Lorenzo Rambles

    Trundling their way down the street, it is doubtless you have seen a postal vehicle resembling the one shown above. In fact, by the United States Postal Service's estimates, there are still around 100,000 still on the road. So what are these odd little trucklets?   They are called the "Grumman LLV," the LLV standing for "Long Life Vehicle."   Before the 1980s, the post office would buy modified versions of civilian vehicles (usually Jeeps), with right hand drive, so the driver could also dispense mail.  The problem with this, however, was the USPS wanted a more unified fleet of vehicles, that would be more suitable for deliveries and could carry more mail. The postal service needed a vehicle that was robust and could withstand rough roads while conversely remaining relatively small in stature.  In the mid-1980s they decided to launch a design contest for a dedicated delivery vehicle that best suited their needs. In 1985, the three final designs competed in T

The image above is not a photo. It is a painting. You already knew this and you most likely already knew it was the Mona Lisa, arguably the most famous painting in the world. "But this article isn't about the most famous painting you might protest, you said it would be about a photo." The photo of the Mona Lisa is a decoy, and the text above is meant to fill up the description box so as not to give away anything. I am using these things to try and grab your attention.  It is estimated the most viewed photo in the world is this:      Simply entitled "Bliss" this photo served as the Windows XP background. If you are around the age of 16 or older you will most likely remember it. I know I do. This ramble isn't just about the most viewed photo in the world, it's about a man, fortunate events, and becoming the default.  I had always assumed the background photo wasn't a real photo. I'm not sure what I thought it was, I guess maybe I thought it was a

Have you ever wondered about the longest burning light bulb? I have. Fire Station #6 in Livermore, California is home to the longest confirmed burning light bulb, they even have a Guinness World Record .  Since being installed in 1901 the bulb has burned for over 1 million hours, passing this milestone in 2015. It is worth noting the light hasn't been on continuously, as there was a small break in operation when a new fire station was built and the bulb had to be moved. That being said, the fire station has kept extensive records of the bulb and it's move; when the time came for the bulb to move to the new station it was given an official escort and was placed in a specially built protective box.  While it is heartwarming to see the devotion of the Livermore fire station and community in preserving a singular light bulb (which can be seen from a live webcam here ), this ramble isn't really about the bulb, it goes much deeper than that.  The Live Webcam A few years ago, bein

John Denver's hit song isn't about West Virginia. There, I said it. It annoys me as a Virginian that people don't realize the landmarks being referenced in the song are primarily in Virginia, NOT West Virginia. Today we examine the story behind the hit song that John Denver didn't write.  That's right, the song was actually written by Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert. The story behind the hit song is complicated and reading just one article won't give you the full picture, as always I have included the links used when synthesizing this article. I have tried to simplify the story by removing extraneous details and using the most consistent features from different accounts. Bill Danoff had grown up near Springfield, Massachusetts and was familiar with rural and "country roads." He had always had a fondness for road travel and taking in the scenery. When he attended Georgetown University in Washington D.C. he began to take drives through the Maryland countrys

There has been talk in recent years of electing a female president. However, many people don't know the United States effectively had a female president for around 1.5 years. This is the story of Woodrow Wilson's stroke and the coverup that lead to his wife, Edith, managing his affairs.  After the death of Wilson's first wife Ellen, Wilson met Edith Galt. In order to "charm her", he shared state secrets which is a totally normal and very attractive way to flirt with a potential mate. All jokes aside this form of unconventional wooing worked and Wilson sought to marry her, much to the behest of his campaign managers. We have to remember this was 1915 and "his people" were gearing up for the 1916 election. They feared his promptness in remarriage would offend some people and cost him electoral votes. Wilson didn't seem to care and continued his relationship with Edith and they were married on December 18th, 1915. Edith immediately became involved in Wi

  After recent events (such as Spring Break) have forced me to smile in family photos, I began to think about the nature of photo smiling. It started when a family member, when looking over photo they had just taken, complained my face looked "pained" and "squinty". To which I replied with anger, challenging the convention of smiling in photos. "Why do we even smile in photos, people didn't used to smile in photos," I said, thinking out loud. The brief annoyance subsided and I decided I really would find out why and when people started smiling in photos, and I would make a LorenzoRamble out of it too! While some people have always smiled in photos it wasn't until the 1920s that people began smiling more often. One of the biggest reasons for the drab and expressionless look of people in early photos has to do with the fact that early photos took between 60 and 90 seconds to expose. This also might explain why most early photos were done portrait sty