I’ve posted a few of these but I’m not sure if anybody who saw it fell for it this hard.
Dumb Flight Surgeon Tricks
May 2, ’06
9:37 PM
A website dedicated to some opinions from flight surgeons during the early days of the manned space program. Here are a few of my favorites:
- Doctors worried that humans might not be able to drink fluids in weightlessness. Schirra countered that in 1948 he had seen Commander Armistead Smith drink a martini while standing on his head at the Quonset Point Officers Club, proving that humans could successfully take fluids at minus-one G, a more demanding task than drinking at zero-G
- Apollo 7 was going to be the first spaceflight after the disastrous Apollo 1 fire that had killed Grissom, White, and Chaffee. In order to decrease the risk of fire, mission planners wanted the Apollo 7 crew to shave all the hair from their bodies. Mission commander Wally Schirra responded “I argued that the hair would grow back in the course of the [11-day] mission, and the new hair would be just as flammable as what had been shaved off. I also intimated that if the danger was such that hair was a hazard, then maybe I’d rather not fly the machine at all. The powers that be relented.
- Dr. Harry Armstrong (? Hubertus Strughold) opined that, before sending humans to Mars, they should probably have their appendix and gallbladder removed.
A Brief History of the “Clenched Fist” Image
May 2, ’06
9:23 PM
A persistent symbol of resistance and unity, the clenched fist (or raised fist) is part of the broader genre of “hand” symbols that include the peace “V,” the forward-thrust-fist, and the clasped hands. The clenched fist usually appears in full frontal display showing all fingers and is occasionally integrated with other images such as a peace symbol or tool.
The human hand has been used in art from the very beginnings, with some stunning examples in Neolithic cave paintings. Early examples of the fist in graphic art can be found at least as far back as 1917 [1], with another example from Mexico in 1948 [2].Fists, in some form, were used in numerous political graphic genres, including the French and Soviet revolutions and the United States Communist Party. However, these all followed an iconographic convention. The fist was always part of something – holding a tool or other symbol, part of an arm or human figure, or shown in action (smashing, etc.). But graphic artists from the New Left changed that in 1968, with an entirely new treatment. This “new” fist stood out with its stark simplicity, coupled with an popularly understood meaning of rebellion and militance.
The human hand has been used in art from the very beginnings, with some stunning examples in Neolithic cave paintings. Early examples of the fist in graphic art can be found at least as far back as 1917 [1], with another example from Mexico in 1948 [2].Fists, in some form, were used in numerous political graphic genres, including the French and Soviet revolutions and the United States Communist Party. However, these all followed an iconographic convention. The fist was always part of something – holding a tool or other symbol, part of an arm or human figure, or shown in action (smashing, etc.). But graphic artists from the New Left changed that in 1968, with an entirely new treatment. This “new” fist stood out with its stark simplicity, coupled with an popularly understood meaning of rebellion and militance.
Park(ing)
May 2, ’06
9:11 PM
A temporary urban park. Not sure how they ticket this if they don’t feed the meter.
All Four Stanzas of the National Anthem
May 2, ’06
7:53 PM
This is a wonderfully written essay by Isaac Asimov on the history of the anthem along with three stanzas which most people probably have never heard of before.
(Thanks Tim, great find)
The 1919 Edition of La Bandera de las Estrellas
May 2, ’06
7:43 PM
Better known as “The Star Spangled Banner” for anglocentric monolinguists. Boing Boing also found a link to four other Spanish versions of the anthem here at the State Department’s website.
Think Progress has a post about how Bush may have been against the idea of the anthem being sung in Spanish last week, however he had no qualms about Jon Secada performing it in Spanish during his campaign and inaugaration back in 2001.
Longest Attack of Hiccups
May 2, ’06
3:07 PM
Charles Osborne (1894–1991) of Anthon, Iowa, USA, started hiccupping in 1922 while attempting to weigh a hog before slaughtering it. He was unable to find a cure, and continued hiccupping until February 1990, a total of 68 year!
Osborne led a normal life in which he had two wives and fathered eight children. The only discomfort from his hiccuping, he claimed, was the constant risk of losing his false teeth!
During the first few decades, he hiccupped up to 40 times a minute, slowing to 20 a minute in later years. He finally stopped in 1990 – after an estimated 430 million spasms – and died the following year.
Daily Dose of Ingersoll
May 2, ’06
3:06 PM
We cannot depend on what are called “inspired books,” or the religions of the world. These religions are based on the supernatural, and according to them we are under obligation to worship and obey some supernatural being, or beings. All these religions are inconsistent with intellectual liberty. They are the enemies of thought, of investigation, of mental honesty. They destroy the manliness of man. They promise eternal rewards for belief, for credulity, for what they call faith.
These religions teach the slave virtues. They make inanimate things holy, and falsehoods sacred. They create artificial crimes. To eat meat on Friday, to enjoy yourself on Sunday, to eat on fast-days, to be happy in Lent, to dispute a priest, to ask for evidence, to deny a creed, to express your sincere thought, all these acts are sins, crimes against some god, To give your honest opinion about Jehovah, Mohammed or Christ, is far worse than to maliciously slander your neighbor. To question or doubt miracles. is far worse than to deny known facts. Only the obedient, the credulous, the cringers, the kneelers, the meek, the unquestioning, the true believers, are regarded as moral, as virtuous. It is not enough to be honest, generous and useful; not enough to be governed by evidence, by facts. In addition to this, you must believe. These things are the foes of morality. They subvert all natural conceptions of virtue.
–Robert Green Ingersoll, “What Would You Substitute For The Bible As A Moral Guide?”
