Wednesday Overnight Open Thread - Sept 3, 2025 [Confucius TRex]

Good evening Horde. The time has come for mid-week shenanigans of the overnight variety.

Welcome to the Wednesday night ONTwhich means another random assortment of interweb debris. Pull up a chair and sit a spell. Be nice to your fellow commenters and AoS contributors.

[Top photo: Glade Creek Grist Mill at Babcock State Park, West Virginia]

Naval history nugget:

Why the US Navy Manages Its Own Private Forest

At Naval Support Activity Crane, near Bloomington, Indiana, the U.S. Navy maintains "Constitution Grove," where a forest of white oaks are grown for the sole purpose of restoring and refitting the USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned vessel still sailing (the UK's HMS Victory is older than the Constitution, but remains in drydock).

The Constitution is the last of the remaining original six frigates authorized by Congress in 1794. The other five were broken up or captured by the mid-1800s. The Constitution survived because its victory over Guerriere was so resounding that keeping her together remained popular among citizens for decades.

She became a training ship for midshipmen at the Naval Academy during the Civil War and, after that, became a notable ship used for ceremonial purposes before being converted into a museum ship in 1907. In 1997, in a celebration of its bicentennial, the Constitution underwent a complete refit and sailed on its own power to ports around the United States.

The refitting of a 200-year-old ship was not an easy task. There aren't a lot of 200-year-old white oak trees lying around. That's why the U.S. Navy had the foresight to grow them.

Volvo Island: tourist attraction or place of worship? Either way, this 2001 Volvo S80 has been on a small rocky island of its own since January 2012.

Click here if you really want the backstory. Otherwise, it may be more fun to wonder what is going on in Rutland Township, Illinois.

10 Entrances to Hell You Can Actually Visit

Darvaza Gas Crater (Turkmenistan)
Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave (Belize)
Chinoike Jigoku (Japan)
Cape Matapan Caves (Greece)
Acheron River (Greece)
Fengdu Ghost City (China)
Masaya Volcano (Nicaragua)
The Ploutonion (Turkey)
Houska Castle (Czech Republic)
Mount Osore (Japan)

Anybody been to any of these places?

Surprisingly, an actual place called Hell (in Grand Cayman) didn't make the list. Yes you can send a postcard from Hell.

ONT Crime blotter

"Ninja Slushi bandit" arrested for $10,000 thefts in Fairfax County

A suspect is in custody for a months-long theft spree across Fairfax County that totaled more than $10,000.

Christine Woodson, 31, was arrested last month during a traffic stop on Russell Road in Hybla Valley.

Police say she was driving a rental van suspiciously, and committing a traffic violation.

Woodson was wanted on 16 active arrest warrants for allegedly stealing more than a dozen Ninja Slushi appliances from several different Targets in Fairfax County.

What are you in for?
Ninja Slushi machines.
Oh.

Breaking Buc-ee's News

Buc-ee's enters into MOU with Springville, intends to build first Utah location

Buc-ee's intends to construct a 74,000-square-foot gas and convenience store on undeveloped land west of Interstate 15 off exit 261, near 1400 N and 2600 West in Springville.

Beard said Buc-ee's will have to work with UDOT before beginning construction, but estimated the company is nine months to a year away from breaking ground, and that it will open 15 to 18 months after that.

Hmmm.... wonder which store opened first or whether this was a joint venture:

Do you know Bette Nesmith Graham?

In 1951, Bette was working for a banker in Texas as a secretary. She had lots of typewritten documents. Wouldn't it be great if a mistake could be corrected without having to retype the entire page?

She saw some painters at work and decided to try using paint to cover up the mistakes. Wall paint wouldn't work so she experimented with different forumulations in her kitchen blender. She found a solution that would cover the mistake and dry on the page.

She initially called it "Mistake Out" but it would become better known by its official brand name, Liquid Paper. She founded the Liquid Paper Company and sold millions of units. She sold her company to Gillette in 1979 for about $48 million dollars.

On an unrelated note. Bette was the mother of musician and songwriter Mike Nesmith of the Monkees.

As Paul Harvey would say, "Now you know...the rest of the story."

This is a 1962 NASA space suit test in the Mojave Desert. The prototype space suit was made by Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation. The suit was designed to be tethered to the lander with a power system and air supply. The interweb isn't clear on the person in the photo. Could either be astronaut Deke Slayton or suit designer Allyn "Hap" Hazard.

Speaking of space, this one is for the rocket nerds - ever wonder what happens to the SpaceX Raptor engines after they fly or are done testing? Looks like they go to the McGregor test site in Texas. They are arranged neatly in a Raptor Graveyard. I believe they are available for scavenging as needed by SpaceX staff.

Random history nugget: The first ATM in the US opened for business at Chemical Bank in Rockville Centre, New York on September 2, 1969. (Yes, September 2 was yesterday, but I didn't have an ONT yesterday.) An ATM remains at that location to this day. The machine was initially known as a "Docuteller" because it was manufactured bu the first Docutel. It wasn't the first in the world. Cash dispensers were introduced in Sweden and Britain in 1967.

Coincidentally, Sept 2 was also the date of the founding of the US Treasury in 1789.

The Pittsburgh Police Scanner: The Pittsburgh police scanner keeps giving. Thank you people of Pittsburgh!

Marshall Tucker Band for the big ONT finish:

This is a no-Yoko zone. Written correspondence can be sent to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Are you lurking ?? Thank you for your attention to this matter. Public service announcement: two months of daylight savings time before hibernation season starts.

posted by Open Blogger at 10:00 PM

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