Today's Train of Thought- Look What the April Showers Dragged in, May 2nd 2012

With just a few days to go before the 138th Kentucky Derby, today's train of thought takes us to the Bluegrass state. Even though the city hasn't seen regular passenger service since 2003, the rails around Louisville, KY will host office car specials from Norfolk Southern, CSX, RJ Corman Kentucky Lines and an Amtrak charter as guests and VIPs are ushered into the area by train for the annual Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs [NASDAQ- CHDN].

The former L&N Old Road line between Lexington and Louisville, KY was acquired by contractor RJ Corman from CSX in September 2003. Under CSX, that portion of the old L&N saw traffic in the form of corn syrup, bricks, peanuts, plastics and fertilizer- since then, Corman has not only kept most of the shippers from CSX days but also added carloads of sand dredged from the Ohio River to be made into cement and an almost-daily unit train of aluminum ingots between AlCan's Berea, KY recycling plant to Logan Aluminum in South Union, KY [according to the RJ Corman homepage, one aluminum ingot is made up of more than a million cans, a little something to think about the next time you're knocking a cold one back- NANESB!]. The line also recieves more than 100,000 annual carloads from SJ Smucker's [NYSE- SJM] Jif Peanut Butter plant in Lexington- the largest such facility in the world.

Here, with less than a month to go before the 2012 Kentucky Derby, railpictures.net contributor Bo Gray catches RJ Corman Lines SD40T-2 #8799 charging past the dogwoods in bloom at the gates of the cemetary outside of Midway, KY with a westbound ingot train on a sunny Easter afternoon. Technically this wouldn't be then end result of the old saying April showers bring May flowers, since the photo was taken in April, but I thought Bo Gray tied this scene togather very nicely.

Boko Haram Suicide Bomber Kills 36 in Northern Nigeria Attack on Easter Sunday

Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram claimed credit for a deadly Easter Sunday bombing in the central city of Kaduna that has killed 36 people, despite an increased presence by Nigerian public security forces in troubled areas in the north.

on Sunday, a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle on a busy road in a Christian neighborhood of the predominantly Muslim city. The explosion occurred in the vicinity of two churches -- one of which was the alleged target -- drawing comparisons to the Christmas day bombings in Abuja, when Boko Haram killed more than 50 people by attacking a number of churches around the capital city during mass.

“The blast shattered windows of nearby churches and business premises. Many vehicles were also destroyed. It was a big bomb because it created a huge hole in the ground,” Kaduna resident Malam Zakari told the Nigerian Tribune.

According to AllAfrica, at least 20 of the 36 killed were "achaba riders," or taxi-bike drivers who were enjoying breakfast at a local cafe.

Although active for the last decade, Boko Haram had developed something of a reputation as 'the gang that couldn't shoot straight'- Nigerian authorities were sometimes alerted to Boko Haram's activities due to bombs going off prematurely, maiming operatives in Boko Haram safehouses.

However, in recent months the group has stepped up attacks against churches and government buildings in the predominantly Muslim north. Since the end of 2011, the group has claimed responsibility for previous attacks targeting churches and Christian worshippers in Jos and the outskirts of the capital city of Abuja.

Boko Haram has also targeted recently Nigerian police and security force with roadside bombs, arson attacks on police buildings and sniper fire.

Hop to It- Japanese Patrons Flock to Nagoya 'Bunny Cafe'

Seriously- when I heard that Japan had a bunny-themed restaurant, I figured it would be an eatery where the waitstaff would look like this:


I mean- c'mon, it's Japan. They already have such a thing as 'Maid Cafes'- which are dining establishments staffed almost exclusively by young women in maid outfits. Seriously, go ahead and check Wikipedia, I'll wait.

Anywhoo, although the Year of the Rabbit has come and gone, I thought Easter might be as good a time as any to highlight an article I recently saw about an offbeat dining experience in Japan.

For at least one cafe in the central Honshu city of Nagoya they really mean actual bunnies. And they're not on the menu, either.

It seems as though most apartments in Japan prohibit renters from keeping pets. To offset that, Nagoya's Usagi-to-Cafe (or Rabbit & Cafe) offers patrons the chance to play with a number of pet rabbits kept on the premises. The cafe also serves coffee, dishes decorated to look like rabbits and rabbit pottery.


Usagi-to-Cafe is a variation of a cat-themed Tokyo restaurant called Cafe Calico where patrons can dine or play with cats kept on site. While not as clean and fastidious as cats (who can mingle in the dining area with the patrons) the rabbits are kept in an enclosure separate from the dining area [this is making me wonder if they had any ads with whoever did the Japanese voiceover from the movie version of Lennie from Of Mice and Men- NANESB!].

Cafe patrons are charged a ¥900 (about $11) cover charge and an additional ¥100 per minute to cuddle or play with one of the 18 rabbits on hand. Usagi-to-Cafe also has a BYOB policy- as in 'Bring Your Own Bunny'- where owners can bring their pet rabbits to socialize with the cafe's own rabbits.

Happy Easter From Not Another New England Sports Blog!

No big travel plans for yours truly like around Chirstmastime, but between church, dinner with the family and Opening Day for the Sox, I'll be pretty busy and thus would like to take this opportunity to wish the readers of this humble blog a happy and joyous Easter!