Dorothy Blades, a member of a rare all-female team of chunkers called the Dragon Ladies, (whose cannon, hard hats and gloves were all a tastefully matching shade of pink), thinks men crave the sense of power that only blasting a pumpkin into orbit in front of a large crowd can provide.

ECONOMIST: Pumpkin-shooting: The meaning of America | The

It could also mean clearing of forest and blasting of mountainsides to rig high tension power lines in once-picturesque environments.

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