I just dropped off the supplies and paperwork for a Wilderness First Aid course I taught over the weekend. One of the other volunteers - someone that I don't get along with too well, as I consider him a bit of a braggart and a blowhard - was in the office when I dropped it off. He picked up one of the unused textbooks and began leafing through it. In the section on starting fires, he stopped at the picture of the magnesium/flint and offered his unsolicited opinion that they were a complete waste of money and didn't work worth a damn. Turning the page, he pointed to a drawing of someone starting a fire with a magnifying glass and said something like "That works great." Thinking he was being sarcastic, I replied "Yeah, as long as you've got sunlight." His response was "Don't need sunlight, I've done it with moonlight."

Now, I suppose it's theoretically possible, but I would have thought you'd need a parabolic mirror the size and precision of the Mount Palomar reflector.

I'm 99 percent sure (or better) that this guy was BS'ing me. But I figure there's no harm in verifying my first reaction. Am I right in thinking this guy was stretching the truth like Silly-Putty? Is there even a remote possibility that he was telling the truth?

Just curious.