Sound The Steam Whistles, It's Friday!!!

Happy Friday Once Again!! And welcome to this week's collection of newsworthy items and oddities from all corners of the world; (click picture at right to hear the whistle)

1) I'm Dreaming Of A LOUD Christmas; Next time you're in York PA around Christmas-time, be sure to stick around for an annual event that is a great source of pride to this little burgh. Perched on top of the New York Wire Company's factory is what is now officially acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World's Records to be the world's loudest steam whistle. And as if that weren't enough, every Christmas-time, someone very skilled in the art of manipulating a whistle-sounding mechanism (variable slide I believe) plays Christmas songs on the whistle (a Lunkenheimer and Crane Mockingbird whistle) for all to hear. Click HERE for a news story, and click HERE for actual video footage of said whistle in action. It's a haunting sound you'll NEVER forget.

2) We Need Another CDC: In this case, a second CDC should stand for Centers For Dumbass Control! It's not enough the CDC gave more praise to its bean counters and bureaucrats than it's hard-working scientists and field investigators. Then they can't account for several million dollars of missing property and the wasteful use of a jet. Ohhhh no, then they have a facility that's prone to losing power, one that contains deadly organisms in refrigeration. Oh, and let's not forget, practically giving the shyster lawyer with tuberculosis a free pass, And now they top it with this, construction crews BLASTING (as in with explosives) within 30 FEET of a building that contains vials/cultures of deadly organisms like Ebola and what not. Sheeeeeeeeeeeer, geeeeeeenius, it's all I can say, More of the story HERE. Your tax dollars taking a 4-Martini lunch.

3) What Hath Apple Wrought?: I'm just CACKLING at this one! AT&T, so far the only carrier servicing the brand-new iPhone (from Apple) sure loves detail, so much that their iPhone customers (already having shelled out $500+ for the phone itself) now are getting their phone bill shipped in A BOX! That's right, the iPhone bill is several dozen pages (at a minimum) long and up to HUNDREDS in some cases. It's not the monthly charges that have people ticked off though, it's the sheer volume of paper and gratuitous data-transfer statistics that get put in the bill, it's nothing short of OVERKILL! The story HERE.

4) IT IS BAAAALLLLOOOOOONNNNNNN!!!; Quote from the "Bye Bye Balloon" episode of F-Troop notwithstanding, the folks at Worldwide Aeros Corp. are doing their part to bring back the passenger carrying dirigible or zeppelin in a newer form, the Aeroscraft ML866. No, it WILL NOT be inflated by hydrogen nor painted with a flammable aluminum based paint like the Hindenburg was. It will use helium, and be customizable to carry freight or passengers ranging in number from 2 to 20. No price has been set yet but it's said that it will be competitive with that of most private jets. With a projected range of 3100 miles (NOT designed for ocean crossing though), a maximum altitude of 12,000 feet and a top speed of 120mph, this would be a perfect machine for folks who want to travel in style that aren't in too bad of a hurry to get there or carrying large payloads to places that a normal plane couldn't land. Test flights are set to begin in 2010, and more details HERE

5) Alice In Blunderland: How do you like this for convoluted BS and another example of government gone horribly out of control? A class-action lawsuit brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation on behalf of an AT&T customer against the government, more specifically the oh-so-secretive NSA over its unconstitutional warantless wiretapping operations against American citizens, under the guise of "fighting terror". The arguments alone by the governments lawyers are so pathetic and ridden with so much paranoia about secrets being revealed that the three appeals court judges are beside themselves with confusion, amazement and disbelief over all this nonsense. Things like this are just one more reason in my mind to impeach Bush and Cheney. See if ANY of this makes sense to you, more HERE

6) It Looked Good On Paper #277: In the mid-1950's the Air Force was trying to solve a particularly annoying problem with then new jet-fighters/interceptors. That being, how to get quicker acceleration that prop driven aircraft were famous for yet be able to achieve jet speeds. Well, some folks at Republic Aircraft came up with a novel idea, why not take a jet fighter body (in this case, that of a Republic F-84 Thunderjet) and power it with a specially designed prop capable of operating at supersonic velocities? Sure looked impressive on paper, and they set about trying the idea out. Using a somewhat widened F-84 body (fitted with a T-tail) they just barely crammed in a nearly 6000hp turboprop engine (actually 2 engines connected to a common gearbox) that had been prone to numerous problems in other experimental airframes, a special 3-bladed prop (which spun at 3000 rpm, over 3 times the normal rotational speed of most props) and even an afterburner. What followed was something less than stellar. End result?

• 11 out of 12 test flights ended in emergency landings due to vibrations of the outrageously long drive shaft



• Top speed of just barely over 500mph



• Became infamous for being the LOUDEST plane ever built. This was due to the prop's outrageously high rotational speed. The prop tips were constantly breaking the sound barrier unleashing constant sonic booms, and as if that weren't obnoxious enough, these sonic booms resonated off the ground creating subsonic pulses which sickened and nauseated the ground crew, not to mention cracked windows.

I read somewhere of a former AF officer who lived about 10 miles from the base where it was tested could easily hear this hellish beast revving up from that distance. It was nicknamed "Thunderscreech" with very good reason. When flying overhead, it was reputed to sound like a screaming creature from Hell itself. Needless to say, the program was scrapped. Today, only one of two prototypes has survived, currently on display at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton OH. A detailed article HERE, another HERE

ON THE PLAYER:

MILES DAVIS - IN A SILENT WAY

A gem from 1969, and at this point, Miles had completely broken away from straight jazz and was reaching for something genuinely new. With drummer Tony Williams (who would leave the Davis fold to form his own revolutionary Lifetime band shortly after), keyboardists Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul and Chick Corea, bassist Dave Holland, saxophonist Wayne Shorter and a young unknown guitarist from Britain by the name of John McLaughlin, Miles conjured up a strangely beautiful, alternately rocking and hypnotic album of constantly shifting colors, long loping melody lines and inspired improvisations. The only resemblance to jazz it bore was that there was improvisation, it's only resemblance to rock was electric instruments. The rest had roots in African percussion ensembles and seemingly Impressionist composers as far as some of the harmonies went, but the sum total was something far more that couldn't be described in words. This is something just perfect to throw on late at night over a good glass of wine or tea and just let it wash over you. Highly recommended

HAPPY FRIDAY FROM THIS OWL!