{"id":36934,"date":"2010-12-24T22:15:39","date_gmt":"2010-12-25T06:15:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mrravenblade.reallifesuperheroes.org\/?p=13"},"modified":"2010-12-24T22:15:39","modified_gmt":"2010-12-25T06:15:39","slug":"grappling-hooks-and-smoke-bombs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/2010\/12\/24\/grappling-hooks-and-smoke-bombs\/","title":{"rendered":"Grappling Hooks, Smoke Bombs, and the RLSH."},"content":{"rendered":"

Of all the many different wonderful and fantastical devices that the big screen and all the different blockbuster movies on Super Heroes have have put in the public eye as the big “tools of the trade” that Super Heroes have on our utility belt, the two I get asked about the most are the “grappling hooks<\/strong>” and “smoke bombs<\/strong>“.
\nPeople new to the RLSH\u00a0community\u00a0– often people with no experience or skills – will often make the incorrect assumption that these tools are\u00a0OK\u00a0to use and should be carried around as part of the standard gear “that all RLSH must carry to be legit”.
\nThis is incorrect. In fact the\u00a0opposite<\/strong><\/em> is more true. \u00a0If I see a guy claiming to be a RLSH who uses smoke bombs I’m going to treat him as at best , a noob<\/a> with no real world experience, or at worse, a poser<\/a> who is looking for attention.
\nI can however understand why people would feel this way. \u00a0It is not hard to get the vision in your mind of Batman or other well known Super Heroes just oozing cool as they extend\u00a0their\u00a0arm and shoot a\u00a0grappling\u00a0hook into the depths of the dark skyline above them, the soft “clink” as it hits telling them to test the line with a soft pull before\u00a0optionally\u00a0speaking “the catch phrase” and then silently and quickly fading into the darkness above, all while a small smoke bomb obscures the view so it looks like they just vanished into thin air.
\nThe problem is, it\u00a0doesn’t\u00a0work like that in real life<\/strong><\/em>. \u00a0 As somebody who has experience with both of these tools and as anybody who has\u00a0actually\u00a0tried this can confirm, both of these tools are just not practical and will\u00a0usually\u00a0get in your way and make it harder to do good works. \u00a0And as somebody who\u00a0actually\u00a0does go out and fight crime I can say that in general these two items are more trouble then they are worth.
\nDespite the fact that I have been doing this RLSH thing since 1999 I find it odd that people still think I am being “lame”, “uncool” or even “a stick in the mud” when I\u00a0attempt\u00a0to give them the\u00a0benefit\u00a0of my experience and explain for the 9001th time why these two items are\u00a0usually\u00a0not even functional, and are in general not even considered legal to use.
\nThe\u00a0mythography\u00a0of the grappling gun or smoke bomb is so ingrained in the american culture of “cool super hero tools” that you just cant get it out of many peoples heads.
\nSadly, due to this fact a lot of people would win a\u00a0Darwin\u00a0Award<\/a> if not for the advice I post here, so it is my hope that in this blog post I can better explain the issues involved, as well as provide a resource I can point to in the future for the people in the community who want to learn and do good.
\nFirst Item: The Grappling Hook<\/strong>
\nYou see multiple versions of this in the movies or available to buy online. From really expensive to suspiciously cheap, a lot of smart retailers have learned that even if its not practical or even legal to use, they can still sell them to inexperienced people who have more money then brains and make a fast buck. \u00a0 This ranges from buying the hook and\u00a0everything\u00a0separately, to half finished kits – sold that way to help mitigate any legal liability the company has when you hurt yourself – that require expensive to buy one-use gas\u00a0cartridges\u00a0to function.
\nA fast google search finds a lot of “ninja gear” packages when you type in “grappling hook”.\u00a0Basically, since most people are uncreative and\u00a0generally\u00a0ignorant enough that they do not have the skills or experience to tell how bad quality these “kits” are, a large market exists for pre-packaged “You want to be a ninja? Buy our stuff and you will be a ninja.”\u00a0tool-sets. \u00a0 Most people doing this\u00a0usually\u00a0have no idea what the Ninja (Shinobi<\/em>) really are, and even more people somehow along the way forget that Ninjutsu<\/a> is actualy an entire education system that teaches its students much more then fightings skills, as even meteorology (The study of weather patterns) is taught.. but that is a different subject.
\nLooking at the kits I find in Google the breaking strengths of each hook varies wildly. You know why?\u00a0Because\u00a0they the sellers often do not know themselves. \u00a0Here is a direct quote from the marketing used by one of the suppliers:<\/p>\n

Most grappling hooks are large, heavy, bulky, and risky to use because the breaking strength of the metal is largely unknown.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

.. and every single one I can find online in a fast search now is from 1.5 to 3 pounds, or about as much as a half gallon of milk. So what happens when you are 100 feet up in the air – lets just say you are in shape enough to be able to do it – and the hook breaks? Looking at item comments on Amazon, I find that many such items that are sold to the inexperienced people who buy them break easily, and there are many stories of people falling or worse. Look it up yourself if you do not trust me.
\nOK\u00a0so what about line? Rope is surprisingly cheap, but good rope that will take the\u00a0weight\u00a0of a large\u00a0muscled\u00a0guy, body armor, and the rest\u00a0weights\u00a0about 8 pounds. About as much as a full gallon of Milk. Would you carry a gallon of milk with you on patrol on your belt, on the off chance that you may need it?
\nBut wait. Lets say you do not mind walking around with a gallon and a half of milk worth of climbing equipment gear on the off chance you “might” need it. Lets say you are very\u00a0physically\u00a0fit and have no problem scaling a smooth un-knotted rope while wearing full ballistics armor and all your other gear. \u00a0So how do you\u00a0actually\u00a0USE it without breaking the law or damaging somebody\u00a0else’s\u00a0property?
\nWe all know that breaking other peoples stuff is illegal. If you break somebodies window, or crash into a persons car, you will\u00a0usually\u00a0end up paying a huge fine and\u00a0possibly\u00a0even going to jail as such acts are considered vandalism or even theft in the wrong situation. The same is true of peoples houses or commercial buildings, the building just costs more to buy or repair.
\nThe biggest issue I have seen that keeps people from understand this issue is that people do not understand how a grappling hook\u00a0actually\u00a0works, and as such they do not understand that to function the hook must damage the property it is being used on in order to get a secure enough hold on the building that the person attempting to climb up has a good enough anchor to do so.
\nIn order to function, the grappling hook has to “catch” on 2 (or of they lucky, more) of its hooks. These hooks dig into the stone (or whatever the buildings is made of) and sink into it with “teeth” in order to get a anchor. To work, this has<\/strong> to at least scratch up or otherwise damage the building. \u00a0 In fact if the grappling hook catches the wrong thing, its entirely possible that the brick of a building will be pulled to the side enough that the very top pf the wall where it catches will break and come tumbling down on top of the person who attempted to climb. That really depends on how old the wall is, but do you really want to risk it?
\nA Real Life Super Hero would never damage somebodies home or property, so this alone makes\u00a0grappling\u00a0hooks just not worth the trouble. Add the rest of the issues I have discussed, and they become\u00a0impractical\u00a0to carry on your nightly patrol long before the issue is legality comes up. And yet\u00a0because\u00a0of the damage they do to property Grappling Hooks are illegal to\u00a0actually\u00a0use in most countries of the world, and for this reason and the fact that using them damages others property they are antithetical to the spirit of altruism and good works that a true Real Life Super Hero has.
\nBottom Line:<\/strong> If you want to be a real life super hero, show others how cool and experienced you are by not even trying to use a graping hook.<\/em>
\nSecond Item: The Smoke Bomb<\/strong>
\nSmoke Bombs may look cool, but they are actually pretty toxic and can create great harm to innocent lives if the smoke is breathed in. While many will debate about exactly HOW TOXIC the smoke of different types is, the fact is we all agree that smoke is toxic and breathing smoke of any type is bad for you.
\nIf you think smoke is good for you, or otherwise don’t think I am right, feel free to go ahead and ask a fire fighter or doctor – somebody who\u00a0actually\u00a0goes to training classes to learn about smoke\/etc – what his or her opinion is.
\nStill think Smoke Bombs are a good idea? Let me ask you this: What happens if one night you use a smoke bomb to get away from a bunch of thugs you don’t have the experience or training to otherwise deal with directly.. and a baby on the other side of the window above where this all happens breaths in the toxic fumes and dies? They can not get away because statistically they are in a crib, possibly asleep. You would have murdered the baby. The same goes with peoples well loved pets (Birds are well known to be\u00a0sensitive\u00a0to smoke, and older pets of any type can not move as fast as they once did) the elderly or disabled (who may not be mobile at all), or anybody with a breathing problem, has weak lungs, or just cant get out of the way of the smoke. You could end up killing an innocent person or animal without meaning to.
\nSince I’m going to assume you want to fire smoke bombs at night, what about the people who are sleeping soundly and may not be able to wake\u00a0before\u00a0they suffocate to death\u00a0because\u00a0of your desire to “be cool” and use smoke bombs?
\nTell me, would the crying mother who just lost her baby to smoke inhalation\u00a0because\u00a0you used a smoke bomb think you were cool?
\nBut lets say you get really lucky and nobody gets hurt. Smoke bombs are also considered illegal under many local laws, and can be considered illegal anywhere in the united states if you do a strict reading of the laws, so you may get lucky and just be charged with a misdemeanor. \u00a0It goes on your criminal record, you have to go to court, you pay a fine, and then when the police look at you claiming to be the good guy they can print out your criminal record and tell you “no, your not your a criminal, its right here on your criminal record”.
\nA Real Life Super Hero would never knowingly harm innocent lives, so this alone makes smoke bombs not something you want to use as they are antithetical to the spirit of altruism and good works that a true Real Life Super Hero has. \u00a0 Add to it the other issues I have discussed, and they become not only impractical to carry on your nightly patrol, but\u00a0actively\u00a0harmful\u00a0to YOU and your efforts to be seen as the good guy or do good deeds.
\nBottom Line:<\/strong> Smoke bombs are not practical, not worth the risk to innocent lives, and are often considered illegal anyway so they are not something a real Real Life Super Hero would ever actually use.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Of all the many different wonderful and fantastical devices that the big screen and all the different blockbuster movies on Super Heroes have have put in the public eye as the big “tools of the trade” that Super Heroes have on our utility belt, the two I get asked about the most are the “grappling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[51,17],"tags":[259,1058,1079,1871,2181,2236,2393,2548],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36934"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36934\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}