Dave was a nuclear engineer employed at the testing site within Nellis Air Force Base.

One day, he and Felipe were monitoring a routine test of a 40 kiloton device buried thousands of feet below the desert. While it would make a minor explosion as these things go, it would still make the ground rock and roll when it went off. In fact it would be felt in Las Vegas some 50 miles to the southeast. As the two watched the countdown clock, Dave made the off-hand comment that he wished for once that a device would not go off. Felipe laughed and agreed it would make things interesting.

The clock reached zero and nothing happened. The ground didn't shake and the instruments stayed calm. Eventually, the principle investigator's voice came over the P.A. system stating that there was a technical problem with the test and they were investigating. Dave flexed his arm and said it was due to willpower to which Felipe responded "Bullshit".