I thought local fireworks were just a Hawaii problem, but I guess it's spread to the Mainland too.Although I like municipal fireworks, I don't especially enjoy his family's private fireworks because I worry about carelessness and possible injuries, the legality, the children running around through the fireworks unsupervised on sugar highs, and also, I can't breathe at all with the smoke and the sounds are deafening and probably damaging to our hearing.
I thought local fireworks were just a Hawaii problem, but I guess it's spread to the Mainland too
There were bottle rockets set off near my home at 5 PM and 7:30 PM last night. They were the first I've heard so far.Chaos starts after lunch
I thought local fireworks were just a Hawaii problem, but I guess it's spread to the Mainland too.
It started as a Chinese cultural rite (setting off a string outside each corner of the house at midnight to drive off the new year's evil spirits) but it's kinda gotten out of hand. Chaos starts after lunch, the streets are smoked out by 9 PM, and the noise is continuous until 12:30 AM-- especially the midnight aerials & booming explosions.
The only "limit" is a $25 license necessary to purchase retail fireworks up to a certain limit. The license is frequently less than 10% of the total purchase so it's mostly a nuisance fee. But the sheer volume of the illegal stuff (flown in? shipped in?) doesn't give one a warm fuzzy about our homeland security measures.
After a military career of handling high explosives I just can't see the reason to spend the money, let alone take the safety risk. I enjoy the technology & artistry of a good aerial display as much as anyone else but this is nuts. We watch people wheeling carts out of Costco and you can count their boxes in $100 units. Most seem to spend $200-$300. The family that owned our house before us used to build a head-high 2"x6" framework across the 30-foot cul-de-sac and load it up with aerials and multiple strings of 100,000 firecrackers. And last year a woman in our neighborhood was storing over 25 tons of (illegal) fireworks in her home for retail sales. The police ended up bringing in both HAZMAT teams and the bomb squad.
Pray for rain...
I am thinking that here, the traditions may have started with gunfire, not with fireworks per se as with Chinese tradition, though my recollection of the history of it is a little vague.
It's probably the news that UH had an undefeated season and is going to the Sugar Bowl.There were bottle rockets set off near my home at 5 PM and 7:30 PM last night. They were the first I've heard so far.
Yeah, sorry about the full disclosure. My nephew the Army Ranger has had three combat tours, too, so it'll be interesting to see his reaction when he's with us. Or maybe I should lay in a big stash of frosty beverages for us all.I'll be in HI (Kauai) over newyears. Nords, you're getting me awfully excited about it!
Atlantis in the Bahamas.
Atlantis in the Bahamas.
Any recommendations on New Year's in NYC? Times Square seems too nuts for me...but I am sure there are PLENTY of alternatives...