My brother-in-law and his family will be in Mason City, Iowa, tonight for the grand finale of the Pyrotechnics Guild International convention. The highloud will be the setting off of the MegaString, 14 million firecrackers. Yes, this will be louder than the time a 15-year-old lit a firecracker in the basement, when the rest of the family was sitting directly above him in the kitchen. But the element of surprise will be missing.