MYSTERIES OF THE FOURTH OF JULY

BY DAN MILLER
(originally posted July 5, 2005)

How do they manage to make exploding sparks, hundreds of feet in the air, form exactly into the shape of hearts, or smiley faces, or stars?

It was the most asked question -- by young and old alike -- after the big fireworks display. Frankly, it's beyond my understanding.

Equally beyond my understanding is how NASA scientists can send a projectile 268,000,000 miles through space, and then smash it into a relatively small comet cruising along at 23,000 MPH..... but that also happened on Monday.

How could they even know exactly where that comet will be on a particular day? I don't even know where my car will be parked on any given day.

Also puzzling to me is how experts can estimate the number of people who watched Nashville's big fireworks extravaganza.

As the sun was setting, I could see people still arriving along First Avenue by the thousands. I could see hundreds of people in, and on the roofs of, downtown buildings. I could see lines forming along the bridges..... over at the football stadium..... and on boats.

We were told that traffic came to a virtual halt along some of the nearby highways as drivers stopped to behold the eye-catching fireworks.

The official attendance estimate (by whoever is the official estimator) was between 90,000 and 100,000.
But, by my estimation, there were at least 700,000 cars on the road I was trying to leave on..... but that's just my estimation.... it's not official.

Oh.... and the second most asked question at Nashville's big Fourth of July celebration had to be.... "Did you see Bo Derek?"
The glamourous movie star was introduced -- as she sat in the audience taking photos -- by her boyfriend John Corbett of Northern Exposure and My Big Fat Greek Wedding fame.

Bo is still a "9".... but that's not official, it's just an estimate.

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