Entire City Block- Including Strip Club- Levelled in Huge Blast in Springfield, MA

A massive explosion destroyed a strip club and levelled an entire city block in western Massachusetts, scattering glass shards and bricks early Friday night.

The explosion happened after a gas leak in the area, which was reported around 4:20 P.M.

The loud boom, which came just after 5:00, could be heard and felt as far away as Hardwick, Granby, Belchertown, and Monson. In downtown, the explosion sent a huge cloud of smoke into the air, and people standing nearby were knocked to their feet.

The Scores gentlemen's club was destroyed in the explosion.

Scores was closed on Friday, sparing exotic dancers [as depicted by Carrie Keagan in the animated GIF above- NANESB!] from any immediate harm. Police and fire were reportedly already on the scene when the explosion took place. Although the blast injured 18 people, officials said there were no fatalities- many of the injured were firefighters and the area was already in the process of being evacuated.

Mayor Dominic Sarno and Massachusetts Lt Gov Tim Murray were attending a tree-lighting ceremony across town when the explosion took place. State Fire marshall Stephen Coan said that his agency would be responsible for investigating the cause of the blast.

While most of the damage was sustained by commercial properties, officials condemned at least 40 nearby apartment units after the explosion and the number is expected to grow.

Springfield is Western Massachusetts' largest city and is perhaps best known as being the home of the Basketball Hall of Fame and Theodore Geisel- who would go on to be the author known as Dr Seuss. Some portions of the city are still rebuilding from a tornado that ripped through the city in June 2011.

Happy Thanksgiving From Not Another New England Sports Blog!

Just a quick reminder to wish you and yours a happy and relatively stress free Thanksgiving- or as I like to call it "Football and Roast Beef November Thursday".

Now you might be asking 'Why Roast Beef?' or even 'Why should I care?Jees- get over yourself'. The menu selection is a family tradition dating back to when PETA had first launched a high profile campaign calling for Thanksgiving boycott of turkey. Faced with the prospect of weeks of incermentally less appetizing turkey leftovers and clearly not listening to the rest of PETA's message, I enthusiastically backed the idea of a turkey-free Thanksgiving and came home with a pot roast one year. Sure it was more than enough for the whole family, but for the next several days we had yummy roast beef leftovers- a good problem to have!

Other relatives warmed up to the concept- some apparently going so far as following through PETA's original message. So although Thanksgiving rotates between casa de Fenway and other relatives' places, in my eyes a Thanksgiving feast has become synonymous with roast beef, ham and even a cornish game hen with sides like scalloped potatoes and steamed asparagus- although I admit I find the concept of the turducken intruiging.

The saucy little brunette pilgrim above is from Freeman Elliot called  An Arrow Escape. The arrows in this case are not pointing the way to the Mass Turnpike as that logo was phased out by the 1990s. Although I'm unsure of the date, it was reportedly used in a 1950 calender from Brown and Bigelow.

Today's Train of Thought- Dakota Gold, November 21st, 2012

Today's train of thought takes us to the northern plains and a place one wouldn't normally associate with trees of any significant quantity, let alone fall foliage. But a little like the Mohave desert, all it takes is a few strategically located trees to set up a scene with as much fall color as Vermont.

Case in point, this scene out of North Dakota. Here, railpictures.net contributor Steven M Welch caught Dakota, Missouri Valley and Western SD45 #7515 leading a trio of SD50Fs with Bismark to Max, ND train #136 at Falkirk, ND on October 1st, 2012.

The train is seen dragging cars of coal, grain, aggregates and oil in the shade of some trees turning a golden hue as they make their way through some gently undulating grades enroute to Max, ND. Besides the abundant wheat crop which keeps regionals like DMV&W busy come harvest time, the line also handles lignite coal and oil from the Bakken shale.

Interestingly, all four locomotives on Train #136 came to the Dakota, Missouri Valley & Western by way of Canadian National. The SD45 is ex-Wisconsin Central, which was one of many that were deemed surplus shortly after the CN acquisition of the WC about ten years ago while the SD50Fs were acquired directly from CN in 2009.

Sports Chowdah Update- Colts Out of Luck in Foxborough; Oregon, Kansas State Losses Leave Fighting Irish Sole Undefeated FBS Team; Got Melk? Toronto Does

AP Photo/Steven Senne

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS- This weekend's matchup between the Colts and the Patriots marked the first time that the Indianapolis had played New England without starting QB Peyton Manning on the Colts roster since 1998. While Manning was recovering from spinal fusion surgery this time last year, the Colts struggled mightily under QB Kerry Collins and the final weeks of the Colts' season were referred to as the 'Andrew Luck Sweepstakes' as the bottom NFL teams were vying for the Stanford starting QB Andrew Luck.

Prior to the game, one of the broadcasters observed that as Tom Brady (not to mention current Colts teammate Adam Vinatieri) made his first Super Bowl appearence in February 2002, Andrew Luck was in the 6th grade. And despite getting out to the quick start in the first quarter, with the Colts getting out to an early 14-7 lead. The Pats would end up tying the game at 14-14 on a Julian Edelman punt return early in the second quarter. New England would take the lead for good when Pats cornerback Aquib Talib picked off Andrew Luck two plays into the Colts' next drive, returning it 59 yards for a pick-six.

The Pats and Colts would then trade field goals, giving New England a 17-24 lead at halftime. However, the seconds half was pretty much all New England as Brady connected with Julian Edelman and then Rob Gronkowski to make it 38-17 at the end of the 3rd and CB Alfonzo Denard intercepted an Andrew Luck pass and returned it 87 yards for paydirt. Although this was followed up by a 43 yard TD pass from Luck to Colts WR TY Hilton, the Patriots would get rushing TDs from Stevan Ridley and Shane Vereen to tie a franchise scoring record with 59 points [I'm wondering the the guys dressed up as minutemen who fire off a volley from their muskets brought enough powder Sunday- NANESB!].

New England wins this one going away by a 59-24 final on Sunday. Tom Brady went 25-35 with 3 TDs and 331 yards while the rookie Luck went 27 for 50 with 334 yards, 2 TDs and 3 interceptions (two of them run back for TDs).

However, the victory came at a cost as TE Rob Gronkowski suffered a broken forearm with less than 4 minutes to go in Sunday's contest. Gronkowski reportedly had surgery on his forearm on Monday and is expected to miss anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks.

The Patriots only have a couple of days off as their next game will be on Thanksgiving against the Jets at the Meadowlands. New England has won 15 out of the last 19 regular season contests against their AFC East rival, although the Patriots needed overtime to get past the Jets at Gilette Stadium earlier this season. The prime-time matchup is set to kick off at 8:20 ET and will be televised on NBC.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL- A couple of rather noteworthy developments from week 10 that I failed to mention.

- Somewhere in Miami, there's champagne corks popping as the Atlanta Falcons, the NFL's last undefeated team, suffered their first loss of the season at the Louisiana Superdome to Drew Brees and the resurgent New Orleans Saints by a 31-27 final. This Sunday, the Falcons managed to squeak past the Arizona Cardinals by a 23-19 final despite QB Matt Ryan throwing 5 picks.

- The NFC West leading San Francisco 49ers and the St Louis Rams had the NFL's first tie under the league's revised overtime rules after the teams headed into OT knotted at 24-24 and swapped missed FG attempts.

- Week 10 saw at least four teams lose their starting QBs- three of them due to concussions. Colin Kaepernick came in for San Francisco's Alex Smith in their game against St Louis while Nick Foles had to come in for Michael Vick in Philadelphia's loss to the Cowboys. In prime time games from Week 10, Bears QB was knocked out of Sunday night's game against the Houston Texans while Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger left Monday night's contest with Kansas City.

- Week 11 saw three overtime games (none of them ending in a tie) with the Cowboys needing OT to get past the Cleveland Browns, Tampa Bay getting past Carolina 27-21 in the extra quarter and the Houston Texans rallying past the Jacksonville Jaguars by a 43-37 final in OT.

AP Photo/Dan Ryan

NCAA FOOTBALL- Almost concurrently, two of the top-ranked teams in the polls were dealt their first losses of the season Saturday night.

Baylor jumped out to a 28-17 lead over #1 Kansas State in the First half and opened it up from there, upending the Wildcats hopes for a shot at the BCS title game after the Bears dealt them a 52-24 loss.

While that was going on, #2 Oregon and #13 Stanford were locked in a tight, low-scoring game with the Ducks up 14-7 late in the 4th when Stanford managed to tie it up on a 9 yard TD pass from Kevin Hogan to Zach Ertz with 2:17 to go and forcing OT, where Stanford's Jordan Williamson clinched the game with a 37 yard FG.

The Ducks loss could set up a scenario where they may not even be playing in the Pac 12 title game. Should Stanford beat #17 UCLA, then both the Cardinals and Bruins will meet in a rematch the following week in the Pac 12 chamionship game. Oregon has one remaining regular season game- their intrastate rivals, #15 Oregon State. If the Bruins and Ducks win their respective games this weekend, they'll meet in the December 1st Pac 12 title game.

The loss comes as good news for Notre Dame, who after shutting out Wake Forest 38-0, will travel to Los Angeles to take on the USC Trojans for their regular season finale. USC is coming off of a 10-point loss to crosstown rivals UCLA.

Meanwhile, Kansas State's remaining game is against the Texas Longhorns on December 1st. Should Notre Dame lose and Kansas State, Oregon and Alabama win out, that will once again murky up the FBS championship picture as there would be a number one-loss teams vying for a spot in the National Championship- the Georgia Bulldogs and Florida Gators have entered some chamionship conversations as well pending the outcome of their 'rivalry weekend' games; Alabama has Auburn to cap off the regular season while Georgia has the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets and Florida has the 10th ranked Florida State Seminoles.

BOSTON COLLEGE- While it's been an off year for Virginia Tech, it's been even more of an off year for the BC Eagles. Although the Eagles got off to a 13-3 lead at halftime, the Hokies clawed back and the second half was a back and forth affair that saw Boston College take a 23-20 over the Hokies with 5 minutes to go in regulation before Virginia Tech tied it up with a late FG with 1:10 remaining.

The Hokies got the ball first in the OT and scored a TD on their opening posession, meaning that BC needed a touchdown of their own just to extend the overtime. However, the game ended when Chase Rettig's completion to RB David Dudeck was only good for 8 yards on 4th and 12 from the Hokies 27 yard line. Eagles lose by a final of 30-23 in OT at Chestnut Hill.

The Eagles will wrap up their disappointing football season with an away game against the North Carolina State Wolfpack at Raliegh on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 ET.

ELSEWHERE IN THE ACC- The University of Maryland Board of Regents has accepted an invitation from the Big 10 conference and will start playing there starting with the 2014-2015 academic season. Maryland was a charter member of the Atlantic Coast Conference during its 1953 founding.

This followed reports over the weekend that Rutgers was set to join the Big 10, exiting the Big East conference. Maryland will become the furthest south member of the Big 10 conference as well.

The move has also sparked speculation on whether or not there would be any movement from either UConn or UMass to fill the vacancies left in eithethe Big East and ACC left by Rutgers and Maryland's respective departure [Although the ACC announced last year they would be adding the Pitt Panthers and Syracuse Orangemen beginning with the 2013 season- NANESB!].

UMASS- Despite shutting out Buffalo 13-0 in the first half, the Bulls came roaring back in the second half and capitalized on some UMass special teams errors to get on the board and take the lead.

Buffalo got on the board with a blocked punt attempt returned for a touchdown, slicing the UMass lead in half. The Minutemen then took a 19-7 lead on a 3 yard rushing TD from RB Micheal Cox. However, the two point attempt failed and the Bulls would go on to score three unanswered TDs to go on and win by a 29-19 final.

UMass wraps up their MAC debut season with one final home game this Saturday at 3:00 PM against the Central Michigan Chippewas at Gilette Stadium.

UCONN- Interestingly, after already having one in late October, this is another bye week for the Huskies. Their most recent game was a 24-17 home win over the Pitt Panthers at East Hartford and on Saturday, they'll travel to Papa John's Cardinal Stadium in Louisville to take on the 9-1 Louisville Cardinals at Noon eastern before wrapping up the regular season at home against the Cincinnati Bearcats at home on Dec 1st.

Although this has been a disappointing year for UConn Football, the 4-6 Huskies still have an outside shot at a bowl game if they somehow manage to win their final two games of the season.

NEW HAMPSHIRE- Even though they were blown out by the Towson Tigers by a 64-35 final on Saturday (including Towson running the score by a 34-7 margin in the second half), the 8-3 UNH Wildcats have made the NCAA FCS bracket.

The Wildcats- who finished 3rd in the Colonial conference- will face off against the Wofford Terriers at Spartanburg, SC on December 1st. The game will kick off at 2:00 ET and will be streaming on ESPN3.

Villanova and Old Dominion have also made the tournament.

MLB- The Toronto Blue Jays have followed up their acquisition of Jose Reyes, Mark Buerligh and Josh Johnson from the Florida Marlins by signing free agent outfielder Melky Cabrera to a 2 year, $16 million deal this week.

After playing the first half of the 2012 season with the San Frnacisco Giants, Cabrera recieved a 50 game suspension earlier this season for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs after the All Star Game. Although he was eligible for the postseason roster, the Giants declined to bring Cabrera back after serving his suspension.

The Blue Jays also announced the return of Josh Gibbons as the team's manager after John Farrell left for Boston last month.

Feds Arrest Four Southern California Men Accused of Plotting Violent Jihad

Four Southern California men were arrested this weekend and charged on Monday with plotting a violent jihad against the United States according to a criminal complaint filed in a US District court.

One of the men, Sohiel Omar Kabir, 34, allegedly traveled in July to Afghanistan, where he arranged for terrorist training to be conducted with Al Qaeda and Taliban operatives.

Kabir, who lived in Pomona, is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Afghanistan, federal authorities said.

In 2010, Kabir allegedly introduced Ontario resident Ralph Deleon, 23, and Upland resident Miguel Alejandro Santana, 21, to "radical and violent Islamic doctrine," according to the complaint.

"Kabir influenced Santana and Deleon to convert to Islam," the complaint said.

The complaint said the men studied Internet essays and lectures by Anwar Awlaki, a radical Muslim cleric and U.S. citizen who was killed in Yemen in 2011 by missiles fired from a U.S. Predator drone aircraft.

After arriving in Afghanistan, Kabir told the two men that he had arranged for them to travel to that country for terrorist training, the complaint alleged.

Santana and Deleon are accused of telling a confidential source working for the FBI that they planned to go to Afghanistan to take part in "violent jihad," the complaint said. Santana is a permanent resident born in Mexico, authorities said, and Deleon is a permanent resident born in the Philippines.

In September, the two men recruited Riverside resident Arifeen David Gojali, 21, to travel overseas with them and join Kabir for terrorist training, according to federal authorities. Gojali is a U.S. citizen.

Santan, Gojali and Deleon were apprehended Friday by authorities with the Joint Terrorism Task Force. They appeared before a magistrate Monday in federal court in Riverside.

Kabir was taken into custody in Afghanistan. The investigation is ongoing. If convicted, the men face up to 15 years in federal prison.

Authorities allege that Kabir kept in touch with his co-conspirators in Afghanistan via Skype and social networking sites. The four men were reportedly interested in training at a Taliban camp near Jalalabad and waging jihad against foreign targets in Afghanistan or Yemen using explosives. Federal agents reportedly moved in to make the arrests when a confidential informant told them that Santana, Gojali and Deleon had sold off posessions to purchase plane tickets from Mexico City to Istanbul with the intention of travelling on to Afghanistan from there.

Iron Horse Roundup for October/November 2012

EGYPT- At least 49 schoolchildren in southern Egypt were killed when the bus transporting them to school was struck by a speeding train at the village of al-Mandara on Saturday.

The bus was carrying more than 50 children ages four to six when it was hit near al-Mandara village in Manfaloot district in the province of Assiut, a security official said. He said it appeared that the railroad crossing was not closed as the train sped toward it.

Books, school bags and children's socks were strewn along the tracks near the blood-stained, mangled bus. Parents of the missing wailed as they looked for signs of their children. An Associated Press reporter at the scene said many of the remains were unrecognizable.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Residents in Assiut complained that there were not enough ambulances in the area that could respond quickly enough and that the ambulances themselves were ill-equipped to deal with the emergency.

At al-Mandara village, angry families and locals gathered near the tracks, shouting at officials. Some chanted: "Down with Morsi!"

This is the biggest disaster in Egypt since the Muslim Brotherhood-backed Mohammed Morsi took power in the wake of last year's 'Arab Spring' popular uprising. With frequent accidents and outdated equipment, Egypt's rail network has long been considered unsafe and accident-prone.

A pair of New Jersey Transit GP40s seen delivering 21 new Bombardier multilevel commuter cars at Dunellen, NJ on November 17, 2012. The cars are sorely needed after Superstorm Sandy damaged or detroyed 25% of NJ Transit's passenger cars after they were sent to a low-lying rail yard before Superstorm Sandy made landfall in late October. Robert Pisani photo

NEW JERSEY TRANSIT- New Jersey's commuter railroad agency has been dealt a considerable setback in their attempt to resume full service in the wake of Sandy after officials had decided to shuttle locomotives and rolling stock to a low-lying yard in Harrison, NJ ahead of the superstorm.

At least $385 million in equipment- including nine dual-mode locomotives, 84 multi-level commuter cars and NJT's computer equipment for dispatching- were damaged in a tidal surge at the Meadowlands facility while more equipment was damaged at the agency's Hoboken terminal and rail yard.

"If there's a predicted 13-foot or 10-foot storm surge, you don't leave your equipment in a low-lying area," said David Schanoes, a railroad consultant and former deputy chief of field operations for Metro North Railroad, a sister railway serving New York State. "It's just basic railroading. You don't leave your equipment where it can be damaged."

Most of the avoidable damage came at NJ Transit's Meadows Maintenance Complex, a sprawling 78-acre network of tracks and buildings in an industrial area of Kearny that is surrounded by wetlands. The complex is the primary maintenance center for the agency's locomotives and rail cars, with both outdoor and indoor equipment storage; repair, servicing, cleaning, inspection and training facilities; and the agency's rail operations center, which houses computers involved in the movement of trains and communication with passengers.

The yard sits in the swampy crook where the Passaic and Hackensack rivers come together. Elevation maps show that it lies between 0 and 19 feet above sea level. The National Hurricane Center was predicting a storm surge of 6 to 11 feet along the New Jersey and New York coast on top of an unusual tide that already had the rivers running high.

Forecasts were that the storm would make landfall on Monday, October 29, somewhere along the New Jersey or New York coast. On Friday, October 26, executives from the New York City subway system and all of the region's commuter rail systems - NJ Transit, Long Island Rail Road and Metro North Railroad - decided they would halt all service Sunday night.

NJ Transit's last trains left their originating stations at 11 p.m. on Sunday, and workers spent the next 12 hours securing equipment, said Weinstein.

At NJ Transit's emergency command center, reports streamed in from the governor's command center in Trenton, county emergency management officials and the National Weather Service, which provided frequent updates on the storm's progress. Monitoring those reports and advising the agency on what to expect from the storm was NJ Transit Police Capt. Robert Noble, who is well-versed and trained in monitoring storms, Weinstein said.

On any given weekday, New Jersey Transit carries an estimated 136,000 people between New Jersey and New York's Penn Station. NJT got some relief in the form of 21 new bilevel Bombardier commuter cars assembled in Plattsburgh, NY that arrived on Nov 17th.

Shortline operator Morristown and Erie has reportedly been contracted by the agency to repair at least ten of the damaged NJT locomotives at their Morristown, NJ shops.

Mass Coastal GP9M #2008 seen trundling down the Falmouth line past the cove at Bourne, MA with a trash train enroute to the Otis transfer station in August 2008. Ryan Parent photo

MASS COASTAL- Chicago-based Iowa Pacific Holdings acquired a controlling interest in the parent company of two southeastern Massachusetts shortlines in late October.

Iowa Pacific announced the acquisiton of Cape Rail, Inc- the parent company of Mass Coastal and Cape Cod Central- last month. Cape Cod Central hauls seasonal excursion trains on Cape Cod while Mass Coastal handles freight on the former New Haven Falmouth Line in addition to a pair of lines that serve New Bedford, MA and Fall River, MA from a CSX interchange in Taunton, MA. Both the Fall River and New Bedford lines are reportedly prime candidates for a proposed expansion of MBTA commuter rail service to Boston's South station. Mass Coastal has operated those lines for the last two years.

Other railroads in the Iowa Pacific fold include the Permian Basin Railways in New Mexico, San Luis & Rio Grande in Colorado, the Mount Hood Railroad in Oregon and the Saratoga & North Creek in upstate New York.

Norfolk Southern SD60 #6920 seen at Brea, OH with intermodal train 21G.
Dan Davidson photo.

NORFOLK SOUTHERN- Norfolk Southern unveiled a specially painted locomotive honoring veterans just prior to Veteran's Day.

Photographers got a glimpse of red white and blue (not to mention copious amounts of black) SD60M #6920 at the railroad's Altoona, PA facility before it headed south for a Veteran's Day event in Norfolk, VA. According to a press release, the special paint scheme required 26 employees (two of whom were veterans) and 66 gallons of paint. The railroad also stated that military veterans currently make up about 14% of their current workforce and they were ranked #32 by GI Jobs in their list of top 100 military and veteran-friendly employers.

After the Veteran's Day weekend ceremonies, the #6920 resumed regular service and was spotted leading intermodal freight 21G through Ohio.

That's the Way the Twinkie Crumbles: With Hostess Shutdown, Twinkie the Kid's Salvation May Come From South of the Border

Growing up, I was more of a Little Debbie kind of guy, but this still sucks.

After more than 82 years in business, Hostess Brands, the maker of such iconic confections as Twinkies, Wonder Bread and Donettes, announced on Friday that they were closing their doors forever in the wake of a bankruptcy filing and protracted labor dispute.

The specter of liquidation has loomed large since the bankruptcy case, Hostess's second in recent years, kicked off in January. From the start, the company has warned that labor cuts were its only chance to survive in the marketplace and said the only other possible outcome was a full shutdown of the business. Both Hostess and its largest union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, have long agreed a widespread strike would spell the end of the company.

The shutdown and liquidation of Hostess is expected to leave as many as 18,500 employees at 36 plants throughout the country jobless right before Thanksgiving. Although the Teamsters union had agreed to wage and benefit concessions that was part of the Hostess restructuring, but the Bakers, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Miller's Union balked at any such concessions on their end and refused to return to work by a 5 PM deadline on Thursday. Apparently this wasn't an ill-conceived bluff on the part of the BCTGM, as the leadership was well aware Hostess didn't have the means to weather a prolonged strike by their workers [interestingly, while the BCTGM's website was offline with an "exceeded bandwidth" message throughout the weekend, it returned Sunday night with a slew of 'It's not OUR fault Hostess shut down!' articles- NANESB!]

With liquidation on the horizon, a number of potential bidders for Hostess' assets and trademarks have come forward. According to analysts, potential suitors include private equity firm and current Pabst Blue Ribbon owner C. Dean Metropoulos & Co, Kellog Company [NYSE: K], Kraft Foods spinoff Mondelez International [NASDAQ: MDLZ], Campbell's Soup [NYSE: CPB] and the largest baking company in the world, Mexico's Grupo Bimbo [BMV: BIMBOA].

In September 2011, Grupo Bimbo had completed their acquisition of Illinois-based Sarah Lee Corporation's baking unit and may be looking to further expand their market share in the USA with the purchase of Hostess' assets.

IDF Preparing For Ground Assault on Gaza Strip After Hamas Fires Rockets

Explosion and smoke seen during an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City. Reuters/Suhaib Salem photo

Air raid sirens sounded across Israel over the weekend as Hamas launched hundreds of rockets from the Gaza strip and the IDF retaliated with airstrikes targeted assassinations of Hamas leadership.

After the southern towns of Ashkelon and Beersheeba came under fire from rockets launched in the Gaza strip, the IDF killed senior Hamas leader Ahmed Jabari in an airstrike as Jabari and his aides were travelling by car on Wednesday. Hamas officials claim that additional Israeli airstrikes have killed 11 civilians in the Gaza strip. However, Hamas officials had been caught attempting to pass photos of Syrians killed in that nation's ongoing civil insurrection as Gazans victimised by Israeli violence earlier this week, casting doubt on the credibility of their claims.

Israeli officials said that most of the rockets- including the long-range, Iranian-made Fajr-5 capable of reaching Tel Aviv- were launched from civilian areas in the Gaza strip. Senior IDF officers say that the majority of the incoming rockets has been intercepted by the newly-deployed 'Iron Dome' interceptor system.

Israeli troops and armor have been massing along the Gaza border over the last few days as IDF commanders weigh an ground assault against Hamas targets in Gaza City. The Israeli army has also begun calling up thousands of reservists and erecting roadblicks in the southern portion of the country as both Hamas and the IDF took to social media to try and gain support worldwide.

While Israeli and Egyptian diplomats were meeting to discuss a ceasefire in Gaza, although Hamas has reportedly rejected any talk of a ceasefire.

Today's Train of Though- Climate Change, November 16th 2012

Today's train of thought takes us trackside to a pond Down East to highlight the change of seasons. What some people refer to as 'climate change', many in the Northeast simply refer to as 'fall', although the lead locomotive depicted above has come a long way since hauling fast freight and minerals through under the blazing sun of California's Mojave desert.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Dan Nelson caught Pan Am/Maine Central SD40-2M #617 roaring past a pond in Auburn, ME with symbol freight NMSE [Northern Maine Jct/Hermon, ME to the CSX Yard at SElkirk, NY] on October 9th, 2010.

The first two units are sporting a classy red and silver that was actually the colors of California's Trona Railway. The lead unit started out life as in May 1974 as Santa Fe SD45-2 #5710 before being rebuilt to SD40-2 standards in the 1990s and purchased by California shortline Trona Railway, where it wore the number 3003. The 30 mile line hauls soda ash, borax, coal and potash in the Mojave Desert, connecting with the Union Pacific.

In 2004, after a little over a decade in service on the Trona, the #3003 and its brethern had been sold to Helm Leasing as the line purchased a handful of former Southern Pacific and Union Pacific SD40T-2 Tunnel Motors. The red and silver units criss-crossed the country as a rent-a-wreck in service on the BNSF, Norfolk Southern, CSX, Union Pacific and shorlines or regionals like the Aberdeen, Carolina & Western or Pan Am.

By late 2009, the unit was one of dozens of six-axle 'rent-a-wrecks' purchased by Pan Am in anticipation of faster track speeds and more frequent trains on the Mechanicsville NY to Ayer, MA 'Patriot Corridor' [although in this instance, she's depicted hustling finished paper products and kaolin empties back to the CSX interchange- NANESB!].  Sister units 616 and 618- also rebuilt from former Santa Fe SD45-2s-  arrived in New England around the same time wearing Trona's distincitve colors. Hauling forestry products through Maine at or near fall's peak foliage season much be quite a change of pace from dragging minerals through the blistering heat of the Mojave Desert- even before being rebuilt and sold to the Trona, #617 was no stranger to the harsh desert climate that Santa Fe's Transcontiental main line passed through.

By the spring of 2012, the Trona paint scheme was gone from #617 as she was repainted into Pan Am's solid blue scheme and had Pan Am lettering and the globe logo applied at the Providence & Worcerster shops in Worcester, MA.

Interestingly, none of of the tunnel motors soldiering on for the Trona wear the railroad's silver and red scheme- the locomotives are still painted in Southern Pacific or Union Pacific colors while as of this summer, Pan Am #618 was reportedly still in Trona colors.

Food Fight! Papa John's CEO Catches Flack, Faces Liberal Boycott For Pointing Out 0bamacare Realities

Pizza chain Papa John's [NASDAQ- PZZA] has become the latest restaurant to catch flack from vindictive leftists and this time around the hot-button issue is 0bamacare.

After Papa John's CEO John H Schnatter announced last week that prices would be going up and employees hours would be reduced due to 0bamacare, liberal pundits threw a spectacular hissy fit accusing the Romney donor of being a sore loser and using his employees to play politics.

However, this was something Schnatter and others in the restaurant business had anticipated as early as August, pointing out that Papa John's had much more purchasing power than smaller restaurants. This means that Papa John's would be able to absorb the costs of 0bamacare as well as increased food costs due to a massive Midwestern drought over the summer much better than smaller restaurants.

While Schnatter was pointing out an unpleasant economic reality for himself and countless other restaurant owners, liberals started calling for a boycott of the chain, pointing out that the self-made millionaire  CEO dares to live in a nice mansion [because apprently they know how to spend Schnatter's money more than he does- NANESB!]. It's also worth pointing out that an organized widespread boycott by the shrieking progressives would harm the Papa John's employees whose well being they profess to care so very much about first and foremost.

On the flip side of the coin, a grassroots group called Rebooting America is calling for a Papa John's buycott on Friday.

Earlier this year, Chick-Fil-A CEO Dan Cathy- a devout Baptist- caught flack from gay and lesbian groups when he flatly stated in an interview with a Baptist publication that he did not support same-sex marriage. LGBT and Democrat calls for a widespread Chick-Fil-A boycott backfired when August 1st was declared Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day and the chain had shattered all previous sales records due to the high turnout.