Ancient Ads

This is an old advertisement.  Most folks who visit this site will have seen this before.  But for reasons of nostalgia, I felt the need to post it anyway once I saw it at Modern Mechanix.

X-RAY SPECS ONLY $1.00
An Hilarious Optical Illusion
Scientific optical principle really works. Imagine—you put on the “X-Ray” Specs and hold your hand in front of you. You seem to be able to look right through the flesh and see the bones underneath. Look at your friend. Is that really his body you “see” under his clothes? Loads of laughs and fun at parties. Send only $1 plus 25c shipping charges. Money Back Guarantee. HONOR HOUSE PRODUCTS CORP., Lynbrook, N.Y. Dept. 97XR02

[tags]Modern Mechanix, X-Ray specs, Ancient ads[/tags]

Air terrorism – don’t be scared

I know I just don’t let this drop.  It’s a matter I find very important.  If you are scared to live a normal life, the terrorists have succeeded in terrorizing you.  That’s all those people are trying to do.  They are more concerned about the terror than the body count.  Here’s a write-up from Kung Fu Monkey saying that in more depth and with more style than I have been able to say it.

No false bravado and it’s not that I don’t take terrorism seriously. I do, which I why I voted for the guy who believed in securing our ports and fighting terrorism with criminal investigation methods — which is, if we may remind everybody, how this particular plot was busted.

I am just not going to wet my pants every time some guys get arrested in a terror plot. I will do my best to stay informed. I will support the necessary law enforcement agencies. I will take whatever reasonable precautions seem, um, reasonable. But I will not be terrorized. I assume that the terror-ists would like me to be terror-ized, as that is what is says on their nametag, rather than, say, wanting me to surrender to ennui or negative body image, and they’re just coming the long way around.

[tags]Aren’t you afraid?, Terrorists seek to terrorize – duh![/tags]

How radiation will change our race

Not only do we find interesting ancient articles over at Modern Mechanix, we also get humorous commentary. I’ll skip much of the commentary, but point out that this December 1953 Mechanix Illustrated article gets rightly ridiculed over the implied idea that large numbers of humans will simultaneously get mutated with the same beneficial changes which will result in massively oversized brains inside hairless heads:

How Nuclear Radiation Can Change Our Race

An atomic war could produce an entirely new species of man. Would he be friend—or foe?

By O. O. Binder

“Now hear this, Earth! I am Mutant Man, Homo Superior! I have been created by radiation forces out of the loins of you, the human race, after your great and terrible Atom War. Yes, I am a step above and beyond you and I am now your master for better or for worse. You created me in your blind, savage, senseless war of atomic radiation. You have only yourselves to blame if I turn out to be your— Frankenstein Monster!”

WILL this voice someday thunder ominously over the world from a Mutant Man, not a human being, but as far beyond us as we are beyond the ape man? Will a new race, spawned out of the hellish radiation of a world-wide Atomic War, go on to challenge mankind’s supremacy on Earth?

Shrug this off if you can or laugh at it as fanciful Sunday supplement pseudo-science. But first, examine a few cold hard facts that stare us straight in the face today, showing that atomic radiation has changed us physically.

[tags]Modern Mechanix, How radiation will change our race, Homo-superior, Radiation = t3h win[/tags]

On coulrophobia

A coworker was talking about fear of clowns today. I remembered reading something recently about some famous people who admitted to having a fear of clowns. I was trying to track down some names of said famous people when I found this freaky image:

You know, this would explain that fear some folks have.  That’s just not right.

[tags]Coulrophobia, Fear of clowns, Freaky clown baby[/tags]

The evolution of mussels

No, no, not muscles – mussels – those little barnacle-like things that live in the water. For those that doubt that evolution is real (and I mean that evolution occurs at all, not whether or not humans evolved from apes), here is yet another fine example of documented evolution in response to a changing habitat.

Some 15 years ago, blue mussels knew their enemies and had a rather peaceful life in the New England waters. But when an invasive crab species turned up, the mussels moved quickly to defend themselves against this new predator by thickening their shells.

Such rapid evolutionary response is a “nanosecond” compared with the thousands of years that it normally takes for a species to respond to a predator.

“It’s the blending of ecological and evolutionary time,” said study co-author Aaren Freeman, a graduate student the University of New Hampshire. “It’s an important development in the arms race between these crabs and these mollusks.”

There you have it. Mussels evolve to protect themselves. Let me know if you’d like more examples of evolution. Oh, and if you can’t be arsed to read the article, the invasive crab species in question is Hemigrapsus sanguineus, but I’m sure you already knew that.

[tags]The evolution of mussels, Evolution in 15 years, Crabs like mussels[/tags]

The benefits of stupid air travel restrictions

Some of you may have picked up on my dislike for the new, moronic, worthless air travel restrictions imposed by the idiots that supposedly run the country.  Given how I feel about this, I tend to keep my eyes open for what is being said online about the whole fiasco.  So when I saw this post on upgradetravel touting the benefits of the new travel restrictions, I felt I had to share with my visitors a few of the positive aspects of all the changes.

The foiled terrorist plot may have made air travel more inconvenient on the surface, thanks to the new restrictions at airport security checks, but hey, it’s not all bad. After all, there are people on CNN hawking peace of mind (“It’s probably the safest day to fly!”). There you go! Let’s look on the bright side of the 2006 War on JuicyJuice:

– No liquids means less drinking. Less drinking means… Shorter bathroom lines! Fewer stag parties, or at least tamer ones. (Hmm… Maybe it’s time to short Ryanair stock?) And less unwanted groping by drunken passengers.

I’ll admit, I agree with this.  Given the restrictions on liquids, there should be fewer folks going to the bathroom.  This gives you more time to work on your mile-high club membership!

– No laptop or paper means no working. If you’re traveling for business, that’s time on the clock. Time that you’re not doing anything but stickin’ it to the Man. Ka-ching.

That’s right – you can’t take books or laptops, but you’re on company time!  W00t for using your time productively.

Anyway, at least someone can take a light-hearted look at the latest round of government stupidity.

[tags]Air travel restrictions, The upside to the terrorism downside[/tags]

Learn to draw online

(via LifeHacker)
Here is a site I could have used 15 years ago in college.  I have a brother who is a pretty good artist.  I have the drawing skills of a ferret using a calligraphy pen to draw on pressed reeds (no, I don’t have any idea where that comparison came from).  That made my required art class much tougher for me than I would have liked.  But the folks at DrawSpace seem to think they can help folks like me learn to draw any way.  Here’s a snip of their front page.  Missing is any of the advanced courses, and most of the beginner and intermediate ones as well.  This is just a small sample of what is offered.

drawspace.jpg

And since I’m sure just seeing what a few of the lessons offered are isn’t enough to convince most folks, why not look at one of the (advanced) skills purported to be learnable.

drawspace-eyes.jpg

If you can’t do that now, but would like to be able to, it’s time to hit Drawspace and learn.
[tags]Drawspace, Learn to draw online[/tags]