Category: Weirdness

Great Scots Parade in a Mini Convertible

Posted on By Tom 1 Comment on Great Scots Parade in a Mini Convertible
Local, Miscellaneous, Weirdness
Great Scot Parade Minis-008
Great Scot! Parade in front of the Westin Poinsett Hotel

This Memorial Day weekend actually started Thursday morning, and it’s just barely getting started. So far I’ve been kayaking, gone to a midnight movie to see X-Men: Days of Future Past, attended a history lecture on old maps, looked for mythical meteors, visited an Irish pub, and had coffee and a great visit with old friends – and it’s only Saturday. The highlight so far, though, has been our participation in the Great Scot! Parade through downtown Greenville with the Upstate Minis.

A couple of weeks ago Jeff Goodman had posted on the Upstate Minis Facebook page about the group participating in the parade. I asked Laura if she were interested, and she jumped at the chance. So, Friday afternoon a little after 5:00 we lined up with ten other Minis on Townes Street. We would bring up the rear of the parade.

Great Scot Parade Minis-6

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Shinola and Java Fix

Posted on By Tom 2 Comments on Shinola and Java Fix
Local, Restaurants, Weirdness

Art, Antiques, Funk

I had been working around the house most of the day and needed to get out and about. I decided a cup of coffee was in order, but I didn’t just want Starbucks or Atlanta Bread Company, my usual haunts. Then I remembered Java Fix, a coffee shop in a tiny weird building on Wade Hampton Boulevard. That simple decision turned into an afternoon’s adventure.

I’m a sucker for weird angled buildings. These are usually built to take advantage of a limited footprint where roads intersect at a sharp angle. Often there will be an entrance at the narrow end, then the place widens out. There used to be a really cool building at the intersection of Poinsett and Highway 183, but it was torn down when the Pete Hollis Boulevard was build. That was a shame.

Located where Mohawk Drive veers off of Wade Hampton, Java Fix is in a tiny little angled building. I think it started as a car service place. For awhile it was a record store, and I remember stopping in to browse. It’s also been a hairstyle saloon and several other things before the Fix people took over.

Java Fix-009

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Street View Time Lapse

Posted on By Tom No Comments on Street View Time Lapse
Geocaching and Maps, Internet, Photography, Weirdness

Screen Shot 2013-02-02 at 6.42.00 AM

I’ve been enjoying creating time-lapse videos while driving. Unfortunately, I’ve just been driving back and forth to work or rehearsal, so the scenery doesn’t change much.

So while I was looking at Google Earth the other day it occurred to me – I could use the images from Street View to create the same type of time-lapse.

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A Jesus-Filled Chain Letter

Posted on By Tom 5 Comments on A Jesus-Filled Chain Letter
History and Genealogy, Miscellaneous, Weirdness

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Had a bit of serendipity…I was doing some research for an upcoming photo/hiking expedition. I was looking at an edition of Columbia’s The Daily Phoenix from 1868 for information on the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad. The article was on the front page, and by itself was just a short notice about the finances of the railroad.

1868 Daily Phoenix

The article that took up all of the first column and part of the second was not one I would have expected. It was entitled “Jesus Christ’s Letter”, and it described a letter that was supposedly found “under a Great Stone, sixty-five years after the Crucifixion of our blessed Savior, eighteen miles from Iconium…” The letter starts out by saying that anyone who doesn’t keep the Sabbath will be cursed, and that everyone should go to church. There were other various injunctions, curses, and blessings on a variety of topics. At the end end of the letter it states that anyone who keeps a copy of this letter and publish it would be blessed.

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Jockey Lot Adventures

Posted on By Tom No Comments on Jockey Lot Adventures
Local, Weirdness

Beautiful cool morning, and Paul W, Brian G, and I decided to squander it with a trip to the Anderson Jockey Lot.  Paul and I have made frequent forays into the world of flea markets.  While growing up, he and his father would scour the yard sales, then resell their goods at various flea markets.  So, Paul brings lots of experience to this endeavor.  Brian is fairly new to the game.  I’m along as an archivist, equipped with cameras and various sound recording devices to capture a distilled version of Southern culture.  Turned out to be a successful trip on all levels.

When we arrived parking was tricky.  It looked like there were going to be lots of people there.  While there were lots of customers, the outside tables seemed fairly sparse.  There were not as many vendors as usual.

One of the first things Paul noticed was that there didn’t seem to be many prices listed on items. I guess you would have to interact with the vendor and haggle a bit.

Jockey Lot VendorArchaic information

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