The very splashy lunch boxes from decades past

Aside June 3, 2022 Markozen.com Art

They don’t make lunch boxes, also known as lunch kits, like they did back in the sixties and seventies. The tin boxes which had a thermos inside were adorned with pop culture icons, TV shows, movies, sports heroes, historical events and many other topical subject matter.

The vintage lunch box as we think of it today was born in 1935. That’s when a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, company called Geuder, Paeschke, and Frey licensed the likeness of a new cartoon character named Mickey Mouse for the top of its oblong-shaped “Lunch Kit.” The metal container was sealed at the top with a loop of stiff wire that doubled as a handle.

From that moment on, placing a character of any sort on the side of a lunch box (or lunchbox, as it is often spelled) became the standard for the lunch boxes children toted to school. Before long, the signal a lunch box sent to your peers could mark you as a cool kid or a dork, depending on if your PB&J was packed inside a Mercury’s Space capsule Container (Universal, 1962) or a Evel Knievel lunch box (Aladdin, 1973).

Modern lunch boxes just don’t have the same eye-catching appeal of the old boxes. The lunch boxes today are more practical and cater to contemporary technology.

A three decker.

The majestic old lunch boxes:

The interior of a vintage box.

When buying a Roy Rogers and Dale Evans box on the right, included was a toy horse. It goes by the name Trigger.

Not sure where this one came from.

All Sizes of Dogs Romping at the Little Dog Park

Aside June 2, 2022 Markozen.com Animals

This dog park is just too funny.

Godzilla, 1954 – sipping a nice cup of tea during filming break

Aside June 1, 2022June 1, 2022 Markozen.com Monsters, Movies

Cool Icebergs

Aside June 1, 2022 Markozen.com Nature

And not so cool iceberg.

Awesome Iceberg brings tourists to tiny Newfoundland town

Aside June 1, 2022 Markozen.com Nature

A new natural attraction drew scores of tourists to a small town of around 500 people in Newfoundland, Canada. A massive iceberg appeared near the coast, and photographers dashed to the area to snap pictures.
The Southern shore highway close to Ferryland filled with traffic over the weekend as tourists came to view the impressive iceberg. The Newfoundland coast area is commonly called iceberg alley due to the ice blocks that float down during the spring from the Arctic, but this particular huge iceberg might stay right where it is, according to Ferryland Mayor Adrian Kavanagh, who told The Canadian Press it’s the biggest one he’s ever seen in the area.

Usually just the tip of an iceberg is visible, with the rest of the mass beneath the waves, so many run aground when they float near the coast. Local Don Costello told CBC News the iceberg probably won’t be moving unless winds keep blowing because it’s stuck on shallow ground. He estimated the iceberg’s highest point is roughly 150 feet.
The BBC reported more icebergs are drifting through iceberg alley than is normal for this point in the year, with hundreds of icebergs in the Atlantic. This particular iceberg has moved around some and broken apart, but it appears it’ll stick around for a while.

I think the name of the town “Ferryland” should also cause tourism.

Odds and Ends

Aside May 31, 2022 Markozen.com Funny

Will this fruit-picking robot transform agriculture?

Aside May 31, 2022 Markozen.com Agriculture, Technology

Creating a machine that can perform the delicate work of picking an apple is tricky – and farmworkers say it could be a benefit.

Robots can do a lot. They build cars in factories. They sort goods in Amazon warehouses. Robotic dogs can, allegedly and a little creepily, make us safer by patrolling our streets. But there are some things robots still cannot do – things that sound quite basic in comparison. Like picking an apple from a tree.

“It’s a simple thing” for humans, says robotics researcher Joe Davidson. “You and I, we could close our eyes, reach into the tree. We could feel around, touch it, and say ‘hey, that’s an apple and the stem’s up here’. Pull, twist. We could do all that without even looking.”

Creating a robotic implement that can simply pick an apple and drop it into a bin without damaging it is a multimillion-dollar effort that has been decades in the making. Teams around the world have tried various approaches. Some have developed vacuum systems to suck fruit off trees. Davidson and his colleagues turned to the human hand for inspiration. They began their efforts by observing professional fruit pickers, and are now working to replicate their skilled movements with robotic fingers.

Their work could help to transform agriculture, turning fruit-picking – a backbreaking, time-consuming human task – into one that’s speedy and easier on farm workers.

These efforts have gained impetus recently as researchers point to the worsening conditions for farm workers amid the climate crisis, including extreme heat and wildfire smoke, and also a shortage of workers in the wake of the pandemic. The technology could lead to better working conditions and worker safety. But that outcome depends on how robots are deployed in fields, farm workers’ organizations say.

The Mona Lisa about to be Restored

Aside May 30, 2022 Markozen.com Art

Whitby Dracula gathering smashes vampire fancy dress world record

Aside May 29, 2022May 29, 2022 Markozen.com Monsters

Whitby vampire record — Image caption,The event was organised to mark 125 years since Bram Stoker’s Dracula’s was published in 1897

A new world record has been set for the largest gathering of people dressed as vampires.

A total of 1,369 people attended Whitby Abbey in North Yorkshire dressed as the ghoulish character, breaking the previous record of 1,039 set in 2011.

The event was organised to mark 125 years since Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula was published in 1897.

The Gothic horror tale was said to have been inspired by Stoker’s trip to Whitby in 1890.

Man dressed as a vampire — Image caption,The previous record stood at 1,039 vampires set at Doswell in Virginia, USA in 2011

Out for the count

The event was organised by English Heritage as part of a year of special events in honour of the book.

The previous record stood at 1,039 vampires set at Doswell in Virginia, USA in 2011.

The “vampires” needed to stand together in the same place for five minutes to break the record.

And shortly after 21:00 BST on Thursday, confirmation came that the record had been broken.

Ahead of the record attempt, the abbey’s manager Mark Williamson said the event had attracted interest from all over the world, including participants who had travelled to the North Yorkshire resort from California.

The event also featured music from local band Westernra and a performance of excerpts of Dracula by theatre group Time Will Tell.

People dressed as vampires — There was a lot at stake for participants in the record attempt

World record Dracula event — The event had strict rules – including an official costume

Jack Brookbank, official adjudicator for Guinness World Records, said: “We are quite strict about the official costume that is allowed.

“It must include black shoes, black trousers or dress, waistcoat, shirt, black cape or collared overcoat and fangs on the top set of teeth.”

Jack Brookbank, official adjudicator for Guinness World Records, said: “We are quite strict about the official costume that is allowed.

“It must include black shoes, black trousers or dress, waistcoat, shirt, black cape or collared overcoat and fangs on the top set of teeth.”

Hundreds of Dracula fans descend on Whitby every year, with many visitors to the resort asking where Dracula’s grave is located, forgetting he is a fictional character.

Last year, staff at St Mary’s Church posted a note on the door telling tourists not to ask.

Sign on church door — Staff at St Mary’s Church posted this note on the door

The house where Bram Stoker stayed, and where much of the book was researched, still stands and a plaque marks his time there.

BBC

The Deepest Metro Stations in The World

Aside May 27, 2022 Markozen.com Transportation

The average metro train doesn’t go beyond a few stories underground. But sometimes the geology and the geography of the region, such as the presence of rivers and swamps, forces engineers to go deep underground. The Arsenalna, a station on Kiev Metro’s Sviatoshynsko-Brovarska Line, is such an exception.

Arsenalna station is located 105.5 meters below the surface, making it the deepest metro station in the world. If you made a vertical shaft on earth as deep, you could drop the entire Statue of Liberty into it and still have more than twelve meters of headroom left to drop other stuff. To board a subway train at this station, commuters have to take two seemingly never-ending escalators to the bottom. The journey takes up to five minutes.

The mother of all escalators.

The world’s second deepest metro station is located on Saint Petersburg Metro, which is one of the deepest metro systems in the world and the deepest by the average depth of all the stations. The system’s deepest station, Admiralteyskaya, is located 86 meters below ground. The Saint Petersburg Metro including Admiralteyskaya has some of the longest escalators in the world, exceeding 130 meters.

Damn those Russians build massive sturdy escalators!

The former Soviet Union has some of the most deepest underground metros in the world. Park Pobedy, located on the Moscow Metro, lies 84 meters underground, warranting it the third position in the ‘list of deepest metro stations in the world’. The Moscow Metro is also the deepest in Russia, having a maximum depth of 97 meters.

Like many Russian subway stations, Park Pobedy is beautifully decorated.

Yet another contender to the title of the world’s deepest metro system is Pyongyang Metro, in North Korea’s secretive capital city, with tracks lying at over 110 meters underground. Commuters ride down to the Puhŭng Station—one of only two that foreigners are allowed entry— on escalators accompanied by the “sound of revolutionary anthems booming from antique loudspeakers.” The journey takes nearly four minutes.

Because of its depth, the metro stations double as bomb shelters, with blast doors in place at hallways. The metro is so deep that the temperature of the platform remains a constant 18°C all year.