OMG
I can’t bring myself to comment on these photographs from www.ghajnsielem.com, uploaded under the heading:
SUNDAY AFTERNOON
Fireworks Preparations by local enthusiasts
29th August 2010
Photos taken by Manuel Zerafa
The words ‘local enthusiasts’ say it all. These photographs remind me, more than anything, of my sons and their friends when aged between eight and 10 building experimental projects in the garden shed. But these are grown men and teenagers, and at least one young woman, with dangerous explosives.
Am I from another planet? Because what’s the reasoning here: that it’s good, clean fun and that at least it keeps them away from sex and drugs?
Yes, the nanny state can be too much and health & safety legislation in the stricter EU member states has become a bit of a joke. But what in heaven’s name is all this?
Malta: the land of crackpot extremes. On the one hand you have a primary school teacher filing a suit – and being taken seriously – because she claims she was bullied by a five-year-old who poked her with a pencil. And on the other hand, you have this kind of thing, which just beggars belief.
Say what you like, they’re better off with a joint and some girl on the beach. Not that I’m advocating that kind of thing, but our definition of what’s safe and normal behaviour for teenagers and men in their early 20s is rather odd.
Pass me the smelling salts.
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Mhux ta’ b’xejn idamdmu kull m’hawn! U mhux ta’ b’xejn meta kont nara il-loghob tan-nar ta’ 4th of July fl-Amerka kont nistageb kemm ikunu kwieti!
Are these the chemistry experts who know all about safety?
In fact anyone with a licence C issued by the police can do that handling you see in the pics. Those fireworks you see in the pictures would NOT become safer just because they are handled by a professor having a PhD in chemistry …he would die just the same if for example the igniters are of poor quality.
[Daphne – Ah, but a professor of chemistry wouldn’t not be so cavalier with explosives and in such primitive conditions too. That’s the crux of the matter. It’s a case of ‘forgive them, oh Lord, for they know not what they do.’]
Hosbien, maybe you could also explain why bomb disposal experts are highly trained, wear safety gear, and only do their work when the area’s been cleared of unequipped and untrained bystanders.
You seem to think my comment was meant to ridicule the people in the pictures. It wasn’t. It’s a criticism of a screwed up system that allows people to think they can handle things when they’re clearly out of their depth.
Surely even you can see that there’s something strange about messing around with explosives in the blazing sun. The news story is not just how many people have died, but how many people’s lives are in danger because of safety procedures and regulations are anything but.
When a person has got skills, having done extensive research on it (and knowing all the odds and theory behind it), then he or she is in a better state to take analytical decisions that can be a turning point in such occasions.
“If a person knows the why …. the how becomes just a detail”.
Were these pics taken in Malta or Afghanistan?
If you mean to compare those cocksure amateurs in the photo, and Afghan insurgents, the comparison doesn’t even stand. Insurgents typically handle more dangerous explosives, and build complex detonation mechanisms with great precision and expertise.
They are fully aware of the dangers of storing all their explosives in one place, and cases of IED factories blowing up are very rare indeed, to the point where we have to rely on conjectural evidence (e.g. Abu Hamza lost both his hands and one eye while preparing an IED, so we may assume that the factory blew up).
The Maltese clowns in the photos, on the other hand, have nothing but lots of passion and dedication to their traditions. Don’t delude yourselves that the government will ever do anything about it. Vision 2015. My arse.
Wow, Baxxter, you give the impression you have intimate knowledge of your insurgent friends. Possibly you could give our Maltese clowns some needed advice. However, the terrain does look similar.
Purdie, I have something called “having gone through selection tests and constant bollocking, even when I did things right, having been on the receiving end of criticism”.
I get the impression that this is completely alien to the average Maltese. The attitude in Malta seems to be ‘if he’s a professional, then ipso facto he’s beyond reproach, and if he’s an amateur, he’s beyond reproach because he’s trying hard, miskin’.
Visio…. OK I’ll stop here.
Baxxter. I feel we both need a drink–preferably together. ‘Bollocking Syndrome’ is easily overcome through drink. It is not nice to criticize the ‘average Maltese’. A violent reaction would be anticipated.
The amount of bad practices being shown here could earn the photographer a fortune selling these to a safety training company involved in handling of dangerous substances!
It is so scary. I feared my VDU would blow up anytime!
As I have said before, it is the responsibility of the civil authorities to ascertain that these people only blow themselves up and no one else. They are so determined that nothing and no one will stop them.
What about the Malta Standards Authority? They make a great show of being “the competent authority” on almost everything, including dangerous chemicals but have been silent on fireworks and explosives.
The MSA has just issued a 20-page “Guidelines on the Handling of Fish” but have never issued guidelines on the handling of fireworks, which gives you an idea of their priorities. No wonder they were not included in the board of inquiry set up by government.
I don’t really have anything to add, I’m just posting this lead as I think it offers some explanation as to why people like the ones in these pictures are willing to take such risks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
In other words: little knowledge is dangerous.
Excellent. That is quite informative and applicable.
Ah! Diane Kruger! I’m willing to take any risk there….
Oh right, DUNNING Kruger……sorry
Baxxter. Ahh, now she is worth a fireworks festival! Would transport the stuff myself.
Ikkorreguni jekk jien zbaljat. Mela meta kien hemm il-laqgha tal-Mepa fuq il-progett ta’ Hondoq ir-Rummien, xi membru tal-pubbliku oggezzjona ghax qal illi vetturi kbar ser jghaddu mil Qala ghal dan il-progett.
Issa smajt li dak in-nar kollu li sploda il-bierah li kien gej mill-kamra ta’ San Guzepp ta’ Hal Ghaxaq tnizzel go Hondoq ir-Rummien biex jigi trasportat lejn din il-kamra tan-nar li iktar tard splodiet.
Allura nghid jien dawk in-nies li oggezzjonaw ghall-progett ta’ Hondoq ir-Rummien (li ser ihalli impatt pozittiv lejn dik l-akkwata) ma oggezzjonawx ghal dawk il-vetturi li ghaddew min gol Qala u postijiet ohra inkluz ir-Rabat?
Halluna.
Jekk zbaljat ikkorreguni imma jekk miniex halluni nghidilkom kemm intkom stupidi li thallu dawn l-affarijiet jigru.
Pippo, nahseb kieku n-nies, inkluz jien u int, ikunu jafu li mit-triq taghhom se jghaddu vannijiet mimmlijin loghob tan-nar, kulhadd joggezzjona.
Imma kos toqghod tqis, il-loghob tan-nar ta’ kull pajjiz jigi trasportat mit-toroq taghna bla ma naghtu kas ta’ xejn. Qatt ma rajt (almenu Malta) xi trakk/van li qed igorr xi loghob tan nar b xi karozza tal pulizija quddiemu.
Jien l-aktar li kidditni hi, kif mart sid il-kamra tigi tghid li zewgha kien jiehu ‘l uliedu minn mindu kellhom 10 snin. Tfal ta’ 10 snin jittiehdu l-kamra tan nar minn missierhom ta!
Jekk ghad fadal irgiel bhal dan, haqqhom min jallaqhom!
If Hamas had ten thousand of these guys, their troubles in the Middle East would be over very quickly. (With apologies to John Milius).
Leonard, to me, they look more like a bunch of teenagers in competition of who’s got the biggest one.
I suppose all those in the photographs have families! I am sure they will be pleased to know that if they are blown to bits, they will have a nice funeral – complete with the village band.
Training to become Catholic suicide bombers.
The problem is that most of these youngsters are simply ‘bored’. Village life in Malta does not have much to offer by way of adventure to the average teenager and twenty-year old. Our youths are simply bored to death and they seek adventure and cheap thrills in these destructive ‘hobbies’.
[Daphne – My thoughts exactly. That crowd isn’t much different from the masses of young men who mass in various Middle Eastern states to burn US flags and scream against the western devils. And here’s the thing – they’re doing it in the name of ‘religion’ too.]
Kazini tal-baned are being seen as alternative (and unregulated) places of entertainment by a good portion of our youth population, and very often these youngsters are lured to the infamous ‘kmamar tan-nar’ by fellow villagers for whom the yearly festa is the main feature dotting their calendar.
I happen to live in a village where there is a gym (almost always empty), a football pitch with turf, many of the youngsters the same age as those seen in these pics attend university or have a business, and yet the main place for socialising in the village is the kazin tal-banda, and the kmamar tan-nar – which are not (as is the impression given by these pictures) restricted to people pertaining to a particular sub-culture.
I know of university graduates (including some women) who are fireworks enthusiasts and who hold a licence to manufacture the same. Solution to the problem? Not one that I can think of.
Hi ho! Hi ho! On our way we… BOOM!!!
I do not agree with what is being said here about fireworks and the people who create them. Whilst I’m not a fan of the louder explosives I think that those people who create the magnificent firework displays we have at our feasts are truly magicians with great skills and a mastery of the chemicals they use which is amongst the best in the world.
True some might take too many risks and true some might use very rudimentary equipment and true one must look into the level of health and safety practices to ensure all are safeguarded, but to say that these pictures are from Afghanistan and to judge the person handling a a bomb just from a picture smacks of ignorance and arrogance.
I would leave the decision as to weather these people are qualified or not to someone competent.
I think that very few people understand that to create a single firework entails a great deal of work, thought, skill, practice and experience. I think that very few people are not amazed by the incredible firework displays we have in Malta and all around the world fireworks are seen as a fitting way to celebrate.
I think it is universally recognised that playing with fire will get you burnt and luckily for the viewer there are those crazy enough to create firework displays.
I have a feeling that firework factories are always a dangerous place which can blow up when mistakes are made and recently I saw an explosion on TV in some other country so I assume this is not only a local phenomenon.
I have a feeling that we might have a high incidence and this is where it is important to make sure that the factories are well equipped, that all the persons are well trained and qualified and that health and safety becomes a way of life rather than something we have to do to please others. We might also have a high incidence because of the large number of factories on such a small island which increases the probability.
I think that like in many other discussions people tend to speak based on impressions rather than fact and I personally think that one needs to see how we compare with other countries to see if we have a higher incidence and if so what are the underlying problems. It would be a shame if we go from one extreme to another. Safer firework factories I’m all for. Removing them completely, i’m definitely against.
P.S. Because I read posts backwards I hadn’t seen the post on the quality of the chemicals which is an important point in my opinion. I think that most of these people know how dangerous what they do is and would not take unnecessary risks (others obviously do). If there is bad quality material which is blowing up firework factories it is very important that a) this material is removed from the market and b) that there are more stringent checks on this material.
It is not easy to ban fireworks! What about all the votes that the ruling party will lose and what about incurring the wrath of the church and risking excommunication and eternal damnation?
The joke is that every time someone gets blown up, an inquiry is undertaken but nothing gets mentioned about monitoring and enforcement and stiff fines and revoking of licences and imprisonment. This kind of action costs votes.
The family of that woman who died in Naxxar, and who also lost their house in the explosion a few years back – have they been compensated yet?
Daphne, I stand to be corrected, but I think that the size of that round shell is illegal. There are size limits to fireworks shells but I cannot find the LN to confirm.
There is another word for this hobby – Russian Roulette!