Martian job opportunities

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Be A Martian! Mars needs YOU! In the future, Mars will need all kinds of explorers, farmers, surveyors, teachers ... but most of all YOU! Join us on the Journey to Mars as we explore with robots and send humans there one day. Download a Mars poster that speaks to you. Be an explorer!

Earlier, in my post NASA's space tourism posters, I showed a series of posters the space agency had created imagining a future of space tourism. For the Kennedy Space Center Visitor's Complex's "Journey to Mars" exhibit they created a series of posters advertising future Martian jobs.

There are more of the posters after the jump. Large versions of them can be downloaded at the above link and printed for display.

On The Road Again

Get ready for a weekend in transit with Canned Heat.

Gone fishing

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I'm going top be out of town for a bit and it is likely I won't be posting much for a week or two. Consider this post to be my postcard from my vacation paradise -- "having a good time, wish you were here, etc., etc.".

Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby

Get ready for a Valentines weekend with Phum Viphurit.

Single screen movie theaters

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In the golden age of Hollywood theater chains were important for distributing films. Most of the theaters were single screen. In keeping with the glamor of Hollywood the theaters often had elaborate facades and interiors. As the industry evolved single screen theaters gradually gave way to multiplexes. Many of the old theaters still exist, some in disrepair, some functioning as art houses, and some now serving entirely different purposes.

These pictures, and those after the jump, are from the Library of Congress digital archive.

Hugh Hefner and Lenny Bruce engage in a blabfest

In the late 1950s and early 1960s Hugh Hefner of Playboy fame tried to break into the weekend late night talk/variety show market. The premise of his show was that you were at a high-end cocktail party. The camera would wander through the party and you might see a famous musician playing the piano, or singers, or encounter celebrities just chit-chatting.

Above is a video of Hugh and Lenny Bruce talking amidst a group of admirers. I had never seen any of Bruce's work before and what was striking is how unfunny he was. Instead he came across as a bit of a doofus with all his hepcat talk and finger snapping.

It really wasn't a bad premise for a show, but a lot of its problems was Hugh Hefner always put a damper on things when he appeared. Even as a young lad he always struck me as a pretentious pipe smoking drip in an expensive suit whenever he was on screen.

All in all the above clip is an interesting look at an artificial fantasy land from a time long past. A reminder that trendiness always devolves into goofiness as the years pass by.

Only You (And You Alone)

Get ready for a focused weekend with Rox Orduño and Fer Ortega.

Steam power without fire

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Above is an illustration and a picture a soda locomotive. They were early steam engines that did not use fire to heat water into steam. Rather, they used a chemical reaction that generated heat when water and caustic soda were combined. They were dangerous, inefficient and had short range  before the soda became too diluted to provide effective propulsion.

They saw limited use in Germany and the U.S. during the 19th century, but fell out of favor quickly.

Below is a modern fireless locomotive. They use a reservoir of compressed air or steam to power the engine. They suffer the same drawback of needed to be frequently recharged. However, they have been used in mining and industrial environments.

In plain sight

A beetle hiding among beetles at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History

(via La boite verte) 

She spent an astonishing amount of time in attending lectures and demonstrations, distributing literature for the Junior Anti-Sex League, preparing banners for Hate Week, making collections for the savings campaign, and such-like activities. It paid, she said; it was camouflage. If you kept the small rules you could break the big ones. ― George Orwell, 1984

The voters triumph over the pencil pushers

Scene from an earlier Brexit protest

Against a backdrop of the tears of EU bureaucrats Great Britain has finally been able to implement the Brexit it voted for years ago. Screw you obstructionists. Here's wishing congratulations and good luck going forward to our friends across the Atlantic.

Let's Go

Get ready to cavort this weekend with Club des Belugas.

Tarzan through the ages

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These are Tarzan movie posters, in chronological order from oldest to newest. Regardless, no matter what decade, he is a big, goofy guy in a loin cloth hanging around the jungle with pretty girls and his ape buddies. In most of the posters it appears that his jungle had a bevy of wild critters and a handy barber shop as well.

They are from 100 Years of Movie Poster's archive: Tarzan 1918-2016. There are more after the jump, and more at the link.

Bo-Taoshi (and people wonder why women live longer then men)

The above video shows some Bo-Taoshi matches. It is a Japanese sport where the goal is to lower the other team's pole to 30 degrees or less. Each team has 150 players, 75 to attack and 75 to defend. It used  to be common at high school sports festivals, but is now banned by most, only the National Defense Academy of Japan still does it annually.

The parenthetical quote is from Emily Bluntt in the comments to the video. That pretty much sums it up -- it is the type of rough housing that appeals to the male brain. Looks like fun in a painful sort of a way.

Hit the Road Jack (Feeling Good)

Put on your hiking shoes this weekend with Kled Mone.

Pictures from Scott’s 1911/12 Antarctic expedition

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These are pictures, taken by Herbert George Ponting, of Robert Scott's expedition to the South Pole in the early 20th century. The expedition was a failure, Scott was beat to the South Pole by Admundson by over a month and he and his companions died on the way back to their base camps. However, Pointing had not made the run to the pole and survived the expedition.

The pictures, and those after the jump are from Flashbak's The Great White Silence: Herbert Ponting’s Portraits from Captain Scott’s Antarctic Expedition. The are more pictures and details of the expedition at the link.

A cheap lunch in Russia

The above video is of a food court/cafeteria thingy attached to a department store in a small city outside of Moscow. The lady filming it does a nice job explaining the food and what each item costs.

The décor is utilitarian but, as a Floridian, sitting in a heavy winter jacket while eating  seems unpleasant. As for the food selection, my grandparents were Slovakian and Hungarian and I share their notion that the farther north you go in Europe the worse the cuisine gets. Then again, your taste buds may disagree with mine.

Despacito

Get ready for a slow motion weekend with JeA and Juwon Park.

All that there is

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It is one of the commonest of mistakes to consider that the limit of our power of perception is also the limit of all there is to perceive. - C. W. Leadbeater

Making big pieces smaller

An older expat and his Thai family run a small cottage industry where they cut bamboo into smaller sticks that are used as skewers for barbequing bits of meat. I liked the sounds of the family talking, the birds in the background and the rain on the tarp. However, the shot of the ants crawling on his legs and feet gave me the shivers.

Etchings by Martin Lewis

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Martin Lewis was a 20th Century printmaker and artist. Like Edward Hopper, who he briefly taught printmaking techniques, he set many of his works in nighttime New York neighborhoods. The Great Depression ended his commercial career and he spent the later years of his life teaching printmaking in relative obscurity.

These examples of his work, and those after the jump, are from the Messy Nessy post Moonlight Etchings of the Forgotten Artist who Taught Edward Hopper. There are more at that link.

Sober

Get ready to feed your addiction this weekend with Leo Moracchioli.

Fast food from a 7-Eleven in Singapore

A tour of a 7-11 in Singapore that shows us the food and drinks they have available. Needless to say, the choices are quite different then my local Floridian 7-11 with its hotdogs, cheeseburgers, Mexican foods, slurpies and what-not.

I must say, while who knows how good the quality is considering it is convenience store fast food after all, a lot of the stuff looked interesting. The elaborately packaged coconut near the end of the video was the most surprising to me.
   

The Kids Aren't Alright

Get ready for dreams this weekend with Nico Soro and Dorota Sacewicz.

Happy New Year

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Happy New Year to you all. 2020 is upon us, and hopefully this year the promises of the 21st Century will finally dawn. Enough with the dystopian non-21st Century hellhole years we've been saddled with for the last two decades. I want my flying cars, rocket ship vacations, conveyor belt sidewalks and form fitting future fashions clinging to 21st Century babes and I want them now!

Regardless, onward and upward is my motto. May this year be even more prosperous and better than the last.

Plans for my New Year's Eve party

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Tomorrow is New Year's Eve so I've started planning my New Year's Eve party. Above is my inspiration. Of course, considering my abundant charm and urbane wit, finding a couple of bikini clad cuties to dance around will be no problem. However, the giant martini glass filled with booze is a bit more of a challenge. Wish me luck.

Oh, and I hope your New Year's Eve party plans work out as well.

Drawings of the northern lights

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I live in Florida, so aurora borealis displays are something I am not familiar with. That said, I guess I fit the demographic of the audience these were drawn for in the days before photography.

They are from the Public Domain Review's article “Firelight Flickering on the Ceiling of the World”: The Aurora Borealis in Art. There are more after the jump and at the link.

Mr. Big Stuff

Get ready to be put in your place this weekend with The Barberettes.

Walking in Montevideo, Uruguay

Time to work off our excess holiday calories with a little walking. 'Course sitting in a chair and watching a YouTube video of somebody else walking might not count, but let's not quibble over details, and so today we're off to Montevideo, Uruguay for a pleasant stroll.

It starts out in a nice looking shopping district, winds its way through it and on to some side streets, a monument in a park and an indoor market. The architecture of the area is fantastic -- a lot of old Spanish colonial style buildings.

Soooo... sit back and enjoy your virtual calorie burning exercise.

Merry Christmas to one and all

To those at sea

Christmas celebration of a U-boat crew by Felix Schwormstadt, 1915

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In my younger years I spent a few Christmases underway or in distant ports. It is a loneliness that is hard to explain. And so, a wish of fair winds and following seas to my fellow sailors this holiday season.

Christmas at Sea - Robert Louis Stevenson

The sheets were frozen hard, and they cut the naked hand;
The decks were like a slide, where a seamen scarce could stand;
The wind was a nor'wester, blowing squally off the sea;
And cliffs and spouting breakers were the only things a-lee.

They heard the surf a-roaring before the break of day;
But 'twas only with the peep of light we saw how ill we lay.
We tumbled every hand on deck instanter, with a shout,
And we gave her the maintops'l, and stood by to go about.

All day we tacked and tacked between the South Head and the North;
All day we hauled the frozen sheets, and got no further forth;
All day as cold as charity, in bitter pain and dread,
For very life and nature we tacked from head to head.

We gave the South a wider berth, for there the tide-race roared;
But every tack we made we brought the North Head close aboard:
So's we saw the cliffs and houses, and the breakers running high,
And the coastguard in his garden, with his glass against his eye.

The frost was on the village roofs as white as ocean foam;
The good red fires were burning bright in every 'long-shore home;
The windows sparkled clear, and the chimneys volleyed out;
And I vow we sniffed the victuals as the vessel went about.

The bells upon the church were rung with a mighty jovial cheer;
For it's just that I should tell you how (of all days in the year)
This day of our adversity was blessed Christmas morn,
And the house above the coastguard's was the house where I was born.

O well I saw the pleasant room, the pleasant faces there,
My mother's silver spectacles, my father's silver hair;
And well I saw the firelight, like a flight of homely elves,
Go dancing round the china-plates that stand upon the shelves.

And well I knew the talk they had, the talk that was of me,
Of the shadow on the household and the son that went to sea;
And O the wicked fool I seemed, in every kind of way,
To be here and hauling frozen ropes on blessed Christmas Day.

They lit the high sea-light, and the dark began to fall.
"All hands to loose topgallant sails," I heard the captain call.
"By the Lord, she'll never stand it," our first mate Jackson, cried.
..."It's the one way or the other, Mr. Jackson," he replied.

She staggered to her bearings, but the sails were new and good,
And the ship smelt up to windward just as though she understood.
As the winter's day was ending, in the entry of the night,
We cleared the weary headland, and passed below the light.

And they heaved a mighty breath, every soul on board but me,
As they saw her nose again pointing handsome out to sea;
But all that I could think of, in the darkness and the cold,
Was just that I was leaving home and my folks were growing old.

Different sounds of Christmas

By this time of the year I imagine most of us have heard some of the same Christmas music over and over again. With that in mind I usually look for foreign Christmas music to post. I've done Japan and Brazil in the past, this year I feature the Tamils of Sri Lanka.

Above is a Christmas song and dance. Christmas dances seem to be very popular with Tamil Christians -- there are a lot of YouTube videos of kids dancing in what I imagine must be the Sri Lankan version of Christmas pageants. I must say the notion of dancing to celebrate the holiday is appropriate.

Below are a few more examples of songs and dances.

'Tis the season of Chistmas parties

Cover for Rex Stout's Christmas Party Murder

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After all, what is your host's purpose in having a party? Surely not for you to enjoy yourself; if that were their sole purpose, they'd have simply sent champagne and women over to your place by taxi. - P. J. O'Rourke

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Get ready to retire to the fainting couch this weekend with Ray Charles and Betty Carter.

Defenders of the bibliotheca

Library confusion, by Sam Hood, 1952

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Medieval book curses:

If anyone take away this book, let him die the death; let him be fried in a pan; let the falling sickness and fever size him; let him be broken on the wheel, and hanged. Amen.

For him that stealeth, or borroweth and returneth not, this book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him. Let him be struck with palsy, and all his members blasted. Let him languish in pain crying out for mercy, and let there be no surcease to his agony till he sing in dissolution. Let book- worm gnaw his entail [and] let the flames of Hell consume him forever.

Who folds a leafe downe
ye divel toaste browne,
Who makes marke or blotte
ye divel roaste hot,
Who stealeth thisse boke
ye divel shall cooke.

He who entrusts [this book] to [others’] hands, may all the gods who are found in Babylon curse him.

source

Skating on thin ice

As somebody who won't live in a climate where palm trees can't thrive I'm a bit disturbed at the thought of living somewhere where there is all that ice that escaped the refrigerator. To each his own I guess.

DIY engine kits

Turbo jet engine

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These are a few kits from Engine DIY, a company that sells RC and model engine kits. They have wide variety of interesting kits. Of course they're having a Christmas sale so if you have a young, or for that matter an old, engineer that you're looking for a gift for one of their kits might solve your problem.

Inline 4 cylinder engine

Steam powered car

Electrolysis of water hydro generator

16 cylinder Stirling engine

2 cylinder-Stirling engine electricity generator

Galileo pendulum clock

Destroyer

Spend the weekend looking over your shoulder with Stares.

Climbing Perch Fish Curry

A Bengali couple cooks a meal of Climbing Perch Fish Curry. It is a simple meal. They start by catching the fish in the mud of a rice paddy, then go through an elaborate process of washing and cleaning the fish. They chop the spices and also grind some of them using a brick and what looks like a piece of tile. After they cook the fish over their fire they eat the meal using their hands to scoop up the rice and perch.