How to strike a match.

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Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 11:54 pm

I'm in an argument as how to strike a match.

Normal box of matches.

Do you strike away or towards yourself?

I'm 'under instruction' to say no more!

Simple answers only please.

Thanks

Bogroll

Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 12:53 am

Sounds like one of those "psychological quizes".

I strike away to decrease my chance of being hit by debris from the strike.

When they don't light I strike them with any blunt instrument in multiple directions. Laughing

Baiting Guru Joined: 29 Jan 2008 Posts: 2531 Location: AU

I think it depends on wind. if it is too windy then striking away causes the match to extinguish prior to applying the flame to the said article.
in this situation a strike towards is more effective into cupped hands.
however striking away is the safest way especially if you are wearing exploding pants.

Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 2:59 am

I lean to the left and strike to my right. It's worked me for in every Crusade. Razz

Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 6:40 am

I use a lighter.

Hmm ... now what was the question again?

Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 7:15 am

Away is considered safer.

I think there's also less chance that the match snaps? Not sure on that one.

Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 7:22 am

I'm more interested in what prompted the question or query. How does the knowledge of lighting techniques expand your experiences as a member of the human race? Front to back, or back to front. Either way is good as long as the environment is not a factor in extinguishing your need for fire.

I am more interested in the philosophical question of why did I need the fire? And what was I burning? How big do I intend the fire to be, and am I able to control this fire? Do I refer to the fire as something more than an element? The fire grows and takes shape serving a purpose to consume, and should I study and note the similarity to human existence? Aren't we all like the flame? Cosmically speaking, don't we burn bright only to be extinguished in this life. Our life force consumed over time.

Disturbing.

Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 11:48 am

Technomancers don't use matches. We have much more efficient means of causing fires.
Like that time I nearly blew up the school with... Err, nothing. I've said too much! Shocked

Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 12:13 pm

Away, to stop any burny bits getting you.

We used to go to a pub in a very dodgy part of town, the landlords son was a wannabe biker and we'd give him a lift back when the pubs shut, and we were allowed in to join the illegal lock in (Ironically bikers weren't allowed in when it was legally open!). Anyone who has watched Shameless would recognize it, as The Jockey is pretty much a clone of this place.

Anyway, one morning at 1am I learned how to get 5 lights from a single match. It cost me £5, as an old lag at the bar had bet me that he could do it.

He split the match partly with his thumnail, then again at right angles, so he had cut a cross in the non red end. He then pulled the match apart, making 4 very thin matches. as he did this, a tiny piece of the red broke off and fell on the bar. He pushed this into the end of a cigarette, and rubbed it on the matchbox, lighting the cig for the 5th light.

It was worth the £5 to see it - needless to say, he had learned this where matches were limited and there was plenty of time to practice - in one of Her Majesty's Prisons. Wink

Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 1:00 pm

I focus my mind..aim...and wait until what I focus on spontaneously combusts.

Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 3:54 pm

It depends upon what I was going to do with it. If its for survival I would set up my tinder and strike the match down on it. If it was windy and I was still smoking cigarettes I would cup my hands and strike right at the end of the fag. A birthday party? I would not want to burn my birthday dress so I would strike away and light that first candle. I always carry a Zippo, a knife, a flint on the key ring and a high power laser.

Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 11:23 pm

soylent green wrote:

I use a lighter.

"Better still."

"Until they go wrong."

Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 9:26 am

Lighters do go wrong. So do matches. I tested a whole box before a camping trip and none of them worked when we got into the woods.. Must have been the damp mountain air.

Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 1:00 pm

One of the things I love about this forum and it's distinguished membership is our ability to take such a benign, pointless exercise and make it epic.

I never use matches. After the government issues a few of us with lightsabers and Pyrokinesis I've never had any concerns about not being able to produce fire.

Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 1:51 pm

I use a lighter every now and again. Very Happy

Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 2:00 pm

Yastreb wrote:

soylent green wrote:

I use a lighter.

"Better still."

"Until they go wrong."

"Does your mother know you smoke?"

"Yes. But I don't inhale."

(Couldn't resist it Mr. Green

hehe)

Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 10:46 pm

A lad got the sack on his first day in the testing department of the match factory

"This one works"
"This one works"
"This one works"
"This one works"

I'll get my coat

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 2:23 am

Yastreb wrote:

soylent green wrote:

I use a lighter.

"Better still."

"Until they go wrong."

The only lighters that go wrong are those From Russia. With Love.

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 11:05 am

Or the one from Licence to Kill. Now that was overdoing it.

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 3:06 pm

Nurse Nasty wrote:

I never use matches. After the government issues a few of us with lightsabers and Pyrokinesis I've never had any concerns about not being able to produce fire.

I was living at home and a girl from Manchester gave me a recipe using just carbon disulfide as a vehicle and white phosphorous. I put some in a Nalgene squirt bottle and shot some on a sheet of paper. After 30 seconds the visible wetness of the carbon disulfide went away. Twenty seconds later, it flames. I would walk around showing random people my pyrokinesis power. I would spray a sheet of paper, wait for it to dry, go up to my audience, focus on the spot, point at it with my other hand and command it to die. I was playing with the mixture in the back yard and later found that the clouds of white smoke would deposit the combustion byproducts on the trees and lawn. The whole place was glowing at night. My dad walked out, looked at the glow and asked me if I was playing with phosphorous. He said it reminded him of seeing the glow of the bones of tens of thousands of soldiers in Siberia. I stopped playing with the mixture. Now I have a laser that lights matches.

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 3:12 pm

normally males strike towards the body and females away

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 5:39 pm

Agent 1002 said:

Quote:

I tested a whole box before a camping trip and none of them worked when we got into the woods..

Unless they are very special matches, they won't light after they have been tested...really. Laughing

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 6:27 pm

^ Really? This has to be the wisdom of Steward that has come upon you. You are a blessed man.

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 6:35 pm

Under hand or over hand? Front to back or back to front. It all has to do with your personal needs for safety and hygiene.

** SUSPENDED ** Joined: 21 Sep 2009 Posts: 16

back and forth, back and forth, back and forth oh wait how to strike a match