Tagged: Richard Stephenson
Seen over Halifax
What’s that ghostly visage cruising over Halifax on an overcast Fourth of July, 1936. Hint: take a closer look at the logo emblazoned on the airship’s tail.
It’s Luftschiff Zeppelin #129, better known as the Hindenburg, on a transatlantic flight just 10 months before its catastrophic docking at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey.
The photo is one of many fascinating images on a Nova Scotia Archives web display called An East Coast Port: Halifax in Wartime, 1939-1945.
The Hindenburg overflew the city at about 1000 feet, causing the Halifax Herald to fret two days later over the possibility “those aboard the Hindenburg were taking pictures of Halifax and other places, for the files of the German air ministry.”
The same Nova Scotia Archives web feature includes film clips from the period, including this riveting footage of a German U-Boat crew surrending to US and Canadian vessels off Shelburne in 1945. Note especially the crewmen being patted down at the 0:50 second mark, and the sullen faces of the hapless submariners assembled on an unidentified wharf at the 1:30 mark. This is not how they expected their war to turn out.
UPDATE: Reader Derek Andrews points out that a dirigible—one of ours, presumably—appears in this video as well.
The Nova Scotia Archives also makes its videos available in a more user-friendly format on YouTube.
H/T: Iain Grant and Richard Stephenson, and thanks to the Archives’ social marketing whirlwind Lauren Oostveen.
That Layton surge in Quebec
What to make of the Layton’s remarkable late-campaign surge in Quebec? Contrarian friend Richard Stephenson suggests an explanation:
We have been told repeatedly that the voters are tired of these frequent (and expensive) elections. I suspect many are tired of the stories the Bloq and the Liberals have been telling. Having voted consistently for the Bloq over the past decade, maybe the people of Quebec are tired of the story they’ve been sold, and are now looking for a Federalist party they can trust….
[T]he Liberal Party in Quebec is in disgrace because of the sponsorship scandal and the ongoing scandals in the construction industry. [Quebecers] cannot vote PC (too far right, too Alberta) and they do not want to vote Liberal or Bloq, so they have only the NDP and Layton left. It’s by no means certain that the voter in Quebec would recoil from supporting a small left wing party that has no hope of becoming the government. After all this describes the Bloq, doesn’t it?
The triumph of taxophobia
Writing in Democracy, Jonathan Chait plumbs American right’s aversion to taxes:
The conservative movement’s embrace of taxophobia is probably the most important development in American political life over the last three decades. It is the one quality that most distinguishes American conservative elites from conservative elites in other countries. They’re more likely to question climate science, more sanguine about people dying for lack of health insurance, and less xenophobic (which is rather nice). But above all—far above all—they hate taxes.
Understanding the American Right is critical for Canadians, because if voters make the mistake of giving Stephen Harper a majority on May 2, we will see the same bizarre ideology shape our country in ways many Canadians have not stopped to think about.
H/T: Richard Stephenson
Timberrrrrrr!
An A.W. Leil crane capsizes while attempting to place a large wall panel during construction of the new Yarmouth High School January 28. The fun begins at about the 2:40 mark.
No one was hurt in the incident. H/T: Richard Stephenson.
Visual data: land surveying in 2011
Google’s ability to produce its Street View images still leaves me gobsmacked. Now see what the land survey industry has been up to in the digital technology department: Using a portable, eye-safe, laser scanner, and traveling at posted speeds, this vehicle collects data and imagery with survey grade accuracy:
Yes, they need a better video, but still…
H/T: Richard Stephenson
The nation that pees together
Here’s a curious Olympic postscript: a printout of Halifax water consumption on the afternoon of the Olympic gold medal hockey game:
The spikes correspond with the three intermissions, and with the immediate aftermath of Crosby’s sudden-death goal and the medal ceremony. Epcor, the company that runs Edmonton’s water system, produced a similar graph for that city on the same afternoon, with the previous day’s spikeless consumption superimposed in green:
Hat tip: R.S.
A blues anniversary
Thirty-nine years ago last night, Jimi Hendrix died in a London, England, apartment. He was 27 years old. Halifax bluesman Roger Howse honored the anniversary with an all-Hendrix third set at Bearly’s House of Blues & Ribs on Barrington Street. Contrarian friend Richard Stephenson writes:
A fixture at Bearly’s over the last decade, the Roger Howse Band draws praise for the power of its music and the precision of Roger’s guitar work. About 12:30 this morning, following a longer than usual break, the band returned to the stage and, without fanfare, charged headlong into a ninety-minute set featuring nine Hendrix songs. The hand-written play list, now in my possession, included:
- Stone Free
- Drivin’ South
- Little Wing
- Hey Joe
- Villa Nova Junction
- Red House
- Killin’ Floor
- Voodoo Chile
- All Along the Watchtower (encore)
The band played with energy and confidence, wasting no time between songs. The music was loud and hard-edged, the guitar work passionate and accurate. Howse attracts a knowledgeable audience, and last night’s crowd, aware of the evening’s significance, listened intently, cheering the end of each song and the opening chords of the next.
Bearly’s staffers Megan McMullin, Dan Falvi, and Mimi Andriopoulos, who have seen just about everything, understood the importance of the night. Younger members of the audience pressed forward onto the dance floor in wonder at the avalanche of sound. Time flew away and we all felt the joy of hearing Hendrix again.
“I have been influenced by all of the great blues guitar players,” Roger told the crowd. “By Robert Johnson, Albert King, B.B.King, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, and Roy Buchanan. But the man who had the biggest impact on me was Jimi Hendrix.”
I suspect there were small gatherings of fans all around the world last night, listening to his recordings and raising glasses to his memory. I doubt, however, that anyone felt closer to the spirit of the genius than the patrons at Bearly’s early this morning. We have blues guitarist Roger Howse, bassist Morrow Scott Brown, and drummer Steve Tomarelli to thank for this special occasion.
Saturday, September 18, 2010, will be the 40th anniversary of Hendrix’s death. Perhaps the Roger Howse Band will play one more tribute to the greatest guitar player in the history of rock and roll. Thank you, Roger!
