The Custodian's New Writeups

Shackleton's Whisky (thing)

2009-11-25T02:13:33Z

Sir Ernest Shackleton's first expedition to the Antarctic was known as the Nimrod Expedition, which set out in 1907. During this journey, he set up his expedition headquarters on McMurdo Sound, near Cape Royds, by building a hut on the shore. Due to the extreme conditions in the Antarctic, this hut has survived (with some help) to the present day. Crates of supplies and equipment have been recovered from the hut, and the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust has been working to restore and preserve the site.

In 2006, members of the Trust were working to remove some ice from beneath the floorboards of the hut when they came across a happy surprise! Apparently, to keep it nice and safe, Shackleton or his men had taken two crates of McKinlay and Co. scotch whisky and placed them under the hut. They're still there, bottles apparently intact and sealed, underneath the hut.

What to do with this treasure? Well, the obvious answer - drink some of…

November 25, 2009 (log)

2009-11-25T01:30:05Z

I recently (read: earlier today) arrived at my father's house for family Thanksgiving. My father is the current custodian of many family treasures, including our bought-new 1987 Mk. 1 Toyota MR2. I didn't see it in the garage, and asked about it.

Apparently, my father didn't bother to tell me when back in July or August, it apparently threw a rod through the block.

Now, I'm already a bit suspicious. Okay, that car and engine had approximately a quarter of a million miles on them, but damn it, engines don't throw rods without something else being fairly badly wrong. I mean, I just have trouble buying metal fatigue. It was a goddamn 4AGE, for fuck's sake.

So where is the car? Dad tells me it's 'still at the garage because they're still trying to find an engine.'

What?

The 4AGE is probably one of the most numerous engines Toyota ever produced, given that it ran practically every. Single. Toyota made in the 1980s and early…

Take these broken wings and learn to fly again (fiction)

2009-11-24T17:14:34Z

Previous

The soldier had died from gunfire. That was the only thing that was certain. Who had fired it, where it had been aimed, and why - all those and more were ghosts of guesses, unknown. He lay in the thin dusty gruel that passed for soil on Alcanteri Gamma, his blood mostly pooled in the dust around his midsection.

Perhaps ten centimeters from his right hand lay a gun.

Elsewhere on AlGam, machines fought humans; humans fought machines. Both humans and machines sought to escape the other - the humans by running into the wild areas that made up most of the planet; the machines - those of them that were able - by running up the ramp that had been built down from orbit. Thousands of the machines were leaving, fleeing up the gravity well that affected their crystalline and metallic flesh but not their essences. Some, newborn, rose with the wonder of the babe; others,…

catwalk (thing)

2009-11-23T14:29:33Z

A catwalk is originally a nautical term. It indicated an elevated walkway on a ship, one which required caution to properly traverse. The user was obliged to walk 'like a cat' - very carefully and sure-footedly - in order to safely pass along it. Modern shipbuilding refers to 'catwalks' as enclosed or covered elevated walkways - used either for bridge access or, on modern ships with large amounts of equipment on deck, to carry their users over the cluttered deck area (Liberty Ship terms). Another nautical reference indicates that long, narrow 'finger piers' are also referred to as catwalks.

The term carried over to refer to similarly constructed passageways in various situations. In a theater, a 'catwalk' is an elevated walkway behind and above the stage, where caution and…

you never felt her hot blood on your face but, hey, who's keeping track (fiction)

2009-11-22T03:46:17Z

<--Younger | The first New York Magician

I got off the number 7 train at 111th st and Roosevelt avenue. Descending from the elevated station, I looked around to get my bearings. A few blocks down, Roosevelt Avenue followed the El across the Grand Central Parkway and into Flushing Meadows where the scenery opened up. I bought a cup of coffee from a handy coffee shop and walked east-northeast along Roosevelt.

Crossing the Grand Central Parkway, sandwiched on the bridge between the rushing traffic below and a rumbling train above on the El, I reached out around me with what senses I had, but felt nothing except the bones of the moving city. The Elevated tracks branched off to the right, spur line heading for the Flushing yards; a short walk later I turned off onto Shea Road, crossing…

barrage (thing)

2009-11-21T23:16:11Z

A barrage is also a coordinated artillery tactic in which the fire of a number of guns is sequenced so as to create a continuous bombardment of a target area. The origin of the phrase dates from only a few years past Webby; in 1916 the French phrase tir de barrage ("barrier fire") was coined to describe this use of artillery. Originally, these bombardment areas were intended to serve as a barrier (barrage) to enemy movement; later, the term came to mean any continuous bombardment. Various types of barrage, including continuous barrage, the creeping barrage and the lifting barrage were used in World War I in various attempts to break the trench warfare stalemate.