Moving Logo Promo

Sweet! One of my fellow bloggers at a popular online community created a "moving logo" for me...

This chap from London has created many interesting videos and promos for bloggers, as he enjoys experimenting with different graphics and formats.

There have been three clips in the process so far, and perhaps I'll add it to my header when he claims to be "finished" LOL...

He started with a transparent, spinning Earth... moved on to create a logo, then added sound as he brought the logo out of a Shuttle payload bay. So cool!

Thank you Polybore! :)

Gummynauts

And now, for no particular reason, a picture of astronauts eating gummy worms in weightlessness.


That's cool. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Doofy Acronymns

Working for the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics is such a serious and mind-engaging affair, you might think it would render you unable to find time for aimless whimsy in your life. You'd be wrong.

I found this bloke at the HSCA who appears to have time on his hands. Wait, wait, wait... a Canadian-Hawaiian Astronomer and Computer Engineer who is also a hockey player?? Where have you been all my life. If he's a Trekkie, I think my head might explode.

But seriously, he compiled an amazingly entertaining list of Dumb Or Overly Forced Astronomical Acronyms (DOOFAAS) and you're missing something really special if you don't go read it.

I sampled a select few that jumped out at my funny bone:

01. ARMPIT... ASKAP Rotation Measure & Polarisation InvestigaTion
02. BICEP... Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization
03. BLISS... Background-Limited Infrared-Submillimeter Spectrograph
04. CHIPS... Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer
05. COYOTES... Coordinated Observations of Young ObjecTs from Earthbound Sites
06. DONUT... Direct Observation of NU Tau
07. DUPLEX... DUst-Prominent Longitudinally-EXtended
08. EGG... Evaporating Gaseous Globule
09. EGRET... Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope
10. FIFI... Far Infrared Fabry-perot Interferometer
11. FOXES... Fluctuating Optical & X-ray Emitting Sources
12. GENIUS... GErmanium liquid NItrogen Underground Setup
13. HIS/HERS... High Intensity Spectrograph / High Energy Range Spectrometer
14. HO-BAGS... Hubble Observatory BAckground Galaxy Survey
15. JIVE... Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe
16. KISS... KPNO International Spectroscopic Survey
17. LACE... Low power Atmospheric Compensation Experiment
18. MACHO... MAssive Compact Halo Objects
19. MARTINI... Multi-Aperture Real Time Image NormalIzation system
20. NOT... Nordic Optical Telescope
21. OGLE... Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment
22. OWL... Overwhelmingly Large Telescope
23. PRESTO... Project to Re-Engineer Space Telescope Observing
24. QUEST... Q & U Extra-galactic Sub-mm Telescope
25. RATTS... Run Away T-Tauri Stars
26. SAURON... Spectroscopic Areal Unit for Research on Optical Nebulae
27. SEQUOIA... SEcond QUabbin Optical Imaging Array
28. THUMPER... Two HUndred Micron PhotometER
29. WOMBAT... Wavelength-Oriented Microwave Background Analysis Team
30. YORIC... Yet another Optimal Resolution Image Constructor (Alas...)

It gets better (or worse, depending on how you look at it); other fun DOOFAAS include Boomerangs, Castles, Flamingoes, Squids, Polar Bears, Aztecs, Spartans. Our esteemed List Master declares "TANGOinPARIS" the overall WINNER… and I am inclined to agree.

He invites all who visit to "Mail me yours today!" and I'm quite confident my tasteful and intelligent readers have stores of these on hand. So please check out the full list and send Mr. P the DOOFAAS your particular working environment cherishes.

Speaking of SpaceSuits

This is an advertisement from a 1963 issue of Warren Publications' Screen Thrills Illustrated, which mostly covered "classic" (I guess today we would say "cult") films from the 1920-1940s. Printing only periodically between 1962 and 1965, they published only ten issues… but what gems. O my.

They featured the Captain Company offering a GENUINE OFFICIAL U.S. GOVERNMENT SURPLUS SPACE SUIT!

Yes, because the government created space suits for their dozen or so astronauts in the early 1960s and happened to have hundreds left over.

But who cares. 7 pounds! 8 Zippers! Elastic Air Compression Chambers! Air hoses and airlock valves! What, no helmet that dispenses Tang? Ah well, what do you expect for $7.95.

In 1963, that was about the modern equivalent of 50 bucks. They claim it cost over $180 to create… well, that would be over a thousand dollars in today's terms.

It's a shame this company no longer exists, because I think this would sell very well today. Sadly, we now have to go to cheap costume outlets to get our astronaut fix.

Just don't go to hockey games and dance like a doof just to get on the JumboTron. It's been done.