David Hahn: The Radioactive Boy Scout | Random Thursday

[@iVardensphere]

He was a bright guy... especially at night

[@memyself8043]

that comment made my day

[@dariuspringle3049]

*iVardensphere* _Keep your day job._

[@iVardensphere]

@@dariuspringle3049 😂😂😂

[@sinoskopyasky]

Lmao

[@thingsiplay]

Didn't expect this coming. :D you got me

[@aohige]

"HOW are we still a species" I question that every day, my man.

[@_shadow_1]

@@Ozzymandius1 The problem with that is that stupidity is a global phenomenon

[@bikerfirefarter7280]

@@_shadow_1 it appears to be very infectious too.

[@danmadefurniture]

not for too much longer i'd guess

[@bryanc1975]

Well, we're all here, so it must not have been that bad.

[@Celisar1]

Because stupidity has stopped interfering with procreation.

[@chrislaidlaw3308]

Grew up in 60's and 70's. Had a chemistry set like that, a geiger counter, and a bottle of radium. We painted ghosts on the walls of our room that glowed in the dark. My brother actually painted it on his face so he would glow in the dark... (the bones in my legs would set off the geiger counter). Melted lead to make art projects, played with vials of mercury, chunks of sodium and lithium, made explosions with gun powder from shot gun shells, made strong electromagnets by wrapping wire around a metal pipe and plugging it into 110. Hard to believe we are both still healthy.

[@mikeschannel1616]

It sucks all that stuff was taken off the market when I grew up in th 90s

[@heatwad1017]

It kinda scares the fuck outta me to think that back in the day if you bought a certain type of science or chemistry set it would come with an actual working Geiger counter!!!!

[@Terrus_38]

Eh, xD

[@AwfulDog1]

yeah, wasn't mercury fun??? my kids found a broken old fashioned thermometer and put the house into lockdown...they thought they would be poisoned just looking at it!

[@tomastuoma]

I grew up in the 90s, and it is insane how many of those things I can relate to. Minus the radioactive material, I've done pretty much everything else. Besides making bombs before being 10 years old, we also went out target shooting with a shotgun, without supervision before I was 13. I actually think that unsupervised learning made you better at taking calculated risks as a child.

[@jmusmc85]

David was actually a friend of mine. We met in the Marines. Good guy but very troubled. I hope he is at peace.

[@Ciesiam]

According to the video, David went into the Navy.

[@pliat]

@@Ciesiam do you know what marines are?

[@pliat]

@@Ciesiam actually, just take a second, and think about the word “marines”, and where it may have come from.

[@communications23]

@@pliat US Marine Corps are a different branch of US military than the US Navy. They both fall under the Department of the Navy, so it gets confusing. According to Wikipedia, Hahn served in both, first in the Navy, then with the Marines.

[@pliat]

@@communications23 ah, well im from the uk. and the marines are part of the RN

[@tombates9122]

That part where you say his geiger counter went off from the street because there was a clock with painted dials in the nearby store isn't quite what I've heard. Apparently, he would actually go from junk store to junk store specifically looking for these clocks as it was the easiest way for him to obtain radium. This one occasion, the reason his meter went off like crazy was because someone had actually left a can of radium paint inside one of those clocks when it was constructed. This was like winning the lottery for him. BTW - If I remember correctly, the device he constructed was the culmination of 3 or 4 years of gathering materials, including thousands of smoke detectors.

[@QueenetBowie]

"Americium? Lithium? Are you trying to make meth." "No sir, I'm just building a nuclear reactor in my parents basement. "Oh, well then carry on son."

[@zaide5897]

Phineas and ferber are gonna do it all

[@revwroth3698]

Which of those is in Sudafed and which one is in clorox? The police told me back in high school that that was how you make meth. Seemed like a lucrative business proposition, but I didn't think I was emotionally suited to it. Stupid cops, telling teenagers how to cook meth...

[@alpheusmadsen8485]

@@revwroth3698 Nowadays it's almost easier to get meth off the street and make Sudafed.

[@michaelmoreland5280]

@@alpheusmadsen8485 this conjurs images of a sneezing man with a chemistry set surrounded by tweakers combing the carpet whilst he tries to fight his nasal congestion.

[@BeingBetter]

@Everything Except Shoes I take Lithium Orotate every day for my bipolar.

[@abdur1996]

Ah yes, one of the famous scientific inventions: Safety, first discovered in 1990

[@isasitems552]

😂😂😂

[@nicanornunez9787]

Little known fact Safetonium decays in Pctonium and later Hrtonium.

[@Babarudra]

Safety third, as the kids say.

[@DangItshere]

Yo that's R A D I C A L dude

[@Sir_Michael_II]

Yep.

[@AndDiracisHisProphet]

4:55 for the non-german speakers: it literally says "Doramad: Radioactive toothpaste"

[@ehcastro3156]

Makes sense... If you don't want tooth decay then just use something to make them fall off.

[@AndDiracisHisProphet]

@@ehcastro3156 as Joe stated, in the early 20th century there with this radioactivity hype

[@AwfulDog1]

for that real glow-in-the-dark smile!!!

[@jeffmiller6954]

It had thorium, not radium, in it.

[@AvoytDesign]

oh, I was wondering what "radioaktive" meant, thank you

[@efleishermedia]

Also moral of the story: if you're gonna be crazy interested in chemistry, make sure your parents are rich

[@pixelsafoison]

Pretty much every "young genius" video ever. Perfect hardware, perfect sources of materials, perfect electrical wirings, perf.... Hey wait a minute, it was the parents' project all along??? ...Naaaaah :D It is kind of funny that most people dont even know how much money you need to sink into a workshop to even do basic metal works, let alone heat treat

[@bikerfirefarter7280]

@@pixelsafoison wrong. application of ingenuity means you need little or no money to do basic to quite advanced stuff, sometime money eases the process. but if you are 'normal' no amount of money will help you achieve anything extraordinary. on the topic of metalwork, i used to forge Damascus steels in a diy forge, the whole set up from found/discarded tools and materials. NO money spent. I did sometimes use epoxy resins for fixing handles (from 'poundland'/'target') but could and did use free/natural alternatives. The only other occasional 'bought' items were vinegar and Borax, but that's really cheap, and there are free alternatives, borax/vinegar are just convenient/effective. been there, done that, next.

[@sisconhimejoshi]

@@bikerfirefarter7280 you can achieve incredible stuff on the cheap if you’re gifted, sure, but the gift alone won’t give you a career, sadly.

[@bikerfirefarter7280]

@@sisconhimejoshi you don't have to be 'gifted' at all to achieve a career, or most other goals, just determined to cut the unnecessary crap and apply/understand the basics. what you achieve is nearly always your own choice, you just need an open mind and a little flexibility.

[@wolfiemuse]

@@bikerfirefarter7280 metalworking in the terms of machining pretty much requires a few thousand bucks to get started, which is sad because I had never even heard of it until I decided to go to trade school. At age 27. We need more tradefolks these days. Appliances, aircraft, cars, rockets, etc- they aren’t gonna build themselves!

[@bryanstellfox8521]

That sulfur water story was hilarious hahaha the cuts were perfect!

[@nicholasweaver2374]

My favorite part was how Joe ran.

[@12201185234]

The saddest thing about this story is that had he had proper parenting and mentorship, he could probably be contributing to nuclear science to this very day.

[@cosmicrider5898]

not really ..connections are the real problem ..his parents could have been over bearing and he wouldve gone nowhere or they couldve not cared at all and he wouldve lived on the streets .unless he was been shipped to mensa he wouldve never met individuals to mentor him at the level he needed..plus the feds and everything blowing everything out of proportion(to send a message) didnt really help

[@Eeda01]

Was he brilliant, though? Or was he just reckless?

[@incognitotorpedo42]

@@Eeda01 Some of both.

[@therockinboxer]

Love your fucking name.

[@orghidanstefanandrei2861]

Well said, you've hit the nail on the head. Hopefully more peeps will learn from this story, if not benefit from the energy he could have made.

[@hardsciota]

He definitely should have flashed his atomic energy merit badge to that officer.

[@phoule76]

yes! "it's fine, officer. I'll take it from here"

[@mikejones-vd3fg]

@@phoule76 Carry on Scout, *salutes*

[@geraldfrost4710]

Fun fact: The atomic energy merit badge is the only one that glows in the dark.

[@Kevin-et5zs]

Thanks for the story Joe! Sad ending. I made nitroglycerin at home when I was 13, I wanted to make dynamite and learned what I could from reading the World Book encyclopedia. As you can imagine, the article was NOT a detailed recipe. (Previously, I'd made contact explosive (potassium tri-iodide) with chemicals ordered from a drug store, and that worked ok, so levelling up!) Anyway, I mixed Nitric and Sulphuric acid and then poured glycerin on top, so that it would react. I had it in the garage, in the winter time. Well, nothing was happening, so I brought it inside to warm up, in my bedroom...oops. It started converting, and igniting as it converted, blowing acid out of the vat and onto my floor and bed, while releasing a massive cloud of bright orange smoke, like a tornado in reverse. So I walked downstairs and called the fire department, and asked them if it was dangerous. I think the guy had just gotten done saying "Yes!" when the first firetruck arrived. Followed by the police, etc. I think Mom was getting back from the grocery store about that time, too. The firemen hauled the gear outside, still on the table I'd put it on, and threw it into the snow. (They tried opening my window but it was frozen shut.) This being the 70's, I didn't go to jail or get arrested, I just got a Stern Talking To, and Dad made me donate all the acid to a local junior college lab. The firemen said I could, possibly, have blown up a large part of the block---but I didn't, and I think that's something. Later I found out you could order plans to make nitrocellulose by mail, which I did, but Dad was watching for that sort of thing, and intercepted the plans. After high school I got involved with this civic group, called the US Army, where I met others who shared my enthusiasm for splody things. Nowadays, I just live in a state with legal fireworks, just like the Good Lord intended...

[@stefanhennig]

We had a very cool teacher at school who said 'better they do that stuff with me supervising than at home blowing up the neighborhood', so we made nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin at school. Oh, and he demonstrated triiodite once. All that made me rather careful when toying with explosives, so i think his plan worked well, at least for me.

[@stefanhennig]

@Lord Of Onions Laws set aside, there are still many, many things you can use to make things go KER-BLAM. The problem is that roughly half of them wil go KER-BLAM right in your face for no good reason, leaving not much of that face for you to look stupid with afterwards. The skill is to tell things that go KER-BLAM-wow! from things that go KER-BLAM-arrgh-arrgh-my-eyes! I am sure that I still have tiny pieces of molten glass embedded in one of my hands, and that is me being rather careful. I am fascinated by explosives and by math and I tend to perform math and theorize about explosives. That's good enough, at least for me.

[@geraldfrost4710]

And his girlfriend shared his enthusiasm, being a blow up girl herself. (Thorry, mathter; I'll jutht go throw the thwitch.)

[@skorpius752]

This is why I made RDX instead. It is much safer. Well at least as far as highly energetic materials go...

[@dmathesonfvg]

Lol Awesome story! Hahahaha "Civic Organization" Hahahaha

[@nycholaus]

Me, reading title: "He did NOT build a breeder reactor" Middle of video: "He built a friggin breeder reactor!"

[@jacobsamorodin9937]

At least he didn't build a 15KT nuke.

[@Smile4theKillCam456]

the book is 100% worth reading

[@citizenblue]

"...if he had directed that energy in the right direction..." Just stop, Joe! 🤣

[@bagramdave883]

Chris Odom I caught that. I came looking to see if anyone mentioned it. Do you think Joe actually meant to make that pun-like phrase or just got lucky.

[@mheermance]

I was a child in the 70's, and became an adult in the 80's. I can confirm that people didn't understand safety, and took risks that would seem nuts today. I blame the lead in the gasoline.

[@VioletEnds]

@@stumpyplank6092 Yep, not getting lead poisoning from the air really sucks

[@VioletEnds]

@@stumpyplank6092 Social Media sucks. After all, it's pretty much responsible for the garbage fire that is Donald Trump's presidency, but female hormones? What are you talking about I guess you must have been huffing that gas, huh?

[@pohkeee]

Stumpy Plank : you actually stumbled upon a truth! With soy in almost every processed food , which is then put in plastic bottles or packaging...well, that’s just two estrogen imitators in our environment! So, all the developing “man boobs” are not just from weight gain...as well it’s causing rising infertility issues. Also, all the flushed birth control spill over is showing up in water supplies...even making amphibians and fish sexual mutants! Yikes...pick your safety issue...one century it’s your ⏰ , the next it’s your vegan 🍔 ...🤷🏼‍♀️

[@benmcelwain5301]

Lawn darts.

[@fcgHenden]

@@kirkhamandy Well, the Egyptians built the great pyramids far longer than America sent people in tin cans to the moon so... It's really finding the right balance between progress and DEATH!

[@pdxstorm]

I had one of those "how am I still alive?" chemistry sets as a kid in the 80s. In addition to all the delightfully toxic materials it provided, there were warnings about what not to mix that were specific enough that it was like an Opposite-Day Anarchists' Cookbook

[@FrankClark]

David was something of a local legend... one of my 8th-grade teachers talked about him. He was actually one of the reasons why I became so interested in nuclear reactors as a young adult (the other being that my dad helped build the Fermi II reactor in Monroe, MI). So, yay Michigan!

[@natemathewson5200]

How have I lived in SE Michigan my whole life not knowing we had a reactor

[@GearheadENG]

His close friends described him as the life of the party, they kind of guy that could light up a room.

[@lanietalk]

David sounds like a genius. If only someone could’ve mentored him and helped with the safety aspect. I can’t believe people blamed the mom. He was a teenager! He was doing educational projects. Unfortunately true, natural geniuses often have mental issues. He could definitely synthesize his own fent analogs if he tried

[@SaintPhoenixx]

​@Nox "Son, I don't care that you're murdering prostitutes, just please don't dump the corpses in our yard! Maybe dump them in the river instead?"

[@maddie8415]

@@qwertyuiopas984 Exactly. He was messing up their house to a point where his mom would no longer even let him use the basement! It was happening on her property. Also, this took place well after the "children's chemistry sets" were popular (back in the 1950s or so)...people knew better than to let kids and teens do this stuff. She should have at least asked him what he was doing, specifically.

[@celinehatting3080]

Yes do a video on the radium girls!

[@Metaflossy]

^ yes

[@Jameson1776]

At the risk of a woosh I believe he’s talked about it previously. Or am I thinking about something else?

[@viperg13]

Yes!!!

[@farlesbarkley1022]

@@toiletpaper4 well that was mildly disturbing

[@eronacalloway9159]

Celine Hatting ....that would be a VERY COOL NAME for an ALL GIRL BAND.

[@ztirffritz252]

Inside the clock was a vial of radium paint. That was why it went off the charts on his Geiger counter.

[@KarbineKyle]

And it's what I'd be looking for! Very rare and a great multiple radiation source. As long as it is sealed, shielded, and labeled.

[@bobthompson4319]

did the vial come with the clocks?

[@AmyAndThePup]

@Mad Hatman Crazy times. I can't even imagine being able to get radium like that nowadays. Incredible and dangerous. Fascinating to read about people's experiments.

[@codetech5598]

Ah, someone has done his homework on the story.

[@jackwood8307]

I had one of those chemistry kits back in the 60’s, it’s amazing I’m alive today. Made some pretty nasty stuff down in my basement. Later on building on that experience I started making my own gunpowder. At that time the components for that were readily available in most drug stores and as a young teen sometimes I was asked what I wanted with them but when I told them I was doing a science project for school they would say oh, ok. Ahhh the good old days!

[@jayzenitram9621]

My cousin had one of those sets too. He used it to make stink bombs. That was, legit, one of the experiments in the little book that came with the set.

[@the_5th_night]

I was born in the wrong generation!😂

[@cellblock776]

They were still available in the mid 70s because I had one too but never blew anything up with it.

[@dhkent55]

Yep! Me too! Had one of those red foldout chemistry sets, made lots of gunpowder. Big bang! Smelled awful! Ah yes...those were the days...

[@williamswenson5315]

True. They wouldn't give you a copy of Playboy, but they would sell you what you needed to produce your own explosive.

[@biddibee3526]

" How are we still a species?". People learn more from mistakes than success. I feel bad for whoever lives on that property. I'm sure it's still contaminated

[@dtiydr]

No, specially laws and rules goes in and send ppl to clean the mess up and whatever radioactivity left is not allowed to be at any dangerous levels. All this in this case because its a city and ppl live very close by. However in the middle of a desert where there had been nuclear bomb tests its very different.

[@anncarlin8767]

I have an 1990s adult/teacher/principal story that's pretty good too. My daughter called me from high school when she noticed the fire escape doors at the bottom of the turret designed stairway/fire escape were chained and padlocked. Fool that I am, I called the principal's office and spoke with the principal who told me it was done because of kids going outside to smoke and then coming back in so he had gotten permission from the fire department to lock them. You see there was no danger because they'd never had a fire in the Chemistry Lab on the second floor of the building or the third floor either. Crazy me, I persisted to the truly obnoxious point I called the fire department to question how many fires it would take before chaining fire exits would cease to be a good idea. Local department knew nothing but told me to call the District Fire Chief. His response was, "Who said that ? And where is he located." Needless to say chains came down in the 15 minute travel time, it took the Chief to get to the school. Children are not the only one who do crazy things. Never believe a mealy mouth principal.

[@tomt1483]

I’m sorry but the quality of your videos is absurd genuinely the best KZbinr by far, the research, effort, presentation and articulation is so enjoyable to watch I constantly binge watch your channel I appreciate what you do 👍❤️

[@joescott]

Awe, thanks man!

[@melonie_peppers]

Why are you sorry?

[@nunoduarte1747]

They got me in the first half cannot lie

[@ultimotrem1]

I've been watching you since 2016 and Joe, I gotta say, you are becoming a master at this, the videos are so well edited and the humour kills me everytime! Good job, this channel is awesome.

[@zyzzyva303]

The clock apparently had a bottle of radium paint stashed inside it, that's why it was so radioactive. Also, "A - me - ri - cium" :)

[@bikerfirefarter7280]

"Am - eh - ri - si - um"

[@AureliusR]

@@bikerfirefarter7280 You're both wrong. It's "Ah - mehr- i- see- um"

[@bikerfirefarter7280]

@@AureliusR Accents? "Ah- meh - ri - si - um", near enough.

[@savagetabby4931]

Random knowledge: Because of the horrors due to the radium girls, OSHA became a thing. Edit:...And after finishing this video, Dude actually did about the Radium girls. So as a new subscriber, I'm impressed by your level of dedication towards these stories.

[@IntrepidFraidyCat]

I love how you include stories from your childhood. 👍

[@BenTheSkipper]

I have been binge watching your videos Joe and clicking on this video makes me so happy!

[@vikranttyagiRN]

I admit joe is quite addictive

[@BenTheSkipper]

@@vikranttyagiRN He is very addictive... I like how he handles the topics that he decides to talk about

[@ianmacfarlane1241]

When was 5 years old I briefly considered building an ICBM, but two things stopped me...... I had no idea what an ICBM was, and I was too busy playing with my cars. "I coulda been a contender....."

[@MikeKafes]

"How to build an ICBM" was revealed in the movie "Weird Science" ;)

[@ianmacfarlane1241]

@@MikeKafes Hahahaha, but that was unfortunately too late for 5 year old me, as i was 14 in 1985.......Kelly le Brock......Kelly....le.....Brock.....K...elly....le....I'm sorry, where were we again?

[@jerry3790]

*Kim Jong Un wants to know your location*

[@JRvonP]

I was way more modest than you, i decided to build an helicopter... but my dad would not let me use his toolkit.. darn

[@airwolfguy]

I tried to build Air Wolf in wood shop. Then I learned about model rockets!

[@shookings]

I love you, Joe. I'm thinking "yeah, this is the Radioactive Boyscout, I've read this. Cool story, but kinda vanilla in light of Joe's more recent offerings" And yet, you're still able to inject some existential crisis material into it.

[@fredscalliet]

"Any straight male young person" :D Excellent delivery on this one, Joe !

[@JUNKY4RDDAWG]

It is sad that he has to be specific

[@spencer-z5u]

@@JUNKY4RDDAWG what does that even mean

[@JUNKY4RDDAWG]

@@spencer-z5u I made this comment I while ago so I don't remember

[@vanilla6326]

Literally the craziest shit I pulled as a teen was breaking into an abandoned hospital and getting chased out by a vagrant

[@ZanzatheDivine]

Petition to bring David to Fallout 5. As a ghoul

[@airwolfguy]

I don't play Fallout, but I'm all in. I'm split weather or not to have him in his Scout Uniform.

[@phoule76]

maybe just have that Atomic Energy badge on his tee-shirt

[@Max-el7zd]

Awesome idea.

[@kylorenkardashian5518]

Preston Garvey needs your help

[@lucassmith4524]

If you want new Fallout content, Mod it yourself.

[@noprisoners8]

A radium-girl video would be fascinating. How many other factory jobs regularly turned workers into mutants?

[@fionafiona1146]

"Carnarry" referred to the yellow color woman took on after working in a ammunition factorys.

[@squirlmy]

it's a lot less interesting than that. They just got really sick. Reality vs fiction: no She-hulks, just sick, dying young women.

[@squirlmy]

@@fionafiona1146 I think there was meant to be a reference to "canary in a coalmine" because that was a popular method of determining whether there were toxic gases in British coal mines. These girls were sacrificing their health for the war effort, just like the canaries were sacrificed. They had "canary babies" as well.

[@fionafiona1146]

@@squirlmy Canarys were common across early industrialized coal mining... I just hadn't thought of that because coal mining (warning) Canarys were introduced to me before I ever learned English 😅

[@dmathesonfvg]

Somewhere I saw some sort of Docu on the "Radium Girls". Cant remember source tho'. PBS?

[@ab9zd73]

College physics lab in the 60's had a Geiger counter that would peg when one of the radium glow-in-the-dark watches came near it.

[@michelbarbeau8934]

jesus when i was young i put together a glue car kit a impala glow in the dark the whole body

[@christianzupp]

This is one of my favourite videos from Joes collection

[@differenttakethanmost]

😂🤣😂🤣😂 “...safety hadn’t been invented yet...”😂🤣😂🤣😂

[@kathrinsides2838]

Yeah, I grew up in the’70’s. Safety really wasn’t a thing back then. Safety didn’t start being a thing until the late ‘80’s, early 90’s.

[@caonabo2]

Please remember to do a video when you have a chance, about the last citizen of the Soviet Union (cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev). His story is amazing.

[@caonabo2]

@Albert Miller Thanks for the correction.

[@Jenab7]

Hold on. The transmutation of Thorium 232 leads, after a couple of intermediate steps, to Uranium 233. To get Plutonium 239, you have to begin with Uranium 238.

[@thedoughnutsayshello]

The FBI will be arriving at your location soon. Please do not resist.

[@Jenab7]

@@thedoughnutsayshello give me a few minutes to turn off my minefield, dismiss my mercs, deactivate my surface-to-air missiles, and turn off the deadman switch to nukes i've preplaced in various locations.

[@therealuncleowen2588]

Now they're definitely coming for you, just more heavily armed.

[@Jenab7]

@@therealuncleowen2588 If I defeat them the first time, then I suppose they'll just try again?

[@thedoughnutsayshello]

@@Jenab7 So THAT'S how you keep Amway sales people from bothering you.

[@hewasfuzzywuzzy3583]

Instead of a nuclear war story about, A Boy And His Dog. This dude's story was, A Boy And His Homemade Nuclear Reactor. Awesome. Another great video!

[@kalashnikovdevil]

David Hahn is a truly apex American and a great example of boy scout ingenuity.

[@maddie8415]

Oh god, the kid's "chemistry sets" from the '50s are certainly something my dad has told me about! He was able to order all kinds of hazardous substances from magazines back then to conduct his "experiments" (usually by blowing things up in his basement) as a kid. His parents were never entirely aware of what he was up to. He was lucky enough to never gone far enough to create a hazard like this or seriously harm himself. He actually ended up becoming an environmental toxicology professor involved in the management of some EPA Superfund sites, which really is the best case scenario. I think that if David had the right guidance, his curiosity could have been channeled in a constructive way. It's truly sad he didn't have it.

[@bilbo_gamers6417]

"Hey there's some radioactive materials in the back, so be careful" And the officer immediately thinks the kid has build some kind of exotic radiation bomb?

[@sudonim7552]

There are no radioactive materials in the back. This man is delusional. Take him to the infirmary.

[@marccolten9801]

Sounds like Repo Man.

[@patryder8923]

What the kid actually built was much more sophisticated than a dirty bomb.

[@vaszgul736]

honestly if the person being arrested tells the cop "don't look in the back you'll get irradiated" i mean what cop is gonna take an ominous quasi threatening statement like that and go "okay, keep your secrets"

[@OblongPolkaDots]

I cannot remember how I found your channel but I'm so glad that I did. I've been watching you since 2018 and this is by far one of my absolute favorite channels! Keep up the grate work!

[@stevenjohn7770]

I built an x-ray machine out of parts from old televisions and it actually worked! (I had lead shielding an a homemade geiger counter tho)

[@cocoanutpomeranian7987]

My freind and I built a UV laser using the power supply from a neon window sign.

[@geraldfrost4710]

I make fiber optics in my living room. I call it my drawing room. True story.

[@williamburnett3660]

Any way you could look all this stuff up online? Just in case somebody else wants to do it.

[@dmathesonfvg]

@@williamburnett3660 You are supposed to say, "Asking for a friend".

[@dmathesonfvg]

That's- Really cool!!

[@alt8791]

0:15 I am so glad that neither of these limitations apply any more

[@mattiefee]

Hey I live in Commerce Michigan! Yay Radioactive Boy Scout doing your hometown proud!

[@FranciscoAlves-om2kj]

This gives a whole new perspective to Fallout and alarm clocks.

[@josiahhockenberry9846]

Lol! Your scout leader sounds exactly like my grandfather! Although, he actually did blow himself up... Nothing but some minor burns, so still funny. 😂

[@NoobNoob-ss5hs]

When I was a teen I played with a foot long bamboo skin strip. It gave me a bone deep wound. Also, I learned nothing.

[@cfcr.8090]

😂

[@JessyRenae]

I just have to tell you how much I adore you! Watching your videos bring me great joy!

[@joshlink2129]

I've heard this story many times., but like most topics you discuss., I like to hear your take on it.

[@Extraterrestrial-With-A-Finger]

Love everything about your channel man thank you for the additional knowledge on a daily basis... >> I have heard this story before but did not know about his mother. Could you imagine all the scrutiny that the family would have went through nowadays...

[@TheNetsirk1234]

When I was younger I would turn out the lights, run my blankets together, and watch the static electricity..

[@edledford8019]

kris noel And, thus, discovered masterbation. 🤭

[@bagramdave883]

Edward Ledford pure wit. You got it man. I don't care what anyone else says

[@shikkithefirst5393]

I wouldndo something similar I would rub my head on my pillow and then play with the static. The smell was kinda weird tbh, but whatching the sparks was so mesmerizing it didn't .atter that y hair was knotted really badly afterwards

[@akehapkap6143]

I knew it! Duct tape can be used for anything!

[@matthewehritz3544]

"And because this was the eighties, and safety hadn't been invented yet..." 😄

[@violetrodriguez1055]

This is easily one of my favorite videos. I found a mineral kit from the 60's at a hole-in-the-wall antique shot and it had a chunk of straight asbestos. My place of work has a wing where they test for asbestos and I want to show them, but also dont want my sample to get taken away. I keep it in a pickle jar.

[@littleloner1159]

What did u do in first grade today? "We build a fusion reactor mommy" That's lovely. Do you know what you'll learn next week? "The teacher said we'll build a rocket!" ...parenting is going to be hard in the future

[@Zeldarw104]

It ain't no walk in the park today! 👀😳😭

[@jamasa007]

@@jellyfishi_ what are you even saying

[@UncleMuin]

When i was 12, I turned my parents' woodstove into a forge one Saturday morning. I made the single ugliest sword to ever be created. It was EPIC! And horrible. Though, once I served my time being grounded, my father showed me how to put a handle on it.

[@scurvofpcp]

Shake your father's hand for me

[@donjoe2661]

@@scurvofpcp Missed the chance to say 'shake fathers' handle'

[@LorandBL]

Only thing i ever managed to fuse as a kid was my tongue to a pole during winter..and the only thing i ever bred as a kid were seamonkeys..

[@horaceosirian8993]

0.5 out of 10 on the *_CHILDHOOD DEATHWISH_* scale.

[@travisglenn5297]

I laughed when I say that kids' face til' my ribs hurt. He was so excited, just out of the pure joy of trying to figure things out. I love it.

[@minchui]

That was awesome. I love how short and to the point it was!

[@Backbeardjack99]

Well, I didn't fumble around with radioactive stuff, but my parents weren't too happy either about my room back then when I was still living with them. At around 12-13 I build my own shed out of old pallets in our garden. I had some woodworking and some electric tools there. But my shed wasn't really weather proof so I moved the stuff to my room and set up a workbench there. Needless to say, my parents didn't like the idea of someone doing woodworking on their upper floor right next to their bedroom. But I got my mom convinced by making a lot of promises about keeping it clean and low noise, no fumes, etc. She then convinced my dad and I was good to go. In the first year, I didn't do much up there and just kept my tool there. When I was around 14, I got into Electronics, ICs and PCB making. So I made some additions to my tool collection... I gradually stepped up my noise and dirtiness level in the coming months, so my parents weren't too concerned about me doing more work up there. That tactic went really well I have to say. When I got in upper school, my room was 3/4 an electronics/metalworking workshop. Only my bed, my desk, and my couch remained normal furniture. I had one workbench and a lot of stashed material and bits n pieces everywhere. At some point, I attempted some PCB etching with Ferrichloride and NaOH. At first, of course, in my room. I did it a few times, without my parents complaining about me doing chemistry in their home. But after doing a few testruns and tries I had fucked two trousers with nasty orange Ferrichloride stains, my carpet on one spot too and used their bathroom as a glassware washing station. So I got banned from doing PCB etching in my room. But fiddling around with test tubes was still ok. During my last year in school, my room was bearly walkable, the carpet was fucked and I had chemicals, electronics, and a lot of cables lying and stashed in every free space of the room. After my finals, I was really interested in organic chemistry and just had my 18th Birthday where I got a lot of money. So I researched a bit, wrote in some forums and messaged a guy who was willing to sell me a lot of his used glassware at a fair price. I bought glassware for around 500€ and when it all arrived I showed my parents all of it. I explained, said that I was exactly knowing what I did and wasn't going to do dangerous or harmful stuff in my room. They didn't like the idea at all and argued for some time with me but in the end, there wasn't much they could do about it, except kick me out because I just turned 18. So I settled with them for an agreement that I would use extreme safety and wouldn't even think about doing harmful chemistry in their house. No fumes, not highly corrosive chemicals, no poisons, etc. In the following months, until I moved out in Oktober for Uni, I did some experiments. In particular, extracting and isolating compounds in plant matter, because most syntheses involved for me "prohibited" chemicals. But after a few experiments, I realized that my parents hadn't even the slightest idea about what I was doing. So my 18-year-old self decided to go on doing a bit more dangerous stuff. I was dumb back them... I had some instances where my room was nearly filled with isopropanol vapors because my reflux was leaking and I had to emergency ventilate my room. I also fucked up the carpet some more and broke a mercury thermometer (I got from the guy who sold me the glassware) and spilled that shit on my carpet. I tried to vacuum it up, which exactly you should not do because it disperses the mercury in the air. But I didn't know that. I got it cleaned up reasonably well, sealed all the contaminated wipes and stuff in a bucket and drove it off to a specialized disposal site. I later that day googled vacuuming mercury. I panicked a bit and vented my room for 4 hours straight. There where also a lot more "incidents", but I think I wrote enough for now. Well, I think I got carried away a bit... I actually just wanted to share that I too made my parents insane with experiments and stuff in their home. ^^

[@3bydacreekside]

Sounds fun :p

[@oFrennzy]

Blackbeardjack99 bruh, you wrote a whole damn essay 😥

[@jimfarris1160]

Every time I need a pick-me-up I come to this channel. You never fail to give me a good old fashioned belly laugh. Thanks man, this is my favorite channel. If I had any money, I'd give you some. :)

[@whiskeyandagyro3135]

when i was a kid, i bent my hot wheels car tires downward to mimic the back to the future delorean.

[@aadiden]

That's so true about Radium embroided stuff! In my country, there was this massive craze to own clocks that were Radium lit, I remember during decades of 1990's & 2000's!

[@IlmurOsp]

When I was like 7 I bit into a glowstick and accidentally swallowed some of the stuff inside. I threw it up but I was convinced I was radioactive lmao

[@celinehatting3080]

Yesss another Joe video!!! this is the only channel I watch and click on ads for 😂💕

[@bridgetcoyne8538]

You are hilarious Joe! 😂 Just about snorted my drink out my nose at the start of the vid! Love your work.

[@sunsaverfromnhh9184]

Same here: "Mom! John's about to blow the house up... AGAIN!"

[@KK-no7be]

I've got my granddad's watch in a drawer. It's 80 years old and still glows!

[@tiarezavaleta8850]

Hope you have it in a box made from lead.

[@Valisk]

Another survival story from the seventies... When we were kids (8-9 ish), my friends dad worked at an industrial plant. His garage was always full of interesting bits of electronics and machinery that we used to play with. One day we thought it would be a good idea to take a capacitor and hook it up - with polarity reversed - to the 240v mains supply. The switch was on the far wall of the garage, so we built a little barricade to hide behind, whilst we poked the mains switch on with a broom handle... I still have tinnitus to this day. (Seriously, the capacitor was the size of a coke can!)

[@josephdavis9204]

Very funny intro! Very sad story. Great video! Thank you for the amazing content!

[@Sir_Michael_II]

Joseph Davis that comment went all over the place. An emotional roller coaster. Up and down and then a loop at the end.

[@josephdavis9204]

@@Sir_Michael_II I'm sorry, I didn't have a lot to say and that there wasn't a lot of time to say it... Maybe I should hire you to make comments for me??? Seriously dude! This is inappropriate. 😡

[@Sir_Michael_II]

Joseph Davis it was meant as a compliment. Personally, I like emotional roller coasters. The fact that you were able to do it well in a comment takes talent.

[@garethbaus5471]

When i was in boy scouts my troop had 3 consecutive scoutmasters one of whom actually was a Mr Rogers.

[@rossh2386]

So a radium Thursday episode? I'll see my self out

[@Sir_Michael_II]

Ross h23 as you should. Your kind I have the utmost respect for.

[@X2yt]

So basically, chances that neighbour's kid has working nuclear reactor in their garage are low, but never zero.

[@russell2449]

Wow, this reminds me of an experiment I did back in high school biology class (waaaay back in the early 70's). Working with fruit flies we had to come up with an experiment to test genetic traits and I decided to see if I could cause mutations by exposing them to a radiation source. And I found said radiation source in an anti stat brush used in the dark room of my photography class - these brushes had a removable strip that contained POLONIUM, and yes if you're familiar with the story of how the KGB assassinates certain spies who've defected to the West, yeah it's that stuff, lol. Fortunately, though I was unaware at the time of how poisonous the stuff was, I did use tweezers and pliers to remove the strip because I didn't want to irradiate myself (didn't know that was not a serious hazard, but probably saved me all the same ;?). I then stuck it in the fruit fly breeding cage and put it into their food, not to poison them, but to see if it might cause mutations. And while nothing happened in the short length of the experiment, my biology teacher liked the idea so much I got an A+ but my photography instructor was very unhappy that "someone" had destroyed a very expensive anti stat brush (fortunately those two never connected the dots, lol ;?)

[@madelinerose5286]

I'm from commerce township and this guy is a legend. I had heard about him from various other boy scouts and some of them look up to him as a hero. He's still talked about in boyscouts I guess. I had never heard the full story though and it was odd hearing about someone from my area being talked about on the show.

[@Alexander_Sannikov]

that intro story was great, i genuinely giggled :D

[@zwanz0r]

Dude. Your introduction stories are hilarious. Like... Always. Video starts at 0:00. Always. 💓

[@raikupwns243]

The wildest unsupervised science experiment I did as kid was try and make a terrarium. Out of what, you ask? An icecream bucket, dead leaves, and about 20 snails. Which I proceeded to put under my bed and forget about for a while (idk specifics, I was like 10 or so at the time.) Longstory short, our house started to stink to high heaven, and my parents couldn't figure out why. Then my sister remembered our "snail farm" under my bed. The container was full of moldy leaves, and what really stunk was all the dead snails! Snails belong outside,,, lesson learned. Though I was a very sad little girl for a day or so.

[@anncarlin8767]

I remember back in the 50s my mom having broken a thermometer, showing me how much fun it was to chase the little mercury beads with your finger and try to squash them with your finger. Hours of fun and a good game while you're sickly and had the fever which caused the thermometer being out in the first place !!

[@littletimelord2755]

Ah, playing with mercury using your finger! Good thing mercury isn’t an incredibly toxic substance that can cause serious health problems! It’s not like mad hatters were ever a real thing, right? Definitely.

[@Sir_Michael_II]

I made a functioning liquid fueled rocket engine with a pipe nipple, reducer coupling, some vinyl hose, and garden hose Y.

[@deuspax]

yep, I did, even a big one - when I was 12 or so I've built in secret a mini radio broadcast station (about a km range) which in communism times in my country could led to "special" prison for my parents - fortunately, I was aware about and after I tried checking the quality/ distance etc I put it down for good

[@williamswenson5315]

Side splittingly great intro, Joe. I had to pause the video and dry my eyes.

[@otakuman706]

Old AF, but bored and rewatching stuff while trying to stay away from the plague. The Mr.D story reminded me about my biological grandfather. My family found him after more than 40 years. In that time he had developed multiple cancers, and had lost 2 kidneys. Luckily we're from apparent genetic mutants and he was actually born with 3- I was born with only 1, my gma had 'mirrored organs', and plenty of other random crap spread through the family tree. Anyway he also had multiple lung issues requiring oxygen at all times. He also kept right on smoking during this time. This was the late 90s, early 2000s, so he just ignored the many, many warning signs. But, he also drove on the wrong side of a 4 lane highway, while me and a friend were sitting in the bed of the truck, among plenty of other things. Complicated family situation and whatnot, but he was certainly an interesting, and very ornery old guy.

[@scottmedwid1818]

Every third weekend of the month we went camping when I was in Boy Scouts. Rain snow sleet didn’t matter we went Friday night Saturday night. Lots of good times. I can truthfully say I was introduced to all my current and former vices back during those days. I only made it to first class rank but I was senior patrol leader after working my way through the leader ship ranks. We did all the Boy Scout manual skills and excelled at signal tower building and rope bridge construction. Our adult leaders used to brag to other troop leaders how quickly we could start fires when we established our campsites. They did not learn until many years later that we used to siphon gasoline from our troop school bus (the Green Monster). Man we did some crazy stuff but nobody died.

[@timfondiggle2582]

Im from michigan we just do this shit up here

[@timfondiggle2582]

@aud_io Ah this guys knows how us michiganders do shit. Our boy scouts are more badass than youra

[@ryantwombly720]

Brilliant and tragic. I did nothing to threaten the health of my suburb like this in youth.

[@BRUXXUS]

I really wish I could say the same..... 😬

[@OldGamerNoob]

Remember that scene in "Young Einstein" where he exploded a shed making nuclear beer, yeah, this kid also, see the video on spontaneous human combustion for the human blowtorch reference ;)

[@sethr.c1065]

When I was in elementary my mom taught me about planets and stars. Lots of rocks and minerals get very hot and make a ball. That was my mindset. I put my rock and mineral collection in a foil pouch and cooked it in the oven for ten minutes. Had to buy a new oven but my mom sat me down and asked me what I thought about how it's different from a planet. Good teacher! ❤️

[@RaghnaidAnnaNicGaraidh]

I (nearly) created a breed of chicken. I was *very* into chicken farming, breeding chickens, et cetera, and a had a small posse of other teenagers around me who were keen on it too. I followed the blogs of people who legitimately created new breeds of chicken that got into the breed registry, I hatched hundreds of chicks a year and bred them for the traits I wanted, I even had some specific characteristics breeding true for a few generations. Then I moved away to university, sold most of my stock, and today there's only one hen left from my almost-breed.

[@xtramoist9999]

Directions unclear. Stable nuclear fusion reactor in backyard. What did I do wrong?

[@nico371c]

fision*

[@ToxicJelly9]

Legend, you have saved the world, what a guy. GET THIS MAN TO THE NEWS

[@nmccw3245]

Nicolai Birn - yep. Fiss the dog.

[@Gentleman...Driver]

Directions unclear. Penis glows in the dark.

[@strm854]

Well that a fine way to start your morning. A little personal humiliation followed by suicide untimely death and some radioactive pollution. Ever think of being a motivational speaker Joe ?

[@moldoveanu8]

Lmfao, that's some hilarious sarcasm. I also like Joe's sarcasm and humor.

[@NitroReviewsMN]

I remember when I was in the scouts we were sent to find a left handed smoke shifter... lol

[@memomorph5375]

Dang he was really motivated. Popsicle stick traps were more my speed as a kid. You can wedge them together so they store potential energy like springs :-)

[@ThisIsTheWay05]

Hi! I'd like to shed some light on the "girls can't be boy scouts" thing. In 2019, the Boy Scouts of America, (now called Scouts BSA), opened its doors for girls. And I'm proud to say that as a girl, I helped start a troop and we've been going strong for 3 years! I'm now a Life Scout and we now have 2 female Eagles! We are making women's history. Scouting has been the best thing to happen to me. I did Girl Scouts (and no disrespect to Girl Scouts, every troop is different) and mine so happened to be very conservative with their morals. My brother did scouts his whole life and made it to Eagle a couple of years ago. I wasn't pleased that we girls were stuck with cookie time, church service, and "camping" in cabins with WiFi and heat. When we moved to a new state across the country, I continued to watch my brother soar through his scout adventures, still disappointed that I wasn't doing the stuff he was doing. Then, in 2019, there was a breakthrough. Scout's BSA announced that they were opening their doors for girls and that they were rebranding for more inclusive things. This comment is not to bash the Girl Scout organization, or yell at Joe Scott, but to spread the message that girls can do anything. Scouting is the best thing to happen to me. I've learned really important life skills that I never learned in Girl Scouts and I've met some of the best people.