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Joined: Aug 2001
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a 'goodbye and good riddance, you bunch of misfits' kind of outlook perhaps.
LOL! [Linked Image]

There are a few people here who would probably take that seriously, but I think you all know me well enough to realize that I'm definitely not one of them!

The way it's going here, I reckon it's about time we had our own little tea party..... [Linked Image]

Joined: May 2002
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Bren, Good for Cody, You, and the whole family!!! Hopefully the remaining treatment time will fly by.

Happy Fourth to all [Linked Image]

Roger

Joined: Sep 2003
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paul- I once heard that the UK celebrates Thanksgiving in July -- LOL

Adam -- your son also shares his birthday with me!

Bugaboo -- praying and sending you and yours all the love

Joined: Jun 2004
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buggaboo, real glad to hear your boy is doing better [Linked Image]
mvpmaintman, We had sponge bob cake, did you? J/K [Linked Image]

Joined: Mar 2005
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We celebrate November 5th, 'Guy Fawkes' night, with fireworks and bonfires, remembering powder, treason and plot. In 1605, Fawkes and others hatched a plot to blow up Parliament with gunpowder in a cellar. He was hung drawn and quartered (you don't want to know!!) and his head was put on a spike to rot.
The 'celebrations' consist of blowing your hands/head/fingers off with fireworks, terrifying children and pets and setting the neighbourhood alight with monsterous bonfires lit with diesel oil upon which an effigy of Fawkes, the 'Guy' is burned.
Actually, 'Mad' George III lost the United States playing peaknuckle with Ben Franklin, I heard!


Alan


Wood work but can't!
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My favourite "fireworks" story came out of London a few years back. Seems a couple theives had spotted an exceptionally well-locked warehouse, and came one weekend to help themselves to whatever valuables were inside.
Coming well prepared, they began to apply the cutting torch to the rear door. The warehouse, just as in so many places, had of course blocked the rear exit with merchandise. In this case, the merchandise was fireworks.
Responding police found the pair cowering in a culvert, stuck between a roaring fireworks warehouse, and their also burning van. Police dubbed them the "hole in the ground" gang!

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paul- I once heard that the UK celebrates Thanksgiving in July
LOL! [Linked Image]

Re Guy Fawkes, the November 5th celebrations are supposedly to mark his failure. Of course, there are others who say that he is the only person ever to go to Parliament with good intentions..... [Linked Image]

More info here for history buffs:
http://www.parliament.uk/faq/gunpowder_plot.cfm
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/gunpowder_plot_of_1605.htm

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Black-powder is a very dangerous explosive, and one I feared much more than 'modern' HEs like TNT. It does not 'detonate' in the same way as HE, it just burns very fast, the speed being a factor of grain size, pressure and quantity. It requires no detonator or booster pellet, just a spark. Here's an example of its dangers. There's a society in the UK called the 'Sealed Knot', which re-enacts battles from the English Civil War, with authentic contemporary weapons and armour. Invited to France to display at a concours, the black powder was provisioned by the local Gendarmerie, who supplied 200kg instead of 200lb, ie 2.2 times too much. Several hundred trusty English yeomen, dressed as roundheads or royalists, blasted away at each other with muzzle loaded (blank) musketry and cannon all afternoon at the 'Battle of Nazeby'. Then, what to do with all the excess powder? Some (English) fool decided to dig a hole, put over 120lb of powder in it and ignite it as a grand finale! I'll quote verbatum from an eyewitness friend standing some 100 yards from the epicentre.
"As the touchfire was applied to the train, I sensed I was too close and turned to run, too late. It all went off in a mighty flash and I could actually see the shockwave coming towards me, then a massive 'boom'. A man 10 yards nearer than me was bowled over, then I went too. I staggered up, my best 'Dragoons' cotton shirt perforated with burn holes. A huge mushroom cloud of white smoke roared up into the stratoshere. Practically every car in the arena had no glass, some were on their sides. Shop windows had caved in in the village 1.5km up the road. Worse was to follow as there is an Atomic power station nearby and the blast triggered the seismic sensors, shutting it down and triggering a full Civil Disaster Response! The place was suddenly full of firemen and police officers. Amazingly there were no serious injuries and the 'Mad English' were hurredly ecorted to the ferry terminal".

And you can buy this lethal material in the UK still, except that now instead of a few penny-bangers, golden fountains, a small rocket and some 'sparklers', you get a US$200 'display in a box', a fibre block containing upwards of 50 vertical mortars, which throw 'starbursts', 'air-bombs' etc. 200 yards up from your back yard, and all legal! The detonations can be heard for several miles. Utter madness. My advice on fireworks? - don't go anywhere near them, even to an organised display. You would be safer sitting on a thousand pound bomb, whacking it with a club hammer.
Alan


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In our little town of 324 we had a parade. Half participated, the other half watched. There were as many horses as floats... Since the tranny on the fire engine is broken it was last in the parade and all fireworks were banned in the town. Not a bad idea since we just had a few hundred thousand acres of wildfire burn around us. There were fireworks in the city near us, though. Ironically they were shot from the end of the runway where the air-tankers refilled their tanks to fight the fires... They shut down the airport for the event and setup. I love small towns!!! Thanks to those who keep us safe (including the local firemen who have arranged a crew to push the firet ruck down the street in the case of a fire in the town...)
PaulUK - on the plus side for you Guiness is a domestic and MGD and Budwiser are import beers...
Cheers!!

[This message has been edited by Mike Wescoatt (edited 07-06-2005).]


Mike Wescoatt
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