July 4th: Pop, Bam, Bang, and Boom…
The biggest explosion in the history of man was the massive 50Mt (50,000 ton) thermo-nuclear detonation of the “Tsar Bomba” by the former Soviet Union on October 30, 1961. That’ll leave a mark.
We love bombs and their sonic equivalents: pop, bam, bang, boom… Who hasn’t lit off a firework in glee, or watched a roll of firecrackers pop their way across a driveway, lighting the area in a cacophony of flares? Love the smell of napalm in the morning. Black powder is fun, until somebody blows a finger off.
Fireworks are fun, and they make great sounds. Alfred P. Nobel invented and patented dynamite in 1867, and he established the Nobel Peace Prize when he realized what he’d created. Big booms, lots of blood.
Black Cat has been the largest manufacturers of fireworks in the U.S. for more than 50 years. They make some nice products, though they have not entered the U.S. Department of Defense‘s lucrative business of arms manufacturing, Black Cat continues to be a leader in blowing things up.
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
gave proof through the night that our flag was still there…
