Urban Studies

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The Future (Perhaps) Of Government Buildings

March 2, 2011 in Excerpts, Urban Studies | Permalink

"The decommissioned McNair US army barracks in Berlin is soon to be posh apartments.

Marginal Revolution pointed me toward this Financial Times piece about the (perhaps) coming trend of disused public buildings being repurposed as upscale abodes. An excerpt:

“In a suburb of Berlin, a German-American investment consortium is converting the disused McNair US army barracks into upmarket apartments. In the US, the original New Jersey Medical Center – a publicly funded hospital in the 1880s extended with art deco blocks in the 1930s – has now become apartments and a retirement community.

Such transformations are still relatively rare. Yet in the next few years they may become commonplace as western governments tackle budget deficits – and in doing so, free up a glut of public-sector buildings.

In some ways, the UK is ahead of the trend, thanks to two complementary tranches of legislation. First, planning policies have discouraged building on unspoilt ‘greenfield’ land, with the result that house builders have targeted old offices and warehouses for new developments. Secondly, health and safety laws have rendered many landmark public buildings effectively obsolete for their original purpose – making them so expensive to modernise that only residential conversion makes financial sense.”

Russian Performance Artists Kiss Policewomen

March 2, 2011 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

An odd protest by the outlandish anarchist troupe Voina, a favorite of Banksy.

Voina member Alex Plutser-Sarno to Don’t Panic magazine: “Anarch-art-activism is the only lively activity in Russia. Nowadays, when even hope for democracy in Russia is ruined, painting flowers and pussy cats or making any other ‘pure’ art, lacking a socio-political content, is to support the right-wing authorities. The symbol of anarchy – a skull-and-bones – has to be painted right at the Russia’s parliament building.”

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A Note About Childbirth From 1915

March 1, 2011 in Excerpts, Urban Studies | Permalink

"From the tenth to the nineteenth-born the mortality was markedly greater."

“Vitality of Last Children: The old belief, still common among the laity, that first-born children are endowed by nature with greater vitality and logevity than last-born, has induced Doctor Alfred Ploetz of Munich, Germany, to make an exhaustive study to ascertain if this were true. He compiled the returns from a very large number of families of the nobility, and his figures show, generally speaking, that the vitality of the first to ninth-born children varied little, but that from the tenth to the nineteenth-born the mortality was markedly greater.”

•Taken from the 1915 World Almanac and Book of Facts.

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Folding Machine Gun Fits In Back Pocket

March 1, 2011 in Science/Tech, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Has a flashlight, too.

“What Makes A Smart, Well-Educated Mother Of Four Go On A Killing Spree?

March 1, 2011 in Excerpts, Urban Studies | Permalink

Amy Bishop's Harvard Ph.D. thesis was entitled, "The Role of Methoxatin (PQQ) in the Respiratory Burst of Phagocytes."

Being denied tenure was the motive bandied about in the wake of Professor Amy Bishop’s shooting spree in Huntsville, Alabama, last February, in which she murdered three fellow academics and wounded several others. The general feeling that higher education is somehow broken seemed to contribute to the acceptance of the refelxive explanation. Amy Wallace of Wired takes a deeper look at the tragic events in “What Made This University Professor Snap?” An excerpt:

“What makes a smart, well-educated mother of four go on a killing spree? In the more than 12 months since Bishop became the first academic in US history to be accused of gunning down fellow professors, many theories have been offered up. One is that she’s a lunatic. That suggestion came from her attorney.

Bishop’s court-appointed lawyer, Roy Miller, called her simply ‘wacko.’ Later he apologized for his word choice, but he has continued to press the point. ‘They’re going to try to show she’s sane, that she was just mean as hell,’ he tells me, referring to the prosecution, which is seeking capital murder charges against Bishop in the killings of department chair Gopi Podila and professors Maria Ragland Davis and Adriel Johnson. ‘If they seek the death penalty, which we have to assume they will, our only defense is mental.’

The Wacko theory is often accompanied by the Tenure Made Her Do It hypothesis, which posits that the grueling, years-long process of trying to win a permanent professorship—and the despair that accompanied being denied tenure by her peers—made Bishop snap. This explanation got a lot of traction right after the vicious slayings, in part because it seemed to open the door to a more general indictment of academia. Is the tenure process itself vicious? Some, like Katherine van Wormer, a blogger for Psychology Today who has herself been denied tenure, says it is. ‘I would describe the denial of tenure as an end to one’s career, to one’s livelihood,’ van Wormer wrote after the killings. ‘Being denied tenure, in effect, fired by your peers, is the ultimate rejection.’

But the Tenure Made Her Do It assertion is undermined by the calendar. Bishop learned she would not get tenure in March 2009, 11 full months before she transformed a routine faculty meeting into an execution chamber. She appealed the faculty’s decision, thus extending the process. But that appeal was denied for good in November 2009—still three months before her alleged crimes. What’s more, although tenure decisions are not public, university officials say Bishop had indicated she’d found out which colleagues had voted for and against her. Yet she shot some of the very people who had supported her. If this was tenure-related payback, it was carried out with less than surgical precision.” (Thanks Longreads.)

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Recently Posted On NYC’s Craigslist

March 1, 2011 in Misc., Urban Studies | Permalink

??????????

Lets Switch (Brooklyn)

Well! Here you are! Now that you have clicked on the link to this ad, and are slowly reading each word, one at a time, you are getting closer and closer to your new life. Exciting isn’t it? Tantalizing even. Perhaps you are wondering, “but what will happen to my life when I leave it?” No worries, mate! Your life will be in good hands; polished every so slightly for the whole world to silently envy. I will make the most of your life, and you will make the most of mine.

So, now I suppose it is time to tell you what treats lay ahead: 1. The body of a 20 year old, red-haired, slightly curvaceous, out of shape, woman. Too much cheese and broccoli makes her gassy, but don’t worry, every morning you will be surprised with a timely B.M. It’s like clockwork 2. Occasionally enjoys the carcass of dead, most likely breaded and fried chicken, but usually consumes veggies in all of their forms. Be warned, dairy can cause an over production of phlegm, and fried foods make her bloated. Keep an eye on the thighs. 3. You will be living in a two bedroom apartment in South Slope. Your bedroom will have a large closet, some plastic drawers, two shelves that have yet to be put up, and a twin bed. Sometimes the kitchen sink gurgles through the night. Sometimes mice will make friends with your hair in the morning. But hey! You still got the bathtub that doesn’t unclog! 4. Which brings us to our next chapter of your new life: friends. Well, they are few and far between. When deciding between old high school friends that smoke too much weed, or ones who spell things like, “D33z NuTz” you have readily chosen: your sister, your neighbor, Barefoot’s 7 dollar Cabernet Sauvignon, and Netflix. Don’t get too down: your an honors student who goes to school for free! 5. But hush, new soul mate, I know how enraptured you are to get started in your other-worldly experiences once you take over my life. But before we begin this transformation there are a few formalities. Please, have 800 dollars in cash upfront as to pay your months rent. Memorize the info on your fake I.D (I don’t want to come back with my body in jail, thank you very much) and expect to pay interest on the few hundred dollars I have on the few credit cards I own. Another helpful detail you will thank me for: don’t let my leg hair get too long, my legs start to get dry and itch like crazy. FInally the most important pointer, when a family member calls practice: agree, sigh, rhetorical “no way!”, repeat.

I think you are ready for the thrills that await you. Live in the now! Not the past or future. Be all you can be! Only, *you* will be me. And I will be *you*! Oh, I should have mentioned earlier, if you are balding, over 35, broke, have children, overweight, have no cable, live outside of the new york city area, own more than two cats, not rich, not famous, have an STD, have crazy roomates/ ex boyfriends, live in a walk-up, have a tail/webbed feet/other physical deformities, have less friends than I do, or finally, cannot control your bowels in public, I do not think this is relationship you should consider getting into.

Happy trading!:

 

“The Podcars Were To Be Powered By Solar Panel Arrays On Top Of Buildings”

March 1, 2011 in Excerpts, Science/Tech, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Masdar City’s proposed podcars have been scrapped, a casualty of the economic slowdown. From David Hill on IEEE Singularity Hub:

Sounding like something out of a Robert Heinlein novel, Masdar City’s integrated transportation plan involves four initiatives, but it was the podcar system, designed by the Italian company Zagato and developed by Dutch firm 2getthere, that held the most promise. The plan proposed a driverless fleet of 3,000 free-moving, electric vehicles that could transport 2 to 6 passengers between 85 to 100 stations, tallying up to 135,000 trips a day along preprogrammed routes. This system of podcars was basically a replacement for taxis, providing privacy to passengers without the congestion common in other urban centers. A wi-fi network would maneuver the podcars through obstacles in real time as magnets along the path continuously pull the vehicle into alignment with little variance: if one is missed, the podcar continues but if two are missed, it comes to a stop. Ultimately, the podcars were to be powered by solar panel arrays on top of buildings (which was also axed from the budget) and thermal energy-storing molten salt technology allowing the vehicles to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week.•

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Transforming Typewriters Into Computer Keyboards

March 1, 2011 in Science/Tech, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

From Philadelphia inventor Jack Zylkin’s site: “The USBTypewriter is a new and groundbreaking innovation in the field of obsolescence. Lovers of the look, feel, and quality of old fashioned manual typewriters can now use them as keyboards for any USB-capable computer, such as a PC, Mac, or even iPad! The modification is easy to install, it involves no messy wiring, and does not change the outward appearance of the typewriter (except for the usb adapter itself, which is mounted in the rear of the machine). So the end result is a retro-style USB keyboard that not only looks great, but feels great to use.” (Thanks IEEE Spectrum.)

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How To Tell If Someone Is Dead In 1902

March 1, 2011 in Excerpts, Science/Tech, Urban Studies | Permalink

 

“Tests of Death: Hold mirror to mouth. If living, moisture will gather. Push pin into flesh. If dead the hole will remain. If alive it will close up. Place fingers in front of a strong light. If alive, they will appear red; if dead, black or dark. If a person is dead decomposition is almost sure to set in after 72 hours have elapsed. If it does not, then there is room for investigation by the physician. Do not permit burial of the dead until some certain indication of death is apparent.”

•From the 1902 World Almanac and Encyclopedia.

What About This Thing? Is It The Future Of Print?

February 28, 2011 in Science/Tech, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode) displays demonstrated by Samsung in Vegas recently. They’re bendable. (Thanks Reddit.)

Delmonico’s At Its New Uptown Location (1902)

February 28, 2011 in Photography, Urban Studies | Permalink

Delmonico's kicthen in 1902: "In the restaurant, smoking would now be permitted...this change was at the insistence of women."

This classic 1902 photo of Delmonico’s, a famed New York City restaurant opened in 1827 as a cafe and pastry shop, by erstwhile sea captain Giovanni Del-Monico and his brother Pietro, an experienced candy seller. The shop became a restaurant and inched uptown to new locations as Manhattan life gradually stretched northward. In the above photo, the restaurant had been relocated to Broadway and 44th Street by a new generation of Delmonicos, as the nineteenth-century was coming to a close. An excerpt about the move–and the changes instituted at the new locale–from the Steak Perfection site:

“On April 20, 1896, Young Charles Delmonico signed a 15-year lease and surprised the entire city when he announced that ‘Del’s’ would open a new restaurant farther uptown, at the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 44th Street. The city center had continued its move northward, and Delmonico continued to follow.

As the new structure was being built, everyone assumed that Delmonico’s Restaurant would continue at the Madison Square location on 26th Street.  The location there was particularly convenient for shoppers, and it was nearby the crossing of Fifth Avenue, Broadway and 23rd Street, which was becoming known as the heart of the metropolis.

On November 15, 1897, the new Delmonico’s Restaurant on 44th Street opened to universal praise and some shock.  In the restaurant, smoking would now be permitted (previously, smoking had been permitted only in the cafe).  This change was at the insistence of women, who resented the fact that the men would ‘retire to the smoking room’ after dinner.  With this change, women believed that the men would be averse to desert them after dining.

Another change and surprise was the addition of an orchestra, which would play ‘in the background.’  Previously, listeners were expected to cease movement and to concentrate when an orchestra played, so that they and all could enjoy the music.  Now, music would be played while patrons ate and even talked.”

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“You Don’t Need Geiger Counters Or Special Suits; You Just Have To Stay With The Tour”

February 28, 2011 in Excerpts, Science/Tech, Urban Studies | Permalink

The Chernobly skies still choked in 2010. (Image by Piotr Andryszczak.)

In “Chernobyl, My Primeval, Teeming, Irradiated Eden,” Outside writer Henry Shukman tours the site of the world’s worst nuclear power plant disaster 25 years after the massive meltdown. There are some signs of life, though you couldn’t really call them green shoots. An excerpt:

“Today, around 5,000 people work in the Exclusion Zone, which over the years has grown to an area of 1,660 square miles. For one thing, you can’t just switch off a nuclear power plant. Even decommissioned, it requires maintenance, as does the new nuclear-waste storage facility on site. The workers come in for two-week shifts and receive three times normal pay. Any sign of disease at the annual medical, however, and they lose their jobs.

There are also some 300 people living in the zone: villagers who’ve been coming home to their old farming lands since not long after the disaster and teams of radio ecologists from around the world who’ve come to study the effects of radioactive fallout on plants and animals. They’ve effectively turned the zone into a giant radiation lab, a place where the animals are mostly undisturbed, living amid a preindustrial number of humans and a postapocalyptic amount of radioactive strontium and cesium. On the outside the fauna seems to be thriving: there have been huge resurgences in the numbers of large mammals, including gray wolves, brown bears, elk, roe deer, and wild boar present in quantities not recorded for more than a century. The question scientists are trying to answer is what’s happening on the inside: in their bones, and in their very DNA.

ONCE YOU ENTER THE ZONE, the quiet is a shock. It would be eerie were it not so lovely. The abandoned backstreets of Chernobyl are so overgrown, you can hardly see it’s a town. They’ve turned into dark-green tunnels buzzing with bees, filled with an orchestral score of birdsong, the lanes so narrow that the van pushes aside weeds on both sides as it creeps down them, passing house after house enshrined in forest. Red admirals, peacock butterflies, and some velvety brown lepidoptera are fluttering all over the vegetation. It looks like something out of an old Russian fairy tale.

Ukraine officially opened Chernobyl up to tourism in January 2011, but small groups have been able to visit the zone for the past few years. There are small tour operators based in Kiev that take visitors on day trips. You don’t need Geiger counters or special suits; you just have to stay with the tour, pass through several checkpoints, and get tested for radiation on your way out. The tours will shuttle you around some of the main sites—the deserted city of Pripyat, a small park filled with old Soviet army vehicles used in the cleanup, various concrete memorials to the fire crews who lost their lives after the blast. Visitors are strictly confined to areas the author ities have scanned and declared safe.” (Thanks Longreads.)

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Falling-Down Drunk At The New York Times

February 28, 2011 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Gay Talese recalls elbows being bent by tipsy Timesmen. (Thanks Big Think.)

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Recently Posted On NYC’s Craigslist

February 28, 2011 in Misc., Science/Tech, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

"Old poison/apothecary jars."

 

ANTIQUES WANTED BIZARRE STRANGE WEIRD UNUSUAL WILL PAY CASH (Staten Island)

Greetings, I am a buyer and collector of fine antique items ranging from Victorian era to early Modern. I am always glad to meet and purchase items for CASH if the price is right and they fit my criteria. Please feel free to respond anytime and I will get back to you promptly for a discussion by phone or email. You can always expect the utmost courtesy and professionalism. Standard Antiques and collectible items are welcome but I SPECIALIZE in bizarre and odd items such as:

  • Victorian Post-Mortem Photography
  • Old Poison/Apothecary Jars
  • Victorian Coffins and Urns
  • Old Surgical Equipment/Devices
  • Mortuary Equipment/Embalming Items
  • Old Keys/Locks
  • Animal Skulls Bones/Other Bones Skulls
  • Books on strange subject matters
  • Small Taxidermy such as squirrels/bats/cats/small dogs/reptiles
  • Masonic and Secret Society Lodge Items
  • Old Religious/Reliquary Items
  • Early Industrial Items/Gears/
  • Vintage Horror Movie Items/Masks

 

Still Famous In 10,000 Years?

February 28, 2011 in Excerpts, Urban Studies | Permalink

Jesus Christ: Q rating off the charts.

Which people who are currently famous will still be famous 10,000 years from now? It won’t be Gwyneth Paltrow, that’s for sure. Her singing at the Oscars last night nearly made Quadaffi surrender. But that very difficult question is taken on by the fertile mind of economist Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution. An excerpt:

“I’ll go with the major religious leaders (Jesus, Buddha, etc.), Einstein, Turing, Watson and Crick, Hitler, the major classical music composers, Adam Smith, and Neil Armstrong.  (Addendum: Oops!  I forgot Darwin and Euclid.)

My thinking is this. The major religions last for a long time and leave a real mark on history. Path-dependence is critical in that area.

Otherwise, an individual, to stay famous, will have to securely symbolize an entire area, and an area ‘with legs’ at that. The theory of relativity still will be true and it may well become more important. The computer and DNA will not be irrelevant. Hitler will remain a stand-in symbol for pure evil; if he is topped we may not have a future at all. Beethoven and Mozart still will be splendid, but Shakespeare and other wordsmiths will require translation and thus will fade somewhat. The propensity to truck and barter will remain and Smith will keep his role as the symbol of economics. Keynesian economics may someday be less true, as superior biofeedback, combined with markets in self-improvement, ushers in an era of flexible wages, while market-based expected nominal gdp targetingprevents a downward deflationary spiral.”

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Matt Alaeddine, World’s Largest Contortionist

February 28, 2011 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

“Fatt Matt” Alaeddine is a 400-pound Edmonton contortionist and comedian who performs at fringe festivals. circuses and on subway platforms. (Thanks Edmonton Journal.)

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How Babies Were Entertained In 1900

February 28, 2011 in Excerpts, Urban Studies | Permalink

 


From “For the Baby’s Amusement,” in the May 29, 1900 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

“One way of amusing little children is to have a hook screwed in the ceiling over the middle of the bed or cot, attach a cord to it long enough for the baby to reach, tie either a soft worsted ball or a knitted doll and the baby will play with it.”

Old Print Article: Bicycle Troubles, Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1890s)

February 28, 2011 in Old Print Articles, Sports, Urban Studies | Permalink

"A man frequents the park who is in the habit of cutting them about the ankles with a whip."

Bicycling became a huge craze in America during the 1890s. It was a healthy fad that was good for hearts, lungs and mayhem–lots of mayhem. A few brief stories of bike-related turmoil from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle follow.

••••••••••

“Recent Events” (September 29, 1894): “Chicago women who ride bicycles in bloomers in Washington park have complained to the police that a man frequents the park who is in the habit of cutting them about the ankles with a whip when they pass him.”

••••••••••

“Don’t Ride in Long Island City” (August 25, 1892): “The hardships a bicycle rider is likely to encounter in Long Island City beside bad roads was fully ventillated in the police court of that city yesterday. George A. Phail is superintendent of the Danier dynamo works, at Steinway. He lives at Winfield and, until two weeks ago, enjoyed great pleasure and exercise in riding across the country roads, a distance of about three miles, to and from his work. On August 8, Phail on his way home through Newtown avenue on his bicycle, encountered Cerl Springer and Gustav Zeigler on the roadway. Springer didn’t fancy the style Phail was putting on and Zeigler does not like bicycles anyway. Zeigler refused to get out of the way to let Phail pass and the latter, in attempting to turn out of Zeigler’s way, was precipitated down an embankment, bicycle and all. Phail gathered himself up the best he could under such circumstances and the irate Germans both told him it served him right, as he had no business riding there. Smarting under his injuries Phail talked back to the Germans and in an instant Springer and Phail were clinching. Zeigler went to his companion’s assistance and soon the prostrate form of the bicycle rider lay in the roadway and was being made a foot ball by the German.

••••••••••

“A Bicycler’s Arrest” (June 8, 1896): “Some of the new New York policemen are as over busy as their predecessors were neglectful. One of them notified a young woman on a bicycle that her lamp was out. The young woman dismounted and lit her lamp. Then the policeman arrested her. She was carried away in a patrol wagon, locked up in a cell, in the company of riff-raff gathered from the streets on Saturday nights, who insulted and jeered at her, and the sergeant in charge was as officious and ill mannered as his underling. Her relatives finally learned of the arrest and secured her release on bail. At the court Magistrate Simms roundly lectured the policeman and gave an honorable discharge to the young woman, as he considered that by lighting her lamp, when warned to do so, she had complied with the law.”

••••••••••

“Max Miller’s Wedding Postponed” (September 11, 1893): “Max Miller, a bicycle machinist and expert bicycle rider, employed near the park entrance, was to have been married Saturday evening. Instead of a happy bridegroom he was escorted to a cell in the Flabush station house, charged by his employer with stealing some $200 worth of bicycle goods. His intended bride was allowed to visit him in his cell yesterday afternoon.”

••••••••••

“Broadsword Fight Awheel” (May 10, 1897): “An unusual sight greeted many cyclists at the Lynwood track yesterday, where ‘Colonel’ Nicholas Hartmann, the broadsword fighter, was practicing his profession, mounted on the front seat of a tandem bicycle. The swordsman was incased in his fighting armor and withstanding the assaults of his trainer in clever style.”

••••••••••

Bicycle trick riding, 1899:

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Result Of The Robot Marathon In Osaka

February 27, 2011 in Science/Tech, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

I posted earlier about the Robot Marathon taking place in Osaka, Japan. Here is the result. (Thanks IEEE Spectrum.)

“The FBI Says Busloads Of White Crazies Are Coming In From All Over The Country”

February 27, 2011 in Excerpts, Sports, Urban Studies | Permalink

Hunter S. Thompson: great writer, tiresome fuck. (Image by MDC Archives.)

Hunter S. Thompson screwing around with a good ol’ boy at Churchill Downs as part of his 1970 Scanlan’s Monthly article, “The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved“:

“I shook my head and said nothing; just stared at him for a moment, trying to look grim. ‘There’s going to be trouble,’ I said. ‘My assignment is to take pictures of the riot.’

‘What riot?’

I hesitated, twirling the ice in my drink. ‘At the track. On Derby Day. The Black Panthers.’ I stared at him again. ‘Don’t you read the newspapers?’

The grin on his face had collapsed. ‘What the hell are you talkin’ about?’

‘Well…maybe I shouldn’t be telling you…’ I shrugged. ‘But hell, everybody else seems to know. The cops and the National Guard have been getting ready for six weeks. They have 20,000 troops on alert at Fort Knox. They’ve warned us — all the press and photographers — to wear helmets and special vests like flak jackets. We were told to expect shooting…’

‘No!’ he shouted; his hands flew up and hovered momentarily between us, as if to ward off the words he was hearing. Then he whacked his fist on the bar. ‘Those sons of bitches! God Almighty! The Kentucky Derby!’ He kept shaking his head. ‘No! Jesus! That’s almost too bad to believe!’ Now he seemed to be sagging on the stool, and when he looked up his eyes were misty. “Why? Why here? Don’t they respect anything?’

I shrugged again. ‘It’s not just the Panthers. The FBI says busloads of white crazies are coming in from all over the country — to mix with the crowd and attack all at once, from every direction. They’ll be dressed like everybody else. You know — coats and ties and all that. But when the trouble starts…well, that’s why the cops are so worried.’

He sat for a moment, looking hurt and confused and not quite able to digest all this terrible news. Then he cried out: ‘Oh…Jesus! What in the name of God is happening in this country? Where can you get away from it?’

‘Not here,” I said, picking up my bag. ‘Thanks for the drink…and good luck.'”

••••••••••

And they’re off!:

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Cheetah Bots Will Soon Be Chasing You

February 27, 2011 in Science/Tech, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

"Cheetah is designed to be a four-legged robot with a flexible spine and articulated head."

Most of you live in cheetah-free neighborhoods, but it doesn’t always have to be that way. Boston Dynamics has won contract to produce a cheetah bot. An excerpt from a Wired story:

“Boston Dynamics, maker of the Army’s BigDog robotic mule, announced today that Darpa has awarded it a contract to build a much faster and more fearsome animal-like robot, Cheetah.

As the name implies, Cheetah is designed to be a four-legged robot with a flexible spine and articulated head (and potentially a tail) that runs faster than the fastest human. In addition to raw speed, Cheetah’s makers promise that it will have the agility to make tight turns so that it can ‘zigzag to chase and evade’ and be able to stop on a dime.”

Boston Dynamics’ BigDog bot:

Miscellaneous Media: Ken Maynard’s Songs Of The Trails (1935)

February 27, 2011 in Film, Misc., Urban Studies | Permalink

Ken Maynard and Evalyn Knapp appear "In Old Santa Fe" in 1934.

I got my coarse yet practiced hands on a crumbling copy of a 1935 songbook of 25 ditties used in the Westerns of old-time oater star Ken Maynard. The magazine-style periodical notes on the cover that “each song has melody, ukulele chords, words, piano accompaniment and guitar chords.” The songs have titles like “Christine Le Roy,” “The Dreary Black Hills” and “Curly Joe.” The introduction has a biography of Maynard, written by someone named Nancy Smith. A few excerpts follow.

••••••••••

Ken Maynard was born July 21 in Mission, Texas. The first few years of his life were spent on a ranch near this town.

His father is William H. Maynard, who now lives in Columbus, Indiana. He was a building contractor and his work caused him to continually move from place to place. Ken’s mother owned extensive Texas lands which they had bought with the proceeds of Kentucky farm lands. Ken says when he was a boy, no one would have the Texas land as a gift, but now that they have sold it all, it is becoming fabulously rich in oil production.

••••••••••

When he was eight years of age, he could imitate the tricks done by the average cow puncher. Incidentally, Maynard says that the fancy trick riding is a product of the circus and not of the range. The cow men’s trick in those days consisted chiefly of swinging toward the ground for a hat or some other simple stunt. The boy learned all of this quickly and began to develop his own style of riding.

••••••••••

At the age of twelve Ken tired of the range and ran away with a cheap wagon show that came to their village. Wagon shows were plentiful in those days. Ken remained with the show for three weeks before his father came and took him home. The boy said it felt like three years and he promised to stay home.

••••••••••

In 1914 Ken joined the Kit Carson show. In 1915 he went with the Hagenbeck and Wallace outfit. In 1918 he went with them a second time having appeared with Pawnee Bill in the meanwhile. Then he left show business to enlist in the army and was assigned to Camp Knox in Kentucky.

••••••••••

Maynard’s first role was that of Paul Revere in the Marion Davies’ film Janice Meredith. He won the part by superior riding ability.

••••••••••

Maynard has his own airplane and a government’s pilot license. He recently bought a 42-foot yawl and spends many week-ends cruising. He is a home owner, having purchased a large residence in  Los Angeles.

••••••••••

He is regarded as the outstanding Western star in pictures today. Incidentally, all his pictures are based on historical facts of the west, the actor contending that boys and girls may be educated in history through the proper presentation of events on the screen.

••••••••••

 

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Sacheen Littlefeather Enters The Spotlight

February 27, 2011 in Film, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Marlon Brando refused his Best Actor Oscar for The Godfather at the 1973 awards show, via Sacheen Littlefeather, as some sort of protest in the name of Native Americans. The Academy Awards meant nothing back then, too, but the show was much more fun when there was stuff like this and Cher rocking otherworldly Bob Mackie get-ups.

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Recently Posted On NYC’s Craigslist

February 27, 2011 in Misc., Urban Studies | Permalink

"Somebody famous such as Paul Walker, Johnny Depp, or even Mike Tyson himself smoked and threw away." (Image by Anna Altheide.)

The Best Collectible Item. – $500 (Midtown)

Okay, after walking out of Sargies on 3rd avenue and eating every thing my wife could hold in her pregnant stomach left me for broke. I do not have a dollar to my name, I mean literally, I don’t even have enough gas in my car to take me to work because I left it below E when I parked it only who know’s where because I was drunk looking for parking. (probably over $300 in parking tickets, that’s new york for ya) But I’ve realized something that should’ve hit me LONG ago. I probably could’ve had more money to feed my pregnant wife, or buy the baby diapers and milk in which it’s due in the next month I don’t have a dollar for that either..

So while walking out of my crappy 4th floor apartment with no elavators or some guy to open the door for me on my way out or open the door for me on my way in like you see on those movies.

THERE IT IS!!!!!!!!! I SPOT IT. A CIGARETTE BUTT. ONLY FROM WHO? IN WHICH REMAINED THE MYSTERY!

SO this is what I have to offer for sale.

BOOM! I know you’re asking, “Why is this collectible, is this guy out of his mind? What the hell is this guys problem?” Well let me fix it for you.

You see, this cigarette butt, could be somebody’s famous cigarette butt, Somebody famous such as Paul Walker, Johnny Depp, or even Mike Tyson himself smoked and threw away. The fact that makes it unknown makes it even more interesting! Infact, somebody NOT famous at the time could’ve smoked it and then BAM, now he’s famous and look what I collected off him. I am assuming it’s a HE because girls who smoke kill their cigarettes at the smokers outpost in corner of 34th and 7th avenue.

Anyway, if you’re interested in buying this cigarette butt, I have a few more in different colors.

I’m also into trades for automobiles with this. $500 obo.

 

 

Devolution Captured By High-Speed Camera

February 27, 2011 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Well, good aim, anyhow.

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