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TiggrToo

macrumors 601
Original poster
Aug 24, 2017
4,205
8,838
So, as I type this, neighbors around me are letting off fireworks - and it's midnight.

This is, of course, a precursor to the holy hell of two-three days of airborne explosives - Independence Day which invariably means from 8pm thru 2am, major explosions all round. Whoopee...

I get the need to be 'patrotic' but when did we dehumanize ourselves and place our selfish zeal for purdy glitter in the sky above people for whom this is a full blown nightmare?

Not just for the folk who need sleep because they have to work the next day, but those with infants who are kept awake by this, those with pets that are terrified of the noise, those with nervous conditions and heart problems and, worst of all on this day of days, those who served our country faithfully in combat and suffer from PTSD.

Is this symptomatic to how little we seem to care about our neighbors?

Really seems to be a case of 'to heck with you all, I want my fireworks and I want them loud and late'.

So sad...
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
May 5, 2008
23,366
26,503
The Misty Mountains
So, as I type this, neighbors around me are letting off fireworks - and it's midnight.

This is, of course, a precursor to the holy hell of two-three days of airborne explosives - Independence Day which invariably means from 8pm thru 2am, major explosions all round. Whoopee...

I get the need to be 'patrotic' but when did we dehumanize ourselves and place our selfish zeal for purdy glitter in the sky above people for whom this is a full blown nightmare?

Not just for the folk who need sleep because they have to work the next day, but those with infants who are kept awake by this, those with pets that are terrified of the noise, those with nervous conditions and heart problems and, worst of all on this day of days, those who served our country faithfully in combat and suffer from PTSD.

Is this symptomatic to how little we seem to care about our neighbors?

Really seems to be a case of 'to heck with you all, I want my fireworks and I want them loud and late'.

So sad...
The bottle rockets that can land on other people’s property and catch things on fire are especially cool. :p
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
May 5, 2008
23,366
26,503
The Misty Mountains
What is it about freedom that you dislike so much? ;)
Freedom, it’s relative. :p In Minnesota, Twin Cities Metro and surrounding suburbs, fireworks that blow up or propel themselves are illegal. In Houston, the neighborhood where I live, they are technically illegal so I can go to the neighborhood display or have driven a couple of miles to the neighboring county where there is an empty field that fills up with a couple hundred people who set off expensive and incredibly dangerous fireworks displays, no set back, kids running all over, within 10 feet of firing fireworks. Honestly it’s scary. Waiting for reports every year of serious injury or death. :oops:
 

NT1440

macrumors G5
May 18, 2008
14,430
20,354
Unlike the freedom to swing my fist ending at the top of your nose, somehow the freedom to blow **** up at dangerous noise levels does not end at your eardrums.
 

TiggrToo

macrumors 601
Original poster
Aug 24, 2017
4,205
8,838
What is it about freedom that you dislike so much? ;)

Like @Huntn the State I live in currently prohibits ALL launchable fireworks and ANY 'bangers'. Doesn't stop everyone breaking the law though.

We also have a 10pm noise abatement law that is never lifted during holidays.

So, since when did freedom to break the law become so gosh darned important and when did it mean other people get to act like total jerks by setting of bangers at 1:30am?

Can't quite tell if you're being semi-serious or sarcastic with your reply (even with the emoticon), so I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt.
[doublepost=1527518580][/doublepost]
The bottle rockets that can land on other people’s property and catch things on fire are especially cool. :p

As happened to us our very first year living in our current house. Around 11pm on a July 4th we got a nock on the door. I opened and and and a stranger pointed to our burning bush. After checking to see if we had a random deity hanging around trying to communicate thru it, I came to the conclusion that it was instead the result of a firework from one of my oh so thoughtful neighbors...
 

Apple fanboy

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Feb 21, 2012
55,046
52,569
Behind the Lens, UK
Like @Huntn the State I live in currently prohibits ALL launchable fireworks and ANY 'bangers'. Doesn't stop everyone breaking the law though.

We also have a 10pm noise abatement law that is never lifted during holidays.

So, since when did freedom to break the law become so gosh darned important and when did it mean other people get to act like total jerks by setting of bangers at 1:30am?

Can't quite tell if you're being semi-serious or sarcastic with your reply (even with the emoticon), so I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt.
[doublepost=1527518580][/doublepost]

As happened to us our very first year living in our current house. Around 11pm on a July 4th we got a nock on the door. I opened and and and a stranger pointed to our burning bush. After checking to see if we had a random deity hanging around trying to communicate thru it, I came to the conclusion that it was instead the result of a firework from one of my oh so thoughtful neighbors...
Not wanting to take this down a PRSI theme, but fireworks banned, guns allowed?

As for neighbours being inconsiderate there are plenty of ways they can do it. Personally I'd love to live miles from anyone. But that presents a different set of challenges.
 
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TiggrToo

macrumors 601
Original poster
Aug 24, 2017
4,205
8,838
Not wanting to take this down a PRSI theme, but fireworks banned, guns allowed?

As for neighbours being inconsiderate there are plenty of ways they can do it. Personally I'd love to live miles from anyone. But that presents a different set of challenges.

2nd Amendment and all that. So, to quote the esteemed F Gump "that's all I'm going to say about that"...:D
 

JagdTiger

macrumors 6502
Dec 20, 2017
479
696
So, as I type this, neighbors around me are letting off fireworks - and it's midnight.

This is, of course, a precursor to the holy hell of two-three days of airborne explosives - Independence Day which invariably means from 8pm thru 2am, major explosions all round. Whoopee...

I get the need to be 'patrotic' but when did we dehumanize ourselves and place our selfish zeal for purdy glitter in the sky above people for whom this is a full blown nightmare?

Not just for the folk who need sleep because they have to work the next day, but those with infants who are kept awake by this, those with pets that are terrified of the noise, those with nervous conditions and heart problems and, worst of all on this day of days, those who served our country faithfully in combat and suffer from PTSD.

Is this symptomatic to how little we seem to care about our neighbors?

Really seems to be a case of 'to heck with you all, I want my fireworks and I want them loud and late'.

So sad...

They don’t care or realize what they are doing , it’s enjoyment time for them, morals and ethnics seemling no longer apply so, it is happy fun time.
[doublepost=1527523085][/doublepost]
What is it about freedom that you dislike so much? ;)

Freedom does not necessarily imply doing anything a person wants to do...that would lead to absolute chaos.
[doublepost=1527523538][/doublepost]
Add to that neighbours who block your drive, neighbours who don't ever mow their front lawn and neighbours that only have one volume when talking to their kids.

Not mowing the front lawn (any part) permits the grass to grow to a certain point which then it will come to seed and produce new grass...the possibility of why people are to cut the grass may be do to specific lobbing of government for grass seed companies to profit by sales.
 
Last edited:
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ThisBougieLife

Suspended
Jan 21, 2016
3,259
10,662
Northern California
Luckily fireworks shows seem to always be at 9:15 or 9:30. I do sometimes hear people setting off fireworks at midnight on New Year's, but I haven't heard any this weekend.

Luckily at my parents' house (where I am now), it's pretty rare. Heavy restrictions because of the wildfire risk, plus it's an isolated area in the hills.
 

triptolemus

macrumors 6502a
Apr 17, 2011
821
1,487
Welcome to Oakland, California...


Everything in that video is illegal and dangerous. Nobody cares.
 

NT1440

macrumors G5
May 18, 2008
14,430
20,354
Like @Huntn the State I live in currently prohibits ALL launchable fireworks and ANY 'bangers'. Doesn't stop everyone breaking the law though.

We also have a 10pm noise abatement law that is never lifted during holidays.

So, since when did freedom to break the law become so gosh darned important and when did it mean other people get to act like total jerks by setting of bangers at 1:30am?

Can't quite tell if you're being semi-serious or sarcastic with your reply (even with the emoticon), so I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt.
Oh trust me, that was lathered in sarcasm. I’m often amazed by people’s ability to argue about freedom as a way to defend their utter lack of common curtesy. Fireworks after 11pm are just rude regardless of ones right to use them, if they are even legal in your particular state.
 

Apple fanboy

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Feb 21, 2012
55,046
52,569
Behind the Lens, UK
They don’t care or realize what they are doing , it’s enjoyment time for them, morals and ethnics seemling no longer apply so, it is happy fun time.
[doublepost=1527523085][/doublepost]

Freedom does not necessarily imply doing anything a person wants to do...that would lead to absolute chaos.
[doublepost=1527523538][/doublepost]

Not mowing the front lawn (any part) permits the grass to grow to a certain point which then it will come to seed and produce new grass...the possibility of why people are to cut the grass may be do to specific lobbing of government for grass seed companies to profit by sales.
It's not the grass, but the 18" high weeds I don't like seeding my block paving!
 
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RedKite

macrumors regular
Dec 19, 2017
172
546
Maybe I just have good folk as neighbors! The only midnight fireworks around these parts are on new years eve :)
 

hallux

macrumors 68040
Apr 25, 2012
3,437
1,005
Does that make it alright then?

Not the person you asked but here's my thought.

"Sanctioned" or community fireworks that were planned and advertised for weeks in advance, absolutely. People shooting them off in the back yard - not a chance.
 
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LizKat

macrumors 604
Aug 5, 2004
6,761
36,270
Catskill Mountains
Add to that neighbours who block your drive, neighbours who don't ever mow their front lawn and neighbours that only have one volume when talking to their kids.

And the ones leaning on their car horn as a "hey how ya doin'?" signal to any friends in your neighborhood as they drive past the house of a pal. At 2am.
 
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bunnspecial

macrumors G3
May 3, 2014
8,308
6,307
Kentucky
First of all, I'll say that I've become a bit gun-shy about fireworks. I use to love setting them off myself, but at the same time things like firecrackers with fuses too fast for my comfort have scared me.

I'll also say that even when I've set them off in the past(or set them off now, rarely) I am super cautious. I've never been one to light a firecrack and throw it, launch a bottle rocket from my hand, or hold a Roman candle in my hand(all things I see others do). Firecrackers go on the(concrete) driveway, bottle rockets get launched from a bottle(they're called that for a reason) and Roman candles get stuck in the ground. Mortars, of course, are the "star of the show" but I've never liked how fast the fuses burn-you'd better book it away and half the time I miss actually seeing them.

I lost my nerve to do them about the time Kentucky legalized fireworks that launched or exploded-previously the best we could get were sparklers(which can actually be quite dangerous) and "fountains" that shoot out sparks. Previously, many folks made a yearly trek to Indiana or Tennessee to get fireworks-and the places right off I-64 and I-65 in Indiana that were ~20 miles over the line, and the same in Tennessee off I-75, were quite expensive.

In any case, when I've set them off in the past I try to be considerate. That means that I generally do the Friday night closest to the 4th, or sometimes the night of the 3rd, and cut them off at 10:00 or so.

Anymore, though, I'm just as happy to watch the shows that others put on-especially the professional ones. One of the largest fireworks shows in Kentucky is called "Thunder over Louisville" and it kicks off the Derby festival. That's usually my fill for the year.
 

LizKat

macrumors 604
Aug 5, 2004
6,761
36,270
Catskill Mountains
Welcome to Oakland, California...


Everything in that video is illegal and dangerous. Nobody cares.

Wow... I had no idea people set them off in such populous areas. In NYC that may be the case in the outer boroughs but somehow I don't think so, not to that extent anyway. I could be wrong! In Manhattan on the upper West Side the only real fireworks I ever saw were out on the Hudson River, the professional displays. Otherwise maybe some kids fooling with cherry bombs and sparklers off the more inland avenues along the one-way streets, that's about it. The two-way cross streets see more police patrols and there's too many stranger-witnesses along the avenues themselves, people who might call cops or go all parental on unsupervised kids playing with fireworks.

In the boondocks up here it sounds and looks like anything goes sometimes, but it's down to the usual suspects and there aren't that many anyhow. Some of them are considerate about how late into the evening they light stuff up. Some aren't. I do worry a bit about a grassfire getting started and lighting up someone's woodlot or Christmas tree acreage. If that ever happens then it's not like the deputy sheriffs don't have a clue whom to visit in future to remind about that possibility. Idiots do abound though, and they all think nothing bad will happen because they know what they're doing.
 
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