At what point did we, as a people, decide midnight fireworks were an OK thing?

[acorntoy]

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.

It's technically illegal in that County.... but that's probably the least of Oaklands worries

They increased significantly when most of the county's cities started to cancel their yearly fireworks during the recession. No other way to celebrate except for the trip to SF and thats just a hassle.

 

[velocityg4]

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.

I think it has more to do with attracting pests. Many types of pests are attracted to tall grass.

Also making a neighborhood look bad. Which drives down property values.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I think it has more to do with attracting pests. Many types of pests are attracted to tall grass.

Also making a neighborhood look bad. Which drives down property values.

I took a strimmer to their grass this morning. When it's overhanging my front by 3 feet, I think I have the right.
Got a builder coming round Friday to quote for a wall to be built.

 

[steve62388]

They banned Australia day fireworks about 10 years ago here.

Be grateful your government actually allows fun at all.

Uhhh... That sounds reasonable. Why would the incredibly vast majority of people be interested by Australia Day fireworks in Scotland (your profile listed location)?

 

[Septembersrain]

It's been going on since I was a kid and as I get older, I am appreciating this thing called quiet hours.

10pm cut off.

Though in my city, we have a firework ban. Only certain places can light them at all.

 

[acorntoy]

It's been going on since I was a kid and as I get older, I am appreciating this thing called quiet hours.

10pm cut off.

Though in my city, we have a firework ban. Only certain places can light them at all.

Does that actually stop anybody? Like I said the entire Contra Costa County In CA bans them but everybody just drives 30 minutes away to pick them up.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I always looked forward to going to Minnesota / Wisconsin to buy tons of fireworks to shoot them off at my grandpa's farm in Iowa. Amazing some of the firework shows towns in Iowa come together to do... puts a lot of places to shame.

(Mind you this is on my Grandpa's 160 acre farm in the middle of nowhere Iowa):
I had a fairly serious accident where I put 3 - $100 mortars up side by side and thought it was smart to light all 3 off at once. Well the first one went off and knocked the other two over - second one went off and hit me in the shoulder so hard my arm was black and blue and sore for a week - hit me with enough force that it knocked me down, bounced off of me and exploded a few hundred ft away. Figured after that, yeah, if I wanted to live, I probably shouldn't do this anymore. And that was that.

That said, here in the high desert of California...... We're already getting the bangs and booms of people preparing for the month of July even though it's very illegal to do so here - a lot of people still do it. I know which neighbor does it too.
[doublepost=1527716698][/doublepost]

Does that actually stop anybody? Like I said the entire Contra Costa County In CA bans them but everybody just drives 30 minutes away to pick them up.

Sure doesn't stop them here in Apple Valley/Victorville.

 

[Apple fanboy]

It's been going on since I was a kid and as I get older, I am appreciating this thing called quiet hours.

10pm cut off.

Though in my city, we have a firework ban. Only certain places can light them at all.

I recall the year 2000. I had flu. Not a cold but proper flu. I'd hardly been out of bed for 7 days. The fireworks went on for hours. When your head hurts there isn't much worse.

But of course they didn't even start until midnight!

 

[0002378]

A spiritual teacher I follow says that externalized noise is the result of noisy human minds ... minds not at peace. External pollution is the result of polluted human minds.

Whether it's fireworks, loud music, car horns, whatever ... human minds externalize their noise, creating a noisy world.

 

[Septembersrain]

Does that actually stop anybody? Like I said the entire Contra Costa County In CA bans them but everybody just drives 30 minutes away to pick them up.

Right now I'm in a small city inside a big city. The fines and police response time are both very compelling reasons to not do it.

I'll be moving soon and it'll be in a county but not actually inside any city, so we'll see how it is there.

I know growing up in the outskirts of the city, rules didn't apply usually and people did whatever.

However, no fireworks didn't mean they weren't playing loud music, tearing up our newly remodeled pool, or other ruckus.

Our complex and small city has become loud over the last few years. As San Antonio expands out, all the inconsiderate ones spread.

 

[Hater]

Uhhh... That sounds reasonable. Why would the incredibly vast majority of people be interested by Australia Day fireworks in Scotland (your profile listed location)?

Because my profile information is out of date.

 

[JagdTiger]

I think it has more to do with attracting pests. Many types of pests are attracted to tall grass.

Also making a neighborhood look bad. Which drives down property values.

It could be done a little at a time, only parts of the grass get to seed than collected and the grass cut, back yard only and than front can be seeded.

I took a strimmer to their grass this morning. When it's overhanging my front by 3 feet, I think I have the right.
Got a builder coming round Friday to quote for a wall to be built.

Now you can grow your grass since a wall is there....

I always looked forward to going to Minnesota / Wisconsin to buy tons of fireworks to shoot them off at my grandpa's farm in Iowa. Amazing some of the firework shows towns in Iowa come together to do... puts a lot of places to shame.

(Mind you this is on my Grandpa's 160 acre farm in the middle of nowhere Iowa):
I had a fairly serious accident where I put 3 - $100 mortars up side by side and thought it was smart to light all 3 off at once. Well the first one went off and knocked the other two over - second one went off and hit me in the shoulder so hard my arm was black and blue and sore for a week - hit me with enough force that it knocked me down, bounced off of me and exploded a few hundred ft away. Figured after that, yeah, if I wanted to live, I probably shouldn't do this anymore. And that was that.

That said, here in the high desert of California...... We're already getting the bangs and booms of people preparing for the month of July even though it's very illegal to do so here - a lot of people still do it. I know which neighbor does it too.
[doublepost=1527716698][/doublepost]

Sure doesn't stop them here in Apple Valley/Victorville.

The gas stations around here already have signs out that they have fireworks for sale.[/QUOTE]
[doublepost=1527765724][/doublepost]

Right now I'm in a small city inside a big city. The fines and police response time are both very compelling reasons to not do it.

I'll be moving soon and it'll be in a county but not actually inside any city, so we'll see how it is there.

I know growing up in the outskirts of the city, rules didn't apply usually and people did whatever.

However, no fireworks didn't mean they weren't playing loud music, tearing up our newly remodeled pool, or other ruckus.

Our complex and small city has become loud over the last few years. As San Antonio expands out, all the inconsiderate ones spread.

That's terrible, no morals, no ethnics...a very sad scenario.

 

[Tech198]

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

lol.. we probably grew up with these things.

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...

Pets would be terrified even in the daytime.. That won't get better.

No one wants to see something shoot up and all of a sudden we all go blind, due to the sun. Much easier to see on a "black background"

 

[Falhófnir]

I now live out in the sticks where it really isn’t a problem but where I used to live it seemed that fireworks were a thing at any point between bonfire night (5 November) and New year - not just limited to or clustered around those occasions.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I now live out in the sticks where it really isn’t a problem but where I used to live it seemed that fireworks were a thing at any point between bonfire night (5 November) and New year - not just limited to or clustered around those occasions.

I'm assuming you are in the UK then as I didn't think they celebrated the 5th of November anywhere else?

But yes I tend to agree they seem to be to readily available between October and January.

 

[Falhófnir]

I'm assuming you are in the UK then as I didn't think they celebrated the 5th of November anywhere else?

But yes I tend to agree they seem to be to readily available between October and January.

Indeed, I believe some commonwealth countries celebrate it to a lesser degree, but it’s even more of a curiosity than here (now being more overshadowed by Halloween than even when I was younger). The whole last couple of months of the year seem to have become party season, it’s strange to hear bangs and crackles start up out of the blue without any sort of warning, I certainly feel for anyone with PTSD. There was a semi-successful pushback against the Chinese lanterns at least, they seemed to be getting more and more common and then dropped right back off again. With those personally I would support a statutory ban - the risk of burns to people or animals, or barn fires far outweigh the spectacle imo - one incident would be too many...

 

[TiggrToo]

It's been going on since I was a kid and as I get older, I am appreciating this thing called quiet hours.

10pm cut off.

Though in my city, we have a firework ban. Only certain places can light them at all.

As do we. A total ban. 24/7. Doesn't seem to stop anyone though...

 

[A.Goldberg]

Connecticut, Mass, Rhode Island all have fireworks bans. New Hampshire however, does not, because NH has no laws- so people go there.

Every year on the 4th of July our neighbors on the Beach in RI set off probably thousands of dollars worth of fire works. One time some cops stopped by just to watch and commented “wow, that’s nice” before getting back in their car and driving away.

 

[old mac]

Common courtesy is a thing of the past in larger cities. Sure most people are ok, but the more people that surround you, there is a larger chance of butting heads with a dick.

I live in the sticks now, and even when I go to town, strangers are respectful and friendly.

 

[SoggyCheese]

I live in Spain. Here fireworks are just part of life, any part of day. Several have even been let off today near my apartment, for whatever reason. Then of course we get Fiesta Mayor events throughout the summer where the point appears to be to lose your hearing entirely in one night whilst choking on smoke

So I guess it's cultural more than anything. Some countries and cultures just do fireworks, and as those people move around they either take the practice with them or pick it up as they visit places.