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Looks like this might be a convent time for him. Mara Jade and Man Hunter Squad are not sent out for no reason. Day 1347 Y4D243 pict 1
I promised a friend I'd take him here to shoot BO-1 sometime but with freight operations winding down as the last customer, Rousselot in Peabody, closes we were running out of chances. But with their loco pointed north and one final load to deliver we knew this Tuesday would be the the second to last train so I stayed up late after work and met him in Lynn and took him down here. We ended up having a bit of a wait and lensed six purple window trains opportunistically while we hung out.
Between trains 2 and 3 the alarm sounded and the bridge was opened to let a pleasure boat head down river so I took the opportunity grab this shot of the span opening since this is the first time I'd ever observed it happen. I'm partial to infrastructure and do enjoy a trainless shot now and then.
The 487 ft long double track bridge dates from 1911 and has a 65 ft movable span. According to the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) it is a single-leaf Strauss overhead counterweight bascule which is believed to be the oldest known example of its type in Massachusetts. It is particularly significant for its innovative engineering design and association with a prominent bridge engineer, Joseph Baermann Strauss, whose company designed the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
Alas like so much other legacy Boston and Maine infrastructure, this bridge has reached the end of its useful life and a replacement is in the works as described here: archives.lib.state.ma.us/bitstream/handle/2452/799579/ocn...
So someday this shot will be as rare and conveted as those featuring the trains passing.
Lynn, Massachusetts
Tuesday August 29, 2023
I look down at the man dressed in red for a few moments, allowing him to process what M'gann has just told him. Ever since her encounter with Mr Moth all those weeks ago, I've been attempting to build her confidence by encouraging her to tackle low-time criminals.
So far, it would've appeared to work a charm.
Breaking my train of thought, I lower myself out of the air, phase through the bank doors and then take my place next to M'gann.
"I understand you're having some trouble."
M'gann nods; the man in red stood watching with a gormless expression spreading across his face.
"Get back! I'll kill you both!"
He raises his weapon, and I am suddenly reminded of the fact that if he was to squeeze the trigger, I would be rendered powerless and my defeat would be simple.
If only he knew.
"I mean it! I'll do it!"
Calling his bluff, I walk forwards to his trembling wreck of an arm and pause.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Michael."
The man jolts.
"Wha...what did you call me?"
"Michael Miller. That is your name, is it not?"
His mouth begins to move out of time with his mind, then his trembling arm finally gives way and he lets out a meek whine.
"How do you-"
Miller suitably distracted, I lunge forwards and grasp his crude flame-thrower, and in one efficient movement, I bring the weapon upwards and out of his shaking hands. He attempts what some might call a punch, but one quick kick in his shin soon puts his assault to bed, and Miller to the ground.
"Let's see, what have we here?"
I examine the crude weapon at hand, then hook my fingers under a pressure gauge on the side and tear it off. The thrower makes a hissing sound as some gas escapes, then I detach the piping from the gun and throw it to the ground.
"No dammit!"
Miller squirms on the ground, but stops when the bank doors slam open and various officers from the DPD march in. I look up as I walk around Miller, now on his knees, and position myself to talk to the officers.
"Good afternoon."
They lower their weapons in turn with Miller raising his hand to his face, which now appears to be a brighter shade of red than his flattering outfit.
"Martian Manhunter. Thank god."
The officer steps forwards and looks down at Miller.
"Is that...Michael Miller?"
I nod. The officer turns to one of her colleges stood in the doorway, gun still trained on Miller.
"Call dispatch. Let them know we've got the situation under control."
The man nods as he makes his way to the police car, then the officer's hand goes to a pair of handcuffs hooked around her belt. A though flashes through my mind for a moment, the thought of my younger (and somewhat reckless) version of myself back on Mars. I then think of M'gann; how we met, and how I would act if it were her currently relieving herself in a trembling mess at my feet.
The officer steps forwards and I bring my hand up.
"That won't be necessary, officer."
She pauses.
"I'm sorry?"
"Your handcuffs. They will not required."
A look of uncertainty flashes across her face.
"And why not?"
I look down to Miller.
"Mr Miller here has done no wrong."
She frowns as I continue.
"No one was harmed. He didn't even leave here with any money, and, may I remind you, we are in a bank."
"Weather or not he left with any money does not matter, sir. This is currently being treated as a hostage situation-"
I gesture to a group of adolescents all with their mobile devices out.
"Where the hostages are taking photographs of their 'captor'."
The officer sighs.
"May I ask why you're standing up for this man? I, we, were all under the impression that your sort of people stood up for justice?"
I consider the officer's point for a moment, but another look down at the trembling wreck of a man that is Michael Miller reminds me of my cause.
"You are correct. However, take a look at Mister Miller, officer. Take away the gaudy outfit and those awful judgement skills, and you have a young individual who needs help. I do stand for justice, officer, you're quite right, but this man here,"
Miller looks down.
"Is not an example of a dangerous criminal. Someone who attacks a bank using only a home-made hair-dryer with a little extra firepower, in a city protected by two extraterrestrials with unearthly powers, clearly isn't the sharpest of criminal minds."
The officer turns to her college, and in turn I look to M'gann, stood tending to an inquisitive man in the doorway. The officer turns back to me and sighs.
"Alright, let's say for one minute that he is innocent. What's to stop him from attacking again if we let him go?"
I nod.
"A fair point. He could easily come back just as powerful next time, couldn't he?"
I crane my neck to look at Michael, but as soon as I catch his eye he snaps his neck back downwards.
"But look at him. Do you honestly think he will attempt anything like this again after what's happened today? He won't even be able to look at a dollar bill without trembling. Even the hostages outsmarted him."
Michael fidgets on the ground, but keeps his eyes down.
"His is still in possession of an offensive weapon."
"He was in possession of an offensive weapon. Currently he is in possession of a heap of rather inoffensive metal."
The officer once again sighs, then turns to her college. She whispers something in his ear, and after a few moments, she looks back to me and sighs.
"Alright."
She kneels down to Michael and begins to talk to him.
"Right then Mister Miller, it would appear today is your lucky day. Now god knows why, but thanks to your Martian friend here, we've decided to let you go, under the condition that you will be under a strict curfew for at least eighteen months."
Michael stirs, but I calm him with a hand on his shoulder. The officer stands.
"You're going to have to come with us to go through the details of your curfew, but after that, you're free to go."
She picks Miller up and leads him outside.
"I suggest you thank your lucky stars you've got the Martian Manhunter here. He's turned the end of your free life, into a life of staying indoors after nine o'clock."
The officers, Miller in tow, exit the bank and head for the police car. The woman opens the back passenger door, then turns round and says one last thing to me.
"Why?"
I pause.
"I like to believe there is a bit of good in everybody. At least, in some people. Mister Miller here is certainly no exception. He's young; he's got his whole life ahead of him. Don't bring that crashing down because he had one minor lapse of judgement."
She nods, then Miller gives me one last look before being bundled into the police car.
I walk over to M'gann stood by the doors. She says nothing, instead she just looks up at me, and smiles as we watch the car drive off down the road and into the busy afternoon traffic.
This is the story of THE LONG NIGHT when my great great grandfather, my grandmother's grandfather, summoned his nephew to relate to him the events beginning in 1857 with the murder of his father by a gang of thieves in Coosa County Alabama. Over the course of that "long night", he related the facts, which became this story.
That nephew became a professor at Vanderbilt U and was friends with the Agrarian Writer, Andrew Lytle. The Long Night was Lytle's first novel, published in 1936.
No one in the family knew the story. I certainly did not, until the son of that nephew told me it was about my family, my grandmother's grandfather. "You come from some strong people," he told me.
In 1857 Pleasant Owsley was murdered. He had tracked and identified the trails of horse, cotton, and slave thieves in the area. He reported this to the sheriff, instead of pursuing the thieves to retrieve his stolen property. However, the sheriff, the judge, and some prominent landowners were all part of the gang.
His was a Scots family, and the clan gathered to decide what to do. Since the law was part of the problem, they resorted to clan justice. Pleasant's son "Dink" and other extended family members, remaining unknown to the thieves, dealt out justice quietly, surrepticiously, as opportunity arose. Some may consider it barbaric, but in those days, you must understand the more primitive nature of American life....less than effective law enforcemenmt, they fell back on the old style clan way.
Dink told his nephew this story when he was an old man, anticipating death soon. I know that Dink and his wife in their last years lived in the cabin next to their granddaughter and her new husband's farm--- years later my mother and daddy were living in that same cabin when my younger brother was born in 1940. It was a typical old wood framed cabin, never painted that I could tell. It had a well, but no indoor plumbing----electricity did not arrive there until long after we'd moved to the big city. In fact, my first memory was waking up cold and seeing snow on top of the covers of the bed. I checked the weather reports for the winter of 1939-1940, and discovered that it snowed almost 15 inches that year in north Alabama, and Lake Guntersville froze over!
So YES, it was not a dream, it was real snow on top of the covers.
So essentially, my first memory was of life in this cabin. Time did not change the cabin between 1908 and 1940. Their time and my time life was the same. Time stood still in those days in the rural south. I feel closer to them for the knowing of their story, and I love our connection.
We heard him before we saw him. He flew right in front of us and landed in this tree making a lot of noise - I think he was trying to flush out some smaller animals.
Photo taken by Manfred Kaffine and kindly provided by him for inclusion on this page.
München-Riem
Summer 1968
N286
Douglas DC-7C Seven Seas
45205 / 796
Temple Airlines
N286 was noted at Riem on 15 June 1968 and again on 7 July 1968, that time together with sister ship N287.
Temple Airlines made a brief appearance on trans-Atlantic charters during the summer of 1968 operating a pair of former Northwest Airlines Douglas DC-7C airliners on lease from Modern Air Transport. Operating from Oakland Airport, California, N286 was first recorded at Munich on June 15, and then at Gatwick five days later. (Source: Propliner Magazine on Facebook)
N286 returned to Modern Air Transport in September 1968 and was wfu and stored at Fort Myers, FL, in 1969, later broken up. (Source: planelogger.com)
Registration details for this airframe:
www.planelogger.com/Aircraft/Registration/N286/636275
N286 with Northwest Orient at HND in September 1961:
imgproc.airliners.net/photos/airliners/9/8/2/0126289.jpg
N286 with Modern Air Transport in MIA ca. mid-1960s:
www.airlinefan.com/photos/memberdir203/watermarked/large_...
Scan from Kodak medium format (6 x 6 cm) slide, cropped to 3:2 aspect ratio.
Penso nele todos os dias.
Onde estará?
O que estará fazendo?
Será que tem lido?
Será que seu sorriso continuava o mesmo?
Quero tanto ve-lo novamente...
Sinto falta do dias de leitura ao seu lado...
Sinto falta de ve-lo corar...
Simplesmente sinto falta de te-lo ao meu lado.
I loved him most
when he came home from work,
his fingers still curled from fitting pipe,
his denim shirt ringed with sweat,
smelling of salt, the drying weeds
of the ocean. I’d go to where he sat
on the edge of the bed, his forehead
anointed with grease, his cracked hands
jammed between his thighs, and unlace
the steel-toed boots, stroke his ankles
and calves, the pads and bones of his feet.
Then I’d open his clothes and take
the whole day inside me – the ship’s
gray sides, the miles of copper pipe,
the voice of the foreman clanging
off the hull’s silver ribs. Spark of lead
kissing metal. The clamp, the winch,
the white fire of the torch, the whistle,
and the long drive home.
I have seen him over the many years that I have lived in Toronto’s Riverdale community and his impressive moustache has always caught my attention. I’ve known that he runs an antique shop a mere three blocks from my home. It is en route to the subway station. I can’t guess how many times I’ve walked by his shop but today I decided to “step outside the box” and meet him and ask if he would be part of my photo project. I entered the store and realized it was jam-packed with antiques – mostly lamps – and there was a path cleared through the assorted merchandise to the rear of the shop. “Watch your step” he said from the back of the store. “As you can see, I’m a bit of a collector. My wife teases me about the bits and pieces I save, but you’d be surprised how often these old parts come in handy when I’m doing a repair or restoration.” He came forward and I sensed a smile in his voice but it was hidden by his luxurious moustache. Hands were shaken. Meet Albert.
I explained I’d seen him in the neighborhood over the years and that I live just down the street. He lives around the corner in an historic renovated farmhouse which I’ve long admired. I explained my project and indicated that I felt he would make an excellent portrait and “to tell the truth, it was your wonderful moustache that drew my attention.” Albert tipped his head back and laughed. “Yes, that’s the one thing I do know how to do.” He, like many I approach, thought I wanted to book an appointment but I explained it’s very much a “here and now” spontaneous project. He was taken a bit by surprise at that and said he had an appointment with a customer who was due any minute. I asked if I could work fast and that I would stop when his customer arrived. He appreciated that and said “Sure. Just tell me what you need me to do.” When I mentioned that I was pleased he was so agreeable to the idea of the project he said “I think most people would be glad to help out and your manner made it clear that it’s ok.”
I explained I wanted a head and shoulders photo of him looking at my camera and I wanted it near the front of the shop where natural light was coming in through the window and that I wanted his antique merchandise out of focus behind him. Albert obliged politely and I put down my bag and took off my hat. It took a bit of maneuvering to find a position in the cramped path but things worked out nicely. After the initial photos were taken, I suggested that Albert take off his glasses for a photo or two. He did so and set his glasses on a piece of furniture beside him and told me he’d recently had eye surgery and is still recovering. I wouldn’t have guessed from looking at his clear eyes both in person and in the photos. He told me he is 68 and has lived in the neighborhood for quite a long time, as have I.
I was hoping to get a bit of a biography but Albert’s customer arrived just then, a friendly elderly woman. We were all somewhat jammed in the doorway but made room for her and I explained Albert had been kind enough to participate in my photo project. I had to cut things short, having spent about five minutes in the shop. We exchanged contact information and I told Albert I’d drop by in the next few days to round out my information about him and his shop. He said that’s fine as he reached down to hand me my hat and bag which I’d “parked” on the floor behind him.
Thank you Albert, for the friendly chat and for participating in 100 Strangers. You are #745 in Round 8 of my project. It was great to finally meet you properly and I look forward to seeing you around. (Next time we’ll be able to greet each other by name.)
Note: Meeting Albert, a longstanding part of my community, had me thinking about a song made popular by the children's television show "Sesame Street." The song is called "People in your Neighborhood" and this link may take you back to the past the way it did me: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwDq32MtOQU Now I know one more of the people in MY neighborhood.
Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by the other photographers in our group at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page.
Update: Because my original encounter with Albert left me thinking there was more to this interesting neighbor, I returned a couple of days later with my wide angle lens to take a couple more photos. I learned that he was trained as an economist and worked for 20 years in the corporate world which he didn't like at all. 25 years ago he took the brave step of leaving that life behind and followed his interest: antiques. It was hard saying goodbye to pension plans and financial security but as he pointed out, spending your life doing something you don't enjoy would be a huge mistake. His shop is clearly his pride and joy. (storyofmystore.wordpress.com/2012/09/06/der-dietemann-ant...) "What do you like best about your current occupation?" "It's definitely the people. I really like meeting people." I learned that Albert is the head of the neighborhood BIA (Business Improvement Association) and he was every bit as gracious on this visit as he had been the first time. I look forward to keeping in touch with him.
The Bearded Guy - Eternity Future Backdrop
MocapAnimations - #TikTok v26 Challenge BENTO!
For Him :
"TD Phoenix Jeans
[GHB] TATTOO: BOM EVOX - TEHECA - Miix Event
For Her :
Ciao Amore! - Claus Dress - Miix Event
.:: Hanatsumi ::. - Stacy - Boots - Miix Event
I met him on a street in Beijing. It was a warm afternoon in September 2012. He was smoking a cigarette and on his way somewhere. I asked my guidе to ask on my behalf for a permission to take his photo. He told her that a tall person (referring to me) will never tell the true age of a short one.
view on BLACK ( hit L )
More of my Beijing images: www.flickr.com/photos/58772731@N07/sets/72157632567983980/
My adopted stray cat -- has been over 4 years now since I adopted him officially. But I was aware of this cat since 2008 when he drops by the garden , sometimes ate some out of date bread crumbs I gave for the birds. That time , I thought he was somebody else's . But I realized later on that he was fed in the neighborhood, there are kind people who feed him but didn't want him in . He was not microchipped , no one was looking for him . He is a tabby manx , he loves company, super attention seeker .
Come autumn of 2011, he frequently visits the garden and upsets the chickens, but he was not up for hunting birds , he was docile . Most cats do hunt birds , an aspect I don't like about cats although I'm a cat person. In December 2012 I realize he was ill . When I tried stroking his head, a thick projectile yucky pus squirted out of his head to my arms, I almost screamed. That's when I realized he was too ill but remained in my garden. I was a bit guilty leaving him without doing anything . The next day I bought few packets of cat food out of pure sympathy to ease down my guilt . Together with the food I put very tiny dose of antibiotic for few days. After few days looked brighter . In a week he improved a lot.
I was felt pleased of helping him. However, since then he wouldn't leave my garden. I often see him at the back patio or by the trampolin or outside kitchen at nights. Then come the winter , I felt a different level of guilt , seeing him at back of the house on chilly nights. To make the story short, I ended up adopting him and named him Minky .
deep under ground a dragon sleeps a top his golden treasure, listen he mutters in his sleep...
zzz!! Stupid tiny human, zzzz..
zzzz... I have found a rusty old pipe to... zzzz!
zzzz... as it did to me... zzzz!!!
ZzzZ, huh, grump, revenge!!! zzzz!!!
zzz.... tiny bug, with a starry toped hat, zzzz!!!
zzzz! and when I have poled him on the rusty stake... zzzz...
I will use my breath to slowly roast him...
zzzz... zzzz! and then I w ill eat him, one extremity at a time...
zzzz... growel, snort,,, then finish with his screaming head... zzzz
(designer not: Yes I did notice I put his right paw on the left side, a small mistake :) )
My mom and I leave for a weekend trip to San Francisco to celebrate our birthdays. I have been trying to decide what to pack, and what I mean by that is how much film to pack.
Last night I was asking this silly boy if seven packs of peel apart film is too much for just three days.
Not only did he think I should take it all, but he had few ideas for shots when using the black and white packs.
I did convert this film shot to black and white. It just fit him better.
Mamiya 645
80 mm
Portra 160
Converted to black and white
Just on sunset the boatman from the trimaran anchored off King Island rowed ashore with his dog. I asked him if he'd mind if I photographed his dinghy. We chatted as the sun sank towards the horizon.
I spotted him inching along the sea wall with his board: with its tail end missing. He sat there for a while, staring at the waves and the surfers. After a while he got up and began walking towards the steps extremely self consciously. He finally made it down the steps; the rocks and to the edge of the sea. He paused there too. Finally he waded into the water. He didn't go far. He simply paddled on his board. His friends suddenly came running and shouted something which was lost in the wind and he promptly got out of the sea. He lingered there for a while. You could just tell how much he wanted to go surf with them out there.
I wanted to ask him his name. So after his friends had left, I followed him with my baby sister [Lymm] waddling somewhere near my legs. He was really really shy. When I asked him his name, he just mumbled something which sounded like Sofwaan. I hope he makes it someday. Sofwaan: the boy with the broken board.
Edit: Oh yes and Dude was in the water the whole time and when I was following the boy, Dude was coming with me but he met Chospatis so he wasn't there when I was trying to talk to the boy.. :P hehe
Just like most of the two-dozen or so surviving Adonis sarcophagi, the sarcophagus relief contains three scenes showing Adonis’ farewell to Aphrodite, the boar injuring him, and Aphrodite tending the dying Adonis. However, the episodes are not illustrated in the order they have in the myth, because the ‘tending’ scene has been placed in the center of the frieze. It is only in this scene that Aphrodite and Adonis have been given portrait features; in the other scenes they have ‘ideal’ faces.
The upper frieze depicting the Oedipus’ myth is not pertinent to the Adonis’ sarcophagus.
Adonis’ Myth:
Adonis’ birth is the result of a terrible incest: Myrrha falls in love with her own father and is made pregnant by him. She is forced to flee and wanders despairing through the world until a god hears her entreaties and turns Myrrha into the tree that takes her name.
According to the myth, the name Adonis means “who sprang from a myrrh tree”. He was so handsome that he conquered even the goddess of love herself. In vain she warned her beloved, a passionate hunter, to take care: during a hunt Adonis was wounded by a boar and died (Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.301—559, 707—39).
Vatican Adonis’ Sarcophagus:
The central wound-tending scene has been drastically recast as a representative, almost ceremonial image: an enthroned Aphrodite and her mortal lover sit next to each other like a pair of statues, in a curtained-off inner room. Adonis sits there rigid and his posture makes the disaster appear rather minor. A cupid kneeling at the feet of the hero is washing his bloodied leg over a basin, while,. In addition, an old man with a beard is pressing a sponge onto the thigh-wound in a somewhat formal and uninvolved manner. The reason for this change to the wound-tending scene is plain: the heads of Adonis and his beloved have been given the portrait features of a Roman couple, who wanted to make clear their virtues and their deep bond. The youthful features of this ‘Adonis’ could suggest that—as in the myth—he died before his wife, from an accident or illness, and that she may well still have been alive when the sarcophagus was made.
The left third of the frieze shows Adonis bidding farewell to Aphrodite as he departs for the hunt, which we have seen before. Aphrodite holds out her right arm as if she is speaking, and at the same time touches the breast of her beloved; Adonis has his right hand, holding an ear of corn, resting on her knee. A servant leading the horse is already beginning to move off and has turned to look back at the couple; the head of another servant is visible in the background.
The tragic hunting accident is illustrated in the right-hand third of the frieze. Adonis, his left arm raised in defense and carrying his spear in his right hand, has collapsed wounded. Two hunting companions are trying in vain to fight off the boar with stones and spears. A cupid is beckoning to Aphrodite, who is rushing out of the gates of her palace, gesturing in horror as she realizes what has happened. She appears just in time to witness the disaster, but too late to prevent it. Even the mountain god sitting in the upper corner of the image has lifted his right arm in horror.
The portraits of the couple in the central scene belong to the middle-to-late Severan period, and date the sarcophagus to around the year 220; the portrait of the ‘Aphrodite’ is very comparable to the likeness of Iulia Maesa (sister-in-law of the emperor Septimus Severus).
The sarcophagus was found along with a Hippolytus sarcophagus made in the same Roman workshop, in the so-called Tomb of the Pancratii on the Via Latina in Rome. The sarcophagi were probably originally used for members of the same family.
Source: Zanker P. & Ewald BC., Living the Myths: The Imagery of Roman Sarcophagi
Marble sarcophagus
Ca. 220 AD
Vatican City State, Vatican Museums, Museo Gregoriano Profano
they enjoy the sun together.
they enjoy to touch eachother.
they enjoy to lay in the grass together.
she likes him. he likes her.
The Nilgiri Himal is a range of three peaks in the Annapurna region in Nepal. It is composed of Nilgiri South (6839 m), Nilgiri Central (6940 m) and Nilgiri North (7061 m).
Copyright © "Matteo Allegro" . All rights reserved.
Please do not use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission.
Aggie Ring loves a good "selfie!"
I could tell that Aggie Ring was impressed. After several moments of silence he spoke out and said, “If my Eyes of Texas aren’t deceiving me, that’s the biggest damn lightbulb I’ve ever seen! I guess it’s true… Everything IS bigger in Jersey!”
The Aggie Ring woke me up early this morning. In fact it was even before 11:30 a.m. so I knew he wanted to do something. I asked the Aggie Ring, “What do you want to do Aggie Ring?” The Aggie Ring replied, “I want to go see the lightbulb!” I wasn’t sure what he was talking about so I said, “What lightbulb?” The Aggie Ring said with emphasis, “Let there be LIGHT!” Then it hit me. Aggie Ring wanted to drive him up the Parkway to the site of Thomas A. Edison’s Menlo Park laboratory so he could see the Art Deco Edison Memorial Tower and “Big Ass Lightbulb!”
Other than the time he told me that he thought Elvis took our change in a tollbooth on the New Jersey State Turnpike, Aggie Ring has great ideas. It’s only about a 20 to 25 minute drive up the Parkway from our house so Aggie Ring and I set off to see the Edison Memorial Tower. The last time we’d been there it had been in horrible shape and they were beginning work on restoring it. That was a bit over a year ago so I assumed that Aggie Ring figured out that they would be finished with the conservation work on the historical site.
When we drove down the little side street where the tower is located the Aggie Ring was overwhelmed with awe at the restored site. Aggie Ring was truly “speechless!” It’s just as beautiful as the day it was built. They did an incredible job on the restoration. After a few moments sitting in the car just looking out the window Aggie Ring broke his silence and asked me, “Did you bring a cigar? Edison loved his cigars and I think he’d have wanted you to smoke a cigar while you’re looking the place over.” Unfortunately I had left my cigars at home so the Edison “smoke out” will have to happen on a future date.
The laboratory building is no longer at this site but it’s still impressive to think of not only the electric lightbulb, but all of the other great inventions that Mr. Edison invented here. Aggie Ring said, “Imagine. He did all this stuff without the help of an Aggie Ring!”
The Aggie Ring and I walked around the tower and took some photos of the “Big Ass Lightbulb” and the historical plaques at its base. The Aggie Ring and I are planning on going back some evening when the lightbulb is illuminated. Aggie Ring said, “It would be cool if you could get a photo during a thunderstorm when there’s lightning behind the tower.” I told Aggie Ring, “You’re crazy! I’m not standing out in a field during a lightning storm with an Aggie Ring on my finger! Maybe if we can get a VMI grad to come with us. Their rings are so damn big a lightning bolt would hit one of them before us!”
Aggie Ring said, “It’s a good thing Edison invented the lightbulb or there’d be a lot of Waggies drinking their tequila shots by candlelight!” I told the Aggie Ring, “True… Those Waggies love their tequila the invention of the lightbulb makes it a lot easier for them to pour the tequila and do body shots!”
Aggie Ring asked me to provide some info on the Edison “Big Ass Lightbulb” Memorial Tower for your educational enlightenment (“Get it?” Aggie Ring said):
Thomas Alva Edison Memorial Tower and Menlo Park Museum, New Jersey
"Let there be light." Thomas Alva Edison's Menlo Park Laboratory and Memorial Tower. Those of us on the Jersey Shore call it the "Big Ass Lightbulb!”
The Edison Tower, located on the site of the original laboratory at Menlo Park, New Jersey, to which Thomas Alva Edison moved in 1876, was erected in 1937 as a monument to the great inventor. The Tower is the gift of William Slocum Barstow to the Thomas Alva Edison Foundation Incorporated in behalf of the Edison Pioneers. It was dedicated on February 11, 1838, the ninety-first anniversary of the inventor's birth.
Rising 131 ft. 4 in. above the ground, the tower looms as the highest discernible object for many miles. Surmounting the 117 ft. 8 in. concrete-slab structure is a 13 ft. 8 in. replica of the original incandescent lamp which, when illuminated, can be seen for a distance of several miles. It once served as an airplane beacon. The Tower is designed for pressure of wind at a velocity of 120 miles per hour. In its construction, which consumed slightly less than eight months, approximately 1200 barrels of Edison Portland cement and 50 tons of reinforced steel were used.
The large bulb on top of the Tower was cast by the Corning Glass Works. The replica bulb contains 153 separate pieces of amber tinted Pyrex glass, 2 in. thick, set upon a steel frame. The bulb is 5 ft. in diameter at the neck and 9 ft. 2 in. in diameter at the greatest width and weighs, without the steel frame on which it is placed, in excess of three tons. Before the restoration, inside this Pyrex glass bulb were four 1000 watt bulbs, four 200 watt bulbs, and four 100 watt bulbs. A duplicate of each was arranged as automatically to cut in should its companion bulb fail.
The Edison Tower has been completely restored and when complete, the bulb is now illuminated with modern Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology. Mr. Edison would be pleased with this, I’m sure.
While we don’t have any records of exactly what was said when Mr. Edison perfected his invention, I suspect one of his workers shouted out something like this: “Holy Mother of Baby Jesus on a Donkey!” “Mr. Edison, You’ve done it!!! You’ve perfected the Electric Light!!! You truly are King of Kings!!!!”
The tower is located on a mysterious plot of land and exactly at midnight on the night of a full moon, it would be a perfect site for the ritual sacrifice of virgins. Too bad we don’t have any of those in New Jersey! :-)
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Aggie Ring says, “The Road Goes On Forever, and the Party Never Ends!”
...the Mage was fearing for his life, the queen was adamant in her decision to strap him on to that hellfire-machine he had invented...
...still he had an ace up his sleeve, the sparks he had stumbled up on in his tower, he was gonna use them to convince the queen and the people that he was a real mage, a mighty warlock, and if they didn´t cancel the launch he would fry the whole capital with sparks turning the town in to an infernal mayhem...
But for this he needed a bit of planning, he knew the launch site, since the queen was stupid enough to announce it to the whole town so the could be there and watch what would maybe be his last experiment?
....with this plan he giggled a bit in a nervous way, now he would not only fool the grim reaper of his departure in to the misty land, he would also get the power he always had deserved when he "reveal his true magic" for the population, perhaps he would be crowned king, or even better emperor and all would fear him...
so the hours passed and the queens men came to collect him, he was still giggling a bit under his white beard, the soldiers though he had gone a bit more loopy than usual... and perhaps senile too...
when they arrived at the scene for the launch, he saw that almost all people in town had gathered for the even, the queen was seated in a palanquin so she could see over the mob of her loyal subjects...
The mage made sure to stand on the wire hidden by the dust on the street so that he would connect it to the metallic scaffolding underneath his wizard -gown...
The queen asked him if he had any final wish, and corrected herself and said, any specific wish before your departure to the moon,my dear mage?
the Mage Replied: Esmeralda I have, I have a wish to display my true forces for you and the people, this is a waning to all of you, my power are mighty, Make me your new leader or suffer the consequences!
...now was the time when he would display an arc of electric fire, scaring the queen and the people... but some kids had disrupted his circuit earlier that day while playing "launch the wizard" earlier that day...
the result was that he stood there moving his arms like a fool...
...all the people laughed, so did the queen...
She said: "yes I have seen your mighty magic it is as void as always...!
Somehow she pitied this old fool... perhaps she should spare him a certain death?
but now the executioners (doing this work too) strapped him to the rocket...
the mob of people was cheering as in one single voice: Blast him, Blast the phony mage to the moon or perhaps to hell...!!!
Now they queen Had started thinking, am I really this cruel? she was thinking of the monkey, would she do the same to him that he was planning to do to the poor animal, no she couldn´t, perhaps he should do some time in the slammer instead until he repented? she whispered to her man-at-arms to go and stop the executioners...
at this time the fish mongrel dropped a fish he had forgotten under his shirt it hit the point of broken circuitry and unified it, a great amount of power was instantly lead to the wizard strapped to the rocker... it ignited his experiment and off he was...
Kaboooom!!!
...again he got to see the world leave as a small blue orb and the moon became an ever bigger orb in front of him... then he passed out out of fear and actually the rocket went almost all the way to the moon, but lacked the power to break earths attraction so down he came towards the earth again...
now let us move to a different place on earth, somewhere called the buffalo plains by the locals in their language...
Three hunters are on their way home from a failed hunt...
- Hey Jumping Tiger, look here, what a strange crater, it is almost like something fell from the sky with great force...
- Owl Hooters that might be one of those fragile colorless ones that uncle Hurting-Liver was taking about when he came back from the salty lake without water?
- Hey you shouldn´t believe all that your strange uncle tells you, the strange stuff he is brewing is poison to his brain and his stories are as weird as our creation myths...
- Oh he went to shaman university, he studied there for five years...
- Yeah but that university is not exactly Princeton is it, it is just a place for odd bums like your uncle, just a wee bit to sane to put in the sanatarium...
- Hey, Beaver-Pelt look there in the middle of the Crater, just beside those cactuses
- Cacti, didn´t you go to university?
- Hey look at it, his it is a humanoid, but not one of those frail colorless ones... this one has a skin like old parchment!
- poke him with your spear?
- He is alive isn´t he?
- we will take him to our medicine man, he might know what to do?
Perhaps we should use him as that gargoyle from the totem pole that your uncle ruined when he was under the influence of that poison he brews and drinks...
- Yeah tie him up, the council of elders will know what to do...
- at the least we won´t come back empty handed to our village again or hunt down that hedgehog over there...
I finally got him!I loved this doll since I found out there was a doll form of Jafar made by the Disney Store in the 90's.Even though most of the very old Disney Store dolls were ugly and inaccurate with horrible hair quality,this Jafar doll looks so much like the character and has a very movie accurate outfit!I love his scepter and his pose!I got him for a very good price,used with his feather and shoes missing,which I replaced them from an Aladdin doll I bought!Now he's complete!I'm glad I got him,cause every time he shows up on ebay,he starts from low prices and ends up for more than 100$,but I got him only for 16 GBP!Yay! Do you like him?