What’s funny to me is that after nearly a century of airships having a largely unearned* reputation for being all explody from hydrogen (and many decades of proponents trying to get folks to understand that they’re filled with helium now) that company is now planning airships that use hydrogen again. It’s for fuel this time, but still bound to cause some confusion for folks who aren’t paying close attention.
*64% of the Hindenberg's passengers and crew survived that fiery disaster, and passenger planes of the 1930's weren't exactly super safe by comparison.
5 Likes
5 Likes
9 Likes
Spotted on approach to ADW… I don’t believe this is Air Force One. I mean, it could be, but I think the extra hump means it’s an E-4 (i.e. the Doomsday plane), not a VC-25 (POTUS’s ride).
Don’t normally see these into/out of Andrews.
8 Likes
Evacuating because of drones.
3 Likes
Here is the American Century departing Duluth, Minnesota late on the afternoon of November 27, 2024. We had previously seen her arrive in the early morning hours to load 68,000 tons of coal at the Midwest Energy Terminal in Superior. While the books have officially recorded the coal as being delivered to the power plants in St. Clair and Monroe in Michigan, it seems more likely that it was a secret delivery to Santa Claus… to make sure he has enough lumps of coal for the stockings of all the naughty people out there. It’s impossible to verify, of course, but I hope all of the viewers for this video are on the nice list, not the naughty list!
Even if Santa ends up being stingy, the American Century gifted us with two captain’s salutes as she made her way out through the shipping canal, with the Aerial Lift Bridge responding to the first salute. Note that it takes a few seconds for the Century’s horn to “warm up” in the cold air. As the temps got colder in the days that followed, the sound of raspy and frozen horns could frequently be heard in the canal. Stay tuned to this channel for a lot more shipping action to come before the season ends!
7 Likes
And for contrast
3 Likes
Interesting. I have a friend who wants to retire to Duluth, and observe the comings and goings of ships.
5 Likes
There are three Duluth yt creators whose vids I often watch.
The one who made the above video - https://www.youtube.com/@1Long2Short
They don’t add music, silly graphics or any other nonsense, nor do they narrate. There’s usually lots of info re: each ship in the descriptions, too!
I haven’t yet found any comparable Michigan-based channels, but I’m still looking around.
When I lived out of state, I really missed hearing the freighters! We often hear trains in this part of Detroit, too.
ETA:
Something else really cool about these vids is seeing the people who come watch the ships - they are quite a diverse bunch, and far from all one age group, etc. The hardcore few who are there w/phones/cameras in the freezing cold, super early/late, etc are obviously among the folks whose videos I watch.
6 Likes
Have you ever been on the Boat Nerds website? They’re all about Great Lakes freighters.
@RAvery: There’s a warmer alternative to Duluth with high volumes of freighter traffic - Port Huron. Houses along the Lake Huron shore are expensive McMansions for the most part, though. Something smaller and more reasonably priced could be had on the St. Clair river.
6 Likes
Someone who lives on the St Clair River left a comment on one of the freighter vids I watched a while ago. They said a retired freighter captain used to live nearby, and every ship, day or night, blasted master salutes for him.
I detected no bitterness nor anger when they said it would sometimes happen at 4AM.
I think that’s absolutely wonderful.
ETA: Thanks for hipping me to Boat Nerds 
7 Likes
Another incident on Scottish buses, again lucky not to have killed passengers
6 Likes
Some of the early reviews of Vinfast cars were pretty brutal with the consensus being that the new automaker had a lot of potential but that their cars had a ton of glitches that still needed to be worked out, so the reviewers strongly recommend against buying one yet. Well based on this story I’d say that’s doubly true now:
3 Likes
Wanted: Oscar Mayer Wienermobile Spokesperson
1-year assignment with a competitive package including a $35,600 base salary, a weekly allowance of $150 ($7,200/yr.) for meals & personal travel, 18 days of paid time off, full health benefits package, and 100% of hotel expenses covered.
6 Likes
Jules: I’m just going to drive the Earth.
Vincent: What’chou mean, “drive the Earth”?
Jules: You know, like Caine in Kung Fu : drive from place to place, meet people, get into adventures.
7 Likes
11 Likes