Natural Selection at work...

[ViRaL1]

Note to self: Flashlight wouldn’t ignite pants
Thief allegedly spills gas while siphoning, uses lighter to check wetness

GILLETTE, Wyo. - A teenage boy accidentally set himself on fire early Wednesday morning after allegedly trying to siphon gas from a firefighter's car.

Police first learned of the injury after a 17-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy claimed that someone had thrown gasoline on the 17-year-old at the Common Cents service station and lit him on fire, said Lt. Rod Hauge.

The boy was taken to the hospital with second- and third-degree burns on his legs. Police were called to the hospital to investigate the incident and later learned that the 17-year-old spilled gas on his pants while siphoning. He then used a lighter to try to determine how wet his pants were and set himself on fire, Hague said.

Both boys have been ticketed with larceny, Hauge said.

[offline]

At that age the frontal lobe is still under development and is also subject to various neurochemical imbalances. The net result is that executive functions (the cognitive ability to construct possible future consequences from current actions) are impaired. This explains the above, and also my own experiences where at around 15 years of age:

a) I stuck a knife in a toaster to see if it was working (it was).
b) I cut a bread roll in half over a power cord (blowing the knife out of my hands)

Of course there are more personal examples I could admit to, or have seen from others; but my point is this sort of behavior is common in teenagers, although the above example seems rather extreme. His jeans maybe fried, but his genes are probably ok.

[ZAPPER]

It is amazing that so many kids make it to adulthood.

[SquirrelDip]

It's amazing how many adults remain in childhood... Mostly the males...

<Wife maintains that she has three children - I fit in between the 5 year old and the 17 year old, somewhat closer to the 5 year old>

[ZAPPER]

Sooooo...

Once upon a time, as teenagers we were out for a night of summer cruzin'. Being teenagers, we had to alot our money just right. Beer, dope and gas (back when the dope wouldn't kill you) So we decided that being one of our group had a car in the lot at the repair shop with a full tank of gas (the car was probabally there because of beer and dope) we would go by the body shop and siphon out the gas of our buddys' car and put our cash to better use. Well the brains of the operation got the hose from his garage and being it was his hose he got to do the siphoning. After a few minutes of his best efforts he came to the conclusion that there was no gas in the tank because he couldn't get any out.

Another budy and I were like armchair coaches trying to tell the other guys how to do it. Now the owner of the full tank of gas insisted that it was a full tank and was giving it his best attempt. :P

I insisted that he had to maintain the vacume by putting his tounge over the hose between draws while my other buddy was saying that you don't even have to suck, you can blow. (Which is true if you can seal the filler tube well enough with a rag or your hand, you can pressurize the tank enough to get the gas to come out of the hose long enough to start a siphon) But, being that I and my armchair coach buddy didn't have a stake in this, we were told to shut up in no uncertian teenager terms!

No matter how much blowing or sucking went on, no gas was coming out.

It turns out that the hose was so old and rotted that it had cracks all over it and there was no way a siphon could be established. But damn, those two got a good gas buzz

[Doramius]

This is why I always took my parents' siphon and attached a hose to it. NO need for sucking, just a few light squeezes.

As a teenager I did learn to check and make sure it is a cow before tipping. (If it's a Bull, you better run like the wind. And electric fences don't do s**t to a mad bull. )

[AlecWest]

Back when I was about 10 and my older brother was 12, my stepdad and mom were shopping around for a berry farm they were thinking about buying. One they looked at was in Central Oregon, right next to a small cattle ranch. Anyhoo, my older brother had to take a leak so he went over to the fenceline and pissed - only to discover that the fence was electrified.

Hehe, my brother was moaning and writhing on the ground and I was laughing my ass off. But, when my stepdad and mom found out what happened, they admonished me for laughing at my brother and told me to wait in the car. So, I went back to the car. I got inside but, as I closed the door, I accidentally slammed it shut on my thumb. My mom told me (ahem) it was God's way of punishing me for laughing at my brother.