The citizens of Morton, Minnesota, are probably doing a repeat performance of this pyrotechnic display today as they join the rest of the US in a celebration of Independence Day. If you want to blow the minds of your family and friends at the barbecue, steer the conversation toward fireworks and casually drop this truth bomb: Gunpowder, the fuel that makes the fireworks explode, was invented in ancient China by Taoist alchemists who hoped to create an immortality elixir. That’s some dramatic irony, at least in hindsight. Be safe!
Let’s celebrate
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
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Here’s looking at you, teachers
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Blink and you ll miss it
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Lanterns alight in Pingxi
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Next stop, Tofino
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Fall for Chile
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The Cutty Sark turns 150
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A castle fit for a count
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Spring awakens
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Happy trees = Clean air
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Preveli Gorge
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Invisible no longer
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A cliffside harbor in Sardinia
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Earth at Perihelion
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Tesla, the visionary
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Children at play for International Day of Friendship
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Beethoven s 250th
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Sitka shines on Alaska Day
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Happy Mother’s Day
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Satellite image of sand and seaweed in the Bahamas
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Misool Island, Indonesia
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Digging the birds
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Winter solstice
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Stompin’ with the Big Chief
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Icelandic horses, Iceland
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A grand event
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World Laughter Day
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Night of the ‘Cold Moon’
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Land of the midnight sun
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Illuminated Uluru
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Landscape Architecture Month