Saturday, June 12, 2021
By the 1930s, the “Akeley shot” was written into film scripts to indicate a shot of a rapidly moving subject in the foreground and a blurry background. Carl Akeley’s gyroscopic tripods were used by major studios through the late 1980s
there was a lot more to Carl than most people would guess, he invented shotcrete, was friends with President Teddy Roosevelt, was known as the father of taxidermy, and killed a leopard bare handed, by punching it down its throat.
"out of the thicket came this gigantic fucking leopard screaming towards him teeth-first like a psychotic killer cat being launched out of a horrible predator-launching cannon. Unable to get his weapon back around quickly enough, Akeley dropped his gun and threw his arm up just in time to prevent the vicious beast from ripping out his throat. The leopard latched on to Akeley’s left hand, chomping down with all its might, and kicking at him with its back legs like a rabid 80-pound feral housecat intent on brutally mutilating him beyond recognition and burying his body in the back yard.
When his attempts to pull his hand out of the leopards’ jaws only made the creature bite down harder, Akeley, locked in a life or death fistfight with one of the most perfect predators nature ever created, did one of the most insane things ever – he punched his fist further into the leopard’s mouth.
Yes, you are reading that correctly. Carl Akeley, noted philanthropist and respected wildlife conservationist, punched a fucking leopard in the esophagus from the inside. The leopard gagged, Akeley pulled his hand out, and then he took the thing, body slammed it to the ground, and jumped on it with both knees, crushing it to death.
Akeley, bleeding profusely from horrific wounds on both hands, clawed to shit, still recovering from a recent battle with malaria, and barely able to stand, then picked up the leopard (despite a shattered hand), threw it over his shoulder, walked back to camp with it, and taxidermized it for a museum exhibit. "
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1491191564434558/permalink/1491195337767514/ (my facebook page of the World's Greatest Adventurers)
In 1909 Akeley accompanied Theodore Roosevelt on a year long expedition in Africa funded by the Smithsonian Institution and began working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, where his efforts can still be seen in the Akeley African Hall of Mammals.
While in Africa, Roosevelt convinced Akeley he should commercially produce his invention of “shotcrete” — a plaster gun he had used only a few years before to repair a crumbling facade of the Field Museum in Chicago. The cement gun used compressed air to shoot concrete like a firehose shoots water.
Akeley joined the Explorers Club in 1912, having been sponsored by three of the Club's seven Charter Members
The World Taxidermy & Fish Carving Championships awards gold medallions that bear Carl Akeley’s likeness—based on a photograph he had taken at Stein Photography in Milwaukee—to its “Best in World” winners. There is also a Carl Akeley Award for the most artistic mount at the World Show.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Akeley
I've wanted a reason to post Carl Akeley here in this blog for 7 years, and because of the car mounted gyro stabilized movie camera, I finally found one!
at age 14, Karlee Cobb set a speed record at Bonneville, 110 mph on a Buell, in 2008
The rules at Bonneville require a drivers license, and being from South Dakota, meant that Cobb was in a state that actually allows 14 year olds to get one.
Oh, and her family runs at Bonneville, a lot. Her sister set the record the previous year that she broke, and her mom has the record for the fastest bagger.
Another way to look at it is that they are the first mother / daughters to hold records at Bonneville. That's pretty cool!
Emilio Estevez is in a new Mighty Ducks tv show on Disney +, and his character drives this cool looking truck
just lift a truck, put on some larger than stock tires, and it's going to look better
Pettibone partners up with Habitat For Humanity
Pettibone Corporation officially began its new partnership with the nonprofit. Cadeau says the coalition is important.
Habitat’s plan is to pick a candidate for the house in September.
That's my buddy and high school class mate Dale, in the cab of the lift. I wouldn't have learned of this without him telling me about it, as good news doesn't get much traction.
you might not have heard of Pettibone, I just realized, so if you want to look them up https://www.gopettibone.com/our-story/ https://www.facebook.com/GoPettibone
Friday, June 11, 2021
would you like to buy a piece of art for your office, garage, or club house? I'm pretty sure this would be the set piece of any one of those locations
things go bad real fast when you're at 200mph, and have a blow out
and the tires look like this, after that slide, while locked up:
see the video at https://twitter.com/F1/status/1401560274608525318
https://racer.com/2021/06/06/verstappen-had-no-warning-of-dangerous-tire-blowout/
it would seem impossible for people to not know yet, that joyriding a car that is in the dealership for service, won't be ignored by the owner. But idiots are still doing it. All an owner has to do is look at the miles the odometer gained since being dropped off
And the idiots chose to joyride in a Youtube bloggers Corvette. Big publicity mistake
Do you recall what stadium truck racing is/was? Identical trucks raced by a field of enthusiasts. Well, now there is a similar race for celebs, called Superstar Racing Experience.
What if there was a racing series with big personalities that wasn’t stifled by corporate sponsorship with cars that were identically prepared to emphasize driving talent?
It’s IROC basically, and Superstar Racing Experience is about fun, and that’s what co-founders Tony Stewart and Ray Evernham will deliver over the next six weeks.
SRX essentially takes a dozen of the most iconic names in modern day motorsports and places them in identically prepared cars to race across six of the most venerable dirt tracks and pavement bullrings in the United States.
Thursday, June 10, 2021
I'd advise you to get on this guys good side, by getting him a beer. Also, do not tell him wtf to do. Ummm, and when he tells someone to fuck off, they really ought to.
for the rest of the story: https://youtu.be/SfRJF9lIu2k
I do believe this illustrates the idea, and teaches the lesson, that there are some people you just DO NOT get into a issue with. Even better, leave people the hell alone. You'll sleep better at night, every night, and spend a lot les time in the hospital, apparently.
by the way, I'd like to start a thank you campaign.
Truckers are not respected and thanked enough for their great contribution to society
the are out on the road, day after day, week after week, from coast to coast and border to border, putting up with stupid drivers and unending construction delays and detours
And never once has it ever occurred to me to thank them
For killing mosquitoes, mile after mile.
So, thank you to every one on a windshield murder spree!
Have a fun weekend!
After Connecticut lawmakers approved a plan to tax truckers for each mile traveled in the state, Governor Ned Lamont took to social media to let truck drivers know that he believes that his state will be better off without them.
In response to outcry from Republican lawmakers and from members of the trucking industry, Lamont on Wednesday posted a message on his official Twitter account letting truckers know that he’s “fine” if drivers decide to avoid delivering goods to his state.
The House of Representatives passed the truck mileage tax and voted to exempt the heaviest trucks on the road – dairy trucks – from paying the tax.
Those trucks operate at 100,000 pounds, while the limit for all other trucks is 80,000 pounds. This just goes to show that the truck mileage tax is not actually about damage to the roads, it’s just about money.
Lighter-weight trucks will be subsidizing heavier trucks that will be exempt from the tax.
An Illinois trucking company, GT Express, announced that driver Corey Stowe is their top driver of 2021, and rewarded him with a brand new motorcycle
The GT Express “Best Company Driver of the Year” is given to the driver who goes the extra mile to provide superior customer service while also focusing on safety and productivity.
an amazing look into a collectors obsession that lasted longer than he did, as yet another guy kept amassing a collection of cars he never drove and died without ever getting them out of the garage
I recommend you go full screen to see all the stuff in the garage
Glen Hague was a 1950 graduate of Broad Ripple High School, attended Butler University and a veteran of the U.S. Air Force.
He began his lifelong career in the car business in 1945 at the age of 13 when he started sweeping floors at a Ford dealership. He joined a Ford dealership after his time in the Air Force in 1956 and went on to become one of the top Ford salesmen in the country for many years, receiving numerous awards and honors.
In 1965, he was named Ford’s “Top Hatter” for “Outstanding Sales Ability and Achievement as one of the Top Ford Salesmen in the United States.
In 1974, Hague was recognized for Outstanding Sales and Service Effort on Behalf of the Customers and named to Ford Salesmen’s 300-500 Club, a benchmark for excellence in sales and customer service.
Hague started collecting classic cars after an old family friend arrived at their house in a Model A in the late 1960s. He spent innumerable hours pursuing their acquisition and restoration, she said. “He loved anything with an engine including cars, boats, Cushman motor scooters (he had one as a teenager), amphi-cats and motorcycles … He loved telling stories about how and where he found them, becoming a recognized expert in the field of classic cars.”
And he owned a lot of old cars. So many that “the family began to grow a bit alarmed as buildings started sprouting up around our house to hold his ever-growing collection,” Karen Hague said. “He read about old cars, tinkered with them, talked endlessly to his car buddies about them and was always on the lookout for a potential find.”
compliment of the day!
Your Blog continues to amaze me with the variety and uniqueness of the posts. Thanks for the effort. DOUG
Darn it Doug, I enjoy the hell out of sharing the car stuff I run across, the amazing stories, history, cars, art, photography, trains, trucks, people, parts, etc
