Take the tube

Recently in my basement, I found a stack of old Life magazines from the 1960's and 1970's. I'm in the midst of a de-cluttering project, and I no longer have the desire to keep a lot of magazines; but I looked through the stack to see if I should keep a couple. Maybe I'd find an article about the astronauts or something. One thing caught my eye, an article speculating about the future of transportation. There was a nice photo of the bullet train in front of Japan's Mt. Fuji. And a photo of what looked like a model of a pneumatic tube car.

Wait, what?

We all know pneumatic tubes from bank "drive-throughs", and In the past I've had some fun thinking about what if they tried enlarging the tubes and cars for a transportation system. You'd get in, fasten your seatbelt, probably put on earmuffs (quiet ride? Doubtful). When everyone was in their seats the door would close, a big fan would start somewhere, and off you'd go. Almost before you knew it you'd arrive at your destination. The car would stop, the door open, you'd unfasten your seatbelt and walk out.

I liked to tell myself that I had an original idea here, but obviously not.

So, should I save the old magazine for one photo? Hey, let's check the internet! I keyed in "pneumatic tube" and found that of course there were articles on such proposed transit systems.

Here's the jaw-dropper: it's actually been done before. Click here to read about The Beach Pneumatic Transit Company.

The Pneumatic Despatch opens at Holborn, 1865, through the larger tubes of the second phase of the system. Some of the staff put themselves into the cars for the occasion. From Beach, Pneumatic Dispatch, from an English source.

Unless this whole article is a hoax (it doesn't have that feel and I've found a reference elsewhere), they actually built this in England in the 1860's for transporting baggage. Apparently during the trial run a couple of people got in the car for the test.

What won't they think of next?

A day to recognize Irish heritage...and just have fun

A few posts back, cousin Mike remarked:

"Bob and I share some ancestry. I have it on good authority that it comes with the cousin gig. He is much more informed on it than I am, so I'm taking a bit of a risk here. I believe we have some Irish ancestors which makes the following story of interest."

Mike's been reading a book on the Brooklyn Bridge, and he went on to post about an Irish protest during the time approaching the Bridge's dedication (sounds like an interesting book, by the way).

I've been remiss in taking so long to respond. Then again, what better day to speak of one's Irish ancestry than St. Patrick's Day?

So Mike, that wasn't a risky statement at all. Our grandfather, Ira ("Poppy") Moore was Irish. Oh, you want details? That's where it starts getting tricky. My mom told me once that her dad was "half Scotts-Irish and half black-Irish". I didn't know what to make of that at first, until she explained that Scotts-Irish people were part Scottish and had red hair, and that "black-Irish" referred to a person who was Irish mixed with some ancestry other than Scottish. So instead of red hair, they were brunette - hence the "black" referring to hair color.

How much of each kind of Irish, and what were the other nationalities? Ask a genealogist and he or she will tell you that's not always easy to determine. Which is to say, I'm still working on it. In addition to the Irish and Scottish in Popppy's ancestry, it looks like he had some ancestors from England, and at least one who lived in Wales. I have to give credit to cousin Trish (Mike's sister) for that information, as she found it and passed it along to me.

And I doubt that Poppy knew any of that, except for the Scotts-Irish part. Our grandma had interest in family history, but not Poppy so much. Mom told me once that he said he wasn't interested in looking into that "because he might find a horse thief".

While that's interesting to me, a list of nationalities alone can be just names and labels. It doesn't shed light on the goodness of these people, their caring hearts and their sense of humor. But if I started on all that, where in the world would I quit? Another time perhaps, for the family stories.

Anyway, I'm wearing green today, not because I feel I have to, but because I want to. It's just fun. Whether you're Irish or not, here's my wish for a happy St. Patrick's Day to one and all!