ajh
Ice in New York City
Monthly Archives: February 2011
Railfan Adventures in Iowa
This photo was taken by a student from Iowa State.
“In one of my craziest railfan adventures, my friend Paul and I went railfanning in a blinding snow storm during a rare snow day at Iowa State University.”
AJH
Nieuw Amsterdam
New Amsterdam, renamed New York City in 1664, was incorporated today in 1653. (Nieuw Amsterdam is the original Dutch spelling.)
In 1664, the city was surrendered to the English and renamed “New York” after the English Duke of York and Albany. At the end of the Second Anglo-Dutch War the Dutch gained control of Run Island (then a much more valuable asset) in exchange for the English controlling New Amsterdam (New York) in North America. . . . New York underwent no fewer than seven important yellow fever epidemics from 1702 to 1800.
ajh
Clyde Drexler in London
Clyde Drexler, one of my favorite basketball players ever, foresees a NBA franchise in London within the next decade. Drexler is in England to promote the first regular-season NBA games to be played in London in March.
“If the demand continues, that could actually happen. We’re probably 10 years or so away, but that is not too farsighted to happen,” Drexler said.
The NBA has decided to emulate the NHL and NFL, both of which have played regular-season games in London.
“Basketball is a global sport,” said Drexler, veteran of the Portland Trail Blazers. “There’s a demand around the world . . .”
And the distance, Drexler said, won’t be a problem for anyone.
“Even games coming from Oregon to New York are far, but that never stopped anything,” Drexler said. “It’s about as far as New York to London. It’s all relative. Every team has a private charter. They can go all over the world.”
To raise the profile of the sport in soccer-loving Britain the NBA has sposnored Basketball Week, a series of youth-oriented events taking place throughout England, London, Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester and Newcastle, and culminating in the two games.
And a London team may just be the beginning.
“There are going to be some teams in Europe. There are going to be some teams in Asia. And they’re all going to be a part of the NBA umbrella, eventually,” Drexler said. “That’s the global plan.”
Let’s hope the NBA’s global plans fare better than NFL Europe.
ajh
Germany Travellers’ Guide
This guide for travelers, for sale on eBay, was ‘published’ by the Darmstadt and National Bank (Darmstädter und NationalBank) and ‘presented’ by North German Lloyd (Norddeutscher Lloyd). (What the difference is between ‘presenting’ and ‘publishing’ I have no idea.) It predates World War II. The seller thinks it is probably from the late 1920s. The “fascinating part is that it covers a great number of cities and some of these sites mentioned were destroyed during WWII. And some of the cities are no longer part of Germany!”
ajh
Relief from America
“No one can imagine the sufferings of the Belgian people. The people are deprived of everything. They live from hand to mouth. They watch week by week for American relief ship supplies. They kneel to the stars and stripes and pray to it as they would to the flag of a church.”
Vander Noot de Moorsel, Belgian nobleman, in a report to the Red Cross, published in the Alton Evening Telegraph, from a United Press wire, September 29, 1917
ajh
‘Frozen in Time’
Mist forming ice, making some cool pics of Spokane in The Spokesman-Review. There are three in the series I particularly like, which are above.
AJH
‘Al-Qaida on brink of using nuclear bomb’
Reporters from The Daily Telegraph in London have been using newly released documents from WikiLeaks in recent reporting, including articles on an alleged 9/11 cell whose members abandoned the attack and have since disappeared. The Vancouver Sun has been republishing some of the stories, including news that Al-Qaida may have a nuclear weapon of some kind.
Al-Qaida is on the verge of producing radioactive weapons after sourcing nuclear material and recruiting rogue scientists to build “dirty” bombs, according to leaked diplomatic documents.
A leading atomic regulator has privately warned that the world stands on the brink of a “nuclear 9/11”.
Security briefings suggest that jihadi groups are also close to producing “workable and efficient” biological and chemical weapons that could kill thousands if unleashed in attacks on the West.
Thousands of classified American cables obtained by the WikiLeaks website and passed to The Daily Telegraph detail the international struggle to stop the spread of weapons-grade nuclear, chemical and biological material around the globe.
ajh
‘Bravest Girl in Egypt’
AJH
The 9/11 Terrorists Who Got Away
“The FBI has launched a manhunt for a previously unknown team of men suspected to be part of the 9/11 attacks,” the Daily Telegraph reports, using material from WikiLeaks.
Secret documents reveal that the three Qatari men conducted surveillance on the targets, provided “support” to the plotters and had tickets for a flight to Washington on the eve of the atrocities.
The suspected terrorists flew from London to New York on a British Airways flight three weeks before the attacks.
They allegedly carried out surveillance at the World Trade Centre, the White House and in Virginia, the US state where the Pentagon and CIA headquarters are located.
Ten days later they flew to Los Angeles, where they stationed themselves in a hotel near the airport which the FBI has now established was paid for by a “convicted terrorist”, who also paid for their airline tickets.
Hotel staff have told investigators they saw pilot uniforms in their room along with computer print outs detailing pilot names, flight numbers and times and packages addressed to Syria, Afghanistan, Jerusalem and Jordan.
On September 10 they were booked on an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Washington, but failed to board. The following day the same Boeing 757 aircraft was hijacked by five terrorists and crashed into the Pentagon.
But, instead of boarding the American flight, the Qatari suspects – named as Meshal Alhajri, Fahad Abdulla and Ali Alfehaid – flew back to London on a British Airways flight before returning to Qatar. Their current location is unknown.
ajh
AARON HILL’S NOTEBOOK 