I learned about this latest act of lunacy from Darwin’s Corner which is a feature posted on the Internet. Darwin stories are about those genuinely stupid individuals who improve the human gene pool by removing themselves from it forever, thereby insuring nonproliferation of their kind.

This episode picks up as our hero, Wade, staggers into a hospital emergency room in pitiful condition. Picture this: his hair is burned off down to the scalp; his eyebrows and eyelashes are gone; the skin on his face, ears, neck and shoulders has second degree burns.

After initial treatment a cop, summoned by the ER supervisor, begins his query. "How did this happen?"

Painfully, Wade explains that the propane tank on his father’s grill was empty, so he took it to the nearest convenience store and exchanged it for a full tank.

With the propane tank seated next to him during the drive home, Wade says he got to thinking about a question that demanded an answer.

Back at home, Wade moved the wooden picnic table up against the chain link fence in the back yard—away from everything. Then he set the propane tank on top of the picnic table.

Understand, Wade’s parents are not at home. Yes, Wade is home alone—something you should never allow your 22-year-old boy to do.

Curious, Wade picks up his daddy’s .22 rifle and loads the magazine with several bullets. Standing near the back of the house, the boys takes careful aim at the red X he’d marked on the white tank.

He fires a single shot, then waits a few minutes. Now, Wade, carrying a lighted kerosene torch, slowly walks toward the hissing tank. He’s asking himself the question: "How close can I get to a propane tank before it explodes?"

Police said accoding to their investigation, "fifteen feet—but don’t try this at home!"