July 5, 2006 - Ed Takes The Fourth

Yesterday was the 4th of July. The space shuttle was launched. North Korea tested some missiles. Italy beat Germany in the World Cup semi-final. And, all over the USA, there were picnics, flags, and fireworks. President Bush was in North Carolina addressing some of the U.S. Troops. He told them, “every day is Independence Day in America” because of their courage. And, he would not allow the sacrifice of those killed in Iraq "to be in vain".

Yesterday, the top story in the Los Angeles Times Calendar Section focused on the matter of young girls these days getting bigger, but still wearing the same size clothes. The article called them, “Sausage Casing Girls”. The consensus among the experts interviewed for the story was that they are in denial – they really think they’re a size six, even if they aren’t.

In Santa Barbara, there was the traditional 15K running race and the traditional parade. But in a break with tradition, there was no art show at the Mission, although there was an alternate location for the show.

This year in Santa Barbara there was a sidewalk lemonade stand on Mission Street selling 8 oz cups of lemonade for a dollar per cup.

At around 9 PM, fireworks were launched from West Beach. After a couple of test blasts, the fireworks started bursting in air at a regular clip, climaxing with the grand finale that ended 17 minutes and 18 seconds later. The dedicated staff of edhat.com timed them, so we know. Last year, same date and time, the fireworks lasted 19 minutes and 46 seconds. So, this year there was more than two minutes less of oohs and ahhs, but no one seemed to notice.

In the contest last Friday (ooh so long ago), we asked subscribers to guess how long the rockets would blast. Combining traditions with lemonade, the contest was won by one of Edhat’s longest standing and favorite subscribers, Lemony. She’s also the same dedicated subscriber who took the patriotic duck picture featured in Edhat’s first 4th of July story. Congratulations!

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