Friday Ephemera
Protecting your livestock from atomic attack. With good planning and lots of hay. (1965) // Online B-movies. Attack of the Monsters!, The Atomic Brain! A festival of trash. // Shrooms. Unwary mushroom enthusiasts learn stern moral lesson. (h/t, Fungus the Boogyman.) // Attempts to draw time not entirely successful. (h/t, Infosthetics.) // Behold the mechano-titans! Very big digging machines. More. And. // The Earth is hollow. I did not know that. // The clouds of Jupiter. // High-resolution images of Mars. Taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. // Via Coudal, the blog of unnecessary quotation marks. // “In a mediocracy, real cultural progress is impossible because it requires conditions that are incompatible with a commitment to egalitarianism.” // Christopher Hitchens on the term ‘Islamofascism’. // The Conservative Muslim Forum affirms right to disassemble democracy: “If a political party wishes to campaign for the abolition of democracy in the UK and its replacement with a totalitarian system, why should it not be free to do so?” // F-14 low flyby and sonic boom. (mpg) // David Mach’s coat hanger gorilla. // Brooklyn woman finds 7-foot python in toilet. (h/t, Ace.) // The 31 wheel roller suit. (h/t, The Thin Man.) // South Park: Imaginationland. Part 2. // Classic London Cafés. From the golden age of Formica. // Via Coudal, how to make vodka pills. // Baby mouse wine. // And, via Metrolander, Who put the Benzedrine in Mrs Murphy’s Ovaltine?
I don’t know what prominence the “Muslim Conservative Forum” has in the UK, and I doubt many readers will take the time to read the whole document.
Here are two “gems” extracted:
1. Regarding democracy:
“If a political party wishes to campaign, constitutionally, for the abolition of democracy in the UK and its replacement by a totalitarian system, why should it not be free to do so? Furthermore, why should foreigners who advocate a peaceful change in that direction be banned from entry to the UK?”
2. Plus the (un)veiled threat:
“Any collusion by Britain in an Israeli or American military strike against Iran would
be extremely damaging to Britain’s long-term security interests.”
“We have come the end of all known data about the structure of the Earth…”
I’m no scientist, but surely we’re ALWAYS at the end of all KNOWN data – how could you step beyond it?
“…and yet the theory that planets form as hollow spheres persists.”
I’m almost tempted to buy their DVD.
“I’m almost tempted to buy their DVD.”
I think you should. To push back the boundaries of human knowledge. And besides…
“We are hoping to fund the expedition with DVD sales.”
http://www.ourhollowearth.com/ourhollo/index.html
“What are you afraid of? Discovering that we are not alone on… or in… this planet? Come on. Join us.”
You’ll need candles, a lantern, some yarn and at least two rolls of toilet paper.
Aren’t these Hollow Earth guys off by a few hundred miles? If I remember my Jules Verne correctly the opening is in mount Snaeffel in Iceland (I hope I spelled that right).
They’re off, that’s for sure. I forget most of the novel, but Iceland rings a bell and I remember bits of the dodgy film version, with James Mason and a duck. I’m sure Mason was mindful enough to take plenty of yarn and toilet paper.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david507/
If I were going to draw time, I would draw a simple resistor/inductor schematic drawing, because everyone knows that Henrys per Ohm = Seconds. Or perhaps this Goon Show sketch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSSGiA4f5cs
The reason Jupiter has such turbulent flow is due to incorrectly designed baffles, as shown in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwmvoT30Efg
“What are you afraid of?”
Them having my address would be pretty high on the list.
Vitruvius
I think my favourite Eccles/Bluebottle is
Bluebottle: Yes, why do you not open the door?
Eccles: Okay, I’ll- How do you open a door?
Bluebottle: You turn the knob on your side.
Eccles: I haven’t got a knob on my side!
Bluebottle: On the door!
Incorrectly designed waffles? Is that why they put those little square holes in them?
Regarding the Conservative Muslim Forum, perhaps the best way is to indicate where they’re coming from is simply to point out that Section 13, paragraph b) on Iran starts with the clause: “Irrespective of one’s views of theocracy…”
I kid you not.
“Yeah, well, say what you will about the Nazis…”
The Eccles “Knob on my side” sketch in available in part
4 of this video of “The Last Goon Show Of All” (1972):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Mo7wuTxze0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4-B2W2q22c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GWGD5w677g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w98GR9EvdQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGiwfsytCVY
In praise of digging
I love this mighty beast, linked to by David Thompson in his latest batch of ephemera links (which he does every Friday and which I highly recommend): This rusting hulk is (was) one of the world’s biggest digging machines. It now resides in an open air…