cdc.gov |
Rambling observations on books, history, movies, transit, obsolete technology, baseball, and anything else that crosses my mind.
Wednesday, July 31, 2024
COVID-19, Vaccine, Masks, Church, Baseball and School -- July 31, 2024
Tuesday, July 30, 2024
Rube Goldberg -- The Nation is Ruled by Motorcycle Cops -- July 30, 2024
Buffalo News, 21-August-1924 |
Cartoonist, engineer and inventor of Goldbergian devices, Rube Goldberg, was a native of San Francisco. In this item, he expressed the anxiety many people felt about traffic cops. Some cities and towns figured out early on that they could supplement their budgets by liberally distributing tickets.
Monday, July 29, 2024
Interior of Vaucanson's Automatic Duck -- July 29, 2024
Sunday, July 28, 2024
Evansville Airship and Its Inventor -- July 28, 2024
Saint Paul Globe, 04-June-1899 |
EVANSVILLE, Ind., June 3. -- (Special.) --The Aerial Navigation company's airship was tested tonight, under the direction of Its inventor, Arcidas Farmer, and was entirely satisfactory. The manufacturer of the balloon did not arrive as was expected. Mr. Farmer was too impatient to wait longer and decided to make another test. About 3 o'clock this afternoon Mr. Farmer commenced getting things in order to inflate the balloon, and at 6 o'clock attempted to make the ascent himself, but discovered that the balloon would not raise his weight.
He then placed his son Dorris in the car in his place. The boy understands the working of the machinery perfectly and made the ascent to a height of about forty feet above the ground, but on account of a brisk wind which was blowing from the southeast it was found that the flying machine would not answer to the steering apparatus properly, and the test was postponed until this evening.
At half past 8 o'clock tonight the balloon was again Inflated, and Dorris Farmer again made the ascent, allowing the airship to rise to a height of sixty feet above the earth. There was but little wind to interfere with the test, and the lad had no difficulty in managing it as he desired.
He steered the machine in different directions, making several circuits above the base ball park, where the exhibition or test was made. There were fully 200 people present, including the stockholders in the company and a number of scientific men of considerable prominence in this section of the state. They watched the movements of the aerial vessel with great Interest as it moved about above their heads, under the control of the boy. If the balloon can be inflated sufficiently to raise the weight of the inventor, he will make another public test Sunday afternoon.
Saturday, July 27, 2024
Doctor McLaughlin's Electric Belt -- July 27, 2024
San Francisco Call, 22-September-1901 |
Friday, July 26, 2024
Paris 2024 Olympics -- July 26, 2024
paris2024.org |
Thursday, July 25, 2024
New Cat #121 -- July 25, 2024
Wednesday, July 24, 2024
Bob Newhart, Duke Fakir, John Mayall, Jerry Miller, Shelley Duvall and Martin Mull RIP -- July 24, 2024
listal.com |
listal.com |
listal.com |
Tuesday, July 23, 2024
Seven All-Steel Dixie Fliers Daily -- July 23, 2024
Monday, July 22, 2024
Coulter -- Tramp Steamers -- July 22, 2024
San Francisco Call, 22-September-1901 |
Among the fleet that made port yesterday were the Italian steamship F. S. Ciampa and the British steamship Cycle. Both were under charter to load wheat, but the Ciampa was twelve hours behind her canceling date, and now the charterer does not want to pay as high a rate. The matter will probably be amicably adjusted on Monday.
The Ciampa was 25 days coming from Talcahuano, while the Cycle was 24 days coming from Hiogo. The former is 4040 tons gross and 2634 tons net burden. She was built in Genoa, Italy, in 1899, by N. Odero & Co., and is 340 feet 5 inches long, 45 feet beam and 19 feet 8 inches deep. Captain Cafaiero, who commands her, has scores of friends in this port, as he traded here for years in the ship Francesco Ciampa.
The Cycle is 3411 tons gross and 2227 tons net burden. She was built in Sunderland, England, in 1900, by J. L. Thompson & Sons, Ltd., and is 331 feet 2 inches long, 49 feet beam and 24 feet 5 inches deep. Each steamship will take away about 5000 tons of grain.
Sunday, July 21, 2024
Joe Biden Steps Aside -- July 21, 2024
Albert Bierstadt -- Cathedral Rocks, Yosemite Valley, California -- July 21, 2024
Saturday, July 20, 2024
A Week of Camera Opportunities -- July 20, 2024
Pine Bluff Semi-Weekly Graphic, 01-July-1924 |
After posting Kodak ads for more than two years, I realized that I did not know much about Kodak's early competitors. I thought I would dig in and see what I could find.
New York Sun, 09-July-1899 |
Coconino Sun, 29-July-1899 |
New Haven Daily Morning Journal, 20-July-1899 |
Portland Maine Daily Press, 18-July-1899 |
Saint Paul Globe, 02-July-1899 |
Friday, July 19, 2024
Scholz, the "Quiet" Champion -- July 19, 2024
Birmingham Age-Herald, 20-July-1924 |
listal.com |
Thursday, July 18, 2024
If It Isn't an Eastman It Isn't a Kodak -- July 18, 2024
Wednesday, July 17, 2024
Time Magazine -- James Stillman Rockefeller -- July 17, 2024
Time, July 07, 1924 |
With the coming of the 2024 Summer Olympics, soon to be held in Paris, I thought I would mention the 1924 Summer Olympics, also held in Paris. James Stillman Rockefeller was a graduate of Yale who was the captain of a team of rowers, including his former classmate Benjamin Spock. They won a gold medal in rowing.
Tuesday, July 16, 2024
Monday, July 15, 2024
Red Hot Weather! -- July 15, 2024
Sunday, July 14, 2024
Bastille Day, 2024 -- July 14, 2024
San Francisco Call, 14-July-1897 |
Happy Bastille Day, everyone. In 1897, the Chutes, an amusement park, celebrated the holiday. "2 P.M. Literary Exercises. Mayor James D Phelan addressed the crowd. "Fireworks and Grand Ball at Night," all for 25 cents. Sounds like a good deal.
celebratebastilledaysf.org |
Saturday, July 13, 2024
Trump Shot -- July 13, 2024
cnn.com |
Wedding in Camrillo -- Part 2 -- July 13, 2024
Friday, July 12, 2024
Wedding in Camarillo -- July 12, 2024
gerryranch.com |
Thursday, July 11, 2024
Radiocast Stars Enliven B.L.A. Open Meeting -- July 11, 2024
Wednesday, July 10, 2024
New Orleans Joys -- July 10, 2024
Indianapolis Star, 24-July-1924 |
Gennett Records' offerings included "Perfect Rag" and "New Orleans (Blues) Joys," by Jelly Roll Morton. Morton was a great composer and pianist. His name may have been Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe or LaMenthe or something else. He told many wonderful stories about himself and some were probably true. He said that he invented jazz. He didn't, but he had a lot to do with its growth and increasing sophistication. He spent time in San Francisco, playing in the Barbary Coast, where he owned a club called the Jupiter. He said the cops drove him out of town. I would like to write a story about that.
Jelly " Roll" Morton New Orleans Joys
Tuesday, July 9, 2024
The Lynching Record For the First Six Months -- July 9, 2024
Salt Lake City Broad Ax, 12-July-1924 |
Chicago.
Dear Sir:--
The following statistics on lynching for the first six months of the year 1924 have been compiled by the Department of Records and Research of Tuskegee Institute.
Total number lynched, 5. Offenses charged: Rape, 3; Attempted rape, 1; Killing Officer of the law, 1.
Record by states: Florida, 2; Georgia, 2; South Carolina, 1.
Comparison of Records: First six months of 1924, 5; of 1923, 15; of 1922, 30; of 1921, 36.
It is gratifying to note that the record thus far for the year 1924 is the lowest for the first six months of any of the forty years during which the record has been kept. It is an encouraging sign of progress toward the elimination of this evil, which is condemned by public opinion. It is an indication of the growing sentiment against lawlessness in general, and in my judgment a result of the spread and influence of interracial co-operation. All of the persons lynched were Negroes.
Yours very truly,
R. R. Moton,
Principal.
Monday, July 8, 2024
Comic Book -- Two-Fisted Tales -- July 8, 2024
Sunday, July 7, 2024
Pulp -- Battle Birds -- July 7, 2024
Saturday, July 6, 2024
Bivens -- Wow -- July 6, 2024
Friday, July 5, 2024
Thursday, July 4, 2024
Happy Independence Day 2024-- July 4, 2024
Wednesday, July 3, 2024
Air Mail Victory -- July 3, 2024
Tuesday, July 2, 2024
Red Devils Return to Pacifica #18 -- July 2, 2024
Monday, July 1, 2024
July 2024 Version of the Cable Car Home Page -- July 1, 2024
It includes some new items:
- Picture of the Month: "Who Remembers?" asks "When you received a real thrill by riding alongside the gripman in one of the old cable cars?" "CTC" stands for Capital Traction Company, which consolidated the District's transit companies. (source: "Who remembers?" Washington Evening Star, 07-October-1927.)
- On the Cable Car Lines in the District of Columbia and Baltimore page: A ten-ear update about the Washington and Georgetown Railroad including contemporary newspaper items and images. The company was forced to use cable traction at a time when companies in other cities were switching from horse or cable to electric traction.
- On the UK page: Added Cliff Railway Day banners for the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway (2019 and 2022) and the Babbacombe Cliff Railway (2020, 2022 and 2024).
- Added News item about SFMTA Christmas sweaters.
Ten years ago this month (July, 2014):
- Picture of the Month: Cable Train on Pennsylvania Avenue, passing the White House (source: "The Washington & Georgetown Railroad Co.'s System Completed", Street Railway Journal, September, 1892.)
- On the Cable Car Lines in the District of Columbia and Baltimore page: The Washington and Georgetown Railroad
- On the Who page: Added a profile from the Street Railway Journal about Clift Wise, who helped build many of the lines of the Kansas City Cable Railway. Be sure to check his moustache.
- Also on the Who page: Added an ad for Edmund Saxton, a contractor built the tracks and conduits for many lines in Kansas City, Washington DC, Baltimore and Tacoma also a profile of cable railway engineer Daniel Bontecou
- On the Horse Car Home Page: Thanks to Yosef Sa'ar, more Horse Car Transit Tokens
- On the UK page: A contemporary photo of a former depot (car barn) for London's Brixton Cable Tramway
- Added News item about a Muni sickout that shut down the cable cars
Twenty years ago this month (July, 2004):
- Picture of the Month: A New York Metropolitan Street Railway cable car
- Added some new items on the New York/New Jersey page. Cable Car Run Amuck is an 1893 newspaper article about a runaway cable car on Broadway. Also an article about the Park Hill Incline, a funicular in Yonkers.
- Migrated some more items from the Cable Car Museum site:
- The Cable Car Lady & the Mayor by Walter Rice and Val Lupiz on the San Francisco page, an article about the epic battle between Mrs Friedel Klussmann and Mayor Roger Lapham.
- The Great Orme Tramway: The Cable Car of Wales, another article by Walter Rice, about the only street-running funicular in the United Kingdom.
- Thanks to Walter Rice and Val Lupiz for allowing me to be the new host of this material
In January 2024 I started on a long overdue process of cleaning things up on my site. I started with the development pages. Actually, I guess I started last year with making the thumbnails 200 pixels instead of 100.
Coming in July, 2024: On the Cable Car Lines in the District of Columbia and Baltimore page: A ten year update about the Columbia Railway.
125 Years Ago This Month (July, 1899):
Jul 15 - Peoples' Cable Railway Tenth Street line (Kansas City, Missouri) closed.
Jul 16 - The Brooklyn Elevated Railway (New York, New York) stopped running its trains across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan, using the New York & Brooklyn Bridge's cable line, except during busy summer periods.50 Years Ago This Month (July, 1974):
Jul 15 - San Francisco Giant Willie McCovey hit his four hundredth home run and Juan Marichal shut out the Pittsburgh Pirates 12-0.The Cable Car Home Page now has a Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/CableCarHomePage/The Cable Car Home Page also has an Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/cable_car_guy/
Joe Thompson
The Cable Car Home Page (updated 01-July-2024)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/
San Francisco Bay Ferryboats (updated 31-March-2024)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/ferry/
Park Trains and Tourist Trains (updated 29-February-2024)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/ptrain/
The Pneumatic Rolling-Sphere Carrier Delusion (updated spasmodically)
http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com
The Big V Riot Squad (updated obsessively)
http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/