links for 2011-08-03

  • "It’s as if Washington’s leading political players, aided and abetted by the media’s love of the horserace, had eaten LSD-laced brownies, then gone on stage before an audience of millions to enact a psychotic spectacle of American decline…" But READ THE WHOLE THING
  • good old Shorpy, always something to ponder (and how would YOU like to take a train across that thread? …but don't miss the link to a 2009 article on its longevity!)
    (tags: engineering)