Author Topic: Fireworks  (Read 5557 times)

Chris S

Fireworks
« on: 05 November, 2013, 12:18:14 am »
Aren't they great? Lots of people whine about the noise - but hey, there's more noise year-round from thunderstorms and loud motorbikes, so nyahh...

This year, I have been able to compare and contrast the aerial displays in Diss and Thetford. Diss preferred the rocket, whereas Thetford definitely favoured the mortar and shell approach. I have to say, I prefer the shells - you get a double whammy - the "thump" from the tube launch, and then the air-burst.

Obviously,  those on the Pacific Rim win in the mortar-launched shell pissing contests - these 600mm shells are the Dogs; the time delay between the sounds of the launch and air burst tell you just how far away they are, and how high they are being launched:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu_GO0hUd0s

If you want to get all geeky about it, there's a great chemistry lecture here (mostly for kids):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmtK2BgmGCw

Modern displays are a far cry from my Dad lighting up a Standard Selection box in the back garden, back in the 60s.

Basil

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Re: Fireworks
« Reply #1 on: 05 November, 2013, 07:30:35 am »
*settles in comfortably to await Helly's response*

 ;D ;D
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

Re: Fireworks
« Reply #2 on: 05 November, 2013, 07:48:07 am »
Fireworks?  Pah!  They go up in a puff of smoke never to be seen again.   

Also, I get really quite fed up having to pick up the detritis in the back garden every day for a fortnight.

Just as well I'm not a pet lover too... 

BAH HUMBUG  !!!   

Re: Fireworks
« Reply #3 on: 05 November, 2013, 10:02:58 am »
I love fireworks.

Going out for another show tonight  :thumbsup:

(That'll be #3 of probably 4)

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: Fireworks
« Reply #4 on: 05 November, 2013, 10:14:43 am »
A controlled display of fireworks, like in that vid or the traditional Bonfire Night display, is fantastic. When people spend all weekend letting them off in the street - every street - it's horrible. The constant noise is bad enough but the smoke is far worse. I'd imagine it's really bad for people with asthma. Still, I suppose it scares the rats away for a while.
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Julian

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Re: Fireworks
« Reply #5 on: 05 November, 2013, 10:40:57 am »
I love fireworks.

And so do the cats.  They're certainly not bothered by them.

tiermat

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Re: Fireworks
« Reply #6 on: 05 November, 2013, 10:43:48 am »
When done properly they are fantastic.

The trouble is that it is rare to see them done properly.

The last display I saw that I really enjoyed was Sydney Habour NYE 2009/2010.
I feel like Captain Kirk, on a brand new planet every day, a little like King Kong on top of the Empire State

Re: Fireworks
« Reply #7 on: 05 November, 2013, 10:56:10 am »
I once spent a grand on 7 minutes worth.

A grand well spent

Re: Fireworks
« Reply #8 on: 05 November, 2013, 03:35:25 pm »
Just you wait until Feline sees this.

I have a cat who is truly not bothered. I had a dog who used to go berserk and took weeks to recover.

the current loud bangs are effing ridiculous and if I get hit by one of the fireworks that gets shot down a street I shall stuff the remains of said firework up their fundament.
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clarion

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Re: Fireworks
« Reply #9 on: 05 November, 2013, 03:38:30 pm »
I have one lad who fell asleep during the Cliffords Tower display, so ambivalent was he.  But I also have a lad who found the noise deeply upsetting.

I also had a greyhound who got so upset by the noise that she would have fits.

So, no, I don't tend to enjoy fireworks.
Getting there...

Biggsy

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Re: Fireworks
« Reply #10 on: 05 November, 2013, 03:42:24 pm »
Fireworks are for kids*.  #humbugger

* Except Clarion's.
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Eccentrica Gallumbits

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Re: Fireworks
« Reply #11 on: 05 November, 2013, 04:17:42 pm »
Fireworks are brilliant. :smug:
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menthel

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Re: Fireworks
« Reply #12 on: 05 November, 2013, 04:19:30 pm »
My boy loved the display we went to at the weekend, just as he did last year. We haven't heard many around us as our house is currently reverberating to the noise made by our knackered fridge!

hellymedic

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Re: Fireworks
« Reply #13 on: 05 November, 2013, 04:33:35 pm »
Fireworks?  Pah!  They go up in a puff of smoke never to be seen again.   

Also, I get really quite fed up having to pick up the detritis in the back garden every day for a fortnight.

Just as well I'm not a pet lover too... 

BAH HUMBUG  !!!

If you are just having to pick up the detritus from your garden, count yourself lucky!
We had to replace roof tiles after a rocket attack one year...

woollypigs

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Re: Fireworks
« Reply #14 on: 05 November, 2013, 05:44:45 pm »
If you like firework go to Denmark for new years eve - UK is very tame compared.

We are staying in tonight, checking out how Tilley the dog takes to the firework, else I would have been out hunting firework shows. Tilley only lift her head when they are close and when they are really loud right outside we do get a bark from her. Else she is fast asleep next to the fire.
Current mood: AARRRGGGGHHHHH !!! #bollockstobrexit

Basil

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Re: Fireworks
« Reply #15 on: 05 November, 2013, 05:52:50 pm »
Akcherly, I do enjoy proper displays very much.  What I don't like is the disorganized stuff that will be going on around my house from now until mid night. 
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

red marley

Re: Fireworks
« Reply #16 on: 05 November, 2013, 06:08:23 pm »
OMG! It's like a 1990s screen saver out there at the moment.

Re: Fireworks
« Reply #17 on: 05 November, 2013, 06:25:18 pm »
Here is a quick warning.
DO NOT TAKE A BOAT OUT ALONG PORTOBELLO BEACH TONIGHT...
as time passes, the rockets tend towards the skimming stones variety of firework,zooming out towards the tankers anchored off...

Re: Fireworks
« Reply #18 on: 05 November, 2013, 07:52:28 pm »
OMG! It's like a 1990s screen saver out there at the moment.
* like *

Re: Fireworks
« Reply #19 on: 05 November, 2013, 07:59:24 pm »
It always amuses me how people get cross about fireworks. I know they can upset animals and people use them irresponsibley but the UK must have the toughest firework laws in Europe. You can only sell them at specific times of the year and letting them off dangerously is against the law. In the rest of Europe you can buy them all the time and they seem to set them off willy nilly at every religious and cultural festival they have. In Spain they target each others churches with salvos or rockets and its called culture.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Re: Fireworks
« Reply #20 on: 05 November, 2013, 08:21:06 pm »
It always amuses me how people get cross about fireworks. I know they can upset animals and people use them irresponsibley but the UK must have the toughest firework laws in Europe. You can only sell them at specific times of the year and letting them off dangerously is against the law. In the rest of Europe you can buy them all the time and they seem to set them off willy nilly at every religious and cultural festival they have. In Spain they target each others churches with salvos or rockets and its called culture.

Not even close. In Ireland you're not allowed to buy them unless you're running a professional display, or sell them to the general public.

Doesn't necessarily stop people, mind ...

Re: Fireworks
« Reply #21 on: 05 November, 2013, 09:28:16 pm »
When the world was young and a terrorist was something in a comic or something far far away, we made our own. I distinctly remember someone having smoking hair when phosphorous was badly applied. (he was a chemistry major)
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T42

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Re: Fireworks
« Reply #22 on: 05 November, 2013, 09:38:15 pm »
When the world was young and a terrorist was something in a comic or something far far away, we made our own. I distinctly remember someone having smoking hair when phosphorous was badly applied. (he was a chemistry major)

We used to cobble our own whizzbangs together too - didn't need any special occasions, either.  I once managed to fill the forward half of the top deck of a corporation bus with sulphur-dioxide-laden smoke. We had to get off in rather a hurry.
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Basil

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Re: Fireworks
« Reply #23 on: 05 November, 2013, 09:53:48 pm »
When the world was young and a terrorist was something in a comic or something far far away, we made our own.

Ho yes.  Playing (Yes, it was playing) with sugar and weed killer was just a normal thing that kids did.

Obviously no such thing as the internet in those days - the fun was in the experimentation that that gradually taught us the correct mix.
Parents?  They'd say things like "ooh, do be careful when you're doing that"

The only time that I went beyond the pale was when our parents were having central heating put into the house.  There were lots of off cuts of copper tube lying around.
My brother and I made some pipe bombs and attempted to blow up the bank in the local railway cutting.  Unfortunately, we were way more successful than we ever dreamed we could be.
Result?  My parents were visited by the local plod and told to "have a word" with us.

Imagine how that would have panned out today.
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

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Re: Fireworks
« Reply #24 on: 05 November, 2013, 10:03:55 pm »
*imagines Basil in Gitmo orange*
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