Conference back40::soapbox

    Just because it's July 4th !!! :*)
    
    I take it you start you holiday on Saturday and return to work
    on Wednesday ??.

    FIREWORKS PEOPLE, FIREWORKS
    
    Well, my dog has this thing with Fireworks. When they start, she starts
    barking...when they stop, she carries on barking ! That animal can hear
    those things from miles away.
    
    I for one get bored with them now-a-days, I must say though, the show I
    saw at Disney world along with the lasers was very entertaining.
    
    Some people have very bad phobias towards them. I kind of remeber one 
    person, from way back, who would have to go to the pub (where the
    extremely loud music was) and get drunk to help her through. She would
    also sit well away from the windows and as close to as many people as
    possible. It was quite disturbing to see someone like this.

I like 'em.

I like grandiose public displays.

I like to see the class C stuff at a personal level.

What I hate, is when you go to see a public display, and the local yokels
decide to blow off their class C stuff in the parking area while waiting for
the show to start - usually a grassy knoll after three weeks without rain,
so the ground blossoms can spin under your car and ignite the hay beneath
your gas tank.

I used to think that they ought to do away with all of the laws prohibiting
the private use of class C stuff in various localities. Then I started to
think about the potential impact to my tax bill should a neighbor decide to
sue the town for their complicity (and deeper pockets) when another neighbor
ignited their back 40  with an errant bottle rocket. I guess I'd prefer the
law to remain the same and trust that the cops have poor hearing and eyesight
this time of year.

You can buy very nice Class C goods in South Carolina, Eastern Tennessee (too
many n's? e's?, s's?), and most Indian reservations West of the Mississippi
(that one's right). I, of course, have never possessed such materials, doncha
know.

A nice diversion on a lazy 4th of July is to lie in a hammock strung between
two trees with a cold beer in one hand and the ability to touch off an
occasional Whistling Moon Traveler With Report (144 pieces to light) with
the other. This is what I have been told.

Have a safe and sane Independence Day Holiday, place on ground, light fuse,
get away.

>One of the finest things to have come out of the great nation of China.

I apologize - I failed to take into consideration the cuisine before I posted
that.

    Ditto   Re-1...
    
    As well as a few other wonderful items the please the taste buds.
    
    
    Sin-te-de

I never been much of one for snakes.

The grass snakes I've grown up with tend to have a foul odor when provoked,
so I'm unsure as to how they might taste.

There are Class C snakes, of course, which will coil and curl nicely,
often with various colored smoke for display. This is what I've been
told.

    
    	Gad I wish we here in MA could still run up to NH to purchase
    "real" fireworks! All they have now is that silly "Safe and Sane"
    stuff. I hate to drive all the way to VA to get fireworks. :)
    
    	jim (who's been shooting fireworks for 15years and still retains
    all his digits) ;*)
    
    

    
    
    We have a AA baseball team where I live (Bowie Baysox).  ABout 4 times
    a year they have fireworks after the games.  Great display.  
    
    I have some experience in doing the fireworks as well.  Years back when
    I was assistant superintendant at a golf course, we had a 4th of July
    display at the course every year.  Very interesting stuff.....

    ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** 
                  Warning, Frustration Venting to follow!
    ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** 
    

    Fireworks are fine and dandy, but CERTAIN ##### ##### ##### ##### #####
    individuals should not have them!  I was driving home Sunday night, a nice 
    leisurely ride through the lovely (not) city of Lynn.  I'm going down the 
    road and some ##### ##### ##### ##### decides to light of a 3" rocket, 
    aimed OUT INTO THE F###### STREET ! ! ! !  This rocket SLAMS INTO THE
    DRIVER'S DOOR OF MY CAR, ABOUT 1' BELOW THE (OPEN) WINDOW, DIRECTLY IN
    LINE WITH MY BODY ! ! ! ! !
    This was in one of the <word indicating less nice> parts of town.  I
    slammed on my brakes and was out of the car before it stopped rolling. 
    To say I was furious is an understatement.  I was all over this guy
    (never touched him, just in his face yelling).  The pin head was so
    drunk it was pathetic.  He was there trying to say the it went under my
    car (He didn't say much when I showed him the flash mark where it
    exploded on my door).  Given the neighborhood this was a very dangerous
    thing to do, and when that sunk in, I got in me car (which was still
    running) and ripped outta there before the individuals in question
    could get their thoughts together and kick the snot outta me.  What
    REALLY frosted me was that this whole incident took place 1/2 a block
    from the police station!  Your tax dollars at work !
    
    Venting complete.
    We now return to our regularly scheduled insanity,
    already in progress.
    
    :-)
    Dan
    

    
    
    	one question, why didn't you go to the police station and report
    the incident?
    
    
    jim

    
    
    
    Went to a yard sale one day a few months ago and there was a shoebox
    with all kinds of interesting things in it.......

    My son used to order his fireworks from a place in Ohio.  They came by
    UPS, and my wife once had to explain that it really was okay for him to
    be delivering these big boxes with DANGER EXPLOSIVE plastered all over
    them.

    > one question, why didn't you go to the police station and report
    > the incident?

    Funny you should ask Jim.  I did try to.  I waited in front of the
    bullet resistant glass for about a 1/2 hour, knocking occasionally. 
    Every now and then a cop would come out and say "We'll be right with
    you", and disappear behind a door.  Finally I saw a group of them
    suiting up for what looked to be a drug raid.  This made me realize
    what a petty issue mine was on the overall out look in Lynn crime.  I
    also realized that by that time the jokers were probably passed out. 
    It just became no longer worth the effort.

    Oh well, the flipping thing didn't do too much damage.  I'll find out
    today when I wash the car to see if the flash mark comes off.

    :-/
    Dan

    
    	ah, thanks for the explanation Dan....
    
    
    jim

    
    Dick, were you visited by three gorilla's in pinstriped suits, perhaps?

      I love the visuals and I hate the loud bangs.
    
      Totally different level, but as a kid I used to like those 
      black snakes.  You know...those small black cylinders that
      when you lit them they got real long and twisty.

    Oh, wow, the loud bangs, especially the big ones that are really booms,
    are great!  We usually watch the Nausea city 'do from the belvedere on
    my house, and up there you can really feel the impact on your chest
    when the big'uns go.

The only 4th of July I was abiding in Millbury, MA...
Three nights of fantastic fireworks from the park 1/4 mile from my abode. The
wife and I go down there every year now, although they only do one night's
worth. Whoever puts on this display does a good job.

Interesting thing heard on the police scanner a few years back: a car was
sent to investigate fireworks on a nearby street. The cop reported back that
so much stuff was going off in the general area that it would be easier to
just let 'em use it up... no busts occurred. That was the year that the guy
across the lake was pitching M80s into the water - nice depth-charge effect -
waterproof fuses, ya know.

    
      I'm heading off into the woods camping/hiking, to warm up for
     Switzerland in July, and to escape all these bloodthirsty
     terrorists with their explosives.  They should be caned.
    
      bb

    	Private fireworks -- money up in smoke.
    
    	I recall seeing some people on a raft on Long Pond (Pelham, NH)
    	doing a fireworks display for guests at their pond-front home.
    	About 10 minutes into their show we heard shouting on the raft,
    	and then all the occupants dove into the water.  A few seconds
    	later the box in which they had their fireworks started to bounce
    	and explode.  Apparently a match or a spark got in there and set
    	the thing on fire.  Within a few minutes the show was done, the
    	raft was burning, and the occupants were climbing ashore.  You
    	may still be able to find the charred remnants of that raft in 
    	the grassy part of the north end of the lake where it drifted
    	and was abandoned.
    	

 re .20


 I saw something similar happen many years ago while sitting in a boat on
 Clear Lake in Northern California.




 
Jim

    While sitting on our boat in the outer pon at Cuttyhunk, we got to
    watch the local volunteer fire brigade put out a raging brush fire
    after some moronic boaties set a field on fire on the point.  Better
    than a fireworks display and we even had front row seats. 
    
    Brian

    I like the fireworks shows that include background music.  My favorite
  is the University of Florida homecoming show.  Incredible in every way.
  The Disney World 10PM nightly shows were good - I worked there one summer.
  
    What I dislike are the amateur shows done with those cheapo fireworks.
  Every year our next door neighbor lights all kind of explosives in the
  street.  The kids are always running to examine the ones that don't 
  explode.  Just a matter of time...  I always run the sprinklers during 
  their shows and hope that no sparks hit our wood shingle roof.

    When I was growing up, I shared a room with my younger brother.  He
  kept a stash of fireworks in a desk and loved to create his own crazy
  fireworks shows.  For some reason the shows always degraded to firing
  bottle rockets down the sidewalk at the neighbors.  That's when I left.

    Every year you read about injuries and deaths from DIY fireworks shows.
    That stuff makes me nervous.  Fireworks can bring out some stupid
    behavior...

    For those of you who may be going to Cape Cod for the weekend and want
    to view good fireworks, in my opinion, go down to Falmouth Harbor. They
    are fired from a barge in the sound and can be view from Nobska Point
    Woods Hole to South Cape Beach, or if you are on the Vineyard they can
    be seen from West Chop or East Chop.
    
    A lot of the boats from the marinas go out onto the sound to watch and
    at dark it looks like a floating city from the beach with all of their
    lights on. :-)
    
    Don 

    
    Gotta love the big ones and little ones.  In younger days we used to
    have bottle rocket fights.  Line 'em up and shoot at one another.  It
    got so bad that one guy mounted a launching rack on the back of a
    pickup truck that held 150 rockets.  Drove by competition's house and
    set them off with a blow torch.  What a sight!
    
    Thankfully no one ended up with permanent injuries. 
       

    Fireworks.  And no one mentioned Rainvilles party yet, which I happened
    to attend.
    
    My neigbors have been lighting off some little stuff during the
    week.  I'll break out my ordinance in a few days.  Ho Ho.

If it were edp, it'd be ordinance.

 re .25

 

 We used to have similar wars with bottle rockets.  Fun stuff

    Are firecrackers and bottle rockets still illegal in MA?  They are here
    as well.  I use to have a great contact in Clinton for that stuff.  
    
    Mike

    Clinton sells firecrackers and bottle rockets?

No, his contact does.  Is that his left contact or his right contact?

 Contact Clinton for fireworks?

    
    .26 yo Madmike, isn't that the party, if I recall, where you like, fell
    into the fire, and Gene had to drag your sorry arse out?

>                     <<< Note 480.25 by NEMAIL::HULBERT >>>
>    Gotta love the big ones and little ones.  In younger days we used to
>    have bottle rocket fights.  Line 'em up and shoot at one another.  It

Yah, one Labor Day the guests at a party I was attending got a little too
well oiled, and started launching bottle rockets at the crowd passing by
(this was in Marlboro, which has a big festival on Labor Day)...

Suddenly 5 (I counted) cop cars come down the street, stop in front of the
house and cops begin swarming everywhere... all explosive devices somehow
neatly disappeared and no one knew anything... pardon us while we polish our
halos, occifer. Finally, the cop in charge told us all to grow up, and they
left!

Oh well, luckily I didn't hang around with those guys more than a couple
times a year...


Oh yah, somebody asked - fireworks are indeed illegal in Mass., have been for
years. The "war on fireworks" has been somewhat less successful than the "war
on (some) drugs".

    	When I was about 16 I was at a party at a friend's house.  One
    	of his younger cousins had a bunch of small bottle rockets.  He
    	would hold the end of the stick, light the fuse, and then throw 
    	it into the air.  That would result in a random firing direction
    	once it ignited.  One of them shot directly at me, bouncing
    	along my chest and under my chin until it finally ended with
    	the usual bang.  I had little burns all under my neck and chin.

    June 29, 1993.  I got to watch my parents house of 22 years burn to the
    ground, due to fireworks.  The only thing they had after everything
    was over, were the clothes they wore to work.  
    
    Should have ....**never mind**...I am still a little angry 
    with the genetically challenged bast&&&ds that started the fire.
    
    Sin-te-da

    About 10 years ago, while celebrating New year's eve in Muizquiz,
    Mexico, I had a firecracker go off in my hand.
    
    Mike

    
    Ah, those good old college days sitting out behind Sig Chi by a fire,
    passing around the JD, and aiming bottle rockets at Phi Kap.

That's the problem with Juvenile Delinquents.

    re .9
    
    I used to live in [a word for a really bad neighborhood] and we used
    throw stuff at the cars that were being driven by someone who had the
    look as if everything in the world was right and nothing could go wrong
    and if it did (go wrong) they trusted the police to 'do' something
    about it. You did the right thing in getting in your car immediately
    because you are right you would have been eaten. 
    
    Besides whats 'leisurely' about driving a car? Engine temperatures run
    hotter than 100 degrees celcius to propel a 2000 lb vehicle across
    black tar, doesnt sound leisurely to me. Maybe the vandals were just
    trying to wake you up, people with no voice often resort to violence.
    
    chris
    
    

    
    Never understood the big deal about fireworks.  It just seems awfully
    childish to get so excited about a little flash-and-bang.  I hope
    that I have better things to occupy my spare time.
    
    Having said that...;-)
    
    The best "fireworks" displays I've ever seen were night fire exercises
    at West Point, NY and Fort Knox, KY.  Everybody ought to get the chance
    to see what a firing range looks like all lit up by dozens of M16's 
    and M60's roaring away full auto with tracer ammo.
    
    Awesome.
    
    
    
    
    Rob
    

    I once worked in a metal scraps yard. In the yard they had an
    automobile shredder. The shredder like everything else in the place was
    unsafe. Once every month or so a car would go through the shredder with
    a full tank of gas. Very cool explosion. Little pieces of Ford
    scattered for hundreds of yards all white hot with little tails of
    melted paint. If it happened at night it was the best, like a big
    sneeze form the mouth of a big dragon. Unfortunately the place was
    closed down by the MOE, generations of young kids are going to miss
    this glorious display of fire and danger.
    
    Even better is when Stelco in Hamilton dumps the red hot slag from the
    ingots into big pools of water. The sky lights up red and you can see
    and hear it for miles, beautiful!

    
    
    
    	re: .42
    
    	You oughta check out a 20mm Vulcan Canon sometime.....
    
    
    :)

        re .41

    Yes the flash mark came off.

    > ...at the cars that were being driven by someone who had the look as if 
    > everything in the world was right and nothing could go wrong and if it 
    > did (go wrong) they trusted the police to 'do' something about it. 

    I don't think this description fits me very well.  If anything when I'm
    relaxed I look like I'm annoyed.  It's just the way my face relaxes.

    > You did the right thing in getting in your car immediately
    > because you are right you would have been eaten. 
                                                ^^^^^
    I said these people were mean, not CANNIBALS !
    Actually I did the right thing in avoiding the fight be cause the odds
    were heavily against me.  But if something had happened, they probably
    would have won, but I guarantee that they would have received better
    than they gave!

    > Besides whats 'leisurely' about driving a car? Engine temperatures run
    > hotter than 100 degrees Celsius to propel a 2000 lb vehicle across
    > black tar, doesn't sound leisurely to me.

    def. leisurely - anytime my car drops below 50 mph. :-)
    2000 lbs !  That's a puny excuse for an automobile.  That's what you
    give little kids to use until they get old enough to get a REAL car!
    :-)

    Dan

    I am curious to see if anyone knows the cost of the fireworks.  I was
    down in Boston yesterday and I overheard some talkers saying that the
    BIG bangs go for about $800/pop and the whole show costs about
    $250,000.  
    
    Can anyone back this up?
    
    Jason

    
    
    That'd probably be about right.  When I worked at a golf course that
    put on a 4th of July show (10 years ago), the tab was about $125.000.
    
    
    Mike

    re.42,
    
    puff was neat to watch at night, so was napalm, and for
    a real show watch a WP drop...
    

    I seen a fireworks factory blow up when I was on vacation at Hampton
    Beach, New Hampshire. Back in summer of '82 the beach was mobbed, it
    was a perfect day. All of a sudden we hear this LOUD noise, everyone
    turned around toward where the nuke plant is and we seen a large
    mushroom cloud and the noise vibrated the beach. Everyone started to
    run off the beach and down to the marshes. On the news we found out
    that a fireworks factory blew up that was in Seabrook.
    
    

    I wonder when the nulcear fueled fireworks factory willl go up?

    
    A small brush fire started at the fireworks I went to Tuesday
    night... the fireworks were OK, but the _best_ part was watching
    the rather portly fireman trying to get over the fence to
    reach the brush fire...
    
    -b

    re: 50
    
    We thought it was the nuke plant that exploded, it was a pretty 
    scary experience, like something you would see in a movie. 

| <<< Note 480.51 by MPGS::MARKEY "The bottom end of Liquid Sanctuary" >>>


| but the _best_ part was watching the rather portly fireman trying to get over 
| the fence to reach the brush fire...

	Did he get his uniform at Sims? :-)

    
    On several occasions, we launched our own fireworks displays (the real
    thing) from a cottage on a small island surrounded by a small lake in 
    the woods of NH. We used to do this on the 4'th and on Labor day.
    
    The first years launching caught everyone by surprise. But by the
    second year the lake folks knew the routine and the lake was loaded
    with boaters waiting on their private display.
    
    3" and 4" tubes buried in the ground (which shook with every launch :-)
    
    I especially like the ones marked "with report"  :-)
    
    Doug.