Miss Cellania's Liked Blog Posts

Nikon Small World in Motion 2016

The sixth annual Nikon Small World in Motion Photomicrography Competition has concluded, and the winners have been announced. The contest is the video arm of the Nikon Small World Microphotography competition. Since 2011, Nikon has recognized video taken at the microscopic scale in addition to still microphotography. The competition encompasses both video and time-lapse photography. Continue reading to see the winners' videos and many wonderful honorable mentions.

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How the Soviets Revolutionized Wristwatches

Of course there are folks who collect vintage wristwatches from the Soviet Union. They are a challenge to collect, and have a fascinating story. Dashiell Oatman-Stanford is one of those collectors, who tells us how the Soviets got serious about the wristwatch business -with the help of the United States. Two bankrupt American watch companies, the Dueber-Hampden Watch Company and the Ansonia Clock Company, went out of business but were bought up by the USSR in 1930.

Three Soviets traveled to Canton, Ohio, where these two companies were based, to pack up all the manufacturing equipment, leftover watch movements, and pieces to ship back to Russia. Twenty-one former Dueber-Hampden employees from Ohio sailed with them to help set up this new facility in Russia, which was aptly named the First State Watch Factory. They began making 7- and 15-jewel pocket-watch movements made with parts from Ohio. The Soviets changed all the lettering to Cyrillic to signify their new ownership, and there were slight design modifications, all very minor. Starting around 1935, they began taking ownership a bit more, using different insignias that said “First State Watch Factory,” and as the years progressed, they began customizing their pocket watches to be a bit more Soviet-specific.

When World War II began, the demand for watches was unprecedented, and the Soviets went into overdrive. By the end of the 1940s, the Soviets had nearly a dozen factories producing watches, though some had been relocated during the war. They were still using the same movement designs from Ohio, but putting them into new forms.

These original so-called “Type-1” movements are still available today, and I have several dozen in my collection in various dial patterns. A wristwatch Type-1 variant was also produced, though a pocket-watch movement on your wrist makes for an enormous wristwatch, and it was very outdated with a noisy ticking sound. The old joke was that during the war, the Germans didn’t have to seek out any Soviets—all they had to do was listen for their ticking watches and shoot in that direction.

There's more to the story of the Soviet wristwatch industry, and an interesting lesson on mechanical vs. quartz watches, at Collectors Weekly.


Sleepy Skunk's 2016 Movie Trailer Mashup

Every year, Sleepy Skunk does a masterful mix of the biggest movies of the year, and today he debuted the video for 2016. There are 282 films here, represented by clips from their trailers (where the best visuals are always found) fused into a coherent collage. 

(YouTube link)

Very few people have seen all 282 of the movies this year, but there's always home video and TV, so you'll catch up eventually. A list of the films used can be found at Sleepy Skunk's Tumblr, although it's a work in progress and isn't yet complete.


Pigs in Space: Alien Parody

The Muppets have produced the first episode of the Muppet Show sketch Pigs in Space in over twenty years! Join Captain Link Hogthrob, First Mate Piggy, and Dr. Julius Strangepork of the spaceship Swinetrek. In this episode, they encounter a strange and dangerous alien.

(YouTube link)

How bizarre is this? When Hogthrob gives birth to an alien being who bursts from his chest, Piggy wants to throw a baby shower. How like her. -via Laughing Squid


Blown Away

VAQ-136 was deployed on the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk some years ago. As an EA-6B Prowler took off, a crew member failed to hang on well enough to withstand the exhaust. NavyGuy101 explained the details here.

(YouTube link)

Then a commenter who had witnessed the incident explained that the guy did this on purpose for the film. He was transferring out and left with a bang. The reddit thread has plenty of Navy personnel ready to tell us more.  


Cosmo Kramer and Jim Ignatowski: Same Character, Different Eras

The Reverend Jim Ignatowski was a crazy recurring character who became a regular on the TV series Taxi (1978-1983). Cosmo Kramer was the goofy neighbor on the TV show Seinfeld (1989–1998). While we are used to sitcoms employing the same types of characters from show to show, there are clues that Kramer was more than a reasonable facsimile of Ignatowski. He was more like a reincarnation.   

Both characters would be lost without friends. They need constant prompting and assistance with activities of basic living. Both men are kept in check by the lead character. In Jim’s case, it’s Alex Reiger, for Kramer, it’s Jerry Seinfeld. The straight men, played by Judd Hirsh and Jerry Seinfeld respectively, provide the “regular guy” voice of reason for the cool wacky guy operating in the midst of an ensemble cast.

Last but not least, both Jim Ignatowski and Cosmo Kramer play off a female character who is a big sister type. She’s hardworking, responsible and feisty–and her name just happens to be Elaine. Elaine Nardo and Elaine Bennis live in different New York worlds, but both serve the same purpose for two “crazy awesome” guys who share striking similarities.

Oh, but there are plenty of other similarities between the two characters that might surprise you, at TVOM.


If All Cats Meowed at the Same Time

A student asked teacher Joe Howard a fairly nonsensical question. How loud would it be if all of the cats in the world meowed at the same time? Turns out it would be pretty darn loud, if the cats were close enough to the person listening.  

(YouTube link)

What's really notable here is that Howard is a true teacher. Even though he didn't have an answer ready for the student, and he wasn't all that versed in the science of sound, he searched for an answer. He read up on the physics of sound, redesigned the question to a form that could be answered, and did the math to achieve that answer. And then he made a video explaining his process, which is entertaining even if you don't quite understand the math (like me). Sure, it's hard to compare yowling cats to whale song because cats don't like water. But you might learn a few things about sound by watching this, and even more about the tenacity of someone looking for an answer. That has to be an inspiration for his students. -via Boing Boing


The Hoverboard Snowplow

Some young folks get a hoverboard, fall a few times, and give up on it. Others not only master the technique, but put the device to use in their household chores. Like turning yourself into a mechanized snowplow. Those things are more powerful than I had imagined!  

(YouTube link)

This kid was out cleaning the driveway in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, on Sunday. If the snow were the tiniest bit wet or slick, this wouldn't work out so well. -via Digg


Spider Named for Sorting Hat

A real-world fantastic beast has joined the wizarding world of JK Rowling. A new species of spider discovered in the forests of Karnataka in India has been given the name Eriovixia gryffindori because it resembles the Sorting Hat used to classify Hogwarts students in the world of Harry Potter. According to legend, the hat originally belonged to Godric Gryffindor. The spider is described in the Indian Journal of Arachnology.

This uniquely shaped spider derives its name from the fabulous, sentient magical artifact,  the sorting hat, owned by the (fictitious) medieval wizard Godric Gryffindor, one of the four  founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and stemming from the powerful  imagination of Ms. J. K. Rowling, wordsmith extraordinaire, as presented in her beloved series of  books,  featuring  everyone’s  favorite  boy-wizard,  Harry  Potter.  An  ode  from  the  authors,  for magic lost, and found, in an effort to draw attention to the fascinating, but oft overlooked world of invertebrates, and their secret lives.

You might guess that the three scientists who authored the paper all grew up reading the Harry Potter books. Unless you are schooled in arachnology jargon, this is the only paragraph in the entire paper you'll understand. But the picture pretty much says it all. Rowling herself was honored by the news.  -via Uproxx


Where Rudolph's Nose Came From

Where did Rudolph get that shiny red nose? From his father, of course! But the less said about that, the better. Especially around Donner. This video is SFW, but not for children, unless you want to do some explaining.

(YouTube link)

This strange little side plot to Rudolph's story comes from XVP Comedy. -Thanks, Patrick!


Christine McConnell's Gingerbread Castle

Christine McConnell spent around 250 hours building this beautiful gingerbread castle for Food.com. Every part of it (with the exception of the lights) is edible, meaning there are no plastic or wooden supports inside. I imagine the supports are made of sturdier-than-usual gingerbread or chocolate. Even the window glass is made of sugar!   



See pictures of the build process and closeups of the details at imgur. -via Boing Boing

Also see previous projects from Christine McConnell.


A Grammar Nazi in the Galactic Empire

If this were real, that young whippersnapper would be force choked so fast it'd make your head spin. The Emperor does not like to be corrected. Today's comic from Randall Munroe at xkcd appears to combine two of our recent posts, the one about how Star Wars could have been worse, and the one about how to deal with grammar nazis. Check the xkcd link for the bonus hover text.  


What Real Polynesians Want You To Know About Moana

Over the past twenty years, Disney has gone to ever-greater lengths to make their animated movies more inclusive of cultures from around the world, with varying results. Their newest feature Moana is a box office and critical hit, but how well does it represent Polynesian culture? Buzzfeed talked to 21 people with Polynesian backgrounds about their overall impressions, their favorite and least-favorite things about the film, and what they would change about it.   

Gina: I think the movie was a good (albeit watered-down) representation of our culture. I’m very pleased that they used Polynesian voice actors, and that they did so much research so as to get the cultural pieces correct. I thought it would bother me to see all the cultures combined, but it didn’t. The Samoan headdress with the Tongan traditional clothing and Hawaiian dancing and Tahitian drumming… didn’t bother me at all. I know there were many things that were technically incorrect, but I felt that overall, it was a good and positive representation of our culture. And I LOVE that I can buy my daughter a doll that not only looks similar to her, but that is actually from her culture.

Katey: I loved the movie overall. It was beautiful. But Disney (and everyone else) must know that it’s impossible to make a movie that is a complete representation of a culture. It doesn’t mean that they did a bad job. They did a wonderful job. It just means that the job isn’t done!

While the overall reception was positive, there are some fine points in Moana that the interviewees did not agree on, and some ways they want to set the record straight. You can read the entire article here.   


Five Times Movie Characters Ignored a Simple Solution

A simple solution to a problem does not make an exciting movie. It's when the protagonist takes the long way around in series of challenges on a journey to triumph that we are hooked. It may be only after we sleep on it, or even much later that we realize the best solution to the movie conflict would have been much simpler. The most obvious example is when we realized that Frodo could have just rode on one of Gandalf's Eagles to Mt. Doom. You can see it in many films, like the 1993 film Free Willy.   

In Free Willy, a boy who has been separated from his parents befriends a killer whale that has been separated from his pod. Initially, the owner of the water park where Willy is held plan to make use of this bond to make money off of the titular whale, which falls through when he becomes irritated by the audience members and refuses to perform. As a result, the owner chooses to sabotage Willy’s tank so that he can collect the insurance payment from the whale’s death but is found out by the boy and his foster parents.

Instead of something reasonable such as calling either the police or the insurance company about the attempted insurance fraud, the boy and his parents decide to steal the whale, bring him to a marina, and then get him to escape into the sea. In real life, this would have been remarkably foolish, both because of the stress of the journey to such animals and because of the legal complications in which the whale rescuers would have gotten into because while they might have had a good cause, there was no doubt that they had broken the law as well.

Read four other examples of simple solutions in movies you may never have considered at Unreality.


Evil Supervillain Lair or Fire Station?

This imposing ultramodern design does resemble the headquarters of an evil empire, but it's a fire station in Italy. Where I live, building anything against a rock face is just asking to be crushed by falling rock, and a glass building even more so, but this is a natural cliff instead of a carved mountain. The building is in Margreid, in the Alto Adige/Suedtirol region of northern Italy. The design is from the firm  Bergmeister Wolf.

The architects were approached in 2010 to build a fire station in a cliff of sheer rock. The reason such a challenging spot was chosen was to conserve the small amount of arable land in the area. “The building could have been placed on a normal lot,” explained the architects, “but the community decided to build the fire station into the rock, saving valuable land for use as agriculture.”

There are caverns behind the rock face, which were enlarged and reinforced with concrete for use by the fire department. You can explore the site via Google Street View. -via reddit


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