[Found here, here and here. I un-jitterfied the 2nd & 3rd.]
Stephen Gray’s Contribution To The World
Stephen Gray was pursuing a long series of experiments with electricity. In producing charge on a long glass tube, he discovered in 1729 that he could communicate the electrical effect to other objects by direct connection. Using string, he could charge an object over 50 feet from the rubbed tube, but oddly enough some other substances, such as silk thread, would not carry charge. Brass wire would transmit charge even better. These experiments with charged strings and glass tubes revealed the properties of conduction, insulation, and transmission.
The depiction above shows one of Gray’s most famous experiments, in which he showed that a boy suspended by (insulating) silk cords could be charged (with the glass tube) and then as a (conducting) body could (electrostatically) attract small objects. Dramatic experiments such as these became quite well-known. Finally, after Newton’s death in 1732, Gray was admitted as a member of the Royal Society in recognition of his efforts, but he died destitute a few years later in 1736. [via]
[Image found here.]
Some Toe Tapping Music
“Before the availability of the tape recorder and during the 1950s, when vinyl was scarce, people in the Soviet Union began making records of banned Western music on discarded x-rays.”
[Image and caption found here.]
RIP Robin Williams (1951-2014)
Here’s a classic Williams routine: “How The Scotts Invented Golf.” [Language warning – NSFK].
Heaven’s now got Robin Williams, Jonathan Winters, Sid Caesar and others, and you can bet that God is laughing his ass off right now… about golf.
Nanu Nanu, Mork.
Paul Bunyan – Retired
The real Paul Bunyan [found here].
Retroactive Hot Links
Ex-Soviet citizen Vladimir Jaffe explains to socialists what life under socialism is really like. He’s got many videos posted here, and this one’s a classic.
How to drill a square hole. The .gif is cool, too [via].
Very clever street surfing in Slovakia: Sur les rails du tramway de Bratislava en Slovaquie.
Everything to know about a Pascal triangle of 11 (including the Fibonnaci Sequence).
An Essay On Walt Kelly and Chuck Jones.
Five is red. Four is turquoise. Three is green. Two is orange. One is blue.
Top image from here.
Full Moon Heros
Mike Collins, Jim Lovell & I [Buzz Aldrin] got a behind the scenes look at the Orion capsule being built at Kennedy Space Center. Like our bunny suits?
I shouldn’t have to tell you who these guys are or what they did, but all three have titanium cojones.
Lovell’s book “Lost Moon” is a can’t-put-down white-knuckle read, and was the basis for the excellent movie “Apollo 13.”
[Image and Aldrin’s caption found here.]
P.S. Tonight’s full moon is a “supermoon.”
Saturday Matinee – Blues Rock Bar Bands: Stonefield, Delta Riggs & Delta Saints
All three take me back to the Land of the Onions and the Eels and the days of my youth. Great modern retro rock for this edition of The Saturday Matinee. Have a great weekend, folks, and we’ll see y’all back here tomorrow.
The .Gif Post No.342 – Pup PWN, Vortices & Ceiling Cat Jump Fall Mashup
Bachelor’s Bed & Breakfast
[Found here.]
Tacky Raccoons 