Start keeping up your grades and try for UNM Los Almos or any state university with a mining engineering degree. Military special forces training is difficult with a tiger in your backpack.
Just so you know.. I always laugh when someone is arrested for having ‘bomb-making materials’. In the garage and the storage shed out back there are:
gasoline
propane
kerosine
several grades of fertilizer
powdered laundry soap
liquid laundry soap
bleach
ammonia
degreasing agents
liquid and powered clog and plumbing blockage clearing agents
iodine
cooking oil, both coconut and olive based
assorted containers
lots of nails, screws, nuts, and bolts
lots of insecticides and weed and fungus killers
among other things lots of salt, some spare car and other batteries, lots of flour, rice, sugar, and filter paper and funnels. And paper plates, napkins, towels, toilet paper…
So… anyone want to guess how many different types of explosives, incendiary devices, and war gases (including nerve agents) I could make with that lot? Hint: three for sure include napalm, nitroglycerin, and cordite. Sarin is highly probable. Hint: the guys who invented sarin were looking for a better insecticide…
How many of the items on the list do you have in the house somewhere?
Note: in high school chemistry class four of us actually made nitroglycerin. It’s not hard to do… (You wouldn’t believe how much trouble we got in when Fr. Brodley found out what we were up to…) Dynamite is more difficult, for one thing you need nitroglycerin first. Making cordite is also easy; making cordite (and nitroglycerin!) which is free of impurities and is therefore (relatively) stable and won’t spontaneously explode is more difficult.
“The Anarchist Cookbook” by William Powell was published in 1971. Pretty sure that’s what Calvin is looking for . It’s now in its 29th printing according to Amazon.
I and my friends spent many happy hours trying to make rocket fuel and explosives. It was actually easy to find info in the library back in the 60s. Had several small disasters doing it. Worst was when one of the guys was stuffing fuel made from saltpeter and sugar mixed with match heads into a rocket made from steel tube. He used a steel rod to stuff with! Spark ignited the fuel! Bad burns on his face, blew the flesh off the insides of his feet that were on either side of the rocket. Spent time in the hospital.
Fast forward to 2020…Calvin love on to his computer, finds everything he needs to know…next day, it’s on the news that the his elementary school was blown sky high overnight (no casualties), and they are on the lookout for the bomber. They trace the location to Calvin’s computer, and his dad gets life in prison for it. The times in which we live…what was once a joke is no longer a laughing matter.
I guess Calvin never heard of the Anarchists Cookbook. Back in the 60s the Army published a Field Manual on how to make Booby Traps. It showed things like one made out of a ball point pen and a real nasty one under a mattress. Fortunately it had a very limited release.
If Amazon was around back then, he could have bought a copy of THE ANARCHIST COOKBOOK. In the Sixties, the US government had a chance to wipe it out of existence, but they knew that the information was inaccurate enough that the bomb builder would blow himself up during the process. They considered that a win.
BE THIS GUY about 4 years ago
Good thing his father is a lawyer.
oldpine52 about 4 years ago
He needs a copy of ‘The Poor Mans James Bond’.
rimose about 4 years ago
I’m sure the library would have a copy of Anarchist Cookbook.
Darsan54 Premium Member about 4 years ago
Call like that nowadays would earn a little visit from the local LEOs.
jmworacle about 4 years ago
I believe Calvin is the youngest person to be placed on the terrorist watch list.
codycab about 4 years ago
There are kids, and then there’s you, Calvin.
sirbadger about 4 years ago
I once went to a psychic fair where somebody was selling booklets like that. This was decades ago.
rshive about 4 years ago
Reference books are sadly misnamed.
hariseldon59 about 4 years ago
The FBI is now on their way to his house.
bluram about 4 years ago
Shades of Timothy McVeigh.
orinoco womble about 4 years ago
Did Watterson know the Unabomber?
Tog about 4 years ago
How is Calvin getting on at Guantanamo Bay. Does he have much longer to serve?
Troglodyte about 4 years ago
Don’t read too much into it, Cal.
PoodleGroomer about 4 years ago
Start keeping up your grades and try for UNM Los Almos or any state university with a mining engineering degree. Military special forces training is difficult with a tiger in your backpack.
HappyDog/ᵀʳʸ ᴮᵒᶻᵒ ⁴ ᵗʰᵉ ᶠᵘⁿ ᵒᶠ ᶦᵗ Premium Member about 4 years ago
You’re ’da bomb, Calvin.
Painted Wolf about 4 years ago
Just so you know.. I always laugh when someone is arrested for having ‘bomb-making materials’. In the garage and the storage shed out back there are:
gasoline
propane
kerosine
several grades of fertilizer
powdered laundry soap
liquid laundry soap
bleach
ammonia
degreasing agents
liquid and powered clog and plumbing blockage clearing agents
iodine
cooking oil, both coconut and olive based
assorted containers
lots of nails, screws, nuts, and bolts
lots of insecticides and weed and fungus killers
among other things lots of salt, some spare car and other batteries, lots of flour, rice, sugar, and filter paper and funnels. And paper plates, napkins, towels, toilet paper…
So… anyone want to guess how many different types of explosives, incendiary devices, and war gases (including nerve agents) I could make with that lot? Hint: three for sure include napalm, nitroglycerin, and cordite. Sarin is highly probable. Hint: the guys who invented sarin were looking for a better insecticide…
How many of the items on the list do you have in the house somewhere?
Note: in high school chemistry class four of us actually made nitroglycerin. It’s not hard to do… (You wouldn’t believe how much trouble we got in when Fr. Brodley found out what we were up to…) Dynamite is more difficult, for one thing you need nitroglycerin first. Making cordite is also easy; making cordite (and nitroglycerin!) which is free of impurities and is therefore (relatively) stable and won’t spontaneously explode is more difficult.
tripwire45 about 4 years ago
“The Anarchist Cookbook” by William Powell was published in 1971. Pretty sure that’s what Calvin is looking for . It’s now in its 29th printing according to Amazon.
jpayne4040 about 4 years ago
Do I even want to know what you were planning to do with said bomb, Calvin?
OldDoug Premium Member about 4 years ago
Brings to mind a Lone Ranger episode where a kid had an “explosives lab” in his basement.
Who, me? about 4 years ago
Lucky Calvin didn’t have the internet.
Andrew Sleeth about 4 years ago
HA! Panel one is a riot just by itself.
NCGalFromNJ about 4 years ago
Building Homemade Bombs for Dummies
Norris66 about 4 years ago
Calvin just cut through to Lio https://www.gocomics.com/lio/2020/03/06?ct=v&cti=1395457
TerBer about 4 years ago
Try the Anarchist Cookbook.
Charles Hoeft about 4 years ago
I hope they allow stuffed tigers at Guantanamo Bay.
alexius23 about 4 years ago
Bang up idea
ObiJoan about 4 years ago
Thanks St Google, millennials got it easier
Vangoghdog01 about 4 years ago
Calvin, you still should read. The “Action/Adventure” novels contain some pretty cool homemade bomb instructions.
chick485 about 4 years ago
I and my friends spent many happy hours trying to make rocket fuel and explosives. It was actually easy to find info in the library back in the 60s. Had several small disasters doing it. Worst was when one of the guys was stuffing fuel made from saltpeter and sugar mixed with match heads into a rocket made from steel tube. He used a steel rod to stuff with! Spark ignited the fuel! Bad burns on his face, blew the flesh off the insides of his feet that were on either side of the rocket. Spent time in the hospital.
vaughnrl2003 Premium Member about 4 years ago
Oh great. Now Calvin the cartoon is on a DHS watch list. That will not look good on his permanent record.
Droptma Styx about 4 years ago
Remember when a comic like this was just a head shaker? “Oh, that Calvin.” How far we’ve fallen in 20-some years.
carlzr about 4 years ago
My birthday present of “The Anarchist’s Cookbook” still stands.
Alberta Oil Premium Member about 4 years ago
The cartoon is obviously dated.. a modern Calvin would know all about You Tube where you can get instructions on anything imaginable
WoodstockJack about 4 years ago
Cal, try “The Anarchists Cookbook.”
Huckleberry Hiroshima about 4 years ago
Just throw that phone at ’em.
mbruni316 about 4 years ago
Fast forward to 2020…Calvin love on to his computer, finds everything he needs to know…next day, it’s on the news that the his elementary school was blown sky high overnight (no casualties), and they are on the lookout for the bomber. They trace the location to Calvin’s computer, and his dad gets life in prison for it. The times in which we live…what was once a joke is no longer a laughing matter.
BiggerNate91 about 4 years ago
I could really use a bomb right now.
kunddog about 4 years ago
when I was youngster the local library had “How to Make an Atomic Bomb in Your Own Kitchen (Well, Practically! )”but not anymore.
COL Crash about 4 years ago
I guess Calvin never heard of the Anarchists Cookbook. Back in the 60s the Army published a Field Manual on how to make Booby Traps. It showed things like one made out of a ball point pen and a real nasty one under a mattress. Fortunately it had a very limited release.
marilynnbyerly about 4 years ago
If Amazon was around back then, he could have bought a copy of THE ANARCHIST COOKBOOK. In the Sixties, the US government had a chance to wipe it out of existence, but they knew that the information was inaccurate enough that the bomb builder would blow himself up during the process. They considered that a win.
swanridge about 4 years ago
No you can find that on the internet in two seconds.
Imhungry about 4 years ago
When I grew up (a lot of years ago) we built our own bombs without written instructions.
yangeldf about 4 years ago
wow this aged like milk, nowadays before Calvin got across the living room there would be cops knocking on the door
DCBakerEsq about 4 years ago
Luckily, the InterWeb has solved THAT particular problem.
gantech about 4 years ago
“Revolution for the Hell of It” ~ Abbie Hoffman
gantech about 4 years ago
Anybody besides me think it’s scary how knowledgeable some of our commenters are here??
jdsven about 4 years ago
“No, but we do have The Making of Gigli.”
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] about 4 years ago
He would have had an easier time in the 1950’s.
fix-n-fly about 4 years ago
Ask your parents for a chemistry set, Calvin.
einarbt about 4 years ago
Not sure if this is a myth or not but this might just be a real life Calvin, https://www.boredpanda.com/story-radioactive-boy-scout-david-hahn/