Recent Entries

• Slaying the beast…

  March 9, 2025

  Back in the 19th century, with the advent of more powerful rifles, along with an increase in world travel, big game hunting became a popular pursuit among those able to afford it. Also in this time period the interest in man-eating animals and the exploits of those who hunted them increased due t...

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• Still life photography

  March 6, 2025

  Back in my college days I had the opportunity to do some studio still life photography, which included the use of a borrowed 4X5 camera which the school would lend out to students.  If you aren't familiar with this sort of camera, it is of the type where the user must have a blanket over…

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• Underrated killers

  March 6, 2025

  Last week I watched a special on my local PBS station about the collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge. I had been looking forwards to this show since it was announced earlier this year. This was basically a timeline of the events that happened from the time the bridge opened to when it...

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• That old familiar feeling…

  March 1, 2025

  Considering that the roller coaster world lost a very highly acclaimed ride yesterday, I was thinking back to the time when I first had the chance to ride Kingda Ka's near twin, Top Thrill Dragster. During that trip, I also took my first ride on Millennium Force, which was the first traditional s...

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• The end of an era…

  February 28, 2025

  Early this morning an event took place that marked the end of an era, as the golden glow of the sunlight shone across the wooded New Jersey landscape. The remaining tower of Kingda Ka, what was the world's tallest (and one of the fastest) roller coaster was demolished around 7 am. This coaster on...

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• The turn of the century

  February 28, 2025

  Have you ever considered the length of a century? Everyone knows a century marks one hundred years, yet how it would be to experience such an epic stretch of time, at least by human standards? Not many people have lived lives that span a century or more. My mother in law will turn 98 at…

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• Unexpected tragedies…

  February 25, 2025

  There are things in life which are to be expected, or at the very least, it is not surprising when they do take place. However, there are the outliers, those events that are seemingly rare and are quite shocking when they do occur. Just this day I found out about such an event which, to…

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• The dead zone…

  February 20, 2025

  Here I again find myself in this time of each year that drags on so slowly; this portion of the calendar that separates winter from spring (at least in my latitude). Roller coaster season is still but a month or more away, although I will likely be invited to participate in the media day for…

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• The longest month

  February 16, 2025

  This afternoon I called up a friend and we talked for a little while.  It wasn't too long before he shared his feelings with me about this time of the year. Feelings that both of us have in common in our disdain for the month of February.  For the shortest month of the calendar year,…

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