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....
Nickel Plate Road no. 765 is a 2-8-4 "Berkshire" type steam locomotive built for the Nickel Plate Road in 1944 by the Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio. Classified as a "S-2" class Berkshire, the locomotive operated fast, heavy freight and passenger trains until retirement in 1958. It is also similar in design to Pere Marquette 1225, also built by Lima.
Following a restoration in 1979 and after a major overhaul in 2005,
765 operates in public exhibition and passenger excursion train service.
It is owned and maintained by the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical
Society (FWRHS) and listed as no. 96001010 on the National Register of Historic Places.
Jellyfish Lake (Palauan: Ongeim'l Tketau, "Fifth Lake") is a marine lake located on Eil Malk island in Palau. Eil Malk is part of the Rock Islands,
a group of small, rocky, mostly uninhabited islands in Palau's Southern
Lagoon, between Koror and Peleliu. There are about 70 other marine
lakes located throughout the Rock Islands. Millions of golden jellyfish migrate horizontally across the lake daily.
Jellyfish Lake is connected to the ocean through fissures and tunnels in the limestone of an ancient Miocene reef. However the lake is sufficiently isolated and the conditions are different enough that the diversity of species in the lake is greatly reduced from the nearby lagoon. The golden jellyfish, Mastigias cf. papua etpisoni,
and possibly other species in the lake have evolved to be substantially
different from their close relatives living in the nearby lagoons.
*Danny & The Juniors, individually Frank Maffei, Danny Rapp, Joe
Terranova and Dave White, began singing together in the early 1950's at ages
13 and 14 in Philadelphia where they were fans of the local rhythm and blues
radio stations. It was there they heard the first stirrings of a new music soon
to become known as Rock 'n Roll. The Juvenaires, as they were called
then, quickly decided to become part of the new movement and began to perform
the new songs as well as their own original material at school dances, local
clubs and restaurants.
At that time, record companies were engaged in a frenzied search for young
people who could perform the new music. It wasn't very long before they discovered the youths, re-named them Danny & The Juniors
and recorded them singing one of their own original songs called At The Hop.
The song quickly became a monumental hit on five continents reaching #1 on
the pop, country and rhythm and blues charts. It stands today as the #23 all-time
biggest record according to The Billboard Magazine List Of #1 Hits. The
Group immediately followed with another hit, Rock And Roll Is Here To Stay,
which became an anthem of the era, plus dance classics Twistin' USA and
Pony Express. These were the first of a string of eleven charted recordings.
Their latest albums are the 1992 MCA' release Rockin' With Danny And The
Juniors and the 1997 Collectibles release Danny And The Juniors
- Classic Golden Greats.
Early in 1958 Dick Clark presented Danny And The Juniors with
a gold record for At The Hop on American Bandstand, the first of many awards
and accolades they would receive over their career, including Best New Group
of 1957 and the prestigious Philadelphia Music Alliance Achievement Award
more recently.
With the success of At The Hop, Danny And The Juniors began touring
with the other early legends and founders of American Rock In Roll such as:
Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and The Platters
in the famous Alan Freed Big Beat Show, as well as appearing at many
of the nations top nightclubs, arenas and fairs. To this day they have traveled
millions of miles and entertained millions of people in all fifty states, Canada,
Europe, South America and Asia. Danny And The Juniors have made almost fifty American Bandstand
appearances and have been on numerous television shows -- from the old Patti
Page Big Record Show to Nashville Now more recently. They've also
been featured in three motion pictures and their songs have been in many more.
Danny And The Juniors have been covered in many important national publications
including Life, Billboard, Cashbox and Teen. The latest of these is a
recent USA Today article that points out the broad appeal of Danny
And The Juniors and their music across many demographic categories.
Now, in their fifth decade as performers, the group still appears at a multitude
of venues including conventions, theatres, clubs, casinos, fairs and festivals.
Their wholesome, fun-loving stage show is embellished with comedy, impressions,
bright costumes and audience participation -- while still preserving the rich
history -- and is regarded as one of the best in the business.