There is a National Historic Vehicle Register.
In my humble personal opinion, this is really an aesthetically pleasing site that does justice to the vehicles in the registry. And I think almost all of the choices in the registry are good ones.
(This by way of the NYT obit for Bruce Meyers, inventor of the fiberglass dune buggy.)
I’ve been running behind on obits, so here’s a roundup.
Roger Mudd, CBS, NBC, and PBS anchorman and reporter. He was also a distant relative of Samuel Mudd (the doctor who treated John Wilkes Booth’s broken leg).
Norton Juster, author of “The Phantom Tollbooth”.
Carla Wallenda, of the Flying Wallendas. She was the last surviving child of Karl Wallenda.
By way of Lawrence, John “Bud” Cardos. IMDB describes him as a “B-movie Renaissance man“: he directed, acted, and did stunt work.
FotB RoadRich sent over some nice obits for Mike Collins. He sounds like a truly interesting guy: he worked for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) as technical editor and director of business operations. He was also a skilled photographer and amateur brewer.
Finally, Tony Hendra, “National Lampoon” and “Spy” guy, and “Ian Faith” in “This Is Spinal Tap”.
Great and good friend of the blog RoadRich pointed out that Ernesto Miranda was born on this date in 1941.
You may remember Mr. Miranda from Miranda v. Arizona. Today’s feature video: “Right to Remain Silent: Miranda v. Arizona” from AnnnenbergClassroom.org.
Bonus: well, the discussion of Mr. Miranda kind of went a little sideways, what with talk of trying to find autographed Miranda warning cards and semi-related matters. (I can’t turn up any of the autographed ones online.) Lawrence mentioned in passing that Carmen Miranda was only 46 when she died, which is a fact I was not conscious of, and it kind of shocked me.
Carmen Miranda’s last performance on “The Jimmy Durante Show” in 1955.
According to Durante, Miranda had complained of feeling unwell before filming; he offered to find her a replacement, but she declined. After completing “Jackson, Miranda, and Gomez”, a song-and-dance number with Durante, she fell to one knee. Durante later said, “I thought she had slipped. She got up and said she was outa breath. I told her I’ll take her lines. But she goes ahead with ’em. We finished work about 11 o’clock and she seemed happy.”
After the last take, Miranda and Durante gave an impromptu performance on the set for the cast and technicians. The singer took several cast members and some friends home with her for a small party. She went upstairs to bed at about 3 a.m. Miranda undressed, placed her platform shoes in a corner, lit a cigarette, placed it in an ashtray and went into her bathroom to remove her makeup. She apparently came from the bathroom with a small, round mirror in her hand; in the small hall which led to her bedroom, she collapsed with a fatal heart attack.
Military History Monday? Maybe?
“DEW Line Story”, another one from the AT&T Archives, about building radar stations above the Arctic Circle. This looks…cold.
This is another one where I’ve set the start of the video to skip the introduction.
Bonus: Also by way of AT&T, “A 20-year History of Antiballistic Missile Systems”.
This film examines five different experimental and functional antiballistic missile systems worked on by Western Electric and Bell Labs in conjunction with the U.S. Army: the ABM studies, Nike Zeus, Nike-X, Sentinel, and Safeguard. It also shows the Spartan and Sprint systems, the Ballistic Missile Defense Operations Center, the BDMC at Cheyenne Mountain, PAR antennas and console operations, and the BDMC’s link with NORAD. There are lots of images of real – and animated – missile launches.
I’ve linked to some of these (Like Nike Zeus and Nike-X) before, but this covers some I haven’t talked about previously.
Science Sunday!
I’m going back to the space science well again, after only two weeks, because I feel like both of these videos are worth using.
“Uptime 15,364 days – The Computers of Voyager”. This is a talk by Aaron Cummings from the Strange Loop Conference, and deals specifically with the computer hardware: less so, as the presenter puts it, with the actual science of V’ger.
Bonus: This might cross more into leadership and management than space science, but I thought I’d use it here anyway: Andrew Chaikin on “Management Lessons of the Moon Program”.
I’ve read A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts (affiliate link) and enthusiastically endorse it. If you only have time to read one history of the space program, Chaikin’s book is a good choice.
Here’s a couple more random things I pulled out of the big bag o’ random.
First off: “Turn On With AC – AC Tough!”. This is from 1973, and if that’s not enough of a warning for you: this is full on “Joel, am I tripping?” fodder. The best way I can describe it is as an early 1970s variety show (or a parody of same) promoting AC products. Not AC-Delco: they didn’t become AC-Delco until 1974.
I’m not necessarily saying that you should watch this, but it is only about 17 and a half minutes, and is so bizarre that it should make the younger set say, “What were they doing in the 1970s?!” (Answer: cocaine. Lots and lots of cocaine.)
Somewhat more serious bonus: “The Bomb Disposal Men”, from the British Army Documentaries channel. This dates to 1974, and deals with the work of bomb disposal men (“Ammunition Technical Officers”) in Northern Ireland.
Somewhat more serious bonus 1.5: “The Long Walk”. This is a more recent BBC documentary “following three retired bomb disposal officers as they recount their experiences in Northern Ireland during the IRA bombing campaign of the early 70’s.” It covers some of the same ground as “The Bomb Disposal Men” (and even uses some clips from it), but I find it kind of interesting to have this historical perspective.
Somewhat less serious bonus #2: “The Making of The Hunt for Red October”. Exactly what it says on the tin.
I should pick that up. I don’t think I’d put it in my top ten, but I have really fond memories of seeing that film in theaters, and would not mind seeing it again.
Today, a couple of takes from the industrial film genre.
“Aluminum on the March”, from 1956. I think a lot of the effects in this are really kind of trippy.
“What’s It To You?” from 1955. This one is a DuPont promotional film for the then new revolutionary product mylar. This doesn’t have the trippy artistic effects of the previous film, but it does have some neat demonstrations: see mylar stop a bowling ball! See mylar resist acid! (Props to the presenter, too, for putting on PPE before handling the acids. I’ve seen too many of these videos that leave me wondering: dude, where’s your eye protection?)
In 1955 Eastman Kodak used Mylar as a support for photographic film and called it “ESTAR Base”. The very thin and tough film allowed 6,000-foot (1,800 m) reels to be exposed on long-range U-2 reconnaissance flights.
In 1964, NASA launched Echo II, a 40-metre (131 ft) diameter balloon constructed from a 9-micrometre (0.00035 in) thick mylar film sandwiched between two layers of 4.5-micrometre (0.00018 in) thick aluminium foil bonded together.
Travel Thursday!
Would you like to fly in my beautiful balloon? Or if not that, a passenger airplane from the 1950s?
From those wonderful folks at TWA, “Flight To California”.
Bonus, plus CanCon! “The Mother of Rivers”, about the Columbia River ice field. Made about 1947 for the Canadian National Railways by our old friends at the National Film Board of Canada.
Bonus #2: Again, I’m stretching the definition of travel, but this involves planes and is short. Have you ever wanted to see a Boeing 747-8 fully loaded abort a takeoff at 200 MPH? Using only the brakes, no reverse thrust? And by the way, the brakes are worn down to the metal studs?
Margaret Maron, noted mystery writer. She actually passed away on February 23rd, but the paper of record didn’t get around to mentioning it until yesterday. The Rap Sheet has a nice tribute.
Bunny Wailer, of the Wailers.
So the governor reopened Texas:
Does this mean that we are out of jail? In my opinion, not yet.
In the meantime, it’s been two weeks since our last round of random gun crankery, so why not take another spin at the wheel? Especially since this came up recently and is relevant to my interests: Jerry Miculek demonstrates his technique for speed reloading a revolver with moon clips.
Bonus #1: “Taking A Break From The B S Of Life” from Blackie Thomas.
“A lot of you probably started out with one of these Red Ryder BB guns too.” (raises hand) Still have it, too.
Bonus #2: I haven’t run across Target Suite previously, but I wanted to link this video of him discussing the Ruger Single Six he picked up at a pawn shop.
I own a Single Six with both the .22 LR and .22 Magnum cylinders, and I think it is a pure fun gun to shoot. I’m actively looking for a second one at a reasonable price for something I have in mind. I might have to start visiting more pawn shops.
Bonus #3: “Using a Sling”, from our friends at the Army Marksmanship Unit.
Today, let’s rattle some sabres.
F-86 Sabres, to be precise.
“No Sweat!” is a nice little educational film: “…showing an under-the-weather F-86 pilot, who, through carelessness and preoccupation, turns a routine flight into a nightmare.” I think there’s probably some stuff in here that will also serve as useful reminders to general aviation pilots.
Bonus: “The Fighting 51st”, a documentary about the 5lst Fighter Interceptor Wing.
Bonus #2: Wanna see someone do aerobatics in a F-86? Here you go.
Good news: I have a day off today, thanks to Cisco’s recent policy of semi-regularly granting “a day for yourself”.
Bad news: I have an engagement today that I expect will take all day.
So, this is a scheduled sampler pack.
There is a man named Charles Ingram. He used to be a major in the British Army.
In September of 2001, he appeared on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” in Britain. His wife and brother-in-law had previously appeared on the show, and had each topped out at 32,000 GBP. Major Ingram made it all the way and won 1,000,000 GBP.
And almost immediately, questions arose.
“Major Fraud”, from “Tonight” with Trevor McDonald.
Bonus #1: “The Guys Who invented the Video Tape Recorder”. This is an approximately 30 minute interview with Jim Wheeler, a senior engineer at Ampex…the guys who invented the video tape recorder.
On a semi-related note, I was amused by this article that came across Hacker News about the Cambridge University Tape Recording Society for two reasons:
“atonal guitar and shrieking vocals”. Need I say any more?
“Frankly, we’re losing our shirts on this deal. But we’re looking for audiophiles who are interested in high-quality cassette tapes…”
Bonus #2: “Of Dolls and Murder”, about Frances Glessner Lee and the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Deaths. If you’re not familiar with the Nutshell Studies, well, read the Wikipedia page, and then strap in, folks.