Today in History 3/15 – Jesse W Reno patents the “Inclined Elevator”

Jesse W RenoOn this date in 1892 Jesse W Reno patented the “inclined elevator” or the first escalator….

Jesse Wilford Reno,  (August 4, 1861 – June 2, 1947) born in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, was an inventive young man who formulated his idea for an inclined moving stairway at age 16. After graduating from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, his engineering career took him to Colorado, then to Americus, Georgia where he is credited with building the first electric railway in the southern U.S. Reno submitted his first patent application for a “new and useful endless conveyor or elevator” in 1891. It became effective 15 months later. The machine was built and installed at Coney Island, Brooklyn, as an amusement ride in September 1895 More at the Elevator Museum Read More

Prog Explorations: Shadow Circus – On a Dark and Stormy Night

On a Dark and Stormy NightOk so maybe I have to reconsider my approach to music listening when it comes to Prog Rock. Typically, I listen to an album and then go and find out about the artist and their music. With Prog Rock I think it is most time wise to visit their site and read about the album BEFORE listening! You see many prog rock artist don’t create songs, they create albums many times concept albums and even when it’s not a concept album the tracks often are based on something!! This became clear with my latest listen, On a Dark and Stormy Night from the band Shadow Circus. Now if I had read Madeleine L’Engle’s classic fantasy novel, A Wrinkle in Time. I would have known that the title of the album is actually from the book and that would have given me a clue that the album is based on the book. Anyway on the first several listens, I enjoyed the music, after going to Wikipedia and reading a synopsis of the book I went back and listened to the album again I liked it even more! And check this out from their website – they’re from New Jersey! Read More

New Blues – Bex Marshall – The House of Mercy

House of MercyBex Marshall’s album The House of Mercy caught my eye a couple of weeks ago and I had no idea how he artist was, so I went to MOG put on the album and was blown away by the title track!! So after being sufficiently impressed by the first listen to the album I went the Bex’s website and discovered that Bex was born in Devonshire England and now lives in London. She is the offspring of a diverse family one side being blue blooded landed gentry, the other Irish Romany. She’s been playing guitar since her Uncle Dave presented her with one on her 11th birthday. By the age of 18, she was a trained croupier, traveling the world working gaming tables on cruise liners to Park Lane, even dealing illegal poker games in Amsterdam. She hitch hiked the coast of Australia on cattle trains and always with a guitar on her back living and storing tales. The House of Mercy is her sophomore release coming on the heels of her successful début album, Kitchen Table, which rose to 13 on the USA ‘UK artists chart’ and number 20 in the USA national Americana Music Association Chart. (AMA Chart). The House of Mercy is now 31 on the Roots Music Report Blues Chart, a couple of weeks ago it was higher than that!Bex Marshall BandThe House of Mercy features The Bex Marshall Band composed of Barry Payne (acoustic bass), Crispin Taylor (drums), Danny Bryan (percussion), Toby Baker (keyboards) and newest edition, gospel singer Shola Adegorove. They are helped out by guests musicians include: Don Wayne Reno (banjo), Dale Reno (mandolin) & Jake Byers (acoustic bass) all from Hayseed Dixie. B J Cole (dobro), Eileen Healy (fiddle) and Brigitte DeMeyer adding backing vocals. Read More

This Day in History – George Eastman committed suicide

GeorgeEastman2On this date in 1932, George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak committed suicide. This is one of those events about which I say “Did I know that?? The answer, I think, is no! Anyway, over the last years of his life Eastman suffered from chronic pain in this back. He could hardly stand and walked in a slow shuffle. So, on March 14, 1932, Eastman committed suicide with a single gunshot to the heart, leaving a note which read, “To my friends: my work is done. Why wait Read More

This Day in History – Greenwood patents Earmuffs – Herschel discovers Uranus!

While December 21 may be Chester Greenwood Day in Farmington Maine, it was on this day in 1877 that Chester patented  earmuffs!  According to Wikipedia Greenwood:

 invented the earmuff in 1873, at the age of 15.[1] He reportedly came up with the idea while ice skating, and had his grandmother sew tufts of fur between loops of wire.[2] His patent was for improved ear protectors. He manufactured these ear protectors, providing jobs for people in the Farmington area, for nearly 60 years.[1] Read More Read More

Treacherous Beauty – Peggy Shippen, the Woman Behind Benedict Arnold’s Plot to Betray Anerica

Peggy ShippenSo in Book No 11 for 2013 Treacherous Beauty, the authors Mark Jacobs and Stephen H. Case make the case (no pun intended, well maybe a little) that the subject of the book was the Scarlett O’Hara of the Revolutionary War: “a woman whose survival skills trumped all other values. Had she been a man, she might have been arrested, tried and executed. And she might have become famous. Instead, her role was minimized and she was allowed to recede into the background – with a generous British pension in hand”  the Treacherous Beauty is Peggy Shippen, Mrs. Benedict Arnold! Read More

Life’s Soundtrack – ARZ’s Turn of the Tide makes the miles go by!

Turn of the TideWow, two runs in three days! A first for 2013! Tonight I decided that the run would be 4 miles, but I didn’t want it to a run that I usually do, because then I start comparing my times now, with past runs and start thinking, I am old and slow! Anyway, I laid out a 4 mile course slightly different then normal – hey how much can I change it up in a one square mile town!! While it wasn’t the easiest four mile run ever, it really wasn’t, too bad considering how little I’ve run this winter. The pace was just slightly over 10 minutes per mile, which I’ll take at this point in time! Read More