I’ve been having so much fun shoveling that I forgot the New Year also brings the chance to shoot fireworks. SDCL 34-37-16.1 allows anyone in South Dakota to discharge fireworks from December 28 through January 1.
Dang, maybe I could use some fireworks to move my snow…
Probably gonna need more slope for that to work.
KELO-TV is happy to disguise an advertisement as news, dedicating a whole segment to one Harrisburg fireworks company’s delivery service:
Andy Jorgensen displays just a few fireworks at his store because he anticipates selling most of his products online.
“If you don’t want to go outside and get in the stormy weather, then just let us do the driving. We’ll come to you,” Jorgensen said.
Fire Brothers Fireworks is one of the first fireworks companies in South Dakota to offer delivery.
“People want things right now. They want to go on their phone, click a couple buttons and have things brought right to them. If you look at things like Amazon, you can get things next day if not the same day. We want to follow that same model,” Jorgensen said [Casey Wonnenberg, “Sioux Falls Firework Seller Now Offers Delivery,” KELO-TV, 2018.12.28].
I envision drones delivering explosives, just like in Yemen… but Jorgensen says there are some federal safety regulations:
Delivering fireworks isn’t as easy as shipping food. In fact, Jorgensen had to talk with the Department of Transportation at the federal level.
“Each firework has to be packaged very specifically. You can’t just throw fireworks in a van and start driving away. That’s illegal,” Jorgensen said.
In addition to packaging requirements, all delivery drivers must be HAZMAT trained [Wonnenberg, 2018.12.28].
Funny: the same agency that governs pipeline safety also provides these guidelines for shipping consumer fireworks:
Once those fireworks have been properly loaded, blocked, and braced to restrict movement in the vehicle, Jorgensen says in a company video that his company will ship those crackers anywhere “within the 15-mile radius of Sioux Falls.” Whether that’s 15 miles from the shop on West 12th Street, from a more central point in Sioux Falls, or from any point on the city limits will be of keen interest to our explosive friends in Valley Springs, Lennox, and Dell Rapids.
Jorgensen says in a company video that his company will ship those crackers anywhere “within the 15-mile radius of Sioux Falls
No wonder Amazon is such a failure. 15 miles?
Does the guy that bombs the snow need a logging permit? It seems that even man made avalanches take out plenty trees which hold the soil on the slopes to prevent erosion and mud and rock slides.
We in CO have moved beyond the damage and pollution left from using munitions to trigger avalanches. CDOT has installed permanent, propane powered, sonic explosion creators triggered by remote control. The Gazex System is used in the Alps with positive efficiency and a greener footprint. These tools bring down smaller amounts of snow on a more regular basis so you never have the buildup that has the potential to cross a highway.
Of course, sonic booms aren’t as cool as bombs. It was always sweet when you were stopped on the way up skiing and could watch happen what the video above shows. It’s humbling. As MFI notes, lots of trees come down in the process. Also, it was something while skiing when a howitzer fired and everyone stopped to look up at a mountain. The lag time between the firing noise and the snow starting to move was exhilarating.
Sonic disruptors—fun! With smaller, more regular snow slides, does sonic management knock down fewer trees?
Few trees actually grow in frequent avalanche zones. Because…surprise…they are avalanche zones. Most avalanches occur on slops between 36-40 degrees, and that is what they bomb with mortars back in the day. It’s awesome fun. Greenies worried about trees are just sniffing pine glue.
Regardless, you young fellows need to go out and get yourselves as much gunpowder fireworks as you can afford and go blast it in the woods, while there’s still snow on the ground. Heck, do it in your back yard so the neighbors and I can enjoy, too.
A gentle way off topic reminder to literary literates- https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/12/29/18158872/public-domain-day-january-2019
More reading treasures for yer reading pleasure become available.
Speaking of fireworks “China’s lunar lander and rover spacecraft Chang’e 4 could make humankind’s first attempt to soft-land on the far side of the moon between Tuesday and Thursday, after entering a planned orbit on Sunday morning.
China’s space agency said its control centre in Beijing would choose a suitable time to try the landing, but the Smithsonian Institution, the American museums and research centres group, reported that the craft was expected to set down on the Von Kármán crater landing point between January 1 and 3.”
Wow, incredible space explorations with the United States and China. If trump would pull his head out of the flabby part, maybe we could get along and solve some serious Earthly problems with both super powers. Wouldn’t that be a Happy New Year for all?
Get your Pink Floyd “Dark Side of the Moon” disc out and let’s jamb this New Year’s out.
Mine skips, Jerry.
A happy new year would include an announcement that the U.S., Russia, China, the E.U., and other nations are going to work together to build a permanent thousand-person Moon base by 2030, followed by a Mars colony by 2050. Fireworks would be forbidden inside the habitat, for safety reasons, and they wouldn’t work outside the habitat for oxygen reasons, but other than that, bases on the Moon and Mars would be really cool. They’d also improve our chances of surviving as a species.