was a 1,600-horsepower (1,200 kW) cab unit-type diesel locomotive built for freight service by the Baldwin Locomotive Works between 1950 and 1953. All RF-16s were configured with a B-B wheel arrangement and ran on two AAR Type B two-axle road trucks, with all axles powered. A total of 109 cab-equipped A units were built, along with 51 cabless booster B units, for a total of 160 locomotives built. As was the case with most passenger locomotives of its day, the RF-16s came equipped with a retractable, nose-mounted drop coupler pilot. Unlike competing units from EMD and Alco, the RF-16 used an air-powered throttle, meaning that it could not be run in MU operation with EMD or Alco diesels without special MU equipment.
History
In 1948, Baldwin began to apply a new “Sharknose” body style to its cab unit diesel locomotives. The goal of the new style was partly to differentiate Baldwin locomotives from competitors, and partly to distance the new locomotives from early Baldwin diesels that were plagued with mechanical problems. The style was inspired by the Pennsylvania Railroad’s T1 class duplex steam locomotive, some of which were built by Baldwin. The first locomotives to receive the new styling were the Baldwin DR-6-4-20. When the RF-16 (essentially a “debugged” Baldwin DR-4-4-15 freight locomotive with a new prime mover) was introduced in 1950, it was given the new “Sharknose” styling.
The RF-16 quickly gained a reputation as a reliable and rugged locomotive with tough “lugging power.” Many of the units saw service hauling coal drags, where these characteristics were put to best use. A handful of RF-16s were repowered with ALCO prime movers over the years, with mixed results. The Baltimore and Ohio retired its Sharknoses as a class in 1962. In 1966, the Pennsylvania Railroad, the largest single owner of RF-16s, ceased use of the distinctive locomotives. In 1967, the Monongahela Railway purchased seven A-units and two cabless B-units, the last remaining units from the New York Central Sharknose fleet. By 1971, all but two of the units, 1205 and 1216, had been sold for scrap. The final pair were to be scrapped in 1974, but were saved when the Delaware and Hudson Railroad purchased both units from the scrap dealer. They were used in freight service on the D&H until 1978, when they were purchased by Illinois-based Castolite Corporation. The pair was leased for use on the Michigan Northern Railroad in 1979. Both units suffered mechanical damage and have reportedly been stored since 1981 on the Escanaba and Lake Superior Railroad, inside a warehouse that is inaccessible to the public.
As a recovering Alcoholic/Addict, I needed a spiritual experience to gain Sobriety. I had one nearly 2 decades ago, but recently, while trying to work with another Alcoholic/Addict, I came to the conclusion that this person required a Spiritual Experience. Well, I’m still working with that person, but I received a real big one, which I will discuss and explain in the hope of sharing with you. I get little Spiritual Experiences all the time, Such as listening to George W. Bush talk about having a Spiritual Experience, himself on National Television, and I doubt it not for a second. Cindy McCain also said a little along the same lines in an interview I heard (both were talking about prior issues involving Recovery). This is serious, not my usual wisecracking, so here it goes. Look at the attached photograph of Eleanor Roosevelt at a Day Care Center for War workers in Greensboro NC in the 1940’s. I happen to be a History freak and found it in Doris Kearns Goodwin’s No Ordinary Times. Now Hillary Clinton has said she is a great admirer of Mrs. Roosevelt , but my smarty little ass thought, no, you’re way too cute to be Eleanor Roosevelt. Then I have this vision of Redd Fox (actually done on Sanford & Sons), being annoyed at some old biddy yelling at him and staggering backwards, pounding his chest, Shouting “You’re uglier than Eleanor Roosevelt”! So who is the woman in this photograph? Make the face bigger, it radiates unearthly beauty, compassion, charity and Divineunconditional love. Most of my Spiritual Experiences are little gusts of wind (except my initial one in Recovery), but this one was a full blown hurricane! I think it was aimed at the Alcoholic/Addict I was working with, but that person wasn’t ready so I got the experience instead. Look at the faces of the children, they instinctively pick up on these things, and except for the older ones, who are less responsive, they are rapt, and in awe, their faces say it all, hope, attention, feeling that someone does indeed watch over them. I was reminded of this once watching Michelle Obama at an event in New Hampshire. The children, both white and black were thrilled and in awe, but Michelle Obama, just looked like herself. I think this shot was not a fluke, I believe that the photographer caught the very “Divine Essence” of something that was with Eleanor Roosevelt at that moment, and that something was Angelic and Divine. Sure you can rationalize that it was lighting or a weird angle, but I prefer to believe it is proof that Angels walked among us and watched over us in a period much more dangerous than we face now, Hitler was Master of Europe, Stalin was in his prime (though our ally for now, unless this was before June 1941). We suffered through the worst depression everJim Crow was alive and well. Can you think of a better place for a loving, merciful GodAngel? Faith and Belief, I’m inclined to joke and Kid but this hit me like a 2×4. This is generally a humor blog, with some seriousness thrown in, I Believe this is proof that “Angels” walked and walk among us, and that is Faith. So there it is, do what you want with it, I Believe! And if it doesn’t work, just keep your eyes and mind open (Knock on wood) and to reveal his and one will find you?
The Chassepot, officially known as Fusil modèle 1866, was a bolt action military breechloading rifle, famous as the arm of the French forces in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and 1871. It replaced the obsolete muzzle-loading Minié rifle. It was a great improvement on the military rifles previously in use and marked the real commencement of the epoch of bolt action, breech loading, military firearms generally. It was very easily converted to fire metallic cartridges in 1874 (Gras rifle), a step which would have been impossible to achieve with the Dreyse needle rifle. [2] It was mainly manufactured by MAS (an abbrevation of Manufacture d’Armes St. Etienne – one of several government-owned arms factories in France)
Needle Gun Bolt mechanism (1866)
French Infantryman with Chassepot Gun
History
It was so called after its inventor, Antoine Alphonse Chassepot (1833—1905), who, from 1857 onwards, had constructed various experimental forms of breechloader, and the rifle became the French service weapon in 1866. In the following year it made its first appearance on the battlefield at Mentana on 3 November 1867, where it inflicted severe losses upon Giuseppe Garibaldi’s troops. It was reported at the French Parliament that “Les Chassepots ont fait merveille!”, or loosely translated : “The Chassepots have done exceedingly well.
In the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) it proved greatly superior to the German Dreyse needle gun, outranging it by 2 to 1. Although it was a smaller caliber (11 mm vs. 15.4 for the Dreyse), the chassepot ammunition had more gunpowder and thus faster muzzle velocity (by 33% over the Dreyse), resulting in a flatter trajectory and a longer range which was 1200 yards (1100 m). The Chassepots were responsible for most of the Prussian and other German casualties during the conflict.
Sure, if I’m in a bad mood I can out spout Che’s drivel, I just am not yet ready to be buried in some unmarked pit in Bolivia, Cuba’s waiting for Fidel to croak, so they can try the NEP 20 years after the Chinese, there’s nothing there, Communism and Hard Left Humanism are just residual remnants of 20th century opium for the masses. What works, this works for a while on some stuff, that works a while on other stuff and the Enlightenment without Aristocracy seems a real good idea? But the Liberal elite is too much of a Meritocracy, which is what we have, but meritocracy needs moderation like anything else and Reagan had less brains than you and changed the world. Che’s dead and I’m not Che. The Proletariat will triumph and the State will disappear, wasn’t that one of Aesop’s Fables, we can’t get the unreconstructed states rights segregationists in Alabama to set up a UAW plant, and some Bozo getting shot in Bolivia over dis proven ideology is really irrelevant unless I actually decide to pick up an AK? (I’ve thought about it, I’m waiting for Newt to get elected)
Dictatorship of the Proletariat, Russia China and Bolivia didn’t have a proletariat just peasants like the Bible Belt Republicans in this country, the Proletariat lives in Ohio and Michigan (OK, they live in Alabama too)and used to work for GM (Unless they live in Alabama, then they work for the Commie/Socialist Germans who refuse to pay American’s Union Wages?), and they are having a hard time dictating anything?
Berlin in the 1920’s was a world center of Liberalism, Humanism and Progressive thought. People sat in the Cafes and Nightclubs and laughed at the idiot Prussians and reactionaries that lurked in the far right. They thought that the very logic and self evident Intellectualism of their ideas would triumph and felt no fear.
The 2008 election is not taking place in Denmark, Reagan happened in 1980 and can be repeated. It actually is much more likely to happen if the Liberal intellectuals, who define themselves as “Humanist” continue to think they speak for the majority of America, they do to a point, but only to a point. In a center right country it is not the responsibility of the religious right to seek an accommodation with the left (as well as it not being the responsibility of the Progressives to turn back the clock to the 19th or perhaps even the 18th/pre- Enlightenment era in the case of some Churches). The ideas and philosophies of the extreme left as often expressed in the Media of the New York Times, the Huffington Post and Salon magazine are not some superior vision that will ever triumph in a center right country, often they are just the opinions of self absorbed, overly paid and overly educated narcissists.
John McCain has spoken to tone down the more excessive views that can be expressed on the right, we are one people, but it’s not the rich and the educated who are center right in number, it’s the general population at large. Nixon was a response to the left, Reagan was a response to the left and George W Bush was a response to the left. The left is best expressed by the number of people who will vote for Ralph Nader. What was Barack Obama’s (My preferred choice) biggest mistake so far to date? The “Guns and Bibles” remark, it almost cost him the election, it is much easier in a center right country to just refer to them (the people he was talking to in California) as Idiots, morons and eggheads. Don’t make the mistake in a center right country of ever thinking theses ideas are self evident, universal and mainstream, they are just the left. Now I am an Idiot, a moron and an egghead, my only redeeming factor is that I realize that I am an idiot, a moron and an egghead. I like New Deal liberalism as best expressed by FDR, Harry Truman and Barack Obama, but I realize that the ideas and philosophies of Oliver Stone, Bill Maher and the far left don’t have a chance in hell of ever being put in place in a center right country. Why aggravate the majority, try to speak to the better angels of their nature, and without angels, there is no nature. There is nothing there in Humanism, it’s empty like Communism, or any other extreme view. The enlightenment occurred in a Judeo/Christian environment, it has never stood alone by itself.
So what is the problem that caused this, pure stupidity on the intellectual left. Rachel Maddow ( who is anything but stupid) discussed Sarah Palin with Patrick Buchanan (who is also much smarter than the left likes to admit)and was unable to understand the appeal of Sarah Palin. I normally agree with Rachel, but on this Patrick Buchanan was right, Reagan happened and he can happen again and if the extreme left doesn’t realize this, he will rise up from the grave in the form of a Newt Gingrich or worse. Pick your targets more carefully, don’t blindly emote a response on the left, you are a minority and every action provokes an equal and opposite reaction.
I was pulling my usual stunt of running around in Far Right blogs, looking for ideas that could be labeled as “Hate Speech” and I came across a major site of the Assembly of God and was looking for dirt. But in this particular blog I found only “Christians” speaking amoung themselves about Sarah and Todd Palin visiting and talking to their congregation, All of the comments I found in this were expressed in very positive ways, speaking only of their love and support of these two political figures. I thought oh well, made no trouble and looked for dirt elsewhere. But as I returned, a obviously well off liberal intellectual had dropped off, a link from Salon Magazine, probably examining the Troopergate thing from a left viewpoint. Hell I’ve probably done the same thing, but I at least try to find ideas expressed incorrectly, I’m looking for a fight. But this was different, the ideas were expressed correctly and nothing remotely hateful appeared in this site. It’s dumb, the person obviously just saw Jesus Christ and scripture and dropped off the link. I don’t think Salon magazine is high on the list of things the people in this group are likely to read, and you just offended them and I go back to the reality that pissing off the far right in a center right country for no reason whatsoever just produces more Reagan’s, Bush’s and Palin’s. It was an idiotic action by a very well educated and well off person. Rubbing it in, what’s the point if you just rile em up and we end up with 4 more years of trickle Down economics and my head hurts!!!You have a brain use it!!! (So I called them peasants, segregationist, States right advocates and riled em up for you???, but I mean in general, be nice in mixed company, and don’t burn Flags and shout Viva La Revelucion unless you’re really wasted, even that’s a bad idea but you might get off easier than operating a motor vehicle in the current climate)
HMS Victory is a first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built between 1759 and 1765, and most famous as Lord Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar. She is the oldest naval ship still in commission. She sits in dry dock in Portsmouth, England as a museum ship.
Vice-Admiral Nelson hoisted his flag in Victory on 16 May 1803 with Samuel Sutton as his flag captain and sailed to assume command in the Mediterranean on 20 May. Nelson transferred to the faster frigate Amphion on 23 May. On 28 May Captain Sutton captured the French Embuscade of 32 guns, bound for Rochefort from San Domingo. Victory rejoined Lord Nelson off Toulon on 30 July when Captain Sutton exchanged commands with the captain of the Amphion, Thomas Masterman Hardy.
Victory was passing the island of Toro on 4 April, 1805, when HMS Phoebe brought the news that the French fleet under Pierre-Charles Villeneuve had escaped from Toulon. While Nelson made for Sicily to see if the French were heading for Egypt, Villeneuve was entering Cádiz to link up with the Spanish fleet. On 7 May Nelson reached Gibraltar and received his first definite news. The British fleet completed their stores in Lagos Bay, Portugal, on 10 May and two days later sailed westward with ten ships and three frigates in pursuit of the combined Franco-Spanish fleet of 17 ships. They arrived in the West Indies to find that the enemy was sailing back to Europe where Napoleon Bonaparte was waiting for them with his invasion forces at Boulogne.
The Franco-Spanish fleet was involved in the indecisive Battle of Cape Finisterre in fog off Ferrol with Admiral Sir Robert Calder’s squadron on 22 July before taking refuge in Vigo and Ferrol to land wounded and abandon three damaged ships. Calder on 14 August and Nelson on 15 August joined Admiral Cornwallis’s Channel Fleet off Ushant. Nelson continued to England in Victory leaving his Mediterranean fleet with Cornwallis who detached twenty of his thirty-three ships of the line and sent them under Calder to find the combined fleet at Ferrol. On 19 August came the worrying news that the enemy had sailed from there, followed by relief when they arrived in Cádiz two days later. On the evening of Saturday, 28 September, Lord Nelson joined Lord Collingwood’s fleet off Cádiz, quietly, so that his presence would not be known.
Nelson’s famous signal, “England expects that every man will do his duty“, flying from Victory on the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar.
When Admiral Villeneuve learned that he was to be removed from command he took his ships to sea on the morning of 19 October, first sailing south towards the Mediterranean but then turning north towards the British fleet, beginning the Battle of Trafalgar. Nelson had already made his plans: to break the enemy line some two or three ships ahead of their Commander in Chief in the centre and achieve victory before the van could come to their aid. In the event fitful winds made it a slow business. For five hours after Nelson’s last manoeuvring signal the two columns of British ships slowly approached the French line before Royal Sovereign, leading the lee column, was able to open fire on Fougueux. Twenty five minutes later Victory broke the line between Bucentaure and Redoutable firing a treble shotted broadside into the stern of the former from a range of a few yards. At 25 minutes past one Nelson was shot, the fatal musket ball entering his left shoulder and lodging in his spine. He died at half past four. Such killing had taken place on Victory’s quarter deck that Redoutable attempted to board her, but they were thwarted by the arrival of Eliab Harvey in the 98-gun HMS Temeraire, whose broadside devastated the French ship. Nelson’s last order was for the fleet to anchor but this was rejected by Vice Admiral Collingwood. Victory lost 57 killed and 102 wounded.
One of several fantastically ornate horse-drawn carriages on display in the armory of the Moscow Kreml ("Kremlin" is a Scandinavian word for fort!). The suspensions are amazingly primitive to a modern-day mechanic's eye.
royal carriage at Laken or Laeken, Belvédère Palace Belgium
Thailand Royal Carriage (Siam)
Sa'ad Abad Palace in Tehran
Made about 150 years ago in Vienna for Nassereddin Shah. He bought this for only 5000 Tomans. This is the oldest and the most valuable carriage in Iran. Kings after Nassereddin also used it in official ceremonies and coronations.
a Royal Carriage
Royal carriages in coach house at Quirinal Palace incl. Laudaus in foregrd. for ordinary use & ceremonial carriages w. royal crests in bkgd.
The current Financial Crisis is due to excessive deregulation, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Barack Obama are not in favor of regulating every thing, but using common sense. Under Ronald Reagan, as well as Herbert Hoover, historically, the the Republican Party opposes government regulation on principle in just about any case.
I don’t mind increased use of Nuclear Power personally, but the idea of this taking place in a Republican administration places such emphasis on deregulation is frankly nightmarish?
Admittedly, some Democrats may have had their hands dirty in the Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae affair, but deregulation has not, has never and will never be a cornerstone of the Democratic Party. The failure is directly tied to the flawed theories evolved and espoused by Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party.
Think about it!!!
Tell those Republicans you can put feathers on a dog, but that don’t make it a chicken!!
Greenspan steps up criticism of Fannie
Fed chief says company and Freddie Mac have exploited their relationship with the Treasury.
May 19, 2005: 4:56 PM EDT
By Kathleen Hays, CNN/Money contributing writer
NEW YORK (CNN) – Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan Thursday suggested that the nation’s mortgage lending giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are taking advantage of their implicit government subsidy to pad their profits with investments that are too risky, which is not helping the nation’s homeowners.
I said Its the Economy Stupid, but thats close enough for you Dummi!!
We already know, from our experience in Viet Nam that if we put enough troops into an unstable environment, (a civil war even) that we can establish relative security. That environment was much more intense, and we tied up a draftee army (a much larger Army) for years to try and prop up a variety of regimes that could not exist other wise.
At times, you could drive unmolested from Saigon to Hue on their highway and rice production was better in the Mekong delta. But the cost to us was the greatest period of social upheaval since the civil war here at home (Imagine that, stay out of civil wars perhaps?).
The toll on our Armed Forces was very high also, fighting a war that was unpopular at home with an Army made up of people who were unable to get a college draft deferment (talk about elitism) still resonates today in attitudes of various social and economic groups. It’s our Army, and using it unwisely is a bad thing, regardless of if you are a peace and love type or a hawk.
After being gone for a couple of years, the Nationalist/Communist in the North rolled down and smashed the trained and well armed forces of the South with ease. I don’t think we ever really sold the South Vietnamese on any ideas that they could hold up to stop the north. It didn’t really matter enough to the average peasant in the Mekong Delta who sat in Saigon and what that meant to daily life. And especially at that time the benefits of socialism and capitalism were up in the air. According to the Irish British Sargent Patrick Harper (Bernard Cornwall, The Sharpe’s Series), when asked why he served in the British Army, he replied “Freedom to starve is not freedom”.
In the Clinton years, we set what may be a bad precedent in nation building in what was Yugoslavia. In hindsight, one would say that it worked, and to a point it did. I would argue that the good results reflect more on the Russians (Victims of ethnic cleansing attempts themselves), do not currently seek to destabilize the situation and stretch our overstretched forces to the breaking point. For now, but I hear some quarters rattling the saber towards Russia and we don’t need it, not now especially.
The situation in Iraq seems more stable as a result of our Surge, but the political solution is the key, have we convinced the average Iraqi that this is better or are we just propping something up that cannot exist without us? I’m not a Peace and Love extreme democrat, I’m an Obama guy for Health care and domestic issues. I would not mind if Obama flip flopped on Iraq, if in the opinion of a man who opposed it from the start and was right, he thinks he want’s to give it a little more time than some might think he promised. But that’s just me. Use your flip flops wisely, locking into a position you cannot adjust with enviornmental changes is bad also. Franklin Delano Roosevelt flip flopped on war with Japan and Germany, though admittedly the Pearl Harbor thing helped, but we were sinking German subs (technically, an act of war) on sight at the time.
Some would say you are either for or against the war, I think that is too narrow to be practical. I am for using our Armed Forces wisely instead.
With adoption of the MG 34 machine gun the Wehrmacht had the weapon that was envisaged some 20 years before, and the MG 34 bears the distinction of being the first practical universal (or general purpose) machine gun. While the MG 34 was good and practical, it was certainly not ideal. German experts wanted their machine guns to fire faster, while being simpler and less costly. A high rate of fire was desirable both for AA applications and for surprise flanking fire against targets moving through the battlefield. As early as 1937 HWaA issued a request for the next new universal machine gun,and three companies received development contracts – Johannes Grossfuss AG, Stubgen AG and Rheinmetall-Borsig AG. In 1939 a commission selected the Grossfuss-made MG 39 prototype for further development. Designed by engineer Gruner (often wrongfully referred to as Grunow) and small arms designer Horn, new weapon, in accordance with HWaA request, had a stamped steel construction, combined with locked breech, short recoil action. Initial trials suggested that the Grossfuss MG needed further development, and in late 1941 a small batch (about 1500 pieces) of improved guns was manufactured for troop trials as the MG 39/41.
The new machine gun, while being made to lower standards of fit and finish, proved to be quite functional and reliable (a feature that the much more “refined” MG 34 lacked, especially in the mud and snow of the Russian front). Subsequently, it was officially adopted as the MG 42, and production commenced later the same year.
In general terms, the MG 42 was a great success. It fulfilled the roles of a light machine gun on a bipod, a medium machine gun (on a newly developed Lafette 42 tripod), and an anti-aircraft machine gun, mounted in single and twin installations, ground and vehicle-mounted. It was relatively inexpensive to make and required less raw materials than the MG 34, and it was simple to maintain and use. On the minus side, it had a somewhat excessive rate of fire, usually quoted as 1200 rounds per minute, although German WW2 era manuals listed it as 1500 rounds per minute (25 rounds per second). This rate of fire resulted in excessive consumption of ammunition and rapid overheating. While the extremely rapid barrel change procedure allowed for sustained fire, the resulting accuracy left something to be desired; excessive vibration from recoil, combined with a short sight radius, resulted in degraded long range accuracy compared with earlier MG 34 and, especially, the heavy MG 08Maxim guns. Nonetheless the MG 42 was an impressive and fearsome weapon, known among Allied soldiers as “Hitler’s saw”, for the sound of the firing which resembled the sound of a giant mechanical saw.