Happy Birthday, America
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
Happy birthday, indeed.
Since 1949, Durhamites have slept soundly, secure in the knowledge that, in our town, erection can be depended upon. Now, thanks to the power of the internets, we can spread that security all over the world.
6 Comments:
These are what I've been thinking about the past few days, but I could never get the right words together: Ford's speeches upon being sworn in and pardoning Nixon.
If Ford hadn't pardoned Nixon, he might have even been re-elected (excuse me -- elected as President). I never thought I'd be looking back to the Watergate era for anything good. :(
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Joseph H. Vilas, at 12:25 AM
Great pic and quote.
My friend DeAnne and I were driving into downtown (from RTP) just as the fireworks show started and it was AWESOME to see how many cars were lining the freeway into the Mangum/Roxboro exit ramp. And it was AWESOME to see how many cars continued to line Roxboro and how many people were all the hell over downtown Durham after dark.
I went to a party at Ringside (also happily populated) and took some photos of traffic on Main St., threading its way from downtown past the loop and onto W. Chapel Hill street. Great to see. Perhaps it's that busy on some other weekend nights, but I haven't been out late and downtown much, so it was new to me. I hope it'll be common through the future.
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Marsosudiro, at 1:16 AM
Dang, that picture is better than the real display.
Was anyone else bothered by the apparent rogue fireworks that shot horizontally? It was two or three that did this. They were the comet type, the ones that burn bright white at the head and trail a sparkling tail. One or two shot horizontally from the launch pad on the building under construction, and then the really weird thing was, there was another that came from a totally different place -- second gunman? -- from behind a different building under construction closer to us (as seen from the Corcoran/Ramseur parking deck)and appearing to angle toward the ballpark and even enter the ballpark.
And then this fire started in one of the storage containers in the parking lot by the construction site/launch area. It burned for a while before one guy with a flashlight approached it, and then it went out apparently on its own.
And before that there was the ambulance whose EMT's were administering to someone at the corner of Corcoran and Pettigrew. During the fireworks, this ambulance packed in its victim, blared its siren and horn, and left, but did not turn its flashing lights on, perhaps out of respect for the fireworks and all.
And before any of this started, there was the freaky stunt-formations by the motorcycle cops with their festive flashing lights on Corcoran by the ballpark.
But back to the fireworks themselves. I don't think they were any higher in the sky than last year, though they were launched from about a sixth story surface. So this means they saved money on propellant or whatever. Which takes some of the excitement out of it, I must say.
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Elrond Hubbard, at 4:14 AM
thanks. this is the third year i've tried to photograph the fireworks show, and the first time i came up with anything worth saving.
From atop the Corocoran St. parking deck, i couldn't tell if any of those stray shooters threatened the ballpark crowd or not. The fire in the lot was never a problem that i could see, although i saw two guys with flashlights, not just one.
I didn't think downtown was any more or less crowded than on the past couple of 4ths. I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the night, and just came home t crash, so i don't know how many people stayed around to spend money in town afterwards.
i still think the year they had the fireworks in Durham Central Park was the best. But that space is now the farmers' market, and i suspect that the launching pad from last night will not be available next year, so i'm hoping they don't end up at Wallace Wade again.
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Barry, at 9:05 AM
I hope we can, overall, move beyond the idea that a fireworks disply should be held in a stadium. It just seems really artificial to me, and I cynically wondered whether they keep them so low to prevent easy viewing from just anywhere; we had what I thought was a great vantage point on the roof of a downtown building, but the jail obscured much. I'd second Phil's comment that the traffic was a sight to behold from that vantage point - I don't know that I've ever seen so much traffic/parked cars in downtown Durham - oddly more impressive to me than the fireworks.
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Gary, at 9:39 AM
So maybe I'm easily impressed, or just simple-minded, but I had a great time at the fireworks and was actually thinking what a great venue the DBAP was for such a show (having not seen fireworks there before -- that is, I'd seen the post-Bulls game fireworks, but only driving by.)
I mean, back in Boston the Esplanade/Pops concerts was the thing. But that meant sitting on blankets in July heat for hours only to have a bunch of trees obscure the view.
Last night, the wife and I and some friends got to see a terrific baseball game, followed by a pretty darn good fireworks show, with minimal entry/exit hassle.
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Unknown, at 12:59 PM
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