July 13 2020 - Never Say Kant

Emmanuel Kant lived a regimented life in his later yers. For over 40 years, he woke up every morning at 5:00 AM and wrote for exactly three hours. He would then lecture at the same university for exactly four hours. He followed that up with lunch at the same restaurant each day. Then, in the afternoon, he would go on an extended walk through the same park, on the same route, leaving and returning home at the exact same time. Every day. Kant spent his entire life in Königsberg, Prussia.  He never left the city. Despite the sea being an hour away, he never saw it. Kant was efficiency personified. He was so mechanical in his habits that his neighbors joked they could tune their clocks based on when he left his apartment each day. He would leave for his daily walk at 3:30 PM, have dinner with the same friend every evening, and return home to finish work and go to bed at exactly 10:00 PM. What a contrast with his great writings. Here are some quotes - more are HERE. Happiness is not an ideal of reason, but of imagination. Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life. Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind. Live your life as though your every act were to become a universal law. All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason. Ingratitude is the essence of vileness. Experience without theory is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play. So act that your principle of action might safely be made a law for the whole world. Morality is not properly the doctrine of how we may make ourselves happy, but how we may make ourselves worthy of happiness. He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals. A train day today.

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March Weather Savage and Serene

We enter the month of March, that which draws us into spring. Poets had great emotions on the subject of March: December days were brief and chill, The winds of March were wild and drear, And, nearing and receding still, Spring never would, we thought, be here. ~Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–1861) It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. ~Charles Dickens (1812–1870), Great Expectations These, marching softly, thus in order went, And after them, the Months all riding came; First, sturdy March, with Brows full sternly bent, And armed strongly, rode upon a Ram, The same which over Hellespontus swam: Yet in his Hand a Spade he also hent, And in a Bag all sorts of Seeds ysame, Which on the Earth he strowed as he went, And fill'd her Womb with fruitful Hope of Nourishment. ~Edmund Spenser, The Fairy-Queen, 1590s Today's pictures are "Blowing Off Steam" images from the Sandy River and Rangely Lakes Railroad trip in Maine last year.

Steam Trains in Georgia

We drove up to St. Mary's in Georgia and road the St. Mary's Wild West Train ride. This steam locomotive wasn't part of the train ride but we did get to take pictures of it.  This turned out to be low on the list of train experiences, but we couldn't miss out on finding out.

Steamed at Chama

Chama still seems like a remote village in New Mexico.  It remains rustic with a dusty street of a few stores and places to eat.  But it is home to the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad - which I call the Chama Yard.  You are allowed to walk around everywhere and check out the equipment being stored or restored. There is a web forum and regular images of the yard - one from two days ago showed that Colorado is a winter wonderland.  Here's the webcam link. View this email in your browser

The Flying Scotsman and the Steam Traction Museum

The news is producing some great stories - today it is the "Flying Scotsman' steam engine roars down rails once more.  It is here for you to read the article and see the video.  The quote of the day: “The smell of coal, oil and steam,” remarked one woman as it rolled past. “If you could bottle that in a perfume, I’d wear it.” In honour of steam, we head to Puslinch, Ontario where Wayne Fischer's Steam Traction Museum holds a wealth of treasurers.