You might have seen this on your Reading page, or through whatever your RSS reader is. If you haven't, well, here's the past week's worth of things from my humor blog, which has stayed alive and posting despite, you know, everything.
- In Which I Question The Adequacy Of Our Seasons which was last week's big piece and which shows I wasn't courageous enough to speak of the ``adequacity'' of anything.
- In which I'm just having a hard time keeping up with it all and I complain about the new interface, which is still Bad.
- Statistics Saturday: Some Drowsy Numbers which is dumb but amuses me.
- 60s Popeye: Popeye Revere, a title that makes me remember the cartoon wrong but gives us some Poopdeck Pappy time, so that's something.
- Statistics September: How September 2020 Looked At Me, And What For, the usual review.
- What's Going On In The Amazing Spider-Man? Could Jules Rivera take over Spider-Man too? July – October 2020 Plus a running joke that's just for me and
bunny_hugger. Well, and MWS, who probably will never know about it. - In case you still needed help to understand my character at this point, somehow.
- A Fluid Dialogue, this week's big piece.
Now let's return to Knoebels and yet another startlingly good thing within the park, and specifically within the carousel gift shop.
The carousel museum! Knoebels has a room inside the Carousel Gift Shop and it turns out to be cramped but legitimately curated. Here's some scenery panels that make up the center of the museum room.
Newspaper with the announcement of the 1926 Grand Opening of Knoebel's Grove. ``All ready, let's go to KNOEBEL'S GROVE and spend the Fourth in the cool shade and enjoy bathing in the new Swimming Pool. This is one of the largest and most sanitary pools in Central Pennsylvania and is supplied with real, honest to goodness, pure water. Parking and Admission to Grove FREE. Bring your friends with you, also bring the children as there is a place where the children can wade and bathe free of charge. Welcome All. H H Knoebels --- Knoebel's Grove, KNOEBEL'S GROVE Near Elysburg.''
A sign explaining how the Grand Carousel came from ... Riverside Park in Piscataway, New Jersey. Hey, I know that place! There's one of those little fake historic towns, where they gather old buildings from around the county, there now. Roller Coaster Database doesn't list it, but if they didn't have a roller coaster, they wouldn't.
Yes, it's the bill of sale for the Merry-Go-Round. Charles Schmitt of 38 Durand Place, Irvington, New Jersey, sold it for four thousand dollars. The sale's dated the 26th of January, 1942.
Side board of a gryphon chariot along with some clown/performer figures.
Plaque describing the park's very first carousel which, sad to say, was destroyed by Hurricane Diane.
The only know ticket remaining from the original Knoebels carousel. It is surprising there's just the one known. Note the abundant spelling of carrousell.
And a more thorough explanation of the Stein and Goldstein Carousel and its history being with the park, then not, then with again.
Some of their carousel horses on display. I didn't get the signs explaining them, not clearly, but they do look like they're particularly old and I wouldn't be surprised if they're to 1910 or earlier.
An M C Ilions side to a chariot. There's also a panel on the wall explaining the difference between a merry-go-round and a carousel: there is no difference between a merry-go-round and a carousel and never has been.
The grey horse on the left they date to circa 1880 and the Armitage Herschell Company, out in North Tonawanda. The other one is a Herschell-Spillman and of course there's a reflection exactly covering the date on the sign. Sorry.
And a row of horses, with chariot sides on the walls, and as you can see, lots of explanation.
Trivia: Alexander Gettler's forensic laboratory around 1924 found a simple test for carbon monoxide poisoning. Healthy blood mixed with lye turns into a dark, gelatinous ooze with layers of greenish brown. Carbon monoxide poisoning, even after death, causes the blood to stay crimson even as it gelatinizes with the lye. Source: The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York, Deborah Blum.
Currently Reading: Invisible Countries: Journeys to the Edge of Nationhood, Joshua Keating.
PS: How September 2020 Treated My Mathematics Blog, the lowest-effort of my monthly mathematics posts.