Katie - Can you explain this?

[JPRoy392]

http://www.msnbc.com/msn/517442.asp

What are you wacko Californians trying to prove? Death by evoraporated milk???? I know that the electricity situation is stressful, but come on!

[barrk]

I don't think there is any explanation....just another sad, sick human that wasted his life. Lucky he didn't take any one else with him.

From CNN:
California Capitol scorched in fiery truck crash
January 17, 2001


The Sacramento Bee newspaper, citing unidentified sources, reported that the man was believed to be a 37-year-old parolee from Sacramento who had a long-standing grudge against the governor. The Bee said an official with the trucking company confirmed that the man was the driver assigned to that truck.

[Benjamin]

it's bad that the driver got killed... but those are soooo cool... Err. fuel air combustions I mean..

you can do a miniature model of what happened there by pouring some coffee creamer over a candle or other source of fire... well, you have to make sure it's in a cloud when it hits the flame...


like this:

       . . . . . . .         coffee creamer

   . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .


              ^    candle
             (|)
             | |
             | |

it's a really cool effect, one particle starts burning (Because it's alone and doesn't have all his friends to keep him nice and.. not burning.) then the next, then the next, etc... and you get this big whoooooosh, and a fireball.... and thats only from one table spoon of coffee creamer...

but you waste a lot of creamer trying to get it working....

I did this once for a science fair project.... I didn't even place.. I guess the judgese didn't like the idea....

[barrk]

Why coffee creamer...what's in dried milk that is combustible?

[Benjamin]

nothing... it's just when a particle is seperated from the others, it can be burned(it has nothing(such as other particles) to prevent it from burning).. and they all start burning, and it causes a cool chain reaction...

you should be able to do it with flour too, but I haven't been successful with it, because it clumps together....

In medieval Germany, it was against the law to have any
form of light source in a grain mill. Too much danger of
blowing up.

Of course, the only light sources were candles, lanterns and other things with open flames.

[barrk]

It a shame about what happened at the capitol but look at all the interesting stuff I'm learning because of it....lemonade from lemons...

[HarryW]

While on parole, he was convicted of corporal punishment of a child and was sentenced to six years

What do they mean? Is smacking your child illegal in California? Or do they mean he hit someone else's kid with a big stick or something?

[barrk]

Yes...smacking your kids is illegal in California.

[Benjamin]

I think smacking your kid is considered child abuse in the states....

[PJB]

although hitting someone else's kid with a big stick or something is quite alright

[barrk]

Smacking anyone, period, is illegal in California..

[Benjamin]

although hitting someone else's kid with a big stick or something is quite alright

oh, of course

[barrk]

I take it it's okay to smack kids in England??? Is the US the only country that has rigid child abuse laws? We also have similar elder and spousal abuse laws. Is it different elsewhere?

[Edited by barrk on 01-18-2001 at 03:15 PM]

[HarryW]

Well to be honest I don't know what the laws are nowadays, but it might be illegal I guess. I doubt it though. And I hope not.

"Rigid child abuse laws"? What I was thinking of was smacking a child as punishment, not very hard but hard enough to hurt a bit. I don't view this as child abuse, because I don't think it's detrimental to the childs life, quite the opposite if the parents are responsible about it. I think you do have to be careful about what you can and can't do, I mean there is a line where it becomes child abuse. When I was a child, my parents did smack myself and my siblings when they deemed it appropriate and I don't feel 'abused' at all.

[HarryW]

By the way, in case there's a misunderstanding, a smack is an open-handed slap.

[barrk]

I think the rules are a little outrageous myself....I don't think I was abused but I got my share of pops on the butt when I deserved them.

Any kid can pick up the phone and call Child Protective Services anytime they feel that they have been "abused". The CPS is bound to investigate by law. The first thing they do is remove the child from the household...then investigate...In some cases it's a good thing...in others it's just too much too soon.

[HarryW]

Okie... I'll shut up about it now I think

[JPRoy392]

Katie - is it illegal to smack yourself in California?

[PJB]

not illegal but ya could go blind

[JPRoy392]

I'll keep that in mind.