Pete's Blog

World War ! Music

2010-12-19T12:27:00.000-05:00

My whole life I've been a huge music fan. I like everything from Rock to Classical to Jazz to Irish Music. The past weekend at my in-laws house we stumbled across some really old 78rpm records and some other old 33rpm records. This plus my interest in history sparked my interest in old pre-1940's music. I'm currently reading a lot of World War I history so I did some research and found some great old recording of songs from WWI.

Over There - 1917 - George M. Cohen

Perhaps the most popular American song from WWI. This song was sung by Americans in both world wars. The recording is sung by Billy Murray in 1917.

It's a Long Way to Tipperary - 1912 - Jack Judge and Harry James

More than any other song this song is most often associated with WWI and especially the British Army. The chorus is well known to this day. This recording is by John McCormack

Waltzing Matilda - 1895 - Banjo Paterson

This folk song is probably Australia's most widely known song. It is a sort of unofficial national anthem and has been popular since it was first released.

If You Want to Find the Sergeant Major - 1915c. - Traditional

British popular wartime song.

Most of these songs were found on:

http://www.firstworldwar.com/audio/index.htm

Shea and Yankee Stadiums

2009-05-25T00:32:00.002-04:00

Current state on the old Yankee Stadium and the remnants of Shea.

Fleet Week

2009-05-23T22:14:00.001-04:00

It's Fleet Week in NYC, I think I saw Frank and Gene in Times Square.

Roosevelt Island

2009-04-16T12:20:00.002-04:00

Cool NYT article on the old Roosevelt Island Smallpox Hospital

CitiField

2009-04-04T23:15:00.006-04:00

Went to the Mets/Boston game today. The game was cool, they got killed but it was nice to see the new stadium. I did like the new stadium but I sort of missed Shea. There are tons of food places, beer stands etc but it sort of lacked that feel that Shea had. To me it seemed like I was watching a game at Pac-Bell Park or Coors Field not a Met game. I guess it will take time for the new park to grow on me.

Here a few things that bothered me:
- The rotunda is a shrine to Jackie Robinson. The man was a great player but he was never a Met! Never a player, coach or GM. Why not call it the Gil Hodges Rotunda or even the Mookie Wilson Rotunda?? That would make more sense.

- No more ushers...at least today. The ticket takers are mostly gone too, you need to scan your own ticket at the gate.

- No more box seats. The old style box seats separated by the metal poles are gone. I didn't go down to the field level seats so maybe they are still there but nothing in the higher sections.

- There are no center aisles though each section. Now Cow-Bell man has to walk in the concourse. At Shea there was a center aisle in the field level and an aisle in each section separating box and reserved seats. Thats' gone.

- It is tough to get to the upper sections. We came in the rotunda but had to walk through the field level concourse to get to the escalators going up.

- The food court was unpassable. I went to get food in the 3rd and I couldn't get into the food court, it was wall-to-wall people. But I suspect this was growing pains and will get better over time.

Goodbye Shea 1964-2009

2009-02-27T23:26:00.001-05:00

After four months of demolition the final piece of Shea Stadium came down on February 18th, 2009....

Ghost Fleets

2009-01-18T22:02:00.005-05:00

Around the United States, the US Navy maintains several reserve fleets on inactive naval vessels. Officially know as the Navy Inactive Fleet, with headquarters in Portsmouth, Virginia, these ships are maintained and preserved and can theoretically quickly return to active service in the event of a national emergency.

During the age of sail, it was called "laid up in ordinary." After World War II many ships, no longer needed by the peacetime Navy, were put into reserve fleets. My father remembers cargo and transport ships anchored in Hudson upriver from New York City.
Many of these reserve fleet ships were brought back into service during the Korean and Vietnam wars and also during the Cold War naval buildup. Most notable was the reactivation of the Iowa class battleships. These magnificent vessels were brought back into service to serve as gun and missile platforms. Since some of the parts were originally from the 1940's, old museums ships had to be scavenged for spare parts. I remember reading how some of the powder and shells for the 16 inch guns were originally from the 1940's and early 1950's.

The last of the world's mighty battleships saw combat off Beirut and during the Gulf War. Unfortunately these ships were retired in the 1990's. It would have been nice to keep the battleships in active service, just for the intimidation factor alone.

(The USS Iowa and the USS Wisconsin in the reserve fleet, 1982)

Today the Navy maintain reserve fleets at: the James River in VA; Suisun Bay, CA; Neches River in TX; the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in PA and the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in WA.

Here is a satellite image from Google maps of the USS Iowa (BB-61) in Suisun Bay, CA:

http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=38.068627,-122.099326&spn=0.004063,0.007296&t=h&om=1

Here is a satellite image of the USS Ranger (CV-61), USS Independence (CV-62), and USS Constellation (CV-64) in Puget Sound:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=47.55768,-122.64379&t=h&ie=UTF8&z=16&ll=47.552853,-122.65583&spn=0.00462,0.009484&om=0&iwloc=addr

Plane crash in the Hudson

2009-01-17T10:01:00.002-05:00

I work in Times Square and witnessed crash of US Airways flight 1549 in the Hudson this past Thursday. I did not see the actually crash but I saw the plane in the river from my 19th floor window.

Here is a post of our photographers covering the crash. Pretty amazing:

http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/2009/01/16/stars-align-for-passengers-and-photographers-alike/

Lemon Pudding Cakes

2009-01-11T22:41:00.001-05:00

I made this recipe and it turned out great! Highly recommended. From Tyler Florence on Food TV.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2/3 cup superfine sugar
2 eggs, separated
2/3 cup reduced fat buttermilk
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Garnish:

1 cup fresh raspberries
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup fresh blackberries
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter and lightly sugar 4 ramekins (about 1-cup size).

In a mixer, add egg yolks, buttermilk, lemon juice and lemon zest and beat until well combined. Reduce the speed to low and sift in flour, sugar and salt. Continue to mix until combined. Beat egg whites until you get stiff peaks then combine the 2 mixtures by gently folding them together, a little at a time. Divide evenly amongst ramekins then bake in a water bath - set ramekins in a roasting tray and fill with water halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

Bake for 60 minutes until the top springs back when gently pressed and the cakes have a nice golden brown color. Allow to cool slightly, then carefully invert onto a plate. Serve with fresh berries and dust with powdered sugar.

Fred on the Economy

2009-01-11T22:37:00.003-05:00

This is great! Fred Thomson on the state of the economy.

PRR GG1

2008-12-29T00:55:00.013-05:00

The Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 was an electric locomotive built in the 1930's and 1940's that was easily one of the most famous and recognizable locomotives ever built.

The locomotives were constructed at the the PRR shops in Altoona, Pennsylvania and were in service until the early 1980's. Outlasting the PRR itself. These electric locomotives received their power from overhead catenary lines.

Although, famed industrial designer Raymond Loewy did design the engine, he did he did improve their looks by recommending the use of a smooth, welded construction instead of riveted assembly, along with a pinstriped paint scheme to highlight their smoothly rounded forms.

Sadly, most of these locomotives were scraped, however some survive in museums. Wikepedia lists the following surviving GG1's:

PRR 4800 — Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Strasburg, PA (a.k.a. "Old Rivets" — the prototype GG1 and was the only GG1 that had a riveted body; was formerly painted in Bicentennial colors and was the only GG1 to receive Conrail blue). "Rivets" is now awaiting a full cosmetic restoration, and is residing in a black base coat to protect it from the elements.
PRR 4859 — Transportation Center, Harrisburg, PA (designated as official electric locomotive of PA in 1938).
PRR 4876 — B&O Railroad Museum, Baltimore, MD (as of Spring 2006, in rapidly deteriorating condition); the GG1 was languishing and vandalized in a CSX Yard south of downtown Baltimore (seen from Interstate 95 northbound between Washington Boulevard and Maryland 295). As of February 2008 it is owned by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum in Baltimore, but is currently parked on one of the museum's outdoor sidings not accessible to museum guests, but visible on the museum's train ride. The locomotive has some degree of rust and graffiti; the museum has no plans for restoration in the near-term.
PRR 4877 — New Jersey Transit yard, Morristown, NJ. Currently undergoing renovations at Lebanon Station (Raritan Valley Line).
PRR 4879 — URHS of New Jersey - Relocated to Boonton, NJ in July 2008^[1]
PRR 4882 — National New York Central Railroad Museum, Elkhart, IN (currently painted as Penn Central 4882)
PRR 4890 — National Railroad Museum, Green Bay, WI.
PRR 4903/Amtrak 4906 — Museum of the American Railroad, Dallas, TX (pulled Robert Kennedy's funeral train along with GG1 4901 from New York to Washington on June 8, 1968).
PRR 4909/Amtrak 4932 — Cooperstown Junction, NY (owned by The Henry Ford^[2]).
PRR 4913/Amtrak 4913 — Railroaders Memorial Museum, Altoona, PA.
PRR 4917/Amtrak 4934 — Leatherstocking RY Museum, Cooperstown Jct, NY (one of 75 GG1s built with Westinghouse components, the other 64 GG1s used GE devices and motors).
PRR 4918/Amtrak 4916 — Museum of Transportation, St. Louis, MO (was once the property of the Smithsonian Institution).
PRR 4919/Amtrak 4917 — VA Museum of Transportation, Roanoke, VA.
PRR 4927/Amtrak 4939 — Illinois Railway Museum, Union, IL (Amtrak's renumbering in 1976 to 4939 bucked 42 years of numbering by making it the highest numbered GG1).
PRR 4933/Amtrak 4926 — Central NY Chapter NRHS, Syracuse, NY. It has been cosmetically restored and is on display at the NYS Fairgrounds Historic Train Exhibit.
PRR 4935/Amtrak 4935 — Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, also known as "Blackjack"; arguably the best-restored and best-displayed GG1, kept in a non-climate controlled environment.

The GG1's easily met the work load on the Eastern corridor into the 1980's but were beginning to show their age by cracks in their frames. This proved to be the final nail in their coffin.

Below are some photos I took at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Strasburg, PA.

Source: Wikipedia

Snoopy vs The Red Baron

2008-12-25T10:38:00.003-05:00

Manfred von Richthofen had over 80 confirmed air victories during World War 1. Winner of the "Blue Max", Germany's highest military award, Richthofen and his Fokker Dr.I tri-plane ruled the skies of Western Europe until he was shot down on April 21th, 1918.

One of the lesser known air battles of the First World War:

Christmas Truce - 1914

2008-12-24T01:10:00.013-05:00

On Christmas Eve 1914 an unofficial truce broke out out between British and German soldiers on the western front near Ypres.

At this point, the war had only been going on for 4 months and there was still some semblance of sympathy towards the enemy. Both sides were experiencing the same horrors.

Reports say the the Germans began by decorating their trenches, placing candles on the trench parapets and singing Christmas carols. Soon both the British and Germans were singing and shouting to each other across no-man's-land.

Soon after both the Germans and British troops cautiously approached each other through no-man's-land and exchanged small gifts of whiskey, jam, cigars, chocolate, etc. It was also reported that a football match broke out between the Germans and British. Both sides also used the truce to organize burial details. Similar truces also broke out between the French and Germans.

Needless to say this unofficial truce did not go over well with the German and British high commands. Fraternization with the enemy was forbidden by both sides. Units suspected of fraternization were transferred to other section of the front. Also units were rotated more frequent to avoid becoming familiar with the enemy. British commanders wanting no repeats in 1915 ordered artillery barrages on Christmas eve. There were some reports in 1915 of unofficial truces but no where on the scale of 1914. A year of bloody trench warfare had deadened any optimism or feelings of goodwill that were still present in 1914.

You serious Clark?

2008-12-24T00:47:00.003-05:00

Again this Christmas, NORAD and Google have teamed up for a "Santa Tracker" for Google Earth. This plug-in for Google Earth will allow you track Santa as he delivers toys around the world.

Download the plug-in from the NORAD tracker site and open with Google Earth. Both Google Earth and the plug-in are free.

Apple ejects iBoobs

2008-12-23T14:24:00.003-05:00

Great article posted on theregister.co.uk:

Apple ejects iBoobs

Jubblies not lovely, actually

By Bill Ray

Posted in Mobile, 23rd December 2008 12:33 GMT

An application that allows iPhone users to wobble a pair of breasts has been rejected by Apple's application store, denying iPhone geeks the nearest thing to sex they'll get this holiday season.

The application was rejected on the grounds of "objectionable content", though with the caveat: "If you believe that you can make the necessary changes so that iBoobs does not violate the iPhone SDK Agreement we encourage you to do so." Though it's hard to see how that wouldn't detract from the core proposition:

The app was developed by Mystic Game Development, and we have to accept the possibility that it was done just to demonstrate their character animation middleware - in which case we can only congratulate them on a job well done.

Apple is, of course, missing a trick here: a small tweak (ahem) would allow the most enthusiastic vibration to cause the Bulgarian airbags to burst their restraints. Even the rumour of such a feature would no doubt sell a lot of replacement iPhones - in fact, a rumour might work better.

Some of the more seasoned Reg hacks reckon this is a rip off of an early DOS application that offered much the same functionality, only using mouse prods rather than tilt functions, so perhaps Apple was more worried about copyright infringement than upsetting the masses. ®

Gotta burn my boots!! They touched Yankee soil!!

2008-12-23T12:22:00.003-05:00

One of my (and my son's) favorite Bugs Bunny cartoons. The Bugs/Yosemite Sam are my favs and this one is a classic.

Christmas and the Pagens. Happy Yule!

2008-12-22T23:56:00.002-05:00

Christmas like most Christian holidays draws many of it symbols and traditions from pagen holidays. In the case of Christmas it is the Yule celebrations. Yule was the festival of the of the winter Solstice.

Yule traditions include Christmas trees, burning of the Yule log, hanging of mistletoe and holly, gift giving and general merriment.

Wikepedia says:
"According to the medieval English writer the Venerable Bede, Christian missionaries sent to proselytize among the Germanic peoples of northern Europe were instructed to superimpose Christian themes upon existing pagan holidays of the area, to ease the conversion of the people to Christianity by allowing them to retain their traditional celebrations. Thus, Christmas was created by associating stories of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the central figure of Christianity, with the existing pagan Yule celebrations, similar to the formation of Halloween and All Saint's Day via Christianization of existing pagan traditions."

"When the Christianization of the Germanic peoples began, missionaries found it convenient to provide a Christian reinterpretation of popular pagan holidays such as Yule and allow the celebrations themselves to go on largely unchanged, versus trying to confront and suppress them. The Scandinavian tradition of slaughtering a pig at Christmas (see Christmas ham) is probably salient evidence of this. The tradition is thought to be derived from the sacrifice of boars to the god Freyr at the Yule celebrations. Halloween and aspects of Easter celebrations are likewise assimilated from northern European pagan festivals."

"English historian Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum contains a letter from Pope Gregory I to Saint Mellitus, who was then on his way to England to conduct missionary work among the pagan Anglo-Saxons. Pope Gregory suggested that converting heathens would go easier if they were allowed to retain the outward forms of their traditional pagan practices and traditions, while recasting those traditions spiritually towards the Christian God instead of to their pagan "devils": "to the end that, whilst some gratifications are outwardly permitted them, they may the more easily consent to the inward consolations of the grace of God"

Shea Stadium

2008-12-08T00:37:00.005-05:00

The demolition of Shea Stadium continues. Below is a video of the demolition of the scoreboard. When Shea first opened in 1964 in boasted the largest scoreboard in baseball. The Mets have salvaged the neon-lit New York skyline which was at the top of the old scoreboard for Citifield. A red, white and blue ribbon was added to the skyline over the World Trade Center after September 11th, 2001. The first professional sporting event held in New York City after the September 11th attacks was at Shea Stadium, another place in history that Shea held.

Here's a video of the current state of Shea with the entire field seating section gone! This is from MetsBlog.com
http://www.metsblog.com/2008/12/02/video-whats-left-of-shea-stadium/

German food

2008-11-24T22:17:00.003-05:00

I did a little research this weekend and made a few German dishes for dinner tonight. I made Bratwursts with German potatoes and red cabbage. All the dishes came out very good, especially the potatoes.
I found the potatoes recipe online last night. I boiled some baby red potatoes until soft. While the potatoes boiled, I took some bacon, browned in a frying pan and removed with a slotted spoon. I then sauteed a small onion in the bacon fat. When the onions were cooked I chopped the boiled potatoes and added into the pan with the onions and bacon fat. I returned the bacon and heated everything thoroughly adding salt and pepper. They came out very good, almost as good as Hallo Berlin's.
I now need to find a good German butcher shop. The brats were OK but were lacking the flavor I have found in brats from a good German restaurant.

Hallo Berlin

2008-11-23T23:50:00.008-05:00

This week I had one the best lunches I have had in a long time at the Hallo Berlin food cart on 5th and 54th. Wow. The Hallo Berlin cart is constantly rated as one of the best carts in New York City. They sell a selection of German wursts and have been in business over 25 years. Having ate at their restaurant on 10th Ave several times I was anxious to try their cart. So last week on a brisk 45 degree afternoon I made the 15 min walk from my office in Times Square. They offer a full menu of German specialities but I chose to go with one of their specials. They have a "Democracy" special, where you get a choice of two wursts with potatoes, red cabbage and sauerkraut or a "Dictatorship" special where they pick the two wursts. Both specials come with two German meatballs topped with their homemade spicy mustard and a hot crusty roll. I chose the bratwurst (pork) and the bauernwurst (pork & beef). Both wurst were cooked perfectly, crunchy on the outside and tender inside. They were sliced into about one inch bite size pieces on a real cool custom slicer. The whole meal was a little expensive on food cart terms ($12 with a soda) but considering the amount of food and quality it was well worth the cost. I ate at the small side tables at the cart and watched the people pass on 5th Ave. The potatoes were cooked perfectly and the food mixed with the spicy mustard which complimented the flavors perfectly. Weather-permitting I will be back this week.

http://www.halloberlinrestaurant.com/

YouTube video of the cart:

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

2008-11-11T23:40:00.003-05:00

World War 1 ended 90 years ago today. A ceasefire between Germany and the Allies was signed at a railroad carriage at Compiègne, the same car later used by Hitler during the surrender of France in 1940.

First known as Armistice Day, Veteran's Day became an official holiday in 1938. It was officially changed to Veteran's Day in 1954.

The Last Post:

Gettysburg

2008-11-10T01:46:00.003-05:00

I've been really enjoying Gettysburg. It is extremely well researched and provides excellent detail on the battle. Check it out.

Song of the Day

2008-11-08T01:13:00.001-05:00

WoW

2008-11-08T00:19:00.000-05:00

I started playing WoW again. I already leveled up 1 level in a day,

USSA?

2008-11-05T01:38:00.000-05:00

I think we should all get ready for the United Socialist States of America.

NYC Marathon

2008-11-02T23:29:00.000-05:00

Today was the 38th annual New York City marathon.

Check out Runner's World training guide for a half-marathon. I'm thinking about running the Newsday half-marathon next year.

Future Reads

2008-11-01T23:33:00.003-04:00

I have a few fantasy series on my reading list:

Stephen R. Donaldson - The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever
David Eddings - Elenium series

Also need to finish:
Robin Hobb - Farseer Trilogy
Bernard Cornwell - The Arthur books

And very excited to read the next book in George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, A Dance with Dragons. Hopefully coming out soon....

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T23:11:00.001-04:00

Read about the history of Halloween:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween

From Wiki:
Pope Gregory IV standardized the date of All Saints' Day, or All Hallows' Day, on November 1 in the name of the entire Western Church in 837. As the Church day began at sunset, the holiday coincided exactly with Samhain. It is claimed that the choice of date was consistent with the common practice of leaving pagan festivals and buildings intact while overlaying a Christian meaning; however, no reliable documentation indicates such a motivation in this case. While the Celts might have been content to move All Saints' Day from their own previous date of April 20, the rest of the world celebrating it on May 13, it is speculated without evidence that they were unwilling to give up their pre-existing autumn festival of the dead and continued to celebrate Samhain.

And the pagan holiday Samhain:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain

New Trek

2008-10-29T00:12:00.007-04:00

After months of waiting, a few pictures from the new Star Trek movie have been released. This new movie is a "reboot" of the original series. I have sorely missed Trek these past 3 years but I've very very skeptical of this new movie. First of all I don't trust J.J. Abrams, I enjoyed the first few years of Lost but grew tired of his endless plot twists and I was also not a big fan of Cloverfield. I've never seen Alias but I've heard it is a good show. My fear is that Abrams will try to remake Trek in his image. I am a Trek purist and don't want to see a sexed-up version of Trek. I don't even understand why remake a classic. There is so much potential with Trek, I can't see why they are going back and remaking the original series. But this is the M.O. of Hollywood.

I would much rather see a new movie with a mix of cast members from the different TV shows.

I know the movie will be visually stunning and it is cast extremely well but there is only one Kirk and Spock in my book.

Here are a few pictures of the new movie:

Saxon Dogs!

2008-10-27T01:29:00.001-04:00

One of my favorite Far Side cartoons!

Stiftsbibliothek

2008-10-27T00:31:00.002-04:00

The medieval manuscripts of the Stiftsbibliothek of the St. Gallen Abbey are beings scanned and made available to the public over the internet.

Over 144 manuscripts are now available, some over 1000 years old. They can be viewed here for free. Click on the link "To the virtual library"

Read more.

Love this!

2008-10-26T00:38:00.000-04:00

To the Editor:

In 2000, The New York Times, in its presidential endorsement of Al Gore, said of him, "We today firmly endorse Al Gore as the man best equipped for the presidency by virtue of his knowledge of government, his experience at the top levels of federal and diplomatic decision-making."

In that same endorsement, in contrast, The Times wrote of George W. Bush: "But his résumé is too thin for the nation to bet on his growing into the kind of leader he claims already to be. He does have great personal charm."

In its 2008 general-election presidential endorsement, The Times could have aptly recycled these aforementioned quotes nearly verbatim, this time substituting John McCain's name for Al Gore's and Barack Obama's for George W. Bush's.

One can only conclude that the only difference this time around is that the eminently more qualified but less charismatic candidate happens to be a Republican.

Nicole Samura
Chelsea, Mass., Oct. 24, 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/25/opinion/l25politics.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Shea Goodbye

2008-10-20T01:44:00.003-04:00

I'm still bitter after having witnessed the collapse of the Mets on the last day of the season for the 2nd consecutive season but seeing these photos really hits home the fact that Shea is coming down.

Here are some photos from Metsblog of the beginning of Shea's demolition:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/metsblog/sets/72157608005687473/

I have a lot of good memories at Shea. For the past 10 years, my father and I have had a partial season ticket plan and have seen a lot of great (and bad) games. I'll miss Loge 24, Row A.

Stairs to the Polo Grounds

2008-10-20T01:31:00.005-04:00

The NYT had a great article on a piece of forgotten NYC/baseball history - a staircase at Coogan's Bluff to the long gone Polo Grounds.

Read the article here.

NYT Photo:

New Blog

2008-10-20T01:16:00.000-04:00

This is my first entry on Blogger. Older entries can be found at:

http://petegavagan.spaces.live.com/