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#1950s miniature soldiers
brookston · 2 years
Text
Holidays 7.10
Holidays
Armed Forces Day (Mauritania)
Beatles Day (Liverpool, Hamburg)
Clerihew Day
Don't Step On A Bee Day
Global Energy Independence Day
His Masters Voice Day
Lá Cuimhneacháin Náisiúnta (National Day of Commemoration; Ireland)
Lady Godiva Day
Merchant’s Festival (Elder Scrolls)
Minion Day
National All American Pet Photo Day
National Kitten Day
National Lineworker Appreciation Day
Nikola Tesla Day
Oils and Concentrates Day
Police Radio Day
Silence Day (Meher Baba)
Teddy Bear's Picnic Day
Uniwaine (Senior Citizens’ Day; Kiribati)
U.S. Energy Independence Day
World Miniature Golf Day
Food & Drink Celebrations
Beer Distributors Day
National Piña Colada Day
Pick Blueberries Day
Second Sunday in July
Barn Day [2nd Sunday]
Disability Awareness Day (UK) [2nd Sunday]
Festival of the Giants begins (Fête des Géants; France) [Sunday after 7.5]
Lá Cuimhneacháin Náisiúnta (National Day of Commemoration; Ireland) [Sunday closet to 7.11]
Independence Days
Bahamas (from UK, 1973)
Wyoming Statehood Day (#44; 1890)
Feast Days
Amalberga of Maubeuge (Christian; Saint)
St. Bathilda (Positivist; Saint)
Canute IV of Denmark (Christian; Saint)
Day of Her (Goddess of the Underworld; Anglo-Saxon, Norse)
Eid al-Adha [Muslim Feast of Sacrifice] (a.k.a. ... 
Aïd el Adha (Morocco)
Aïd el Addha (Djibouti)
Aïd el Kébir (Tunisia)
Arefa (Ethiopia)
Bakarid (Nepal)
Bakri Id (India)
Corban Bairam (Sudan)
Djouldé Laihadji (Camaroon)
Eid al Adha (Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, UAE, West Bank and Gaza, Yemen)
Eid-Al-Adha (South Sudan)
Eid-e-Qorban (Iran)
Eid ul Adha (Myanmar)
Eidul Azha (Pakistan)
Eid ul-Ad'haa (Maldives)
Eid-ul-Azha (Bangladesh)
Feast of Sacrifice (Indonesia)
Gurban Bayram (Azerbaijan)
Hari Raya Aidil Adha (Brunei)
Hari Raya Haji (Singapore)
Hari Raya Qurban (Malaysia)
Id Al Adaha (Ethiopia)
Ide el Kabir (Comoros)
Id-ul Ajad (Nepal)
Id-Ul-Alha (Sri Lanka)
Id-ul-Zuha (India)
Kurban Bayram (North Cyprus)
Kurban Bayramy (Turkey, Turkmenistan)
Tabaski (Cameroon, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal)
Feast Day of Knut the Reaper, Hela, Holda and Skadi (Norse)
Knut the Reaper's Day (Norse; Scotland)
Mel Blanc Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)
New Robe for Athena Day (Ancient Greece)
Rufina and Secunda (Christian; Saints)
Rusty (Muppetism)
Seven Brothers (Christian; Saints)
Vardavar (Pagan Prank Day; Armenia) [14 Weeks after Easter]
Victoria, Anatolia, and Audax (Christian; Saints)
Lucky & Unlucky Days
Fatal Day (Pagan) [13 of 24]
Prime Number Day: 191 [43 of 72]
Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]
Unfortunate Day (Pagan) [39 of 57]
Premieres
Do Way Diddy Diddy, by Manfred Mann (Song; 1964)
Escape from New York (Film; 1981)
The Fox and the Hound (Animated Disney Film; 1981)
A Hard Day’s Night, by The Beatles (Album; 1964)
Heat Wave, by Martha and the Vandellas (Song; 1963)
Lethal Weapon 4 (Film; 1998)
I Got You Babe, by Sonny and Cher (Song; 1965)
I Love You Beth Cooper (Film; 2009)
In the Midnight Hour, by Wilson Pickett (Song; 1965)
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (Film; 1985)
Minions (Animated Film; 2015)
Moon (Film; 2009)
Ode to Billie Joe, by Bobbie Gentry (Song; 1967)
The Old Guard (Film; 2020)
Palm Springs (Film; 2020)
Parachutes, by Coldplay (Album; 2000)
Small Soldiers (Animated Film; 1998)
Son of Schmilsson, by Harry Nilsson (Album; 1972)
We Are the Champions/We Will Rock You, by Queen (UK Song; 1977)
Your Hit Parade (TV Series; 1950)
Today’s Name Days
Knud, Engelbert (Austria)
Feliks, Srećko, Viktorija (Croatia)
Amálie, Libuše (Czech Republic)
Knud (Denmark)
Saima, Saime, Saimi (Estonia)
Saima, Saimi (Finland)
Ulrich (France)
Knud, Engelbert, Raphael, Sascha (Germany)
Amália (Greece)
Amália (Hungary)
Armando, Marziale, Pietro, Rufina (Italy)
Lielvardis, Lija, Olīvija, Uve (Latvia)
Amalija, Eirimė, Gilvainas (Lithuania)
Anita, Anja (Norway)
Aleksander, Amelia, Aniela, Filip, January, Radziwoj, Rufina, Samson, Sylwan, Sylwana, Witalis (Poland)
Amália (Slovakia)
Cristóbal (Spain)
André, Andrea, Anund (Sweden)
Anthony (Ukraine)
Emanuel, Emmanuel, Gage, Immanuel, Manuel, Manuela (USA)
Emanuel, Immanuel, Maos, Manuela, Ulla, Ulrich, Ulrika, Ulrike (Universal)
Today is Also…
Day of Year: Day 191 of 2022; 174 days remaining in the year
ISO: Day 7 of week 27 of 2022
Celtic Tree Calendar: Tinne (Holly) [Day 3 of 28]
Chinese: Month 6 (Héyuè), Day 12 (Jia-Zi)
Chinese Year of the: Tiger (until January 22, 2023)
Hebrew: 11 Tammuz 5782
Islamic: 10 Ḏū al-Ḥijjah 1443
J Cal: 11 Lux; Threesday [11 of 30]
Julian: 27 June 2022
Moon: 86% Waxing Crescent
Positivist: 23 Charlemagne (7th Month) [St. Bathilda]
Runic Half Month: Foeh (Wealth) [Day 14 of 15]
Season: Summer (Day 20 of 90)
Zodiac: Cancer (Day 20 of 30)
0 notes
brookstonalmanac · 2 years
Text
Holidays 7.10
Holidays
Armed Forces Day (Mauritania)
Beatles Day (Liverpool, Hamburg)
Clerihew Day
Don't Step On A Bee Day
Global Energy Independence Day
His Masters Voice Day
Lá Cuimhneacháin Náisiúnta (National Day of Commemoration; Ireland)
Lady Godiva Day
Merchant’s Festival (Elder Scrolls)
Minion Day
National All American Pet Photo Day
National Kitten Day
National Lineworker Appreciation Day
Nikola Tesla Day
Oils and Concentrates Day
Police Radio Day
Silence Day (Meher Baba)
Teddy Bear's Picnic Day
Uniwaine (Senior Citizens’ Day; Kiribati)
U.S. Energy Independence Day
World Miniature Golf Day
Food & Drink Celebrations
Beer Distributors Day
National Piña Colada Day
Pick Blueberries Day
Second Sunday in July
Barn Day [2nd Sunday]
Disability Awareness Day (UK) [2nd Sunday]
Festival of the Giants begins (Fête des Géants; France) [Sunday after 7.5]
Lá Cuimhneacháin Náisiúnta (National Day of Commemoration; Ireland) [Sunday closet to 7.11]
Independence Days
Bahamas (from UK, 1973)
Wyoming Statehood Day (#44; 1890)
Feast Days
Amalberga of Maubeuge (Christian; Saint)
St. Bathilda (Positivist; Saint)
Canute IV of Denmark (Christian; Saint)
Day of Her (Goddess of the Underworld; Anglo-Saxon, Norse)
Eid al-Adha [Muslim Feast of Sacrifice] (a.k.a. ... 
Aïd el Adha (Morocco)
Aïd el Addha (Djibouti)
Aïd el Kébir (Tunisia)
Arefa (Ethiopia)
Bakarid (Nepal)
Bakri Id (India)
Corban Bairam (Sudan)
Djouldé Laihadji (Camaroon)
Eid al Adha (Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, UAE, West Bank and Gaza, Yemen)
Eid-Al-Adha (South Sudan)
Eid-e-Qorban (Iran)
Eid ul Adha (Myanmar)
Eidul Azha (Pakistan)
Eid ul-Ad'haa (Maldives)
Eid-ul-Azha (Bangladesh)
Feast of Sacrifice (Indonesia)
Gurban Bayram (Azerbaijan)
Hari Raya Aidil Adha (Brunei)
Hari Raya Haji (Singapore)
Hari Raya Qurban (Malaysia)
Id Al Adaha (Ethiopia)
Ide el Kabir (Comoros)
Id-ul Ajad (Nepal)
Id-Ul-Alha (Sri Lanka)
Id-ul-Zuha (India)
Kurban Bayram (North Cyprus)
Kurban Bayramy (Turkey, Turkmenistan)
Tabaski (Cameroon, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal)
Feast Day of Knut the Reaper, Hela, Holda and Skadi (Norse)
Knut the Reaper's Day (Norse; Scotland)
Mel Blanc Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)
New Robe for Athena Day (Ancient Greece)
Rufina and Secunda (Christian; Saints)
Rusty (Muppetism)
Seven Brothers (Christian; Saints)
Vardavar (Pagan Prank Day; Armenia) [14 Weeks after Easter]
Victoria, Anatolia, and Audax (Christian; Saints)
Lucky & Unlucky Days
Fatal Day (Pagan) [13 of 24]
Prime Number Day: 191 [43 of 72]
Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]
Unfortunate Day (Pagan) [39 of 57]
Premieres
Do Way Diddy Diddy, by Manfred Mann (Song; 1964)
Escape from New York (Film; 1981)
The Fox and the Hound (Animated Disney Film; 1981)
A Hard Day’s Night, by The Beatles (Album; 1964)
Heat Wave, by Martha and the Vandellas (Song; 1963)
Lethal Weapon 4 (Film; 1998)
I Got You Babe, by Sonny and Cher (Song; 1965)
I Love You Beth Cooper (Film; 2009)
In the Midnight Hour, by Wilson Pickett (Song; 1965)
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (Film; 1985)
Minions (Animated Film; 2015)
Moon (Film; 2009)
Ode to Billie Joe, by Bobbie Gentry (Song; 1967)
The Old Guard (Film; 2020)
Palm Springs (Film; 2020)
Parachutes, by Coldplay (Album; 2000)
Small Soldiers (Animated Film; 1998)
Son of Schmilsson, by Harry Nilsson (Album; 1972)
We Are the Champions/We Will Rock You, by Queen (UK Song; 1977)
Your Hit Parade (TV Series; 1950)
Today’s Name Days
Knud, Engelbert (Austria)
Feliks, Srećko, Viktorija (Croatia)
Amálie, Libuše (Czech Republic)
Knud (Denmark)
Saima, Saime, Saimi (Estonia)
Saima, Saimi (Finland)
Ulrich (France)
Knud, Engelbert, Raphael, Sascha (Germany)
Amália (Greece)
Amália (Hungary)
Armando, Marziale, Pietro, Rufina (Italy)
Lielvardis, Lija, Olīvija, Uve (Latvia)
Amalija, Eirimė, Gilvainas (Lithuania)
Anita, Anja (Norway)
Aleksander, Amelia, Aniela, Filip, January, Radziwoj, Rufina, Samson, Sylwan, Sylwana, Witalis (Poland)
Amália (Slovakia)
Cristóbal (Spain)
André, Andrea, Anund (Sweden)
Anthony (Ukraine)
Emanuel, Emmanuel, Gage, Immanuel, Manuel, Manuela (USA)
Emanuel, Immanuel, Maos, Manuela, Ulla, Ulrich, Ulrika, Ulrike (Universal)
Today is Also…
Day of Year: Day 191 of 2022; 174 days remaining in the year
ISO: Day 7 of week 27 of 2022
Celtic Tree Calendar: Tinne (Holly) [Day 3 of 28]
Chinese: Month 6 (Héyuè), Day 12 (Jia-Zi)
Chinese Year of the: Tiger (until January 22, 2023)
Hebrew: 11 Tammuz 5782
Islamic: 10 Ḏū al-Ḥijjah 1443
J Cal: 11 Lux; Threesday [11 of 30]
Julian: 27 June 2022
Moon: 86% Waxing Crescent
Positivist: 23 Charlemagne (7th Month) [St. Bathilda]
Runic Half Month: Foeh (Wealth) [Day 14 of 15]
Season: Summer (Day 20 of 90)
Zodiac: Cancer (Day 20 of 30)
0 notes
fmp2connorbaldry · 2 years
Text
Colour ideas:
With my first outcome and the base now complete, leaving only the American soldier to make before my outcome is complete, I am at the stage where I need to begin to consider the colour I want to make the whole model to make it look better than the standard terracotta brown colour I have been used to since making the model.
I looked back on my results for the questionnaire on what the responses were in my last question asking them “Since my outcome will be 3D based, what colour do you think would be appropriate to use if I decide to paint it?” I got a variety of answers featuring many colours.
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The first answer I received was Red. I’m not too sure about this colour as it is a very bright colour to use for any model. I also don’t think this colour would be appropriate, especially for my piece as it is too bright and it could ruin the whole look of the model if I chose this. I think red could also misinterpret the colour for representing the blood that was spilt during the entirety of the second world war. 
Brown was another choice of colour given by a response but I think it would not look as effective as it was in my last final major outcome as brown is the main colour of the terracotta clay I am using at the moment. I also think this colour could be misinterpreted for as if the whole model is made of chocolate, potentially sabotaging the message of unity. 
The most common answer was using various shades of green with light green, khaki green and dark green. Thinking of it, using green could create the illusion of two toy soldiers, the miniature toys popular since the 1950s, which could add a unique trait of being interpreted in many ways with being two detailed models of soldiers portraying a message or perceived as two extra large toy soldiers.
Another request was to paint it up in the colours of the uniform from both soldiers, so for my soldiers, yellowy brown for the British soldier and green for the American, I thin this could work but it would be a lot of hassle having to cover up one model to prevent it from being covered in the same colour, only to have to wait for it to dry before having to cover up the other model and doing the same again. It would take far too much time to complete an easy step.
The last idea for the colour was grey and from thinking of it, I think it will make the whole look of the model look boring and dull which will make he observers uninterested. I think it is also a common colour for a model in that colour in many things like statues. From analysing the pros and cons of each repose, I think using green could be a great colour to use due to its trait of providing two aspects to the same outcome which could make the model look and be much more better and effective than before it was originally painted. 
The idea of the toy soldier sounds good, but I need to get the specific colour commonly used right if I am to add this effect in because any other grade of green could ruin the look of the armature. For this, I will look into toy soldiers and see what other type of greens were used, review each benefit and each disadvantage of that colour to help me determine the best shade of green to use.
0 notes
morwensteelsheen · 2 years
Note
When I was reading Aurë Entuluva over on ao3 Pippin's line about Merry trying to convince Estella to marry him caught my eye and I was hoping you'd write their story. Fredegar and Estella are the Old Took's great-great-grandchildren too, and I'd love to see not just Merry's courting attempts, but what the Bolgers get up to while the Travellers are gone, how the rebellion and near-loss of her brother changes Estella and Merry renewing his attentions, wiser and more certain than ever in his love.
Oh my gosh!! Honestly, I’ve been super anxious about writing the hobbits at all because I feel like their cadence is particularly difficult to get right, but this is such a fascinating plot bunny.
What sticks out for me (because I am nothing if not a woman with an agenda) is that it would be especially interesting because we never get lady hobbit POVs, plus, the Shire is broadly based on Tolkien’s experience of Middle England and women’s experiences with Middle England/Middle Britain is something I actually study! I’m part of the Lobelia S-B Defence Squad in spirit, but I actually do think it would be especially interesting to explore how hobbit life is for The Other Half™.
It’s one thing that always seems like this enormous gap in Tolkien’s writing is that for all he deals with his experience of the war (and he’s right to do it, of course, and does it so beautifully), there’s stunningly little engagement with what it was really like for those who never left. The Scouring of the Shire obviously goes some way to correct this, but even that is from such a specific perspective. In some ways I’m glad he didn’t attempt it because—god love him—I doubt he’d do it half as well as he ought to, but it is notable for want of a better term.
I don’t know if you’ve read Rebecca West’s The Return of the Soldier, but thinking about this wee plot right now actually has me wanting to return to it. Essentially, it chronicles the struggle of a woman’s cousin to return to ‘normality’ after returning from the trenches. (There’s also a film adaption featuring Ian Holm!) I almost wonder if it might be helpful to periodise the Shire post-Frodo’s departure as, essentially, the last glory days of the Empire pre-1914, then the Scouring as WWI&II in miniature, with the post-war period functioning as the early to mid-1950s. Would certainly be an interesting way to give a little more oomph to what the gals can do.
I’m now thinking this might be fun to frame as a series of short stories, more episodic than yer average multi-chap fic. Maybe a few Estella-centric vignettes spanning the gap from ~20 years before The Lads depart, then two or three while they’re away, one during the Scouring, and a few longer ones after. Ooooh you know what—maybe this is just because my meds are wearing off but—I’ve just reminded myself quite viscerally of the Colette novels. Obviously a bit too raunchy for Estella’s life, but those originating pastoral elegiac bits in Burgundy or wherever she starts could be instructive…..
Hmmmmm. Okay. I’m sold! Going to track down a fresh notebook the now to start plotting this out.
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whileiamdying · 4 years
Video
youtube
We're proud to present newly restored short films by Walerian Borowczyk and Jan Lenica, opening exclusively in our Virtual Cinema starting this Friday! See details: https://www.filmlinc.org/borowczyk Born in Poland during the 1920s, Walerian Borowczyk trained as a painter and sculptor before establishing himself first as a poster artist and later an animation filmmaker. After relocating to France during the late 1950s, Borowczyk made his international debut with a series of films co-created with Polish graphic designer and cartoonist Jan Lenica. These startling, often comic short films were as innovative as they were provocative—pioneering in both their narrative strategies and stylistic elements (cutout and hand-painted animation), and influential to artists as wide-ranging as Terry Gilliam and collaborator Chris Marker. Borowczyk was the subject of a long overdue retrospective in 2015, and Film at Lincoln Center is pleased to continue recognizing his cinematic contributions with a special presentation of newly restored versions of these short films, as well as Konstanty Gordon’s short newsreel documentary about poster art, co-written by Borowczyk. Once Upon a Time / Był sobie raz Walerian Borowczyk & Jan Lenica, Poland, 1957, 9m While not the first cut-out animation, this is without a doubt one of the most innovative. In effect, Borowczyk and Lenica transformed the economy, wit, and intelligence of the Polish poster into cinema. It is also notable for a groundbreaking electro-acoustic soundtrack courtesy of the Experimental Studio of Polish Radio. Strip-Tease Walerian Borowczyk & Jan Lenica, Poland, 1957, 2m Borowczyk and Lenica are at their most expressive in this crude paper miniature. Rewarded Feelings / Nagrodzone uczucie Walerian Borowczyk & Jan Lenica, Poland, 1957, 8m Borowczyk and Lenica’s second collaboration is a politically correct romance told through the paintings of Jan Płaskociński. Playful, witty, and ironic, Rewarded Feelings is augmented by a rousing score courtesy of the Warsaw Gasworks Brass Orchestra. Banner of Youth / Sztandar mlodych Walerian Borowczyk & Jan Lenica, Poland, 1957, 2m In this miniature newsreel interlude made for the journal of the Polish Youth Union (ZMP), Borowczyk and Lenica recycle the montage of found footage in Once Upon a Time and add on a hand painted element. The School / Szkoła Walerian Borowczyk, Poland, 1958, 7m In Borowczyk’s first solo outing as a director, a soldier is subjected to a series of increasingly ridiculous training maneuvers until finally retreating into daydreams and fantasy. The School is almost exclusively made up of photographs of actor Bronisław Stefanik ordered to create movement, recalling the innovation of Norman McLaren as well as early and pre-cinema techniques. House / Dom Walerian Borowczyk & Jan Lenica, Poland, 1958, 11m A young woman inside a house succumbs to a succession of daydreams, fantasies, and nightmares. Arguably Borowczyk and Lenica’s masterpiece, House served as Borowczyk and Lenica’s ticket to the West. The result is a veritable compendium of animation techniques, which both look back at the European avant-garde of the 1920s (Cocteau, Richter, Ray, Ernst, Calder, Duchamp, etc.) while paving the way for the likes of latter-day Czech surrealist Jan Švankmajer. It also features a remarkable electro-acoustic soundtrack by Włodzimierz Kotoński. Street Art / Sztuka ulicy Konstanty Gordon, Poland, 1957, 10m Polish with English subtitles Co-written by Borowczyk, Konstanty Gordon’s short newsreel documents Poland’s poster art scene in the late ‘50s. Restorations by Fixafilm (Warsaw). Special thanks: WFDiF; Daniel Bird, Friends of Walerian Borowczyk. More info: http://filmlinc.org Subscribe: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=filmlincdotcom Like on Facebook: http://facebook.com/filmlinc Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/filmlinc Follow on Instagram: http://instagram.com/filmlinc
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sjrresearch · 4 years
Text
The History of War Gaming
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War has been a part of human history since the very beginning, but it only became a game genre around 1780 under King Frederick II (“the Great”), when war gaming was developed in Prussia as part of his military modernization and reforms.  It would remain a strictly Prussian exercise for another 90 years before spreading around the world.
The first modern war game, as we understand it, was created by Johann Christian Ludwig Hellwig. Hellwig’s concept was an advanced form of chess re-designed to simulate military combat, pitting players against one another to win via strategic decision-making.
The game featured infantry, cavalry, artillery, and support units, which comprised the armies of the day. These units operated under different rulesets, much like chess pieces, with different movements per turn, different health and attack power, and different attack conditions (like infantry only being able to attack while flanking).
Not only was Hellwig’s game innovative, but it also later sparked an entire industry based upon his foundation. Future Prussian developers in the early 19th century were inspired by Hellwig and included new variations which added more complex strategic elements like supply availability and weather. Ultimately the first war game focused entirely on realism and real-life applications was spawned in 1824—Kriegsspiel.
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Kriegsspiel, or “war play,” was developed by Georg Heinrich Rudolf Johann von Reisswitz and his father Georg Leopold von Reisswitz to train Prussian Army officers, and marked a huge step forward for the war gaming genre. This game abandoned the rigid chess-like structure of Hellwig’s original game and instead replaced it with more flexible units on a paper map. These maps could be customized to allow players to simulate combat in real locations across Europe under real conditions, meaning that they had a direct application to Prussia’s aggressively militaristic strategy for unification and conquest. The Prussian General Staff recognized the game’s value to the extent that each serving soldier in the Army had access to the game and its counters for training and education at the lowest rank.
War gaming remained exclusively an intellectual component of the Prussian war machine until 1871, when Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke’s crushed the much larger French Army during the Franco-Prussian War, suddenly capturing the world’s attention.  Many senior strategists in other countries believed that Prussia’s surprising victory over the French Empire was due in part to its war gaming tradition, as Moltke’s forces were greatly outnumbered by those of French Emperor Napoleon III, but still won despite sustaining only a fifth of the war’s total casualties.  As a result most of the Great Powers began adopting the Prussian model of strategy and planning into their own systems, including the creation of general staffs and war gaming, which became crucially important prior to future conflicts.  Indeed, looking back on the Pacific War in 1960, retired Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz famously noted during a speech at the Naval War College that “During the war, the war with Japan had been re-enacted in the game rooms here by so many people and in so many different ways that nothing that happened during the war was a surprise—absolutely nothing except the kamikaze tactics towards the end of the war; we had not visualized those.”
As great military minds around the world looked to imitate and reshape Prussian wargaming for their own strategic uses, the genre also began transitioning back into a more recreational past time for civilians.  In 1910, the French released a board game called L’attaque, which was designed by designed by Mademoiselle Hermance Edan.  It later evolved into Dover Patrol—a naval warfare game published by Harry A. Gibson in 1911, Aviation—an air battle variation designed by Harry Gibson in 1925, Tri-Tactics – a game combining combination of land, sea and air warfare that appeared about 1932, and ultimately the game we know today as Stratego, which was first created by designer by Jacques Johan Mogendorff about 1942.  Much later, we would see this concept pushed even further with future games such as Risk, released in 1957, Milton Bradley’s Axis & Allies in 1981, and then Fortress America and Shogun in 1986.
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Meanwhile, in 1913 H.G. Wells published a book called Little Wars which would serve as a guideline and ruleset for a game played with toy soldiers. The ruleset abandoned the “imperial” aspirations of Kriegsspiel to recapture the recreational and more enjoyable elements of Hellwig’s original game, pushing it further into the casual direction. One particularly famous Fan of Little Wars was none other than the British actor Peter Cushing, best known for his horror films and portraying Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars: A New Hope in 1977.
While Wells’ work wasn’t an instant success, it would help reshape how the English-speaking world looked at wargaming. Wells’ particular style focused on painted models and miniatures, and used opens spaces and rulers to calculate distances, perhaps help to inspire the subgenre of wargaming away from the chess-style grid or any other strategic game board with finite boundaries and limits.
The wargaming genre would make its next purely commercial appearance as a board game in 1954 when Charles S. Roberts produced Tactics. While the game only sold about 2,000 copies, all via mail, Roberts’ design wasn’t done yet.
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In 1958, Roberts adapted Tactics directly to history, releasing Gettysburg as the first board game based on a historic battle. Using miniatures and range cards, the game introduced new mechanics like positional orientation, which would affect how units could fight and deal damage. This more historical shell for a wargame board game became a much bigger success than its predecessor, and opened a door to new worlds still being explored to this day.
These games marked a separation with the wargaming genre between games played on a board (often a grid), and games played entirely free of a static location (often with miniatures), a divergence that would expand even further with the advent of video games.
Present-day war gaming
Wargaming in the modern day has expanded in many different directions. There are the first-person variety where players participate as the pieces directly fighting out battles, the real-time strategy variety blending active participation with the chess-style stratagem and control, and the turn-based strategy variety which is the truest to the chess-like origins of war gaming.
These can diverge even further, especially across different mediums like video games, board games, and miniature-based games.
One of the most popular modern war games is the Sid Meier’s Civilization series which allows players to pick from historical leaders and cultures to fight for supremacy winning via diplomacy, militaristic domination, or scientific ingenuity. This game keeps themes from the very first war game, developed by Hellwig, across things like unit categories (infantry, artillery, cavalry, support units) and a grid-style board, while innovating it with all kinds of new features, victory conditions, maps, terrain, and more.
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Another popular modern war game is the Warhammer series, which takes the more casual miniature-focused structure and adapts it heavily with an entirely original fantasy universe. This series is most responsible for the continued presence of miniature-centric war gaming, and even involves players often spending thousands of dollars on the right pieces and maps. 
Battletech: A Game of Armored Combat, originally released by the FASA Corporation in 1984, is another very successful wargame, set a thousand years in the future in a chaotic war-riven universe in which Great Houses, Periphery States, Pirates, Comstar, and Clans contend for control of Terra (Earth).  Using counters, painted miniatures, and hex-grids on paper map sheets, it became so popular that a role playing game called MechWarrior was spun-off in 1986, complete with over a hundred supporting fictional novels, sourcebooks, and technical readouts to support the game’s continuing storyline, now produced by Catalyst Game Labs. The board and roleplaying games were followed by a long series of computer-based wargames set in that universe, mostly recently Piranha Games Incorporated’s MechWarrior Online and MechWarrior 5, and Harebrained Schemes’ Battletech.
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But what is likely the most popular evolution of war gaming today is across the first-person shooter genre, best seen in the Battlefield and Call of Duty series’, which while it carries some themes from wargaming, further evolves the genre to focus on individual actions where players become each of the “pieces” for either side.  Other notable first-person wargames in this sub-genre include the internationally popular World of Warships, released by the Russian company Wargaming.net in September 2015, which focuses on team-based naval tactics and allows players to command a wide array of warships across ten “tiers” from the period 1890 to 1950. This is by far the biggest leap from the Prussian war gaming tradition, especially as it’s only really possible through video game simulation technology. But first-person shooters have by far the largest audience. This audience means this style will likely see the most innovation over the coming decades, further refining and reshaping the wargaming practice in Prussia as originally conceived in 1780.
At SJR Research, we specialize in creating compelling narratives and provide research to give your game the kind of details that engage your players and create a resonant world they want to spend time in. If you are interested in learning more about our gaming research services, you can browse SJR Research’s service on our site at SJR Research.
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digital-arts-etc · 6 years
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A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte 
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (French: Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte) painted in 1884, is one of Georges Seurat's most famous works. It is a leading example of pointillist technique, executed on a large canvas. Seurat's composition includes a number of Parisians at a park on the banks of the River Seine.
Background
In 1879 Georges Seurat enlisted as a soldier in the French army and was back home by 1880. Later, he ran a small painter’s studio in Paris, and in 1883 showed his work publicly for the first time. The following year, Seurat began to work on La Grande Jatte and exhibited the painting in the spring of 1886 with the Impressionists.[2] With La Grande Jatte, Seurat was immediately acknowledged as the leader of a new and rebellious form of Impressionism called Neo-Impressionism.[3]
Seurat spent more than two years painting A Sunday Afternoon,[4] focusing meticulously on the landscape of the park. He reworked the original and completed numerous preliminary drawings and oil sketches. He sat in the park, creating numerous sketches of the various figures in order to perfect their form. He concentrated on issues of colour, light, and form. The painting is approximately 2 by 3 meters (7 by 10 feet) in size.
Inspired by optical effects and perception inherent in the color theories of Michel Eugène Chevreul, Ogden Rood and others, Seurat adapted this scientific research to his painting.[5] Seurat contrasted miniature dots or small brushstrokes of colors that when unified optically in the human eye were perceived as a single shade or hue. He believed that this form of painting, called divisionism at the time but now known as pointillism, would make the colors more brilliant and powerful than standard brushstrokes. The use of dots of almost uniform size came in the second year of his work on the painting, 1885–86. To make the experience of the painting even more vivid, he surrounded it with a frame of painted dots, which in turn he enclosed with a pure white, wooden frame, which is how the painting is exhibited today at the Art Institute of Chicago.
The Island of la Grande Jatte is located at the very gates of Paris, lying in the Seine between Neuilly and Levallois-Perret, a short distance from where La Défense business district currently stands. Although for many years it was an industrial site, it is today the site of a public garden and a housing development. When Seurat began the painting in 1884, the island was a bucolic retreat far from the urban center.
The painting was first exhibited in 1886, dominating the second Salon of the Société des Artistes Indépendants, of which Seurat had been a founder in 1884. Seurat was extremely disciplined, always serious, and private to the point of secretiveness—for the most part, steering his own steady course. As a painter, he wanted to make a difference in the history of art and with La Grand Jatte, succeeded.[6]
Interpretation
Seurat's painting was a mirror impression of his own painting, Bathers at Asnières, completed shortly before, in 1884. Whereas the bathers in that earlier painting are doused in light, almost every figure on La Grande Jatte appears to be cast in shadow, either under trees or an umbrella, or from another person. For Parisians, Sunday was the day to escape the heat of the city and head for the shade of the trees and the cool breezes that came off the river. And at first glance, the viewer sees many different people relaxing in a park by the river. On the right, a fashionable couple, the woman with the sunshade and the man in his top hat, are on a stroll. On the left, another woman who is also well dressed extends her fishing pole over the water. There is a small man with the black hat and thin cane looking at the river, and a white dog with a brown head, a woman knitting, a man playing a horn, two soldiers standing at attention as the musician plays, and a woman hunched under an orange umbrella. Seurat also painted a man with a pipe, a woman under a parasol in a boat filled with rowers, and a couple admiring their infant child.[7]
Some of the characters are doing curious things. The lady on the right side has a monkey on a leash. A lady on the left near the river bank is fishing. The area was known at the time as being a place to procure prostitutes among the bourgeoisie, a likely allusion of the otherwise odd "fishing" rod. In the painting's center stands a little girl dressed in white (who is not in a shadow), who stares directly at the viewer of the painting. This may be interpreted as someone who is silently questioning the audience: "What will become of these people and their class?" Seurat paints their prospects bleakly, cloaked as they are in shadow and suspicion of sin.[8]
In the 1950s, historian and Marxist philosopher Ernst Bloch drew social and political significance from Seurat’s La Grande Jatte. The historian’s focal point was Seurat’s mechanical use of the figures and what their static nature said about French society at the time. Afterward, the work received heavy criticism by many that centered on the artist’s mathematical and robotic interpretation of modernity in Paris.[7]
According to historian of Modernism William R. Everdell, "Seurat himself told a sympathetic critic, Gustave Kahn, that his model was the Panathenaic procession in the Parthenon frieze. But Seurat didn't want to paint ancient Athenians. He wanted 'to make the moderns file past ... in their essential form.' By 'moderns' he meant nothing very complicated. He wanted ordinary people as his subject, and ordinary life. He was a bit of a democract—a "Communard," as one of his friends remarked, referring to the left-wing revolutionaries of 1871; and he was fascinated by the way things distinct and different encountered each other: the city and the country, the farm and the factory, the bourgeois and the proletarian meeting at their edges in a sort of harmony of opposites."[9]
The border of the painting is, unusually, in inverted color, as if the world around them is also slowly inverting from the way of life they have known. Seen in this context, the boy who bathes on the other side of the river bank at Asnières appears to be calling out to them, as if to say, "We are the future. Come and join us".
Painting materials
Seurat painted the 'La Grande Jatte' in three distinct stages.[10] In the first stage, which was started in 1884, Seurat mixed his paints from several individual pigments and was still using dull earth pigments such as ochre or burnt sienna. In the second stage, during 1885 and 1886, Seurat dispensed with the earth pigments and also limited the number of individual pigments in his paints. This change in Seurat's palette was due to his application of the advanced color theories of his time. His intention was to paint small dots or strokes of pure color that would then mix on the retina of the beholder to achieve the desired color impression instead of the usual practice of mixing individual pigments.
Seurat's palette consisted of the usual pigments of his time[11][12] such as cobalt blue, emerald green and vermilion. Additionally, Seurat used then new pigment zinc yellow (zinc chromate), predominantly for yellow highlights in the sunlit grass in the middle of the painting but also in mixtures with orange and blue pigments. In the century and more since the painting's completion, the zinc yellow has darkened to brown—a color degeneration that was already showing in the painting in Seurat's lifetime.[13] The discoloration of the originally bright yellow zinc yellow (zinc chromate) to brownish color is due to the chemical reaction of the chromate ions to orange-colored dichromate ions.[14] In the third stage during 1888-89 Seurat added the colored borders to his composition.
The results of investigation into the discoloration of this painting have been ingeniously combined with further research into natural aging of paints to digitally rejuvenate the painting
In popular culture
The May 1976 issue of Playboy magazine featured Nancy Cameron—Playmate of the Month in January 1974—on its cover, superimposed on the painting in similar style. The often hidden bunny logo was disguised as one of the millions of dots.[21]
The painting and the life of its artist were the basis for the 1984 Broadway musical Sunday in the Park with George by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. Subsequently, the painting is sometimes referred to by the misnomer "Sunday in the Park".
The painting is prominently featured in the 1986 comedy film Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Such use is parodied, among others, in Looney Tunes: Back in Action and an episode of Family Guy.
In the Simpsons episode "Mom and Pop Art" (10x19), Barney Gumble offers to pay for a beer with a handmade reproduction of the painting.
At the Old Deaf School Park in Columbus, Ohio, sculptor James T. Mason re-created the painting in topiary form;[22] the installation was completed in 1989.
The painting was the inspiration for a commemorative poster printed for the 1993 Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix, with racing cars and the Detroit skyline added.
In 2011, the cast of the US version of The Office re-created the painting for a poster to promote the show's seventh-season finale.[23]
The cover photo of the June 2014 edition of San Francisco magazine, "The Oakland Issue: Special Edition", features a scene on the shore of Lake Merritt that re-creates the poses of the figures in Seurat's painting.[24]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sunday_Afternoon_on_the_Island_of_La_Grande_Jatte
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thecoroutfitters · 7 years
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Everybody’s eyes are on North Korea now because the pot is boiling and expected to blow up. And if it does, it’s going to be huge.
Amongst the various ongoing situations that Donald Trump inherited on ascending to the presidency, was an ongoing problem with North Korea. The former president, Barack Obama inherited that ongoing problem, as has every president since the end of World War II, when the Korean peninsula was divided.
The problems associated with North Korea erupted into bloodshed in 1950, when the North Korean army invaded the south. Although South Korea and the United States were totally unprepared for that conflict, we ultimately fought the North Koreans and their Chinese backers to a standstill. The armistice signed in July of 1953 has led to an uneasy peace for the last 64 years.
I say an “uneasy peace” because it has been punctuated by many threats, probes, and shots fired across the DMZ (demilitarized zone), the no-man’s land between the two countries.
But the North has never been happy with the agreement, nor with the division of the Korean peninsula. They have remained convinced that Korea should be reunited under their leadership. It doesn’t matter that the South Korean economy is over 30 times larger than the North’s, or that the people there live in freedom, under a democratically elected government. In the eyes of the North, and especially in the eyes of their government, South Korea belongs under their rule.
This is actually very similar to the problem between China and Taiwan. To the communist Chinese government, Taiwan is nothing more than a rebellious province, having broken off from China in the aftermath of World War II. The reason why mainland China can’t do anything about it is the same reason why North Korea can’t do anything about South Korea, both South Korea and Taiwan are backed by the might of the American military, the most powerful military in the world.
For this reason, our relations with China have been strained since World War II, even though we helped to liberate them from the Japanese. It is also behind the hatred that North Korea has maintained towards the USA. Kim Jong-Un’s grandfather, the first dictator after the Korean War, used his propaganda machine to teach the North Korean people that American soldiers tore the limbs off of innocent Koreans and cut off their eyes, noses and lips, hanging them on trees.
This sort of propaganda is necessary, even though it is untrue, to help Kim’s regime keep the people in check. The North Korean policy of “military first” which keeps the people starving, while every possible Won (the North Korean currency) is spent on the military, creates an atmosphere that is ripe for rebellion.
By giving the people a common enemy who is pictured as cruel and destructive, Kim is able to keep his own people in check, while investing millions in building an nuclear arsenal and missiles capable of reaching the hated enemy.
Of course, the North Korean leadership knows the truth about the Korean war, and as has been heard from defectors, there are people who still remember the kindness that American soldiers showed to their children. But the younger generation didn’t experience that and has largely bought into the government’s propaganda.
It appears that Kim Jong-Un believes his own propaganda machine as well, or at least believes it enough to match his rhetoric to the official line he is promoting. But there is an inherent danger in that. That is, at some time his actions much match his rhetoric, or he will be shown to be a fraud. That’s something he can’t afford.
So whether Kim actually wants to launch nuclear tipped missiles at the United States or not, he has painted himself into a box where he will eventually have to. As a dictator, the price of not doing so would be too high. He would lose face before his people, which could easily be followed by losing his head.
North Korea’s Nuclear Capacity
Whether Kim John-Un’s actions and rhetoric are intentional or merely the ravings of a madman are inconsequential at this time. Like the rest of the world, he must live and die with what he’s said. Chances of his backing down are extremely slim.
So North Korea continues on the march to becoming a nuclear power, developing nuclear bombs and long-range missiles which can be mated together to become ICBMs that can reach the United States. The real question at this point in time, is how close he is to actually accomplishing that goal.
It is a known fact that North Korea possesses nuclear bombs. The question there is whether they have achieved the necessary miniaturization needed in order to put them on the top of a missile. While North Korea claims that hit has reached that point, we just don’t know. Of course, we have to assume that they have, as to assume anything else would be extremely risky.
But to accomplish his goals, Kim needs a missile that can reach at least the West Coast of the United States. In that, his scientists and engineers have been running into some difficulty. While they currently have four different missiles in their inventory, the one which has the greatest range also appears to be the most unreliable. As seen in their most recent test flight, firing a missile into the Sea of Japan, it has a propensity to blow up all on its own.
Video first seen on CBS News.
Yet North Korea persists and we can assume that they have competent engineers. That means that each failure of a missile brings them one step closer to finding all the problems that can cause them to go awry and brings them closer to having a successful, reliable missile.
Once that happens, we are truly in danger. Right now, we’re protected by the fact that North Korea doesn’t have the technical expertise to match their leader’s ego. But that can’t last for long.
Killing people who fail is a great incentive for those who remain alive. They push harder to ensure that they won’t be the next one executed.
The Risk of a North Korean Missile Attack
I have to put myself firmly in the camp of those who say:“It isn’t a question of whether North Korea will initiate a nuclear missile strike, but when.”
Kim Jong-Un has painted himself into a box and I really don’t see any indication that he wants out of it. He seems to see his out as going through with that attack and proving to the world that his tiny nation is more powerful than the United States of America.
The other question that we have to consider is what form that attack will take. The fact that North Korea’s missiles are all on mobile launchers gives Pyongyang an incredible amount of flexibility. It also makes both locating and countering those missiles a much harder task for our military.
It would be extremely easy for the North Koreans to load missiles and their launchers into specially constructed cargo containers and send them our way. As long as those containers were on the top level of containers in the ship, they could be launched without impediment.
The scary part of that scenario is that such a launch could be made very near our shores, extending the effective range of their missiles. In such a case, it wouldn’t just be Los Angeles that would be at risk of being targeted, but a large part of the Continental United States. If you include the Gulf of Mexico in any potential planning, there are few parts of the United States that North Korean missiles couldn’t reach, based upon what we currently know about their missiles.
The greater risk to our country is not from a ground burst or near ground burst, but from a high-altitude EMP. As attested to by the report of the EMP Commission, such an attack would destroy the USA, putting us back somewhere around 150 years. We would become a very unique third-world country.
What Can We Do?
Now we need to look at the other side of the equation, what can the United States military do against such an attack? There are always two sides to any military equation and hopefully North Korea is failing to do their math right.
Defending against nuclear missiles is not a new problem for the United States military. Throughout the Cold War, we lived under the threat of the now-defunct Soviet Union lobbing thousands of ICMBs at us. President Regan’s “Star Wars” program was developed in anticipation of such an attack. By comparison, the few missiles that North Korea could send our way is a minor risk.
But the problem we have is that the United States of America is a vast country, with thousands of miles of boarders. A truly effective anti-ballistic defense network would have to cover all our borders, as well as US possessions around the globe. That complete a system has never been fielded, due to the massive cost of such a huge system.
Rather, the Department of Defense has deployed much smaller systems, located in strategic areas. These systems stand an excellent chance of thwarting any attack by Pyongyang.
Specifically, we have what are known as “midcourse defensive systems” positioned at Fort Greely, Alaska and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. While that may not seem like much, we have to take into consideration the altitude that ballistic missiles fly. Missiles from either Alaska or California have the capability of intercepting ICBMs at the apogee of their flight, over most of the North Pacific Ocean.
Considering the low number of missiles that North Korea would be launching against the USA, the chances of this system in intercepting those missiles is rather high. That probability can be increased, by adding in the capability of the Aegis missile system. Aegis missile cruisers off the Pacific Coast of the United States would also engage those ICBMs, probably as they returned to Earth.
The greater risk is the one I already mentioned, if the North Koreans launch their missiles off of a container ship, nearer to our coastline. That would reduce the reaction time that these missile systems and their operators would have to react to the attack.
If the North Korean missiles came in at a lower trajectory, rather than at a true ballistic trajectory, they might actually be able to make it through those defenses.
In such a case, we could expect the damage to be extensive, at least to a few American cities. Which cities that would be is a question that is hard to answer. A lot would depend on the results that Pyongyang was seeking. While destroying Washington, DC would be the most logical military target, with the greatest impact on the USA, it would also probably be one of the hardest targets for them to hit.
You can be sure the nation’s capital will be defended and such an attack would have to come from the Atlantic Ocean, which increases the danger for the North Koreans.
A Preemptive Strike?
Former President Obama’s policy of appeasement hasn’t worked any better with the North Koreans, than it did with the Iranians. That is, unless the goal was to help those two rogue nations become nuclear powers. If that was the goal, he was highly successful.
President Trump hasn’t followed the same policy. Rather than bowing down to the rest of the world, he reasserted the United States place as a world leader. While some have complained about this, including Kim Jong-Un, it was definitely the right thing to do. Only the United States has proven to the world that we can be trusted to be the world’s police.
As part of that, Trump is taking a very hands-on approach to the multiple problems that exist with North Korea, especially their threats to the United States. As part of that, the United States of America has sent the USS Carl Vinson and its associated fleet to the area off North Korea as a deterrent, as well as other naval forces, including a nuclear-powered missile submarine, armed with both nukes and Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Of course, North Korea is taking that as an escalation, not as a deterrent. They’re also accusing the USA of creating the tension in the region. Neither are surprising. Despotic rulers and governments always try to blame their actions on others; just look at Hitler’s actions at the beginning of World War II.
But having naval forces in the area gives President Trump and the Pentagon some additional options, including a preemptive first strike. Should it look like North Korea is preparing to launch a nuclear-tipped missile at anyone, that might be the best action to take. But it’s not an action without consequences. North Korea would definitely take that as a provocation and respond to it.
In other words, trying to stop one nuclear launch could very well become the trigger to causing another. The situation is that complicated now. North Korea apparently feels they can’t back down, so they may very well push things into a war.
While there is nothing that President Trump has said, which indicate that he wants war with North Korea, it is looking more and more like one is coming. Sometimes, when you push the bully, the bully backs off; but there are other times when the bully chooses to fight. This is beginning to look like one of those situations where the bully chooses to fight.
But What About China?
The wildcard in all this is China. The Chinese President, Xi Jinping, recently spent a weekend with President Trump in his Mar-a-Lago resort. At the end of it, Trump claimed success and that the Chinese president was willing to work with the US to curb North Korean violence. That could be a real game changer, as China is North Korea’s biggest ally and biggest trading partner.
So far, China has moved 150,000 troops to the North Korean border, in a move that can be seen either as putting pressure on Pyongyang or as offering them support. As we haven’t heard the message that went with that move, we can only guess. But the Chinese have also refused to accept shipments of coal from North Korea, which is the North Korean’s biggest export. So, from that alone, it appears that China is playing ball.
Between Chinese pressure and US diplomacy, it is possible that war can be abated. But in reality, I think that the best we can hope for is for it to be delayed. Unless something happens to Kim Jong-Un, who is still a young man, chances are that North Korea will continue in their warlike direction.
What do you think?
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This article has been written by Bill White for Survivopedia. 
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vintagegeekculture · 7 years
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Do you have any tidbits about Games Workshop, or miniature wargaming in general?
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It’s interesting to remember that the first group toembrace tabletop roleplaying games like early D&D weren’t pimply teenagers,but soldiers on military bases, where they viewed it as an extension ofwargaming.
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Gary Gygax, creator of D&D, was an army vet, as werenearly all of the Wisconsin group who’s original PC characters, 40 years later,are still in the player’s handbook (Bigby, Tenser, Mordekainen – they were allonce somebody’s player character). In fact, the big bright idea that led totabletop games is, “what if, instead of an army, you just played onecharacter?”
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If I had to identify the single biggest group left out whendiscussing and understanding nerd culture, it’s nerdy military vets: the guyswho love Heinlein, Joe Haldeman, and miniature wargaming, who often formed thebackbone of things like the APA. If you picture fandom as just teenagers ingaming clubs mailing each other slashfic in manilla envelopes, you’re notgetting the whole story of what fandom was like. For starters, understandingthis means we’re less likely to be shocked on those occasions where fandomacquires a reactionary streak on issues.
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The miniature game most relevant to my interests is HydraMiniatures’ War Rocket, which uses the imagery of retro pulp-scifi. It looksgreat and is a lot of fun.
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Although I think the history of science fiction tends to get garbled andmushed together. For instance, a lot of the visual look of the heroes comesfrom 1930s Republic serials, whereas the villains are “1950s flying sauceraliens.” That’s from two very different decades – flying saucers, for example,were not seen in science fiction at any point prior to 1948. There’s a tendencyto mush the entirety of the past together.
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“Let’s disco dance, Hammurabi!”
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risingpakistan · 11 years
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Lawrence College Ghora Gali
Lawrence College Ghora Gali (or GG) is situated in the foothills of the Himalayas and Pir Panjal at a height of about 1950 meters (6395 feet) above sea level, on a pine covered spur, covering an area of 150 acres. GG is 4 km from Murree Town and 57 km from Rawalpindi. Weather remains moderate throughout the year, with rains in July and August. In winters when the estate is covered with snow, the college is closed for a three-month vacation.
History
Sir Henry Lawrence was the force behind the Lawrence Schools of the subcontinent. He was born in 1806 in (then) Ceylon and educated at Folye College Derry and then Addiscomb Military Seminary. He joined the East India Company, rising to the rank of Brigadier General in the Bengal Artillery,
While engaged in matters of concern to the British Government of India like the revenue system, the canal system, and roads, the worry that was always with him was the future of the orphans of British soldiers. This worry took the form of the four asylums.
Sanawar 1847
Lovedale 1858
Mount Abu 1857
Ghora Gali 1860
The Sanawar, Lovedale and Mount Abu were constructed and commissioned in the life time of Sir Henry Lawrence, while Ghora Gali came into being after his death.
  The Status
The asylum at Ghora Gali was elevated to a school in 1914 and then a college in 1926.
  The Chapel
College Chapel is an architectural masterpiece constructed in 1894. It was renovated and given a fresh look in 1989, and was converted into the School of Music and Handicraft, inaugurated by Iranian Artist Feroza Gul Mohammadi. On 17th November 2007, with contributions from the then Governor of the Punjab Lt Gen Khalid Maqbool, it was renovated and was re-dedicated as a chapel in a prayer service in the presence of the local Christian community and priests from the Church of Pakistan Lahore Diocese. The Principal Air Cdr (R) Farooq Hussain Kiyani who took the initiative for its restoration and rededication, inaugurated the ceremony on behalf of the Governor,and Bishop of Pakistan who couldn’t make it for the event.
Now the Lawrence college Chapel stands over the hilltop in its previous glory. Occasional prayer services are held in the chapel with the combined efforts of the local churches in Murree under the supervision of the headmistress of the Junior school. It is maintained by the college administration as a religious, historical and architectural heritage of the college. Its old clock tower( a miniature replica of the Westminster chimes) still gives off the gongs which were once considered the heart beat of the college.
 The Name
It changed its name to Pine Hills College in 1973, and then to Ghora Galli College in 1979 and then back to Lawrence College Ghora Gali Murree in 1986.
  Logo & Motto
Before 1920, the school crest was an eagle poised for flight, with the motto ‘Onwards and Upwards’.
The present logo is an adaptation of the Lawrence Coat of Arms, granted to the college in 1926 by Sir Alexander Hutchison Lawrence, the eldest son of Sir Henry. The motto is "Never Give In".
  Lawrence Hall
A fire destroyed the College Auditorium (Lawrence Hall) in 1994. It was reconstructed in 1999 ands inaugurated by the Governor of the Punjab Mr. Shahid Hamid. This auditorium is used for all main occasions of the college like debates, addresses by visiting dignitaries, mushairas and variety shows on the occasion of the Founders Day.
  Governing Bodies
There are two governing bodies of the college:-
Board of Governors
Executive Committee
The Board of Governors is headed by the Governor of the Punjab, while the Principal is ex officio Secretary to the board. In addition to a few government officials there are fixed seats for dignitaries who are the alumni. One of the illustrious sons of GG, former Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, is the lifetime member.
The General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 12th Infantry Division, Murree is the Chairman of the Executive Committee.
 Organization
GG comprises three schools or sections:
Junior School (Class 1 to 4)
Preparatory School (Class 5-7)
Senior School (Class 8-12, including O’ Levels and Intermediate)
Each school has a separate geographical location and a separate Head. Junior School is headed by a Headmistress while Prep and Senior Schools by a Headmaster each. All the three Heads report directly to the Principal who is the over all in charge of the estate, academics and administration.
  House System
The house system probably came into being in the 1920s. The houses were named after former British Principals and Governors of the Punjab. The house system inculcates in a student a sense of competition and loyalty. Each house is headed by a Housemaster who is assisted by a Deputy and two tutors all from the teaching faculty. The four houses are:-
Peake (yellow and green), Tipu House (1973-2011)
Walker (green and white), Jinnah House (1973-2011)
Wightwick (red and black), Babar House (1973-2011)
Wright (Cambridge blue and Oxford blue),Iqbal House (1973-2011)
  Routine
The daily routine comprises studies and sports. The curriculum prepares students for the three public examinations, O’ Levels, Matriculation and Intermediate where a student has a choice to follow Pre Medical, Pre Engineering, General Science or ICS. Soon A Level studies will start for which an academic block is under construction.
Facilities include classrooms, Seminar Hall, IT Lab, Internet Café, and Science labs. The Holy Quran and Nazira are taught, this later course is started and completed during the Junior School while Qiraat is taught till the Intermediate.
There are two mosques in the campus, one contiguous to the Preparatory School and the other to the Senior School. Mahgrib and Zuhar prayers are mandatory. Friday congregational prayers are compulsory which most of the staff also attend.
 Sports
College teams play friendly and competitive matches designated as annual fixtures against sister institutions like Abbottabad Public School, Army Burn Hall College Abbottabad, Cadet College Hassanabdal and Aitchison College Lahore. They play inter-house league matches to win trophies for hockey, football, athletics, and cricket.
The college runs a marathon race every year with an organized one months practice. The Jamali Stadium has added yet another dimension to the layout of the campus. It is here that the annual Sports and Founders’ Days are organized for the award of trophies and shields to winners and the best house is declared the “Champion House” with the award of the Quaid e Azam shield.
 150th Anniversary
Sesquicentennial celebration in 2010 was an auspicious occasion held on 7th, 8th and 9th October. It was attended by almost every living Gallian with young students, parents, civil and military officials and delegation from Lawrence School Sanawar, led by their Headmaster Mr. Praveen Vasisht. The Prime Minister of Islamic Republic of Pakistan Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani presided over the celebrations. The late Governor of the Punjab Mr Salman Taseer was present in his capacity of the Chairman Board of Governors. President Azad Kashmir Raja Zulqarnain, an Old Gallian himself, was another attendee.
Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence’s memory was revived by the presence of his present title holder Sir Henry Lawrence. The Pakistan Mint minted a Rs 20 coin and the Pakistan Post printed a set of four philatelic stamps of Rs 8 domination on this occasion of historic importance.
The oldest alumnus Mr. GM Khan (Dane House 1930) was the Guest of Honour at the Old Gallians Reunion held on 7th Oct 2010 held in the Lawrence Hall as the 1st day of the celebration.
  Gift to GG by Old Gallians
Old Gallians presented a gift to their alma mater in a form of a clock tower with time capsules buried in the basement, to be unearthed with a gap of 35 years each. The clock has been supplied by Smith of Derby, UK.
  Honour
The Principal Air Cdre (R) Farooq Hussain Kiyani was decorated with a college blazer and conferred the title of a “Gallian” for his long service after partition as Principal. He is the second Principal to be thus decorated after Mr. M.L Charlsworth (1961-1966).
  Principals
Brig(R) Abdul Hafeez (2012–present)
Air Cdre. (R) Farooq H. Kiyani (2002–2012)
Mr. Noor Mohammad Khan (1997–2002)
Brain Robert Manthorp (1996-1996). (Bob Manthrop)
Prof Mohammad Asif Malik, (Pride of Performance) (1990–1995)
Brig Saeed Ahmad (R) (1986–1990)
Brig Shaukat Khurshid (R) (1981–1986)
Brig S. Safdar Nawab (R) (1977–1981)
Brig Mohammad Rafiq (R) (1973–1977)
Lt Col.A. Hamid Ibrahim (R) (1966–1973)
Michael Charlesworth (1961–1966)
Shaikh Moinuddin (1958–1961)
Mr. H.L.O Flecker (1955–1958)
Ch. Abdul Hamid (1952–1955)
Mr.S.T. Thurely (1949–1952)
Mr. H.L.Edwards (1948–1949)
Mr.A.S. Collier (1946–1948)
Canon W. Francis Cotton (1934–1946)
Rev. W .T.Wright (1922–1934)
Rev W Eyre Walker (1921–1922)
Rev Wightwick (1910–1921)
Rev. H.W.Bush (1909–1910)
Rev C.H. Browne (1908–1909)
Rev. W.H.G Padfield (1904–1908)
Rev G C Peake (1874–1904)
Rev Smithwite (1868–1873)
Rev B. Dexter (1863–1868)
Rev H. W Tebernacle (1860–1863)
  Notable alumni
Alumni include a Prime Minister of Pakistan, Chief Ministers and Governors of all Provinces, a President of Azad Kashmir, a 4-star General and a couple of dozen each of Ministers, 3-star Generals and Grade 22 Officers. In addition there are artists, poets, painters, businessmen, top executives, lawyers, doctors and engineers etc.
Alumni of note include:
Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali (former PM)
Raja Muhammad Zulqarnain Khan (President AJK)
Mumtaz Bhutto (politician)
Aftab Ahmad Sherpao (politician)
Nisar Mohammad Khan (former Senator)
Sardar Asif Ahmed Ali (politician-artist-writer)
Ayaz Amir (politician, journalist)
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi (politician, businessman)
Raja Ashfaq Sarwar (politician)
GG Jamal (politician)
Ismail Gulgee (artist)
Waheed Murad (film artist)
Chengez Sultan (painter)
Humayun Tallat (painter)
Rear Admiral Zahir Shah (Retd)(writer-painter)
Gen Shamim Alam Khan (retd)
Lt General Imran Ullah Khan (retd)
Admiral Shamoon Alam Khan (retd)
Lt Gen Hamid Rab Nawaz, HI(M) (retd)
Lt Gen Javed Alam Khan (retd)
Lt Gen Sajjad Akram (retd)
Lt Gen Mehmood Ahmad (Retd)
Lt Gen Syed Mohammad Amjad (retd)
Brig Zafar Hayat Janjua (Olympian)
Ch Tanvir Ahmad A.I.G Punjab (Police)
Naeem Sarfraz (intellectual, businessman, former ship owner)
M. Athar Tahir(retd Govt Servant CSP)(poet, author, translator, painter and calligrapher)
Javaid Sadiq Malik (retd Govt Servant CSP)
Shakeel Durrani ( government servant CSP)
Prof Dr Jamal Islam (intellectual)
Ebrahim Hashim (businessman)
Kadir Jaffer (businessman)
Mr. Munir Malik (lawyer)
Mr. Wassaf Shaikh (Banker)
Mr. Sheheryar Mirza GM Pearl Continental Rawalpindi (hospitality)
Mr. Tariq Hayat Khan ( government servant PAKISTAN ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE)
0 notes
kristablogs · 4 years
Text
Twelve classic products that were perfect from the start
Perfection often requires iteration. Even after releasing a product, designers, programmers, and engineers will continue to reinvent subsequent generations. But sometimes they get it right the first time. These items were so good from the get-go, they endured for decades.
Sliced bread (Gregory Reid/)
Sliced bread
Born 1927
Otto Rohwedder reinvented bread when he created the first machine to slice it. His local paper called the innovation “a refinement that will receive a hearty and permanent welcome.” Only a few cities enjoyed the convenience until Taggart Baking Co. made Wonder Bread one of the first pre-portioned loaves sold nationwide, turning the super-soft carb into a glutenous rock star. The US government banned the culinary creation in 1943, in part to conserve paraffin (used in the waxed-paper packaging) for the war. But widespread public outcry forced Uncle Sam to quickly change course, making the return of sliced bread the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Concrete Masonry Unit (Gregory Reid/)
Concrete Masonry Unit
Born 1890
Your name for the venerable CMU probably depends upon where you live, but cinder block, breeze block, and hollow block all refer to an 8-by-8-by-16-inch brick with two or three internal voids. This mainstay of construction emerged when Harmon S. Palmer developed a process for using coal cinders—hence the name—to create something lighter, more insulating, and easier to work with than the solid hunks of his day. The industry standardized the dimensions in the 1930s, and coal waste eventually gave way to concrete and other materials, making the items heavier and stronger.
Piper J-3 Cub (Gregory Reid/)
Piper J-3 Cub
Born 1938
The Piper J-3 Cub was a cheap, simple, and quick machine with two seats placed one behind the other inside a tubular steel frame wrapped in cotton fabric. Beloved by everyone from weekend aviators to the US military, nearly 20,000 of them rolled out of Piper’s factory before the company upgraded the plane in 1947. Many still fly. Bush pilots in particular adore the J-3’s brawnier descendant, the Super Cub, because it is durable, easily repaired, and can take off or land on even the smallest sliver of ground. The design remains so popular that the Washington state outfit CubCrafters builds several models based on the original, including a kit you can assemble yourself.
Paper clips (Gregory Reid/)
Paper clips
Born 1880s
Before this ubiquitous office staple (sorry) came along, people used pins, ribbons, string, and other workarounds to secure sheaves of paper. Although inventors had experimented with wire wound in loops, Britain’s Gem Ltd. clinched the design with two narrow concentric ovals. That provided just enough torsion in the fastener and friction between the pages to keep everything together. Connecticut entrepreneur William Middlebrook patented a clip-winding machine in 1899, and American Clip Co. started cranking out the indispensable office supply stateside four years later. Today, its factory in Mississippi spits out 1,600 of them every minute.
Zildjian cymbals (Gregory Reid/)
Zildjian cymbals
Born 1618
Legend has it that metallurgist Avedis Zildjian hoped to make gold when he mixed copper and tin with a substance held secret to this day. He ended up creating an alloy that, unlike regular bronze, could resonate without cracking or shattering—just the thing for crafting cymbals that were less likely to break during exuberant performances. His descendants spent the next 300 years or so in Turkey before moving to the US, introducing their wares to jazz musicians, who appreciated both the sound and durability. Today, you’ll find drummers in every genre playing Zildjians, each of them forged from a material that proved almost as valuable as gold.
Berkel Flywheel Meat Slicer (Gregory Reid/)
Berkel Flywheel Meat Slicer
Born 1898
Cutting a few hunks off a salami or ham is not too strenuous. Shaving thousands of paper-thin slices for eight hours a day is a recipe for injury. That explains why Dutch butcher and amateur engineer W.A. Van Berkel invented the first mechanical meat slicer. Cranking the cast-iron flywheel turns a pair of gears: One spins a cutting blade that is concave to minimize friction against the delicate flesh; the other drives a carriage that moves the meat back and forth through the whirling blade. Berkel’s electric models operate on the same principle, but discerning chefs prefer doing the job manually; heat generated by the motor can melt the fat and compromise the taste and texture of prosciutto and other delicacies.
Adjustable wrench (Gregory Reid/)
Adjustable wrench
Born 1842
Simple as it might seem, the adjustable wrench is an engineering marvel. Rotate its screw mechanism with your thumb, and a series of teeth—called a rack and worm—open or close the jaw to fit most any nut or bolt. Credit for this ingenious idea goes to British engineer Richard Clyburn, whose cast-iron “screw spanner” looks a lot like the do-it-all wonder in your toolbox right now. Chrome-plated steel now helps prevent corrosion, and modern models incorporate one knuckle-saving improvement: a small tension spring to prevent slippage as you crank on particularly recalcitrant fasteners.
Kitchenaid Tilt-Head Stand Mixer (Gregory Reid/)
Kitchenaid Tilt-Head Stand Mixer
Born 1937
When industrial designer Egmont Arens sought to make a countertop version of the 80-quart behemoths ordinarily found mixing dough in commercial bakeries, he had to do more than just miniaturize. He coated his new Model K with easy-to-clean enamel and created the now-iconic tilting head, which let home bakers quickly add ingredients to their mixes. The 3-quart bowl locks into place with a twist, and the head’s planetary action (think of Earth spinning on its axis as it revolves around the sun) ensures that nothing within the stainless-steel vessel goes unstirred. KitchenAid later trademarked the design, which, aside from the addition of bright colors in 1955, remains largely the same today.
Honda Super Cub (Gregory Reid/)
Honda Super Cub
Born 1958
Back in the 1950s, many people considered motorcycles to be loud, finicky, disreputable machines. Honda changed that with the quiet, reliable, and easy-to-ride Super Cub. Its step-through frame, which placed the fuel tank under the seat, made saddling up a snap. Large 17-inch wheels could tackle the worst roads without sacrificing comfort or stability. The engine made impressive power for its size, a semiautomatic gearbox ditched the clutch lever, and the plastic fairing gave riders some protection from the wind. It was an immediate hit. The motorbike has received a few updates over the years, and today’s models sport anti-lock brakes and LED headlamps. Honda has moved more than 100 million of them, making the Cub the best-selling motor vehicle in history.
Leica M-Series (Gregory Reid/)
Leica M-Series
Born 1954
The M3 found immediate success with photojournalists because of its speedy shooting. Instead of using two viewfinders—one for focusing and another for composing—the M3 featured a large, bright eyepiece to handle both. The “bayonet” lens mount let photographers save still more time by swapping glass with a twist and click rather than screwing it on and off. Leica employs the same system today, and modern M bodies work with almost any lens from the line’s history. The M3 also ditched the finicky film-advance knob of the era in favor of the simple thumb lever you now find on almost every camera that uses that wonderful medium. Leica still offers a 35mm film version that’s entirely mechanical and capable of enduring conditions that would brick most digital devices. It sells replacement parts too, because most people who shoot with one see no need to “upgrade.”
Porsche 911 (Gregory Reid/)
Porsche 911
Born 1963
The engine in a Porsche 911 sits at the very back, a design that eschews the conventional wisdom that most of a vehicle’s mass should sit between its axles. And yet Porsche not only made the unconventional design work, it created one of the best sports cars of all time. Oh, sure, the 911 had a nasty habit of punishing inept drivers by spinning like a Matchbox car thrown across the kitchen floor. But in the hands of a skilled pilot, the layout provides excellent traction and improved braking. That’s helped make this iconic automobile one of the most successful racing machines ever, even as it has grown larger and more luxurious. As always, that unusual drivetrain architecture is still wrapped in a sleek fastback body that’s impossible to mistake for anything else.
Swiss Army Knife (Gregory Reid/)
Swiss Army Knife
Born 1891
The first Swiss Army knife featured a blade, a screwdriver, a can opener, and an awl—everything a soldier could need to maintain a rifle, prepare a meal, or repair a saddle. (A later model for officers added a corkscrew, because officers were fancy.) When Karl Elsener started producing them for the Swiss military, he sandwiched the carbon-steel components in a hardwood handle. Its dark color made the original multitool difficult to spot if dropped, so he began painting the grip bright red in 1908. Another upgrade came in 1927 with the switch to rust-resistant stainless steel. Just two companies—Victorinox and Wenger—have manufactured the official tool, adding implements and colors over the years but never straying from the original goal of packing the greatest utility into the smallest space.
This story appears in the Spring 2020, Origins issue of Popular Science.
0 notes
scootoaster · 4 years
Text
Twelve classic products that were perfect from the start
Perfection often requires iteration. Even after releasing a product, designers, programmers, and engineers will continue to reinvent subsequent generations. But sometimes they get it right the first time. These items were so good from the get-go, they endured for decades.
Sliced bread (Gregory Reid/)
Sliced bread
Born 1927
Otto Rohwedder reinvented bread when he created the first machine to slice it. His local paper called the innovation “a refinement that will receive a hearty and permanent welcome.” Only a few cities enjoyed the convenience until Taggart Baking Co. made Wonder Bread one of the first pre-portioned loaves sold nationwide, turning the super-soft carb into a glutenous rock star. The US government banned the culinary creation in 1943, in part to conserve paraffin (used in the waxed-paper packaging) for the war. But widespread public outcry forced Uncle Sam to quickly change course, making the return of sliced bread the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Concrete Masonry Unit (Gregory Reid/)
Concrete Masonry Unit
Born 1890
Your name for the venerable CMU probably depends upon where you live, but cinder block, breeze block, and hollow block all refer to an 8-by-8-by-16-inch brick with two or three internal voids. This mainstay of construction emerged when Harmon S. Palmer developed a process for using coal cinders—hence the name—to create something lighter, more insulating, and easier to work with than the solid hunks of his day. The industry standardized the dimensions in the 1930s, and coal waste eventually gave way to concrete and other materials, making the items heavier and stronger.
Piper J-3 Cub (Gregory Reid/)
Piper J-3 Cub
Born 1938
The Piper J-3 Cub was a cheap, simple, and quick machine with two seats placed one behind the other inside a tubular steel frame wrapped in cotton fabric. Beloved by everyone from weekend aviators to the US military, nearly 20,000 of them rolled out of Piper’s factory before the company upgraded the plane in 1947. Many still fly. Bush pilots in particular adore the J-3’s brawnier descendant, the Super Cub, because it is durable, easily repaired, and can take off or land on even the smallest sliver of ground. The design remains so popular that the Washington state outfit CubCrafters builds several models based on the original, including a kit you can assemble yourself.
Paper clips (Gregory Reid/)
Paper clips
Born 1880s
Before this ubiquitous office staple (sorry) came along, people used pins, ribbons, string, and other workarounds to secure sheaves of paper. Although inventors had experimented with wire wound in loops, Britain’s Gem Ltd. clinched the design with two narrow concentric ovals. That provided just enough torsion in the fastener and friction between the pages to keep everything together. Connecticut entrepreneur William Middlebrook patented a clip-winding machine in 1899, and American Clip Co. started cranking out the indispensable office supply stateside four years later. Today, its factory in Mississippi spits out 1,600 of them every minute.
Zildjian cymbals (Gregory Reid/)
Zildjian cymbals
Born 1618
Legend has it that metallurgist Avedis Zildjian hoped to make gold when he mixed copper and tin with a substance held secret to this day. He ended up creating an alloy that, unlike regular bronze, could resonate without cracking or shattering—just the thing for crafting cymbals that were less likely to break during exuberant performances. His descendants spent the next 300 years or so in Turkey before moving to the US, introducing their wares to jazz musicians, who appreciated both the sound and durability. Today, you’ll find drummers in every genre playing Zildjians, each of them forged from a material that proved almost as valuable as gold.
Berkel Flywheel Meat Slicer (Gregory Reid/)
Berkel Flywheel Meat Slicer
Born 1898
Cutting a few hunks off a salami or ham is not too strenuous. Shaving thousands of paper-thin slices for eight hours a day is a recipe for injury. That explains why Dutch butcher and amateur engineer W.A. Van Berkel invented the first mechanical meat slicer. Cranking the cast-iron flywheel turns a pair of gears: One spins a cutting blade that is concave to minimize friction against the delicate flesh; the other drives a carriage that moves the meat back and forth through the whirling blade. Berkel’s electric models operate on the same principle, but discerning chefs prefer doing the job manually; heat generated by the motor can melt the fat and compromise the taste and texture of prosciutto and other delicacies.
Adjustable wrench (Gregory Reid/)
Adjustable wrench
Born 1842
Simple as it might seem, the adjustable wrench is an engineering marvel. Rotate its screw mechanism with your thumb, and a series of teeth—called a rack and worm—open or close the jaw to fit most any nut or bolt. Credit for this ingenious idea goes to British engineer Richard Clyburn, whose cast-iron “screw spanner” looks a lot like the do-it-all wonder in your toolbox right now. Chrome-plated steel now helps prevent corrosion, and modern models incorporate one knuckle-saving improvement: a small tension spring to prevent slippage as you crank on particularly recalcitrant fasteners.
Kitchenaid Tilt-Head Stand Mixer (Gregory Reid/)
Kitchenaid Tilt-Head Stand Mixer
Born 1937
When industrial designer Egmont Arens sought to make a countertop version of the 80-quart behemoths ordinarily found mixing dough in commercial bakeries, he had to do more than just miniaturize. He coated his new Model K with easy-to-clean enamel and created the now-iconic tilting head, which let home bakers quickly add ingredients to their mixes. The 3-quart bowl locks into place with a twist, and the head’s planetary action (think of Earth spinning on its axis as it revolves around the sun) ensures that nothing within the stainless-steel vessel goes unstirred. KitchenAid later trademarked the design, which, aside from the addition of bright colors in 1955, remains largely the same today.
Honda Super Cub (Gregory Reid/)
Honda Super Cub
Born 1958
Back in the 1950s, many people considered motorcycles to be loud, finicky, disreputable machines. Honda changed that with the quiet, reliable, and easy-to-ride Super Cub. Its step-through frame, which placed the fuel tank under the seat, made saddling up a snap. Large 17-inch wheels could tackle the worst roads without sacrificing comfort or stability. The engine made impressive power for its size, a semiautomatic gearbox ditched the clutch lever, and the plastic fairing gave riders some protection from the wind. It was an immediate hit. The motorbike has received a few updates over the years, and today’s models sport anti-lock brakes and LED headlamps. Honda has moved more than 100 million of them, making the Cub the best-selling motor vehicle in history.
Leica M-Series (Gregory Reid/)
Leica M-Series
Born 1954
The M3 found immediate success with photojournalists because of its speedy shooting. Instead of using two viewfinders—one for focusing and another for composing—the M3 featured a large, bright eyepiece to handle both. The “bayonet” lens mount let photographers save still more time by swapping glass with a twist and click rather than screwing it on and off. Leica employs the same system today, and modern M bodies work with almost any lens from the line’s history. The M3 also ditched the finicky film-advance knob of the era in favor of the simple thumb lever you now find on almost every camera that uses that wonderful medium. Leica still offers a 35mm film version that’s entirely mechanical and capable of enduring conditions that would brick most digital devices. It sells replacement parts too, because most people who shoot with one see no need to “upgrade.”
Porsche 911 (Gregory Reid/)
Porsche 911
Born 1963
The engine in a Porsche 911 sits at the very back, a design that eschews the conventional wisdom that most of a vehicle’s mass should sit between its axles. And yet Porsche not only made the unconventional design work, it created one of the best sports cars of all time. Oh, sure, the 911 had a nasty habit of punishing inept drivers by spinning like a Matchbox car thrown across the kitchen floor. But in the hands of a skilled pilot, the layout provides excellent traction and improved braking. That’s helped make this iconic automobile one of the most successful racing machines ever, even as it has grown larger and more luxurious. As always, that unusual drivetrain architecture is still wrapped in a sleek fastback body that’s impossible to mistake for anything else.
Swiss Army Knife (Gregory Reid/)
Swiss Army Knife
Born 1891
The first Swiss Army knife featured a blade, a screwdriver, a can opener, and an awl—everything a soldier could need to maintain a rifle, prepare a meal, or repair a saddle. (A later model for officers added a corkscrew, because officers were fancy.) When Karl Elsener started producing them for the Swiss military, he sandwiched the carbon-steel components in a hardwood handle. Its dark color made the original multitool difficult to spot if dropped, so he began painting the grip bright red in 1908. Another upgrade came in 1927 with the switch to rust-resistant stainless steel. Just two companies—Victorinox and Wenger—have manufactured the official tool, adding implements and colors over the years but never straying from the original goal of packing the greatest utility into the smallest space.
This story appears in the Spring 2020, Origins issue of Popular Science.
0 notes
micaramel · 5 years
Link
Artist: Lucie Stahl
Venue: The Downer, Berlin
Exhibition Title: Berlin Babylon
Date: November 17, 2018 – January 19, 2019
Click here to view slideshow
Full gallery of images, press release, and link available after the jump.
Images:
Images courtesy of  The Downer, Berlin
Press Release:
The period television series Babylon Berlin takes place in the riotous Berlin of 1929 – a time when the city was reeling from the shameful fallout of the First World War and was, for perhaps the first time, a world capital of culture. The insidious rise of Nazism was already well underway, with Joseph Goebbels directing gangs of brown-shirted thugs to skirmish with communists and harass Jews. The National Socialist party had won 10 seats in the Reichstag the year prior. At the same time, the city’s three opera houses were packed. Artists and writers moved in, flocking to Berlin’s bars and cabarets. Lavish parties were thrown night after night. Cocaine consumption was at a pinnacle.
Babylon Berlin has been shot – at least in part – in the eponymous city, occasionally turning contemporary Berlin’s subway stations and street corners into historical reenactments. The stage dressings perfectly befit a city that has spent the past decade rebuilding the Stadtschloss. The original 18th Century palace was demolished in 1950 and replaced by the seat of the East German parliament – a building that was itself demolished in 2008 to make way for the new, old palace. Rather than housing kings or politicians, the new Stadtschloss will be home to an extensive collection of art and cultural artifacts when it opens in 2019. This process of historical resuscitation, modification and reclamation is already familiar in Berlin, the most notable example being the Reichstag, which sports a glass dome in an ostensible nod to openness and transparency of government. Notably, before its renovation, the entire building was swaddled in white fabric by the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude: a kind of born-again christening.
Babylon Berlin’s extras occasionally mill around on the city’s streets, corralled by PAs and prop stylists. Men in Reichswehr uniforms, who would have been demoralized in 1929, fending off putsch attempts and working at the behest of an embattled government, now lounge around, looking somewhat unfamiliar with their rifles. A handful of soldiers are called over and given instructions by people who must be their commanding officers, although they really do not look the type with their neon trainers and fanny packs.
Berlin is once again a global cultural capital with an outsized reputation in the visual arts and music – famous nightclubs and a world-renowned symphony. The city is still home to three operas. Artists have again flocked here. And, once again, social and political dissatisfaction ferments below the veneer of opulence fueled by creativity. Lucie Stahl’s photographs of the cast and crew of Babylon Berlin loafing around between takes on the empty streets of Mitte don’t state this outright, but they certainly intimate.
Intimation, implication in lieu of explicitness, is a hallowed trait of art making – allowing artworks to avoid being too ‘duh’ as well as lending a plausible deniability that could help avoid inviting public outcry or censorship. This is a quality that happens to be shared by advertising, branding, public relations and politics – often for the same reasons. Much of Lucie Stahl’s work doubles this strategy, making a kind of cross-genre mise en abymein which the show-it-don’t-say-it approaches of branding and marketing are framed within an artwork, therefore demanding to be evaluated on exceptional terms. Arguably, when someone is looking at art they are much more willing to be thoughtful and investigative than when looking at a magazine ad.
In her most widely known series, Stahl uses a commercial scanner to build compositions of consumer objects, miniatures of quotidian things, clippings and advertising. Cobbled together and often held by a pair of clay or paint caked hands – as if dredged up from the swamp of pop culture runoff – each object or grouping thereof feels like a talismanic artifact from our short-term memories. Pressed right against the glass, the murky darkness around them threatens to swallow these objects back up if they weren’t somehow being lit from our vantage point as viewers. There are sleeves of Pringles, bags of Cheetos in increasing grades of sun faded-ness and different versions of the bucolic, salt-of-the-earth genre packaging of health food. There are packs of cigarettes and rocks painted to look like packs of cigarettes; beer cans, to-go cups and bottled water. There are also clippings from magazines: ads, bits of op-eds, even glimpses of artworks, as well as the familiar graphic design of the New Yorker, Economist and Spiegel magazines. These scanned presentations are flecked with bits of dust, dirt and pollen, or occasionally smeared with something viscous that looks like it is slowly drying, out of reach behind a layer of glossy polyurethane resin. Every one of Stahl’s photographs that I have seen in person is lacquered with the same glassy resin coating. It is impossible not to equate this material sensation with looking at a screen.
This is not to say that seeing one of Stahl’s photographs is comparable to seeing an ad for Cheetos on your iPhone. It’s more like checking your bank statement on your iPhone and being forced to recount what you spend 38 dollars on at two in the morning last weekend, and remembering that you bought Cheetos, a case of Coors, a pack of American Spirits and a bottle of water for the morning. The muddy, proffering hands are empathetic – they’ve clawed back to the surface of the same swamp we’re all treading water atop. While Stahl’s work is clearly critical of contemporary life, she remains an individual navigating it. This feeling of knowing companionship became clear to me in her series that appropriates the packaging design of an alternative grain: quinoa or something. The central motif is a silhouetted farmer, alone with his scythe, among peaceful hills and a glowing sunset. The thought is absurd – I know that if I buy a bag of grain in Berlin that was harvested in South America it could not possibly be the product of a one-man operation. But pitted against Chester Cheeto, it’s convincing enough to at least give me a leg up to some moral high ground, and so, I guess it kind of works. The same could be said for her series featuring American Spirit and Pueblo cigarette branding, which laughs at the absurd whataboutism of any cigarette company claiming moral superiority, but again – it works. When branding works on us, life’s little exercises of persona-defining consumer choosiness are almost automatic, quickly forgotten and relegated back to the swamp or tossed out of a pickup truck window into the desert. Stahl picks them up and brings them back to us with alacrity.
In the lonely farmer pictures, Stahl has collaged a rough-hewn door into the side of the hill where the farmer is working. Doors and the keys to them show up in other pieces as well. They seem like invitations to step into the dim world of used and discarded things.
This world that Stahl seems to occupy is more than that, though. It is a social subconscious that extends beyond food packaging and into the mechanics of society: the oil business, bad-faith political dealing, insularity and feelings of captivity, environmental decimation and extinction. It’s not actually very inviting, but regardless of whether we enter or not, Stahl will continue to drag things up from the murk and press them against the glass.
Occasionally, things make it past the glass, like a group of ammunition boxes that the artist collaged over with clippings from hobbyist military model making catalogs. Here a bleak reality starts to be overtaken by the fantasies that drive it, although they too are rehashings of things that happened years ago. Half-painted Waffen-SS soldiers sit atop a Panzer tank, obscuring the part of the ammo’s tagline. The macabre words “Power” and “Slug” bleed through.
In another series, Stahl has made versions of Tibetan prayer wheels out of old beer cans and oil drums. The real Tibetan versions are generally inscribed with a mantra and can be held – and spun – by hand. Their Buddhist originators saw each revolution of the cylinder as one repetition of the mantra. As far as I understand, it’s like praying on hyper drive. Stahl’s versions are like nagging reminders that the world’s production/consumption cycle is on hyper drive and we are subsumed in it, so thirsty for more that we don’t care if it’s a dressed up version of something we’ve already had and cast aside. While she takes up both what we’ve discarded and what we think we desire – be they originals, historical reenactments or bootlegs – Stahl picks apart the conventions that are abused to give these things meaning. Instead, she puts them to work in service of her own worldview.
This feeling of cyclical persistence whether we want it or not permeates lots of Stahl’s practice. The play-acting soldiers in her behind the scenes photographs of Babylon Berlin and the frozen, miniature military men pasted onto a box of bullets both feel like an unwelcome return. There is the implication that we should take care before waxing too nostalgic about sitting at the precipice of a world war and unthinkable genocide. Seeing history uncannily transposed onto the present is a charged experience. The unease is only heightened by the fact that we are living in a time where xenophobia, national exceptionalism and outright racism have found a way out of their cages of socially enforced repression, onto the placards of political parties, and into our daily lives.
Patrick Armstrong
Link: Lucie Stahl at The Downer
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