Comments on: Whoever invented fireworks…

By: chaoticidealism

chaoticidealism — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 06:34:58 +0000

Here’s the funny thing about fireworks to me: The visual is intensely pleasant stimulus; the auditory, intensely unpleasant… the combination is something like getting punched in the face while eating ice cream.

Sometimes the ice cream is worth it :P

By: The funny thing about communication. - Ballastexistenz

The funny thing about communication. - Ballastexistenz — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 18:59:20 +0000

[…] as if they were fully aware I could understand them. That meant a lot to me. Another was after those darned fireworks, when my friend explained to my other friend that freezing like that did not mean that I was […]

By: Justthisguy

Justthisguy — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 22:35:21 +0000

P.s. That was my Dec. 12th, 2005 post at enemiesofthelibrary.blogspot.com.

Dammit, shooting should be fun, not creepy, or startleishly twitchy-making!

(Unless doing it in defense, or for war, of course, but I mostly like it as a calming mental discipline)

By: Justthisguy

Justthisguy — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 22:16:31 +0000

Oh, Julia, see the first substantial post on my blog, about shooting in an indoor range. I didn’t like it very much, aside from playing with the target trams, as I mentioned there.

I remember when a friend invited me to shoot his .577 Enfield replica, and his Colt Navy Six replica (both black powder weapons).

As deadly weapons go, those were, well, mellow. I remember having to chase away a bumblebee who was interested in the lubricant on the Minie balls, which had some beeswax in it.

Contrasted to that, the guy at the next station was shooting a .44 Magnum revolver, and it hurt my ears through the earplugs and resonated through my chest every time he shot it.

It made me jump, too.

I wonder if we could interpret the ADA to buy supressors for those of us who like to shoot, but jump when things go bang?

Or maybe just those who want to preserve their hearing

By: Julia

Julia — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 01:40:04 +0000

I don’t like the loud. If I’m too close, it feels like a tap on the chest. Enough taps on the chest, and it’s extremely unpleasant.

(The worst I ever had along those lines, though, was the one shot from a .357 I fired at an indoor range. Never, ever, ever shall I fire a .357 indoors unless the alternative is death or severe injury for myself or someone else. A .22 isn’t quite so bad, but doesn’t have the same sort of stopping power.)

I was concerned that with neighbors in every direction setting off fireworks (we’re outside city limits) that my daughter would be freaked out, but mostly it just kept her awake an extra hour. (She had a very, very bad time with a thunderstorm last month. I ended up having to program an mp3 playlist on my PDA for her and loop it and put it under her pillow for her to go to sleep. And this was AFTER we had calmed her down a lot.)

By: Phillida Phoenix

Phillida Phoenix — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 02:17:08 +0000

Certain shopkeepers where I live in Wales UK, also “ought to have fireworks strapped to their ears”, and other bits of their anatomy. For illegally selling fireworks to CHILDREN, who then set them off in the street at regular intervals, day and night, for up to several weeks leading up to Guy Fawkes Day and for about two weeks after it.
So at that time of year, I often find walking the streets in my area a major ordeal, not least as I too startle visibly (and audibly) at loud, sudden noises.
I wonder, with today’s technology, if it’s possible to invent an alternative to traditional fireworks – something that still makes pretty lightshows in the sky, but without the noise and danger?

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 21:31:35 +0000

The Chinese invented fireworks, of course, and still like to set them off.

“And at midnight on Chinese New Year, street corners in big cities become blast zones where police stand aside as residents ignite rockets that shoot out of refrigerator-sized boxes and leave roads littered with burned paper.

When the city of Beijing rescinded a 12-year-old ban on fireworks sales last year, it was greeted as reinstatement of a birthright. State media cheered that 80 percent of the capital city’s population lit at least one firecracker during Chinese New Year celebrations — and reported 112 injuries but no deaths.”

From “Chinese fireworks city defines boomtown,” a story in The Miami Herald about the city of Liuyang.

By: Hannah

Hannah — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 18:55:24 +0000

I hate fireworks. I don’t have much reason not to, I just startle easily and don’t like loud sounds. I have a friend whose town was bombed in a war, and she hates fireworks too because it reminds her.

By: bullet

bullet — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:29:50 +0000

My cat likes watching/listening to fireworks (from the safety of our bedroom window of course). She also likes playing fetch, greets us when we get in and happily plays with us. You know, sometimes I wonder if she’s a cat at all (joke :D).
I like the word “asswipe” and it’s definitely an American insult, nobody would say it (or not many people would say it) in the UK. For a start we say “arse”.

By: Shannon

Shannon — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:05:58 +0000

Glad to hear your asthma crisis is getting better, Amanda. Did you wind up getting allergy shots? My mom was recently diagnosed with asthma (at age 59!), and dogs were her big allergen. Since getting rid of her babies (2 big setters) is absolutely out of the question, she started on shots about 9 months ago. She also kicked the dogs out of the bed, out of the bedroom – they are still moping about it! :) She says just doing those 2 things have greatly improved her symptoms, and she hardly needs her inhaler.