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Reposted by Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey

babylon4.bsky.social @babylon4.bsky.social · 2h

So apparently the beloved comics convention of wearing your underwear on the outside to show that you are an alien being with mighty powers dates to... *1901.*

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Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey @beamjockey.bsky.social · 8h

Ron Miller could even show you Fred Thompson's patent for his Moon ship.

See a PDF of U.S. Patent 725,509 (it's expired, so if you want, you can build your own Moon ride):

patentimages.storage.googleapis.com

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Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey @beamjockey.bsky.social · 9h

Tireless historian of space art Ron Miller, no mean artist himself, could tell you all about the #TripToTheMoon ride, writing for io9, back in 2015.

In 1901, you could pay 50 cents to ride an airship to the Moon

The passengers wait eagerly in the ornate lobby of the enormous spaceport. Soon, a signal indicates that their spaceship is ready for boarding. As they wait, special displays instruct them about how t...

web.archive.org

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Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey @beamjockey.bsky.social · 9h

From the New York Public Library. Thank their Digital Collections folks, who have kindly made Frederic Thompson's photo of 1901's "A Trip to the Moon" amusement ride available.

digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/a57a97...

Gorge. A Trip to the Moon - NYPL Digital Collections

NYPL's Digital Collections is a living database featuring prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts, video, and more unique research materials.

digitalcollections.nypl.org

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Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey @beamjockey.bsky.social · 9h

1901. Buffalo. Come ride "A Trip to the Moon."

Board a winged airship. Let Fred Thompson and Skip Dundy convey you from Niagara Falls to the Kingdom of the Moon. Meet the tiny Selenites.

Students of amusement rides, & of Moon travel pop culture, know of this, but this photo is new to me.

Photo with handwritten caption reading: "C - Gorga; A Trip to the Moon; Copyright 1901 by Frederic Thompson." It depicts several persons within a cave-like tunnel, a theatrical set representing an underground city on the Moon. Actors representing one tall man and six little men are dressed in costumes including boots, tights, baggy shorts, tight-fitting shirts, and shiny helmets. From The New York Public Library Digital Collections. The NYPL entitles this photo "Gorge - A Trip to the Moon," but I think Thompson's handwriting looks more like "Gorga." I could be wrong.

Image of caption text, accompanying the photo I have also attached to this tweet. Both the photo, which is in the public domain, and the caption have been provided by the New York Public Library Digital Collection. Quoting: For the 1901 Buffalo Pan-American exposition, [Frederic] Thompson first teamed up with rival showman Elmer "Skip" Dundy. It was here that they first took their visitors on "A Trip to the Moon". Thompson & Dundy’s amusement was strongly inspired by H.G. Wells' science fiction story "The First Men in the Moon", which had been published in serial form in Cosmopolitan some months before the Pan-American fair. The amusement would later become the cornerstone of Luna Park. "A Trip to the Moon" used modern technologies such as electricity, illumination and hydraulics to give its customers the sensation of flying in a winged ship. Upon arrival, visitors could actually participate in the theatrical setting depicting the Kingdom of the Man in the Moon. There, they viewed a musical show and the monstrous "Moon Calf", sampled green cheese offered by the midget population, and shopped in a lunar marketplace.

Detail from photo of "A Trip to the Moon" by Frederic Thompson. This version has been enhanced by contrast stretching. It depicts several persons within a cave-like tunnel, a theatrical set representing an underground city on the Moon. Actors representing one tall man and six little men are dressed in costumes including boots, tights, baggy shorts, tight-fitting shirts, and shiny helmets. From The New York Public Library Digital Collections. The NYPL entitles this photo "Gorge - A Trip to the Moon."

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Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey @beamjockey.bsky.social · 10h

Band Books Week? In @joachimboaz.bsky.social's replies I brought up A M Lightner's THE GALACTIC TROUBADOURS (teenage folksingers in space) the other day.

Cover art: Charles Molina.

Cover of the novel THE GALACTIC TROUBADOURS by A. M. Lightner. It depicts three musicians, a man with a banjo, another man with a guitar, and a woman with a guitar. They are on a raised platform singing to an audience, of which six people are visible. In the background is a sleek metal spaceship with several fins, standing on its tail. Near the top of the page is a broad orange squiggle, which I confess I don't understand, so I'll call it an abstract glyph. Published by W. W. Norton and Company in 1965.

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Reposted by Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey

Joachim Boaz @joachimboaz.bsky.social · 15h

Anyone know a good used book store (for science fiction) in Pittsburgh, PA? Visiting at the moment.

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Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey @beamjockey.bsky.social · 11h

I have just learned from this that, because I once shook hands with Dr Brian May, I am two handshakes from Groucho Marx!

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Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey @beamjockey.bsky.social · 11h

In the other direction, Herbert Hoover participating in a videophone call--BEFORE he was inaugurated President.

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Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey @beamjockey.bsky.social · 11h

It's startling enough that they use phonographs and typewriters!

Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey @beamjockey.bsky.social · 12h

@schweizercomics.bsky.social, at least.

Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey @beamjockey.bsky.social · 18h

Here's my plan: it might or might not be a movie my wife would enjoy.

I'll go see it myself in whatever format is nearby.
Then I'll read the article.

If it's suitable, I'll take Dr Mrs Beam Jockey to see it in a fancy format.

(My great blessing is having married a girl who loves action movies.)

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Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey @beamjockey.bsky.social · 18h

I'm intrigued. I want to go see this, and "I saw this movie in six formats in six days" is nearly irresistible clickbait, but--

Are there spoilers in the Indiewire article?

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Reposted by Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey

Meg Schwamb @megschwamb.bsky.social · 19h

Sad to see the University of Washington Astronomy Department has suspended graduate admissions for the 2026-2027 Academic Year. astro.washington.edu/graduate-adm...

Graduate Admissions | Department of Astronomy | University of Washington

The Department of Astronomy has suspended graduate admissions for the 2026-2027 Academic Year. General Information for applying to UW Astronomy Graduate Program. Applications must be submitted using ...

astro.washington.edu

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Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey @beamjockey.bsky.social · 20h

Full book —> 44 Words

Reader’s Digest Condensed Book, Extreme Edition!

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Reposted by Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey

Dr. Raphael Marschall @spacemarschall.net · 23h

Interstellar comet #3I/ATLAS imaged by the CaSSIS camera in orbit around Mars lead out of @unibe.ch 🤩
Simply amazing that we can take such observations from the orbit of other planets 😱
#planetSci

ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 1d

First images of comet #3I/ATLAS from Europe's Mars orbiters 😍

Observing the comet from 30 million km away, #ExoMars reveals the halo of gas and dust surrounding the comet's nucleus.

Read more 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
🔭🧪

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Reposted by Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey

ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 1d

First images of comet #3I/ATLAS from Europe's Mars orbiters 😍

Observing the comet from 30 million km away, #ExoMars reveals the halo of gas and dust surrounding the comet's nucleus.

Read more 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
🔭🧪

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Reposted by Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey

ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 1d

On the night of 13-14 October, Jupiter's moon #Ganymede will pass in front of star HIP37442.

Observing this occultation pinpoints Ganymede's position even more precisely, helping our Juice mission reach its target.

Can you help?

Details from @obs-paris-psl.bsky.social 👉 bit.ly/4hcPguB

Illustration of the Juice spacecraft seen in space, at Jupiter. Text reads 'Juice needs you'.

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Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey @beamjockey.bsky.social · 1d

It may seem a lot funnier because you’re on a different continent from that guy.

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Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey @beamjockey.bsky.social · 1d

Are you going to change to a hat-doffing avatar?

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Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey @beamjockey.bsky.social · 1d

I try to share accurate information when I am able.

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Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey @beamjockey.bsky.social · 1d

Will the volunteers in the trench 10,000 feet from Ground Zero be doing any baking?

Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey @beamjockey.bsky.social · 1d

I look forward to finding out how this notion makes ANY sense whatsoever.

Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey @beamjockey.bsky.social · 1d

You're allowed a vacation!

Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey @beamjockey.bsky.social · 1d

No, it wasn't a rhetorical question, but I did think it likely the answer would be something like the answer you gave. News confirms it.

Still haven't seen *why* ICE should be on the "declared essential" list. I have my own opinions about the essentiality of their raids, but I'm not in charge.

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