Happy New Year

New Year's Eve has always been a nice excuse to light up some fireworks, pop some champagne, and enjoy the company of others.



I'm a big fan of fireworks, but I have to admit, there's nothing quite as foolhardy as lighting up consumer-grade mortars in the backyard. I mean, I routinely visit a rifle range and fire bullets from hand-assembled cartridges that reach speeds of 3000 ft/s. Even for me, though, lighting up the average firework is a more dangerous proposition in many ways.

But, even with all the safety concerns, it's been a family tradition to shop at the local grey-market fireworks store, plop "Sky King" brand bottle rockets up, and launch them into the night sky. I hope everyone's having a great New Year's, and don't get burned!