Thursday, December 19, 2013

It's Not a Myth

These images are cropped from a photo I found on the Library of Congress' website. The panoramaic photo was taken at Bennett Park in Detroit during the 1909 World Series. What fascinated me is what you see in the background, fans perched on telephone poles in order to see the game. That can't be safe. You can view the original image here. There are several telephone poles with these funny little birds perched on them.


These guys are down the rightfield line
guysontelephonepoles

These daredevils are just beyond the left field wall.


Even further down the right field line. Out near where the outfield wall starts


This group is between homeplate and first base

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

British Library Flickr Page

The British Library recently updated a million images to their Flickr page. Is it a good thing or just a mass dump of useless crap? Who knows? I found some interesting images.

Jerusalem, from a book published in 1852.
Image taken from page 507 of 'Das heilige Land nach seiner ehemaligen und jetzigen geographischen Beschaffenheit, nebst kritischen Blicker in das C. v. Raumer'sche “Palästina” ... Deutsch bearbeitet [from the Hebrew] von Dr. Israel Schwarz'

Scrooge waking up happy to know he hasn't missed Christmas. From 1869.
Image taken from page 145 of 'A Christmas Carol ... With illustrations [from drawings by S. Eytinge.]'

The hunter and his two wives from the Richard Francis Burton book Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo published in 1876.
Image taken from page 59 of 'Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo. [With illustrations and a map.]'

Robin Hood's last shot. This is where he a dying Robin Hood shoots an arrow out the window and asks that he be buried wherever the arrow lands. This is from 1884.
Image taken from page 433 of '[Robin Hood: a collection of poems, songs, and ballads ... Edited by Joseph Ritson.]'

The crusader castle Krak des Chevaliers from another Richard Francis Burton book Unexplored Syria. Visits to the Libanus, the Tulúl el Safā, the Anti-Libanus, the Northern Libanus, and the Aláh, 1872.
Image taken from page 173 of 'Unexplored Syria. Visits to the Libanus, the Tulúl el Safā, the Anti-Libanus, the Northern Libanus, and the Aláh. By R. F. Burton and Charles F. Tyrwhitt Drake. [With contributions by Isabel Lady Burton and others.]'

And whatever the hell this is.
Image taken from page 259 of '[The voiage and travaile of Sir J. Maundevile, which treateth of the way to Hierusalem; and of marvayles of Inde, with other ilands and countryes. Now publish'd entire from an original MS. in the Cotton Library.]'

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Grand Theft Auto V

Oh sure, it's tasteless, ultraviolent and insults you as you play it but GTA V sure is purty.


Tuesday, December 10, 2013

That Dress

I was looking at how other institutions use technology to share their collections and came across the dress Carol Burnett wore during the sketch that parodied Gone with the Wind. This is in the American History Museum which is part of the Smithsonian.

Monday, December 09, 2013

Trip Glasses

The other day I stumbled across a neat contraption called Trip Glasses. My set arrived in the mail on Saturday and, surprisingly, they work. You put on the glasses and headphones and close your eyes. When you turn the Trip Glasses on a red light starts flashing and a tone plays in each stereo channel. As your brain tries to makes sense of the audio and visual inputs you see patterns and colors. It is rather striking. It's like bad 60s television special effects taking place inside your brain. Or, more like the Joshua Light Show that played behind bands at the Fillmore back in the day.

Tuesday, December 03, 2013

Antrim County, MI

A few years ago I created a Flickr group to feature photos taken in Antrim Country. Below is a slideshow of the photos submitted to the group.