The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

It Was Totally Awesome

Supplies for the McCain family fireworks show, July 4, 2012 (click photo to enlarge) FROM AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION For the past two years, I had missed the annual family tradition of shooting off a crapload of fireworks on Fourth of July.  This year, however, we secured a shoot site and a sufficent stash to do […]

VIDEO: Not Intended as a Metaphor

Nevertheless, as we seem to be all-budget-all-the-time around here lately, this epic fail could be taken as symbolic of either Mitch McConnell’s “political leadership” or Barack Obama’s “economic policy“: (Via RD Brewer in AOSHQ Headlines.)

Now THAT Is What I Call a ‘Finale’

From Lancaster, Ohio’s 4th of July show: That show was previewed by the local newspaper July 1: “When that finale is done, the only thing you hear is the rip-roaring of the crowd,” [Hamburg Fireworks president Ken Sprague] said. “They’re saying, ‘Oh, my God,’ and, ‘Wow.’ The wow factor is huge.” . . . Sprague […]

Legalize Fireworks Now!

Maine’s York County Journal Tribune editorializes in support of a pending bill that would legalize consumer fireworks in that state, to which I say not merely yes, but hell, yes! Consumer (1.4G) fireworks are much safer today than in the 1960s, when most state fireworks bans were passed. Back then, the great danger was M-80s […]

Awesome Fireworks Videos

This show in the Hannover International Fireworks Competition in Germany was produced by the Gotteburg factory from Sweden. And here’s a compilation of finale effects:

VIDEO: Fun With Fireworks

Watch this low-breaking shell set off car alarms: Being a serious fireworks buff, let me explain what appears to have happened here: The shell was either fired from the wrong size mortar or else the lift charge was just weak, resulting in the “break” being at least 50 feet too low for safety. Judging from the […]

Rednecks: A Global Phenomenon

It’s like the punchline of a Jeff Foxworthy joke: BEIJING, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) — Two people were killed and 223 have been injured in the Chinese capital amid traditional New Year fireworks frenzy that lasted from Wednesday evening to Thursday noon. . . . On Thursday, Beijing dispatched more than 20,000 street cleaners after a […]

VIDEO: Awesome Fireworks

Being a total fireworks fanatic, I just have to share this video of the Bastille Day (July 14) show in Paris. It’s 31 minutes of pure awesomeness, although if you’re not as much into pyrotechnics as I am — and honestly, very few people are — you may wish to skip to the last couple […]

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