Posted on 08/31/2010 11:16:54 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The 28 year-old suffered severe burns after attacking the arachnid with an aerosol can at his home in Clacton in Essex.
The man was summoned by his wife to deal with a spider she had seen scuttling behind the lavatory on Bank Holiday Monday. Not being able to reach it, the man decided to kill it by spraying it with the can.
However he was unable to see whether it was dead because the bulb in the bathroom light had blown. At this point he turned to a cigarette lighter to illuminate the room, but in the process ignited the gas fumes and caused an explosion.
The blast was so strong it blew the man off his feet and lifted the loft door off its hinges.
He suffered flash burns to his head, legs and torso and was rushed by ambulance to hospital after dousing himself in cold water.
A spokesman for Essex Fire Service said: "It appears the wife had spotted the creepy crawly in the bathroom and asked her husband to capture it.
"He sprayed it first with an aerosol where it was lurking behind the toilet bowl and when that didn't appear to work, he lit up his lighter to spread some light on the situation as the bathroom bulb had blown.
"There was an almighty explosion which blew the man back into his hallway and lifted the hatch on the loft.
"He did exactly the right thing by jumping into the shower and cooling his burns with cold water while his wife raised the alarm."
Firefighters administered emergency first aid at the scene while waiting for ambulance teams to arrive.
A spokesman added: "We're not entirely sure whether the spider got away or not but there was no sign of it at the scene."
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Ahhh Jolly Old England, the home of Darwinism.
He’s probably lucky he didn’t knock the flour tin off the top shelf before lighting up.
>> A spokesman added: “We’re not entirely sure whether the spider got away or not but there was no sign of it at the scene.”
Ah, the British wit.
Nitrous Oxide (AKA “laughing gas”) is often the propellant used for food stuffs. That's led to a lot of whipped cream sales — as huffers seek a cheap high.
Just one of the, seldom acknowledged, side-effects of environmental laws.
BTW, asthma suffers are paying a hefty premium for puffers, because CFCs can no longer be used in them. The substitute propellants are much more expensive.
Greeny effect ... butane is the propellant now, instead of flurocarbons.
Probably hairspray. Ever fired a potato cannon?
I use hairspray and leave lighters out of the mix.
Then I show hubby where to claim the carcass. :)
The key point being, you blowtorched him. Spray a bunch into the air then flick your bic and you have a pretty good imitation of a fuel-air explosion (i.e. mini-daisycutter).
Brilliant!
He's an idiot and tried to get the award, but he survived and therefore didn't remove himself from the gene pool. No Darwin Award... well, maybe if the flash burns were really bad below the belt he can get one.
Couldn’t he have just changed the lightbulb first? Or weren’t there two other people available to help him do it?
Could have simply been hairspray. Very expolsive.
Occasionally, they will build webs where I don't want them and I merely clean out the webs, usually when the spider is away. I swear they even have the sense to figure out where web building is not allowed, because I do not do it often.
I was once downstairs on the PC when I heard a large fly buzzing because it got tangled in the web. The spider was there in a flash to make sure the catch did not escape. It was rather fascinating to see how the industrious spider landed its prey.
I came to the conclusion that most spiders behave like conservatives, patient and industrious, whereas the vermin insects behave like liberals, stealing and polluting that which they did nothing to create. Now, if only we conservatives could think of a way to turn liberals into something useful they way that spiders do!
Well yeah, Flamethrowers are directed weapons. Fuel-Air explosives are area effect ordnance.
Not unless he fried his reproductive equipment beyond repair.
Many aersol contents are flammable - ie hair spray
also since Freon was banned many use hydrocarbons like butane are propellents
This guy and fried nipples kid should get together.
Point to you.
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