16 Apr
2004
16 Apr
'04
5:40 p.m.
From: "Jay West"
<jwest(a)classiccmp.org>
Hi
I used to make saltpeter and sugar rockets when I was a kid.
To bad one can't get saltpeter anymore without signing your life away.
I used to have about a 75% successful launch rate. The others
would tend to clog the nozzle and blow up on the pad. I even
made a two stage that the second stage went out of sight. A
couple minutes later, I saw the smoke trail and recovered the
top stage. All great fun.
Dwight
> Model Rockets, anyone?
That used to be
a HUGE hobby of mine. Haven't done anything with it in
years. I want SO bad to get back into it, and design heavier rockets than
balsa and cardboard. Need a better propellant though - love to try LOX. But
that's not the the real goal that makes me want to get back into it. I want
to program microcontrollers to launch inside of it and regulate movable
control surfaces. I want to paint a huge target on the ground (grass), and
the competition would be to see how close you could get the rocket to target
(and hit) the bullseye. Twould be fun stuff.
Jay
16 Apr
16 Apr
6:53 p.m.
New subject: DIY Saltpeter (was: Other collecting activities?)
Quothe Dwight K. Elvey, from writings of Fri, Apr 16, 2004 at 07:40:00PM -0700:
Hi
I used to make saltpeter and sugar rockets when I was a kid.
To bad one can't get saltpeter anymore without signing your life away.
Hay, why not just make your own, using easily obtainable materials
(e.g., horse manure, etc.)? :-)
I used to have about a 75% successful launch rate. The
others
would tend to clog the nozzle and blow up on the pad. I even
made a two stage that the second stage went out of sight. A
couple minutes later, I saw the smoke trail and recovered the
top stage. All great fun.
Years ago, as a teenager, I played with model rockets as well. Back
then, however, one could just walk into any reasonably well stocked
hobby shop and purchase the necessary supplies.
When talking with someone this past summer, while purchasing some
fireworks, I learned that one now has to go through a lot of
bureaucratic foolishness to obtain (or legally use?) the model rocket
engines. Seems to me that one should be able to launch whatever one
wants to in the air over one's own property... if it knocks down a
noisy trespassing airplaine, helicopter, etc., well, oops... the
airline, government agency, etc., being a noisy nuisance anyway,
should have asked permission to fly over one's property first. If the
overpaid dorks who live in the White House, in the District of
Cluelessness, USA, can have control over what flies over where they
live, so should the citizens!
--
Copyright (C) 2003 R. D. Davis The difference between humans & other animals:
All Rights Reserved | My VAX | an unnatural belief that we're above Nature &
www.rddavis.org | runs VMS & | her other creatures, using dogma to justify such
410-744-4900 | doesn't crash!| beliefs and to justify much human cruelty.
6:58 p.m.
New subject: DIY Saltpeter (was: Other collecting activities?)
On 16 Apr 2004 23:53:40 -0400
"R. D. Davis" <rdd(a)rddavis.org> wrote:
Quothe Dwight K. Elvey, from writings of Fri, Apr 16,
2004 at 07:40:00PM -0700:
Be careful now, you'll have the 'Homeland Security' folks shutting down all
the horse stables and impounding manure.
Hi
I used to make saltpeter and sugar rockets when I was a kid.
To bad one can't get saltpeter anymore without signing your life away.
Hay, why not just make your own, using easily obtainable materials
(e.g., horse manure, etc.)? :-)
7:09 p.m.
New subject: DIY Saltpeter (was: Other collecting activities?)
On Fri, 16 Apr 2004, Scott Stevens wrote:
On 16 Apr 2004 23:53:40 -0400
"R. D. Davis" <rdd(a)rddavis.org> wrote:
Heeeeeyyyy!!!! That's freakin' BRILLIANT!!! Tons and tons of HorseShit
dumped in/around Herr Ash-Krofft and his unruly band of
much-darker-than-red shirted thug^H^H^H^H NuPatryuts(tm).
Of course, having neither Humor, nor Brains, I'm afraid the irony would
be lost on them.
Doesn't keep it from being a most wonderful idea; one that the Equine
Husbandry folks might welcome as well... free mucking!
O well, this is hideously off topic.
Sue me...
Cheers
John
Quothe Dwight K. Elvey, from writings of Fri, Apr
16, 2004 at 07:40:00PM -0700:
Be careful now, you'll have the 'Homeland Security' folks shutting down all
the horse stables and impounding manure.
Hi
I used to make saltpeter and sugar rockets when I was a kid.
To bad one can't get saltpeter anymore without signing your life away.
Hay, why not just make your own, using easily obtainable materials
(e.g., horse manure, etc.)? :-)
17 Apr
17 Apr
6:38 a.m.
New subject: DIY Saltpeter (was: Other collecting activities?)
Quothe John Lawson, from writings of Sat, Apr 17, 2004 at 12:09:10AM -0400:
Heeeeeyyyy!!!! That's freakin' BRILLIANT!!!
Tons and tons of HorseShit
dumped in/around Herr Ash-Krofft and his unruly band of
much-darker-than-red shirted thug^H^H^H^H NuPatryuts(tm).
ROFL! Those people are far less patriotic than my toenail clipings.
Of course, having neither Humor, nor Brains, I'm
afraid the irony would
be lost on them.
True. ...and with their current crackdown on porn, I'm just waiting
for the humor-impaired DOJ to contact me about my hosting a copy of
the EMUSIC-L Digest from 1989, containing information about the
humorous Project SynthSex, on my web site.
http://www.rddavis.org/rdd/issue3-synthsex.txt
Doesn't keep it from being a most wonderful
idea; one that the Equine
Husbandry folks might welcome as well... free mucking!
What farm wouldn't appreciate that? I have to say that, even after
speding a year and a half taking care of a horse farm for someone, and
mucking stalls in freezing and humid 100 degree days, surrounded by
biting flies at times, that such tasks were more pleasant work than
working in the typical corporate office environment. I miss it.
Fresh outdoor air, surrounded by critters that are much easier to get
along with, and communicate with, and far more intelligent, than the
average human cow-orker, no flourescent lighting, having great fun
while working---like driving a tractor down the road, in low gear,
with a round bale of hay on the spear and making the impatient harried
suburbanites driving behind me drive real slowwwwwwwwwwwww. :-)
O well, this is hideously off topic.
Sue me...
Hey, it's actually still somewhat on-topic; we could use saltpeter to
dispose of vintage packaged Micro$oft software.
--
Copyright (C) 2003 R. D. Davis The difference between humans & other animals:
All Rights Reserved | My VAX | an unnatural belief that we're above Nature &
www.rddavis.org | runs VMS & | her other creatures, using dogma to justify such
410-744-4900 | doesn't crash!| beliefs and to justify much human cruelty.
16 Apr
16 Apr
7:31 p.m.
New subject: DIY Saltpeter (was: Other collecting activities?)
At 10:58 PM 4/16/04 -0500, Scott wrote:
Be careful now, you'll have the 'Homeland Security' folks shutting down
all the horse stables and impounding manure.
What? I thought they already were. Washington DC and every state
capital, county office and city hall is FULL of it! :-)
Joe
On 16 Apr 2004 23:53:40 -0400
"R. D. Davis" <rdd(a)rddavis.org> wrote:
> Quothe Dwight K. Elvey, from writings of Fri, Apr 16, 2004 at 07:40:00PM
-0700:
Hi
I used to make saltpeter and sugar rockets when I was a kid.
To bad one can't get saltpeter anymore without signing your life away.
Hay, why not just make your own, using easily obtainable materials
(e.g., horse manure, etc.)? :-)
17 Apr
17 Apr
6:13 a.m.
New subject: DIY Saltpeter (was: Other collecting activities?)
Quothe Scott Stevens, from writings of Fri, Apr 16, 2004 at 10:58:39PM -0500:
Be careful now, you'll have the 'Homeland
Security' folks shutting
down all the horse stables and impounding manure.
IIRC, in Baltimoron County, MD, one has to pay a licenced or certified
manure removal company to haul it away, and it's against the law to
just let people come and take it for their gardens, saltpeter, etc.
Not sure if the purpose of the law is related to the environment,
special interests (e.g. manure haulers) or the naziland security
rubbish. No real way that I can figure that they can enforce such an
insipid law though. Mountainous amounts can accumulate rather quickly
with only about 15 or so stabled horses.
--
Copyright (C) 2003 R. D. Davis The difference between humans & other animals:
All Rights Reserved | My VAX | an unnatural belief that we're above Nature &
www.rddavis.org | runs VMS & | her other creatures, using dogma to justify such
410-744-4900 | doesn't crash!| beliefs and to justify much human cruelty.
16 Apr
16 Apr
7:30 p.m.
Dwight K. Elvey wrote:
Hi
I used to make saltpeter and sugar rockets when I was a kid.
To bad one can't get saltpeter anymore without signing your life away.
I used to have about a 75% successful launch rate. The others
would tend to clog the nozzle and blow up on the pad. I even
made a two stage that the second stage went out of sight. A
couple minutes later, I saw the smoke trail and recovered the
top stage. All great fun.
Dwight
Why not turn your rocket hobby into profit. The X-Prize has not been
clamed yet. :)
For the the NON rocket-scientist type here is the link.
http://www.xprize.org/
Ben.
7:50 p.m.
At 10:30 PM 4/16/04 -0600, you wrote:
Oh yeah. Lets see you convince the Feds that that's all you wanted all
that saltpeter and sugar for! :-)
Joe
Dwight K. Elvey wrote:
> Hi
> I used to make saltpeter and sugar rockets when I was a kid.
> To bad one can't get saltpeter anymore without signing your life away.
> I used to have about a 75% successful launch rate. The others
> would tend to clog the nozzle and blow up on the pad.
That's what we used to refer as a bomb on a stick!
I even
made a two
stage that the second stage went out of sight. A
couple minutes later, I saw the smoke trail and recovered the
top stage. All great fun.
Dwight
Why not turn your rocket hobby into profit. The X-Prize has not been
clamed yet. :)
7402
days inactive
7403
days old
8 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
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bfranchuk＠jetnet.ab.ca -
dwight.elvey＠amd.com -
jpl15＠panix.com -
rdd＠rddavis.org -
rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com -
sastevens＠earthlink.net