Mostly about my backyard chickens. (Boring, I know), but there are a lot of us out here. Mine are only kept as pampered pets. I could eat a neighbor's chicken, but not MINE. There may be a comment on current events only if I get riled up enough. And there will always be a cartoon or a joke to cheer us. I promise to try my very best to respond to comments. Now I have to figure out how this blogger thingy works....
Found this fascinating first hand story and video made by a sailor aboard
one of the last Windjammers.
Set a spell, listen and watch a marvelous story. You'll be glad you did!
Passat (ship, 1911)
From: Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
Information about the vessel may be found at IMO 5614581. A ship can change name and flag state through time, but the IMO number remains the same through the hull's entire lifetime. As a result, it can be useful to identify a ship by using the IMO number.
English:
Passat is a German four-masted steel barque and one of the Flying
P-Liners, the famous sailing ships of the German shipping company F.
Laeisz. The name "Passat" means trade wind in German. She is one of the
last surviving windjammers.
Launched in 1911 by Blohm & Voss shipyard, Hamburg, the ship was
used for decades as a cargo ship (nitrate carrier) until well into the
age of steamships. In 1932 she was sold to Gustaf Erikson of Finland.
She participated in "The Last Grain Races", famous races around Cape
Horn by the last working sailing ships. Among her crew was the bosun
Niels Jannasch who later became the director of Canada's Maritime Museum
of the Atlantic. In 1951 Passat became an auxiliary sailing school ship
of the German merchant marine. In 1957 Passat was decommissioned.
The ship is now a youth hostel, venue, museum ship, and landmark anchored in Travemünde, a borough of Lübeck, Germany.
... the other day. 110% at least! You just knew there were going to be thunder showers:
Had these mushrooms pop out all over the yard:
The gang won't go near them, either!
They are really puffy and squishy - maybe I'll knock them over with my boots today to see what's underneath. Or maybe not - they look like brains......
John Maurice Hartman (July 3, 1923 – September 15, 1983) was an American jazz singer who specialized in ballads and earned critical acclaim, though he was never widely known. He recorded a well-known collaboration with the saxophonist John Coltrane in 1963 called John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, was briefly a member of Dizzy Gillespie's group and recorded with Erroll Garner. Most of Hartman's career was spent recording solo albums.
Born in Louisiana but raised in Chicago, Hartman began singing and playing the piano by the age of eight. He attended DuSable High School studying music under Walter Dyett before receiving a scholarship to Chicago Musical College. He sang as an Army private during World War II, but his first professional work came in September 1946 when he won a singing contest awarding him a one-week engagement with Earl Hines.
Seeing potential in the singer, Hines hired him for the next year.
Although Hartman’s first recordings were with Marl Young in February
1947, it was the collaboration with Hines that provided notable
exposure. After the Hines orchestra broke up, Dizzy Gillespie
invited Hartman to join his big band in 1948 during an eight-week tour
in California. Dropped from the band about one year later, Hartman
worked for a short time with pianist Erroll Garner before going solo by early 1950.
After recording several singles with different orchestras, Hartman finally released his first solo album, Songs from the Heart, with a quintet for Bethlehem Records
in 1955. Releasing two more albums with small labels, neither very
successful, Hartman got a career-altering offer in 1963 to record with
John Coltrane. The saxophonist likely remembered Hartman from a bill
they shared at the Apollo Theater
in 1950 and later said, “I just felt something about him, I don’t know
what it was. I like his sound, I thought there was something there I had
to hear so I looked him up and did that album.” Featuring all ballads, John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman is widely considered a classic. This led to recording four more albums with Impulse! and parent label ABC, all produced by Bob Thiele.
With the 1970s being difficult for singers clinging to the pre-rock American songbook, Hartman turned to playing cocktail lounges in New York City and Chicago. Recording again with small labels such as Perception and Musicor,
Hartman produced music of mixed quality as he attempted to be viewed as
a more versatile vocalist. Referring to his approach to interpreting a
song, Hartman said, "Well, to me a lyric is a story, almost like
talking, telling somebody a story, try to make it believable.” Returning to the jazz combo format of his earlier albums, Hartman recorded Once in Every Life for Bee Hive, earning him a 1981 Grammy nomination for Best Male Jazz Vocalist. This was quickly followed up by his last album of newly recorded material titled This One's for Tedi as a tribute to his wife Theodora.
Hartman recorded new tracks for Grenadilla Records on their jazz label, Grapevine. These were dance tracks of "Beyond the Sea" and "Caravan," with the latter also having an extended six-minute version.
In the early 1980s Hartman gave several performances for jazz festivals, television, and radio before succumbing to lung cancer at the age of sixty. His reputation grew considerably in 1995 when the soundtrack to Clint Eastwood’s Bridges of Madison County (1995) featured seven songs from the then out-of-print Once in Every Life album.
A biography, The Last Balladeer: The Johnny Hartman Story by Dr. Gregg Akkerman, was published in June 2012 by Scarecrow Press as part of their "Studies in Jazz" series.
Hey, the roof is leakin' and the rain's fallin' on my head, it won't stop The roof is leakin' and the rain's fallin' on my head, I need a mop I cried so hard, teardrops on my bed, drippity-drop (yes)
She packed up her bags and she moved out on the midnight train (drip drip) She's got no brain (drippity-drop) She packed up her bag and she moved out on the midnight train, (drip drip) The girl's insane (drippity-drop) She took my heart, tears rollin' down my drain, (drip drip) Just like rain (drippity-drop)
My buddy come to see me to give me a tip, tip, tip I said "Now listen here friend, I tell ya I'm hip, hip, hip" "Why don't ya mind your own business, shut your lip, lip, lip" "I know when my girl's gimme me the slip, slip, slip"
I said the roof is leakin', Rain's fallin' on my head, (drip drip) oh yeah (drippity-drop) I cried so hard, teardrops on my bed, On the floor (drippity-drop) that's what I said
Well, my buddy come to see me to give me a tip, tip, tip I said "Now listen here friend, I tell ya I'm hip, hip, hip" "Why don't ya mind your own business, close your lip, lip, lip" "I know when my girl's gimme me the slip, slip, slip"
I said the roof is leakin', Rain's fallin' on my head (drip-drip) drippity drop (drip-drip) Well, I cried so hard, tears flowin' on my bed (drip-drip) On the floor (drippity drop) on the rug, and on the wall yeah
Some very interesting history from the 18th century:
1769 Cugnot Steam Tractor
The very first self-propelled vehicle that
paved the way for every automobile after it was this steam car designed
by Nicholas Joseph Cugnot in 1769. Like many industrial innovations, it
was the product of a military agenda that was motivated by the French
Minister of War, Etienne-Francois. He probably wanted a means of hauling
large artillery without the fuss and smell of horses.
So, Cugnot and assistant army mechanic Brezin built the first car at
the Paris Arsenal around a basic wooden frame. Their challenge was to
convert the lateral motion of a steam engine into the rotational energy
required for locomotion. To do this, they placed the engine and its
boiler overtop and ahead of the front wheel. The basic idea was to use
two pistons and push notched discs on each side of the front wheel.
Since the whole driving assembly had to pivot with the wheel, steering
must have been very heavy and the high-ratio tiller gear set probably
did little for the unwieldy design.
Despite its setbacks, the first steamer could tow five tons, reach
speeds of up to 4kph and last 15 minutes before needing to reheat and
build up pressure. The initial tests were favorable and a four passenger
version was made.
Probably the biggest setback, aside from the slow turning, was the
steamer’s inability to stop. For some reason Cugnot overlooked one of
most crucial aspects of safety, and with a total lack of any braking
system, it should be no surprise that his Steamer became the first motor
vehicle to suffer an accident. This incident and lack of funds was
enough to scrap the program in 1771. Afterwards, other inventors started
making their own steam cars, but with more failures than successes. The
biggest breakthrough was Gottlieb Daimler’s internal combustion engine
which didn’t arrive until 115 years after the Cugnot’s demise.
All the Cugnot steamers were thought to be lost during the French
revolution until the first prototype was discovered and preserved in the
1800. It ended up in the Musee des Arts et Metiers in Paris, France
where it currently remains as the feature exhibit of their collection: www.arts-et-metiers.net
