Friday Ephemera
The flatulence deodoriser is worn “taped inside the underwear next to the buttocks.” And for bedtime, there’s the gas sack. // Every woman wants a chainsaw handbag. // Crab and dachshund meet on a beach. // Kiev in infrared. // Fireworks filmed from above, via balloon. // Papercraft heads. // Full-size Hot Wheels. // Laughing rats. // Landscapes made of wool. // Whale chair, obviously. // What causes a hangover? // Octopus hatchlings. // Russian army, circa 1892. (h/t, Coudal) // Photographs of unusual humans, circa 1870-1880. // The films of Harold “Doc” Edgerton. // Einstein in mandals. // Do not grip fireworks with your buttocks.
That crab was fast! Like an….armoured….spider?
Oh dear. I think I’ve just gone off the idea of crab pate.
Do not grip fireworks with your buttocks.
I’ll try to remember that.
Do not grip fireworks with your buttocks.
Why bother with the flatulence deodorizer? Just burn the excess gas off with fireworks.
I suspect timing might be an issue.
I’ve got a hangover this morning, so I tried watching the ‘hangover’ video. Unfortunately it was just too darned loud.
Russian army, circa 1892
They really don’t make hats like they used to back when everyone, and I do mean everyone, wore a hat.
Full-size Hot Wheels.
http://www.ratfink.com/ed-roth-cars.php
Col. Milquetoast,
And a man who could wear such a hat could be capable of anything. This, for instance, just screams, “I have a mighty hat and you should fear me.”
How to replace an IMAX screen.
Sadly, World War I brought an end to the armies with magnificent hats. The Germans still wore their spiked helmet, the Pickelhaube, when the shooting started — but since it was made of leather or felt it didn’t even stop water, much less bullets. So they gave it up and eventually came up with the coal-scuttle stahlhelm.
The U.S. Army never had much in the way of Magnificent Hats. There were some tall leather hats in the early 1800s, but the Civil War and Indian wars called for practical headgear.
Oddly, the French army gave up its Magnificent Hats fairly early, but remained stubbornly attached to Magnificent Pants instead.
Practicality and being bulletproof is all well and good, but we mustn’t sacrifice style.
How to replace an IMAX screen.
neat.
http://www.studiolum.com/wang/russian/imperial-army/2/15.jpg
An imperial double headed eagle as tall as the rest of the helmet is pretty magnificent. I suppose the spectacular hat is to make up for the fact that he is the calvary drummer and in about a decade the Russian army would face a Japanese army armed with machine guns.
http://www.studiolum.com/wang/russian/imperial-army/2/03.jpg
It was also an age of proud facial hair. Although the fellow above may be making a statement with his lack symmetry. Note his great squared and flat topped lancer helmet. Just imagine all things he could have balanced up there. People may not be surprised at a head on a pedestal but what about a pedestal on top a head? That’s a man with a dangerous outlook on the world.
As Cambias mentioned the spiked german helmet is called a Pickelhaube and upon learning that as a kid I couldn’t decide if the name was awesome or hilarious – I later learned it basically translates to “pointy hat” and not “pickle holder” as I had assumed.
Germany had a metal Pickelhaube for some officers in WW1. They could have gone for a stylish look for everyone and riveted a decoration on to the metal helmet but the didn’t. I know the standard French ww1 helmet did that with a low hump attached, although it was much less extravagant than the golden age. I wonder if it were cost or practicality (or impracticality of giant feathered plumes) or the efficiency of mass production or increasingly looking at soldiers as an interchangeable cog in the machine?
http://www.studiolum.com/wang/russian/imperial-army/3/04.jpg
A possible downside of fancy hats : does it become embarrassingly flaccid in the rain?
Is there a name for the phenomenon of not noticing embarrassing misspellings & errors until after clicking post making them unchangeable and then they become glaringly obvious?
Col. Milquetoast: The Russian Army had machine guns too. At the siege of Port Arthur the Japanese lost 16,000 men killed and 40,000 wounded in repeated frontal attacks on Russian positions defended by machine guns.
Also, after the Franco-Prussian War, the U.S. Army actually adopted the pickelhaube for its dress uniforms. (Previously, the Army imitated French models, but everyone follows the winner…) See http://www.pickelhauben.net/articles/AmericanPickelhaube.htm for pictures.
It seems pertinent to point to this thing here;
http://www.thedaily.com/page/2012/06/24/062412-news-camouflage-fiasco-1-5/
Not only hats are worn for style – these uniforms were designed to look just as cool as those used by the marines.
In the future, it’ll all be neon-colors, of course – to make sure the drones distinguish our troops from theirs (and their civilians)
-S
Do not grip fireworks with your buttocks.
I come here for the snarky takedowns of lefty politics. But I stay for the handy tips on everyday living.
I was again struck by how much Czar Nicholas II
http://www.studiolum.com/wang/russian/imperial-army/1/08.jpg
looked like his first cousin George V
http://www.kgvpub.com/images/George-V.jpg
Here’s a picture of them together (1913) and without knowing the uniforms, one might be hardpressed to say who is who
http://www.talismancoins.com/catalog/King_George_V_&_Czar_Nicholas_II.jpg
Col. Milquetoast’s chapeau is nice and all, but if you want a *serious* hat…http://images.wikia.com/girlgenius/images/7/74/Magnificent-hat.png
There are even pyrotechnics, nicely tying two of the links together:-).
The Russian Army had machine guns too.
My position is that a Japanese cavalryman armed with a drum should also have gotten a fancy hat. (While trying to discover if the japanese did indeed have cool hats I was distracted by this : a serious man on a Russian Gendarme rail tricycle, of course.)
http://dic.academic.ru/pictures/wiki/files/82/Russian_Gendarmes_1890.jpg
U.S. Army actually adopted the pickelhaube for its dress uniforms
I had no idea. I had seen it in illustrations and I had assumed it was the result of artistic license. I should have known someone somewhere would create a site dedicated to pickelhauben. I love the internet. Thanks Rich, I had no idea I had been looking for that site.
http://www.pickelhauben.net/articles/images/Woman_Chef/Margerithe.jpg
Papercraft heads
The papercraft head is neat but it seems a little boring and like a technical exercise… until someone puts it on and then it becomes much more interesting (vid at the bottom of the link). A little change in scale and an unnaturally static face pushes it down the uncanny valley.
Do not grip fireworks with your buttocks.
Gripping indicates a previous failure of judgement in putting fireworks in close proximity to important bits.
King George V & Czar Nicholas II
An extraordinary resembalance. A Parent Trap type story almost writes itself.
As there always is a Friday somewhere in the world;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c6oSYubBD0
Oh, and has David covered the indifferent cats in porn yet? That must be a sign of the times…
-S