Google doesn’t let us know when the Google Street car will be cruising our neighborhoods updating its Street View photos. It also doesn’t try to be inconspicuous when it is out cruising.
It’s not hard to guess what this car with a camera on top is doing. When I looked out my studio window one day and saw the car driving down Bridge Street, I rushed out to chase it (pocket camera in hand). The driver had stopped for some takeout down the street, so I was able to catch up.
I was getting some photos of the car when the driver came back. I asked to take her picture with the car but she politely declined. As she got back into her car I asked where she was headed and she gave me directions.
I bolted ahead so I could get a photo of the car as it passed. Good timing. I got my shot of the car.
Seconds later, the car got a shot of me. I’ve been digitally immortalized (until Google ditches Street View).
Rule 98 begins here. It’s a railroad thing.
There are lots of rules to know. There is a 154 page book full of them for RR people to know, the NORAC Operating Rules.
What the hell is rule 98? “Movement on a track not governed by ABS, DCS or interlocking rules must be made at Restricted Speed.”
But you probably already knew that.
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It was curious to see a bike rider walking his rig down the road, flying both Old Glory and the stars and bars. (This was pre-maga.). So I stopped to learn more.
Clark told me he has been on the road for many years, travelling up and down the east coast as well as other parts of the country on his bike. Apparently he has mobile home up in New York and was on his was back there from Florida when I caught up with him.
He seems pretty self-sufficient and well adapted for travel. Being a road warrior is not for the soft. There is no cushy chair to sink into at the end of the day. No refrigerator, no bedroom.
He wrapped up the stars and bars before crossing the bridge into Frenchtown sensing that maybe this wasn’t a place that embraces southern pride. I made a quick trip to the food pantry to get some canned goods to fuel him on his journey. Plenty of dense food, meat and fish. I don’t remember if there was Spam.…
How did a submarine end up sunk in the mud along the banks of a river? Apparently it leaked.
The USS Ling sits in muck along an undeveloped section of the Hackensack River. It had a brief career as a Navy vessel. It was commissioned in 1945 and decommissioned in 1946. Only one year of active duty as a war ship. I guess the demand for submarines dropped off pretty quickly after the Germans and Japanese surrendered.
We don’t need a lot of warships if we are not at war, right?
For a short while the USS Ling was a training vessel. In 1972 it was saved from the scrapyard, became a museum and now it’s becoming rust.
Recently efforts were made to restore it again. The leak was repaired last year and now the horn works. But then! It was sunk again by a vandal in 2020.
The vandal was arrested and has been making YouTube videos about his case, wearing his best jeans.
Such drama. The restoration volunteers got back to work and refloated it, scrubbed and cleaned it up, found a potential home for the ol’ girl and are making plans to tow her away.…
Tiny can be famous. The White Manna diner in Hackensack (built in 1946) has been featured on a bunch of shows and even has it’s own Wikipedia entry.
There is not much room, just one u-shaped counter and some micro kitchen space.
It has the perfect diner aroma and sells hats, t-shirts and gift cards. Perfect wedding gifts.
I didn’t see any white bread, though. But I did see a lot of potato rolls, which are yellow.
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Warning signs about children playing or deer are a lot more common than a sign like this. Those kinds of signs may be so common we may not notice them, but this one is a little different and probably gets attention.
As the Boomer generation ages we’ll probably see more of these. We are a pretty mobile cohort. And 10 mph is an impressive pace for anyone, not just senior citizens. Who says older people are slow?…
You see it all the time. Big iron balls piled next to a cannon. Maybe they don’t explode like modern munitions but fired from a cannon you know that they can do some serious damage. Don’t try and catch one.
For some reason, though, the cannon balls piled next to the them always seem to be way, way too big to fit. These balls are huge.
Maybe small balls aren’t as impressive.…
“All I need is my ball.”
There is nothing so soothing as chewing on a tennis ball. It’s one of those things that make life worth living, even (maybe especially!) as we age and become less frisky.
When I have my ball the world is right.…
Easter is observed around the world. It coincides with spring (at least in the northern hemisphere). The time of rebirth and renewal.
People celebrate in many different ways, both Christian and pre-Christian ways. There are a bunch of traditions. I did a little Googling to learn that the word Easter is reportedly derived from Eostre, the German goddess of spring and dawn. One of her symbols was a bunny which represented fertility, so having an Easter Bunny tradition makes sense.
I’m not sure what the leg represents. There wasn’t any mention of it in Wikipedia.…
This is what happens when a bunny enters unseen into your molecular transporter.
Your body is commandeered by the bunny molecules and begins coloring and hiding chicken eggs for no apparent reason. There is an urgent yearning to eat grass and find a companion of the opposite sex (nudge, nudge – wink, wink)
Meanwhile your human head has shrunk and is attached to a bunny body which is a tasty morsel for all the free range carnivores about.
The process can only be reversed if you can both get back in the transporter before your neurology decays. Good luck with that.…