- published: 30 Jun 2015
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A funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.
The basic idea of funicular operation is that two cars are always attached to each other by a cable, which runs through a pulley at the top of the slope. Counterbalancing of the two cars, with one going up and one going down, minimizes the energy needed to lift the car going up. Winching is normally done by an electric drive which turns the pulley. Sheave wheels guide the cable to and from the drive mechanism and the slope cars.
A few funiculars have been built using water tanks under the floor of each car which are filled or emptied until just sufficient imbalance is achieved to allow movement. The movement is then controlled by a brakeman.
Funiculars used in mines were sometimes unpowered gravity planes, also known as self-acting inclines or brake inclines. The weight of descending loaded wagons was used to pull the empty mine wagons.
John Anthony Frusciante i/fruːˈʃɑːnteɪ/; born March 5, 1970) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, record and film producer. He is best known as the former guitarist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, with whom he had been for a number of years and recorded five studio albums. Frusciante has an active solo career, having released ten albums under his own name, as well as two with Josh Klinghoffer and Joe Lally as Ataxia. His solo recordings include elements ranging from experimental rock and ambient music to New Wave and electronica. Influenced by guitarists of various genres, Frusciante emphasizes melody and emotion in his guitar playing, and favors vintage guitars and analog recording techniques.
Frusciante joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers at eighteen years old, first appearing on the band's 1989 album, Mother's Milk. The group's follow-up album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991), was a breakthrough success. However, he was overwhelmed by the band's new popularity and quit in 1992. He became a recluse and entered a long period of drug addiction, during which he released his first solo recordings: Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt (1994) and then Smile from the Streets You Hold (1997). In 1998, he successfully completed drug rehabilitation and rejoined the Red Hot Chili Peppers with the album Californication (1999). His album To Record Only Water for Ten Days was made in 2001. On a creative spree, Frusciante released six solo albums in 2004; each album explored different recording techniques and genres. In 2009, Frusciante released The Empyrean and again parted ways with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. As of 2011, Frusciante is currently working on his eleventh solo album. Frusciante has produced and/or recorded with the Wu-Tang Clan, The Mars Volta, George Clinton and others. His most recent solo releases will be a 5 song EP entitled Letur-Lefr, due out in July 2012, and a full length album entitled PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone, due out in late 2012.
We are told it seems, from our first breath
That one day we'd cross, over the mountains
The land of gods, with the angels too
To spend eternity, in love and harmony
We work for nothing and the hours are so long
We work for rations and the place we call home
The morning trains carry us to our jobs
Murmurs of slavery within the mobs
Nothing else matters it is our precious fate
We are promised our own perfect place
On and on the pattern goes, never to end
Until the holy day when life should begin
The Promised Land, is what we toil for all our life
The Promised Land, is why today is misery
The Promised Land, is what we toil for all our life
The Promised Land, is why today is misery
We are told that it is heaven on earth
We are told you shall never need
We are told to do your work well
We are told forever you will see
The Promised Land, our god given right