Praefectus Praetorio
R.I.P. Brother of the Quill
In this case corruption, "lubricated the wheels of progress" and helped give us Stanford University.
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Milestones
- Thread starter admihoek
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Frank Petrexa
Tribune
For anyone who is interested, a book on the Central Pacific--the Chinese-built portion of the transcontinental railroad starting at Sacramento and meeting the Union Pacific in the Utah desert--was reviewed today in the Wall Street Journal. For copyright reasons I won't post it, but the review is very positive, and lauds the guy who wrote it for digging up lots of facts despite a lack of sources. It is "academic" (doesn't read like a novel). The Ghosts of Gold Mountain, by Gordon H. Chang (he teaches at Stanford). Of course I will buy it, and might even read it. The review itself contains a lot of detail.
Praefectus Praetorio
R.I.P. Brother of the Quill
Thank you. A number of years back I read Stephen Ambrose, Nothing Like It in the World. Detailed, 450 plus pages, it is good popular history of a nation changing project.
Easily argue it had more impact on America than the Moon Landing. I come from a (sorta) railroad family and ague that few of the youngsters today (those under 50) have any appreciation of the role railroads in history. I fall back on "the best damn train song every written," (said by John Prine and Kris Kristoferson) "The City of New Orleans" by Steven Goodman
Illinois Central Monday morning rail
There are fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders
Three conductors and twenty-five sacks of mail
There all out on this southbound odyssey
And the train pulls out of Kankakee
Rolls past the houses, farms and fields
Passin' towns that have no names
And freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of rusted automobiles
Singin' "good morning America, how are ya?"
Saying "don't ya know me? I'm your native son"
Yes, I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans
And I'll be gone 500 miles when day is done
And I was dealing cards with the old men in the club car
And it's penny a point, there ain't no one keeping score
Won't ya past that paper bag that holds that bottle
You can feel the wheels grumbling through the floor
And the sons of Pullman porters; the sons of engineers
They ride their father's magic carpet made of steel
And mothers with the babes asleep
Go rockin' to the gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they dream
Just a-singin' "good morning America, how are ya?"
Sayin' "don't ya know me? I'm your native son"
And I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans
I'll be gone 500 miles when day is done
Nighttime on the City of New Orleans
Changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee
It's halfway home and we'll be there by morning
Through the Mississippi darkness rolling to the sea
And all the towns and people
They seem to fade into a bad dream
The old steel rails, it ain't heard the news
The conductor sings that song again
Its passengers will please refrain
This train's got the disappearing railroad blues
Just a-singin' "good night America, how are ya?"
Sayin' "don't ya know me? I'm your native son"
And I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans
I'll be gone 500 miles when the day is done
Just a-singin' "good night America, how are ya?"
Sayin' "don't ya know me? I'm your native son"
And I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans
And I'll be gone a long, long time when the day is done
Indeed those trains were magic carpets!
Frank Petrexa
Tribune
The "IC" was Casey Jones' road. This is the same route, too, probably.
Frank Petrexa
Tribune
Those wondering about this fixation on trains should remember the old joke.
Boobs are like toy trains. They're for children, but men like to play with them too.
Boobs are like toy trains. They're for children, but men like to play with them too.
Peggy Lipton fought off colon cancer for 15 years. Cancer won today.
https://www.npr.org/2019/05/12/7225...ar-of-the-mod-squad-and-twin-peaks-dies-at-72
https://www.npr.org/2019/05/12/7225...ar-of-the-mod-squad-and-twin-peaks-dies-at-72
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It is surprising who are dying and I was too young to watch them or didn't care... Of course when we had an old Motorola B/W TV that took five minutes to warm the tubes to get a picture...
Mod Squad's six year run straddled the period during which I stopped watching TV. Although it was a good, groundbreaking show, I wasn’t much of a fan. But Miss Lipton/Mrs. Jones, in her career and daughters, leaves a greater legacy than I will, or most of us.
Requiem aeternam dona ei, domine.
in the US it is 'mother's day'... DO NOT GO TO THE GROCERY STORE!!! it was packed...
A truly commercial holiday but I do miss my long gone mom...
A truly commercial holiday but I do miss my long gone mom...
Loxuru
Graf von Kreuzigung
Fifty years ago, on May 18th 1969, Apollo 10 was launched at Kennedy Space Centre, for the ‘dress rehearsal’ of the first manned landing on the Moon. It was the second manned Moon flight, after Apollo 8 in December 1968. The mission of Apollo 10 was to test the Lunar Module in orbit around the Moon. Two months earlier, in March 1969, the crew of Apollo 9 (McDivitt, Scott and Schweickart) had tested the LM in orbit around Earth.
The crewmembers of Apollo 10 were Tom Stafford (Commander), John Young (Command Module Pilot) and Gene Cernan (Lunar Module Pilot), all three experienced astronauts who did all together five space flights during the Gemini program, and from that viewpoint, definitely the most experienced crew ever sent up during the Apollo program.
Stafford and Cernan would descend with the LM, down to about fifteen kilometers above the Lunar surface, then break off the maneuver and fire the ascent stage of the LM, to return to the Apollo spacecraft, underway doing tests of the systems. So, everything but the Moon landing.
There is a story that the ascent stage of the LM was deliberately provided with not enough fuel, in order to prevent the astronauts from tempting to really land on the Moon. Some however say, the ascent stage was provided with just the amount of fuel it would have had after having taken off from the Lunar surface, to the planned abort altitude, only to simulate real conditions.
The test flight of the LM nearly ended in disaster. Cernan had moved a switch, following a checklist. Stafford, meanwhile doing another checklist, put the same switch into its original position. The switch activated the system that made the LM make radar contact with the Command Module, for an automated approach. Since the CM was nowhere around, the LM's radar started searching for it, twisting and spinning the spacecraft. Stafford managed to regain control of a situation that could have made crash the LM on the Moon, if the crisis had lasted any more seconds. The unexpected motion of the LM made Cernan shout : “Son of a bitch! What to hell happened!?” Live on TV broadcast! Many viewers were shocked, but Cernan himself could not remember having said it. Only when he was back on Earth, his wife told him he had, and listening to the audio tapes confirmed it.
Ultimately, the Apollo 10 mission, which returned on May 26th, accomplished all its tasks, and the way was open for the real landing on the Moon, two months later. It would be (as I personally recall, the two most exciting months of mankind, and the success of Apollo 11 pushed the ‘dress rehearsal’ mission of Apollo 10 somewhat into oblivion!
Of the crewmembers, today, only Tom Stafford is still alive, to live the 50th anniversary. Cernan has died early 2017, Young passed away about a year later. Curiously, Stafford, despite his experience, has never been assigned for a Lunar walk afterwards. Although he would still make another space flight, as commander of the Apollo-Soyuz mission in July 1975, the last Apollo flight, and NASA’s last manned flight before the start of the Space Shuttle program in April 1981. During the remainder of the seventies (1975-1981), space was left entirely to the Soviets, breaking duration record after duration record in their Salyut space stations.
Young, on the other hand, would walk on the Moon as commander of Apollo 16, in April 1972, afterwards, he would fly twice with space shuttle Columbia, commanding the first test flight in April 1981, and on another mission, his last space flight, in December 1983.
Cernan would have his Moon mission too, as commander of Apollo 17, in December 1972. He is up to today, ‘the last man to have walked on the Lunar surface’. Apollo 17 was his last space flight.
The crewmembers of Apollo 10 were Tom Stafford (Commander), John Young (Command Module Pilot) and Gene Cernan (Lunar Module Pilot), all three experienced astronauts who did all together five space flights during the Gemini program, and from that viewpoint, definitely the most experienced crew ever sent up during the Apollo program.
Stafford and Cernan would descend with the LM, down to about fifteen kilometers above the Lunar surface, then break off the maneuver and fire the ascent stage of the LM, to return to the Apollo spacecraft, underway doing tests of the systems. So, everything but the Moon landing.
There is a story that the ascent stage of the LM was deliberately provided with not enough fuel, in order to prevent the astronauts from tempting to really land on the Moon. Some however say, the ascent stage was provided with just the amount of fuel it would have had after having taken off from the Lunar surface, to the planned abort altitude, only to simulate real conditions.
The test flight of the LM nearly ended in disaster. Cernan had moved a switch, following a checklist. Stafford, meanwhile doing another checklist, put the same switch into its original position. The switch activated the system that made the LM make radar contact with the Command Module, for an automated approach. Since the CM was nowhere around, the LM's radar started searching for it, twisting and spinning the spacecraft. Stafford managed to regain control of a situation that could have made crash the LM on the Moon, if the crisis had lasted any more seconds. The unexpected motion of the LM made Cernan shout : “Son of a bitch! What to hell happened!?” Live on TV broadcast! Many viewers were shocked, but Cernan himself could not remember having said it. Only when he was back on Earth, his wife told him he had, and listening to the audio tapes confirmed it.
Ultimately, the Apollo 10 mission, which returned on May 26th, accomplished all its tasks, and the way was open for the real landing on the Moon, two months later. It would be (as I personally recall, the two most exciting months of mankind, and the success of Apollo 11 pushed the ‘dress rehearsal’ mission of Apollo 10 somewhat into oblivion!
Of the crewmembers, today, only Tom Stafford is still alive, to live the 50th anniversary. Cernan has died early 2017, Young passed away about a year later. Curiously, Stafford, despite his experience, has never been assigned for a Lunar walk afterwards. Although he would still make another space flight, as commander of the Apollo-Soyuz mission in July 1975, the last Apollo flight, and NASA’s last manned flight before the start of the Space Shuttle program in April 1981. During the remainder of the seventies (1975-1981), space was left entirely to the Soviets, breaking duration record after duration record in their Salyut space stations.
Young, on the other hand, would walk on the Moon as commander of Apollo 16, in April 1972, afterwards, he would fly twice with space shuttle Columbia, commanding the first test flight in April 1981, and on another mission, his last space flight, in December 1983.
Cernan would have his Moon mission too, as commander of Apollo 17, in December 1972. He is up to today, ‘the last man to have walked on the Lunar surface’. Apollo 17 was his last space flight.
Apollo 10’s "earthrise" picture never became as iconic as Apollo 8’s, but I think it gives a better impression that in space there is no "up" or "down."
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Praefectus Praetorio
R.I.P. Brother of the Quill
Today marks the birthday of who I consider the greatest songwriter of my 71 years on this earth.
BOB DYLAN
There's nothing more for me to say.
BOB DYLAN
There's nothing more for me to say.
Loxuru
Graf von Kreuzigung
It is already 40 years ago, on May 25th 1979, when 273 people lost their life in the crash of American Airlines flight 191 in Chicago.
The airplane's left engine broke off on take-off, and damaged hydraulic systems in the wing. The pilots, unaware of the real event, invisible for them, read their instruments as if the engine had shut down. Instructions ordered in that case to bring the plane in a steeper climb. Due to the loss of hydraulics, commanding the frontal flaps of the left wing, the plane stalled, which had to be countered by lowering the rate of climb, the opposite of what the crew did. Unfortunately, the stall warning system did not function anymore, due to loss of power, which came from the left engine that had gone. The stall made the plane crash into a trailer park.
The accident was due to broken bolts that held the engine pylon to the wing. It resulted into loss of confidence in the DC-10, and the worldwide grounding of it during a few weeks.
Utimately, time saving, but inappropriate handling of the engine assembly during maintenance by the airline was the origin of the failure of the bolts, not a design flaw.
The airplane's left engine broke off on take-off, and damaged hydraulic systems in the wing. The pilots, unaware of the real event, invisible for them, read their instruments as if the engine had shut down. Instructions ordered in that case to bring the plane in a steeper climb. Due to the loss of hydraulics, commanding the frontal flaps of the left wing, the plane stalled, which had to be countered by lowering the rate of climb, the opposite of what the crew did. Unfortunately, the stall warning system did not function anymore, due to loss of power, which came from the left engine that had gone. The stall made the plane crash into a trailer park.
The accident was due to broken bolts that held the engine pylon to the wing. It resulted into loss of confidence in the DC-10, and the worldwide grounding of it during a few weeks.
Utimately, time saving, but inappropriate handling of the engine assembly during maintenance by the airline was the origin of the failure of the bolts, not a design flaw.
And I’ve spent the last 40 years trying to unsee that picture. Never will, I reckon.
Naraku
Draconarius
The DC-10 was done in by a series of accidents, including that one which remains the biggest in US history.
https://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/20/us/troubled-history-of-the-dc-10-includes-four-major-crashes.html
Most of these were the result of maintenance or pilot error.
I flew in a DC-10 and a 747 and I liked to DC-10 better. It was a spacious and comfortable ride.
I still see a FedEx DC-10 (or MD-11) fly in or out of TIA. My office is about a mile off the end of the runways. And the tanker version, the KC-10, flies out of MacDill AFB.
I found this in an article on the plane's history:
The Aviation Safety Network reports a total of 32 hull-loss incidents, which are incidents where the aircraft had to be scrapped. Over the life of the model, there have been 1,439 deaths as a result of the aircraft. In comparison, the Airbus A300 has been involved in 31 hull-loss incidents, claiming a total of 1,436 lives. While fewer A300’s than DC-10’s were delivered, the A300 is a much newer aircraft than the DC-10, and would have the benefit of lessons learned from the DC-10.
One of the most notorious crashes occurred in Chicago when the engine of an American Airlines DC-10 separated just after takeoff, causing the jet to fall back to earth, killing everyone on board. This crash happened to be caught on video, giving the DC-10 stigma a literal image that it would never be able to shake off.
The NTSB investigation later showed that the crash was not related to the previous design flaws, but rather faulty maintenance practices at American Airlines. While the aircraft itself was later found not not be at fault, the damage to the aircraft’s reputation was done for good.
Yes, the DC-10 had major issues early on in its life, issues which will never be forgotten. Since those issues, however, the DC-10 has proved itself a worthy airliner. When all was said and done, McDonnell Douglas produced 446 DC-10s, with the final delivery occurring in 1989. To this day, The DC-10 is still serves many functions.
https://airwaysmag.com/airlines/dc-10-nick-names/
Praefectus Praetorio
R.I.P. Brother of the Quill
Thank you for the excellent information. With people convinced of how dangerous flying is, I heard an interesting statistic. Remember almost 11 years ago a commuter jet crashed outside of Buffalo, less than two miles from my former house!
Since then, how many passengers have died in US commercial flights?
One.
The Southwest plane where a part of the turbine blade in an engine broke off and smashed a window and sucked her out. A sad tragedy, not to be minimized. But one death in ten years with all the passenger miles involved? How many died last year in auto accidents?
Praefectus Praetorio
R.I.P. Brother of the Quill
He has more to say
Loxuru
Graf von Kreuzigung
Actually, A300 was developed in the late 1960's, and came into service only 2-3 years later after the first widebody models (B747, DC10nd L-1011), so it also belongs to the first generation of widebody models, and came too soon to benefit from possible flaws in the other models. A total of 561 A300 have been produced, more than the 386 DC-10. But production of the A300 ceased only in 2007, nearly twenty years later than the ending of the DC10, even longer than DC10's successor MD11 (2000), and even 10 years later after A300's replacement model, A330, had come into service.
The novelty of A300 at the time of its launch, was a new, more economical wing design, and particularly it was the first large aircraft model with redesigned controls, eliminating the need for a flight engineer in the cockpit.
Praefectus Praetorio
R.I.P. Brother of the Quill
Today is celebrated in the US as Memorial Day, one of our oldest National holidays. It started soon after our Civil War. In 1868, Union Army General John A. Logan established a national holiday “for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country.”
The practice started earlier, in 1865 when the War ended. Numerous towns claim to have been the first.
The holiday went hand in hand with the ascendancy of the Grand Army of the Republic, the main Union veterans association.
New York Post 160, Cazenovia, New York.
Date not given. Probably around 1910. Note this post was integrated.
US Grant funeral
Funeral procession of General William T. Sherman, turning from Pine Street onto Grand Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri. 21 February 1891
ST. LOUIS • Sunshine pierced low, billowing clouds as people jammed the rain-washed 12th Street Bridge and Union Depot platforms. A special train eased onto Track 1 at 8:48 a.m. with an officer's saber slung from the locomotive headlamp.
A volley by the St. Louis Light Artillery shattered the respectful silence.
Thus began the funeral procession of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, Civil War hero and occasional St. Louisan. For four hours on Feb. 21, 1891, a procession of 12,000 soldiers, veterans and notables marched past mourners on a winding, seven-mile path from downtown to Calvary Cemetery.
Sherman died at 71 in New York on Feb. 14, 1891. The Pennsylvania Railroad provided its executive train to return the general...
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The practice started earlier, in 1865 when the War ended. Numerous towns claim to have been the first.
The holiday went hand in hand with the ascendancy of the Grand Army of the Republic, the main Union veterans association.
New York Post 160, Cazenovia, New York.
Date not given. Probably around 1910. Note this post was integrated.US Grant funeral
Funeral procession of General William T. Sherman, turning from Pine Street onto Grand Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri. 21 February 1891
ST. LOUIS • Sunshine pierced low, billowing clouds as people jammed the rain-washed 12th Street Bridge and Union Depot platforms. A special train eased onto Track 1 at 8:48 a.m. with an officer's saber slung from the locomotive headlamp.
A volley by the St. Louis Light Artillery shattered the respectful silence.
Thus began the funeral procession of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, Civil War hero and occasional St. Louisan. For four hours on Feb. 21, 1891, a procession of 12,000 soldiers, veterans and notables marched past mourners on a winding, seven-mile path from downtown to Calvary Cemetery.
Sherman died at 71 in New York on Feb. 14, 1891. The Pennsylvania Railroad provided its executive train to return the general...
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch