1874

I bet you don't remember that both William Shatner and Isaac Asmiov were pitchmen for PCs. Well, people who had "home computers" back in the 1980s do. Here's a collection of insanely great (and greatly insane) computer ads from the days of WarGames and Tron.

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mickyalexandria:

yawls:

thebluepeninsula:

Esther Quek, fashion director at menswear magazine The Rake

theolduvaigorge:

The ‘walking’ megalithic statues (moai) of Easter Island

• by Carl P. Lipo, Terry L. Hunt and Sergio Rapu Haoa

“Explaining how the monumental statues (moai) of Easter Island were transported has remained open to debate and speculation, including their resource expenditures and role in deforestation. Archaeological evidence including analysis of moai variability, particularly those abandoned along ancient roads, indicates transport was achieved in a vertical position. To test this proposition we constructed a precise three-dimensional 4.35 metric ton replica of an actual statue and demonstrate how positioning the center of mass allowed it to fall forward and rock from side to side causing it to ‘walk.’ Our experiments reveal how the statue form was engineered for efficient transport by a small number of individuals.

We show how Easter Island statue variability is explained by transport in a vertical position. ► We ‘walk’ a precise road statue replica demonstrating how form enables vertical transport. ► ‘Walking’ multi-ton statues did not require timber and could be accomplished by relatively small groups” (read more).

***I don’t often post non-Palaeolithic articles, but this was too cool and the images were great.

(Source: Journal of Archaeological Science, 2013, in press)

nascentartifacts:

Globi coelestis in tabulas planas redacti descriptio… Opus Postumum

Pardies, Ignace Gaston, 1636-1673

Second edition. First edition was published in 1674 and this second edition in 1693 after Pardies’ death in 1673. A Third edition appeared in 1700. This copy is the six sheets of star charts only without binding, pages numbered 84-89, so probably removed from an atlas. Each sheet has engraved text panels in Latin and French. The projection is gnomonic so the six charts make up a cube of the universe. Elegant original color is used. The paths of several important comets are shown. These charts served as models for the star charts of William Dawes published by the SDUK in 1844 (see our 4063.000). From the Linda Hall Library exhibition catalog: “Pardies’ star atlas is stylistically one of the most attractive ever published. Pardies took his constellation figures primarily from Bayer’s Uranometria, but since each chart covers a large section of the sky, these figures had to be carefully integrated, which was not an easy task. Pardies’ engraver accomplished this task with great success…The plate(which) shows Hercules, Ophiuchus] Scorpius, Sagittarius, Aquila, and Lyra,..is one of the most stunning compositions in the history of celestial cartography.

from David Rumsey Historical Map Collection

““(Morons) don’t tend to be fans of bones — they’ve grown up with nuggets (and a fear of everything remotely frustrating, and an eternal desire to be over-coddled four-year-olds for their entire lives),” said KFC spokesman Rick Maynard, referring to (infantile jerkoffs, but certainly not all) people in their 20s and 30s.”

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KFC to offer easy-to-eat boneless chicken - Yahoo! Finance

fixed

arpeggia:

National Library Of The Girolamini Oratory, Naples, Italy

Photo by Massimo Listri

LAKE FOREST, Calif. (AP) — Members of Rick Warren's Southern California church began Sunday services with a prayer for the popular evangelical pastor, as he and his family coped with the apparent suicide of his 27-year-old son.

[Image: The Central Park bolt, photographed by The Bowery Boys].

One of many memorable images from Marguerite Holloway's recommended new book The Measure of Manhattan is the Central Park bolt, a 19th-century survey marker affixed in place by John Randel Jr., original surveyor of Manhattan's street grid.

The bolt is, in Holloway's words, "the relic of an invisible intersection, one city leaders had planned to build in 1811 but that had never been constructed." In fact, she adds, these "planned but never realized intersections" are rare but not, in fact, unique, low in number but peppered around the island like acupuncture points that somehow materialized before the body they were meant to intensify. The city lives alongside and strangely amidst other, historically unrealized versions of itself.

This particular "grid bolt," as Holloway goes on to describes it, is now "long-forgotten," but has recently become "part of the National Spatial Reference System database." This means, as she phrases it, that a "bolt on a rock in a park on an island is connected to the satellites that travel above us in great arcs," incorporated into the great digital systems of earth-measurement—or geodesy—used today.

[Image: A photo of Benchmark B taken by Tullio Aebischer, courtesy of Discovery News].

I thought of this when reading earlier this winter about a "Roman marker used to measure the Earth" that had been found "near the town of Frattocchie along one of the earliest Roman roads which links the Eternal City to the southern city of Brindisi."

To refer to it as "Roman," however, is a bit misleading, as it was actually laid in the mid-1800s by Father Angelo Secchi—not in the days of ancient Rome—as part of an attempt to establish a comprehensively measured geographic baseline; this baseline could be used to support much larger calculations that would ultimately verify (or not) the mathematically projected shape of the Earth. It thus acted as a verification point for abstract speculation.

A geographer named Tullio Aebischer explained how it worked to Discovery News back in January:

“We found it after a long archival research and a georadar survey. The discovery will allow us to precisely verify the ancient measurements with modern GPS technologies,” Aebischer said.

“The measurements along the Appian Way were part of surveys which began in the middle of the 18th century and spread all over Italy, in Europe, especially in France and Lapland, and in South America. The aim was to measure the shape of the Earth,” Aebischer said.

Today, the marker is referred to as Benchmark B—with Benchmark A located back in Rome proper, near the tomb of Cecilia Metellaan architectural feature familiar to any fans of Piranesi. More specifically, it is "hidden under a manhole in the middle of the road at the Cecilia Metella mausoleum"—as such, surely a worthy target for urban explorers intent on bringing to light the forgotten objects and spaces of geographic history.

Buried benchmarks, competing meridians, rejected state lines, shifting global poles, mistaken horizons: one can easily imagine a kind of amateur archaeology dedicated to exploring nothing but obsolete regimes of territorial management, whole planet-spanning systems of measurement whose function depends on these almost impossibly mundane, mud-covered artifacts.

If Borges, say, is their poet laureate, then we might say that these—lost bolts, grids, and baselines—are the sites and relics of other Earths that nearly were, derelict props from a Borgesian folklore now geodetically coextensive with the planet.

In any case, both of the examples referred to here are all but forgotten 19th-century objects—a plaque and a bolt—that nonetheless now participate in much larger-scale projects of measurement, one planetary, the other civic: two physical monuments to older ways of modeling, measuring, and definitively interpreting something as unassuming as the ground.

maldorora:

theartofanimation:

Angela Barrett - Beauty and the Beast

one of my favorite illustrated versions of the tale.

bowlofnouilles:

YES PERFECT

“What happens when men enter women’s feminist spaces? Dale Spender did an experiment to find out, and published the results in Man Made Language:at the discussion, which was a workshop on sexism and education in London, were thirty-two women and five men. Apart from the fact that the tape revealed that the men talked for over 50 per cent of the time, it also revealed that what the men wanted to talk about – and the way in which they wanted to talk – was given precedence.”

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No More ‘what about teh menz’ (via feministartdegree)

did i not tell you 

“We have your family”

That was 23 hours ago.

22 hours since I stormed out the Polizia’s HQ.

15 hours since I capped a fucking snitch.

1 hour since I decided there was only one way this would end.

It might already be too late.

Found this burner shoved in my ticket pocket.

Ransom note wrapped round it.

Letters cut from back issues of Leon.

“Cooperate or we put them in RTW”

Those sick fucks.

Kidnapped.

by RL Stevenson Black Label.

Got my kin held down.

Got my fam tied up.

G’s trapped in triangles.

Fighting the Stockholm syndrome.

Hostages laced in H&M.

God forbid.

Less than an hour.

Running through Pitti.

On Dainites.

Protect these soles.

From my bloodshed.

A sea of red coral.

Great Barrier steelo.

Even at my most vulnerable.

My most desperate.

My most human.

Potential threats all around me.

I stay clowning.

Finding Timo Weiland.

So I can punch them the fuck out.

But I can’t get distracted.

Reading that note over.

And over.

At the cafe last night.

Searching for clues.

Inside my espresso.

It doesn’t make any sense.

“Call when you are at the drop off”

“Bring us 100 unmarked, untraceable #fashion tags.”

“Who is your tailor?”

“We want to feature you on our Tumblr.”

“How do you feel about street style?”

Two-bit steez traffickers.

If they only knew.

P is home.

And like Albert said.

There’s no such thing as half way crooks.

havingbeenbreathedout:

Is this like, Tilda Swinton dressed in Madame Grès, in an attempt to take me completely out of commission for the foreseeable future? Because: mission accomplished.

And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen: the caryatid who walked away from the Acropolis in Athens, saying “Screw this, you can hold up your own damn portico. I’m ready for a photoshoot.”

““Yuck! That stuff had floaters in it and all kind of stuff inside the bottles. … I don’t think it would even be safe to drink,” said John W. Saunders, 63.”

- Scottdale judge delays hearing as defendant claims he never downed vintage booze worth $102K | TribLIVE

Scottdale police Chief Barry Pritts said DNA the thief left on the lips of the empty bottles matched a DNA sample taken from Saunders last year.

When police questioned him after the empty bottles were discovered in March 2012, Saunders said the old liquor had “evaporated.” He repeated that explanation Wednesday, maintaining the whiskey would not have “been any good.”

Paul Williams is probably best known as a rock critic who started the groundbreaking magazine Crawdaddy! as a teenager and sang with Timothy Leary on John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Give Peace a Chance." But Williams, who died yesterday after a battle with dementia, also has a major place in science fiction history, including as Philip K. Dick's friend, literary executor and biographer.

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Pantone

“

I know I’ve told this story before, but my abusive ex refused to let me take birth control. I was on the pill until he found them in my purse.

I went to the Student Health Center—they were completely unhelpful, choosing to lecture me about the importance of safe sex (recommending condoms) instead of actually listening to my problem.

Then I went to Planned Parenthood. The Nurse Practitioner took one look at my fading bruises and stopped the exam. She called in the doctor. The doctor came in and simply asked me: “Are you ready to leave him?” When I denied that I was being abused, she didn’t argue with me. She just asked me what I needed. I said I need a birth control method that my boyfriend couldn’t detect. She recommended a few options and we decided on Depo.

When I told her that my boyfriend read my emails and listened to my phone messages and was known to follow me, she suggested to do the Depo injections at off hours when the clinic was normally closed. She made a note in my chart and instructed the front desk never to leave messages for me—instead, she programmed her personal cell phone number into my phone under the name “Nora”. She told me she would call me to schedule my appointments; she wouldn’t leave a message, but I should call her back when I was able to.

And that was it. No judgment. No lecture. She walked me to the door and told me to call her day or night if I needed anything. That she lived 5 blocks from campus and would come get me. That I wasn’t alone. That she just wanted me to be safe.

I never called her to come to my rescue. But I have no doubt that she would have come if I had called. She kept me on Depo for a year, giving me those monthly injections in secret, helping me prevent a desperately unwanted pregnancy.

I cannot thank Planned Parenthood enough for the work they do.

”

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Curious Georgiana (via ifonechitiri-g)

Ars Technica has a tutorial on one of my favorite gardening methods because of the science involved. That and because it's really neat. Learn the technique and you'll have many more plants than you thought you could afford. In a nutshell, you cut pieces off an existing plant and help it grow roots until it is a complete plant on its own. The easiest common plant to start with is tomatoes, which is what Jacqui Cheng uses to demonstrate. I do this with different kinds of flowers, mostly begonias this year. Link

"The fundamental problem of the movie seems to be that none of the many, many screenwriters assigned to the task could figure out how to translate the game into a filmable story." Grantland 08/05/12

"When Richard Wagner began composing 'The Ring of the Nibelung,' his visionary opera cycle, he became dissatisfied with a particular musical theme. The solution, he decided, was not to rewrite the passage but to foster the creation of a new instrument to perform it--the Wagner tuba." The Wall Street Journal 04/03/13

1 Litre (4 cups) whole milk
 300g caster sugar
 ½ tsp sea salt
 ½ tsp baking soda
 1 tsp vanilla extract

-=[ Santa and Jesus ]=-  12/98

Mad Men showrunner Matthew Weiner’s obsession with researching every last period detail has inspired much journalistic awe — and some collegial snark: Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan once quipped, "Now I always weigh the meth on the show to the 100th of a gram."

Small lot of free seeds- flowers: columbine, veggies: new red fire lettuce, grand rapids lettuce, easter egg radish x2, good size bag of onion sets 50? (small onions from a seed catalog to plant now), and small bag of seed starting soil. Must take wh [...]

MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA — Manchester-by-the-Sea residents have approved a ban on plastic bags at local stores.

Residents voted at a recent town meeting to accept a petition that plastic bags typically used at checkout lines at grocery and other stores should not be distributed or sold at stores.

The Boston Globe reported that Manchester-by-the-Sea joins Brookline, which banned plastic bags and Styrofoam food and beverage containers at its Town Meeting in November.

Mar 31st 2013 By: Lauren Davis

Greg Smallwood is drawing Dark Horse's upcoming Jai Nitz-authored title Dream Thief, about a man who steals an Aboriginal mask only to discover that murderous spirits are taking possession of his body while he sleeps. It's appropriate, then, that Smallwood has such a fascination with crime stories. In between posting sample panels from Dream Thief, he's been sketching up moments from crime movies old and new, as well as a handful of characters from The Wire. The preview panels from Dream Thief are quite stunning, with a lovely, shadowed noir look that captures the darkness of the premise without diving too far into the nostalgia the genre can evoke. And his crime movie series shows he has a real sense for significant moments both violent and small. Check out more from Dream Thief at Smallwood's blog.

Just over thirty miles east of the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator the old Emperor, Genghis Khan, rides again.  Sat atop his horse, surveying his dominion (which was after his death to become the largest contiguous empire in history) a huge 131 feet statue of Genghis Khan dominates the steppes of Mongolia.

The sculpture, designed by D. Erdenebileg and architect J. Enkhjargal stands at the banks of the Tuul River.  It is here that the great emperor was said to have found a golden whip at the age of fifteen – though there is no exact evidence to support this.  It was, however, this whip that is said to have inspired the young Temujin (his birth name) to go on to conquer much of the known world.

Temujin was born in the middle of the twelfth century in Delüün Boldog close to Burkhan Khaldun mountain and the Onon and Kherlen rivers now in contemporary northern Mongolia.  It is in this eastern direction that the statue symbolically points.  Below the statue (seen above towards the end of its construction in 2008) is a museum, surrounded by 36 columns, one for each of the Khan dynasty of emperors.

Visitors to the statue can walk through the statue to the head of the horse (there is also a lift if you are not inclined to tackle the steps).  Here, cradled by the great man they can enjoy the panoramic views a statue of this size affords.  It came at something of a price too – the whole complex cost over $US4 million, which was spent by the Genco Tour Bureau, the company responsible for most of the tourism in Mongolia.

Image Credit Flickr User Ludovic Hurlimann
Image Credit WhatsAllThisThen
Known locally as Chinggis Khaan, the statue is the latest (and largest) of a number of monuments which have risen to honor the founder of the Khan dynasty since the country relieved itself of communism in 1989.  The image of Chinggis Khaan is now everywhere in the country, the nineteenth largest but most sparsely populated country in the world.

Image Credit Flickr User Rich_Lem
Image Credit WhatsAllThisThen
Mongolia, now an independent nation, is looking to effectively re-brand itself (and Khan) after centuries of foreign influence, being bordered by the behemoths of China and Russia.  Through projects such as this the Mongolian people are seeking to draw Genghis Khan not as a ferocious and merciless ruler who ordered the deaths of innumerable people but as something a little more palatable to contemporary sensitivities.

Image Credit Flickr User LD PIX
Image Credit Posti8
However impossible it is to treat the ‘Universal Ruler’ (as his name translates) as a simple and straightforward national hero, the statue comprehensively ignores any such gradation. There is little room for shade and tone here.  Genghis Khan is portrayed very much as the brilliant military strategist, who joined warring tribes together in order to establish the world’s biggest empire ever.  One thing is for sure - he is magnificent.

Image Credit Flickr User Bert Van Dijk
Image Credit Flickr User Alastair Rae
Image Credit Flickr User Mario Carvajal
Image Credit Flickr User Bert Van Dijk
Image Credit Flickr User eLJproks
Image Credit Flickr User Bert Van Dijk
Image Credit Flickr User Michael Foley Photography
Image Credit Flickr User Coursin Decurtins
First Image Credit Massimo.Botelli

The Captain