Blast from the past, upside down 'luck', and all that fart!

This picture which appeared in Saturday's ST (Feb 16) brought back memories of my own childhood letting off fire crackers during Chinese New Year:

I remember basically two types: the little ones (that came in assorted colours) which made weenie popping sounds, and the real ones, in just one colour (red, with each cracker roughly the dimension of two or three cigarette sticks merged together) that gave off a much louder "bang":

  
I also recall playing with the "double-bang" version, making a small cut in the cylinder (but I now can't remember what was its intended effect!) and quickly placing an empty Milkmaid brand condensed milk tin over a lit cracker to make the tin jump up!

But fire crackers were partially banned in 1970 and totally banned in 1972. I found some links that filled up the gaps in my memory:

http://www.chinainfoonline.com/Chinese_Arts_Crafts/Firecrackers.htm

http://blogtoexpress.blogspot.sg/2012/01/ways-done-in-past-firecrackers.html

http://wwwyeohongeng.blogspot.sg/2011/12/firing-of-crackers-in-singapore-and-why.html#!/2011/12/firing-of-crackers-in-singapore-and-why.html

--------------------------------------------------

Here's a "bad" Chinese New Year ad:

And here's a "good" (ie. auspicious) CNY ad:

Why? Because there is a Chinese belief that during CNY, the character "fu" ("hock" in Hokkien) meaning "luck" should be rendered upside down -- to retain, not dissipate, the Heaven-sent luck.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Finally, while on airplane, if you gotta make a different kind of noise --  "break wind" (ie, fart, a.k.a a blast from your you-know-where) -- don't hold back!

    http://news.insing.com/tabloid/flatulent-flyers-let-rip-suffer-pain/id-0d6d3f00

This story reminds me of an old, "Air India" joke. Sorry, not telling here.