TheNational Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa, Canada is home to three iron horses of the 1930s. The plaques accompanying these beasts states they were the largest of their kind. So large, in fact, these 4-8-4 (4 small wheels up front, eight power train wheels, four small wheels in the back) were so heavy that they couldn’t travel on most routes. Because they saw so little action, they remain in prestine condition. Here are two from Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway.

For an upcoming episode in Season 2, Kris Abel brings in this little robot that scans a room and takes a photo whenever its facial recognition routine kicks-in. Read more →

test

In the late 1800s, a house was built at 249 Victoria Street in Toronto. A Macedonian entrepreneur, Robert Angeloff, converted the house into a diner named The Busy Bee Diner. In 1948, George Nicolau renovated the Bee, re-opening it under the name The Senator. Nicolau’s son Nick and nephew Cecil Djambazis purchased the diner in 1964.

With Nick quietly toiling in the kitchen and Cecil cajoling with the customers, the Senator became a downtown landmark, earning accolades for the `best egg sandwich in town’ and coffee to go from the three famous urns still in our front window. – from the menu

These are just three of the many images offered. I find them vaguely creepy — it makes me think of the lives of those who were living in the “present” back then, and our time was the distant future. What happened to these people? Did they fulfill their dreams? And what does this say about the importance we place on what we’re doing right now?

Gizmodo reader N. Dwyer wins 3rd place for this futuristic look at the U.S. Civil War.

Around the Natural History museum were dozens of kids riding skateboards and drinking beer. Drinking in public is permitted in Paris, however it is frowned upon as being “lower class” — if you can afford to drink on a patio, you do.

Much like a lighthouse, two bright spotlights spin at the top of the tower. Upon closer inspection, I learned that it isn’t just a pair of spinning lights, but a series that are mounted along the circumference of the top. The lights hand-off to each other to emulate a spinning light.

Waiting for the boat tour of the Sienne to begin

It’s no wonder Paris is called the City of Light. In the evening, it’s remarkably beautiful. The next and final night of our trip was spent cruising the Seine and listening to a tour guide’s poor translation into English of what we were seeing. After the boat turned around and hugged the opposite side of the river, the guide failed to switch “on the left” to “on the right” and many of the tourists craned their necks in vain to see monuments that were on other side.

The Paris QTVR Portfolio:

• La Tour Eiffel, Paris
• Napoleon’s Apartments, the Louvre, Paris
• The Catacombs, Paris
• Gare Du Nord, Paris, France
• Saint Eustache, Paris
• Notre Dame Cathedral by Night
• Musee De La Poupee, Paris, France
• Paris at Night