Fire Breathing
Francis Favorini
A (lunatic) friend of mine has some questions:
What fuels are good to use? Why?
What fuels should he avoid? Why?
Know any cool tricks/effect you're willing to part with?
What are the long-term health risks?
I believe he's tried kerosene and straight gasoline.
Thanks.
--
______________________________________________________________________________
Francis Favorini favo...@cs.yale.edu
favo...@yalecs.bitnet
...!yale!favorini
(thomasl)
summer is here
we are firing up the barbeque and
passing torches and breathing flames
in the interest of assisting pyromaniacs everywhere
here is a brief chart, outlining possible fuels
noting the benefits and drawbacks to each
be sure to grab the torch and firebreathing help files from the archives
before you engage in these dangerous but wayfun activities
i hope that the chemists out there
such as phil san-miguel
can improve this list
clarify any inaccuracies
and add additional information
CHART:
Fuel Benefits Drawbacks
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Kool-aid Great colors, even Doesn't burn for shit
before lit
Tastes good
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Water Extremely Safe Doesn't burn for shit
Quenches thirst Impresses Noone
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Coleman's Not as carcinogenic Very flammable, and hence
Fuel or damaging to optic dangerous, as quick back
(white gas) nerve as most fuels flashing can torch your face
and hair.
Relatively Tasty,
for one of the flammable
fuels (less greasy, doesn't coat tongue)
Nice bright orange fire-ball,
really visible
Less smokey and greasy, doesn't
crud up torches as many fuels do
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nail polish Burns cleanly Damages optic nerve, so
remover that, in time, you
(Acetone) Smells nice won't be able to see anything
dimmer than a burning torch
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kerosine Not as flammable as Greasy fuel burns smokey and black
Coleman's, so it's safer
Not very tasty -- yech! *spit*
Cruds up torches
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alcohol Safer, relatively non- Flame is nearly clear, and hence
(Everclear) carcinogenic difficult to see in the daytime,
making it not only unspectacular,
but downright dangerous for
the performer
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lighter Conveniant and Tastes Terrible
Fluid Close-to-hand at
cookouts Bad for you
Cruds up torches and is hard
to light, as anyone who has tried to start a barbecue knows
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
(thomasl)
i think those of us who were there last year will never forget it
try as we might
and the previous year was wickedgood fun, too
i will trade you one cindy marvel dancing about with her sari falling
off, waving a scarf about artistically, and holding a ball.
and with a very bad case of VPL.
oh god. i guess i am only slightly more tolerant of sloppy modern
interpretive dance than i am of hefty women taking real estate
classes, or going to law school.
that was her second piece
the first piece was the same old damn thing:
prancing about with the same routine, while her hair falls down
with yet another attempt at lending interest to the same good tricks
presented in a totally mind-numbing fashion with no energy through some weird
obscure music
which at least gives us something to think about, as we watch.
in this case, it was a pal of hers chasing her about with a tribal
drum.
yeah, it was the feminist theatre portion of the evening.
this is the kind of thing i avoid going to, because i am not a member
of a supportive community of amateurs. what? you mean i am? and i am
supposed to nurture and respect each and every one, no matter how
hideous the attempt? ok, i resign. i will book my ticket for vegas
and professionalism immediately. if you hit the stage, then by gosh
please entertain us. do not presume upon friendship. time enough for
that when i attend my kid's christmas pagaent.
why do i respect her so much in the gym
where she is a truly great juggler
and hate her so much when she is on stage?
note that the highlights for me, at d.c., were
too much magic and cindy marvel
the m.c. only really insulted a couple of people
one of whom was a great unicyclist who
unfortunately got screwed when
the wrong track of her cd got played by mistake
leaving her to ride around in circles waving her hands and pouffing
out her lips in a strange manner, staring intently at the audience
with her eyebrows raised mysteriously
for about 14 minutes longer than she had intended
she ran out of tricks after the first 3 minutes
they were good tricks while they lasted and
it was really quite a nice uni act, very fluid and graceful
jeff the guy who won a trophy in atlanta absolutely stepped all over
his best joke, causing many of us great amounts of pain and anguish
in a different vein
there was a great comic magician
mike the clown (mike grossman) does a great act too
the bookies cleaned up taking bets on whether
a) he meant to break that rollabolla board and
b) his table would collapse, and he would be either
1) a quadropelegic
or
2) a parapelegic
steve "i am a classy guy, yeah, I'M an artist" ragatz
did a beautiful job with the diabolo, and his music didn't deafen us
and there was an incredibly great 13 year old gymnist
who won everyone's heart (especially fritz's)
when she stuck herself backward through a tube
it was a great act, really fun, and she showed lots of style
and flexibility
clockwork had some new moves with their flowerpots
all in all it was well worth the price of admission
Andrew John Conway
thomasl!!!!!
How could you trash the divine Cindy Marvell like that????!!!!
I loved it <grin>
You're quite right, of course. I have always admired Cindy
as a technical juggler, and disliked her as a performer.
The year she won the Nationals I was rooting for Larry V.
Frank Olivier wanted to be a stylish juggler when he was a
kid, too, but he gave it up and became a comedy juggler
when he worked out that his body just didn't move that way.
Cindy has the same problem. She has all that technique,
but has not yet found the right way to present it.
I was going to send this as an e-mail reply, but I decided
that we are not doing Cindy any favors by keeping this
a secret from her.
Andrew Conway
con...@cup.portal.com
pmi...@bilbo.bio.purdue.edu
>i hope that the chemists out there
>such as phil san-miguel
I'm not a chemist. You must be confusing me with Boppo.
It's methanol, not acetone, which is especially damaging to
the optic nerve and retina. Acetone is considered a carcinogen
now, however.
Unlike juggling torches, fire-breathing (or even just fire
eating) has the potential of destroying your lungs (if you accidently
inhale) or poisoning you over a long (or not so long) period of time.
Any fuel is likely to be a carcinogen -- even if it is not considered
to be so now.
Phillip
Rebecca Hunter
> jeff the guy who won a trophy in atlanta absolutely stepped all over
> his best joke, causing many of us great amounts of pain and anguish
For those of us who weren't in Atlanta and missed it at DC -- what was the
joke? Or is it one of those where "you gotta be there?"
> in a different vein
> there was a great comic magician
> mike the clown (mike grossman) does a great act too
Mike Rosman, I believe.
> the bookies cleaned up taking bets on whether
> a) he meant to break that rollabolla board and
> b) his table would collapse, and he would be either
> 1) a quadropelegic
> or
> 2) a parapelegic
No he didn't, and stage crew were laughing so hard they had tears rolling
down because that sort of stuff ALWAYS HAPPENS TO MIKE! ;-) He is, however,
trying to find a safe convincing way of accidentally breaking his
bollaboard for future performances.
> steve "i am a classy guy, yeah, I'M an artist" ragatz
> did a beautiful job with the diabolo, and his music didn't deafen us
Hear, hear; very impressive and one of the best acts. You could hear the
jugglers in the audience thinking, "hey, that's good -- no wait, that's
IMPOSSIBLE! How does he -- OH!" (He ties his diabolo string in weird
places thus achieving never-before-seen tricks.)
For those of you who didn't make it to DC -- it was smashing! Absolutely
great attendance for a first-annual (200+ jugglers signed in) and yes
we ARE GOING TO HOLD IT AGAIN NEXT YEAR!
-Becky
USDJ, Washington, DC
rhu...@kosmos.agu.org
--
The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Campus Office for Information
Technology, or the Experimental Bulletin Board Service.
internet: laUNChpad.unc.edu or 152.2.22.80
Chris LaReau
>For those of you who didn't make it to DC -- it was smashing! Absolutely
>great attendance for a first-annual (200+ jugglers signed in) and yes
>we ARE GOING TO HOLD IT AGAIN NEXT YEAR!
Becky could be accused of bias since she is somewhat responsible for the
thing, but I would like to say publicly that it was absolutely GREAT and
well worth the drive. I'll be there next year.
BTW, did _anyone_ go to Spring Fling? I've been dying to hear the lowdown...
Chris
-----------------------
Chris LaReau chr...@wri.com (working for, not speaking for) ...
Wolfram Research Inc. 100 Trade Centre Dr. Champaign IL 61820 (217) 398-0700
"Would it save you a lot of time if I just gave up and went mad now?" - A. Dent
pmi...@bilbo.bio.purdue.edu
>For those of you who didn't make it to DC -- it was smashing! Absolutely
>great attendance for a first-annual (200+ jugglers signed in) and yes
>we ARE GOING TO HOLD IT AGAIN NEXT YEAR!
150. But I agree, it was great attendance and a very good fest.
Phillip
Rebecca Hunter
Well, yeah, but to tie the two threads together, I was including the
_children_ jugglers! ;-)
I guess I shouldn't have said "signed in" 'cause about a third of our local
jugglers didn't and I counted them too; when we passed out those ridiculous
"juggler's raffle tickets" at the gymnasium door we had allotted 250; there
were 28 left over. Oh well -- roughish estimate but it _was_ over 200.
And then there was the newspaper reporter who said she walked into the gym
and saw a "kaleidoscope of jugglers" -- nice image. We had a definite
neverthriving!