Saturday, December 27, 2025
The invention of refrigeration by Carl von Linde in the 1870s was a direct response to brewers needing cool storage for bottom-fermented lagers, which need cold temps to ferment properly.
The ability to produce and distribute cold beer led to the growth of massive brewing empires
Mechanical refrigeration was actually a response to the needs of brewers, since the process of brewing and fermentation required natural cooling of the fermenting beer. That is often why the best beer came from cold, northern European climates, but even then, it could often not be brewed year round. Milwaukeans had prime access to ice from the lake water, which may have helped the success of brewing in the city.
Cold storage made cold, crisp lagers widely available, leading to their immense popularity and eclipsing traditional, warmer-served ales
Friday, December 26, 2025
Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig dressed in cowboy gear at Dexter Park in Brooklyn. Several players from the Brooklyn Bushwicks semipro team (far left) look on. 1927
The event was part of a publicity stunt to advertise the World's Championship Rodeo.
The tour, organized by their agent Christy Walsh, took place after the New York Yankees swept the 1927 World Series and featured teams called the "Bustin' Babes" and the "Larrupin' Lou's".
first time I've seen a sound train with a neon light advert on top
the sound trains I've found in the past, that looked exactly like this, were typically 1928 and 29 Graham Paige
interesting milkman's delivery truck
Notice the area between the cab, and the painting of the cow... there is a really big milk can, 50 gallons or so, just a guess.
Really nice lettering too. That license plate, makes me guess this is about 1912
you can probably only watch this movie this weekend, and I recommend you do: Cardboard, nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film... it's childhood sweet innocence in a trailerpark, with a dad who is stressed out
after this weekend, the only thing we'll have access to are the trailers and making of videos
if you know what this is, then your childhood had some cool movies. It also might be the only time a tractor has been portrayed as a movie's antagonist!
If you've got to here, without recognizing the movie, it's the Secret of NIHM - a masterpiece by Don Bluth, who was stifled by Disney, and led an exodus of animators away from a dying Disney animation studio, and they created their own, and made some really damn cool movies: Titan AE, All Dogs Go To Heaven, Anastasia, the Land Before Time
While at Disney, he worked on Sleeping Beauty, Robin Hood, and was the animation director for such films as The Rescuers and Pete's Dragon
Steven Spielberg teamed up with Don in the late 80s for the films An American Tail and The Land Before Time, and Disney had NOTHING that came close to comparing.
huh, interesting promo about coal, all over this license plate. Since when does coal need to be advertised?
It looks like Kentucky doesn't care what you design your vanity plate to look like or promote, they have 150 designs https://drive.ky.gov/Vehicles/Pages/License-Plates.aspx
Netflix has a documentary on car design, (lots of 90s Mopar concept cars!) focused on Ralph Gilles, head of design for Mopar/Dodge/Chrysler/FCA "Abstract: The Art Of Design" (Season 1 ep 4) and it seems you can watch it on You Tube
Of course you can watch it at home on your big screen too, on Netflix
I had no idea he was born in Montreal, whose parents were Haitian immigrants, who must have been incredible parents, he became the youngest, fastest achieving head of design of one of the major dozen car making corporations, and his brother became a doctor, was an emergency room Dr at St Joe's in Elgin Illinois, and now is a board member of Morris Hospital (both are in the Chicago area)
tough looking street sweepers!
photographer: Leo Tiede
https://www.bowers.org/index.php/collections-blog/the-fast-and-the-curious-leo-tiede-s-photographs-of-cars
