Meme Scholar with Madness (PhD)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

HOT SUMMER DAY!
August 12, 2025: Temp hit 120F at 4:30pm on the garage mercury thermometer...that faces the great orange ball! Air temp was 98. Clear blue sky and no chemtrails. It was a rare treat. Cleaned my backyard porch deck with brand new power washer. The mist kept me cool but hours later noticed the top of my feet look like a Mexican. Yea, dark tan clown feet. Just call me two-tone Joe.


Tuesday Thoughts:

And which breed is Ninurta? LOL.


Happy World Elephant Day! While serving as CINCPAC in 1971, ADM John S. McCain Jr. was surprised to receive an elephant as a gift from the prime minister of Cambodia. The elephant had been captured from the Viet Cong who had used it to transport military supplies. Because the value of the gift exceeded $50, the "cincpachyderm" became the property (and logistical problem) of the U.S. government. Not wanting to insult Cambodia by declining the gift, the Pentagon formed McCain's Elephant Delivery Team (MEDT) to arrange for the one-ton animal to be flown to the Los Angeles Zoo by a USAF C-141 Starlifter.




The August 12, 1862 Alta California, via the Carson Age, tells of a "Sea Serpent in Nevada Territory." It referenced a small, deep, salty lake near the Carson River, and 60 miles from Carson City. This is possibly Soda Lake.


Although Nevada's geologic history is replete with volcanic activity, evidence of recent historical activity is absent—except for the Soda Lakes craters. They certainly have erupted since Pleistocene Lake Lahontan, as they're cut into Lahontan sediments, and recent evidence suggests they may have erupted within the last 1,500 years. Although still too alkaline for fish, the water does support aquatic vegetation, which in turn supports a waterfowl population.

Big Soda Lake (or just "Soda Lake") is about 0.7 by 0.9 miles (1.1 x 1.5 km) across, while Little Soda Lake, to the southwest, is about 1,000 feet (300 m) across. The craters are maars (German dialect for "lake"), which form when hot magma boils groundwater to cause a steam explosion.

The U.S. Geological Survey has added these craters to its catalog of potential volcanic hazards. It is the only entry in Nevada. The Soda Lake Geothermal Field is located on the northeast flank of the Soda Lakes volcano, west of the city of Fallon, Nevada.


The Pioche Record of August 12, 1873 adequately described the paper's recurring views on the local weather. "When we have no rain, we growl about the dust; when we have no dust, we growl about the mud..." Still true today.




C A Earle Rinker wrote to his Mom from Goldfield, Nevada on August 12, 1907. Mentioned boxing, mining and whatever this is: "Then the Battle Royal came on. They put four coons in the ring and let them go at each other. The coon that is in the ring last gets the money." I know some old farts in southern Nevada who still talk like this at the bar.


Letter from C. A. Earle Rinker to his mother, August 12, 1907 (Earle wrote a lot of letters to his mom)


August 12, 1939: on a bright moonlit night at 9:33 p.m., Southern Pacific’s ”crack streamliner”, the City of San Francisco, derailed near Harney, Nevada in the canyon just west of Palisade, Nevada. This catastrophe killed 24 people and injured 121. Of those hurt, 32 required hospitalizations.

On August 12, 1939, Southern Pacific's crack streamliner, the City of San Francisco, derailed near Harney, Nevada, killing 24 people and injuring 121. Of those hurt, 32 required hospitalization.

    A coroner's jury and a railroad hearing board (is this the fox guarding the hen house?) both determined that the accident was caused by sabotage - the deliberate moving of a rail to cause derailment. This is a fairly straightforward solution.

    Whoa, there! Although this disaster happened more than six decades ago, doubt still exists in the minds of many area old timers. Some believe it was a railroad cover-up while others accept the sabotage scenario. Neither side strays from their opinion.

HOWARD HICKSON'S HISTORIES -    Recalling a Train Wreck

Luxury described the City of San Francisco streamliner. It was promoted as the fastest, most powerful train ever designed and built. The launch press release stated, “As modern as tomorrow.” Travel time from Chicago to the west coast was less than 40 hours. Almost a quarter of a mile long, it was powered by six giant engines generating an incredible 5,400 horsepower to pull the train’s 1,207,151 pounds. The ultra-modern passenger train symbolized the ultimate in safety engineering.

The City of San Francisco was a streamlined through passenger train which ran from 1936 to 1971 on the Overland Route between Chicago, Illinois and Oakland, California, with a ferry or bus connection on to San Francisco. It was owned and operated jointly by the Chicago and North Western Railway (1936–55), Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (1955–71), the Union Pacific Railroad, and the Southern Pacific Railroad. It provided premium extra fare service from Chicago to San Francisco when introduced in 1936 with a running time of 39 hours and 45 minutes each way.

Newspaper reporters were barred from the hearing. The journalists  bitterly complained of withholding information. Rumors abounded.

An Elko newspaper photographer, Earl Frantzen, was accused by the railroad of taking pictures from an angle which made the wreck look worse than it was. He commented, “God knows, it would have been impossible to make it look worse than it was.”

The railroad investigation only added to the confusion by clearing the railroad of all wrongdoing. Some claim they did this to head off future lawsuits. The final and formal conclusion, after hearing the railroad’s evidence, was that there was no doubt the accident was caused by a moved rail. Who moved it and why was never resolved.

Some passengers claimed that the streamliner was traveling very fast.
A sheriff and a constable both said they could not find any evidence of rail tampering.

The FBI disagreed with the railroad’s decision.

City of San Francisco Streamliner Catastrophe

Weather Window: Train wreck, an unsolved mystery in the Nevada desert

I found a short narrated video, less than a minute, on the fatal City of San Francisco streamliner derailment on Aug 12, 1939 in northern Nevada.
Note: Worth a listen for the classic narrator tone and ominous soundtrack.




A two page article from the August 28, 1939 Life Magazine has a brief story and some images of the derailment crash of the Southern Pacific streamliner City of San Francisco from Aug 12, 1939 west of Elko, NV.

Note: No saboteur was ever found.




August 12, 1950: Seized as Atom Data Thief, Briton Slashes Wrists
"A man charged with stealing a briefcase full of British atomic secrets was held in a hospital today after he slashed his wrists in his jail cell."




August 12, 1950: COME AWAY FROM ATOMIC BOMB DANGER.




A Nation of Finger Pointers
Twin malformations are cropping up in American character: a nasty intolerance and a desire to blame everyone else for everything. (TIME/August 12, 1991)
Remind you of anyone? Or any group that stands out? The bottom piece, "Crybabies: Eternal Victims" is LMAO! 30+ years later and here we are, even worse.