock covered in bits of corn and lima beans, streaked with shit and gobbets of cum.
Then they both put shotguns to their faces and blew their fucking brains out.
The End.
The Trolls will rise.
Ken Marino is very good in "Wet Hot American Summer." Most of the rest of the State crew is in it as well. Great flick.
My grandmother's farmhouse has a few glass balls in wire racks hanging high up on the walls. If there is a fire they are supposed to explode and spread fire retardant over the fire. Or you can take them out of the racks and throw them into the fire.
They have been hanging there for (I think) close to 100 years.
If you're a zombie and you know it, bite your friend!
$10 says the "fire-retardants" consist of cocount milk and peanut sauce...
A few years ago I attended a safety training session put on by the fire department. They told us that fire extinguishers "cake up" inside and no longer work after a year or two (if I recall correctly). I couldn't help but wonder how many fire extinguishers out there are as useless as tits on a bull. 90%? These balls could be an answer to that largely unknown problem.
I watch Brit Hume on Fox News
This is somewhat redundant as someone mentioned they are from Bermuda, purely for tax reasons of course (like Global Crossing is/was incorperated in bermuda as well) , which is correct, but to say they are a fire and safety company isnt even close to what Tyco is. Tyco is one of the largest conglomerates in the world in everything from electronics to healthcare. In fact, I would say fire & safety is the smallest part of their business. Its also one of the Top ten stocks in volume of trades every single day. A direct quote of their website probably explains them best.
"
Tyco International is the world's largest manufacturer and servicer of electrical and electronic components, as well as undersea telecommunications systems. We are also the world's largest manufacturer, installer, and provider of fire protection and electronic security services-not to mention our strong leadership positions in disposable medical products, plastics, and adhesives, and the manufacture of flow control valves. Our Company operates in more than 80 countries and has over 180,000 employees."
Jeff Knox
Too easy!
I take a look at this story and wonder - what threshold will I have to set to keep from seeing the really awful jokes? 12?
The only thing that would have been worse, is if they had been shaped like penises! Penii?
How the hell...? What kind of discussion...?
I'm at a loss for words.
The bad part is the high squeeching sound. Yes, I agree that if you were stuck somewhere it would help that it would emit a sound. But after you're rescued, you and/or the firefighter is not going to go around searching for this ball. Other people are going to hear it and go towards that sound in hopes of rescueing someone in effect, putting their life at risk...
_______________________________
"I'm not Conceited...I'm just a realist..."
What a really, really, bad idea.
http://www.dropclaw.com/jarballs/
http://www.peoplegraphic.com/jarjar/
http://members.tripod.com/jsyphilis/
I will be eternally grateful if somebody can help me out. The drivers seem to have been installed properly, but I can't access the new drive.
If it is them, then I can think of a couple of great product crossovers:
- Evil Kenivel stunt-rider fire extinguisher.
- Toy Fire-trucks that home in on the noise from these balls to put out any patches of fire that the balls didn't get (you could have them patrolling throughout large buildings).
Anyone got any other ideas?I remember going down stairs to my uncles workshop. Right there he had a glass ball fire extinguisher that was to be thrown. I was not exactly a ball. Ball on top, cone on bottom.
It was old when I was a kid. That's almost half a century now.
"There is no acceptable scale on which to measure the worth of a person" - Me
This gets my vote! And my vote counts!
Liberate your mind in two clicks or less.
Throwable Extinguisher Balls sure beats Coughable Fur Balls. I should install this on my cat.
The Bigger The Headache The Bigger the Pill
So if I get some of these things, and happen to use them on a fire at some point, I suppose it's inevitable that someone'll tell me "That's using your balls!"
;-) It's just the kind of terminally quirky thing that someone had to come up with eventually. I'll have to keep an eye on the Lab Safety Supply catalog and see if they start selling the things.
It certainly adds new meaning to that old song "Great Balls of Fire!" Except now it's going to have to be "Great Balls of Anti-Fire!" or something similar.
And don't even get me started on the potential of these things for practical jokes in, say, golf games. Lord, I can just picture it: "FORE!" (thwopPAFFOOOSHHH!!)
I like it!
Bruce Lane, KC7GR,
Blue Feather Technologies
If Happy Fun Fire Extinguisher Ball starts to smoke and shake... run away fast.
THE CORPORATION & AMERICA
.[The] corporation brought about a new form of dependency. Instead of industry, frugality, and initiatives producing fruits, underlings in the corporate hierarchy had to be aware of style, manners, office politics, and choice of patrons -- very reminiscent of the Old Whig corruption in England at the time of the revolution -- what is today called "corporate culture."
Rewriting history to justify greed
Sam Smith
THIS ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN 'SHADOWS OF HOPE,'
PUBLISHED BY INDIANA UNIVERITY PRESS, 1994
Encomiums to the wonders of market forces fill speeches and media reports. One National Public Radio reporter even went so far as to describe a form of government called market democracy, apparently a blend of the Bill of Rights and the Wall Street Journal editorial page.
In fact, most free workers in this country were self-employed well into the 19th century. They were thus economic as well as political citizens.
Further, until the last decades of the 19th century, Americans believed in a degree of fair distribution of wealth that would shock many today. James L. Huston writes in the American Historical Review:
Americans believed that if property were concentrated in the hands of a few in a republic, those few would use their wealth to control other citizens, seize political power, and warp the republic into an oligarchy. Thus to avoid descent into despotism or oligarchy, republics had to possess an equitable distribution of wealth.
Such a distribution, in theory at least, came from enjoying the "fruits of one's labor" but no more. Businesses that sprung up didn't flourish on competition because there generally wasn't any and, besides, cooperation worked better. You didn't need two banks or two drug stores in the average town. Prices and business ethics were not regulated by the marketplace but by a complicated cultural code and the fact that the banker went to church with his depositors. Although the practice was centuries old, the term capitalism -- and thus the religion -- didn't even exist until the middle of the 19th century.
Americans were intensely commercial, but this spirit was propelled not by Reaganesque fantasies about competition but by the freedom that engaging in business provided from the hierarchical social and economic system of the monarchy. Business, including the exchange as well as the making of goods, was seen as a natural state allowing a community and individuals to get ahead and to prosper without the blessing of nobility.
In the beginning, if you wanted to form a corporation you needed a state charter and had to prove it was in the public interest, convenience and necessity. During the entire colonial period only about a half-dozen business corporations were chartered; between the end of the Revolution and 1795 this rose to about a 150. Jefferson to the end opposed liberal grants of corporate charters and argued that states should be allowed to intervene in corporate matters or take back a charter if necessary.
With the pressure for more commerce and indications that corporate grants were becoming a form of patronage, states began passing free incorporation laws and before long Massachusetts had thirty times as many corporations as there were in all of Europe.
Still it wasn't until after the Civil War that economic conditions turned sharply in favor of the large corporation. These corporations, says Huston:
. . . killed the republican theory of the distribution of wealth and probably ended whatever was left of the political theory of republicanism as well. . .
Concludes Huston:
The rise of Big Business generated the most important transformation of American life that North America has ever experienced.
By the end of the last century the Supreme Court had declared corporations to be persons under the 14th Amendment, entitled to the same protections as human beings. As Morton Mintz pointed out in the National Law Journal, this 1888 case ignored the fact that "the only 'person' Congress had in mind when it adopted the 14th Amendment in 1866 was the newly freed slave." Justice Black observed in the 1930s that in the first fifty years following the adoption of the 14th Amendment, "less than one-half of 1 percent [of Supreme Court cases] invoked it in protection of the Negro race, and more than 50 percent asked that its benefits be extended to corporations." During this period the courts moved to limit democratic power in other ways as well. For example, the Supreme Court restricted the common law right of juries to nullify a wrongful law; other courts erected barriers against third parties such as banning fusion slates.
It was during this same time that the myth of competitive virtue sprouted, helping to justify one of the great rapacious periods of American business. It was a time when J.P. Morgan would come to own half the railroad mileage in the country -- the same J. P. Morgan who got his start during the Civil War by buying defective rifles for $3.50 each from an army arsenal and then selling them to a general in the field for $22 apiece. The founding principles of what we now proudly call the "American free market system" flowered in an era of enormous bribes, massive legislative corruption, and the creation of great anti-competitive cartels. It was a time when the government, in a precursor to industrial policy, gave two railroad companies 21 million acres of free land.
And it was also the time that American workers, who had once used commerce to free themselves from the economic and social straitjacket of the monarchy, found themselves servants of a new rigid hierarchy, that of the modern corporation.
The inventor's name is Kai-Mart but they're selling them in 7-Elevens?
Missed out on some good marketing.
Well, that don't bother me none, as long as I get my rent paid on Friday.
Baby, you better get back in the kitchen, cause I got a sneakn' suspition.
Oh man baby, baby, you just burnt my balls.
My balls are on fire, come on, my balls are burning, gimme some water pour some water on 'em, o goodness, blow
on them, do something
Last time my office on small fire I rushed to the secretary and asked "show me the bottle that can put off the fire!!"
Now I'd be hestitate to ask "Show me the balls that can put off, oh baby, the fire in me..."
You should figure out how to dispose of them safely. They are full of carbon tetrachloride, which is not only an excellent flame suppressant, but also a rather nasty carcinogen. I remember that when we sold my grandparents' house (purchased 1938), there were still a bunch of these things hanging around, waiting to deform future generations. I forget what we did with them (nothing responsible, I'm sure).
Dammit, that was my idea! I submitted that to Steve Jackson Games' Car Wars, and it was included in the 2035 Uncle Albert's catalog... I should dig up the old issue of Autoduel Quarterly with my name on it and go for prior art...
That would be a Ribbentrop cocktail
when your shed catches on fire and you naturally call the fire department. Then Cousin' Jed who is the fire marshall has a catapault on the back off his pickup says 'he be right back, need to run to the store for ammo.' And then in his drunken stupor, confuses the handy dandy "Extinguisher Ball" with bottles of Moonshine.
>
Has anyone ever had one of their friends put a can of anything into the campfire to warm it up....forgetting to open it?
Seems to me that *anything* exploding in the middle of fire is going to blow shit all over the place. Perhaps spreading the fire.
Sure, this won't happen if there is not a lot of debris, but it feels sketchy to me.
odium|||nunquam|||obticesco
And all I needed was just one - Baht
How can you say that you don't give a - Baht
I find myself stupified, coming back again
long night.. thought i'd stretch it a bit..
I invented a similar product!
Kirk Israel's Dehydrated Fire Fighting Marbles.
Just add water.
SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
I'd prefer those balls that the Green Goblin used in the new SpiderMan flick. I've always had a thing for piromania (no references to Def Leppard please, they suck :)
-- Probability does not dismiss possibility --
My parents had one of these in the early 50's. Unfortunately, it contained carbon tetrachloride.
He's selling them for 1,500 bhat.
:)
Based on this list of exchange rates, they cost about $34.80 in US dollars.
$64.83 Austrailian, $23.76 UK, $54.47 Canadian, $38.21 Euro, $330.35 Mexician.
And if I didn't list your country, oh well. You'll just have to look it up
Interesting, but I think the price may need to come down to really catch on.
-
- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
...the Fire Department of New York just signed Roger Clemens to a five-year contract.
I mean, I've spent the greater part of my adult life trying to keep my balls out of the fire.
Someone you trust is one of us.
Combating the horrors of Spunk Ball....
Fight balls with balls
I'll take free beer over free software any day.
Hmmmm... Tyco Asia, meet Tyco US.
Fire hazard
Tyco announces the ball sprinkler as an alternative.
Fire hazard
Whatever it's called, the result of this single-handed, civic-minded tinkering from Thailand could lead to a day when firemen carry catapults in their trucks as well as ladders.
Help! Help! Fire! Someone save me!
[Sound of catapult launching]
Help! Hel--OOOOOOF!
[Sound of unconscious body being consumed by fire]
ive been known to develop this property as well, even where there is no fire, like on the sidewalk.
four-oh-four
The jokes do indeed write themselves, but I find one aspect of this very unfunny. The one of the most common fires in the home are grease fires, which are Class-B (flamable liquid) fires. This popping ball would fling burning grease all over the kitchen. -- Just put a lid over the pan or dump baking soda on it!
Would this not invalidate a patent since it could be considered a pre-existing idea? I believe there is a specific term for instances such as this. Can anyone out there recall what it is?
A big white ball comes from out of nowhere and asphyxiates the victim until control has been re-asserted.
;)
I will not be cataloged, filed, or extinguished
A brilliant idea, but easy to copy once you see it.
It's fascinating to me that the government grant he received is for the purpose of getting international patent rights to this idea.
fire is highly toxic (and probably illegal, carcinogenic and fattening) too, but that fact seems to escape the safety Nazis who outlaw everything useful in fighting it. Halon is insanely expensive stuff and has its own drawbacks, which means it often isn't deployed as widely as it should be.
This is actually kind of old. I just did a project for my school at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. One of the companies we spoke to had been using these as part of their safety program for a while. It sounded really funny. My partners and I thought something was lost in the translation. It's pretty funny to see it turn up again here.
Did this story remind anyone of the 60s TV series "Emergency!"?
Fireman John Gage wanted to invent a "Foam Grenade" to throw into fires for the firemans invention contest at one point. He also wanted to invent suction cup boots to walk up walls though, but I'm sure the series writers are grinning at this news.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
So what's the story?
This concept reminds me a lot of the Gungan "Boom-Booms" or whatever. Throwable, popping balls that do stuff. Yay. :)
our written thoughts are gifts to our future selves
Seriously, these would be awesome to have one or
two lying around. I live in a neighborhood that has very dense housing. Richmond Dist, San Fran.
anyway, one or two of these could easily save
an entire block of flats. Especially when I'm grilling on my patio. When they're available, I'm definately investing.
Cleaning out the basement of an old historic building I used to work in we found something very similar to this. It was a glass sphere containing what appeared to be water. It looked a little like a lightbulb. It was attached to a holder on the wall with a spring loaded pin pointed at the sphere. Holding the pin in place was some sort of metal that looks like it would melt under heat (thus releassing the pin, bursting the bulb, and releasing the liquid). There is a picture of it here. I showed this to my father and step-father who are both professional firefighters (L.A. and Las Vegas). They mentioned that these things were very dangrous and were destoyed, they were used clear up to the 1950's. Apparently the clear liquid is a fire-retardant that upon hiting the fire puts it out, but also releases DEADLY fumes. Not to mention the shards of glass that fly everywhere. These devices were also ment to be used as "hand-grenades." Perhaps the innovation of the stories topic "invention" is that it doesn't have these draw backs.
They were called "Fire Extinguisher Bombs". They've been selling them in Eastern Europe since back during the Cold War. They're made of glass, and hung on the wall, and when there's a fire, someone throws it into the fire. Not quite as effective as a pressurized extinguisher for kitchen fires, but a pretty good idea, anyway.
personally, when I her that term, I think of the old greeks and such...
end of rant.
I have discovered a truly remarkable sig which this 120 chars is too small to contain.
I saw the headline and thought it was about fancy dances involving fire extinguishers. Imagine my disappointment...
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
Whoops, I misread "Thailand's 7-Eleven stores" as "Thailand's 7 ELVEN stores"!
I was really worried for a while there that our DM would get a hold of this article, and suddenly every damn Elf we fight has no trouble from my Burning Hands and Flaming Sphere spells...
Every month I have to walk some guy into the data center to inspect the fire extinguishers. Now he's going to ask to see my balls. Couldn't they have made them like Frisbees or something, heck anything, that's not so... personal?
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
With that hot-ass food, you need them in every 7-11!
-brain
This is not anything new, I have several of these in a wooden box with spray foam wrapped around them. They are filled with 1,1,1 trichlorethylene and shatter easily when thrown. The chemical acts similiar to halon in that it breaks the O2/fuel/heat triangle that fire needs to burn. These were not very effective in that the fire often overwhelmed the capacity of the glass bomb and it also released the TCE in a gas that was pretty lethal. these bombs were made back in the 1920's for small fires like one would see in a kitchen and were very common. They were outlawed in the 1950's because of the fume factor and the general incompetence of the users rendered them ineffective. Funny they are coming back. The Thai are going to learn a hard lesson with these....
-- Defenestrate Microsoft!
Just watched both versions of Rollerball. Now I'm imagining a game played with skates, motorcycles, napalm grenades and fire extinguisher balls. Mmmmmmm... napaaaalm.
I think the poster was trying to point out that something very similar was already invented over 100 years ago and that news article seems to be completely oblivious to that fact and giving the inventor a lot more credit than deserved. All he's done is taken the old glass bottles filled with chemicals idea and reinvented it with a modern flare. He didn't invent the wheel folks.
Besides, if fire fighters were going to carry catapults to launch these things into fires, they would have had catapults on fire trucks for the last 100 years.
I think that one post about hanging the glass bottles around a barn sounded like a good idea, it would be very cheap to implement and effectively put out small fires or at least slow down larger ones, perhaps giving residents more time to escape and for the fire department to show up.
Great balls of fire!
Around 1945 I lived in a well-built house in Springfield, Mass. that had one or two glass balls above the oil-fired furnace, filled with carbon tetrachloride. Each had a spring-loaded hammer restrained by a fusible link. The phosgene (iirc) and other nasty decomposition products were apparently not considered at the time. The wooden beams and flooring above the furnace area were protected by some predecessor of drywall. There was also a fusible link and cable for a gravity-operated shutoff for the oil tank, which was inside the cellar.
Enby in Waltham
The carbon tet. or chloroform probably has not changed composition. If it had, phosgene is much too nasty to risk exposure. It was a poison gas in WW I, fairly sure, and a nasty one.
Breaking them open in a field will let the contents contaminate groundwater. DON'T do it!
DON'T break or open them! Let the hazardous materials folks deal with them! Carbon tet. is probably worse than Freon for making ozone holes, and is Bad For Humans.
nbodley[at}world[dot}std[dot}com