-
That astronomical device is called an "Astrolabe" and has nothing to do with eternal female genitalia (Labia).
Read more
-
Lol... fixed. Must be Latin :)
Read more
-
Computer Space was THE first commercial coinop video arcade game, designed by Atari founder Nolan Bushnell. The second photo you have is of some recently discovered Soviet-era video games that never made it out of that country. All of the other photos are obviously electromechanical coinop games. The scoring reels on the cabinets give that away.
Not to spam, but if you need a little help with a video game history article, I conducted interviews with Ed Logg (Asteroids), Al Alcorn (Pong creator), and a couple of others that might help. Just visit my blog page at http://www.briandeuel.com and check the links. Another page to check out is http://www.orubin.com. Owen has some great stories in his mailbag from 1976-1984 era Atari (he was a game designer there).
Another excellent article from an excellent site. Thanks!
Read more
-
You should see the early listening devices. You could detect a plane before you could see it...
http://www.museumwaalsdorp.nl/en/earlyeq.html
Read more
-
The astrolabe was a portuguese invention from the early period of maritime discoveries (mid-15th century), and derived from an arab navigation device. The name, latin in origin, means roughly «star-measurer».
In the late decades of the 16th century (circa 1580-87), queen Elisabeth I of England, ordered sir Francis Drake to plunder the portuguese naval schools of Lagos and Sagres, in the Algarve region, at the time under spanish occupation. There they found the astrolabes, which they replicated, and another then strange device - the calculating or slide rule, invented by the portuguese mathematician Pedro Nunes, around 1550. It was not until well into the 17th century that the british Edmund Gunter replicated the slide rule, just after the publication of the logarithmic tables by John Napier.
The evolution of the astrolabe gave birth to the sextant (one-sixth of a full 360º astrolabe).
Read more
-
"Actual lace is part of the design... They don't make electronics like that any more."
Actually, they do:
http://www.toniawelter.de/snw_en_5_tidytippist.htm
Read more
-
b.d. - will be delighted to see your info!
Listening devices we also covered
herecarlos - fantastic info, thanks - slide rule deserves its own post
-
Astrolabes were an invention of the Hellenistic culture of Alexandria about the time of Christ. The earliest surviving descriptions of how to make them date from the 3rd Century AD. The actual earliest examples are Arab, from about the 8th Century AD.
Like much of Western culture, it was lost during the Dark Ages and reintroduced into Europe from the Islamic culture of Spain in around the 8th Century.
Read more
-
And the English were familiar with astrolabes well before the time of Elizabeth.
Chaucer (author of the Canterbury Tales) wrote a "Treatise on the Astrolabe" in the 1400s.
Fascinating gadgets.
Read more
-
Well, Chiropetra, you are right up to a point. The astrolabe mentioned by Chaucer was not... an astrolabe. In fact, it was the instrument devised by the greeks and adopted by the Arabs, which they called «kamal» or «balistl» (meaning height), and the portuguese of the 15th century called «balestilha». It was a crude instrument, similar to a crossbow, with a ruler on the longer end.
It was based on this instrument that the portuguese devised the actual astrolabe, circular in shape and more practical to use.
But, both the kamal and the real astrolabe were usually called «astrolabes», hence the misunderstanding.
There were lots of these instruments found in wrecks around the portuguese coast, both arabic and western.
Greetings.
Read more
-
These pics are too much fun! Thanks for sharing. I'll probably write a post about it and link to your site in the next week or so. My readers would love this stuff.
My fave is the portable stereo in the kitchen, where the homemaker looks more pleased about her cutting-edge technology than she does about her Christmas dinner.
Read more
-
Not too surprised to see Chrysler had invented the automotive record turntable... For a long time Chrysler invented many neat things... Two others that come to mind quickly are the automotive alternator (1959) and I believe they invented the portable window mounted air conditioner.
Read more
-
Hey, that first tombstone has a Daewoo on it, not a Merc. Almost polar opposites on the automotive spectrum!
Read more
-
I saw a program on the ship crash the other night (Shockwave: History Channel). The on site bridge operator was intoxicated and working alone. He thought the ship had passed and began lowering the bridge.
There were no deaths in the accident. The helmsman dropped to the floor as they hit the bridge and the wheelhouse was sheared off inches above the floor, leaving him untouched. The ship, of course, was destroyed and its hull has been cut down to make a barge.
Bridges in the area are now controlled remotely from a central location with closed circuit cameras to verify that traffic is clear.
Read more
-
I truly hope that black&white basketball picture was photoshopped.... Those fingers seem to be *inside* his eyes!
Read more
-
That b&w photo of the fingers inside the other´s eyes is actually a winner of the world press photo, so i think it is not photoshopped!
Read more
-
yeah, tombstone piledriver figure skating! lol
Read more
-
Sergio: what is the source of your information. As far as I know, this photograph is NOT a winner of the world press photo. In fact, there's only ONE sport's related photograph that ever won this competition and that was way back in the 60s (it was taken during a football match in the rain).
./w
Read more
-
RE: Mystery Photo
First thought that came to me:
"...and now for something completely different...."
Read more
-
So much for the theory that "at least Communism supported the arts"...
Read more
-
Correct.
Howver,just change "supported" to deformed and ...
Read more
-
I did recognize one of the sculptures as a representation of a Russian folk story about a farmer trying to pull a huge beet or turnip from the ground. It only looks scary in sculpture.
Read more
-
Cthulhu for President in '08.
Why vote for the lesser evil?
Read more
-
Children appreciate any playground. Even if it is creepy.
Read more
-
I actually liked the little bears with light-up eyes though, and I'd love to have the Cthulhu chair in my study; maybe I could sit next to him while reading the Necronomicon...
Read more
-
This really scares the shit out of me and leaves one word in my mouth... WHY!? Why on earth would you do something so ugly!
Read more
-
haha some of this stuff is really creepy but some of it it is funny :] i geusse kids would have fun on anything
Read more
-
Well, it was kind of like a bad accident... horrible and scary, but yet... I want to see more...
Read more
-
http://lh5.google.ca/abramsv/R5mGIO9HheI/AAAAAAAAE4c/Ol7kgwMiVbA/post-1200088287.jpg
its hungarian fountain :-)
Read more
-
Lovely Art Goddess: there is going to be more! We have lots more photos sent to us for part 2... btw, great nick :)
Read more
-
Picture number six shows the 'Grün 80' in Münchenstein near Basel/Switzerland. There was a exhibition in 1980 when this strange thing was built. I played there sometimes in my childhood, it isnt that bad :)
http://www.migrosbasel.ch/parkgruen/DesktopDefault.aspx/tabid-183//218_read-345
Read more
-
there are not SCARY sculptures. the problem is in your HEAD/BRAIN, you create SCARY thoughts from that, and kids are not brainwashed like you.
Read more
-
"...are in danger to become psychologically scarred from thinking too much about these monsters..."
If anyone actually did successfully sue somebody over this, they and anyone that thinks it was a good idea should get impaled, stuffed, and made into a creepy statue for a playground somewhere.
Read more
-
Some of these are creepy, but some I found quite endearing. The turtle and snail sculptures were pretty cute. I also liked the black bear looking little guys that were just a picture or two after the "intermission".
The one sculptures that I don't think kids will enjoy are the lady with the bloody eyes (though that could be later-added graffiti), and the giant bugs. Still, only SOME kids wont like the giant bugs.
Read more
-
You have some very interesting images here. Like very much the sports collection...
Read more
-
i really find most of these images beautiful and interesting. maybe the problem is that you have a very narrow concept of what beauty must be. you know, boy used to disney and all that things. not that it's bad, but you can't judge other cultures just because they are different to/ oh, wait, you are an american! sorry, forget it, my fault...
Read more
-
found another picture http://flickr.com/photos/pyr0_de/141003780/
Read more
-
" not that it's bad, but you can't judge other cultures just because they are different to/ oh, wait, you are an american! sorry, forget it, my fault..." um? does anyone else see the irony in this?
Read more
-
So you wanted to prove with this gallery that you have a very narrow concept of art? And what has this to do with playgrounds? Besides - i find the playgrounds at a typical McDonnalds way scarier.
Read more
-
These are freaking cool! I would've loved to have something like this growing up. In your mind it might be scary for children, but to children, it's the starting point for imagination (except maybe the one with the bleeding eyes). A little bit of scariness can be exciting!
Read more
-
I agree with the Mcdonalds comment. Ronald Mcdonald is surely the most scary thing on earth!
Read more
-
I would welcome some of these in our school playgrounds to frighten the crap out of gobby kids before they come into school.
Read more
-
you obviously have a poor conception of what art is. Allot of that is interesting abstract art, you are way to ignorant to realize how this could add to a kids imagination. And if a kid doesn't like whats at the park go to a different one. Or the parent should explain to the kid that theirs nothing scary about it.
Most of you people are just ignorant to any kind of abstract art any ways.
Read more
-
I was flicking through the pictures and I spotted one I knew.
but its not Russian...
its in the centre of Stockholm, Sweden.
its the one with four mole looking creatures.
its in the middle of a bigger park, the moles are heated if you sit on them (handy in Stockholm!) and the eyes are lit up with halogen bulbs.
they are actually pretty cool.
pity its all just punk kids drinking on them most of the time.
Read more
-
Thanks for all the location info - I updated the post. Api-punk, Abstract art is a wonderful thing when done tastefully. Some of the sculptures shown here are cool, but not all kids might appreciate it.
Read more
-
"even sweden", "even america" - as if... looks like art to me... read a Grimm tale, lately?
Read more
-
it's not art vs. art so much as creepy vs. creepy. and i love the little black bears - they're great! but the woman with the bleeding eyes needs to be repainted.
Read more
-
Awww, they're all so wonderful! I especially loved the bird creatures (pic# 7). Why don't we have more of that here in The States. *sigh*
If anyone has ever successfully sued because a park scarred them...they need to be locked in a room with the bleeding eye lady! (whom I think is fine just the way she is!) :D
Read more
-
I don't really get how a lot of these pieces are supposed to be creepy, outside of like... the elephant slide and the bleeding eye lady. Everything else is pretty benign. this story did not live up to the hype.
Read more
-
Dude...those are just freaky. XD
That bleeding eyed-lady is gunna give me nightmares or something.
o.0
And I really WOULDN'T want to play on a playground with a huge statue of a doctor holding a large NEEDLE...
Read more
-
An ode to toejam!
Stinky? Yes!
But it doesn't come in strawberry or grape.
What a shame.
Read more
|
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home