We get some suggestions from Conoductor Larry and hear a story about a train vs. truck. Take a listen here...

Lets Talk Trains is available on the Internet both Live, 10am pacific time Saturdays, and in the Archives 24/7.

This is a test. I will not be playing these.
576 numbers Straight. IL Mid & Eve 6-19-06

1334 1339 1384 1389 1834 1839 1884 1889 6334 6339 6384 6389 6834 6839 6884 6889 1343 1348 1393 1398 1843 1848 1893 1898 6343 6348 6393 6398 6843 6848 6893 6898 1433 1438 1483 1488 1933 1938 1983 1988 6433 6438 6483 6488 6933 6938 6983 6988 3134 3139 3184 3189 3634 3639 3684 3689 8134 8139 8184 8189 8634 8639 8684 8689 3143 3148 3193 3198 3643 3648 3693 3698 8143 8148 8193 8198 8643 8648 8693 8698 3314 3319 3364 3369 3814 3819 3864 3869 8314 8319 8364 8369 8814 8819 8864 8869 3341 3346 3391 3396 3841 3846 3891 3896 8341 8346 8391 8396 8841 8846 8891 8896 3413 3418 3463 3468 3913 3918 3963 3968 8413 8418 8463 8468 8913 8918 8963 8968 3431 3436 3481 3486 3931 3936 3981 3986 8431 8436 8481 8486 8931 8936 8981 8986 4133 4138 4183 4188 4633 4638 4683 4688 9133 9138 9183 9188 9633 9638 9683 9688 4313 4318 4363 4368 4813 4818 4863 4868 9313 9318 9363 9368 9813 9818 9863 9868 4331 4336 4381 4386 4831 4836 4881 4886 9331 9336 9381 9386 9831 9836 9881 9886 0134 0139 0184 0189 0634 0639 0684 0689 5134 5139 5184 5189 5634 5639 5684 5689 0143 0148 0193 0198 0643 0648 0693 0698 5143 5148 5193 5198 5643 5648 5693 5698 0314 0319 0364 0369 0814 0819 0864 0869 5314 5319 5364 5369 5814 5819 5864 5869 0341 0346 0391 0396 0841 0846 0891 0896 5341 5346 5391 5396 5841 5846 5891 5896 0413 0418 0463 0468 0913 0918 0963 0968 5413 5418 5463 5468 5913 5918 5963 5968 0431 0436 0481 0486 0931 0936 0981 0986 5431 5436 5481 5486 5931 5936 5981 5986 1034 1039 1084 1089 1534 1539 1584 1589 6034 6039 6084 6089 6534 6539 6584 6589 1043 1048 1093 1098 1543 1548 1593 1598 6043 6048 6093 6098 6543 6548 6593 6598 1304 1309 1354 1359 1804 1809 1854 1859 6304 6309 6354 6359 6804 6809 6854 6859 1340 1345 1390 1395 1840 1845 1890 1895 6340 6345 6390 6395 6840 6845 6890 6895 1403 1408 1453 1458 1903 1908 1953 1958 6403 6408 6453 6458 6903 6908 6953 6958 1430 1435 1480 1485 1930 1935 1980 1985 6430 6435 6480 6485 6930 6935 6980 6985 3014 3019 3064 3069 3514 3519 3564 3569 8014 8019 8064 8069 8514 8519 8564 8569 3041 3046 3091 3096 3541 3546 3591 3596 8041 8046 8091 8096 8541 8546 8591 8596 3104 3109 3154 3159 3604 3609 3654 3659 8104 8109 8154 8159 8604 8609 8654 8659 3140 3145 3190 3195 3640 3645 3690 3695 8140 8145 8190 8195 8640 8645 8690 8695 3401 3406 3451 3456 3901 3906 3951 3956 8401 8406 8451 8456 8901 8906 8951 8956 3410 3415 3460 3465 3910 3915 3960 3965 8410 8415 8460 8465 8910 8915 8960 8965 4013 4018 4063 4068 4513 4518 4563 4568 9013 9018 9063 9068 9513 9518 9563 9568 4031 4036 4081 4086 4531 4536 4581 4586 9031 9036 9081 9086 9531 9536 9581 9586 4103 4108 4153 4158 4603 4608 4653 4658 9103 9108 9153 9158 9603 9608 9653 9658 4301 4306 4351 4356 4801 4806 4851 4856 9301 9306 9351 9356 9801 9806 9851 9856 4130 4135 4180 4185 4630 4635 4680 4685 9130 9135 9180 9185 9630 9635 9680 9685 4310 4315 4360 4365 4810 4815 4860 4865 9310 9315 9360 9365 9810 9815 9860 9865

—A Little Boont—

Boontling has received world wide interest as a linguistic phenomenon. A few of the words you might see or hear while in Anderson Valley include: bahl gorms (good food), buckey walter (pay phone), pike (to walk or travel), rookie-to (quail), harp (to talk or speak), horn of zeese (cup of coffee) and Boont (Boonville).

Around the turn of the century, Anderson Valley was a very isolated farming and logging community. To pass the time (and have a little fun at it), the locals began to use self-developed terms. The language originated with the women and children workers in the hop fields and eventually spread to become the spoken word for most valley residents. Today, with most fluent “boonters” in their elder year, the language has dissolved to a few slang terms. In our desire to celebrate the heritage of our region, Anderson Valley Brewing Co. has brought back many of the old boontling terms as product names, logos, and downhome bar talk. Listed below are many of the terms that we use in reference to the Boonville beers.

• • Aplenty Bahl Steinber Horn - Really great beer.
• • Apple Head - A girl friend.
• • Bahlest - excellent or great
• • Bahl Hornin’ - good drinking
• • Barney Flats - Hendy Woods National Forest. A spectacular forest of virgin redwoods, located in Anderson Valley.
• • Belk Region - Bell Valley. A scenic valley located just beyond the baldies, northeast of Boonville. It was here in the hop fields, during the turn of the century, that the language of boontling originated.
• • Boont - Boonville. The largest community and focal center of Anderson Valley. The town where the language of boontling originated. Now famous for its local brewery.
• • Bucky - A nickel (A politically incorrect reference to the Indian head).
• • Charlie Ball - To embarrass (A local indian of this name was easily embarrassed).
• • Deep Enders - Residents of the town of Navarro, located due west of Anderson Valley and bordering the Pacific Coast.
• • Heelch - A large quantity.
• • High Rollers - Residents of the town of Yorkville, the smallest town in Anderson Valley. Located 10 miles east of Boonville.
• • Horn - A drink; to drink. (Dialectal.)
• • Jeffer - A large fire. (A Boonter named Jeff built large fires in his fireplace.)
• • Shoveltooth - A doctor; an M.D. (A local doctor was so nicknamed because he had protruding teeth.)
• • It's not just shy sluggin’ gorms neemer - It’s not just for breakfast anymore.
• • It's a slow lope'n a beeson tree - Literally a comfortable pace on a horse, while sitting on a very comfortable saddle. Commonly referred to mean “a mellow ride.”
• • Pike - A hike or stroll
• • Poleeko - Philo. The second largest town in Anderson Valley, located 6 miles west of Boonville beers originated.
• • Rudy nebs - pristine, mineral rich, well water; like that used in the production of the Boonville Beers.
• • Tidrik - A party; a social gathering. (Probably from “tea drink,” a dialectal expression meaning the same thing.)
• • Zeese - Coffee. (A local hunter-camp cook nicknamed Zeese, from his initials Z.C., made bitterly strong coffee.)

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The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five
must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in
times of war or other emergencies.

111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter
is uncopyrightable.

In the 1940s, the FCC assigned television's Channel 1 to mobile Services
(two-way radios in taxicabs, for instance) but did not re-number the
other channel assignments. That is why your TV set has channels 2 and up, but no channel 1.

The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." uses every
letter in the alphabet. (Developed by Western Union to Test telex/twx
communications)

more here...

Beginning in 2007, Daylight Saving Time is extended one month and begins for most of the United States at:

If you sit and watch the Foucault pendulum for an hour, you will "see" that the plane of the swing of the iron ball slowly shifts anti-clockwise by about 8.4 degrees per hour. This is an optical illusion. The building is actually shifting "under" the Foucault Pendulum!

The Foucault Pendulum (support + wire + iron ball) is attached to this building. The building is attached to the Planet Earth, which rotates on its own axis about once every 24 hours. The Earth also goes around the Sun, once every year. The Sun, in turn, goes around the centre of our galaxy, The Milky Way, once every 250 million years. These are all local motions.

The Foucault Pendulum somehow ignores all these local motions! The Foucault Pendulum somehow aligns itself with the Rest of The Universe.

read more...

Random live webcams from the Net

These webcams were found automatically through a variety of clever search techniques. Their owners might or might not have intended for them to be public. But they obviously are. Many of them are security cameras in companies or semi-public places. If you hover over the picture you'll see what location information is available. If you click on it, a window will open and you can see a live video feed, plus comments and ratings and other information.
1332 webcams are available as of last scan.

Go here and Scroll down to see cams.

Tehachapi Loop

A World-Famous Railroad Construction Achievement of the 19th Century

Located about eight miles west of Tehachapi, California, near Highway 58

In the 1870's the Southern Pacific (Central Pacific) Railroad sought to link their rails in central California to those in Southern California. The path was blocked by the rugged Tehachapi Mountain range, which acts as an east-west barrier between Bakersfield and Los Angeles. Since construction directly south was impractical, the Southern Pacific Railroad decided to go southeast to Mojave, through the Tehachapi Pass. The summit at Tehachapi Pass was 4000'. Construction from Bakersfield to Caliente was somewhat routine, but from that point on the elevation going east rises quickly. From Caliente to the summit (now the City of Tehachapi) the rise is 2,735 feet. The maximum grade permitted was 2.2%. By routing the track alongside the slopes of the Tehachapi foothills, engineer William Hood could envision completing the task. However, just east of Keene, there was an apparently unsolvable problem. An increase in elevation of nearly 80 feet was required, unattainable using typical designs .

The problem was solved by constructing a unique loop. Going southeasterly from Keene, a train first passes through an entry tunnel. The track then does a complete counterclockwise loop, passing over the entry tunnel before continuing easterly. (See sketch below). The loop is sized to have a length adequate to achieve the needed gain in elevation. The result is a loop 3,799' long, with a typical diameter of about 1210 feet. By continuing to gain elevation throughout the loop, engineer Hood was able to make up the needed elevation (about 77' rise in the loop). With modern freight trains, often more than a mile long, the locomotive passes over (or under, depending upon direction) the final cars of its own train!

More here

Valdemar Poulsen Nov. 23, 1869 - July 1942

According to "Adventures in Cybersound: Valdemar Poulsen, the Danish telephone engineer and inventor, patented what he called a telegraphone in 1898. The telegraphone was the first practical apparatus for magnetic sound recording and reproduction. It was an ingenious apparatus for recording telephone conversations. It recorded, on a wire, the varying magnetic fields produced by a sound. The magnetized wire could then be used to play back the sound.

 

First Automatic Answering Machine

Mr. Willy Müller invented the first automatic answering machine in 1935. This answering machine was a three-foot-tall machine.

Ansafone - Answering Machine

The Ansafone, created by inventor Dr. Kazuo Hashimoto for Phonetel, was the first answering machine sold in the USA, beginning in 1960.

 

Casio's Contributions to Answering Machines

According to Casio TAD History (Telephone Answering Devices): CASIO COMMUNICATIONS created the modern telephone answering device (TAD) industry as we know it today by introducing the first commercially viable answering machine a quarter of a century ago. The product - the Model 400 - is now featured in the Smithsonian.

 

1971 PhoneMate Answering Machine

In 1971, PhoneMate introduced one of the first commercially viable answering machines, the Model 400. The unit weighs 10 pounds, screens calls and holds 20 messages on a reel-to-reel tape. An earphone enables private message retrieval.

 

Digital Tad - Telephone Answering Devices

The first digital tad was invented by Dr. Kazuo Hashimoto of Japan in mid-1983. US patent 4,616,110 entitled Automatic Digital Telephone Answering.

 

Voicemail - Voice Mail

U.S. Patent No. 4,371,752 is the pioneer patent for what evolved into voice mail, and that patent belongs to Gordon Matthews. Gordon Matthews held over thirty-three patents. Gordon Matthews was the founder of the VMX company in Dallas, Texas that produced the first commercial voice mail system, he has become known as the "Father of Voice Mail."

 

Gordon Matthews - Voicemail Inventor

In 1979, Gordon Matthews formed his company, VMX, of Dallas (Voice Message Express). He applied for a patent in 1979 for his voicemail invention and sold the first system to 3M.

"When I call a business, I like to talk to a human" - Gordon Matthews.

Three States Claim First Interstate Highway

by Richard F. Weingroff

Missouri claims the first interstate highway project to begin construction after the passage of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956.

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Where is the first interstate highway? This seemingly simple question is actually quite complicated, as Missouri, Kansas, and Pennsylvania have staked their claims to the first interstate. The answer depends on how the term "first" is defined.

The Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways is dated from June 29, 1956 - the day President Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. On Aug. 2, 1956, Missouri became the first state to award a contract with the new interstate construction funding. The Missouri State Highway Commission worked on three contracts that day, but the first signed contract was for work on U.S. Route 66 - now Interstate 44 - in Laclede County. As soon as that contract was signed, S.W. O'Brien, district engineer for the Bureau of Public Roads, called his headquarters in Washington, D.C., and confirmed that the contract was the first in the nation.

So, that's one first, but Missouri also claims another first. Also on Aug. 2, Missouri awarded a contract for work on U.S. 40 - now I 70, the Mark Twain Expressway - in St. Charles County, and on Aug. 13, this project became the first interstate project to be awarded and to start construction after the signing of the 1956 act. Well, that's two firsts, and that should be enough for any state.

Kansas claims the first interstate highway project completed
under the provisions of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956.

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But, Kansas also has a claim. On Aug. 31, the Kansas State Highway Commission awarded a contract for concrete paving of a two-lane section of U.S. 40 (I-70) a few miles west of Topeka. The construction was under way before the enactment of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, but paving under the new contract began on Sept. 26. Because this was the first paving to be initiated after the 1956 act, First District State Highway Commissioner Ivan Wassberg wrote "9-26-56" in the fresh cement to mark the historic day. On Nov. 14, Gov. Fred Hall participated in a ribbon-cutting to open the newly paved road, and a sign was posted, identifying this section of I-70 as the "first project in the United States completed under the provisions of the new Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956."

The Pennsylvania Turnpike - "The Granddaddy of Pikes" and the first limited access, interstate-type highway in the United States - was used by the U.S. Army even before the turnpike was officially opened to the public on Oct. 1, 1940

Photo: Courtesy of the Associated Pennsylvania Constructors

So, that's three firsts, but there's more. Of course, construction on some of the highways incorporated into the interstate system began before 1956. Considering this fact, perhaps the first interstate highway is really the 260-kilometer stretch of the Pennsylvania Turnpike between Irwin and Carlisle. When it opened on Oct. 1, 1940, the Pennsylvania Turnpike gave American motorists their first chance to experience what someday would be known as an "interstate." Pennsylvania calls the turnpike "The Granddaddy of the Pikes."

Well, that's three firsts and a granddaddy. So, I guess that the true first just depends on how you look at it.

Richard F. Weingroff is an information liaison specialist with FHWA's Office of Infrastructure.

Mt. St. Helens, USA

A helicopter flies by the base of the slab or "fin" growing in the Mount St. Helens crater. This shot was taken from the northeast. Photo Courtesy of the U.S. Geologic Survey

A large "slab" or "fin" of molten rock is growing within the crater, pushing itself up and over previous lava dome growth, said Dan Dzurisin, a geologist with the U.S. Geologic Survey in Vancouver. The fin grows about four to five feet a day but loses some of that growth from rockfalls off its tip, Dzurisin said. The fin is about 300 feet tall from its base, reaching to 7,700 feet above sea level. That puts it about 70 feet below Shoestring Notch, the lowest point of the mountain's horseshoe-shaped crater. Cloudy weather blocked scientists' view of the mountain for several days, but Friday they were able to fly into the crater to adjust equipment and take photographs. They hope to have an animated clip on the MSH website at http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/MSH/ to show the growth in a five-day window. (Story via AP)

Cleveland, Alaska, USA

Cleveland Volcano erupted on May 23,2006 in a short-lived spurt that lasted only two hours. NASA astronaut and Expedition 13 science officer/flight engineer Jeffrey Williams on board the ISS grabbed a camera and caught this magnificent image.

... they'll all be watching you. In the digital age, Big Brother has grown into an entire Big Brotherhood, keeping track of all aspects of our lives, writes Antony Barnett reports

Sunday July 30, 2000
The Observer

From the moment you wake up tomorrow, nearly every movement you make will be tracked by somebody, somewhere. Walk to your car, turn on your computer at work, visit the local supermarket - all will be noted by cameras or databases deep in the bowels of corporate HQs and within shadowy government agencies.

Already these databases are bulging with intricate details of every facet of our private lives. Your eating habits, hobbies, whether you have children or prefer hip-hop to grunge - your tastes, preferences and passions have all been downloaded. Never in the history of mankind has personal privacy been harder to secure. Read more..

Fake Trees Are Springing Up Across America
New "species" of trees are suddenly appearing in San Diego County.  Their entire growth
cycle is completed within a few days in one of the most unusual examples of urbanization.
Read more here...

Tracking You Via TV Signals If you're inside a building, a GPS receiver cannot find you. But a $40 radio chip from Rosum Corporation will do it, with the help of TV signals. This start-up says that TV signals are 10,000 times stronger than GPS signals according to this article from Mercury News. Right now, these chips are at the prototype stage, but navigation products able to track an individual within a city should be available next year. And Rosum even thinks to integrate these radio chips in future cell phones. Meanwhile, the military envision to use the technology as a full GPS backup system or to track soldiers in dangerous environments. Obviously, privacy advocates warn that the technology could be used to locate and track people without their consent. Considering that one of Rosum's investors is In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the CIA, we should look at this technology with caution. Read more...