"Frequently the reptile climbed up into her throat."
Vital news about a lizard-related death in Pennsylvania arrived at the offices of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in 1900, and those newshounds wasted no time in using it to fill space in the paper’s July 24 edition. An excerpt:
“Philadelphia–Some time ago Mrs. Anna M. Jones of Marcus Hook, Pa., accidentally swallowed a lizard while drinking water. Frequently the reptile climbed up into her throat, but at all times successfully resisted all attempts at ejectment.
Mrs. Jones was a prey to the constant fear that in one of these excursions of the lizard she would be choked to death. Last night after complaining of a choking sensation, she suddenly expired. It is believed that her dread of an imminent violent death had a fatal effect upon her heart as there is no evidence of strangulation.”
blonde/gray woman in sandals, cuffed blue jeans, eating peach (Upper West Side)
Older blonde/gray woman in sandals, cuffed blue jeans, eating peach at Central Park Summerstage. You’re at the age where you shouldn’t wear a thong anymore. And I don’t mean “go commando.”
Alternet has a report about the development of a slew of so-called “non-lethal weapons systems” that can be used to control crowds. One example:
“The Invisible Pain Ray
It sounds like a weapon out of Star Wars. The Active Denial System, or ADS, works like an open-air microwave oven, projecting a focused beam of electromagnetic radiation to heat the skin of its targets to 130 degrees. This creates an intolerable burning sensation forcing those in its path to instinctively flee (a response the Air Force dubs the ‘goodbye effect’).
The Pentagon’s Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program (JNLWP) says, ‘This capability will add to the ability to stop, deter and turn back an advancing adversary, providing an alternative to lethal force.’ Although ADS is described as non-lethal, a 2008 report by physicist and less-lethal weapons expert Dr. Jürgen Altmann suggests otherwise:
‘… the ADS provides the technical possibility to produce burns of second and third degree. Because the beam of diameter 2 m and above is wider than human size, such burns would occur over considerable parts of the body, up to 50% of its surface. Second- and third-degree burns covering more than 20% of the body surface are potentially life-threatening – due to toxic tissue-decay products and increased sensitivity to infection – and require intensive care in a specialized unit. Without a technical device that reliably prevents re-triggering on the same target subject, the ADS has a potential to produce permanent injury or death. ‘”
Four decades after his brazen crime and complete disappearance made the inscrutable man known as D.B. Cooper into an American folk hero, the FBI has credible evidence as to his identity. The opening of a well-written new article by Katharine Q. Seelye and Charlie Savage in the New York Times:
“He smoked Raleigh cigarettes, wore a black clip-on tie and drank whiskey, and when zero hour came, he was one cool cat.
From Seat 18C on a Northwest Orient flight from Portland, Ore., to Seattle, he passed a note to the stewardess — this was 1971, pre-‘flight attendant’ era. She slipped it in her pocket, unread.
‘Miss, you’d better look at that note,’ the passenger calmly advised. ‘I have a bomb.’ He opened his briefcase and showed her what could have been a bomb, nestled in a mass of wires.
With that, the man known as D. B. Cooper hijacked the plane, later parachuting out of it and into the unknown. His body was never found. Mr. Cooper became a folk hero, and the case remains the only unsolved hijacking in American history.
Now, 40 years later, comes what seems like a tantalizing new tip. The Federal Bureau of Investigation says it has a new suspect, one whose name has never surfaced in the ocean of tips that has washed in over four decades.”
Early in his career, Peter Watkins made documentary-style narrative films that were so politically charged as to be almost unreleasable. Two of these were particularly great. The War Game, from 1965, shows the horrors that would befall Britain if the nation engaged in a nuclear war. It was so convincing that it was banned from broadcast in its native country and won a Best Documentary Oscar despite not being a documentary. Punishment Park, from 1971, takes things a step further. Set in America in the wake of Kent State, Watkins exaggerates the truly tumultuous divide between conservatives and radicals, creating a landscape so brutal and bitter that nuclear devastation might seem the lesser evil.
In America, young, anti-establishment activists who oppose the Vietnam War or support Black Power are arrested, interrogated and tried before a jury of peerless right-wingers. The convicted can either do decades in prison, or they can try their luck in Punishment Park. A punitive expanse of cracked earth in the California desert, Punishment Park is an obstacle course of sorts in which prisoners must complete a 53-mile trek with armed officers in pursuit. If they successfully finish the course in sweltering temperatures and reach an American flag at journey’s end, they will supposedly be released. But the sweet release of death seems more likely with the numerous threats to their well-being.
There’s a scene in which a young officer opens fire on a group of the political prisoners, and is almost immediately interviewed by the faux documentary crew, as he cries and pleads in confusion. The passage comes as close to recreating the visceral pain of the tragedy at Kent State as is imaginable. During an era when the news was the scariest show on TV and the pseudo-documentary was the perfect approach, Watkins presented a searing vision intended to jolt those who were sleepwalking through the nightmare.•
Recent Film Posts:
Strange, Small & Forgotten Films: The Intruder (1962)
From Steven Levy’s new book about Google, In the Plex,comes this conversation between company co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin:
“It will be included in people’s brains,” said Page. “When you think about something and don’t really know much about it, you will automatically get information.”
“That’s true,” said Brin. ‘Ultimately I view Google as a way to augment your brain with the knowledge of the world. Right now you go into your computer and type a phrase, but you can imagine that it could be easier in the future, that you can have just devices you talk into, or you can have computers that pay attention to what’s going on around them.”
Page said, “Eventually you’ll have the implant, where if you think about a fact, it will just tell you the answer.” (ThanksNYRB.)•
This classic undated picture captures Jack Dempsey and Harry Houdini engaged in a mock fight for a photo op. Even though its tangential to this photo, I’ve been eager for awhile to share an insane 1930 New York Times obituary of a colorful character nicknamed “John the Barber,” who was Dempsey’s first manager. An excerpt from “Jack Dempsey’s First Manager Succumbs To Infection Of His Finger”:
“‘John the Barber,’ in private life John J. Reisler, known on Broadway for many years as a barber, fight manager and friend of the street’s great and near-great, died yesterday morning in Lebanon Hospital, the Bronx, of an infection caused by an ingrown hair on his finger. He had been in the hospital for three weeks and was surrounded by his family, including his wife, Mrs. Minnie Reisler, with whom he had been reconciled recently after a long separation. He was 53 years old.
Also at the bedside was Morris Reisler, his son, whose sentence of twenty years to life in 1923 was commuted by Governor Roosevelt last March. Morris had been sent to Sing Sing for killing his aunt, Miss Bertha Katz, whose death climaxed a family feud in which Mrs. Reisler had accused Miss Katz, her younger sister, of stealing Reisler’s affections. When Morris was released his father, whom he had seen in 1927 when he was permitted to visit the elder Reisler, who lay ill in a Bronx hospital, met him at the prison gate and escorted him back to New York.
As a prizefight manager Reisler was one of Jack Dempsey’s first managers. That was in 1915 and 1916. Although the two parted and later Reisler sued Dempsey for breach of contract, he always was proud of having known and handled Demspey in the days before he was champion.
Born in Austria, he came to New York as a young boy. He became a barber, and in that capacity shaved some of the best-known chins on Broadway. He ran several athletic clubs at various times and knew many celebrities. One of his latest fighters was Vincent Serici. Recently he had handled his three boxing sons, Johnny, Georgie and Sid.
Reisler first came into prominence, however, in 1912, when Herman Rosenthal, the gambler, was murdered early on the morning of July 16 in front of the Hotel Metropole, in Forty-third Street, east of Broadway. Reisler was one of the first on the scene, and it reached the ears of District Attorney Charles S. Whitman that he had seen something. He was subpoenaed, and told Mr. Whitman that has had seen ‘Bridgey’ Webber, one of those accused of the murder, running from the scene.
Put on the stand at Coroner Feinberg’s hearing, Reisler, who had known for years Rosenthal, Webber and others involved in the affair, recanted his story. He was fearful that gunmen in the crowd would ‘put him on the spot.’ Mr. Whitman had him arrested for perjury and after a night in a cell he decided to tell his original story. Webber, who turned informer, was freed later, as was Reisler, after his testimony. Police Lieutenant Charles A. Becker and four gunmen, ‘Gyp the Blood’ Horowitz, ‘Lefty Louie’ Rosenberg, ‘Whitey’ Lewis and ‘Dago Frank’ Cirofici, went to the electric chair for the crime.”
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Young Dempsey demolishes a washed-up Jess Willard in 1919:
Piers Morgan: A hack, in more ways than one. (Image by Nan Palmero,)
Great Britain retained its title as Afflictor Nation champion during the month of July, sending more unique visitors to this site than any other foreign country. Here are the top five finishers:
"He tried every method imaginable to kill the turtle."
You would imagine by virtue of their profession that taxidermists lead unusual lives, but 19th-century practitioners of this profession had especially turbulent existences. A peek into their world, courtesy of several articles from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
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“Tenacity of the Turtle” (September 15, 1899): “H.R. Dill, the Gardiner taxidermist who recently received a large hook bill turtle to be mounted from the game commissioners, was surprised when he commenced work on the shelled monster to find that he was alive. He tried every method imaginable to kill the turtle, but was unsuccessful until he removed its heart and placed it upon the table. In this position and pinned to the table by a knife, this organ pulsated regularly for three hours before it died.”
••••••••••
“Heart Disease or Suicide” (January 11, 1893): “William J. Kampfmueller, a taxidermist of 365 Broadway died suddenly at his home, 303 Hewes Street. His friends say that he died of heart disease, but neighbors whisper about suicide.
A month ago one of Mr. Kampfmueller’s clerks absconded with a large sum of money, and ever since the taxidermist, who was 52 years old, had been very despondent as it crippled him considerably in his business. He was seen about the place yesterday morning and was in good health. The family says that he died of natural causes and indignantly deny the theory of suicide.”
••••••••••
"Cats are more frequently stuffed than any other kind of animals."
“Taxidermy and Its Profits” (August 14, 1887): “A few blocks distant from the bird fancier’s is the shop of a taxidermist. Its owner, a little old man with a very bald head, received the reporter cautiously. He said: ‘This is the best time of the year for my business. In the Spring and Summer many handsome birds are shot. These are often brought to me to stuff. Cats are more frequently stuffed than any other kind of animals. I get $5 for stuffing one, where formerly I received triple that amount. While many taxidermists use straw, I prefer cotton. Hair is sometimes used, but it is too expensive. It costs $1 to stuff a parrot. Smaller birds cost less.'”
••••••••••
“Taxidermist Fails” (August 13, 1900): “Corpus Christi, Tex.–Professor G.W. Knott, as an Englishman, employed by the British Museum as a taxidermist in Texas and Mexico, was drowned Sunday night in the bay here. Knott was landed at the Central Wharf in a yawl boat from the schooner Reliable, which brought him from Mustang Island, near this city, where he had been engaged for several months securing the specimens of all kinds of water fowl. When he landed on the wharf the professor was somewhat under the influence of liquor and fell backward into the water, drowning before he could be rescued. Professor Knott was one of the most expert taxidermists in the world.”
"You will also be asked not to interfere with music unless your choices have been cleared and approved first."
I want to hire a Boyfriend (Upper East Side)
The position only requires certain minor but specific qualities. You must be over 5’8″ tall, know proper grammar and linguistics and know when to keep your mouth shut. I would like said hired boyfriend to have his own dwelling as lodging is not offered with position. The job requires willingness to make tea and fluff pillows for girlfriend when she is not feeling well, as well as reading aloud from girlfriend’s book collection and not touching girlfriend’s photography equipment. You will also be asked not to interfere with music unless your choices have been cleared and approved first. When girlfriend is not sick the job requirements will diminish, you will have time to yourself in either case so please know what to do with such time, girlfriend is willing to meet your parents but will never ask you to meet hers because they are horrible people who are not allowed to speak to hired boyfriend, I will also want you to take walks in the park with me and enjoy frozen yogurt on hot summer nights. Willingness to meet my boss a plus, good looks also help. Health insurance not provided, and a religious streak will render you unable to apply for the job. No heavy drinkers or cigarette smokers, compensation for services depends on experience and will be discussed upon request.
Ray Bradbury voices his frustrations about space travel and politics in his1996 Playboy interview:
“Playboy: When you talk about the future, you tend to talk about space travel. Do you really think it’s in our future?
Ray Bradbury: It must be. First of all, it’s a religious endeavor to be immortal. If the earth dies, we must be able to continue. Space travel will give us other planets to live on so we can continue to have children. It’s that simple, that great and that exciting.
Playboy: Will we really be forced to escape earth? Will we be able to in time?
Ray Bradbury: We are already on our way. We should back on the moon right now. And we should be going off to Mars immediately.
Playboy: Yet there doesn’t seem to be a rush into space anymore. NASA’s budget is being whittled away as we speak.
Ray Bradbury: How come we’re looking at our shoes instead of at the great nebula in Orion? Where did we mislay the moon and back off from Mars? The problem is, of course, our politicians, men who have no romance in their hearts or dreams in their heads. JFK, for a brief moment in his last year, challenged us to go to the moon. But even he wasn’t motivated by astronomical love. He cried, “Watch my dust!” to the Russians, and we were off. But once we reached the moon, the romance started to fade. Without that, dreams don’t last. That’s no surprise – material rewards do last, so the history of exploration on earth is about harvesting rich lodes. If NASA’s budgeters could be convinced that there are riches on Mars, we would explode overnight to stand on the rim of the Martian abyss. We need space for reasons we have not as yet discovered, and I don’t meanTupperware.
Playboy: Tupperware?
Ray Bradbury: NASA feels it has to justify everything it does in practical terms. And Tupperware was one of the many practical products that came out of space travel. NASA feels it has got to flimflam you to get you to spend money on space. That’s b.s. We don’t need that. Space travel is life-enhancing, and anything that’s life-enhancing is worth doing. It makes you want to live forever.”
Kurzweil reports on a new spying device from China:
“A new aquatic microrobot that mimics the water-walking abilities of the water strider has been developed by researchers at the Harbin Institute of Technology in China.
The robot is about the size of a quarter, with ten water-repellent, wire legs and two movable, oar-like legs propelled by two miniature motors. Because the weight of the microrobot is equal to that of about 390 water striders, one might expect that it would sink quickly when placed on the water surface. But it stands effortlessly on water surfaces and also walks and turns freely.
It imitates water striders, mosquitoes, and water spiders, who are able to walk on water due largely to their highly water-repellent (superhydrophobic) legs.”
From a newNew York Times article about smart cities comes this recollection about Buckminster Fuller, that dreamer, who somehow thought it would be good idea to build a geodesic dome over a large swath of Manhattan:
“At a time before urban planning was formally taught in universities, Mr. Fuller — a Harvard dropout turned inventor, engineer, architect and philosopher — directed his attention to cities.
He perfected and popularized the geodesic dome, and after building several smaller ones in the 1950s, he teamed up with the architect Shoji Sadao in 1960 to propose a dome with a width of two miles, or 3.2 kilometers, above Midtown Manhattan. The dome would have covered the island from the East River to the Hudson River, with one axis running along 42nd Street. It would have reached from 21st Street to 64th Street, covering the southern lip of Central Park.
During a time when air-conditioning was coming to many U.S. homes and businesses, Mr. Fuller said the giant dome would greatly reduce cooling costs in summer and heating costs in winter by reducing the ratio of surface to volume. Instead of each building’s having to be heated or cooled separately, the entire dome would be kept at a ‘very moderate temperature level’ throughout the year.
The glass would be threaded by a heating wire — much like the rear window of many cars — so that snow and ice accumulation would not become a problem. Melted snow and rain would be collected in catch basins and used for things like irrigation and cleaning.
The scalable dome, according to Mr. Fuller, became stronger and sturdier as it was built larger.”
This classic 1912 picture of Theodore Roosevelt on the stump originally appeared in the New York Times, though the photographer is unknown. Roosevelt was trying to regain the White House, as he split from the Republicans and formed the Bull-Moose Party. His efforts, of course, failed.
With the upturned hat on the table, Roosevelt gives the impression of a magician. Some critics, however, wanted the politician and his domineering personality to disappear. Mark Twain was one such detractor, and he wrote the following text in 1908 when Roosevelt was exiting the White House:
“Astronomers assure us that the attraction of gravitation on the surface of the sun is twenty-eight times as powerful as is the force at the earth’s surface, and that the object which weights 217 pounds elsewhere would weight 6,000 pounds there.
For seven years this country has lain smothering under a burden like that, the incubus representing, in the person of President Roosevelt, the difference between 217 pounds and 6,000. Thanks be we got rid of this disastrous burden day before yesterday, at last. Forever? Probably not. Probably for only a brief breathing spell, wherein, under Mr. Taft, we may hope to get back some of our health – four years. We may expect to have Mr. Roosevelt sitting on us again, with his twenty-eight times the weight of any other Presidential burden that a hostile Providence could impose upon us for our sins.
Our people have adored this showy charlatan as perhaps no impostor of his brood has been adored since the Golden Calf, so it is to be expected that the Nation will want him back again after he is done hunting other wild animals heroically in Africa, with the safeguard and advertising equipment of a park of artillery and a brass band.”
••••••••••
Silent clip of Roosevelt with some fellow Rough Riders:
As noted onRay Kurzweil’s site,a small but fiunctional aircraft was created for the first time using a 3-D printer:
“Engineers at the University of Southampton have designed and flown the world’s first ‘printed’ aircraft, which could revolutionize the economics of aircraft design, the engineers say.
The SULSA (Southampton University Laser Sintered Aircraft) plane is an unmanned air vehicle (UAV), with its entire structure printed. This includes wings, integral control surfaces, and access hatches. It was printed on an EOS EOSINT P730 nylon laser sintering machine, which fabricates plastic or metal objects, building up the item layer-by-layer.
It took only 48 hours to print. No fasteners were used and all equipment was attached using ‘snap fit’techniques so the entire airframe could be put together without tools in about 30 seconds, according to Prof. Andy Keane. The aircraft took around 8 person weeks. It passed tests for speed, maneuverability, and climb rates.”
