Evidently somebody thought this was a good idea. In the late 19th century, lamplighters used this “giraffe bicycle” to travel between gas streetlamps. If you could keep your balance you’d be sitting more than 7 feet above the ground. Watch the road.
Technology
Road Warriors
If you think your commute is bad, check out the Kinetic Sculpture Race, held every Memorial Day weekend in Ferndale, Calif. In three days, participants must cover 42 miles of mud, sand, water, gravel and pavement in vehicles powered only by people (“and friendly extraterrestrials”). Arrows, anchors and grappling hooks are strictly disallowed.
The race’s slogan is “adults having fun so children want to get older.”
Unfortunate URLs
The Internet is a great way to publicize your business, but be careful in choosing a Web address:
- Who Represents, a database of artists and agents, found itself with the URL whorepresents.com.
- Therapist Finder, a network for therapists, is at therapistfinder.com.
- Experts Exchange, a programmers’ site, is at expertsexchange.com.
- Pen Island, a seller of custom pens, is at penisland.net.
Amazingly, all four of these are still using these addresses. Maybe the novelty value brings in some customers.
Boom!
Sonic booms can get on your nerves.
NASA and the FAA learned this the hard way in 1964, when their testing over Oklahoma City caused eight booms per day for six months. It led to 15,000 complaints and a class action lawsuit — which they lost.
The idea seems to have caught Israel’s attention — last October it started using F-16 jet planes to create sonic booms over the Gaza Strip, to bug the Palestinians. Extra points for creativity, I guess.
I Do
On Aug. 10, 2003, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko became the first person to be married in space.
He was in the international space station, 240 miles over New Zealand, when he married Ekaterina Dmitrieva, who was in Texas.
“The Fuels of the Future”
“With the prospect of coal becoming as rare as the dodo itself, the world, we are told by scientists, may still regard with complacency the failure of our ordinary carbon supply. The natural gases and oils of the world will provide the human race with combustible material for untold ages — such at least is the opinion of those who are best informed on the subject.”
— Glasgow Herald, quoted in Scientific American Supplement No. 717, Sept. 28, 1889
Rocket Mail
In 1959, the U.S. Postal Service tried delivering mail with a cruise missile — they replaced its warhead with two mail containers and fired it from Virginia to Florida.
When it hit the target, the postmaster general announced a new era. “Before man reaches the moon,” he said, “mail will be delivered within hours from New York to California, to Britain, to India or Australia by guided missiles. We stand on the threshold of rocket mail.”
But the program went no further. “The post office has a great charm at one point of our lives,” wrote Jane Austen. “When you have lived to my age, you will begin to think letters are never worth going through the rain for.”
Penthouse, Please
Record skyscrapers through history:
- 1873 – Equitable Life Building, New York: 142 feet (6 floors)
- 1876 – St. Pancras Chambers, London: 269 feet (9 floors)
- 1889 – Auditorium Building, Chicago: 269 feet (17 floors)
- 1890 – New York World Building, New York: 309 feet (20 floors)
- 1894 – Manhattan Life Insurance Building, New York: 348 feet (18 floors)
- 1895 – Milwaukee City Hall, Milwaukee: 350 feet (9 floors)
- 1899 – Park Row Building, New York: 391 feet (30 floors)
- 1908 – Singer Building, New York, 612 feet (47 floors)
- 1909 – Met Life Tower, New York, 700 feet (50 floors)
- 1913 – Woolworth Building, New York: 792 feet (57 floors)
- 1930 – Chrysler Building, New York: 925 feet (77 floors)
- 1931 – Empire State Building, New York: 1,250 feet (102 floors)
- 1972 – World Trade Center, New York: 1,368 feet (110 floors)
- 1974 – Sears Tower, Chicago: 1,451 feet (108 floors)
- 2003 – Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan: 1,474 feet (101 floors)
Try, Try Again
The Russians’ “tsar tank” (above) didn’t work in World War I, and their “winged tank” (below) didn’t work in World War II.
No matter. “Failure is not falling down,” runs an Asian proverb, “but refusing to get up.”
Clinton and E-Mail
Bill Clinton sent only two e-mails during his entire eight-year term in office. One was to test the system; the other was to congratulate John Glenn on his return to space.
Both are archived in Clinton’s presidential library.