1960s

Odd ad for an outfit to be worn while eating a midnight snack — I like this odd print ad from the 1960s for a line of clothing called "living loungerie." Odd ad for midnight snack outfit... [Tags: 1960s, midnight snack]

Backyard Lambo Of The Day: The Missouri Olds Toronado-fied Countach [Backyard Lambo Of The Day] — Nobody seems sick of this series after one repetition, so we're back for more homebuilt Lamborghini glory today! What we've got here is not a Fieroborghini; much like the Indiana Turbo Buick Countach, this Fauxborghini is based on a tube-frame chassis. The best part? The powerplant: a torque-brute 425 engine and front-wheel-drive transaxle from a 1960s Oldsmobile Toronado, installed amidships just like a real Lambo! Unlike a real Lambo, it's a 3-speed automatic, but gear selection is pretty much irrelevant with an Olds big-block. Sure, maybe the handling and braking isn't up to Lamborghini standards, but acceleration and top speed... [Tags: 1960s, acceleration, brute, chassis, countach]

Happy Bloody Mary Day! — Today New York City will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Bloody Mary, the brunch-staple that originated in Manhattan by a famous French bartender named Ferdinand Petiot in 1933. To celebrate New York State and local officials have proclaimed today Bloody Mary Day and will honor Petiot's granddaughter with a citation and a Bloody Mary toast at 11:30 a.m. in Times Square (1552 Broadway). The celebration will continue throughout the year with Bloody-themed events, but today is the day you can allegedly drink in public as Georgi Vodka and Murphy’s Famous Bloody Mary Mix "will be handing out Bloody Marys... [Tags: 1930s, 1960s, 75th anniversary, ambassador east hotel in chicago, bartender]

The (Mostly) True Story of Helvetica [Voices] — By Paul Shaw, Contributing Writer, AIGA There is a commonly held belief that Helvetica is the signage typeface of the New York City subway system, a belief reinforced by Helvetica, Gary Hustwit’s popular 2007 documentary about the typeface. But it is not true—or rather, it is only somewhat true. Helvetica is the official typeface of the MTA today, but it was not the typeface specified by Unimark International when it created a new signage system at the end of the 1960s. Why was Helvetica not chosen originally? What was chosen in its place? Why is Helvetica used now, and when... [Tags: 1960s, belief that, changeover, city subway system, documentary]

Get Schooled in Subway Font History — If you want The (Mostly) True Story of Helvetica and the New York City Subway, AIGA has it for you in a sprawling (and well-worth-reading) 9-page article on New York's subway fonts. They state that while it's commonly believed that Helvetica is the official typeface of the New York City subway system, that hasn't always been the case (of course, since the font just celebrated its 50th anniversary, and the first underground transit system in New York City was built in the late 1800s). While "Helvetica is the official typeface of the MTA today, it was not the typeface specified... [Tags: 1960s, 50th anniversary, aiga, city subway system, late 1800s]

cheesethegreat writes "The Royal Society of Chemistry has sharply criticized the 'catastrophically' falling standards for UK school exams in the sciences. The RSC had 1,300 highly achieving students take an exam made up of questions taken from the last 50 years. The students averaged an appalling 15% on 'hard' numerical questions set in the 1960s, but managing much higher marks on the more recent 'soft' non-numerical questions. This latest report has garnered mainstream media attention. The RSC has also created a petition on the UK Prime Minister's official website, calling for urgent intervention to halt the slide, which has garnered... [Tags: 1960s, allegations, exam results, mainstream media attention, numerical questions]

Robert S. McElvaine: "Everyday People" Turns Forty -- and the "Good Sixties" Triumph — Makes no difference what group I'm in . . . Different strokes for different folks . . . -- Sylvester Stewart (1968) The legacy of the 1960s has been a matter of contention, with an uncertain outcome, for the past four decades. That contest was finally settled on November 4 of this year, when the "Good Sixties" triumphed over the "Bad Sixties." With the election of Barack Obama as president, the Civil Rights Movement, which represented the best of the Sixties quest for freedom, has prevailed over the Selfish Rights Movement, which embodied the worst of the decade's freedom... [Tags: 1960s, american civil war, barack obama, best of the sixties, billboard hot 100]

Robert Creamer: I Am Thankful for Those Who Have the "Cathedral Builder's Mentality" — I first got involved in politics in the 1960s as part of the Civil Rights movement. At the time, we thought that in short order progressive values would triumph -- that our careers would be spent passing initiatives like universal health care, creating a truly democratic society where every kid had unlimited educational and economic opportunity, and ending war as a means of resolving human disputes. Instead, it turned out that most of us have spent the last four decades defending progressive values and institutions against a resurgent right-wing that energized and re-mobilized the forces of privilege and the... [Tags: 1960s, barack obama, civil rights movement, corks, democratic society]

The geek gadget gift guide: Nixie Watch — Why you must have it: If you remember the 1960s, you'll recall those bulky neon display tubes once used in calculators. The Nixie Watch from Cathode Corner uses those quaint tubes to display the time on a large, not-so-stylish but certainly retro-geeky wristwatch. That's right -- a device for telling the current time that doesn't also make calls, receive messages, or play music. The Nixie Watch is a fashion statement that puts you squarely in the era of the original Star Trek series and the groundbreaking film 2001: A Space Odyssey.Your chances of having the first one on the block:... [Tags: 1960s, 2001 a space odyssey, cathode, council member, current time]

LaGuardia and JFK Airports No Fun, Survey Says — In a recent Zagat survey, 10,000 frequent fliers ranked LaGuardia the worst out of America's 27 biggest airports, the Daily News reports. JFK didn't fare much better either, coming in fourth from the bottom of the list. Zagat Buzz has more on the survey, which declared Tampa the best airport in the land. Speaking to the News on her way through LaGuardia, 40-year-old Jennifer Thayer of Colorado Springs griped that the airport "seems like it's out of the 1960s. There's not a whole lot of choices." Never mind how a place without choices resembles the swinging sixties; what bothers Thayer... [Tags: 1960s, ambrosia, biggest airports, bottom of the list, buzz]

We All Live in a Flying Submarine [Military Tech] — For some military operations, you need a submarine. For others, you need a plane. But what if you need both? DARPA has a plan for that - a submarine that flies. Or a plane that submerges, depending on your point of view. Currently, the flying sub only exists as a set of design objectives issued by DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). They want a craft that can arrive at a target via air, hang out for a while as surface boat, and disappear stealthily beneath the waves. According to the official request for proposals: "By combining the... [Tags: 1960s, aircraft design, darpa, decades, defense advanced research projects agency]

A full pinky retraction — Try doing this at home. A wave of pinky amputations by Korean officials in the late 1960s led to pinky removals being outlawed by the IHF. Retracting the pinky in this fashion is the only remaining option.The Russians are rumoured to be attempting to use gene therapy to breed girls with naturally smaller pinkies - but we'll have to wait at least 14 years to see the result of the programme... [Tags: 1960s, amputations, fashion, gene therapy, girls]

Ayers Says Connection To Obama 'Exaggerated' — Former 1960s radical William Ayers says his past relationship with President-elect Barack Obama was often exaggerated during Obama's bid for the White House. Ayers, a University of Illinois at Chicago professor, addressed students at Monmouth College in west-central Illinois Thursday. He says references to him as a "terrorist" bothered him. Obama was scrutinized for his ties to Ayers, who was a founder of the radical Weather Underground and once served on a school reform board with the president-elect. Ayers says he maintained a low profile during the election. But has since appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" and spoken... [Tags: 1960s, abc, barack obama, good morning america, low profile]

Anne Hill: Listening at the Gate of Dreams — Everyone dreams, whether we remember them or not. Many of us do remember our dreams, and think about them until they slowly fade away like a radio signal as we drive out of range. Sometimes a vivid dream comes like a bolt of lightning, and we reverberate from the shock of it for days, weeks, even years. Sometimes the same dream comes so frequently that we learn to anticipate it as we fall asleep, and the dream itself becomes an invitation for us to explore its meaning. Why do some dreams fade into obscurity while others stay lit with neon... [Tags: 1960s, bolt of lightning, dreamwork, friend or foe, gate of dreams]

Obituary: Mike Gowers — Obituary: Journalist, cultural critic and television researcher in the golden broadcasting years of the 1960s... [Tags: 1960s, journalist, obituary, researcher, television]

I Always Wear High Heels to Visit the Moon [Pulp Art] — Over at Spanish pulp blog El Desván del Abuelito, they've got some terrific covers from what look like early 1960s science fiction comics from a series called "El Mundo Futuro" (world of the future). This is one of my favorites, whose title roughly translated means "It will happen tomorrow!" I love the man in his suit and the lady in high heels, hiking on the moon or perhaps an alien planet. And then, they come upon this scary alien statue! We've got a couple more amazing moments from this comic below. Here's a great one with a psychedelic Saturn... [Tags: 1960s, alien planet, alien statue, beast, fiera]

Ancient IBM Drive Rescues Apollo Moon Data — A Sydney computer society supplied the 1960s magnetic tape drive to retrieve archives for moon development plans.... [Tags: 1960s, apollo moon, computer society, magnetic tape drive, moon data]

Batman: The Brave And The Bold Premieres Tonight [Batman: The Brave And The Bold] — The spirit of Bob Haney lives on with tonight's premiere of Batman: The Brave And The Bold on Cartoon Network at 8pm. The new show teams up a happier, gentler Batman than we've seen for awhile with a host of lesser-known DC Comics superheroes, including Green Arrow, Aquaman and Plastic Man, starting tonight with the Blue Beetle. From what we've seen of the show so far, it looks like it's going to be a pitched somewhere between the 1960s Adam West show and the Bruce Timm Justice League Unlimited series - which is to say, exactly the kind of Batman... [Tags: 1960s, adam west, aquaman, batman, beetle]

The "Father of the Internet" Would Rather You Call Him "Vint" — Engineer and innovator Vinton Cerf insists he wasn't the only person instrumental in creating the Internet, which is true but also modest: He wrote the communication protocol for Arpanet (the “original” Internet developed by the Defense Department in the late 1960s) and codesigned the protocols (known as TCP/IP—Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) that allow computers everywhere to communicate with each other.... [Tags: 1960s, arpanet, cerf, communication protocol, engineer]