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Friday, December 31, 2010
More Trackside Views
Here's a Central Railroad of New Jersey camelback loco with a passenger train blowing through Plainfield, NJ. This card is postmarked 1914. I did some research and can't find any documentation on the CNJ handling a train named 'Chicago Limited', especially since the CNJ never serviced Chicago. The Pennsylvania Railroad, however, did and this train may have been picked up at the CNJ terminus in Scranton, PA to be taken into the CNJ terminal in Jersey City, NJ.
This circa 1920 postcard is part of a small series that gives us an insight into the Michigan Central's Detroit River railroad tunnel connecting Canada and the US. Unlike the St. Clair tunnel box cab motors that used overhead catenary, this tunnel operated steeple cab electric motors using a 3rd rail power supply. This can be seen just off to the outside of each track in this card below.
For more information on the Detroit River Tunnel, click here:
Trackside can also be streetside, too. Coffeyville, Kansas was a traction hub in 1908 as can be seen in this card. Note the good looking building with awnings in the back, and the stone block street.
This great linen card is a perfect example of a railroad-issued advertising postcard.
For more information on The Crusader, click here:
http://members.tripod.com/njrails/20th_Century/Reading/Crusader/Crusader.htm
This is very likely the Boston & Maine's bridge over the Connecticut River.
This is very likely the Boston & Maine's bridge over the Connecticut River.
This card is of the NYNH&H East Side Railroad Tunnel in Providence, RI. Originally constructed to serve Bristol RI and Fall River MA with electric passenger equipment, it opened in 1908 and this card was published a few years later. The tunnel is over 5000 feet long, saw active service until 1981, and was sealed off in 1993.
More New England Depots
This is a postcard view of the station in Plainfield, CT circa 1907. Plainfield was serviced by two branches of the NYNH&H RR, one branch going E/W from Hartford, CT to Providence, RI and the N/S branch running between Groton, CT and Worcester, MA. Here we can see where the two lines crossed and the station that served them both. Note the signals. Today the line area is serviced by the freight-only Providence & Worcester RR.
It's train time circa 1910 in Onset, MA located near Buzzards Bay and the start of Cape Cod. Originally served by the famous Old Colony Railroad, the tracks were leased in the late 19th Century by the NYNH&H RR. In this view we see a New Haven RR passenger run pulling into the station with an open trolley waiting close by at the platform.
For more information on the Old Colony Railroad, click here:
This is a circa 1910 card showing the neat station in Northfield, MA serviced once, I believe, by the Boston & Maine RR. Note the pilot on the loco.
Camelback Oasis
This is a circa 1909 postcard showing the interior of the Erie RR shops in Susquehanna, PA with some camelbacks and other locos in for work. This is the only postcard in my collection showing camelbacks in a shop.
For more information on the history of the town 'Susquehanna Depot' and the role that the Erie Railroad played in the area, click here:
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Out on the Colorado Narrow Gauge
This is a youtube.com video put together with postcards from my collection and set to the theme music from the famous cowboy movie 'The Magnificent Seven'. Check it out!
Prank call gone HORRIBLY wrong -- adultery!
Even though cheating sucks in real life, it's sometimes fun to laugh at other people's pain. So, here is a prank phone call that goes horribly wrong when a young wife calls her husband to prank him on a radio show to prank him for Kanye West tickets by telling him that her son isn't his. You'll just have to listen to find out how this one ends.
Bicycle Joke: More Mexican or More Jewish
The sister responds, "I don't know. Ask Mom."
Next, the little boy asks his mom," Am I more Mexican or more Jewish?"
The mother replies, "I'm not sure. Ask Dad."
Finally, the little boy poses the question to his father, "Am I more Mexican or more Jewish?"
The dad says, "I'm not sure son. Why do you ask?"
The little boy shot back, "Well, a friend of mine has a bike that I want. I want to know if I am more Mexican or more Jewish so that I know whether to steal the bike or to Jew him down to five dollars and buy it."
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| Cute Jewish Girl |
Rocky Mountain Buddhist Hermit.
Growing up at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, (Colorado) spending decades climbing their heights and summer's backpacking into remote, mountain lakes for a week's stay, has been monumental in helping my Dharma practice. It is also why I am so attracted to the way of the Buddhist hermit who's monastery is the mountain-tops (or forests) and his sangha the wildlife. Nature teaches you patience, paying attention, doing more with less, appreciating what you have and expecting the unexpected. In short -- it teaches you how to live in the present moment.
In the high mountains, (10,000 ft above sea level and higher) circumstances can change faster than a blink of an eye. The altitude changes everything to where you have to be alert at all times to survive. It can be warm, short's weather down in town during the month of August when we go backpacking; yet you still have to pack winter gear. You can be hiking in shorts and sunshine one minute and the next minute find yourself in a driving snowstorm. I have spent more than one August, summer's day held up inside a tent at 11,000 ft. above sea level, gazing out of the tent at a snow storm settling in around the camp site.
When backpacking you take a fold-out backpacking stove (seen above, with fuel canister) to cook freeze-dried food, which isn't gourmet but when eaten after hiking up an 11,000 foot mountain, it tastes better than what any five-star chef in Paris could whip up. That's because you appreciate it more after having busted your ass-off and spent all your energy on putting one foot in front of another, slowly, up and up the mountain. It is the best food you've had all year because it is literally the only food you have. You take care not to let one drop hit the ground because each bite is precious for needed calories. Yet, how much food do we waste at home? Each bite of food is savored mindfully like it was the first meal to cross your lips in ages--even the bowls and kettle are licked clean of sustenance. It teaches you to focus on simply eating and enjoying it.Everything in the mountains must be done with great care and attention to detail, which, again is why it's a great place to practice and live the Dharma. For example, getting a drink of water entails an entire process of purification pumps and water storage bottle balancing. It's not like flipping on the tap at home; but that water is the best water you'll ever taste because of the attention you put into gathering it. And, you see it as a lot more precious than the water you pour out of the tap at home. You find yourself rationing it out throughout the day because if you guzzle it all at lunch, then you have to hike back up to the glacier to pump some more because you don't ever want to be caught out in the wild without water.
Then there is shelter, which takes on a whole other importance when backpacking. Carrying everything you need for a week on your back means you're near-homeless and that makes you cherish your flimsy tent as though it were a palace. It makes you thankful for a warm place to sleep with some cover over-head. And you begin to realize that you don't need a big house let alone a mansion. I guess I relate so much to these hermit monks because I have lived the last two decades preparing for just such a life. One day perhaps, when, (and if) I feel the time is right, I will disappear into the mountains and build my small hut to spend the rest of my days meditating in. Not out of searching for the, "enlightenment treasure chest" but out of letting go of it.
Not to become some fabled "mountain-top guru." In fact, if you try, and come looking for me to be my student, I will shoo you away because there are much better qualified teachers than this crazy-eyed Buddhist. It's about being an anonymous being living out the rest of his days in the natural world--our true home. A home that humans have nearly abandoned for the accouterments and attachments of city life. We need to reclaim that home. I don't think everyone can or should become a mountain hermit but for me, it's in my karma. I have known from a young age that my life would find me living a life of solitude in the mountains at some point.
I will no longer feel attached to the desires of city life; and the choice will be made for me. I'll leave that city life chaos to more capable hands. At that stage of spiritual life, the best place for me would be in nature, where life exists at it's most basic foundation. A good place to leave this world from when the moment arrives.
~Peace to all beings~
John-Boy's Labor blog
During the last week or so as you can see (right screenprint) most of the hits have been coming from America. 1,966 compared with 868 from the UK. I can't think of any obvious reason for this. In fact most of my recent hits seem to be about the UNISON Labour Link Link Forum 2009 (see below screen print). Which was very good event but I thought it's appeal to most American's would be somewhat limited.
We had a very good delegation meal in a Turkish restaurant; I spoke in a Forum debate on defending Public Sector pensions; Ed Miliband spoke well, so did our General Secretary Dave Prentis and Harriot Harman MP gave a good speech...but?
Any of my cousins from across the pond care to enlighten me on the reasons for the apparent interest? Or is there any other reason?
I'm curious about the 141 Slovenia hits as well.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
The First Ammendment
There is a report here in The New York Times about a federal court decision regarding the public's right not to be grossed out.
UTES ARE MOVIN' ON UP!!! -- Song & Music
Being a Utah Utes fan, I thought that I would post this video (Jeffersons style) as a way to say goodbye to BYU and all of the unpleasant things that come with that school. BYU -- enjoy your time as an "independent" :) I'm sure that my Utes will enjoy their time in the Pac 12 :P
What is an alternative to Refollow.com?
Image via Wikipedia1. Tweepi.com: This site allows users to follow other Twitter accounts in a highly accessible and user friendly format. This is the tool to take over the following part of Refollow.com
2. Justunfollow.com: This site allows users to unfollow Twitter accounts that don't follow them back. This site takes over the unfollowing part of Refollow.com.
I hope that this helps :)
Two Absolutely Essential Tools to Mass Follow in Twitter
Image via CrunchBase1. tweepi.com: This is one of the last of the refollow.com type websites where a user can log on and generate a quick and extensive list of users to follow en masse. The interface is clean and simple enough to make mass following and unfollowing; although, the website owners are currently updating to a beta version to make the user interface even more appealing. The website also offers mass unfollowing capabilities, but I really prefer the second website for this purpose.
2. justunfollow.com: This website is like a godsend for anyone looking to mass unfollow Twitter accounts (or even just to clean up the deadbeats on a regular account who won't follow back). The load times for loading even as many as 15,000 followers, the number on my @FutureTwitBlog account, are only a few seconds with a high speed internet account. Better yet, the site will rank the nonfollowers in terms of the accounts who have gone the longest without following back -- a great tool for making sure that you don't accidentally unfollow recently followed Twitter acounts by mistake -- before they have an adequate chance to follow back.
Using these two tools should make mass following and unfollowing on Twitter easier than ever. I personally have been able to add thousands of new users to my Twitter account @FutureTwitBlog by using these tools by doing using these websites in my spare time. Good luck in your mass following endeavors on Twitter.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
A Short Statement of Support For Taiwan
I produced this video to show my support for Taiwan. I hope others can make their own using the same text and post to their blogs / Facebook etc, in English, Mandarin, Hoklo, Hakka and Austronesian languages.
Text Here:
My name is ______________ and I love this country, Taiwan. I recognise that Taiwan is a sovereign and independent democratic country. I do not recognise the existence of the 1992 Consensus and I do not accept any interpretation of the 'One China Principle' that includes Taiwan. I will not be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Republic of China. I support any party that wishes Taiwanese to solely determine their own future free of any form of coercion.
Text Here:
My name is ______________ and I love this country, Taiwan. I recognise that Taiwan is a sovereign and independent democratic country. I do not recognise the existence of the 1992 Consensus and I do not accept any interpretation of the 'One China Principle' that includes Taiwan. I will not be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Republic of China. I support any party that wishes Taiwanese to solely determine their own future free of any form of coercion.
我的名字是 ______________，我愛這個國家，台灣。我承認台灣是一個主權獨立的民主國家。我不承認九二共識的存在，我不接受任何包含台灣在內的'一個中國原則'解釋。我不會慶祝中華民國的第一百週年。我支持任何政黨--其同意台灣人民在不受任何形式的脅迫下獨立決定自己的未來。
Quote of the Week: Impractical
“The DPP can oppose the ‘1992 consensus,’ but it cannot deny its existence because it is impractical and removed from the facts”
President Ma Ying-jeou, December 28th 2010What appears to be 'removed from the facts' is Ma's entire China policy, based as it is on the strict constitutional interpretation that the territory of PRC remains under the authority of the ROC.
What is disturbing is not only Ma's attempt to hoodwink the Taiwanese into believing something untrue to actually be true but more so his invocation of practicality when dealing with the PRC.
If it is 'impractical' to deny the existence of a fictional consensus that, backtracking from the obviously unsubstantiable claim the the US acknowledged it, only the CCP and KMT share, will it later also be impractical for Taiwanese to demand to maintain their political sovereignty and independence?
The logic is thus: China wishes to annex Taiwan into itself. China is willing to use massive overwhelming force to ensure that this eventually happens if Taiwanese themselves refuse to take this step. In the context of this threat, it will become 'impractical' that Taiwan continues to 'isolate' itself and put itself in danger by refusing to voluntarily annex itself into the PRC as an SAR or whatever.
In short, Ma and his KMT (ROC) will eventually have to argue that it is impractical for Taiwanese to continue to believe that they can solely determine their own future and/or sovereignty. In a way, Ma has already conceded this point by arguing that both sides of the strait should determine the direction of Taiwan's political development thus negating the sovereign right of Taiwanese to solely choose their own path / political system.
Ma and the KMT are deliberately and inexorably boxing Taiwan into a corner, where the Taiwanese will be handed a fait accompli before the next Presidential election and told that any option other than voting for Ma again and his drive towards annexing Taiwan into the PRC is impractical, infeasible, a return to the 'bad old days' (read 2000 to 2008), the destruction of Taiwan's (entirely China-dependent) economy and a provocation that will lead to war.
Ma is serving Taiwanese notice of his complicity with Beijing to blackmail the citizens of this country, writ large. That his entire China policy is a farce and a chimera built upon a lie (and partly facilitated by the very country that is threatening to attack Taiwan) needs to be exposed as often as possible in the run up to the next election, lest Taiwanese be beguiled into voting again for this sycophantic, dishonest, stuck-in-the-past and utterly anti-democratic KMT administration. Ma talks about moving forward whilst actually going full speed in reverse. Taiwanese would be best served by taking everything he says, understanding the reverse to be true and voting this charlatan out of office.
Five Pictures of Sexy Girls in a Halter Top
Are you looking for some sexy pics of a girl in a halter top to steal for your website or for your own amusement? Well, you've come to the right place then! In this post, you'll find lots of pics of sexy girls in halter tops, all gleaned from a really lazy image search in Google. I hope that you enjoy your halter top pics as much as the rest of the guys who will visit my site en masse do. So, get ready for pictures of cute, sweet, nice girls in cutoffs and halter tops. Don't think that I can say halter top again? You're right.
1. Cute girl in a black halter top:
She's cute, she's in leather, she's in a halter top, and she's waiting for you . . . and by waiting, I mean that she doesn't know you exist.
2. Black haired girl in button halter top:
Look, her button is about to pop off. Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it . . . you just missed it. (Secret: if you stare at her pic for an hour straight, her button might pop off).
3. Young lady in a white halter with a spaghetti strap:
Here is a test to see if you're straight or gay. Cover up the pic above and then tell me what the pattern on the fabric covering her left breast is. If you know the answer, you're probably gay.
4. Motor cycle chick in a black cutoff:
Would you like to get on the back of a motorcycle with her? Well, if you did, she'd make you a punk for her boyfriend. So, you'd better not.
5. Lady in swim suit halter and straw hat:
What the hell else am I supposed to say? It's a girl in a halter top. Look at her, don't, whatever. I don't care.
1. Cute girl in a black halter top:
She's cute, she's in leather, she's in a halter top, and she's waiting for you . . . and by waiting, I mean that she doesn't know you exist.
2. Black haired girl in button halter top:
Look, her button is about to pop off. Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it . . . you just missed it. (Secret: if you stare at her pic for an hour straight, her button might pop off).
3. Young lady in a white halter with a spaghetti strap:
Here is a test to see if you're straight or gay. Cover up the pic above and then tell me what the pattern on the fabric covering her left breast is. If you know the answer, you're probably gay.
4. Motor cycle chick in a black cutoff:
Would you like to get on the back of a motorcycle with her? Well, if you did, she'd make you a punk for her boyfriend. So, you'd better not.
5. Lady in swim suit halter and straw hat:
What the hell else am I supposed to say? It's a girl in a halter top. Look at her, don't, whatever. I don't care.
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