h a l f b a k e r yPoof of concept
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There's a kind of skipping with a skipping rope and multiple
people and playground songs that used to be done by (mostly
girls) in the 70's and is hardly done at all now (I think). Thus,
it is ripe for resurrection as a fad exercise regime (like yoga,
pilates, zumba, etc.) to be sold with special
equipment and
classes to those who remember this as part of the school
playgrounds of their youth. Naturally, to allow it to be
trademarked, the spelling of "skipping" has to be changed
slightly.
I predict it'll be the new Jazzercise.
Skip-Its
https://youtu.be/UxSq6XDvBwo
Pretty well organized program [reensure, Oct 06 2020]
Belfast Street games
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dp5EyR015Mw
some skipping amongst other games [xenzag, Oct 06 2020]
Small private skipping booths available for rent
https://www.amaskiphire.co.uk/
A properly branded Skippyng™ venue could be easily hired by a parent willing to provide a safe and dedicated Skippyng™ activity location for their kids. [zen_tom, Oct 06 2020]
"Braver men walk away"
https://www.amazon....d=1602259028&sr=8-1
Autobiography of a survivor. [8th of 7, Oct 09 2020]
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Not kangaroo impressions, then ? |
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I still skip sporadically, when feeling silly. I don't, nor have I
ever, Skippied anywhere at any time. It would be juvenile and
spasmodic of me to sally my way slowly down the sidewalk,
skippyng. She said. (Yoga is a 2000-year-old fad, I guess). |
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combine skipping rope with "Pokemon Go" gameplay for
maximum popularity |
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I've managed to skip Yoga for my entire life. Does that
count? |
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I recall as a child, groups of girls skipping with a
long rope out on the street. They would line up
and sing a song as they danced in and out of the
spinning rope. A song that was often heard was
"The dusty blue bells" (I'll see if I can find an
example of what I'm describing) Boys never
skipped. We had other street games. |
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//Boys never skipped// I skipped with my mother and sisters when we were all much younger! 2 ropes going in opposite directions. |
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//Boys never skipped// - we did - we skipped as part
of PE lessons at school; the kind of fast skipping
that boxers do to warm up |
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Boys never skipped where I grew up, or risked
being called a 'sissy'. (horror of horrors) Instead of
that, we made flame throwers using a mixture of a
type of white granules plus sugar. Only the older
boys knew the mixture and you would have gotten
your head kicked in if you gave it up. (It was
probably fertilizer) This later became known as
"the co-op mix" when the paramilitaries emerged.
The flame throwers we made consisted of a copper
pipe hammered flat at one end, then packed with
the secret mixture. Handles were attached so that
your hand didn't get roasted, and to make it look
more like a weapon. When lit, the resulting flame
roared out for about 20 seconds. Later versions
were hammered flat at both ends and that's a
whole other story.... eventually several of my
friends did time for being very, very, bad boys. |
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Those songs we sang while jumping rope, and sometimes
skipping were such duds. However, they stuck in your head
like cement to a sidewalk. For days and days and days, and
then some more days... |
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[bliss] I'm pretty sure that early-80's pop group The
Belle Stars reworked some of those songs as
commercial hits - look for The Belle Stars
performances of "The Clapping Song" and "Iko Iko" on
YouTube |
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// known as "the co-op mix" // |
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"Co-Op mix" is indeed an extemporised explosive, but that's not the formula for it. |
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If using sugar as the fuel (icing sugar is best) then the oxidising agent is either sodium chlorate based weedkiller (low yield) or an ammonium nitrate fertilizer (better). Adding the correct amount of diesel fuel or kerosene, and a bit of carbon black (powdered charcoal is best) ups the performance quite usefully. |
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Most makers don't realize the importance of fine grinding and sieveing of the components, getting the ratios right, and the need for extremely thorough mixing- with disappointing results. |
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Then again, when It All Goes Horribly Wrong, they usually escape with severe burns rather than traumatic amputation, so maybe in some ways that's a good thing... |
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It was definetly the weedkiller variety we used. |
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I enjoyed "Iko Iko", but now it won't leave me alone. Heeeelp. |
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[bliss] - yes, I should have warned you... |
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Ha, stories of being kids and misbehaving in dangerous ways are always good to hear. I was
lucky enough to grow up near a great stretch of heathland bordered by woods where boys (and
sometimes girls) could get up to all manner of tomfoolery, as long as they got home for
dinner. I remember being in an exhilarating firework-in-drainpipe bazooka battle with a rival
group of boys out in the woods, and a failed rocket experiment using green fertiliser-mix,
which went "All Horribly Wrong" igniting one boy's trousers so entirely, they had to be
thrown in a pond. |
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Excellent. We used an aluminium vacuum cleaner
pipe as a bazooka and fired rockets from it. These
were quite scary as they shot across the local
playing field parallel to the ground. |
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Placing a 13kg Butane cylinder in the centre of a field and building a bonfire on and around it will produce a spectacular BLEVE. |
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It will also hurl ragged shards of twisted steel around at velocities such that they can embed themselves to half their depth in a mature hardwood tree. |
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The noise is surprisingly loud, and the fireball is visible for some distance. This tends to attract unwanted interest. |
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Ha - believe it or not my dad did this with me
when I was about 14 years old. He used a small gas
cylinder and we hid behind some rocks at the base
of a cliff. The resulting bang was impressive and
the police came around later that day looking for
the source. I was sworn to secrecy so that my mum
would not find out. We were on a family holiday at
the time. Happy days. My dad was bonkers. |
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// we hid behind some rocks at the base of a cliff // |
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The Butane cylinder was the culmination of a long series of experiments using cans of increasing size. Early on, it was established that even the smallest size of Camping Gaz Bleu canister emitted potentially lethal shrapnel when it burst. |
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Subsequent experiments involved the team sheltering in a deep, dry drainage ditch, and donning a assortment of metallic headgear and goggles, ranging from a superannuated aluminium pan to the high-status headgear of a genuine WW2 ARP steel helmet. |
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Indisputably. Even happier days when the eager pyromaniac experimenter is given actual explosives and told by the training NCO to "go and blow that up". |
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// My dad was bonkers. // |
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There's clear evidence for inherited traits there. |
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[8th] you should go into some kind career advisory
position -I'd imagine you'd generate some interest.
How come nobody at school ever suggested
"explosives expert" at Careers Day? |
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Because explosives engineers tend to self-select, and are a rare and very specific personality type. |
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There are jobs that you do - driver, architect, gardener, salesperson - and there are things that your are - doctor, pilot, trawlerman ... and explosives engineer. It's the difference between a career and a vocation. Not everyone - indeed, very few - can do it; those that do find that it isn't a job, but a way of life. You need a very specific world view that can't be taught or trained in. |
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That's also true for some sorts of software engineer, where a smattering of Aspergers syndrome is almost mandatory ... |
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Would you sign up for a job where when you go out to work you're far from sure you'll ever come home ? |
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To be honest, I'd probably think twice about that - but then again, there is the opportunity to blow stuff up. |
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Much like as with software, I imagine dealing with content you've crafted yourself is very different emotionally, compared to having to
gingerly poke around in something that someone else has put together... I'm sure I'd not want to have to do that (in either context). There is
a certain thrill of turning something on that's just been promoted to production, which if not entirely life-threatening is quite exhilarating
- which I'll deludedly cling to as being similar, in the absence of never actually having had the experience of professionally blowing
anything up to compare it against. |
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Don't be deceived; we have on occasion blown things up amateurishly, too ... |
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If you're the type who gets emotional about stuff, you can't do the job. |
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There's never a problem training candidates who want to muck about with explosives. Teach all comers ... because there are no lazy, thoughtless, slapdash explosives engineers. They don't exist - at least, not for very long. It's an incredibly unforgiving occupation. One mistake is enough - no second chances, ever. |
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Also, <link>. A very worthwhile if uncomfortable read. |
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Thanks for the recommendation, it's now on my Christmas
list. |
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