Linkfest '14! (Or, 12 web pages I forgot I even bookmarked in the first place)

Looking to kill a few hours? Here are some fun reads from around the worldwide interwebs that I just happened to bookmark over the past few years.

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The 33 Most Beautiful Abandoned Places In The World - My dreamscapes kind of look like these places. I wonder what that says about me?

Brickville Design Works - Robin Sather Photo Gallery - Tons of photos of epic Lego creations made by this one guy, who apparently has eight trillion bricks.

We Found Our Son In The Subway - A short, sweet, true story of a couple's eventual adoption of an abandoned infant one of them found in a subway station. D'aw, I love happy adoption stories.

Photos: Creepy, Abandoned Theme Parks - Exactly what it says.

How A World's Fair Pavilion Became A Family's Cabin - It's been 50 years since the New York World's Fair, and these folks are still living (in) it!

Nevada State Children's Home - Then And Now - The subject matter may not be the most pleasant, but the photographs are interesting/creepy... and the most fascinating part of all? The comments at the bottom... eight years worth of bittersweet memories.

Public Radio Reporter Interviews His Two Little Girls After One Gives The Other The 'Worst Haircut Ever' - This is sweet, and I like it a lot better than most of the too-cute-for-words kiddie Youtube videos out there. (This is just audio.)

Every Facebook Birthday Wall Ever - YEP. Very true, this.

Barbara Butler Custom Playgrounds - Gallery - Amazing work. Lucky kids.

Celebrity Twins - Some celebrities look eerily like other celebrities. I wonder if they all come from the same planet gene pool?

21 Jane Austen Movies And Miniseries Ranked - I may not agree with some of the rankings, and the list leaves out several films, but hey... if you're yearning to go All-Out Austen (and who isn't?), this list should give you a place to start (or continue).

16 Rare Harry Potter Illustrations From The Books' Artist - If you love Harry Potter, check this out. (Actually, if you love Harry Potter, you probably already have.)

Oregon Zoo In Bloom

Spring has finally sprung at the Oregon Zoo...

AND LOOK WHO'S BACK!!

Yes, the three bears have reappeared! (Goldilocks remains missing. If you have any information, please call.)

Yep, things are getting back to "normal" around here...

Flowers are blossoming and the grass is lush and green, and most of the animals seem to be enjoying the warmer temperatures.

Construction continues...

But our friends in the orange vests finally have something to show for all their hard work. If you hike down to the lower bear viewing area, near the cougar exhibit, and glance up, you might catch a glimpse of one of the new California Condors in their new home (which officially opens in May).

And speaking of cougars...

I just love sleeping cats.

But, you know, non-sleeping cats are great, too!

Born September 7, 2013, the lion cubs are now 7 months old!

Ah, nothing like a good, warm rock to lay on in the sunshine!

Okay, maybe there are one or two animals who long for the days of snow yore.

But things must change, as always, and I'm excited to see what'll be new at the zoo on my next visit!

(Previous posts in this series: Oregon Zoo In Fall, Oregon Zoo In Late Fall, Oregon Zoo In Lights, Oregon Zoo In Winter, and Oregon Zoo In Love)

All About Everything - Week Of March 25, 2014

Today's Topic: Boston Molasses Disaster (or the Great Molasses Flood)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

The Boston Molasses Disaster, also known as the Great Molasses Flood and the Great Boston Molasses Tragedy, occurred on January 15, 1919, in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts in the United States. A large molasses storage tank burst, and a wave of molasses rushed through the streets at an estimated 35 mph (56 km/h), killing 21 and injuring 150. The event has entered local folklore, and for many decades residents claimed that on hot summer days, the area still smelled of molasses.

The disaster occurred at the Purity Distilling Company facility on January 15, 1919. The temperature had risen above 40 °F (4.4 °C), climbing rapidly from the frigid temperatures of the preceding days. The stored molasses was awaiting transfer to the Purity plant situated between Willow Street and what is now named Evereteze Way, in Cambridge.

At about 12:30 in the afternoon near Keany Square, at 529 Commercial Street, a molasses tank 50 ft (15 m) tall, 90 ft (27 m) in diameter and containing as much as 2,300,000 US gal (8,700 m³) collapsed. Witnesses stated that as it collapsed, there was a loud rumbling sound, like a machine gun as the rivets shot out of the tank, and that the ground shook as if a train were passing by.

The collapse unleashed a wave of molasses 25 feet (7.6 m) high at its peak, moving at 35 miles per hour (56 km/h). The molasses wave was of sufficient force to damage the girders of the adjacent Boston Elevated Railway's Atlantic Avenue structure and tip a railroad car momentarily off the tracks. Author Stephen Puleo describes how nearby buildings were swept off their foundations and crushed. Several blocks were flooded to a depth of 2 to 3 feet (60 to 90 cm). Puleo quotes a Boston Post report:

The Boston Globe reported that people "were picked up by a rush of air and hurled many feet." Others had debris hurled at them from the rush of sweet-smelling air. A truck was picked up and hurled into Boston Harbor. Approximately 150 were injured; 21 people and several horses were killed—some were crushed and drowned by the molasses. The wounded included people, horses, and dogs; coughing fits became one of the most common ailments after the initial blast.

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Local residents brought a class-action lawsuit, one of the first held in Massachusetts, against the United States Industrial Alcohol Company (USIA), which had bought Purity Distilling in 1917. In spite of the company's attempts to claim that the tank had been blown up by anarchists. (because some of the alcohol produced was to be used in making munitions), a court-appointed auditor found USIA responsible after three years of hearings. United States Industrial Alcohol Company ultimately paid out $600,000 in out-of-court settlements (at least $10.7 million in 2012 dollars). Survivors of the fatal victims reportedly received approximately $7,000 per victim (approximately $125,000 in 2012 dollars).

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Maybe it's because I live 3,000 miles from Boston, or maybe because I haven't spent nearly enough time on Wikipedia, but I had never heard about this disaster before yesterday, when I ran across a story about it in an old Highlights magazine.

It almost seems like something out of The Onion. I mean... molasses?! 

But it happened. And 21 people died. :(

Strangely/sadly, our region is currently dealing with the aftermath of a similar disaster, the Oso Mudslide. (I say similar because of how quickly it happened, with little to no warning, and how it destroyed so many lives.) But then I guess there are hundreds of disasters that have been "similar" -- tornadoes, earthquakes, flash floods, rock slides. It's scary how many deadly disasters just happen without any warning. And on THAT bright note....

Bricks Cascade 2014: Photo Cascade! (P.S. Everything Is Awesome)

Okay, so I was going to post a bunch of photos here from Bricks Cascade, the Portland Lego Convention that was held in early March of 2014... but then I made a video with all the pictures instead, so NOW YOU GET A VIDEO:



And yes, I included some of my own creations in that slideshow of sorts... but wouldn't you?

ADDENDUM

3/10/19

So every time I go back and look at my posts about Bricks Cascades of the past, I feel bad that the 2014 one didn't get an actual blog post. Just a video. So I'm here to rectify that, as best as I can with my 5-years-in-the-future brain.

The theme of the 2014 Bricks Cascade was Are You Ready To MOC?

2014 was memorable for many reasons. It was my third Bricks Cascade, and the last one (for 3 years) in which I would have no major responsibilities (I became a theme co-coordinator in 2015).

This was the year the first LEGO Movie came out... in fact, it had only been in theaters about a month. We weren't sick of Everything Is Awesome yet.

2014 was the first & only year I gave a presentation! My topic was Building A Story, and it covered how to create a LEGO story (photography techniques, lighting, presentation methods, publicity, etc.)

I also took home my first-ever trophy at this convention!

And yes, I absolutely still have it on my shelf.

Besides the one-handed speed build, I participated in the partner speed build, the Freestyle/Master Build...

 and the Team Speed Build....

Set 10237, the Lord Of The Rings Tower Of Orthanc. (I got to keep the eagle!)

2014 was also notable as the last year my brother, Stan, attended the con with me. (I hope to convince him to return someday.) He made a cool transforming robot, or "hoverbot.")

He hopes to someday motorize the robot so that it can transform without any human assistance.

Here are some of the MOCs I brought to Bricks Cascade in 2014....

Happy Sunny Magical Princess Castle 2....

Micro Nativity...

"Ocean..." with a swimming shark...

Scrooge McDuck....

And a vignette of the Doggie Dash, 2014...

If I brought other things, I guess I forgot to take pictures of them.

Below are a few of the MOCs built by other people...

 So now I've properly blogged about 2014's Bricks Cascade! Hurray!

One goal accomplished. 425 to go.