Brushes with Disaster

Illustration by Nate Van Dyke

Illustration by Nate Van Dyke

Excerpt from the article:

Exploding Easter Egg
I once decided to streamline the Easter egg dying process by hard-boiling and dying an egg in one step in my mother’s microwave oven.

Steps in recreating my experiment:
1. Place egg and dying liquids in ceramic mug.
2. Place mug in Mom’s microwave.
3. Set power to high for several minutes.
4. Hear door blow off of microwave oven.
5. Clean purple egg off the kitchen ceiling.
6. Apologize profusely.

Oh yeah, I was approximately 30 years old when I attempted this feat of genius.
Gary Stager, Torrance, Calif.

2 thoughts on “Brushes with Disaster

  1. Kevin Marinelli says:

    When I was 16, I did a significant amount of tinkering to keep my mind occupied. Having ADHD and OCD can be a productive and useful combination if directed towards positive things like learning. This is my worst failed experiment from that period of adventure and learning.

    I decided to try to make my own “whipper snipper” from junk around the house. I knew that an electric “whipper snipper” used a handle, a switch to turn it on, and a motor with an attached poly string to cut the grass. I came up with a very simple design which called for mounting the motor on a shovel handle and attaching the on/off switch to the end of the handle.

    WARNING! Do not use an aluminum shovel handle and attach the motor with wire through the motor core!

    Yep, I made a live inductor circuit through the shovel handle. While the electric motor worked and had enough power to cut grass, grabbing the handle was quite a shocking and enlightening experience!

    That was when I learned a good lesson about failed experiments. Learn from your mistakes, and do not repeat them…ever, if at all possible! Now that I am in my 50’s I am glad to have had my early learning experiences, since I am getting back into doing creative DIY projects.

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Mark Frauenfelder is the founding Editor-in-Chief of Make: magazine, and the founder of the popular Boing Boing blog.

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