Railroad Revival Tour!

Here are a few pictures from the highly anticipated Railroad Revival Tour, which reached the end of its line in New Orleans last week. It was a miserably stuffy and humid night, but it didn't rain like predicted, so we were thankful for that.

You can read more about the trip cross country and see cool behind the scenes photos from the tour at the official RRT blog. I didn't have a super zoom lens with me, so most photos are from pretty far away. Oh well. That wasn't the point.

Riverfront, NOLA.

Sky box.

Silver bullet.

Old Crow Medicine Show.

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros.

Mumford & Sons.

M&S with OCMS.

All together now.

"This train is bound for glory."

Fin.

Quote of the day

Rot in Hell you bastard!

An obituary to read with great pleasure:

Osama Bin Laden, founder and leader of the infamous organization al-Qaeda, was killed this past week in Pakistan. He was 54. According to reports, the Islamic terrorist jihadist extremist was hunted down and cornered in a massive compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A bit ironic, figuring the United States has been expunging Afghani caves and hillsides from the face of the earth for the past 10 years. Regardless, it was a much need victory for the United States and the rest of the Infidels worldwide.

According to reports, Bin Laden was killed in a massive 40+ minute firefight when he refused to give himself up. It is unknown how many bullets ripped through his body, but the lump of human pulp that remained had to be DNA tested to confirm that it was indeed Bin Laden. It is hoped for by many that his death was slow and extremely painful.

Three other men, [one of whom is believed to be Bin Laden's son] and one woman were killed in the stand off. According to officials, the woman killed was reportedly used as a human shield by one of the men. A cowardly act for sure, but when you compare it to being whipped until you bleed out or stoned to death, its a pretty preferable way out.

Bin Laden will be sorely missed by Pakistan officials and many Islam extremists, who are no doubt planning to avenge their leader's death in high fashion. Reactions are mixed, but many jihadists are comforted by the fact that Bin Laden will be greeted in paradise by thousands of servants and many, many big breasted virgins.

Meanwhile, Infidels all around the world celebrated by singing their national anthems, waving their country's flag, mocking the Islam brotherhood, and playing Call of Duty 4 well into the night.

Bin Laden will be surely remembered around the world for gracing distinguished lists of all kinds, but sources close to the Bin Laden camp say that he was most proud of being #1 on the list of the FBI's Top 10 Terrorists list 14 years running. "...quite an accomplishment when you take into account how many evil bastards there are in this world."

Scientists say his body, used as chum and dumped out at sea, will feed a few blue sharks who will most likely combust into a flame of evil as soon as ingested.

Bin Laden's death will no doubt fuel the next movement in Al-Qaeda's regime, but that is welcomed news to one of the Infidels that was a part of Bin Laden's take down. "I can't wait to kill the next smear of human excrement that comes along," he said. "Bring it. Killing Bin Laden was awesome."

My favorite headline of the day.

Abandoned City Park Golf Course

City Park is the 6th largest and 7th most visited in the United States. It is twice as large as NY's Central Park and home to the largest collection of mature live Oak trees in the world, some of which are 600-700 years old.

Much of the park was destroyed by Katrina, but most of it has come back. But the old City Park golf course remains untouched to this day. Plans are in the works to bring two pro quality courses back to the park, but who knows what will happen in these economic times. Check out a master plan here.

Existing conditions.

Master plan.

For now, the abandoned courses at City Park offer quite the terrain for exploring, bike riding, jogging, camping...whatever. Check it out sometime.

Old fairway.

Shack.

Old cypress.

Water hazard.

Covered oak.

Swamp.

Mating call.

Scales.

Oak & fern.

Old cart path.

A bit overgrown.

Get your balls cleaned.

Branches.

Great fishing.

Forrest.

Abandoned.

New Mumford & Sons Songs!

Very excited about the Railroad Revival Tour coming to town tomorrow. Mumford & Sons twice in three days?? When I first heard them I thought I would never get to see them live (being an unheard of band in the UK and all), but come Friday at Jazz Fest and I will have seen them three times.

I have probably listened to Sigh No More about 58 times all the way through, and it never gets old. But....I have found some new songs for your listening pleasure. Check out the playlist below. Most of these are live, and will hopefully be on their next album.

Also, check out the tickets above. Have you ever seen such awesome tickets? Just look at those things. And they're personalized. Anyway, enjoy the new Mumford & Sons songs. Hopefully I will get some cool photos of the show tomorrow night.

Some videos:

The Chernobyl Accident: 25 years later...

It has been 25 years since the worst nuclear disaster the world has ever seen. I won't get into what happened, but it wasn't good. In fact, reactor 4 is still leaking radiation as we speak and will continue to for thousands of years. A huge dome (taller than the Statue of Liberty) is planned to be built and cover the reactor, but work on that project has yet to begin. Watch a video about it here.

I stumbled upon a fascinating website that goes into detail exactly what happened and has pictures from Chernobyl today. Obviously, it remains completely abandoned since the accident.

I love an old abandoned hotel or mental hospital, but to see an entire city abandoned 25 years after an accident of this proportion takes the creep factor to a new level. Here are a few from the website, www.reactor4.be.

The reactors.

Left behind.

Completely abandoned...still.

Nature taking over.

Apparently radiation can mess you up. This puppy born after the accident has 8+ visible legs.

There are many, many more pictures on the website reactor4.be. Check them out. It's pretty fascinating stuff, mainly because I still can't understand what radiation is or how it messes you up. Scary stuff.