Abdul Alhazred Appreciation Thread

Nyarlathotep · Post by **Nyarlathotep** » Thu Jul 04, 2019 9:12 pm

So I was reading up on a couple of locations in New York that are used a lot in movies and came across this little article, that I figured AA (as an aficionado of New York History) might appreciate.

5 Alleys and Small Streets in Chinatown Tell the Neighborhood’s Vibrant History

Then figured, heck with it, I'll make a whole thread. So post things that AA might like.

robinson · Post by **robinson** » Thu Jul 04, 2019 10:54 pm

https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/201 ... el-engine/

Nyarlathotep · Post by **Nyarlathotep** » Thu Jul 04, 2019 11:51 pm

Abdul Alhazred wrote: ↑Thu Jul 04, 2019 9:32 pm I didn't actually live in Chinatown, but I lived close enough that I went to high school there.

I have never been to New York (unless you count one trip that I barely remember when I was 8 or 9) thus I have never been to New York's Chinatown. I have always been curious how similar/different it is to San Francisco's Chinatown, which I have visited many times.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sat Jul 06, 2019 3:03 am

https://i.imgur.com/BoxFWpb.jpg

Source & more neo-Impressionist stuff by Juan del Pozo: https://www.juandelpozo.net/nyc-paintings

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Mon Jul 08, 2019 1:35 am

Of course the unsurpassable grandaddy of all train paintings is Turner's Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway from 1844:

https://i.imgur.com/0fQdEo3.jpg

What a masterpiece!

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Tue Jul 09, 2019 11:31 pm

This one is also high on my list:

https://i.imgur.com/K5NUJfl.jpg

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Thu Jul 11, 2019 3:01 am

Another one by Monet:

https://i.imgur.com/esvIGQY.jpg

robinson · Post by **robinson** » Thu Jul 11, 2019 3:38 pm

That's what she said

sparks · Post by **sparks** » Thu Jul 11, 2019 11:34 pm

(appropriate Mom joke here)

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 1:43 am

Abdul Alhazred wrote: ↑Thu Jul 11, 2019 5:05 am I prefer the kind where I can appreciate the technical details of the equipment.

The inevitable jokes having been done: photography has largely taken car of that.

https://i.imgur.com/fyav8GJ.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/7jle9S8.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/wthcbEu.jpg

More pics & details: https://clickamericana.com/topics/trave ... rain-1910s

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 4:17 am

Pst, Abdul, just saw this:

Chicago police investigators confirm alligator in lagoon

https://i.imgur.com/xspFzHm.jpg

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago police investigators have cracked the case: A 4-5 foot alligator is living in a lagoon at one of the city’s most popular parks.

Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi says Tuesday that investigators went to Humboldt Park Lagoon on the city’s West Side and confirmed that the unusual resident is there as reported on social media.

Officials couldn’t say how the creature got there.

City officials say alligator traps are being placed around the lagoon in hopes the animal will swim into one and be safely removed.

Guglielmi says the animal was expected to be trapped “and relocated to a zoo for veterinary evaluation.”

Alligators favor warm weather climates such as Florida but have been known to survive temporarily in the cold through a process similar to hibernation.

https://www.apnews.com/86555ffa50ea4c36b59f710d32efa9e6

Are there elusive crawdads too? :P

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 6:49 am

Someone's former pet perhaps?

asthmatic camel · Post by **asthmatic camel** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 7:37 am

A selection of my boyhood model trains and a Mamod Steam Traction Engine, lovingly preserved with their original packaging by my sainted Mother since the 1970s and recently returned. All are still in full working order. :)

https://i.imgur.com/Vb21Rja.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/zsqJijv.jpg

ed · Post by ed » Fri Jul 12, 2019 10:51 am

Mmmmmmmmmm Steam Traction Engine.

I would like a video of it working. With you on the ground stoking it with little, eensy weensy tools.

Come on. Really. Make it work, so to speak.

eta "Hornby"? :lol:

asthmatic camel · Post by **asthmatic camel** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 11:31 am

You're on! I have a few things to do today, but if I can find some methylated spirit along the way I'll fire her up.

And Hornby Model Railways have been around forever and are still going strong. (Check out today's prices for a loco!) Mamod, too are still alive and kicking: they're not cheap, either. :)

ed · Post by ed » Fri Jul 12, 2019 11:45 am

asthmatic camel wrote: ↑Fri Jul 12, 2019 11:31 am You're on! I have a few things to do today, but if I can find some methylated spirit along the way I'll fire her up.

And Hornby Model Railways have been around forever and are still going strong. (Check out today's prices for a loco!) Mamod, too are still alive and kicking: they're not cheap, either. :)

You need to get a little plastic person to fall in front of it and scream piteously.

Also show how the thing works. Thanks

ed · Post by ed » Fri Jul 12, 2019 1:58 pm

ed humpty dumpty 2.jpg

Hahaha

Had enough yet Abdul???

asthmatic camel · Post by **asthmatic camel** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 4:19 pm

Here you go. I doubt I'll win documentary maker of the year but it's not a bad effort. :)

asthmatic camel · Post by **asthmatic camel** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 6:13 pm

So far as I know, methylated spirits are essentially ethanol, (booze type alcohol), with methanol and other nasties added to prevent people from drinking it recreationally, and to enable it to be sold free of duty. The purple dye has always been added to make it visually identifiable.

asthmatic camel · Post by **asthmatic camel** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 6:43 pm

De_Bunk would drink it whatever colour it was dyed. :)

ed · Post by ed » Fri Jul 12, 2019 7:28 pm

Thanks ac. Really brought a smile.

That stuff is what we call wood alcohol. We dont dye it though.

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 8:26 pm

No, wood alcohol is straight methanol.

What AC calls methylated alcohol real 'Merican's call denatured alcohol.

asthmatic camel · Post by **asthmatic camel** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 10:48 pm

Abdul Alhazred wrote: ↑Fri Jul 12, 2019 8:35 pm But we don't flavor it.

Though I do have some isopropyl alcohol with methyl slaycilate that is green.
But that's purely aesthetic and not a warning dye, because the straight isopropyl is clear.

Then there's this stuff, allegedly a beverage, but I bet you could power the model steam tractor with it.

Yep, that would work. I've heard of that stuff but not seen it for sale here, probably because it would be ludicrously expensive with our duty rates. 95% Polish Spirit will set you back £70 a liter, (unless you know people. ;) )

asthmatic camel · Post by **asthmatic camel** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 10:54 pm

Abdul Alhazred wrote: ↑Fri Jul 12, 2019 7:26 pm I seem to recall you had another YouTube channel ... there it is. ;)

I wondered where they'd gone. Five years ago, eh?

:oldman:

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sat Jul 13, 2019 1:31 am

I remember these steam machines from my youth, but they were powered by solid fuel, so-called "Meta"(ldehyde) tablets:

https://i.imgur.com/4pyN4gM.jpg

Were also used for starting a barbecue, camp fire, and even as slug repellents.

As for the ethanol part, French pharmacists used to sell 90 % proof "medicinal alcohol" and you could make decent vodka out of it. But then the State got wind of it and slapped enormous taxes on the stuff. As it also curtailed the right to distill (legally): once mobile "alambics" toured the villages when it was the season and everybody with an orchard made his own booze. Here in Burgundy, so from grapes:

https://i.imgur.com/LMP7F4l.jpg

asthmatic camel · Post by **asthmatic camel** » Sat Jul 13, 2019 4:09 am

I had a friend, (long since dead of liver failure), who distilled his own hooch from a simple brew made of sugar, water and yeast. It was and still is a serious offence in the UK, with severe penalties if you get caught. It doesn't stop people though; the potential rewards are huge.

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Sat Jul 13, 2019 12:45 pm

During our prohibition, Moonshine was all the rage. You can still get it pretty easily in my hometown, probably anywhere. It's cheaper than storebought.

It might kill you, it might blind you, but at least you ain't payin' no gov'ment taxes.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sun Jul 14, 2019 2:33 am

https://i.imgur.com/OvVj7KN.jpg
"Club car on Seaboard Railroad's 'Silver Meteor' train, NY – Florida", 1966.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sun Jul 14, 2019 2:48 am

You don't have bars on your trains?!? :shock:

I always have a beer, even if my travel lasts just half an hour.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sun Jul 14, 2019 2:57 am

So truly no bar cars. How primitive quaint! :mrgreen:

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Sun Jul 14, 2019 10:30 am

Abdul Alhazred wrote: ↑Sun Jul 14, 2019 2:40 am Liquor on a train in the USA. The past is a foreign country. 8)

Liquor on Amtrak runs full and strong. You can even brown-bag it I think. I don't know what other train you've been riding.

asthmatic camel · Post by **asthmatic camel** » Sun Jul 14, 2019 1:38 pm

Banned on the London Underground and generally on trains to and from football matches, but otherwise, we're allowed a tipple on the trains. (Bloody expensive if you buy from the buffet car, though.)

Entertaining shadow home secretary, Diane Abbot got herself in hot water this year for slurping a rum cocktail on the Tube. :D

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Mon Jul 15, 2019 4:07 am

A modern vintage-looking luxury train:

https://i.imgur.com/B6ZY0Tl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/zFZkC2C.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/oe4fw3Z.jpg

Spoiler:

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sat Jul 20, 2019 1:24 am

Sorry, Abdul, they got him:

Gator in Chicago Lagoon Caught After Weeklong Search

Details & video.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sat Jul 20, 2019 11:40 pm

https://i.imgur.com/l6GzK6A.jpg

I don't know why (completely different styles), but it made me think of

asthmatic camel · Post by **asthmatic camel** » Sat Jul 20, 2019 11:53 pm

asthmatic camel · Post by **asthmatic camel** » Sun Jul 21, 2019 12:24 am

Abdul, I'm just old enough to remember my father lifting me high enough at the railway bridge at Davenport Station to see the last steam trains on which he commuted to work in Manchester. :)

https://i.imgur.com/pXfHe1w.jpg

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sun Jul 21, 2019 1:18 am

As a kid I traveled by steam train (family vacations). I mostly remember Italy. As it was before Total Security™, you could still open the windows and, Italian trains being then incredibly overcrowded, I've seen people getting into the carriage through them. It also meant sitting for hours on your luggage in the corridor.

Fun part was leaning outside while speeding on. But the coal smoke produced a peculiar kind of dust which stung sharply the eyes and was quite difficult to remove. :x

asthmatic camel · Post by **asthmatic camel** » Sun Jul 21, 2019 3:01 am

asthmatic camel · Post by **asthmatic camel** » Sun Jul 21, 2019 8:09 am

After partaking of my habitual midnight fag-o-cycle ride and kicking the shit out of an insane Polish tramp who attempted to steal my gloves outside McDonald's, I attempted to appreciate you a little more, Abdul. Unfortunately, Mrs. Camel is away god bothering with a load of nuns this weekend, so all did not go quite according to plan. (Hic.)

Well, the train set would have worked, had my niece not been buggering about with it...

https://i.imgur.com/5fFbIwT.jpg

Oh, well; here's Sir Dinadan, (I really wanted the Mallard, but such was beyond my means,) and a few of his friends, including a Prime Pork Wagon, cos you're a Kike. :)

https://i.imgur.com/11CVAxP.jpg

All was not lost, however, as I found a brigade of Eighth Army WWII soldiers, hand-painted by yours truly and glued to the carriage floors to make things look more realistic. (Things like that make sense when you're ten.)

https://i.imgur.com/qkNj5Oc.jpg