Dark Roasted Blend

The Extraordinary World of Ex Libris Art

2009-11-20T19:44:00.004-08:00

"QUANTUM SHOT" #48
Link - article by Simon Rose and Avi Abrams

Sometimes ex libris is more valuable than the book containing it

  Ex libris, meaning ‘from the library of’, or ‘from the books of’ is a Latin expression attached to the art form of bookplates. These are stamps or labels that appear inside books to denote ownership, and range from the simple to the decorative and elaborate, to the obscure or even bizarre and surreal.

Noble families often used a personal coat of arms or crest, frequently featuring a family motto in their native language or in Latin. Naturally, styles change over time, but most bookplates reflect the decorative styles of the era in which they were created.   A vast range of illustrations feature on bookplates - dragons, angels, trophies, animals, birds, children, musical instruments, weapons, floral displays, trees, plants, landscapes and much more.

(images credit: Pratt Libraries, via)

The study and collection of bookplates began around 1860. Bookplates are very often of high interest, exceeding that of the book in which they are placed. They are valued for their historical interest as examples of art from a particular time period, but also if they belonged to famous people. This article does not claim to include all the bookplates in history and simply examines and highlights some of the more interesting examples of ex libris art that uncovered in the course of my research.

(images via 1, 2)

The bookplate first came on the scene just after the first printed books made their appearance in the fifteenth century. The earliest known examples of bookplates are from Germany, where they were made in large numbers before the practice spread to other countries. Consequently, for collectors, these examples are often of the most interest artistically. The oldest recorded bookplate dates from around 1450.

This angelic design from Germany, known as the ‘Gift-plate of Hildebrand Brandenburg of Biberach to the Monastery of Buxheim’, dates from around 1480 - via

In France the most ancient ex-libris as yet discovered is that of one Jean Bertaud de la Tour-Blanche from 1529, while the oldest example from England belonged to Sir Nicholas Bacon, a politician in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and father of Francis Bacon. It served as a gift plate for books he presented to the University of Cambridge before his death in 1579.

Early plates from Holland and Italy are dated to 1597 and 1622 respectively. Examples are common from many parts of Europe in the seventeenth century and the earliest known American example is the plain printed label of John Williams from 1679.

Bookplates appeared in other parts of the world as well. This one attributed to Shah Jahan dates from the Mughal dynasty era in India in 1645:

(fragments, see the whole art here)

While this one (image below left) was also clearly inspired by the artwork and customs of the Indian subcontinent. The ex-libris on the right: great executioner design serves as a warning to respect the book’s ownership or face drastic consequences:

Heraldic designs were commonly used for decoration, as shown in this plate from England:

(image via)

This American design from 1905 has some heraldic and coat of arms elements, but also incorporates a house in an elegant frame (image below left). George Bancroft’s bookplate, complete with a signature, takes inspiration from Ancient Greece. “Eis phaos” translates from Greek as “towards the light.”

This plate created for himself by Samuel Hollyer dates from 1896, but mentions Hogarth and is in the style of the eighteenth century (image left). On the right is the great design for Jane Patterson, from 1890:

(images via)

Artist Amy Sacker designed many bookplates for her clients in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries:

(images via)

In this one, dated 1953, a monk sits at the foot of a tree, which bears books as well as leaves on the branches. Right image is a wonderful depiction of a skeleton playing the cello, from 1909:

(images via 1, 2)

These excellent examples of bookplates all date from the first half of the twentieth century:

(images credit: Pratt Libraries, via)

Historical personalities and celebrities, politicians, movie stars, athletes and even some of the more infamous figures of history, have all used bookplates as well:

French president Charles de Gaulle’s bookplate proudly displays the Cross of Lorraine, symbol of the Free French Forces during World War Two (left image); Edward Heath, former British Prime Minister, used a bookplate that reflected his passion for sailing (middle image); Ramsay MacDonald, Britain’s first Labour Prime Minister in the inter war period (right image):

This one on the left, dating from around 1907, belonged to the last Czar of Russia, the unfortunate Nicholas II. Upper right image: Queen Victoria’s bookplate looks suitably royal, displaying a coat of arms. Lower right image: This belonged to the Swedish and Norwegian King Oscar II -

George Washington’s bookplate, showing a family coat of arms, was engraved in London to his specifications in 1792 (left image). Paul Revere, hero of the American Revolution, was also an renowned engraver and a designer of silverware and had his own unique artwork for use with his book collection (right image):

(images via 1, 2)

Charles Dickens, well known of course as a writer of books, had his own bookplates for the volumes in his personal collection (left image). Jack London’s bookplate looks ideal for placing inside his own novels, such as Call of the Wild or White Fang (on the right):

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, had a suitably grand design pasted into his book collection:

(Ex-libris on the right is dated 1909, via)

The bookplate belonging to Sigmund Freud contains a nude figure (left image). Jack Dempsey, world champion heavyweight boxer in the 1920’s (right image):

Benito Mussolini, the infamous Italian dictator, needs no introduction and these are two of the bookplates that he commissioned in the mid thirties:

(image via)

Greta Garbo famously declared that she wanted to be alone, probably with plenty of books for company, all displaying her own distinctive label (left image). Douglas Fairbanks Jr, was born in New York, but had a very aristocratic British style to his bookplate (right image):

The bookplate of Harpo Marx features a caricature of himself (top left image). Charles Chaplin used this bookplate in his personal library. Other Hollywood celebrities who had their own bookplates include: Cecil B. de Mille, Bing Crosby - see image below:

Wonderul sets of ex libris art are located here and here.

Some vintage ex libris art had an amazing amount of detail, comparable with paintings and engravings of the period:

(Bookplate circa 1814, 1907 - Designed for Franz James Mankiewicz - image via)

CONTINUE TO THE "UNUSUAL MAPS"! ->

Simon Rose is the author of science fiction and fantasy novels for children, including The Alchemist's Portrait, The Sorcerer's Letterbox, The Clone Conspiracy, The Emerald Curse, The Heretic's Tomb and The Doomsday Mask.

Permanent Link......+StumbleUpon ...+Facebook

Link Latte 123

2009-11-15T19:39:00.003-08:00

#123 - Week of November 15, 2009

The Stone Forest... this is something else - [awesome pics]
Very entertaining infographic about coffee - [cool info]
"Oasis Of The Seas", the biggest ship, is completed, video and pics - [wow]
Half Car, Half Bike, is Really Bizarre - [wow auto]
Living Room Decorated Inside a PC - [crazy PC mod]
Divers Wrestling with Octopusses! - [anyone has pics?]
Interesting Surreal Set of Female Form Variations - [photography]
Peculiar qualities of a hyroscope - [neat video]
Something is brewing in the Moscow skies - [click image to enlarge]
Anamorphic Images & Illusions! - [follow the links]
Great visual graphic of music sales - [cool info]
World's Longest BASE Jump - [wow video]
Very strange, and yet somewhat cool game, more - [art]
Even Mona Lisa needs some coffee in the morning - [cool art]
Computopia, courtesy 1969 Japan - [futuristic]
100 year old Antarctic whiskey - [wonder about the taste]
Man-eating monster is alive and well - [and plays with its hunters]
Wonder (Bread) Woman, Disposable Paper Dresses - [weird art] - via
Bizarre and Brilliant Bed Designs - [compilation]
Love Story, Flickr-style - [romantic geek article]
How to commute on a motorcycle with your pet - [funny guide]
Most unique... some are simply nuts... golf courses - [round-up]
The Ultimate Argument Resolution Device (and the Apologizer) - [ha!]
Zooey sings an upbeat song... - [nice video]
Vivaldi played like you never heard it before - [unreal video]
One Russian guy did this animation for fun - [cool video]
An Epic Song Plus Epic Destruction - [equals a cool music video]
Sleeping Betty... is tired! - [animation masterpiece, funny!]
Make stunning Flash websites for free! - [promotion]
The strangest animals... but you knew that - [wow nature]
Never buy an animal from a pet store? - [health tips]
Some unusual photos of fathers and kids - [compilation]

SEE ALL OTHER LINK LATTE ISSUES HERE

Outrageously Creative Ads, Issue 12

2009-11-12T21:25:00.007-08:00

"QUANTUM SHOT" #598
Link - by A. Abrams

You are going to be shocked and entertained... and then maybe you're actually going to buy stuff

It would be simply impossible to list or even mention all of the great ads that appeared since our last issue. We're sure you've seen some of them already in the running campaigns, and perhaps even succumbed to their appeal and reached for the wallet. For this is what they are: creative masterpieces designed to part you and your money.

As always, this next installment in our highly popular series covers print, urban, and viral advertisements, chosen for originality and lasting impression.

Are you ready? Let's dive in -

"Water on Lens" Exhibition - Click here to see more, via

Where even nightmares come to rest:

Get rid of your nightmares, already:

Some spectacular wide-format visual ads (click to enlarge) -

More monsters and disasters:

What's the worst that could happen? Well....

------------

Household Surrealism

Tough, very tough:

Good suction:

Good lubricant:

Let them see and appreciate your kitchen:

Some weird situations. Do they even have to be explained? -

Extreme zoom:

------------

Viral Street and Urban Ads

New urban sport:

Followed by thirst for Guinness, of course:

Warning: gross! Click at your own risk here to see the gruesome campaign of relieving normal poster people of heads and other extremities.

Not an ad, but the best placement of street art possible: "Periodic Table", indeed -

Homegrown mattress sale ad? -

Continuing a popular theme of effective advertisement in elevators, here are some good examples:

Left: "Wake up!" - Right: "Yo-Yo Effect of Most Diets":

Brilliant stuff:

(images via)

More street smarts:

A valid concern:

------------

Unexpected Weirdness

This is creative art by David Stewart: Workplace and Household Hazards -

(images credit: David Stewart)

A similar ad, via:

Even aliens need sunglasses:

Humans need sunglasses badly in particular situations:

Great demonstration for "Change":

Multiple choice situations:

More ads that caught our attention -

"Obesity is Suicide":

A brilliant lingerie ad? (in light of recent H1N1 outbreak):

Sometimes shadows play unwanted tricks on billboard advertisements (this one says "Vote for...") -

This is not an ad, but simply creative photography - although it is a masterpiece, in our humble opinion (and advertising agencies should take note):

(image credit: Tatiana Mikhina)

CONTINUE TO OTHER "COOL ADS" ISSUES! ->

Permanent Link......+StumbleUpon ...+Facebook

Japanese Creative Barcodes

2008-04-02T22:29:00.015-07:00

"QUANTUM SHOT" #398
link

Cut out your UPC label and... frame it

Barcodes, or UPC symbols, these ubiquitous emblems of our consumer civilisation, have received a radical makeover by a Japanese firm D-Barcode - and this time their ideas ended up on grocery products all over Japan.

Simple, yet brilliant ideas:

The first time you pick your bottle of pop or a package of milk, you might not even notice anything different, with all the intensity and typical clutter of Japanese package design. But take a closer look - and the charmingly designed UPC masterpieces will amuse you, make you smile, and might even cause you to go hunting for other products, to start your collection.

Trust Japanese to "glorify" every single mundane detail, to cheerfully enhance consumer experience - by adding something extra, a little thing, so easy to miss. But now, with these creative bar codes, the package design in Japan has truly become perfect.

Other barcode art pops up from time to time: This is "Flowers" by Dave Herbert - via

Russian Barcode Posters

Art Lebedev design studio has been issuing wildly creative posters (featuring barcode symbolics) for years. View the whole creative gallery of them here and download some for your desktops. Some examples:

As you can see, there is truly an abundance of ideas... It seems that barcode symbols are ingrained in the very fabric of our reality. Philip K. Dick, for once, would've certainly spotted a conspiracy in all this. As for us, we'll just keep shopping and innocently buying everything that scans.

Barcodes permeate modern design

Just try to have an exhibition of modern furniture without a few examples popping up, like this one:

"The Bar Code Chandelier", by Mobilet design studio:

More glowing barcode light fixtures by Hampstead Lighting:

Check out a LEGO barcode scanner, described on this page. It includes an actual miniature laser, so handle it with care:

How about a bar code building? - via

Portraits, made entirely from UPC codes and barcodes? Sure, check out the gallery of Scott Blake. He's got Monroe, Elvis and, of course, Jesus - which is a commentary on the consumerism and kitsch of our times.

"MAD" magazine ran a few imaginative barcode covers back in 1979 (more here) -

Want to know the time? Click on his Barcode Clock:

And as it is a custom nowadays to finish with a cute or LOL-lified cat pictures, no matter what the subject of an article, here are the "Barcode Kitties!" - Hello Kitty spin-off for those in need of a truly geeky cuteness:

Sources via Katize, izreloaded, BarcodeNerds

Permanent Link......+StumbleUpon ...+Facebook
Category: Gadgets,Art

Marvelous Burj Dubai Fountain Show

2009-11-08T21:09:00.008-08:00

Link
Scroll down for today's pictures & links.

Marvelous Burj Dubai Fountain Show

I can watch this over and over again... The tallest fountain in the world (with water reaching as high as 150 meters), near the tallest building in the world (see here) was recently completed and tested with this water/light/music extravaganza. The musical piece is the "Time To Say Goodbye", performed by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman.

url

We wrote about various architectural marvels of Dubai before. To check the latest updates on construction in Dubai, see this thread at SkyscraperCity.

Today's pictures & links:

Assemblage Cuties

Remember our Robot Art Series? Here is an odd couple, made by Joe Chasse - which already won a couple of awards at an art show (more info):

(image credit: Joe Chasse)

------------

Hamsters (Guinea Pigs) Are on the Move Today

(original unknown)

------------

Las Vegas? What Las Vegas?

We will not mention Las Vegas' Downtown Mainstreet Experience here. But... This is in China, so will take some traveling to get to:

"The Place" in Beijing, China, is covered by a giant LED screen - 250m (820 ft) long and 30m (98 ft) wide - claimed as the biggest in the world.

(images credit: Troy)

------------

This Is Paper Craft Gone to Heaven

Simply unbelievable construction put on display - where else? - in Tokyo. See other inspiring works from paper in our One Sheet of Paper and Cutting Up Books articles.

(images credit: zuzutop)

------------

Mixed fresh links for today:

This is more than fascinating - [journey into the micro-world]
Just a drop of water... and another drop, and another - [wow video]
The Man from Clapham, and a Person from Porlock - [interesting]
One of those 365 Days Flickr sets, but some are beautiful - [surreal]
Air Conditioner as a Thing of Beauty - [design]
Another awesome-looking motorcycle - [our soft spot]
Good overview of the state of digital music - [infographic]
Weirdest Restaurants! - [cool round-up, some nsfw]
Haunting Abandoned Places Gallery - [some are new to me, click next]
Rehashing YouTube videos to sell broadband - [fun video]
Bus Ride Through the Forest Fire - [harrowing video]
What if Matrix was shot in the silent films' era - [cool video]
Amazing Houses & Home Architectural Designs - [architecture]
Tips to boost metabolism (what, no beer?) - [health tips]
Make stunning Flash websites for free! - [promotion]

------------

Mind-boggling Cave Exploration Photography

Polish photographer Howito explores caves, with some spectacular visual results. See his photos in this gallery. Click to enlarge images below:.

(images credit: Howito)

Also, don't forget to check out our Most Amazing Caves article for more impressive photography.

------------

Dried Seahorse... Dried Gecko... Traditional Chinese Medicine. Add It to Your Tea?

Continuing the topic of weird, strange and (perhaps) wonderful food from all over the world, we just have to show these dried "herbal food" products, found by Troy in China:

(images credit: Troy)

------------

Mutant Snail Goes Hunting

What a splendid monster... Indeed, no Godzilla or any other Japanese imagination-spawned creature can tackle the German "Orchid-on-Drugs" Blob:

(image credit: A Journey Round My Skull)

See more illustrations from Der Orchideengarten, a rare German fantasy magazine, lovingly scanned by A Journey Round My Skull - Click Here. Also don't miss the covers (some nsfw).

------------

The Ugliest Car in the World

"The Aurora" (1957) was build by Rev. Alfred Juliano for safety, not speed... or beauty. Click to enlarge:

(click to enlarge)

------------

Awe-inspiring Hoover Dam Bypass Construction

Mind-boggling pics, recently taken from a helicopter flight over the site (see more construction photos here). A good addition to our Bridge Construction article:

Click to enlarge images!

(images credit: Hoover Dam Bypass - via)

------------

Is This Real?

Handshake with Mother Nature - more info.

(Photo credit: newsteam.co.uk)

------------

Cave City on the Moon

Check out these rarely-seen futuristic images from French sources (courtesy Mondorama 2000)

(source: "Le monde de demain", 1969, illustrator: inconnu)

(source: "Le monde et son aventure", illustrator: F.H.K. Henrion)

------------

Jeff VanderMeer's New Novel "Finch" is Launched

The third, and possibly final, part of a darkly surreal saga about strange City of Ambergris - "Finch" - was described as “fungal noir... steampunk delirium... paranoid spy thriller..." and can be already ordered from Amazon.

Visit "Finch" Reader's Page for various exclusive posters and downloads.

------------

Relax

(original unknown)

READ THE PREVIOUS ISSUE ->

Permanent Link......+StumbleUpon ...+Facebook

Weird Food McDonald's Sells Around The World

2009-11-05T00:12:00.008-08:00

"QUANTUM SHOT" #597
Link - Article by Chris Mitchell of Travel Happy, and A. Abrams

McDonald's Around The World: Marvels Never Cease, Especially in Asia

If you think McDonald's sells the same burgers and fries everywhere in the world, think again – here in Asia they’ve had to make some concessions to local tastes and come up with some peculiar fast-food variations on Asian favourites.

It all started with the Samurai Pork Burger. I saw this advertised outside a McDonald's in Bangkok back in 2004 and was somewhat perplexed. Why is it a Japanese name when I’m in Thailand? And what do Samurai have to do with pork? Actually, why is it called Samurai at all? Sadly, I never actually found out any of the answers, but it made me start paying closer attention to McDonald's every time I went to another country in Asia.

(Samurai Pork Burger, Bangkok, Thailand (left) and Thai Spicy Fish McDippers (right) - photos via)

Perhaps more traditional for Thailand, the Thai Spicy Fish McDippers (image above right) are a piscine breadcrumb and chili overload. Incidentally, don’t actually expect to eat your fast food in Thailand fast – you will inevitably be handed your burger but have to wait five minutes for your fries, which will be dutifully brought to you – by which time, of course, you’ve eaten your burger…

In Singapore, the national obsession with rice extends to having rice cakes in your burger.

(Rice Burgers, Singapore)

I expected lots of interesting stuff in a Japanese McDonald's – McTentacles perhaps – but the menu was disappointingly ordinary.

Although there were these – Seaweed Flavoured Fries. Also, see below-right: the tasty tentacle snack from Japan. Yum.

In Hong Kong, I nearly got arrested for taking this photo of the Green Tea and Red Bean Ice Cream Sundae. Didn’t realise they guarded their secret bean recipe quite so zealously.

(Green Tea And Red Bean Sundae, Hong Kong)

In Indonesia, as the world’s largest Muslim country, chicken is far more popular than beefburgers (and, of course, the Samurai Pork Burger would be completely taboo). Hence you get combo sets of chicken, rice and Coke:

Chicken, Rice and Coke, Jakarta, Indonesia

Perhaps my biggest WTF moment (Weird and Troubling Food, naturally) in a McDonald's was in the Philippines, when I spotted the clotted mess that is McSpaghetti. (McDo indeed). My Filipino friends explained to me that it was incredibly popular and basically consisted of spaghetti soaked in sugar. Ewwww.

Let me repeat this: Spaghetti - Soaked In - Sugar!.

McSpaghetti, Philippines

I also seem to remember that when I first went to Australia in 2003, there was a Billabong Burger that had tinned beetroot between two patties. Sadly (or perhaps thankfully), I don’t have any photographic evidence, though it tasted as grim as it sounds. There was also a similar one called McOz with only one patty (plus the tinned beetroot that is ubiquitous in Australia – fresh beetroot isn’t nearly as popular).

Spam, Spam, Spam, Eggs, Bacon, and Spam

David Gardner shares his experience: "Did you know you can get Spam, eggs, and rice for a McDonald’s Breakfast in Honolulu? Yup. Right there on Kalakaua St facing Waikiki. Totally cool!"

See this classic Monty Python sketch to truly appreciate the irony.

(images via 1, 2)

In the middle of Moscow, on a busy Arbat street, you can get a take-out for your horse:

(image credit: Kotofei)

Big Macs are a Big Unknown in Chongqing, China

My most memorable experience of McDonald's in Asia, however, is stumbling onto a MaccyDs in Chongqing, China. I’d just completed an excruciating trip up the Three Gorges on an overloaded passenger boat that played earsplitting soap operas the entire journey, and I was in need of comfort food. Chongqing is a vast city with a mind-boggling 31,000,000 inhabitants – and that’s just the official figure. Arriving there just as dusk began to fall was somewhat intimidating to say the least. Things were not helped when I arrived at the front of the McDonald's queue dishevelled and hungry, and found, much to my horror, that the universally understood phrase of “Big Mac” was not understood here.

Managers were summoned despite (or perhaps because of) my increasingly strident pointing at the overhead menu, until a Chinese teenager behind me stepped up and got me exactly what I wanted in 20 seconds flat. He spoke a little English, and I could tell he wanted to practice so I invited my culinary rescuer to join me and we had a great, if slow conversation about his life in Chongqing. “Chongqing is great”, he said. “But I want to go to America”. “Why?” I asked. He broke into a beam of a smile and said “Because I want to meet Christina Aguilera!”

That conversation rescued what had otherwise been a grim day, and makes me smile every time I recall it. And it wouldn't have happened if I hadn’t gone to McDonald's.

Some Other Fast-Food Masterpieces From Around the World

Some are not McDonald's, technically, but very hard to omit when making an article like this. Here is -

Tuna Pie! Seen at Jollibee (Philippines).

(image via)

This is wonderful pizza jigsaw puzzle, where every piece is a tasty morsel:
(Winter Double King Pizza at Pizza Hut, Japan)

(image via)

Peas and potatoes make up the patty in the McAloo Tikki at McDonald's in India -

(image via)

Great travel site Trifter shows more international Mac food variations, among them guacamole (avocado paste) McPollo burger in Chile:

(image via)

Let us know about other interesting McDonald's offerings you found around the world.

When Looking for McDonald's, Beware of Imitations!

(original unknown)

If you’re wondering why I even frequent McDonald's when I’m travelling in the continent of tremendous cuisine, the reasons are threefold:

1) Sometimes you’re so tired or cultureshocked or plain lazy you just want something completely familiar to eat in an air-conditioned, relatively clean environment, however bad it may be for you;

2) McDonald's is actually a great place to peoplewatch because, funnily enough, all the locals go there, and;

3) It irks travel purists no end, so that’s always a winner. (There is a great explanation of why eating at McDonald's while traveling is not to be sneered at by Rolf Potts, with an equally interesting addendum by Pico Iyer, both of which save me having to rewrite it here).

McDonald's Creativity Zoo: Unlimited Imagination from Used Packaging

We wrote about "Bent Objects" sculptures from McDonalds materials before.

(art by Bent Objects)

But now they've got some creepy new sculptures made, right in time for Halloween:

(art by Bent Objects)

But you do not need to use any fast food materials to create monsters: here is how to make (cook and eat) your very own alien caterpillar:

Speaking about post-Halloween cooking, here is another idea:

(original unknown)

CONTINUE TO OTHER "WEIRD FOOD"! ->

Other articles by Chris Mitchell Chris Mitchell of Travel Happy, for Dark Roasted Blend:
Komodo Dragons: They Eat Meat
Plain of Jars: Bombs and Mystery in Laos

Permanent Link......+StumbleUpon ...+Facebook

The World's Most Magnificent Pipe Organs

2009-10-31T00:39:00.005-07:00

"QUANTUM SHOT" #596
Link - article by M. Christian and A. Abrams

"Pipe Dreams" with Magnificent Sound: Quite Simply, The Blockbusters of Their Time

Some of the most epic and magnificent music masterpieces were created to be played on a large pipe organ - made even better if listened inside soaring gothic cathedrals with pretty much perfect acoustics. The wonder of this music is certainly timeless, and gets even more amazing when you start to investigate the history, science, and simple magnificence that has gone into the creation of some of the world’s most incredible pipe organs.

(on the left, the world's largest pipe organ console, in Atlantic City - photo via - and on the right: Tokyo pipe organ, built by Marc Garnier from France in 1991, via)

As with a lot of important technological – as well as artistic – achievements, trying to determine who made the first one of these things is a bit fuzzy. Some experts give the ancient Greeks most of the credit – specifically the genius Ctesibius of Alexandria. Those early Greek organs were pretty simplistic, but the basic principle is still the same: force air through a pipe and you get sound. Narrower pipes produce a higher note, wider pipes a lower note. From these simple tubes of metal works of amazing intricacy may be wrought.

(on the left, a pre-organ "instrument", described by Pretorius in "Syntagma Musicum", 1615 - on the right: a mobile organ from Maximillian time, 1517)

What’s interesting is that portable organs were not only made in certain parts of Europe during the Middle Ages - they were quite common. They were probably about as mechanically simple as Ctesibius' early invention, but it’s still remarkable that the technology was transportable by horse and wagon.

The Beer Bottle Organ is an obvious idea, that was realized way back in the 1800s. The right-hand image below is a portable bottle organ from the 1750s:

(images via)

But when you want to talk about size - you have to talk about the permanently installed ones.

Size matters, and does increase with the amount of money invested

As with astronomical clocks (see our article here), large organs quickly became the blockbusters of their time. If yours was a town of any note then you pretty much had to have one – and the bigger the better. The fact that they were used by churches, like the aforementioned fancy clocks, couldn’t hurt either, as they had the deep pockets to afford them.

Fantastic ornamental hanging tubes of the cathedral organ in Trier, Germany (left image below) and a strange horizontal arrangement of tubes in Madrid, Spain:

(images via)

(Helsinki Cathedral's elegant pipe organ, built by E.F.Walcker, 1832 - image via)

(left: balcony organ in Salzburg, Austria - right: Notre Dame du Finistere, in Brussels, Belgium - image via)

(very elegant organ in Hamburg, Germany - image via)

Here’s a bunch of interesting facts:

The pipe organ created for Halberstadt, Germany was a monster for its time. Its bellows had to be worked ceaselessly by ten men – who were, no doubt, music fans. The technology is impressive today, and was simply astounding when it was created in (ready for this?) 1361. Today it is the instrument and the site for the Slowest Piece of Music Ever Performed

(the bellows of Halberstadt, Germany, pipe organ - via)

Because the technology of a pipe organ is relatively unsophisticated, making them bigger was a simple matter of scale: bigger pipes, bigger air supplies, etc. While there were a lot of monster organs… stop giggling… there are some that took the the musical instrument from noteworthy to astounding.

One of the largest still played today is the Kotzschmar Memorial Organ in Portland, Maine. Built in 1911, it is a beautiful piece of engineering as well as musical artistry. Although much of its technology is hidden from sight, what is visible is simultaneously elegant and powerful, which also perfectly defines the sonorous air of its haunting notes.

(left: Kotzschmar Organ, photo via - right: Wanamaker Organ, photo via)

Another great pipe organ was created in 1904 for the St Louis World’s Fair, the Wanamaker Grand Court Organ in Philadelphia is a monster among monsters. Everything about the instrument looks like it was designed not just to make sound but a LOT of VERY BIG sounds: it has not one, not two … but, to get to the point, 28,482 pipes set in 461 rows (more info).

(a very small portion of Wanamaker's 28,482 pipes: strings section - photo via)

(the organ at United States Naval Academy has 522 registers (controls), image via)

Its keyboard looks more like something used to launch a space shuttle rather than underscore an aria… but the organ definitely creates music – on a scale commensurate with its standing as the second largest pipe organ in the world.

Nature Plays Its Own Melody

The Singing Ringing Tree (by Burnleys Panopticon design, architects Tonkin Liu Ltd) is a wind organ sculpture which sings (or moans) with the wind - some say very hauntingly so (watch the video here):

(images via)

Natural "pipe organ" formations can be found in some karst caves - they are eternally silent however, playing "The Sounds of Silence" to an attentive ear. Here is one in Mramornaya cave in Crimea, Ukraine:

(image via)

Which leads us to...

The Great Stalacpipe Organ - the World's Largest Musical Instrument!

Deep in the Luray Caverns in Virginia... there are sounds that might even rouse the Old Ones if played properly (or if Pippin drops a bunch of stuff down the hole). It is played by striking huge stalactites all around the cavern with felt hammers, producing sombre, sonorous tones... (more info):

(images via 1, 2)

The Loudest Musical Instrument Ever Constructed

How would you like to hear something six times the volume of the loudest train whistle? I'd say you should be warned before the sonic assault commences so that you could cover your ears.

Next time you’re in Atlantic City, swing on by and check it out in the Boardwalk Hall. Built in 1932, the organ makes that beast in Philadelphia look like a sickly kitten. While the Wannamaker Organ boasts those 28,482 pipes, the Boardwalk Hall organ has – ready for this? – about 33,000 pipes. I say ‘about’ because even the owner/operators of the machine aren’t sure. Indeed, the engineering for the organ looks like something that might have been built to power the Muzak in the Tower of Babylon elevators.

(images via)

The Boardwalk organ holds a total of three Guinness World Records: largest pipe organ in the world, largest musical instrument, and – it must have been a literal blast to have been there when this was set – the loudest musical instrument ever constructed. When asked how he felt about winning this last award, the keyboardist was heard, barely, to answer “what?” See more images here.

Trying to play this beast is a life-time job: there are four manuals, and a full list of "stops" (registers, and also controls that operate this mechanism) is published here. See if you can imagine memorizing this, let alone fluently play it.

(images via)

From "Spitz Flute Celeste" (register 217) to "Tuba d'Amour" (register 231) this fantastic instrument can indeed wake up the dead with celestial music, it seems.

"When all of these stops and pitches are played together, the result has been described as a "wall of sound" that can "move men's souls like no other organ". The stops are controlled by 1,235 stop-keys on the main seven-manual console (which is permanently located to the right of the stage) and by 673 stop-keys on a portable five-manual console" (source)

You were ready to hear about the world’s largest organ? (well, hello there, YouTube commenters) Unfortunately – as with a lot of big organ claims -- you’re likely to be disappointed. The Boardwalk organ, alas, is largely silent: having been damaged by weather, water, budget cuts, and poor attempts at repair, it can still be heard but at only a fraction of its true potential and power.

And there’s nothing funny about an organ that isn't operating at full capacity.

Something that looks like a giant mobile pipe organ, but is definitely NOT

These are the acoustic locators in Japan in the 1930s, indented to detect and track incoming bombers before the widespread use of radar. Here's the Japanese emperor Horohito checking out the AA guns intended to be used in conjunction with the sound locators (more info)

CONTINUE TO "UNUSUAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS" ->

Permanent Link......+StumbleUpon ...+Facebook

Link Latte 122

2009-10-27T22:27:00.004-07:00

#122 - Week of October 26, 2009

Building the Batillus Supertanker, more - [awesome pics]
Amazing Steampunk Carousel, via - [fascinating]
A 1935 US Plan for Invasion of Canada! - [weird history]
How big is Antarctica, really?, and without ice? - [wow pic]
Halloween Vintage Ephemera Set - [collection]
How to make your stand without agreeing to anything - [useful?]
Wish-tree in England... quite unique - [interesting]
Heart-breaking Photo of a Chimp Funeral - [amazing]
Really scary apocalyptic art, more here - [art]
Also don't miss his urban art - [installations]
Things that (sort of) have faces - [pics]
What? An Acid Machine! - [guard your eyes]
An Impressive Skyscraper in London - [architecture]
Tornado Safety, Courtesy the Onion - [funny]
50 Years of Space Exploration - [infographic]
Great Photomicrography Collection - [science pics]
Hoover Bypass Bridge Construction - [wow pics]
He fooled the Monte Carlo casino & got away with it - [neat]
The Last Quest for the Lost Country, info - [great video]
Fantastic, Even Futuristic Tree Houses - [architecture]
Weird, Rare Plants and Flowers - [nature]
Really weird-looking retro gadget - [vintage tech]
Finally a gadget that looks promising - [tech]
Most Wonderful Beaches Around the World - [travel]
10 day cross-country trip in 3 minutes - [cool music video]
A large spider bugs the Pope during his speech! - [fun video]
Neat psychedelic film: "The Resort" - [cool video]
Turtles are fast... Super-fast! - [fun video]
How Camera Lenses Are Made - [wow video]
Backflipping down the sand dune - [wow video]
Make stunning Flash websites for free! - [promotion]
Fun things to do without spending a dime - [green tips]

SEE ALL OTHER LINK LATTE ISSUES HERE

The Biggest Guns in Human History

2008-07-26T23:17:00.017-07:00

"QUANTUM SHOT" #453
link

Here's a new article by author M. Christian (from "Meine kleine fabrik"). M. Christian loves to write about the odd, weird, and wonderful things hidden all around us.

It's Not The Size That Counts ... Or Is It?

For as long as men have had them, they've been trying to see who has the biggest one. You have a dirty mind: I'm talking about CANNONS.

1. Chinese Hand Cannons

Although they aren't known for having the biggest, the Chinese were definitely the first builders and also the first to point them at people they didn't like. For many reasons, though, they stopped using them, mostly because while the big guns terrified the folks they were pointed at, they also had a little defect. They blew up.

Chinese Hand Cannon - Bronze firearm, Yuan dynasty (1271-1368 AD). Photo by Yannick Trottier

A functional miniature replica of a Chinese Hand cannon, and a Hand Bombard, Europe 1380

Europeans really took to the idea of a thick metal cylinder, a charge of gunpowder, and a nasty surprise to hurl at people they didn't like. A first these early cannons were simple mortars: a lump of bell-shaped iron (because bell-makers were the first cannon-makers) with a hole for the charge and the shell. They still exploded as often as they fired, but unlike the Chinese, the Europeans thought the bang was worth the buck. As long as someone else lit the fuse, that is.

Once they got that whole "exploding in your face" thing fixed, or at least tuned down to a dull roar, they really began to really play the "mine is bigger than yours" game.

2. The First True Supergun

The first true "supergun" to be unzipped and waved at people was The Great Turkish Bombard, which was also called the Dardanelles Gun, the Royal Gun, the Hungarian Cannon, Muhammed's Great Gun or the less common but more honest "Good Lord, Look at the Size Of That Thing."

Built in 1453 in Hungary and used by turks to conquer Constantinople, they shocked their builders by unexpectedly doing what they were designed to do: lobbing a 1,500 pound granite sphere at whoever they were pointed at.

3. Tsar's Bragging Monster

Not to be outdone, the Russians swaggered up with their own Mutually Assured Demolisher. Forged in 1585, the Tsar Cannon was a 35-inch-wide yawning monster designed to toss 800 pounds of grapeshot -- a whole lot of little balls instead of one big one -- at people unliked. The Tsar was never fired, but that didn't stop the Russian military from boring everyone by bragging about how huge it was.

(image credit: Will)

Another huge cannon: Mons Meg, made in 1449 and actually fired for almost 200 years - is now located at Edinburgh Castle, Scotland:

3. Trench Horror Upgrade

It's said that the first world war was truly the first modern war. Poison gas, tanks, air combat, the machine gun -- they were all gleefully experimented with during those years of trench horror. But the classics were used as well, the old standby of thick metal cylinder, a charge of gunpowder, and a nasty surprise, never really going out of style. But as this was a modern war, the classic cannon got a big -- a very big -- upgrade as well.

It's odd that such a phallic monster got a woman's name, but the always-romantic Krupp engineers did just that: smashing champagne over the 17-inch-caliber gun, they christened it after their boss's -- possibly zaftig -- daughter. Big Bertha, or more accurately "Fat Bertha" was a hit with the German military, showing the Belgians at Liège, Namur and Antwerp, and the French at Maubeuge who had the really big one.

(image courtesy of C. Luzent, les Canons de l'Apocalypse)

But that wasn't enough. Sure Bertha had the thickness and the length, but what the Germans wanted was something to really show off -- especially since those swaggering Americans were about to enter the game.

4. Long Max to follow Big Bertha

Searching for something they could stuff into their Eastern Front to make themselves look bigger, they glanced out at sea and hit on the idea of transplantation instead of simple enhancement. To put it simply, the Long Max was a naval gun, the biggest one the Germans had. Luckily it quickly got its land legs: on the battlefield it showed its potency by shooting off 1,600 pound shells a respectable distance ... of 30 miles.

(Comparison of 30.5 cm/50 and 38 cm/45 guns, image by Peter Lienau)

American naval ordnance on wheels; a 14in., 30 mile gun... entire train composed of rail artillery...

(images credit: worldwar1)

5. The First Terror Weapon

But that wasn't enough. The Paris Gun wasn't named because it reminded those warm-hearted Krupps of the famous City Of Light. Hardly. Another transplanted naval piece, the gun has sometimes been called the first terror weapon.

Although it needed a lot of maintenance, didn't shoot anything very heavy or destructive, but it still horrified that romantic city by dropping shells from ... wait for it ... 80 miles away.

It was a monster to the Germans as well -- mounted on a special train carriage, it was so loud that a set of regular artillery was fired along with it to hide its thunderous discharge.

Side note:

An interesting Electric Cannon concept (uses no gun powder!) from 1932:

"SILENT guns sending their whistling messengers of death into the sky at speeds far beyond those now attained by powder-driven shells..."

(images credit: modernmechanix)

6. The largest gun ever built

Then, as Monty Python said, peace broke out and everyone got much more polite about the size of their ammunition. Howitzers and field pieces tucked away, the refined gentleman nations of the world played croquet and gin rummy for a few decades until someone -- we're looking at you, Germany -- decided to wave their barrels and calibers in everyone's faces.

No doubt about it, the Schwerer Gustav certainly was impressive. Like the old Paris gun, this monster belonged to the German Navy, but unlike the piece that had frightened the City of Light, the Schwerer Gustav was more than a thunderous braggart.

First gun was named "Gustav", the second - "Dora":

Read the convoluted history of these guns deployment on this page.

And see this rare video of "the biggest gun in the world" firing:

The monster was so huge it took a team of 2,500 "volunteers" to lay track for it, and the train carrying and supporting it was 25 cars long, about a mile.

Unlike the Paris version, it only had a range of about 30 miles, but this one could really satisfy -- the Germans, that is -- by throwing a shell that didn't weigh just 1,000, 2,000, or even 3,000 pounds. When the Germans showed off their prize piece, people really took notice. Hell, who wouldn't when the damned thing could fire a 7,100-kilogram shell? (That's more like 15,620 (US) lbs)

(image credit: Pepe Garcia)

Another gun from that era: K-5E "Leopold"

(images credit: one35th.com)

See the 3-D drawings of German railway guns on this page, made by Greg Heuer:

7. The Centipede Supergun

The Germans weren't the only ones obsessed with the size of their guns. The Brits and the Americans were not to be outdone, but they certainly seemed to be constantly looking down at their drawing boards, and wondering how their guns could be even bigger. Before peace again broke out, Germany had one last idea, a gun that, once and for all, would given them ultimate bragging rights.

What makes the V3 Hochdruckpumpe ("High Pressure Pump", or "Centipede") gun so interesting is that it wasn't one gun but a bunch of smaller ones that fired in precise order to kick its shell faster and faster. Part of the whole Victor Weapon package that included the V1 Buzz Bomb and the V2 (the first ballistic missile), the V3 was to be permanently mounted in a concrete fortress in France where it would have blasted a 300-pound shell more than 100 miles, straight into the heart of London. Possibly jealous of what the Nazis had stuffed into their reinforced concrete pants, the Yanks and the Brits blasted the gun into oblivion while it was an unfired virgin.

8. More-Than-Supergun to reach stratosphere

Things got coolly polite after the war. We and They still obsessed over the sizes of our pieces, but new toys had begun to seriously threaten the satisfyingly primal big bang of massive artillery. Missiles, luckily, hadn't completely stolen the show. Back in '61 two superpowers, the US and ... Canada? ... worked with the genius gun-designer Gerald Bull on the HARP system, a more-than-supergun designed to reach to the edge of the stratosphere.

Like those charming folks at Krupps, Bull loved his guns. After HARP went flaccid, Bull tried to find someone else to back his idea of a true supergun, a piece to end all pieces, the thing that would show the world who really had the biggest. His ultimate project was called Project Babylon, and while Bull's final intentions are a bit hazy, no one doubts that what he really wanted to do was make a gun big enough to do what HARP didn't have a chance to do: fire something into space.

Bull was a genius. But he was profoundly stupid in one very crucial way: his choice of clients.

After knocking on all kinds of doors for Project Babylon sponsors, he finally managed to secure the backing of the president of a Middle Eastern country, who'd write the checks if Bull the gun master would build the biggest one in human history.

9. Saddam's Supergun spells doom for its inventor

The problem was the signature on those checks belonged to Saddam Hussein (more info), and a lot of his neighbors began to get kind of ...well, twitchy about someone like Hussein being able to wave Bull's massive piece around, especially, if Bull had succeeded, it would have been able to fire a shell almost 500 miles.

(image credit: fas.org)

In the end Bull didn't succeed, not because of poor engineering but because of a considerably smaller gun.

A tiny thing, really, compared to what he wanted to show the world. But, as the old saying goes, it's not the size that counts but what you do with it. And the Mossad -- the Israeli Secret Service, you know -- knew just what to do with their small gun: put a tiny bullet in the brain of the man who was building a supergun for Saddam Hussein.

Also read Giant Iceberg Aircraft Carrier and Strange Tanks

Permanent Link......+StumbleUpon ...+Facebook
Category: Military,Vintage

Dark Roasted Blend's Photography Gear Picks:

The Unsinkable Pygmy Gecko

2009-10-20T21:02:00.005-07:00

Link
Scroll down for today's pictures & links.

The Unsinkable Pygmy Gecko

One of the highlights of the BBC Life Series is this fascinating (and cute) video of the pygmy gecko floating atop a puddle, running on water, and evading the raindrop bombardment. Seems like nothing can indeed sink the little critter - here is a positive, life-affirming message for your day...

url

Today's pictures & links:

A Smoke Break To Remember!

If you think that this is Photoshopped, you are sorely mistaken. Neither is this a virtual location, plucked from some computer game environment. This is the actual Congress Hall in Biel, Switzerland - augmented by an art project by urban artists Sabina Lang and Daniel Baumann.

This pair of designers are also responsible for the "Everland" hotel room concept, which you can stick pretty much anywhere - including to the wall of any building - and enjoy the view that comes with the location:

(images credit: Sabina Lang and Daniel Baumann)

------------

"I am... Who am I?"

(Photo by Gregory Guida, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.)

UPDATE: This is a Hispaniolan solenodon - more info. A venomous animal, and a living fossil!

------------

Better than the Grand Canyon Skywalk?

This is the Five Fingers Viewing Platform, above the Salzkammergut area in Austria:

What do you think? More spectacular than Grand Canyon Skywalk experience? To see other breathtaking viewing platforms around the world, we refer you to this page.

------------

I'm Bored

I could not banish this image from my mind for days... Be warned.

Hopefully DRB can provide some remedy from this condition.

------------

Mixed fresh links for today:

Really Weird Vintage Inventions (you're going to enjoy this) - [gadgets]
Incredible paper art book, scroll down for images - [wow art]
"As Slow As Possible, And Then Some!" - [epic music project]
Weirdest, Wildest Pumpkin Carvings - [wow collection]
Lifeguard Towers: some are really strange - [architecture]
Use of Elements in the Periodic Table - [infographic]
Steampunk Speaking Piano - [a voice for Anonymous?]
Shocking Abuse of Children - [Onion article]
Feel-Good Sixties Girl Dance (and a song) - [fun video]
Remember Killdozer Rampage? - Here is the full story - [crazy]
Making music with bottles, in an awesome way - [wow video]
You don't need a translation for this - [fun video]
Phenomenal Urban Photographers - [urban art]
Toxic Cosmetic Ingredients You Should Avoid - [health tips]
Make stunning Flash websites for free! - [promotion]

------------

Want to better appreciate your current place of living?

Well then, count your blessings. Compare your living standards with these sobering shots from South Bronx (Mott Haven area), NY in the 1970s-1980s.

(images via)

Similar soul-crushing conditions were all over New York ghettos in the 1970s, due to the "Planned Shrinkage" doctrine adopted by the City Council.

"By the mid 1970s, The Bronx had 120,000 fires per year (an average of about 3 fires every 2 hours); 40 percent of the housing in the area was destroyed."

See a whole lot more at this page. But also marvel at the modern miracle of community revitalization - compare these shots with Bronx today: the area looks nothing like before, it has even become a desirable (sort-of) place to live for NY hipsters...

------------

Emotionally Charged

(original unknown)

------------

Brian Berg, the King of Cardstacking, creates a hotel room out of 200,000 Holiday Inn keycards

- The 400 sq. ft. - a guest bedroom, bathroom and lobby, all fully equipped with life-sized furniture made out of Holiday Inn key cards.
- The largest card structure Berg has ever built and the only one in the world of its kind - the only card creation made at full human scale
- Made of more than 200,000 Holiday Inn key cards, weighs 4,000 pounds, took four months to construct

Bryan Berg broke the Guinness World Record for the World's Tallest House of Cards in 1992 at the age of seventeen, with a tower fourteen feet, six inches tall. His latest record-holding structure in the category is over twenty-five feet tall. Berg also established a new record category for World's Largest House of Cards in 2004, and continues to hold both records. Learn more at CardStacker.com

Watch "Behind The Scenes" video here, detailing the project.

IHG, the world's largest hotel group, unveiled the Holiday Inn "Key Card Hotel," the first-ever hotel made of keycards on September 17 in New York City, to mark the relaunch of 1,200 Holiday Inn hotels globally this autumn. Holiday Inn has also launched its global "Key to Change" promotion, giving guests the chance to win an all-expense paid trip to a relaunched Holiday Inn of their choice, anywhere in the world - www.holidayinn.com/Key.

------------

When Your Girlfriend Tries to Tell You Something...

(image via)

...Answer by making music with a little help from her cats... The Cat Piano:

Also, remember a "Mouse Organ" in this Monty Python sketch?

This cat can't be too enthusiastic about Cat Piano, or much of anything, actually:

(original unknown)

------------

Is it a tank? Is it a Transformer? Well, it's just a "humble" logging truck...

Roger Snider takes wicked pictures of various wicked American custom big rigs - see our previous article for some super examples. Now, his recent gallery of the Pacific North West logging rigs is pretty impressive, but some shots (exclusive for DRB) taken in California are also full of brute beauty:

(images credit: Roger Snider)

See more images at Ultra Rigs of the World.

------------

Kris Kuksi Creates an Awesome Sculpture - Again

Seems like this man is incapable of producing boring, run-of-the-mill art. Here is a steampunk-ish shocker, titled "Anglo-Parisian Barnstormer":

(images credit: Kris Kuksi)

This, and other works by Kris Kuksi and other masters of Steampunk Art can be seen at the world's first major exhibition of "Steampunk", which opened on October 13th in Oxford England. It showcases a unique collection of art inspired by devious devices, confusing contraptions and other oddities taking place at the Museum of the History of Science at Oxford University.

See more sculptures by Kris here, and read DRB interview with him on this page.

------------

The kitchen every woman wants... (1960 advertisement)

Best thing since the heart-shaped hair -

(images via)

------------

Contentment

------------

SCORE!

(original unknown)

------------

READ THE PREVIOUS ISSUE ->

Permanent Link......+StumbleUpon ...+Facebook

Lovely Cowgirls in Vintage Westerns

2009-10-25T22:55:00.010-07:00

"QUANTUM SHOT" #595
Link - by Avi Abrams

When Ladies with Guns and Lots of Attitude Scorched the Screen... and Blessed Your Heart!

We've featured glamorous vintage shots of beautiful ladies in many thrilling situations, like Ladies in Space and Ladies and Robots. We even spent some time looking at great girls with fabulous cars - see our Cars and Girls series. But there is a time and a place where feminine beauty gets to shine, perhaps, the most - the fantasy movie-land of Wild West!

Remember some cool and intense "spaghetti" westerns coming out of Europe in the 1960s? The plot might have seemed rehashed and overly familiar in many of them, the camerawork is shaky, the dialogue is rudimentary... but there were two factors that totally redeemed poor production qualities and acting - and even lifted some Italian western movies to cult status: stunning soundtracks, and stunning starlets:

Enraged!

(image via)

Vintage Westerns Had Great Music, not just by Ennio Morricone!

First, European western soundtracks - Italians can come up with great melodies, and the 1960s saw incredible proliferation of top-quality movie soundtracks (it almost seemed like Europeans dreamed and imagined American Wild West with greater clarity and intensity than Americans themselves). Everybody knows about Ennio Morricone, but many other composers delivered no less epic scores and heavenly melodies: Francesco De Masi, Bruno Nicolai, Alessandro Alessandroni, Carlo Savina, Louis Bacalov, Stelvio Cipriani - to name just a few.

To get a taste of the fantastic music they wrote, just listen to this sombre song by Francesco De Masi, taken from his superb "Arizona Colt" soundtrack - this track would make any James Bond movie proud - or sample the haunting melody of "Ringo, the Lone Rider", again by De Masi (click here).

Among other spectacular western themes by Italian composers (other than well-known Morricone scores):
- "Sartana is Coming", by Bruno Nicolai - click here
- "Have a Good Funeral", by Bruno Nicolai - click here
- "Seven Winchesters for a Massacre" by Francesco De Masi - click here
- "El Puro" by Alessandro Alessandroni, "And His Name Was Holy Ghost" by Carlo Savina, themes by Pierro Umiliani (some heard in "Kill Bill" movies), Gianfranco Reverberi, etc.

In Germany, Martin Boettcher was writing a widescreen epic music for "Winnetou" and "Old Shatterhand" movies - click here

But all this sound lushness often paled in comparison with alluring female stars:

A Beauty with a Gun

Ladies with guns and lotsa attitude warmed (scorched!) the screen - and it was good... Sample some promotion shots, posters and other photos here:

(Debbie Reynolds in a promo shoot)

(images via)

Jane Fonda (right) and Jean Carmen strike a pose:

Want to see really scorching shot of Sophia Loren in a western environment? Click here, but be careful - could be somewhat nsfw.

Here is Bridgitte Bardot in "Viva Maria!" (1965):

(image via)

The same year, Jane Fonda appeared as a fetching Cat Ballou:

Camilla Sparv in "MacKenna's Gold" (1969):

(images via)

Donna Douglas (left) and Elisabeth Taylor as cowgirls:

(images via)

Raquel Welch in "Bandolero":

(image via)

And more recently, Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz star in 2006’s "Bandidas":

(image via)

Western Dames in Vintage Art and Advertising

Pinups were a continued source of western fantasizing:

(pinup art by Gillette Elvgren)

See more Golden Pinups in this collection.

Some great pulp western action covers are in the hands of collectors today:

(image via)

No wonder, amid all this beauty, movie cowboys appear calm and relaxed:

CONTINUE TO "THRILLING MOVIE POSTERS"! ->

Permanent Link......+StumbleUpon ...+Facebook

British Pubs: Signs of the Times, Part Two

2009-10-13T20:27:00.010-07:00

"QUANTUM SHOT" #593
Link - article by Simon Rose

Pub signs are almost like time machines...

Some locals may even intentionally design ugly signs to keep their beloved pubs to themselves. Sometimes this strategy works, sometimes it leads to... a DRB article.

First, a little vintage beer-related eye-candy - check out these Labatt's and O'Keefe's Canadian trucks from the 1930s:

Fantastic shapes! Now, on to the article:

In Part 1 we've seen some colorful and often bizarre pub signs featuring royalty, nobility, religious iconography, occupations and trades, legends and ever-popular sporting activities. in addition to that, Britain’s great military heroes of the Napoleonic Wars -- Lord Nelson and the Duke of Wellington -- have many pubs named after them, as do significant ships and famous land and sea battles.

(images via 1, 2, 3)

However, some much less reputable characters from British history are also immortalized on pub signs. Lady Katharine Ferrers is said to have turned to highway robbery out of boredom and to repay huge gambling debts. The Wicked Lady is located on the spot where she was fatally wounded and bled to death in 1660. Fanny on the Hill pub is another odd name. It stands near a heath called Fanny on the Hill, which has a connection to Dick Turpin, the infamous highwayman. Turpin supposedly hid in the woods from the King’s soldiers and a local barmaid called Fanny shone a torch informing Turpin when the coast was clear. Another notorious criminal, the pirate Captain Kidd, was hanged in 1701 and the pub bearing his name is situated very close to the site of his execution.

(images via 1, 2)

Some literary figures are depicted on pub signs such as Shakespeare and Daniel Defoe, author of 'Robinson Crusoe':

(images via 1, 2)

But perhaps the most curious is the pub on Merseyside named after the former British Poet Laureate John Masefield. Local people have complained and nicknamed the pub ‘The Adolf’ because the sign bears an uncanny resemblance to Hitler. The landlord however is adamant that this is an accurate portrayal of Masefield and refuses to change the sign;

(image via)

The Green Man seems a strange name at first, but refers to the spirit of the wildwoods, the first depictions of which appear in churches as a face peering through dense foliage, or actually made of leaves, branches and petals. Some pub signs will show the Green Man as a full figure, some as just a head and there are many different interpretations of this character. It is thought that there may be a connection between the Green Man and the legend of Robin Hood, although they are not the same character. However, some pubs once called The Green Man are now known as The Robin Hood. Also, in Nottinghamshire, there are no pubs at all called the Green Man, but there are plenty with the name Robin Hood.

(images via C. Walton, 2, 3)

There are some names that simply make you wonder where on earth they originated.

The Goat and Compasses, for example, is said to be a corruption of the phrase, “God encompasseth us”!

(images via)

The Bag o’ Nails is supposed to refer to wild festivals of the Roman god Bacchus and "bacchanalia" has been used to describe any form of drunken revelry. However it is really just a sign once used by ironmongers.

Elephant and Castle is said to come from “la Infanta de Castile”, the name given to many Spanish princesses who were at one time or another betrothed or married to members of the English royal family. However, it’s more likely that the name is related to the symbol of the Worshipful Company of Cutlers, a London trade guild.

(images via 1, 2)

It has been suggested that The Cat and the Fiddle derives from Caton le Fidele, a governor of Calais in the reign of Edward III or from ‘Katherine le fidele’, an allusion to the faithfulness of Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s first wife. And it could of course also simply be a reference to the children’s nursery rhyme.

(images credit: Scott Beale, The Laughing Squid, Jill)

The Pig and Whistle’s origin is obscure, but it could be a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon “piggin wassail” which means “good health”. The Bull and Bush, another odd name, supposedly commemorates Henry VIII’s military victory “Boulogne Bouche” or Boulogne-sur-Mer harbour. However, while these Anglicized versions of phrases are all very interesting, there are usually more likely explanations for the origin of these signs.

(images via 1, 2)

The sign displayed outside the Pogue Mahone in Liverpool offers few clues as to the meaning, but the name is in fact an Anglicized version of the Irish slang term “póg mo thóin” which charmingly means, ‘kiss my arse’.

(images via 1, 2)

The Last Drop pub in Edinburgh, Scotland, is where men sentenced to hang were given a final meal while the executioners prepared the gallows just across the road. At the pub, the condemned were offered a glass of whisky - one for the road, a last drop to drink before a long drop into oblivion:

(images via 1, 2)

The Arab Boy in London is especially unusual pub name, and its origin no less so. Henry Scarth built the pub in 1849 as part of other property developments in the area and it is named after Yussef Sirrie, a youngster who Scarth is said to have saved from being sold into slavery in Turkey. Back in England, Yussef became Scarth’s servant, eventually becoming the pub’s landlord.

The Crooked Chimney is so named because, unsurprisingly, the pub has a very distinctive crooked chimney:

(images via 1, 2)

The Quiet Woman in Derbyshire has a sign portraying a headless woman, apparently telling of the grim fate suffered by a landlord’s wife who was too talkative:

(images via 1, 2)

The Skirrid Mountain Inn appears in records dating back to 1110, and is most likely the oldest pub in Wales. It is also one of the leading claimants to the title of oldest standing pub in the UK, and has a rather grisly history. According to local legend, some 180 people were hanged from a beam on the inn’s staircase between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries and the building is a supposedly very haunted indeed:

(images via 1, 2)

Finally, although not strictly a sign, this pub bears mentioning. The Glynne Arms in Staffordshire is better known by its nickname the Crooked House. Because of subsidence damage caused by mining, half of the pub leans heavily to one side. Apparently, it can be quite a challenge to rest a beer on the table without spilling it. According to the locals, if after leaving you turn and look at the pub and it appears perfectly normal, you can be sure you’ve overindulged at the bar.

(image credit: James Daniel)

So there you have it. A short and by no means complete tour of some of the interesting, unusual and distinctive pub signs from the cities, towns, villages and countryside of the United Kingdom. Obviously, tracing the origin of some of these names can be difficult and open to speculation, but pub signs are almost like time machines (a moment caught in time) and undoubtedly give us a fascinating view into Britain’s colourful past.

BONUS:
From vintage pubs to a futuristic way to open your beer - using a "Beerbot" (concept art by Greg Broadmore - see his gallery here).

You might remember hilarious science fiction story by Henry Kuttner "The Proud Robot", in which one brilliant but constantly drunk inventor wakes up one morning, confronted by an extremely obnoxious robot - clearly he bolted the robot together the previous night but, for the life of him, he can not remember exactly why and for what precise purpose. I am not going to spoil the surprise ending, but the artwork below might shed some light on how this robot might've looked:

(image credit: Greg Broadmore)

FURTHER READING: We'd also like to mention "A Book About Pub Names" by Elaine Saunders - it's an e-book containing over 100 colour illustrations that unravels the meanings behind the most popular signs and tells the history of Britain in the process. Visit Complete Text to see the book's preview.

Simon Rose is the author of science fiction and fantasy novels for children, including The Alchemist's Portrait, The Sorcerer's Letterbox, The Clone Conspiracy, The Emerald Curse, The Heretic's Tomb and The Doomsday Mask.

CONTINUE TO "BEST BEERS!" ARTICLE ->

READ PART ONE HERE ->

Permanent Link......+StumbleUpon ...+Facebook

Weirdest Cell Phones Ever!

2009-10-18T21:27:00.010-07:00

"QUANTUM SHOT" #594
Link - Article by Radhika Seth of YankoDesign and A. Abrams

Totally Spaced-out Concept Cell Phones

No, really, we've come a long way, baby (since the early 1900s, that is). Check out this Russian peasant making a call:

The good thing about concept design is that you don't have to worry too much about how the actual thing is going to be made. Can the existing technology support your concept? Is the design feasible or practical enough, or is it just a "geek magnet" like some alien gizmo from Star Wars? These questions may not seem that important at concept stage. In some cases you don't even need to build a prototype! Just come up with a wild idea, dream BIG, dish out impressive 3D renders - and you’re good to go.

Here’s a look at some downright weird and whacky cell phone designs (many were featured on the Yanko Design site).

1. The Natural Year Phone by Je-Hyun Kim

This was created in the name of recycling... after all, how durable do we want our devices to be when they become near-obsolete in five years? The phone is made of hay (or should we say of "weed"?) and completely disintegrates in two years' time - only the screen and soft keys remain behind, and even these may be subsequently recycled. However, we have doubts about its practicality. Just one of those "nice to see, good to hold... but no thanks!" pieces of technology

(designer: Je-Hyun Kim)

2. Window Phone by Seunghan Song

What features would you like on your phone today, mister? The weather? Done! The Brits may like this glass cell phone concept, as it will predictably predict even the most unpredictable English weather, if such a thing is at all possible.

(designer: Seunghan Song)

3. Cell Phone Inspired By Chinese Scrolls, by Yun Liang

A roll-out display and cute buttons placed on the scroll are definitely hot-looking... but imagine using this piece on an everyday basis. If you'd need to pull the display out in a jiffy, then the tactile bit for keypad will last as long as you treat the baton well. Key words… treat the baton well.

(designer: Yun Liang)

4. Easy Tiles Phone by Tzu-Fu Wang

What would you do if you didn’t have the iPhone or its cool apps and games to while away your time? Sorry, didn’t meant to scare you… lemme rephrase, your iPhone is SAFE and SOUND, but give the Easy Tiles Phone a second’s thought. Easily upgradable apps that slide in and around the phone, make this one of those DIY thangs that give you total control to upgrade the gizmo as you like. Let's also assume you have a postal address in Utopia and upgrades are dirt-cheap!

(designer: Tzu-Fu Wang)

5. Radia - Circular Cell Phone by Michael Laut

Who says cell phone has to be rectangular? An oddball round shape can also be suitably scintillating. No kidding, but this one might be a feasible design for Paris Hilton, who loves to talk in circles... literally!

Designer: Michael Laut

And we’ve barely even scratched the (non-scratch) surface! Here’s still more…

Weirdest Shape For A Cell Phone:
Bracelet Phone by Tao Ma (more info). Combine the two and you have... handcuffs!

Another strong contender for the strangest phone shape is this O2 "Molecular Phone" by Tjep Design:

Weirdest Material For A Cell Phone:
Maple Phone by Hyun Jin Yoon & Eun Hak Lee - more info:

Weirdest Display for a Cell Phone:
... is a total absence of one! Behold the Trou Hologram Mobile Phone by Mac Funamizu:

Weirdest User Interface for a Cell Phone:
A Finger Touching idea by Sunman Kwon:

Do you notice a certain paradigm shift (in cell phone fashion and design) in the next picture? Well, who knows what mind-altering new designs are we going to see in the next few years...

About the author: Yanko Design is a web magazine dedicated to introducing the best in modern international design, covering industrial design, concepts, technology, interior design, architecture, exhibition and fashion. Radhika Seth is a Graduate in Commerce, but her passion for books and writing paved the way for content writing. As a professional writer, she’s got her finger on the pulse of the readers’ expectations. However this doesn’t stop her from getting her own opinion across as well.

CONTINUE TO EXTRAORDINARY CLOCKS! ->

Also don't miss more great articles in our GADGETS category.

Permanent Link......+StumbleUpon ...+Facebook

Britain’s Colourful Pub Signs, Part 1

2009-07-26T15:00:00.006-07:00

"QUANTUM SHOT" #581
Link - article by Simon Rose

Good signs will help you remember which pubs you visited, what you did there, and is it safe to return

Everyone loves the idea of the cozy pub with its dark wooden beams, dark wood and cozy fireplace, even though the traditional British pub has been in decline in recent years. However, pubs and their distinctive signs are often cited as one of the main things people want to see preserved in our ever-changing world.

(images via 1, 2, 3)

(images via 1, 2, 3, 4)

Telling a pub sign history is perhaps the safest way to start up a conversation

Britain’s colourful pub signs speak volumes about the country’s equally colourful history, as well as depicting folklore, heraldry and social customs. Pubs were never named by accident and each sign invariably has a story behind it. The artwork on Britain’s pub signs is inspired by royalty and nobility, religion and the church, military heroes and battles, occupations and trades, myths and legends, sporting activities and pastimes, along with numerous other sources.

Sign relates to a nearby stone. It has a hole in it which one can blow through... for fun? (images via 1, 2)

In 2007, the top ten most popular names for pubs in the UK were Crown (704) Red Lion (668) Royal Oak (541) Swan (451) White Hart (431) Railway (420) Plough (413) White Horse (379) Bell (378) New Inn (372). This article does not aim to mention every single pub in the UK, or every one with an unusual name, but delves into the history of pub signs, the stories behind them and examines some of the interesting names I discovered in the course of my research.

(images via 1, 2)

The Romans first took the basic concept of the pub to Britain in 43 AD. In Rome, it was traditional for landlords to hang branches of vine leaves outside their premises to indicate the trade that was practiced within. However, with vines lacking in Britain, they hung any type of evergreen plant over the door and there are pubs in the UK called the Bush or Holly Bush to this day. The Romans built an extensive road network and with large numbers of troops moving around the country, roadside inns opened at suitable stopping points. Some modern roads still follow the route of these ancient highways, so it’s entirely plausible that some inns have been on the same site ever since the Roman era.

"Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem" starts with a pint

By the twelfth century, people were traveling the country visiting cathedral towns on pilgrimage, such as to the shrine of Thomas Beckett in Canterbury. Chaucer’s pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales began their journey at the Tabard, a real inn located in London. Other inns and taverns catered to pilgrims and knights on their way to the Crusades in the Holy Land. Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, established in 1189, claims to be the oldest inn pub in England and has cellars which are carved from the rocks beneath Nottingham Castle.

(images via 1, 2)

Pub signs on the same theme are the Saracen’s Head and the Lamb and Flag, the flag representing the crusaders, with Jesus as the lamb. Another sign related to an event in the medieval period is at the Magna Carta pub in Lincoln. The Bishop of Lincoln was one of the signatories to the famous document in 1215 and for centuries one of the four remaining copies was kept at the cathedral, before being put on display at Lincoln Castle.

(images via 1, 2)

Long after the era of wandering pilgrims and crusading knights, travelers would again provide the impetus for the naming of pubs. In the eighteenth century, coaching inns became established with such predictable names as Coach and Horses, Farrier’s Arms or Horse and Groom and as the Industrial Revolution developed, canals were built to carry goods and raw materials, bringing with them pubs called Waterway or Navigation. By the middle of the nineteenth century, with the growth of the rail network, most towns in the country had a pub with some connection to trains, such as the Railway Arms or the Station Hotel.

(images via 1, 2, 3, 4)

Pub signs as we know them today originated with a Royal Act in 1393, in which Richard II declared that "whosoever shall brew ale in the town with intention of selling it must hang out a sign, otherwise he shall forfeit his ale." Since most of the population at the time was illiterate, pictorial signs were used instead of lettering to advertise premises selling beer and ale.

Almost heaven, serving heavenly ales

The first pictures were probably based on stained glass windows common in churches and cathedrals, since images of angels, saints, Noah’s Ark and other religious symbols were easily recognizable.

(images via 1, 2)

However things changed in the Reformation in the sixteenth century, with the dissolution of the monasteries. Pub owners thought it wise to change their names to show allegiance to the crown, renaming themselves the Kings Arms or King’s Head, while others eliminated any Catholic connections. St Peter, shown as the guardian of the gates of Heaven, was turned into the Crossed Keys and some Noah’s Arks became Ships, although obviously establishments located in coastal towns had pubs with nautical names for a different reason. Henry VIII also redistributed church lands, and granted noble titles to his supporters, hence some landlords renamed their pubs after the local family who were now the new power in the area, hence pubs with names like the Duke of Sussex or the Devereux, named after the Earls of Essex.

(images via 1, 2, 3)

Religious names did survive in some cases though and signs showing bells in one form or another are still seen often in Britain. While St. George and his conflict with the dragon clearly have religious origins, St. George is also the patron saint of England and is perhaps considered more as a symbol of patriotism than a connection to the Church.

(images via 1, 2)

Royalty features heavily in pub signs, whether in portraits of monarchs or other related items, such as crowns, coats or arms heraldry and so on. The Rising Sun, for example, was the badge of Edward III. The White Hart was the badge of Richard II, who first decreed that pubs should have exterior signs, so it’s hardly surprising that the White Hart is one of the most popular names. The Red Lion is also a very common sight in towns around the UK; it is also one of the symbols of Scotland and it has been suggested that the popular pub sign might have originated with King James I on his accession to the throne of England in 1603.

(images via 1, 2, 3)

The original story behind the Blue Boar (image in the middle above) is hard to substantiate, but is supposed to refer to the Earl of Oxford, who was part of Henry Tudor’s army at the Battle of Bosworth. Richard III, who was killed in the battle, used a white boar as his own emblem and the legend states that after the king was dead, all the white boar pub signs were quickly painted blue, to demonstrate loyalty to the new regime. Very hard to prove after all this time, of course, but it’s an interesting tale, nonetheless.

The Rose and Crown is also derived from royal history, but there are two main theories as to its origin. The first relates to the Wars of the Roses between the house of Lancaster, symbolized by the red rose, and the house of York, who used the white rose, to control the crown of England. The second theory relates to the marriage, which effectively ended the rivalry of York and Lancaster, when the victor of the battle of Bosworth in 1485, Henry Tudor, married Elizabeth of York, reuniting the warring branches of the royal family and founding the Tudor dynasty.

(images via 1, 2, 3)

Charles II was the inspiration behind pubs called the Royal Oak (see above), which often depict a painting of a tree with a crown resting in the branches. After the civil war, the future king was on the run from the parliamentary forces and hid undetected in the branches of an oak tree, despite his pursuers being directly below him.

The King's Head will frown at you, if you approach it too drunk

The King’s Head is a popular name for pubs and many different monarchs can be seen on the signs hanging outside. In 1714, the era of the House of Hanover began in England and from then until 1830, there were four kings in succession called George, hence the large number of pubs with this name in the UK. The image on the right - are you paying attention? - depicts Jimi Hendrix, a modern variation on the "King's Head" idea:

(images via 1, 2, 3)

Although England has had far less queens than kings throughout it’s history, queens also appear on pub signs, such as the well-known monarchs Elizabeth I and Victoria (even Prince Albert, Victoria’s beloved consort, has pubs named after him).

This unusual design that looks like a huge postage stamp is actually based on the penny black, the world's first adhesive stamp of a public postal system, issued by the UK in 1840.

(images via 1, 2)

Sports of various kinds are frequently represented on pub signs, such as the Cricketer’s Arms or the Angler’s Rest in more modern times, with such names as Greyhound, Dog and Duck, Fox and Hounds and the Bird on Hand, which denoted falconry, dating from earlier eras. Signs like these often advertised the entertainment on offer inside the premises to the largely illiterate population.

(images via 1, 2)

The Bear or Bear and Ragged Staff, was a reference to bear baiting, but is also related to the noble Neville family and Warwick the Kingmaker. Many pubs with bull in the name would have held bull baiting events and the word cock on the sign would let customers know the pub offered cockfighting. However, any pub called the Cock and Bottle has nothing to do with cockfighting, but simply meant that both bottled and draught beers were available, the cock referring to a beer tap.

(images via 1, 2)

Some pubs were named for the main occupation of a geographic area, such as the Golden Fleece, an obvious reference to mythology, but also indicating a connection to the wool trade. Other professions present in pub signs are coopers, bricklayers, masons, plumbers, carpenters, blacksmiths and many more. Pubs would be meeting places for local tradesmen and even served as a type of employment office.

(images via 1, 2, 3)

(right image credit: Cory Doctorow)

CONTINUE TO PART TWO! ->

Simon Rose is the author of science fiction and fantasy novels for children, including The Alchemist's Portrait, The Sorcerer's Letterbox, The Clone Conspiracy, The Emerald Curse, The Heretic's Tomb and The Doomsday Mask.

CONTINUE TO "BEST BEERS!" ARTICLE ->

Permanent Link......+StumbleUpon ...+Facebook

Punch Hole Clouds & Other Rarely Seen Cloud Formations

2008-12-16T14:20:00.009-08:00

"QUANTUM SHOT" #510
Link, by A. Abrams

"Crop Circles in the Sky", with cute little tails sticking out of them

We covered bizarre cloud formations before, but there seems to be no end of them... The tsunami-looking fog wave was strange enough, and now these "gateways in the sky" - circular absence of clouds, with wispy tendrils reaching out of them...

Punch Hole Clouds may appear as a circular or oval holes in a layer of supercooled clouds; sometimes they assume a form of a perfect circle and persist for quite a long time, drifting together with the cloud layer. One explanation seems to blame the air traffic (the jet contrail intersections) combined with a thermal inversion (a circular motion of a rising warm air). Here is one, observed over the Gunnison Valley in Colorado:

(image credit: Cuerling)

Another strange hole in the cloud, reported from Mobile, Alabama USA, Dec. 2003 (and covered by BBC News):

(images credit: Joel Knain and Weatherlings)

Photo taken in Melbourne, Australia in 2003:

(images via)

It seems both rising and sinking air currents can create the same effect. Sometimes a very stable, uniform layer of high-altitude clouds can get "punched though" by a pocket of cold air, which sinks toward the ground - creating the circular hole formation.

(image credit: Neil Johnson(The Tampa Tribune) and Gwen Swinburne)

These "cloud holes" can look like the footprints of some celestial being (UFO enthusiasts rejoice!) or can be amazingly round, like this pair observed in Gallatin, Tennessee by Wayne Carter:

(image credit: Wayne Carter)

NASA takes satellite images of this phenomenon

NASA Terra satellite equipped with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) has captured these images over Acadiana area in southern Louisiana - a splattering of round holes actually stretched over several states: Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. Some were elongated, some appeared to have smaller clouds inside them.

"This strange phenomenon resulted from a combination of cold temperatures, air traffic, and perhaps unusual atmospheric stability. The cloud blanket on January 29 consisted of supercooled clouds. Supercooled clouds contain water droplets that remain liquid even though the temperature is well below freezing, and such clouds are not unusual. As aircraft from the Dallas-Fort Worth airport passed through these clouds, tiny particles in the exhaust came into contact with the supercooled water droplets, which froze instantly. The larger ice crystals fell out of the cloud deck, leaving behind the “holes,” while the tiniest ice particles in the center remained aloft." (source)

(images credit: Jeff Schmaltz, NASA)

Cloud Vortices: another "holey" sky phenomena

Theodore von Karman's "Cloud Vortices" are something else, again: they form when the wind encounters a barrier - such as the Aleutian islands, in this case - and the flowing eddies of cloud create a weird pattern. The image you see below was photographed from the International Space Station, and the animation shows the double row of vortices, which rotate opposite from each other.

(image credit: NASA)

(image credit: Cesareo de la Rosa Siqueira, via)

More Incredible and Fascinating Clouds

...that make our sky worthy to look at from time to time (those who only look at the computer monitor, take note). Here is an extremely strong thunderstorm cloud that brewed over northwest Calgary:

(images credit: D'Arcy Norman)

Another supercell cloud in Alberta skies, this time over Edmonton:

(image credit: Greg)

'shrooms:

(image credit: Cloud Appreciation Society)

Another cloud "wave", similar to the one over South Dakota Badlands (see here):

(image credit: Barry Slade)

Roll clouds... get into a small plane and start "surfing" them! -

(image credit: Russell White)

(image credit: Dan Bush)

A Cloud Angel -

(sent in by Dave)

Two light-sabers get crossed in the sky:

(image credit: Olga Olgert)

A fire-breathing rabbit-dragon, and a fantastic cloud edge:

(original unknown)

A "genie", coming out of a bottle:

(image credit: Raoul Pop)

Spectacular lenticulars in the morning light... and a whole "pancake" stack of them, over at Mount Rainier in Washington:

(image credit: Arco Images, Alamy, National Geographic)

Stormy:

(image via)

An interesting rainbow effect:

(original unknown)

Nacreous clouds - good page about them, with lots of info:

(image credit: Atmospheric Optics)

Prepare to get squashed, Earthlings! -

(image credit: Sam LeBarron)

CONTINUE TO "EXTREME WEATHER" DRB SERIES! ->

Also Read:
Mammatus, Lenticular and Other Extreme Clouds
Fog Storm Over Badlands
Extreme & Beautiful Storm Clouds

Permanent Link......+StumbleUpon ...+Facebook

The Triangle: Jaw-Dropping Juggling

2009-10-09T00:22:00.006-07:00

Link
Scroll down for today's pictures & links.

The Triangle: Jaw-Dropping Juggling

This mesmerizing performance by Michael Moschen demonstrates his amazing dexterity and fluid, almost magical movements. You may have also seen Michael juggling crystal balls in the "Labyrinth" movie (with David Bowie).

url

Today's pictures & links:

Now in Black-and-White

The famous Snow White MacBook cover - click here to view the original - gets an even better treatment in black-and-white:

Buy this cover from Vinylville on Etsy. Or choose a whiter shade of pale.

------------

This Does Make More Sense, Doesn't It?

Dmitri Mendeleev did not dream up The Periodic Table in this shape, but that's only because his head rested on a rectangular pillow. Now, had the pillow been round-shaped...

Read more more about this idea.

------------

All Shook Up

(image via, original unknown)

"My tongue get tied when I try to speak... My insides shake like a leaf on a tree..." - click here for a neat video

------------

Strangely-Shaped Chinese Chakka Houses

Ryan Pyle at the Global Post took some fascinating shots of circular houses with inner courtyards (with small temples built in the middle). These are the Hakka Tulou "apartments" in Yongding county, Fujian province - effectively small fortresses built against bandit attacks (the upper levels have gun openings all around):

(images credit: Ryan Pyle)

See the full article with photos here.

------------

Mixed fresh links for today:

The Biggest Mall in the World is Also the Creepiest, more info - [fascinating]
Graham's Number: Completely Unimaginable!, more - [wow science]
Probably the strangest feature of Saturn, explanation - [space]
Where automobiles go to die, in style - [abandoned]
At this cafe you get what the person before you ordered - [weird]
Brilliant & Bizarre Bedroom Designs - [compilation]
Only when you see four sides of the story... - [this project is going to suck you in]
The Persistence of Vinyl Records - [surreal art]
Two Balloons Do A Strange Thing - [neat video, science]
Never underestimate the power of a great story - [fun video]
You Need a Sixth Finger! - [vintage video]
Huge Paint Fight Between Twitter Followers - [cool video ad]
Tenerife has the best graffiti? - [urban art]
The biggest bank heist in history - [Hitler's gold]
Great Coffee-themed Photography - [cute pics]
Make stunning Flash websites for free! - [promotion]

------------

Grotesque Clocks by Karl Claydon

Karl Claydon makes clocks that literally eat time… and would gladly eat you too if given a second’s opportunity.

(images credit: K. Claydon)

Karl's work reminds us of the darkly surreal richly-detailed sculptures by Kris Kuksi - see our article and interview with Kris "The Art of the Grotesque".

If you need a shot of the grotesque in day-to-day fashion, nothing will get as many stares, or create as much controversy as this outfit:

(original unknown)

------------

The Mine Squad

These boots were made for some pretty dangerous walking...

(original unknown)

------------

Eclectic, Surreal, Haunting

Sometimes brilliant, always disturbing, drawings by Dino Buzzati are now being re-issued by the New York Review of Books Classics: Poem Strip is choke-full of strange stuff (some nsfw).

from Dino Buzzati's Poema a fumetti (1969), Poem Strip (NYRB, 2009)

------------

Geeky Bliss for Girls

(original unknown)

------------

"365 Designs in a Year" One-man Challenge

Chow Hon Lam from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is a very versatile, talented artist. His current challenge is to draw 365 cool designs - each in a different style. Some of them are simply brilliant:

(art by Chow Hon Lam)

See many of these designs here.

------------

Golden Romance

Reaffirm your values:

(image via)

------------

Muddy Waters

Extreme Off-Roading was on DRB before, but these images are relatively new. Still stuck, still dirty:

(images via)

Don't miss our article Siberian No-Road Adventures for even stickier "stuck" situations.

------------

Only in India

This must be the most politically incorrect sign on earth. Spotted by Matthew Lowden in Fort Kochi, Kerala, India:

------------

Awww!... Look at the baby!

(original unknown)

READ THE PREVIOUS ISSUE ->

Permanent Link......+StumbleUpon ...+Facebook

Link Latte 121

2009-10-12T00:54:00.004-07:00

#121 - Week of October 11, 2009

Chicken-Powered Atomic Bombs - [fascinating]
Incredible Video of Bullet Impacts - [in slow motion]
Steampunk Mice Modification - [pics, scroll down]
Brilliant Idea: Piano Urban Installation - [cool video]
Great Futuristic Technical Illustrations - [design]
Richard Feynman on chess, fairy pieces in chess - [interesting]
The True Story of the Red October, more - [history]
If we linked to it before, it's worth linking to it again - [trains, Japan]
Moscow Clad in Snow, 1908 Video - [atmospheric]
Silver Swan Automaton - [vintage tech]
The Spiders That Decorate Their Own Webs - [wow nature]
Hand-drawn Mazes - [cool art]
The Weirdest Cameras - [neat collection]
Life in the Computer Cloud - [infographic]
NASA's Lost Female Astronauts - [interesting]
Shoes that geeks would love - [weird fashion]
Internet Addiction: World Wide Woe - [interesting]
Bottom of the River: Unusual Animated Video - [music video]
Gomboc: most unstable shape - [gadget]
Hilarious Mac Hater, more - [funny]
Be Careful Next Time You're in Tokyo - [scary, gross]
Try to "un-hear" these songs, more - [fun videos]
Rube Goldberg Breakfast Machine - [geek art]
Deranged DIY: Crazy Home Project Ideas - [compilation]
Neat trailer for the upcoming steampunk book - [sci-fi]
Don't miss another installment of "Simon's Cat" - [fun video]
Beautiful Smoke Effects - [wow music video]
Three Cats and One Steak - [fun video]
Procol Harum performs a Bach-influenced piece - [wow video]
Dinosaurs visit some German show - [cool video]
Make stunning Flash websites for free! - [promotion]
Most Bizarre Handmade Art from Etsy - [weird]
Things we throw away (which we shouldn't) - [green tips]

SEE ALL OTHER LINK LATTE ISSUES HERE

Germania: The Nazi's Monumental Plans for Berlin

2009-09-25T00:25:00.006-07:00

Link
Scroll down for today's pictures & links.

Germania: The Nazi's Monumental Plans for Berlin

Here is a fascinating 3-D modelled flyby of Nazi Germany's planned architectural makeover of Berlin. Hitler intended to establish a World Capital he called Germania (strangely, this is the Russian term for Germany) with some of the most colossal buildings ever conceived. The Volkshalle (People's Hall) was designed by Hitler himself (read more about Germania's planned monumental architecture here).

url

Also read our article Totalitarian Architecture of the Third Reich.

Today's pictures & links:

Cadillac, 1958 Models. Shades of Glory Past.

Click to enlarge these gorgeous renditions, courtesy Plan59 - great site devoted to the vintage advertisements and automobile ephemera.

(images via)

See more American vintage car advertisements in our series Cars and Girls.

And not to forget some very groovy-looking "Atomic Age" concepts from General Motors in the 1950s:

------------

Majestic Space, Courtesy the Refurbished Hubble Telescope

Simply mind-blowing in their beauty, these images were released by NASA on Sept. 9, 2009 (more info). Click to enlarge.

Stars bursting to life in the chaotic Carina Nebula (AP Photo/ NASA)

Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 6217 (AP Photo/ NASA)

A clash among members of a famous galaxy quintet reveals an assortment of stars across a wide color range, from young, blue stars to aging, red stars (AP Photo/ NASA)

A Perfect Storm of Turbulent Gases STScI-PRC2003-13 (AP Photo/ NASA)

"Resembling the fury of a raging sea, the image above actually shows a bubbly ocean of glowing hydrogen gas and small amounts of other elements such as oxygen and sulfur - a small region within M17, a hotbed of star formation. M17, also known as the Omega or Swan Nebula, is located about 5,500 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. The wave-like patterns of gas have been sculpted and illuminated by a torrent of ultraviolet radiation from young, massive stars, which lie outside the picture to the upper left. The glow of these patterns accentuates the three-dimensional structure of the gases. The ultraviolet radiation is carving and heating the surfaces of cold hydrogen gas clouds. The warmed surfaces glow orange and red in this photograph."

------------

The Prayer Meeting

(original unknown)

------------

Mixed fresh links for today:

Russians do have a Doomsday Machine after all - [Dr. Strangelove?]
Missions to Mars should be one-way only? - [interesting idea]
Unexpected result of the melting of Arctic ice - [hilarious]
Architecture designed to make you fell hungry - [weird designs]
The Intricate Art of the Banknote - [cool art]
Steampunk Mechanical Giraffe Sculpture - [art]
Are you a nerd, dork, geek, or dweeb? - [neat chart]
Unlawful and weird food, and where to get it - [weird]
Should I eat this marshmallow now, or... - [fun video]
San Francisco now has... skater's downhill neon Tetris! - [wow video]
Artificial Paradise, Inc. (a short film) - [impressive video]
The Poetry of Forgotten Places - [abandoned]
Mobile Homes of the Future - [futurist design]
Lovely markings on Animals (Not Photoshop) - [cute pics]
Make stunning Flash websites for free! - [promotion]

------------

Speaking of the Russian Doomsday Machine ("The Perimeter", or "The Dead Hand")

The first article linked to above is a chilling look at an automatic nuclear launch system that unleashes once it decides that a full-scale nuclear attack on Russia is taking place. Nobody knows exactly where the "Perimeter" system robot brain resides, but there are some sites that have been on American radar for some time.

Here are photos of at least one such ballistic nuclear installation: Kosvin Kamen, deep in the Ural Mountains. The location of this nuclear base is well-known in the West, but what exactly hides beneath the pretty mountain shown below, is open to conjecture. The eye-witnesses in the nearby village testify that this mountain is completely honeycombed with tunnels, with more trucks and construction coming to the site.

These are the "control missiles", or "master missiles". They launch first, and once safely airborne activate the launch codes for all other Russian nukes (including the ones on the submarines, and on heavy bombers):

The "Dead Hand" system would still require a human touch: a soldier somewhere deep in the bunker will need to actually push the button, before all Hell breaks loose:

(images via)

------------

Street Artist Cyclops' New Show in London

Lucas Price - aka Cyclops - is a new star in the urban art world; his debut show running from October 15-November 13 show marks his ascension from a life on the streets to one of the UK’s bestselling graffiti-inspired artists.

This image particularly strikes a chord:

(image credit: Lucas Price)

"Featuring the artist’s irreverent and often politically-loaded satire as well as visual commentary on society’s dark underbelly, this promises to be the most audacious debut show of the year."

Another great exhibition is taking place in West Hollywood, California, through Saturday, September 26, 2009 - "The Machine in the Garden", featuring original paintings by Tristan Shane and four other steampunk-oriented artists:

(click to enlarge)

Here is the sculpture by Ron Rogers, for example:

(image credit: Ron Rogers)

------------

The Apotheosis of Taste...

... has been reached somewhere in Russia:

In the meantime, according to reputable news source The Onion Western civilization will reach its nadir this Friday, which is... um, today... Read more here.

------------

See What Can't Be Seen

Send your sample to ASPEX, a leading producer of scanning electron microscopes (SEM) and microanalysis software, and have them scan it for you!.

Yes, you heard right, we are talking about a free, SEM scan of any sample you'd like to send them. You could send a piece of glass, some broccoli, pocket lint perhaps... anything you'd like to see a picture of under a powerful microscope. Once they receive the sample, they'll post the resulting picture online for you and all of your friends to see. Hopefully, you can find some pretty intriguing stuff lying around your homes or offices to scan!

(images credit: ASPEX Corp. EDX Spectroscopy)

To send a sample, you need to download and fill out this form from the ASPEX website. Then mail it along with the sample to:

ASPEX Corporation
Free Sample Submissions
175 Sheffield Dr.
Delmont, PA 15626

Once ASPEX has completed the scan, the images and report will be posted on their website on this page. It should take about two weeks for the results to post to the ASPEX website, and they will also notify submitters via email. Samples scanned for free will not be returned.

Also don't miss our article Joys of Microscope Photography.

------------

Mi-i-i-i-ne!!!!

(original unknown)

------------

Steampunk Little Atrocities

They feel unwanted and unloved... it is really too bad.

Any company will do:

------------

The Most Branded Object in the World

You can order it here, but then all these brands should pay you to wear it:

(art by Frank Tjepkema)

------------

Can Nature Get Any Weirder?

Read all about this five-fingered carrot hand here.

(image via)

(original unknown)

------------

Some of the Great Star Wars T-shirts

There's a gazillion of Star Wars t-shirts available online... but some did catch our eye recently:

Didn't feel the Force (or the Froth) with any of these ones? Try this list, then.

------------

Perhaps the Best Way to Fish:

------------

Something Entirely Weird and Addictive

See if you can resist reading this great anthology of "flash fiction" from a roster of talented "new weird" writers, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. The cover itself speaks volumes about the dizzying heights of literary madness attained inside the book's covers. I predict that this sort of "flash fiction" will become highly contagious, and you might even get to writing a vignette or two yourself. Read more about it here.

Contributors include Peter Straub, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Brian Evenson, Henry Kaiser, Gene Wolfe, Hal Duncan, Jeffrey Ford, Rikki Ducornet, Holly Phillips, Stephen R. Donaldson, K.J. Bishop, Michael Swanwick, Ellen Kushner, Daniel Abraham, Jay Lake, Liz Williams, Tanith Lee, Sarah Monette, Conrad Williams, and Marly Youmans.

------------

Mystery Bike-Thing

Well... I can not imagine why would anyone want to ride it this way, other than to get his, or her head straight.

(original unknown)

READ THE PREVIOUS ISSUE ->

Permanent Link......+StumbleUpon ...+Facebook

Fabulous Las Vegas, Part 2: Modern Marvels

2009-10-05T22:43:00.007-07:00

"QUANTUM SHOT" #592
Link - article by Avi Abrams and Crystal W.

Most Amazing Themed Interiors of Las Vegas

This part is written by our guest writer Crystal, with photography by Avi Abrams, Dark Roasted Blend

Forget about fear and loathing. There are some truly wondrous environments and architectural spectacles that only Las Vegas could conjure - of course, we can not cover all of them within the limits of the short article, but we are going to mention some memorable ones.

(photos by Avi Abrams)

One need not travel far to satisfy a desire for fantastic architecture. Some of the world’s most impressive designs can be found among the bright lights of famous (or infamous, depending on how you look at it) Las Vegas. Along this one length of boulevard, people can get a taste of New York, Paris or Venice. They can walk amongst circus performers and magicians. They can view modern spectacles of engineering at Bellagio, Wynn Las Vegas and MGM.

There is no other place on Earth that can take you from a ride in a gondola to a photo opportunity beside the Statue of Liberty without jumping on a plane. In fact, you may not need to leave one traffic intersection to see four entirely different environments:

(image via)

Check out these modern marvels and bask in their gorgeous interior design. Here are some beautiful sculptures near Monte Carlo Resort:

Very tastefully done interior design in Paris, Las Vegas (although folks who have actually traveled to France might say that the original has much more joie de vivre, but this sentiment applies to the whole Las Vegas - and Disney, for that matter - design policy):

A Star Trek-styled portal at Las Vegas Hilton leads, regrettably, to a simple Earth-bound hotel:

Inside the pyramid of Luxor Las Vegas. This scene reminds me of Blade Runner, but only if I squint very hard:

"Red Square" in Mandalay Bay, featuring the decapitated likeness of... Lenin?:

Some other interesting design elements, found at Mandalay Bay, Paris and the Venetian:

(images via 1, 2)

Entirely Unexpected: Huge Wine Tower Inside Aureole Restaurant at Mandalay Bay

Mandalay Bay Resort provides a slice of Southeast Asia in Las Vegas: you are greeted with the call of exotic birds while lush foliage embellishes the interior and tiny pagodas and temples dot the surroundings. However, something entirely different can be found inside the Aureole Restaurant, something you do not expect to see as a part of Asia-themed interior design. Entering the staircase that envelopes the Wine Tower you see a 42-foot tall glass case - a sort of interior skyscraper, with thousands of the delicate glass bottles inside. Inside the towering case, two “wine angels” clothed in black catsuits retrieve the precious elixir:

(image credit: Randy Stewart)

The glass case offers a mesmerizing selection of over 2,000 wines from all over the world. There is room for 10,000 bottles and amazingly enough, the tower is refrigerated to ensure each drink is chilled to perfection.

The Murals of The Venetian: Michelangelo Would Approve?

The Venetian is breathtaking and one of the most unique hotels on the strip. As soon as you step foot inside you will be taken back by all the intricate details. Designed to look like a romantic vacation in Venice, the hotel is adorned with fabulous artwork, Italian flavor, and an indoor sky surrounding marketplace-like shops.

Feeling romantic? The Grand Canal circles the hotel and features gondoliers signing melodies while you glide through the canal in your gondola:

Probably most mesmerizing are the ceiling murals meant to resemble the work of Michelangelo. Vibrant imagery mimic the style of the Italian Renaissance and provide guests with heavenly inspiration throughout the hotel.

(photos by Avi Abrams)

Authentic Art Deco Elements Inside New York New York

Cross the Atlantic and take a bite out of the Big Apple. New York New York Hotel is the epitome of the legendary city, minus the traffic. Visitors can ride the Manhattan Express that circles the hotel before heading to the ESPN Zone for some All-American food.

Have a seat on the Brooklyn Bridge for great views of the strip. Inside, the hotel is built to resemble Central Park with a stream and authentic-looking New York neighborhoods.

(Art Deco design elements - photos by Avi Abrams)

The World’s Largest Chocolate Fountain, Bellagio, Italy.... er, Las Vegas, of course

Let your tastebuds tingle and your eyes widen with lust at the sight of the World’s Largest Chocolate Fountain, both in size and volume. Nestled in the Spa Tower at The Bellagio, this modern creamy sculpture was the design feat of award-winning Executive Pastry Chef Jean-Philippe Maury and Norwood and Antonia Oliver Design Associates. This cocoa cascade creates a tantalizing masterpiece that is both compelling and scrumptious.

Standing a heartmelting 27 feet, melted chocolate flows from ceiling to floor along a series of cascades at a rate of 120 quarts per minute. Three tanks melt 2,100 pounds of milk, dark, and white chocolate to 120F before dispensing it through 6 spouts at the top. The rich blend of cocoa then twists and twirls around one another throughout their journey down a series of 25 glass vessels.

Aqua glass was molded into half-inch thick chocolate vessels by artist Michel Mailhot and then suspended by cables to offer the illusion of floating chocolate.

(images via)

The entire spectacle is encased by a series of 300-pound glass plates that rise to form a funnel as the tiers expand upward. At the end of the downward journey, the chocolate collects in hidden melting pools before being pumped back to the beginning.

Six pumps work to transport the molten chocolate up stainless-steel pipes two inches in diameter hidden within the walls of Maury’s Patisserie. Each pipe is surrounded by another three-inch pipe that circulates hot oils to keep the chocolate melted as it defies gravity to start over again. More than 500 feet of piping keeps this molten wonder running 24 hours a day. Even though the fountain is an impressive 27 feet, only 14 feet is actually visible to guests. The other 13 feet make up the piping and mechanical features.

(Bellagio's beautiful Art Nouveau glass flower ceiling, and still more flowers - photos by Avi Abrams)

While at the Bellagio, don’t pass up a chance to see the dancing fountains. Water and color pulse to the beat of Broadway and classical tunes. The most serene and complex water feature ever built is lovingly designed to inspire romance as colors and blue aqua serenade one another long into the night.

The fountains are located within the eight-acre lake in front of The Bellagio. The scene spans 1,000 feet in length and comprises over 1,000 water expressions and over 4,000 individually programmed lights. With certain jets providing smooth continuous flows and others chiming in with quick, short bursts to different melodies, each show is a unique piece of expression and design.

(image via)

Since it seems that Las Vegas can get a little expensive, take note that seeing each of these treasures is free – however, it may be difficult to visit the chocolate fountain without indulging in some of the delicacies at Jean-Philippe Maury’s Patisserie.

(image via)

About the author: Crystal has a passion for all things weird and travel-related. She doesn't frequent the eccentricity of "sin city" too often but when she does, her favorite place to relax is the Wynn Las Vegas - Photography by Avi Abrams, Dark Roasted Blend.

Go back to read Part 1 ->

Also Read: "World's Strangest Theme Parks"
"Most Beautiful Roads in the World, Part 1"

Permanent Link......+StumbleUpon ...+Facebook
Category: Travel,Vintage

Fabulous Las Vegas, Part 1: Vintage Treasures

2009-10-05T22:29:00.013-07:00

"QUANTUM SHOT" #592
Link - article by Avi Abrams and Erik Wunstell

Yet Another Design and Architecture Boom in a Desert

No-one needs to be reminded that Las Vegas had stayed in a continuous construction and demolition frenzy for the past fifty years. Perhaps not at such maddening pace as Dubai, but yes, it's been built very quickly, and for the most part, ingeniously. It is safe to say that Las Vegas' existence is a modern wonder in itself, a riddle and a paradox, worthy of a significant cultural and artistic investigation.

How can such a lush compendium of design kitsch, mutating popular culture, otherworldly architecture and "let's live for today" attitudes can flourish in the middle of a desert, survive the boom-and-bust cycles of economy and ignore revelations about its Mafia-originated money and a shady past? Well, the answer is obvious: gambling, gambling, more gambling and now some family attractions (an ersatz-Disney of sorts. And Disney is an ersatz version of... oh, never mind).

In this article we are going to look at some incredibly garish (and possibly glamorous) visions of Old Vegas and mention some fascinating attractions of Las Vegas today.

(images credit: Nat Farbman, VintageVegas)

Vintage Vegas is nothing less than a depository of dreams

Nowhere else on Earth, we daresay, can the "new" become the "old hat", "retro" and "gone" quite as quickly as in Vegas. In fact, you might not recognize some parts of the city if you did not visit for only a couple of years.

Just look at those "before and after" photographs of Las Vegas Strip, from 1952 and 2009 - I'm sure you'll amazed and wonder what may become of this place in another fifty years, say, in 2059?

1952:

2009:

(images credit: Vintage Vegas)

The old gives way to the new with a typical Las Vegas flourish: witness this photo of November 5, 1995 implosion of the Landmark tower:

(image credit: Vintage Vegas)

Here is how Las Vegas started (you all know the gangster angle of this story, so we are not going to repeat it here). Shown below is the first casino-motel complex built on the Las Vegas strip - the 1941 El Rancho Vegas:

(images via Erik Wunstell, In Old Las Vegas)

There was hardly anything around this resort at the time, too - just miles and miles of empty, scorched desert. Well, there was a "downtown" area, consisting of a standard train station, and a street of some saloons (see the photo below, taken in 1905) -

Most of the images in this section were graciously provided by Erik Wunstell, of the site In Old Las Vegas. Visit his pages devoted to Downtown Vegas and The Strip to see the development of every casino that was ever built in Las Vegas.

Imagine arriving into town on the 1957 "City of Las Vegas" Aerotrain:

(images credit: Vieilles Annonces)

Downtown looks stylish (like a setting for a "noir" novel) in this early 1950s photo:

A rapidly-spreading sea of neon and cheesy hotel fronts:

Going down the Strip reveals some enduring monuments of "kitsch" and weird architecture:

Here is a mid-sixties view of the 1952 Sands Casino and the hotel tower (where the Venetian resort stands now):

The Stardust was looking somewhat futuristic, in a Telstar way:

Behind these Caesar's Palace and The Flamingo signs is an empty space - nothing - back in 1977. Eventually these empty areas will be filled with Caesar's Forum Shops, Harrah's, The Mirage, Treasure Island and the Venetian:

(image credit: Erik Wunstell)

Some vintage sunshine and joy seeps from these pictures, through your monitor, spoiling your desk:

(The Desert Inn pool, 1950)

Some other activities in vintage Vegas... some are glamorous, others less so:

The show-girls of Las Vegas vs. Girls of Paris:

(images via 1, 2)

I don't know why this idea was abandoned... maybe it's time to revive it. Why gamble inside in a dark cavernous room, when you can do it outside, and even INSIDE the pool?

Some vintage gaming machines:

(1906 Mills Company's 'Liberty Bell' and streamlined Jennings 'Sun-Chief' model, among others)

By the way, here is a camera that captures the image and atmosphere of the Old Vegas in more ways than one: "Stardust" camera, by Lockwasher Designs:

(image credit: Lockwasher)

The map of Las Vegas from 1958 - again, compare it with modern maps (click to enlarge):

(images via Erik Wunstell, In Old Las Vegas)

For those willing to dig further into Las Vegas' history and development, we recommend the In Old Las Vegas site mentioned above - and also the huge depository of retro Vegas imagery in this Flickr link - Vintage Vegas, by Damien.

All these photos of garish and fake looking signs and "motel monuments" only date from 20 to 50 years back. Compare them with the recent developments in Las Vegas: often predictable, but sometimes also interesting and even brilliant examples of lavish interior design and flamboyant architecture (continue to Part 2 of this series).

CONTINUE TO PART TWO: "VEGAS MODERN MARVELS" ->

Permanent Link......+StumbleUpon ...+Facebook
Category: Travel,Vintage

Archive: September 2009

2009-10-04T18:11:00.005-07:00

	Incredible Astronomical Clocks Antique and medieval technology blended with art
	Cars & Girls! (DRB Series) Beautiful cars and ladies in vintage advertising
	Surprising Findings in North and South Korea Some little known facts, plus great photography
	Battersea, and Other Abandoned Power Stations Part 2 of popular urban exploration series
	Hilarious & Crazy Signage Part 13 of this side-splitting series
	Living, Growing Architecture Grow your house one root at a time
	"Steampunk Anthology" Reviewed, in All Its Brass Glory Making all sci-fi punks in the world "feel lucky", since 2008

	September 24, 2009 - Biscotti Bits Mixed Links & Images incl. "Germania: Nazi's Monumental Plans for Berlin"
	September 5, 2009 - Biscotti Bits Mixed Links & Images incl. "Berlin Tower Lift-Off!"

Continue on to other monthly archives:

August 2009
June-July 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
Link Lattes

Abandoned Places & Urban Exploring

2008-02-23T20:23:00.023-08:00

Featuring the most fascinating abandoned environments around the world, best "urban exploration" adventures and artifacts of technology, left in the most unlikely places. Send us tips and pictures of the places you discovered, we will be happy to add to this collection.

	Battersea, and Other Abandoned Power Stations Part 2 of popular urban exploration series
	Underground Cities and Bunkers: Living Down Below Deep calls to deep...
	Abandoned Boeing 747 Restaurant (& Other Plane Conversions) A plane with unique history, haunted by kitchen smells
	Nightmare Playgrounds, Part 3 More entertaining than creepy? I'd say both
	Epic Abandoned Substations and Power Plants Still generating power... to creep us out
	Abandoned Amusement Parks in Asia Spirited Away, or Spirited for Good?
	The Ghosts of Antarctica: Abandoned Stations & Huts In "The Thing" and "The Mountains of Madness" territory...
	Ghost Rides: Abandoned Parks in South Korea Final Destination, Asian Style
	Beauty in Decay: Photography of Urban Exploration Desolate places with a soul
	Abandoned Castles of Russian Countryside Most improbable, haunted locations
	Nightmare Playgrounds, Part 2 Manic-Depressive Creativity
	Shipwrecks & Sea Disasters The Beauty & the mystery of the wrecked ships
	Extreme Exploration: Russian Nuclear Research Facilities Deep under the mountain, or in the world's deepest lake
	Fear & Loathing inside Abandoned Stalin's Mines Fire & Ice Underground
	Nightmare Playgrounds Seriously disturbing sculptures, meant for kids
	Train Graveyard in Bolivia The closest thing to Salvator Dali Theme Park
	Abandoned Amusement Parks Overgrown into the next dimension
	Rare Photos of the Russian "Buran" Space Program The Largest and Most Expensive in Soviet Space Exploration History
	Abandoned Ionospheric Research Station Rusting Giant Antennas in the Middle of Ukrainian Forest
	Ballistic News Fear & Loathing Inside Missile Launch Bases
	The Rusting Monsters of Lopatino's Mines More skeletons in Russia's haunted countryside
	The Biochemical "Oops" List Welcome to Weirdsville: "I don't feel so good..."
	Abandoned Tunnels & Vast Underground Spaces Urban Exploring at its best
	Creepy High Voltage Installations Close Encounters of the "Tesla" Kind
	Strange Towers of the Third Reich Hide from bombs above ground, not under it.
	Cthulhu Live and Prosper H. P. Lovecraft's "little monsters"
	Ghost Cars of the World In some countries cars simply do not die

+StumbleUpon

+Facebook

Permanent Link...
Category: Travel,Photography

Dark Roasted Blend's Photography Gear Picks:

Incredible Astronomical Clocks

2009-10-01T22:25:00.007-07:00

"QUANTUM SHOT" #591
Link - article by M. Christian and A. Abrams

Antique and Medieval Technology Blended With Art

Many believe early man saw the universe as a living thing: each flash of lightning, every star in the sky, the rain that fell, the ground beneath their feet – everything around them was part of some huge, living, breathing creature.

But then all that changed. The Greeks, along with their intellectual ancestors, looked at the world and while they saw life they also began to see a mechanism to it all, a precise and ordered regularity.

(Astrolabe, New York Metropolitan Museum of Art - image credit: Charles Tilford)

The Antikythera Device

Alhough we know the ancient Greeks were extremely intelligent, just how smart was hinted at in 1901 – and then confirmed many years later. At first the hunk of rusted iron pulled from the sea near the Greek island of Antikythera was just a curiosity, a bit of archeological weirdness. It was only decades and decades later that modern science was finally able to pry apart the secrets of ancient science. Very, very ancient science.

The Antikythera Mechanism, as it’s called, is a meticulous and precise assembly of 72 gears – a simply staggering piece of craftsmanship. What’s even more astounding is that scientists think the device was an astronomical calculator: an elaborate, incredibly accurate computer that was built in 150 to 100 BC (more info, also see the mechanism in action).

(images via 1, 2)

A model of the mechanism by Tatjana van Vark:

(images credit: Tatjana van Vark)

Other Antikythera Mechanism reconstruction projects and working models:

(images via)

All the instructions for the mechanism are written in Greek; one case when you can say "this manual is all Greek to me" and be entirely correct. Surprising details about this artefact are still being uncovered - for example, the various dials on the back of the Antikythera Mechanism include one dedicated to the four-year Olympiad Cycle of athletic games in ancient Greece!

What’s even more intriguing -- as well as exciting – isn’t the device itself but the broad hint it sends at how technologically advanced the ancient engineers were. The device is certainly miraculous but it was also a common working machine; not a rarity but instead what could be something that navigators used every day. Who knows what other mechanisms and devices have yet to be found?

(The Antikythera Mechanism in a fantasy environment - art by Resona Raille)

Beautiful Astronomical Clock in Prague

A few hundred years later the universe was still a mechanical place but the engineering that went into creating machines to predict and understand it became even more complicated and elaborate. Clocks got a developmental shot in the arm because they – when used with star charts and sextants – were essential navigation tools. It wasn’t long before clock mechanisms were used to track not just the hours, minutes and seconds of commerce and shipping but also the stars and planets in the sky.

One of the more incredible astronomical clocks is the legendary Prague Astronomical Clock. To say that it’s elaborate would be a ridiculous understatement. The clock is an insanely complicated instrument created not only to tell the time but also track the movements of the stars and planets – at least the ones they knew about in the 1400s when the clock was built. It's easy to think that making something as complicated as the Prague clock was a one time, supremely rare thing.

(image credit: Edgar Barany)

(images via 1, 2, 3)

Although the clock wasn’t a common working gizmo like the Antikythera device, it also used technology and craftsmanship that existed in many other Medieval cities – and even, a century or so later, insanely miniaturized to the point where, if you were rich, you could carry what was basically a tiny version in your pocket. Read this article about the grim fate of the clockmaster... which is only a tale, but an atmospheric one at that.

(image credit: ThunderMax)

While complicated, one of the greatest things about the Prague clock is that it isn’t just a working clock; it almost deserves to be called a monumental kinetic sculpture. It ticks and tocks and ticks and tocks in ways, to quote from the Bible, that are “a wonder to behold.” So wondrous, in fact, that you can find computer models online demonstrating just how elegant and beautiful the mechanism is – which says a lot that we use 21st century technology to appreciate the skill of a 1400s clockmaster.

(image via)

Wells Cathedral Astronomical Clock

Another beautiful example of astronomical clock engineering is the famous Wells Cathedral Clock. Begun a few years before Prague’s, the clock is another accurate and heavenly (literally as well as figuratively) mechanism. Like its Prague kin, the clock is a beautiful as well as accurate view of the world as an enormous clockwork machine - a carefully assembled, meticulously crafted, creation.

(image credit: Cormullion)

(images credit: John Glass)

Unfortunately, the growing ubiquity of these clocks’ technology spelled their doom. As more and more people could afford to carry watches there was less and less of a need for a huge, central and, naturally, elaborate town clock. It simply didn’t make financial sense to keep building them, a sign that humanity's evolving view of the world was mechanical: ticks and tocks as well as dollars and sense.

(image credit: The Science Museum, London)

What’s ironic is that with the dawn of the 21st century, in a world ruled by the careful calculations of software, humans are starting to understand, and even plan to use, the uncertainty of a quantum universe: an existence where things are never quite what they seem and chaos is part of How Everything Works.

(Augustinian Friar's Astrological Clock, 1679 - one of the hands takes 20,000 years to revolve. At the Clock Museum in Vienna. - image credit: Curious Expeditions)

Still, the incredible Antikythera device, the Prague and Wells Cathedral clocks, are beautiful in their antique mechanisms – as well as evoking a time when the world was as precise and orderly as the back-and-forth swing of a pendulum.

Astronomical Clock at Hampton Court Palace, London, UK (1540):

(images via)

Zimmertoren Astronomical Clock on Zimmer Tower in Lier, Belgium (left) and Strasbourg's Cathedral Astronomical Clock:

(images via 1, 2)

Lund's Cathedral Astronomical Clock, 1424:

(image credit: Robert)

Lyon's Cathedral Astronomical Clock:

(images via 1, 2)

Beauvais Cathedral has the St. Pierre Giant Astronomical Clock, made by Auguste-Lucien Verité in 1865-8. It contains 90,000 pieces, 68 statutes and 52 dials:

(image credit: Jacques)

Germany's Munster Cathedral Astronomical Clock, 1540:

(image credit: Sacred Destinations)

CONTINUE TO "UNUSUAL ANTIQUE MAPS" ->

Also Read: "Medieval Suits of Armor"
"Weird Books and Illuminated Manuscripts"

Permanent Link......+StumbleUpon ...+Facebook
Category: Art,Vintage

Cars & Girls: Vintage Ads - DRB Series

2009-09-28T22:59:00.002-07:00

DRB Popular Series
- Link

Cars & Girls: The Ultimate Collection of Rare Vintage Automobile Ads

The very definition of an eye-candy! Plus a long, and yes, longing look at the glorious days of spectacular and often outrageous automobile design, producing cars which made girls posing with them even more glamorous... (this series is part of our larger Automobile category and Vintage category). We will be constantly updating this page, as new issues come out, so make sure to bookmark it.

	Cars & Girls, Part 4 These vintage ads are the very definition of an eye-candy!
	The Glory of American (Classic) Automobile, Part 3 American Dream Machines
	Girls and Cars: American Vintage Ads, Part 2 Get her a certain car, and reap the rewards!
	Girls and Cars: European Vintage Ads, Part 1 Ladies and cars: quite an eye-pleasing combination!

CONTINUE TO OUR "AUTOMOBILE" CATEGORY ->

Permanent Link......+StumbleUpon ...+Facebook

"Star Wars" for Your Mind, Heart and Soul

2009-07-30T16:30:00.011-07:00

"QUANTUM SHOT" #581
Link - by A. Abrams and Walyou

The original glamorous large-scale space adventure refuses to die

It's time we wrote about Star Wars Craze again (see our coverage in Part 1 and Part 2).

Many utterly mind-boggling art pieces and original creations saw the light of day since our last round-up, and many devoted fans sent us great pieces of trivia and images that we simply can not ignore. Besides... the fundamental story of Good and Evil, questions of destiny and personal redemption remain strong in this "space opera" franchise, even though they were significantly diluted recently by light-weight and cheesy offerings.

We'll start with the poster that is not that well-known: 1978 Japanese dub version, featuring the Millennium Falcon in all its glory -

(image via)

The proto-dewback rider from 1975 science fiction magazine art by Ron Cobb. This was an inpiration for classic Star Wars lizards -

art by Ron Cobb, 1975, image via

Also don't miss a pile of almost-lost (newly-discovered) original concept art by Ralph McQuarrie! This is for example, an unused promotional T-shirt design and a poster based on original McQuarrie concepts (see some more here)

(images via)

Star Wars Sketchbook is also worth seeking out, as it compiles early (mostly 1977) concepts for spaceships and vehicle designs, made by Joe Johnstone:

(image credit: Joe Johnstone)

Speaking about matte painting and concept art, absolutely gorgeous Star Wars panoramas (by Yanick Dusseault) can be found here... Simply mind-blowing! Click to see an example...

Star Wars superimposed over scenes of Paris (work by Cedric Delsaux) gain something in atmosphere, see for yourself -

On artist site you can see the whole series (click past "next" and "news" and look for "The Dark Lens" option):

(images credit: Cedric Delsaux)

This promotional series for Disney Star Wars Weekends really catches the eye - see more at this page.

(images via)

Gadgets, Goodies and Appliances

This section was compiled thanks to material from a neat little "Gadget News" site - Walyou. Here is what they dug up recently:

"Millennium Falcon" PC case mod (made by Russ Caslis) -

(image credit: mods.xkill)

Darth Vader Toaster - more info - for Imperial morning ritual:

(image credit: Reghardware, right - fragment of work by Waihey)

Star Wars Matryoshka Dolls (made by Matt Brown) - more info:

(image credit: Matt Brown)

Check out Brothers Brick LEGO diorama masterpiece:

(image credit: Brothers Brick)

Boba Fett's armor (full-size!) made out of LEGO:

(images via)

Star Wars + LEGO + chess = irresistible set:

(image credit: Anthony Scanzani)

Sophisticated Star Wars paper craft (with full schematics how to make it out of a sheet of paper) - see more here:

(image via)

Also read on Walyou about Star Wars Tauntaun Sleeping Bag and Darth Vader's gas mask.

(images via)

(image credit: )

According to Newton's Second Law of Motion: Force = Mass x Acceleration. The sign above was made by SoadyPopDesigns, order it here.

(originals unknown)

(image credit: Heave105)

(image via)

Jabba, the Early Years:

nice Photoshop job by Sebastian Niedlich

Star Wars as classic art - more here:

(images via)

Star Wars / Disney mashup, lovingly made by Thumper. Shown here is "Snow White and the Seven Stormtroopers":

(image credit: http://thumper-001.deviantart.com/art/Snow-White-n-7-Stormtroopers-72009594)

George Lucas is stuck in a "writer's block" in carbonite -

(image credit: Bonnie Burton, Starwars.com)

The image above is from Star Wars Celebration Japan (30th anniversary of Star Wars, brought by Lucasfilm to Tokyo). There were other curiosities, for example, the chubby Trooper, and various ridiculously painted Vader helmets (part of the The Vader Project):

(images credit: Bonnie Burton, Starwars.com)

Star Wars Fire Hydrant:

(photo sent in by Alex Dreher, Teneriffe)

Some very Darth Vader-like helmet styles were used during the Iraq War in 2003 by the Fedayeen volunteers (the engraved text reads "Allah, Al Watan, the Ghatadz" - Allah, Country, and Leader)

(image credit: J. Neil)

Demonstrators know how to intimidate police (this photo is from G20 Summit in London, 2009) -

(photo credit: Andy Rain, EPA)

(original unknown)

Two powerful images concerning Darth Vader - the one on the left is called "Dark Leia (Daddy's Little Girl)" and could've happened in some alternative universe. The picture on the right is even more emotionally powerful. It's called "Grief"... clearly showing Anakin's loss, tragically poor choices and ruined life spent in the lust for power.

Left: art by Miravi - Right: art by Joe Corroney and Brian Miller

Some material for this article was collected by Eran Abramson from Walyou, a neat site about various gadgets

ALSO READ PART TWO! ->

DON'T MISS PART ONE! ->

Permanent Link......+StumbleUpon ...+Facebook