Vic Socotra

04 July 2009

Fireworks

(See below for “Time Rain” pyrotechnics blossom, an effect created by large, slow-burning stars that leave a trail of large glittering sparks behind and make a very loud sizzling noise. Produces “Oohs” and “ahs” on the National Mall. Show by Pyro Spectaculars, Inc., of San Francisco, CA.)

It is quiet in Arlington, except for the odd siren, though it will get much louder as the day goes by. I hope you are preparing for a lively celebration of our Independence. I have no high explosives set aside for personal use, at least nothing more than a few Class-C devices like the ones that were lit on the Fifth Floor of Big Pink last night.

Later, the Intern told me she had talked to Australia the other evening. There was someone there who wanted to share some views; she said he had called “from the future, tomorrow morning.”

I remembered trying to do business with people there, fourteen hours into tomorrow. We are more than perfectly out of phase. It is nearly bedtime there, and so it is a challenge for the North Koreans to try to get our attention across the world stage.

See, when they shoot their rockets into the Sea of Japan, they are doing it for both a local and an international audience. My friend Kimo is out there now, looking out from the bridge wing of the USS Blue Ridge, and contemplating the evening as sweeps across the Sagami-wan.

They are on the other side of The Date Line, which is why America’s Independence Day is almost done in South Korea’s Defense Ministry is hoping for a day of rest on their Sunday, having noted the rockets fired off by their resident American Army, and the short-range rockets fired by their estranged-and-deranged brethren north of the Imjin River.

Great China is just cleaning up after dinner, and in the Nawa and Garmser districts of central Helmand Province in Afghanistan, the United State Marines are fanning out and setting up operating locations to root out the resurgent Taliban.

My thoughts are mostly with them this quiet morning in Washington, as we think about nothing much except the long weekend and the prospect of the exceptional and colorful explosions on the National Mall tonight.

That, and doing the mental ju-jitsu required to wrestle with the constant miracle that it can be so many times at once in so many places. I once stood in front of officers collectively wearing over thirteen stars on their shoulders as to what time it was in Agana.

America’s day began in Guam, as it always does, since it is just on the eastern side of the imaginary Date Line. Hagatna (formerly Agana) would have been the first city so think solemnly about the significance of American independence, being a conquered territory of the United States. They have come to terms with their status- and its advantages- and have a non-voting delegate here on Capitol Hill.

The fireworks we will watch tonight are as American as he first settlers. Captain John Smith boasted of having sponsored the first display in Virginia, and they were used to commemorate Independence on the very first anniversary, in 1777.

So what if they are mostly manufactured in China these days? Due to regulation, less than 10% of the fireworks blown up here are made in America. China is where the science was first perfected, after all, in the 12th century to scare away evil spirits. China is the world’s largest manufacturer and exporter of fireworks, having the advantage of much more liberal safety rules and lower labor rates.

You would think that would apply to the North Koreans, too, but they have not made much progress in the art of visually pleasing aerial detonations. As to the queer new tradition associated with the observance of our national holidays, the North Koreans began their fourth of July with a cheerful violation of U.N. resolutions, and a message of defiance to their version of George III, who is apparently us.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said three missiles were fired in purely ballistic trajectory early on their Saturday, a fourth around lunchtime, and three more in their afternoon. There were no reported pyrotechnics, and only some gray water geysers at impact.

The rockets may have flown more than 250 miles, or a little more than the driving distance from the Mall to mid-town Manhattan.

That would be impressive in an exchange between Wall Street and the Federal Reserve, should the respective parties chose the path of escalation, but not particularly interesting in the strategic context.

There is no indication that a true long-range ICBM launch is imminent. At least there is nothing on the Indications and Warning list that I can identify here at the breakfast table.

Hawaii has taken the whole thing in stride, and if Guam was concerned, there is no evidence in the media of it.

I will, for now, think of the kids who are doing the heavy lifting of American foreign policy far away, and put the Koreans on the back burner at least until Monday, our time.

I think they could learn a lot from what remains of American know-how. For the fireworks show on the National Mall tonight, Pyro Spectaculars, a fifth-generation Portuguese American firm, has dispatched an eight-person team to Dc from their headquarters in San Francisco.

They have been working for a week of twelve hour days to emplace 3,500 shells packing nearly a ton and a half of black powder. When I could still run, we used to jog by the Reflecting Pool when they were setting up for earlier salutes and the rows of mortars were impressive, row on row, behind the orange safety fencing. This year’s show will produce seventeen minutes of glory.

Two days are allotted to look for dud rounds when it is over.

The North Koreans have no clean up plan. They are pretty much a “fire and forget” kind of shooter. And besides, the fireworks show on the other side of the date line was mostly for a local audience anyway. Have a happy Fourth, wherever you may be.

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