Johnny's a big proponent of rail travel but you can't have this

As some of you may know from previous posts, Johnny doesn't fly. He drives and or takes train rides. He very much enjoys the train. He also likes it when he gets a ticket that Amtrak tells him the correct platform it's leaving from so he can, you know, get on. Well Saturday Amtrak told over 200 passengers the WRONG platform number for their ACELA Amtrak ride from Penn Station to Washington D.C.

Now suppose you're the conductor waiting on the platform the train was actually waiting to depart on, would you notice that ZERO people got on board? Would you use your radio to call someone? Not if you're the conductor on ACELA 2253, the fact nobody (NOBODY) got on didn't phase them one bit. So off an empty train went to Washington D.C.

Yes, empty:

“They literally sent us to the wrong platform, and the conductor took off without any passengers,” said Damien Miano, 60, of Chelsea. “The right hand didn’t know what the left hand was doing. It was just so bizarre.”

Several passengers took to Twitter to vent their rage — and bewilderment.

“@Amtrak u didn't find it strange that no one from NYC got on the Acela to DC?? Left an entire train of people at Penn #mindblown,” wrote @JamieBraaten.

“Thanks @Amtrak, missing a wedding cause Acela 2253 left NYC without boarding any passengers,” wrote @mikeyuBCN.

More on the ghost train to D.C. right here, all aboard!

Late night open thread

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”
 -- Hunter S. Thompson

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Wolf walk

Johnny took the dire wolf out early this morning. These were his findings.

WTF Sunday -- Explosion at NJ Egg Nog factory injures two

Two people were injured in Totowa NJ last night. Luckily the two workers' injuries are not serious (or Johnny wouldn't be mocking this) and fire officials in Totowa are currently baffled as to what actually set off the explosion:

Totowa Fire Marshal Allen Del Vecchio said, "There was a big vat that had this product in it... what we're trying to determine is what ignited this product and caused the explosion." He added that he could feel the explosion a mile away in his own home, "The whole back of the building was completely blown out, probably half of this building may have to be torn down."

Johnny did a little research and this is what he found on the ever-accurate Wikipedia page for the Nog Bean, from which egg nog flavoring comes from:

The nog bean (1) has very complex chemical compounds and if left to dry incorrectly can cause detonation of the nog bean itself(2).

There you have it Totowa, Johnny has solved your query. Wikipedia is never wrong. It was the nog beans. You are welcome.

Late night open thread

“There are many things of which a wise man might wish to be ignorant”
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

C'mon Municipal Utilities Authority and Department of Pubic Works, try a little harder than this

Earlier this week the Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA) announced an "aggressive" campaign to start filling in potholes all over town. Why the MUA? Because the Department of Public Works (DPW) can't keep up because they are busy installing personal gas grills in their offices. Some of these potholes have gained mythological reputations and Twitter accounts. Johnny called one in, baseball size BUT it's going to become watermelon sized and SINK because if you look at the pictures below you can see a good six inch VOID under street level. It's sagging badly inward. We're of the mind the construction crews for Toll Brothers, Shuster, Lloyd Goldman's bunch via Pavarini-McGovern and Mill Creek should pass the hat since their trucks' constant pounding most likely exacerbated this one.

Johnny called it in and the "aggressive" MUA/DPW campaign stopped by and it looks like threw one, maybe two shovels of asphalt over it (some did get inside LOL) and left.

So our question to the MUA/DPW is, does this count as fixing a pothole? When you say you've fixed 5000 around Jersey City does throwing a couple shovels of asphalt count as fixed? You cannot half-ass this stuff gang. These holes get worse and worse and a shovel here and a shovel there doesn't do shit.

So, one more time, did you count this one at Warren and Morgan as a fix?

Late night open thread

Here's a movie factoid you may not know; real Civil War veterans were at the premiere of Gone With the Wind.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with NO DOUBT!

Hey baby hey baby hey. It works if you're Gwen Stefani, maybe not so much your Cher or Minnie Riperton-types. Let's get right to the music tonight and No Doubt with oddly enough, 'Hey Baby'

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with JIM CROCE!

Big Jim Walker. Say, does anybody know if he still hangs around 42nd St. at night? Johnny's pretty sure by this point some 40 years on he could take him.

Jim Croce and 'You Don't Mess Around with Jim'

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with FREDDIE CANNON!

Freddie Cannon? Damn Johnny you're old and stuff. Maybe so kids but this one can't be beat. Wrapping up another Music Series here is the aforementioned Mr. Cannon with the song that put the panhandle of Florida on the map with 'Tallahassee Lassie' from 1959.