If it’s too loud you're too old

[Dartful Dodger]

Last year I bought an obnoxious amount of fireworks for the 4th of July.  I still have over half of them left.  The fourth of July is less than a week away and this will be the first year since I was able to drive that I’m not going to be making (nor want to be making) a run to the border for fireworks.

I don't know when(if) I've out grown my Lego’s and Hot Wheels, so that wasn't a traumatic experience for me.  The lack of interest in blowing things up this year worries me. 

What's your "I'm too old for this experience"?

[shardian]

We were huge into fireworks when I was a kid until this happened:
http://www.cnn.com/US/9607/04/fireworks.fire.update/index.html

It was a yearly tradition to go to that place and load up. My dad was actually going to be there when the accident happened. We were freaking out because we thought he might be dead. Turns out he never actually made it there because he got side-tracked at the hobby shop on the way.

Anyways, I haven't been too keen on the home fireworks since then. We check out the pro fireworks displays, and maybe light a sparkler or two.

[Ginsu Victim]

We were freaking out because we thought he might be dead. Turns out he never actually made it there because he got side-tracked at the hobby shop on the way.

Chaos theory dictates that had he made it, the events more than likely would not have transpired that way.

[Jouster]

I had an experience with fireworks on the 4th...a couple of friends and me got a catalog for a store, and between the 3 of us, spent about $300.  Everything was going fine until one guy got lazy and decided to light a fountain off 6 feet away from the boxes of fireworks.  Let's see...we lost about half of it, my dad was able to pull one box to safety before the other one went up in a premature finale.  We also lost to lounge chairs.

On the flip side, there was a small crowd of people that had gathered from the places next door...but once the Saturn missiles started shooting horizontally...they scattered.  It was kinda funny.  No one got hurt...except for the guy that caused it.

I still like blowing things up though...I guess my "I'm too old" contribution would be staying out all night partying.  I could probably do it if there were lots of hot, horny women around...but then my wife might not like that part, and I'd have to go home anyway.

Jouster

[danny_galaga]

We were freaking out because we thought he might be dead. Turns out he never actually made it there because he got side-tracked at the hobby shop on the way.

Chaos theory dictates that had he made it, the events more than likely would not have transpired that way.

i can't tell if you are serious or not, but either way that's funny (",)

[Ginsu Victim]

Dead serious.

[Jdurg]

A couple years ago I was out on a mountain climbing trip in southern New Hampshire (Mt. Monadnock) and we had a cabin in a really off the beaten path area in one of the local "towns".  My two buddies and I have quite a bit of chemistry knowledge, and since this was a private property that we were on we decided to bring some sodium metal with us as well as some fireworks. 

Sodium metal plus water = KABOOM.  I recall dropping a huge chunk of the metal (about the size of a D battery) into the lake and there being a good 20 second delay.  One of my buddies had never seen a piece that size go into water and just said "That's not all that impressive".  As soon as he finished saying that, the metal exploded with a huge fireball and subsequent explosions as the rest of the metal dropped back onto the water and finished reacting.  Funny as all hell.

Well, later on there was a campfire that was built and the other guy we were with was setting up some mortars in order to launch some fireworks up in the air.  Shockingly, there was a mortar stuck in a tube and when he went and turned the tube upside down the mortar fell out right into the fire.  A VERY loud "KABOOM" and all three of us nearly shitting our pants.  Nobody was hurt and there was nothing damages (amazingly) but we were all scared shitless.   

[Dartful Dodger]

Shockingly, there was a mortar stuck in a tube and when he went and turned the tube upside down the mortar fell out right into the fire.  A VERY loud "KABOOM" and all three of us nearly shitting our pants.  Nobody was hurt and there was nothing damages (amazingly) but we were all scared shitless.   

My “grand finally” consists of putting mortars in their tubes upside down.  Lighting the fuses and then running like heck.

Maybe I posted to soon.  I haven’t out grown blowing things up, but watching bursts in the sky isn't fun anymore.  I've out grown fireworks that just go boom over a decade ago.

I have a box of mortars left over from last year.  I plan on lighting them in a variety of nonconventional ways.



…Come Monday if I’m not posting or if I’m responding very slowly it’s because I’m dead or missing fingers.

[HaRuMaN]

I have a box of mortars left over from last year.  I plan on lighting them in a variety of nonconventional ways.

My brothers and I used to light the fuses and toss them at each other like hand-grenades... lol...  pretty stupid looking back, but fun as hell back then! 

[ahofle]

Did anyone have roman candle fights with trashcan lid shields? 

[Daniel270]

My biggest danger moment was when I was accidentally shot with a bottle rocket...  ruined a new shirt I'd just got at the time. lol

After that, I've never bought any other fireworks.  I'll watch (from a distance) but I won't be that close.

[HaRuMaN]

Did anyone have roman candle fights with trashcan lid shields? 

yeah...

more fun than roman candle is the saturn missiles...   

[ahofle]

Careful.  I've had them shoot out both ends.  My uncle got 3rd degree burns on his arm when one shot out the wrong end and went down a coat sleeve.

Ouch, guess I was lucky in my youth.
I don't know if it's just around here, but fireworks seem to really be lacking in quality recently.  I picked up some of those little 'jumping jacks' that just quietly spin around a couple feet off the ground.  Out of 10, only one actually spun (the others just kind of fizzled pathetically or spit out a few sparks on the ground).   

[massive88]

My biggest danger moment was when I was accidentally shot with a bottle rocket...  ruined a new shirt I'd just got at the time. lol

After that, I've never bought any other fireworks.  I'll watch (from a distance) but I won't be that close.

When we were kids my friends and I took PVC pipes in two man teams. One person to take a knee and aim the makeshift Bazooka, the other person to light the bottle rocket, and toss it inside.

We would then attempt to shoot other teams doing the same thing.

Tons of fun.  Kids are crazy.

[SavannahLion]

Sodium metal plus water = KABOOM.  I recall dropping a huge chunk of the metal (about the size of a D battery) into the lake and there being a good 20 second delay.  One of my buddies had never seen a piece that size go into water and just said "That's not all that impressive".  As soon as he finished saying that, the metal exploded with a huge fireball and subsequent explosions as the rest of the metal dropped back onto the water and finished reacting.  Funny as all hell

Back in school, a couple of students stole the storage container for chunks of Sodium from the chemical school storage room. They wanted to try it out so at one of their parents home, they threw a pretty good sized chunk in the swimming pool. I heard they even tried to patch the pool before the parents came home....

 

[danny_galaga]

Dead serious.

that really IS funny then! you are suggesting that if Shardians dad had turned up, then there would have been a huge possibility that those half-wits wouldn't have set off the fireworks. Somehow, 40 people in the store didn't deter them, but 41 would. Chaos theory is interesting, but you really shouldn't take the theoretical ramifications TOO seriously. A hurricane won't REALLY be formed in Kansas because a butterfly flapped its wings in Brazil...

[Ginsu Victim]

One person shows up different, and it changes everything. It puts other people in different places at different times, it changes the thought process of everyone.

The simplest of things can effect everything.

Don't write it off just because Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park was a kook

[CheffoJeffo]

One person shows up different, and it changes everything. It puts other people in different places at different times, it changes the thought process of everyone.

The simplest of things can effect everything.

Don't write it off just because Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park was a kook

* CheffoJeffo enters math geek mode

Your initial statement implied a probable and significant shift in outcome in a system that you didn't even establish as chaotic -- you just assumed initial condition sensitivity.

You need to do the math if you want to draw the conclusion.

* CheffoJeffo reverts to arcade geek mode

  for reminding me what a total geek I am

[FrizzleFried]

Fireworks ON the 4th rock.  Fireworks leading up to and after the 4th SUCK.  Why?  Because my Basset Hound is the biggest ---Bad words, bad words, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when saint censors you?--- in the world and the pops scare the ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- out of her.  If someone lights off a firework...one firecracker,  one bottle rocket or what not,  she freaks out and will not go out for hours...you can't coax her out...nothing.

I am going to call and get her some dope for this 4th of July...

[massive88]

Fireworks ON the 4th rock.  Fireworks leading up to and after the 4th SUCK.  Why?  Because my Basset Hound is the biggest ---auto-censored--- in the world and the pops scare the ---Cleveland steamer--- out of her.  If someone lights off a firework...one firecracker,  one bottle rocket or what not,  she freaks out and will not go out for hours...you can't coax her out...nothing.

I am going to call and get her some dope for this 4th of July...

LMAO!  Same with my basset!  This is him taking cover in the bathroom while we were repainting it.  The ladder will protect me!

[hypernova]

A hurricane won't REALLY be formed in Kansas because a butterfly flapped its wings in Brazil...

Silly!  Hurricanes don't occur in Kansas!  Butterflies cause tornadoes in Kansas.  Everyone knows that!  Sheesh!

Don't write it off just because Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park was a kook

Am I one of the few who likes Goldblum's...demeanor?

[danny_galaga]

A hurricane won't REALLY be formed in Kansas because a butterfly flapped its wings in Brazil...

Silly!  Hurricanes don't occur in Kansas!  Butterflies cause tornadoes in Kansas.  Everyone knows that!  Sheesh!

so, my statement still holds- a hurricane WONT be formed in kansas 

[Ginsu Victim]

Don't write it off just because Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park was a kook

Am I one of the few who likes Goldblum's...demeanor?

I like him. "Mr Frost" was just a kook in JP, that's all.