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Old 07-06-2022, 08:14 PM   #21
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That was good. Reminds me of 35 years ago when a kid (maybe 12) approached me after I lit off a safe and sane "whistler"

He said I can show you how to make them explode. I said "not interested"

He then proceeds to take one out of his pocket, tear off the base, put it on the ground and stamp on it with his foot. Leaves it on the ground (flat) and lights it.

It started screaming, lit out into the street and exploded under a car.

Good thing the gas tank wasn't leaking eh?

Stupid is everywhere and stupid is as stupid does.
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Old 07-06-2022, 08:38 PM   #22
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That was hilarious, I wonder where that kid is today if he's still alive.
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Old 07-06-2022, 10:02 PM   #23
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I certainly played with my share of fireworks as a kid, nothing bigger than an M-80. Fireworks were technically illegal in our state, but one just had to go to the nearest Chinatown neighborhood and they were being sold openly, without any issue (it was considered part of cultural celebrations).

Usually we would just lay them on the ground or in some container, light them, and run like heck. Once I held on too long to a firecracker before tossing it, it went off soon after I let go of it, and the force was enough to numb my pinky for a couple of days. That was a close call.

The most destructive thing my friends and I did, by accident, was setting a vacant lot on fire. I was about 11. We would tie a Brillo pad to a clothesline rope, light the Brillo pad, and run down the street spinning the rope in circles and hitting the ground with it. This would create a big circle of sparks flying every which way. We would have races with this. After one race past the vacant lot by about six of us, one of my friends noticed flames in the lot. Sure enough, we had throw enough sparks to set some of the bushes on fire. We spent the next 30 minutes throwing and water (fortunately a nearby fire hydrant was open) putting the flames out.

I never told our children my adventures with fireworks until they were adults, no need to tempt them before that .
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Old 07-07-2022, 06:04 AM   #24
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We used to play rocket fights like a team sport when I was a teenager. 10 on each side, lighting rocket in a hand and then shooting it on to the other team. Think of the dodge ball! Man, that was stupid!
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Old 07-07-2022, 06:36 AM   #25
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In 2003, I was working in a public clinic, and met a new family to the clinic, happy parents with a two year old. Two days later I read in the paper that the father had his head blown off by fireworks. Apparently they were lighting them and putting them in a makeshift cannon. When one didn't go off in the time he expected, he looked into the cannon the firework finally did its thing, killing him instantly.
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Old 07-07-2022, 08:10 AM   #26
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Very sad for his family and friends.
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Old 07-07-2022, 08:12 AM   #27
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Very sad for his family and friends.
+1

Not to mention traumatic and horrifying for those who may have witnessed it.
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Old 07-07-2022, 08:12 AM   #28
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Can you imagine being the neighbor across the street, and looking forward to this every year from these folks, launching things towards your property.
At our previous home, we had a next door neighbor whose adult children went crazy with fireworks every July 4th - terrorizing our dogs BTW. They bought tons of powerful fireworks, even staging them on plywood boards - it was a two day preparation. After listening to it for hours after dark every July 4th, we'd find shrapnel all over our roof and yard the next day. We really liked them 364 days/year, and their adult children didn't live at home, for whatever reason it was a tradition for them to shoot off fireworks at our neighbors (their parents) house. One year I found something smoldering in our front yard and went out with a hose to douse it, and they could see I wasn't happy. The next morning they were out picking up their debris from our yard. Again, we liked them all, just hated their July 4th fireworks tradition.
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Old 07-07-2022, 08:14 AM   #29
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Ok I have another one for you, watch till the end...

(sorry i only found it on twitter).

What gets me, is this is their own video from their own security cam, so they not only created this debacle, but decided to share it somewhere public.

https://twitter.com/new_orleansjazz/...90105636671488
Yes, but it was photographed by a SimpliSafe security camera. No doubt that saved them. Right?
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Old 07-07-2022, 08:41 AM   #30
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At our previous home, we had a next door neighbor whose adult children went crazy with fireworks every July 4th - terrorizing our dogs BTW. They bought tons of powerful fireworks, even staging them on plywood boards - it was a two day preparation. After listening to it for hours after dark every July 4th, we'd find shrapnel all over our roof and yard the next day. We really liked them 364 days/year, and their adult children didn't live at home, for whatever reason it was a tradition for them to shoot off fireworks at our neighbors (their parents) house. One year I found something smoldering in our front yard and went out with a hose to douse it, and they could see I wasn't happy. The next morning they were out picking up their debris from our yard. Again, we liked them all, just hated their July 4th fireworks tradition.
I have a friend (old co-worker), that was burned out of his house on the 4th of July. It started on their deck in the back of the house and by the time they understood what was going on (late at night), they literally ran out of the house with the clothes on their back and lost EVERYTHING. The good news was that the rest of the family that was there that day (kids and grandkids) decided to end the night and go to one of the kids house so none of them were in the house when that happened.
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Old 07-07-2022, 09:17 AM   #31
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For a couple of years, as teenagers who mostly paid attention in school, we tried making our own gunpowder.

Fortunately it's not as easy in real life as suggested from the recipe. At the time we didn't really understand the danger from accidental ignition had we done a better job.

We would build little rafts and put our various homemade fireworks on them and set them adrift with a long fuse. Mostly they burned and glowed and failed to explode.
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Old 07-07-2022, 09:21 AM   #32
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Fireworks are assembled as cheaply as possible in China using unpredictable black powder.

I've heard a mortar like that in Aerides' video simply detonate on the beach.

Fortunately no one was near it given the small crater it created.

I've seen Roman candles explode when being handheld...burns, but no permanent injuries.

I'm happy to go to professional fireworks shows but have nothing to do with them up close and personal anymore.

As for making your own, when I was a kid our family was out walking in our neighborhood when we heard what we thought was a transformer explosion.

Turned out several blocks away a group of teenagers was packing black powder into the body of a cut-open fire extinguisher in someone's basement...one walked downstairs, lit a cigarette, and boom!

The teen leaning over the extinguisher at the time was killed & IIRC the explosion was powerful enough to cause foundation damage to the point that the home was condemned.
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Old 07-07-2022, 09:37 AM   #33
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As for making your own, when I was a kid our family was out walking in our neighborhood when we heard what we thought was a transformer explosion.

Turned out several blocks away a group of teenagers was packing black powder into the body of a cut-open fire extinguisher in someone's basement...one walked downstairs, lit a cigarette, and boom!

The teen leaning over the extinguisher at the time was killed & IIRC the explosion was powerful enough to cause foundation damage to the point that the home was condemned.
Wow. We used to pack CO2 cartridges with match tips and they went off like M80s. I can't imagine a fire extinguisher.
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Old 07-07-2022, 09:41 AM   #34
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How awful for everyone involved.
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Old 07-07-2022, 10:08 AM   #35
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The stupid shall be punished.

I should be on the Darwin list but somehow managed to live through all my stupid.
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Old 07-07-2022, 10:16 AM   #36
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The stupid shall be punished.

I should be on the Darwin list but somehow managed to live through all my stupid.
I reflect on some of the things I did when I was much younger and just cringe too...
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Old 07-07-2022, 10:23 AM   #37
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Just last month in St. Louis County:

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The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged two men this weekend in connection with a house explosion that killed 4 people.
https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/tw...use-explosion/

Two of the deceased were minors, working under the direction of adults to pack homemade fireworks.
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Old 07-07-2022, 10:33 AM   #38
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Yes, but it was photographed by a SimpliSafe security camera. No doubt that saved them. Right?

By save you do mean, made them internet stars, right? I had no problem finding it on my phone to show at breakfast this morning. It is on many web sights.
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Old 07-07-2022, 01:35 PM   #39
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The pro's wear bomb suits...and that is not a coincidence. Fireworks are bombs that are supposed to elevate... but there are always exceptions.

I sometimes light off some bigger mortars and rockets. I place a 4' x 8' piece of plywood in front of the launch zone, that way the only person that can get hurt is the guy crazy enough to light them (Me). And I usually light a few at a time and run...if I miss the fust on one, oh well...it's just a show. Bailing out is the key. If you stick around it increases your chance of getting hurt or death. One time I had a rocket fuse sever the rocket's tail, so the rocket fell onto the ground, lit off into the blast shield, ricocheted across the street up the neighbors driveway, off his garage door and into his bush. The bush started on fire, and if I hadn't had a bucket of water handy I could have easily burnt down his house. Fireworks are no joke.
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Old 07-07-2022, 01:47 PM   #40
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When I was about 5 yrs old I found a 22 cal shell on the ground at a small farm. It seemed to me the thing to do was put the shell on the sidewalk and hit it with a hammer. BANG! it blew two holes in the smashed casing and the lead bullet stayed intact. No harm done.
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