(13) Celebrity inventors

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Check out these patent-holding celebrity inventors:

1. Abraham Lincoln invented a convoluted device that involved putting a set of bellows on the bottom of a boat.
2. Christie Brinkley received a patent for an educational toy she designed in 1991 that seems to mostly be useful for helping kids learn the alphabet.
3. Eddie Van Halen invented a support that could flip out of the back of his axe’s body to raise and stabilize the fretboard so he could tap out searing songs like “Eruption.”
4. Gary Burghoff invented a device he calls “Chum Magic,” a floating apparatus that fishermen can fill with chum to lure fish to their boats.
5. Hedy Lamarr received a patent for a “secret communication system” that could use carrier waves of different frequencies to remotely control devices like zeppelins and torpedoes.
6. Jamie Lee Curtis designed and patented a disposable diaper that included a waterproof pocket that held baby wipes.
7. Lawrence Welk received a design patent for a new type of ashtray that looked like an accordion.
8. Marlon Brando received a patent for a “drumhead tensioning device and method,” one of several patents he held for drum devices.
9. Michael Jackson patented this “method and means for creating anti-gravity illusion” in 1993.
10. Penn Jillette received a patent for a “hydro-therapeutic stimulator”–a spa with jets strategically located to make the experience enjoyable for female bathers. [Hmmm]
11. Prince got the thumbs-up for a design patent for a “portable keyboard instrument.”…a keytar.
12. Steven McQueen filed a design patent for an improved bucket seat.
13. Zeppo Marx received a patent for a cardiac pulse rate monitor that was designed to let people with heart problems know if their pulse was shifting into a danger zone.

Get more details about the patents at the website below.

Source

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Fun interactive site about Egyptian mummies

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Fascinating Egyptian Mummies–Unwrapping history with science

This fun and educational four-stage interactive site is based on an exhibition at the Musee de la Civilisation in Quebec City.  Visitors discover different facets of ancient Egyptian cultures.  You must complete three games to enter the last one (which I haven’t achieved yet).

1. Mummification Process.  Put the mummification process in the right order.
2. Canopic Jars.  Place the organs into the right canopic jars.
3. The Weighing of the Heart.  Place the jar that contains a heart as light as the sacred feather on the other side of the scale.
4. Sarcophagi Chamber.  Can’t say what this is becuase I havent completed the first three stages.

__________

Interesting information about #3

“Ancient Egyptians believed that the deceased had to meet a challenge in order to achieve immortality.  After the deceased declared having committed no faults in life, the heart was weighed.  If it balanced with the feather, this meant that the deceased had lived according to moral standards and could move on to the afterlife, a realm of bliss and delight.  But if the weight of the heart was different from that of the feather, this meant that the deceased had lived in sin and that the heart would be eaten by Ammit, the devourer.”

__________

Source

via 10 Awesome Flash-Animated Interactive Websites

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A unique site dedicated to the RMS Titanic [photos]

I stumbled across this fantastic site relating to the Titanic ocean liner.  In some of the photos, you can roll over the image to get a closer look.  Among the many goodies, in the “Built in Belfast” category you’ll find:

• Marketing Titanic [postcards]
• First/Second/Third class views [rooms--see photos below]
• Titanic at Southhampton [views at Berth 44]
• Titanic Sails [photos]
• The Disaster Unfolds [Charts and Marconigrams--see photo below]

Samples photos

Dining room - 1st class

Dining room -2nd class

Dining room - 3rd class

Marconigram #5

Source

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A “Titanic” gift for my readers

Cover of Titanic

Do you love the movie, Titanic?  Do you wish you owned the “Heart of the Ocean” necklace?  Well, I can’t give the real thing but I can give you this…

If you’d like me to personalize this tag for you, either

1. Post a comment with the desired name and your email address or
2. Email me at 1websurfer@gmail.com with “Heart of the Ocean” in the subject line.  Include your desired name.

It would be my honor to make you one.

Tour the White House online [photos/videos]

I’ve never toured the White House but I’m grateful for websites like this that make it possible.  It has too many features to mention so you’ll just have to visit and see for yourself.  Sit back and enjoy the tour.

First floor of the East Wing

This online tour will take you through more than 140 areas in the grounds and mansion of the White House with photos and illustrations going back more than 200 years.

…This Web site is a private, unofficial, online effort to provide a place to explore the history and heritage of the home of the president of the United States of America…This site merely celebrates the architecture, history, and cultural significance of the White House in America and abroad.

I decided to create an online museum-like tour of the White House residence, offices, and grounds to help educate people on the amazing 200-year-old mansion, museum, state event host, office building, television and radio studio, and intelligence operations center known so simply as “The White House.”

Derek Jensen, Museum Director

Source

(13) Quotes to live by

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1. Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast. – Unknown
2. You get what you tolerate. – Unknown
3. Your mind is an open window. Make sure you take time to look out of it; you may just find what you’re looking for. – Unknown
4. Live each day in a day-tight compartment. Touch a button and hear, at every level of your life, the iron doors shutting out the Past–the dead yesterdays. – Unknown
5. Love looks through a telescope; envy, through a microscope. Henry Wheeler Shaw
6. Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk. [Doug Larson]
7. For every person with a spark of genius, there are a hundred with ignition trouble.
8. God wisely designed the human body so that we can neither pat our own backs nor kick ourselves too easily. – Unknown
9. A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. – Winston Churchill
10. No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. – Eleanor Roosevelt
11. A wise man can see more from the bottom of a well than a fool can see from a mountain top.
12. A word is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and context according to the circumstance and the time in which it was used. [Oliver Wendell Holmes]
13. The man who put on his armor should not brag. It’s the man who lives to take it off who has the right to brag [1 K 20:11]

CRAZY inventions: hangover bonnets, stainless steel dentures, perfume for rejected women

Max Factor developed this bonnet for actresses wanting to refresh their faces without spoiling their makeup.

This gentleman made his own set of stainless steel dentures!

Source

This “guaranteed” perfume advertisement is for women who feel rejected.  If it didn’t work, the consumer got their money back.  Do you think there were any returns?  I’d sure like to know the ingredients in “Secret Voice” and if they sell it today!

Source

Look at how much we’ve changed…

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The year is 1909.  One hundred years ago…

• The average life expectancy was 47 years.
• Only 14% of the homes had a bathtub.
• Only 8% of the homes had a telephone.
• There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads.
• The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
• The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.
• The average wage in 1909 was $.22 per hour.
• The average worker made between $200-$400 per year.
• Yearly wages for the following careers: a competent accountant ($2000); a dentist ($2,500); a veterinarian ($1,500-$4,000); an engineer ($5,000).
• More than 95% of all births took place at home.
• 90% of all doctors had no college education.  Instead, they attended so-called medical schools–many of which were condemned in the press and the government as ’substandard.’
• Sugar cost $.04 per pound, eggs were $.14 per dozen, coffee was $.15 per pound.
• Most women only washed their hair once a month and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
• Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into the country for any reason (the shame!)
• The five leading causes of death: 1. Pneumonia and influenza, 2. Tuberculosis, 3. Diarrhea, 4. Heart disease, 5. Stroke.
• The American flag had 45 stars.
• The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was only 30.
• Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea hadn’t been invented yet.
• There was no Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.
• Two out of every 10 adults couldn’t read or write.
• Only 6% of all Americans had graduated from high school.
• Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores.  Back then pharmacists said, “Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health.”
• 18% of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.
• There were about 230 reported murders in the entire USA!

Jesus’ obituary [photo]

Jesus' obituary

Need a unique proposal idea? Order “Martini on the Rock”

Image by chrisjohnbeckett via Flickr

If you’re in need of a unique proposal idea, try the “Martini on the Rock.’  For a mere $10,000 (approximate–depends on the stone) the Algonquin Hotel in New York City will help you propose to your sweetheart.  But you have to place your order three days in advance and meet with the hotel’s jeweler.

The first person to order this drink paid $13,000—and instead of a loose stone, selected a 1.85-carat diamond engagement ring. (His girlfriend said yes.)

But apparently, that is false. Cleopatra set the precdent when she removed one of her pearl earrings and dropped it in a goblet of wine vinegar. Each of the pearls was so large and rare that it was extraordinarily valuable—“the value of 15 countries.” The pearl dissolved in the vinegar, which Cleopatra then drank. Antony conceded defeat—the value of that single drink, let alone the banquet, had indeed been more than any meal in history.

**********

Source

The Algonquin website

Cleopatra’s Wager

Cleopatra on the Web

If you were at the inauguration, check this out…[photos]

If you were at President Obama’s inauguration, you might be able to see yourself there.  There clarity is quite amazing.  You can zoom in to see the faces of people in the orchestra, the men on top of the camera scaffold (don’t know the technical term), and you can even see close ups of the people at the back near the water.

For example, take a look at these screenshots:

Overall view of the inauguration

Zooming in to see the President.

Closer shot of President Obama.

Now check out George Bush’s expression…

You can get even closer.  Now try locating yourself here.

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Fascinating facts about books, authors, editors and book selling

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EDITOR AND PUBLISHER LORE AND LEGENDS

Senior editor’s view of his job

At a cocktail party celebrating the launch of a new book, a young woman waving a highball approached the publisher’s senior editor and asked, “Are you a writer?”

“No,” replied the editor.

“Then just what do you do,” she asked.

“I’m in the cleaning and repairing business.”

Editorial director looking to get lucky

One day, the editorial director at a small technical publishing establishment was observed hanging a horseshoe over the door to his office. His colleagues, in surprise, asked the director whether he believed it would bring luck to his acquisitions efforts.

“No,” the editorial director replied. “I don’t believe in superstitions. But I’ve been told that it works even if you don’t believe in it.”

Most honest book jacket blurb ever written

Perhaps the most honest wording ever to appear on a book jacket was the blurb signed by Random House publisher Bennett Cerf on a 1936 Gertrude Stein book titled, The Geographical History of America on the Relation of Human Nature to the Human Mind. Here’s what Cerf wrote:

This space is usually reserved for a brief description of a book’s contents. In this case, however, I must admit frankly that I do not know what Miss Stein is talking about. I do not even understand the title.

EVOLUTION Of BOOK MAKING

Thumb index

The thumb index, those rounded notched indentations cut into the edges of pages to facilitate quick reference, have been around for over a century. The process was invented in 1884 by Alfred A. Butler of Bay City, Michigan.

Origin of plastic book jacket cover

The plastic book jacket cover had its origin in Newark, New Jersey. In 1939, Arthur Brody, son of neighborhood pharmacist and a former stock clerk in Bamberger’s downtown Newark department store invented the plastic book jacket cover.

Since his father ran a profitable book lending library out of his drugstore on Bergen Street, young Brody looked for ways to protect the thin paper book jackets, which frayed and tore easily, so that the books would have a longer lending life. He experimented with rigid sheets of clear plastic which he cut to book jacket size, folded between the rubber wring rollers of his grandmother’s washing machine, and wrapped around the lending library book jackets. Thus was born the plastic book jacket industry.

Early book publishing

By the end of the 15^th century, printing had taken place in over two hundred European communities. As a result, more than 30,000 different editions of printed books were produced.

More than half of these books were church or religion-related, consisting of sermons, commentaries, polemics, lives of the saints, church histories, brevaries, Psalters, and Bibles. Of the remainder, publishing was done on such subjects as astrology, alchemy, chemistry, and the art and practice of healing. There were also an abundance of textbooks of grammatical and philological content made necessary by the rapid spread of the printed word.

BOOK TITLING TIDBITS AND TRIVIA

Book for amnesiacs

A European publisher issued a book titled The Memoirs of an Amnesiac that contained only blank pages.

Recurring themes in 20th century book titles

One of the most interesting phenomena in publishing in the 20^th century was the evolution of book titling themes often patterned after a single successful book or series of books. Some of the more popular book titling themes dealt with numbers, minutes, days, nights, seasons, colors, landscapes, and even the earth, sun and moon.

INNOVATIVE BOOK PROMOTION

Strange new market for books: Losing lottery ticket buyers

Here’s a book promotion aimed only at lottery ticket buyers but only those who lost.  The sponsor was the government of Ontario, which runs a weekly lottery for $1 a ticket. What the Ontario government did, during several periods in the late 1970s and 1980s, was to establish a time interval during which losing lottery tickets could be used as cash toward a purchase of a book by a Canadian author.

When first tried for three months in 1978, losing Wintario lottery tickets could be used as 50c cash up to four tickets per purchase to buy any Canadian-authored book, hardcover or paper. In subsequent promotions in the early 1980s, losing lottery tickets could be used to buy only Canadian-authored paperbacks, with a limit of $1 per book.  Over 95% of Ontario’s booksellers honored the losing lottery tickets as cash, for which they were reimbursed from lottery proceeds by the Ontario government.

PUBLISHING MISCELLANY

How publishers said “NO” when rejecting famous books

The following rejections have been adapted from Rotten Rejections with the permission of the publisher, Pushcart Press.

Catch-22, Joseph Heller (1961) “A continual and unmitigated bore.”

Look Homeward, Angel, Thomas Wolfe (1929) “Marred by stylistic cliches!  Has all the faults of youth and inexperience.”

Lord of the Flies, William Golding (1954) “You have (not) been wholly successful in working out an admittedly promising idea.”

Lust for Life, Irving Stone (1934) “A long, dull novel.”

Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert (1856) “A heap of details which are well done but utterly superfluous.”

Poems, William Butler Yeats (1895) “Absolutely empty and void; does not please the ear, nor kindle the imagination.”

The Good Earth, Pearl Buck (1931) “Regret the American public is not interested in anything on China.”

The Ipcress File, Len Deighton (1963) “Author tends to stay too long on non-essentials, is enchanted with his words, his tough style, and that puts me off badly.”

The Jungle, Upton Sinclair (1906) “it is fit only for the wastebasket.”

The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, John le Carre (1963) “le Carre – he hasn’t got any future.”

The Razor’s Edge, W. Somerset Maugham (1944) “I do not find the thing good of its kind. ¦ I think it is distasteful.”

The Time Machine, H. G. Wells (1895) “Not interesting enough for the general reader; not thorough enough for the scientific reader.”

Why authors once sold dedications in their books

In ancient Rome books were individually produced by hand and, thus, had very limited circulation. Consequently, this meant little income for their authors. Probably as a result, it was common practice for authors to dedicate their written works to friends or patrons who were expected to reciprocate with payment in coin or kind.

The ancient custom of selling book dedications by authors survived at least into the 18^th century. This is evidenced in the work of the British religious leader and novelist, Laurence Sterne [1713-1768] who, in one of his published volumes, in the space usually used ft dedication, published this message: “To be let or sold for fifty guineas.”

Unschooled youth who learned from books

He was born in a log cabin in the Midwest and grew up without schooling. As a youth, he clerked at a country store and found friendship in books that helped him envision a world outside that he had never seen or known about. He told his neighbors, “The things I want to know are in books. My best friend is the man who’ll git me a book I ain’t read.”

He widened his circle of book friends and educated himself. Eventually, his friends helped him acquire the knowledge that elevated him to the highest office in the land. His name was Abraham Lincoln.

How you as a reader should evaluate an author

“You must of necessity enter his thoughts before you can rightly evaluate them.” –From John D. Snider’s I Love Books.

Bookseller permanently on the shelf

James Edwards (1757-1816) was an English bookseller who achieved both fame and riches traveling throughout Europe buying and selling books. At his death in 1816, in accordance with his wishes, he was buried in a coffin of wood made from his own bookshelves.

His burial was at St. Mary’s Harrow-on-the-Hill, a little parish church on a prominent hill in Middlesex, England. “He lies here to this day,” wrote Michael Olmert in Smithsonian Book of Books, “permanently on the shelf, but definitely out of circulation.”

~~~~~

Source: The Joy of Publishing by Nat Bodian.

History behind six Hollywood logos

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This is an interesting post about the history behind these Hollywood logos:

• DreamWorks SKG: boy on the moon
• MGM: Leo the lion
• 20th Century Fox: the spotlight
• Paramount: the mountain
• Warner Bros.: the shield
• Columbia Pictures: the torch lady

Read about their history here.

The WORLD’s most famous people with disabilities

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This is another comprehensive list of famous people dealing with disabilities (I didn’t know Walt Disney suffered with dyslexia!).  It has categories such as:

• Actors
• Athletes
• Heroes of the armed forces
• Mathematicians
• Politicians
• Recording artists
• and more!

[Celebrities and Famous People with Disabilities in History]

Political graveyard: Politicians with physical disabilites

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This is a web site about U.S. political history and cemeteries. It is the Internet’s most comprehensive source for American political biography, listing 180,022 politicians, living and dead.  It arranged alphabetically and covers federal officials, state officeholders and candidates, federal/state judges and mayors.

Very interesting.

[ThePoliticalGraveyard]

Celebrity doodles like David Cassidy, Micky Dolenz and Jay Leno [photos]

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

First, a bit of trivia:

STEPHEN KING: To beneift the Back Alley Theatre, King sent in a doodle that sold at auction for $225–the only known piece of published “art” by King, who readily admitted, in an introduction to a book collection of J. K. Potter’s photographs, that he’s no artist.
The cartoon shows a sun setting behind a tombstone bearing the words PLANET EARTH/SOMEONE HIT THE WRONG BUTTON/JULY 11, 1992/RIP.  The sketch is dated June 23, 1987.

From Stephen King from A to Z: An Encyclopedia of His Life and Work, p36

*****

See the celebrity doodles auctioned on ebay this year including

• David Cassidy
• Dom Deluise
• Ellen DeGeneres
• Jay Leno
• Jeff Bridges
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus
• Mickey Dolenz
• Sela Ward
• and a lot more!

Source

Adolf Hitler’s stolen gold bookmarks recovered [photos]

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A gold bookmark once belonging to Adolf Hitler, which was stolen in 2002 from a Spanish auction house was recovered by ICE.

SEATTLE – A Romanian national who attempted to sell an 18-carat gold bookmark that reportedly belonged to Adolf Hitler, will make his initial appearance in federal court at 1:30 this afternoon charged with sale or receipt of stolen goods.

Christian Popescu, 37, of Kenmore, Wash., was arrested by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) outside a Bellevue, Wash., Starbucks Coffee yesterday, after setting up a clandestine meeting to negotiate the sale of the stolen bookmark, which allegedly had been given to Hitler as a gift by his longtime mistress, Eva Braun, in 1943.

Considered an historical artifact, the bookmark was set to be auctioned in October 2002, by a Madrid, Spain auction house when it was stolen by three eastern European thieves, along with several pieces of jewelry. The bookmark is believed to have previously belonged to the family of Wilhelm Keitel, an armed forces chief under Hitler, who was executed following the Nuremberg trials.

While most of the other items stolen in the robbery have been recovered, this is the first time in six years that the bookmark has surfaced. It is believed Braun gave Hitler the bookmark as consolation for his army’s defeat in the battle of Stalingrad, as it is inscribed in part with the following words from Braun: “My Adolf, don’t worry…(the defeat)… was only an inconvenience that will not break your certainty of victory.”

According to the criminal complaint filed in connection with the case, ICE agents received a tip this past summer that someone was interested in selling the bookmark. During his attempt to sell the item, Popescu acknowledged that the bookmark was stolen in Spain and agreed to a $100,000 price.

A conviction for sale or receipt of stolen goods is punishable by up to ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Read the full story >>> [ Source ]

Gold bookmark photos:

Photos given by:

Lorie Dankers
Public Affairs & Spokeswoman
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington
(O) 206.553.0353
(C) 206.793.8755
(F) 206.553.0493
lorie.dankers@dhs.gov

Titanic survivor auctions items to clear debt

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Millvina Dean, now 96, the last survivor of the tragic sinking is selling mementos of the disaster to help pay her nursing home fees.

Dean is selling the suitcase and other Titanic mementos like rare prints of the Titanic and letters from the Titanic relief fund offering her mother one pound, seven shillings and sixpence a week in compensation.   They are expected to go for the equivalent of about $6,200 at an auction of Titanic memorabilia tomorrow in Devizes in western England.

Dean has lived at Woodlands Ridge, a private nursing home in the souther city of Southampton–Titanics home port–since she broke her hip two years ago.  “I am not able to live in my home anymore,” Dean was quoted as telling the Southern Daily Echo newspaper.  “I am selling it all now because I have to pay these nursing home fees.”

A spokesperson for Woodlands Ridge said rooms at the nursing home cost about $1,200 to $1,850 a week.

Related stories

• http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Titanic-Survivor-Millvina-Dean-Selling-Mementoes-To-Pay-For-Her-Nursing-Home-Costs/Article/200810315122031?f=rss
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7672987.stm
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3202976/Last-Titanic-survivor-sells-mementoes.html
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1583133/Titanic-survivor%27s-secrets-revealed.html
• http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=4574522&page=1

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Humble beginnings of major reference books

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I love reading the history of now well-known books.  It gives me hope that my magazine, Perspectives, has the potential of sitting on the shelves next to the great Reader’s Digest.  The first issue of Reader’s Digest appeared on February 5, 1922, and had a white paper stock cover with 62 pages of print (no illustrations or advertisements).

A drawing of a Beardsley-type woman writing on a scroll with a huge pen which adorned the cover was an ornament the printer happened to have in his case.  Inside, the opening article was “How to Keep Young Mentally.”

The humble beginnings of major reference books such as Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, Encyclopedia Brittanica, Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, National Geographic Magazine, Reader’s Digest, and Roget’s International Thesaurus can be found here.

*****

Click here to read more about my magazine.

Toughest quiz on earth

Do you pride yourself on knowing about historical figures and their accomplishments?  Then take the ‘Master Biographer’ challenge.