CBS Airs Fake Views of Boston Fireworks

Spy cam gives rocket-eye view in this viral video

(NEWSER) - Ever wondered what July 4 looks like from a firework's perspective? Well wonder no longer. Just watch this clip from 19-year-old videographer Jeremiah Warren, who strapped a tiny spy camera onto a series of fireworks. The little 808 #11 camera miraculously survived multiple flights, and provided some pretty high-quality video—though it might make you a bit dizzy. More»

Tourism crisis, danger of fire dampen celebrations

(NEWSER) - Fourth of July celebrations will be scaled down in many Gulf Coast towns, where the BP oil spill and cleanup effort are taking a big bite out of holiday fun. Cash-strapped governments dealing with the tourism bust have canceled fireworks displays, and some have moved their pyrotechnics inland because of fears the oily water could catch fire, reports the Miami Herald . Meanwhile, some fireworks barges are busy with the cleanup. More»

(NEWSER) - Talk show legend Dick Cavett didn’t just like fireworks as a kid. “I loved them,” he writes in the New York Times. Not the pro displays, and definitely not “the despised ‘safe & sane’ fountains, sprinklers and snakes” that “girls and sissies liked.” No, he liked “the big stuff. The heavy ordnance." Think cherry bombs. And when he was a Nebraska kid in the '40s, you could buy as much as you pleased. More»

(NEWSER) - Looking forward to the Fourth of July fireworks? You’re probably a moron, writes Troy Patterson of Slate. Look, it’s fine if you want to use a Roman candle at the family cookout: “Doing dangerous stuff in your cousin’s backyard is an important element of American culture.” But pro fireworks are “an exercise in pomposity, aggression triumphalism and hubris,” Patterson writes. They're “meaningless nonsense.” More»

(NEWSER) - Some 50 US cities are so strapped for money that they're ditching their July 4th fireworks displays, reports the Los Angeles Times. "It came down to this: Did we want to spend $150,000 on something that would be over in a few hours?" asked the mayor of a small Ohio town. "Or did we want to use that money to keep city workers employed?" The move is hitting many residents hard. More»