January 2011
23 posts
2 tags
links to collections of period photographs
Metropolis: New York City Water and Transit Infrastructure in Photographs
Over 600 images, primarily original photographs, plus selected published sources, on the themes of traffic, transit and water. The digital collection includes mass transit proposals and projects, dating from 1867; the multi-county Catskill Aqueduct system that still supplies the city’s water; and the pioneering...
The 1901 Plan for Washington, DC →
this is evidently a description of some sort of renovating plan that was designed for Washington, DC in 1901.
Washington, DC 1901 →
I’m attempting to familiarize myself with the layout of Washington, DC and New York City from approx 1890 until 1908 so as to avoid anachronism in the Roosevelt book. If anyone knows where I might find collections of maps, photographs, whatever I’d appreciate a nod in that direction. I’m going to need to know about the architecture as well. I think that I also found a link to a...
That fish formula
I only caught one more perch - bringing my fishing to 3. We didn’t catch anything else. The depth where we made the new holes was much shallower than we expected. We talked to some guy. He hadn’t caught anything either. I gave him a beer. We talked about this, that and the other. Long cold day. Good character building experience.
My fishing skill has increased to 2
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tweeting the Civil War
I started setting up Twitter accounts today for all of the significant military and political figures that took part in the American Civil War. My intention is to tweet the war in real time, starting on April 12th with the Battle of Fort Sumter. It’s a good thing April is so far away, because it’s going to take a really really long time to:
get all of the accounts registered (each...
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Ferdinard de Lesseps thumbs nose at skeptics:...
So I mentioned a few days ago that I was starting McCullough’s The Path Between the Seas - a history on the Panama Canal. I encourage you to read the earlier post. I portray myself as highly enthusiastic for the subject. It naturally follows that this is related to the Roosevelt development which has been an ongoing source of conversational material, as you may have noticed.
What am I...
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today's purchase →
wuz given girft kerd to burnes n nuble, wint ter stow rnd bert Murk Twern’s Erdoberurgrfr. furgurt tur rener mermbersherp, perd lerst prers. murtherferkerz.
Should be a good read despite the best efforts of the editors.
The Vampire Between the Seas
“In 1850, Dr. Edward Cullen, an Irish physician and member of the Royal Geographical Society, had announced the discovery of a way across [the isthmus] by which he had walked from the Atlantic to the Pacific several times and quite effortlessly” (McCullough 22).
BwahahAhahHhAAHHAHahaahaHAhH
the best part is that I spent so much time trying to get the work comp’s internet explorer to post the pictures of the canal that I didn’t actually get to read anything past those first three paragraphs. #fail
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canal = ocean ditch
Excerpt from The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough
The creation of the Panama Canal was far more than a vast, unprecendented feat of engineering. It was a profoundly important historic event and a sweeping human drama not unlike that of war. Apart from wars, it represented the largest, most costly single effort ever before mounted anywhere on earth. It held the world’s attention...