During my freshman year at MIT, most of the guys in my dorm would stay up insanely late trying to think up an idea that would change the world. Unfortunately, this pursuit usually just turned into betting someone to do something stupid. Case in point, I remember one night I bet my friend Gary 50 bucks that he couldn’t down three flaming vodka shots in under a minute. He gladly accepted the challenge and we set them ablaze. However, as we were stupid college freshmen, we didn’t know that you have to blow out the flame before drinking and sadly, Gary didn’t realize this until it was too late. Terrified, he spit the vodka out – momentarily resembling a screaming dragon – and lit the common room ping-pong table on fire. Luckily, someone else grabbed a fire extinguisher while I hid in the corner laughing, fairly certain I had just witnessed the best fire story of my life. Continue reading →