Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: accidents

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of an accident happened (the results) . A 1973 photo showing the aftermath of a fender bender involving a light blue VW Bug. A police officer, partially visible at the right, is already on the scene. Pedestrians on the sidewalk and a telephone booth are visible down the block.

"Have just run across some old friends." A postcard addressed on the other side to Master Willie McClinton, Black Bank, Ont., and postmarked Toronto, Ont., March 6, 1911. Handwritten message: "Sunday [March 5]. Dear Willie, Your mother was up to see us a few minutes today. You will have a great time keeping house. We are having a snow storm tonight. Robert's cat can play the piano. He walks back and forth over the keys. Goodbye for now. Your cousin, Dorothy."

"Fotograph your boy before the 4th of July: you may not get a chance after." Macabre photographic advice from an early twentieth-century postcard. For more dark humor about Fourth of July fireworks, see The Glorious 4th of July / The 5th of July :

"Advice to Vacationists. Take the children to the country with you--this will keep you from becoming lonesome. Hey. Help. Help. Splash. August Hutaf. P.C.K. 1908." One in a series of humorous "Advice to Vacationists" postcards by illustrator August Hutaf (1874-1942). For more of his work, see my other Hutaf postcards .

This valentine was incomplete when I bought it--there's no greeting or caption--but I thought it was interesting anyway. Perhaps the missing sentiment was "You quack me up, valentine."

"John E. Kaughran & Co. Importers, Jobbers, & Retailers, Dry Goods, 767 & 769 Broadway. Cor. Ninth St. New York. John E. Kaughran, Jacob Rice, Thos. F. Kaughran. Presented by ________." For the other side of this advertising trade card, see J. E. Kaughran, New York :

"J. E. Kaughran & Co., 767 & 769 Broadway, New York. M. Heminway & Sons, Sublime Quality, Warranted, 100 yds. Manufactory, Watertown, Conn. Established 1849." In this nineteenth-century advertising trade card, Uncle Sam is running rampant with his goat cart, which is constructed with oversized spools of thread, while a foot-juggler performs with a ball on the back of the cart. For the other side of this card, see John E. Kaughran, Dry Goods, New York :

"Hi Bill! Does the foreman know about this?" "He ought to, it's dropped on him!" A comic postcard with pasted-on heads that were cut from photos.

Although "TMI" simply means " too much information " to most of us, residents of central Pennsylvania also use it to refer to the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station , a nuclear power plant situated on an island in the Susquehanna River that's three miles downriver from the borough of Middletown and twelve miles from the city of Harrisburg, the state capital. Thirty-five years ago--on March 28, 1979--one of TMI's two nuclear reactors experienced a partial nuclear meltdown , which the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission still calls the "most serious accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history." The partial meltdown resulted in a release of radioactive materials, and pregnant women and young children living within a 20-mile radius of the plant were advised to evacuate the area. It took several days until plant operators were certain that the situation was under control. Gary and the Outriders, a local music group, recorded an original song, "Goodbye T.M.I. (The Ballad of Three Mile Island)," and released it as a 45 rpm record. Its catchy melody contrasts with its dire refrain: "Goodbye, goodbye to your life, T.M.I." To hear the song, check it out on YouTube: Gary & The Outriders - Goodbye T.M.I. (1979) . For another musical reaction to the TMI accident, see the cover of the record album, Potter County Was Made by the Hand of God But the Devil Made Three Mile Island , on Flickr.