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A Pokéball from Pokémon appeared in the night sky over Niigata, Japan. This brawl is going to be awesome. Link -via Geekosystem
If watching all the fireworks shows last night got you wondering how those balls of light are actually created and manipulated, this great infographic can help fill you in on the details. Be sure to click the link to view the whole graphic.
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Jeremiah Warren attached a small (and tough) camera to fireworks and captured quite a few POV sequences. Some launches had the camera facing up and some were facing down. -via Cynical-C
Kids these days don’t know what hazardous fireworks are… why, back in my day, when we walked six miles to school uphill both ways, fireworks were dangerous. I mean real dangerous, like the M80s we used to by all the time. How dangerous were they?
Federal law now caps the flash powder content of firecrackers at 50mg per firework. Typical M-80s contained somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000mg of powder apiece, or roughly 60 times as much explosive. (This power makes sense given the M-80’s original purpose: simulating the sound of gunfire and artillery during military training missions.)
Read about how these changes came about at mental_floss. Link
(Watch on PopSci)
There’s always so much talk about apple pie and baseball near Independence Day, but I don’t like either of those things. And having practically lived inside the Internet for the last few years, I can tell you that most people are more impressed with 1.) explosions, 2.) slow-motion video and 3.) pictures of cats. Two out of three ain’t bad. This is from PopSci, where they blow things up for science. Link
The headline makes it sound as if history is repeating itself, but this happened in Ocoee, Florida. A man was arrested for lighting fireworks at the fireworks tent in which he was working.
Guy Swindell Fowlkes, 33, of Orlando, was working at the tent at Colonial Drive and Maguire Road but had made arrangements to work at another tent location, according to an arrest affidavit filed in the case. When his girlfriend asked about keys to a storage unit, Fowlkes said he did not have the keys and began an argument with her.
Fowlkes struck his girlfriend, who is pregnant, in the left side of her face, according to the report. He then went into the tent and began to light up fireworks, directing some of them at other employees. He also lit the fuse of two firecrackers and placed them inside the gas tank of an employee’s car.
As police approached, they could see explosions in the distance. Fowlkes was charged with arson and battery. Link -via Arbroath
(YouTube link)
It’s already 2011 in Australia. They know how to celebrate Down Under! -via The Daily What
A fireworks display Friday at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton, California drew crowds of people -and yellow jackets! A swarm of insects stung fairgoers when their nest was disturbed.
The wasp attacks began shortly after the fireworks show started at 9:15 p.m. About 5,000 people were in the grandstands, and 15 minutes later sting victims started showing up in the first aid area, Knowles said.
“Apparently there were a number of (yellow jackets) also in attendance for the fireworks display last night,” Knowles said Saturday.
She said emergency personnel at the fair set up a triage area to care for those who were stung. Everyone was treated on site and there were no hospitalizations, Knowles said.
By midnight Friday, an exterminator located and removed a ground nest, Mitchell said. The yellow jackets were probably disturbed by the vibrations as the fireworks were launched, not the explosions overhead, she said.
None of the victims were allergic to the stings. Link
(Image credit: Flickr user ChrisK4u)
This Fourth of July, please please please leave the fireworks to the professionals. Here’s why:
Suffolk County police say 36-year-old Eric Smith was using a 3-foot long metal tube to shoot mortars from the street near his Islip (EYE’-slip) Terrace home around 5:45 p.m. Saturday.
Police believe he leaned over the device to ignite it and didn’t get out of the way before an explosive shot out of the launcher. His left arm was severed at the shoulder.
Friday night was the big finale of the month-long Fallas 2010 festival in Valencia, Spain. It is called the Cremà. Gigantic structure made for the occasion are burned with great joy.
I’ve often tried to explain La Cremà to friends who’ve never seen it, but it’s impossible. There aren’t words which can accurately convey the insanity of it all. You tell people it’s crazy, and can see what they’re thinking: “Yeah, I’m sure it’s very crazy. But crazy within reason”. No! You aren’t understanding! It’s really completely crazy! Such a thing shouldn’t be legal! The burning of these gigantic 3 story monuments in a densely packed neighborhood, with thousands of onlookers mere meters away, is a crazy thing and a terrible idea.
Over 700 constructions around the city are burnt within a few hours of each other, which makes you think that a tragedy is just a matter of time. But, there are experienced firefighters on hand, with a long history free of major accidents: a fact which is comforting but doesn’t completely erase the terror of La Cremà — the perfect end to Las Fallas, surely one of the world’s most unique and crazy events.
Link – via totalblogal
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by Random Good Stuff.
The Pharaoh’s Serpent is a traditional pyrotechnic and chemical display in which mercury thiocyanate is set on fire, producing what looks like a very rapidly growing vine. It has since fallen out of favor due to the toxicity of mercury, but sodium bicarbonate produces a similar effect. The video above is a demonstration of this visually stunning chemical reaction.
via Urlesque
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) pilot and out-of -work electrical engineer Cy Brown strapped a camera to his GPS-enabled plane and had some friends launch fireworks at it. A rural farmland becomes a miniature war zone, as Cy pilots and swivels the lens, hunting down the active thrillseeker sect’s base camp.
Everything you ever wanted to know about Roman candles, including how to make your own, in in this article at Confession of a Fireworks Man.
I once made the mistake of thinking I could hold a one-inch display candle in my hand as it fired. The first shot propelled a star skyward, and the rest of the candle backward out of my hand to who-knew-where. I had to quickly find it and stabilize it with my foot as it finished firing. I still haven’t lived that down in my local fireworks guild. I don’t recommend you try any similar stunts.
With these larger Roman candles, it’s best to tape them to a stake and firmly secure them to the ground before ignition.
Link -via Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories
