Parked at the Gravel Pit
Takedown notices threaten online thrift shops as business is exploding – The Verge
Small businesses say their livelihoods are threatened even when they aren’t running afoul of copyright and trademark claims
When the Myth of Voter Fraud Comes for You – The Atlantic
If there is an individual in America who epitomizes one central aspect of our political moment, it might well be Crystal Mason. The story of Mason, a Black woman, illuminates the extraordinary efforts the Republican Party has made to demonstrate that fraud is being committed by minority voters on a massive scale. That false notion is now an article of faith among tens of millions of Americans. It has become an excuse to enact laws that make voting harder for everyone, but especially for voters of color, voters who are poor, voters who are old, and voters who were not born in the United States.
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No Christmas in Kentucky – Phil Ochs (1963)
Some Christmas music to get you into the mood ...
The Silver Bridge disaster
The deadliest bridge disaster in US history was caused by a tiny crack just three millimeters deep | by Matt Reimann | Timeline
harlene Wood was driving home at 5 p.m. on December 15, 1967, when she felt Silver Bridge shake. The bridge, built in 1928, spanned the Ohio River between Ohio and West Virginia, and served 4,000 vehicles every day. On this cold Friday, a single eyebar — a 55-foot-long section of steel, two inches thick and 12 inches wide — had suddenly fractured. Then the pin holding it in place fell loose, sending the bridge’s components into catastrophic failure. “It was like someone had lined up dominoes,” Wood recalled. “I could see car lights flashing as they were tumbling into the water. The car in front of me went in. Then there was silence.”
Silver Bridge inherited its name from its metallic aluminum paint, but it was notable as well for its distinct design. The American Bridge Company, which won the bid for the project, settled on the cheaper method of using eyebars instead of cables of steel wire, the sort used in famous suspension bridges like the Brooklyn and Golden Gate.