History of Centralia I never knew: The ill-fated flight 624 in 1948

Every now and then I learn something new and completely kick myself for never knowing it.. and being born in a town that had a plane crash right into it, you’d think I would have known about that.. But I did not.

To my credit, it occurred on June 17, 1948—long before I was born..

United Airlines Flight 624 crashed at 1:41 PM daylight time just between Aristes, PA and Centralia, PA. Four crew members and 39 passengers on board all perished in the accident..

Among the dead: A Broadway famous man, a fashion designer, and the co-founder of ESQUIRE magazine. It almost hit the then-active Midvalley Colliery 2..

And now I am drowning myself in every bit of history I can on it.. the story absolutely fascinates me. I was born about three blocks from where the crash took place..

It also amazes me that somehow, somewhat, I never knew about this. It completely slipped away.

I heard it from a friend who, heard it from a friend who, heard it from a friend.. And I confirmed it through Google searches.. and one on one conversations.

My father is a bastion of history and intelligence.. he gave me some back story on it, and also knew that some bodies were buried in St. Ignatius cemetery in Centralia..

The more we think we know the more we don’t have a clue..

Time to open my mind up to some more coal region history that perhaps has been unknown to me for a lifetime..

While plane crashes occur now and then, this certainly is a strange tale.

Centralia already seemed cursed with the tale of a priest damning the town to misery in the late 1800s after the Molly McGuires attacked him in the back of the St. Ignatius Cemetery.. .. perhaps this plane crash only added to the inevitable misery that the town was yet to endure when a mine fire started deep underground and led all but ten people to vacate it decades later…

The PURGE is overperforming at the box office this weekend. Nikki Finke from DEADLINE.COM attributes it in part to Tropical Storm Andrea.. I’m not buying into that logic though. Instead I think the folks at Universal Pictures marketed THE PURGE for months in a pretty genius way.. they also utilized TUMBLR and pretty much took over Twitter every time I signed on..

So who out there has seen THE PURGE and what did you make of it?

Here is some interesting news direct from Art Bell on his Facebook page.. apparently ArtBell.com is coming back after many years of dormancy.. 

I bet the ‘under construction’ sign on the page is already getting tenfold more hits than the current Toast to Toast AM site is..

Incidentally, XM radio just dropped Coast to Coast .. and Ground Zero—which is too bad, I like Clyde Lewis.. 

We’ll be watching Artbell.com with anticipation.

So atheists use science like the faithful use God

We all need something to get us through life… And if this is how people cope with the insanity in the world, so be it. Jedi.

So atheists use science like the faithful use God

How It's Made: Hot dogs

It’s summer. No better time like the present to get revolted at that American classic: the mysterious hot dog…

How It's Made: Hot dogs

Hawaii's gentle breezes disappearing, but scientists don't know why

This headline reminded me of the scene in THE HAPPENING when the wind just stops..
Before the real storm.
Creepy and unsettling stuff that may be explainable with science but notable since it shows a major change in something is occurring.

Hawaii's gentle breezes disappearing, but scientists don't know why

Sean Benschop, the 42-year-old crane operator wanted on involuntary manslaughter and other charges stemming from a deadly building collapse in Philadelphia, has turned himself in, Philadelphia police spokesman Lt. John Stanford said Saturday.

Six people died and 13 were injured Wednesday when a wall of a building being torn down collapsed onto a thrift store.

CNN news alert.
And
Good news

Grill time.
Like my socks?

Well I heard them!!! Finally.

For the first time since this whole cicada thing started I finally heard them way off in the distance just right now.. When the forest is rocking don’t go a’knockin.. 17 years is a long time..

Philadelphia to Lay Off Almost 4,000 Public School Employees

`Cause I live and breathe this Philadelphia austerity

From the day that I was born I’ve waved the dime

Philadelphia austerity took me knee high to a man

Yeah gave me a piece of mama, daddy never had

Philadelphia to Lay Off Almost 4,000 Public School Employees

Vishal Thakkar, Oklahoma Man, Sues After Plastic Surgery Leaves Him Without A Nose

I suppose this truly is cutting off your nose to spite your face…

Vishal Thakkar, Oklahoma Man, Sues After Plastic Surgery Leaves Him Without A Nose

Alexa Ray Joel on lots of stuff

I like Alexa Ray Joel—not as much as a friend who harbors a long standing crush on her.. But I find her talented like her dad. The problem is she doesn’t have the same attitude that tells the world to go to hell.

Here’s info on an interviewwith her in which she opened up about bullying and plastic surgery.. She appears to have never gotten over when Perez Hilton labeled her a slut at the age of 19..

Worth reading..

Whoa!

And asteroid four times closer than the moon just flew by earth.. It was the size of a truck..

And if you’re wondering why you didn’t hear about it until now, it’s because it wasn’t discovered about a day ago..

When will earth’s luck run out?

Friday night fevers

Parenting is great….until he weekend virus hits. I assume they occur to my son at the end of the week because five days of germs and filth at day care..

It hopefully will be a silent and peaceful night for the boy. He needs sleep.

As does his parents..
Wish us luck.

Obama orders US to draw up overseas target list for cyber-attacks

Day three; another GUARDIAN blockbuster report…

Obama orders US to draw up overseas target list for cyber-attacks

Google Official Blog: What the ...?

Amazing how all of these tech companies suddenly DON’T know what we are doing online when they bragged for years that they knew everything..

Everyone wants to.. Break out of the PRISM they suddenly find themselves in…

Google Official Blog: What the ...?

Interesting.. Zuckerberg responded to the Prism program, stating in part that Facebook never even heard of it..
Stories are not adding up.

The ricin diaries

News of the strange got stranger as an actress has now been arrested in connection with the recent batch of ricin mailings..

Investigators believe Shannon Rogers Richardson, also known as Shannon Rogers Guess, mailed the letters, a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation said.

She has appeared in WALKING DEAD and the VAMPIRE DIARIES..

I better watch my diet.. I do not want to end up like the chalkboard rendition of myself.. (On the left of course)

Documents: U.S. mining data from 9 leading Internet firms; companies deny knowledge

U.S. intelligence has access to the servers of nine Internet companies as part of top-secret effort.

I suppose if the government would have attempted to extract data from Tumblr servers, they would have consistently received the same message that users typically receive when they try to update their websites: ‘WE’RE SORRY, SERVICE IS TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE’ 

Documents: U.S. mining data from 9 leading Internet firms; companies deny knowledge