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BLAZE OF GLORY

Longtime News Ltd staffer Bob Cooper retired this week following years of setting himself on fire. Seriously; igniting his chest hair was Bob’s party trick, accompanied by a ritualistic chant from observers. On Thursday night, Bob blazed for the final time:
image
Note that Bob burns brighter than the gas-fuelled heater in the background. No accelerants were employed. Bob’s BTU output is all natural.

(Much thanks to Steve Fenech for forwarding that image)

Posted by Tim B. on 06/01/2007 at 12:55 PM

  1. Man, when it comes to global warming, this guy not only talks the talk, he walks the walk!

    Take that, Gaia!

    Posted by Tex Lovera on 2007 06 01 at 01:06 PM • permalink

  2. My god, just what kind of parties do you journalists throw?

    Posted by wronwright on 2007 06 01 at 01:17 PM • permalink

  3. Eeewww, reminds me of every male jouno colleague since 1972. Every one had the need to disrobe and put the rest of us off sex for a lifetime. (I’m talking male, female and intersex).

    Posted by mareeS on 2007 06 01 at 01:36 PM • permalink

  4. umm…“journo”

    Posted by mareeS on 2007 06 01 at 01:37 PM • permalink

  5. Um… okay.  Is this an Aussie thing?  I can’t imagine Tom Brokaw or Brian Williams or Dan Rather having the balls.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2007 06 01 at 01:40 PM • permalink

  6. #5: What, Aussie men light their balls, too?!? You guys are just awesome!

    Posted by paco on 2007 06 01 at 01:43 PM • permalink

  7. I think he attended the Opinion Journal edictorial meeting where they defined their immigration strategy. (yes, edictorial is what I wrote and edictorial is what I intended)

    Posted by yojimbo on 2007 06 01 at 01:54 PM • permalink

  8. I think he was on the national AJA committee with me in 1978 and he did a similar dance with a giant wooden indian.

    But then, those bald, grey-chesty-hairy blokes with their bald, grey…well, how can you tell after all these years?


    I hope he has a less incendiary time in retirement.

    Posted by mareeS on 2007 06 01 at 02:04 PM • permalink

  9. 7: Actually, yojimbo, that’s a fine new coinage: “edictorial - a newspaper opinion piece which the author intends as a direct command to the reader”.

    Posted by paco on 2007 06 01 at 02:06 PM • permalink

  10. He is going to regret that in the morning.

    Posted by Zonc on 2007 06 01 at 02:15 PM • permalink

  11. I’ve heard of ‘make your own entertainment’ but, geez, this is OTT.

    Posted by Retread on 2007 06 01 at 02:15 PM • permalink

  12. There ya’ go ladies…This guy is hot.

    Posted by El Cid on 2007 06 01 at 02:39 PM • permalink

  13. Imagine making it to retirement without ever leaving adolescence.  An amazing feat, but not unknown among us boomers.  (Not me, of course.  I left adolescence at the age of five.)

    Posted by saltydog on 2007 06 01 at 03:34 PM • permalink

  14. “...igniting his chest hair was Bob’s party trick, accompanied by a ritualistic chant from observers. “

    Ace of Spades™ Lifestyle Alert!

    :-)

    Posted by Mary in LA on 2007 06 01 at 03:40 PM • permalink

  15. I suppose this is a notch up from lighting farts.

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 06 01 at 04:24 PM • permalink

  16. S’long as it doesn’t spread to his ‘back, sack & crack’ ...

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 06 01 at 05:06 PM • permalink

  17. On Thursday night, Bob blazed for the final time

    I guess his carbon offsets expired.

    Posted by Alan K. Henderson on 2007 06 01 at 05:31 PM • permalink

  18. What, no blue flamers?

    Posted by Bruce Rheinstein on 2007 06 01 at 05:37 PM • permalink

  19. Bob Cooper, you are a madman. When you stole that cow, and your friend tried to make it with the cow. I want to party with you, cowboy.

    Posted by paulris on 2007 06 01 at 06:44 PM • permalink

  20. I can see why he has no hair left on his head.

    Posted by alien kiwi on 2007 06 01 at 06:48 PM • permalink

  21. Too bad. I was looking forward to hearing the prosecution’s summation.

    Posted by paco on 2007 06 01 at 08:40 PM • permalink

  22. I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Copy editors on fire off the shoulder of Tim Blair. I’ve seen chest hair smolder in the dark near the garden gate. All these moments will be lost in time…

    Posted by Ernst Blofeld on 2007 06 01 at 08:53 PM • permalink

  23. #15 JeffS, years ago I went out with a fellow who lit his farts for me. Not the most romantic of occasions, to be sure, but it was hilariously funny.

    Posted by Nilknarf Arbed on 2007 06 01 at 08:55 PM • permalink

  24. Uh Oh. What I have stumbled into this time? Is this thread real?

    Posted by geoff on 2007 06 01 at 09:26 PM • permalink

  25. There is obviously this whole world out there that I know nothing about.

    Posted by geoff on 2007 06 01 at 09:27 PM • permalink

  26. #6 Paco,

    you mean to tell me you’ve never heard of that other right of passage, the dance of the flaming arseholes ?

    Posted by Nic on 2007 06 01 at 10:14 PM • permalink

  27. #22, Blade Runner!  Ernst, you have no idea how geeky that makes me feel.

    #6, Paco, it’s been hours and I still can’t stop laughing.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2007 06 01 at 10:41 PM • permalink

  28. JeffS, years ago I went out with a fellow who lit his farts for me. Not the most romantic of occasions, to be sure, but it was hilariously funny.

    Nilknarf Arbed .Rm?

    Posted by rinardman on 2007 06 01 at 10:52 PM • permalink

  29. I vote we campaign to have Bob’s chest declared ‘old growth’ and ban these controlled burnoffs.

    We let all the humus and other detritus build up in there, then next time it goes up, VAMOOSH!!

    Posted by JonathanH on 2007 06 01 at 11:02 PM • permalink

  30. Nilk, usually stunts like fart flares are reserved for adolescents or really drunk dudes, late at night.

    Both of which, come to think of it, apply here.

    BTW, I’ve never lit a fart flare.  It’s not that I’m really romantic, that’s a genuine hazard with me.

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 06 01 at 11:51 PM • permalink

  31. People often appear brighter when you set them on fire.

    Posted by Dan Lewis on 2007 06 01 at 11:54 PM • permalink

  32. I’m not a Rm, rinardman. I’m a Ssim.

    And JeffS, this particular fellow was 35 at the time, and he may have been a bit sozzled, but not what I would call spasticated.

    Posted by Nilknarf Arbed on 2007 06 02 at 08:20 AM • permalink

  33. Hmm. A journo I might be able to respect.

    As for the dance of the flaming arseholes, I have only one thing to say.

    Bugis Street. 1982. My GOD what a brawl that started. A four figure brawl.

    MarkL
    canberra

    Posted by MarkL on 2007 06 02 at 09:11 AM • permalink

  34. Don’t worry, it’s an Islamic Reuters image which is fake with fire.


    p.s.
    Sambucca liquer lights up like that but you must enjoy the coffee beans with it otherwise it’s boring!

    D.I’m just ok today.

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 06 02 at 09:00 PM • permalink

  35. This stunt reminds me of the most common last words of men in the American South: “Here, hold my beer and watch this.”

    Posted by Michael Lonie on 2007 06 02 at 09:36 PM • permalink

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