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Home Made Star Wars Movie Injury

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.

34 of 734 comments (clear)

  1. Glow Sticks by Rolyat69 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Why oh why didn't they just use Glow Sticks? Here is a nice article on how they work. Crack them, cut them open, and dump into some sort of clear plastic tubing and seal. From what I understand, Glow Sticks are nontoxic and come in nifty colors! I guess the force just isn't that strong with them. :)

    --
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    1. Re:Glow Sticks by AndroidCat · · Score: 5, Funny

      Why not just pack the tubes with radioactive material and heavy water? Or Radium and Zinc Sulfide for that retro-look Undark glow? (Risk doesn't seem to be a problem for them.)

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
    2. Re:Glow Sticks by javamann · · Score: 5, Funny

      Last year on the 4th of July we were driving back from the fireworks. My son was chewing on a glow stick in the car. I warned him that they could break but being a kid he didn't listen. As soon as we stop at home I hear this 'eeewwwww' from the back and when he got out both his mouth and shirt were glowing. That was a Kodak moment.

    3. Re:Glow Sticks by e_slarti · · Score: 5, Funny
      First sign of why you should ignore an overly-judgemental poster: "Anonymous Coward".

      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.

    4. Re:Glow Sticks by javamann · · Score: 5, Funny

      Dude, either you don't have children, or you are one of those parents whose children do no wrong. You know the type, no matter what the child does, it's not their fault. These are the kids that grow up, start a war, and then never admit they screwed up.

    5. Re:Glow Sticks by AndroidCat · · Score: 5, Interesting

      "Tritium requires a $40,000 dollar license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, with secure facilities and weekly medical exams because of its radioactivity. Don't even think about trying to get Tritium. It is dangerous and illegal." (And this from people doing home-built fusion reactors!)

      --
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  2. Yay, validation! :P by coupland · · 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*

  3. By now obligatory by jaymzter · · Score: 5, Funny

    Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

    someone had to do it.

    --
    If thou see a fair woman pay court to her, for thus thou wilt obtain love
  4. Yeah... by Kaisum · · Score: 5, Funny

    The force was strong with that petrol.

  5. Are people really this stupid? by yotto · · Score: 5, Funny

    I feel bad for these guys and their injuries, but do people NOT know that you don't light glass tubes of gasoline on fire?

    How did these guys make it this far into life?

    And, lastly, where's the video?

    1. Re:Are people really this stupid? by digidave · · Score: 5, Funny

      I used to work in a party supply store and had a lady who was looking at our plates, which are available in plastic or paper. She asked me if we had any clear paper plates just like the clear plastic ones.

      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.

      --
      The global economy is a great thing until you feel it locally.
    2. Re:Are people really this stupid? by Harassed · · Score: 5, Funny

      Personally I think it's disgusting that the manufacturer of the fluorescent tubes didn't provide explicit warnings that filling their tubes with fuel was likely to cause injury. In fact, if I was a) in the US and b) one of the injured parties then I would seriously consider sueing. Maybe enough other people have also been injured in that way that they could start a class action suit.

    3. Re:Are people really this stupid? by alc6379 · · Score: 5, Funny
      Or perhaps he was the "third party" giving technical advice.

      I can see it now!

      Make a noise like this now! ZEWWEEWWEWWWEWW

      Now, you do like this: SCCHHHHHHH! PSSSH!

      ...and then I'll come in like, "CHAAAA ISSSSSH, SSSSHAAAAHHH ISSSSSHHH!"

      --
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  6. A lesson to be learned for jedis and fans alike: by Borg453b · · Score: 5, Funny

    Mess with the force, and you're bound to get burned.

    --

    - Mad, ingenous - they've both left you puzzled -
  7. Talk about doing it the hard way! by BandwidthHog · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The bitch of it is that in my high school electronics class, when we covered Tesla Coils and Van de Graff Generators, our teacher showed us how to have a light saber fight by holding a flourescent tube in one hand and the center tap of a Tesla Coil in the other. Sure, you've gotta be careful not to break the thin glass tube, but at least the results aren't quite so nasty if you do. Probably looks more convincing as well.

    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.

    --

    Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
  8. Positive Side-Effect by catdevnull · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now they won't need make-up for Anakin's "Burn" scene.

    [-4 Poor Taste]

    --

    I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
  9. Questioning Third person by bitswapper · · Score: 5, Funny


    "Police say a third person present at the incident was questioned."

    Who found the cops' lack of faith disturbing...

    1. Re:Questioning Third person by Ruprecht+the+Monkeyb · · Score: 5, Funny

      He probably just waved his hand and said 'I'm not the third-party you're looking for.'

  10. Slightly more information by gowen · · Score: 5, Informative

    From The Currant Bun and The BBC.

    NB : Before you make any cheap cracks, the people involved are seriously injured.

    --
    Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
    1. Re:Slightly more information by technomancer68 · · Score: 5, Funny

      And I don't think a dude and a dudette deserve to die because they used an astonishingly-ill-designed fake lightsabre.

      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!" .. you might want to sit and think about it a little while.

      I'm from the southern US, and anytime I hear the words "Hey ya'll watch this!" .. I run!

      --

      The Technomancer
      "Men of lofty genius when they are doing the least work are most active."-
    2. Re:Slightly more information by BigDogCH · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm from the southern US, and anytime I hear the words "Hey ya'll watch this!" .. I run!

      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.

    3. Re:Slightly more information by swillden · · 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.

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      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  11. hmm by Tebriel · · Score: 5, Funny

    the dumb is strong in these two...

    --
    The Blaster Master Fighting for Truth, Justice, and Evil Pie since 1979
    1. Re:hmm by turgid · · Score: 5, Funny
      the dumb is strong in these two...

      The farce, surely?

  12. Stupid Star Wars stunt, in the woods... by blcamp · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...Any chance they are distant ancestors of Jar Jar Binks?

    --
    The problem with socialism is that they always run out of other people's money. - Margaret Thatcher
  13. Fluorescent light tubes?! by TomorrowPlusX · · Score: 5, Funny

    OK, sure, I've had some fun with pyrotechnics. My father -- being a machinist -- had welding equipment, so he and I would fill balloons with mapp gas and oxygen and would shoot them with burning bolts from a home-made crossbow. Good times. Not to mention my blacksmith uncle who would, on the fourth of july, take a special anvil he'd hollowed out the bottom of and fill the hollow with gunpowder. You can imagine the fun. Again, good times.

    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.

    --

    lorem ipsum, dolor sit amet
  14. Flourescent Tubes by bsd4me · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Flourescent tubes will also glow if you hold them while standing under high-tension power lines.

    --

    (S(SKK)(SKK))(S(SKK)(SKK))

  15. Gotta be said... by StuffJustHappens · · Score: 5, Funny

    Use the Extinguisher Luke...

    --
    --What's this sig thing all about then? Should I have one?
  16. When there is glass and burning petrol by Analogy+Man · · Score: 5, Funny

    A fool and his eyebrows are soon parted.

    --
    When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
  17. Napalm? by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 5, Informative
    According to an article in The Sun about this,
    "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

  18. What about his friend by Darthmalt · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ah yes the famous lastwords of a redneck. But how many know the last words of his friend?

    Around here "hey Yall watch this" Is usually follwed by "aww heck I can do that"

  19. Re:Obsession with All Things "Star Wars" by sickofthisshit · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "Star Wars" is a good sign for Western society....We support democracy.

    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.

  20. REPOST! by MuMart · · Score: 5, Funny
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