I had a buddy who lived in the quonset huts for married housing at Colorado University in Boulder who used to (ca 1966) discharge a percussion Belgian double barreled shotgun in its parking lot. BP and wadding only. The flash and bang and smoke brought great whoops of joy from the onlookers.
Even then, in "free-er times" we neither of us would fire a projectile randomly upward.
In later years, when I lived in a rural single-family neighborhood, I used to fire home-made .30-06 blanks on Independence Day, to the whoops and joy of my neighbors. Big white flash and enormous bang.
I don't do that any more, nor have I fired my BP salute cannon, though I'd love to.
I went to bed at 10:00 PM 31 Dec last night, just woke up a half hour ago, missing all that celebratory gunfire and fireworks at midnight.
I was content to remember that the actual "New Year," astronomically speaking, only occurs anywhere near midnight on 31 Dec one year out of four. Otherwise, it's nearer to 6 AM, Noon, or 6 PM in other years, and kind of sloppy at that.
Wiki on "common years" versus "leap years."
A leap year (also known as an intercalary year' or a bissextile year) is a year containing one additional day (or, in the case of lunisolar calendars, a month) added to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical or seasonal year.[1] Because seasons and astronomical events do not repeat in a whole number of days, calendars that have the same number of days in each year drift over time with respect to the event that the year is supposed to track. By inserting (also called intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. A year that is not a leap year is called a common year.
I gotta remember that terminology: "bissextile years." It's got to be good for an uncouth joke somewhere along the line.
Terry, DoC*, CI**, PhO***, 230RN****
* "Dasher of Customs"
** "Certified Iconoclast"
*** "Pharte of Old"
**** Screen name to throw off DHS trackers
