Video Below
I located a fascinating movie in the Library of Congress, Prelinger Archive, and wanted to share some thoughts about the content. There are two distinct aspects of the story of  this film clip. It was filmed through the front window of a moving trolley in 1905. The first thought that comes to mind is that the mix of horses and wagons, people, cars, and trollies, was new to most cities. There seems to be no "rules of the road" and there was general chaos in the streets.
But, the more and darker side, is that in just a few months, April 18, 1906, the city would be destroyed and on fire. More that 3000 people died and 300,000 out of a population of 410,000 would be homeless. The video stands alone as a silent film clip, and I included a photo after the video looking from Stockton street toward this area of Market street after the earthquake.

Ah, what could be better than a nice cool six pack of beer or ale in the woods of New Hampshire in the fall? Why a gun of course! It is deer hunting season here and it is only day three and there have been two shootings already. One man is dead and the other shot in the buttocks. I will explain the beer in a minute, but first the reality.
Like other States, New Hampshire grants a license to hunt based in the trust that the hunter will be responsible and use care in the transport and firing of a high powered rifle. But, every year we see hunter's shooting each other and hitting random houses. And, this occurs even with posted property and near homes which are clearly out of bounds for hunting. There are local laws and ordinances that do not allow the discharge of a weapon that uses a primer, (read bullet) , near any residence. But, every year when I am outside I hear guns firing. All we can do is duck and weave and hope the bullet hits something like a target! I frequently travel a secondary road and during hunting season there are cars and trucks all along the side of the road. And hunter's within sight of not only this road but a State highway nearby. There are simply too many hunter's and not enough woods.
I am not suggesting that all people who hunt are reckless and irresponsible. I know that there are many hunter's who take the training courses available and hunt responsibly. But there seem to be enough who are not cautious and they scare the hell out of the rest of us. It would be great to know that they are sure where the bullet will go when they pull the trigger!
And now for the beer. When I owned a home in a nearby town that was more rural, and out feeding the chickens, I saw a man walking across our property carrying a rifle and a half-consumed six pack. He was standing near a NO HUNTING sign and wondered why I was yelling at him! Seems that some hunter's not only drink and drive but drink and hunt as well. Hmm, imported ale from Vermont in the photo. Must be expensive...

The sales of candles have skyrocketed in the past ten years as marketing and craft vendors continue to push the idea of romance and the humble candle. But, in the last hundred years, only the utility of light was important, as that was frequently the only source of illumination. And, I have to admit that it did seems like a natural extension to think of the candle as an innocuous source of ambiance and scent. In fact, in a recent power outage, the candle was a source of light here as well. But, very recently, I have been working on a project on electrophotography, and needed some fine carbon particles. The candle came to mind as a source of carbon in the form of soot. Not only did I get the carbon, but an education as well.

In less than 15 minutes I had all of the carbon that I needed as the candle deposited its soot on a piece of aluminum. Of course, I thought about how much soot is being inhaled by all of the people using this source of marketing genius. And the answer is a lot. There are several good articles on candle safety and soot generation and they all raise serious concern. That is, all except the National Candle Association, and they say there is no problem. But then, they are probably lobbyists for the oil companies that have tons of left over hydrocarbons to unload, like paraffin, which is a byproduct of gasoline refinement. So, it is likely that the candles that you burn pose a fire risk, inhalation problem, and scents that are unregulated. Just one of the articles can be found here. A better bet would be to use the flickering electronic candles. Let there be light...