#Big Brutus

[worms-go-here]

Since we all like Bagger 288...

Heres Big Brutus!

Big Brutus is an electric shovel that was used in the 60's and 70's for coal mining in southeast Kansas. They've made it into a centerpiece for a coal mining museum in the town of West Mineral, Kansas.

Big Brutus is HUGE. He's 16 stories tall, 11 million pounds, and his bucket (as you can see here) easily accommodates a four-piece band. Brutus is so huge that you can see him over the trees as you approach the museum from miles away.

Besides his impressive size (huge, massive, you don't get how massive unless you go see) Brutus boasts some other crazy stats. At the museum, they've lined the path from the museum building to the shovel with his old cable. This hoist cable was used to lift his bucket and was 800 feet, weighed 25 pounds per foot, and had to be replaced every 6 months before failure.

Big Brutus's crawlers are 7 feet tall. He has four crawlers with two sets of tracks each, and each track has 32 pads. Each pad is 5.5 ft long and weighs 2,008 pounds. These gave Brutus a top speed of .22 mph. Each crawler had an oil tank that held 2,220 gallons of oil.

Despite being absolutely massive, Brutus was operated by a crew of only three people: The Oiler, who monitored the inside of the machine to make sure it was properly lubricated at all times, The Operator, who sat in the driver's seat and operated the bucket, and The Groundsman, who walked/drove alongside the machine and coordinated with the Operator to determine Brutus's path and actions. There was a sort of honorary fourth crew member, The Electrician, who did repairs on the machine's wiring, but as he wasn't required when the machine was actively working his position stays honorary.

Here's some pictures of the inside of Big Brutus where The Oiler would be working. It's a large space but it's full of all sorts of machine bits. I visited Brutus on my lonesome so I didn't have anyone to use for scale, but most of these bits and bobs are several feet taller than a human.

And here's some pictures of The Operator's area

Aaand here's a few more pictures of Brutus being BIG

If you're in America and can't go to Germany to visit Bagger 288 (I think that's where he's based), you can visit Big Brutus instead! He's big and cool! and orange

[sluttyjonahmagnus]

I won’t lie I would 100% get the silhouette of Big Brutus tattoo’d on me somewhere.

[adventure-kindness-wellness]

Attending the Big Iron Overland Rally at Historic Big Brutus!

[uniqueartisanconnoisseur]

Big Brutus & More in Southeast Kansas!

I grew up in a mining community, Pawnee, Illinois. Peabody # 10 located between Pawnee and Kincaid when it was open, was one of the largest coal mines in the world. So, it makes sense that I am interested in mining history both locally and far away. On a hosted trip by Explore Crawford County, I found some amazing mining stories, equipment and sites! Page 618 Walking Dragline In Southeast…

[catilinas]

today (december 5th) is the 2084th anniversary of julius caesar being sent a sext in the senate!

[tangomagnolija]

I've been watching him for my entire life I hate the air he breathes, his foolish decrees His words so contrived And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't wishing For untimely death or demise Or am I just wishing I could be like you? [That the people would see me too as a poet And not just the muse] Oh, it's not true, I don't wish harm upon you May the gods strike me down if I forsake you Frater meus, [you're beautifully made And to you I'm forever grateful] But why do I lie awake each night thinking "Instead of you, it should be me"? Please know my actions are not motivated only by envy I, too, have a destiny This death will be art The people will speak of this day from near and afar This event will be history, and I'll be great too I don't want what you have, I want to be you My name is Brutus, but the people will call me Rex [Buttress - Brutus] "[...]Enrico was the most qualified person and the leading candidate to inherit the title of Vongola Decimo before he was shot and killed[...]." [KHR wiki, list of minor characters]

have you guys ever been 13 to 16 lol. was that fucked up or what

[helios-kirbs]

my name is brutus, but the people will call me rex

my name is luz, but the people will call me paralyte

[rarestdoge]

I suddenly want him to shit and die a little less now

Context/Refresher: This is after ItA's GSPI ending, where Henry gets ahold of incriminating evidence on the airship to get both Reginald and RHM arrested.

[greenbirdgreen]

the terrible pain of wanting animatics and not having any. so many ideas. Please

[joearlikelikeswrestling]

[themetallicnemesis]

Colored my boys!! :D

[gay-caesar-truther]

Thinking about Brutus, his abandoned/kicked dog energy and the fact that once Shepherds' gone his only friend is a Mongrel runt he refused to let be killed and hand raised. Not sure what it means but it means something 🤔

[faunina]

just a silly doodle from today but HAPPY IDES OF MARCH EVERYBODY

[tales-of-the-squidbeak-splatoon]

"Joined the ranks of Eggsecutive VP today! Saving the city from Big Run is gonna net me a gold statue with the 140 eggs me and my latest work crew gathered!"

-Brutus

_________________________________________________________

"KLSJEBFIOSEUUNJNFNFNKS"

-Smallfry, chewing on Brutus's phone.

///told you I've been roleplaying as this character for months /j

[flashbic]

So, as someone who does not have any French or Canadian heritage, what exactly is Cartouche? I haven't heard of it before, but it seems like there's a show and books and stuff, is it fairly popular among french-speaking communities? You've made me curious lol

Ngl i went "nyehehehehehe" out loud when i found out i was being given an excuse to ramble about the thing :D

The short answer is it's a french cartoon from the early 2000s! One season-long, with 26 episodes! And yeah in 2010 they eventually made little books that are based on some eps, and they are very cute! They all have unique artwork because instead of using screenshots from the show they hired an artist to illustrate everything.

Most of the show is sort-of lost media, by which i mean that there are only 5 episodes still available in the original french audio… BUT an arabic dub exists, so I've been going through that with a translation app for funsies in my free time! So to answer your question, no, it's not a well-known show, but to me it's a nostalgic one asfdkg

More rambling about the thing under the cut!

What it's about:

Think Robin Hood in the early 1700s, but in Paris! Specifically, it takes place 2-3 years after Louis XIV's death : the future king is a tiny 7yo kid, and since he can't reign yet, the old king's nephew, Philippe II d'Orléans, is regent. In real life, the regency lasted 8 years, and Philippe d'Orléans is generally now considered by historians to have been An Okay Guy Who Did His Best, but every show needs a villain, so here he's the Prince John to Cartouche's Robin Hood! So the bulk of the show is Cartouche and his lil group of buddies helping out poor people and fighting for justice.

I was always fond of the show, but ngl part of the fun in recent months has been reading up on the time period; it's a unique but very short transition era between two very long reigns, and a lot of stuff actually happened during it! The show has a fun amount of references to real people and events here and there. Makes reading all those History books feel like the Pepe Silvia meme, really

Who are these characters:

Our main character is this dude! Cartouche is your brave hero archetype, but also a bit of a smartass with a penchant for shenanigans. And he's named after a real-life criminal! The actual Cartouche was notably Not Nice, but a lot of people at the time did cheer him on because, well, he stole from and attacked rich people. There are actual books and movies about him that did generally keep the bandit-with-a-heart-of-gold legend alive! Cartoon!Cartouche is even designed after one of the movie versions, where he was played by actor Jean-Paul Belmondo. He's got the same outfit and everything, it's cute :D

Real!Cartouche had his own group of allies called the Cartouchiens, and some of the characters from the show are named after them! The main ones are…

Louis du Châtelet, aka le Lorrain, he's a noble who decided to join the good guys! He's a fancy dude, and notably he used to be a massive jerk, but he got better!

Fleur d'Épine and Galichon! Galichon was sentenced to the galleys and escaped! He's the team dad… and is also Fleur d'Épine's actual adoptive dad. Fleur d'Épine is the youngest of the group and has a whole backstory the show takes time to uncover: she was found by Galichon when she was just a baby! She gets a bunch of episodes about her mysterious family situation...

Freluquet, who is, let's be real, the token kid they added for the show. But he's generally a fun little dude, and very importantly he often relays messages from...

Isabelle d'Entraigues, Philippe d'Orléans's niece! She's not named after a real person, but after a character in the Belmondo Cartouche movie. She's a fave, she's got a temper! She's a spy from the good guys.

And then we have our main villains!

Philippe d'Orléans, the Regent. He's cruel and power-hungry and not above trying to get rid of the young king.But of course, he's not going to get his hands dirty. (The real guy is super interesting! I've been reading up on him a lot!) He has two people doing work for him:

Demachault, the police lieutenant, who is named after a real guy and is doing his best but honestly just sucks at this job, poor guy.

Nero Falconi, who is the Regent's right-hand man. He's the competent one here, but unlike our other villains he's not a noble!! His sad backstory ties with le Lorrain's, but instead of acting angsty about it, he's just seething with rage at all times. I Just Think He's Neat <3 He's the one main character who isn't named after a real person or a movie character!

There are other characters, but these are the main ones! It's a cute show! The references and links to real events are fun to spot, the setting is neat :D

Also Falconi's sad backstory lives in my brain rent-free, despite the flashback being only 60 seconds long. I can't justify that one, it's not that deep, it's just been occupying space in my brain for almost 20 years for some reason

[cringelordandsavior]

Obligatory ides of march post 🗡️