 In the summer of 1982, Pauline severely damaged his right hand while experimenting with solid rocket fuel.In August 1990, ArtPark, a state-sponsored arts festival in Lewiston, New York, cancelled a Pauline performance when it turned out he intended "to cover a sputtering Rube Goldberg spaceship with numerous Bibles" that would "serve as thermal protective shields" and be burned to ashes in the course of the performance.According to Pauline "I like to make machines that can just do their own shows... machines that can do all that machines in the science fiction novels can do.