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GhostOfTomJoad last won the day on May 26 2018
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GhostOfTomJoad started following The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down , Ken Burns: The American Revolution 11/16 , Jeffrey Epstein needs his own thread and 3 others
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In.
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Oh how many of you are ready for the Thanksgiving conversations that begin "you know, your grandmother Pearl was 13 when she married your grandfather Enos who was 15 and had already been working at the dairy for 3 years. She was 14 when your uncle Frank was born. That's just how things were then"?
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Is this Miller, Vance & the truly evil part of the GQP's chance to move on Trump? They see his increased dementia and failing health on a daily basis. Last week's election results portends a potential bloodbath for the midterms. Maybe their play is to let the files come out and then read the tea leaves. They can make a tepid attempt to play all the hits like "fake news", "political hit job", "Bill was there", etc. , but if the rats begin to leave the ship would they seize the opportunity to get Vance in office in the hopes he can temper a Blue Wave next November while giving him a 3ish year chance to build towards the 2028 race?
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The good news: we don't have to go to the Hill Country for a family Thanksgiving & will miss the aggy BIL's first attempt at a sober holiday ever. The bad news: well, there really isn't any. It might be just the two of us at home unless my sister or a couple friends decide to stop by. We could use a quiet, drama-free long weekend.
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What does the Surl 'member about you that keeps getting brought up?
GhostOfTomJoad replied to Superhero's topic in Lulz
Not a fucking chance. I don't even know if I'm aware of that story & have just assumed the random reference to liquid smoke is a nod to it being universally understood as atrocious. -
What does the Surl 'member about you that keeps getting brought up?
GhostOfTomJoad replied to Superhero's topic in Lulz
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Jesus, talk about a blast from the past. I think Heart Like a Wheel was on Showtime 3X a day for all of 1985.
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Cross posting from the Gordo thread re: the new book Gales of November. He does a great job explaining the history of the Fitz, the importance of the Great Lakes shipping channel, the engineering behind the Soo locks...hell, he even finds a way to make taconite interesting. Data & safety wonks will appreciate the explanation of the Plimsoll line & freeboard limits--and how frequently these critical safety limits were tested, skirted & broken for the almighty dollar--and how dangerous those waters were given the technology of the time. Obviously it's the stories of the sailors & the families that pull us in. Captain Mc Sorley making his final sail ever before retiring, and using the extra bonus money from another record haul to help cover his chronically ill wife's medical expenses. The officers & mates he'd spent decades sailing with who were also going to retire. And the youngsters, waiting to finish the season & take their hot rod on a cross country trip before the responsibilities of an unexpected pregnancy truly set in.
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He does a great job explaining the history of the Fitz, the importance of the Great Lakes shipping channel, the engineering behind the Soo locks...hell, he even finds a way to make taconite interesting. Data & safety wonks will appreciate the explanation of the Plimsoll line & freeboard limits--and how frequently these critical safety limits were tested, skirted & broken for the almighty dollar--and how dangerous those waters were given the technology of the time. Obviously it's the stories of the sailors & the families that pull us in. Captain McSorley making his final sail ever before retiring, and using the extra bonus money from another record haul to help cover his chronically ill wife's medical expenses. The officers & mates he'd spent decades sailing with who were also going to retire. And the youngsters, waiting to finish the season & take their hot rod on a cross country trip before the responsibilities of an unexpected pregnancy truly set in.
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Back to the song: Gordon had been working on a sea shanty based on an Irish reel. He didn't have a title or words. He went down to get a cup of coffee while writing in the attic of his Toronto house on November 9th and as the storms hit his windows he exclaimed "it must be hell on Superior tonight." He started putting the words together after reading an account of the sinking a few weeks later. He never intended to record it because he feared it could be seen as exploitive. But during recording session breaks the band would hear him strumming this tune. He'd fi ished recording Summertime Dream early & still had 2 days of studio time paid for. The engineer convinced him to play "that shanty" and he reluctantly did. Nobody in the studio had heard it before. The audio track you hear on the song was not just the first take, but the first time they played it through.
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It's also pretty amazing to think how dangerous the design of the freighters were i order to maximize the cargo they could transport through the narrow Soo locks. They were floating yard sticks, with 26,000 tons of taconite onboard. Can you imagine trying to navigate a 720' ship in 30' seas? "We're holding our own."
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The book also details how the lighter, freshwater seas create more violent green waves vs the heavier salt water oceans. The speed & ferocity of the Great Lakes storms is an entirely different beast.
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It's out and an excellent read. The author does a fantastic job detailing the history of Great Lakes shipping & what made it so dangerous. The Big Fitz was THE freighter, and her exploits were legendary. As the book details, it's almost never one singular event that causes a ship to founder. It's a series of dominoes that get out of control in a hurry. In the end, the "how" will never be known. But the greatest legacy is that there hasn't been a commercial vessel sinking on the Great Lakes since. I was almost 6 when she went down & living in Newport, a port town on the Mississippi just outside of Saint Paul. My grandmother was from Eveleth, MN, and most of her brothers spent their lives working in the mines or supporting the industry of the Mesabi Range. None were sailors. They were more fearful of the storms on Superior than the earth caving in on them. I distinctly remember listening to the reports on the AM radio that day. It was the only thing the adults talked about over the coming days. The pastor at our Lutheran church led a very somber service the following Sunday. We all sang Amazing Grace. Lots of tough, blue collar men who worked in the local steel mill, stockyards, ports & train depot were misty eyed that day. The sinking of the Mighty Fitz was a transformative moment in my life.
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