Everybody Needs Some

David Lindley (w/ El Rayo X)

How Little Things Really Change

Memories from my youth

1000 Words. x2

Training For Fall

Sorry, the pun opportunities are too great to pass up ALL of them...

Mr Dan indulged me and my love of all things old by joining me on a trip to The Illinois Railway Museum, our country's largest rail travel museum.

IRM describes itself:

The Illinois Railway Museum is a Museum in Motion. Watch now, as a little red streetcar clangs across Depot Street on the car line, or as the thundering steam train whistles past on the mainline, or perhaps as the gleaming streamliner simply whispers by. These artifacts don't just sit there, they move!

The Museum's operating demonstration railroad consists of two distinct divisions: the 5-mile long mainline, and the mile-long streetcar loop. Generally, steam, diesel and heavy electric trains run on the mainline, while streetcars run on the streetcar line. Interurban and elevated trains may operate on either division. The streetcar curves are too sharp for conventional railroad equipment, and the streetcars are too slow for mainline service. The hybrid interurbans and "L" cars can operate in either environment.

The mainline is equipped with trolley wire so that electric cars can obtain the 600 volt DC power needed for their propulsion. Steam and diesel locomotives, of course, carry their fuel with them, but an electric car must depend on the overhead trolley wire for power.

It was all very cool.

The main passenger boarding and alighting area is built around an 1851 depot (from Marengo, Illinois), the oldest continuously operating passenger station west of Pittsburgh.

Here we see the depot and the Museum's Zephyr during filming of 'A League of Our Own'

One of yesterday's operating trains (2-3 trains from the collection run on any weekend day) was the 160. An electric 'Inter-Urban' car, the 160 ran between Chicago and Milwaukee from 1915 until the 1960's. We tour the countryside with it now.

And we're back.

Dining and drinking on the road

A Private Car

1915 El Station from Cicero IL. Fair to assume at some time in their life that some of Capone's men got stuck here.

Chicago El Signs

The Nebraska Zephyr. Chicago's Museum of Science & Industry has a restored Zephyr (4 cars) which they proudly exhibit. This one also is restored has all of its cars, and actually operates. It was seen in 'A League Of Their Own' (see Depot pic above)

The South Shore Line

Still lot's of work to do.

Where's NewsMax When You Need Then?

Barack Obama is a ROBOT!!!!!!!!!!

130 pictures, 1 smile

Barack Obama's amazingly consistent smile from Eric Spiegelman on Vimeo.

Dancing Close To The Edge

I'm thinking it would be hard for conservatives misunderstand this as supportive

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Blackwashing
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The Goal Is In Sight

Gay kids having real adolescences with real dating, real teenage heartbreak, real preparation for adulthood.

This is what it's all about.

Magazine Preview
Coming Out in Middle School

“When I first realized I was gay,” Austin interjected, “I just assumed I would hide it and be miserable for the rest of my life. But then I said, ‘O.K., wait, I don’t want to hide this and be miserable my whole life.’ ”

I asked him how old he was when he made that decision.

“Eleven,” he said.

Later in the article, the author listens to a gay 14-year-old argue with his mother about whether to "let his latest crush spend time in his room" alone:

As I listened to them bicker, I couldn’t help remembering what Ritch Savin-Williams, the professor of developmental psychology at Cornell, told me the first time we spoke: “This is the first generation of gay kids who have the great joy of being able to argue with their parents about dating, just like their straight peers do.”

No more need for "A Separate Peace"

It's About Time

KISS may finally win over the snobs:

Red Hot Chili Peppers, LL Cool J, Kiss Lead 2010 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees

The ballot for next year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class is one of the most diverse ever: the Red Hot Chili Peppers, LL Cool J, Kiss and Genesis are up for nomination alongside the Stooges, Donna Summer, ABBA, Darlene Love, Laura Nyro, the Chantels, the Hollies and Jimmy Cliff. Artists are eligible for induction 25 years after their debut release, so all the candidates released their first single no later than 1984. LL Cool J and the Red Hot Chili Peppers both made the ballot on their first year of eligibility.

In 2006 we observed:

... I slipped my copy of Kiss' Greatest hits into the Car CD player. The usual thing happened: I listened to "Strutter" twice, made it through 45 seconds of "Shout It Out Loud" and then turned on [talk radio].

But ... They need to be in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

Every metal head guitar player that started a band between 1973 and 1990 points to this band as the source of their passion. Has any other band more influenced the look of Rock shows, particularly Metal Shows?

Greatetestestest Web Site Evah, Sept 09 Edition

How did I miss "Fuck You, Penguin -A blog where I tell cute animals what's what."?

A sample:

You want a piece of me, Hyrax? I will fucking destroy you. Oh, your closest living relative is the elephant? An animal that is afraid of a mouse? Well guess what, pussy, I share a bunch of DNA with the chimpanzee. They don't even get mad, they store that shit in their heads and make a plan, Hyrax. And then they fucking play for keeps. Just like me, Hyrax. Just like me.

So you think I'm afraid of your vampire teeth and poorly developed internal temperature regulation? No fucking way, Hyrax. So get a couple of your buddies, a makeshift knife, and some pillowcases and meet me in fifteen minutes. Because it's fucking on, Hyrax. Oghadisthatababyonyou? And another one? How come they look so creepy and yet so disgustingly cute? WHAT DO THEY KNOW THAT I DON'T KNOW. Oh, no. THEY ARE MULTIPLYING.

You win this round, Hyrax. You can have my apple. Just don't let them bring western civilization to its knees.

Methinks The Lady Doth Protest Too Much

How Soon They Grow Up

Ran across these photos from July of '07. When did she get so big?

Literacy Begins At Home