The Real Kiwi

You know, if you don't know what a Kiwi is. It's a bird from New Zealnd who can't fly. I think I've posted it before when. It demonstrates how this Kiwi desperately attempts to fly despite all the obstacles. His desire is very strong.

Under the user's "info" there are links for more information, and for answering people's questions about the Kiwi that people have been asking the animator. This clip is actually a fave of mine since it was posted 2 years ago. The clip was posted by the original animator.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdUUx5FdySs

Aha! A Catalog For The Kiwi Pacific Records!

Ouch! I should have checked this site earlier. I went straight to Kiwi Pacific Records and saw that there is a catalog of their old records.

Kiwi Pacific Record Catalog
http://www.kiwipacific.com/index.php?cPath=27

The Sounds Of New Zealand

The history of New Zealand includes a record company called Kiwi Records. Kiwi Records was established in 1957. Kiwi Records' purpose was as the first paragraph tells us to "provide support to the "Maori language, physical education and folk-dancing school text". The link Also, additional reading include the record company's historical background of the Maori & Pacific discs, folk songs and ballads, children's choirs & records, tweets and twains.

As you go on reading the about the background, you'll read that besides producing songs and music there was another unique music style. In the 1960's when the hi-fi was new, people were doing experiments by recording anything. Like the sound of birds and the stream trains. There was even a record package from a company called Musicolour Products. The package was called "The sounds of Antarctica" (1965). This package came with colour books. There is also an interesting history about the sales of the sounds. You could even hear the bird calls at the Radio New Zealand National.

On the right hand side navigation area, go to "Related galleries" and click on the "New Zealand Music Month" to related images. This site is an excellent place to learn about the history of New Zealand which includes those crazy decades of the 60's and the 70's. There is really plenty to learn about the musical background such as the Beatles visit to New Zealand. I enjoyed the reading about the music but wish there were a lot more pictures of their vintage records covers. It would have been nice to see them visually not just reading about them.

Kiwi Records
http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/kiwi-records

The New Zealand History Media Library has many other great topics at the media page. I may be wrong but you probably could learn almost anything about the historical background of New Zealand here. At least to me, there is much to learn about NZ, I hardly know anything about this country except (from what I've been told) that the people in NZ are very friendly. ;-)

The New Zealand History Media Library
http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/library/media

Papers & Crafty Crows

The Crafty Crow blog is basically about children's craft and books. There are all kinds of entertaining posts. There are many posts about books as well crafts, paper toys, history, music, experiments and just about anything that you can share with children. Among all these categories there are four categories that aim at four specific age groups. 12+, 18 months to 2 years old, 3-5 years old and 6 to 12 years old. There are way too many categories for me to list here. This is a good place though, to find out about children books. The posts contain the link of the featured subjects. I find these other sites equally interesting. At one point I indirectly went to nice blog called Custom Paper Toys. Check it out. I've seen a few of these paper toys somewhere else, but I'm not sure if it was the same artist. Anyhow, these creations are truly amazing, creative and imaginative. Looking at the image above you can see the talent coming through. The link to his site is the second url below.





http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow

Custom Paper Toys
http://www.custompapertoys.com

Blog - Groovy Vegetarian

As a vegetarian I enjoyed this stuff. This isn't a PETA sort of things. It's fun and there are all kind of posts, like funny vegetarian shirts, vegan vanilla cupcakes, Coasters Made From Recycled PC Motherboards and Why Isn’t There A Dog Whisperer For Cats?

Believe it or not, but the woman above, Mimi Kirk, is 71 years old vegetarian who became a vegetarian 30 years ago and eats raw food! That post is from August 30th, 2009. Many years ago I met this elderly lady. I was curious about her age. She told me to guess it and I said maybe early 60's. She said no, that she was 75 or 80 (I can't remember her exact age, but she sure didn't look anywhere close to her real age). I was in shock! She was in a fantastic shape just like the woman above, Mimi Kirk. Truly amazing. In that post, there is also a small video clip in which you can see how old she looked. It was hard for me to believe she was much older than she looked.

So as you can see there are some interesting posts displayed on Groovy Vegetarian.

Groovy Vegetarian - Compassion Lifestyle Blog (with eco fun mixed in)
http://www.groovyvegetarian.com

Another Mullet Junky

This Mullet site has photos for different mullet styles. They even have children with mullet pictures. I've at times wondered if these children wanted the mullet, or if it was their parents' choice. The styles that you'll see here are albino, child, femullets, mullatinos, rat tails, skullets and random. There is also a category called Mullet hunters.

Mullet Junky
http://www.mulletjunky.com

Please Be Careful With My Mullet!

This is a one page site, but it will be enough once you'll see it. ;-p And no, I don't have a mullet and never did. Whew! But I remember them. It was quite a fad back then. Once a while, I's come across a person who has a mullet. Did you know that there were several styles? There are 12 of them. I never knew that.

Mullet Joe - Got Mullet?
http://www.mulletjoe.com/index_QY7R.html

Snow, snow.... and snow

Now with all the snow storms that have been plaguing the East coast and Midwest I remembered that many years ago, I read in some book that the Eskimos (Inuit, Aivilik and Igloolik) have 31 specific terms for snow! Incredible isn't it!

Elements
http://www.elements.nb.ca/kids/snow/snoword.htm

If you want to learn about the Inuit language, there is a link below for that. To tell you the truth, I have seen several sites about their language and I am still clueless. I admit that I've never seen an Inuit text before and certainly never heard it spoken. So from my point of view it seems too complicated for me to try to understand the basics of this language.

Wapedia - Inuktitut syllabics
http://wapedia.mobi/en/Inuktitut_syllabics

Any Idea?

NOTCOUTURE is a site for "your ideas, aesthetics and amusement."

NOTCOUTURE
http://www.notcot.org

YouTube - I'm Yours(ukulele)

This boy is so cute!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErMWX--UJZ4

Best Of YouTube!

The title of my post says it all. Now just hit the url. Even though I like the site, overall have no idea how often or when they were originally posted on YouTube. It would take some searching try to calculate all videos' date. So I'll skip that. Just enjoy the site, but, I do know that the Let's Enchance was uploaded to YouTube about on Dec 13, and that The Known Universe is from Dec 15. So they are very recent. But you can use the title of the video to search for its actual date. But, if you want to find out, you can always search it on the YouTube's site.

Best Of YouTube
http://www.bestofyoutube.com

A USB World

Looking for posts about novelty USB flash drives for your computer? Perhaps you want to buy one or create one for yourself? Or maybe you are looking for the technical side of the USB? Looking for USB tutorials? Want to read the latest USB news? You'll find them all and more at GetUSB.Info. I liked looking at the different USB flash drives. They have some neat, silly and funny ones. You don't need to be a geek for this.

GetUSB.info Main Page
http://www.getusb.info

If you want to look at the novelty items click here. If you want to see more posts at that category, see "previous/next entries" at the bottom inside a box on the right hand side, or at the right hand side just above the first post.I missed them at first.

GetUSB.Info - Useless Novelty
http://www.getusb.info/category/usb-novelty-gadget

The Birth Of The Shopping Cart

This is quite interesting. The history of the shopping cart begun in 1937 where it was invented by a resident of Oklahoma City, OK, called Sylvan N. Goldman. The history goes all the way to the online shopping carts. Like the early shopping cart back in 1937, the online shopping cart had it own imperfections in the beginning. It has been an intriguing trip since the shopping cart was born.

RealCart - History Of The Shopping Cart
http://www.realcart.com/history

Pictures of the early shopping carts:

Smithsonian - Telescoping Shopping Cart
http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/d8739.htm

Contemporary and old shopping carts with images:

Design Boom - The (All American) History Of Shopping (Carts)
http://www.designboom.com/history/cart.html

Design Boom - 'Cartrider' By Jaebeom Jeong
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/4190/cartrider-by-jaebeom-jeong.html

Gesundheit!

My favorite tissue's brand is the Kleenex. I did some research on the internet looking for a background information about Kleenex. In a nutshell, what I learned was that it started in 1924 as a disposable cleansing tissue to remove cold face cream. It was a substitute for the towel, and was seen as a healthier alternative. But many people also used it as disposable handkerchiefs before Kleenex started promoting it as a "sneezing tool". It was in 1930 when it finally took off as the disposable handkerchief product that we know of today. It became very popular with the public and was a big success for the company.

About Kleenex
http://www.kleenex.co.uk/UK/About/Default.aspx

The link below has many ads-comics featuring Little LuLu with the Kleenex (You'll need to keep scrolling to the right to see them all).

Gallery of Kleenex Ads
http://graphic-design.tjs-labs.com/gallery-view?product=KLEENEX

A short summary about the history of the Kleenex

History Of The Kleenex Tissue
http://inventors.about.com/od/kstartinventions/a/Kleenex.htm

A Kleenex TV Commercial From Italy 1988 (there are no words).



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLuO_bFGY-A

A TV In Your Pocket

Do you remember those old portable pocket tvs? I remember those, but have not seen one of those in ages. I actually was not aware they went that far back to the 60's. I always thought they were invented in early 70's. This site has a short history of pocket television with an image of each model attached to it. There is also an ad for most of these tvs.

The image above is from 1963 I think (I am not positive about that part).

The Short "History" Of Pocket TV
http://www.taschenfernseher.de/e-history.htm

*I forgot to mention that you may want to start reading from the main page as well. There are additional short chapters related to hand held tv.

Frank's Handheld - TV Pages
http://www.taschenfernseher.de/index-e.htm

YouTube - New Boy

I love this Irish short called "New Boy". It was featured at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008. The person who posted this on YouTube describes: "A young African boy with a haunting back story starts school in Ireland, and finds out quickly exactly what it means to be the new kid. Winner of Best Narrative Short at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival and nominated for an Oscar." I saw this about a week ago, but when I went back to YouTube, the video was taken off due to copy rights. Much to my surprise, I was just able to find this one here and in an excellent quality.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdeioVndUhs

Those Old Dealerships

I love these old dealership photos from the motive magazine - the car lounge's forum. The image at the very top really fascinated me. It practically looks like a living room. The pictures from mid-70's and the early 80's brought me a few memories. I'll never forget the day the family went to the dealership in mid-70's to buy this horrible used Mercury station wagon. I didn't like it, but I liked how you can open the back door in two different ways. It was fun. I remember there was this big "OK" sign in red letters at the dealership. Actually, every once a while I spot a Mercury station wagon.

motive - the car lounge
http://forums.motivemag.com/zerothread?id=4330627

Shhh.. The Silent Is On!

When I was a kid, I enjoyed watching silent movies very much, especially the Charlie Chaplin's movies. Those were the 70's before cable become common and the VCR didn't exist yet). Those movies were always on the PBS channel. At the same time I also enjoyed watching Zorro ;-) So when I saw this site I thought that it was quite a nice site. It has information about movies and the actors. Some other categories are sheet music featuring performers, and unidentified film stills, old articles and more.

One of the reasons that I like this site, is because I can view background and actor pictures. The pictures of the music sheets were interesting.

I can't vouch for the links' page. I checked only several and some of them were expired or had been modified since they were posted. I did recognize a few good sites though.

Silent Film Still Archive
http://www.silentfilmstillarchive.com

YouTube - Surprised Kitty Cat cutest ever :))

I have watched this video several times since it was posted on YouTube not too long ago. The kitten makes me smile each time I watch it. It sure can make you smile when you have a bad day. Now, it's about time for me to post it already!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww9_RUWw9ms

Learn And Travel With The United States Maps

Another post that is related to United States. This site is very good. It has all kind of maps. Such as terrain, roads, highways, state maps, atlas, Washington D.C, political (which wasn't what I expected though), state abbreviations. Some of these maps will lead you to subcategories maps-information, like the "maps and directions" and a whole lots more. It'll also show you links to websites that contain info to sites such as Mapquest and via Michelin (that one is new to me), Microsfot Macpoint.

United State Map
http://www.united-states-map.com

What's The Origin Of Your State's Name?

Do you know how your state got its name? My state, California, existed it European literature before the California's region discovered! Another fact, Colorado is a Spanish name for 'ruggy' or 'red'. From the Alpha Dictionary - Dr Goodword's Office.

Origins of US State Names
http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/state_name_origin.html

What Do The Abacus & The Computer Have in Common?

Do you like learning about the computer history? This site takes you through out the history of computer starting with the original Abacus like counting board in 300 BC It was a counting board which was the primitive Abacus in 399 BC. Later in 500 BC The counting board Abacus was transformed to the Abacus that we know today.

I have seen other great on-line computer museums and sites about the computer history. They are all over the internet, like the "old computer museum" and the like. It's interesting the way this site leads us all the way to 2009 starting with a simple device as the Abacus. Personally, I find it interesting that the Abacus mentioned here, because I always thought of it as a math first "calculator". But I can certainly see why the Abacus is used in the history of the computer. It makes sense.

Computer History
http://www.computerhope.com/history/bc.htm

Interesting though, this site states that the Abacus was invented by the Chinese in 3,000 BC. That's 5,000 years ago. But it wasn't the Abacus that we know of today. It was completely different. The methods were different. It does states that in "c300 The Chinese begin development of the abacus as a mathematical device c500 The abacus is used in Europe." There are several on-line link, but I want to let you know that the one called "The History Of The Cranmer Abacus For The Blind" didn't work for me. I got an error message. Bummer.

Abacus By The Chinese in 3,000 BC
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/abacus.htm

If you want to learn about the different type of Abacus through out the world, check Wikipedia. There are many type of the Abacus.

Wikipedia - Abacus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abacus

YouTube - The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody

I love Queen and their Bohemian Rhapsody video. Check out the Muppet version. It's quite creative. Hilarious! I first saw this video via likecool.com. If you like the Muppets, I think you'll have fun watching it.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgbNymZ7vqY

Down below is the real segement:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irp8CNj9qBI

A Ticket Inside My Retro Airline Bag

I absolutely love this British site. The have retro reproductions items that you can buy from England. Today I was given a gift of a retro Pan AM bag which is how I ended up looking at this site. The airline retro bags are my favorite products in this site. I miss those bags. I remember when they were very popular during the 1970's. Inretro sells airline flight bags, hostess bags, retro print bags, cool mod bags, retro sport bags, retro travel bags, retro shopping bags, funky sensations, purses & wallets. Check the "info" button for more groovy stuff. They are also supposed to have new items coming in the near future.

Inretro
http://www.inretro.net/

Generations Of Soccer

The Soccer Ball World gives information about the history of balls for the baseball. It has information about the ball construction and design, history, physics, how to take care of the soccer ball and explanations about the BAR, PSI and LBS and more. This site also sells soccer balls and custom balls.

Also, presentws in this site is the first soccer ball. In 1936 Charles Goodyear's patented the vulcanized rubber. In 1855 he designed and built the first vulcanized rubber soccer ball. Its shape was similar to today's basketball. It is the oldest soccer ball.You can see pictures of it. Later a man named, James Naismith patented the game of basketball. The first basket ball game was played with the soccer ball!! How about that?!

Regarding the soccer balls above. The modern ball is a 2006 blue/gray star ball. The grey ball that with the laces is from 1910. The orange ball that looks like a basketball is from 1950. The last one at the bottom that doesn't look much like a ball is from 1950. Those white balls were made for the spectators to see the ball during floodlight. But it was already used back in 1892 but not officially.

You can find more specific information about the early balls under the history category.If you don't know what vulcanized is, I looked up at dictionary.com:

1. to treat (rubber) with sulfur and heat, thereby imparting strength, greater elasticity, durability, etc.

2. to subject (a substance other than rubber) to some analogous process, as to harden it.

The Soccer Ball World
http://www.soccerballworld.com/

Blog - Pass Your Driving Test

The Pass Your Driving Test blog is about topics that are related to driving such as the California DUI punishment, first time driving stories, cleaning the car, police, driving test stories, weather, driving in the rain, how to get a Dutch driver's license and much more.

Blog - Pass Your Driving Test
http://pass-your-driving-test.blogspot.com/

Aerial History In Connecticut

If you want to learn more about Aerial history, I recommend checking out the Connecticut University Library. This one is focused on the aerial history in Connecticut. They have impressive photographs. There are also many great links in Google.

Connecticut University Library - History of Aerial Photography in Connecticut
http://www.cslib.org/AERIALS/Aerialshist.htm

What Do Hot-Air Balloons, Kites, Rockets & Pigeons Have In Common?

The Professional Aerial Photographers Association has an excellent page for the history of aerial photography. It all started in 1855 when the French photographer and balloonist, Gaspar Felix Tournachon, also known as Nadar, patented his idea for using the aerial photographs in map making and surveying. Three years later he took an aerial shot of a French village called Petit-Becetre. He took the shot from a tethered hot air balloon that was 80 meters above the ground. However, this photograph among other early photographs from Nadar didn't survive. Today the only earliest photograph that is still in existence is a James Wallace Black's 1860 image of Boston from a hot-air balloon. When it wasn't necessary to carry heavy equipment anymore, due to advancement of the dry plate process, Triboulet took the first photo from a free flight balloon in 1879 of Paris.

As you continue reading more about the history of aerial photography, you'll read about further methods of the aerial history from the 19th century throughout the 20th century. The other methods were kites, pigeons, rockets and at last the airplanes. The aerial photography was used first for military purposes. After the war, for a successful business purposes and for private use.

The images above were taken by a pigeon. As a matter of fact, you can see the wings on the top left image. The pigeon carry a tiny breast-mounted camera that was developed by Julius Neubranner in 1903. These Bavarian Pigeons use the camera largely for the military use. The birds were introduce at the 1909 Dresden International Photographic Exhibition that also had the birds' popular aerial photos postcards that depicted the aerial shots of the exhibition.

PAPA - History of Aerial Photography
http://www.papainternational.org/history.html

More Skooters At Historical Glen Echo Park

Here is another one. A site called Glen Echo Park - The Bumper Car Pavilion. The historical Echo Park is located in Washington DC by the Potomac. What we are seeing here in this url are photos of the bumper cars and the exterior of the Pavilion from the park's heydays. Most of the pictures are from the first half of the 20th century starting in the 1920s. It doesn't show every decade nor every single year (there are no photos from the 50's and the 70's). The last photos are from the early 1980's. It's not an extensive collection and not all photos show the cars. Some show the exteriors outside the Pavilion. Originally it had a different name. The original name for the pavilion was "The Skooter" to "Dodgem" and Finally to the Bumper Car Pavilion.

Glen Echo Park - The Bumper Car Pavilion
http://www.nps.gov/archive/glec/bcar/index.html

The Dodgems & The Skooters

So far this is the best site that I've been able to find so far about the bumper cars. They are also called skooters (no typo here) and dodgems. Those are the little mini cars that you see in amusement parks. You drive in a small arena where you bump into other cars.

I did see a few other sites, but they usually had one or two old photos and not much information. So this site has the most info and most [old] photos that I could find so far.

Lusse Auto Scooters
http://www.lusseautoscooters.com/

The Way Nurses Used To Be

This site belongs to the Mount Saint Vincent University. They present their online project called "Nursing History Digitization Project - Nursing Education in Nova Scotia".

A short excerpt from the introduction (see Home page) explains the purpose of this project: "This site, which was developed by the Mount Saint Vincent University Archives, explores the history of nursing education in Nova Scotia from 1890, when the Victoria General Hospital established the first nursing school in Nova Scotia, to the late twentieth century. "

If you look at the left column, you'll see that the nursing history project is divided into 8 sub categories. Personally, I liked them all, but mostly the Male Nurses, Racial Exclusion, and the Hospital Based Nursing Programs. A well site.

The images above are called "Graduation Class 1899" (with two male nurses), and "Student Nurses Attending a Class" from the 1940s.

Nursing History Digitization Project
http://www.msvu.ca/library/archives/nhdp/history.htm

YouTube - You Scream I Scream - Dog

When I saw this video about a month ago, I thought it was hilarious. I should have posted it back then. At first it seems like it's gonna be one of those 'cute' videos, but as I kept watching I saw it was not. It was a parody that kept me chuckling. In a way it was so true. I enjoyed watching it again and again. It's one of the best videos that I have seen in a long time.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6C6YCTNqVo

YouTube - M&M's - Which Hand (1950's)

According to "MandMsCommercial", 1950's M&M's commercial might be the brand's first ad. Unfortunately, the quality is bad and there is enough contrast. but if you darken your screen a little bit you might see better.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gtM_mmvDww

The Early Evolution Of The Treadmill In Prison

After I was done writing this post, I realized that I strayed from my original purpose. I intended to write about the history of the treadmill. Instead, I found myself focusing more on the use of treadwheel at the prison system centuries ago. It was new to me. The Hubpage site states that the history of the treadmill started during the Roman and Greek eras. It was more focused on the treadmill from a health perspective and as a cardio invention. This was the type of information that I looked for. But as soon as I read that it started in prison, I became curious.

Origins & History of the Treadmill
http://hubpages.com/hub/Origins--History-of-the-Treadmill

Did you know that a few centuries ago the treadmill, which was referred to as the treadwheel those days, was very popular? However, it wasn't for personal achievements at all. It was rather a form of punishment in prisons early in the 1800's. This is where the treadwheel spewed out. As you may have figured out already, these early treadmills, or treadwheels as I should call them, looked nothing like the modern treadmills which are still evolving. The prisoners were forced to use it and had to walk for miles on it. It was clearly a form cruelty and torture and served no purpose and without any benefits.

If you are interested to learn about prisons and the punishments during the early 1800's. There are many other good sites about punishment in prisons in the early 1800's in Europe and the US. Most of them are about prison's punishment and the atrocious system, but of them have a brief mention about the treadwheels.

I have seen only very few images of the treadwheels that were used in prisons. It was hard to find them. I've seen the photograph in several sites though. You can also learned more from some of the sites where I got the images from, except the science site which is a picture library site. The category on this site is about the punishment and very depressing. So just be aware that if you go there, you might be disturbed by other images (which are not related to the treadwheel). You can find lighter subjects from the main page (click the icon on the top left).

As for the National Archive site, you may want to check out this page as well:

National Archive -Why were Victorian Prisons so tough?
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/lessons/lesson24.htm

The images from bottom to top are from:

Gravel Roots
http://www.gravelroots.net/petworth/prison.html

** I lost the information for the original site for this illustration. But there is another site with the same image, just a smaller one from the Lancaster Castle movie site. There is also a trailer for the movie. By The Way, it is an interesting site.

Lancaster Castle - Crime and punishment
http://www.lancastercastle.com/html/history/crime_and_punishment.php

The National Archives Learning Curve - Prisoners on a treadwheel at Pentonville Prison 1895
http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/snapshots/snapshot24/B95E1338181E4E6C89A0DA004675F763.htm

*Problem with the link above? Use the link below:
*Learning Curve - Prisoners on a treadwheel at Pentonville Prison 1895
http://tinyurl.com/ykgcszl

Science & Society - Image Preview
http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10315808

It's A Bigfoot!!

Learn about the history of the Monster Truck and Bigfoot. It was in 1974, when Bob Chandler drove the his monster truck in a field over cars to crash them and test the truck. This truck was the early Bigfoot version (the second version came in 1982). The reason he did it was for his four wheel drive performance shop's promotion. Chandler's video was seen by an event promoter who then asked Chandler to do it in front of a crowd. Chandler initially hesitated but eventually agreed to do so. The rest is history. An interesting one too, as you'll also learn the origin behind the phrase "Monster Truck" in Wikipedia (at the end of the second paragraph).

Wikipedia - Monster Trucks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_truck

Below is the original Bigfoot in action It's a 5:35 minutes clip. By the way, when I typed "bigfoot monster truck" in the search box, I got 2,240 results. But after watching some, I saw that lots of them are about the monster trucks in general. I really liked the early trucks clips. Those are classics.



YouTube Bigfoot the Monster Truck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY8VFWfxdZA

Catch A Lesson About The 19th Century Baseball

This is a really nice looking site about baseball in the 19th century. Baseball fans and experts will probably notice the differences.

19th Century Baseball
http://www.19cbaseball.com/

How Many Time Did You Take Your Driving Written Exam?

Well, this lady took it many times for four years and finally succeed at her 950th try!! I don't understand how anyone can fail to take a driving exam test after 950 tries?! You'd end up memorizing it. After 950 tries I wouldn't even need to read it. I'd do it with in my sleep.

This lady is sure a determined person. She said she needs the license for her vegetable business. She is a 68 years Korean old woman from Seoul, Korea. She spent $ 4,200 on the application fees. You could buy a big HD tv with that money here in the US. Wow! (that's more than 5 million won in Korean money)I wonder if it's harder to pass the test in Korea. It took me only one exam which I did when i was in high school many years ago here in California. Had only one mistake on the driving part. I can't imagine taking that test every day, for 4 and half years, and always failing it. Something ain't right here. Her first effort was in April 2005 and finally passed it now. She still has one more exam to pass though. There is no explanation as to why she has failed so many time. So that remains a mystery.

Now I am curious to see what kind of questions the Korean driving exams have.

Article: SKorean woman passes driver's exam on 950th try
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091106/ap_on_fe_st/as_odd_skorea_aspiring_driver

A Dental Visit To The Chair

It was hard to find a site that had a display of old and historical dental chairs. Most sites had maybe 1 or 2 photographs of dental chairs. This is the best site that I've seen regarding the history of the dental chair. There good pictures of old dental chairs and other notes. The dental history here is from Ritter Dental Company that was founded by Frank Ritter who was a cabinet maker from Germany who came to NY on August 1870. The link below starts with his life and his dental chair achievements.

The images above are the first 1888 Stuck Chair which was the first chair that had a disc base unlike the other chairs of those days which had four legs. The ad is for a Model F X-Ray from the 1950's.

Ritter Dental History
http://www.ritterdental.com/Story/TheEarlyYears.htm

The Kirkbride Plan

The Kirbride buildings founded by Dr Thomas Story Kirkbride from the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane (AMSAII). He wanted better methods and treatments for the mentally ill in the 19th century. He had a special construction designs for these asylums in mind. They were referred as the Kirkbride Plan. He believed that the mentally ill are human beings like everybody else who also have the ability to contribute to the world and integrate with the community..

An excerpt from the history section about Dr. Kirkbride's plans ( I hope I am not committing a plagiarism here): "Dr. Kirkbride envisioned an asylum with a central administration building flanked by two wings comprised of tiered wards. This "linear plan" facilitated a hierarchical segregation of residents according to sex and symptoms of illness. Male patients were housed in one wing, female patients in the other. Each wing was sub-divided by ward with the more "excited" patients placed on the lower floors, farthest from the central administrative structure, and the better-behaved, more rational patients situated in the upper floors and closer to the administrative center. Ideally, this arrangement would make patients' asylum experience more comfortable and productive by isolating them from other patients with illnesses antagonistic to their own while still allowing fresh air, natural light, and views of the asylum grounds from all sides of each ward."

The reading is great. There is more fascinating information to learn about. The text is easy read and fluid. The pictures are good too, but beware, it might be disturbing for some people. They pictures are basically of the exterior and interior of these buildings who are no longer in use. There were a few that were closed in early 21st century. The over population and lack of space, has contributed to the decline of these hospital. The original values and goals were no longer employed. They were no longer part of Dr. Kirkbride vision of the ideal asylum for the mentally ill. Some of these asylum no longer exist. They were either demolished or are neglected. These buildings are good looking. Some of them don't even look like hospitals.

Be sure to click on the small hospital photographs on the "Buildings" page to see more exterior and interior photographs of the hospital.

Kirkbride Buildings
http://www.kirkbridebuildings.com/index.html/

Ten Strange Facts About Albert Einstein

Nicely written article with facts about Albert Einstein's life. There were many things that I didn't know about him. A few examples, I didn't realized that he had a mean streak toward women in him. That had an Illegitimate daughter by his ex-wife a year before they got married. After divorcing his wife he married his cousin. At first he actually thought of marrying his cousin's daughter from the cousin's first marriage (think Woody Allen) but she demurred.

I am surprised that some facts weren't included. One fact that he (and Isaac Newton) had signs of autism and Asperger's Syndrome so he might have been autistic.

The photo above is of Albert Einstein and his second wife-cousin Elsa.

Ten Strange Facts About Albert Einstein
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977581069

What's Your Favorite Internet's Phenomena?

Do you remember some of those classic and strange internet "phenomena" from recent and past years? How about "All Your Base Belongs To Us? The Dancing Baby? The Caramelldansen? [The Prison] Thriller? Don't Taze Me, Bro! The Hampster Dance? and Bert is Evil? Badger Badger Badger? lonelygirl15? How about the Flying Spaghetti Monster website? If you are looking for a little internet nostalgia you may find a few memories here.

The author of this article describes his post: "This is a list of phenomena specific to the Internet, such as popular themes and catchphrases, viral videos, amateur celebrities and more. Such fads and sensations grow rapidly on the Internet because its instant communication facilitates word of mouth. The search and rating features of sites like YouTube and Google then amplify this interest."

One of my favorite phenomena here is the image of the Crasher Squirrel.

List Of Internet Phenomena
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_phenomena

By the way, did you know that the "Dancing Baby" has it's own site after all these years?

Dancing Baby
http://www.dancing-baby.net/Baby/BabyMus1.htm

On top is a screen shot of the Hamster Dance.

A Jigsaw Puzzle From The Past

This is fascinating. I was not aware that there were jigsaw puzzles during the 19th century. I've always thought children didn't really have many games besides balls and things of that nature. I have been doing jig saw puzzles since Kindergarten and to see such old puzzles was amazing to me. An excerpt from the Bob Armstrong Old Jigsaw Puzzles site: "Puzzles made in the 19th century were cut by hand from solid wood or a thin veneer or press board, with coping saws, treadle scroll saws and, if the material was thin enough, by slicing with a very sharp knife. The limitations of materials and equipment kept the pieces large, the knobs (if any) large, and the cutting simple, usually straight or crooked lines."

The puzzles cut that were made for grown ups were greatly improved in 1907, when a young woman in Eastern Massachusetts started to cut colorful magazine covers into 100-200 pieces to sell them at a children 's hospital benefit fair. The puzzles became popular. This information is from the "19th century puzzles" and the "1900 to 1930 hand cut puzzles" at the Armstrong's site.

Both sites below are equally good. The images above are from both sites.

Bob Armstrong's Old Jigsaw Puzzles
http://www.oldpuzzles.com/Examples/collection.php?tag=8

icollectpuzzles
http://www.icollectpuzzles.com/Main/main.htm

Article: Pet crowned world's 'oldest dog'

I am so jealous! What a sweet dog! He is almost 21 years old and still plays.

BBC Article: Pet crowned world's 'oldest dog'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/shropshire/8326977.stm

Bizarre Bus Stations!

Just a few pictures of strange bus stations.

Strange Bus Stations
http://www.slideshare.net/kingtoma/strange-bus-stations

Find Your Heraldry

You can find many countries heraldry's origins. Some countries like France have so many because they have both coat of arms of historical province and regions & coat of arms of counties. Speaking of France, the image of the medal is France's national logo. and the image with the ship is Paris - Armorial de France - French Civic Heraldry.

Heraldry Of The World
http://www.ngw.nl/

Disney Sticks To The Nose

A summary of how it all started. In 1942 A Lieutenant named E.S Caldwell from the Naval Operations office in Washington wrote Walt Disney a letter requesting an emblem design for his new fleet "mosquito boats". Days later a new emblem (see above) arrived from Walt Disney that pictured a little mosquito carrying a torpedo coasting over the water. Soon the Navy and the Army requested emblems from Walt Disney as well.Disney produced many more emblems since. See the rest of the story at the main page.

Skylighters - Disney Goes To War Aviation Nose Art
http://www.skylighters.org/disney/index.html

YouTube - Quaq quao (origami duck kids show)

A talking origami show?! I have never seen anything like this before. I was totally amused!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDet-uf7fFk

The Union Pacific At The Top Of The Railroad

This is a summary from the UP site. Union Pacific Railroad is the subsidiary of The Union Pacific Corporation UP. It is one of the top US railroad franchise in 23 US states. What makes it unique from other railroad companies is that they are the only one that serves all of Mexico's six major gateways. Their largest client companies are APL Limited (as steamship company) and General Motors. The Union Pacific also stand out among the other railroad companies in that because it is the largest hauler of chemicals, and the largest carriers of truck trailers and containers. But their best business now is moving coal annually from mines in Wyoming, Illinois, Colorado and Utah.

In Chicago they have a commuter rain operation as well. As for chronological history of the company and the railroad, find it here. Their website has plenty of other data such as the logo history, special trains, historical maps and much more. The site navigation did kinda of confused me. I still haven't quite gotten the knack of it. Maybe it's just me. But I didn't see any site map so I still get lost, lol. I recommend you start with this page first before browsing the rest of the site. It think it's a good place to start. It worked for me. Well, sort of anyway.

Union Pacific - History & Photos
http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/history/index.shtml

My favorite pages were the advertising of course, the maps and the history of the UP logo. If you are interested in the logo go to: "About Us" - "History & Photos" - then opt for the "History of the UP Logo" under the" UP History and Chronology". I also enjoyed looking at the photographs. As for the log, it has gone through some radical changes during the early years of the Pacific Union.

The home page:
Union Pacific - Building America
http://www.up.com/