Via Cory Doctorow’s bouncy little journal, and apropos a conversation at the Carpark Cafe in Campberwell on Sunday,* Molly Wright Steenson’s “Postal services and pneumatic tubes” provides some fascinating factlets about the pneumatic tube postal system built under Paris in the 1850s. And the comments are almost as interesting.
Apparently, there was a pneumatic postal service operating in Prague until 2007.
[* Given RFC 1149, I was disappointed to discover that there is apparently no Internet Standard for IP over pneumatic tubes. Yet.]
First conceived in 1670, the notion of dirigibles made of metal has given rise to a number of curious failures over the last three centuries. This New Scientist article details a number of them, including the uniquely successful example: the US Navy’s “Tin Bubble”, an aluminium-plated airship capable of making 110km/h and lifting 5 tonnes, which flew for 2,250 hours over ten years of active service before being scrapped in 1941.
And indeed, a lady should be rather flattered to have a bustle named after her good self. Alas, I fear it eclipses my poor effort at our Year’s End Ball in such extreme degree, I shall be forced to hide from society for simply an age, lest I endure ridicule and taunts. My bustle cannot compare with such a magnificent specimen as this!
For who can deny the very wise words of the noble poet Admiral Squidingtoe, with his charming translation from the original Latin?
“Ode to the Bustle (or, My Darling’s Buttocks are Pleasingly Round)”
(Original work by Patrician Mixus Alotus)
The courtiers like big bustles and they cannot lie.
No gentleman doth deny.
When a fair maiden strolls in with a diminutive waist
And a bustle in your face
Well, our annual new members’ welcome event, hosted this year by that inimitable knight of the realm Frederick Chook (and ably assisted by the lovely Lady Sha), has passed with some measure of success. We were particularly pleased to hear Flecker’s “Golden Journey” and Swinburne’s “Time and Life” read so masterfully by our esteemed guests from Sydney, the Gill-Chambers. Following a lecture and magic lantern show on the aesthetic movement, liquid refreshments and a range of hors d’œuvre were served, and good conversation enjoyed by all.
The welcome event was followed by our annual revel “Euchronia”, which featured a variety of musical, prestidigitational and terpsichorean performances, and carried on into the small hours. A number of electrocalotypes depicting the events and the attendees are available.
If you’d like to access the antipodeanleague.org feed, rss urls are handily located to the right, and a LiveJournal feed has been created here for any members or guests who’d like to add the feed to their friends lists. Enjoy!
Yesterday’s MX featured the wonderfully Steamy (and environmentally sound) Scarab Car. I suspect, much as Fusion may always be the energy source of tomorrow (and to quote its designer), the Scarab car “could be on the road in 10 years”, and that will forever remain the case.
Turns out that “Scarab” has graced elegant, uchronian road transport in the past.
Bunbury-based coiler Peter Terren has just been featured in The Age. His spectacular skill at producing these wonderfully anachronistic electrical displays is on show on his website.
Stuff I’ve come across recently.
Finally, could a movie based on the Monopoly game possibly be watchable? What if it was a Steamy, futuristic epic directed by Riddley Scott? Probably not.
According to an article in last year’s LA Times, spats are making a comeback.
These shoe-protectors cum fashion statements apparently date back to the 17th century, but had their big moment in late Victorian times. Once they became an essential status item in the ’20s and ’30s they lost fashion currency, and fell into disuse.
Now, specialist spat makers have begun to reappear, and major designers like Chanel, Givenchy and Prada are offering spat-influenced footwear. Genteel and unusual, the spat would make a welcome re-addition to the wardrobes of the smart and stylish.