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bookscorpion posting in common_nature
austin_dernStill not really up to starting the Motor City story but a little exasperating moment today as we got back to normal.
After several instances of having the mail held and them just ... not ... delivering the held mail at the end, I've started checking the box that I want them to keep the mail at the post office where I will pick it up. So this afternoon after work I drove from the office to the post office, gave them my name and address, and stood back to wait and hear how this went wrong.
The clerk --- the same one I had to ask last week why the post office hates us when they just lost a priority mail envelope bunnyhugger had sent from there (it was delivered two days later without ever being scanned at any point ever) --- disappeared for somewhere between ten minutes and all the time in the world before coming back to say there wasn't any mail for us there. Not a bit.
I pointed out that the Informed Delivery e-mail had pictures of stuff we were supposed to be getting, Friday and Saturday and today. And they had dropped a package off on our doorstep Friday, when they were supposed to be holding letters and packages for me to pick up. He couldn't explain where our mail had gone and I just gave up and went outside and yelled at the building. I figured to go home and print out both the receipt from my mail hold request and every single Informed Delivery e-mail so they could know just what to look for.
Of course, it was all dropped off in our mailbox at home, along with a letter for two houses down that we keep getting mail for because the letter carrier apparently can't tell our numbers apart.
I do not know why the post office wants me angry with them but fine, they've got it.
Venture with me now into Steam Town, at Six Flags America.
What could be more steampunk than carp who're harassed by people tossing coins in the fountain? Yes, carp with top hats and those geared monocles harassed by people tossing farthings in.
The artificial waterfall uses the same technology our backyard pond does, only theirs is bigger. Same problem with the rocks not covering the plastic cover though.
We didn't go in to the Filaments Steampub, but considered it. I kind of like the name.
But here's the roller coaster we went there to ride, Professor Screamore's SkyWinder.
Do you recognize it? ... Because it's another installation of the same track we know as Thunderhawk at Michigan's Adventure, Flight Deck at Canada's Wonderland, Infusion at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, and Mind Eraser and a half-dozen Six Flags parks.
The climb up to the station took you right up to the woods, though.
On the station was this defunct(?) zeppelin prop.
Here's the operator's station and a couple people wondering why I'm photographing them.
The place had a big cafeteria where we got some pop and rested from the sun (and, later, from a shower) and it had a wall with a lot of posters to explain the park's history.
So yes, the park started out as a project of Ross Perot and ABC, and it strikes me as very close to the drive-through safari that made Great Adventure, in New Jersey, which also opened in 1974.
By 1982 and 1983 the park had reached the point they weren't able to tell the difference between ``its'' and ``it's''. But just wait!
Four panels in and three of them have used the wrong it's, which does great things to leave you confident they're giving an accurate history of the park. The coaster's original incarnation at Paragon Park does appear to have been the tallest in the world at its opening, which adds to our tally of coasters that were world's tallest coasters at the time they opened (this, Montaña Rusa, Top Thrill Dragster/Top Thrill 2, Kingda Ka, and in the category of wooden coasters Mean Streak and, for bunnyhugger, American Eagle and Son of Beast) since Wikipedia considers the category established in 1917. (I think records of earlier coasters are too incomplete to say what was the tallest before this.)
Trivia: Italy raised money for building the complex for the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games in part by the football pool Toto Calcio; a fifth of the revenue from these bets on Italian soccer matches went directly to the Italian Olympic Committee. Source: Encyclopedia of the Modern Olympic Movement, Editors John E Findling, Kimberly D Pelle.
Currently Reading: The Red Planet: A Natural History of Mars, Simon Morden.
ysabetwordsmith posting in common_nature ysabetwordsmith posting in common_nature austin_dernWe went to Motor City Furry Con this past weekend and, not to spoil things, we didn't have a great time. I haven't had the energy to start writing that up yet so you're getting a double dose of Six Flags America photos, from the full day we spent there.
But I can at least share a small side anecdote from today when I went to bunnyhugger's parents' home to pick up our pet rabbit. (bunnyhugger had to work; I had the day off for the state holiday.) Besides getting them a half-dozen paczki to thank them I wanted to get a pop for myself and the nearest Freestyle coke machine --- so I could get a Mello Yello Zero Citrus Twist --- was at Wendy's. The drive-through line was about 362 cars deep so I went inside, instead, and asked for a large fountain drink cup. The clerk handed it to me, I started to pay, and she said ``nah, you're good''.
I offered again to pay and she said nah, she didn't care, it's just the cup. Part of me wanted to protest that I was also getting the pop but I finally remembered I could act like a normal person instead and say thank you and maybe that's kind of you. And to appreciate that sometimes something's going on at a Wendy's and the cashier just does not care about collecting money for the pop machine. Lucky break, huh?
As promised, Six Flags America pictures:
The seats for the Firebird ride, which much like Mantis-to-Rougarou was converted from a standing train to a floorless. Here, the floor's in hiding.
Track of Firebird, with The Wild One behind it. In the middle you can see the miniature railroad, which wasn't running any of the days we visited.
Six Flags America logo that finally shows some localization to it.
The entrance I mentioned that goes underneath The Wild One, into the inevitable Gotham City part of the park.
I was excited to see they had a super-round-up ride; I always like those. Ah, but ...
That's right, the ride wasn't running. The promise it would open later in the season seemed touching; we wondered how much effort they were putting into getting a ride open for at most three months or so.
Riddle-Me-This's ride inspection sticker and certificate, showing the ride was looked at that year at least. The Certificate of Inspection lists as governor Larry Hogan, which was most recently true in 2023.
bunnyhugger pointed out the Joker's Jinx ride had some nice HA decorations around it. Or, from this point of view, a bit AH on top of these poles.
The elevated swings ride was not as tall as Windseeker, but was down part of the day anyway.
And the ride is Wonder Woman themed --- the ``Lasso of Truth'' --- with an entrance that kind of suggests Wonder Woman unwisely gazed upon Medusa and got petrified. Although I guess she was created from stone originally? In some versions of the story? So maybe she's just being normal.
Here I noticed there was a good angle to show what kind of a spaghetti bowl the Joker's Jinx was, and now you see it too.
The last big bit of money put into the park was for Steam Town, a redevelopment of the western area into something More Steampunky. There's a roller coaster in there too, so we're in there.
Trivia: Germany's team won the four-man bobsled team in the 1952 Oslo Olympics with a team weighing a total 472 kilograms, about 1040 pounds. After this the international federation for bobsled and tobogganing limited the weight of future teams to 400 kilograms, 880 pounds. Source: Encyclopedia of the Modern Olympic Movement, Editors John E Findling, Kimberly D Pelle. (They actually voted for the limit shortly before the games --- team weights had been spiralling --- but it did not take effect until after.)
Currently Reading: The Red Planet: A Natural History of Mars, Simon Morden.
mmcirvinmerrileemakes posting in common_nature
quippedewline
austin_dernMore of the 1st of July, Six Flags America, Maryland.
Back of the station for Roar, with the train roaring past behind the operator.
A photo opportunity for Spanish-speaking friends who support the message ``Yes Flags''.
As a (legacy) Six Flags park, they hd a Gotham City-themed area which results in things like this attempt to be a funnel cake stand but all DARK and BROODY because my PARENTS were KILLED. It was closed when we visited although note they were hoping to open later in the year.
Joker's Jinx is one of the rides put in when Six Flags bought the park. It had some funhouse mirrors out front, and a bit of similar theming inside the queue.
The Joker looming over the canopy here makes me wonder if the covering is a later addition, maybe to relieve the sun beating down on people in line. You can't get an unobstructed view of him but that could also be part of the wackiness of it, you know ?
Walking up the queue; there's some more mirrors and things to look at such as this.
I forget which ride this was on, but you can see some of Joker's Jinx in the background. It's your classic spaghetti-bowl track.
Whistlestop Park didn't actually have anything there, but the place looked like it had once held a couple of rides, and it seemed like it might have once been a stop on the railroad.
Skull mountain that's a part of one ride and that The Wild One ran behind.
Some of the length of The Wild One behind, with the launch hill for Firebird in the foreground.
The station for Firebird, which was the only roller coaster we found specific merchandise for. The ride was only about a dozen years old --- only Rajun Cajun was newer at the park --- and had once been a stand-up coaster, which has always been rare --- but it still seems weird they'd have merch for that and not for The Wild One.
Looking out from the front of the Firebird queue; you can see The Wild One outside it.
Trivia: At the 1932 Lake Placid games the (men's) speed-skating was for the first time done in a pack of all skaters going at once, rather than every competitor racing against the clock individually. After American victories in some of the early events, European skaters protested to the International Skating Union, which upheld the protest and required the races to be re-run, individually. The Americans won those races too. Source: Encyclopedia of the Modern Olympic Movement, Editors John E Findling, Kimberly D Pelle. But the entry for the 1932 Lake Placid games says that saw ``the emergence of women's speed skating as an Olympic sport''. This is what happens when different people write different articles! (Maybe it was an exhibition?)
Currently Reading: Lost Popeye Zine, Volume 84: A Man in a Moon, Ralph Stein, Bill Zaboly. Editor Stephanie Noelle.
austin_dernWith pictures, I've got into July, and the day we planned to spend nearly open to close at Six Flags America. Please remember while looking over these pictures that it was incredibly freaking hot.
Six Flags America started as a much smaller place and that's probably why the entrance was such a nothing exit on a four-lane highway.
You could easily drive right past and not even know it was there, in a way that reminded me of Canada's Wonderland.
The entrance, and parking lot, had plenty of trees and nice pleasant tall ones though.
I realized afterward we were never going to get a good picture of the entry booths, so here, have this zoomed-in picture instead. Also note the parking lot locator signs have ride pictures.
Again, you claim to be Six Flags America but I'm only seeing eight flags.
One of the midway buildings with Looney Tunes characters done up as founding fathers.
Oh, they ... didn't take down the National Ride Operator Day sign. All right then.
Evidence of park history: the entrance midway ends at a creek, with a good-size footbridge over it. But there's also this closed off and much narrower bridge that ends at nothing, now. What purpose did that serve, and when did it last serve that?
I wonder if it wasn't the queue for a ride, and that it was more trouble to remove the bridge than to just block it off. But how long ago must it have been that the ride was removed if the ground is that much reclaimed by grass?
On to roller coasters! The other wooden coaster they had here was called Roar, and how could an old furry not like that?
Some of the big ol' heap of wood that makes up Roar. It almost looks like a demonstration of truss design.
Roar's loading station. Note that the A gets a different color, in color logos, a thing we noticed in several rides before we figured out what that might be for.
Trivia: In the 1924 Chamonix Winter Olympics women were allowed to compete only in figure skating; other events were judged too strenuous and perhaps dangerous to their ability to bear children. Women were finally allowed to compete in skiing events in 1948, and in speed skating in 1960. In 1998 women debuted in ice hockey, and in 2002, bobsledding, all events from the first winter games. Source: Encyclopedia of the Modern Olympic Movement, Editors John E Findling, Kimberly D Pelle.
Currently Reading: Lost Popeye Zine, Volume 84: A Man in a Moon, Ralph Stein, Bill Zaboly. Editor Stephanie Noelle.
yourlibrarian posting in common_nature
lovelyangelaustin_dernYeah so I got stuff going on. Explaining What's Going On In Flash Gordon? Did Ming and Bok get atom-grenade-blasted? December 2025 - February 2026 for example. But also real-life stuff you'll hear about starting next week, so here, please enjoy a dozen pictures closing out our first, short day at Six Flags America. When last seen we were on the Minuteman Motors Antique Car ride.
Another Minuteman Motors sign, for the Great Race Garage. Great Race was the former name for this attraction, but the ``since 1999'' doesn't make sense as Wikipedia tells me it had opened in 1993.
Running through the forest again, getting back to the station.
It was a grove of bamboo here.
The normal swings ride was called The Flying Carousel, which got bunnyhugger very curious what was so special about it. The ride operators having a lot of fun with their passengers was part of it; they had lively, interactive operators every time we were nearby.
The clock tower was off by several hours and several minutes every time we went past. This picture was from a little past the closing hour of seven pm. Also --- wait a minute. Computer, enhance.
Ye Olde Digital Clock? Really?
Park was closed so we got some views up the main midway again. Fine Furniture seems an unlikely thing to sell at an amusement park but I guess if it works for them, hey.
Funny thing about home style funnel cakes is I have never made a funnel cake at home and have never known anyone who said they did.
Here we're a little more on point, for one of the gift shops.
And here's their Liberty Bell replica, crack side forward. It doesn't look like they copied the text around the top of the Bell.
Curious. You claim to be Six Flags America but I see eight flags, three of them American.
The exit would be funny any normal year but is a little heartbreaking for the park's last year.
Trivia: Jacques Rogge, eighth president of the International Olympic Committee, was on the Belgian national champion yachting team sixteen times. He was also world champion once and runner-up twice. Source: Encyclopedia of the Modern Olympic Movement, Editors John E Findling, Kimberly D Pelle.
Currently Reading: Lost Popeye Zine, Volume 84: A Man in a Moon, Ralph Stein, Bill Zaboly. Editor Stephanie Noelle.
austin_dernThis week my humor blog caught an LLM in the process of stealing all my writing, and I parried by including two things from the public domain, and then a startling thing to consider about Iron Maiden. Plus my MST3K fan fiction went another week without touching the Sonic the Hedgehog fan fiction it's theoretically riffing on. Enjoy!
Now, a dozen pictures from Six Flags America from the couple hours we were able to spend there on the last day of June.
The Pirates Flight is a kind of swing ride. We were on one much like this, with a Flying Dutchman theme, at ... I want to say d'Efteling, back in the day, but I may be wrong about that.
Party Pavilion is not getting itself too overboard.
bunnyhugger was cross when she got the pun.
Here's a little pond out in front of Chop Six and right nearby the carousel. We figure it's an older part of the park, given that.
Wildlife! Hanging around near the Chop Six and that pond was this squirrel.
Squirrel did a bit of that personal grooming and keeping an eye on us to ask what we thought we were up to.
Minutemen Motors is the antique car ride and we can't pass that up on a ride.
Here's the carousel from the antique autos track.
As you can see, I wasn't recklessly photographing while driving.
One of the other cars, off the track, so you know what model they went for.
The track looped just past some heavy bamboo trees out to green lawn next to the parking lot, which was less scenery than I was expecting.
But it did take us past some signs, like this picture of 'Splinter Alley' in Laurel, Maryland, a century ago.
Trivia: In his youth, seventh International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch was a boxer fighting under the name ``Kid Samaranch'' in the Catalina championships, and then played and promoted bockey sobre patinas (roller hockey), a hockey variant played on roller skates. Source: Encyclopedia of the Modern Olympic Movement, Editors John E Findling, Kimberly D Pelle.
Currently Reading: Lost Popeye Zine, Volume 84: A Man in a Moon, Ralph Stein, Bill Zaboly. Editor Stephanie Noelle. A steam-powered rocket sends Popeye and beloved well-remembered character Pommy to, not the Moon, and not to Squareturn --- the strange planet with square rings ruled by a look-alike for Wimpy --- because that was like two stories ago, but instead to Earth orbit to go recover Swee'Pea.
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