Let's Fly A Drone Through Some Fireworks

Now that the Fourth of July weekend is over, we can review the fun we had with fireworks displays.

A drone's eye view of a fireworks display. Add caption

The best video I've seen wasn't shot during the recent Fourth of July weekend.

It was uploaded in May, and shows a drone's eye view of a fireworks display. Yep, they flew the thing right through the fireworks.

Not to be a killjoy, but the flight of the drone through the fireworks was probably dangerous and illegal, according to Forbes. 

The drone could have diverted parts of the fireworks into the crowd, or the drone could have been hit, and drone debris could have fallen on people on the ground.

I'm sure we'll see more dangerous, but fascinating videos taken from drones. I just hope nobody does something so stupid people really get hurt.

The drone, and the attached camera, somehow made it intact through the fireworks.  

Wild video, though. Watch:

In Vermont, You Gotta Be Traditional (And A Bit Weird) On Fourth Of July

The annual Bristol, Vermont Fourth of July parade is
preceded by the Great Annual Outhouse Race.  

For the Fourth of July this year, Jeff and me trekked down to the pleasant town of Bristol, Vermont to meet my sister and brother in law for the Fourth of July parade.

You can't get more traditional than this.
Of course, I brought my camera so you can scroll down and see some of the images for yourself.

Bristol has a nice little downtown with old buildings in the hills of Vermont, and the parade has the usual assortment of fire trucks, horses and the other things you'd expect in a classic Fourth of July parade.

This being Vermont, though, it also gets weird.

It looks like the calvary has arrived for the Bristol,
Vermont Fourth of July parade.  

Before the parade starts, there's the Outhouse Race, in which people build outhouse like contraptions and hurl down the main street of Bristol, with someone sitting inside the "outhouse" of course.

And you get some clowns and some, um, fashion statements.

You can't get through a Vermont Fourth of July without a little flair, right?

Clowning around at the Bristol, Vermont Fourth
of July parade.  

This determined guy was also in
the parade 

Here's quite a fashion statement
at the Bristol, Vermont
Fourth of July parade 

Miss Vermont adds a bit of glamour
to the Bristol, Vermont Fourth of July parade.  

"Empty Chair" Guinness Ad Pulls Heartstrings

A still from the "Empty Chair" Guinness ad  

There's not much I can say about the Guinness Beer ad, that you will see in the video below, without being a spoiler, so I'll just let you watch it and see what you think.  

I will say it's appropriate for the Fourth of July weekend.

Yes, the ad is shamelessly selling Guinness, but that's what an advertisement is supposed to do. But it also has a nice message. And definitely tugs at the heartstrings.

Guinness does have a history of good ads, like the famous wheelchair basketball ad that came out last year that was a nice meditation on friendship.

Anyway, here's the very thoughtful new advertisement from Guinness:

"Perfect" Celebrity Impressions In A Song? You Decide.

From Digg, we get this video of a guy trying out a variety of different celebrity voices in what he might call a perfect song.

You be the judge:

Scary Video Of Propane Explosion In Philly Food Truck

A still from the video of a food truck exploding in Philadelphia

I don't know how anybody survived, but 12 people were hurt, three seriously, when a propane explosion hit a food truck yesterday in Philadelphia.  

You'll see the surveillance video of the explosion below.  Two of the severely injured were a mother and daughter working in the food truck.

Some cars driving by were briefly engulfed in the flames, but the people inside the vehicles thankfully only had minor injuries.

Here's the scary video:

Dying Building Was Out To Kill Somebody

The building seems far enough away, but
the demolition sent a piece of concrete into this crowd.  

Everybody loves to watch when they blow up a building to demolish it and replace it with something else.

You think you're at a safe distance, but think again. This building, razed recently in the Czech Republic, tried to kill somebody watching the scene by hurling, very fast, a hunk of concrete.

Judging from the reaction you hear, the person who was hit didn't die, and probably wasn't badly hurt, which is a good thing. But still, watch this video. Scary:

The Squirrel Is Back: Are The Republicans Being Squirrelly?

Back in 2008, a guy dressed up as a squirrel dogged (ha!) the Obama presidential campaign, just sort of harassing him and his assistants from a Republican perspective.

The strange Republican squirrel is back! I wonder
what the Democrats will come up with. 

Normal for a campaign. Both major parties bring out the gimmicks and the weirdos to call attention to their cause, and tell us why the opposition is really, really bad.

Now, (drum roll) the Republican squirrel is back! Already!

Yeah, it's a couple years before we select a new president, but Hillary Clinton is already making noises about running on the Democratic side.

Never one to waste time, the squirrel is fully recharged and fighting the good (or bad, depending on your perspective) fight against Hillary.

Here's the truly bizarre video from the Republicans re-introducing us to the Infamous Squirrel: