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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Tokyo welcomes a futuristic new art museum
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World Philosophy Day
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Mount Rainier National Park
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The Crown Jewel of the North Atlantic
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World Meteorological Day
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Sunlight sets Iceland s Eyjafjallajökull aglow
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Sequoia National Parks 134th anniversary
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Rumelihisarı in Istanbul, Türkiye
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Mute swans
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Skagit Valley Tulip Festival
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It’s Penguin Awareness Day
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Wychwood Forest, Oxfordshire, England
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Ayutthaya Historical Park, Thailand
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Galeries Lafayette, Paris
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Dusky eagle-owls, Pakistan
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Atlanta Botanical Garden
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Who left the tub running?
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Wanderin Wawayanda
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In the Supertree Grove
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Put your helmet on, we’re going for a hike
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Mercury in retrograde
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Northern gannets, Shetland Islands, Scotland
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A history of Vinland
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Blue linckia sea stars in Papua New Guinea
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Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka
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The long and wiggling path
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Taking the forest to the cloud
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Summer solstice
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This reef is nowhere near the sea…
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Yi Peng lantern festival, Chiang Mai, Thailand