Hello Again!This is where I come in and rain on everyone’s parade (sorry!).
According to PREVENT BLINDNESS AMERICA, nearly 13,000 fireworks victims keep hospitals busy every year. More than half of those injured are children. Fireworks not only injure users, but also 40 percent of fireworks mishaps injure bystanders.
The three types of fireworks that keep hospital emergency rooms busy during this holiday period are bottle rockets, firecrackers, and sparklers. Bottle rockets and firecrackers can fly in any direction prior to exploding and sparklers burn at temperatures hot enough to melt gold.
If fireworks are legal where you live and you decide to set them off on your own, be sure to follow these important safety tips (From the US Consumer Product Safety Commission):
-- Never allow children to play with or ignite fireworks
-- Read and follow all warnings and instructions
-- Be sure other people are out of range before lighting fireworks.
-- Only light fireworks on a smooth, flat surface away from the house, dry leaves, and flammable materials.
-- Never try to relight fireworks that have not fully functioned.
-- Keep a bucket of water in case of a malfunction or fire.
-- Know where the closest phone is located-or carry a cell phone-in case a fire occurs and the fire department is needed.
If an injury does occur:
- Stay calm, and keep your child as calm as possible.
- If your clothes catch on fire, lie on the ground, cover your face with your hands, and roll. Make sure your child knows how to do this. Seek medical help for burns.
- If an eye injury occurs from a fireworks explosion, do not rub, rinse or self-medicate the eye. Seek medical help immediately, even if the injury seems mild.
Have a spectacular July 4, and remember to play it safe!
8 comments:
According to PREVENT BLINDNESS AMERICA, nearly 13,000 fireworks victims keep hospitals busy every year.
In the context, this statement kind of makes it seem like 13,000 people are injured nationwide during the Fourth of July. How do we know 13,000 were injured just on that day? Maybe it was year long. Now that I look at that number, 13,000 people being injured by fireworks in a year wouldn't really be keeping the hospitals "busy". And, according to their site, in 2004 there were 9,600 firework-related injuries for the entire year, which is significantly smaller than 13,000. But, they never say whether this was just injuries within the ol' US of A, or if they span the North American continent or if they're world wide.
On any account, interesting stuff, but I think a lot of emphasis seems to be on the safety of the nuclear family. I hear a lot about "children" from these organizations, and it bothers me how we consider safeguarding their wellbeing, even if insignificantly threatened, to be more important than not encroaching on our personal liberties. A child will one day soon grow up to be an adult just like the rest of us, and just because a child is important to their parents doesn't mean they're important to the rest of us. I say to the parents who want to take their children out to see the fireworks, "do so knowing there's an implied risk. Your child could be shot in the face with a bottlerocket, and I could be there to laugh at him."
"...or her."
Good stuff, Peggy, but I have to ignore those loathsome organizations. Life is made for fun and experimentation, not kid gloves.
I'm gay!
Thanks, Shannon. Glad to have you over to visit.
Come Halloween, are we to expect advice on how to be careful about all that poisoned candy and apples with razorblades?
(which has never actually happened. My favorite childhood holiday has been completely ruined by an urban legend)
Jesus Miss Manners. "be safe when setting off explosives."
fucking duh.
13,000 in a year is NOT alot of people when you think of the 250,000,000+ in America.
How many deaths from Car accidents every DAY? according to the stat that it's about one every 15 seconds; That's 5760 a day.
How many Murders? in 2004 there were
16,137.
So...kids...remember to have a great DAILY LIFE..but PLAY IT SAFE!
Christ. Can't people back the fuck off our holidays? I'm just waiting to hear about the dangers of Easter egg hunting on the nightly news.
Actually, there were three (I think that's right) recorded accounts of razors or some sort of dangerous item put into trick-or-treat candy in the total recorded history of America, but every one of them were family or friend of family related. Not once has a stranger poisoned or attempted foul on a kid's candy... ever. Then again, that's if you believe statistics.
And, I have to say, I rarely do. Stats on all sides are so skewed it's not even funny. I never know what to believe, and I've grown so cynical. I tried to watch "What the Bleep Do We Know" the other day, and it was so dripping with pseudo-scientific agendas that I had to shut it off twenty minutes in. What a pile of poo. I swear, all of the "scientists" were reading from a script, because during the 'cuts' I heard the exact same things being said time and time again, as if....... scripted.
After that, however, I watched INHERIT THE WIND (1960). Brilliant. I couldn't stop watching it even after I knew I SHOULD go to bed because I had work the next day. It's heavy handed, but it's heavy handed in the direction I enjoy. It's in favor of Darwinism and against Creation. It had an agenda, and I guess because I delighted in the agenda I enjoyed it. But, what made it even better was how the core plot rode hand-in-hand with the constitution. It NEVER implied the force of encroachment, which cannot be said for most propaganda films these days (such as Gore's gay ass opus). Anyhow, great flick. Crane you must, must, must, MUST see INHERIT THE WIND. It's amazing. And Spencer Tracy (plays character Henry Drummond) is absolutely brilliant - no, seriously, some of the best acting no matter how LUDICROUS the whole 'courtroom drama' scenes were in the film. Awesome, awesome stuff.
Getting back to the original post about firecracker safety and what not. Elton once sang, "Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids.In fact it’s cold as hell. And there’s no one there to raise them if you did." Yeah, so why don't we just keep them kids here on earth with the rest of us dirty biology-driven animals, huh?
Is it just me or did Crane totally gyp us of a day's post? Hmmmm....
Dead blog.
More Christian goodness for Crane:
The best PDF ever!
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