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Nothing to add really (Score:1)
Missing Option (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't really give a f**k if the calender has started a new year, like, so what? Why should I care?
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Re:Missing Option (Score:4, Interesting)
I describe, in some detail, what I'll be doing. I guess I could link to that or re-type it. We've got neighbors and my kids and their mates are here with me as well as a nice older couple from back home and my neighbors who will both be joining me and will be contributing.
I bought an obscene amount of things that go boom. I'm thinking about going to get more tomorrow. I'm throwing a bit of a party - if you want to come, and are in the PCB, FL area, then you're most welcome. There will be free food, free booze (I won't be drinking), music, a safe ride home or a bed/floor, and fun people. We're actually thinking we might go get a bunch more fireworks and do a show starting just before midnight to go along with the one that we're doing at 2000 hrs (GMT-6).
The house is up above the beach area and we'll be down on the beach (about 250 yards I'd guess) when we set them off. We'll be doing a test run tomorrow during the late afternoon. A neighbor has some mortar tubes to make use of and they have a small cache that they've added to the pile. It'll be a mostly family friendly event until the end of the first show. Then we'll give folks a half hour to clear out and we'll be good to go but I do ask that those who drink heavily to avoid things that go boom.
We're going with road flares as our ignition sources. We'll be launching out a little and not out over the ocean so things should be easy to clean up. I'm thinking that a second show will be ideal. Right now, we estimate that, with finale, we've good for about 30 minutes. I'd kind of like to extend that and then do the second show which will be mostly a finale where anything that isn't harmful and is combustible will be set ablaze. If I'd planned no this better than I'd have looked into an alternative ignition method. I did not. In fact, I just saw explosives for sale and allowed my inner child to partake.
That said, I've done a bunch of shows at home but nothing this big. I've a friend who is a licensed pyrotechnic engineer and they've done some famous work and I've learned a lot from them. If you're familiar with the price of fireworks then the duration and mention of mortars might indicate how stupidly expensive this is but it should be a good show. If things go according to plan, there will be very few breaks in the process and the finale should be awesome.
I've already spent a stupid amount of cash. My son and my daughter's boyfriend both want to do a second show that goes on just before midnight. I'm pondering it and can go get more tomorrow. It's a private beach so we don't have to worry about cops. I did buy some cones to keep stray people from walking up on it - they've got taped lights on 'em 'cause I'm not that creative. The neighbors will probably all be there so there's no one to call the cops. I imagine that I'll put a sign out on the beach to warn people about the night's activities.
Anyhow, go past stay down the road so that Publix remains on your right. Take the second stop light, drive by the golf course and gated communities, do NOT bear right to go up towards the State Park, and just keep going until you get stuck in sand. If you're familiar with those directions then you can find the place easily enough - it's pretty much right near where the directions place you. (Email me, in other words, and I'll give directions assuming that you seem reasonably sane - otherwise just crash the party and nobody will notice and care.) Anyone who lives here is probably vaguely familiar with the directions. If you didn't take the left to go by Publix (going East to West) then turn around and go backwards after you hit the row of hotels and take the right before you go over the bridge - it's out that way.
Anyone can bring stuff but I don't think they'll need to. I'm currently estimating ~150 people but we can fit more than that but we're limited to three bathrooms. Hmm... I should rent a couple of porta-potties. I imagine I can get that done and delivered in a day. I'd not thought of that until now. Parking is easy and the beach
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My son and I went and got more things that go boom this afternoon. Two emails indicate two more tentative attendees. Hopefully, we'll get good video and pictures. This is the most boomy things I've ever set off - I think. We got to shoot and blow a bunch of things up in the Marines but nothing quite like this. I've done smaller shows and hired a guy for a larger show once. Though I think I may, technically, now have more explosives in my garage than he used when he did my show. (He has a whole bunch of "bun
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Most of us here are old(er) people. The trolls probably wouldn't come trolling in person but they're still welcome - as long as they behave themselves. I'd hate to have to kick people out. As of this afternoon, we now have enough to do a second show. The second one will probably be a little shorter because we're going to get it set up and then, as the clock tolls the bells, we're gonna set every last one up and set it off. The goal is to have zero fireworks left, a hole in the wallet, a hangover, a few extr
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I don't think the drive from Houston would be fun, but mostly the hung-over trip back would be brutal. I've never driven east of New Orleans on I-10.
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It's not a bad drive and, once out of Texas, it's not that long a drive actually. You could do it in a day, easy. (I haven't done I-10 through Texas in a lot of years - like 1975 or so.) The trip past NO isn't bad, 10 may still be crowded, I'm not sure what they've done since 2007 or post-Katrina. I think I had to take 12 across, now that I think about it.
There's a spare bedroom and a hotel (actually a bunch) around. ;-) If you're worried about sleeping at the house of a stranger, well, we can get you trans
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Panama City Beach. I can give more accurate directions via email. (I figured it prudent to not give precise directions right here in the open.) If you're familiar with the area then the directions might actually help one find it (once it gets dark and things go boom). I'm on the "good" side of the inlet - though the other side is more interesting. I'm over with the hotels, the golf courses, and the gated communities. On the other side of the inlet is where the people who work at those places live. Odd how t
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Legend! That sounds like an awesome night.
In contrast, I'll be celebrating by waving a single sparkler :-(
The nanny-state doesn't make it easy for us to acquire things that go boom here in Australia.
Some people used to drive to Canberra and stock-up (it used to be legal there, don't know now).
Favourites included:
- throw-downs
- ground spinners? [fireworksland.com] - the ones about the size of a AAA battery which you'd light and throw and they'd sometimes take-off in random directions
- Oh! And the parachute one!
Gosh they were fu
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At risk of a bad pun, it will be a blast. I've seen your posts in the past, had we more time, well... Err... I'd actually probably offer to fly you in. I think I might do that next time - and there will be a next time. I've flown people in for my Memorial Day party - I have one every year. Yes, it is huge. By rough count, we've generally got 500 people there during the day and 100 or so camp out for the couple of days that it lasts. It tends to swell a bit depending on the events and the weather. We all stu
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This is your novella warning... You can just skip to the last three of paragraphs or skip it all - if you'd rather.
Life is too short for anything less. I've also been far more fortunate than my labor, intelligence, or karma warrant. I've, literally, absolutely no chance at ever needing to work again and can afford this. So, why not? I do think that I need to do this again - only with better preparation and with, perhaps, just getting a bunch of rooms (I can get a discount, I'm sure) and maybe getting some s
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This, pretty much every year. I more than tolerate christmas or [insert one of the original pagan or your winter tradition here], as a good excuse to get together with family and have a big meal... I only notice new year because suddenly at 12pm people light some cheap annoying explosives. Perhaps it's a good excuse to set fire to things, but guy fawkes night is better for that.
Also while i'm here having a nice rant: new year resolutions are the stupidest thing, you want to improve yourself or decide to cha
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The only reason I see to care is that New Year's Day marks the start of a new season of anime. Of course, three other days do too, so not a big deal.
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The CALENDER doesn't start a new year, ever.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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Gah, I always spell that word wrong, also can't spell maintainence or diarreah ever.
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Missing Option:
I don't really give a f**k if the calender has started a new year, like, so what? Why should I care?
Here's the last option:
Why should I recognize your "New Year's"?
The option is not missing at all.
Sleeping! (Score:5, Informative)
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Likewise. I mean, ostensibly celebrating, but really, I'll just hack together a countdown in Perl.
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I'm at 3 months from my 66th b-day, and I'll likely do what I've done for the last 20 years I've lived in Las Vegas.. Hit the sack at the same time I usually do (9-10pm) and *perhaps* wake up at midnight due to all the noise nearby, and watch the shit down on the strip on one of the local tv channels.. You couldn't *pay* me enough to be any closer than I am to the "Las Vegas resort corridor" on NYE. The convention/vistors bureau is predicting over 300K visitors on NYE all raising hell down on Las Vegas Blvd
Tripping the Light Fantastic (Score:4, Interesting)
I'll be doing what my fiancée and I have been doing every New Year's Eve since we started dating. We'll be ballroom dancing. We'll end one year with a waltz and start the new one a few minutes later with a waltz as well. I can't think of a better way to celebrate than dancing.
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I don't get it. What does this have to do with gay marriage?
Or are you desperately trying to find a way to lash out at someone because they'll secure in their own self and are having more fun in their own life than you have?
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Hmmmm....
Interesting. Having been ballroom dancing for years, I have not found the culture to be at all as described. Sometimes people have perceptions of one group or another that comes nowhere near close to the reality of the situation because they rely on stereotypes rather than getting to know those in that group.
Re:Tripping the Light Fantastic (Score:4, Funny)
Then I read the message body and realized you can't possibly be.
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Maybe he is really staying at home, full with acid and imagining what he just wrote.
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Dancing sounds like a wonderful way to greet the new year. Who doesn't love the Blue Danube Waltz, the Emperor Waltz, Tales from the Vienna Woods, and Waves of the Danube ("Anniversary Song")?
My best wishes to you and your fiancé.
The poll says "New Year's" (Score:2)
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New year's eve is in the old year. That's why we call it "old year's eve".
Re:The poll says "New Year's" (Score:5, Informative)
X or X's eve is the night before X.
X night follows X day.
So if New Year's Day is on 1 January, that means that New Year's Eve is the night before, i.e. 31 December, and New Year's Night is the night from 1 January to 2 January.
Simples, eek.
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Coding (Score:1)
New Year's What, exactly? (Score:2)
Celebrating at home, raucously (Score:4, Funny)
As long as "raucously" includes two beers and staying up past 11.
Missing Option (Score:5, Insightful)
Missing Option:
Corralling children at home, stressfully.
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Add me to the lot.
Missing option (Score:2)
My missing option was. "Geeking around with the things I really care about instead of getting drunk". In my case hydrological telemetry, for which I may need to get a SW radio license. Find a cheap way to do it reliable so it can be done to collect data on a massive scale. That and lurking around here. New Years is for marketing droids.
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Funny... I'm a 'radio woo woo' (a term I just made up to annoy you) and I understood this AC perfectly. Telemetry being low bit rate and massive scale probably means many stations geographically dispersed. Have a look at the modes [wb8nut.com] that have been cooked up and have a go, though don't be afraid to settle on simple SSB/morse. FEC. Also have a look at the scheduling polling systems in use by utility meters and their concentrators for some theory in managing nodes and message passing. Though your per-station cos
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I wonder about the third option... point to point relay via IR laser. No, this isn't as exotic as satellites, nor has the ability to "reach out and touch someone" as radio... but it would be useful for getting packets across relatively small (tens to hundreds of miles) in geographic distance. For larger distances, fiber is better, since it would require far fewer signal repeaters, but as a backup in case Kessler Syndrome decides to visit us one of these days, having telecom lasers might just come in handy
Looking for another job? (Score:3)
Ran away as fast as I could after hearing that my previous job would have oncall and multiple phone meetings during holidays and I swear I will never work on production services again. Client software is released on a nice predictable schedule. It can require a lot of work, but will not suddenly break on New Year Eve or 4am at night.
Obviously this is a job that needs to be done, but I find it appalling when companies try to make you do an extra night shift/weekend/holiday job without any compensation. I would feel very differently if I had a 3 day weekend after a week on call, or a 2 week vacation after winter holidays where I needed to work for some reason.
Used to be more fun .... (Score:2)
A long time ago, I started a bit of a tradition, throwing the only house party of the year for New Years' Eve and inviting all of my friends and their friends. It started out with maybe 15 people and after a few years, grew to at least 100 people who showed up. I wound up moving after that, though, and got a different job. With those changes, coupled with the changes everyone else I knew went through, the number of people able to attend one of my parties dwindled.
I spent several NYE's in a row with nothing
Pork and sauerkraut (Score:2)
"On Call" (Score:2)
I'm one of two developers for our product, so we alternate who's on call. Of course, our client hasn't actually called in 5 years, so it's just a technicality.
Hopefully my toddler son will be asleep by 10PM so that my wife and I can spend quality time together. We have a wide assortment of crackers, cheeses, sausages, and non-alcoholic champagne (hey, we are LdS / Mormon, plus my wife is hanai / pregnant). We'll sleep in as late as our son allows.
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Not everyone considers alcoholic beverages a must. They are nice... but are not the be-all and end-all when it comes to doing stuff. I'd not be ashamed about it.
Plus, if on call, it is nice to have a 0.0 BAC if one has to go to the office, and winds up getting pulled over (I call driving on NYE/NYD morning "amateur hour"), so there is no chance of a DWI happening.
Working on my New Year's resolution... (Score:2)
I've only got a few days left to figure out my 2015 New Year's resolution.
Khaku & Hatsumde (Score:2)
Here in Japan we will stay up and watch the famous singing competition Kohaku on NHK. After a midnight a short walk to the local shrine for Hatsumode - first visit of the year. They always have a big fire at the shrine and it's nice to get warm after spending a long time queuing to get in. No fireworks here.
Missing option (Score:2)
Special case (Score:2)
I'm flying across the date line and missing it entirely.
...not on-call but I expect I'll get a call from.. (Score:2)
....the person who is on-call because something will go wrong and they won't RTFM (that I wrote) that explains how to fix it and ask me to login to take care of it.
So I'll be sure NOT to have my work phone on me NYE.
I buy firecrackers instead of bread (Score:2)
It's strange how those people focus so much on that once-per-year-hobby they do not share instead of e.g. appealing to smokers to buy "bread for the poor" instead of tobacco...
Shooting your fireworks display! (Score:2)
Twilight Zone Marathon! (Score:2)
You left off the traditional Twilight Zone Marathon! :-) The best part of New Year's!
I split my time with that and the Honeymooners Marathon, but I think that may only be in the NYC area.
Quietly in the City; Used to be loud at the Lake (Score:3)
For about 25 years we would drive up to a buddy's parents' cabin on the lake, and do a 3 day-ish party. People would start showing up Dec 30, more on the 31st, and darkness falls about 4:30 at the latitude of our location.
Bar-B-Q'ing, open fire so roasting whatever fits on a stick, and a dedicated mission as far as drink goes. Nobody drives until the next day, and not before noon.
We set up fireworks on the (frozen) lake, and carve out a play area for what amounts to a street hockey game (called "shinny" in Canada) suitable for an orange tennis ball (instead of a puck) and boots/shoes (no skates allowed).
You get an "all access" game out of those rules, and people from neighbouring cabins are welcome, although typically no-one else is there since most cabins aren't winterized (basically, = water / sewer services protected / not protected from freezing).
Our cabin is directly across the lake from the bar, which does a fairly good business on New Year's Eve and sells offsale, so you can hop on a snowmobile and get beer should a liquidity crisis arise. People tend to party at the bar, so no visitors from there, usually. They do watch our fireworks, though.
Around ten o'clock or so the shinny game starts, and around 11:30 it ends so we can clear a safe area for the fireworks, which we light right at midnight while the 30 or so people there do the countdown, out on the ice. After the stroke of midnight, there is usually a lot of tackling in the snow, hugs, and the like. By 15 after midnight everyone is back in the cabin getting warm and properly inebriated.
We started this when I (and my friends) were in our late 20's ... after the first one, it was obvious how much nicer a time it was compared to going out to some club or live music event, fighting for a cab later, and spending one or two hundred dollars.
Instead we spend a bit on gas (cabin is a 200 mile drive from home), a bit more on booze, and eat properly the whole time (as anyone whose experienced it, breakfast at the cabin is wonderful), plus steaks, burgers, dogs on the Bar-B-Q or open fire, and the usual pot luck dishes to round things out. There is a strong Ukrainian immigrant tradition here, from the 1900's to the 1930's, so Cabbage Rolls, Perogies*, are always abundant, as well as the usual cabin fare, like homemade Jerky, Deer Sausage, salads and vegetables. I always make Mexican Breakfast Burritos from a recipe I was taught by a Mexican-born and raised Air Force member at Little Rock AFB, who would make it in deer camp (hunting).
Nobody starves and in general the food is far superior to what you would have to pay good money for in the city. The company is top notch and in many cases you see people you only see once a year, at this event. Perfect.
I encourage everyone to find a good way to celebrate the new year that involves mostly friends and not so much commercial events or spending time at a bar somewhere. You won't regret it.
Away from home raucously (Score:2)
My answer would normally be "Celebrating at home quietly" and at 63 years of age that's normal. But this year for the first time in decades really I will be going out on New Year's Eve and having a good time at a Jerry Douglas concert and I expect it to be a bit raucous. Of course the reason I'm going out has more to do with Jerry Douglas than New Year's Eve. I expect to be home before midnight and sober. (Of course here in Oregon since weed is now legal I may partake in a bit of that once I get home.)
Poll location (Score:2)
The poll appears to have moved to the sidebar instead of inserting itself between stories. Could it be that slashdot has finally actually reversed course and fixed something?
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Or maybe because it's completely off-topic and by the standards of the time Mohammad was not doing anything unusual. It's kind of like calling the Founding Fathers of the USA slave owners. They were but it's beside the point today.