Now this is more like it.

Félix du Temple de la Croix, another wiley Frenchman, was tinkering with model planes and building aircraft in the middle to late 18th Century. A member of the French nobility, he studied at the French Naval Academy and later fought in the Crimean War among other conflicts of the era. He was away from France for years and eventually became captain of his own frigate. Upon his return in 1841 he became involved in the royalist fighting going on at the time and had to leave the navy. Good thing seeings how he wanted to fly.

With the help of his brother, Louis, he built what was to become the first airplane to fly under it's own power. This model aircraft, powered by a tiny steam engine, took off unaided, flew for a bit then landed (by NOT crashing). The year was 1857. There have been models that were thrown, or otherwise launched into the air, and landed by exploding into bits, but this was the first to do the smooth transition from ground to air and ground again.

Like many flyers of the day, Felix was frustrated by crappy power plants. You could get away with clockwork engines for tiny models, but all they had to work with really were steam engines. The early internal combustion engines showed promise, but were notoriously unreliable and under powered. So steam it was.

He decided to design and build an ultra compact engine that reduced the weight and upped the juice as much as possible.

With the help of his brother they built a machine capable of carrying men in 1874. They called it the "monoplane". It was built mainly of aluminum, had a 13 metre wing span and weighed a remarkable 80 kilos! (about 200 pounds). An amazing feat of design and assembly.

This plane achieved flight on a couple of occasions, but the durations were short and control was questionable. But, hey, this was 1874.

Largely forgotten for his flying, his steam engine design was patented in 1876 and went on to establish him as a world class engineer.

But does it come with airbags?

Since this looks like a fully blown obsession, and includes personal danger and almost certain explosions, I could not be happier than to go off for a few more posts on the subject of steam powered airplanes.

The Aerial Steam Carriage was conceived in 1842. Though never actually built (there was a model constructed in 1848 that flew indoors) it was a leap forward in thinking, moving designers away from flight from gliding to actual powered flight.

The device was the invention of William Henson and John Stringfellow. With a huge wingspan of 46 metres and power coming from a 50 HP steam plant, they figured it could go 50 MPH and carry a dozen passengers. All they really did was get the patent for it, nothing but the model was built. In 1843 they formed, with 2 other partners, the Aerial Transit Company and began trying to raise money.

In actual fact, several models were built but only one flew under it's own power provided by a small steam engine. Glitzy advertisements were used to try and lure investors but the skeptics were numerous and the project fell apart.

More to come in the next few posts including a steam helicopter. I told you there would be injuries.

this is SAFER

While on the subject of air safety I could not pass up those wiley balloonist who gave powered, semi controlled flight a shot. This was only a few decades before airplanes with wings took off and somehow people were looking up a lot more. I mean they hadn't got the car worked out and trains were just getting going. You'd think they would maybe take the time to get one of them right at least before moving on. Since locomotives and horseless carriages still exploded with alarming frequency, you figure they would have got some of the basics taken care off. Oh well, same thinking that gave us the 30 inch bore cannon I guess.

A fellow Frenchman of Clement Ader was Henri Giffard. Just a few years before Ader's bat winged flyer, Henri actually flew around in a powered balloon. The year was 1852 and he flew an enormous 43 metre long hydrogen filled balloon that was powered by a 3 horsepower steam engine spinning a 12 foot propeller. This engineering marvel flew over 15 miles and was totally controlled by Giffard. Balloonists up till then were at the mercy of the winds. This made air travel, and transport, potentially viable.

The insane flammability of hydrogen was not lost on balloonists of the era. Giffard's wheezing and sparking steam engine was suspended well below the gas bag (mainly to give the huge propeller room) but he got the fire safety thing. The smoke stack pointed downwards and had water vapour from the boiler injected into it to snuff the bigger flaming chunks.

It's safe, honest

It is not my intention to draw any fire away from the Wright brothers and their famous flight at Kittyhawk. What they accomplished was nothing short of spectacular. If not mind bendingly dangerous. Think about it, these were bicycle mechanics who had built a hand made airplane, powered by a hand made engine, launching into high winds with not so much as a seat to sit on.

But just look at some of the other guys who made it into the air before them. How about Clément Ader? Who in 1890 made the first powered heavier than air flight. Now there is debate about how much control of the contraption he really had, but none the less, he did fly and it was powered. Let's take a look at some of the stuff he did before he flew his bat winged monster. He devised stereophonic sound, designed the V8 engine and was largely credited for making the telephone actually useful, installing Paris's first phone system in 1880.

OK, so he was smart, and a real engineer. When he turned his energies to flight however, things got weird. He created an airplane called the Eole. It has a 12 metre wingspan, was powered by a steam engine (Lord Jesus) and like the Wright brothers, 13 years to come, controlled (I use the term loosely) the machine by bending and warping the wings.

The genius of Ader was the engine was actually very light weight with the whole machine weighed in at just over 300 kilos. He`s in the history books with the first powered flight on October 6, 1890. The airplane flew about 50 metres. Unlike other airplanes, including the Wright brother`s, his plane was not catapulted or launched from a track into high winds. It took off.

He built other bat planes, claiming that each one flew farther each time and after being spotted by the French military, built a much bigger bat winged beats powered by 2 steam engines that in 1897 flew over 300 metres. Little real evidence exists of any of the other bat planes working, and in any case, the military got bored and walked away. Too bad. It would be neat to see a 4 engine steam powered bat passenger plane.

whats good for america, oh wait, that's GM

So here is a real doosie for you. From the jungles of Brazil I give you Fordlandia! Unlike any place on earth. Looks like Henry Ford was thinking that maybe if his cars were getting popular he had better make sure he had a reliable supply of tires to shod them. Rubber at the time came straight from rubber trees and Malaysian rubber was the most widely available. The British and Dutch had a monopoly on the market and this was worrisome. The fact that he did not control the supply made Henry nervous and he stepped up research to find a source of his own. Talk about raw materials. This was still on the tree next to the river.

Situated nearly a thousand kilometres up the Amazon, his land, Fordlandia, was a tract of hilly barren hardly fertile land covering over 10, 000 square kilometres. Talk about doing it the hard way. The town was locally called Boa Vista, or simply “Dearborn in the Jungle.” What was unique for the time was that this was going to be a rubber plantation, with managed agriculture replacing the traditional tapping of wild rubber trees.

The agreement reached gave him whacks of land, local police support and no tariffs on Ford equipment and materials entering Brazil. The Brazilians in return received a 9 per cent share of profits after a 12 year period. Things looked OK for Ford, then.

Once the first steam shovels arrived the jungle was never the same. Fordlandia became a North American suburb, complete with paved streets, bungalows, movie theatres, swimming pool and a library. Almost all of the the workers were locals and this whole world was just too weird for them.

Things don't get better. Staffed by engineers and managers who had never left an office, the rubber plantations were a mystery to them. The crappy soil eroded, or washed away during the rains causing tractors to get stuck and insane delays of equipment and supplies. To make matters even more insulting was the ensuing dry season, which lowered the river so much that boats couldn't dock. Guess they should've read the tide book.

The agricultural theories that worked in North America (closely planted rows to maximize production) only contributed to the spread of plant diseases and blights. This is the Amazon after all.

Things were not really going well so Ford traded some land for a parcel up the river a piece and started as second operation at Belterra. But big picture the whole shebang was not going to work. Fetid water contributed to malaria outbreaks and the local workers didn't get living in houses, eating in cafeterias serving unrecognizable dished like hamburgers and ice cream, or working a standard North American work day, which did not take into account the midday heat. Work stoppages were common and civil unrest became common. Ford's insistence on no smoking or drinking didn't endear him to the staff and attempts to cultural-ize the locals with poetry readings, weekend dances and English sing-alongs were just too strange. Paydays saw boatloads of local booze hit the streets and several days of low or non existent production ensued.

Fordlandia lated through the Second World War when Ford quietly paid out a quarter million dollars to the Brazilian government. His overall loss on the experiment was $20,000,000. Anyways, one of the inventions that came out of the war was synthetic rubber.

The picture above is a Fordlandia bungalow.

Good neighbour.

Ferdinand Friendly Wachenheimer was born in new York City October 15, 1915. Known to the world later on his his life as Fred Friendly, he was a radio and TV pioneer. He started in radio in the early 30's in Providence, Rhode Island. This was when he became Mr. Friendly by the way.

He became quite an experienced radio producer by the Second World War and teamed up with another groundbreaking radio journalist, Edward R. Murrow, after the war to produce a series called I Can Hear it Now for Columbia Records. What was especially exciting for listeners is that they used as much genuine recordings as possible in the project. Actual battlefield sounds and commentary, as well as news broadcasts put the listener at the very centre of the action.
Friendly was fascinated by a new technology, magnetic recording tape, and went to great lengths to try and get original recordings. When none existed he made them up. What he really did was recreate them as accurately as possible. Not like nowadays. He did not, however, alert the listener as to what was fake and what was real.He was good at it, and many recordings still stump archivists.He did his homework though, reportedly asking heads of state for do-overs of speeches.

Already working for CBS and Columbia Records his first big splash came with NBC's "The Quick and the Dead", about the development of the atomic bomb. Gotta love that title. They had some snot back then too.

Back at CBS they noticed what he was doing and recruited him full time, and that's when he hooked up with Murrow to produce a radio show based on the Columbia Hear it Now records in 1950. In 1951 they took it to television and aptly named the show "See it Now" hosted by Murrow.

The show was mostly live and never shied away from tough news, taking on Joe McCarthy's commie hunting on prime time TV for example.

Always a pioneer, Friendly was at the birth of public access television and the burgeoning cable TV industry in the 60's. No MST 3000 without this guy.

Pretty tricky.

I am guilty of yet another right hand turn in delivering tonight's post. What was to be a short piece on rope tricks, the history of and a few crazy ass examples, rapidly morphed into a couple of lines about atomic bombs. What can I say? I'm a sucker for well documented insanity.

So whats the connection anyway? Well seems that there is a phenomenon called the "rope trick effect" that occurs when certain bombs are set off.

John Malik, a physicist, noticed this startling visual effect when looking over high speed photography of the nuclear tests in the 50's. When photographed just after detonation, the camera captured a "fireball" that looks a lot like a huge transparent marble, but what is too bloody weird are the series of spikes or long tendrils, the "ropes" that extend from the bottom of the fireball.

The ropes are actually the mooring cables being heated, followed by rapid vaporization and then expansion of the cables. Malik, being curious and artistic, tried different colours, with black producing the most pronounced effect, while ropes wrapped in foil or other reflective material didn't show at all, they just went phsst in a nano second.

Not surprisingly, surface or air detonations, or any that weren't held down by ropes didn't produce the rope effect.

tube steak

Back at it after a week off on helping my employer out. Had to fly over to a new office and get the staff started on the right foot. Good to be back at my own desk and cosy bed.

Saw a nifty little video on the CBC web site about a London designer who has recycled old London subway carriages into office space. He's plucked then from the scrap heap and dropped on top of existing buildings. You may have noticed a soft spot for trains on this blog and particularly the goofier side of transport, (remember trains sucked through rubber tubes don't you?) so I'd thought I would dig up stuff on the the London Underground.

Anyway, the 1840's saw what was to be called the Railway Mania in England. Railways were where it's at then and everyone was tripping over themselves to by a stake in some new railroad. Speculative investing in new railways was crazy. Now it turned out that many never got off the ground, were gobbled up by bigger companies or were simply bogus, but the rage over railways was here to stay.

No wonder, compared to other investments there was a buck to be made. And more important, there was a middle class to invest their earnings. Propelled by the industrial revolution the railways were in demand and tracks needed to be laid and locomotives needed to be built. Not only was there an insatiable need to move goods, people had to be moved to. England was rapidly urbanizing and workers had to get to their jobs.

So back to the London Underground. There has been attempts to link suburban train stations in the 1840's by using shallow troughs but these never took off. The City was simply in the way. No one wanted hundreds of homes and roads destroyed to get even the beloved trains into downtown. Some lines were constructed, most notably to connect Paddington Station, but these were basically trenches that were covered over.

Lets jump ahead a few years and have a look at the first real tube train. The tube train could only exist once deep tunneling could be accomplished safely (sort of for the time- the construction of some of the shallow trenches, the so-called "cut and cover" was crazy. At one point they dug through the Fleet Ditch Sewer system near Farringdon). By 1970 tunnelling shields allowed deep excavation to proceed and a tunnel was bored under the Thames near Tower Hill. This was barely a railway in the true sense, just one car hauled back and forth on cables, but it was a start.

More improvements and access to electric locomotives made subways practical, and the first one showed up, The City & South London Railway in 1890. It was powered by an electric locomotive and had some 5+ kilometers of track in service. The ride was no hell and for some reason, probably due to the dark tunnels, the carriages had no windows. Could not imagine a weirder little ride. Patrons called them padded cells.

Dad.

Father of the Delta blues, Charlie Patton was a true homegrown talent. Born in 1891 (there is debate over this, with some musicologists suggesting he was born earlier, that is 1885 earlier) on the Mississippi delta. He moved with his family to the Dockery Plantation at the turn of the century. A couple of other real cool cats found out about the Patton magic, maybe you've heard of them: John Lee Hooker and Howlin Wolf.

Music has to come from somewhere, and Patton learned his craft from local Dockery musician Henry Sloan. Blues wasn't invented yet but this guy had it going on. Two of Patton's future sideman, Son House and Tommy Johnson learned at Sloan's feet. Unfortunately there are no known Sloan recordings.

Patton's first real composition was "pony Blues". Known as a song writer and developer of the the delta blues style, he was comfortable playing many genres and toured all over the Southern United States. Toured is being generous. He was a Black musician in turn of the century times so he played plantations and beer halls.

Crowds came from all over to see the show, and a show it was. Way before the antics of Pete Townsend or pyrotechnics of Hendrix, this guy played the guitar below his knees and behind his head wowing the crowns who had never seen anything like him before. There were no amps or PA systems then, but his voice was as legendary as his playing. He could blow out candles at the back of the hall.

Patton moved to Holly Ridge Mississippi with his partner, fellow musician Bertha Lee, where he lived until his death in 1934. He has also been known to go by the name Elder J.J. Hadley.

No smoking.

So we all know the Incas built some pretty good rope bridges. As engineers period they are up there. Now they didn't get far with no wheels, but rope bridges they did OK. The largest of these spanned 200+ feet over the Apurimac Canyon.

The cool thing with these rope bridges including others built in South and Central America was the commitment to regular maintenance. Locals would rebuild and tighten main sections of the bridge on a fixed schedule, prolonging the useful life and keeping harmful accidents at a low level.

Far, far away in Northern Ireland, we see the bridge builders craft displayed in the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, near Ballintoy. This amazing little bridge actually spans the ocean between Ireland and tiny Carrick Island.

Area fisherman erected the bridge as an easier way to get their catch to land (thought they would have had boats though). This bridge shows up in local lore and seems to have been around off and on some 300 odd years. The current version is all safe and has safety measures installed so its pretty much for tourists. It's still a harrowing 20 metre walk on a shaky bridge.

Sparkling sugar.

In one of many attempts to find out a little bit more about the history of rope I stumbled upon a short science piece making the rounds at all the news services. Seems scientists have discovered if you peel Scotch tape off it's roll in a vacuum it emits x-rays.

The article doesn't have any background, that is to say, what got the scientists unfurling tape in a vacuum anyway. Maybe it was a slow day, who knows.

Researchers at UCLA found that peeling Scotch tape off a pane of glass "ejects enough radiation to take an x-ray image."

The phenomenon is called triboluminescence and was first written about by Sir Francis Bacon in 1620 when he noted "It is well known that all sugar whether candied or plain, if it be hard, will sparkle when broken or scraped in the dark." Sounds like they played around with Lifesavers back then a bit. But that's just the idea. Many substances emit mild radiation when rubbed scraped and scratched.

The researchers above are thinking of using the energy to power portable x-ray machines. I'm sure someone else will come up something real fun to do with it.

In case you want to follow up, here's one link to the story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081023/ap_on_sc/sci_scotch_tape_surprise

Gotta look up again, shit.

Just a shorty tonight, but in a rope-y theme. Seems the Peruvians had a thing for rope and what to do with it. Take the Rope Bridge of San Luis Rey. Built in 1350 across the Apurimac River, it was made of hand woven rope and spanned 148 feet.

The cables were twisted and then added as components of a larger cable until the core span was as thick as man's body. The bridge even had a device to self tighten the ropes as they stretched installed on one side.

So well made was this magnificent bridge it lasted 500 years. A lot longer, actually, than many cast iron bridges.

If you are intrigued check out Thorton Wilder's 1927 novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey, or if you prefer, find one of the several film adaptations. The most recent features Robert DeNiro and Kathy Bates.

Sorry readers, I tried to find at least a drawing of the orinal bridge but all I could dig up was endless DVD box art.

Look up, way up, and I'll call Angie and Fiddle

Doing research into expedition artists (the folk who paint and sketch the things that explorers go looking for before cameras were useful) landed me on quite few web sites devoted to things that fell from the sky.

There is a long history of objects pummeling the earth. Pretty much from ancient times onward man has seen stones, cinders, toads, fish (quite a few actually) and especially since air travel is common, the odd plane part and frozen poop.

And then there is meat. Seems that meat has fallen lots of times. Lets see starting in 1851 near San Fransisco troops reported seeing pieces of meat, apparently beef (how did they check?) falling from a cloudless sky.

Sampson County, North Carolina reported that in the same year meat as well as liver, brains and blood fell from the sky. No mention as to what cut of meat it was. Again in 1884 meat fell from the sky in Chatham County.

In 1869 on a farm near Los Nietos, California, more meat came down. This time in strips.

We move now to Bath, Kentucky when in 1876 cubes of beef (what else?) landed on the Crouch family farm.

Every meat fall occurred on clear cloudless days. Think I'll use the grocery store.

Topsy

Oct 17, 1909 Cozy Cole was born. Landmark drummer who played with the likes of Wilber Sweatman and Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers among others.

This guy was cool. Never one to put the drummer way in the back, he often put drum solos in unexpected places and actually charted a song with a drum solo in it "Topsy Part 2" in 1958. This wasn't the era of Led Zeppelin, this was Les Paul and Mary Ford / Sinatra country. He had a stint with jazz violinist Hezekiah Smith, better known as Stuff Smith in the late 30's.

Always a ground breaker he joined the CBS radio networks band in 1942. His inclusion as an African American musician in those days was quite something.

Take a walk

So we're all in agreement then that the crafty Egyptians made the first real rope (that is to say made from fibres and not a bunch of vines braided together) and no doubt begat the pyramids. China came next around 2800 BC with rope made from hemp.

Then there is a big gap of almost a thousand years. I'm doing my best to find out what the hell went on. Might even have to buy a book. Anyway, rope shows up again in Europe in the Middle Ages. Seems they had a lot of exploring going on and boats and slaves to tie up.

To be able to make rope they had to use real long buildings called rope walks. Some were as much as 250+ metres long. The British Navy required rope to be 1000 feet long. Thats over 300 metres. The strands were laid out side by side and twisted together. Shortere pieces could be made of course, but they needed to be spliced together and would bind in the blocks and pulleys.

So to be called rope, the cordage needs to be at least an inch in circumference. Anything smaller is called cord or twine, and the smallest stuff is yarn or thread.

Doink Doink

Today, or pretty close to it, (Oct 18th actually) marks the 50th anniversary of the video game. Robert Dvorak Sr and that crazy accordion player, William Higinbotham, displayed Tennis for Two at a Brookhaven National Laboratory lab open house.

William Higinbotham, a senior scientist at the Los Alamos research facility that developed the first atomic bomb was a key player in organizing scientists to ban the use of the bomb. He never felt good that he was remembered for helping birth the video gaming industry and not for trying to prevent nuclear proliferation.

Spud nik

It's October already and I feel terrible that over three quarters of the year has slipped by without celebrating you know what. Come on, this is an event we all should be involved in. Family, friends, co-workers. Make some time for the potato.

2008 is the International Year of the Potato. So says the United Nations, and they ought to know. We pay how much to keep them running?

According to the official website http://www.potato2008.org/ (you'll love the logo) we owe everything to Lake Titticaca. Peru actually. There may be some argument from Bolivia. Those damn Bolivars. It's a potato.

I won't repeat the potato lore amply abundant on the web site but I do want to tell you about a neat little potato product called chuño. Dating back over a thousand years it's a freeze dried potato food eaten by the Incas. Small potatoes work best for this stuff. Once dug up they are laid out over night to freeze for at least a couple of days. They are laid out in the sun during the day and walked upon to squeeze out the moisture. Finally, they are frozen for a few more nights. And voila! a portable food that looks remarkably like crap. But hey, they did walk on it first.

And just so you feel real bad here are a few potato celebrations we all missed. In September the Spokane Valley Fest was the site of the launching of a potato shaped balloon. Thuringia Germany had their annual potato festival where the celebrated potato dumplings. And finally to cap a month choc a bloc with activities France hosted PotatoEurope 2008. Billed as Europe's "most significant potato industry convention". Lucky bastards.

Tied up.

Ah, there's nothing like a good obsession to keep you focused and on task. Especially when it's one that's both entertaining and informative. Way more fun than crazy recluses or beer swilling wack jobs.

Tonight's topic, lucky us, is rope. Binder of fair maidens and securer of ships at harbour. And unfairly under reported.

So then, to the beginning, rope's dawn. Earliest known rope makers seem to be the Egyptians. They left hieroglyphics showing a rope making process around 4000 BC. However evidence exists that some very rudimentary braided rope was around thousands of years before that. In fact the Lascaux Caves in France (famous for the cave paintings) produced some fossilised 2 ply braided rope, circa 15,000 BC. Rope being a pretty handy thing doesn't surprise me. Probably used it to keep the visitors out.

The Egyptians needed the rope to help in the building of their cities and monuments. It was no doubt made from plant matter, very possibly reeds or palm fronds. Because they didn't really have an effective way of twisting long strands at that time, and rope making by hand just didn't meet the demand, most ropes were a series of ropes tied together.

It would take medieval craftsman to move rope making forward. Next time on Rope- Twisted History.

Look up, way up, I'll call Rusty and Jerome . . .

According to Harvard astronomer Tim Spahr, a small asteroid will burn up in the earth's atmosphere tonight. Damn, all the good cataclysms happen after my bed time.

Actually it's asteroid 2008 TC3 and it's on track to burn up over Africa. Lucky bastards. So scientists have complied this list of asteroids, 5681 of them, of which a mere 757, or 10% or so are big enough to cause us any trouble. Ah science has a way of taking the end of mankind and the start of the next ice age and making it all sound like comparing gas mileage on mini vans. And just to make us all feel better the chance of an object 1km in size or bigger striking the earth is about 1 in every half million years. What a load off. So all we have to do now is figure out when the LAST one hit.

So it got me started thinking about other hits and misses. One of the best known impacts is the Barringer Crater near Winslow Arizona. Also known as Meteor Crater it was formed about 50, 000 years ago by an object about 50 metres across. Interestingly enough it is the only privately owned crater on earth. The Barringer family own it. Just goes to show you that being at the right place at the right time . . .

In the less drama but more of them category we have the Henbury Meteorites Conservation Reserve in Australia's Northern Reserve. Actually a crater field of about 15 impacts ranging in size from as small as 7 metres across to the big one at 180 metres. Locals had known about the area for a long time but interest flared when a 92 kilgram meteorite crashed in neighbouring Karoonda in 1932. That woke 'em up.

On the other side of the world in Kaali Estonia we have the Kaali Craters. A series of 9 impacts produced craters as large as 110 metres across and 22 metres deep. The date of impact is sketchy but it's believed to be about 100BC.

And in Saudi Arabia we find the Wabar craters. Actually Harry St. John Abdullah Philby found them in 1932. You may remember a famous commie spy, Ken Philby? His Dad. Again this is an impact field with craters larger than 100 metres. This one is a new one, having occurred within the last 200 years.

Sleep tight.

People's Painter

There are few jobs that have built in positives AND negatives. There is no wiggle room when it comes to either. No matter how hard you try, you are always balancing in between the two. Cops have it, news anchors, men and women of cloth and political cartoonists.

Boris Yefimov died yesterday at the age of 108. That's right 108! He witnessed the revolution, civil wars, 2 world wars, the end of the Cold War and the new cold war. Eclipsing all others he was easily Russia's best political cartoonist.

Close shaves were common in Soviet Russia. Stability and common sense meant anyone in the public had better trod a careful line. Boris came to fame during the Second World War satirizing Hitler and the Nazis. Stalin loved poking fun, but his shrewd political instincts told him that this was good propaganda read by leaders and rank and file alike.

Vistors to Yefimov's apartment were treated to amazing stories told with and startling accuracy for someone born in 1900. Stalin scared the shit out of him. In 1947 he received a call from him, the "boss". This is one call you don't shout from the shower that you'll call him right back.

Seems Stalin read all the papers and regularly called editors suggesting stories, changes to headlines and the occasional reminder that his staff may stop by and pick up a colleague for a ride around the block. In this instance he was trying to get the focus on an American military buildup in the Arctic.

Yefimov had promised, the day before, a cartoon on the subject and it had not yet shown up. A regular propagandist for Izvestia, Stalin was well aware of the calibre of his cartoons. Anyway, Uncle Joe was on the line and he wanted to know where his cartoon was. In fact he wanted it by the evening edition, barely 2 hours away. Yefimov said he was convinced he was dead. So much to do in such short time. He DID finish it but was surprised to find out that Stalin had re-wrote the cartoon's caption, using red crayon to scrawl over his original words before submitting for publication.

Born Boris Fridland in Kiev of Jewish parents he didn't really get off to a good start with art classes, but doggedly kept drawing and copying his favourite cartoons. Encouraged by his brother Mikhail, (who became a journalist) he entered art school. But civil war broke out and he and his brother thought it prudent to adopt less Jewish sounding names. He chose Yefimov, and Mikhail a Kolstov.

Boris followed him to Moscow and got his first political cartoon published in Pravda in 1922. The rest is history, a lot of it.

For today, I'll sign off and go see what fodder exists for modern cartoonists. I suspect there is plenty of it.

I'm back.

Ugh. Finally. Had to do the business trip thing for 2 weeks. Limited time for keeping you all up to date on halfway decent TV viewing or introducing readers to the wonders of forgotton history.

First order of business is a beer update. From the good folks at Discovery Channel (and my wife for seeing the article) comes the tale of 45 million year old yeast.

Seems Raul Cano extracted the yeast sample from a piece of ancient amber. Now this was 10 years ago, so between then and now he has perfected brewing using the yeast originally taken from the sample of Burmese amber.

His beer, which he brews is sizable quantities , has caught the eye of aficionados and critics. Apparently it did good at the Russian Beer Festival, a yardstick by which better beers are measured, and garnered reviews like this one from Oakland Tribune beer critic (now there's a job) "weird spiciness".

It's safe to say that his ingredients are not off the shelf.

hehe

In an effort to provide an ever expanding range of services to readers I have decided to implement a weird TV alert when I cruise through notable history-ish shows to watch. Reading all those TV guides is an eye opening experience. For example, did you know there are now at least 2 shows devoted to families with a lot of kids and at least 2 shows about small people?

Now for a bit of sanity with The Perfect Weapon: Siege Engines at 6pm (just in time for supper!) on History Television. "The destructive power and accuracy of siege engines, including a mangonel and a trebuchet, are tested." Gives me an appetite. Then at 8pm it's Lost Worlds:
Building the Titanic. So now we put up with repeats and mainstream TV till later on. Stay up till 1am if you want and catch Engineering an Empire: The Aztecs

But Discovery Channel comes to the rescue with Secrets of the Dinosaur Mummy at 11.

tune in to this

Marvin P. Middlemark was born on this in 1919. We owe Marv a debt of gratitude. You see in in 1956 (took him a while to get going) he invented the Rabbit Ears used on TV sets in the 50's and 60's.

This device alone identifies television to many folk. Even those too young to have ever seen a pair of them. Television was transmitted to most markets back then just like radio was, from atop a transmission tower. The signal varied with location and the weather so viewers stood on their head trying to get a clear picture. (There is a Mr. Bean episode where he winds up naked standing on his head in an effort to get a clear picture)

Mr. Middlemark's tidy little gizmo caught more signal for the viewers and made TV just that much more exciting. Until cable TV penetrated to most markets, Rabbit Ears were king.

He had a few more inventions up his sleeve but none hit the success nerve again. But they were the water powered potato peeler and the tennis ball rejuvinator. Go figure.

soorry

Hey I've been off the beat for a week or so, doing the hanging with my son who's in town for a rare visit. My guess is there have been exactly 17 shows of note we missed. Shit.

Down to business.

Here's an odd little show called Tank Overhaul: The Panther. Kind of a history/hot rod/extreme renovation mix. Wonder where they get the parts. It's on History Television at 6pm. Good dinner viewing. At 8 they have one of my favourite series on. Battle 360: Vengeance at Midway "An American aircraft carrier fleet turns the tide of World War II in the Pacific by defeating the Japanese Imperial Navy in 1942 at Midway in one of the greatest naval battles in history." Then a bunch of repeats and mainstream stuff before Dogfights: Dogfights of the Middle East at 1am.

Looks like History Television takes all the prizes for Monday.

satellite of love

History Television is a little more playful towards the end of the week with shows like Lost Worlds: The Age of Airships and The Perfect Weapon: Skull Smashers. Starts at 8pm. Fun. Fun. Then a big break till we get to Engineering an Empire: Greece. Peter Weller hosts.

OLC is in the same mood too with Robbie Coltrane's Incredible Britain at 10pm.

And if you're in the mood for this, AMC has a mountain of real old Kay Francis movies on. Don't know what that will do to you, but what the hell.

wooly.

It turns out that there was another world's fair devoted to cotton. It happened just a few years after the now famous Atlanta International Cotton Exposition of 1881. The World Cotton Centennial of 1884, held in new Orleans, was a bit of a crapper.

New Orleans was at the very centre of the cotton industry and was home to the Cotton Exchange. If ya wanted cotton, dis was the place. But the fair was a non starter. One of the original directors took off for Brazil with over a million bucks before the fair even opened.

It did have the worlds biggest building at that time (covered over 30 acres) and was lit with more lights than all of New Orleans had at the time.

The fair was a a money loser. It was decided that the fairs buildings would be held over and used for the North Central & South American Exposition of 1885. Sounds exciting. It too couldn't get the whole she bang back in the black. What was left in the spring of 1886 was sold off for whatever they could get.

The photo above is of a stuffed alligator on exhibit at the fair. I can see the link between cotton and reptiles.

Manos, Hand of Fate

A short word about today's heading. This is probably the worst movie ever made. Really. I've shied away from going after obvious subjects, and I would probably never do one on movies, but this flick is in a league of it's own.

But hey, let's have some fun! History Television has Cities of the Underworld: A-Bomb Underground. Golly. At 9 they have a real golly gee old fashioned show with The Real Treasure Island. "Alexander Capus believes that the author of ``Treasure Island,'' Robert Louis Stevenson, knew of a real treasure." Wiley devil. All the way over the hump at 1am they have Digging for the Truth: Pirates: Terror in the Mediterranean.

I'm always on the fence when it comes to many of History Channel's offerings. You have found the odd poke at how many "mega" shows they have. So it is with some hesitance I let you in on tonight's fare. Starting at 8pm they have 2 back to back Monsterquests: Birdzilla (gosh) and American Werewolf. And if you can stick it out till 11pm, they have UFO Files: UFO's and the White House. Thought they were there already.

ah fall . . .

You gotta tune in to this series if you haven't it seen it yet. The Worst Jobs in History. Tonight at 8 it's Rural Jobs. This episode includes such gems as "shepherd boy; nettle harvester; reddleman; thresher; sedge cutter; sin eater; pole man." Yeesh.

TCM has 2 Shirley MacLaine / Jack Lemon gems on starting at 7:30: Irma La Douce and The Apartment.

And if you have the energy after the Labour Day long weekend catch a few not bad shows over on the History Channel. At 8 you have Cities of the Underworld: New York: Secret Societies, then at 10 it's Evolve: Flight (some of these have been odd, but this one's OK) and then finally at 11 catch Shark Attack 1916. Just wait for the sequel.

Gumball machine in a tux.

Death on the Eastern Front at 8pm on History Television. Not much about this show except "Research seeks to determine the mental state of the German and Soviet armies during World War II." I dunno. For some odd reason it's repeated off and on all night. Finally at 2am they have an episode of Digging for the Truth: City of the Gods.

Discovery Channel has a couple of cool shows on starting at 10pm. Mammals vs. Dinos
The Age of Gigantism, and then right after Mammals vs. Dinos The Rise of Mammals. Lots of computer animation.

TCM has Soylent Green on at 10:30pm. Better read the label.

I'm all giddy.

So, okay this had to happen. On this day in 1859, the very first oil well starting pumping oil in Titusville, Pennsylvania. Hmmm, that sounds kinds odd. I better check to see if it's the first ever oil well, or first in the States. It appears this is the first oil well in the USA. The first in North America was drilled near Petrolia (no kidding) in Ontario, Canada.

Tarzan of the Apes was first published on this day in 1912.

Confucius was born on this in 550BC.

And keeping with the heavies in birthday town, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu (Mother Teresa to you) was born on this day in 1910.

Daryl Dragon, writer of such heavy song hits such as Muskrat Love, was born this day in 1942.

Doesn't get any better than this.

Crow in a tux.

For those who can't remember, or who never visited, PBS has The Sixties: The Years That Shaped a Generation at 8.

Takes a heck of a time to get to anything good on History Television tonight. It's all the way to midnight before we get to Rome: Caesarion. Then some repeats of old Digging for the Truth. Yawn.

AMC has The Flight of the Phoenix (1965 version) at 1am. Good old rollicking fun with this.

The History Channel takes it up a notch with Modern Marvels: Bread at 8. I suppose . . .but if you hang around till 11pm they have Decoding the Past: Secrets of the Dollar Bill. Sounds fun. A whole show on bread, really.

what would benny hill think?

I'm back after a long weekend away from the blog. Tonight's stuff is quite predictable- Digging for the Truth: Timbuktu at 8pm on History Television. The right after at 9 it's Finding the Fallen: Passchendaele 1917: Drowning in Mud. "The team goes to Northern Belgium to excavate the site of the battle of Passchendaele." Then some repeats and a final Digging for the Truth
The Da Vinci Code: Bloodlines at 2 am.

However some much see TV at 7 with Psycho on TCM. Part of a whole evening of Janet leigh flicks.

Tiny little Tuesday, can only get better.

He was a rat.

Tune in right now to TCM for the Gregory Peck classic, On the Beach. Starts in a mo at 7pm.

Looks like an underwater theme on History Television starting at 8pm with Deep Wreck Mysteries: U-Boat Death Trap and right after that U-864: Hitler's Last Deadly Secret at 9pm. Now we have to skip a few repeats and boring things till 2am when Digging for the Truth
The Vikings: Voyage to America is on.

Hey campers, it's a quiet little night in history town.

6'2"

Paul Child was a designer and artist closely attached to highest levels of command in the East. There were many opportunities to mix and mingle with all levels of staff as cocktail parties, dinners and at the very least, gin drinking, was common even when the war raged in the countryside.

By early 1945, the OSS headquaters was moved to Chungking, China. Julia, in her usual fashion, immedaitely set to work organizing filing systems and getting everyone on board with the program. Rumours circulated that she was in line for the spy corps.

Paul was present in Chungking too. As the war wound down, their romance started up, with Paul taking her to the best restaurants. Her love of cooking was born.

get the pigeon out of the cistern.

Ah finally a decent war movie. Full Metal Jacket is on at 10 on Showcase.

Late, late start for History Television. Sheesh. At midnight they have Rome: Pharsalus. Then a shirt jump to 2 am when they have Digging for the Truth: Stonehenge: Secrets Revealed. Of course they don't really reveal the secrets, but I go for it every time too.

History Channel can barely pull this dismal night out of the fire. All they have is UFO Files: Ancient Aliens at 11pm. I think I'm gonna go and listen to my old Dave Edmunds albums.

For the lovers of gritty, or is it crusty, TCM has Edward G. Robinson flicks on all night. Boy after 10 hours of those you'll feel odd.

peanuts

Digging for the Truth: Kings of the Stone Age starts our night off at 8 on History Television. At 9 they have Finding the Fallen: Ypres 1914: The First Trench. " The Northern Belgium farmlands hold the final resting place of some of the fallen of the First World War." And as usual, there is a gap while they run some mainstream shows and pay the bills. Then at midnight it's back to basics with another Digging for the Truth: Pirates: Terror in the Mediterranean. And then Christ we gotta skip another hour for another one at 2am The Aztecs: Of Blood and Sacrifice.

PBS has The Lost Pyramids of Caral at 9 as well. "Researchers believe the ancient city of Caral may be the missing link of archaeology, a stage between primitive existence and advanced society." What do you think?

A&E has a show that's just called "Ernest Hemingway" at 1 am. Think I can guess what's up. The episode guide says "Hemingway travels through Italy, Spain, France, and Africa." No point in giving us any details. Dog bites man.

Cheerio.

go for the gold

Hurry up and kick off the week with Dogfights: Supersonic at 8pm on History Television.

For a bit of sports history, check out PBS at 10 for Muhammad Ali: Made in Miami. "From Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali, the champion's evolution is part of a chronicle of Miami's black community and the famed 5th St. Gym."

The History Channel has a rather chilling evening of entertainment starting at 8 with Decoding the Past: Doomsday 2012: The End of Days. (wow lots of colons in that title). The on to Life After People at 9.

If that doesn't get you edgy enough TCM has a spate of cheesy hay burners, with a lot of Lee's in them (Lee Marven and Van Cleef).

Mix in a little deception.

So as I read the days news and poked around the fringes of possible stories to use I came upon this gem. It's already starting to make the rounds of the news sites but it's still a fun little story.

Chef Julia Child's first big job was not as a chef, but as a spy. During WWII she worked for the OSS (it turned into the CIA). She and her team were tasked with creating a method to keep sharks away from underwater explosives. Seems the sharks were setting off underwater bombs that were laid to snare German submarines. Even if the sharks didn't set them all off, they sure as hell let the German's know where the shit was.

Julia McWilliams, her maiden name, started her spy career shortly after Pearl Harbour. A tall (over 6 feet) good natured girl who enjoyed her fun, she was not exactly what the US military wanted, but through friends in the OSS she started as a clerk. her natural take charge attitude earned her promotions and got her noticed. One of the first real OSS type projects she worked on was to see if water could be squeezed from fish. Bleh. Apparently not. Downed pilots in life rafts would have to look elsewhere.

When a chance to work in the far east arose she was first in line. She arrived in Kandy, Sri Lanka and set to work with the other women in her unit. Although she trained as a file clerk, she in fact was privy to the highest secrets on a daily basis. Her good humour and obvious talents for quickly making sense out of chaos did not go unnoticed.

It was here that she met Paul Child. Check back tomorrow for part 2.

it's a two roll movie

History Television continues it's tear on dark musty places with 2 more Cities of the Underworld: Secret Pagan Underground and Istanbul. As always, starting at 8pm. Then it's a long break till 2am when Digging for the Truth: Lost Treasures of Petra comes on.

History Channel has one show on tonight at 10 The Works: Guns and Ammo. "Host Daniel H. Wilson traces the history of guns and uncovers their incredible role in our everyday lives."

That is the whole she-bang folks. Unless you want to catch the Greer Garson festival over on TCM.

some kinda day

Hey, I got my Foyles War DVD's today, so I'm a happy guy. Series 5. Gonna settle down for a night of detective stories this weekend.

But before that happens lets look at what is on tonight of the historical variety. History Television has a couple of Cities of the Underworlds on - Freemason Underground and Scotland's Sin City starting at 8pm. Then we have a 2 hour break and back again at midnight with another one: Underground Bootleggers. And if you have the gumption to stay in dark, damp places stay up till 2am for Digging for the Truth: New Maya Revelations.

Looks like this is the whole works tonight campers. History Channel has some weird fighting dinosaurs and cheapo UFO shows. I am disappointed.

But, TCM has a pile of Peter Lorre movies on if you like his thyroidal sleaze.

cheap imitation

Looks like we're in for one of those basement nights. History Television has 2 Cities of the Underworld on starting at 8: London's Lost Cities and and Dracula's Underground. Skip to midnight to catch one more: Rome's Hidden Empire. And to round out a night of underground delights Digging for the Truth: Stonehenge of the Americas. "Host Josh Bernstein tours the ancient city of Tiwanaku from the air and the ground." Guess we're supposed to know where that is.

History Channel has a neat show on at 8: Modern Marvels: Coin Operated. That's it except for a show about jaws (seriously) at 10 called Evolve: Jaws. They had the companion pieces to this last week, eyes and ears. Can't wait for the history of asses.

howdy

Getting at it a bit late but I'm being buoyed up by the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Yes.

So History Television starts the week at 8 off with Cities of the Underworld: New York. Not a bad series, but followed at 9 by Gangs of New York, an overly ambitious, overly gritty flick, (I'm not kidding here), that just wears you down. And, since this appears to be "gritty" night they follow it up with Cape Fear. Shit, I'll be picking this out of my teeth for a week.

Go to PBS at 10pm for Chasing Churchill: In Search of My Grandfather: Worth Doing Once. "During World War II, Morocco and the South of France inspired Churchill to paint."

Over on the History Channel you can check in at 9pm for Hillbilly: The Real Story, hosted by Billy Ray Cyrus. I just have to pass on the smart ass remarks, just go watch it. At 11 they have Cities of the Underworld: Jerusalem. Glad they settled down.

Gonna go and listen to some Light Crust Doughboys, see ya.

Turned a tidy profit.

In reading up on the state of fairs I was quite surprised to find how many they're were. Hundreds and hundreds of them from the mid 1700's onward. Most were held in the larger centre's, particularly the ones with an industrial achievement theme. Seems every city with a better way to bake bread or flush body fluids had to have a fair.

Not to be outdone, tiny little Launceston, Tasmania had a cracker of a fair in 1891-92. It ran from November till March and had nearly 1400 exhibitors.

Dubbed The Tasmanian International Exhibition, it was the biggest event the town ever hosted, which pretty well meant the whole damn island. Like many similar fairs it was part trade fair, part cultural splash and part community pride.

A rather unique historical quirk occurred when it came time to issue tickets. For those attendees who purchased a season ticket, their photograph was taken and affixed to the ticket, much like a passport. The photographer, Richard Nicholas, kept a copy of all the photos taken for the tickets and pasted them into an album with the corresponding name next to them. In all, over 1300 locals have their picture in this album. A perfect snapshot of life in small town Tasmania in the 1890's.

The fair turned a handsome profit of 180 pounds.

He's a Siberian hamster.

Had to wait all the way to midnight on History Television to see an episode of Rome: Egeria, and then even later, 2am, for Digging for the Truth: King Tut: Secrets Revealed.

The History Channel has few odds and ends tonight, but again, kinda on the edge. Starting at 8 they have to 2 Monster Quests in a row- Chupacabra and Vampires in America, then skip an hour and come back at 10 for UFO's of the 70's. I'm getting a bit iffy on these.

But hey, all's not lost. TCM has an entire evening of Anne Bancroft movies.

Do you have any wesleydale?

History Television let go of its bi-monthly Hitler fest and is on a Hiroshima tack with the 1995 flick Hiroshima. Easily as upbeat. Then it's a few hours till midnight when we get a shot of Digging for the Truth: Kings of the Stone Age. "Hunter Ellis explores how Central America's Olmecs moved mountains to make giant stone heads from single basalt boulders." And then another big gap but it's worth it cause we get another Digging for the Truth: Lost Empire of Ghengis Khaan at 2am.

If you're into a good yarn catch The Great Escape at 10pm on AMC.

Now I don't know what to do about this, but History Channel has some history -ish stuff that just doesn't do it for me, and I would not normally include it but for this time I will. Starting at 8 they have 2 back to back Jurassic Fight Clubs, then 2 Evolve's in a row, Guts and Eyes.

K. there you have it. I'm off to dig up some dirt on fairs somewhere.

Everyone clean?

So after spending 70 odd days at the cotton exhibition we may need a day or two at the 1911 International Hygiene Exhibition. Dresden, Germany was the lucky town that hosted this gem.

I had to do some digging to come up with any real details about this celebration. Thank god that many newspapers are digitally archived. Still, who would archive this?

Anyway, the Hungarians had quite an exhibit it seems. They showed off the hygiene quality in their public school system, demonstrations of sewage works and had a working slaughterhouse.

The Chinese showed off preserved fruit. Apparently it was cheap.

The Austrian pavilion featured something called "electro-hygeine." Hmmmmm.

Wonder where all the exhibits went after the show?

nother monday

A great way to start a new week is when History television has Dogfights: MiG Killers of Midway on at 8pm.

PBS has another in the is series Chasing Churchill: In Search of My Grandfather: The Other Country on at 10pm. A good little series for those with a Churchillian twist.

And the History Channel has a 2 reasonable offering tonight too, neither mega sized but both substantial. At 8 catch Ancient Discoveries: Ancient Computer? and right after that at 9 they have China's First Emperor (no question mark).

Good pace to the first week of August.

Thursday mishmash.

So as we round the turn with History Television's Hitler fest they have Servants of Evil: The Waffen SS on at 8pm. After that we get Exploring Hitler's Mountain at 9. He had a whole mountain? "Hitler spends more than 1,000 days on the Obersalzberg, at his comfortable mountain holiday refuge near Berchtesgaden." And for those who follow MIT, stay up till 2am for Mummy Forensics: Misfit. Jeez.

At 1am you can catch the 1953 version of Titanic on AMC. Not that how but a fair yarn.

Here's one dear to me, s TV show about beer. History Channel has The Works series do a piece on the amber liquid. The rest of their shows tonight kind of drift off the history meter.

But if you fancy a hay burner, TCM has a whack of them on all night. Pretty good choice to. Some Lee Marvins in there. Not bad.

Mid week madness

For fans of the truly amazing check out Mayday: Gimli Glider. "Two engines on a brand new jet fail, forcing the pilot to land on a runway he believes is abandoned." Not only did the pilot land this passenger jet completely unpowered, he glided for miles, the old airport he landed at actually had some kids riding bicycles on it when they landed. It's on Discovery Channel at 11pm.

Hurry and catch The Gene Krupa Story at 9pm on TCM. From 1959 and stars Sal Mineo.

Also at 9 is Exploring Hitler's Berlin on History Television. I told you it was madness. Then get another fix at midnight with Exploring Hitler's Munich.

At 1am go to CBC to find The Maltese Falcon. Sam Spade classic.

I had a look at what the History Channel has on and it's about hairy monsters and UFO's. Not mega sized but goofy enough to give them a miss.

All told, not a bad Wednesday.

Tuesday tuneup

It's Hitler time again at History Television! At 8 they have The Color of War: Adolf Hitler. At 9 sink your teeth into Hitler and the Occult. And all the way at 2am this might be an OK show: Mummy Forensics: The Pierced Skull. "The Mummy Investigation Team investigates the body of a South American mummy with a number of visible wounds and a large hole in its skull." The Mummy Investigation Team? MIT?

The History Channel meanwhile, doesn't disappoint. It's a really big night over there. Enjoy Jurassic Fight Club: Cannibal Fight Club at 9pm. Who names these shows? At 10 check out Evolve: Eyes. And they can't get away with a night without a mega show. Here it is: Mega Disasters: Noah's Great Flood.

Yawn.

Just a short post on this little item. It's 1881 and if your in Atlanta Georgia the International Cotton Exposition is the place to be. Sixty fun filled days. Yes, that's right, 2 solid months of the delights of cotton.

The exhibition was, by any account, a huge success. There were over 1100 exhibitors including 7 foreign entries.

Guess without TV and the Internet you gotta do something.

FrIdAy fReAk OuT.

Behind the mask. Discovery Channel has The Sphinx Unmasked at 7pm. "The architectural work's origin and identity remain a mystery. " Guess they didn't actually unmask it then.

At 8pm History Television gets freaky with Lost Worlds: The Real Dracula. No Sears vampires here. At 1am they have Dogfights: MiG Alley.

And at 11pm on the History Channel you can catch Battle 360: D-Day in the Pacific. It's like Dogfights but with boats. Worth it.

Calling me a wiseguy?

Thursday looks kinda quiet. Bloody Christmas: Ortona at 9pm on History Television. And later before it repeats, just plain Bloody Italy at midnight. On the other side at 2am there's Digging for the Truth: Pompeii Secrets Revealed.

A&E has a one hour doc on Genghis Khan at 1am. A stretch to stay up for that.

The History Channel has Modern Marvels: Mad Electricity at 8pm. Then at 10pm catch the Works: Power Tools.

TCM has an evening of hard boiled FBI flicks starring handsome mugs like James Cagney and Broderick Crawford. Lots of wiseguys.

No elephants here.

Slooow start tonight, in fact the first reasonable show is on at midnight: Rome The Ram Has Touched the Wall, from the good folks at History television. At 2am they have Digging for the Truth: The Holy Grail.

I'm done, except I couldn't pass this up for those fans of crap like this. TCM has The Man From Planet X, described as "An alien asks earthlings for help and gets blasted by bazookas." I don't know whats funnier or less imaginative.

See ya tomorrow. Special edition time. First one ever. Seems some FOI requests have opened up the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg file.

Doink doink doink. Wake up.

Looks like a change of hosts for this show, but it still holds up. At 8pm, Digging for the Truth
God's Gold, Part 2 on History Television. And at 9 they have Secrets of the First Emperor. This si what they say" Qin Shi Huangdi of China is a great yet controversial ruler." Wordy.

PBS is in on the mega thing with Nova: Mystery of the Megaflood. "Thousand-foot-deep floodwaters scoured vast areas of the American northwest near the end of the last ice age." Now we know.

History Channel finally has a show or two that has something to do with history. At 9 they have Ancient Discoveries 11: Seige of Troy. The rest of the evening they devote to noxious fumes.

And in case this floats your boat, TCM has an evening of Rosalind Russel movies again.

Walk tall.

Tip of the hat to my wife for this gem. Seems the British (masters of cast iron bridges and rubber trains) have been busy building mechanical elephants. Seems the 50's were their hey day with them roaming the beaches of a Saturday.

Frank Stuart built a pretty famous one and gave rides for the children. The thing is truly amazing with a fairly reasonable approximation of an elephant gait and the size, colour and proportions are bang on.

Why oh why would someone do this?

Check out this link for a cool newsreel and more links.
http://www.weirduniverse.net/blog/comments/mechanical_elephants/#When:15:05:00Z

Monday tonic.

In case you missed it, PBS is running Folye's War, series 5 every Sunday night at 9pm. Think there's one or two episodes left.

Hey hey, it's Dogfights: Tuskegee Airmen on History Television at 8.

Must watch TV at 10pm on TCM with Apocalypse Now. And after that catch The Bridge at Remagen at 12:45 am. It boasts Ben Gazzara AND Robert Vaughn.

PBS at 11pm- Churchill: The Lion's Roar. How WWII was his finest hour.

Alas the History Channel has a bunch of shows about the Batman.

It will make you feel a little woozy.

In my research into world's fairs my journey took me to some surprising places. There were those worrisome electrical "medical" devices, but this takes the cake. It's so out there it's beyond odd.

Short aside time: I actually worked in the old Eatons in Montreal where a device very similar to the one below was used.

So here we go. Sometimes around the beginning of the 1800's a British inventor, George Medhurst, came up with the idea to send letters and packages through pneumatic tubes. Shortly after that he expanded his idea to include people in what can only be described as a container pushed through a huge rubber tube by air pressure, essentially the same damn thing as the smaller packets.

Skip ahead 20 odd years and we find another British inventor, John Vallance, toying with the same idea. What are the odds about this going on anyways? Two British guys messing with huge black rubber tubes? Vallance actually built a full sized version, some 8 feet in diameter and running for 150 feet. Cooler heads prevailed and no one was forced to ride INSIDE the thing. In fact Medhurst pretty much knew for sure that it would be a crappy customer service experience and said so early on.

In 1827 he proposed a much more comfortable alternative with his "atmospheric railway". He kept the tube small and ran it along a standard rail line, using the air pressure to pull the train along the track.

All told, 4 atmospheric railways were built in England, France and Ireland. The latter two just used air power to pull the train up a hill, it was on it's own going down. The most successful of these railways, the London and Croydon Railway ran over 7 miles. The darn thing propelled a train to 70 miles an hour in 1845! That's moving by any standard. A small tube was layed between the rails with a slit in the top for a hook to protrude from. It was sealed with rubber and leather flaps to keep the pressure up. A piston in the tube was pushed by the air pressure. The railway folded in 1847.

Another railway, the South Devon Railway ran for about 15 miles and was seriously considered for a total run of over 50 miles. The railway's chief engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel thought this was the way to go. Because of the hilly terrain a larger tube was used and this system pushed trains along at 60 mph.

Other British inventors kept at the shooting a person through a tube idea. The Electric and International Telegraph Company, in 1853 used the idea to propel cartridges with paper messages in them, mainly telegrams, from the receiving telegraph office to their customer's desk. This was exactly what was used when I worked at Eaton's. In 1860, Josiah Latimer Clark, inventor of the above device joined up with Thomas Webster Rammell to form the London Pneumatic Dispatch Company and came up with a 30 inch tube into which a lozenge shaped craft was inserted and squirted through to it's destination.

Intended to carry cargo only this gizmo was demonstrated in 1861 at Battersea. A larger 4 foot diameter one came out shortly after and then an almost locomotive sized one was shown at the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1864 and could carry people. Hmmm. Basically the huge tube 8x9 feet had a rail type car inserted into it that had a flared skirt of bristles to keep the pressure in, kind of like a spitball in a pen shaft.

Thorough Thursday.

Once again let's stretch the boundaries of what constitutes a genuine "history" TV show and what masquerades as one, with History television's continuation of it's UFO week. Tonight, starting at 8pm we have UFO Files Hangar 18: UFO Warehouse and UFOs and the Cold War afterwards. Somewhere around 2 in the morning they stray off course and have Timewatch: Mystery of the Headless Romans on. "The discovery of 30 decapitated Romans in York kicks off an intense archaeological investigation."

PBS has a more down to earth offering with Nova: Arctic Passage: Prisoners of the Ice at 9. And at 10pm catch a repeat of last Sunday's Mystery with the new Foyle's War, series V. An excellent, though fictional, murder mystery series set in WWII England. Don't miss a single episode.

Wednesday wonder.

Seems that History Television has UFO stuff on all week. Some of it's pretty neat. At 8pm they have UFO Files: Black Box UFO Secrets. "Black-box recordings from commercial airline flights; astronaut reports." And right after at 9 it's Conspiracy?Area 51. "Since the late 1950s, an array of UFO sightings has been reported in the skies above Area 51, north of Las Vegas." Bet they have black box recordings of it too. And if you can stay up at 2am they take a sharp right hand turn with Gladiator Graveyard.

And in the same vein, AMC has the 1951 classic The Day the Earth Stood Still. I know I'm stretching it but just listen to the description: Klaatu and his guardian robot, Gort, come from afar to warn Earth about nuclear war.

And if you really feel like it, TCM has a whole night full of Red Skelton. My lord.

Fair game.

The American Institute Fair, started in New York in 1829 was America's first fair and tried to do what all the fairs of the time were doing. "At these fairs were displayed the finest products of agriculture and manufacturing, the newest types of machinery, the most recent contributions of inventive genius . . ." All kinds of doo dads from the best minds of the day. Organized by the American Institute and run pretty much regularly till the turn of the century, the 1829 fair was the first fair on American soil that could be called a world's fair.

Since it was run annually, the attendance wasn't at the levels of European fairs, but drew spectators who came each year to see what was new. Kind of like the the latest cars at the auto shows.

Reading some NY Times articles from the 1880's gives a hint at what the audience could expect.

Electricity was the big thing then and companies vied for eyeballs. One company demonstrated (just how I don't want to know) a "splendid exhibit of electro-medical devices." Sweet Jesus. It gets worse. They apparently had an apparatus for "galvano-cautery" too.

Another company offering wares in the same field had a machine called a water rheostat described as a "marvel of cheapness and efficiency."

And to make you feel all warm inside we have a company offering electric burglar alarms. The description I found of them sounds pretty damned sophisticated, even for now, with keyed entry, on/off for different zones, and timers to set for when you are away. They also made remote gas lighting and extinguishing devises.

Wonder if they made any gas sensing devices.

Robot roll call for a Monday.

It's good enough to be history itself. Catch North by Northwest at 8pm on TCM.

At 9 on PBS you'll find History Detectives: Japanese Balloon Bomb; Society Circus Program; Camp David Letter. "Scrap could be evidence of the Japanese balloon bomb; Cobina Wright's Society Circus; memorabilia reveals the beginning of Camp David." Then at 11pm they have Churchill: Destiny. "Winston Churchill's early life; his aristocratic birth; his rise and fall in politics." I'm a sucker for anything Churchillian.

And to round off a quiet Monday have a look at the History Channel at 9pm for Ancient Ink, a look at the history of tattoos.

Back with more bot worthy TV tomorrow.

Friday frolic.

An explosive start to historical TV tonight with Lost Worlds: Secret Cities of the A-Bomb. *pm on History Television. "The secret world of the Manhattan Project." Hey it's Friday so you can stay up late for Secrets of the Dead: Voyage of the Courtesans. "Female convicts set up a lucrative business, offering themselves to sailors on a ship sailing from London to Australia in 1789." Is that legal?

Discovery Channel has Doomed Sisters of the Titanic at 11pm. Interesting little show about the Olympic and Brittanic.

The History Channel finishes up Friday night on a pretty good note with Modern Marvels: Diamond Mines at 8pm, then jump over a couple of hours till we get to Battle 360: The Grey Ghost. The USS Enterprise story, at 11pm.

More TV goodies in 24.

Small, but mighty.

I'm going to skip over a few fairs (all French, my they love a good fair) and jump to the early 1800's when not one, nor two but three fairs were held in Paris. Dubbed the THE NAPOLEONIC EXPOSITIONS, they were held in 1801, 02 and 06 respectively. They actually fell on the heals of the industrial fair of 1798 and quite honestly all four of them could be lumped together. France had been eyeing England's fairs and were concerned that they were in England's shadow when it came to industrialization and modernization.

So here we find Napoleon doing a jolly good job of kicking butt and France feeling pretty cocky and what better way to strut your stuff then have a national exposition.

What is truly amazing about these fairs is that they included a little of what you would expect like manufacturing processes and art and more than a good dose of other stuff. Furniture, clock and watchmaking, agriculture were all represented.

On the dull practical side, but none the less amazing, we have Joseph Jacquard and his loom, winner of a bronze medal at the exposition. The fame it brought Jacquard was not all positive. His life was threatened by mill workers thrown out of work as a result of his labour saving, speedy device. The government stepped in and saved his hide. Their vigorous endorsement gave skeptics a chance to see how much more fabric could be produced and in patterns hitherto unattainable.

France's dominance as a producer of quality textiles was a theme revisited in subsequent expositions. Signs of equality were everywhere. There were displays of cloth woven by blind weavers and a special section devoted to cloth spun by convicts.

Thursdays shows.

There is hope after all. History Television has Clash of Warriors: Manstein vs. Vatutin at 8pm. "German Field Marshal Erich von Manstein and Russian Gen. Nikolai Vatutin fight the Battle of Kursk." And things keep rolling with Battlefield Detectives: Stalingrad right after at 9.

PBS fans can catch Nova: Pocahontas Revealed, on also at 9. "Archaeologists discover Chief Powhatan's capital, revealing more of the American Indian aspects of the Jamestown story."

The History Channel has a kick at the can too at 11 with Investigating History: Mountain Massacre. Check out this link http://www.history.com/shows.do?action=detail&episodeId=322706 for info on this unusual story.

There you have it. Nearly 80% more stuff than last night.

Mid week marvels.

Whoa, I felt a little guilty starting so late tonight, but for the love of christ there's barely nothing on. So far all I could find is Rome: Stealing From Saturn at midnight on History television.

This is the weakest night yet. Shameful.

Dial dalliance.

Monday was a big night, it's gonna be hard to top. So lets start with History Television's 8 pm offering: Digging for the Truth God's Gold, Part 1. "When Romans looted Jerusalem's Temple nearly 2,000 years ago, priceless golden artifacts became lost." Then there's not much till 1am when Finding the Fallen Serre 1915: Brothers in Death is on and then right after you'll find Lost Worlds: Palenque.

AMC has Geronimo: An American Legend on at 8 too.

TCM has one you don't see very often, Sister Kenny. It's at 10:30. "Australian Elizabeth Kenny graduates from nursing school and becomes famous for her treatment of polio." Part of the Rosalind Russell bash they're having tonight.

The History Channel has a few goodies too starting at 8 with The Universe: Alien Galaxies, followed by Ancient Discoveries: 12 Machines of the Gods at 9 then, get ready for it, 2 back to back Mega Disasters, but only one of them meets my high standards of history content. It's the warm and fuzzy Deadly Jet Collision.

Not so bad for mid week.

Expo-nential.

First thing you gotta know about worlds fairs is that they have a governing body. An official entity that covers the whole fair/exposition thing. Not surprisingly it's called the Bureau of International Expositions. One may have expected an office but a bureau is nice. Classy. They were founded in 1928, which is surprising since fairs have been a part of the human landscape for centuries. Thanks God they organized when they did.

OK, to get the ball rolling let us journey to England, the year is 1760 to an event called the First Exhibition. Though not a "worlds" fair it was nevertheless real big for the time, and in fairs that's what counts.

Sponsored by the Royal Society of Arts it featured a series of exhibitions showcasing not so much the artistic abilities of the crafts people but their manufacturing and commercializing ability. Examples of tapestry, carpets and porcelain competed for prizes.

The following year there was an exhibition of agricultural methods and machinery. Bet it was hard to get a ticket for that. The RSA got into a whole lot more exhibitions over the next 100 years or so. More on that in another post.

And, just so you know, the Royal Society instituted a tree planting program in the 1750's (50 million trees planted) to offset the deforestation by Britain's shipbuilding industry. Them's a lot of boats.

Monday dial dance.

Getting a late start tonight but its worth it. At 8pm History Television has Dogfights: P-51 Mustang. Nice. After that it's Thirteen Days at 9pm. The Kevin Costner Cuban missile crisis opus.

PBS has another episode of this sometimes good series, History Detectives: Red Hand Flag; Seth Eastman Painting; Isleton Tong. "A flag that may have been carried into battle by a black infantry regiment during World War I; painting may have been done by military officer Seth Eastman." Right after that at 10 is The War of the World: The Clash of Empires. "Economic volatility, ethnic conflict and empires in crisis led to the rise of brutal regimes in Germany, Japan and Russia." Heavy. But a good double score for PBS.

The History Channel has another in the series Cities of the Underworld with episode 9: Freemason Underground. Secret handshakes and all.

And if this is too taxing for you check out TCM. They have fluffy Paris movies from the 50's on all evening.

Rare but not unheard of Sunday night version.

If you're up for it TCM has The Count of Monte Cristo at 7pm. Real early version from 1934. Then at 11pm they have an interesting little movie about a often overlooked conflict: The Battle of Algiers. And if you want more quality check out Mrs. Miniver at 1:15 am. "William Wyler's Oscar-winning classic about the tensions faced by a family of hard-working Brits in war-torn England." Great little flick.

Catch the last half of Metropolis: Alexandria on History Television (started at 6, sorry). Then at 8, tune in for Crusaders' Lost Fort. Not much to go on other that the their vivid in depth description "Historians try to solve the mystery behind the destruction of an ancient fort." Right after that at 9 it's big movie time with Kingdom of Heaven. "During the Crusades, a young blacksmith rises to knighthood and protects Jerusalem from invading forces." Stars Orlando Bloom and Jeremy Irons. Huge.

Start of a new eek tomorrow and a new obsession. See you then.

Friday night shows.

Hey hey, I'm back at it. Time off was great, but now it's time to get at the serious stuff. TV isn't fun you know.

For fans of French comics check out Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatre at 7PM on CBC French. Yeah it's in French but it is a joyous and faithful rendition of the popular historical comic. Stars Gerard Despardieux.

At 8pm on TCM they have 1776. A so so version of you know what.

At 11pm the Discovery Channel has The Pharaoh's Lost City.

And at 12 History Television has Lost Worlds: Athens-Ancient Supercity. Note the lack of mega here. At 1am they have Dogfights: Long Odds, at 2am they have another episode of Lost Worlds: Knights Templar.

And to round off the evening the History Channel has 3 Ganglands in a row starting at 8pm. Lucky us.

Tomorrow I'm back with a brand new obsession: world's fairs.

Last flight.

Kermit Love, the costume designer, who along with Jim Henson, created such amazing puppets like Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster (my favourite) and Snuffleupagus died this past Saturday. He was a versatile designer in demand with the ballet elite including Twyla Tharpe and Jerome Robbins.

Jim Henson sketched out Big Bird for the 1969 debut of Sesame Street and Love created the actual puppet, all 8 feet of it. He started making puppets in 1935 for a federal Works Progress Administration theater (I`ll have to look that up), and was a costume designer for Orson Wells Mercury Theatre before working for the New York City Ballet.

He also couched puppeteers in getting into the role of the puppets personality. And no, he`s not Kermit the Frog`s namesake. See ya Willy.

Gypsy!

Getting at it a bit late tonight. In the middle of moving so I am down to a spoon, a tin pot and branch water for another day and half. After that I'm taking a few well earned days off then back at the Barn. To relieve the obvious tension I live under, I am listening to Reverend Horton Heat, Webb Wilder and the Legendary Shack Shakers. I just might make it.

Sooo. whats on tonight?

The Knowledge Network has an interesting take on death and sickness with Ancient Clues:
Mass Death in Marseilles. Scientists isolate the DNA of the infamous plague of 1720 which killed half the city in three months. It`s on at 8pm.

Catch the last half of the Fall of the Roman Empire on TCM. It started at 7 and features Sophia Loren. Stay up late (2:30am late) for Man of La Mancha. Peter O`Toole + Sophia Loren.

At midnight History Television has Rome: How Titus Pullo Brought Down the Republic.