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December 24, 2013 8:01 PM Subscribe
Run away! Run away FARTHER! (SLYT) A malfunction at a fireworks show entertains the crowd.
How does something like this happen?
posted by escape from the potato planet at 8:23 PM on December 24, 2013
posted by escape from the potato planet at 8:23 PM on December 24, 2013
escape from the potato planet: "How does something like this happen"
Hobbits sneaking into the fireworks storage tent, usually.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 8:33 PM on December 24, 2013 [19 favorites]
Hobbits sneaking into the fireworks storage tent, usually.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 8:33 PM on December 24, 2013 [19 favorites]
If I see someone who has set explosives suddenly begin running away... me, I make it my business to go in the same direction they are. Faster than them, if possible.
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 8:53 PM on December 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 8:53 PM on December 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
Awesome! This must be in Italy. I've seen firsthand (an insane New Year's in Naples) that rather than taking fireworks too seriously, they just don't take them seriously enough.
posted by Flashman at 8:59 PM on December 24, 2013
posted by Flashman at 8:59 PM on December 24, 2013
How does something like this happen?
Since it was still daylight, I suppose they were still setting up and running some tests on the electronics that...fire the fireworks. And oopsiedaisy!
posted by zardoz at 9:11 PM on December 24, 2013
Since it was still daylight, I suppose they were still setting up and running some tests on the electronics that...fire the fireworks. And oopsiedaisy!
posted by zardoz at 9:11 PM on December 24, 2013
I like the part where it exploded.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 9:17 PM on December 24, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 9:17 PM on December 24, 2013 [5 favorites]
I love the smell of gunpowder in the morning.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 10:27 PM on December 24, 2013
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 10:27 PM on December 24, 2013
I suppose they were still setting up and running some tests on the electronics
That seems unlikely to me as there was a significant crowd present.
In any case that was brilliant. The only way they could have done better with a plan would have been to shoot it from more angles.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 11:24 PM on December 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
That seems unlikely to me as there was a significant crowd present.
In any case that was brilliant. The only way they could have done better with a plan would have been to shoot it from more angles.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 11:24 PM on December 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
Yes, extremely weird that, given the crowd, they seemed to be intending to have the display while it was still light. Perhaps they're all about the smoke.
posted by Decani at 11:41 PM on December 24, 2013
posted by Decani at 11:41 PM on December 24, 2013
I wouldn't run from this. I'd walk away while slowly putting on my sunglasses, perhaps taking the time to stick a cigarette in my mouth.
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:29 AM on December 25, 2013 [9 favorites]
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:29 AM on December 25, 2013 [9 favorites]
Man, I have this searing memory:
So, when I was maybe six, going to see the fireworks was a huge event. And like any sensible child, I wanted to see the biggest, baddest explosions ever. Except these fireworks weren't very exciting. It was sort of equivalent to my adult experience of viewing Prometheus. So disappointing.
And then *wow* there was a huge explosion. I was amazing and beautiful. I was delighted. I mean, sure, it was sort of close to the ground, and yeah we left as ambulances were coming in, and although my parents might have been worried, I didn't pick up on it.
Until the next day when we found out the explosion had killed two people. I thought, "I was really happy about something that BURNED PEOPLE ALIVE I am evil" and I guess I need to tell my therapist this story.
posted by angrycat at 5:55 AM on December 25, 2013 [2 favorites]
So, when I was maybe six, going to see the fireworks was a huge event. And like any sensible child, I wanted to see the biggest, baddest explosions ever. Except these fireworks weren't very exciting. It was sort of equivalent to my adult experience of viewing Prometheus. So disappointing.
And then *wow* there was a huge explosion. I was amazing and beautiful. I was delighted. I mean, sure, it was sort of close to the ground, and yeah we left as ambulances were coming in, and although my parents might have been worried, I didn't pick up on it.
Until the next day when we found out the explosion had killed two people. I thought, "I was really happy about something that BURNED PEOPLE ALIVE I am evil" and I guess I need to tell my therapist this story.
posted by angrycat at 5:55 AM on December 25, 2013 [2 favorites]
Yeah, and then there was this. Neighbors of my then-in-laws were at home in Hengelo at the moment of the blast, that's half an hour by bike to where it happened, and they told us their living room floor jumped about like during an earthquake.
Firework malfunction: sometimes sort of okay on youtube.
posted by Namlit at 7:20 AM on December 25, 2013
Firework malfunction: sometimes sort of okay on youtube.
posted by Namlit at 7:20 AM on December 25, 2013
I remember watching the video of the Enschede disaster. It's terrifying.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 9:09 AM on December 25, 2013
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 9:09 AM on December 25, 2013
That show looks planned, not accidental. The horizontal fireworks are strung on wires. But maybe it was more intense at the end than expected.
Artist Cai Guo-Qiang has done a lot of fireworks events.
Videos:
This daytime fireworks display is mostly sound and smoke. The video is pretty bad, missing a lot of the effects. For a different view, the start of this daytime fireworks video is the same show.
40,000 bottle rockets on the museum wall.
Gunpowder drawing.
The amazing Transient Rainbow at night in New York, 2002
posted by jjj606 at 9:29 AM on December 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
Artist Cai Guo-Qiang has done a lot of fireworks events.
Videos:
This daytime fireworks display is mostly sound and smoke. The video is pretty bad, missing a lot of the effects. For a different view, the start of this daytime fireworks video is the same show.
40,000 bottle rockets on the museum wall.
Gunpowder drawing.
The amazing Transient Rainbow at night in New York, 2002
posted by jjj606 at 9:29 AM on December 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
Yeah, seems like the display went as planned, with a grand finale. The only accident here is the wind took the smoke over the crowd, partly obscuring the finale.
You should have seen the fireworks in my town this year. It was right next to my house, I mean literally my house is only about 150 yards from the launch site. Usually they fire off a few single salutes, a minute or two apart, so you can hear the signal to come out and look. I heard the bangs and was just getting my earplugs and heading to the door when I heard a huge explosion, long and sustained, shaking the entire building, there must have been a huge accident. I ran outdoors, expecting to see everything destroyed and on fire with bodies everywhere. But no.
The entire fireworks display went off at once. They blamed it on a computer error. No, if you design a launch system that can fire everything at once, under any conditions, that's a human error. Fortunately nobody was hurt unless you count the damage done to the taxpayer's wallets, paying the bill for this enormous waste of money.
You should go to the YouTube page and watch that video directly, but switch to HiDef. And realize that it doesn't sound that loud on the recording, but that's because the microphone was completely red-lined.
posted by charlie don't surf at 10:50 AM on December 25, 2013 [2 favorites]
You should have seen the fireworks in my town this year. It was right next to my house, I mean literally my house is only about 150 yards from the launch site. Usually they fire off a few single salutes, a minute or two apart, so you can hear the signal to come out and look. I heard the bangs and was just getting my earplugs and heading to the door when I heard a huge explosion, long and sustained, shaking the entire building, there must have been a huge accident. I ran outdoors, expecting to see everything destroyed and on fire with bodies everywhere. But no.
The entire fireworks display went off at once. They blamed it on a computer error. No, if you design a launch system that can fire everything at once, under any conditions, that's a human error. Fortunately nobody was hurt unless you count the damage done to the taxpayer's wallets, paying the bill for this enormous waste of money.
You should go to the YouTube page and watch that video directly, but switch to HiDef. And realize that it doesn't sound that loud on the recording, but that's because the microphone was completely red-lined.
posted by charlie don't surf at 10:50 AM on December 25, 2013 [2 favorites]
Yup, it's more like a fire cracker thingy as we would call it in India. It does look like a planned display. I've been around somewhat similar explosions where the longer firecrackers are strung up or left on the ground.
And given it's India, it wasn't strange to see something like this in the middle of the street on Diwali holding up traffic.
posted by viramamunivar at 10:51 AM on December 25, 2013
And given it's India, it wasn't strange to see something like this in the middle of the street on Diwali holding up traffic.
posted by viramamunivar at 10:51 AM on December 25, 2013
In 2004 or '05, my husband and I went to this big, grassy field across from the Eugene Emeralds baseball stadium in Eugene, Oregon, to watch the 4th of July fireworks after the game. There were many other people, families, out with picnics, wine, etc., out to hang out and watch the fireworks. We picked a "front row" spot and at some point, a guy in a golf cart came around and told a bunch of us that we need to move back some distance as there could be debris. So, we moved back, slightly tipsy at this point. Then night fell, the game ended, the stadium lights went out and we were treated to an epic BARRAGE of fireworks intensity that had us cowering under our picnic blanket as the occasional bit of flim-flam rained down on our heads. It was a very similar scene to the video linked by charlie don't surf above of the Coralville fireworks. Basically, a malfunction where everything basically went off at once, a two-minute extravaganza of explosions. Afterwards, it was really quiet except for a few holy craps. Then the stadium lights came on and we all stumbled home.
posted by amanda at 7:33 PM on December 25, 2013
posted by amanda at 7:33 PM on December 25, 2013
Fwiw people will show up to see fireworks displays and parades hours before they start just to get a "good seat." So I think it is feasible that this was a setup for a later nighttime display.
posted by IndigoRain at 2:36 AM on December 26, 2013
posted by IndigoRain at 2:36 AM on December 26, 2013
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Fun video, thanks for it.
posted by el io at 8:19 PM on December 24, 2013