Things I learned from the movies.....

[Menard]

One thing I learnt that just occured to me recently, is that every good, funny, life-changing, hilarious or terrifying road trip involves someone dying...

BTW, good luck on your upcoming trip.

[iggy9919]

secret agents have the power to meet the hottest women, charm them within 30 seconds and have their clothes fall off shortly after

villians will ALWAYS capture the hero at some point in the movie, have the opportunity to kill them, but either launch into a detailed description of their plot, or come up with some complicated way to kill them, or both

gas tanks are made of papermache and any type of metal found near them creates sparks frequently.

the movie revolver contains 12-16 rounds, rather than the standard six and can be reloaded in under 5 seconds.

c-4 explosive can be ignited by flame and bullets, rather than an electrical charge as it was designed to be detonated by.

[ulthar]

c-4 explosive can be ignited by flame and bullets, rather than an electrical charge as it was designed to be detonated by.

Uh, been watching too many movies?  C4 is not detonated by electrical discharge.

[iggy9919]

i knew someone would have that to say.

ok, i read a couple posts that say it can be.  and we know it can be ignited with a blasting cap right?

anyway, my main point was i know fire and bullets for damn sure shouldnt set it off.

[Menard]

anyway, my main point was i know fire and bullets for damn sure shouldnt set it off.

You are going to hate this.

The world of bad mistakes with improvised munitions is filled with stories of 'accidents' with something which should not have set it off.

One guy put his semtex paste into an oven because it had too much moisture; he later remodeled his kitchen.

Another guy was trying to knead the plastique, but it was too stiff, so he used a hammer. They call him 'lefty' today.

There are two things which secondary explosive are sensitive to: shock (impact), and heat. A blasting cap produces both, but either one in the right proportion can set off a secondary explosive.

[ulthar]

anyway, my main point was i know fire and bullets for damn sure shouldnt set it off.

As Menard said (oh man, I am AGREEING with MENARD    ), yes, either can cause a secondary hi ex to detonate.  If you doubt that fire can cause a detonation, check out the Texas City disaster that happened in 1947.  Or more recently, the ammonium perchlorate plant that exploded in Utah a few years back.  Both were true detonations initiated by fire.  RDX is not immune.

As a matter of fact, I've got a copy of "Numerical Modeling of Explosives and Propellants" around here somewhere.  It contains pretty much a WHOLE CHAPTER on heat initiation.  To answer the other issue, there's also a whole section on impact initiation (such as by a bullet).  Hope this helps.

[Menard]

As Menard said (oh man, I am AGREEING with MENARD    )

Makes ya feel good, don't it.

I've got a copy of "Numerical Modeling of Explosives and Propellants" around here somewhere.

Really makes one wonder about you; among other things.

[iggy9919]

ok, i give up with the c-4.

have worked with ammunition, not explosives, so i must defer to others.  please delete that last line from my original post.

dammit!!!

[CheezeFlixz]

OFF TOPIC BRIEFLY as to the glories of Medieval Tooth Decay ...

Twelve skeletal samples, previously published, from the Arabian Gulf have been used to trace differences in diet and subsistence patterns through an analysis of dental pathology. The skeletons date from 3,000 BC to AD 1,500 and cover a variety of geographical locations: off-shore islands, Eastern Arabia, and Oman. The dental conditions analyzed are attrition, caries, calculus, abscessing, and antemortem tooth loss (AMTL). Results indicate four basic patterns of dental disease which, while not mutually exclusive, correspond to four basic subsistence patterns. Marine dependency, represented by the Ras el-Hamra population, is indicated by severe attrition, low caries rates, wear-caused abscessing, and a lack of AMTL. The second group of dental diseases--moderate attrition and calculus, low rates of caries, wear-caused abscessing, and low-moderate rates of AMTL--affects populations subsisting on a mixture of pastoralism or fishing and agriculture (Failaka, Umm an-Nar, Bronze Age Maysar, Bronze Age Shimal, and Iron Age Galilah). Mixed farming populations (Iron Age Maysar and Islamic Bahrain) experienced low-moderate attrition, high rates of caries and calculus, abscessing due to caries, and severe AMTL. The final group of dental diseases affects populations practicing intensive gardening (Bronze and Iron Age Bahrain, and Sites 3 and 5, Ras al-Khaimah). These groups experienced slight attrition, high rates of caries, low rates of calculus deposition, and severe AMTL.

Ref: Australian National University, Canberra

So there it is and for things I learned from movies ...

The hero can be shot multiple time in vital areas and survive, they can also be beaten with any heavy object and escape nearly unfettered. With proper motivation you can continue to fight with a 12" Bowie Knife puncturing your lung and/or heart.
You always get laid on the first date.

[JPickettIII]

The two most important things that I have learned from movies are:

1. Cops can go around killing bad guys with out blinking an eye or becoming depressed and no internal investigations.

2. Civilians that have a little bit of information about the possible monster, criminal, ghost or what-ever we be asked to come along on a military search and destroy mission or police man hunt.

Oh yeah,

3. The cops and or military seem to have the biggest and baddest weaponary on the spot.

Just my 2 pennies.

John

[Him]

On an alien planet, the punishment for any crime is death.

[T-Rex Television]

As long as you wear a black leather jacket, you will never get badly hurt. By fire, cuts, rugburn, whips, etc.

[ulthar]

Many cars and motorcycles have forty gears.

[JaseSF]

Most often if you're the main hero in a Kung Fu film, you cannot lose a fight no many how many villains are waiting in the wings to ambush you. 

[LilCerberus]

Any shotgun with a 16" barrel, using bird shot, is pinpoint accurate within, well, any range.