Boston Bomb triggered by cell phone?

Fireworks factories? Pfft.

How about fertilizer factories???

He's right too.

The freedom he's talking about is the freedom to engage in

life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

As an AMATEUR, I developed a professional fireworks sequencer that plugged into a laptop printer port. That was mid 80s. They are common now.

Just for the love of it.

amo:I love amas: You love amat: He, She, or It loves amamus: We love amatis: You (plural) love amant: They love

I'll let Lloyd speak for himself.

As for me... I like to fly airplanes. I have built several. VW powered single seat baby buggies, but real flying machines.

I have flown thousands of hours in military aircraft. I have nursed several hundred Naval Aviators through the simulators.

But I can't fly anymore by myself. Legally anyway. I've NEVER been to court about that. NEVER been adjudicated a danger to myself or others. But the Federal Aviation Agency thinks I might could be a risk. And I can't afford to take THEM to court to get my medical reinstated.

So my pursuit of happiness has been seriously curtailed.

It's not right. It's not fair.

But there it is.

I would say, yes, it is.

Actually, my boss at the time was a licensed pyromaniac. I was the amateur.

But I did the circuit design, tested the squibs and how to fire them, built the wire-wrap prototype, case, cables, wrote the code, and tested the silly thing.

That's not just technician work, Ed. That's basic engineering. But I never took the PE exam either. So I'm an amateur engineer as well. :)

It's fun making and setting up the stuff for a show. If three days of hard sweaty work setting up a 10 minute show can be called fun. Sawing off the mortar tubes (4" and 6" PVC pipe) and mounting them, running miles of wire all over the place. Wondering which way the wind will be blowing at show time.... Then the software side - designing the sequence itself.

Yeah, it's fun.

It's probably the same thing I get from reloading my own ammunition. I didn't expect it, so the results were kind of surprising.

It's fun to do the reloading work. But when you pull the trigger and the bullet goes home - that was an amazing feeling.

I actually CAN make better performing ammunition than I can buy. Who'd a thunk?

And you know what else? Lloyd is exactly right...

"He who hath once smelt the smoke shall ne'er again be free!"

Come on, Ed. Didn't you ever play with fireworks when you were a kid?

I appreciate that, Ed. BUT...

I didn't lose my pilot's license. IT is still valid.

They just won't renew my medical.

I was finishing up a Wittman Tailwind, which is WAY too fast for the new Sport Pilot (drivers license medical) and had applied for a new medical, I fell into never-never land.

If one has been denied a medical, one can not legally fly under the sport pilot rules.

Catch-22

Lloyd, don't you think they know by now exactly what powder(s) was used? BP leaves so much residue that no one who's used it could miss it. And the others must leave enough chemical residue to clearly identify them, right?

I assume so, although chemistry is something about which I know next to nothing. My guess is that we'll hear pretty soon what they came up with in the lab -- if it hasn't come out already, and I just missed it.

Ed Huntress fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Oh, I'm certain that they are absolutely sure of what was used -- they just haven't published it -- for two reasons.

1) they want to preserve evidence information for a prosecution. Giving away the info to the public might somehow contaminate any testimony that comes from the perp. 2) they want to further restrict our access to explosive substances, in general. I'm licensed with ATF, and wouldn't have any issues, other than perhaps some more minor paperwork. But the average person - say a BP shooter, or an amateur pyrotechnician - would have a lot of their freedoms restricted. That's what they want.

Lloyd

Somehow I'm not troubled by amateur pyros having some of their freedoms restricted.

As for BP shooters, if they're getting their information from terror bombers, and they're mixing up powders from their examples, I'd like to know who they are so I can stand at the other end of the firing line. d8-)

It always will, Ed.

Ed Huntress fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

If you feel that way, you don't know much about the art.

"Amateur pyrotechnicians" are not "backyard bombers". They are, in fact, the source of MOST of the new effects and techniques used in the professional trade.

They pursue the ART of fireworking, preserving hundreds-of-years-old traditional methods of Europe, the US, and the Mediterranean, and at the same time advancing the science, the art, and the technique of fireworks as you see them in the sky.

Fireworks is a small industry compared to many, but it's important, and entertains millions safely, economically, and beautifully.

'Amateur' does not mean 'unskilled', nor does it mean unlicensed in many cases. A large number of amateurs hold ATF licenses to do their work. But at the same time, ATF has OFFICIALLY recognized (and promulgated regulations) that their record is so good, and also their intentions, that it is legal under federal law to manufacture fireworks for one's own use. They cannot be _transported_ over the public roads by anyone but a licensee, but they can be made without a permit or license. (local ordinances may mitigate that permission).

You should not express negative opinions about people of whom you know nothing. (I do it too, then always regret it)

LLoyd

I know nothing about the art. I do know that I'm not bothered by people having to live with some restrictions on pyrotechnical experiments.

That's nice.

Great. Just as long as they don't mix their brews next door to me.

Look, Lloyd, I'm not expressing negative opinions about amateur pyros. I am expressing a combination of some experience with what propellants and explosives can do, and about the uneven distribution of good sense and responsibility among any large population.

When you talk in generalized abstractions, like the "freedoms" of amateur pyrotechnicians, it's just not a field -- given the two points in my last paragraph -- in which I'd get upset about some restrictions.

On Jan. 1st of this year, San Francisco police reported 188 fireworks injuries. Some of the stories were about "amateur pyrotechnicians."

What do you do when one of these guys blows the ears off of his neighbors? Do you disown him? Take away his Amateur Pyrotechnician club card? Claim he was never an amateur pyrotechnician in the place, but only a poseur?

It's clearly a field that demands some intelligence, good judgment, a strong sense of safety for oneself and others. Those are characteristics that tend to be, as I said, unevenly distributed.

I don't disparage the activity or the practitioners. I'll just watch from a long distance away, and hope they don't get all loose and goosey about their "freedoms" at others' expense.

Ok?

Ed Huntress fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Ok... but infringe on one group's freedoms, when the legitimate practioners are the ones infringed upon, and you encroach on everyone's freedoms.

"Hey! That guy makes DANGEROUS METAL CHIPS, and I want that activity outlawed unless he has a federal license to make those chips! ONE careless metalworker threw some chips in the garbage, and a trash collector got cut, and died from gangrene because he was 'socially deprived', and didn't know he should keep the cut clean.

And _then_ I want it so heavily taxed that nobody can afford to do it, even with a license. That'll teach 'em. We need to BEAT THE METALWORKING CULTURE." (sound familiar... that's _almost_ a quote)

That's how the libocrats think. They figure we can get all that 'dirty work' done in China.

LLoyd

It should. It's the way most people think about topics that involve demonstrably dangerous activities and that depend upon good judgment on the part of people they don't know.

If they have any sense, they know that depending on someone else's good judgment is not a wise thing to do.

Here's the differences: Airline pilots have to go through rigorous training and licensing, and they're subject to frequent reviews. I don't consider machinists of high school teachers to be very dangerous.

I stay above ground and don't have to worry about miners. Race car drivers have to go through race-drivers' school and they're black-flagged or kept off the track if there's any suggestion that they're untrustworthy. Astronauts are like miners -- I've never been near one.

Ask around.

I'd bet my house on it. The average person on the street has more common sense than most people who post here.

Every time I snowboard I depend on the good judgement of other riders and skiers on the mountain. They are not tested, certified or licensed.

Possibly also equipment suppliers etc as a good mates daughter suffered multiple fractures to a leg when rented ski equipment failed due to improper maintenenance/inspection. IIRC she was due to get the metal pins and plates out recently and she's only about 12.

"ATP" fired this volley in news:5172f822$0$25609$ snipped-for-privacy@cv.net:

Yep. What Ed completely misses is, that in a 'healthy' society, we presume folks will use good judgement, and we penalize only those who do not. It becomes an incentive to consider ones actions. People in such a society learn that freedom of choice equates to responsibility for their actions.

In Ed's perfect world, we would penalize the entire society by taking away all the good things 'normal' people deserve in order for the government to better "protect us all" from the dull-witted scumbags that our Islamic Ayatollah-in-chief wants to elevate to "favored son" status.

And Ed, that's exactly where we are headed. The government is progressively taking over every aspect of our lives, to eventually leave us all as subservient to it's "loving care". The last thing they want is for citizens to have means - any means - of protecting themselves against the government.

'Sounds like George Orwell's Ingsoc to me!

LLoyd

Everyone has his own personal risk/reward ratio.

One assumes that your likelihood of getting your ankles sheared off is quite low. I skiid for years, and I never came close to a collision I couldn't avoid.

But my chances of outrunning an explosion are pretty remote. And there is no reward for me. So the risks I'll tolerate are rather lower than in situations where I'm getting something out of it that I like.

Once again, it's a matter of good sense.