Before some liberal misread my previous statement, let me hasten to clarify about throwing beer bottles from a vehicle.

a. The bottles were EMPTY
b. I didn't drink them.

I'm, a leftie so my car bottle chucking was best done while driving. Same as Canuck, I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from the co-pilot side. Never could figure that out either, the law of averages says I should get lucky once in awhile.

One memorable bullseye was while using grapefruits from the local orchards here in SoCal. We'd stop, load up with some ripe grapefruits off the ground and go looking for inviting targets. No loud crach like a bottle but them big grapefruits made a loud splat!! and sometimes they exploded like a juicy melon.

About half way through our load I spy this low billboard out in the boonies near Riverside. I accelerated and called "bingo" to my buddy. My buddy's lob was a bit high but connected with a loud splat. My chuck over the roof was lower and just caught the lower part of the billboard frame, sending grapefruit spraying all over the place. As we passed the billboard both of us caught sight of something low in front of the billboard, two tone in color.

It was a Riverside Co. cop writing some paperwork and enjoying his little break time in the shade. Buddy looked over at me and suggested we might want to engage warp drive. Last we saw of that cop was he pulled out and was looking up at the billboard I guess to figure out what had landed all over his car. He finally hit the lights to roll code and started to chase us but by then we were over the county line heading into Berdoo and safety.

You're supposed to drink beer out of CANS when driving. I can't believe you guys don't know this...

I should not be telling this story but it was worth a good laugh after the fact.

One night while out causing trouble me and a couple friends. We stopped at 7-11 and got some bottled juice. Once we hit the road again I took aim with my empty bottle at a road sign and missed. But my other friend knew there was an overpass coming up so he had the great idea of trying to hit the over pass just as we were going under it. So we opened the sun roof and he climbs on deck and takes aim at the over pass. He lets rip so things should all come together into a nice shower of glass for us to see. He tosses the bottle and nothing happens no bang no nothing. One second later BLAM!!!! there goes the front wind sheild. the bottle went clear over the over pass and landed on the front window.

what a calamity that was. we damn near shit our pants.

Called the cops though and reported it as some kid dropping rocks off the bridge on cars.

During my college days I took a friend rabbit hunting at night and he wanted to try his luck on running jackrabbits with my 38. About his third shot, he shot away my radio antenna at around 4 inches above the fender. (Back then, that's where they were located for all you youngsters. )

Anyway, I was a little ticked by the event and a bit more irritated that it never crossed his mind to offer to replace my antenna.

But as luck would have it, this guy and his dad owned a filling station in town. I was in there gassing up a few days later and Bernie was washing my windows for me. He forgot all about the antenna and as he maneuvered around the sharp stub of what was left, he drug his arm over the thing. He got a nice long gash across the underside of his right arm. The antenna cut him like a razor and I thought to myself. "Yep, paybacks are hell!"


[ 12-08-2002, 05:58: Message edited by: Pecos45 ]

When it comes to chuckin' beer bottles at signs, anyone who has even a modicrun of experience with such matters KNOWS that the best projectile for such sport is an empty LITTLE KINGS CREAM ALE bottle...

When I was in college I was quite adept at hittings signs from either side of the car. One of my buddies used to try it every night and could never hit one. Finally one night he was alone and threw one over the top of his car and hit one, just as he met the Sheriff. The Sheriff had a sense of humor and made him pick up all the glass, and he sat there and watched him do it.

Error. See below in italics.

quote:

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Originally posted by BBBruce (me):
[QUOTE]Question: Do the headlights illuminate -- and why, or why not?

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1.) The word "illuminate" is key. In order for light to illuminate it must leave the source, reflect off the object, return to the viewer's optic nerve and be processed to and by the viewer's brain. In order for the "illumination" to be effective, ie. for the viewer to be aware that something had been shown to him, it would have to illuminate long enough for his senses to be aware of the light and make sense of it as an illumination, even if the precise nature of the object was unclear.

2.) Since he is travelling at the same speed as the source of the light emission, his headlight would arrive at the object simultaneously with the light beam. No light would have time to reflect back to him and excite his optic nerve prior to the moment when his headlight passed the object (or when the object passed out of the light cone).

2.1) The above would only cause "illumination" if the light emitter shone at 90 degrees to its axis AND the axis of the object was such as to catch emitted light when the emitter passed it. If the object left the cone of light prior to the light passing the object, no light would reflect back to any viewer in the car at a time when the viewer was in position to see it unless the distance from exit point to light was less than the distance from viewer to light.

3.) In the instant between when the object passed out of his headlight but before the driver passed the object, light would presumably reflect back towards him at double the speed of light - a combination of his forward speed and the reflected speed of the light. There would be insufficient time or light available in that moment to permit any consciousness of illumination or vision.

3.1) As for the moment when the driver passed the lighted object, he would do so in 1/186,000th of a second, and would only be in viewing position that long IF the object was one mile in length with the mile long axis facing the driver. This speed of passage is faster than the length of time required for the light signal to be processed from his retina through his optic nerve to his brain. Therefore the driver would never experience "illumination."

4.) Once he passed the object, the reflected light would be unable to catch up to illuminate his optic nerve.

Does this shine any light on the Q?