h a l f b a k e r yExpensive, difficult, slightly dangerous, not particularly effective... I'm on a roll.
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more fulfilling firework displays involve two stage explosive fireworks.
say, 15 feet into the air the lower stage is ejected along with its payload of chocolates in shiny coloured foil & deposits them gently (they each come with little paper parachutes) to the “ahs!” and “ohs!” of the party folk
below.
the upper stage of the rocket shoots into the heavens as per normal with huge highly charged bangs and booms and great blinding globes of sparkling stars.
mmmmm <drool>
Air Cannon
http://www.aclassact.com/cannons.htm
All told, I think you'd be much better off using an air cannon to launch the chocolate, and leave the fireworks till later. [DrCurry, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]
water rockets
http://129.11.68.16/~knapp/rockets/
[2 fries shy of a happy meal, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]
Glow in the dark origami paper.
http://www.opane.com/orcranglow.html
Almost posted this [2 fries shy of a happy meal, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]
Cybercandy
http://www.cybercan...rod?ltrev=31&xlc=77
Reviews of Hershey's
If you want to buy a scorpion coated in white Belgian chocolate, look at the 'Extreme' section of this site. [hippo, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]
Chocolate
http://www.kidztown...savers_chutes.shtml
Watch the popular Hershey's candy characters parachute across your screen! [Worldgineer, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]
Candy Bottle Rockets
http://www.jamesyawn.com/micro/
Do not eat. [Worldgineer, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]
Hotel Chocolat
http://www.hotelchocolat.com/cx1/
Deliver chocolates to any worldwide door. Simply the best, IMHO [jonthegeologist, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]
Chocolate Society
http://www.chocolate.co.uk
[hippo, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]
Fireworks that drop parachutes
http://www.hamcofir...Screamin_Eagles.jpg
Childhood fun back when childhood was fun. [Bamboo, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]
Exploding Chocolate Bombs
http://www.cucinadi...o/Product_5992.html
Party table centrepiece that explodes showering the table in sweets! [prufrax, Nov 21 2004]
[link]
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the ultimate idea combining [po]'s favourite things... |
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<sensible head on> am a little worried that this might encourage children to return to fireworks to retrieve the chocolates. </sho> |
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my father let me play with live fireworks but most dads are more sensible. |
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[jtg] ...everything except cats. Strange. |
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have to keep the cats in on firework night, hippo! |
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... goes away to try and conceive a cat:chocolate:firework idea. |
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jon, behave! conceive your own babies! |
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"Hey, those fireworks didn't go off!"
"It's OK, those are duds - chocolate-covered Milk Duds." |
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Won't the little paper parachutes go on fire when you set off the fireworks? No worries; a 15 foot drop won't damage the chocolates much. Also good for even distribution of chocolate at childrens parties ( and, for that matter, growed-up parties ).........mmmmm..chocolate rain, falling slowly enough not to hurt............(+) |
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hmmm a pyro's pinyata sound like fun. probably not for the little kids though, but it might be safer then blindfolded kids flailing bats all over the place. |
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If the fireworks were to go higher, then the second stage would have longer to fall before having to deploy parachutes. |
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If the fireworks were big enough you could shower an entire crowd with bits of chocolate. The only problem is the possibility of showering the crowd with bits of flaming firework instead. Still, I doubt it happens that much, and a rain of flaming chocolate would be pretty funny. |
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I think "Rain of Flaming Chocolate" would be a good name for a rock and roll band. |
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This wouldn't work because fireworks should never be fired off over the crowd. I saw a woman taken to hospital with severe burns to her face from a flaming fragment that struck her. |
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the first stage is chocolates, the 2nd stage is well away from the crowd... |
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I'd like a Flaming Chocolate Cherry Bombe. |
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so would I! excuse my nibble. |
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I was going to say...for two. |
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// the first stage is chocolates, // |
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In order to have the first stage descend on the crowd, you have to shoot the fireworks over them. One dud or misfire would be very bad. |
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waugs. dear! the rocket has to ascend from the party at some point - you detonate it in connecticut and I will watch in London. lets be grown up about this... |
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po, perhaps you should do some reading about pyrotechnics safety before you ask me to be grown up about a idea for throwing chocolate from fireworks. |
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Overlooking the fire danger hazard for a moment - it's dark (or else you wouldn't be shooting off fireworks) and people are looking up.. so yeah, let's drop small things they can't see. Good plan. |
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and your suggestion for a safe solution is???? |
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not sure if there is a safe solution to a fireworks problem but after seeing a photograph of a dismembered leg on a photograph from Iraq I don't think I give a toss! this is the hb after all - get a life! |
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Explodes in your mouth, not in your hand...? |
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do you want a flake with that DrCurry? |
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po: If you've got an ice cream, yeah. They don't do 99's over here. Also, I share waugs' reservations about mixing fireworks and candy: you're much better off using streamer technology to launch the chocolate from an air cannon. But you do get my croissant for the chocolates descending on little parachutes. |
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As for fireworks being fired over a crowd, one of the reasons for new year / hogmanay celebrations being cancelled in Edinburgh this year was because the wind would have caused most of the fireworks to explode over the crowd. |
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Then again how generous is a large firework display going to be? Free chocolates as well? ... |
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Assuming this idea is intended for smaller fireworks parties I am all for it (with slight caution). I predict new Halloween games alone the lines of dunking for apples but catching chocolates in the mouth from the sky. I just hope I don’t get the one that ignited on it's decent and is now going to burn my mouth... |
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// and your suggestion for a safe solution is???? // |
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How 'bout if you had 2 different angles/mechanisms set to go off at the same time? So the chocolates blow out over the crowd out of a bazooka-like thing, while the explosives go off at a safe distance? |
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Pyrotechnics+Chocolate gets my vote.
The problems are flaming mayhem from the launch and raining melting chocolate that can't be seen at night so why not have a multi stage water rocket [link] which has smaller explosive packages that would only detonate as the stages separated at a safe altitude from the crowd. The problem of not being able to see the little chocolate parachutes could be solved by making the chutes from glow in the dark origami paper. [link] |
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How about an explosive Pinata? |
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Mechanical fireworks would be
appropriate for situations where you
want to detonate them over crowds. A
mini-trebuchet fires the parcel of
chocolates over the crowd; The jerk of
the parachute opening triggers a
spring-loaded mechanism which
distributes the chocolates over a wide
area. |
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I see two options to get this to work. The first is [lint]'s solution - very elegant, but will have to be carefully planned. Add glow-in the dark parachutes or change the parachutes to autogyros and have them generate enough electricity to light up LEDs on the tips of cardboard propellor blades. |
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The second option would be anti-fireworks. Use water rockets in the daytime and instead of exploding with sparks at the top use colored biodegradable inks. |
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Oh, and however you do it invite me. + |
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Some good solutions to the issues I mentioned. |
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But couldn't one just bring their own chocolate? It's not like it's hard to get or anything. I'm not sure why so many are drooling over the idea of chocolate from heaven. |
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I don't think it matters too much what you're showering on people. As long as it's pleasant, people like to be showered with things - balloons at parties, candy at parades or from pinatas, water at sea-based amusement parks, etc. |
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[po], perhaps popcorn might be a good option. It would be self-parachuting and would require less volume to lift up as long as you pop it on it's way up (using heat transfered from the rocket). |
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Overall, I'd say this is a bad idea...it would be so much easier to buy a bag of chocolate on your way to the fireworks display. You may disagree now, but you won't be when you're at the hospital having a Hershey's Kiss surgically removed from your eye.
It might be less fun, but if I'm not mistaken I'm not in kindergarten anymore.
But while we're on the subject, I'd say that they best way to have the chocolate disconnect from the rocket is to have it connected by a string, and have some kind of mechanism that breaks the string at a certain point in the ascent. |
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I don't know about cat: fireworks: chocolate, but air_cannon: long_string_of_wrapped_chocolates: helium_balloon is shaping up as a real crowd pleaser. |
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i don't quite understand [Pocketassreturn]. first they get quite sniffy about chocolate in the eye despite po having included parachutes in the idea, then they suggest another freefall chocolate method. somehow, i don't think things dropped from strings fall any slower than those dropped from a cardboard tube. |
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!Love it, love it !. You could use spring charged wings, similar to rogallo wings, that open on release, gliding to the ground. Makes smaller packing and will be harder to catch. I don't think that shooting fireworks over people is so dangerous, you should see Valencia's fireworks (Fallas). Hardly more tan five or ten casualties every year. Croissant. |
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The "chocolates" could be made of special temperature resistant candy, something like sugar mice, or perhaps a sweet that caramelises on the way up (as mentioned above). As to speed of descent, the sweets can be made in the form of sycamore seeds, whirring gently to the ground to be caught in the open mouth. Time of descent can be matched to specific heat capacity to ensure that the sweets are cool long before they reach the ground, much as would be done in a shot tower. If the firework itself is timed to explode as the sweets approach the crowd, then your visibility problem is also taken care of. |
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Course, wind direction could mean they end up drifting over the local pig farm. But on the whole, this gets my slowly descending croissant. |
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//I'm not sure why so many are drooling over the idea of chocolate from heaven.//
Oh dear, waugs! I think that that's the saddest thing I've ever read.
However, I am also against the idea. Not because of the danger to the crowd from the explosives, which is probably minimal (the parachutes are likely to drift crowd-wards without the need for firing rockets over peoples heads) but because a rain of free chocolate is likely to create a bit of a disturbance and you really don't want crowd trouble at a fireworks display. |
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I like the whole concept, but I don't think I'd want to eat chocolates which have been exploded,singed, floated through air pollution, grounded, stepped on... |
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//You may disagree now, but you won't be when you're at the hospital having a Hershey's Kiss surgically removed from your eye// |
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I've never considered Hershey's to be proper chocolate. I'm sure this is just my snobbish English attitude showing through, but every time I've been to the US I've realised again how much your chocolate sucks! |
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Hershey's is rather clay-like in texture, but I don't mind the taste. How does the snobby English chocolate differ? Bitterness, fat content, texture, richness of flavor, mouth feel? Never had any that I know of. |
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The Hershey's has a nasty texture and doesn't taste as creamy or chocolatey as UK chocolate - and I mean your common or garden bar of Dairy Milk or such like, rather than the expensive stuff. Perhaps more research is needed? |
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I enjoy fireworks and really enjoy chocolate, but combined like this--I'm not so sure. |
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[po] I suggest you do some focus group testing by taking a couple of bags of chocolates to the next available fireworks show, tossing them over the crowd and measuring their reaction. |
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I think we're justifiably too suspicious of taking candy from strangers to accept chocolates from an unknown source. I'd be more concerned about accepting chocolates decorated with gunpowder residue from their launch. <aside> Would you like those chocolates smoking or non-smoking? </aside> |
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"Perhaps more research is needed?" Sounds like my kind of project. |
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The reason Hershey's tastes different
from, say, Cadbury's (not that Cadbury's
is very good chocolate) is that Hershey's
is made with sour milk. It's just how
Americans are used to having their
chocolate taste. |
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If it proves to be too dangerous using a firework launch then launch them so that they rain down a few seconds after the firework goes bang. If the chocolates cannot be seen descending on their parachutes then they could be made to glow or be side-lit with blinkered spotlights. |
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Whatever problems stand in the way, it would be a shame to lose this lovely idea by not trying to overcome them. Thanks, po. + |
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15 feet?!? Not high enough for a dispersal, unless your
cheering children don't mind getting 3rd degree burns. |
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Also, as waugsqueke says, you can't shoot them over the
crowd, anyway. |
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Now, if it were to disperse the chocolates in the main
explosion... NOW you're talking. |
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You're joking, but may have stumbled onto something. There are little airplanes you can attach to model rockets. When the rocket reaches it's apex the plane detaches and flys around for several minutes before landing. If you can control the course and add a chocolate payload, you'd be able to fly a few dozen over the crowd. |
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// I think that that's the saddest thing I've ever read. // |
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Well we all have our priorities, good doctor. If you're going to drop something from fireworks, how about cash? |
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..and dogs to chase them. |
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(links) (and yes, the HB came up first in my search for _cat parachute_) |
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I am a pyrotechnc maniac, ok so
lighting illegal fire works isn't
exactly pyromaniac but I do love
me some fun such as hand held
botle rocket wars, so i think that
the chocalate rocket should be a
personally bought thing with those
willng to attempt the choclatey
wonderful goodness that might
misfire, or better yet make it a
stand rocket with a remote. So
you could build it and then enjoy a
choclatey treat! |
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This chocolate rocket...it would be launched from somewhere near Cocoa Beach? |
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Hershey's is a vastly inferior chocolate product. In fact, American chocolate is a poor, waxy substitute for the finer chocolates of Europe and/or South America. Sigh. And a flake can still make my day. Tasty little buggars. Only costs a dollar fifty at the import store. |
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You would be surprised at who would agree with that statement (at least one former CEO of Hershey's, for example, who prefers Cadbury's, which Hershey's makes under license in the States). But it's like Coke vs. Pepsi - most people prefer the chocolate of their childhood. |
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[DC] is right - it's all about your
childhood. I've found some support for
my assertion (see above) that the taste
of Hershey's comes from it's use of sour
milk from the excellent Cybercandy site
(see link). |
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I'm fairly certain Hershey's was my childhood chocolate. I am equally certain that it is inferior to other makes and models. |
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I'm currently accepting samples for taste testing... |
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(btw - sour milk isn't an unusual ingredient in cooking) |
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it's the memory that the food envokes which helps us define whether we like it or not. In which case, many Americans may prefer the taste of Hershey's, simply because (as DrC rightly points out), it reminds you of your childhood. |
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Likewise, many of us are probably not drinking a certain drink, or eating a certain foodstuff, simply because of a unpleasant memory associated with it. |
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For what it's worth, I'd take a UK chocolate over an American any day... but the best in the world must be Belgian. |
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However, for chocolate lovers everywhere (and this thread rather suggests there are a good few), [hazel] and I would recommend www.hotelchocolat.com, who will deliver the finest chocs to your door. See linky. |
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Also recommended is The Chocolate
Society who have a shop in central
London and also deliver |
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chocolate, fireworks & a family sized coke within an hour or £5 off your bill ? great stuff! |
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Is there any truth in the urban legend that there is enough energy in a mars bar to (in theory) allow it to propel it self out of the earths atmosphere? My guess is that it's weight would be reduced as it is burnt (by some arbitrary weightless, frictionless, 100% efficient chocolate burning rocket engine (with a caramel turbo charger). Any crude Newtonian estimates would be appreciated. |
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If it helps I am willing to spend the extra 10 mins frying to get this little guy intergalatic. |
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For the gentle readers, there could be people dressed in colorful costumes resembling exploding fireworks that simply hand out chocolate when the explosions begin. |
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Oh, I think that's probably a very sane and lovely idea, [simple]. In fact, if I had a fireworks costume I'd be wearing it right now... |
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kids would love this... sweeties dropping from the sky. \what else do kids like? hmmm... puppies!... bunny rabbits!... Brittany Spears! Great get them all strapped to rockets..now! |
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[Link] They basically already have these only they drop army men instead of chocolate. No one played with these things when they were kids? Changing it to chocolate is not a bad idea at all. + |
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Is everyone forgetting that people have legs? Back the kids away from the firing area, fire the works off at a medium heigth straight up in the air, and let the children run to the parachuting candy. (Won't work for city firework or other large scale displays because the watchers are nowhere near the launch area) |
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Note: Worked at an illegal fireworks warehouse for the 4th of July rush a couple years when I was a teenager. Aside from the pay, you got all the fireworks you could stuff in your car on July 5th. 75 shot Thunder Kings destroy the neighbors when lit off at 2:00am. |
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All who would disparage Hershey's chocolate, I can only say this: |
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There is a point where chocolate can become a little *too* chocolatey, creamy, sugary sweet, etc., and most of the chocolates you compare the Hershey's milk chocolate bars to are guilty of this, in my opinion. It takes merely one or two bites of that stuff to make me sick to my stomach, it's so sweet and creamy and chocolate- concentrated. On the other hand, Hershey's reaches a happy medium. But of course, it's always possible that the Hershey bars sold in *other* countries are not at all the same as Hershey bars in the United States. I'm told this is true of imported beers and cigarettes, so why not? |
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I don't think I'd trust any chocolate made in South America (shivers). I realize we owe them for cocoa in the first place, but that's about all I can say. |
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what size? Mick! too much chocolate? |
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Kids would be dissapointed in the ones
that explode on the ground. ++ |
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perhaps a mechanism that fires the first stage up in the air. |
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now multiple "warhead" chocolate distributing fireworks...could work give me an hour or two on the works CAD station. |
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"There is a point where chocolate can become a little *too* chocolatey..." |
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Why, no, there isn't. There just isn't. |
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k_sra: Hershey's aside, some of the best chocolate in the world is made in the US. Look it up, you might be surprised. |
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America seems intent on convincing the world it loves nasty food. I have eaten some lovely cheeses made here so why did they choose the worst plastic variety to name 'American Cheese'? |
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My dogs are scared of fireworks, but they like sausages. And cheese. Perhaps you could supply your fireworks with a variety of optional contents for scattering? In this way the chocaholics can fill them with chocolates but I could fill them with bits of sausage. And cheese. Then over a period of time my dogs would come to associate the firework display with the shower of (presumably warm) sausage. And cheese. Then they might become less frightened of fireworks. |
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they are very sensible to be scared of fireworks. keep all pets indoors out of harms way. |
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American cheese is not nasty. "American Cheese Product" and "American Cheese Food" and "American Cheese Spread" are not the same thing as "American Cheese." The others are made of oil and crap - - like margarine. Don't believe the hype, Sietch Naib. |
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Why do I always encounter that virulent yellow sealant shortly after hearing "American Cheese" then? The supermarket sells French cheese, British Cheese etc. and "Domestic Cheese". American cheese only seems to refer to some stuff that hardly resembles cheese, Chaumas indeed. Also, what's wrong with the cheddar? Some of it is cheddar but the most popular stuff is orange and almost as bad as the plastic shite. |
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Only forseeable problem is the possible combination of gunpowder with edible stuff. |
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Mmmmm.... Hot chocolate rain. + all over again. |
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just missed Guy Fawkes night - dammit. |
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Missed churning? Or missed the night altogether? It hope it wasn't the latter - Blackheath was lovely! |
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Oddly, no one seemed to come up with health and safety concerns over 'Psychoactive Fireworks', but these little beauties got all sorts of objections? Light the blue touchpaper and stand back open-mouthed, I say. [+] |
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the return of this missed Guy Fawkes night by 4 days - shame. |
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Sighted for sale online: Exploding Chocolate Bombs. See link. |
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WOW! Expensive, but worth every penny. |
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Doesn't that link make this banged? (Just kiddin popsy). |
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nah, its a bomb not a firework |
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I say make UAV bombers that open bomber bays and
drop out chocolates. |
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Wow, talk about a serious case of link rot... |
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Well if you heated the chocolate like an oil it may work with a pure liquid peroxide as in a kerosene rocket. But a perchlorate oxidizer should where where the reaction keeps the chocolate melted and burns with the oxidizer. |
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