Careful What You Wish For

There are those who believe that the best thing for our country would be a return to the time when businesses were free to pursue profits without government interference. The halcyon days when there was no minimum wage, no OSHA or any other government agency to hamstring businesses with regulations.  A return to, say, March 25, 1911.

The building was fireproof. It shows now hardly any signs of the disaster that overtook it. The walls are as good as ever so are the floors, nothing is the worse for the fire except the furniture and 141 of the 600 men and girls that were employed in its upper three stories.

... 

At 4:40 o'clock, nearly five hours after the employes in the rest of the building had gone home, the fire broke out. The one little fire escape in the interior was resorted to by many of the doomed victims. Some of them escaped by running down the stairs, but in a moment or two this avenue was cut off by flame. The girls rushed to the windows and looked down at Greene Street, 100 feet below them. Then one poor, little creature jumped. There was a plate glass protection over part of the sidewalk, but she crashed through it, wrecking it and breaking her body into a thousand pieces. 

Then they all began to drop. The crowd yelled "Don't jump!" but it was jump or be burned...

...

Five girls who stood together at a window close the Greene Street corner held their place while a fire ladder was worked toward them, but which stopped at its full length two stories lower down. They leaped together, clinging to each other, with fire streaming back from their hair and dresses. ... There was no time to aid them. With water pouring in upon them from a dozen hose nozzles the bodies lay for two hours where they struck, as did the many others who leaped to their deaths. 

        Excerpts from the account of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire by the New York Times.

The doors to the ninth floor work area were locked from the outside, trapping the victims. At trial, one of the owners

admitted to an almost obsessive concern with employee theft even though he conceded that the total value of goods taken over the years was under $25.

 

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/triangle/trianglefire.html 

New Models, or Shut Up And Drive

No earth shattering revelations, deep thoughts or fine art here today. Just some images from my visit to the car show at Bartle Hall in Kansas City, MO.

Besides the restroom sign in the background, one of the reasons I like this photo is because when she saw me raise my camera, our spokesmodelperson quickly went into the spokesmodelperson pose you see here. I'd say she got her money's worth at spokesmodelperson school. 

A look at the soon to be re-born Dart, from Dodge. It may be too late, but I do have one suggestion for the designers: Change the "a" in the name plate. When I first looked at the car I thought it said "Dort". Also, I'm not sure what was more difficult for this spokesmodelperson, memorizing the load of marketing claptrap they had her spout or wearing those heels all day.

From Honda, an Accord concept car.  Pretty nice, but then almost anything would be an improvement over the stodgy looks of the current model.  Or maybe I just fell in love with the red paint, which would look great on any car. (No, it's not your eyes. The second shot looks that way on purpose.)

I dunno. I just like the shot.

Camrys on camera.

0 MPG, but it looks great in your rec room.

An electric vehicle some local high school students are building. In this shot you can easily see the metal framework that supports the clear outer skin. The suspension and chassis are constructed like an open wheel race car. In fact, they used a hollowed out transmission from an actual Indy racer to make the rear of the chassis. They plan to drive the car from California to Florida later this year. (Rumors that the students will be forced to subsist during the trip only on food from Cracker Barrel restaurants were emphatically denied.)

A Mercedes Benz gull wing Somethingorother completely exposed, leaving nothing to the imagination.

Volkswagon had a nice display again, but there were still a few bugs in it.

Another reflection shot I think turned out decently.

Cadillac also had a new model on display, the ATS, that I liked quite a bit. Unfortunately my shots of it kind of, well, sucked, so you'll have to catch a look at their web site.

Drive safely.

Sunday Aviation News

Instead of my pictures today, I want to direct you to one of my favorite blogs.
It's easy reading but has some very important information we all need to consider.  I'll have a few pictures up here later.

Well Said

"I love you."

I believe that our entire existence is in that statement.  If there is a phrase that carries more punch in every way imaginable, I can not conceive of it.    

I heard it again tonight. Yes, from those from whom I am accustomed to hearing it. But also...

Kenny has been my neighbor for 11 years. He is a man I like, admire and respect a great deal. He has been having some health challenges recently, so I suggested that my daughter come with me to deliver some special treats she made, and to say hello. As soon as the rest of my family heard where we were headed, they said they were coming along.

I phoned ahead to make sure we wouldn't be intruding, and Kenny was waiting at the door for us with a smile. I'm sure he sensed why we were all there, so it didn't take long for him to give us an update on his situation. And his situation is not good.  He faces some difficult days in the near future, and his days here may be quite limited.

The conversation was serious, but not somber. That wouldn't be Kenny.  He asked with genuine interest about how school was going for my kids young adults, and we enjoyed chatting about our dogs.

When it came time to leave, we all rose and embraced him, one by one. When I did, I told him, "I don't know what to say, but always remember we are just a few seconds away if you need anything."


The reality of it was, I did know what to say. But the conscious, careful, "grown-up" part of my mind just stopped me.  I didn't have the courage.  


But Kenny didn't let anything stop him.  He sent us all home with these words:


"I love you."


May God grant Kenny many more wonderful days, and the rest of us his wisdom and courage.