Fire in the Works

Yesterday, one of our operatives en route to a sailing lesson noticed the new "Hoofer smoking area" (see photo). Note the cigarette disposal right in front of the gasolene tanks and gas storage. Heh heh. Aren't cigarettes basically, like, on fire right before you put them out..? I'm surprised Hoofers didn't save a few bucks and just use an empty gas can instead for disposal.

Not to be outdone, the City of Madison is also flaunting its idiotic nature by holding the annual 4th-of-July fireworks a week before the 4th of July—on June 27. My housemates and I didn't even know about the fireworks until we heard them start at 10PM on Saturday night! Did everyone in city government just have a chemical lobotomy..?

Independence Day, as it's called, is a national holiday that occurs every year on July 4. Not July 3, not July 5, and definitely not in June. If the city can't afford a calendar, there are free ones online for shit's sake. Holding the fireworks a week early not only suggests the kind of inbred stupidity usually restricted to Appalachia but also offends one of the great American holiday traditions. This year they were called Shake the Lake due to an apparent lack of interest in funding "Rhythm and Booms" anymore. What?

Our bet is that the same people who organized R&B, er, S&L, are also active in lakefront planning. Perhaps the fireworks were held a week early so people can go see some real ones in Milwaukee next weekend. Yeah. We are so outta here.