On why it's not always a good thing to live upstairs from one of your best friends

[xiphias]

IAN: "Hey, Lis?"
LIS: "Yes?"
IAN: "Will you be the voice of adult reason?"
LIS: "Um, sure. . . what's going on?"
IAN: "No, you don't understand -- I'm not going to tell you unless you promise NOT to be the voice of adult reason."
LIS: "Is this something dangerous?"
IAN: "Um. . . not really. . . "

IAN: "Well, Ben and I were downstairs, watching the candles. [ed. note: we don't leave our Hannukah candles burning unattended. Partially for safety, and partially because it's an excuse to just goof off for half an hour to an hour. And partially because the commandment of Hannukah is to, y'know, watch the candles and enjoy them.] And we were talking about flaming alcohol. And Ben mentioned that, one time, when he was bored in college, he figured out how to make a soda can into an alcohol lamp. He took a soda can, turned it upside down, put rubbing alcohol in the depression in the base, and lit it. And then we realized that you could put olive oil in that kind of depression, too. And if we could find a wick, then we could make an oil lamp."
LIS: "Have you done this yet?"
IAN: "Anyway, Ben and I realized that he has MORE than eight empty soda cans lying around, AND he has a hot-glue gun."
LIS: "You haven't done anything yet, have you?"
IAN: "Just proof-of-concept. We made an oil lamp out of one of the cans, and it works great, but we haven't made the hannukiyah yet. . . "

Comments

[redbird]

I'm fairly sure olive oil burns hotter than rubbing alcohol.

Doesn't Dave have cats?

[cheshyre]

Dave is no longer living with us.
The first floor is now rented by Ben, who's been Ian's best friend since, like, first grade...

[cheshyre]

Oh, and Ben does not have any cats.

[sarianna.livejournal.com]

Hahaha. That is AWESOME. =D

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Do it do it do it!

(Guess I'm not the voice of reason.)

[(Anonymous)]

make sure your fire insurance is paid

[madame-urushiol.livejournal.com]

Eh, do it. Just have the fire department's number on speed dial...

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Fourth grade.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Trust me, we are VERY up to date on fire insurance.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

They already know where our house is. They've been here before.

[tpau]

heh

medieval oil lamp = one jelly har filled to half with water. the a half inch of olive oil (which unsurprisingly floats on the water). then a circle of cork, witha brass disk on top. hole in middle of both disks. a bit cut off from a (new) rope-mop put through hole as wick. light. enjoy. self extinguishing if tipped over or when oil runs out. cool to hold, due to water beignall cooling and stuff. is awesome at pennsic. and at hannukah.

[madame-urushiol.livejournal.com]

Somehow, that does not surprise me one bit. ;)

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I may have friended you after April 14 of last year, when the first floor apartment burned.

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

Yes, but Boopsie's backup servant is going to be out of commission for a few weeks soon, so perhaps cautions would be advisable.

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

Any time you or your Dad say something "isn't really" dangerous, I start looking for a fire extinguisher and any other emergency equipment I can get my hands on.

Ian:fire::James Nicoll:personal injury

[cheshyre]

What's going on?

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

No big deal; I'm finally getting spayed.

[mattblum.livejournal.com]

I'm sure that would be a lot of fun, but do keep in mind that oil lamps were mostly used in the era before smoke alarms were in every home. Chanukah candles are mostly smokeless, but a homegrown oil lamp will almost certainly not be.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Early experimental results disagree. Worked like a charm. It gave a nice, well-controlled hannukah-candle sized flame. No smoke, no guttering, absolutley perfect.

That said, I may yet suggest that we go iwth tpau's idea of oil floating on top of water, instead.

[rebmommy.livejournal.com]

I use oil in my hanukkiyah - olive oil burns very cleanly, without smoke. We haven't had any smokey alarams, even on the last night of Hanukkah. I have little flame-proof glass globes that fit into the candle-holder spots. I fill them with olive oil and float a wick in a cork on top of the oil. I have extra corks and wicks for you, if you want some. I got mine at Israel Book Shop in Brookline, but I bet you could find them wherever they sell hanukkiyot. Not that I am encouraging you to destroy any empty cans, mind you - they can be turned in for money to put in the tzedakah box, you know.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Only ones that used to hold carbonated things. These are cans from energy drinks, iced tea, and things like that, which don't have can deposits in Massachusetts.

[rebmommy.livejournal.com]

ok then - fire away!

[temima.livejournal.com]

Out of curiosity, are glass bottles out? I assume plastic is bad, and metal is OK.

(Um, I should be discouraging you too, right?)

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

I'd put the whole thing in a big roasting pan over an inch of water in case something tipped, but I'm paranoid that way. I also think flames reflected in water are kind of pretty.

[mitchellf.livejournal.com]

Ooooh! I like that idea!

Now, I wonder if I can convince my soda-drinking friends to give me their empty cans? *attempts to look innocent*

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

For my shabbos candles, I use oil (I haven't gotten an oil chanukia yet). I put water in the cup, float oil over the top of it (not much oil), and user floating wicks. I imagine if you did that with the soda cans, it wouldn't be such a big deal. Can you get the floating wicks by you?

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Get or make, sure.

[cheshyre]

I'm more the voice of reason than your mother... Should this concern me?

[vonbeck.livejournal.com]

I would like to add that my idea for the hannukiyah is to stagger the cans
for stability. This could make it more stable than many traditional hannukiyah.

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

Possibly. She's been exposed to Ian and D- longer than you have. It may be communicable.

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

Are you taking off the tab rings? That might help the stability as well.

Okay, now you've gotten me drawn into the scheme. cheshyre may soon be a voice crying in the wilderness.

[vonbeck.livejournal.com]

Oh, taking off the ring tabs was the first thing done.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Yep, removing the tab rings was Step One.

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

I should have known, given that it's the two of you doing the designing. Are we going to get to see a pic of the finished product?

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Not much to see -- it's eight Sobe Iced Tea Gold cans, upside down, in a roasting pan, with wicks hanging off the sides of each one.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Once lit it will *definetely* be something to see.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Possibly. It probably shouldn't surprise you, though. :)

[(Anonymous)]

I never burned a house, well, maybe the office last year, but that wasn't my fault

[(Anonymous)]

Be gentle! I remember where your bodies are burried-D