From the Higgins Archives: Is this Art?

While going through the archive, I found a lot of pictures that had notation attached to them. Some of them listed original publication dates, or the names of the people in the picture. Others had lengthy indexes that directed you to other boxes or files for related source material. This picture (of a Worcester Pressed Steel Airplane Crankshaft, one of their most heavily manufactured goods) had a well-worn half-sheet of paper clipped to it. It read:


"A scientific engineering achievement, a masterpiece of machine design to all who comprehend, expressing efficiency of function and harmony of proportion deeper than surface beauty. Is this art?"

Who knows who wrote this ode to airplane parts, and why.

Super Sunday Hat

I love the yarn I used to make this super floppy, super big beret. It's called "It's a Wrap" - Felty strands of nylon wrapped in wool to give it a handspun texture. I've been looking forward to getting to a better yarn store to get my hands on some real handspun goodies, but the beautiful colors and soft feel of this yarn will tide me over till I get the good stuff.


Remember my last attempt at making a hat for myself? I kind of went the opposite direction with it this time. Instead of making a far too-tight version of things, I inaccurately resized this great pattern and made things a slightly on the mammoth side. It's ok though, I really like the way this guy came out, big and comfy.

It's a Super Sunday Hat because I made it mostly during the Superbowl. I actually surprised myself by whipping this out in two days. Sometimes when I'm working on a project, I get so invested in it that I crank it out at an alarming speed.

The game yesterday, by the by, was pretty amazing. Every touchdown that that Saints scored in that second half was so dramatic and exciting. Even a casual football watcher like myself couldn't help but get sucked in by those amazing plays. Good for you Saints. Make Peyton Manning sorry he ever starred in those horrible commercials with Donald Trump.

Dinosaur Progeny

Cassowaries are 5.5 foot tall flightless birds. They are native to Australia and New Guinea. They have 5 inch long dagger-like claws on their middle toes, and are known for their powerful kick. Cassowaries also communicate with low frequency calls, barely on the edge of human hearing. This is believed to be related to the large, spongy crests on the tops of their heads. In the wild, Cassowaries live to be 40-50 years old. They are also basically monsters.

Caturday XIII

One of my favorite books when I was little was "Millions of Cats" by Wanda Gag. I always wanted to get a kitten of my own, but was never allowed to have one. My family are staunch dog people, and my dad was very much against owning any animal that pooped in the house. I also think my dad had developed anti-cat sentiment in his childhood due to "Timmy", an elderly cat who liked to relieve himself in people's shoes.

So, in lieu of having a my kitty, I satisfied my feline fascination by reading lots of picture books about them. "Millions of Cats" was written in 1928, and is currently the oldest American picture book still in print. I love the illustrations and the unique, hand written typography.
The story is about an elderly couple who decide to get a cat to combat the loneliness of their twilight years. The old man heads off to this magical hillside where "hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats" live, just waiting for somebody to come take them home. Once he gets there, the old man has a really really hard time choosing between all these cats. Each one is cuter than the next. So he figures, "What the hey, I'll just bring them all home with me!"
This obviously becomes problematic when he gets back to his little cottage and his wife is all "WTF, I just wanted one cat! Not billions and trillions!" The dawning realization that they could never afford to house and feed all these animals forces the couple to make a choice. To narrow down the field, they ask the cats "Which one of you is the prettiest?" This causes an epic cat fight that forces the man and woman to flee into their house. When the dust settles and yowling ceases, they go outside to discover that all the cats had destroyed each other in the heated battle. The only one to survive is a skinny cat with low self esteem, who did not consider herself pretty and was thus ignored. The couple take her in, and under their care, she blossoms into the ideal pet.

The moral of the story? If you're modest, you won't get destroyed by your ravenous peers. Also, don't let cat's know you're judging them on appearance because they will destroy each other. Also Also, the importance of being decisive!

From the Higgins Archives: Melrose Rare Diamond 12

Even though I finished my internship at the Higgs a couple weeks ago, I'd still like to do a few more posts with some interesting archive pictures. I found this picture to be quite the little enigma:

Through scanning a crazy number of pictures from bland sales conferences, I managed to become quite familiar with the faces in this picture. Theses men are the proud sales reps of Worcester Pressed Steel. On the surface this seems to be a nice little photo shoot of them hopping off the "special" bus.

When you flip over the picture, you get this cryptic sales pitch in big block letters:

"Can you recognize your lion distributor salesman in this photograph?

Melrose:

Advertising is now on 30 buses in your area- over 320,000 of your customers see these cards each day. Cash in on mass exposure with Melrose rare diamond 12....TODAY!"

Melrose Rare Diamond 12 is a blended whiskey. I'm not really sure what the point of all this is. What is being sold? Ad space? Shares in a whiskey company? Bus rides? Steel? Photo shoots? And what exactly is the "Lion Brand?"

Alex Chiu's Immortality Device

Thanks to the awesomeness that is the wayback machine, I've been enjoying reading some vintage Alexchiu.com, circa May 2001.

Alex Chiu is the inventor of the magnetic rings, an "immortality device" that stops aging by "enhancing" your body's electrical current. He thinks his invention is going to change the entire world, and compares himself to Thomas Edison, Tesla, and Einstein. He also submits a serious challenge to anybody who doubts the awesomeness of his eternal life invention:

"Who can come up with a health device better than my immortality device? I owe that person 1 million dollars. Print out this page for proof."

Alex also provides a hefty list of testimonies from his valued customers, so you know this product has to work. My favorite one:

"Hey man, it is me the kid that kept calling you and emailin you some nasty shit. Hey, you were RIGHT about the magnets!! Guess what, PLEASE, I am beggin you to forgive my nosiness. Before, I weighed 178 pounds. I had a 21% body fat. Now, I have more muscle, a smaller gut, and I lost 16 pounds in like 1 or 2 weeks. I could not do a situp. Now I can. I could do one pull up. Now I could do 7. Before, I could run 1 miles tops. TODAY, my fourth time I worked out in the last six days. I RAN 3 MILES NON STOP!!!!!! I SWARE TO GOD. I SLEEP BETTER!!! IN SOCCER, I AM SO FAST NOW THAT I OVERUN THE BALL OFTEN!!!!! I SWARE, I THINK IT IS YOUR INVENTION. I CANT CALL YOU BECAUSE I AM FORBIDDEN, MY PARENTS HATE YOUR SITE. BUT I TELL YOU, I WENT FROM NOT BEING ABLE TO RUN 1 MILES TO BE ABLE TO RUN 3 MILES IN JUST A WEEK!!!!!!!! I KNOW YOU THINK IM TRYING TO BOTHER YOU BUT IM NOT!! I SWARE TO GOD HOPE TO DIE IM NOT. INFACT, CAN YOU EMAIL ME BACK ON HOW I CAN WRITE A TESTIMONIAL? IM SO SORRY MAN. THESE MAGNETS WORK, IF THEY DONT THAT MEANS IM SUPERMAN. "

He's gonna live forever!

Since Alex Chiu has made himself immortal with this new innovation, he has some very wise, enlightened opinions about they way people should live, politics, and science. These opinions are best demonstrated with ridiculous comics:

Thanks to immortality rings, humans will stay young and beautiful FOREVER. That means that overpopulation is a real risk. Thank goodness that people will simply grow to resent their deathless children and their horrible money grubbing ways. Annoying peers are the ultimate birth control! The last panel of this one is a priceless work of art.
In the realm of world politics, Alex envisions a post WW3 world where global powers consolidate into a giant mega corporation. Alex explains the rationale of corporatizing the global government quite succinctly; " The military leaders, the presidents, the powerful government leaders will all become extremely rich. This is the attractiveness of this corporation idea. Hey! You are not selling your country. You are just saving the world by making peace!"


And in the realm of science, Alex Chiu has gone so far as to define a "New Darwinism" for the 21st century. ("Full of animated GIFs and wonderful graphics. A must read for all scientists!"- Alex Chiu) He covers topics like the reason for different sexes, how animals think, and how chemicals form a cell. Not surprisingly, most of his theories are built around the principles of magnetism.
This one is from the lesson "Why can animals crawl, swim, or walk?"

He also discusses "What causes gravity?", "Black hole is not magic" and "How to build a UFO?"

Also "A good theory on how to build a teleportation machine. Not yet built or tested" and "A cure for AIDS or Herpes?"

I've sure used a lot of quotation marks in this post, huh?

PS- I noticed that the specific links I provided actually just take you right to the homepage. Apologies, I don't think the wayback machine can do it any other way.

Wednesday Dinner #14- Lost Party Treats

Last night we had people over for the lost premiere, and it was so much fun! The episode was really good, so it's kind of hard to face that this is the last season. On the other hand, it's very exciting to know that we may know all the answers soon. Or maybe not. I dunno.

The party also gave everybody the opportunity to share some Lost themed treats.


Mike and Julie brought these. The peanut butter was a cool touch (especially the "serves two" on the label). A good reminder that Claire still exists and that finding out what she's been doing is important!

Sara made these! Aren't they amazing? Little Oceanic 815's crashed into delicious cupcakes.

Paul and I supplied the Dharma Beer and Mr. Cluck's.



(Kindly ignore the batter smears on the tub plz...) We got the recipe for the chicken, weirdly enough, out of "The Google Story", a book about the search engine company. It was in a chapter about the cafeteria at the company and the awesome chef that worked there. Apparently, this chuggin recipe was beloved by Elvis.