Memorial Day 2015

A well deserved thank you to all who have served in our nation's armed forces. And while all gave some, some gave their all, and you have my gratitude. It's not just a day to thank our service members for their service, but to remember that we owe it to them to make sure that they have our support beyond mere headlines and political punchlines.

We simply do not do enough to give our veterans the support they need. This takes several forms, but it boils down to not sufficiently paying them for their service while in uniform, and then not doing enough once they've separated from service.

It is the latter that is the most haunting given that politicians have essentially turned them into disposable heroes - they make great backdrops for political rallies and gatherings, but don't do nearly enough to make sure that they have sufficient mental health support and care. Far too many service members end up homeless, on the street, and or having mental illnesses that make it difficult for them to participate in the very society that they helped protect through their service.

Add to that the need to make sure that they have jobs with living wages after separation, and you've got two issues that should unite most Americans behind a plan that would give these service members the backing and support that they need and deserve.

So, while many of us sit back and enjoy the barbecues, the Indy 500, baseball, and other sporting events, take a few moments to remember all those who served and made it possible.


Iwo Jima Memorial at night.
We Remember. And we give thanks.

Freehold Fourth Fireworks

Fireworks over the Freehold Raceway, taken last night. Canon 60D, 18-55mm lens, various exposures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Memorial Day Remembrance

While so many Americans are busy enjoying the weather, grilling and barbequing or watching major sporting events, we should remember what Memorial Day is all about.

All gave some. Some gave all.

Remember those who fought in defense of the nation and those who made the supreme sacrifice. Words cannot fully explain what these men and women have left behind - both in terms of the loss to their family and friends, and what a grateful nation has gained from defending the freedoms that many still take for granted despite being born from the blood, sweat, and tears of these men and women.

So, while many of us sit back and enjoy the barbecues, the Indy 500, baseball, and other sporting events, take a few moments to remember all those who served and made it possible.



Taken at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial 3/2005.


Iwo Jima Memorial at night. Taken March 2005.
We Remember. And we give thanks.

Memorial Day Weekend 2012

While so many Americans are busy enjoying the weather, grilling and barbequing or watching major sporting events, we should remember what Memorial Day is all about.

All gave some. Some gave all.

Remember those who fought in defense of the nation and those who made the supreme sacrifice. Words cannot fully explain what these men and women have left behind - both in terms of the loss to their family and friends, and what a grateful nation has gained from defending the freedoms that many still take for granted despite being born from the blood, sweat, and tears of these men and women.

So, while many of us sit back and enjoy the barbecues, the Indy 500, baseball, and other sporting events, take a few moments to remember all those who served and made it possible.



Taken at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial 3/2005.


Iwo Jima Memorial at night. Taken March 2005.

I've posted a number of clips showing some of our nation's finest soldiers, sailors, and Marines doing precision maneuvers that they are best known for.



The US Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon



The US Navy Blue Angels



The US Air Force Thunderbirds



The US Army Silent Drill Team



US Coast Guard Drill Team in Times Square 2011.

Veterans Day 2011

On this Veterans Day, we should not only remember those who served and gave their all for this nation, but that we honor and remember the sacrifices made by those who continue serving today. It is through their blood, sweat, and tears, that this nation has survived bloody conflicts and become a beacon of freedom and liberty to all the world - a beacon that provokes hostility and resentment because we represent what people aspire to have.



Iwo Jima Memorial at night. Taken March 2005. 

Thank you to all who served!


When desperate times called for men and machine to do the impossible during World War II, the US Navy set about building a better battleship. It came up with the Iowa class, of which the USS New Jersey was one. She's now a museum in Camden, New Jersey. She really is a thing of beauty, and while the weather wasn't particularly great to visit the ship, I did take this photo.

 

UPDATE:
If you happen to be a veteran, many businesses around the region and country are providing discounts and freebies for you. Among them:

To start the day, veterans can pick up a free doughnut at Krispy Kreme or at Tim Horton’s, where the doughnuts will be decorated with star-shaped sprinkles.

For lunch or dinner, they can head to a variety of franchises across the city.

Grab-and-go options include Subway delis’ free six-inch sandwiches (though only some locations are participating) and Little Caesar’s Pizza’s free “crazy bread” bread sticks.

Veterans who are not bashful can grab 10 free chicken wings at Hooters — as long as they buy a beverage (it can be a nonalcoholic one, like “just pop,” said one local server, who is most likely not from here). Some Hooters locations nationwide are offering a free meal as well, but the New York branches are offering wings only.

Outback Steakhouse is giving away “bloomin’ onions” and nonalcoholic drinks, and Applebee’s is offering free entrees. Olive Garden offers a free entree, with options that include seafood alfredo and chicken parmigiana, along with salad and bread sticks to start.

Other restaurants are promoting “buy one get one free” meals, including T.G.I. Friday’s, Uno’s Chicago Grill for pizza and entrees, and Sizzler for six-ounce steaks — with any side dish included.

Independence Day 2011

Today is a day we give thanks that there were men willing to risk everything for the proposition that men are ruled by law, and not by kings. They believed that all men were created equal, and endowed with inalienable rights.

It began with the courage of their convictions to write and then sign their names to a document that changed the course of history.

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton

Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton

Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean

Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark

Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton

These men became the Founding Fathers of the American experiment. It has been an experiment that has seen tremendous ups and downs, but has persevered even though the most trying of times for the past 235 years. While we strive to uphold the ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence today, not only here in the United States, but around the world, it is a day we should be thankful that we have progressed so far in such a short time, and that our Founding Fathers had such brilliant optimism about the future.

Happy Birthday America!

Memorial Day Weekend 2011

While so many Americans are busy enjoying the weather, grilling and barbequing or watching major sporting events, we should remember what Memorial Day is all about.

All gave some. Some gave all.

Remember those who fought in defense of the nation and those who made the supreme sacrifice. Words cannot fully explain what these men and women have left behind - both in terms of the loss to their family and friends, and what a grateful nation has gained from defending the freedoms that many still take for granted despite being born from the blood, sweat, and tears of these men and women.



Taken at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial 3/2005.


Iwo Jima Memorial at night. Taken March 2005.

I've posted a number of clips showing some of our nation's finest soldiers, sailors, and Marines doing precision maneuvers that they are best known for.



The US Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon



The US Navy Blue Angels



The US Air Force Thunderbirds



The US Army Silent Drill Team

So, while many of us sit back and enjoy the barbecues, the Indy 500, and other sporting events, take a few moments to remember all those who served and made it possible.



US Coast Guard Drill Team in Times Square 2011.

Missing the Real Story About the Port Authority Easter Traffic Jam Response

Much is being made in the Star Ledger and the Staten Island Advance about the Port Authority's failure to provide sufficient cash lanes for traffic entering Staten Island during the Easter weekend. The traffic jams meant some people waited hours to go over the Outerbridge Crossing or the Goethals Bridge and the Port Authority held public hearings for people to vent their complaints about the problem.

Port Authority Chairman Christopher Ward was contrite in how the Port Authority will handle the situation going forward, and while commuters were calling for his head and the firing of those responsible for not having sufficient toll collectors on hand, Ward's response is instructive:

"Without a doubt, it was a management failure and I take full responsibility for it," Ward told angry commissioners during a morning meeting of the Port Authority’s operations committee.

Later in the day, addressing reporters after the full board’s regular monthly meeting, Ward apologized to the public, acknowledging Sunday’s traffic nightmare was not up to the Port Authority’s usual performance standards.

Ward said the agency plans to fill eight vacant toll collector positions. In addition, he said, agency managers will be given the authority to open E-ZPass lanes to all traffic. To minimize revenue losses, the agency would use cameras already in place to photograph license plates of non-E-ZPass users and then mail them a bill for the toll, Ward said.

"We consider this unacceptable," Port Authority Chairman David Samson said of Sunday’s problem. "We’ve got Mother’s Day coming up. We’ve got Memorial Day coming up. We’ve got the 4th of July. It’s unthinkable that we would have these problems."

Cedric Fulton, the agency’s director of bridges, tunnels and terminals, said the normal contingent of toll collectors for the three Staten Island crossings — the Outerbridge Crossing and Bayonne and Goethals bridges, is 39. But because of the vacancies, there are now 31 collectors, just four above the normal weekend staffing level of 27, Fulton said.

Read that part in bold again.

That's a program that would eliminate the need for toll collectors altogether, not just during peak time periods. If that program were instituted, it could eliminate the need for the toll barriers at those Port Authority bridges and tunnels - and eliminate the traffic jams created when commuters cross the bridges. Eliminating the toll barriers completely would smooth traffic flow and reduce congestion, emissions from idling vehicles, and improve air quality.

The switchover to the system that Ward proposes cannot come soon enough, and should be vastly expanded to include all the Port Authority bridges and tunnels - precisely because it eliminates the need for toll barriers that are a regular source of congestion and air pollution.

EZ Pass violators are already ticketed and fined with a camera system (that works to some extent). Ward's proposal expands on this system, but doesn't go nearly far enough. The Port Authority needs to move in the direction of the MTA, which is converting to a cashless toll collection system on the Henry Hudson Bridge linking Manhattan with the Bronx.

Holiday Greetings From Apollo 8

This is video shot by the crew of Apollo 8, which was in orbit around the moon during Christmas 1968. It's a shame that we have not been back to the moon in 40 years because of what we could learn.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

I want to wish my friends and readers a Merry Christmas and a joyous holiday season. Tis also the season to engage in massive lighting displays, and this year is no exception. Here are a sampling of lighting displays from around the nation that take the lights to extremes:



This display has 100,000 and 80 inflatables:


Closer to home, this one is down in Absecon, New Jersey:


And I can't forget the photos I took of one of the largest displays - the Freedom Tower decked out in holiday splendor: They not only ran Christmas lights, but they set up several floors with blue and gold lights for Chanukah:

The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 122

Electricians had taken it upon themselves to deck out the Freedom Tower (1WTC) with festive lights for the holiday season. They not only ran Christmas lights, but they set up several floors with blue and gold lights for Chanukah.

The last two photos show a feature of construction that one often will not find on construction jobs. The Freedom Tower has three tower cranes, with two in their familiar location at the highest locations on the rising superstructure. This third crane appears to hang precariously from the side of the tower and its sole function is to hoist concrete to complete floors and for building out the core of the tower. This crane hoists itself along the side of the tower and is a technological marvel on its own and was necessitated because of the tight construction perimeter around the building.

Meanwhile, the former Deutsche Bank buildng is nearly gone. The doomed building is nearing end of the oft-delayed deconstruction process and is no longer a malovalent hulk looming over Ground Zero. At long last the last of the damaged building surrounding Ground Zero have been removed and from here on out, rebuilding is fully the name of the game.

One would hope that in the spirit of the season that the Port Authority would finally make a deal with St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church so that the congregation can begin its own rebuilding, but that process remains mired in stony silence. The congregation's church was destroyed by the collapsing South Tower and rebuilding was not possible while the former Deutsche Bank building deconstruction was ongoing because the site was needed for staging equipment.

The Church has sued the Port Authority over the situation, and it's unfortunate that it will take yet another lawsuit to get the Port Authority to make good on its obligations here.

Happy Chanukah 2010

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

For some people, the day is marked by watching the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York, football, and overeating.

We've added another tradition.

Watching pumpkins getting chunked.

It started two years ago and now we can't help watch with awe and fascination at how some folks will spend more than $100,000 to build air cannons, trebuchets and catapults and any number of other designs to send a pumpkin towards the magic distance of one mile. No one has ever managed that, but that makes the mystical number all the more special.

Veterans Day 2010

Veterans Day is a celebration of those who are currently serving or have served in the US Armed Services. November 11 was set as the Armistice day commemorating the end of the First World War, which was the war supposed to end all wars. In 1953, as a result of the massive mobilization of the US Armed Forces in fighting the Korean War, Congress amended the Armistice Day legislation to reflect Veterans Day. President Eisenhower issued the first Veterans Day proclamation.

It is a time to reflect on how we should honor these men and women who have done so much and asked for little in return.

On this Veterans Day, we should not only remember those who served and gave their all for this nation, but that we honor and remember the sacrifices made by those who continue serving today. It is through their blood, sweat, and tears, that this nation has survived bloody conflicts and become a beacon of freedom and liberty to all the world - a beacon that continues to provoke hostility and resentment because we represent what people aspire to have.


Iwo Jima Memorial at night. Taken March 2005. 

Thank you to all who served!

And as many soldiers return home from duty, some find themselves less than whole after sustaining injuries in combat. For them, the road home is a long difficult struggle, and Project Valour-IT, a charity operated by Soldiers Angels has sought to help improve the quality of life by providing technology solutions.





Serve those who served, and Project Valour-IT is on a fundraising drive to provide laptops to assist wounded servicemembers.

Memorial Day 2010

While so many Americans are busy enjoying the weather, grilling and barbequing or watching major sporting events, we should remember what Memorial Day is all about.

Remember those who fought in defense of the nation and those who made the supreme sacrifice. Words cannot fully explain what these men and women have left behind - both in terms of the loss to their family and friends, and what a grateful nation has gained from defending the freedoms that many still take for granted despite being born from the blood, sweat, and tears of these men and women.



Taken at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial 3/2005.


Iwo Jima Memorial at night. Taken March 2005.

I've posted a number of clips showing some of our nation's finest soldiers, sailors, and Marines doing precision maneuvers with either their rifles or in their aircraft.



The US Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon



The US Navy Blue Angels



The US Air Force Thunderbirds



The US Army Silent Drill Team

So, while many of us sit back and enjoy the barbecues, the Indy 500, and other sporting events, take a few moments to remember all those who served and made it possible.

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

And what would Thanksgiving Day be without some pumpkins?

Especially if they're chunked.

New Jersey does well launching pumpkins at the annual Punkin Chunkin

We saw the tv program last year and were laughing our asses off over how people are trying to find the right device to send a pumpkin as far as possible at a farm in Delaware.

They've used trebuchets, air cannons and just about any other projectile hurling device you can dream up.

A New Jersey team, the Big 10 Inch, won the competition with the longest toss, although it was short of last year's winning effort.

Happy Independence Day

By dawn's early light... Old Glory was spotted by Francis Scott Key when he penned the instant classic, Star Spangled Banner.

The flag in the picture above is the smaller replica of the flag that flew over Fort McHenry in Baltimore harbor.

Happy Independence Day!

Memorial Day Weekend 2009

We once again take time out of our busy schedules to remember those who fought in defense of the nation and those who made the supreme sacrifice. Words cannot fully explain what these men and women have left behind - both in terms of the loss to their family and friends, and what a grateful nation has gained from defending the freedoms that many still take for granted despite being born from the blood, sweat, and tears of these men and women.



Taken at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial 3/2005.


Iwo Jima Memorial at night. Taken March 2005.

I've posted a number of clips showing some of our nation's finest soldiers, sailors, and Marines doing precision maneuvers with either their rifles or in their aircraft.



The US Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon



The US Navy Blue Angels



The US Air Force Thunderbirds



The US Army Silent Drill Team

So, while many of us sit back and enjoy the barbecues, the Indy 500, and other sporting events, take a few moments to remember all those who served and made it possible.

Parisian Romance

Because nothing says I love you as much as arranging skulls in the famed Parisian Catacombs in the form of a heart. Happy Valentine's Day!

 

Veterans Day 2008

When desperate times called for men and machine to do the impossible during World War II, the US Navy set about building a better battleship. It came up with the Iowa class, of which the USS New Jersey was one. She's now a museum in Camden, New Jersey. She really is a thing of beauty, and while the weather wasn't particularly great to visit the ship, I did take this photo.

 

On this Veterans Day, we should not only remember those who served and gave their all for this nation, but that we honor and remember the sacrifices made by those who continue serving today. It is through their blood, sweat, and tears, that this nation has survived bloody conflicts and become a beacon of freedom and liberty to all the world - a beacon that provokes hostility and resentment because we represent what people aspire to have.

Meanwhile, two brothers came across a monumental find after clearing out the home of their now deceased grandmother - reels of combat footage from World War II, including footage from France during the aftermath of D-Day.




Iwo Jima Memorial at night. Taken March 2005. 

Thank you to all who served!

UPDATE:
Unlike past years, Google has actually put together a tasteful logo in honor of Veterans Day. Gee, it wasn't difficult after all. HT: Charles at LGF.