Monday is Independence Day in the U.S. We'll celebrate with picnics and flag-parades. Some may eat corn-bread; some may grill hot dogs. But nearly all of us will wind up the evening watching fireworks. And that means a good dose of inhaled nitrite fumes, and a splitting miner's headache.
You could watch them from indoors, of course—but then you'd miss out on the other joys of the fireworks display: bites from West-Nile-virus-carrying mosquitoes, the "ooh" and "ahh" of your fellow Americans, discovering that you sat in someone's discarded glob of condiment, and the heart-throbbing impact of the pyrotechnical BOOM!
Linda Roeder writes on her personal pages at About that family Fourth celebrations have changed.
I love fireworks. Every year we go to Dorney Park, about 10 miles from us, to watch the fireworks. This has become a family tradition for us. The past few years it's been difficult though. My youngest son has been afraid of the loud noise that the fireworks give off.
The Capitol Fax blog posts a letter from Illinois Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn, a gentle reminder of the background to our celebration.
As we enjoy our barbecues and parades, let’s pause in tribute to those colonists who paid the initial price for our freedom, as well as the... men and women now engaged in the Global War on Terrorism. They won’t be celebrating July 4th at a family picnic.
Memorial at Checkpoint Charlie will be razed.
Ray D. of Davids Medienkritik, a German blog, posted the news that the Berlin city government has decided to allow razing the Checkpoint Charlie monument, over 1000 crosses that commemorate those who died to reach freedom in West Germany during the Cold War. Originally scheduled to occur on the Fourth of July, the demolition has been moved to 4 AM July 5th. The blog generally warns about the direction being taken by Germany and other European nations.
Article comments
1 - Shaun Dale
Thanks for the mention. For the record, you can designate me as Shaun, it's just the blog that's called Upper Left. Drop by sometime...
2 - Frank
As I sit here burnt to a crisp from a long day of deep sea fishing...I ponder the reference to "damaging your DNA"...
Shades to protect my eyes=Yes
Sunblock protection=zilch
Thanks for the reminder...
Have a sweet 4th of July and God Bless America and her brave men and women in the armed forces...Let Freedom Ring : )
3 - DrPat
The best UVA sunscreen? "Stay outta the frikkin' sun..."
Words of advice from my Dad, who never doused himself with sunscreen once in his life, and has the fortunate genetic package (which he did not give me, durnit!) to let him escape skin cancer.
Instead, I inherited my mother's susceptibility. I should take a leaf from Michael Jackson's book, and carry a parasol...