Jim Zim's brush with coronavirus

 

[VIDEO] This video was published three days ago and I've been following Jim Zim for many years. Usually I pay attention when he's showing off his G-scale model trains, on this occasion he's talking about his brush with coronavirus on a cruise ship.

The extensive testing, contact tracing, and even the overreation by another foreign gov't. This video just lets you know that coronavirus is still around. And he doesn't directly mention the Delta-variant, however, that's out there too so we know what the next panic will be.

BTW, what about those British and South African variants?

50 subscribers

[VIDEO] There is some real stuff going on in the world and at least we're no longer talking about the coronavirus. I just wanted to celebrate finally making 50 subs on my original YouTube channel which has been around since roughly the first year of YouTube.

In this case it's a train video (of course!) and it shows my arrival in California in July 2016. It hits me that using my cell phone as the primary record with a video and still camera is quite a creative boon. I can do video and a slide show utilizing iMovie and they have a trick where you can use a Ken Burns crops.

With a Ken Burns crop you can basically focus on one area of the picture and as the movie plays the camera can either zoom in or zoom out to reveal the rest of the scene. Or you see the rest of the scene and you'll zoom in on what you want the crop to focus on. It's really cool especially if you got some good background music.

In which case unless you're voice over intensive or plan to do a lot of talking find yourself some public domain music. That should save you from anyone attacking you over any copyrights.

I hope you enjoy the video. If you like what you see give me a subscribe. Perhaps one day this blogger can do more with his YouTube channels. I do have three one I announced here lbj79us and one called The Sixth Ward.

BTW, no more than I anticipated doing a 50 subscriber video I never anticipated doing a 50 subscriber post. It wasn't that long ago that I realized that my channel was one away from 50 and even then halfway towards the next goal of 100 subscribers.

I got 49 subscribers....

[VIDEO] Well sometimes things happen in spurts, but at times I share small accomplishments. It's been seen at there that you get more attention upon posting 100 videos on YouTube. Well on my new channel that milestone hasn't been reached yet though on the channel I've had since roughly the beginning there are literally 100 videos and more including the above one.

So basically it's me on the train to Memphis, Tennessee leaving Chicago back in December 2014. This was the trip I wrote about at that time my first real trip out of town in a few years. A lot of the recent old videos I had posted to my other channel so far were recording years ago on a MiniDV camcorder. This time around I used the then new iPhone 6 at the time.

Anyway if you enjoy this video feel free to help me get to 100 subs and hit that subscribe button. 

On the train between New Mexico and Arizona

[VIDEO] Shot this video in July 2005 on my way to Los Angeles, California and had to have shot this somewhere between Albuquerque, New Mexico and Flagstaff, Arizona. As a matter of fact way before the footage of that lightning strike that occurred not long after sunset and at that point the Southwest Chief was closer to Flagstaff.

I suppose it' very fascinating to look at the geography of the American southwest. The buttes, plateaus, hills, mountains, even the dry river beds. I can tell where at one point water flowed when it rains. It seems like a hot desolation region yet, full of life which the desert adapted plants and of course human civilization within the desert.

I look forward to the day I can ride through again, but one day I need to spend some time in this desert area.

Southwest geography

[VIDEO] Still uploading video from many years ago taking the Southwest Chief. Today I just want to show this video of my train in 2005 going through the desert between Colorado and New Mexico (or it could be New Mexico) I just don't remember.

This video which I uploaded by lbj79us on YouTube probably had an echo from many years ago as part of this long ago footage was used on my first YouTube video. It was an attempt at a "Lumiere" style vid which seemed popular amongst videobloggers during the mid-2000. And certainly around the time when YouTube was becoming established. Here it is below. [VIDEO]

I hope you'll consider subscribing and watching. Constructive feedback is needed. I'm only getting started and as in all things in life the best thing to do is to just get started. That's what I'm attempting to do with this new journey. Just get started and hopefully the progression leads to something gaining traction.

Desert lightning...

[VIDEO] I want to take my mind off of this pandemic. The posting as of late on this blog almost always involved any news on the pandemic. Indeed anything that lets me know that we're closer to the down curve with regards to coronavirus infections.

I started yet another YouTube channel which I've branded to my old Yahoo! GeoCities username which was lbj79us. Right now I plan to post old video shot by myself over the years that has never before uploaded. My original YouTube channel that I have shared with you in the past, I don't have much plans for it beyond posting more current videos.

What develops beyond that who knows, however, as I've often said the point is to just get started if one wants to gain traction especially with YouTube. Feel free to subscribe and even have a box for that purpose in the sidebar.

This could be one of those "My Mind's Eye" episodes that I had been talking about doing lately. My videography wasn't very good in July 2005 when I shot this video on board Amtrak's Southwest Chief. I was sitting in the observation lounge going through the Arizona desert - probably on the way to Flagstaff, Arizona. I knew to keep any eye on the sky because there were lightning strikes, and made sure to record a few near the end of this almost ten minute video, if you want fast forward to about 8:30 in this video.

Jacksonville, Florida Greyhound bus ticket counter #olloclip

Jacksonville, FL Greyhound bus ticket counter

Greyhound travel has changed from back in the day back when I was taking the bus to Atlanta, Georgia for school. It was likely easier to just take a ticket and use it to board a bus anytime as long as I got a ticket, especially if it was good for a whole year. Just last month on the way to Jacksonville, Florida I ran into a snag.

Well in the ensuing decade since I graduated, Greyhound had evolved to utilizing e-tickets. Last month I had bought tickets for my mother and I from Jacksonville to Atlanta while on the train on the way down to Jacksonville. They would be e-tickets, however, I made one error I had bought tickets for the wrong day which wasn't the day we'd arrive in Jacksonville. By the time we would arrive in Jacksonville our tickets would already have expired...

I needed to change the date we were leaving by bus from Jacksonville. The ticket agent at first said because our ticket had expired there wasn't much she could do unless she talked to a manager. Thankfully the manager gave her the go ahead to change our tickets. My tickets would have to be re-printed with our new departure date and thus we could leave on a bus later that afternoon.

What this means is that once we arrived in Jacksonville, FL in the morning around 9 AM from the Amtrak Station we'd have a long layover before our bus would depart by 4 PM. I walked around the area near the Greyhound terminal and got some footage in the general area. Some of which I have since posted to YouTube.

We boarded our bus after 4 PM and then were on our way to our next destination to change buses in Savannah, Georgia and finally to our final destination and the end of our traveling in Atlanta, Georgia.

Passing through Ashland, Virginia #olloclip

[VIDEO] On July 17, 2019 I rode Amtrak's Silver Star through Ashland, Virginia which surprisingly is one of the sites of many Virtual Railfan webcams around the country. I expect this won't be the last time this happens. It was cook to see some of the landmarks especially the storefronts that I've only seen only if I tune into one of these cams.

I tried to see if I can find my train on the site, but I had failed to find the time frame where the train passed through. Bummer, but as I stated this probably won't be the last time. Who knows I might be going to the west coast again in the future. You can check out the three cams that I do show on this blog of three stops on the way...

Here's the live webcam from Ashland, VA. On VR's YouTube channel they do show some interesting things such as bears or even cars running onto the tracks for example. Of course you will see special trains or what not also.

Ashland, VA Virtual Railfan cam [VIDEO]

Hustle & bustle at DC's Union Station #olloclip

[VIDEO] I've been trying to just post videos to my YouTube channel more lately. When I do post it's often video shot from my iPhone.

So far I've been posting video from my latest vacation. So I took a train to DC changed trains there to take a train to Jacksonville, Florida (there is a pro-wrestling reference here as the owners of the upstart company All Elite Wrestling are based in Jacksonville as they own the local NFL club there). Then took a bus from Jacksonville, FL to Savannah, Georgia to take another bus to Atlanta, Georgia where my family had a family reunion.

Then we left Atlanta by train from a picnic to return to DC so that we can take the Amtrak Train back to Chicago. So basically the trains we took to get to and from Chicago to our various points we started out trip on the Capitol Limited and then transferred to the Silver Star we took Greyhound to our next destination and then later took the Crescent back to DC and finished our riding with a ride on the Capitol Limited back to Chicago. Whew!

So anway, I wanted to share this vid of my day at DC's Union Station where I saw the hustle and bustle during the week. It's super raw footage and this I didn't edit much, but it's an excuse to utilize my YouTube channel. It's time to come up with a real plan.

I probably should've started this process earlier, but after getting some notice with blogging this is probably the next step beyond that. As I said come up with a real plan to utilize YouTube and create some content people could enjoy.

Three years ago this month I visited the Grand Canyon #olloclip

[VIDEO] In 2016 I went on my west coast jaunt. The purpose was actually a family reunion however we wanted to make stops not only in Las Vegas, Nevada, but also the Grand Canyon. I haven't visited either location since my first visits as a child. And conversely I was too young to gamble and yet have very little interest to put my money on the line in such a fashion.

Either way, I've decided to start using my YouTube channel more and this video of my trip the Grand Canyon is one documented video of my visit. Not the best cut I have, but it's certainly raw and shows the magnitude of this massive geological formation. I'm glad I was able to capture it in pictures and on video.

In commemoration of my trip to the west coast I posted webcam feeds on this blog under "Railcam" that shows the three stops along the way on Amtrak's Southwest Chief. The Chief was how I got back and forth between Los Angeles, California and Chicago (in the case of my visit to the Grand Canyon my folks got on the train in Flagstaff, AZ which is one of the webcam feeds you see). It was an amazing trip that I hope to find another excuse to make in the future. Perhaps even during a future "polar vortex" episode in the winter time!

BTW, time to experiment with photoshop and create something of a YouTube brand image to advertise my channel.

Also here is one photo I shot of the Grand Canyon using an olloclip fisheye lens

The last train odyssey video

[VIDEO] From YouTuuba he posts the last leg of his "train odyssey" starting in Chicago to Los Angeles aboard Amtrak's Southwest Chief. Then he leaves Los Angeles to take the Coast Starlight train along the California coast to Portland, Oregon. Then he leaves Portland on the Empire Builder to return to Chicago.

Thus in the above video you see another version of the trip depicted in another video shared here. A British tourist travels from Portland to Chicago on the Empire Builder and most of the sound track are contemporary music and it sounded great. Of course, this one is more of a documentary with "YouTuuba" doing a lot of talking with regards to what we're seeing in his videos.

I'm aching for a trip to the pacific northwest at least though I know it'll probably be a lot like what's going on in LA. Portland and Seattle has been in the news for a burgeoning homeless population. I remember being in Skid Row in LA in 2016 and it wasn't entirely pleasant. Don't know what I brought that up, I just recognize that Portland and Seattle are nice places to visit but not without their issues. There probably isn't a place on this planet that doesn't have their local issues.

Duration of the above vid is just about 4 hours. A long one but to see various streetscapes and landscapes, it's worth it

Since I missed a few days of posts...

I working on my laptop away from Chicago, and will be doing so again next week when I will be posting a series of scheduled posts. However since I'm not on a blogger vacation yet, perhaps I can bang out some posts since I missed a few days this week. Perhaps I'll make up some time for that. :)

A YouTuber travels on the Southwest Chief

[VIDEO] A few posts discussed my 2016 trip on Amtrak's Southwest Chief to Los Angeles. A YouTuber named youtuuba documents his recent trip this year to Los Angeles via the Southwest Chief. This is almost a 3 hr video.

As I type this post out what I've seen is from him taking Metra into Union Station and then Amtrak pulling off from Union through the western suburbs intro rural western Illinois and then across the Mississippi River into Iowa. Whatever else you see well if you have the interest you will see for yourself, I'm just going to watch the rest of this later.

You can still check out my Railcam page to see two stations along the Southwest Chief La Plata, Missouri & Flagstaff, Arizona.

BTW, I hope you all are enjoying your 4th of July holiday.

RELATED: Have blog will travel?

We might have that "American Concorde" after all!

Boeing hypersonic concept

Back in March I posted about an "American Concorde" plane that never really took off (no pun intended). Then yesterday at Instapundit, there was news of another proposed hypersonic passenger jet. Looks like we might get another airliner that could jet past the speed of sound.

Let's let Popular Mechanics explain:

Boeing has revealed its first-ever concept for a hypersonic passenger plane that could cross an ocean in two hours for military or commercial customers. Debuted at an aerospace conference in Atlanta today, the design shows that the aerospace giant is ready to compete for this high-flying piece of the aviation future.

“There is an inherent value in speed,” says Kevin Bowcutt, Senior Technical Fellow of hypersonics in Boeing Research & Technology.

...

 Although the airplane Boeing showed off today is just a concept and will certainly change before its possible flight in 20 or 30 years, Bowcutt can showcase the engineering decision-making that goes into such a vehicle.

You don’t need (or want) to go Mach 5 during takeoff. Boeing’s designers envision using a commercial turbofan engine capable of a wide range of speeds that can be bypassed when it’s time for the airplane to really zoom. Besides, a traditional engine’s fan blades would disintegrate at such velocities. While traveling at hypersonic speeds, you don’t need fan blades to compress air anyway because the speed of the craft does that for you. 

That’s why most modern hypersonic jet designs rely on a ramjet, which uses the plane's forward motion to compress air, to reach truly awesome speeds. “The turboramjet would be designed to valve the air so it bypasses the (turbofan) engine and dumps into a combined afterburner ramjet,” Bowcutt says. “That same afterburner would function as a ramjet.” The ramjet would propel the vehicle to Mach 5, fast enough to get from New York to Tokyo in about 2 hours. 

Such speed influences the design in radical ways that can be seen in the render. For one thing, as airplanes go faster, the ratio of lift–to-drag (the thing that makes airplanes fly) drops.

I'm very much looking forward to flying on a hypersonic airliner in the near future. Though I hope it wouldn't take 20-30 years, I don't think I want to wait that long for my first overseas vacation! 

Have blog will travel?

I published another version of this post over at My Mind's Eye on Thursday. So today's post will be slightly different. It was video I shot going through Arizona on the way to California.

[VIDEO] Unlike the other video which shows the landscape outside of the train through the windows of the observation lounge, this video is of the inside of the consist that most Amtrak passengers will have access to. Seems to be a fitting video to give you an idea of what you can expect aboard a train. I shot this on the way to the west coast in 2016 aboard the Southwest Chief.

I start off in a coach car on the lower level where I take a shot of the rolling landscape. I head up stairs where you see the coach accommodations before heading towards the observation lounge. The observation lounge is where many passengers sit around to look at the landscape or often socialize with other passengers. What I didn't document was the cafe downstairs where passengers can purchase snacks and beverages from the lounge attendant.

Beyond the observation lounge is the dining car where passengers take their meals. If you have coach accommodations your meals are extra, when I travel by coach I wouldn't be as willing to eat in the dining car. They won't cost an arm and a leg but often they're not cheap. However, you will at least have breakfast, lunch and dinner and often require a reservation. As you may see in another video shared here on this blog, the seating is often communal meaning you will be meeting your fellow passengers as you take your mean. Well that is assuming you're not seating with a young person who is more interested in their mobile phones as happened at one point during my trip....

Anyway if you travel by coach you will have to pay for your meals, however, if you have a sleeper car accommodation meals are complimentary. The accommodation fee for a sleeper is what pays for your meals although think of a dining car as a restaurant. You may not have to pay out of pocket for your meals, however, you still should tip your server just to let them know you like the service. I would like to explain at length making your train reservations at a later time.

Beyond the dining car are the sleepers here I go through two of them until I had downstairs to look out both sides of the train at the rolling landscape. On this trip I was in a roomette with my mother and it was definitely cramped space. It was adequate though I would've liked my own roomette just didn't work out for this trip. The cramped space meant I'd have to take the upper bunk while my mother slept on the lower bunk. At least there were another place on the car for other carry-ons that it wouldn't be feasible to put in the roomette. I would like to explain the sleeper accommodation also at a later time.

This three minute video in a nutshell is documentation of riding a long-distance Amtrak train.

Amtrak Empire Builder

[VIDEO] As I hit the sack tonight, I wanted to share this vid with you. I've never taken Amtrak's Empire Builder. This would take you through Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana with one section to Seattle, Washington and another to Portland, Oregon.

This video of over 30 minutes shows a British man named Paul leaving Portland, OR going through big sky country arriving in Chicago's Union Station. It's an interesting look at a trip I can only imagine although it's time for me to travel again perhaps go somewhere I have never been. Seattle or Portland are places I've never been.

It must be very nice to create a YouTube channel which through either advertising or donations that could provide an income so that you could literally travel all over the world as Paul has. His channel is very interesting but the incidental music provides a very nice soundtrack to his travels. This is probably stock music but I could never imagine taking an Amtrak train and having hip-hop instrumentals as the sounds of the passing country, suburban, and urban landscapes.

Let's not forget, for the most part he shows us the meals he takes aboard the train in the dining car. He certainly travel in style with a sleeper car berth which also would enable those passengers to a complimentary meal in the diner. Then he also shows us that his sleeper car has a shower for those passengers.

Bismarck, North Dakota the next boomtown?

You know Bismarck could be worth it if I didn't imagine how cold it would be in the winter. It's further north than even Minneapolis and I would imagine that city is pretty cold in the heart of winter. Though it's likely great in the summer and the standard of living is much lower probably than say Chicago.

Allow the Tribune to take you there.

Oh yeah I forget it's the state capitol of North Dakota too! :P

Birthday special

As I reflect on another birthday for me, I reflect on the train rides. I like riding the trains especially on a vacation. To reflect on the number of places I've arrived on trains allow me to offer some destinations.

By Amtrak, I've been to Washington, Memphis, Detroit, Dallas, & Los Angeles. With the exception of Detroit all of those have been multiple trips and often to visit family in all of those places. Without a doubt Los Angeles have been the most interesting of these trips as I don't go out west often enough. And sometimes I wonder why with the issues they seem to have out there with immigration and wildfires.

All the same it's exciting to see the parts of America that I don't always see. It's cool to go out east and see those sites that I normally won't see. Which reminds me, I would like to go back to DC in the future. It's such a great place to see historical sites of great political importance. I'm not done with that town yet!

Also it's cool to head out west and see the landscape of this country go from midwestern farmlands, to grazing lands, to mountains, and deserts. To look at dry riverbeds, buttes, sands, bushes, etc. Doesn't matter where my train passes through it's a treat to see some of these small towns and stop in them to see how much simpler it can be outside of our major metropolitan areas.

As you probably can tell of all the years I've taken the train the highlights of them have been going out west to Los Angeles. I've only done so twice in the first two decades of this century and had been waiting to do so for years. And at that one time doing so with a sleeper car berth which is recommended by me if you do at least two overnights on a train.

This comes to mind because I've been watching a lot of train videos lately. Especially those that involve the Southwest Chief. Look forward to a few more train rides as long as I remain in good health and finding places to go in the meanwhile.

As an extra treat, here's one my favorite pics from my trip in 2016 taken in Mendota, IL from the train. Had a nice rainstorm as we were leaving the state on the way to the Mississippi River to cross into Iowa.

Mendota, Illinois

Also, this is the shortest and best video I could find about taking the Southwest Chief. It's under 10 mins although find any video you want about any train. These are only for if you want to educate yourself. [VIDEO]

Go somewhere....

The Grand Canyon

Something I did for a little over a week. As usual the mode of transport for this trip is not an airplane but Amtrak. It's always good to see the nation roll by especially during the daylight hours. It's always sad to return home though exciting to go out of town. It's also great to be in far more familiar territory as well.

It always good to leave home for a few days and see how life is lived in another part of this nation. How do people live in such locales as Los Angeles or Las Vegas for example? I had a few days in that part of the nation and it's only a snapshot but worthwhile. Plus heading west is always a rare treat indeed.

On this trip I also went to the Grand Canyon. Been years since the first time I went and it's without a doubt a very massive and deep site. If you're not careful deadly because on the way there I learned someone recently slipped and fell to their death.

All the same the message of this post is clear. It doesn't matter if you leave your block, neighborhood, city, or state. Its always OK to go somewhere and see what's out there. You need not go as far as I had because there are sites to see in the Chicago area or even a day trip away.

Which reminds me, I've always wanted to go to Springfield for example. Also I've never allowed myself an opportunity to see St. Louis. Of course I can always visit Gary, Indiana or check out Indianapolis. Then there's Milwaukee never really had the opportunity to see what that city has to offer.

And with these place all you have to do is spend a day go down early one morning and then come back that evening. Of course you can always spend one night away from home. It's always great to see another part of the world.

Will I ever take Greyhound again?

Nashville, TN Greyhound station

During my time at Morehouse I exclusively took Greyhound to Atlanta. I knew how the ride is supposed to go since it was done so many times. Before finally graduating though the nature of bus travel began to change one of those was for that historic company to shed its seedy image.

I miss the schedule that saw my bus bypass cities such as Nashville,TN on the way down to Atlanta and now it's often a regular stop on the way down to Atlanta. Another change was that at certain points the bus made local stops either outside of Atlanta or outside of Chicago. For example, after leaving Nashville the bus would make stops in Chattanooga, TN; Marrietta, GA; and finally Atlanta.

Once upon a time on Greyhound whether or not you specifically bought a ticket for a particular schedule or departure you could still get a seat on a bus. Or probably more accurately Greyhound officials - drivers or terminal personnel - didn't make a big deal about it if you didn't purchase a ticket for a particular schedule. These days they know how many seats are available on the bus enough to determine whether you can switch your departure at the last minute.

Of course, I see with the 'hound is that now they board people according to their boarding number. Now depending upon who's on duty they may catch that you don't belong on that schedule and decide that you need to change your ticket (and possibly incur a fee). In my recent Greyhound trip, I did this pre-emptively although this was at the last minute and incurred the fee because originally I bought a non-refundable ticket.

While I think it's unfortunate that even though you bought a ticket, you must travel on the the schedule for which you purchased that ticket. At the same time the boarding policy is a nice touch perhaps less possibility of chaos as there had been in the past with boardings.

The only issues I have with Greyhound is that wifi doesn't work in all terminals and on all buses. Most buses at this point have signs indicating they have wifi and the two buses I rode on the way down had either no wifi or it just didn't work for me. Also on one bus the outlets to charge my cell phone didn't work.

What I learned on my way back is that the driver can flick a switch if you let them know for the outlets. Also you'd have to work with the wifi and therefore you can still get on the internet on the bus. The only thing is if you don't stay on the net you'd have to reconnect through the browser from time to time. It works, but a user has to work with it and that goes for at the terminals as well.

One thing I can say for sure is that, it's definitely a good thing that I no longer have to rely on Greyhound. That is at least I don't have to travel back and forth between Atlanta frequently where the bus is the only choice. If bus travel is the future my experience this year will allow me to be much smarter. All the same the 16 hour ride is not something I miss anymore.