Scroll down to read this post.

 

Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. I keep the website clean from pop-ups and annoying demands. Instead, I depend entirely on my readers to support me. Though this means I am sacrificing some income, it also means that I remain entirely independent from outside pressure. By depending solely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, no one can threaten me with censorship. You don't like what I write, you can simply go elsewhere.

 

You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:

 

1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.

 

2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
 

3. A Paypal Donation:

4. A Paypal subscription:


5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
 
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652

 

You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.


Jean Mitry – Pacific 231

An evening pause: I would never sit through a performance of the music played during this 1949 short film showing the power of the steam locomotive. Juxtapositioned with the powerful images of the train in motion, however, this music works splendidly. The film itself is an example of the kind of short avant garde films produced during the 1950s and 1950s, and well worth watching.

Hat tip Blair Ivey.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

4 comments

  • wayne

    Blair–
    Good selection, (even if it is French!)
    -I like this sorta stuff, as long as it doesn’t involve Mimes.

    In a similar vain, but without the existentialistic angst, and 13 years earlier. (Derogatorily referred to as “Capitalist Realism,” by fellow-travelers & useful idiots the world over, but just a solid Jam Handy Industrial Film.) Starts out kinda slow, until they literally fire up the boiler at the 3:00 mark.)

    Master Hands (1936)
    Chevrolet- A Jam Handy Film
    https://youtu.be/qafLStWFFjI
    (31:55)
    “A beautiful dramatization of how the master hands of Chevrolet craftsmen form the patterns, tools and dies, and control the huge machine that fashions the modern car.”

  • Joe

    Great video Blair, the music works with the filming very well, said a fan of motive power in any configuration.
    Wayne, that six cylinder had something like a fifty or sixty year run, and was even copied by another auto maker nice video.

  • wayne

    Joe–
    Yes, the sound is synced up quite nicely, in Blair’s video selection.

    Highly recommend watching the higher-definition version(s) of “Master Hands” hosted at the Internet Archive. They have multiple crisp & clean files available. (everything is free, no registration, the embedded player works well & they make it easy for you to download the original files.)

    https://archive.org/details/0555_Master_Hands_18_27_28_00
    (just look at the “download options” box, and select “show all” to see available formats.)

    You could get totally lost in their massive selection, including… motive power in any configuration.

  • Mitch S.

    Love this stuff.

    Here’s a Chrysler factory tour from the 1950’s:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6L0ykX9lPU&t=1389s

    And here’s a historical perspective leading to some of the automotive engineering and science that soon drove the “arsenal of democracy”:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SBNoikKuMI

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6L0ykX9lPU&t=1389s

Readers: the rules for commenting!

 

No registration is required. I welcome all opinions, even those that strongly criticize my commentary.

 

However, name-calling and obscenities will not be tolerated. First time offenders who are new to the site will be warned. Second time offenders or first time offenders who have been here awhile will be suspended for a week. After that, I will ban you. Period.

 

Note also that first time commenters as well as any comment with more than one link will be placed in moderation for my approval. Be patient, I will get to it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *