Post #44,472
7/4/02 3:43:23 PM
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Guess it's gonna be a somewhat *weird* Fourth (?)
Reports that in DC, NY - where the hugest concentrations of folks usually are:
There are 'inspections', bag searches.. people asked to drink from their "water bottles" (make sure they ain't full of ____whatever). Not ridiculing what might seem to be merely sane precautions here. But with the temp happening to be near-inferno levels.. and the prospects of a nicely orderly 'celebration' without any Sudden Moves...
And then the irony that, we love to celebrate The Fourth with loud explosions on land, sea and in the air [what were those snide comments about Afghan weddings.. and how irredeemably-Stupid are such noise-lovin folks ??]
Well, there's a certain cognitive dissonance there, this time - no? (But what's in a number anyway?)
So maybe This Fourth - a quiet Fifth shared, on the rocks.. by Joe Sixpack.. maybe watchin someone slide into Third .?. is the First plan to go with?
(I'll Second that)
Ashton
in Seventh Heaven
...can't believe the dog Eight the big mortar I was savin for my neighbour, the guy with 24 He weather balloons attached to his lawn chair. Gonna miss ya, J. Danforth Trent-Rush III :(
Gooo Niners! Oooh that cheerleader's a Ten at, least!
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Post #44,531
7/5/02 8:09:29 AM
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at least here
what were those snide comments about Afghan weddings.. and how irredeemably-Stupid are such noise-lovin folks ?? At least here, the major fireworks' logistics are pretty carefully worked out (and the fireworks are built *specifically* for special effects and for as little fallout as possible). Even illegal fireworks. And of course there's tons of burnable things (snakes, sparklers, colorful twirling sparkling thingies, etc.) none of which even approach firing guns or mortors in a war zone. Famous last RPG quotes: "I'll just shoot this fireball down the dungeon passageway..."
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Post #44,810
7/8/02 5:27:13 PM
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Hey, don't go pissing on the poor guy's moral equivalence.
That's kicking a man when he's down. Ash is probably bumming that everything went so smoothly. No mass hysteria or fireworks accidents. And those promised terror attacks? Except for a little unpleasantness at an airport... nothing. And say, have you seen the new bin Laden video? Me neither. Is he dead or just not breathing?
[link|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html|http://www.angelfir...e/index.html]
Everything's a mystery until you figure out how it works.
If competence is considered "hubris" then may I and my country always be as "arrogant" as we can possibly manage.
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Post #44,822
7/8/02 7:02:37 PM
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Methodically kicking and whizzing
I'm not talking about moral equivalent anything, I'm talking about damn foolishness. There are people here in America who commit equally stupid acts - it's where most of the Darwin awards come from, after all. I can almost damn well guarantee that there are idiots out West who, despite the wildfires, were lighting firecrackers and M80's and who knows whatnot faster than you can chug a beer (or an iced tea or whatever it is you're drinking - in their case, probably beer.)
Famous last RPG quotes: "I'll just shoot this fireball down the dungeon passageway..."
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Post #44,831
7/8/02 8:21:28 PM
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"no fireworks accidents"?
Are you sure about that? And those promised terror attacks? As I recall, it was the current regime that was warning about attacks that, once again, didn't materialize. You'd think that professionals would be able to tell what an actual threat was, wouldn't you? And say, have you seen the new bin Laden video? Me neither. Is he dead or just not breathing? You left off "hiding". Maybe you missed the report saying how it was harder to track down terrorists now? After we invaded? You do remember that report, right? And this is a "good thing" to you?
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Post #44,849
7/9/02 12:08:59 AM
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Consider the team
These guys found out the Soviet Union wasn't on the brink of obliterating us by watching The Wall come down on TV.
And then they invaded Iraq and just barely managed to turn a solid military victory into a fiasco that's still dragging on. I just hope we aren't planning on counting on the Kurds - those guys remember being stabbed in the back for a long, long time.
Let's not get into the whole Mogadishu thing - I'm pretty sure that was revenge for the ass-kicking 41 took at the polls rather than incredible cluelessness.
And then, about a year ago, they thought the Taliban was a pretty good ally.
If they ever decide the terrorist threat level is low, I'm digging a shelter.
----
United we stand
Divided we dominate the planet without really trying
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Post #44,917
7/9/02 1:31:28 PM
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Don't remember hearing of any this year
I've certainly heard of accidents in previous years, but nothing this year. Undoubtedly there have been some minor injuries not reported (I once stepped on the hot remnants of a sparkler stick and did some searing of my foot), but I don't think I've ever heard anything on the order of trying to fire a mortor and killing 30 people.
As I said above, Americans can do some damn stupid things - but not quite that bad. Perhaps we should introduce the concept of government-run fireworks to the Afghans so they have less incentive to do this firing of mortors or guns.
Famous last RPG quotes: "I'll just shoot this fireball down the dungeon passageway..."
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Post #44,925
7/9/02 2:10:56 PM
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Not 30 at once.
Rather than having one big killing, we spread our injuries across the nation.
Locally, we have an instance of a 16 year old boy trying to build his own fireworks and blowing off two of his fingers.
Availability is the key. We are just as stupid as they are, but we don't live in an area which has seen the wars that they have. We have some difficulty in acquiring mortars.
We have to go out of our way to get explosives to injure ourselves.
And we do.
Something to think about. If it were possible for individuals here to acquire mortars, would we be seeing injuries from them. :)
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