the smart devils at Petrolicious, they did the perfect St Patricks Day post... of why Alfas had 4 leaf clovers on the hoods

You have to admire the precise thinking over at Petrolicious, no one else thought to post about this!

Read the article at http://www.petrolicious.com/more-than-luck-the-story-of-alfa-romeo-s-quadrifoglio-badge

But long story short, Alfa had 4 race car drivers on their first factory racing team, Enzo Ferrari, his friend Ugo Sivocci, Giuseppe Campari and Alberto Ascari. Sivocci was unlucky, and to boost his luck, he painted a quadrafoglio - four leaf clover - on his car before the 1923 Targa Florio.

Sivocci won the 1923 Targa Florio�and, apart from his talent behind the wheel, it seemed as though the Quadrifoglio helped win him the race.

Sivocci, who died during practice for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza before the symbol was painted on his Alfa Romeo P1 race car.

His death was recognized in a symbolic change to the Quadrifoglio: before Monza, the clover sat inside a white diamond, each point said to represent each of the Alfa Romeo factory drivers.

When Sivocci died, one of the points of the diamond was removed, creating the cloverleaf in a triangle emblem that continues to this day. 

rail inspectors were outfitted with Chevys, Fords, etc... the company President, though, he went full force and got a Caddy limo

New Haven Railroads lines managing director, Pat McGinnis.

Notice the vanity plates with his initials... he mush have been ridiculously wealthy

Found on https://www.facebook.com/HeritageRailway and photos from https://www.flickr.com/photos/that_chrysler_guy/4925148772/in/photostream/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York,_New_Haven_and_Hartford_Railroad

The New Haven Railroad operated in New England from 1872 to 1968, dominating the region's rail traffic for the first half of the 20th century. By 1912, the New Haven practically monopolized traffic in a wide swath from Boston to New York City.

 The line went bankrupt in 1935, was reorganized and reduced in scope, went bankrupt again in 1961, and in 1969 was merged into the Penn Central system, which itself went bankrupt.

 A reorganization was completed on September 18, 1947. Frederic C. Dumaine, Sr. and others, including Patrick B. McGinnis (1904-1973), gained control in 1948.

Frederic C. Dumaine, Jr. took over after his father's death in 1951 and immediately set about restoring the condition of the railroad and the morale of the employees. In 1953, control passed from the preferred stockholders to the common stockholders.

A proxy fight then ensued between McGinnis and incumbent president Dumaine; McGinnis emerged as the victor and sought to maximize revenue for shareholders.

To do this, he deferred maintenance and ordered experimental lightweight trains for Boston-New York service. Another McGinnis contribution was the imposition of parking charges at stations.

Hurricanes in 1955 washed out a number of important lines. Upon McGinnis' departure for the B&M in 1956, auditors found the NH earnings for 1955 were less than half of what McGinnis had claimed.

 McGinnis' financial dealings ultimately culminated in a prison sentence for receiving kickbacks on the sale of B&M's streamlined passenger cars, ending his career in railroading.

Illinois Central Green Diamond streamliner,

The Illinois Central's first streamlined passenger train proved popular with the traveling public between Chicago, and St. Louis on the Illinois Central Railroad. It operated from 1936 until 1968.

The name honored the "green diamond" in the Illinois Central's logo as well as the Diamond Special, the Illinois Central's oldest train on the Chicago-St. Louis run.

Like the second-generation City trains which it resembles, the Green Diamond was built by Pullman, but was made of Corten steel rather than aluminum. Pullman constructed the Green Diamond's original fixed consist, which included a power car, baggage/mail car, coach, coach-dinette, and kitchen-dinette-parlor-observation car. The coach seated 56, while the coach-dinette seated 44 in the coach section and the dinette area had seating for 16. The parlor car had seating for 22.

 It was the last fixed-consist train built in the 1930s for a railroad in the United States. The train's interior was art deco, as was popular in the period.

Found on https://www.facebook.com/HeritageRailway?fref=photo

http://www.rediff.com/money/slide-show/slide-show-1-historic-and-iconic-images-of-train-journey/20120830.htm#28

Found on http://streamlinermemories.info/?p=2351

http://streamlinermemories.info/Eastern/GreenDiamond.jpg

The first satellite news truck, Conus-1, is already a museum piece, but it was vitally important to the 80's growth of news broadcasting on cable tv

restored by the B R Howard company, it was built on an F350 van chassis, which couldn't handle the weight, and then built on an '84 GMC truck frame because additional components added to the vehicle (control center, cargo bed, and a hydraulic satellite disk boom) were heavier than anticipated.

Satellites were key to tv affiliate stations getting news to and from the networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN) which broke the networks control over the news stories that were selected. In covering breaking news, local stations have the variety of resources to choose from of networks or affiliates. If you are interested enough you can read all about it I learned a bit from this Google book

Photo from http://www.brhoward.com/conus_satellite_truck.html

an actual dynamite stick bombed car, that sets your respect for investigation reporters up a long way. The story of Dan Bolles

After getting his college degree and being so awesome the President of the university gave him an award just for being him, he fought in Korea. When he came back home he parlayed his lack of fear of enemy aircraft into a job taking on the mafia. He began writing for the Arizona Reporter, and developed a reputation because he actually reported the terrible things people were doing.

While investigating a real estate deal between the mafia and politicians in Phoenix in 1976, a remote controlled dynamite bomb was detonated, and after 10 days and many surgeries and amputations, the very dedicated reporter, Dan Bolles, was able to declare the dying words �They finally got me, the Mafia. Emprise. Find John.� and the John in question, John Harvey Adamson, was found guilty of planting the bomb, though the man who ordered the hit wasn�t imprisoned for decades. An entire gallery in the museum of news and journalism (The Newseum in Washington) is dedicated to Bolles� work and memory.

Info and photo from http://www.weirdworm.com/5-journalists-who-gave-everything-for-the-story/  via the story I found on http://www.brhoward.com/don_bolles_car.html who has stopped the natural decay of the car and made it look the way it did on the day in 1976 for it's exhibition in the Washington DC museum of News and Journalism http://www.newseum.org/about/

Photo and post idea from http://www.brhoward.com/don_bolles_car.html

Gandy dancers and gross polluters, the killers of the street cars

image from http://latimespast.tumblr.com/post/96562548684/the-planned-downtown-l-a-streetcar-is-back-in-the

the federal government sued  the consortium of General Motors, Standard Oil, Firestone Tire and Rubber, Phillips Petroleum, and Mack Truck Manufacturing Co. for conspiring to deep-six the region's streetcars.

Most historians agree that GM and the other mega-companies only helped to speed the end of the railway, which already was deep into red ink.

World War II's shortages of gasoline and rubber crippled bus service. By the end of the war, the trolley lines were decrepit, obsolete and deep in the red. Some Angelenos purchased the trolleys from scrap dealers, moved them to vacant lots and began living in them during the city's housing shortage.

In 1945,  American City Lines, a subsidiary of National City Lines, a Chicago-based company whose investors included General Motors and other big oil and rubber interests, bought the remaining electric streetcar line in LA.

National City Lines soon controlled 46 transit networks in the Midwest and West. The company began scrapping these electric systems and replacing them with diesel buses that -- surprise -- used fuel and rubber.

By 1946, the Justice Department had caught on. It filed an antitrust suit against National City Lines for conspiracy to monopolize the transit industry. But before the suit came to trial in Chicago, the consortium of big companies bailed out, selling their holdings in National City Lines. That essentially left it as an empty corporation.

In 1949, the case finally came to trial. The verdict was mixed, with acquittals and convictions. Although they no longer owned National City Lines, the companies in the consortium were fined wrist-slapping amounts of $5,000 each, while individual company officials were fined $1 each, for a total of $37,007. By then, the far-flung suburbs were crisscrossed by cars, highways and a few freeways, and the so-called conspiracy plot simply applied the coup de grace to a dying system.

http://www.latimes.com/me-2003-los-angeles-streetcar-history-story.html#page=1

LA, 1943  http://latimespast.tumblr.com/post/81704529173/downtown-los-angeles-70-years-ago-this-is-the

during WW2, Baldwin was building both Sherman tanks and steam locomotives

In this 1943 company photograph, two different war product lines are shown, a brand new Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range �Yellowstone,� one of the largest steam engines produced, along with an M4 Sherman tank. This view is from the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania�s collection

Found on https://www.facebook.com/HeritageRailway?fref=nf

As i was posting last month.. bridges need to get fixed real damn quick

You've heard that Volvo was bought by a Chinese company? So, new Volvos... are no longer the Swede you've known for safety, they are now Zhejiang Geely manufactured. Here are the other "who owns what" of 2015

GM

GM produces vehicles in 37 countries under 13 different brand names. These are Alpheon, Buick, Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, Holden, HSV, Opel, Vauxhall, Wuling, Baojun, Jei Fang and UzDaewoo.

FORD
A Ford is a Ford is a Ford. Unless, of course, it�s called a Lincoln.

PSA
Citro�n, Peugeot and DS.

HONDA
Japanese automotive company Honda and Acura.

TATA
The Indian company makes Tata, Land Rover and Jaguar.

RENAULT
French manufacturer Renault also markets the Dacia from Romania and cars bearing the Renault Samsung badge

NISSAN
As well as Nissan, Infiniti and the Datsun nameplate for low-cost vehicles, it owns UD trucks

FCA
Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Ferrari and Maserati, while the Chrysler operation is responsible for Jeep, Ram and Dodge.

DAIMLER
It is now the governing company name for both Mercedes-Benz and Smart, Detroit Diesel, Mitsubishi, Fuso, Maybach, Freightliner, Western Star,

BMW
The BMW Group controls Mini and Rolls-Royce

TOYOTA
Toyota, Hino, Lexus, Ranz and Scion. It also holds a controlling interest in Daihatsu

HYUNDAI
Hyundai owns fellow South Korean car company Kia.

VOLKSWAGEN
The company also control Porsche, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Audi, Bentley, Skoda and Seat

GEELY
Geely also owns the revitalised Volvo brand.

California dry lakes, hot rods, and Norman Reedus.... all in one video that sooner or later will get on Youtube, but not yet

info about it at http://www.rodauthority.com/news/video-norman-reedus-directs-music-video-with-hot-rod-trucks/  but the music video for Blinded, by a brothers band named the Bots, isn't up yet.

You are familiar with Norman in Walking Dead, but did you remember his role as "Scud" the sidekick that betrays Blade in Blade II? or Judas in a Lady Gaga video?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wagn8Wrmzuc

learning something new every day... a Dynomometer Car for measuring locomotives power

A dynamometer car is a coach for measuring the power of a locomotive and it is marshalled in a train next to the locomotive. To measure power it is necessary to measure the pull exerted by the locomotive and the speed.

Constructed in 1906, retired in 1951

 The dynamometer car in the photograph was used in:
 Mallard's record breaking run,
Flying Scotsman's 100 mph,
Papyrus's 108 mph,
Silver Fox's 113 mph
 and in the 1948 Interchange Trials

It was built by the North Eastern Railway (NER) at York Works, being one of the last carriages to be built with a clerestory roof. It has large three section windows projecting at each side (for ease of line side observation) and a specially strengthened underframe, to accommodate the measurement and record equipment.

The recording table was driven by an 'independent' wheel of special construction with parallel thread and turned at 440 revolutions per minute. This wheel was raised when not in use.

The special spring used to measure the pull on the drawbar connecting the vehicle to the locomotive consists of 30 steel plates carefully designed, assembled and calibrated. The spring was overhauled and modified for maximum accuracy in 1933. Previous to that GN type bogies were fitted in 1928 and in 1935 further improvements were made and new equipment added. These included overhaul of the transmission gearing from the distance measuring wheel and installation of a more accurate chronometer. Other instruments in the car measure and record steam, smokebox and firebox temperature, carbon dioxide content of the smokebox gas and feed water temperature.

Found on https://www.facebook.com/HeritageRailway

a couple notes on Ferrari

Ferrari�s Formula 1 team hasn�t won a championship since 2008 and, Sergio Marchionne, boss of Fiat Chrysler, sold off 90% of Ferrari public stock to current FCA shareholders.

Since Ferrari�s founding as a race team in 1929 (road cars arrived in 1947), two men�Enzo Ferrari himself and Luca di Montezemolo�have commanded

A lawyer by education, Luca di Montezemolo was only 27 when he took over Ferrari�s struggling F1 operation in 1974. The team hadn�t won a title in 11 seasons. A year later, with Niki Lauda driving, Scuderia Ferrari captured the drivers� and constructors� world titles. It won both again in 1977.

Under his stewardship, Ferrari�s road-car business not only turned around, it blossomed. The fabulous 12-cylinder Enzo supercar, the 360 Modena, the 599 GTO, today�s stunning 458 Italia and LaFerrari mega-hybrid all arrived during di Montezemolo�s reign. Fixing the flagging F1 team took longer, but by 2000 Ferrari and Michael Schumacher captured both the drivers� and constructors� titles. Then they did it again. Four more times in a row.

Di Montezemolo always cultivated exclusivity, limiting road-car production to just 7,000 or so per year, far below demand. Yet prestige and revenues soared. In 1991, the year he took over, Ferrari showed profits of $15 million. By 2013, that figure exceeded $300 million.

 http://www.automobilemag.com/features/columns/1503-luca-di-montezemolo-is-the-other-enzo-ferrari/

The Horseless Age compendiums, 1896 to 1904

November 1896 - October 1897 - 16,003KB PDF
 April 5, 1899 - September 27, 1899 - 44,006KB PDF
 October 4, 1899 - March 28, 1900 - 84,658KB PDF 
April 4, 1900 - September 26, 1900 - 90,020KB PDF
 July 9, 1902 - December 31, 1902 - 65,211KB PDF 
January 7, 1903 - June 24, 1903 - 112,458KB PDF 
July 1, 1903 - December 31, 1903 - 56,927KB PDF
 January 1, 1904 - June 30, 1904 - 60,041KB PDF
 July 6, 1904 - December 28, 1904 - 59,223KB PDF

abandoned limestone mine in Kentucky transformed into underground bike park... coolest thing you'll see all day

The complex includes about 12 miles of 45 trails marked by different technical skills and riding styles � and by features such as jumps and a cargo container that been integrated into a bike overpass.

 According to Louisville's Courier-Journal, the course was designed and built in about 10 weeks with a skid steer, a mini excavator, and a 950 loader by Joe Prisel and Jeff Perkins who have worked on more than 20 indoor and outdoor courses. The cavern was bought from a limestone mining company back in 1989, with the idea of opening a "high-security business park."

In 2004, driven by the desire to ride year-round, a carpenter named Ray Petro spent four months converting a 130,000-square-foot former rayon factory in Cleveland into the first indoor park in the country. The result, Ray�s MTB, was a vast playground filled with ramps, jumps, and roller-coaster-like pump tracks. �I wanted to make guys who are 30 feel like they�re 15 for a few hours a week,� says Petro.

 It worked. Ray�s was so successful that Petro opened a second location in Milwaukee in 2010, with its own street park, pump track, foam pit, and VIP lounge. Soon other frigid locales like Toronto, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse, New York, had indoor parks, too.

Louisville's Mega Cavern is a massive entertainment complex where you can ride zip lines, swing from aerial ropes, and take historic tram rides, in addition to partaking in other activities.

It's 60 degrees year-round. There are 12 miles of trails, and a four-hour pass is $24, an all day pass is $40. Bring your own bike, helmets are required.



Under the Louisville zoo in Louisville Kentucky,The Mega Underground Bike Park is the worlds largest indoor bike park

http://digg.com/video/mega-cavern-bike-park
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/02/10/385195282/upcycling-underground-huge-bike-park-opens-in-former-limestone-mine
http://www.businessinsider.com/mega-underground-bike-park-in-louisville-cavern-opens-2015-2
http://gearjunkie.com/underground-bike-park-louisville-mega-cavern
http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/biking/mountain-biking/Urban-Bike-Parks-Go-Underground.html

Other indoor bike tracks:

Burlington Bike Park (Burlington, Washington) Racetrack-quality dirt, 40,000 square feet.

CranX (Syracuse, New York) Supersize jumps, vert walls, outdoor jump line.

Joyride 150 (Toronto) Kids' programs, concessions, progressively harder rooms.

The Lumberyard (Portland, Oregon) Jump line, on-site pub, 40,000 square feet.

Mega Cavern (Louisville, Kentucky) More than 40 trails, 320,000 square feet, dirt jump room.

Ray's MTB (Cleveland) The original, and still one of the best, with 130,000 square feet of space to play in.

Ray's MTB (Milwaukee) Supertight wooden pump track, foam pit for inverts.

The Wheel Mill (Pittsburgh) Two stories, 80,000 square feet, built with reclaimed lumber.

Rising Tide Car Wash in Parkland Florida is successfully employing and helping, autistic people ease into society

As a South Florida business owner, Tom D�Eri is at the forefront of the social entrepreneurship movement. When D�Eri learned 80 to 90 percent of adults with autism are unemployed, he set out to change that statistic, one car wash at a time.

Started by John D'Eri, whose son and employee Andrew is diagnosed with autism, the car wash has given many individuals with autism a sense of purpose.

"I don't want him to sit in a room, taken care of by others once I'm gone. I want him to have a life," D'Eri said in the video.

"I want him to have a job, I want him to have friends who are like him, so this car wash creates an answer for Andrew, and also creates an answer for their mom, whose taken care of him and has done all the heavy lifting."

 With his dad, John, as his investor, Tom researched options and determined a car wash would be the ideal business for creating jobs for people with autism, like his brother Andrew, who likes structure and performing repetitive tasks and follows safety guidelines to the letter.

 After training workers on its 46-step car-cleaning process, they opened Rising Tide Car Wash http://risingtidecarwash.com/ in an existing Parkland site in April 2013. Eighteen months later, the results have been better than projected, supported by repeat customers.

When he purchased the car wash, the business was cleaning about 30,000 cars a year: �This year we will wash more than 105,000 cars and next year we are projecting 130,000. That�s a good turn around. I think we have proved the business model works.� Along with making money, D�Eri said he finds it gratifying to see people with autism get an opportunity to thrive and experience community support. His employees, including his brother, come to work happy.

 http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/biz-monday/article3655776.html  and  http://abcnews.go.com/Health/family-car-wash-changed-lives-people-autism/story?id=28842659&cid=fb_abcn



Update Feb 27th, the website 22 Words picked up this story http://twentytwowords.com/this-dad-started-a-company-to-employ-his-son-his-business-model-hire-autistic-people/

Engine building the Porsche way... very interesting, and a video on the Corvette LT4

Post by Soma Power Ltd.

How our grand dads generation cleared snow on the roads after blizzards

Found on http://bangshift.com/bangshiftxl/maine-snow-fighters-1950s-film-full-great-cars-trucks-man-vs-elements-footage/