With the news that NASA had awarded a contract to Oceaneering International Inc., for the design, development, and production of a new spacesuit system, dubbed the constellation spacesuit, for use during our next foray into manned planetoid-hopping I thought it would be an opportune moment to offer you, my most beloved space cadets, a round-up of spacesuit-related linkage from across the far reaches of the internet. Suit up and see below.
Quote: Sergeant L. M. Dey, signal officer at the summit of Pike’s Peak, wrote the editor of Scientific American in 1882 about the fascinating effects of electric discharge at high altitudes. The weather station equipment was covered with “brushes” of light. “In placing my hands over the revolving cups of the anemometer— where the electrical excitement was abundant— not the slightest sensation of heat was discovered, but my hands instantly became aflame. On raising them and spreading my fingers, each of them became tipped with one or more beautiful cones of light, nearly three inches in length. The flames issued from my fingers with a rushing noise . . . accompanied by a crackling sound. There was a feeling as of a current of vapor escaping, with a slight tingling sensation. The wristband of my woolen shirt, as soon as it became dampened, formed a fiery ring around my arm, while my mustache was lighted up so as to make a veritable lantern of my face”
-Handbook of Unusual Natural Phenomena, by William R. Corliss, 1986. Illustration by John C. Holden. Related: Mustaches of the Nineteenth Century.
Are you familiar with the Chinese Olympic mascots? That’s them pictured above.
Quote: Like the Five Olympic Rings from which they draw their color and inspiration, Fuwa will serve as the Official Mascots of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, carrying a message of friendship and peace—and good wishes from China—to children all over the world.
Designed to express the playful qualities of five little children who form an intimate circle of friends, Fuwa also embody the natural characteristics of four of China’s most popular animals—the Fish, the Panda, the Tibetan Antelope, the Swallow—and the Olympic Flame. - Official Beijing Olympic Website.
As it turns out, in the minds of kooky superstitious bloggers they’ve come to symbolize something else: impending doom.
How to kiss (excepting philologists)
Quote: Kissing comes by instinct, and yet it is in art which few understand properly. A lover should not hold his bride by the ears in kissing her, as appears to have been customary at Scotch weddings of the last century.
A more graceful way, and quite effective in preventing the bride from “getting away,” is to put your right arm round her neck, your fingers under her chin, raise the chin, and then gently but firmly press your lips on hers. After a few repetitions she will find out it doesn’t hurt, and become as gentle as a lamb.
The word adoration is derived from kissing. It means literally to apply to the mouth. Therefore girls should beware of philologists who may ask them with seemingly harmless intent, “May I adore you?”
From the (not nearly as quaint as this snippet would lead you to believe Romantic Love and Personal Beauty by Henry Theophilus Finck, 1887.
Can there be any doubt that of all the words and phrases which have made their way down to us from Old French, that one of its greatest, most prescient, linguistic contribution is a 5 letter word which manages, in spite of its diminutive size, to neatly sum up the million heavy, wretched, laborious, plodding, suffocating, life-force-sapping, woebegone pangs which constitute a day in the life?
Ennui n.
<ân'wE>A feeling of weariness and disgust; dullness and languor of spirits, arising from satiety or want of interest; tedium.
Ah, yes, you noble word, saving us the added tiresome indignity of having to string together an endless array of other, less capable, words when pressed for explanations. Dispirited and beaten-down though we are, I think it would be downright rude of us not to celebrate this word somehow, in recognition of its marvelous utility and tireless, dedicated service. But how? Why with a celebratory ennui balloon-animal of course! (See below for larger image.)
Now, you miserable wretch, heroically drag yourself out of bed, if you can, and click here to see all your options are for this tee, or click here to check out all of the Nonist’s offerings.
Night Sky #2. 1991, oil on canvas. By Vija Celmins.
Quote: With jewellike imagery and a suggestion of vastness, Night Sky #2 is at once romantic and unsettling. Without the anchor of a horizon or a humanly scaled reference point, viewers may find it difficult to determine their relationship to the image. As a result, they may feel simultaneously engaged and distanced in the presence of this mesmerizing view.
Or, as a result, they may snap and slash it to bits. Via IO9.
Quote:
“Gary was watching a ‘World’s Strongest Women’ show and saw a woman pick up a motorcycle.
?‘Oh I could do that,’ I offered.
?‘Could you?’ he responded, breathless.
?‘Yes. How much do you weigh?’
?‘160.’
?‘Oh. I could bench-press two of you.’
?‘Oh my god… I’d like to see you lift up my girlfriend’s car.’
?‘What kind of car does she have?’
?‘A Mazda Miata.’
?‘Oh yes, I could pick up a Miata. In fact, I would love to.’
?‘Really?!?!??! Oh my god! What if my girlfriend was inside?’
?‘I would just pick it up, lift it to my shoulder level, and then hoist it up over my head, with your girlfriend inside. I’d slowly turn around in a circle with it held up in the air, with your girlfriend screaming in the front seat.’”
Priceless. Image and text are from the forthcoming book Phone Sex, by Phillip Toledano, a photojournalistic look into this comparatively sweet corner of the sex biz. Via The Morning News.
Quote: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I apologise for getting you out of bed so early. At 0500 hours this morning the combined armed forces of mankind across the globe launched a massive and sustained land, sea and air attack on the Kingdom of Heaven. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. There will be time for questions later.
Intentionally employing an “off-register” effect for printed works can be a successful design strategy and can yield a handsomely “hand-done” look. It is a strategy, however, which demands to be employed with a certain care, as a clumsy application can have unexpected results and the design may suffer. I believe the example above, a photograph of a Nintendo Wii fanclub, illustrates this point particularly well.
The Adventures of Young Charles Darwin, Episode I, in which an impressionably young Charles is confronted with all the elements necessary to subconsciously foment a vicious strain of erotic fetishism later in life, but which, so far as anyone knows, he heroically resisted.
Quote: When I was four years and a half old I went to the sea, and stayed there some weeks. I remember many things, but with the exception of the maidservants (and these are not individualised) I recollect none of my family who were there. I remember either myself or Catherine being naughty, and being shut up in a room and trying to break the windows. I have an obscure picture of a house before my eyes, and of a neighbouring small shop, where the owner gave me one fig, but which to my great joy turned out to be two: this fig was given me that the man might kiss the maidservant. -Charles Darwin.
From More Letters of Charles Darwin - Volume I, available on Scrbd, as is Volume II.