rockets and fireworks and firecrackers- OH MY!!!

[antifnsocial 0]

What is the strangest or coolest memory involving boom-booms?

Please feel free to reply to my posts and pm's, but only if you're smart enough to understand what they really mean.

[NWFlyer 2]

One of my earliest memories is being comforted by my mom because I was scared of the fireworks that people were setting off in my neighborhood. I couldn't have been more than three because we moved out of that house not long after that.

One of my coolest was spending the summer between my junior and senior year of high school in Boston. My friends and I (naively) thought that if we got down to the Esplanade (where the big Boston Pops concert is) by 10 a.m. we'd be there plenty early.

Oh, how wrong we were. So you've got three geeky 16/17 year old girls walking around hoping to find a place when a man says "Is it just the three of you? You won't have a bunch of friends meeting you?" We said it was just us, and he said "Well, here, take this space - I saved far more than my family needs."

So... we now had a sweet spot maybe 1/3 of the way back from the stage. We got to watch all of the performances throughout the day, the big Pops concert at night, and had a prime seat for the fireworks after dark. That was a really cool day.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[MF42 0]

Caught my hand on fire once. Didn't realize that a fine dusting of gunpowder had adhered to the skin while I was assembling an improvised munition of some sort. Trying to light the fuse of said munition in a breeze, cupping hand around the flame, POOF!

It was just a flash, the fire burnt out as fast as it lit, taking all the hair and a little bit of skin with it. Seems funnier now than it did at the time, hopping around and swearing, looking for something wet to cool my hand off.


Several old worn out toys met their fiery end over the years.

I always liked partially burying a firecracker in some sand or gravel because it sprayed more shrapnel that way and made a cool crater. Destroying plastic cups was fun, same for dry leaves, paper airplanes, balsawood gliders, ant hills, empty cans, etc. I loved tossing an M-60 into a bucket of water; looked like a depth charge going off.

Another favorite was using a spent roman candle as a mortar. This is best accomplished with one black cat and one jumping jack, they're the perfect size. First, light the black cat and drop it down the tube. Quickly light the jumping jack and drop it down the tube, then stand back. If you've got the timing right, the black cat will detonate and launch the jumping jack skyward, which will then start spinning and flaming in mid air. Very cool.

I've seen, but not participated in (cuz I love animals), the horrifying death of a huge toad. Buddy of mine had heard about it and wanted to try it out. Find a toad. Light a lady finger and toss it a few inches in front of the toad. The toad thinks the lady finger is an insect and snatches it up with his tongue. A second later the lady finger detonates inside the toad, whose insides quickly find their way outside in a spectacularly messy fashion. Poor toad. I convinced buddy that it was really over the line and we should stick to destroying property.

Not exactly a traditional firework, but potato guns are so much fun they should be illegal.
You can get a surprising quantity of hydrogen out of drain cleaner and aluminum.

Matt

[RoadRash 0]

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What is the strangest or coolest memory involving boom-booms?

I like things that go boom......Just ask Kris and Wingi...I believe that Kris has video evidence to document my obsession......Ooooooooooooohh...Kriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis?


~R+R...WFFC '04...good year......

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Fly the friendly skies...^_^...})ii({...^_~...