Gunday Monday

Contributed by Don’t mind me and Wild, wild West.

1)Dmm:

A Krupp 42 cannon on a flat wagon. 1916.

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A 274-millimeter railway gun used in France in World War I. 1916

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An eight-inch Mk. VI railway gun in use during World War I at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in England. 1916.

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A 12-inch railway gun in action at the Somme, France. August, 1916.

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A 16-inch gun which was used on the Hindenburg Line in France. 1918.

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German railway guns used in World War II. 1940.

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A railway gun painted for use in desert combat. 1940.

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An Italian soldier fires a 194-millimeter railway gun during the battle of Monte Cassino in Italy. 1940.

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A German railway gun in action in France. 1940.

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American soldiers pose on a captured German railway gun. 1944.

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I think Dmm is trying to tell us something…

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An American soldier examines a German 10-inch railway gun on the Cherbourg Peninsula in France. 1944.

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Krupp K5 280mm Rail Gun.

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Krupp K5 280mm Rail Gun in action!

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Krupp K5 280mm Rail Gun.

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Army 12″/35 mount on railway it’s the oldest remaining 12″ gun and still is in firing condition.

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As best as I can tell, Civil War mortar. (Cederq)

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31) Wild, wild West:

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What is with women sticking their damn tongues out? (Cederq)

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You are based WwW! (Cederq)

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Economics much?

Vox Popoli, https://www.voxday.net./

The End of an Era

Restaurants closing in 2024:

  • Fuddruckers is expected to close ALL locations by the end of the year
  • Old Country Buffet is closing ALL remainder locations
  • IHOP is closing 100 locations
  • Buffalo Wild Wings is closing ALL Canada locations as well as 60 locations in the US
  • Applebee’s is closing 35 locations
  • Red Lobster is closing 50 locations as they enter bankruptcy
  • Denny’s is closing 20 locations by the end of the year
  • Marie Callender’s is shutting down ALL remainder locations
  • Pizza Hut is planning to close 500 locations
  • Outback Steakhouse is closing 41 of their 700 locations
  • Sai Baro is closing a total of 50 locations with majority being mall locations
  • Mard Pizza is closing a total of 27 locations
  • Ruby Tuesday is closing 16 more locations in 2024.
  • BDQ is closing 8 of their 59 locations.
  • Joe’s Crab Shack is closing 41 of their 60 locations
  • Bonefish Grill is closing 7 locations

This is what cultural and economic decline looks like. Apparently 60 years of relentless immigration are not, in fact, good for the economy or the traditional culture. I wonder, however, how much of these failures are related to economic contraction, reduced consumer spending, and excessive debt versus the lack of appeal held by these traditional restaurant franchises for the newcomers.

Electric Foolery…

A new EV battery that can add 370 miles of range in 10 minutes.

China’s CATL introduced its new Shenxing Plus EV battery.(LFP)

New Formula E

0-60 time is 30% quicker than an F1 car and 36% quicker than the Gen3 car by using AWD.(45 sec.video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFu4WOw4spY

There is now one EV fast charging station for every five gas stations in California.

100,000 miles of  high power transmission lines will be upgraded in the next five years. This will make a 4 time increase in capacity.

Pothole filling Robot

Robotiz3d is a self-driving electric vehicle that can detect and seal 
cracks in a road’s surface to prevent potholes from forming. 

Construction has begun on a solar carport canopy at JFK International Airport. (With enough solar panels to cover 11 football fields and hold 3,000 cars.) Terminal 1 and Terminal 6 will also soon include rooftop solar arrays.

The Green Water 01

A 10,000-ton+ fully electric Container Ship has begun service in China. The COSCO has 24 1600kwh Battery Boxes. (More Boxes can be added for extra range.)

Huge Tesla Supercharger layoffshttps://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/04/tesla-to-lay-off-everyone-working-on-superchargers-new-vehicles/

The Long Beach Terminal has received $34.9 million to replace 155 commercial trucks and buses with ZEV’s. The port invested $2.5 billion to convert cranes and tractors to electric and claims an 86% reduction in carbon emissions.

HEAP (Hydraulic Excavator for an Autonomous Purpose)

Watch this Menzi Muck M545 build a 215 foot wall by itself. (Video 1 min.)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7wmotyKgXc

Tesla Semis seen hauling for Walmart, Costco, and Sysco. Walmart has preordered 130 units. Volume production is expected next year.

Eli ZERO Electric Microcar

$200 refundable deposit to reserve the $11,900 vehicle. Street-legal on roads posted 35 mph, with heat and AC, it’s cheaper than your average golf cart.

Stellantis will begin offering hydrogen-powered versions of its biggest RAM Trucks in North America — and they’ll be coming from Mexico.

There are now over 4,000 Cyber trucks on the road in the US, with a planned production ramp-up to 250,000 per year by mid-2025.

Lilium eVTOL Jet

Urban Link has purchased 20 all electric EVTOL jet aircraft for use in Southern Florida. Urban Link intends to begin commercial flight services by late 2026.

An Oakland, California school district is the first in the US to transition to a 100% electric school bus system with vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology.

US grid operators haven’t been practicing long-term transmission planning, but the FERC just made 20 year plans mandatory.(After studying extreme weather events that cost hundreds of lives and millions of dollars.)

2024 -1st QUARTER EV SALES low-cost special introductory price of $9,248 Global registrations of plug-in electric cars increased by 19% in March 2024 3.2 million plug-ins registered worldwide in the first three months.

Ouarzazate Solar Plant

This Moroccan plant, with it’s 1/2 million mirrors, stores energy in the 
form of heated molten salt, allowing for production of electricity into the night

Bricklin 3EV

More than a rendering, this 3 wheel drive EV is a working prototype. Not much news about it but talk of 275 mi. range and a $28 K starting price are a tease.

Cyber truck beat Rivian in March sales, but the Ford Lightning was still the top consumer pick in Electric trucks with almost 3,000 in sales.