Archive for the 'Chattanooga' Category

TennBridge at Night

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This is one of the first shots I’ve taken at night since I applied the Canon firmware hack to my camera. The exposure time was 64 seconds at f/3.2. I took the shot at approximately 11:30 p.m.

The TennBridge is one of my favorite spots to shoot. It’s a double-tracked vertical lift railroad bridge, and one of the longest of its type in the US. There is a lot of railroad traffic over the bridge … four separate trains crossed tonight while I was out there, and I was only out for a little over an hour.

If you look closely, just this side of the lift part of the span, you’ll see that one pier isn’t quite like the others … it’s older, white, and round. This is a remnant of the original bridge; the movable part of the span rotated on that pier.

Chattanooga Traffic at Night



Originally uploaded by vintage_car
I love night shots, and this one is a great one …

Sunday Afternoon Photos

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Have I ever mentioned that I like the Market Street Bridge? I have? Oh, sorry …

Vote That Bum (Ron Littlefield) Out!

Note: My tongue is planted firmly in cheek here, if it’s not obvious.

I’ve lived in Chattanooga for around one year and nine months now. Not long, but long enough that I can see that Ron Littlefield doesn’t know what he’s doing as far as managing the weather goes.

This is my second winter here, and we’ve had no accumulation of snow and very little snowfall at all, at least down here in the valley. What kind of winter is that? Come on, Ron, give us some snow! I didn’t move from Raleigh, NC toward the mountains for nothin’! Back in Asheville, where I lived before Chattanooga, they’ve gotten over 12 inches in the last 24 hours! We’re a bigger city than them, with more resources … surely we can do better! Plus, think of all the people who are out of jobs … folks who make snowplows, folks who sell the salt and sand they scatter on the roadways when we have freezing weather. Think of the children, man!

As if that wasn’t bad enough, last summer we had a drought. We did fine down here by the river, but folks in the general area who weren’t so close ended up running out of water. Obviously Ron didn’t think of the welfare of everybody around and provide us with enough rain. Those Republicans never do think about the welfare of people who aren’t as well-off as they are.

One particular weather mis-management choice Mr. Littlefield has made that has affected me personally is that he hasn’t scheduled enough thunderstorms. I like ‘em. I like to sit on the porch and watch the lightning and hope it doesn’t strike something close enough to my house to make me jump out of the porch swing and bang my head on the roof. Any mayor worth his salt could give us more thunderstorms, and do it without the nasty stuff like high winds, hail, tornados, and direct lightning strikes that destroy property.

Most recently, anybody watching the weather who is honest would have to agree that it looks like Mr. Littlefield doesn’t know what the heck he’s doing as far as managing the temperature goes. Monday I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, and then yesterday night it was below 30 and snowing (but not enough for any accumulation down here; shame on you, Ron!). Isn’t he a competent enough mayor to keep the temperature somewhat consistent from day to day? Can we have some gradual changes here, please?

Those are just a few examples that come to mind that demonstrate that Ron Littlefield has destroyed our local weather while in office. I fully expect that he won’t do enough to prevent a drought this coming summer either, which will probably mean that Georgia will invade and annex all of Nickajack Lake plus St. Elmo. If they do that, Atlanta will drain the entire Tennessee River dry within a week! To not do anything to prevent a drought now, like pre-scheduling enough rainfall for the summer, and giving us a wet spring, will certainly invite disaster!

So, we need somebody to run for mayor against Littlefield … somebody who can provide Hope ™ and offer real Change ™, especially in the weather.

P.S. I figure if folks blame the president for the economy, I can blame the mayor for the weather. Right?

P.P.S. Actually I think the mayor has more control over the weather than the president has over the economy …

Hamilton County Libertarian Party - February Meeting

The Hamilton County Libertarian Party will be meeting on Tuesday, February 12 at 7:00 p.m. at the Ryan’s at 5104 Hixson Pike (just north of Northgate Mall).

The purpose of the HCLP is to promote the principles of liberty and elect persons who will do the same at the local level, and to support the work of the Party at the state and federal levels. If you are interested in a return to a government that is once again constrained by the limitations imposed upon it by the Constitution and respects the life and liberty of its citizens, please join us on Tuesday night.

Politics: What’s Next?

For the time being, us folks who’ve been campaigning for Ron Paul get a break, since things are over here. I’m proud to report that in my district (Stuart Heights 1) Ron Paul got 38 votes out of 360, which is 10.5%. I don’t know how much of that was related to my talking to folks in the area before the election and my appearance at the polling location yesterday, but it’s good to see that we got that much of the vote.

I’ve made up my mind to run for the position of chairman of the Hamilton County Libertarian Party. I know a good number of local Paul supporters are planning on working within the Republican party to elect Ron Paul Republicans, and while I support them and will likely vote for them in the future, my convictions require me to remain with the Libertarians. I am absolutely convinced that it is imperative that we build up viable third parties to challenge the hegemony of the Republicans and Democrats.

The next big thing around here politically will likely be a special election to replace our disgraced Sheriff Long. I’ve heard rumors that a Ron Paul supporter is planning on running for that position … and if he does, he’s got my support.

Mitt Romney’s Brief Appearance in Chattanooga

This afternoon, on the way over to my in-laws’ home for an evening eatin’ session, I passed three Mitt Romney signs. They had been strategically placed in front of Lupton Drive Baptist Church (which is a polling place). I suspected they wouldn’t last long.

A few minutes ago, I passed the church again on the way home. They’re already gone. I suspect that the first person who got there tonight before their evening service removed them.

I think that’s the fastest I’ve seen any political signs removed since I started paying attention around May of last year when I became involved with the local Ron Paul meetup. Second place goes to the Rudy Giuliani sign that was on Hixson Pike about a mile or two north of where Greenlife used to be. I passed it twice over a three-day period and the next time I came by (maybe five days later) it was gone.

In a way, it’s kind of sad to see the Romney signs gone. I, of course, understand why a church wouldn’t want political signs out front on a Sunday, but it would be nice if signs could start popping up around polling places a week before the election along with some banners that say something like “Hey! You! I’m talking to you, apathetic idiot who hasn’t bothered to put your rear in gear and vote in years! Primary election day is Feb. 5, and if you stay home and feed your fat bottom on chips and dip while watching some lousy piece of trash TV like American Idol, and don’t vote, you’re a sorry unpatriotic loser who deserves a 32-year Dick Cheney presidency!”

Steam Locomotive in Ducktown, TN & Other 1940s Photos

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The Library of Congress has uploaded 3,000 public domain images from the 1940s to Flickr … and may eventually upload more of its collection. The photo above is one of the many that are already available; I found it while searching for “locomotive.”

There are also a number of images taken in Chattanooga as well. I had hoped to find some that had locomotives from the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis or Norfolk and Western railroads … but no such luck yet.

Many of the locomotive-related photos are eerily beautiful, like the ones below (the images are linked to their corresponding Flickr pages if you’re interested). And … they’re in color, which is especially cool for photographs from this era.

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I really can’t get over the beauty of those last few.

Oh, and if you’d like a quick shortcut to the ‘home page’ of the photos, look no further: Flickr Photos from The Library of Congress.

Hat Tip: Reason Magazine

Market Street Bridge 2 - 1/13/2008

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Market Street Bridge - 1/13/2008

Wow, it’s been a long time since I posted any photos …

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