Month: October 2017

The Hollywood Gorilla Men

Markozen.com Movies, Offbeat

I stumbled upon this blog that is all about guys that put on ape and gorilla suits and performed in Hollywood movies in decages past. Hey, Markozen blog is about ‘Everything and Anything Anytime,’ and this is ‘Anything’ in spades.

The blog talks about the men that wore these simian costumes. It really gets into the ventilation of the suits and other arcane science regarding ape suits. They get technical regarding shoulder pads in the gorilla suits, material used, how the head and hands fit etc.  Ultimately they come back to ventilation. It must get hot in those thick furry getup’s. Totally crazy stuff.

The photos on the site are cool and quite hilarious. Some examples below.

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This may have been from ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’ TV show.

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The Man With Two Brains

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King Kong Escapes

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?

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Number 1 priority, VENTILATION!!

http://www.hollywoodgorillamen.com

 

Glass Elevator and Window Washer

Markozen.com Winnipeg

Fort Garry Place building complex in Winnipeg.

The Glass Elevator

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View from the top

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A Window Washer hanging from a rope 200 feet above the street.

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These guys have guts.

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Sitting on a wooden plank.

More Winterpeg:

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Not winter here yet. It’s just a matter of weeks away though.

 

Now This is a Beach

Markozen.com Geography

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The Namib is a coastal desert in southern Africa. The name Namib is of Nama origin and means “vast place”. According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Namibia, and South Africa, extending southward from the Carunjamba River in Angola, through Namibia and to the Olifants River in Western Cape, South Africa.

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The desert geology consists of sand seas near the coast, while gravel plains and scattered mountain outcrops occur further inland. The sand dunes, some of which are 300 metres (980 ft) high and span 32 kilometres (20 mi) long, are the second largest in the world after the Badain Jaran Desert dunes in China.

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Winds coming from the Atlantic Ocean are pressed down by hot air from the east; their humidity thus forms clouds and fog. Morning fogs coming from the ocean and pushing inwards into the desert are a regular phenomenon along the coast, and much of the life cycle of animals and plants in the Namib relies on these fogs as the main source of water.

Fog rolling in

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Amazing dog with ridiculously long tongue breaks world record

Markozen.com Animals, Offbeat

An incredible canine with a ridiculously long tongue has entered the Guinness World Record books.

Mochi “Mo” Rickert, an eight-year-old St. Bernard from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, has set a new record with a tongue measuring a whopping 18.58 cm (7.31 in) in length.

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Her owner says she is regularly stopped in the street by strangers keen to grab a photo with the slobbery pet.

“It still does not seem real! Mochi is so humble, she never brags or boasts but I know that she is as proud of her new record as we are,” said her owner Carla Rickert.

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“It feels truly amazing to be a part of the Guinness World Records: Amazing Animals book!  We are so grateful for the opportunity to make others smile.”

She adopted Mochi, who she describes as “a resilient, happy-go-lucky dog, with a big personality” from a rescue organisation six years ago.

Mo enjoys dressing up in costumes, having her picture taken, spending time with her family, or snacking on sweet potatoes, she added.

However, being a record breaker comes with its own unique challenges, with Mochi facing some breathing difficulties and sometimes needing help to pick things up off the floor.

Craig Glenday, editor-in-chief of Guinness World Records: Amazing Animals, said he was “very excited” about Mochi entering the book.

 

Amazing Space Photos from a few years ago

Markozen.com Space

On September 22, 2010, with the departure of the Expedition 23 crew, Colonel Douglas H. Wheelock assumed command of the International Space Station and the Expedition 25 crew.  He has been tweeting pictures to his followers since he arrived at the space station. We thought that we should put some of them together as a tribute to him and the whole ISS crew.

Discovery launch September, 2010.

 

Soyuz 23S, “Olympus” docked to the nadir side of the Space Station. This will be our ride back home to planet Earth when our work is complete here. Thought I would tweet this view out of the Cupola, as we were passing over the majestic snow-capped Caucuses. The sun rising and reflecting off the Caspian Sea (9-26-2010). Space Photo: NASA, Astronaut Wheelock.

 

Western Europe

 

 

 

 

Patagonia, southern tip of South America

 

Egypt, Israel, Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea.

 

Our ‘Progress 39P’ unmanned resupply spaceship on final approach for docking this past Sunday. It was laden with food, fuel, spare parts, and much needed supplies for our orbiting outpost. The greatest gift was just inside the hatch…some bags of fresh fruit and vegetables. Such a wonderful treat after 3 months of eating out of tubes and plastic pouches (9-15-2010)! Space Photo: NASA, Astronaut Wheelock.

 

Ayers Rock, Australia.  This beast is 2.2 miles long and 1.4 miles wide.

 

The ‘Cupola’, attached to the nadir side of the Space Station, gives a panoramic view of our beautiful planet. Cosmonaut Fyodor took this picture from the window of the Russian Docking Compartment (Airlock). Here I am in the Cupola preparing a camera for our late evening Hurricane Earl flyover…trying to capture the moment…(8-31-2010). Space Photo: NASA, Astronaut Wheelock.

The Private Homes of Moscow

Markozen.com Buildings, Cities

The vast majority of Muscovite’s live in apartment buildings.  In the Soviet era private property was sacrilegious. It was a communal society from top to bottom.  Under the later Soviet regimes people could apply to live in the Dachas – country houses just outside the city.  To get into a Dacha one had to be extremely pro-regime and wait on a very long list. It was a type of reward.

Almost a 100 percent of Moscow residents live in high-rise apartment buildings.

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Because there are so many tall apartment buildings, Moscow has more elevator lifts than any other city in the world.

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How about living in the suburbs? Some people do indeed live at their dachas (and in that case these are more like country houses), but there is no such thing as suburbia in the “American way of thinking”. People do not move to suburbs when they start families and want to raise kids. People want to have an apartment in the city as the permanent home and dacha as a summer-house for weekends. And those people, who do live outside of the city, but work in the center are heavily penalized for the opportunity to have fresh air by sitting in traffic jams on their way to and from work for many hours every day.

So, 99% of Russians, living in the city do live in apartments. To have a private house within the city limits is super rare. There are just several townhouse communities in Moscow and all of them were established in the recent decade or two.*

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They all have big fences surrounding the houses.

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This looks like a 4 car garage.

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The Dachas are not really lined on streets, in the North American sense, but narrow back lanes.

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Some have really impressive fences and gates.

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Back in the city, strange parking arrangement. Going over a curb.

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Source: Google maps, *understandrussia.com