With most fireworks displayed canceled due to the pandemic, there will be more than the usual number of people lighting their own fireworks. If this is your plan, this safety announcement is for you!
Hand sanitizer and fireworks don’t mix
The pandemic complicates everything, including fireworks. In this case, it’s because COVID-19 means that we’re using more hand sanitizer than ever.
Hand sanitizer is at least 60% alcohol, which catches fire rather easily. Make sure your hands are dry before lighting fireworks, sparklers, and matches or lighters.
Alcohol (as in booze, not rubbing alcohol) and fireworks also don’t mix well
Do I even have to point this out?
Follow these safety guidelines
Here are some guides on using fireworks safely:
- National Safety Council: Fireworks Safety
- ProtectAmerica: For your Fourth: Fireworks safety guide
- Popular Mechanics: How to Have Fun (and Stay Safe) During This Year’s Fireworks-Filled Fourth
- ABC News: What to know about fireworks safety ahead of the 4th of July
If you’re going to be dumb with fireworks, at least record a decent video so that I’ll have funny compilations to watch
Here are some moments showing fireworks gone wrong…
Happy 4th of July from Florida!
(But c’mon, dude — be a gent and take the backpack.)
Thanks to David Janes for the find!
This is a 23-image Facebook find, and you need to read it all. Trust me on this one.
Categories
Happy Canada Day 2020!
And is there a better way to mark Canada Day than by watching Stewart “Brittlestar” Reynolds’ YouTube classic, Explaining Canada Day to Americans? I think not:
The public library of Temple Terrace (a Tampa neighborhood just a little north of Seminole Heights, where I live) had to post a Facebook notice telling people not to microwave books that they borrow.
It’s generally a bad idea to microwave paper, including money…
…but it’s even worse to microwave library books, as they have RFID tags, which are made of a thin layer of metal. Microwaves heat up thin layers of metal really quickly, bringing them up to the temperature that will ignite paper:
The library quarantines returned books for 72 hours before loaning them out again, which is believed to be enough time for contaminated surfaces to become safe:
Remember, viruses aren’t made of living cells. From a certain point of view, they’re just chemicals — DNA, protein, and fat — but they’re chemicals that have a knack for replicating themselves by rewriting the DNA of cells that they infiltrate:
So yes, keep borrowing books and other materials from the library. Wash your hands after using them. But don’t microwave them!