Browse 24 of these locations at the Web Urbanist’s post about Abandoned Cities

It’s unsettling seeing so much infrastructure under so many layers of silence and dust. The locations also range in their strangeness from futuristic vacation meccas to sunken underwater cities. Their abandonment comes from sources such as environmental phenomena or changes in industrial needs, but some remain empty due to enigmatic, unexplained possibilities.

Also check out the recent strange case of China’s empty city

I was cleaning the house the other night, which is always what happens when I watch the TV program Hoarders, and I came across the following Wanted poster that Benny and I found on a trip to Ballarat this February:

Something about this whole thing sounds fishy, so I decided to leave the “grand thieves’” names and identities intact here. I also think a 12-year-old boy might think it’s cool to be identified online as a grand thief. It’s almost as good as being called a pirate.

Anyway, maybe somebody knows them and can get them to share their side of the story on this. I have a theory that involves a dog named Potlicker eating the money and letting these folks take the blame, but I don’t really have any evidence to back it up.

Inquiring minds are interested in projects that Put America To Work. Please consider this Stimulus Checkup courtesy of Senator John McCain and Senator Tom Coburn.

Good jobs for millions of Americans.
Investments in priorities that create sustainable economic growth for the future.

Those were the promises made to uneasy Americans when Congress approved the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or economic stimulus bill, in February.

Nine months later, with over $200 billion of stimulus funding already spent, the rolls of the unemployed have grown by millions and, by any measure, more jobs have been lost than created.

Since the stimulus bill was enacted in February, nearly three million Americans have lost their jobs and the percentage of people who are without work has risen to 10 percent. Many who had been looking to the government for help have already lost hope.

As this and the last report, 100 Stimulus Projects: A Second Opinion, suggests billions of dollars of stimulus funding have been wasted, mismanaged, or directed towards silly and shortsighted projects. Many projects may not produce the types of jobs that most Americans had hoped for or expected.

Some of the close to seven billion dollars in projects in Stimulus Checkup create few jobs; benefit private interests over the public good; or make improvements where they are not necessary. Some send money to companies facing fraud charges. Others take millions of dollars to do work local officials and experts admit are not needed or will not help.

Stimulus money has been, or will be, spent on dinner cruises, golf courses, puppet shows and stimulus road signs. Many Americans will question whether investing $787 billion in these projects are the highest national priorities.
….

In the previous report, one hundred questionable projects were identified that did not appear to hold out promise for helping the economy grow. The Administration was quick to review these projects and to its credit addressed a number of them. In the months that followed, many more questionable stimulus projects costing millions and even billions of dollars were identified. This follow-up, Stimulus Checkup, takes a closer look at 100 more projects that raise questions about how stimulus money has been used so far.

Sincerely,
Tom Coburn, M.D.
U.S. Senator

John McCain
U.S. Senator

100 Ridiculous Projects Sample

1. “Almost Empty” Mall Awarded Energy Grant ($5 million)
The Department of Energy has announced an award for up to $5 million to install a geothermal energy system capable of heating an ―almost empty mall in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

2. Renovations for Federal Building as Expensive as New Building ($133 million)
Taxpayers in Oregon may be surprised to learn that the largest stimulus project in their state is not a new road or bridge, but a $133 million makeover for the federal building in downtown Portland. The money will go toward ―greening the Edith Green/Wendell Wyatt Federal Building in the hope of making it a model for energy efficient government offices in the Northwest. That said, for $133 million some may wonder why they did not simply tear it down and start over.

Agency officials expect to construct a type of vegetative skin—made of plants—on the exterior of the building, to help with heating and cooling costs.

In 2007, a new federal building was constructed in downtown San Francisco with similar state-of-the-art energy efficiency features for $144 million—nearly the same cost to merely renovate the Portland Federal Building. Both buildings are eighteen stories tall, built with energy efficient technologies, and house federal agency offices. The major difference is that the San Francisco building is much larger, with an additional 100,000 usable square feet in comparison with its counterpart in Portland.

3. DTV Advertising Agency Generates Three Jobs ($5.9 million)
An advertising agency that ultimately reported little job creation received a multi-million dollar contract to help the government overcome a poorly managed transition to digital television, only to report three jobs created.

4. Research to Develop Supersonic Corporate Jets ($4.7 Million)
Lockheed Martin will receive a total of more than $21 million in federal money—with $4.7 million funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act—from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to advance research for supersonic jet travel. High ticket costs, fuel-guzzling and the infamous sonic ―boom helped doom commercial supersonic travel in the past; the last Concorde jet flew in 2003.

5. Water Pipeline to a Money-Losing Golf Course ($2.2 million)
A $2.2 million stimulus grant will help pay for new pipes to pump recycled water to the Sharp Park Golf Course in San Francisco, California. Unfortunately, the golf course may not exist for much longer. The City Council is considering closing the public course over concerns for the California red-legged frog and the San Francisco garter snake that live in the area.

7. Program to Control Home Appliances From a Remote Location ($787,250)
Fifty homes on Martha‘s Vineyard in Massachusetts will participate in a test program to allow an outside party to control their energy use, ―Big Brother style. The initiative will allow participating households to purchase discounted appliances from General Electric (GE) that are capable of communicating with – and being controlled by – an off-site computer system.

20. Repaved Georgia Road . . . Getting Repaved Again ($88,000)
Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) contractors are using stimulus funds to repave a busy street in Atlanta—part of which was repaved just two years ago. Rebecca Serna, a local bicyclist, noted that the existing road is ―pretty much the smoothest ride in town right now, adding about the new project, ―I don‘t know if it‘s necessary, but it‘s nice.

23. Studying the Icelandic Arctic Environment in the Viking Age ($94,902)
The University of Massachusetts-Boston received an almost $95,000 stimulus grant to ―count pollen grains collected from farms in Iceland and allowed researchers to continue studying the role the arctic environment played in the evolution of civic life during the Viking Age.

33. Study on “Hookup” Behavior of Female College Coeds ($219,000)
The National Institute of Health (NIH) is using stimulus funds to pay for a year-long $219,000 study to follow female college students for a year to determine whether young women are more likely to ―hookup — the college equivalent of casual sex — after drinking

35. Study of Wildflowers in a Ghost Town ($448,995)
A few dilapidated buildings are largely what remains in Gothic, Colorado, a ghost town that is also home to the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. Over the next five years, however, Gothic will host a $448,995 National Science Foundation study by Dr. David Inouye on the impact of climate change on the town‘s wildflowers.

38. Recovering Crab Pots Lost At Sea ($700,000)
A $700,000 grant will pay for 48 people to help Oregon crabbers recover crab pots they have lost at sea. The two-year project expects to yield 2,000 lost pots a year. Oregon crabbers reportedly lose an estimated 15,000 crab pots a year. The effort will use 10 boats, planes, and a telephone hotline for people to phone in crab pot sightings. If all 4,000 pots are recovered as expected, the grantees will spend an average of $175 per crab pot, though John‘s Sporting Goods in nearby Everett, Washington sells new crab pots online for as little as $19.95.

50. Arizona Ants Work While Some Arizonans Remain Unemployed ($950,000)
Two major universities in the state are receiving a combined $950,000 to examine the division of labor in ant colonies. Arizona State University was awarded $500,000 in stimulus funding by the National Science Foundation, while the University of Arizona will receive $450,000.

51. Study On Why Young Men Do Not Like Condoms ($221,355)
Indiana University professors received $221,355 in economic stimulus funds to study why young men do not like to wear condoms.

56. Homeland Security Funds Assist Boat Tours of Alcatraz ($50,783)
A ferry service that once contracted for the federal government will receive over $50,000 in stimulus homeland security grants, despite no longer doing any work for the government.

60. Town of 838 to Renovate Old Hotel into a Welcome Center ($300,000)
Tourism may not be booming in Crofton, Kentucky (population 838),267 but the town has received $300,000 in stimulus funds to convert an abandoned downtown hotel into a visitors‘ center.

79. Money for Lighthouse Repairs on Uninhabited Island (Nearly $1.5 million)
Located on a barrier island accessible only by water, Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is an area that has been empty for decades. However, the Department of the Interior will spend nearly $1.5 million in federal stimulus funds to fix the lighthouse and other facilities on the Refuge. The project will restore the lighthouse, living quarters and an oil shed.

This is totally outrageous but not unexpected. Every bit of this is pure waste. It is exactly what happens when government gives out free money.

Supposedly this waste adds to GDP. Government spending, no matter how absurd or destructive adds to GDP by definition. And with all this money sloshing around, the only bump we got out of this was a 2.8% rise in GDP, no doubt most of it wasted.

And if that’s not bad enough, Geithner is extending TARP and will use up to $550 billion as a petty cash slush fund for purposes other than intended by Congress. See TARP Extended, Now a “Petty Cash Drawer for Politically Favored Interests” for details.

Mike “Mish” Shedlock

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/12/stimulus-checkup-100-ridiculous.html

Wow, this is a really intense story, http://ping.fm/3K4Pr

So, the other day, I got a comment on my Hott Guyz, Y’all post.  It went something like…

From your list, Noel Fielding takes a & b, hands down. But if we’re talking rock bands & messy hair, I’d say Nikki Sixx is a fairly serious omission.

To which I replied…

I stand by my initial choices (mmm, Russell Brand…the things we could do to each other), but after having seen three seasons of The Mighty Boosh, Noel Fielding does seem like the perfect combination of messy-haired sex god and committed, sensitive, life partner.

Regarding Mr. Sixx, let me begin by saying, “brava, Mrs. Bones. I like your style.” He is still pretty good-looking, but I’m not really a fan. I stopped listening to Mötley Crüe after Shout at the Devil and I lost interest soon after. Still though, as far as messy-haired, sexy rockers go, he’s gotta be in the top five.

Mrs. Bones really got me thinking, though.  Who are these Hott Rocks Guyz, y’all?  What are the qualities I look for in a hott rocks guy(z)?  Is it strictly messy hair or can a talented, sensitive songwriter/musician also get into my pants?  What’s the deal with all the rocking out with the cock out?  Is there an age limit?  Are there any Hott Rocks Girlz that would make the list?  Will Nikki Sixx remain in the top five?  Do any of you understand that I’m referring to my favorite Sleater-Kinney album (The Hot Rock) when I use the term, “hott rocks guyz”?

I suppose you do now, but seriously, it’s a great album…really.  Go buy it from a “record” store or download a digital copy from wherever it is the kids are doing that sort of thing nowadays with the computers and whatnot. Amway, the answers to these questions may surprise you/be found a little bit below this sentence.

I gave this all a lot of thought and put these questions to my friend Wendy one late night after a super succesful shopping excursion.  Which Hott Rocks Guyz would you  do it with? Who would never make the list?  Are there any second-tier Rock Guyz that you might take pity on at the end of the night (see Mayhaps)? Hours later, we had the perfect, exhaustive list of music/artist type-people we’d totally “do it” with.  These aren’t in any particular order and I’ve provided the band names for some of the Guyz if they seem obscure.  I wish I could find pictures of all these guys, but that would take a few minutes less than forever and I have a job and a life and stuff.  Just take my word for it.  There were a few disagreements and those have been italicized for your reading pleasure.  Annotated commentary is provided as appropriate.  As always, comments are appreciated/encouraged.

To the list!

======================================================

1 yep, all of ‘em

2 Wendy says he’s really short, but in the fantasy world where I actually sleep with Danzig, he’s like, 6′1″.

3 At the same time, maybe?

4 I can’t remember which of us passed on Kurt…I’m ambivalent.

5 No, I don’t care that Morrissey is, supposedly, asexual.

6 OK, I realize that Lemmy is just about the ugliest man in rock and roll, but I feel like I owe him…something.  Maybe I should just make him dinner or knit him a rock…thing?

7 I still kind of have a problem with hair metal. I spent the hair metal years as an angry, skate punk and it’s still hard for me to forgive and forget when it comes to that particular sub-genre. Still though, they both have the Nikki Sixx moppy, messy black hair thing going on.

8 Trend alert!  I have a thing for tall, raven-haired, pale rockers.

9 Ew, no way.  Wendy’s position is that he prolly made up for his unfortunate lips and teeth with expert cocksmanship.  To me, it matters not, still ew.

10 A crush so old, it’s positively developmental.

11 Well worn territory.

12 LOL, this should be its own post.  We started off talking about rock crushes, but veered into hip hop after someone dropped an LL Cool J.  I was trying to think of some other good-looking rappers, and I blurted out “Lil John!”  Wendy countered that no one is sure what he looks like because he’s always wearing huge sunglasses, mouth jewelry, and a baseball cap.  But still, he made us laugh so hard, he’s staying on the list.

13 Admittedly, Los Beatles did not immediately spring to our minds, too old.  However, at the end of the night, we placed them in order, as you do…Paul, George, John, and Ringo.

14 I think I was pro and Wendy was con.  He’s a weird-looking guy to be sure, but anyone that has written “Gimme Danger” and slept with David Bowie is ok by me.

15 This is kind of a Lemmy thing again, but he’s the cutest Melvin.

16 I’d have to go back to Throbbing Gristle-era Genesis.  He’s mostly female now and has had more genital piercings than any sane person should.

17 Yes, I know he’s gay.

18 Wendy says he looks weird.  I say any man that’s good enough for Beyoncé is good enough for me.

19 I’m against, Wendy’s for.  I love his music, but there are better looking, goth-y singers.

20 I’m against, Wendy’s for.  Even though he fits 8, I’m not really a fan.

21 After we make love, he could sing a medley of “Ghost Town”, “Nightclub”, and “Things Could Be Beautiful”!

22 I think it’s the eye patch.

23 Maybe the Gary Oldman version.

24 Wendy said he’s an asshole too.

25 The reason I’m against is because I saw the Red Hot CHili Peppers at The Ranch Bowl (live music + bowling!) in Omaha when they toured in support of The Uplift MoFo Party Plan.  It was a great show, but I distinctly remember the goobery snot and boogers around Flea’s mouth area during the show.  It’s like he entered some sort of idiot savant zone and his brain temporarily traded an interest in personal hygiene for amazing bass playing.  His boogers haunt me to this day.

26 I LOVE this band, but there is no way I would ever sleep with any of them.  Greg Norton was the best looking of the bunch, but that giant moustache made him look more like a Tom of Finland model than a gentleman a straight woman should “spend time with.”

27 You know what, Internets?  Fuck Social Distortion, fuck Mike Ness, and fuck you if you like them.  This band is/was about as punk as The Starland Vocal Band and all the people out there that claim them as some sort of punker than thou link to their youth are nothing but first degree posers.  I’m so sick of people claiming them like they were the only/best punk band to make it out of the 80’s.  If you like them…really like them, then we can’t be friends.  Sorry.  Also mega-dumb: Jimmy Buffett and Dave Matthews Band.

28 It’s too bad really.  If he would have just kept his German yap shut about file sharing and music piracy, he could have had a shot with me.

29 Ok, these days, whenever I think of David Lee Roth or 80’s hair metal, the only thing that comes to mind is Dr. Roxo, the rock and roll clown, and his music video.

30 We had a long talk about this one.  Slash could be a good-looking guy if he took a shower, put on a shirt, stopped dangling that one cigarette out of his mouth, washed his hair, stopped wearing that big, dumb top hat, and put down his guitar for like, one day.

31 Under the right circumstances (booze, drugs, Christmas, peace in the Middle East), his talent outweighs his physical limitations.

Technical Info

Camera:  Canon 5D

Lens:  17-40mm f/4 L @ 17mm

Exposure:  1/1000

Aperture: f/4

ISO:  400

Software:  Adobe Lightroom, Adobe CS2

About the Photo

The “Ghost Town” of Nelson, Nevada is not a far drive from greater Las Vegas.  I’m always interested in this type of place, so naturally with me living in Vegas for almost 2 years, I had to visit at least once.

I wouldn’t call it a true Ghost Town.  It still has inhabitants, and is located along a route that leads to an area of the Colorado River just south of Lake Mead that sees a decent amount of recreational traffic.    So, this place full of old remnants, doesn’t have the isolated, enchanting feeling that a lot of real ghost towns have, but if you’re in Southern Nevada, it’s worth a stop.

This disused and abandoned truck was in a gravel lot which included some antique gas pumps, an old out-house, and some other dead vehicles.  (You can see an old water reservoir in the background)…   Of all the stuff I looked at here, this truck seemed the most photogenic.  The sun had just set behind the hills in the distance when I took this, so the backlighting was not that big of an issue.  I exposed for the sky and then pulled the shadows back out in Camera Raw.   Even though there were some great colors in the scene, especially with the truck’s many colorful peeling layers of paint, I finally decided on Black and White for this one and I feel it suits the mood best.

Thanks for looking

-Mac

Tiger Woods drives sales of physics book sky-high – “A photograph showing a copy of Get A Grip On Physics by John Gribbin on the floor of Tiger Woods’s wrecked SUV has seen the book rocket up Amazon’s bestseller chart…”

Record-attempting solar powered plane’s first ‘hop’ – “The Solar Impulse prototype plane, part of a planned solar-powered circumnavigation of the globe, has left the ground for the first time…”

24 Tales of Ghost Towns and Abandoned Cities – “What in the world could cause an entire city to be abandoned? Some become unlivable due to environmental disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis to nuclear meltdowns (as with Pripyat, shown below). Others become the center of military activity and remain contested and uninhabited as a result – or are simply left as memorials to the terrible events that took place in them. Still others are simply deserted when they outlive their usefulness as trade outposts or mining towns…”

Scientific and medical art

Download Your Own Robot Scientist – “Ever wanted to have a robot to do your research for you? If you are a scientist, you have almost certainly had this dream. Now it’s a real option: Eureqa, a program that distills scientific laws from raw data, is freely available to researchers…”

Where is The Scarlet Knight Today? – “On April 27, 2009, students and scientists from Rutgers University launched a small underwater robotic glider off the coast of New Jersey. The glider was christened The Scarlet Knight by Zdenka Willis, director of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System. While previous explorers like Columbus and Lindbergh used boats or planes to cross the Atlantic, The Scarlet Knight will attempt to be the first underwater robot to cross the Atlantic Ocean. With help from a number of international partners, students from the Coastal Ocean Observation Lab will pilot The Scarlet Knight Glider on its eight-month voyage…”

Microsoft, Google Take Maps in New Direction – “The battle between Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. has shifted into new territory: a race to see who can make online maps that make people feel like they’re really there…”

Gallery: The Year’s Most Amazing Scientific Images

Technically speaking, what makes Google Chrome fast? – “A lot of engineering effort is involved in making sure that a browser continually provides a fast, responsive, and satisfying experience on the web. We’re excited to see modern browsers continue to push the envelope in designing and optimizing browser architecture for speed and performance…”

Net piracy: The people vs the entertainment industry – “”THIS is the kind of snooping you’d expect in China, not a modern western democracy. It raises huge questions over privacy invasion and freedom of expression.” So says Andrew Heaney – who is not, as you might imagine, a civil liberties campaigner, but a senior executive at TalkTalk, one of the UK’s largest internet service providers. Along with other ISPs, his company faces the prospect of being forced to spy on its customers’ downloads for signs of potential copyright infringement…”

Apple Has Acquired Lala – “Earlier today we covered rumors that Apple was in talks to acquire streaming music service Lala. Now New York Times tech reporter Brad Stone has tweeted that it’s a done deal. He writes, “Apple has acquired digital music startup Lala. Now updating our story”. You can find the NYT story here. This could be bad news for Lala users…”

Mailman Forgets to put Truck in Park With ‘Amazing’ Results

Intel cancels Larrabee consumer graphics chip – “In other words, it’s not entirely dead. It’s mostly dead. Instead of launching the chip in the consumer market, Intel will make it available as a software development platform for both internal and external developers. Those developers can use it to develop software that can run in high-performance computers…”

Chrome OS: Rise of the lean, mean netbook – “What’s not to like about a $300 (or less) netbook, lighter than a pound, traveling with me everywhere I go, booting up in 7 seconds and running much faster than my current Windows XP (or Windows 7) laptops or Mac computers? Since Chrome OS runs all its software on a cloud I won’t need to buy, install or update any software – bye Microsoft!”

A Lost European Culture, Pulled From Obscurity – “Before the glory that was Greece and Rome, even before the first cities of Mesopotamia or temples along the Nile, there lived in the Lower Danube Valley and the Balkan foothills people who were ahead of their time in art, technology and long-distance trade…”

Cash prizes for catching CCTV criminals – “There are 4.2 million CCTV cameras in Britain watching our every move. In London, there are more CCTV cameras than any other city in the world with one camera for every eight Londoners…”

Grid computing tunes tiny transistors for future chips – “Simulations of transistors smaller than 30 nanometres (billionths of a metre) are being run on the UK e-science grid, which links thousands of computers. The results will help designers cope with the physical constraints that occur when working at such tiny scales. About 20 years worth of processing time has been used by simulating hundreds of thousands of tiny transistors…”

Single-atom transistor discovered – “Researchers from Helsinki University of Technology (Finland), University of New South Wales (Australia), and University of Melbourne (Australia) have succeeded in building a working transistor, whose active region composes only of a single phosphorus atom in silicon. The results have just been published in Nano Letters…”

FCC questions Verizon’s early termination fees – “US regulators are demanding that Verizon Wireless explain why it’s doubling early termination fees for smartphone customers and why subscribers without a data plan are charged for inadvertently accessing its mobile web service…” (We covered this problem in How Verizon’s Billing Practices Don’t Work)

[[[Jump to Interesting Reading #369]]]

Following Daniel Meadows’s lecture about digital story telling and with some encouragement from tutors I have turned my hand to it and made my own video.  So here’s my attempt, a story about growing up in the Billy Banks, a social housing estate in Penarth, South Wales which has been deserted and left to fall apart.

A full feature on the Billy Banks will follow next week…

Does anybody go to Second Life anymore? It seems like a ghost town these days, although every now and then you hear rumblings of a quiet comeback for the proto-virtual world. Well, at the very least Second Life will be getting a second life at the movies. A documentary called Life 2.0 will be screened at the Sundance Film Festival.

Life 2.0 was produced by PalmStar Entertainment (which is theglobe.com co-founder Stephan Paternot’s indie movie company) and Andrew Lauren Productions (The Squid And The Whale). Here is how they describe the move in a release:

This feature-length documentary follows a group of people whose lives are dramatically transformed by the virtual world Second Life. More than an examination of a hot new technology, the film is foremost an intimate, character-based drama about people who look to a virtual world in search of something they are missing in their real lives.

Exactly.

If the movie is able to rouse the remaining residents of Second Life up and away from their computers to a movie theater with other actual people I, for one, will consider it a success. Although, I am not sure how many real movie theaters the people of Second Life can fill.

Below is a teaser trailer which tells you absolutely nothing about the movie:

“Life 2.0″ documentary teaser from Jason Spingarn-Koff on Vimeo.

http://www.techcrunch.com

On a whim and while bored to tears at work, I decided last year to spend Memorial Day Weekend in the Chihuahuan Desert, the second largest desert in North America.

I’d never been out to West Texas before, even though I’d given the Lone Star state ten long years of my life. I don’t know what possessed me to choose it. South Padre, an islet in the Gulf Coast, is rumored to be lovely, and New Orleans is just a few decadent hours away.

Maybe it was the recent Marfa hype, the remote Texas town where No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood were filmed. Perhaps it was my recent obsession with Into the Wild, the theme of “going Thoreau” or communing with nature still fresh in my mind.

I wanted solitude. I wanted tranquility.  I wanted rejuvenation. I wanted one single spot in this world that still had a soul, a place devoid of Walmarts and traffic jams and ridiculous spreadsheets.

But on this afternoon, I reserved a hotel, a car, and airline tickets for my brother and my mother to join me.  I wanted to share my joy. We were going to canoe the Rio Grande and tour this forgotten land. Live deep and suck out the marrow of life. My family was going to love it, to love me.

Happiness is only real when shared.

“So let me get this straight,” my brother said when I called him. “You want to take 3 Hispanics out into the desert, on the Mexican border, and put them in a boat on the Rio Grande? Do you not watch the news?”

“Oh, quit the dramatics. And bring your passport.”

“Of course I’m bringing my passport. You’re trying to get us arrested. So what town are you talking about?”

“We’re going to Terlingua. It’s a ghost town. Isn’t that cool?”

“Huh.”

“Marfa and the Davis mountains are nearby as well. They’re supposed to be gorgeous.”

“—”

“We also have a cabin in the desert, with only basic amenities, but it’ll be good to totally decompress for a while, to get away from it all.”

“Wasn’t the Texas Chainsaw Massacre a true story?”

“Okay, I’m hanging up now.”

My mother took the news even worse, worrying in Spanish about the excessive heat, the lack of a TV for her novelas, and possible deportation. I reminded her that she was a U.S. citizen, but she would hear none of it. She heard stories, lots of stories, stories about mistaken identities and the ruthless border patrol. She wasn’t just some helpless senior citizen, you know. She was informed.

Oh, they’re good, those Univision spin doctors.

I wondered if maybe I should find one single spot in this world devoid of grumbling family members. To be alone in order to preserve my sanity.

…

Riding into town Photo: Cathey Franke

Terlingua, Texas, a very remote region just minutes from the Mexican border, remains unincorporated and has no defined borders.  With its early beginnings as a mining Mecca, “downtown” Terlingua now stands as a ghost town, replete with dirt roads, ruins, historic mines, creeks, buttes, tiny shops and miles of desert landscape. Figures from the last census indicate there were fewer than 300 individuals calling Terlingua home.

Three hundred. About the size of my high school graduating class.

Chisos Mining Company Motel Photo: Cathey Franke

We stayed in the Chisos Mining Company Motel, a mining relic from the past.  Our cabin was one of several that dotted the land behind the main building. The one-room structure had no phone, no TV, no Internet, no cell phone service, only two functioning outlets, and intermittent hot water. There weren’t even any lamps; we used our flashlights in the cabin at night. A place to get away from it all – check.

The only light outside the cabin was the porch light.  There were no lighted paths of the terrain between the buildings.  If I wanted to go out for an evening stroll, I needed the flashlight and a good dose of courage to venture into the darkest nighttime setting I have ever seen.

Our cabin, lucky #13. Photo: Cathey Franke

We were somewhat unprepared for the heat.  Despite hauling several pallets of bottled water and sucking back water like it was beer, we still had to limit our time outdoors during the day.  The average daily temperature reached 108.  The sun was murderous.

In town, the lone church was about the size of my garage. The “mall” was a series of 5 connected stores with miniature mariachi figurines in the front. The ice cream parlor sold only 3 flavors, none of which included vanilla.  I knew of about a handful of local eateries – including the burger stands.

One restaurant/bar in particular, La Kiva, won me over because it was underground and so over-the-top. I forgave the BBQ menu because, after all, we were in West Texas. The men’s urinal was an old cast-iron pot that used to be a planter, and the sink in the women’s bathroom was a rusted bucket. In the dining area, the focal point is the “Penisaurus Erectus”, a fictional creature crafted out of random bones.

It’s worth mentioning that GQ magazine named La Kiva “the #1 most bizarre bar you must visit before you die.”

Every vacation I take must include an adventure sport of some kind, and this was no exception. The canoe trip on the Rio Grande taught me a couple of things.  First and foremost, I now know to team up with someone of equal weight. Josh, my 9-yr old son, was in my canoe, and he weighs less than my backpack.  Since there was practically no bow weight, I succeeded in making us go around in circles.  The rest of the group was hundreds of yards ahead, and my canoe looked like it was being steered by Stevie Wonder.

About halfway through, the fantastic guides at Far Flung Adventures, who arranged the trek, suggested Josh and my mom switch places. My brother, with much more upper-arm strength, welcomed Josh into his canoe and kept the vessel on perfect course. This led to my second revelation to hit the weights when I got back home. I may never reach the physique of my ex-Marine brother, but I should at least be able to paddle a damn boat.

The towns of Marfa and Alpine, the Davis Mountains, and the McDonald Observatory are all about 2 hours away from Terlingua. Most of the unlit desert roads run through undeveloped territory and winding mountains, so driving at 1am can be somewhat dicey (though I personally enjoy that kind of driving).

In the outlying towns, go enjoy:

Maiya's Restaurant

• Lunch or dinner at Maiya’s, a restaurant next to the Hotel Paisano where the film Giant was filmed. Our waiter had the privilege to serve the casts of No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood when they rolled through the area.

• Getting lost in Alpine like I did, something that defies logic since the town is about the size of a postage stamp. So erratic was my driving that I earned a lovely police escort out of the city.

McDonald Observatory Photo: Larry Landolfi

• The serpentine switchbacks up the Davis Mountains, if you can brave it. At the top of the nearly 7,000 feet crawl sits the McDonald Observatory, an astronomical observatory owned by University of Texas Austin. The Star Parties are definitely a must-see: a chance to peer into the night skies through an array of telescopes, accompanied by fun lectures and activities. According to the Observatory’s website, some of the darkest skies in North America hover over the Davis Mountains. The sight of billions of stars is magical. The nighttime desert cold – unexpected.

• The Marfa lights phenomena: unexplained orbs of light that appear along Hwy 90 near Marfa.  They float right above the horizon and move around, merge, split, dart about. It’s difficult to actually reach the lights because of the treacherous terrain. There is a viewing station right off the highway where you can stand from a distance and observe the activity. Yes, I saw them. No, I’m not sure what they are. I’d have to say the experience was creepy as hell. There are no lights on the highway and no lights on the walk from the side of the road to the viewing station.  All I could do, at 2am in this remote off-road moment, was think about the number of creatures nearby that could sting, bite or eat me.

The Window. Photo: Cathey Franke

• Hiking the Chisos Mountains, which is the only mountain range enclosed within a national park. Definitely head up to see The Window, a popular vista point where you can view hundred of miles of valleys.

Santa Elena Canyon. Notice my miniature brother in bottom right corner. Photo: Cathey Franke

• Exploring Big Bend National Park, only about 15 minutes from our hotel.  It is huge, it is rugged, it is three environments (river, desert, mountains) in one. According to Wikipedia, it has 1,200 species of plants, more than 450 species of birds, 56 species of reptiles, and 75 species of mammals. The Santa Elena Canyon, my favorite highlight, is a seven-mile gorge cut by the Rio Grande visible over 10 miles away. The limestone ridges reach a height of 2,000 feet, making it virtually impossible not to have your earthly significance put in check.

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We did not have any international incidents. No one was detained or deported. There were no heat victims or deadly snake attacks. We did not run into any angry black bears on Chisos Mountains nor did we encounter Leatherface in our secluded cabin.

Despite the nay-saying and lack of creature comforts, two city slickers and a child were able to enjoy themselves in the middle of nowhere. We drove hundreds of miles through undefiled land, danced by flashlight, ate dried goods out of Styrofoam containers, got bug bitten and muddy, took thousands of pictures, and laughed.

We lost our cell phones. We forgot about the TV. We remembered our family ties.

I considered my search for solitude and realized that the true essence of the experience was only possible by sharing it.

The joy of road trippin'. Photo: Cathey Franke

Terlingua/Big Bend Landscape Photos:

cenário numa das poucas saídas da cidade de faro, onde (quase) todos têm que passar para abalar da cidade. os restos da casa, que ruiu há cerca de dois anos, ameaçando a via pública, peões e automobilistas, continuam a jazer mesmo aqui ao lado. ninguém parece mexer uma palha para retirar o entulho e eliminar a ruína uma vez por todas. mais uma atrocidade desta “capital” do algarve que já se está a candidatar ao lugar número 1 entre os sítios espanta-turistas devido aos ambientes degradados que oferece. ninguém se responsabiliza? entretanto, oiçam aqui uma bela música dos the specials dos anos 80 sobre o tema.

a defesa volta a citar-nos, nós agradecemos.

Today I had the pleasure of almost visiting my first ghost town. I say almost because Jerome, Arizona is still very much alive. Although some buildings lie in ruins in the middle of this small town, the place is vibrant with history, culture and activity.

Steve and I drove in via 89A north, which took us from the comparatively flat steppes around Sedona into some of the steepest mountain passes I’ve seen this side of Colorado. The scenery was gorgeous, if a bit hair-raising: Our rental car handled like a wooden vegetable cart on those hair-pin curves.

In spite of the constant risk of plummeting 1,000 feet to our deaths, Steve and I still marveled at the incredible diversity and changeability of the plant life. In one hour’s drive, we saw flat scrub that stretched for miles, cactus-lined mountains, barren peaks, and finally dense coniferous forests. Talk about microclimates!

Jerome itself was both a pleasant surprise and a disappointment. Built into a steep cliff, it reminded me of San Francisco’s vertical construction. Some of the houses were built on stilts and hovered precariously over the cliffs, with only their front doors attached to the rock.

I was pleasantly surprised by the art galleries that lined Jerome’s narrow, steep streets, and by the plaques on the walls that told almost every building’s history. I was also pleasantly surprised by the friendliness and historical knowledge of the locals, who seemed to genuinely enjoy the tourists rather than begrudge them.

One shopkeeper told me and Steve about the local jail, which now sits in ruins near the bottom of a steep hill. During one earthquake in the early 1900s, it had slid about 200 yards down this hill, taking its sole prisoner (or should I say passenger?) for the ride of a lifetime.

We toured a gallery with a breathtaking view — and an equally breathtaking collection of art — before settling down for lunch at the tiny, unassuming Flatiron Cafe. Here’s my one-word review: WOW. Steve told the owner that we hadn’t had a meal that good since Paris, and he wasn’t exaggerating.

So, why was I a bit disappointed? I’d hoped to tour an actual ghost town. I’d imagined dusty ruins and weather-beaten wood. Still, I can’t complain. There are other ghost towns. But there’s no place else quite like Jerome.

I was at the Hammersmith Apollo on Friday for The Specials 30th anniversary Tour. The gigs had sold out months ago, but thanks to a friend of a friend of a friend, let’s call her blow out Tracy due to her uncannily regular ability to drop out at the last minute, I got the golden ticket. Her loss was definitely my gain.

Every musical artist or group has a tribal audience and this was no different. The make up of the audience was largely male, white and over 40 wearing either two-tone or skinhead gear, which may sound like a recipe for trouble, but everyone was very friendly and on good form. As we entered the stalls, I noticed two women dressed like they were going to a hen night. I wondered if they knew what they were letting themselves in for.

We waited an hour before The Specials arrived on stage. The atmosphere was building and you could feel the Testosterone. This was not going to be a James Blunt Soiree. As the lights went down and the cheer went up, the first of many plastic pint glasses with beer was thrown into the audience. When (Dawning of a) New Era started, everyone went nuts and we found ourselves flung around from left to right in a sea of big men. Hit after wonderful hit was played with the economy Prog rockers could only dream of. Do The Dog, Rat Race, Man At C&A, Do Nothing, Blank Expression, Nite Klub, Stereotype and so many more were lapped up by a frenzied audience. Between each song you’d hear the chanting of Rude Boy, Rude Boy, Rude Boy. I’d try and catch bits of video with my crappy camera phone in the quieter moments before the nutty crowd started slamming into each other again. It was over way too soon. They returned for two encores, Ghost Town and You’re Wondering now.

We left the venue sweating like pigs in blankets but were elated because the gig was so good. We went our separate ways and it was only when I made the final leg of my journey home on the DLR that I noticed the stink from the beer shower. The other passengers noticed too as they cleared space for me… in a crowded train!

Beer showers? Being slammed by sweaty blokes? Dancing to great music? Top night.

See Story & Photos on Idaho Travel Memories site: http://idahotravelmemories.blogspot.com/

See my other blog: Idaho Travel Memories for article and more photos of Idaho’s famous Silver City ghost town.
Web-site: http://idahotravelmemories.blogspot.com/

It’s back!

and man is it a string line up!

This is the final Louis Den Beat Cypher of the year so expect allsorts of goodies alongside dope music and fresh PA’s

We’ll let Kosyne breakdown the lineup:

BUDGIE
Louis Den’s own BUDGE is reppin on the boards for this one..you’ve heard the range from the screw face bangers to the smooth jam mack soundtracks, Budgie is a sick producer and sought after DJ…he’s bound to impress!!

WIZARD
Hastings based producer and one half of the OSB’z Wiz is a LDBB vet reppin since homework #4 back in 2007!!, he’s been waiting patiently to get on the bill and now its his turn..you know the beats, the boombap bounce to the chilled out headnodders and the endless free releases he churns out!…wiz is a total package and one of the hardest working beatmakers in the UK!

GHOST TOWN
Sick production team originally from Leeds now based in london (and mostly just a 1 man operation).  Ghosttown have credits for Foreign Beggars, Mystro, Guilty Simpson, Phat Kat and more…check the thread I posted earlier in this week for look into their new london based “squat” lab..expect sick beats!

CHEMO
Badboy producer (no not for diddy..you know what I mean).  Chemo’s put the work in behind the boards for years now and has the credits to prove it JOE BUDDEN, KYZA, TRIPLE DARKNESS, VAKILL, SEAN PRICE (do we need to continue??!). Fresh out the Killamonjaro labs Chemo’s out to bless the den with BANGERS!.

and on the mic we have Birminghams own JUICE ALEEM (big dadda/shadowless) fresh off his release JERUSALAAM COME.

VERB T blessing us for the second (but 1st official time hopefully) after not being able to show for what was the second beat cypher (with S-TYPE, JAISU, DARREN PAUL & ROEG DU CASQ)..Verbs was unable to make it due to family commitments but he’s back with a vengance to finally rep for the beat cypher!.

and finally SLEAZE DA DON aka Hermes Trismegistus from the south coast (originally West Bromwich) Sleaze is a dope emcee with a unique delivery and style…teaming up with Eat Good’s SONNYJIM for a joint EP (coming soon on eatgood/greasy vinyl) sleaze is here i brum to show you what he’s all about.  Sleaze recently dropped his LP THEOLOVISION on his own imprint “GREASY VINYL” which features producers WIZARD, BEAT BUTCHA, GHOST, ENDEMIC and more!.

And of course it wouldnt be a Louis Den Beat Cypher without the usual selections from DJ CRO and our OPEN BEATS and BUCKS FIZZ BEAT BATTLES..(all den heads are encouraged to rep for this so please bring a beat CD, dont be shy..I dont want to have to struggle for entrants again!)

NEW VENUE
Reason for the promo train on this LDBC being a bit late was because we were venuless!!, after going back to the Sunflower Lounge to secure Decembers date I was told they have changed the music policy and werent too keen on the “Smoking” that went on outisde…not sure what the whole mess was down to im guessing (as the owner was there that night of beat cypher 07) they didnt like the fact we overran slightly and maybe our little “car beats” session outside, so umm yeah we are now at the BIRMINGHAM SOUND BAR which is a much sicker venue (but comes at a price)…so please smoker squad, go for a little wander before you do what you do, dont want to bait up this joint too! and doooo come out and support, plenty more overheads this time so we gotta keep this one going (bring a mate and tell them bring a mate, and tell em both to bring beats!!)

aite then…book them tickets!!! lets see the year out with some illy blaps!!!!

Post Office, Cabezon by Evangeline Chavez

The village was started in the 1870’s and was originally called Posta, (the post),  It was the focal point for farming and raising sheep. It was also a stage stop between Santa Fe and the military outpost at Fort Wingate. It quickly grew with the mandatory saloons, blacksmith shop, stores.  Richard Heller ran the Heller Store and post office for a good many years.  Cabezon flourished  until the 1940’s. Mr. Heller died in 1947, and the Rio Puerco dried up. The post office officially closed in 1949

Iglesia San Jose de Cabezon by Evangeline Chavez

Iglesia San Jose de Cabezon, originally built in 1894, is now on private land.  It is open to the public during the year for a mass in honor of San Jose. In the background you can see Cabezone Peak.  Cabezone Peak is derived from the Spanish noun “cabeza,” meaning “head,” and “Cabezon” translates as “big head.

]]> http://ericbrandt.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/drawbridge-ca/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:35:26 +0000 eb78 http://ericbrandt.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/drawbridge-ca/

A ghost town in the heart of Silicon Valley? I first read about Drawbridge a couple years ago, but didn’t get a chance to explore it until last weekend. Founded in 1876 on the rail line between Fremont and Alviso, Drawbridge reached its peak during Prohibition. Due to its relative isolation and the fact that nearly every resident was armed, local law enforcement didn’t bother making vice raids. Nearly every resident was armed. Water pumping and nearby salt evaporation ponds caused the land to sink into the bay, and people started to leave. Local newspapers published wild accounts of treasure left behind, bringing hordes of scavengers and vandals. The few remaining residents scared them off with shotguns, but it was a futile effort. Charles Luce, the last man in Drawbridge, left in 1979. In thirty years of abandonment, most of the buildings are in an advanced state of decay and sinking into the marsh. It seemed a good time to check out the ghost town before it disappears completely.

I was up by 5:30am and on the tracks heading north from Alviso an hour later. I had hoped for a beautiful sunrise, but the overcast light made for excellent landscape photography.

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The only sound I heard was the occasional pop of shotguns as game hunters prowled the sloughs for waterfowl.

After a nearly three mile hike along the tracks, I came to the first abandoned structures. Drawbridge is technically closed to outsiders, but there’s nothing to stop people save for a few signs. The tracks are active, but only a couple Amtrak trains rolled through when I was there.

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The land surrounding the tracks is mostly salt marsh crisscrossed with small streams. A few of them are covered by pickleweed and nearly invisible, causing me to stumble and plunge ankle deep in mud. It’s not a particularly safe environment for high-end camera gear.

Surprisingly, the place isn’t as overrun by graffiti as I would’ve expected.

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This place was the best preserved in all of Drawbridge. Pretty sure this used to be the kitchen.

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More abandoned buildings are north along the tracks.

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Some great opportunities for macro decay photography.

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Around this time I noticed that the tide was coming in fast, causing the bay to seep out of the marsh and make further exploration difficult.

The sun came out around noon, and by then Drawbridge was inundated by water.

Rest of the Drawbridge set here.

Continued pictures from the Gold Kids / MTL / Ghost Town show last weekend. These were mostly taken by Steph and some by Saam. Enjoy.

bahahaha! nice one CatFace!

Last Saturday, the wait was finally over. Headed down to the Gold Kids/ More Than Life / Ghost Town show with Steph, Ken and Saam at Blackhole. [Totally out of whack location btw...]

The show was so good! Just raw and angry. Perfect.

I don’t even know the name of this first band. Think they were a local band opening for the show, pretty fuckin’ good if you asked me.

GHOST TOWN [AUS]

GOLD KIDS [ITALY]

MORE THAN LIFE [UK]

Ghost Town è un film del 2008 scritto da John Kampse e Davdi Koepp e diretto dallo stesso David Koepp.

Leggi altre notizie su: | Ricky Gervais | Greg Kinnear | David Koepp | Téa Leoni

© Mac Danzig

Technical Data:

Camera:  Canon 400D

Lens:  100-400 L @ 160mm

Exposure:  1/640 sec

Aperture:  f/8

ISO:  400

Story Behind the Photo:

This is what the last of Delamar, Nevada’s residents saw as they abandoned the old mining town in 1909…  Facing west, this is the only way back out.

Delamar was nicknamed “the Widowmaker” because the gold mined from the town was embedded in quartzite, and the process to separate the gold resulted in dust that contained fragments of rock that scarred the lung tissues of anyone who breathed it – and caused death within months.  (Silicosis)
Nearly all of the men who mined in Delamar eventually died from this and it is estimated that at one time there were over 400 widows living in the town… Needless to say, it’s a ghost town now and a fairly hard-to-find one as well.

The road to and from Delamar is beautiful and remote. We even saw some wild horses on the way back right before this picture was taken… I unfortunately didn’t get any acceptable shots of the ruins themselves due to hard mid-day light.  Delamar is a place that I definitely need to re-visit and hopefully spend at least one night at, to get some good night time long-exposures.

thanks for looking

-Mac

We made it home in one piece.  It was quite a trip.

Let’s see, it included:  abandoned houses, rusty cars, lots of walking, ghost towns, faded jackpot slips from the ’70’s, a few hours at the Boomtown Casino, snow, high winds, good food, crazy children, and long talks.

A great trip and just what we needed right now.

I have a ton of photos to go through-many just of the kids being silly.  But lots of other cool stuff and stories to share later.

Have a great weekend!