Tag: space

Jul172012 by Grayflanneltumblr1 Comment
Vintage Toys: Cape Canaveral Satellite Monitor, Circa 1950s

Vintage Toys: Cape Canaveral Satellite Monitor, Circa 1950s

Games & Toys
Via the Smithsonian --  This toy “Cape Canaveral Satellite Monitor” bus is a tin toy produced in Japan for export to an American market. In post-WWII Japan, producing space-themed “tin toys” originated as a way to tap into an international market for “penny toys” or cheap playthings. By the late 1950s, however, this home-crafted industry had become a successful international business manufacturing creatively-designed, complex toys with moving parts and/lights that competed successfully with Western toymakers. This toy’s maker, Yonezawa Toys, Co., Ltd., was one of the biggest manufacturers in Japan of tin toys, many of which carried space themes. The design of this toy, which features lithography created to appeal to an American market, tapped into the American fascination with the new
Read More
Mar202012 by Chris HolmesNo Comments
Pop Culture Capsule: Vintage Pulp Fiction Novel Book Covers

Pop Culture Capsule: Vintage Pulp Fiction Novel Book Covers

Books, Capsules, Featured Posts
Who doesn't love a delightfully cheesy pulp fiction book cover? I know I do, so here's a bunch of good ones, curated for maximum enjoyment by yours truly. Some of these were selected for the artwork, some for the titles or description, and some for both. As you can probably guess, some of these may not be safe for work so I'll put the racier ones after the jump. And lest you think pulp novels were all about sex, there was also murder and space. But yeah, mostly sex.
Read More
Jan122012 by Chris Holmes1 Comment
Was the American space program built in… Yugoslavia?

Was the American space program built in… Yugoslavia?

Movies
When most Americans think of Yugoslavia technology, this is probably the first thing that comes to mind (at least for those of us who remember the '80s): But if the trailer to the upcoming documentary Houston, We Have a Problem! is to be believed, the former Yugoslavia has a pretty rad space program back in the day. So rad, in fact, that the United States bought the whole thing from Marshal Josip Broz Tito in March of 1961. Then, just two months later, President John F. Kennedy gave a speech before Congress announcing America's ambitious plan to land a man on the moon. In September 1961 he gave a speech at Rice University that included the now-famous quote, "We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy,...
Read More
Aug172010 by Chris HolmesNo Comments
Yadda yadda yadda…the end. (or, classics of human thought get the AutoSummarize treatment)

Yadda yadda yadda…the end. (or, classics of human thought get the AutoSummarize treatment)

Funny Stuff
Words.  Who has time for them, right?  I know I don't, and you probably don't either.  So, inspired by Jason Huff's AutoSummarize project of the 100 most-downloaded copyright-free books, I decided to gather a broader sampling of humanity's greatest achievements in the form of books, speeches, songs and other works, and run them through Microsoft Word's ever-handy AutoSummarize feature.  Prepare to expand your mind in 10-sentence fragments. Moby Dick by Herman Melville white whale, shirr! The White Whale, the White Whale!" "WHAT whale?" White Whale—no." Ship, old ship! The Dying Whale. The Whale Watch. Man, man! "The whale! "The whale, the whale! The Book of Genesis 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it
Read More
Jul212009 by Chris Holmes5 Comments
Retrotisements – Tang

Retrotisements – Tang

Retrotisements
The General Mills Corporation started producing a little-known, citrus-flavored drink mix called Tang in 1959.  It sold pretty poorly for more than half a decade, until the company noticed that it was being used by NASA's Gemini space program.  They latched onto that as a marketing angle, and fifty years later Tang is still synonymous with outer space and astronauts.  So much so that many people mistakenly believe that Tang was developed for the space program. It didn't take long for General Mills to cash in on the 1969 moon landing, as this ad demonstrates: Notice the little blurb at the bottom that says "Chosen for Apollo astronauts in outer space"?  Makes for a great sales pitch, except it's not entirely true.  According to both Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, Tang was not on
Read More