Running Bear's February 2019 Coffee Shop


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Good Sunday Morning y'all! 16° and sunny right now, with Snowmageddon IV predicted beginning tonight through Wednesday. No advisories, no warnings and minimal accumulation predicted.

I have been working on the Atlas "Middlesex Manufacturing", (AKA Helm Tobacco Co), Hand painting windows is a PIA, but it's too cold to use the airbrush in the garage or on the patio. At least I'm working o the layout. When there is something worth photographing, I'll provide some.

Boris
 
Good morning all,

Not to bad this morning, with temps in the mid 20s. Expecting a couple rounds of snow over the next 36 hours. They don't know quite how much, but I don't think its supposed to me more than 4 inches total.

Down in the basement I have been putting away all the locomotives, and rolling stock. Its time to figure out which direction I'm going, and start some construction.

Have a great day all,
 
Ah, the good old days, of DOS and Basic...How 'bout COBAL and FORTRAN? They were mandatory courses, and may as well been Greek. It only made sense once we mere mortals were given access to Conrail's computer system. :rolleyes:

DOS is obviously still present in the Windows code, it's just better hidden. I kind of wish IBM had persisted in development and marketing of OS2, instead of cowering before the Microsoft Juggernaut.

Boris
 
Ah, the good old days, of DOS and Basic...How 'bout COBAL and FORTRAN? They were mandatory courses, and may as well been Greek. It only made sense once we mere mortals were given access to Conrail's computer system. :rolleyes:

DOS is obviously still present in the Windows code, it's just better hidden. I kind of wish IBM had persisted in development and marketing of OS2, instead of cowering before the Microsoft Juggernaut.

Boris

The mere mention of COBAL and FORTRAN stirred up painful memories of punching cards after class, only to have the stack fall off the car seat under braking, and the rubber band breaking.
FWIW, my 1st puter was a Vic20
 
The mere mention of COBAL and FORTRAN stirred up painful memories of punching cards after class, only to have the stack fall off the car seat under braking, and the rubber band breaking.
FWIW, my 1st puter was a Vic20

Growing up we had one too. Remember storing your programs on the cassette tape? Wow, we have come along way.
 
Good morning, everybody ....

Memories of old computers .... I recall (must have been prehistoric times) when I worked with accounting computers by Burroughs and programed in machine language. I also worked with COBOL, Basic, Fortran, etc. .... Later, I remember using the first release of Lotus 123 on an early IBM PC to build a financial planning model. ... I still say technology drives me crazy.

Boris .... Good to hear you are progressing with your layout.

Mike .... Feel free to tell us more as you start construction.

Louis.... I like golf too, but don't do much because of health issues.

Sherrel.... Nice photo of Frisco E-units.

Here are Frisco and Southern E-units in Birmingham, AL.

35762325815_5f5bd9afe3_b.jpg
 
Sherrel: The Frisco used to name their passenger engines, didn't they?

Boris
YES they did.
Youcan see the name of that one on the engineer's side - "Big Red".
Mostly famous race horses , except one was wrecked and rebuilt with a new name - "Champion".
SLSF only had 22 E-7's and 8's.
 
Good Morning All. 35° and cloudy. The drizzle has moved east for now, less than .05" in the last 24 hours. Still a bit chilly today before going up into the 60's tomorrow. Expected to stay above freezing with highs ranging from the mid-50's to the lower 70's for the next ten days or do. Spent most of the morning on the grocery trek that included getting a haircut and stopping by the UPS office to pick up a check for a washing machine part that they damaged when I returned it to the seller back in December. They included a refund for the shipping charges as well..
Daughter, SIL and two grandsons came to visit yesterday afternoon and picked up the granddog to take home for a while. The cats noticed immediately and re-commandeered the back porch. The granddog will return in about ten days when the next noisy phase of their kitchen remodel takes place, air compressor and nail-gun.
Thanks for the comments on yesterday's detail pictures; Curt, Chet, Garry, and anybody else that I may have missed.
My grandsons joined me in the train shed for a little while and we decided to see how many freight cars I could hook up to a pair of ScaleTrains SD40-2's. I went with all of my well cars loaded with containers, all of which had between 1.5 and 2.5 ounces of weight added. I ran out of cars at 64 and the train was 51' long. It even went backwards as well. Removed one engine and the remaining one still pulled them although movement was jerky. Might repeat it today with covered hoppers to see if I can get 100 or more, a number I regularly saw on ATSF. I had some derailments on a 32" radius turnback loop that I wasn't happy with. The only cars that derailed were made by Bowser, no problems with Intermountain, Atlas, Athearn or Walthers models. All three of my Bowser three unit sets had a problem, regardless of where they were located in the train. I suspect it is the way that they interconnect. Never before had any issues with them in my normal 16 car unit trains.

Mark - You lucked out on the furnace. And yes, nothing breaks down during normal business hours.
Terry - Good to read that you are also paying less in taxes, even if it is just $150.
Louis -
Willie I am all for helping people in need, but when they scam the system it bothers me. I say investigate and reform.
No need to investigate, they (IRS folks) already know that it is happening. Unfortunately the laws allow it and the only way to change is to change the politicians in charge. There are truly some needy folks out there that need assistance, but the scammers outnumber them by a great number. My wife did a return Friday for a sixteen year old married woman who had a four year old daughter(!!!) along with three other step children. Current husband in the military was not the father of the four year old. Husband did a "Married filing separately" return to maximize what the wife could get. It's a source of income for many.
The caravans are seeking asylum, they can end up any where
Please note that it is only 1300 miles from Guatemala to Brownsville TX, but 2600 miles from Guatemala to San Diego CA. They're headed for the blue state where they're treated like royalty. Whoever is advising them knows this. They know better than to come to a red state like TX where emergency medical care and schooling are the only benefits.
Sherrel - Yes the grocery trek normally happens on Thursdays, but my wife has been working on Thursdays for the past few weeks so we have had to reschedule. Then yesterday, she backed out and I went alone!
What are you doing being up so early this morning?
Greg - Great photos.
Joe - I liked the Middlesex Manufacturing kit, I have two although only one is assembled right now. I originally planned to kitbash the two into one structure and I may still do that, but I may also put the second one elsewhere and display the other face. I remember when I was originally assembling it, you provided a brief history which I looked up and found extensive background information about Helm.
Mike - Good luck going forward, keep us posted.

By the way, it's -2° at Mark's, expecting a high of 11°.

Everybody have a wonderful day.
 
Good morning, everybody ....

Memories of old computers .... I recall (must have been prehistoric times) when I worked with accounting computers by Burroughs and programed in machine language. I also worked with COBOL, Basic, Fortran, etc. .... Later, I remember using the first release of Lotus 123 on an early IBM PC to build a financial planning model. ... I still say technology drives me crazy.

Boris .... Good to hear you are progressing with your layout.

Mike .... Feel free to tell us more as you start construction.

Louis.... I like golf too, but don't do much because of health issues.

Sherrel.... Nice photo of Frisco E-units.

Here are Frisco and Southern E-units in Birmingham, AL.

35762325815_5f5bd9afe3_b.jpg
Blimmy, Garry - May I have your permission to sent that to Charlie to add to the Frisco Archive?
What is the largest resolution you have?
 
Willie .... You said " There are truly some needy folks out there that need assistance, but the scammers outnumber them by a great number. "

Another example: .... Earned Income Credits are subject of fraud...... People who have more than enough children to qualify will work with people who do not have enough children to qualify for the credits. Children are loaned for income tax purposes. ... Commonly happens.
 
Cobol and Fortran, that brings us back to punch cards. Both were developed in the 50s, before my time. They are the foundation of machine language and sequentially Basic. Everything in computers builds on itself. Now we have computers writing code.

Microsoft owes their very existence and prosperity to IBM
1. For IBM sharing technology and their open format.
2. For giving the then unknown Microsoft the contract to write DOS for IBM PCs

Imagine if IBM had been greedy like Steve Jobs and kept their technology proprietary?

It's all truly amazing if you think about it.
 
Blimmy, Garry - May I have your permission to sent that to Charlie to add to the Frisco Archive?
What is the largest resolution you have?

Sherrel .... That is a photo I found on the internet a few years ago and saved it. That is the only copy I have of it. I did not retain any information about it. .... I like E-units and that is why I save it.
 
Lets not forget single mothers with live-in boyfriends riding section 8.

That's where we need investigation. Oversight is key to all aspects of our government.
 
Sherrel - Yes the grocery trek normally happens on Thursdays, but my wife has been working on Thursdays for the past few weeks so we have had to reschedule. Then yesterday, she backed out and I went alone!
What are you doing being up so early this morning?

JOE"S Inability to sleep has worn off on me -- I went to bed last evening about 9:30 pm and woke up wide-eyed at 2:30 am. Already need a nap!
 
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