The full dataset viewer is not available (click to read why). Only showing a preview of the rows.
The dataset generation failed
Error code: DatasetGenerationError
Exception: ArrowInvalid
Message: JSON parse error: Missing a closing quotation mark in string. in row 93
Traceback: Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/packaged_modules/json/json.py", line 153, in _generate_tables
df = pd.read_json(f, dtype_backend="pyarrow")
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pandas/io/json/_json.py", line 815, in read_json
return json_reader.read()
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pandas/io/json/_json.py", line 1025, in read
obj = self._get_object_parser(self.data)
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pandas/io/json/_json.py", line 1051, in _get_object_parser
obj = FrameParser(json, **kwargs).parse()
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pandas/io/json/_json.py", line 1187, in parse
self._parse()
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pandas/io/json/_json.py", line 1403, in _parse
ujson_loads(json, precise_float=self.precise_float), dtype=None
ValueError: Trailing data
During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 1997, in _prepare_split_single
for _, table in generator:
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/packaged_modules/json/json.py", line 156, in _generate_tables
raise e
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/packaged_modules/json/json.py", line 130, in _generate_tables
pa_table = paj.read_json(
File "pyarrow/_json.pyx", line 308, in pyarrow._json.read_json
File "pyarrow/error.pxi", line 154, in pyarrow.lib.pyarrow_internal_check_status
File "pyarrow/error.pxi", line 91, in pyarrow.lib.check_status
pyarrow.lib.ArrowInvalid: JSON parse error: Missing a closing quotation mark in string. in row 93
The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/src/services/worker/src/worker/job_runners/config/parquet_and_info.py", line 1529, in compute_config_parquet_and_info_response
parquet_operations = convert_to_parquet(builder)
File "/src/services/worker/src/worker/job_runners/config/parquet_and_info.py", line 1154, in convert_to_parquet
builder.download_and_prepare(
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 1029, in download_and_prepare
self._download_and_prepare(
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 1124, in _download_and_prepare
self._prepare_split(split_generator, **prepare_split_kwargs)
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 1884, in _prepare_split
for job_id, done, content in self._prepare_split_single(
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 2040, in _prepare_split_single
raise DatasetGenerationError("An error occurred while generating the dataset") from e
datasets.exceptions.DatasetGenerationError: An error occurred while generating the datasetNeed help to make the dataset viewer work? Make sure to review how to configure the dataset viewer, and open a discussion for direct support.
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The Way to Go Round | from Retropia by Transdiffusion
A guide to the 1951 Festival of Britain on the South Bank in London
Category: Upstream Circuit
Theme Convener: C. Hamilton Ellis
The great story of British shipbuilding is the subject of the “Sea and Ships” Pavilion; British discovery at sea occupies a whole section of the Dome. But there is yet another aspect of our maritime heritage which must be added if the development of our theme is to be a true one – the operating of ships.
Without the enterprise of our ship owners and their associates in the vast business of operating shipping lines, the growth of the British Commonwealth would have followed very different trends. Without a mercantile marine such as we have now, we people of Britain and our industries would starve.
This section of the “Transport” Pavilion exists for the display of the things we produce to make safe and sure the operation of ships. It is just, however, that they should be shown against a background which epitomises the rise and preeminence of our mercantile marine. Most of its great strides forward have been made well within the last hundred years.
Of all the recent developments in the business of ship operating, the coming of wireless was probably the most revolutionary. Nowadays, after his charts and compasses, the captain looks to his wireless as his prime source of necessary intelligence. News, weather, orders, distress, arrangements at the port of destination – all these go through the wireless officer.
But still the brain of the ship at sea is her bridge. Here are her compasses and the gyropilot, to steer her automatically on a selected course when she is clear of navigational hazards. Here the helmsman is at the wheel. Revolution and rudder indicators tell the bridge of the ships performance, and order telegraphs carry instructions from there to the engine-room. Examples of all such vital equipment are gathered in the bridge area of this Sea Transport section.
Below the bridge area, and hung out from the side of the Pavilion, is a modern ship’s lifeboat, built of all-welded steel and capable of carrying eighty people. Around it are grouped appliances designed to maintain safety at sea and to preserve lives. Britain has taken a leading part in framing the rules that ensure safety in the ships of all nations.
But safety at sea depends most on the charting and marking of the navigable waterways. For us this is, in short, the achievement of our hydrographers, and of Trinity House, which maintains the lighthouses, lightships and buoys, and licenses the pilots of our home waters. Essential, too, are the dredgers that keep the channels clear, and the pilot boats and the tugs that see the great ships safely to their berths.
One of our islands great natural advantages is a coastline with many natural harbours. But our industry would long since have outgrown them if the skill of our engineers had not kept pace with the growth of the ships and the enterprise of those who operate them. Lowestoft is one example of a small port where engineering works have kept the vagaries of the coastline at bay and improved our heritage.
“Sea Transport” and “Sea and Ships” together show how we live on the sea and by it. Sea routes are the lifelines of this nation, and we have no more vital spots than the docks and harbours where they terminate. Here our essential foodstuffs and raw materials are brought ashore, here the products of our commerce and industry are poured out to the world. Here, too, are the gateways of Britain for the travellers by sea. The most recent of our docks and harbours to be completed is Southampton. This we display to illustrate the complexities and the achievements of a modern meeting place of land and sea.
Author Ian CoxPosted on 1951 2016 Categories TransportTags C Hamilton Ellis, docks, harbours, lifeboats, Lowestoft, mercantile marine, shipping, shipping lines, ships, SouthamptonLeave a comment on Sea transport
Theme Convener: Geoffrey W. Hart
Yet another means of communication is the spoken and written word. Books and printing are given due attention as a separate exhibition in South Kensington. Here, in the fifth section of the “Transport” Pavilion, we are concerned with the transmission of thought and information by postal and electric means. They fit intimately into the narrative of the whole Pavilion, because telephone, telegraph, radio and radar together form an essential service for all modern transport. Closely related with these services in technique are sound and television broadcasting. These, too, are displayed here.
In the establishment of modern postal systems we were the pioneers and, since then, we have developed them to their present state in which all forms of transport are employed. The Post Office Underground Railway, demonstrated in the Railway section, stands as an example of lessons learned from passenger transport being applied to the carriage of mails.
Adhesive postage stamps were invented in England by Rowland Hill in 1840. One example here of modem stamp designing and printing is provided by the special series produced to commemorate the Festival of Britain.
The British discoveries which led to the electric telegraph are shown in the Dome. Here, the displays begin with their early applications through the inventions of such men as Cooke and Wheatstone in 1837, and culminate in working examples of the most advanced teleprinting machines now being used. Pictures are also sent by telegraphy. Here you can see some of them being received over Cable and Wireless circuits from the other side of the world.
Telegraphy and telephony depend just as much on the wires that carry the current as on the terminal equipment. The most difficult problems arose when it came to laying them under water. Perhaps the greatest landmark in past development was the completion of the first successful Atlantic cable in 1866. Of recent advances the most remarkable is the production of the submarine repeater – an amplifier which runs for years without attention on the bed of the sea.
The present-day British cable system is a net around the world, physically linking the countries of the Commonwealth, and many others besides.
Early developments in the telephone were chiefly due to Alexander Graham Bell, a Scotsman who lived and worked in America. Admittedly, the British were slow in following them up, but our modern telephone service has a number of achievements to its credit. One of these is the unattended automatic telephone exchange used in the more remote country districts.
In discovering the principles of radio and in their application this country has played an outstanding part. The basic discoveries are shown in the Dome, in this section we are more concerned with the development of radio to the indispensable position it now holds, as a service for all manner of activities. It is still a peculiarly live subject, in which important advances occur almost yearly. The display in this section shows some of the newest techniques used. They vary from the passing of large numbers of messages on point-to-point services, to police work, where radio is now established as a primary aid.
Radio, as the principal means by which ships and aircraft now maintain contact with their bases, is displayed on the first floor of this section together with other radio aids to navigation. It is, of course, the chief method used nowadays for operating ships and aircraft, for passing weather and distress information, and for telling them their exact position at sea or in the air.
Radio Aids to Navigation
Drake’s Spanish adversaries believed that he had a magic mirror in which he could see the dispositions of their fleet. It has taken us nearly four hundred years since then to make such a device, but now we have it. It is radar – a method of seeing by means of radio waves.
British scientists developed radar in the first instance to meet a military need, but now it is being freely applied for civil purposes. This section shows how it is used for supervising aircraft from the ground, or vessels from the shore, and how it aids the navigation of aircraft and ships whether in daylight, darkness or fog.
To illustrate the use of harbour radar, a modern equipment is working in the Pavilion. It covers the Thames in the neighbourhood of the Exhibition, showing the visitor the passage of craft which he cannot see directly with his eyes.
Sound Broadcasting and Recording
The importance of sound broadcasting as a world-wide medium of communication is illustrated in the “Land” section of the Dome of Discovery. Here, on the top floor of the “Transport” Pavilion, the displays relate more particularly to modern receiving equipment, both for specialist purposes and for general listening. It is shown, too, what is being done in this country to overcome the great problem of modern broadcasting – the difficulty of fitting the large number of programmes demanded into the relatively narrow band of frequencies that is available.
The demonstrations here also illustrate the high quality of sound reproduction of which modern equipment is now capable.
The science of sending moving pictures by radio is largely an international one, but, like many other electrical developments of the last fifty years, it stems from the original discoveries of Sir J. J. Thomson.
Britain was the first country to institute a public high-definition television service. It started in 1936, and the standards laid down at that time are still in successful use to-day. The British system is still the best compromise between cost and performance for black and white television. Nevertheless, British manufacturers are making television equipment suitable for any of the systems used by other countries.
Television as a medium of entertainment is displayed in its own Pavilion on the other side of Hungerford Bridge. Here, in the “Transport” Pavilion, the displays are concerned more with modern technical developments and problems of a young and rapidly growing means of communication for which many new applications are already apparent. Here are examples of really up-to-date technical and scientific endeavour in a subject of which we all have some personal experience.
Author Ian CoxPosted on 1951 2016 Categories TransportTags broadcasting, Cable and Wireless, cables, communications, Geoffrey W Hart, police radio, Post Office Underground Railway, radar, radio, radio navigation, Rowland Hill, sound broadcasting, sound recording, stamps, telegrams, telegraphy, telephones, telephony, television, transatlantic cableLeave a comment on Communications
The Dome of Discovery
Direction – Architect: Ralph Tubbs ◦ Theme: Ian Cox
Display: Design Research Unit
Author Ian CoxPosted on 1951 2016 Format ImageCategories The Dome of DiscoveryTags Design Research Unit, Dome of Discovery, Ian Cox, Ralph TubbsLeave a comment on The Dome of Discovery
Theme Convener: Penrose Angwin, M.B.E.
Display Designers: Stefan Buzas and Ronald Sandiford
In shaping Britain and nurturing her, nature has been peculiarly moderate. We have no extremes of climate; our driest places are not deserts, our waterways are modest and our mountains would be lost in the shadows of the Andes. Yet, by some persistent anomaly, the British have always been lured to discovery and exploration by those very regions of the world where nature has been most extravagant or most severe – Livingstone by the jungles and lakes of Africa, Scott by the icy Antarctic, Sturt by Australia’s barren heart, Mallory by the supreme isolation of Everest.
The footsloggers
This urge is within all of us to some degree. So, when we recall how much of the present world our forebears have made known, we do not experience wonder so much as admiration of their courage in accepting the challenge we all have felt and of the endurance it drew from them. Their discovery has lcd to exploration, and exploration to development of new lands by those skills we learned at home. Thus have we served whole continents.
This is the theme of the opening section of the Dome. Apart from a brief glance-back to the past, its setting is the intensive exploration and development of the present time.
Inseparable from exploration nowadays is accurate surveying and making maps without which development is impossible. The British have surveyed vast areas of the globe, steadily improving methods and evolving better instruments as part of this achievement. Nor is this work done yet; yearly, standards are getting higher and the scope is widening as aircraft, for example, and new physical devices are added to the equipment. These new methods are illustrated in the displays.
Water controlled
In developing the land, control of water is one of the first essentials. Without control it floods and destroys at random; its absence means aridity and useless soils. Properly constrained it brings fertility; harnessed, it gives up a mighty power. A great river is like a living thing, for all its parts are related together in behaviour and change in one will bring about change in the rest. So, any permanent alteration in its course or habit must be made with due regard to the whole of its catchment area.
Even in the mild land of Britain we have our river problems, and the way we are dealing with one of them – the Great Ouse – is illustrated in this section. But it is in overseas lands, where the scales are vastly larger, that British achievements in water engineering can be seen at their peak – damming, irrigating and delivering the hydro-electric power essential for the advancement of primitive or undeveloped territories.
Of the world’s exports, the Commonwealth countries provide two-thirds of its butter, half its cheese, much of its wheat, nearly half its tinned meat and, in addition, provide about half the worlds wool supply. The tropical areas contribute a very large percentage of the worlds supply of sisal, sugar, cocoa, palm oil, rubber and tea. But even all this is not enough, for, viewed as a whole, the world is grievously short of food. The modern trend, therefore, is even further development of overseas producing areas, but with a vastly increasing application of scientific knowledge which is already saving bitter years of trial and error. Some examples of this are shown in the displays. Our own Kew Gardens plays a vital part in all this, for it is here that new crop plants are tried out and, if successful, distributed to new growing areas. It was Kew, in fact, that reared wild rubber plants from Brazil, reproduced them, and sent the seedlings out to found a new and great industry in Malaya.
An essential factor in the success of all these agricultural operations is the interchange of ideas and information. This is provided by the Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, a unique service for the collection, abstraction and dissemination of scientific and technical knowledge.
Science, too, is ensuring that we make the best of what we have already by providing the most suitable weapons to fight the pests and diseases which are inevitably mans rivals in bidding for the yield of food. Among other instances, we show that even the locust, one of the oldest enemies of agriculture, is slowly being brought under control.
But, if these new lands are to continue producing the food and raw materials the world so sorely needs, they must be fit for man to live and work in. Tropical disease is a many-headed horror which the British have been particularly eager to seek out and kill. Sleeping sickness and malaria they have already subdued in many areas by a combined assault of doctors, scientists and administrators; now one of the targets for attack is leprosy. For the last five thousand years it has been a scourge and, even now, its victims number seven million, but at last new drugs have been found that promise to bring its ravages to an end.
Commonwealth links
The great witness of British exploration by land is the Commonwealth of Nations. By now its strongest binding force is common ideas and ideals, and visual evidence of this is the vast communications system which came into being as a result of British enterprise-sea lanes, air routes, railways, cables and, now, radio. Speech is the most intimate of all ways of communicating. Our sons and daughters have left Britain and set up their own homes overseas, our adopted children are coming into their own estates. But we can still speak to them – and do so every day, using 44 languages, some of which the visitor can hear – on a radio system which itself is part of our contribution to the welfare of mankind.
Author Ian CoxPosted on 1951 2016 Categories The LandTags agriculture, Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Commonwealth of Nations, Kew Gardens, mapping, Penrose Angwin, pest control, rivers, Ronald Sandiford, rubber, Stefan Buzas, surveying, tropical medicine, waterLeave a comment on The Land
Theme Convener: Sonia Withers ◦ Display Designer: Robert Gutmann
The ways in which we satisfy this desire of ours to discover and explore vary with the times. It has never been far from the surface, and about a hundred and thirty years ago, for example. it began to assert itself with remarkable persistence. Clapperton was in the West African jungle, Oxley had started on the first great adventure into the heart of Australia. Franklin was discovering new lands in remote Canada and Ross and Parry were searching for the Northwest Passage. At the same time, a very different kind of exploration was beginning in our own countryside – exploration downwards to discover the nature and structures of the rocks that lie deep down beneath our feet. The pioneer was William Smith.
Exploration downwards
The exploratory work of Smith and others that joined him did not demand great courage or physical endurance, it called for patient observation, honest piecing together of clues and an outstanding scientific imagination that enabled them to visualise underground structures from the piecemeal evidence the rocks gave when they came to the surface. Vital, too, was their realisation that the relative ages of rocks could be read from the fossil remains they contained. How this is done is shown by the displays in this section. The “Land of Britain” also shows how animal life has changed throughout the ages.
Smith made the first geological map of Britain. In doing so, he used a method of recording observations and the probability of underground structures which is now indispensable to all of mans workings in the outer crust of the Earth.
The importance of this new science, founded by Smith, Hutton, Lyell and others, was soon recognised officially. Britain created the first Geological Survey, and showed the world how valuable this science can be when it is organised for the service and development of whole countries. Without it, recovery of the Earths hidden riches – coal, oil, minerals and the rest – would still be a very haphazard affair.
Recent years have brought us new tools with which we can explore even deeper. Modern borings can now recover cores from depths nearly twice the height of Ben Nevis; physicists have not only wrested new knowledge from the study of earthquake waves but have created devices for studying the depths of the crust by waves they create themselves. Much of this work has been stimulated by the increasing need to discover new oil fields.
The earth within
Gradually, then, the secrets of the Earth within are being revealed. Its age is about 3,400 million years. The crust upon which we live, mountains and all, is no more than the skin is to an apple. We know that under this crust the Earth is not quiescent, it has a liquid layer, alive with eddies and currents. It is this liquid rock, thrust up when the thin crust turns, as it were, in its uneasy sleep, that eventually gives rise to the pockets and veins of minerals and metallic ores on which our way of life depends.
Mineral wealth
These minerals and ores are part of the well-founded riches of the Commonwealth countries. Some of them we have here at home, some we have had but they are now worked out, and the experience we gained in mining them or extracting them from their ores has been passed out overseas. There are few of these resources that the Commonwealth cannot now provide: gold, silver, nickel, tin, copper, lead and zinc are a few of the metals, diamonds for industry as well as for jewellery, asbestos and mica with their multitude of uses. Many of these are displayed in this section of the Exhibition.
Archæology
The story of this field of exploration, as we tell it here, returns to the surface, then, with the extruded molten rock and the mineral wealth it holds, yet there is still a part of it to tell – the chapters revealed by those who explore the latest shelves in this library of the past, the archæologists. It is they who have pieced together the histories and ways of life of past civilisations, some so ancient that they have not even left records incised on bricks or stone.
The great citadel of Mohenjo-daro overlooking the Indus, the great Ziggurat on the plain at Ur, the gorgeous palace of King Minos in Crete – these are just three of the lost achievements of the past that the method and imagination of British archælogists have brought to light again to aid us when we pause to think about the progress of mankind.
Author Ian CoxPosted on 1951 2016 Categories The EarthTags archæology, Commonwealth of Nations, Geological Survey, geology, minerals, Robert Gutmann, Sonia Withers, structure of the planetLeave a comment on The Earth
Theme Conveners: Quintin Riley and J.L.P Macnair ◦ Display Designer: Jock Kinneir
Of all regions of the Earth, the Arctic and Antarctic have offered the most persistent lure to our spirit of adventure and discovery.
The British started to sail the Arctic seas more than four hundred years ago, searching for a quick way to the markets of the East. It was soon established that if such passages did exist they would never be practicable as sea routes; nevertheless we continued to frequent these seas, first of all hunting the whales that abounded there, and then for discovery for its own sake. In summary, what we know now of the Arctic regions between West Greenland and the Behring Strait is almost entirely the result of British exploration in the course of many voyages and journeys over land or ice – an heroic backcloth against which to view contemporary knowledge and achievement.
The assault on Antarctica followed different trends, for it is a continent and not, like the regions around the North Pole, an archipelago of islands and ice into the heart of which ships can penetrate. It is here that recent British Polar effort has been particularly concentrated in the permanent Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey. It is on the experience of this Survey, which covers a number of sciences, that many of the displays in this section are based. A full-scale Base Hut, for example, shows something of the modern polar way of life.
Polar exploration, then, is more than ever a serious though exhilarating business and takes all possible advantage of new developments, for example in transport, nutrition and equipment, to improve its efficiency and value to the world. The meteorological observers in the Falkland Islands Dependencies provide data essential to the accuracy of forecasts for the whole of the Southern Ocean. Studies of the rocks here, or in the North Polar regions, are vital to the understanding of the past history of the Earth. Details about the structure and behaviour of the ice caps have an important bearing on new knowledge about the past, and possibly the future, trends in the climate of the world.
To give an impression of the conditions of travel and of equipment now used, a theatre has been included in this section where men with polar experience are giving demonstrations. One of’ the most modern means of transport – the snowmobile – can be seen in action; but in many types of terrain the dog-drawn sledge is still indispensable. An essential part in these displays, then, is played by husky dogs, most of them born and trained in Antarctica, sent here for this precise purpose by His Excellency the Governor of the Falkland Islands.
Author Ian CoxPosted on 1951 2016 Categories PolarTags Antarctic, Arctic, Behring Strait, dog sleds, Falkland Islands, JLP Macnair, Jock Kinneir, North Pole, Quintin Riley, snowmobiles, Southern OceanLeave a comment on Polar
Theme Conveners: C. Hamilton Ellis and Nigel Clayton ◦ Display Designers: Austin Frazer and Ellis Miles
The memorial to British discovery by sea is the chart of the globe. Straits, bays, seas, islands, headlands, rivers, and even whole countries – all the world over they mirror back names from Britain.
Britain was the first sea-discovery of our forebears. For some races this island, in itself, might then have brought an end to voyaging; but for us it has been a harbour, rather, from which we have continued to launch ourselves out into the world. Of all the arenas where the destinies of nations are decided we still prefer to face our difficulties at sea.
Four hundred years ago the nation was in a pass from which the only escape was by new foreign markets for our goods, and the establishment of trade with countries overseas. It was in seeking them out in the uncharted world that British sailors made greater contributions to sea discovery than those of any other nation. They had the enterprise and leadership, they built the ships that would keep the seas and, besides these, they had an ingrained curiosity and skill which laid the foundation of scientific navigation.
In this small gallery of the Dome we cannot pay tribute to all the names renowned for discovery at sea; we have, instead, singled out the greatest of them all – James Cook – for special mention. His life is summarised by the names of his exploring ships – Endeavour, Resolution, Adventure, Discovery. He was a great seaman, but unique in his time for the attention he gave to the welfare of the men who worked his ships. He was a great navigator, but his genius as a surveyor made each voyage classical, each another foundation stone for modern geography. He was a very great explorer and a man of science, but his humanity and understanding were such that no extermination or slavery followed his discovery of a new race or people.
In six years Cook systematically eliminated a landmass – the Great Southern Continent – the existence of which had been firmly imagined by geographers for twenty-five centuries. His worth as a hydrographer cannot be overestimated.
It was the British who first set about a systematic charting of’ the whole world and for many years it was British charts, which we did not keep to ourselves, that the ships of all nations relied on. Modern methods in hydrographic survey, as well as the many uses for which charts are now produced, are illustrated on this gallery, together with other aids to navigation and tide prediction.
Research ships
But exploration by sea has not stopped at charting the surface waters. The cloak of Drake and Cook has now fallen on the men of science who by physical, chemical and biological techniques are adding to our knowledge of all its aspects. This phase began with the sailing of H.M.S. Challenger in 1872 – the first ship to be fully engaged on oceanographic research. Her modern counterpart is the Research Ship Discovery II, famous particularly for her work in Southern waters.
Science of the sea
In the second part of this gallery the displays show some of the things that science can tell us about the sea – its composition, its physical behaviour, the nature of the ocean beds and the living creatures that inhabit it. British research has been particularly active in studying the animals and minute plants that live near the surface – the plankton. They play a vital part in the cycle of life in the sea – not only for fish but even for many whales which feed almost entirely upon these diminutive animals.
Author Ian CoxPosted on 1951 2016 Categories SeaTags Austin Frazer, C Hamilton Ellis, Ellis Miles, hydrography, James Cook, Nigel Clayton, research ships, scienceLeave a comment on Sea
Theme Convener: Arthur Garratt ◦ Display Designer: Ronald Sandiford
Here, on this gallery of the Dome, we follow the story of exploration upward off the earth, first of all into the atmosphere which causes our weather.
Weather records were kept at the Great Exhibition in 1851 and the first daily weather map ever produced was sold to the public there. In the “Sky” section of the Dome a modern Weather Forecasting Unit is working. It produces forecasts for the next twenty-four hours, illustrating at the same time how the meteorologist goes to work.
Modern forecasting depends on the collection of weather data all over the world, and the passing of the information quickly to the central points where the forecasts are made. Our present system is essentially an international one, operating through a world-wide network of radio, telephone and teleprinter services which are in constant use for weather messages only.
Developments in physical appliances have been a great help to meteorologists because they can provide data from places out of man’s reach. Balloons, for instance, are now sent far up into the sky with special equipment that can radio back information about conditions in the upper atmosphere. Meanwhile, their course is plotted by radar to show how the wind is blowing, say, ten miles up.
This is just one example of the sort of equipment that is now being developed so that we can forecast weather more accurately and for longer periods ahead than is possible at present.
Ionospheric research
From the weather-zone, the story of exploration tends upward to about 250 miles above the earth’s surface. British scientists were among the first to discover that the sun’s radiation forms layers at about this height by electrically charging (or ionising) the particles of the atmosphere. This region is now called the ionosphere, and it has three main layers – one 70 miles up, another at 140 miles and a third 250 miles above the earth.
These layers are the reason why we can transmit radio signals for great distances. But they are not hard and fast in their behaviour, so there are a lot of variations that have to be understood before our long-distance signalling can be perfect.
In this work of improving radio transmission and reception, British scientists and technicians are playing a leading part – just as they did in discovering the ionosphere and exploring it.
Author Ian CoxPosted on 1951 2016 Categories SkyTags Arthur Garratt, forecasting, ionosphere, meteorology, Ronald Sandiford, weatherLeave a comment on Sky
Theme Convener: Penrose Angwin, M.B.E. ◦ Display Designers: Austin Frazer and Eric Towell
The explorers of outer space – beyond the ionosphere – are the astronomers. With intellect and imagination they have reached out millions of miles and brought down the knowledge on which our understanding of the universe is based.
One of the immediately practical uses of astronomy is the accurate determination of time. Today we can measure it to a thousandth of a second but we still use the motions of heavenly bodies as our primary standard. This subject, particularly as it bears upon life and work today, forms the first sequence of displays on the Outer Space gallery. Its entrance can be recognised from all over the Dome by a replica of the famous Greenwich Time Ball, which used to give a time check at one o’clock every day so that ships in the Thames could regulate their chronometers.
Modern knowledge of the heavens is an international achievement in which British astronomers have played a great part. Most of the displays that follow on this gallery, giving vivid impressions of various parts of the universe, are based, therefore, on knowledge contributed by a number of nations.
They begin with our own earth – presented, not as we know it from first-hand experience, but as one of a number of heavenly bodies with its own peculiar way of behaving in space. Next we show the major planets – Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus, as they might be seen from their satellites. Into this series of displays comes our own satellite, the moon, whose surface we know much more intimately than that of any of the planets. Amateur astronomers have added a lot to this knowledge, in determining the depth of the various craters, estimating the changing surface temperatures and mapping its features.
Beyond the solar system, which is illustrated in moving model form, we have to go vast distances in our imaginations before reaching other bodies. Our own solar system is merely a tiny entity in the galaxy we call the Milky Way. Outside the Milky Way are many other vast clouds of stars – the nebulae. At such distances we can only see stars, any planets they may have around them are unknown to us.
Our own sun is, in many ways, a typical star, and by studying it in detail astronomers have come to learn much about stars in general. Following on this, brilliant reasoning by physicists and astronomers (many of them British) has given us knowledge of the life history of a star. We present this by a new visual technique in the Outer Space gallery.
Of all discoverers, Isaac Newton must surely be rated the worlds greatest. Some of his achievements are shown in the “Physical World” section of the Dome. But his fertile mind contributed a great deal also to astronomy. It was he who showed that the physical universe is governed by law and not by caprice. In addition, he designed the first reflecting telescope, invented the calculus and laid the foundations of spectroscopy – all tools of the astronomer.
Since Newton, Britain has continued to be very active in designing telescopes and the gear associated with them. As modern examples we show a replica of the new St. Andrews telescope and, on the ground floor, the 74-inch telescope now being completed for use in Australia. But bigger and better though our telescopes become, it is now believed that a point will be reached in space beyond which they will never be able to penetrate, because the universe is expanding at a speed greater than that of light.
The radio telescope
The latest tool of astronomers is radio. A few years ago it was discovered that short-wave radio signals came to us from outer space. It is now known that these originate in part of the sky where there are no visible stars. How they arise is still a mystery. When we solve it, we shall know more about the origin of cosmic rays. You can see in this section what these signals look like.
But as well as using radio passively, as it were, by studying signals originating in outer space, we can also employ it actively for astronomical exploration. This is one of the newer uses of radar, which, in short, enables us to see by means of radio waves. Strong pulses are sent out from the earth and received again after reflection from heavenly bodies. By this technique we can locate meteors, for example, even when they are invisible to the eye, and calculate their velocity accurately.
The main display of this new method is the radio telescope which visitors themselves will be able to operate. Its aerial is on top of the Shot Tower and can be beamed on to the moon. The signals transmitted take about two and a half seconds to get to the moon and be reflected back to earth. Visitors will be able to see them clearly on a cathode ray tube.
This radio telescope is an advance on equipment yet produced because it can reach the moon whenever it is above the horizon. Other transmitters have only obtained echoes when the moon was near the horizon – rising or setting. The radio telescope will be used solely for scientific purposes after the Exhibition closes, and even while it is open it will be contributing to contemporary research on problems of fading. It is hoped that this will start by giving us more information about conditions in the upper atmosphere of the Earth and on the surface of the moon.
Author Ian CoxPosted on 1951 2016 Categories Outer SpaceTags Austin Frazer, Eric Towell, Penrose Angwin, radio telescope, telescopes, the moon, the planets, the stars, the sun, timeLeave a comment on Outer Space
Theme Convener: Kenneth Chapman ◦ Display Designers: Austin Frazer and Stirling Craig
In the foregoing sections of the Dome we have shown something of man’s achievement in exploration from the earth downward, outward and upward to the extremes of outer space where only intellect and imagination can carry him. The results are ever-increasing knowledge, and that knowledge is Science.
But this British desire to explore expresses itself in yet another way – as a probing deep inside nature to discover the secrets of the processes by which it works. Those who concern themselves with inanimate things are the physicists and chemists; the explorers of the world of living things are the biologists. The researches of these men and women are no less explorations than the journeys of Livingstone or the voyages of Cook. They do not necessarily have to travel far in pursuing their discoveries, but it so happens that some of them have been explorers by land or sea as well. A number of our own leading men of science to-day have been members of expeditions, for example to polar regions, the tropics or the Himalayas.
In exploring the living world, our biologists have been eminent in studying animals and plants as they occur in nature, why and how they live as they do and how they have come to be what they are. Here, in science, they have shown a trait characteristic of the British as a whole – a peculiar sympathy and understanding of the animals and plants around them. It expresses itself in many ways – not only in the work of our early naturalists but in stockraising and the English garden – to mention only two.
Our early biologists
Of the early British biologists, three have been chosen to illustrate three of the directions from which the living world can be explored. They are John Ray who studied animals and plants so that he could classify them in their natural orders, Robert Brown, a laboratory scientist who was interested in their structure, and Gilbert White who made long and patient observations of the ways in which animals and plants live in their natural environment.
Dominating this section, just as his work still influences all modern biology, is Charles Darwin. The results of his work and thought, all through the world, are incalculably great. He had within him the sympathetic insight of the countryman, an accurate memory of distant explorations, the discipline of a naturalist and biologist and, above all, an intellect that could analyse and range his myriad observations into a theory that brought about a revolution in the scientific world. This was Natural Selection.
Associated with Darwin in the displays are the more notable of his contemporaries such as Huxley and Wallace, whose work also was strongly influenced by travel and exploration abroad.
Modern research
The section culminates in a number of examples of modern work and research in biology – all of them showing an acceptance of the evolutionary principles that Darwin formulated, but pushing forward the frontiers of knowledge even further – study of mimicry in butterflies and the evolution of their form, to investigation of learning in birds. Pursuing the subject of learning, contemporary research on the brain and nervous mechanisms of octopuses and squids is demonstrated. The results of this have applications far beyond these creatures themselves and bear upon the working of the human nervous system.
Other displays are concerned with the mechanism of inheritance, with the intimate relationship between animals and their environment, migration, and the evolution of mankind. Taken together, all these examples show how the work of Charles Darwin has influenced the approach of those who to-day explore and discover in the Living World.
The visitor may notice that certain of our outstanding biological achievements with practical value are not included in this section. These are shown in those Pavilions to whose stories they particularly contribute. Pest control, for example, is in “The Land”, science in agriculture is in “The Country”, medicine and physiology are in the “Health” Pavilion.
Author Ian CoxPosted on 1951 2016 Categories The Living WorldTags Austin Frazer, biologists, biology, Charles Darwin, evolution, Gilbert White, John Ray, Kenneth Chapman, research, Robert Brown, Stirling CraigLeave a comment on The Living World
Downstream Circuit
The Lion and the Unicorn
The New Schools
The People of Britain
Other Downstream Displays
1851 Centenary Pavilion
The Buildings Themselves
The Festival Church
The Royal Festival Hall
The Shot Tower
The Way to Go Round
Upstream Circuit
Minerals of the Island
Power and Production
Sea and Ships
The Land of Britain
The Natural Scene
The Festival of Britain: A Land and Its People by Harriet Atkinson
Beacon for Change: How the 1951 Festival of Britain Shaped the Modern Age by Barry Turner
Festival of Britain: DESIGN 1951 by Paul Rennie
Tonic to the Nation: The Festival of Britain 1951 edited by Mary Banham and Bevis Hillier
The Autobiography of a Nation: The 1951 Festival of Britain (Studies in Design & Material Culture) by Becky E. Conekin
Related viewing
London In Festival Year 1951 [DVD]
The Complete Humphrey Jennings: Volume One, Two, Three [DVD/Blu-ray]
A Day in the Life - Four Portraits of Post-War Britain by John Krish [DVD/Blu-ray]
Land of Promise [DVD]
A Hippisley Coxe
Arthur Garratt
Austin Frazer
Brian O'Rorke
C Hamilton Ellis
Ellis Miles
F H K Henrion
Hugh Casson
Hungerford Railway Bridge
Kenneth Chapman
Neville Conder
Nigel Clayton
Patience Clifford
Penrose Angwin
Ronald Sandiford
Sonia Withers
Wells Coates
Retropia Time travel made easy
Transdiffusion Broadcasting System The independent broadcasting authority since 1964
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The Fred Rogers Company Announces Production of Second Season of Emmy-Winning Preschool Hit PEG + CAT for PBS KIDS
Credit: © 2013, Feline Features LLC
25 All-New Math-Infused Episodes – Including a Musical One-Hour Special – to Roll Out Starting Spring 2016
Arlington, VA; Pittsburgh, PA, March 3, 2015 –The Fred Rogers Companyhas announced production of a second season of PEG + CAT for PBS KIDS. The new season of the multiple Emmy Award-winning animated series for preschoolers is slated to launch on PBS KIDS in spring 2016. Season two of the popular show will feature 25 engaging new episodes, including a hilarious one-hour special highlighting the musical math adventures of the intrepid Peg and her loyal sidekick, Cat. In addition, PEG + CAT will introduce fun new interactive games and digital storybooks on PBS KIDS digital platforms, using the series’ hallmark humor to showcase early math skills for young fans.
“We’re very excited to bring a whole new season of PEG + CATto PBS KIDS, where it’s been a big hit with kids and parents since it premiered in fall 2013, helping to empower girls from coast-to-coast,” said Paul Siefken, Vice President, Broadcast and Digital Media, The Fred Rogers Company. “New episodes will continue to showcase Peg and Cat’s joyful approach to problem-solving in each of their amazing musical adventures.”
“PEG + CATfurthers PBS KIDS’ mission to use the power of media to open worlds of possibilities for all children,” said Lesli Rotenberg, General Manager, Children’s Media, PBS. “Research shows that PEG + CAT’s content helps build children’s understanding of important math concepts, which play a critical role in preparing them for success in school and in life.”
Each episode finds the spirited Peg, Cat and their friends working together to overcome a challenge using their trusty math and problem-solving abilities. Upbeat music is woven throughout the show, and every story features a catchy original song. The series provides young viewers with a fresh new way to experience the key math skills needed to navigate everyday life. And since Peg doesn’t always get it right the first time, preschoolers also learn the value of learning from mistakes.
PEG + CAThas attracted a large and growing audience across both broadcast and digital platforms, incorporating a perfect combination of “girl-power” and “brain-power.” Peg, the show’s star, was recently recognized by Common Sense Media as one of TV’s Best Role Models of 2014. Peg also has been widely praised as a great S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) role model for girls.
PEG + CATis co-created and executive produced by Jennifer Oxley (Little Bill, The Wonder Pets!) and Billy Aronson (Rent, Postcards from Buster) and produced by The Fred Rogers Company for PBS KIDS. Kevin Morrison of The Fred Rogers Company and Vince Commisso of production partner 9 Story Media Group also serve as executive producers. 9 Story, which distributes the popular series and manages licensing for the brand internationally, has secured distribution in more than 30 countries, providing even more opportunities for children around the world to tune in to the upbeat series. HiHat Media leads U.S. licensing initiatives for the brand.
The series has been honored with a trio of Emmys for “Outstanding Pre-School Children’s Animated Program,” “Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program” and “Outstanding Individual Achievement in Production Design.” PEG + CAThas won four Kidscreen awards as well as a Parents’ Choice Gold Award and the Peg + Cat Big Gig App has earned a Parents’ Choice Silver Honor.
About PBS KIDS
PBS KIDS, the number one educational media brand for kids, offers all children the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television, digital platforms and community-based programs. Kidscreen- and Webby-award winning pbskids.org provides engaging interactive content, including digital games and streaming video. PBS KIDS also offers mobile apps to help support young children’s learning. The PBS KIDS Video App is available on a variety of mobile devices and on platforms such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Chromecast. For more information on specific PBS KIDS content supporting literacy, science, math and more, visit pbs.org/pressroom, or follow PBS KIDS on Twitter and Facebook.
About 9 Story Media Group
9 Story is one of the industry’s leading creators, producers and distributors of award-winning animated and live-action content for young audiences around the world. With one of North America’s largest animation studios based in Toronto, 9 Story has over 220 creative and production staff, and has produced over 900 half hours of quality children’s and family programming, seen on some of the most respected children’s channels around the world across multiple platforms. The company’s distribution arm represents a growingcatalogue which includes several beloved brands such as Arthur, Wibbly Pig, Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars, Wild Kratts and Almost Naked Animals in addition to exciting new series such as Numb Chucks,Camp Lakebottom, Cache Craze, Daniel Tiger’s Neighbourhood and Nerds and Monsters. The company recently acquired CCI Kids, the family content division of CCI Entertainment, increasing 9 Story’s portfolio to over 1600 half hours of content with popular shows such as Guess How Much I Love You,Joe & Jack, Artzooka! and Extreme Babysitting. www.9story.com
About The Fred Rogers Company
The company was founded by Fred Rogers in 1971 as the non-profit producer of MISTER ROGERS’ NEIGHBORHOODfor PBS. In the years that followed, it not only created hundreds of episodes of this much-loved program, but also extended Fred’s values and approach to other efforts in promoting children’s social, emotional and behavioral health and supporting parents, caregivers, teachers and other professionals in their work with children. The Fred Rogers Company continues to build on Fred’s legacy in innovative ways through a wide variety of media, and engaging new generations of children and families with his timeless wisdom. The company’s highly-rated children’s TV series include DANIEL TIGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD and PEG + CAT as well as ODD SQUAD, a live-action series for school-age children that premiered on PBS KIDS in November 2014. For more information, visit www.fredrogers.org.
Grand Communications, Inc. (for The Fred Rogers Company)
Alison Grand; 212-584-1133; alison@grandcommunications.com
Laura Liebeck; 845-440-7974; laura@grandcommunications.com
Atiya Frederick; 703.739.5147; anfrederick@pbs.org
PBS KIDS and PBS KIDS Producers Win Six Kidscreen Awards ...
PBS KIDS' "Odd Squad Saves the World" Special Brings in ...
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David Laflamme Band: Music of 'It's A Beautiful Day'; with Fishbear opening January 12, 2010
Famous for their song "White Bird", a melancholy ballad that stood out not only for its memorable vocal melody and "seize the day" message, but also for front man David Laflamme's
slow-burning violin solo. Multiple albums were laced with classic cuts such as "Hot Summer Day", "Bombay Calling," "Girl With No Eyes", "Wasted Union Blues", "Time Is", "Dolphins", "Misery Loves Company", and many more you'll remember. Today the band performs the music of It's A Beautiful Day along with newer material, moving effortlessly from an almost folksy sound to ethereal jazz to psychedelic to straight on rock & roll performing selections from three new CDs and over seven of their previous albums. The show is enhanced with David Laflamme's delightful reminiscing of the San Francisco Summer of Love Days and 40 plus years of
performing. The current band boasts the longest continuous lineup of 8 years with 4 of the 6 members going back 25-40 years! David LaFlamme on violin and vocals, Linda LaFlamme vocals, original drummer Val Fuentes, 28 year veteran Toby Gray on bass, Rob Espinosa on guitar and Gary Thomas on keyboards.
Official Website: http://www.yoshis.com/sanfrancisco/jazzclub/artist/show/1086
Added by Yoshis on December 9, 2009
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Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary | Our YouTube page
2018 Tour de France | 2018 Giro d'Italia
I get no respect. The way my luck is running, if I was a politician I would be honest. - Rodney Dangerfield
Current racing:
May 11 - June 2: Giro d'Italia
Upcoming racing:
May 24 - 26: Tour de l'Ain
Latest completed racing:
May 14 - 19: 4 Jours de Dunkerque
May 12 - 18: Tour of California
May 10 - 12: Vuelta de Madrid
April 30 - May 5: Tour de Romandie
May 2 - 5: Tour de Yorkshire
May 3 - 5: Vuelta Asturias
May 1: Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt
April 28: Liège-Bastogne-Liège
April 28: Giro dell'Appennino
April 25 - 27: Vuelta a Castilla y Leon
CCC Team Extends with Nathan Van Hooydonck Through to 2021
The team sent me this news:
20 May, 2019: Nathan Van Hooydonck will remain in CCC Team colors through to 2021 with the team adding an additional year to his existing contract, which was set to conclude at the end of the 2020 season.
Nathan van Hooydonck riding the individual time trial at the 2015 World Championships. Sirotti photo
The 23-year-old Belgian rider originally joined the team through the BMC Development Team program in 2015, before graduating to the WorldTour halfway through the 2017 season, from which point he has played an integral role in CCC Team’s Classics team.
CCC Team General Manager Jim Ochowicz said the decision to extend Van Hooydonck’s contract now, rather than next year, is a sign of the team’s confidence in Van Hooydonck and acknowledgment of his role in the team.
“We are pleased to announce that we have extended Nathan Van Hooydonck’s contract through to the 2021 season. Nathan’s growth and development from the BMC Development Team days to where he is now has led us to believe he is a rider with big talent and a great future ahead of him. He has consistently proved himself as a valuable domestique to Greg Van Avermaet during the Classics and is more than capable of going for his own result in these races,” Ochowicz said.
“We are looking forward to helping Nathan develop further as a rider and we are excited to see what he can do. Nathan has been with the team for a while now so it’s easy to forget how young he is. At just 23-years-old, Nathan has a long and bright career ahead of him and we believe CCC Team is a great fit for a rider of his caliber.
Van Hooydonck is looking forward to spending the next couple of years with CCC Team. “When Jim Ochowicz called me after Paris-Roubaix to tell me that the team wanted to extend my contract and asked me if I wanted to stay, I was really happy and it was an easy decision to make. I feel appreciated in the team for the work I do and with this contract extension, the team must see some potential in me which is a huge confidence boost,” Van Hooydonck explained.
“The main reason to stay with CCC Team is that it feels like home and the riders around me in the Classics group are so experienced, so I am in a great position to learn from them. This season, I already felt that I made a good step forward and in the next seasons I want to continue that and be with Greg Van Avermaet in the finals of the Classics. I would also like to go for my own result in the smaller races, that is my ambition and I hope in a few years, I can be a leader in the bigger races too."
Lucy Kennedy takes her first European victory for with a solo attack in Durango-Durango
Kennedy's Mitchelton-Scott team sent me this report:
Jayco Herald Sun Tour winner Lucy Kennedy claimed her first race victory in Europe for Mitchelton-SCOTT today, after a brave solo attack in the one-day Basque Country race, Durango-Durango.
The 30-year-old had teammate Amanda Spratt for company in a breakaway that contained many of the race favourites. The duo used the numbers to their advantage, allowing Kennedy to sneak away and hold on for the win, with Spratt patrolling the chase before taking second place behind to make it a successful and dominating day out for Mitchelton-SCOTT women.
The 113kilometre race began with five opening laps of a circuit before two challenging local finish laps that included a tough climb to contend with. The pace was on from the start with plenty of attacks yet nobody was able to breakaway in the early stages. The bunch was still together after 30kilometres of racing and past the first intermediate sprint.
On the undulating roads, tired legs began to appear in the bunch as a dangerous group started to ride away from the peloton.
Ten-riders including Spratt and Kennedy quickly got into formation and began working together well to establish a gap over the rest. With all the main teams represented, the group continued to grow their advantage. The 10 leaders extended their time gap out to over five-minutes as they entered the the hard local finishing laps, knowing the winner would come from within the group.
After a big effort by Spratt ot the start of the Alto de Goiuria climb, Kennedy counter attacked over the top, showing her form and climbing legs to open up a small advantage.
The Australian continued to push on ahead, cresting the top of the Alto de Goiuria climb for the first time with a gap over the chasers to take top points in the Queen of the Mountain classification.
Despite never gaining more than 40seconds, Kennedy continued to power on ahead as the kilometres ticked down, doing enough to hold off the chase and take the race victory, 26seconds ahead of teammate Spratt.
Lucy Kennedy:
“It's my first European win with the team so it feels very special. In this team, it's an honour just to be given the opportunity so I'm glad I could make it count.
“We didn't expect to have us climbers in a break, but once that break formed it was perfect for us. Spratty kept me really calm and the plan for her to attack first on the first hard climb and for me to go over the top of that worked perfectly.
“The plan was to make it solo, but it was a little nerve-wracking when the gap was just hovering. When I reached the top of the last climb I was pretty confident I could hold them off.“
It's a nice confidence builder ahead of Bira, we know we have a great team for this type of racing.”
Durango-Durango results:
1. Lucy Kennedy (Mitchelton-SCOTT) 2:56:37
2. Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-SCOTT) +0:26
3. Soraya Paladin (Ale-Cipollini) ST
Eduard Prades wins Vuelta Aragon
We don't cover this race, but here's the final report from winner Eduard Prades' Team Movistar:
In a fast-paced (46kph average), eventful -crashed riders included Eduardo Sepúlveda, with no consequence, and Jesús Ezquerra (BBH), who abandoned the race while in the leader’s jersey-, vibrant final day, the 44th Vuelta Aragón was won by the Movistar Team with Edu Prades, who dug deep until the end with his five team-mates into a race which wasn’t decided until the last intermediate sprint of the 127km stage three, from Huesca to Zaragoza.
The Catalan allrounder, supported by all Blues over a route where crosswinds were key for the final events, launched a furious move for the 3″ bonus available at the last rush, 16km before the end, in the town of Villanueva de Gállego. There, Prades broke the tie which, once the race leader was forced to DNF with 50km remaining, persisted between Prades and Evgeny Shalunov (GAZ).
The sprint finish next to Zaragoza’s Torre del Agua was contested by faster riders than the GC contenders -with Pelucchi (ANS) claiming the honours-, so Edu’s 6th place over the line was more than enough to secure the men’s Movistar Team’s 11th victory in 2019. A success made possible by the commitment and quality by a phenomenal Marc Soler (8th in his return to racing), Sepúlveda (15th), Valls and locals Arcas and Castrillo, vital for a win on home soil.
Eduard Prades wins a stage at this year's Tour of Provence. Sirotti photo
REACTION / Edu Prades:
“The first thing I want to say is I regret really much what happened to Ezquerra. I’d have liked to have contested this victory against him, on equal terms. I’m so sorry that he crashed. It was a very nervous stage, where everyone wanted to stay near the front. We took advantage from the crosswinds to make the approach to the final bonus sprint harder – we really tackled it as if it were the real finish, because we knew it could come down to those three bonus seconds.
“Coming closer to the line, I kept in mind it wasn’t sealed yet, and that it would be more nervous because the sprinters were seeking for the day’s success while we were looking for the GC. However, I also hoped for those crosswinds to help us have a longer peloton before the final straight, not finding that much trouble to get into position. If I had been a bit closer, I even think I could have sought for the day’s win, yet this GC victory is already a big satisfaction in itself.
“Claiming this first overall victory in Movistar Team colours helps me continue those good results I snatched last year, showing that I’m as competitive as I was before joining the WorldTour. It would have been impossible to take it without the team-mates who were here – this goes to all of them, and also my family, my girl, everyone who supports me.”
Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary
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I’ve always admired people who were extremely disciplined. “If I could only have more discipline” I would tell myself. I would try only to fail and feel more discouraged than ever.
Reading Gary Keller’s book “The One Thing” was a huge “ah ha” moment. As it turns out, I was looking at discipline all wrong. I always thought that success was a marathon of disciplined action. Grinding it out, day after day, with an ultra-disciplined approach. But then I looked at my own life. Sure, there were plenty of things I wanted to be more disciplined in. But there were also other parts of my life that came easy for me.
For years, fitness and health have been an important aspect of my life. Other’s would say “I just don’t have enough discipline for that.” But the weird thing was, it didn’t seem hard for me. Why? Because it had nothing to do with discipline. It was simply a habit.
It turns out, you only need enough discipline to push through until habit takes over. Suddenly, I started looking at things different. I no longer told myself “I just need more discipline.” Insead I would say “I need to make that a new habit.” This was a big deal. You see, I can push through almost anything as long as I know it’s a sprint. But marathons seem unattainable.
This now made complete sense. All those people who I thought were so disciplined made it look so easy.Why? Because it was easy (or at least easier) because they were simply maintaining a positive habit.
I realize starting new habit is not easy. It does take discipline. But only enough until repetition takes over.
The fact that it’s difficult to start a new habit is actually a good thing. Why? Because it forces you to focus on “the one thing” that will make the biggest impact. Do that one thing until it becomes a habit and then move on to the next.
Success is about doing the right thing, not about doing everything right! Focusing on that one thing liberates you from having to juggle everything else. It forces you to be more clear in your direction thus positively impacting other areas of your life.
The takeaway?
Don’t worry about being more disciplined. Just focus on mini challenges to bring on more successful habits.
Focus on building one habit at a time. Those “super disciplined” people are not super human. They have just completed more short disciplined sprints than you have. In other words, they are simply maintaining their successful habit that they have built. One at a time, over time.
There are many advantages to business that come from investing in commercial solar. The needs for business are generally higher than they are for residential installations, but the basic principles are the same. Solar works by converting sunlight rays into DC electricity through your solar panels. A solar inverter then converts the DC power in a 240V AC, so that it can be used to power your commercial property. Your utilities will draw power from the system first, and then from the grid if you require more.
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Welcome to Larry – Dakno SwiftBlog Sites. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging! Tweet
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Former Assistant to Jasper Johns Charged with Fraud
ASS-ISTANT
Updated Apr. 20, 2017 5:47PM ET / Published Aug. 15, 2013 4:54PM ET
This has been a year of weird art crimes: first the Nahmad family was implicated in an international gambling ring, then stolen masterpieces were reportedly incinerated in Romania. Now a former assistant to Jasper Johns has been charged with stealing works from the artist and selling them. The assistant, James Meyer, allegedly took 22 works between 2006 and 2012 from the artist’s studio in Connecticut, forged authentication papers, and brought them to a gallery in Manhattan, where they sold for a total of $6.5 million. He was Johns’s assistant for over 25 years. He is being charged with interstate transportation of stolen property and wire fraud.
Read it at the Wall Street Journal
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San Bernardino, Calif., Airport Authority
August 2, 2004Larry Chapman0 Comments
Filed UnderPre-2008 Archived Articles
San Bernardino, Calif., airport authority approved for $2.6 million loan
The San Bernardino (CA) County Sun
LOMA LINDA, Calif. — The Inland Valley Development Agency board, meeting here Wednesday, unanimously approved a $2.6 million loan to the San Bernardino International Airport Authority. The loan will allow the SBIAA to partially repay loans made by several area cities and San Bernardino County. Under the agreement, the 10-year loan will be made on Sept. 1 at an interest rate of 2 percent.
An additional $2.6 million loan should be approved in the next 10 months, said Don Rogers, the agency’s interim executive director.
“This was money that was loaned by member agencies to the airport during the first six years when the IVDA didn’t have the funds available to help sustain operations,” Rogers said.
The loan also will have an annual payment that includes a minimum principal payment of $50,000 for the first five years, $100,000 annually in years 6 through 9, and a balloon payment of $1.9 million in year 10.
The cities receiving the money include:
–San Bernardino, $867,000.
–Highland, $433,500.
–Loma Linda, $433,500.
–Colton, $433,500.
–San Bernardino County will receive $433,500.
“These are significant sums and are important to their operations,” Rogers said.
Martin E. Romero, a member of the SBIAA board, said the loan would save the airport money in the long-term.
At Wednesday’s IVDA board meeting at Loma Linda City Hall, members also unanimously approved the appointment of Rogers to another term as interim executive director.
His fourth term will expire Dec. 31. Rogers was first appointed as the IVDA’s interim executive director in August 2003.
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Top SEO News, 2018
Google will keep in secret the number of search quality algorithms
Oct 08/2017
How many search quality algorithms does Google use? This question was put to the John Mueller, the company’s employee during the last video conference with webmasters.
The question was:
"When you mention Google's quality algorithm, how many algorithms do you use?"
Mueller responded the following:
"Usually we do not talk about how many algorithms we use. We publicly state that we have 200 factors when it comes to scanning, indexing and ranking.
Generally, the number of algorithms is a casual number. For instance, one algorithm can be used to display a letter on the search results page. Therefore, we believe that counting the exact number of algorithms that Google uses is not something that is really useful [for optimizers].
From this point of view, I can’t tell you how many algorithms are involved in Google search."
Gary Illyes shares his point of view on how important referential audit is
At the Brighton SEO event that took place last week, Google rep called Gary Illyes shared his opinion about the importance of auditing the website's link profile. This information was reported by Jennifer Slagg in the TheSEMPost blog.
Since Google Penguin was modified into real-time update and started ignoring spam links instead of imposing sanctions on websites, this has led to a decrease of the value of auditing external links.
According to Gary Illyes, auditing of links is not necessary for all websites at the present moment.
"I talked to a lot of SEO specialists from big enterprises about their business and their answers differed. These companies have different opinions on the reason why they reject links.
I don't think that helding too many audits makes sense, because, as you noted, we successfully ignore the links, and if we see that the links are of an organic nature, it is highly unlikely that we will apply manual sanctions to a website.
In case your links are ignored by the "Penguin", there is nothing to worry about.
I've got my own website, which receives about 100,000 visits a week. I have it for 4 years already and I do not have a file named Disavow. I do not even know who is referring to me.
Thus, in the case when before a website owner was engaged in buying links or using other prohibited methods of link building, then conducting an audit of the reference profile and rejecting unnatural links is necessary in order to avoid future manual sanctions. It is important to remember that rejecting links can lead to a decrease in resource positions in the global search results, since many webmasters often reject links that actually help the website, rather than doing any harm to it.
Therefore, referential audits are needed if there were any violations in the history of the resource. They are not necessary for many website owners and it is better to spend this time on improving the website itself, says Slagg.
Googlebot still refuses to scan HTTP/2
During the last video conference with webmasters Google rep called John Mueller said that Googlebot still refrains to scan HTTP.
The reason is that the crawler already scans the content that fast, so the benefits that the browser receives (web pages loading time is decreased) are not that important.
"No, at the moment we do not scan HTTP / 2. We are still investigating what we can do about it. In general, the difficult part is that Googlebot is not a browser, so it does not get the same speed effects that are observed within a browser when implementing HTTP / 2. We can cache data and make requests in a different way than a regular browser. Therefore, we do not see the full benefits of scanning HTTP / 2.
But with more websites implementing push notification feature, Googlebot developers are on the point of adding support for HTTP in future.”
It should be recalled that in April 2016, John Mueller said that the use of the HTTP / 2 protocol on the website does not directly affect the ranking in Google, but it improves the experience of users due to faster loading speed of the pages. Therefore, if you have a change, it is recommended to move to this protocol.
Google does not check all spam reports in manual mode
Google employee named John Mueller stated that the search team does not check all spam reports manually during the last video conference with webmasters.
The question to Mueller was the following:
"Some time ago we sent a report on a spam, but still have not seen any changes. Do you check each and every report manually?"
The answer was:
No, we do not check all spam reports manually. "
Later Mueller added:
"We are trying to determine which reports about spam have the greatest impact, it is on them that we focus our attention and it is their anti-spam team that checks manually, processes and, if necessary, applies manual sanctions. Most of the other reports that come to us is just information that we collect and can use to improve our algorithms in the future. At the same time, he noted that small reports about violations of one page scale are less prioritized for Google. But when this information can be applied to a number of pages, these reports become more valuable and are prior to be checked.
As for the report processing time, it takes some considerable time. As Mueller explained, taking measures may take "some time", but not a day or two.
It should be recalled that in 2016, Google received about 35 thousand messages about spam from users every month. About 65% of all the reports led to manual sanctions.
Google does not consider a sticky footer as a violation of the rules
Aug 04/2017
In most cases Google does not penalize or lower websites for using a sticky footer. Thus, there is no need to worry about possible problems due to the use of this technique. This information was stated by the Google search representative Gary Illyes on Twitter.
At the same time, Illyes advises to avoid obsession, so as not to cause irritation among users when sticking the footer.
Nah, I would not worry about that, but do not try to make them as less obtrusive as possible. You really do not want to annoy your users.
- Gary "鯨 理" Illyes (@methode) July 28, 2017
It should be recalled that in April the search rep, John Mueller, said that Google does not punish websites for posting end-to-end text and links into the footer of the page. The content of this block is not regarded by the search engine as the main page on the website.
Earlier this month it became known that the location of internal links on the page does not affect their weight.
Cyber attack that took place on May 12 affected 200,000 users from 150 countries
The victims of the mass cyberattack that occurred on May 12 were 200 thousand users from 150 countries. This information was stated by the press-secretary of the European police department (Europol) Jen Ohn Jen Hurt.
According to him, there are many affected companies, including large corporations. He also noted that the cyber attack may continue on May 15, when people come to work and turn on their computers.
The virus, called WannaCry blocks access to files and requires affected users to pay $ 300 ransom in bitcoins. Unless the price is paid in three days, hackers threaten to double this amount, and after 7 they remove all files from the computer.
The first reports of cyber attacks appeared in the media and social networks on Friday, May 12. According to Europol, the malware was launched from the National Health Service of England. Then it affected networks in other countries. The virus infected computer networks of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Megafon and other organizations in Russia.
Proofpoint specialist Darien Hass and author of the MalwareTech blog managed to stop the spread of the virus using code to access a meaningless domain on May 13. However, the WannaCry creators released a new version of the virus, which no longer refers to this domain name.
It is noted in Europol that the motivation of hackers is not fully understood. Typically, this type of attack is revenue-oriented. However, in this case, the amount of the repurchase is small. According to the ministry, only a few companies and individuals agreed to pay $ 300 to attackers, following the recommendations of law enforcement agencies. According to The Guardian, the accounts of the creators of the extortion virus received $ 42,000 from approximately 100 people.
The intruders have not been revealed yet.
Google My Business has added a tool for website creation
Google My Business has launched a new tool using which users will be able to create a free business card website for their company.
You need to verify ownership of the company page in My Business to access the tool. The data and photos placed on it will be used to create the website. The website appearance can be configured, and its contents supplemented.
If you change the company’ data, the website will be automatically updated. In addition, it will be optimized for cross-platform devices.
Having created a website you can publish it immediately or do that later.
A window that offers you to create a website appears after the confirmation of the company page. This function is also available in the "Website" menu.
For more information about this feature see the Help Center.
According to Google, 60% of small businesses do not have their own website. With the help of a new tool they will be able to create them.
Google intends to improve the interaction of a person with AI
Google announced the launch of a new research project, which goal is to study and improve the interaction between artificial intelligence (AI) and human beings. The phenomenon was named PAIR.
At the moment, the program involves 12 people who will work together with Google employees in different product groups. The project also involves external experts: Brendan Meade, a professor of Harvard University and, Hol Abelson, a professor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The research that will be carried out within the framework of the project is aimed at improving the user interface of "smart" components in Google services.
Scientists will study the problems affecting all participants in the supply chain: starting from programmers creating algorithms to professionals who use (or will soon be using) specialized AI tools. Google wants to make AI-solutions user-friendly and understandable to them.
As part of the project, Google also opened the source code for two tools: Facets Overview and Facets Dive. Programmers will be able to check the data sets for machine learning for possible problems using the tools mentioned. For instance, an insufficient sample size.
Google ignores canonical links when an error is suspected
Google ignores canonical links if it is suspected that an error could have been made during their implementation. This was told by the search representative, John Mueller during the last video meeting with webmasters.
One of the participants asked Mueller at the meeting:
"If a large number of canonical links points to the same page, can this lead to some problems with website?"
Mueller replied the following:
"No, it is not necessary. The only problematic situation that may occur is when all these pages point to the main page as canonical. In this case, our systems understand that the rel = canonical attribute was wrongly implemented and thus, they ignore this data.
But if the website contains a large number of pages with the same content (URLs with different parameters, etc.), using the rel = canonical attribute is an ideal option in this situation."
It should be recalled that earlier this month the Moz founder, Rand Fishkin, prepared a review of the best practices for the URL canonicalization.
Google Image Search loses market share to Amazon and Facebook
The share of Google in the search market grew from 58.84% in October last year to 64.8% in March 2017. At the same time, the share of Google Image Search fell to 21.8% in favor of Amazon and Facebook. This information has come from analysts of the American company Jumpshot in partnership with co-founder Moz Rand Fishkin.
During the research, they analyzed search data in Google Search, Images, Maps, YouTube, Yahoo, Bing, Amazon, Facebook, Reddit and Wikipedia for the period from October 2016 to May 2017 with a sole purpose to determine the resources that accounted for the largest number of search engines Sessions and traffic.
Generally, at this period Amazon's share went up from 0.4% to 2.30%, and Facebook's 0.8% to 1.5%. Bing and Yahoo both showed growth of up to 2.4%, while Google Maps was ranked up to 1.2%. The activity of Google Search, Bing, Amazon and Facebook showed growth, while Google Images, YouTube, Yahoo and Google Maps lost their positions.
The report also included data on search volumes and CTR in the US. The number of search sessions in Google has exceeded 30 billion a month (as of October 2016). By May 2017, the growth trend remained at the level of 10-15% compared to the previous year.
The results of the organic search in 2016 went down to the bottom. In December they were ranked at 54% (despite the fact that in January and February of the same year their level was at 57% and 56%, respectively, and taking into account the traditional activity stop after the winter holidays).
November 2016 gave the highest rates of search activity without clicks and was ranked at 45.5%. At the same time, the lowest indicator was in October, which is only 40.3%.
According to Jumpshot, the largest traffic is generated by Google: about 63% in May 2017, with about 60% in October 2016. During this period, YouTube also showed better results and went up by 0.2%, while Amazon rose by 0.1%. Traffic from Facebook, Yahoo, Reddit, Imgur and Bing almost died, and that’s only Wikipedia that remained at the same level.
Read about SEO
SEO Facts
Seo Facts #67
1 in 3 smartphone searches were made right before a store visit. (Source: Google)
Compared to 2015, 77% of B2C marketers say they will produce more content in 2016. Only 2% will produce less. (Source: Content Marketing Institute)
79% of search engine users say they always/frequently click on the natural search results. In contrast, 80% of search engine users say they occasionally/rarely/never click on the sponsored search results.
The average human attention span in 2000 was 12 seconds, but by 2013 it was only 8 seconds. (Source: Microsoft)
4 in 5 consumers conduct local searches on search engines – 88% on smartphones, 84% on computer/tablet. (Source: Google)
Seo Facts #145
There were 400 million registered users on LinkedIn as of December 2015. (Source: LinkedIn)
view also:
© 2017-2018: All rights protected.
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The Virtual Memories Show
A podcast about books & life — not necessarily in that order
Guests (Alphabetical)
Comics & Cartooning
Podcasts By Our Guests
Podcast Supporters
Support Artists & Creators!
The Guest List 2019
All the Books I’ve Read
Another Year, In The Books: 2011
Tag: Frank O’Hara
Episode 294 – Mark Dery
http://traffic.libsyn.com/virtualmemories/Episode_294_-_Mark_Dery.mp3
Episode 282 – Lance Richardson
http://traffic.libsyn.com/virtualmemories/Episode_282_-_Lance_Richardson.mp3
Episode 209 – Jeff Nunokawa
http://traffic.libsyn.com/virtualmemories/Episode_209_-_Jeff_Nunokawa.mp3
Posted on October 10, 2016 October 8, 2017
Episode 189 – Glen Baxter
Virtual Memories Show #189: Glen Baxter
http://traffic.libsyn.com/virtualmemories/Episode_189_-_Glen_Baxter.mp3
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | TuneIn | Spotify | RSS
“The world is a mad place, and New York was a good place to be mad in.”
Artist Glen Baxter joins the show for a conversation about his new collection, Almost Completely Baxter: New and Selected Blurtings (New York Review Comics). We get into the roots of his absurdism, his first visit to New York City in the ’70s and how it changed his life, where his cowboy-thing started, why he doesn’t define himself as either an artist or a cartoonist (but maybe as a visual poet?), the challenge of doing long-form narrative when so much of his work is single-panel, our mutual dislike of the contemporary art scene, and more! Give it a listen! And go buy Almost Completely Baxter: New and Selected Blurtings !
“All the cultural vibrancy of great cities has been made less possible by the fact that people can’t afford to live there anymore. The energy is dissipated.”
We also get into how absurdism insulates him from this modern world, the impact of Brexit on British culture, why his humor was always a tough sell in the UK, the paradox of political cartoonists’ work being bought by the politicians they ridicule, the joy of ukulele, the experience of having his work knocked off by other artists, the time he got a Cartier commission, and more. Now go listen to the show!
“European culture is important to me. Having that snatched away by Brexit, well, that’s something no one discussed in any of the debates.”
Enjoy the conversation! Then check out the archives for more great episodes! You might like:
Posy Simmonds
John Clute
Anthea Bell
R Sikoryak
Michael Kupperman/Ivan Brunetti
Follow The Virtual Memories Show on iTunes, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and RSS!
About our Guest
Glen Baxter is the author of many books since the 1970s, including The Impending Gleam , The Billiard Table Murders , and Blizzards of Tweed . His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Elle, Vogue, Le Monde, The Observer, and The Independent on Sunday. He is a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters, and his art is often exhibited in New York, Amsterdam, Paris, and London, where “Colonel” Baxter lives. His new collection is Almost Completely Baxter: New and Selected Blurtings (New York Review Comics).
Credits: This episode’s music is Nothing’s Gonna Bring Me Down by David Baerwald, used with permission of the artist. The conversation was recorded at the Bethesda North Marriott on a pair of Blue enCORE 200 Microphones feeding into a Zoom H5 digital recorder. I recorded the intro and outro on a Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone feeding into a Mackie Onyx Blackjack 2×2 USB Recording Interface . Photo of Mr. Baxter by me.
Episode 132 – Rootless People
Virtual Memories Show #132:
Christopher Bollen – Rootless People
http://traffic.libsyn.com/virtualmemories/Episode_132_-_Rootless_People.mp3
“I wanted to be a writer since I knew that I couldn’t be a detective.”
We close out the summer of 2015 with a great summer novel, Orient (Harper) by Christopher Bollen! We talk about his new book, the difference between a “smart murder mystery” and a “literary thriller,” the perils of Male First Novel Syndrome (as evinced in Lightning People: A Novel ), the challenges of writing about Long Island, how his years at Interview magazine honed his ear for dialogue, his fascination with rootlessness, why it’s too easy to parody the contemporary art scene, and more! Give it a listen!
“Remember how you could totally judge a stranger by what they were reading? Now we’ve totally lost that cue, thanks to e-books.”
We also talk about Christopher’s impending 40th birthday, his reverse mid-life crisis, “kids today,” the people he now realizes he should’ve been nervous about interviewing when he was young, the allure of detective stories, why childhood bookish shut-ins have great skin when they get older, how I once nearly blew up a shopping mall back in my high school years, and whether the actual inhabitants of Orient were peeved about his new novel.
“You don’t interview Fran Lebowitz; it’s more like you’re her audience.”
We talk about some books and movies in this episode. Here’s a list of ’em (Note: if I ever go to a Patreon crowdfunding model for the show, this is the first thing that goes subscriber-only):
Orient: A Novel – Christopher Bollen
Lightning People: A Novel – Christopher Bollen
The Flamethrowers – Rachel Kushner
The Secret Parts of Fortune: Three Decades of Intense Investigations and Edgy Enthusiasms – Ron Rosenbaum
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Tender Is the Night – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Plum Island – Nelson DeMille
Less Than Zero – Bret Easton Ellls
Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living with Books – Michael Dirda
The Beach – Alex Garland
Women in Love – DH Lawrence
Brad Gooch
Amanda Filipacchi
Langdon Hammer
Levi Stahl
Christopher Bollen is a writer who lives in New York City. He regularly writes about art, literature, and culture. His first novel, Lightning People , was published in 2011. His second novel, Orient , was published by Harper in May 2015. He is currently the Editor at Large at Interview Magazine.
Credits: This episode’s music is Nothing’s Gonna Bring Me Down by David Baerwald, which seems to have become our unofficial theme song (I’ll ask DB if it’s okay to make it official). The conversation was recorded at Mr. Bollen’s apartment on a pair of Blue enCORE 200 microphones feeding into a Zoom H5 digital recorder. I recorded the intro and outro on a Blue Yeti USB Microphone . Processing was done in Audacity and Logic Pro. Bio photo of Mr. Bollen by Danko Steiner; not-as-good photo by me.
Episode 115 – Idlers and Belgians
Virtual Memories Show:
Edward Mendelson – Idlers and Belgians
http://traffic.libsyn.com/virtualmemories/Episode_115_-_Idlers_and_Belgians.mp3
“I have a private test for whether I’m an individual person or whether I’m part of the culture: I go to the supermarket and I look at the supermarket weeklies, and if I recognize the names, then I’m not a person, I’m a product of collective culture.”
Professor Edward Mendelson joins the show to talk about his new book, Moral Agents: Eight Twentieth-Century American Writers (New York Review Books), which profiles Lionel Triling, Dwight Macdonald, Alfred Kazin, William Maxwell, Saul Bellow, Norman Mailer, WH Auden, Frank O’Hara. We discuss the role of individuals in mass culture, the intellectual’s temptation to be a leader, the outdated figure of the Beloved Professor, Orwell’s misinterpretation of Auden, the writer he was terrified to meet, the failures of identity politics, the purpose of Columbia University’s Core Curriculum, his lack of nostalgia for the era of public intellectuals, the way certain books need a year off from teaching in order to recharge, and more. Give it a listen!
“All these writers were tempted by the way they were taken seriously.”
We also talk about why he hates one of my favorite novels, why he agrees with my take on Achilles’ uncanniness in the Iliad, why professors think students are getting dumber year after year, how the economic collapse of the ’70s led to improved colleges across the country, why he thinks Stoner is a study in self-pity, and more! Go listen!
Eva Brann
Michael Dirda
Prue Shaw
Charles Bivona
At Columbia since 1981, Professor Edward Mendelson has also taught at Yale and Harvard. A recipient of American Council of Learned Societies, NEH, and Guggenheim fellowships, he is chiefly interested in 19th-and 20th-century literature, formal and social aspects of poetry and narrative, and biographical criticism. He is Auden’s literary executor; his book Later Auden (1999) is a sequel to his Early Auden (1981). His book, The Things That Matter: What Seven Classic Novels Have to Say About the Stages of Life , was published by Pantheon in 2006. His new book is Moral Agents: Eight Twentieth-Century American Writers , from New York Review Books. He has edited a volume of essays on Thomas Pynchon and, with Michael Seidel, Homer to Brecht: The European Epic & Dramatic Traditions . He has prepared editions of novels by Hardy, Bennett, Meredith, Wells, and Trollope, the first five volumes of a complete edition of Auden, and selections of Auden’s poems and prose. His essays and reviews have appeared in the New York Review of Books, London Review of Books, TLS, the New York Times Book Review, and many other journals and collections, and he wrote an introduction for a new edition of Gravity’s Rainbow. He has also written about computers, music, and the visual arts. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was the first Isabel Dalhousie Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh.
Credits: This episode’s music is Homesickness by Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou. The conversation was recorded at Mr. Mendelson’s office on a pair of Blue enCORE 200 microphones feeding into a Zoom H5 digital recorder. I recorded the intro and outro on a Blue Yeti USB Microphone . Processing was done in Audacity and Logic Pro. Photo of Mr. Mendelson by me.
Posted on April 14, 2015 January 31, 2018
Episode 114 – Roller Coaster
http://traffic.libsyn.com/virtualmemories/Episode_114_-_Roller_Coaster.mp3
Podcast: Buddy Rich’s Teeth and the Corruption of Reality
Virtual Memories: Ron Slate – Buddy Rich’s Teeth and the Corruption of Reality
http://traffic.libsyn.com/virtualmemories/Season_4_Episode_27_-_Buddy_Richs_Teeth_and_the_Corruption_of_Reality.mp3
“It’s said that the sources of writing are mysterious, but the sources of not writing are pathological.”
Ron Slate spent more than two decades in the corporate world before returning to poetry and writing an award-winning collection praised by the likes of Robert Pinsky. We talk about his roots in poetry, how those “lost” years weren’t so lost, what it’s like to be the guy who sees things late, and how his life was forever changed the day he saw Buddy Rich’s teeth.
“Poetry is always battling invention over assertion, over statement. That’s the tug-of-war. I love poets whose work suggests that tension. I look for that battle between ‘words can do so much’ and ‘words are ineffectual.'”
We also explore why he bailed on his Ph.D., how Ted Leonsis asked him the greatest job interview question ever, what it’s like to get poetry-stalked by Louise Glück, and why he’s trying his hand at fiction. Plus, he reads us a poem from his second book!
Enjoy the conversation! Then check out the archives for more great episodes! Related conversations:
DG Myers
Rachel Hadas
Wallis Wilde-Menozzi
Maya Stein
Ron Slate was born in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1950. He earned his Masters degree in creative writing from Stanford University in 1973 and did his doctoral work in American literature at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He started a poetry magazine, The Chowder Review, in 1973 which was published through 1988. In 1978, he left academia and was hired as a corporate speechwriter, beginning his business career in communications and marketing. From 1994-2001 he was vice president of global communications for EMC Corporation. More recently he was chief operating officer of a biotech/life sciences start-up and co-founded a social network for family caregivers. Since 2007 he has been reviewing poetry and prose at his popular homepage called On the Seawall. He lives in Milton, MA.
His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Slate, and many other magazines and sites. The Incentive of the Maggot , his first book of poems, was published by Houghton Mifflin in 2005. The collection was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle poetry prize and the Lenore Marshall Prize of the Academy of American Poets. The collection won the Breadloaf Writers Conference Bakeless Poetry Prize and the Larry Levis Reading Prize of Virginia Commonwealth University. The Great Wave , his second book, was published by Houghton in April 2009.
Credits: This episode’s music is Poet by Sly and the Family Stone. The conversation was recorded in Mr. Slate’s home on a pair of Blue enCORE 200 microphones feeding into a Zoom H4n recorder. The intro and outro were recorded on Blue Yeti USB Microphone . Processing was done in Audacity and Garage Band. Photo of Mr. Slate by me.
This is a Gil Roth joint. You want more of me? Try these:
Virtual Memories Show
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NFL Power Rankings: Week 4
Story posted September 26, 2019 in CommRadio, Sports by John Murphy
After three weeks, we’re starting to see how teams are shaping up for the season. The Lions and Bills have surprised the league as they both go into Week 4 undefeated. Since the current playoff format was introduced in 1990, 140 teams have started the season 0-3, and only four of those teams made the playoffs. On the flip side, 141 teams have started the season 3-0, and only 14 of them missed the playoffs. In this week’s power rankings, we’ll take a look at the last time each team started their current win-loss record.
1. New England Patriots (3-0) (0)
Surprisingly, New England has not started 3-0 since the 2016 season. This team just keeps getting better, especially the defense, which has not allowed a single offensive touchdown since last year’s AFC championship game. The Patriots continue to improve as they get ready to play for the AFC East lead against Buffalo on Sunday.
2. Kansas City Chiefs (3-0) (0)
This is the third year in a row that the Chiefs have started 3-0, and it’s no mystery why they’ve kept that streak alive: Patrick Mahomes. Mahomes put the Chiefs ahead 30-13 early last Sunday, and even though the defense started to wear out towards the end, Kansas City was able to stay alive long enough to get the win over Baltimore.
3. Los Angeles Rams (3-0) (+1)
This is the second year in a row that the Rams have started 3-0. The Los Angeles offense isn’t being as productive as they were last year, but the defense has improved greatly, which is exactly what the Rams have been relying on to get to 3-0.
4. Green Bay Packers (3-0) (+3)
The Packers have not started 3-0 since 2015. Strangely enough, Aaron Rodgers hasn’t been Green Bay’s driving force so far, but that’s a good thing. The reason for the strong start is the defense, which has been outstanding just as much as surprising. Rodgers hasn’t found himself playing with a top-10 defense since Green Bay’s 2010 Super Bowl run. If Rodgers is able to get his rhythm back, this team could be unstoppable.
5. Dallas Cowboys (3-0) (-2)
The Cowboys’ 3-0 start is the best they’ve had since 2008. That 2008 team didn’t finish with a playoff berth, which could potentially be a bad omen, but nothing about this current Cowboys team resembles 2008. Dak Prescott and the offense have been explosive in the second half, which will benefit Dallas greatly in New Orleans this week.
6. Baltimore Ravens (2-1) (0)
This is the third year in a row that the Ravens have started 2-1, as well as the eighth time in the last 10 seasons. The Ravens offense was able to keep Baltimore alive against Kansas City, but the defense, especially the secondary, needs some refining in order for this Ravens squad to continue winning games.
7. New Orleans Saints (2-1) (+8)
The Saints started 2-1 just last year, then played the next 15 weeks losing only twice more. Doing that again this year will be much more difficult with Drew Brees on the sideline for an unknown period of time. The focus right now is for Teddy Bridgewater to keep the Saints in playoff contention until Brees returns.
8. Minnesota Vikings (2-1) (+1)
The Vikings last started 2-1 in their very successful 2017 season that saw Minnesota go all the way to the NFC championship game. Dalvin Cook has been a big part of this season’s early success, but the Vikings can’t rely on only the rushing game against a tough Bears defense in Week 4.
9. Chicago Bears (2-1) (+2)
The Bears started 2-1 just last season and are looking to repeat 2018’s success. The defense has been Chicago’s biggest strength by a wide margin, but it’s had trouble staying consistent in the fourth quarter, almost allowing a comeback from the Washington Redskins. Mitchell Trubisky improved this week, but still has a ways to go before he’s ready to command the offense.
10. San Francisco 49ers (3-0) (+4)
The 49ers are 3-0 for the first time since 1998. The defense did a great job in Week 3, holding the Steelers to just 239 yards, but the offense had five turnovers, which is obviously a big problem. The 49ers are on a bye this week and will play the Cleveland Browns in Week 5.
11. Houston Texans (2-1) (-1)
The Texans last started 2-1 in 2016. What the Texans did not have in 2016 was Deshaun Watson, whose performance against the Chargers in Week 3 earned him AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors, but the offensive line has got to be better if the Texans want to keep Watson healthy.
12. Detroit Lions (2-0-1) (+8)
Unsurprisingly, the Lions have never started 2-0-1 in the modern era, but the last time they were undefeated through three games was in 2011. Every Lions game so far has been a close contest, with the largest margin of victory being just three points. This week will be the Lions’ biggest challenge, as they take on the Kansas City Chiefs. A win here would prove that Detroit is a legitimate contender.
13. Seattle Seahawks (2-1) (-8)
It’s been since 2016 that the Seahawks started 2-1, but they don’t have the same momentum that they had to start that 2016 season. Seattle looked flat in Week 3, losing to the Drew Brees-less Saints. As a result, the Seahawks lost their first home game in September since 2009.
14. Buffalo Bills (3-0) (+9)
Buffalo last started 3-0 in 2011 but finished that season a disappointing 6-10. The Bills have been the surprise team so far, but now they face their first serious test of the season in the New England Patriots. A win here would prove that this isn’t the fluke start that 2011 was.
15. Indianapolis Colts (2-1) (+1)
The Colts are 2-1 for the first time since 2013. At the start of this season, the Colts were written off without even playing a game due to the retirement of Andrew Luck. They have since proven to be contenders under Jacoby Brissett’s leadership and are currently tied for first in the AFC South.
16. Los Angeles Chargers (1-2) (-4)
The Chargers were 1-2 just last season but were able to fix their mistakes quickly and finish the season 12-4. The Chargers are hoping to repeat that turnaround this year, but the repeated second-half struggles could make that difficult.
17. Philadelphia Eagles (1-2) (-9)
The last time the Eagles started 1-2 was back in 2015. The Philadelphia offense struggled against the Lions with two lost fumbles and seven dropped passes. Now the Eagles travel to Green Bay for what will be a difficult but necessary game to win in order to avoid 1-3.
18. Atlanta Falcons (1-2) (0)
The Falcons started 1-2 last season and are repeating the same mistakes. Atlanta committed 16 penalties against the Colts and seemed lost on the field. Matt Ryan is currently fifth in passing yards and third in passing touchdowns, but his play his been inconsistent. Even his good day in Indianapolis wasn’t enough to grab Atlanta a victory.
19. Cleveland Browns (1-2) (-6)
The Browns last started 1-2 back in 2015, but something feels different about this 1-2. The Browns were one of the most hyped-up teams going into the 2019 season but have fallen short of expectations so far. They were able to keep it close against the Rams, but the play calling was questionable at best.
20. Carolina Panthers (1-2) (+2)
The Panthers last started 1-2 back in 2016. The Panthers were able to put together a win in Week 3 under Kyle Allen, who played very well in the absence of the injured Cam Newton. If Allen continues this level of the play, Carolina should feel comfortable sitting Newton until he is healthy.
21. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-2) (+7)
The Jaguars haven’t started 1-2 since 2015, but this 1-2 feels much better than previous years with the hype surrounding Gardner Minshew, who has done an amazing job giving the Jaguars confidence. The defense played a great game against the Titans as well, recording nine sacks.
22. Tennessee Titans (1-2) (-5)
The Titans last started 1-2 back in 2016 and are looking to get back on track following a massive offensive struggle against the Jaguars. A lot of that relies on the offensive line. It’s hard for Marcus Mariota to get anything done when his he’s sacked nine times in one game.
23. New York Giants (1-2) (+8)
The Giants were 1-2 last season, but unlike 2018, there’s hope with this 1-2 record. Daniel Jones did everything he needed to do to earn a win against the Buccaneers. Jones was able to bring life the Giants offense for the first time in weeks: an especially impressive feat considering Saquon Barkley was out for most of the game. Getting a win this week will put the Giants at .500 with 12 games to look forward to.
24. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-2) (-3)
The Buccaneers last started 1-2 in 2016. The highlight for the Buccaneers so far has been Shaq Barrett, who recorded his eighth sack of the season last week. The Buccaneers now go on the road for the next two months and won’t play another home game until Nov. 10.
25. Oakland Raiders (1-2) (-1)
It’s surprising that the Raiders haven’t started 1-2 since 2013, but it’s not surprising to see them there this year. Derek Carr has struggled the last two weeks, and the Raiders have showed that they aren’t ready to contend yet. Despite that, the Raiders are still being supported by the Oakland faithful in what is the Raiders’ final season in the bay area before relocating to Las Vegas.
26. Denver Broncos (0-3) (+3)
The Broncos haven’t started 0-3 since 1999, the first year after John Elway’s retirement. Denver continues to turn the ball over in critical moments, and the defense has been incredibly disappointing, as the Broncos remain the only team not to record a sack this season. Joe Flacco is struggling to throw the ball, and the only glimmer of life that the Broncos have is coming from Phillip Lindsay.
27. Pittsburgh Steelers (0-3) (-8)
Pittsburgh last started 0-3 in 2013 and finished that season just one field goal shy from reaching the playoffs. The big difference between 2013 and now is that the Steelers are without Ben Roethlisberger for the remainder of the season. Mason Rudolph has a lot to learn, and being unable to capitalize on the defense’s five turnovers in Week 3 proved to be costly.
28. Arizona Cardinals (0-2-1) (-2)
Unsurprisingly, the Cardinals have never started a season 0-2-1, but the last time the Cardinals went winless through three weeks was just last year. Kyler Murray was thrown into a very difficult situation, and it shows with his lack of confidence so far this season. The defense continues to struggle and showed no signs of improvement against Carolina.
29. Cincinnati Bengals (0-3) (-4)
The Bengals last started 0-3 back in 2017. Cincinnati went down 14-0 against the Bills in Week 3, but the offense showed some flashes of being great, scoring 17 unanswered. Still, Cincinnati couldn’t complete the comeback and fell to 0-3. The defense has a lot to fix, but if it’s able to find some rhythm against the Steelers on Monday, the Bengals might find a way to start winning more often.
30. Washington Redskins (0-3) (-3)
The Redskins last started 0-3 in 2013. Through two weeks in 2019, the Redskins were playing great in the first half, keeping games against the Eagles and Cowboys close. But that edge wasn’t there when they played the Bears last Monday, and Washington quickly fell down 24-0 after multiple turnovers. Case Keenum made some rookie mistakes despite being a veteran
quarterback. Starting Dwayne Haskins might be the only thing that could save Jay Gruden’s job.
31. New York Jets (0-3) (-1)
It has been over 15 years since the Jets had an 0-3 start to the season (2003). Everything was going right for the Jets in the first half of the first week, but ever since Buffalo came back in that game, nothing has been working for New York. The offense had 105 total yards and looked completely lost against the Patriots. The Jets now go into a much-needed bye.
32. Miami Dolphins (0-3) (0)
The Dolphins last started 0-3 in 2011, but this year’s 0-3 feels a lot worse. Through three weeks in 2011, the Dolphins lost by an average score of 26-17 and had 1,163 total yards on offense. In 2019, the Dolphins have lost by an average score of 44-5 with a 667 total yards on offense. The Dolphins have a league low -117 point differential, a league record for lowest point differential ever through three weeks. This team is in complete tanking mode, and the only thing that will right this team is a good outing in the 2020 draft.
John Murphy is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jbm5928@psu.edu.
football , national football league , new england , new england patriots , nfl , patriots , power rankings , pro football , rankings , week 4
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Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)
Today is an odd period for science, I think. People in social media proclaim that they "effin'" love it, and more often than otherwise, the new breed of Evangelical atheist fundamentalist speaks of science in near anthropomorphic terms. To hear the phrase, "science tells us..." is an everyday occurrence now, and one wonders in which sense the speaker means this to be understood; especially so in the same environment in which specific scientific observations by Charles Darwin are often taken out of context and used as homilies for the improvement and clarification of one's moral character.
Things are getting weird.
Especially, in my opinion, as we have historically looked upon the dangerous potential of science with a suspicious eye. The cautionary tale of Frankenstein's corpse reanimation project is emblematic of this feeling, and really, literature and film are full of dystopic nightmares which virtually begin and end with the unfettered reach of the scientific mind. Those secular fundamentalists laugh at this idea as backward and silly, but historically, it was exactly this type of creative mind that concocted this line of thinking in the first place. Is the post-apocalyptic theme, for instance, that far removed from our experience? I don't believe it is, and so apparently do a huge number of writers of speculative fiction in film, radio drama, pulps, comic books and novels. The fear of the damaging potential of science is always at hand. Beginning with Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the toxic excesses of science are all over modern history, in spite of attempts to place the blame on the users of these ideas; greenhouse gasses, GMO's, global warming (internal combustion engines weren't invented by the cowboys), predator drones, heat-seeking missiles, nuclear power plant disasters (Chernobyl, Three-mile island, etc.), firearms of all kinds, bacteriological weapons, advanced privacy invasion tech, and on, and on, and on. Currently, flying robots are actually killing humans, and if one considers the fact that the original Atomic bomb testers didn't know if they would set fire to the atmosphere, or later, whether the Large Hadron Collider would open up an Earth-swallowing black hole or not, we really must question the judgements of what is being done in the name of this odd and rapidly growing new religion.
Science has a lot to answer for; if one puts relatively godlike power in the hands of what are virtually children, then one should logically be responsible for the result.
These are very much the issues that the 1970 (1969 in the credits) film COLOSSUS, THE FORBIN PROJECT deals with. Based on the COLOSSUS trilogy of dystopic novels by science fiction author D. F. Jones, it stars the soap opera star Eric Braeden (who, besides his role on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, also played charismatic German officer Hans Dietrich on the classic WWII-era TV show THE RAT PATROL) as the calmly serious Dr. Charles Forbin. Forbin has created the titular super-computer COLOSSUS as a sort of missile defense shield, devised for the protection of America against the ever present cold war threat of then-Communist Russia. Forbin, in conjunction with his team of scientists (populated by hilariously recognisable sitcom actors like Dolph Sweet and Marion Ross), present Colossus to the White House in what they hoped would be a spectacular demonstration of what their new machine can do.
To paraphrase the words of Forbin, Colossus was designed infinitely better than they thought.
Immediately Colossus detects another super-computer named Guardian; apparently the Russians have also been in the game, and though a step behind, their computer is advanced enough to take notice. Colossus and Guardian begin to communicate. Within hours, besides formulating tons of "new knowledge for mankind", the two machines develop their own language, and one that only they can understand. This creates a panic. The president orders the connection cut off, and Forbin is told to reel Colossus back a few steps. Not a good plan. Colossus makes the ominous threat that, if communications are not restored, then "action will be taken".
Nuclear action.
This is the beginning of a tense and arduous journey into a terrifying future for the human race. Forbin concocts scheme after scheme to thwart his nearly-godlike creation, but in spite of great caution and guile, Colossus eventually and gradually turns him into a prisoner. There are deaths and assassinations, nuclear detonations, and when Colossus is finally given a voice (and a chillingly cold one at that), the future seems bleak and without hope. It's intense stuff, and when one considers the missile defense "shield" that we actually had not long after this film was made, it's two notches closer to reality than one would like to consider.
As Dr. Forbin, Eric Braeden was excellent. He was stable and serious here, and combined with his naturally charismatic good looks and charm, he really came across as the kind of person who could not only conceive of and produce such an advanced contraption, he also projected the confidence that turned Forbin into the stern anti-Colossus warrior that he needed to be. The rest of the cast, in spite of whatever other transgressions they might have done on screen, were fantastically interesting as very human characters in this science-driven technological fiasco. It was a smoothly directed and dramatically plotted project from beginning to end, and the funky soundtrack (and I mean, like, wikky-wikky guitars) had a fantastic use of the rapid notes of the Indian Tabla drum to illustrate the technical coldness of computer thought.
This is one on my personal list of childhood movie discoveries, and other than the best friend that I myself introduced it to, I hadn't met anyone who had seen it until just a few years ago. It's easily as good as any of the science fiction films of it's era, like WESTWORLD or THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, but seldom gets the love or attention it deserves. Frankly, it's this film and others of it's philosophical like that have turned me into the semi-Luddite that I am today; anything more complex than a Blu-ray player gets a bit of the stinky eye, and that's a fact. So, considering that guys on the level of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and super-physicist Dr. Stephen Hawking have flatly stated that artificial intelligence is the single greatest existential threat to the future of humankind, COLOSSUS, THE FORBIN PROJECT may end up being a prophetic film in a long list of such...and I don't "effin'" love that possibility.
ADDENDUM: It occurred to me to mention the 1997 chess match in which Garry Kasparov, a player who many consider the greatest of all time, was defeated by the IMB computer DEEP BLUE. This was considered the tipping point in AI advancement, due to the (incorrect) assumption that chess is the prime indicator of human intelligence (in spite of the fact that many grandmasters are little children who know next to nothing about life in general, and that illiterate, homeless players are often virtuosos). It's chilling to know that it has become an accepted routine that computers beat grandmasters on a daily basis. Jump forward one hundred years, when robotics and satellite tech has advanced to beyond current imagination, with computers/robots linked worldwide, faster and stronger than us, physically able to perform feats that only comic book superheroes can do, with brains that can think billions of times faster than the smartest human...we're screwed.
Kasparov VS Deep Blue
Nomads of the North (1920) A James Oliver Curwood Mountie Silent!
This is the first silent film Mountie review on Phantom Empires, I'm pleased to report. There are apparently quite a number of these, but sadly, most of the Mountie-themed silents are now lost. Such a crime. When I think of how many silent films are lost in general, it creates a hard knot in my guts that lasts for days. The greatest artistic loss in modern history, in my opinion. I'm profusely glad, and extremely grateful for the silents that survive for us all to enjoy and learn from.
NOMADS OF THE NORTH is a 1920 adaptation, produced and with a script written by the man himself, of James Oliver Curwood's fan-tastic novel of the same name. For them that are unaware, Curwood is to the Mountie novel what Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett are to the Private Eye tale; his stories evoke the frozen north quite as well as anything that Jack London ever put to paper, but without the accompanying fame. Tragic. Philip Steele of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police, Flaming Forest, Honor of the Big Snows, & Valley of the Silent Men are some of his other excellent Mountie titles. I particularly enjoy the first on that list. Full of adventure and action, which is what we all enjoy, wot?
This is a wonderful film, and a clean, decent adaptation of the novel (with minor omissions and changes). It deals with a commercial town in the wild north called Fort O'God (yep, O'God), run by the stern Duncan McDougall, the factor of the Hudson's Bay Company..."a tiger of the old regime, still ruling his primitive domain with a hand of iron and a heart of stone". McDougall's son, the slimy Bucky McDougall, "A serpent polished with the veneer of years spent in Montreal, the deadliest and most treacherous of all the McDougal race", is in love with the lovely local flower Nanette Roland (played by Betty Blythe), who is unavailable, waiting for her lover, Raoul Challoner (played by the miraculous Lon Chaney) to return from the wild...but is a year overdue. With a little unethical convincing, though, Nanette is convinced to marry Bucky, and in a moment of ironic chance, the long-gone Raoul makes his appearance at the wedding. Bucky is outraged, fearing the loss of his long-awaited prize, and in the ensuing fight, his seedy underling Marat is mistakenly killed by Raoul, which sends him on the run.
It becomes the duty of the stalwart Corporal Michael O'Connor of the R.N.W.M. Police (played by Lewis S. Stone, who is most well known to me as Judge Hardy in the Andy Hardy films) to hunt Raoul down and to bring him to judgement!
This was an amazingly pleasant adventure. The acting really opened up that wonderful feeling of narrative space common to most of the best silents, and even between the inter-titles the story stayed even and fresh. The story was clear from beginning to end, which isn't always certain from silents from this early date. James Oliver Curwood's involvement was, I'm sure, the reason for this; a master of a strong streamlined plot. Typical of early silents, it had that wonderfully stagey melodramatic flair (which always reminds me of THE PERILS OF PAULINE, for some reason), with all those (sometimes amusingly) unambiguous and simple facial expressions that make the emotions of each character quite certain.
I recommend this for silent film fans. Though it might not be the best to begin your silent film journey with this one, it's good enough that you'll still enjoy it with no background in the silent art. The Mountie content is plentiful, too. Lewis S. Stone really projects all the fairness and devotion that one has come to expect from the classic Mountie myth.
What, another list?!? 15 great films, in the post-1979 wasteland!
As I usually write about what some call “classic' films, I'll begin by explaining why this list needs to be. 1) It doesn't, as lists like this are silly, but I'm having fun with them right now. 2) I have a deep prejudice against most anything made post-1979. That's about the extent of things as they stand. So, I challenged myself to find films after that cutoff that I really think are either exceptional or very enjoyable to me. It's easy to come up with a stellar list of, say, 60's films, or 70's films, but I've found it difficult to come up with a list of movies that I find more than just fun, but exceptional.
Here we go; fifteen films, from last to the first:
15) Groundhog Day (1993) Ha! Didn't expect this one, right? Well, I've not seen another comedy-drama that touches me as deeply as this one, while still being both amusing and seriously funy. Plus, I'm a sucker for stories of time; time travel, eternal life, alternate dimensions, etc. The time loop story is a sub-genre that is both rare and delightful. I'm not a real Bill Murray fan (or a comedy fan in general), but this is really great.
14) ET, The Extra-Terrestrial (2982) Spielberg. What happened to that guy? His early career was so powerhouse in nature and so credible to it's core. ET is both a charming children's story and a fantastic tale of science fiction. It balances real science fiction ideas with the manic interactions of the kids, in a delicate alchemy of wonder and joy. This film would be ruined if made today, I'm certain.
13) The Fellowship of the Rings (2001) I lived to see this one! In 1998 I was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, and the first thing that I thought of was, “what am I gonna miss when I die?”. Well, this was on that list, even though I had no idea that it was in the works. I've been waiting on it forever! I really do love this one. At that point I'd read the books pretty much every year since I was seven years old, and this was like seeing my best friends brought to life! While I was disappointed by the following two adaptations, the extended cut of this one is epic.
12) Watchmen (2009) Superhero films are an uneven thing. In my 48 years there have only been a handful that are worth mentioning, beyond the sphere of cheapo fun. Watchmen is, in my view, the best of them all. Based on the series by the comic book genius Alan Moore, it is both a superhero story and a gruesome tale of alternate reality. I enjoy it's mix of realism and comic book colour, with an almost serial killer vibe throughout. Fantastic storytelling.
11) The Bourne Identity (2002) This is one of those films that alter the fabric of it's genre by it's mere existence. Previously, the spy film, was almost universally silly, with some helmet-haired cheeseball using silly gadgets and shagging a long list of hideous harlots, with fights that consist of wide punches that never fail to miss, no matter how awkwardly performed. Bourne changed all that. Matt Damon is short and not at all goofy, with a deep intensity and clear approach. The fights are tight and realistic, and the script is believable and well written. It has had an effect on the fights of the James Bond films, even as it has made them seem even more ridiculous.
10) Eternal Sunshine of the spotless Mind (2004) Anyone who has loved and lost will find something here. A tale of love and memory, it speaks to the gap in one's heart after the love is gone, but the memories live on. So touching. There's a surreality here that is so well done, yet all of the basic ideas ring so very deeply true.
9) Being John Malkovich (1999) Speaking of Surreal, here's perhaps the king of all mainstream films along that line. Incredibly creative and postmodern, it involves our real world weaved into a crazed alternate universe of dark humour and surprising emotional depth. It also manages to be quite poignant, using these odd themes to say quite a bit about human nature. For a weird comedy, that's pretty good.
8) The Village (2004) I'm not generally a fan of M. Night Shyamalan's films, but this one hits many of my sweet spots. Really, it was his generally subdues style and lack of overblown political correctness that makes this works so well. It has such a great combination of horror and and an almost Puritan vibe that really appeals to me in so many different ways, and it manages to have a wonderful collection of “strong women” that are both strong and also quite inspiring, without seeming like overbearing social engineering. This is a subtle story of love and deception that has a special spot in my heart.
7) District 9 (2009) This is, without a doubt, the best science fiction film of modern times. Very, very human and soaked in realism, this amazing film, set in South Africa, has restored in me the idea that nearly perfect movies can still be made. With a wicked script and a beautifully directed vision, the mix of alien life with a (to me) little-known African setting makes this one worth watching many times over. The best bit here is that the cast is mostly unknown, in a time when everything gets an actor plugged into it from a very short and uninspiring list. The future of science fiction is not hopeless.
6) Silverado (1985) When this film came out, I thought that it might mean that westerns were on their way back. At that time, when a film was well done and became popular, a dozen were made in it's wake along the same lines. Sadly, that didn't happen here. Silverado, while not being the last good western film made, was not at the forefront of a movement...which it should have been. I'm not generally a person that enjoys post-modernism in my cowboy movies, but even with the anachronistic hats and sensitive-90's-man anima, this rises above most of the films of it's time in any genre.
5) Poltergeist (1982) An amazingly well done film, another on this list by Steven Spielberg. For a modern film, this really has the vibe of old school science fiction/horror. I recall an episode of The Twilight Zone, in which a young girl disappears into a hole between two universes, and Poltergeist has some of that energy, bonded to a chilling horror story. It shares some of the sense of wonder that I get from E.T., as well, and the chaos of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I don't know where THIS Spileberg has gone, but we really need him to return and save modern popular film.
4) Goodfellas (1990) How could it be that a 90's film comes even close to The Godfather? I don't know, but not only does Goodfellas approach that legendary classic, I believe that it equals it in every way. The mafia genre is rife with stereotypical junk, making mafiosos into goofy, non-threatening stereotypes, but this one has gone a long way toward reinvigorating their formidable image. Even (and especially) Joe Pesci is quite frightening here, and it really gives us the reason why the Mod was such a feared presence in American history.
3) Aliens (1986) I didn't like this one when it came out, to be honest, but it really has grown on me! How can one not like space marines fighting an army of aliens? While it does have a little conspicuous P.C. Vibe, the greatness and vitality of the story blow me over every time I watch it. I never thought that the original Alien film could be equaled, but it has been by this.
2) Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Another Spielberg masterpiece! Being a pulp fiction fan, and fan of cliffhanger serials, and with my pith helmet in hand, I can't recommend this movie with any greater energy than I do now. So well-acted, well-written, with a fabulous cast and insanely impressive settings, Raiders of the Lost Ark (NOT Indiana Jones and...) is really a film after my own heart. The sense of adventure of the Boy's Own-type genre oozes from every reel, and it makes my hunger for many others of it's kind. I've seen it literally hundreds of times, and I'll be adding to that number quite soon, I', sure.
1) The Thing (1982) Based on the J.W. Campbell Jr.'s story, Who Goes There?, this sucker is brutal from beginning to the end. I'm a fiend for Horror Science fiction in combo, and this is the ultimate! The creatures are among the most imaginative and well-constructed of any film up to this time. Also, as we lack any credible adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft's cosmic interstellar horror, this stands well to fill that gap. It gets #1 because it is the best of what it does, and it does it's thing, to me, better than any other post-79 film does theirs.
OK, I'll admit that there are quite a number of good post-79 films, in spite of my general prejudice against the sociopolitical approach of the modern era, with it's conspicuous smugness and seeming disinterest in story over politics.
My Top Ten Cowboy Stars - Yep, another o' them internet lists...
I've found it common on film blogs to make lists, so this year I've done a few, just for the fun of it. Recently I've been watching double my already-prodigious intake of western films (I'm visiting my father, and that's the thing we most have in common), so I started thinking about who I really value in the genre. There are no big surprise names here. I think that the only real unique thing about it, if there is indeed anything unique, is in the order of the names. I chose who I really quite enjoy the most, as opposed, perhaps, to those that might make a more eclectic combination. I generally think that “top ten” lists place a bit too much of a limitation in a field this wonderful and large, but I'm not writing a book, so, in a bottom to the top countdown, here we go!
10) John Wayne - Now, if anyone who loves western movies ever cared about what I thought about film in general, they'd probably be pissed off around this moment. To a great many, Wayne is the ne plus ultra of the screen cowboy; the ultimate man's man of the west. Well, I don't disagree with that. The list of great westerns that Wayne has been a major part of are practically chapter and verse western scripture, and he has icon legend status in the hardcore film community.
But I don't like icons.
There's something that has to happen to make an icon that doesn't sit right with me. There's a touch of the caricature in that process, which over time becomes parody; like the “Bogey” phenomenon, or the mild drag queen flair of Marylin Monroe. It starts to bleed into the work over time, and it, for me at least, spoils my enjoyment. Wayne is great, but the silly “duh-huh” comical bar-fighty vibe dims my admiration. He's on my list because he has to be, but he's not at the top.
9) Tim McCoy – An actual cowboy who became a screen cowboy, Tim McCoy was quite a fellow. A veteran of both WWI and WWII, he grew up wrangling cattle and interacting with the native American tribes in his area. All of these things are the spine upon which the body of his work rests, and it's that which makes him so wonderful to watch. McCoy was very native-friendly, and he did his best to populate his films with actual natives. To me that says a lot about the man behind the actor.
On top of that, his films are great! Tall, long in the face and with sharp, eagle-type eyes, his version of the cowboy has a bit more of the dusty trail than most. There's a real cowboy behind that movie man, and it works to his advantage; in an era that includes so many famous faces, Tim McCoy has certainly come by his spot honestly.
8) Johnny Mack Brown – He has really risen in my estimation over the years. At one time I bundled him in with the mass of still-great but 2nd-string, 60-minute, 30's-type cowboys (like Bob Custer and Ken Maynard), but I've come to be a big fan! The thing that strikes me about JMB is that he's eminently watchable. When he's on the screen, his gravitas is captivating, and even if the film is average, I come away feeling. “Gee, that was a great movie!”. There aren't that many actors like that, who can get by on charm alone.
Toss in a warm delivery and a palatable level of control and confidence, and you get the kind of western that is really quite thrilling and fun to watch.
I'm always excited to find a "new" Johnny Mack Brown picture!
7) Buck Jones – Buck Jones is a name that is nearly interchangeable with the term “cowboy star”. People who have never seen a 30's western still know who he is, and, along with men like Gene Autrey and Roy Rogers, he'll be known until the end of time.
To me, he's the pre-”John Wayne” John Wayne. He was big, tough, rugged, and all the other manly superlatives that one normally associates with the Duke, but with that sort of dime-novel/pulp fiction vibe that made those early westerns so worth watching. He certainly was a tough character; I watch a Buck Jones western waiting eagerly for Buck to pop some scoundrel in the jaw, gun them down in a showdown, or chase them down in the obligatory horse scene, dispensing Justice as well as any screen cowboy. Buck, more than any actor other than Tom Mix, is the emblem of that age; his is the name that jumps out each time that I think of those days.
6) William Boyd – Who doesn't like Hopalong Cassidy? Nobody, that's who! Well, there might be a few, but I don't want to know if they exist. Boyd is like archetypal favourite uncle, but with spurs and six-guns; when he walks into the room, you can mildly detect a genuflection in even the hardest of bad guys. From that moment any possible ruckus has it's lifespan on a short timer.
Trained in the era of silent film, William Boyd is skilled in acting with his presence alone. If you watch him stand, or turn, how he tilts his head, and the way he glances across the room, you can see very subtle expression in even the most meager of cowboy genre pictures. If one wants to understand him as a cowboy star, then watching his non-western silents will really open the eyes.
William Boyd is the man!
5) Audie Murphy – War hero and cowboy star! I have to admit that Murphy is an unlikely legend. He's short, sleight of build, plain spoken, and generally unimposing. The magic of him is that, in reality, he was one of the most decorated soldiers in WWII; when you watch his films, and that knowledge informs your expectations of his characters. Think about his classic role in DESTRY. Destry is a lawman that doesn't carry guns, drinks milk, and doesn't mind letting people talk smack to him, but as things progress, the reality of the man begins to grind away at the first impression. That says much about Murphy himself, and shows that being big and wild isn't the only way to be a top gunslinger!
Audie Murphy: mild-mannered titan.
4) Tom Mix – How can one not love a cowboy star who is so good that he can pull off calling his horse “Tony”? Yet nobody blinks an eye at what should be cheesy, especially me; Tony is just as credible as Trigger or Silver, in spite of sharing a name in common with a number of New York wise guys!
That's the Tom Mix anima; pretty much everything he touched is pure gold. Manly and tall, with a cool brow and an easy strength, Mix is one of those guys that, when he walks into a room with a dozen gunfighters, with square shoulders and a mild smile, you believe that it's all going to be A-OK.
Tom Mix is just plain great...when I think of the huge percentage of his 200+ films that are lost, it really burns my eyes.
3) James Stewart – You may notice that I use his full name here; when it comes to his westerns, the diminutive “Jimmy” doesn't apply. The James Stewart with the six-gun isn't the much-beloved stuttering nice guy of the legendary IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE; he burns with a fire on a level of which most actors can only dream. He's mean, too! He's so oft associated with “nice”, that, though I've been his cowboy movies most of my life, I find my sub-dominant thought narrative mildly shocked when he subverts that expectation.
I like that someone like Stewart can pull off “rugged” as well as he does his more well-expected persona. To me it calls B.S. on those who refer to people like, say, Tom Hanks, as “the new Jimmy Stewart”.
James Stewart well deserves his spot in the film history books and certainly on this humble list.
2) Gregory Peck – How can a guy that looks like a lawyer and sounds like Walter Cronkite be one of the best cowboy actors that ever lived? Well, don't ask me, but it's 100% true. From the easy-going sea captain in THE BIG COUNTRY, to the aging tracker in THE STALKING MOON, and to the stern gunfighter in YELLOW SKY, Peck pounds his stamp deeper and deeper into the bedrock of the western genre with every role. Not only that, he's one of the best actors in Hollywood, which fleshes out even script-flat characters to an amazing degree. What I enjoy the most about Peck is that, whatever the reality, he seems like a very good and thoughtful man. I've noticed that when he's speaking his lines he seems to have an actual inner dialogue about the situation that his character is in, and he reflects the scene perfectly in each movement of his brow.
Peck is brilliant, 100% of the time.
10) Alan Ladd – Alan Ladd is my pick for top cowboy actor, hands down. It isn't necessarily because the 1953 classic SHANE is my favourite western, or that his 1950 masterpiece BRANDED is in my top ten cowboy pictures of all time. I pick Ladd because he's just plain tough. There's a bit in BRANDED that goes thus:
Woman: what's your name?
Ladd: They call me Choya.
Woman: That's Spanish for “cactus”; why do they call you that?
Ladd: Ever try to pick one?
That spells Ladd's cowboy out perfectly. He moves like a solid, well-oiled machine, and when he draws a weapon, it's amazing. Such speed and tight reflexes. Witness the scene in SHANE when the little boy startles him; Ladd spins around faster than most actors can think! Take that and the mass fistfight in BRANDED, add that to a credible Spartan attitude and an incredible posture on horseback, with deep intensity and a real humanity, and you have a western winner, in my book. He's another that looks like a city boy (I think of him as Phillip Marlowe with a colt .45), but reads like a cowhand all the way. Incredible!
End of list!
Well, now that the list is finished, I want to give an honorable mention to Clint Eastwood. If this were a list of eleven actors, he would certainly have been on it. HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER is, to me, one of the greatest possible westerns, and there is nobody else in any genre who can pull off dangerous, wild, and quite possibly evil in the way that he can, while still delivering an overwhelming sense of relief and safety. He is the embodiment of the “new” western hero (anything after 1960 is new, in my book), full of all the irony of the post-50's era, but with every bit of the greatness and fullness of the classic artists. Clint is the epitome of the post-modern cowboy, to be sure, and if the bulk of my tastes were more recent in nature, he would be the absolute king of the cowboys.
One day I'll make a “top eleven-to-twenty” list, which could be very fun, and would probably be much more difficult! Until that time, if anyone wants to call me crazy, or call me deluded for leaving out their faves, or for not giving their guy his due, feel free to comment.
As a crazy person myself, I love to hear a good cowboy-oriented rant.
Draw, varmints!
Edith Hunter of THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP
Every once in a while some film fan will regale me with some tale o' love and obsession with some film star or character, insisting upon their true feeelings for them; they collect all their photos, they watch that one special film over and over, etc.. Well, being a diehard pragmatist and, quite possibly, a harmless type of sociopath, I've never been able to share that exact feeling. Oh, I can be obsessed with an actor, a film, even posters well enough, but to fall in love with an imaginary film character has always been a bit beyond the pale for Clayton Percival Somerset Walter.
Then, I met...HER. THE woman, Watson, THE woman. Played so very skillfully by the awesome Deborah Kerr in my new ultimate film, THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP, I have found a cinema woman, though imaginary, who embodies all that I've ever sought in a lady-type creature of the opposite sex. Now, although she has all the appropriate gentleman-approved dimensions and accoutrements in pleasant proportion, quite ship-shape and in Bristol fashion (Kerr was 21 when she transformed herself thus), it is the addition of the traditionally lady-preferred qualities that sends her into my internal stratosphere so dramatically and dreamily. The words from this beloved woman's mouth! So articulate, so intelligent! One could give credit to the writers of the script, the dynamic duo of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, but it really is the young Deborah Kerr who gives the erudition and staccato diction to these lines. Her delivery is so mature, so developed, and there's an honesty and command of situation here that few (if any) actresses can pull off...but perhaps my love has me biased? Possibly, but probably not.
Edith Hunter is what certain kinds of women like to call "strong". She's untra-confident, doesn't back down when faced with a conflict, she observes and reflects, and she has an understanding of life and her environment that is enviable. I appreciate all of these thing, and I also appreciate that she can be thus without also being overbearing, rude, pushy, and insulting, qualities which have become so common in female characters when they want to compete with men...dear Edith manifests all of the ideal qualities of strength and eschews all of the negatives. She's sharp, witty, dignified, in control of herself, and OH, SO LUVERLY. The fact that she's fluent in German (which, for perhaps the first time in human history, sounds incredibly sexy), is familiar with Burschenschaften culture (with the accompanying Mensur fencing tradition, an interest of mine), is involved in the issues of the poorly handled Boer war enough to write to our stalwart Lieutenant Clive Candy VC, really makes her the sort of lady for which a true gentleman ought to possess a great admiration!
When I get my time machine, with it's cinema-universe attachment, I'm going to go back into time and cross over into Colonel Blimp land; I swear that I'll go to Germany and meet with her, and quite possibly on bended knee. That damnably handsome Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff will simply have to bow to a superior affection!
[Added note: The other people in the film are GREAT too, and the non-Edith Hunter bits are nice as well, so if you're tempted to only watch her portion (like I do sometimes), you might like to watch the rest...at least once.]
This paean to my lady of loveliness is occaisioned by the REEL INFATUATION blogathon, hosted by FONT & FROCK and the inimitabl SILVER SCREENINGS. Please click on there names here to visit their sites, and to see who is is love with whom, and though none of their secret dears could possibly be anywhere near my one true love, it's good to see why others might choose someone who is so non-Edith Hunter.
For curiosity's sake, if nothing else. :)
Addendum: Much of the basic premise of COLONEL BLIMP speaks to the effect that a woman can have on a man; how even a casual connection may linger for a lifetime. I've had many conversations with men in which they've recounted encounters, seemingly trivial to the outsider (such as a brush-up against the shoulder of a crush in passing during a break between 7th grade classes), which are recalled from time to time as a treasured experience. Men are more emotional than society often allows, and once written upon, a man's heart carries a feeling to the end of his days...to one degree or another.
I've even had my own Edith Hunter, which I bungled, much as Clive Candy did, and her intoxicating anima haunts me to this very moment, nearly fifteen years after the fact. I can only imagine how devastated I would be if I were Mr. Candy, dazedly watching as a woman as amazing as Edith Hunter drifted away right in front of my eyes, never to be seen again.
From Men in Black:
Jay: You know what they say. It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
Kay: Try it.
Western legends on the Iron Horse!
Hoss on a mini!
I'm a big fan of westerns, from epics like THE BIG COUNTRY with Gregory Peck, to b-reel programmers like RAWHIDE, with the baseball legend Lou Gehrig. TV westerns also get my vote, as well as comic books, novels, and especially the radio dramas, with classic pieces of Cowboy art like Jimmy Stewart's THE SIX SHOOTER, the class of John Dehner in FRONTIER GENTLEMAN, and the hard-as-nails action of LUKE SLAUGHTER OF TOMBSTONE. It's all good to me, and a significant portion of my entertainment time is spent with these goodies.
I also have a (thus far) unrequited passion for the motorcycle. I love being on the Iron Horse, and the freedom that one feels comes across as what I imagine a mounted cowboy on the open range felt like...wild and free. I have yet to get one, but I hope too soon.
That said, and though these fantastic machines could never replace Trigger, Silver, Tony, or any of the other legendary movie cowboy rides, I present some images of a few legendary movie cowboys on their second horses: Buck Jones, John Wayne, Ken Maynard, Tom Mix and Roy Rogers.
Love Affair (1932) The Humphrey Bogart Valentine's day coincidence
OK. So whether anyone believes me or not, last night, when I decided to do a review of this, the 1932 Bogart film LOVE AFFAIR, I didn't realise that it would post on Valentine's day. Had no clue. I got to the library (where I get on the web), and the woman behind the counter wished me a good Valentine's day, and that was that. Not being much into the concept, it kicked me in the shin a little, realising that I was going to, even in a minor way, contribute to the madness.
That said, I love this movie! It's Bogart in his developing form, a gem in the rough, with some of the definition and charisma that we know and admire yet to be defined. Everything is there, the crooked, charming grin, the slight world-weariness, the confidence, the explosive intensity...just in smaller measures than we've all become accustomed to. It's early, it's fun, and it's as splendid as any of these great little 30's pictures that I love so much (maybe not as good as MY MAN GODFREY, but really what film is?).
The plot (basically) goes thusly: Spunky rich girl Carol Owen (played with the appropriate afore-mentioned spunk by Dorothy Mackaill, known to Phantom Empires from her role in the 1937 BULLDOG DRUMMOND AT BAY), is a modern girl. A very modern girl. An exceptionally, especially for the 30's, modern girl. She has bobbed hair, she smokes cigarettes, she rips around on a rocketing roadster, and she's free with her father's dough. Little does she know she's essentially broke. She gets the bee in her bonnet to take flying lessons, so she goes to an airfield, where she's introduced to the handsome (?) pilot Jim Leonard (Bogart's character, of course). There are sparks from the get-go. Jim takes her up in the sky in an open-seat biplane, and to test her spunkiness, he flips the thing upside down a few times, asking her "how you doing?", all the while with a dastardly grin on his highly amused mug. Well, she reciprocates with a high speed (for the 30's, anyway) drive back to town, zipping in between speeding vehicles, asking him the same bemused questions. It's fun. Jim is a man with potential, and with his design for a revolutionary new motor, he hopes to strike it rich and to fiscally deserve this fiery socialite.
Love ensues...with complications.
If I were going to make the conscious choice to support a silly holiday, this is a film that would make me happy to do so. It has a good combination of lightness and drama, as well as a good bland of innocence and brassy modernity. In these times this sort of almost childish wildness could be looked upon as naive (considering the extremes that we've come to, but here it comes off as a combo of awkwardly conspicuous and fresh freedom...which is usually how these things tend to be in life. It was a crisp little story with some nice turns. The plot didn't try too much (which is good for these roughly 70 minute pictures), and the writing ranged from serviceable to charmingly sparky. It was good for both Bogart lovers, lovers of the 1930's (and 20's, actually...it had the same spirit), and also lovers of love!
Bogart...such a unique actor.
Hollywood plays Chess!
It's pretty often that two or more of my interests cross paths; I do have a ton of hobbies and such-like, and I love it when they cross-pollinate. Obviously I enjoy movies, and chess, a relatively recent obsession, seem to be common bedfellows. One sees chess and chess paraphernalia in movies literally ALL THE TIME. In historical dramas it's meant to imply nobility, in westerns we're to understand that either the bad guy or the main gunslinger is a cut above the rest, and in detective stories, it shows us that our man can see through whatever canard the villain has cooked up. That said, it's also the actors in their private lives that play the game; not only does Rick play chess at his Cafe' Americain, but so too does Bogart...and from all the indications, quite often.
Here are just a few great photos of the stars 'duking' it out...including the Duke himself!
Take a Hard Ride (1975)
There are differing philosophies regarding what makes something good. Some contend that if one enjoys something, then it is good, regardless of quality, while others believe that a terribly made thing is terrible no matter what, and others can't enjoy something unless it's absolutely bad...the dreaded "kitsch" approach. I'm of a mixed mindset; to me, there are several opposing ways to define good...and bad.
From one perspective, TAKE A HARD RIDE is not good. The story is dumb, the acting and script are uneven, the direction...wait, was there direction? Barely. Lee Van Cleef wasn't at his best, Jim Brown and Fred Williamson seemed out of place, and Jim Kelly...was a mute Karate Indian. You get the idea. I honestly should have hated it.
But I didn't! I love those guys! I really could have cared less what they were doing, or what they were saying, I just wanted to watch some of my personal favourite dudes shooting up stuff, punching people, saying crazy things, doing Karate, throwing knives, and blowing things up! It was a total blast from beginning to end, in spite of being terrible. It was something that could only have this kind of magic in Spaghetti land; the awful and absurd somehow become mythic and invigorating, without being looked at in a kitschy or ironic way. When it was over I had a fun movie experience, enjoying myself more than I have during many a better-made movie.
Part of the fun of it was the cameo-appearance quality of the whole thing; as if the actors were appearing in someone's else's movie, but the someone else never showed up! It sounds awful, right? But it's that casual, phone-it-in quality that seems to free the guys to let loose and have some fun. Where more serious actors may have let us down, our guys decided to throw a wild cowboy action party, and we are their guests!
If you like Lee Van Cleef, Jim Brown, Fred Williamson & Jim Kelly (not to mention Dana Andrews, Barry Sullivan & Harry Carey jr.), and want to see them running around acting badass and having fun, then I can't recommend TAKE A HARD RIDE enough.
If you don't, I think you should put down the dvd and walk away...for your own good.
5 films I stumbled Upon...which Changed My Life
I don't normally do "list" posts (usually done as site fillers, it seems), but after my westerns list (HERE), I thought I'd try another...it took me a bit to figure out what it would be, but here goes:
Back in my younger days I had what I believe was a little djinn looking out for the quality of my film exposure. I would turn on the telly at random times, and on some magical occasions, a rare and wonderful film would be just about to start. I never saw a bad film when it happened, either. They were all incredible journeys for my young mind, and they inspired me to look for more like them. I thought I'd share a few of these...they aren't mind-bendingly rare, and in fact, most are common enough that I'd normally not blog about them. In this case, they figure deeply into my overall experience as both a movie watcher and as a person. That deserves a little attention, wot?
Come Next Spring (1956) Steve Cochran, Ann Sheridan.
This one is very special to me. When I was a kid it came on occasionally, and I savoured every moment each time I watched it...pre-VCR days, don't ya know. In it, Cochran plays a man who returns after many years to the wife and children he abandoned when he was an extreme drunkard. His wife, initially hard and bitter, slowly softens to him as he proves that his reformation is solid and true. He weathers the disdain of the townsfolk, and gradually earns their trust and respect. It's a solid telling of the classic story of redemption and forgiveness, and with a wonderful Max Steiner score (although a bit scavenged from SERGEANT YORK, apparently), you can't help but feel good. It taught me a lot about forgiveness, actually, and it helped in some small way to reconnect with my dad later in life...we're all weak humans, and COME NEXT SPRING is a very much a story for humans.
A Man Called Horse (1970) Richard Harris.
This is a midnight stumble for me; I woke up at a random moment in the middle of the night, turned on the box, and it was beginning....from the first moment, I was captivated. Based on a short story of the same name by Dorothy M. Johnson (who also wrote The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance), it's about an English gentleman on safari in the wilds of America, shooting wild game for, presumably, the collection, back in ye jolly olde. His group of scraggly scouts gets ambushed by Indians, and he's taken captive. Slowly, in true Edgar Rice Burroughs fashion, he rises to the status of man, and becomes a part of the tribe...which makes him an enemy of the other whites. As I said, it's very much like a John Carter of Mars-type story, with the warrior spirit and the (extremely) beautiful princess. Some will complain about yet another story of a white man becoming the king of some other race, but I forgive the world for it's foibles. Especially when the foibles are this exciting!
A Patch of Blue (1965) Sidney Poitier, Elizabeth Hartman.
I thank God for the day I fell upon this masterpiece of kindness and generosity. A much-abused blind girl is discovered alone in a park by a kindly black man while she strings beads for sale to an old businessman. They become friends, and the man becomes gradually aware of the horrible life this girl leads, under the cruel and jealous hand of her fat, aging, prostitute mother (played with appropriately offensive gusto by Shelley Winters). He takes her under his protection and eventually leads her to a better life. I was going through a period of reading stories by black American writers, particularly enjoying the stunning prose of Richard Wright in his autobiography, BLACK BOY. This film hit me with all the full force of a train at that moment...such humanity, such cruelty, such kindness. It really showed that nobody can tell where goodness can be sourced, and how even the smallest kindness and change a person's life forever. I still watch it occasionally in these troubled times, to remind me that the world is still a place ripe with altruistic possibilities.
Little Big Man (1970) Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, Chief Dan George.
Another midnight stumble. Based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Berger and directed by Arthur Penn (who also directed BONNIE AND CLYDE), it satirically tells the story of a white boy is taken into an Indian tribe after his parents were massacred. Told in flashbacks related by his elderly self, it goes up through his adventurously inept-yet-charmed life, complete with a hilarious General Custer (Richard Mulligan), and Wild Bill Hickok (Jeff Corey). It also scores points with me currently, due to a recently-acquired obsession with Faye Dunaway, who is perfectly lovely here. I'm glad this one snuck in under my radar. I'm not much for comedies, especially when they're quite this silly...especially the odd performance of Chief Dan George. It's really a very well-told and charming telling of a period in the American west, and I remember being inspired to travel and be open to adventures after I saw it. Dustin Hoffman has been rising on my actors list recently, with ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN and KRAMER VS KRAMER...LITTLE BIG MAN was his first checkmark in the 'good' category for me.
Serpico (1973) Al Pachino.
This is a stunner of a cop film, and, though THE GODFATHER is one of my fave films of all time, SERPICO actually beats it. Telling the story of a clean cop trying to stay clean in a police force infested with greed and corruption, Pachino tears up the screen with nobility and determination. He weathers hostility (and eventually violence) at the hands of his "fellow" cops, and endures the damage that his steadfastness brings to his private life. Based on a real story written by Peter Maas, Sidney Lumet takes us into the down-and-dirty of life in 1970's New York like an atom bomb. This is the one film that reminds me, in the current atmosphere of crappy, glossy, unrealistic junk, that films can be realistic. The 70's in general are famous for this, but I believe that SERPICO is one of the most gritty and solid of the bunch. I couldn't admire Pachino more. Along with a host of other fiction, this taught me that there is great value of holding to your truth, and that being respected is far better than being liked...which is entirely counter-intuitive in this generation of platitudinous Facebook "likers".
After writing this list, I've gone through a lot of movie watching memories, and I've contemplated on how much film has taught me when the writing is splendid and the rest is done with art and craft. Movies have always been more than an entertainment for me; it isn't a matter of 'like' or 'dislike', or of passing (and usually arbitrary) personal taste. Great film can be objectively good, waiting for us to come around to what it has to teach us...I hope to stumble on to more such gems for the rest of my days!
The Hunting Party (1971)
I made a mildly prophetic statement in my review of the fantastic Oliver Reed movie, THE TRAP. "if a movie is still bad after twenty minutes, I will shut it off, walk away, and never look back", Yup, that's what I did say. I just re-read it. Well, I'm ashamed to say that I just shut off a movie after the twenty-minute cutoff point...and I looked back.
The Hunting Party seemed like it should be good. Gene Hackman, a longtime fave of mine, Oliver Reed, a new fave, in a western, one of my favourite genres...a movie with a reputation for 70's- style gritty violence. I ask you, how on Earth could that be bad?
Well, it is bad, and very bad. I'm a person who doesn't easily say something like that about a western. If you ask around, you'll find that I'm a guy that loves a western show, and I have a broad range of tastes; serials, B-reels, television shows, TV movies (up into the 90's), epics, Spaghettis, you name it.
This one was impossible to take.
Against my (usually correct) instincts, I put THE HUNTING PARTY back on the screen and started jumping ahead in short chunks to see if things maybe got better; Reed and Hackman, right? It...could have gotten better...couldn't it? It could have, it certainly should have, but in reality, it didn't. The further along I went, the more ridiculous it became. Look at the poster here; even Reed seems to know that this is a stinker.
Hackman and Reed were really saddled, so to speak, with a pretentious dud here. It was trying so hard to be a gritty, hard-ass cowboy picture of it's era, like THE WILD BUNCH, CHATO'S LAND, THE PROFESSIONALS, and even the more gentle THE HIRED HAND were, but it failed so miserably. Honestly, it came across more like an uncharacteristically bad episode of LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, but with killings and tits.
Yes. LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE with killings and tits: THE HUNTING PARTY in a nutshell....
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Salvation Testimonies
“There was nothing I could do about my situation and circumstance in a broken relationship with God…” – 2:03 minutes
“I came home wondering what that book was that everybody was so interested in.” – 1:39 minutes
“When I was ten years old, my doctor found out I had a brain tumor.” – 3:39 minutes
“I had immediate peace in my heart and this peace has been with me all these years.” – 2:03 minutes
“From a very young age I always believed and knew that there was a God. I always just tried to run from Him and ignore Him.” – 2:08
“I would cry myself to sleep every night wondering why…then I heard about a man named Jesus who loved me no matter what.” – 2:37 minutes
“I prayed…I asked God to forgive me and to take control.” – 0:43 seconds
Pastor Larry
“I want to tell you about the most important thing that ever happened to me.” – 1:50 minutes
“I prayed to receive Christ, have my sins forgiven and have an eternity in Heaven.” – 1:50 minutes
“I knew there was a difference in the people that came and visited me and talked to me and I wanted to know more about that.” – 2:10 minutes
CLEARVIEW BAPTIST
23003 E. Highway 51
E-mail: Click Here
Created by 330apps.org
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Federal - S 2026
A bill to amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to reauthorize the farm to school program, and for other purposes.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM)
Sen. Angus King (I-ME)
Sen. Christopher Murphy (D-CT)
Sen. David Perdue (R-GA)
Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN)
Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT)
Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM)
Dec. 2, 2019 — Additional cosponsor(s): 1
Blumenthal, (D-Conn.)
Nov. 5, 2019 — Additional cosponsor(s): 1
Murphy, C. (D-Conn.)
Tester, (D-Mont.)
Heinrich, (D-N.M.)
King, A. (I-Maine)
Aug. 1, 2019 — Additional cosponsor(s): 1
Smith, (D-Minn.)
Udall, (D-N.M.)
Brown, S. (D-Ohio) Collins, S. (R-Maine) Perdue, (R-Ga.)
June 27, 2019 — Read twice and referred to: Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.Congressional Record p. S4628
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Passenger Dirigible
Revision as of 15:42, 13 December 2010 by Azolides (Talk | contribs) (→Image Appendix)
The dirigible is a steerable, powered lighter-than-air vehicle developed soon after the turn of the 20th Century. The brainchild of German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the dirigible has been used for many purposes throughout its existence. First as a war machine, then in the 1920s and 30s as a commercial passenger and freight vehicle, and into the present as a form of brand presence and advertising, most notably with the Goodyear Corporation.
This dossier focuses on the commercial passenger uses of the dirigible. This medium lasted very briefly, thriving in the time between the two World Wars. Despite the vast amount of hype and academic research surrounding dirigibles, many hailing it as the future of passenger aviation, the passenger dirigible did not survive past the second World War. This is mainly attributable to improvements in airplane technology as well as the Hindenburg disaster of 1937, killing 35 people and effectively destroying confidence in the airship as a viable form of transportation.
Empire State Building with Hovering Dirigible
What follows is a discussion of the experience of flying in a passenger dirigible, using both the Graf Zeppelin and Hindenburg as core examples. Next, this dossier examines a particular relic of this time period, the Empire State Building, and its unusable mooring mast built at the top. Although visible today, it stands as a vision of the future that never came to be.
1 Dirigibles During the War
2 Dirigible Flying Experience
2.1 Cross Oceanic Travel
2.2 Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship
2.3 Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg
3 Empire State Building: Mooring Mast
3.1 "It Needs A Hat!"
3.2 Looking Good
3.3 Working Poorly
4 Dirigibles as Communicative Force
4.1 Travel: More than Point A to Point B
4.2 International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machines to Luxury Dreams
5 Image Appendix
Dirigibles During the War
Royal Navy Dirigibles in WW1
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with both respect and fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to, and in many ways succeeded in, crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the Graf Zeppelin completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).
Dirigible Flying Experience
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. In fact, in the 1920s and 1930s, the period between World War 1 and World War 2, scholars, naval officers, governments and planners wrote heavily about the possibilities for passenger airship travel. Ultimately, despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel (Hunsaker 432-3).
Cross Oceanic Travel
Cover of Advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936(Zeppelin Decor 49)
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was believed to be of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute (or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” ("Lighter-Than-Air Machines" Rosendahl 321).
Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the airship”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the dominant form of long-distance transportation up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48). Hence, the design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship. With the airship, as with the steamship, travel was as much as about the journey as the destination.
Yet the airship was seen as the future of cross-oceanic travel and spiritual successor to the steamship, due to several distinct, often scientifically supported, advantages. Supporters of airships at the time report that there had never been a reported case of seasickness or airsickness aboard the Graf Zeppelin or the Hindenburg. Much like the steamships, airships also had no need for seat or safety-belts nor the restriction of fixed-shut windows as are needed on airplanes. Commercial dirigibles flew at lower levels, thus they did not require having a pressurized cabin (Rosendahl 200).
Scientists even weighed in on the side of dirigibles over steamships and airplanes. Studies by Preston B. Bassett, the vice president in charge of engineering at Sperry Gyroscope Company, released reports about the quality of noise and sound on board an airship versus an aeroplane. He reported that "The quietness of the passengers' quarters on the Hindenburg was one of the greatest surprises to me" (Rosendahl 203). Decibel measurements placed the Hindenburg as the quietest form of transportation Bassett had recorded. Similar accolades were heaped upon the Hindenburg in relation to its lack of vibrations and noticeable disturbances. He concludes with, "In my opinion, the dirigible has found a permanent position in transocean commercial transportation" (Rosendahl 207).
Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships.
Crosssection of Gondola of the Graf
The Graf, which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48).
The Hindenburg, which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crown jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48).
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience available on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:
“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.” ("Lighter..." Rosendahl 329)
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel should be an experience of convenience, comfort, and to a certain extent, glamor.
Graf Dining Room from advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936 (Zeppelin Decor 51)
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship's common room, a room about sixteen square feet was decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets and rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small-sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53).
The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei,1936 (Zeppelin Decor 57)
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, who was working as the chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press at the time of the journey (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:
The Menu aboard the Hindenburg (Zeppelin Decor 57)
The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door. (Lochner 101)
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff that "run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world (Vaeth 56).
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.
Empire State Building: Mooring Mast
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.
"It Needs A Hat!"
Diagram of Empire State Building Mooring Mast
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After encouraging Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, enabling passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:
The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast. (Goldman 32)
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)
Mooring Mast Being Constructed
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113).
Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 New York Times article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" New York Times)
And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).
Working Poorly
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the New York Times and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" New York Times ).
Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the Graf Zeppelin, Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (Akron) will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the Graf Zeppelin" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" New York Times).
It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (Moors to Empire State "New York Times").
Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the Evening Journal to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).
Dirigibles as Communicative Force
While the airship is clearly a transportation medium, taking people from one place to another, it can also be viewed as a communicative force in its own right. In fact, the dirigible represents a particular time, before the advent of the telegraph, when transportation and communication were still inherently connected as message generators. As Marshall McLuhan famously said, the "medium is the message", therefore, how one was transported had a particular message in itself. The communicative force of the airship thus becomes clear through both it's emphasis on luxury and it's connecting of previously warring nations.
Travel: More than Point A to Point B
Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another. ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.
International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machines to Luxury Dreams
German Advertisement for the Hindenberg (note prominent Nazi swastikas) Translation: "North America in 2 Days!", 1936
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction.
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large.
Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.
Image Appendix
The Story of the Airship, Goodyear Corporation Pamphlet
"Airship Flies About Empire State Mast." New York Times. Dec 17, 1930. pg 20.
Botting, Douglas. The Giant Airships. Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life, 1981.
"Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast." New York Times. Mar 27, 1931. pg. 27.
Goldman, Jonathan. The Empire State Building Book. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.
Hunsaker, J.C. "The Day of the Dirigible". The North American Review. Vol 229, No 4. (April 1930).
Lochner, Louis P. "Aboard the Airship Hindenburg: Louis P. Lochner's Diary of Its Maiden Flight to the United States". The Wisconsin Magazine of History. Vol. 49, No 2. (Winter, 1965-1966).
"Moors to Empire State." New York Times. Sept 16, 1931. pg 6.
Rosendahl, Commander C.E. What About the Airship? New York: Scribner's Sons, 1938.
Rosendahl, C.E. "Lighter-Than-Air Machines". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. Vol 67, No 4. (1928).
Shanor, Rebecca Read. The City That Never Was. New York: Viking, 1988.
"Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet." New York Times. Jan 23, 1931. pg 28.
"Smith Skyscraper Has a Novel Design." New York Times. Jan 8, 1930. pg 11.
Vaeth, J. Gordon. "Zeppelin Decor: The Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg". The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts. Vol. 15- Transportation Theme Issue (Winter - Spring 1990)
Warner, Eric P. "Development of Transportation by Air". Scientific Monthly, Vol 18 No. 4. (April 1924).
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