Holy crap!  It’s only Saturday afternoon on Labor Day Weekend and The IP has already experienced a number of cool things.  Last night he went out to dinner with jojo (aka Tomitron) and his friends Allen and Margo; this morning he scored some good used vinyl at the Lilburn Goodwill, and now he just got back from the MARTA Bus & Mobility Roadeo.  Not only that, Hurricane Gustav is churning into the Gulf of Mexico, giving The IP something to keep track of (of which to keep track? WTF?).  He also saw the coolest airplane ever screaming through the sky on its way to PDK.  Where to start?  OK.  How about the MARTA Roadeo:

The coolest things at the Roadeo were the two vintage buses on display.  The oldest one (above), a GM “old-look” transit bus from the 1950s, really looked sweet in the mid-day sun.  This model is just one in a long line of similar designs, one of which is associated with Rosa Parks and her famous refusal to “move to the back of the bus.”  The story of that VERY bus is really interesting.  Check it out here.

The other vintage bus (above) is the quintessential “fishbowl” bus of G.M.C.  The IP won’t even try to summarize the design or history of this bus (click the freakin’ link to the Wiki).  Just let him say it’s THE classic bus of all time.  Both buses were on loan from the Southeastern Railway Museum.

Check out that custom Formica panneling.  God really is in the details.

That buses are at a railway museum makes complete sense.  Because of a brazen corporate conspiracy, buses replaced almost all trolley lines in this country.  If you look at that Rosa Parks-type bus, you can see that it’s really just a trolley car on rubber wheels;  powered by a diesel engine.  Think about that and then go here.

As one analyst of American history has noted:

“Eliminating the trolleys not only helped GM make millions in sales of city busses, the public became more dependent upon buying GM cars for commuting into the cities.  This in turn enabled commuters to live further and further out in sprawling suburbia at the expense of urban decay and abandonment of central city living by the middle and upper classes.”

OK.  What else did The IP do?  Oh yeah.  Check out this awesome one of several LPs he picked up at Goodwill:

Firstly, The IP really digs John Schroeder’s Sounds Orchestral.  Secondly, this LP represents the very first in The IP’s collection that has dead fish on the cover!!  How awesome is that?

What else?  Oh yeah.  It was like something out of Blade-Runner, or some other kind of bizarre sci-fi movie, when the IP heard this amazing whooshing sound, looked up, and saw one of the most engaging airplanes he ever laid his eyes on landing at his local airport:

You really should check out this Italian Aviation company.

The IP wonders what kind of bigwiggery was going on in that aeroplane.  Maybe it was transporting one of Atlanta’s many rap stars and his “crew.”  That’s just as likely as it trasporting the CEO of Home Despot, or perhaps that Koch guy that now owns Georgia Pacific.  Maybe it was here for Dragoncon!   

And how bout that crazy weather?  Earlier this week, the remnants of Tropical Depression Fay spawned a tornado right here in ATL. 

This past Tuesday morning, just as The IP entered his place of work, a male voice on the security loudspeaker system started announcing that a TORNADO WARNING was in effect, and that we had to “MOVE TO THE CENTER OF THE BUILDING.”  The security guard dude just told The IP to go to his floor via the elevator, which was kinda weird because you’re not supposed to use them at such times.  WTF?  Once he got to his floor, The IP found a curiously jovial atmosphere in the elevator lobby with people from all the different Divisions talking and laughing; it was like a little TORNADO WARNING party.  The tornado itself passed the city proper by and went on to Cobb Co. 

That was the second ATL tornado warning this year, and The IP was thinking about that as he walked over to his credit union in the Mid-Rise building.  One gets a nice view of the ATL from the hallway in the Mid-Rise.  Lately The IP keeps noticing how Atlanta’s once-premier sky-scraping hotel, the Peachtree Plaza Westin, remains in want of replacement windows for those lost back in March during another rare downtown tornado – one that actually touched down in the city.  While the several damaged buildings adjacent to the Westin are managing to replace their windows, those lost from the Westin remain un-replaced.  The hotel’s windows are floor-to-ceiling in size, and their reflective/thermal glass is unique.  One can only imagine how much the replacements will cost.

The pock-marked Westin is still waiting for win-ders.

Jeez this post is long.  WTF?

What else?

Oh yeah.  Gustav:

Pat Paulson.  One of The IP’s favorite presidential candidates.

The IP doesn’t think it’s so bad that Joe Biden once said:

“I’ve had a great relationship. In Delaware,

the largest growth in population is Indian-Americans

moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a

Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.

I’m not joking.”

At least the dude actually GOES to DD.  And if you do too, you and The IP know exactly what JB is saying.  He’s happy that Indian folks are entering the American economy.

And The IP would be happy to have the above as our First Ladies.  They actually look cool, confident, and, dare he say it, sincere. 

Believe The IP, Biden’s quip about Indians was NOTHING like George Allen’s “macaca” incident. 

“This fellow here over here with the yellow shirt, Macaca,

or whatever his name is. He’s with my opponent… Let’s give

a welcome to Macaca, here. Welcome to America and the

real world of Virginia.” 

In fact, the two quotes are so far apart in intention and meaning that only an idiot would think Biden was trying to be degrading and demeaning to Indians. 

With George Allen, you can see and hear his racism and disdain in his eyes and voice.  What a supreme ass.

Sometimes The IP wonders why he even gives a shit.  In the everyday scheme of things, will it really make a difference who the heck becomes President?  Actually, it probably will.  Perhaps not for The IP right away, but it will for lots of people.  The IP just wants to see the country up and say “Screw You, Republitards!!” 

But many Americans together comprise a greedy lot.  They will label O/B as “Tax and Spend,” as if that’s not an essential role of government; as if their leaders don’t tax and spend too.  The IP is happy that Obama actually says he’s willing to tax the highest income bracket more.  That just makes sense.  And The IP says they should spend money (adjust taxes) to balance the quality and performance of urban and suburban schools.

And start a domestic Peace Corps.  Make all college graduates spend a mandatory, minimum wage, two-year term working with kids and community.  That would be good for the little kids and college kids alike.    

Hey.  The IP knows he’s sounding like one of those crazy Unitarians, but he gets that way sometimes.  In a strange way he’s excited about the Obama/Biden ticket.  One worry he has is that Biden will start trying to out-Obama Obama.  He’s a talkative dude and he likes to use all those “words” and shit.  Obama needs to make sure Biden knows his place for now is on the “back 40.”  How times have changed.

Last evening, The IP noticed the sunlight beaming through a new bottle of Ajax dishwashing liquid that was sitting on the kitchen counter.  I was kinda glowing, so The IP figured he would take a few pics through the bottle of Ajax and see what happened:

The above shot was taken after shaking up the bottle and pointing it towards the sun.  The resulting image reminded The IP of an album cover, so he made one for himself:

The IP put himself on the ABC Paramount label because…well, he just likes that label.  He made it a mono LP.  It’s all instrumental music in the easy-listening vein. 

This morning, The IP noticed the bottle again and took one more, no-bubbles shot of the big pine tree out back:

The IP calls this work Tree Through an Un-Agitated Bottle of Ajax Lemon Dishwashing Liquid. 

Original, high resolution images of the above are availible for $15 each.  Send your orders to:

The IP’s Images Through Ajax Dishwashing Liquid

P.O. Box 2922

Skyland, GA  30341

The IP hasn’t seen such a sky for months.  A cold front came through, and it’s like heaven:

They buzz and drone and reverberate all over The IP’s abode.  These are the many helicopters and aeroplanes that fly in and out of Peachtree/Dekalb Airport (PDK).

The IP has once told you how the chance to live close to a small-but-busy civilian airport was a key factor in his choosing to abide here on Skyland Drive.  “Skyland” is definitely an unofficial place name for this area near PDK.  There is SKYLAND LIQOURS, SKYLAND DRY CLEANERS/LAUNDROMAT, and a few other “SKYLAND” businesses like that.  And, of course, Skyland Drive, one of Atlanta’s more curious thoroughfares. 

Here in Skyland, several helicopter and airplane flight training schools regularly send their students over the neighborhood.  All the corporate jets stay to just a few prescribed flight paths about a quarter-mile from here, but the flight schools seem to have free reign of the Skyland area, so The IP gets to see all the funny little helicopters and planes they use to train aspiring pilots.  The IP will introduce a few of the most common of his airborne neighbors: 

The Schweizer 300C is an IP favorite.  It has that classic “bughead” cabin and that oh-so-utilitarian tail boom.  It just totally looks like what a helicopter SHOULD look like.   Today, Schweizer is a subsidiary of Sikorsky, but the first heliocopter of this type was made by Hughes.

The IP is always happy to hear and see this little helicopter training bug as it flies over his stupid little duplex.  At times one can actually see a person inside. 

Another PDK-based helicopter that cruises around Skyland is the Robinson 22:

Just call it an “R-22.”  It’s tall, encased rotor mast is a distinguishing feature.  The IP thinks it’s that tall rotor mast that makes it fly so f-a-s-t!  Damn!  This little heliocopter can boogie.

Here is an R-44, the R-22’s bigger brother.  Both the R-22 and the R-44 can be seen flying around Skyland. 

Let’s send out some props (oh shit) to some of the stalwarts of the flight school fleet of single-engine aircraft that fly above the abode of The IP:

Ubiquitous.  That’s what The IP’s field guide to aircraft calls the above Cessna 172.  If you were to enroll in a flight school, there’s a good chance you’d be learning to fly in this classic.   And like the Schweizer heliocopter, the Cessna 172 really LOOKS like an aeroplane. 

Check this baby out:

One might think this airplane was designed in Italy, what with its Brancusian cabin and graceful fuselage/tailboom. The IP recalls that it is actually Austrian, or Dutch, or some other type of elitist culture whose representatives speak better English as a second language than we do as our first.    This airplane is sexy, without a doubt.  It’s also kinda loud, at least to The IP on the ground.  Surprisingly, it’s a four-seater that is smaller in mass than some two-seaters…go figure.  Or go check it out for yourself.

And in the oddball category, The IP saw this crazy thing the other day…

That’s a Skymaster, a rather notable aircraft for any number of reasons, perhaps the biggest being that it has a push-pull configuration with two propellors.

The Skymaster was and remains a military plane as well.  The above was a psychological warfare aircraft equipped with loudspeakers and leaflet dispensers.  No shit.  Good for those little South American missions.  Or maybe they could convert it to do mass dispensions of coupons for Krogers or advertisements for Botox treatments.  That might work well here in The ATL.

It costs about $6.80 per gallon to fuel such small trainer aircraft, which is likely the reason The IP has noticed a decrease in the buzzing and droning around Skyland lately.  But as the header image taken by The IP today indicates, they’re still buzzing around!

Blog at ya later! 

Oh!  Wait!  You gotta check this out.  This is the VERY FIRST JET of Piper Aircraft.  Holy Crap and WTF!:

HERE