There are many ways to produce a stereo image, some more high tech than others: stereo cameras, two cameras, digital manipulation of a photo or drawing.  One of the simplest is just to place two identical objects a few inches apart, and photograph them.  You then get two perspectives of the same image, and you […]

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The Ullage Group offers its fourth afternoon of cultural curiosities, “Medi-Vaudeville.”  The title refers to the book that Charles Fort planned to write, during his final days in the hospital; for, this time around, it’s all medical. Doug Skinner and Dr. Mamie Caton will talk about alternative medicine, evidence-based medicine, and the difficulty of applying scientific methodology […]

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Although we have crossed the Thanksgiving abyss, there are more holidays ahead; and, all too often, turkey dinners will be a part of them. I gave up such nonsense long ago; but I realize that those of you who still eat meat and celebrate holidays may long for some variety. And so I offer the […]

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If you’re still undecided as to how to celebrate your God-given American Freedoms – in this case, when voting next Tuesday – you’ve always got Politics Party Pun to choose for you. Yes folks, this is indeed “the biggest GAME in the world.” Like a cross between, Old Maid, craps, dreidel, and gambling, this game […]

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The “Movement Print” offered a new pleasure for the discerning stereoscope owner. You inserted it, blinked your eyes rapidly in alternation, and enjoyed a brief moving picture of somebody else working. I have no idea when these were produced. I’d like to know what other subjects, if any, were chosen. (Posted by Doug Skinner)

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About ten years ago, I discovered this Japanese cartoon while skimming through a circa-1940s scholarly journal. I don’t recall what it was doing there, or why, or that it had any particular relevance to the critical essays I was perusing, which is no doubt why it caught my attention. (Nor do I remember much about […]

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We’re happy to report that the Ullage Group now owns a functional 1932 Violet Ray Generator.  One of your founders (Doug) and charter member Dr. Mamie Caton bought the device at an antique store in upstate New York.  We tested it before purchase; the spectacle of four clueless adults trying to work a potentially broken […]

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Blasphemy is a wacky bit of homo sapiana; it requires a deft two-step of belief and disbelief.  Without belief, there’s no point to it; without disbelief, no taste for it.  This bittersweet combo is well-suited to the Italian palate. Few languages, apparently, are as fertile in blasphemy.  One of the preferred formulas is the yoking […]

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I have little interest in astrology.  I doubt that my character is determined by the fact that some groups of stars look like animals, sort of; on the other hand, I feel no itch to denounce it as a pseudo-science, as the pseudo-skeptics do.  As an old-school skeptic, I accept that my human faculties are inadequate […]

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