I've seen these WWI color photos in a couple spots now (most recently at Point2Point).

I linked to a similar collection, along with links to descriptions of the color photography ("autochrome") process back at the end of March.

As I pointed out in that post, lest we think of the autochrome process as "primitive," the method of taking three greyscale pictures with three colored filters and then projecting the images through colored lenses is essentially the same technique used by the Mars Exploration Rovers to create color images today.

Posted by: JohnL at 08:33 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 97 words, total size 1 kb.

My boys have been busy building again. First, a tribute to the original Star Wars trilogy. My second son's custom X-Wing:

First son's renderings of Luke (center) and his ill-fated sidekicks Dack (left) and Biggs (right):

(More in the extended entry).

more...

Posted by: JohnL at 09:15 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 101 words, total size 1 kb.

This week's airplane is the De Havilland Sea Vixen:

As will become apparent in future servings of aircraft cheesecake, I find the twin-boom tail an attractive feature on airplanes.

Posted by: JohnL at 08:47 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 39 words, total size 1 kb.

Last week we again had only a plurality winner, so this week I will force you to choose a winner - no split decisions here, as I will cast any required tie-breaking vote.

I present for your consideration the two lovely ladies of Buck Rogers In the 25th Century, Princess Ardala (played by Pamela Hensley) and Wilma Deering (played by Erin Grey).

This week's poll has a place near and dear in my heart, as a debate I had with a certain Llamabutcher over the relative aesthetic merits of these two attractive women's characters in the silly TV show led to this site becoming the center of the SF Babe universe (at least according to Google).

As always, vote early and often.

Update: Welcome, Vodkapundit readers! Make yourselves at home, and please, Vote Ardala!

Results (Posted 14 October 2004):

SF Babes - Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
	Princess Ardala 67 Votes 47%
	Wilma Deering 75 Votes 53%

But Texas has 34 electoral votes to Virginia's measley little 13, so Ardala wins. Ha! Take that, Llamas!

Posted by: JohnL at 10:34 PM | Comments (23) | Add Comment
Post contains 182 words, total size 2 kb.

Via Mixolydian Mode, I found this essay at Outer Life relating the imposition of a parent's musical tastes upon the child. I had a very similar experience with imprinting, at least to the extent that my parents also fed me a steady diet of Neil Diamond, John Denver, and the Kingston Trio (and Chad Mitchell, Herb Alpert, the Smothers Brothers, and others) when I was a child. Says Outer Life:

"I inherited a musical legacy from my parents that I've spent most of my life trying, without success, to forget. . . .

"Along the way, my father threw in heaping helpings of Jesus Christ Superstar every year during the Lent/Easter season. That rock opera imprinted itself in my brain to such an extent that today, thirty years later, I can still sing every word of every song. Many's the time I wondered why -- why! -- we couldn't have played more wholesome fare like Bach's Mass in B Minor or Handel's Messiah, works I never heard until well into my adulthood. . . ."

Unlike Mr. Outer Life, I still honestly enjoy the music of my parents (especially Neil Diamond) as reminders of a happy childhood that included very cool road trips to Colorado and Canada. I guess I differ from him in that my parents also loved classical music, so I got the "wholesome fare" in addition to the lighter fare. (And believe me, I got lots of unwholesome fare, as my parents' broad tastes extended to - <retch> - country and western music).

As I've written before, throughout much of college I studied classical music (I was a performance major in Organ), so I think I have the "street cred" to be a music snob. But I've found life's a lot more fun if I drop the snobbery (except as to country music -- blecch).

To Mr. Outer Life, who felt embarrassed to admit that the first album he bought was Kiss Alive, I'm proud to admit mine was Moving Pictures by Rush. To be fair, though, I was pretty sheltered growing up and didn't have to buy my "first" album, which was Spirits Having Flown by the BeeGees. (Hey, nothing's wrong with learning to be an intelligent consumer of pop culture. And part of learning is making mistakes!)

But even with a "mistake" like the BeeGees or Kiss, the music can still have meaning. And one of my standards for "good" music is whether it is meaningful. Of course that's a very subjective standard. Can you develop an objective standard for whether music is "good?" You can argue objectively whether music is complex in composition (based on harmonic rhythm, counterpoint, orchestration, etc.) or difficult to perform (any Trio Sonata for Organ by Bach). Do those factors make music good? Or just difficult?

Certainly, complex music can be a sublime experience when properly performed. Yet a simple folk melody can evoke tears, too.

And I think those emotional responses are driven largely by the circumstances of the musical experience. One piece of music can become so intimately entwined with all of the other senses involved in an experience that its quality - or lack thereof - is distorted by those subjective factors.

Let's stay with the BeeGees as an example. You hear a clip of the BeeGees' "Too Much Heaven." What comes to your mind?

For me, it is a vivid memory of my friend Craig's garage in fifth grade. A dance party, with about three girls and three or four guys, lightly chaperoned by Craig's parents. The music was mostly disco (I only remember the theme from SWAT and the BeeGees). Craig had a disco ball and the garage was lit with red lights. That night, I experienced my first open-mouth kiss with a girl. The soundtrack to that kiss? "Too Much Heaven." Was it great music? I don't think it compares to anything by Bach. But it helped crystallize one memory that I'm sure will stick with me well into my senility someday. Your mileage may vary on this particular song, but I bet you can think of a similar one.

Examples? Comments? Please share.

Posted by: JohnL at 09:41 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 694 words, total size 5 kb.

The 66th Bonfire of the Vanities is up at the Llamabutchers and yours truly is prominently featured.

Posted by: JohnL at 11:12 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 29 words, total size 1 kb.

A few of my favorite things about the X-Prize coverage:

Google's Logo yesterday:

Xeni Jardin's link-filled report at BoingBoing.

Alan Boyle's writeup at MSNBC.

Miles O'Brien's ever-enthusiastic entry at CNN.

Posted by: JohnL at 09:20 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 34 words, total size 1 kb.

OK. Why would anyone in their right mind rely on the opinion of a mere celebrity to determine whom they would vote for? It seems that the vast majority of Hollywood celebrities support Kerry.

But Gene Expression gives us a list of the celebs supporting the President.

Posted by: JohnL at 11:08 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 53 words, total size 1 kb.

My blogchild Owlish has been hitting his stride recently, with a wide range of posts covering the MSM's selective publication habits, tatoos, Klingons for Kerry, and gay life in Texas.

Check his blog out, and leave a comment to let him know he's doing a good job.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:48 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 51 words, total size 1 kb.

The bloggers' micro-charity network Strengthen the Good has identified its third candidate for your consideration: Debi Faris And The Garden Of Angels.

Debi's charity, the Garden of Angels, works to provide names and legal, honorable burials for abandoned newborns. This charity also supports "Baby Moses" laws that allow mothers who don't want their children to leave them at a safe place (such as a fire station or hospital emergency room) without criminal liability for placement in foster or adoptive homes, as an alternative to abandonment or infanticide.

Please read the overview at Strengthen the Good, click through to Garden of Angels, and consider whether this charity is worth some small donation. Thanks.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:38 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 120 words, total size 1 kb.

Looks like I've evolved from an "Adorable Rodent" into a "Marauding Marsupial" in the Truth Laid Bear Ecosystem at some point over the last few days. I've seen a huge surge of searches for "Rutan+SpaceShipTwo" leading to my site since late September. Over the last week I've been averaging well over 100 hits a day (236 so far today!)

We'll see if this is just a temporary spike or a new plateau. In any case, I'll enjoy this higher state of being as a belated blogday present.

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read this. I enjoy writing it, so I'm glad some of y'all enjoy reading it!

Posted by: JohnL at 10:22 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 112 words, total size 1 kb.

While I would love to liveblog this morning's attempt to win the Ansari X-Prize, I'm not getting a very good connection to the stream at work this morning, and in any case have too much work to spend the morning watching and blogging. You can get the video stream here.

Best wishes to all involved for a safe flight.

Update 0946 CDT (yeah, I know I'm not liveblogging): Brian Binnie is the pilot for today's attempt.

Update 0950 CDT: Separation! . . . Rocket firing . . .

Update 0951CDT: Engine burnout. No rolls like last time.

Update 0955CDT: Looks like they won! Unofficially 368,000 feet.

Update 1007CDT: SpaceShipOne should be landing in less than 5 minutes. Rand Simberg has been liveblogging this morning, and is sure to have good follow-up and commentary.

Update 1013CDT: Safe landing! Welcome to the era of commercial space flight!

Update 1021CDT: Rand Simberg earlier pointed out the other space-related historical significance of this date.

Posted by: JohnL at 09:23 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 166 words, total size 1 kb.

This week's entry is much more of an "interesting" than a "beautiful" plane. In fact, the plane is pretty homely but attractive in that odd way that only straight-wing jet fighters can be. The F-89 Scorpion:

This fighter, aside from having an interesting profile and decent performance for a non-swept-wing jet, was the USAF's first interceptor to be armed with air-to-air nuclear rockets.

You heard me right. In the 1950s, the Air Force developed an air-to-air missile (the AIR-2 Genie) with a nuclear warhead designed to take out an entire squadron of Russian bombers at a time.

The F-89 carries the distinction of being the first (and only) plane ever to fire and detonate a nuclear-armed air-to-air missile, on 19 July 1957. I've looked for pictures of the test-firing but can't find any.

Earlier Aircraft Cheesecake entries here, here, and here.

Update: One of Jonah Goldberg's "military guys" is holding an ugly plane contest. Check it out.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:57 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 165 words, total size 2 kb.

David Boxenhorn points out the obvious: imminent war with Iran. War with or without the US. Would Israel really stand by and wait for the vaporization of Tel Aviv?

Yet another reason I'm voting for Bush, even with my many misgivings about the Republican Party platform. I have more confidence that the President will do what is necessary to secure the nuclear facilities in Iran before it is too late. I am just worried that Bush is constrained by election politics from doing the right thing now.

Just a few nights ago, John Kerry said with one breath: "Iran is moving toward nuclear weapons and the world is more dangerous."

But just a few minutes later, he explained what he would have done differently than Bush: "I think the United States should have offered the opportunity to provide the nuclear fuel, test them, see whether or not they were actually looking for it for peaceful purposes. If they weren't willing to work a deal, then we could have put sanctions together. The president did nothing."

I know that Bush understands we are at war. A war that was declared on us. And I know that he will not surrender to the Islamists. And I am certain that he will not arm the enemy and call it a gesture of good will. I can't say the same about John Kerry.

Posted by: JohnL at 08:34 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 233 words, total size 1 kb.

Just in case I neglect to blog tonight, today is the one-year anniversary of my foray into blogging.

A big thank you to my readers. I know I have a few regulars, and I appreciate the fact that you take the time to read my random thoughts.

Much appreciation especially to Pixy Misa for providing the server space, domain, and Movable Type installation, and to Ted "Rocket Jones" for inviting me to join the Munuvians (yay!) after I had spent six months at Blogspot.

Thanks!

Posted by: JohnL at 08:59 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 87 words, total size 1 kb.

Lileks is on fire this morning. Best wrapup I've seen so far.

(Virginia Postrel was watching the debate after oral surgery; a novel way to either deaden or compound the pain).

Instapundit has all the links that are fit to print, and Stephen Green is handing out way-inflated grades to both candidates.

Update: Steve the Llamabutcher was liveblogging the debate with his own inimitable style. Click and scroll.

Posted by: JohnL at 08:42 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 72 words, total size 1 kb.