Author Topic: Miserable Cold  (Read 24648 times)

Big Frank

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Re: Miserable Cold
« Reply #60 on: January 07, 2018, 11:03:50 PM »
In that link I posted on the Mackinac Bridge the Chicago Tribune mentions, "The 3,800-foot suspension bridge", but it you check the stats at the bottom it's much, much longer. It's 26,372 feet, or 4.995 miles long. That's almost exactly 2 car lengths short of 5 miles long, depending on which cars. The center span alone is 3,800 feet. It's designed to be stable in winds up to 150 MPH, but it's bad enough crossing when it's windy enough to lower the speed limit from 45 MPH to 20. 

My dad went across it when it first opened in 1957. They didn't even have the lighting installed and may not have been done painting, but they opened it up for deer season, which should be a state holiday considering how many people take it off or want to. Before the bridge was built they had ferry service, weather permitting, with traffic sometimes backed up for miles and miles.

Wikipedia says on September 10, 1978, a small private plane carrying United States Marine Corps Reserve officers Maj. Virgil Osborne, Capt. James Robbins, and Capt. Wayne W. Wisbrock smashed into one of the bridge's suspension cables while flying in a heavy fog. The impact tore the wings off the plane, which then plunged into the Straits of Mackinac. All three men were killed. And on March 2, 1997, Richard Alan Daraban drove a 1996 Ford Bronco over the edge. It was later determined to be a suicide. That was the second car to go off the bridge but I don't remember it or the plane crash. But it's hard to forget the story of the pilot who flew a B-47 jet bomber UNDER the bridge.

http://www.north-lights.com/Bridge/pilot.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackinac_Bridge
""It may be laid down as a primary position, and the basis of our system, that every Citizen who enjoys the protection of a free Government, owes not only a proportion of his property, but even his personal services to the defence of it, and consequently that the Citizens of America (with a few legal and official exceptions) from 18 to 50 Years of Age should be borne on the Militia Rolls, provided with uniform Arms, and so far accustomed to the use of them, that the Total strength of the Country might be called forth at a Short Notice on any very interesting Emergency." - George Washington. Letter to Alexander Hamilton, Friday, May 02, 1783

THE RIGHT TO BUY WEAPONS IS THE RIGHT TO BE FREE - A. E. van Vogt, The Weapon Shops of Isher

Timothy

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Re: Miserable Cold
« Reply #61 on: January 08, 2018, 08:02:05 AM »
It’s the longest suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere!

GASPASSERDELUXE

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Re: Miserable Cold
« Reply #62 on: January 08, 2018, 11:58:02 AM »
JUMBOFRANK, read the story about Col. Lappo. I was stationed at Elmendorf from 70-74 and lived in Eagle River with my family. It was a great tour and we loved it up there. He could have been my neighbor.

Big Frank

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Re: Miserable Cold
« Reply #63 on: January 08, 2018, 01:13:36 PM »
It’s the longest suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere!

It was the longest suspension bridge in the whole world for 41 years, until 1998 when a longer one in Denmark and an even longer one in Japan were built. That makes it the third longest suspension bridge in the world as of 2016. I looked several places online to see what the longest suspension bridges in the world were, and nearly all of them went by the center span only, which is a only a fraction of the suspension or of the total length. Some included cable-stayed bridges (which all have shorter center spans), and even a causeway on the list. They placed the Big Mac as 10th, 12th, 20th, 38th, etc., longest suspension bridge in the world. They weren't even close to being right. http://www.mackinacbridge.org/ufaqs/mackinac-bridge-still-longest-suspension-bridge-world/
""It may be laid down as a primary position, and the basis of our system, that every Citizen who enjoys the protection of a free Government, owes not only a proportion of his property, but even his personal services to the defence of it, and consequently that the Citizens of America (with a few legal and official exceptions) from 18 to 50 Years of Age should be borne on the Militia Rolls, provided with uniform Arms, and so far accustomed to the use of them, that the Total strength of the Country might be called forth at a Short Notice on any very interesting Emergency." - George Washington. Letter to Alexander Hamilton, Friday, May 02, 1783

THE RIGHT TO BUY WEAPONS IS THE RIGHT TO BE FREE - A. E. van Vogt, The Weapon Shops of Isher

Big Frank

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Re: Miserable Cold
« Reply #64 on: January 08, 2018, 01:26:16 PM »
JUMBOFRANK, read the story about Col. Lappo. I was stationed at Elmendorf from 70-74 and lived in Eagle River with my family. It was a great tour and we loved it up there. He could have been my neighbor.

 8)  I never heard of the place until I read about him and his stunt. When I was in the army they asked me where I wanted to be stationed for CONUS and overseas. I chose Colorado and Alaska. So they sent me to Louisiana and Germany.   ???   Oh well, you can't have everything you want, and sometimes you can't have anything you want.   :(
""It may be laid down as a primary position, and the basis of our system, that every Citizen who enjoys the protection of a free Government, owes not only a proportion of his property, but even his personal services to the defence of it, and consequently that the Citizens of America (with a few legal and official exceptions) from 18 to 50 Years of Age should be borne on the Militia Rolls, provided with uniform Arms, and so far accustomed to the use of them, that the Total strength of the Country might be called forth at a Short Notice on any very interesting Emergency." - George Washington. Letter to Alexander Hamilton, Friday, May 02, 1783

THE RIGHT TO BUY WEAPONS IS THE RIGHT TO BE FREE - A. E. van Vogt, The Weapon Shops of Isher

Sponsor

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Re: Miserable Cold
« Reply #65 on: Today at 07:17:26 AM »

Big Frank

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Re: Miserable Cold
« Reply #65 on: January 08, 2018, 06:14:11 PM »
Today is a lot warmer than it has been lately. I went out to get my mail, swept off what little snow was on my truck and ATV, put the cover the rest of the way back on my ATV, and shoveled a bit of snow off the back steps. I did it all with no gloves on, and my hands didn't even get cold, except the moments they were in direct contact with slush, and even that didn't really feel cold.

The thermometer in my truck said 39 degrees then 40, which means the actual temperature was probably about 38 degrees. The temps will be in the 30s Tuesday, 40s Wednesday, and then 50s Thursday. The roller-coaster temps will go down, up, and down again in the next 2 weeks. Whee!!! What a ride.

P.S. I had to turn the heat down to 68 today because it was too warm, which seems kind of odd. Lately 72 degrees has felt really cold. The hot and cold goes through my walls and windows like I'm in a tent. If there's any insulation in my walls I haven't seen it.
""It may be laid down as a primary position, and the basis of our system, that every Citizen who enjoys the protection of a free Government, owes not only a proportion of his property, but even his personal services to the defence of it, and consequently that the Citizens of America (with a few legal and official exceptions) from 18 to 50 Years of Age should be borne on the Militia Rolls, provided with uniform Arms, and so far accustomed to the use of them, that the Total strength of the Country might be called forth at a Short Notice on any very interesting Emergency." - George Washington. Letter to Alexander Hamilton, Friday, May 02, 1783

THE RIGHT TO BUY WEAPONS IS THE RIGHT TO BE FREE - A. E. van Vogt, The Weapon Shops of Isher

Rastus

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Re: Miserable Cold
« Reply #66 on: January 08, 2018, 06:45:21 PM »
<snip> So they sent me to Louisiana and Germany.   ???   Oh well, you can't have everything you want, and sometimes you can't have anything you want.   :(

Louisiana, eh?  Is that something I have forgotten?  Fort Polk?
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Big Frank

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Re: Miserable Cold
« Reply #67 on: January 08, 2018, 10:42:51 PM »
Louisiana, eh?  Is that something I have forgotten?  Fort Polk?

Yep. I was in the 5th infantry division at Fort Polk from spring of 1980 until the end of 1981. It's about halfway up the western border of the state 25 miles from Texas. We called it camp swampy, among other things. It was used for jungle training for guys on their way to Vietnam. I was on North Fort until the very end when we moved to South Fort as I was processing out. North Fort was mostly deserted which wasn't a completely bad thing. There was hardly any brass there to give us a hard time.

Our barracks were built during WWII and condemned at the end of the Vietnam war, then reopened sometime before I got there. It was such a swampy area that the barracks were held 2 or 3 feet above ground on concrete pillars. That's the first time I ever saw buildings propped up like that. And never in my life have I had a fungal infection on any part of my body until I went there. Thanks Uncle Sam.  >:( It was the worst hell on earth place I ever experienced and I don't ever want to go back, at any time of the year for any length of time. When I die I know I'm going to heaven because I've already been to Louisiana.
""It may be laid down as a primary position, and the basis of our system, that every Citizen who enjoys the protection of a free Government, owes not only a proportion of his property, but even his personal services to the defence of it, and consequently that the Citizens of America (with a few legal and official exceptions) from 18 to 50 Years of Age should be borne on the Militia Rolls, provided with uniform Arms, and so far accustomed to the use of them, that the Total strength of the Country might be called forth at a Short Notice on any very interesting Emergency." - George Washington. Letter to Alexander Hamilton, Friday, May 02, 1783

THE RIGHT TO BUY WEAPONS IS THE RIGHT TO BE FREE - A. E. van Vogt, The Weapon Shops of Isher

Big Frank

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Re: Miserable Cold
« Reply #68 on: January 11, 2018, 11:17:21 PM »
I forgot to post this and came back. At 11:00pm the TV news said it was 56 degrees. It may have been even warmer during the day, I don't know. It's funny looking outside in January and not seeing snow on the ground. Even where I kept sweeping it off my truck and letting it pile up all winter so far, the piles were gone, even on the side that's in the shade. When I checked the weather online it said 56 is the record high for the date, so we either matched or beat the record for as long as they've kept track of it. At the same time it was -6 west of us. I didn't pay much attention so I'm not sure if it was Minnesota or North Dakota. Whichever one it was, it was 62 degrees colder than here at the same latitude. I haven't even heard my furnace run all day except for when I first got up and turned it up 3 degrees. But since our weather usually comes from the west and north, the cold is headed our way. Tonight it's supposed to rain and then freeze and we'll have rain, snow, sleet, and freezing rain, with an accumulation of about an inch of snow and ice. It was nice while it lasted.
""It may be laid down as a primary position, and the basis of our system, that every Citizen who enjoys the protection of a free Government, owes not only a proportion of his property, but even his personal services to the defence of it, and consequently that the Citizens of America (with a few legal and official exceptions) from 18 to 50 Years of Age should be borne on the Militia Rolls, provided with uniform Arms, and so far accustomed to the use of them, that the Total strength of the Country might be called forth at a Short Notice on any very interesting Emergency." - George Washington. Letter to Alexander Hamilton, Friday, May 02, 1783

THE RIGHT TO BUY WEAPONS IS THE RIGHT TO BE FREE - A. E. van Vogt, The Weapon Shops of Isher

alfsauve

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Re: Miserable Cold
« Reply #69 on: January 12, 2018, 02:33:48 PM »
Facebook just reminded me of this picture I took looking out the front door.

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