Woman dies doing something stupid.

We used to do a lot of fireworks for FOJ (thanks, Erika). I mean hundreds of dollars worth, with three or four families involved. We established many safety procedures: trash can full of water, hose at the ready, long fireplace matches, board for launching, and lots of healthy respect for things that burst into flame and explode. In over a decade of doing this, nobody got more than the tiniest of burns.

Every Independence Day, there's a news story about someone injured with fireworks. This one is especially tragic, since a mother was killed with her family watching. (It's interesting to note that this morning, "Mich." was not in the headline. It's like saying, "Don't launch fireworks in Michigan." They're blaming the state now.)

However, if you read these articles, it's always somebody doing something stupid. In this case, a commercial-grade firework that she lit with her face over it. That, my friends, is not the way to do it. Stupid people do stupid things and get hurt. I'm not sure that's news, unless you have an axe to grind about fireworks.