Category: Contributions to the World

RIP Jane Nebel Henson 1934 – 2013

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Jane Nebel Henson 1934-2013

Jane Nebel Henson passed away at the age of 78 on 2 April 2013. Although her late husband is more well known, Jane Henson was an important contributor. Married in 1959, she and Jim Henson reinvented the ancient art of puppetry and created a huge entertainment industry: The Muppets.

JimHensonJaneNebelErnie

[Jane] Nebel and [Jim] Henson met in a puppetry course at the University of Maryland, College Park, where they were both undergraduates. At the time, Nebel was a senior majoring in art education and Henson was a freshman studying to become a commercial artist. Nebel later became Henson’s puppeteering partner on the television show Sam and Friends, and the two eventually married. [via]

Prior to the creation of Sesame Street, the Hensons produced awesome entertainment for advertisers and television shows. Here are some arbitrary pre-Sesame Street selections.

Talented people are often under-appreciated until they’re gone, especially those who leave such a great legacy. RIP Jane.

Jim-Henson-and-Jane-Henson-and-Sam-and-Friends-3

Natural Sunscreen

Snail Burn

Kinda creeps me out, not so much for the snails, but for everything else – the solar cooker, the scary dude lurking behind the canvas recliner, the ominous black car that the thug drove up in…

Apparently that’s Fin Keheler from Sandy UT, attempting to break the Guinness Book of World Records for keeping the most live snails on his face for ten seconds.  He succeeded with 43 in 2009, breaking the previous record of 36.

[Found here.]

Scientific Hot Links

You Got Snakes

Sexy People.

The Party Of The Wealthy.

Canada’s House of Common addresses a potential threat to civilization [via].

This song was a hit on pop radio in the early 1960s, and it’s enough to make you wanna puke. [Wiki: The song was composed by Ghanaian musician Guy Warren in 1956 under the original title “An African’s Prayer (Eyi Wala Dong)”.]

The New Dimensions in Testimony program is pretty awesome. More here.

“‘I now have work for 20 years,’ he exclaimed joyfully.” Disturbing true story here.

Classic list of everything blamed on Anthropogenic Global Warming Climate Change: The Warmlist.

ICYMI Department: The Institute for Centrifugal Reasearch: Gravity Is A Mistake. Must see video [via].

Searching for Twitter followers with the promise of absolutely no content, no following and no retweets.

Top image found here, caption inspired by this:

Saturday Matinee – Goats, Martha’s Birthday Party, ICR Documentary, Doc Watson & Friends

Goats. [via]

Martha’s Birthday Party. This is by the same guy behind The Perry Bible Fellowship.

Fascinating short documentary from the Institute of Centrifugal Reasearch [via].

“Bury Me Beneath the Willow” performed live at MerleFest 2002 by Doc Watson, Sara Watkins, Chris Thile, Sean Watkins & Byron House. The song is an old traditional that likely originated in the 1800s. From The Mudcat Cafe, commenter “Stewie” posted this:

Meade’s earliest printed citation for this is Sandburg’s ‘American Songbag’ (1927), the same year as the Carter Family’s recording and 4 years after the first recording by Henry Whitter in 1923. Other recordings earlier than the Carters were: Ernest Thompson (1924), George Reneau (1925), Kelly Harrell (1926), Ernest Stoneman (1926), Burnett & Rutherford (1926) and Holland Puckett (1927). [Info from Meade et alia ‘Country Music Sources’ p 197.]

Very cool. You can hear the Carter Family’s version here.

That’s a wrap for this Saturday Matinee, and have a great weekend.

300 A.D. Roman Swiss Army Knife

GR.1.1991

Yeah, you think I’m kidding. Check it out.

Hotlinks LIVE In Arturo’s Loft

Ramones 1975

Urban graffiti sculpture.

Awesome balancing act: Gravity Glue.

“As we gazed into each other’s eyes, Athena encircled my arms with hers, latching on with first dozens, then hundreds of her sensitive, dexterous suckers…. Athena’s suckers felt like an alien’s kiss—at once a probe and a caress.”

Dogs on Skype.

Thomas Sowell Dismantles Racialism and Feminism in under 5 Minutes. (ca. 1979)

Beer can pinhole camera with 6-month-long exposure photo.

The horse is approaching the gate. And it’s off…

40 years in the taiga wilderness.

The Amazing True Odyssey of the Paskowitz Family.

Story time: The background of  “Never Mind The Bollocks” the Sex Pistols’ debut album from 1977.

Top image: Early Ramones, live in Arturo’s loft 1975.

How To Secede Without Really Trying

Conch Republic Flag

With all the recent Huffin’ N Puffin’ N Rapier Rattlin’ from some small sectors about States seceding from The Union (due to rampant fiscal insanity emanating from Washington D.C.) kudos to Key West and Mayor Dennis Wardlow. His preceding secession succeeded.

On April 23, 1982, the Florida keys seceded from the Union. Frustrated that a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint was obstructing the main artery to the mainland, Key West mayor Dennis Wardlow opted for a lighthearted public relations campaign: He proclaimed his “Conch Republic” a separate nation, declared war on the United States, surrendered one minute later, and applied for $1 billion in foreign aid.

Since then the republic has maintained an uneasy peace with its giant neighbor. On Sept. 20, 1995, when an Army reserve battalion forgot to notify Key West of local training exercises, Wardlow mobilized for war. He sent letters to Bill Clinton, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and secretary of state Warren Christopher, and his militia engaged La Dichosa Bakery to bake Cuban bread with which to pelt the convoy (“our historic weapon of choice for dealing with Federalist Forces”) and Key West Lager “to provide the beer.”

By 10:50 p.m. they had received a fax from the battalion’s leaders stating that they had “in no way meant to challenge or impugn the sovereignty of the Conch Republic.” An official surrender ceremony was held two days later.

[Story burgled in its entirety from Futility Closet because Greg Ross is so entirely bitchin’ and everyone should send him money. There’s a somewhat related post here.]

Telephone Devolution 1967

Mail Call Letterpack – You get two players that play only the cartridges you can buy from Smith Corona and you can send a 3, 6 or 10 minutes letter. Just $70 a pair in 1967, these would be $450 in today’s dollars. How is this better than a phone? They say, it has no static and it’s cheaper!

Life, 1967

Make a 10 minute telephone call that will get to its destination in 4-5 business days, and in 4-5 business days you might get one back and can continue the conversation. Beats buying a reel-to-reel, and squelches telemarketers, too.

[Found here.]

Mid-1500’s Half Bath Chair

Okay. Let’s try to suss this one out.

There’s a throne with a hole, and a basin to catch the football that for some odd reason is located in front of the seat. There’s a megaphone to amplify the action, presumably to alert a nearby attendant that a goal has been scored. The attendant opens a small valve and dumps it on the floor. But then, um, it won’t, er, like, you know, it doesen’t, well, work and, uh, hmm. I give up.

Image Description: Subject: Chair with opening in the seat and a tub underneath with a spigot attached; for the purpose of producing steam baths to alleviate the pain of bladder stones.

[Found in here, via here. Related post here.]

Sledge

1956 Pobeda Sledge (Russia)

[Found here.]