Well, the Yankees are still hanging in there… August 3, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in NY Yankees, United States, baseball.Tags: 'a good thing', AL East, Brian Cashman, catcher, Coors Field East, Derek Jeter, first base, foodcourt, Francisco Cervelli, free-agent pitcher, Gold Glove, Gold Glove winner, Jason Giambi, Jorge Posada, Leon Trost, Mark Teixeira, Martha Stewart, Monument Cave, museum, New York, New York Yankees, NY Yankees, Phil the Franchise, post trade deadline, Red Sox, right field, Sabrematricians, Sergio Mitre, Shaun Chacon, Stadium, the Captain, White Sox, Yankee Stadium
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Here we are , 
past the half-way mark of the season and accelerating down the stretch. At this point in time, it would be best to take stock of what has happened so far this season. As of Monday, August 3rd, the Yankees are hanging onto a half game lead in the AL East, following an uninspiring 1-3 series against the White Sox. The loss of Wang has caused the need for an extra starter, but Sergio Mitre is NOT the answer. Should Phil the Franchise be ’stretched out’ again, and removed from his set-up role, or should Brian Cashman try for a low-cost miracle, like Shaun Chacon? Let’s see what is out there, post-trade deadline, I say.
The new Stadium has huge public spaces, a fabulous ‘foodcourt crossed with museum’ feel – and a terrible reputation as a home run launching pad. ‘Coors Field East’ will have to be tweaked in the off season; someone has to persuade Leon Trost that the fences can be a little higher in right field, and that the Yankees can stand the loss of income from the removal of three or four rows of seats in this area, too. Either that, or no elite free-agent pitcher will ever sign with the Yankees again. It would be nice to think that something would be done about ‘Monument Cave’ as well.
Three bright spots from this season, so far. Francisco Cervelli has shown himself to be the Yankees ‘catcher-in-waiting’, when Jorge Posada finally hangs up ‘the tools of ignorance’. A young man who is a solid receiver of the ball, and who has great fire and enthusiasm – a real find. Another ‘good thing’, as Martha Stewart would say, is the return to form of the Captain. Derek Jeter may be on the wrong side of the performance graphs of the Sabrematricians, but he has obviously worked exceptionally hard in the off-season to improve his range and his play in general….a re-vitalised Jeter is a VERY dangerous player. Finally, someone is going to have to start mentioning Mark Teixeira as the 2009 AL Gold Glove Award Winner. His play at first base hasn’t just been spectacular (the vertical leaping catch off the ex-Yankee, Dioner Navarro, this weekend, was incredible) it has been a revelation. Now we know just how truly awful Jason Giambi was in the field.
Well, that’s enough of a re-cap for now. Soon, it will be time for a series against the Red Sox at the Stadium – and that should sort a few things out!
Newark Liberty International May 22, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in Aviation, New York, United States, aircraft.Tags: air conditioning, Air Train, aircraft, Amtrak, Continental Airlines, Empire State Building, Manhattan, monorail, New York, Newark, NJ, PATH, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, rapid transit, Statute of Liberty, terminal buildings
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Newark Liberty International - Air Train
Operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey since the 1940s under a lease arrangement, and one of the busiest airports in the Greater New York area, Newark Liberty International serves as a hub for Continental Airlines and many other carriers. One of the more interesting features of the airport is the ‘Air Train’, a free rapid transit monorail system which runs between Terminals A, B and C. This is easily accessed via a series of interlocked safety doors on the upper level of each terminal. It also travels to the Airport’s own rail station where Amtrak and NJ Transit passengers alight.
Here we see a set of Air Train cars, making the smooth transit between terminals. Be warned, however; the cars are NOT air conditioned, and on a warm day in May, the passengers were already feeling the heat.
Just over the Hudson River from Manhattan, it is easy for passengers to reach hotels in the city (the airport is about 16 miles from mid-town Manhattan). Both approaches to, and departures from, this airport offer spectacular views of the New York skyline, and such features as the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State building can be clearly seen. Please choose your seat assignments carefully!
M-Gator and R-Gator – the way forward April 13, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in 'warbird', Aviation, United States, aircraft, military.Tags: 3-cylinder, 3-cylinder diesel engine, Afghanistan, agricultural equipment, airfields, Basra, C-130, C-130 Hercules, Canadian Armed Forces, casualties, commercial buildings, diesel, Gator, industrial plant, Iraq, John Deere, litter support frame, M-Gator, military, military bases, military reservation, off-road supply vehicle, R-Gator, re-supply, rough country, Sather Air Base, tractors, UGV, Unmanned Ground Vehicle, US Marine Corps, USAF, vehicle hood, walking wounded
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M-Gator in Iraq
If nothing else, the security of airfields, commercial buildings, industrial plant, and military bases has come under increasing threat in the last few years. How to meet those threats, without exposing security or other personnel to increased risk, has become a major problem.
John Deere, the well known manufacturer of tractors and agricultural equipment, has come up with an elegant solution. They have taken one of the members of their Gator series of off-road vehicles, and turned it into a most effective military re-supply and utility machine.
The M-Gator, as it is known, is powered by an efficient 3-cylinder diesel engine and has already seen service with the US Marine Corps in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as being used by Canadian Armed Forces in the later country. There is a litter support frame fixed to the vehicle hood, and as well as evacuating casualties, the Gator is a nimble off-road supply vehicle in rough country.
However, the story does not stop there. The Gator has now been turned into an autonomous UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle), the R-Gator. The R-Gator can be controlled by an operator, remotely, or programmed to follow a pre-arranged path to and from a target location, carrying many types of loads – it can, of course, be driven normally by the flick of a switch. The R-Gator is equipped with a range of sensors, which enables it to act as a silent sentinel on military reservations, large industrial plants and other high value targets, yet retain a patrol facility.
Here you can see an M-Gator being loaded onto a USAF C-130 Hercules aircraft at Sather Air Base, Iraq on its way to Basra.
This vehicle, especially in its R-Gator form, has an exceptionally bright future ahead. It is an idea who’s time has come.
http://www.deere.com/en_US/contractsales/fedmilitarysales/cce/r_gator/r_gator.html
Image courtesy of Wikipedia: -
Central Park, Clinton – not so much passive, as passive-aggressive? March 28, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in New England, United States, baseball, textiles.Tags: architectural design, ball playing, baseball, baseball diamond, bicycles, Boston, carpet, Central Park, churches, Clinton, dogs, football, fountain, frisbee, Fuller Field, golf, housing stock, littering, MA, Massachusetts, metal detecting, New England, New York, ointment, oldest baseball field in the world, park, prohibitions, public buildings, rollerblading, skateboard, soccer, statuary, swimming, textile industry, textiles, Town Hall, United States, Victorian, wading, Worcester County
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Sign, Central Park, Clinton, MA
Clinton is a small city, in Worcester County in the western portion of Massachusetts, which was incorporated in 1850. It is about 42 miles from Boston, and therefore 30 miles from where I live. A visit to Clinton is usually most enjoyable, if you appreciate architectural design, as the prosperity of the 19th century caused by its booming textile industry (especially carpets), allowed the town to erect many impressive public buildings. Also, the housing stock contains fine examples of homes in the New England Victorian style. As an aside, it also is home to the oldest baseball diamond in continuous use in the world (dating from 1878), Fuller Field.
At the core of the town is Central Park, a fine public space with paths, seats, statuary and a fountain, which has many mature trees. The park is surrounded on three sides by a variety of notable homes, churches, the Town Hall and other buildings. Like its much bigger and more famous counterpart in New York, Central Park should be a haven of rest, relaxation and recreation.
There is, however, one fly in the ointment. As you can see from the above notice, Central Park has been designated a ‘passive park for the enjoyment of all’, with the authorities banning virtually ALL forms of activity. No dogs allowed, no ball playing, no frisbee, no football, no soccer, no golf, no skateboards, no rollerblading, no bicycles, no swimming, no wading, no metal detectors, no littering. A couple of these are fairly standard (and useful) prohibitions, but the main aim of the city seems to be to forbid almost anything that makes a park a park! Not so much ‘passive’ as ‘passive-aggressive’, in my opinion.
Perhaps, on my next visit, I should enquire at the Town Hall to see if I can go into the park and breathe a little?
The feisty Fennec – a fiercer fox March 24, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in 'warbird', Aviation, England, France, Great Vintage Flying Weekend, United States, aircraft.Tags: 'iron' bombs, 'Little Rascal', 'warbird', .50 calibre machinegun, 51-7545, 7/72 'Fennec', 87mm rockets, air exercise 'Carte Blanche', Air Show, Algeria, Algerian civil war, Armee de L'Air, armour protection, Aviation, Browning, close-support aircraft, COIN, Dassault, Dassault Mirage IIIC, Delaware, desert fox, Duxford, EALA, England, Escadrilles d'Aviation Legere d'Appui, European, Fennec, France, French, Great Vintage Flying Weekend, GVFWE, Haiti, Haitian Air Force, hardpoints, Hullavington, Hurricane, Imperial War Museum, light strike unit, Metropolitan France, Mirage IIIC, Museums, napalm containers, North Africa, North American, North American Nomad, nose art, observer, Pac-Aero, primary trainers, R-1300, R-1300 Cyclone engine, R-1820-76B, Radial Revelation Inc, radio gear, SNEB rockets, St. Nazaire, Sud-Aviation, T-28A, T-28S, T-6G, T-6G Texan, The Aircraft Restoration Company, Trojan, underwing gun pods, USAF, Wilmington, Wright R-1820 engine
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North American T-28S Fennec
In the late 1950s, with war raging in Algeria, French forces needed a close-support aircraft urgently. Their light strike aircraft being used in North Africa (in what would now be called a COIN role) included large numbers of the T-6G Texan. This aircraft had been upgraded, fitted with underwing gun pods and thrown into the fray. Standard French operating procedure was to use a pilot and an observer in the Texan on missions. This left the aircraft slow, underarmed and very vulnerable.
Two North American Nomads (civilianized versions of the T-28A) were purchased by the French for test purposes, quickly followed by 146 ex-USAF T-28A Trojans. These primary trainers were handed over to Sud Aviation at St. Nazaire, who oversaw the rebuilding of the machines; this included fitting standard French radio gear, armour protection for the engine and crew, and additional underwing hardpoints. The aircraft lost their 800hp R-1300 Cyclone engines, and were upgraded with a Wright R-1820-76B putting out 1425hp (these were sourced through Pac-Aero, who had produced the Nomad conversions). The aircraft was named Fennec, after the swift, cunning desert fox of North Africa, and the designation changed to T-28S; first flight took place on 10 March 1960, with each aircraft conversion taking approximately two months.
The war in Algeria was being fought over rugged mountain terrain, as well as in urban settings, and the Fennec suited the task. As well as being faster, more powerful, with extra armour protecting the engine and crew, the armament fit included a mix of .50 calibre Browning machine pods, SNEB rocket packs, 87mm rockets, napalm containers and ‘iron’ bombs.
The Fennec seen here is based at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, and is one of only two T-28 aircraft in the country. It was originally built by North American in 1951 (51-7545) as a T-28A, but was converted as the 119th Fennec. It carries the markings of one of the French light strike units (Escadrilles d’Aviation Legere d’Appui) EALA 7/72 ‘Fennec’ of the Armee de L’Air. Eventually, this example was disposed of to the Haitian Air Force, where it served until 1978. After a time on the US civil register, it was bought by Radial Revelation Inc, of Wilmington Delaware, and shipped to the UK, under management of The Aircraft Restoration Company.
This aircraft carries nose art, as ‘Little Rascal’, and the badge of 7/72, appropriately a fennec under the moon, under the cockpit. This feisty fox has been described as ‘a poor man’s Hurricane’; indeed, when the Fennecs were withdrawn to Metropolitan France after the Algerian War was over in 1962, they were issued to training and secondline defence units, and it is a matter of record that a Fennec claimed a ‘kill’ on an ‘opposing’ Dassault Mirage IIIC during air exercise ‘Carte Blanche’ in 1963!
‘Little Rascal’ is a fine performer on the European air show scene, and is shown here parked in the warbirds section at the GVFWE, Hullavington. A splendid conversion of an already successful type.
Town snowplough – ‘It’s The End Of The World As We Know It’ March 2, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in New England, United States.Tags: New England, Snow, Boston, Massachusetts, Nor'easter, snowplough, Carolinas, storm, low pressure, Maritime Provinces, Canada, Atlantic, moist air, commute, 'It's The End Of The World As We Know It', circulation, New England states, ski resorts, skiers, snowboaders
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- Town snowplough
Well, maybe not the end of the world, but..it is a nasty ‘Nor’easter’. This is a particularly savage type of winter storm that we get here in New England. It starts with an area of low pressure moving up the coast from the Carolinas up towards the Maritime Provinces of Canada. As the centre of the storm passes just off the coast, the circulation picks up moist air from the (relatively) warm Atlantic, which is dumped at fairly impressive rates over the New England states. Snow at the rate of 2 to 3 inches per hour is not uncommon. Nor’easters are one of the reasons why the Boston area averages around 50 inches of snow per year.
We have just been told that the next 8 hours will see another 12 – 18 inches of snow in our part of Massachusetts (on top of that already on the ground). It is going to be a trying commute, that is for sure! Possibly the only ones clapping their hands with glee are the owners of various ski resorts, just to the north of Boston; and, of course, the legions of skiers and snowboarders who flock to them.
Car vs building…….and the winner is….. February 16, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in New England, United States, car crash.Tags: accelerator, ambulance, atrium, brick, car, car crash, carpeted, concrete, condominium, elderly driver, elevator shaft, firemen, footpath, front door, glass, glass doors, glass particles, high velocity, Lay-Z-Boy recliner, Mercury, New England, paramedics, police, shoe heel, steel, tow truck
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Mercury vs condominium
Occasionally, bad things happen to good people…..like the driver of this car.
I was sitting in my Lay-Z-Boy recliner, when the whole building shook, then there was a splattering sound as if someone had thrown a shovelful of gravel against the front door of the condominium. When I opened the door, I found that a car had entered the building THROUGH the two glass doors and across the carpeted atrium, impacting the steel-reinforced brick elevator shaft. I was able to render first aid to the elderly driver (her shoe heel had got caught under the accelerator pedal, and she had sped across the car park, up a concrete footpath, and through two glass and metal sets of doors). I stayed with her until the ambulance and the paramedics arrived…..THEN started shaking! This photograph was taken later, as the police and firemen (aided by a tow truck) began the process of removing the car from the building. Anyone crossing the atrium at the moment of the crash would have stood little chance, as a cloud of metal pieces and glass particles was sprayed across it at high velocity – I was still picking pieces of glass out of our front door days later; ten feet to the left and my Laz-Z-Boy would have needed to be a two-seater…………
A Cub with a chequered past…. February 13, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in Aviation, Second World War, United States, aircraft.Tags: Cambrai, Civilian Training Program, Continental A65 engine, Cub, French, Grasshopper, Great Britain, J3 Cub, L-4, Lock Haven, NE-1, O-59, Pennsylvania, Piper, Second World War, SOCATA MS 880 Rallye, United States, United States Army Air Corps, US Marines, USN
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- Piper J-3C-65 Cub
This is a Cub with a chequered past – and a chequered present too! Formerly on the French register as F-BPYN, it was first registered in Britain during 1979. A little ‘digging’ reveals that it was built to a US Government contract in 1943, and would have been one of the many J-3s built with military designations such as L-4 and O-59 for the US Army Air Corps, or NE-1 for the US Navy and Marine Corps – the type was almost universally known as the Grasshopper. The Civilian Pilot Training Program, which involved the training of hundreds of thousands of pilots in the US during WW2, also used the J-3 in huge quantities. Over 19,000 civilian and military Cubs were produced by Piper at Lock Haven, Pennsylvania from 1938 to 1947, and no less than 320,000 US military pilots were trained on them.
Logan Airport – at risk? February 11, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in Aviation, New England, United States, aircraft.Tags: Aviation, aircraft, British Airways, ICAO, Rhode Island, USA, Ireland, Dublin, Aer Lingus, Virgin Atlantic, United Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Air France, Alitalia, Air Canada, Airbus A330, EI-DUO, St Columba, Colum, Boston, Boston Harbor, Manchester International, T F Green Airport, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, climate change, sea level, reclaimed land, Worcester Airport, KOHR, KBOS, BOS, KPVD, IATA, the Poles, the Atlantic, catering truck, support vehicles, aircraft tug, airport pier, the Emerald Isle, A330-202, Airbus, Spanish-American War, General Edward Lawrence Logan, South Boston, Terminal E, Logan, Logan International Airport, Airbus Industries, airport, Boeing 747, Boeing 767, long-haul
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- Logan Airport, Boston
This is a view out over Boston Habour from Terminal E of Logan International Airport, Boston (named after General Edward Lawrence Logan, a native of South Boston who fought in the Spanish-American War). This is the principal airport for Boston, although airports to the north, at Manchester, New Hampshire, and to the south in Providence, Rhode Island, do siphon some traffic away.
A Derbyshire ‘traitor’? February 4, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in British Isles, Derbyshire, England, London, Museums, New England, United States.Tags: 'Father of the American Industrial Revolution', apprentice, Belper, Blackstone River, Blackstone River National Heritage Corridor, carding, cotton, Cromford, Derbyshire, Derwent Mills World Heritage Site, factory system, indenture, Jedediah Strutt, London, Milford, Moses Brown, museum, New England, New York, Pawtucket, President Andrew Jackson, Quaker, Rhode Island, River Derwent, Samuel Slater, Sir Richard Arkwright, spinning, textiles, UNESCO, USA, water power, World Heritage Site
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- Slater Mill, Pawtucket, Rhode Island
When is a ‘traitor’ not a ‘traitor’? When he’s ‘The Father of the American Industrial Revolution’?
