There’s something to be said for dropping the cameras and just watching fireworks, but for Redditor AJ192, watching the pyrotechnic show through a viewfinder really paid off. Taken at an explosive celebration in New Mexico, it’s definitely a one in a million shot. What a beautiful way to get lucky. [Reddit via Laughing Squid]
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On the grand spectrum of fireworks ranked by awesomeness, sparklers are pretty far towards the "lame" end, just slightly cooler than black snakes. But what if you have a few hundred of them going off all at once? It’s a little more impressive.
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Firebugs everywhere are breaking out their favorite little explosive treats today. In states where doing that is legal
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It just wouldn’t be the Fourth of July without the climactic boom of fireworks. If you want to keep that memory all year—or at least share it with all of your friends on Instagram—these tips will help you get lovely photos with your phone, even if you’re not a pro.
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Fireworks go boom, and when things go boom, sooner or later somebody gets hurt. For a blow-by-blow taxonomy of fireworks injuries, we turn the Consumer Protection Safety Commission, which each year documents the damage we do to ourselves around the Fourth of July.
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Today, a fraction of the world’s population celebrates its independence with shockingly expensive displays involving thousands of pounds of potassium nitrate and sulphur (and many more gallons of beer). But if you’re a member of the other 6.7 billion people on Earth, fireworks aren’t synonymous with a particular event or celebration.
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As you kick back under a glittering shower of high-production-value pyrotechnics on Independence Day this year, take a second to remember how the modern firework started out: As a tiny, but startling, accident.
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Americans love things that sparkle, things that glow, and especially things that blow up. So it makes sense that on America’s birthday, we take great pride in our various spectacles of light and noise. Today, there are countless YouTube videos and how-to websites showing how to create your own firecrackers and noisemakers. But back in the 1920s, it was the medium of magazines (remember those?) that spearheaded the DIY fireworks movement. And their advice was utterly insane.
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Say what you will about Americans, but we are really, really good at blowing things up. And for this week’s Shooting Challenge—and the 4th of July!—we’re going to celebrate that in our traditional fashion.
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The 4th of July is just two days away, and we all know what that means: The casual and festive use of explosives. Well, that is if you live in (or near?) one of the 42 states that smiles upon that kind of thing. And if you’re unsure whether you are living in party town or under a wet blanket, this map can help you out.
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