Starship Asterisk*

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/image.php?page=&gallery_id=2&image_id=569 wrote:

[b][size=125][color=#FF00FF]Unnamed Mercury Crater[/color][/size][/b]

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Of Interest: This image, taken with the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC), shows a large crater in Mercury's southern hemisphere that has not yet been assigned a name. This crater eventually will be named for a deceased artist, musician, painter or author who has made outstanding contributions to his or her field and who has been considered a historically significant figure for at least 50 years.>>

http://blog.winstonwachter.com/?p=4890 wrote:

'[b][i][color=#0000FF]sometimes people need a little bit of help in recognising a great work of Art that might be a bit unfamiliar[/color][/i][/b]'

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Cy Twombly Dies at Age 83

Edwin Parker "Cy" Twombly, Jr. (April 25, 1928 – July 5, 2011) was an American artist well known for his large-scale, freely scribbled, calligraphic-style graffiti paintings, on solid fields of mostly gray, tan, or off-white colors. He exhibited his paintings worldwide. Twombly's paintings blur the line between drawing and painting. Many of his best-known paintings of the late 1960s are reminiscent of a school blackboard on which someone has practiced cursive "e"s. Twombly had at this point discarded painting figurative, representational subject-matter, citing the line or smudge – each mark with its own history – as its proper subject. Twombly describes his process: “Each line is now the actual experience with its own innate history. It does not illustrate – it is the sensation of its own realization.” Twombly would live to see his paintings exhibited in museums and galleries around the world. Upon his death at the age of 83, his life’s work had become not only internationally popular, but influential on an emerging generation of artists.

Later, many of his paintings and works on paper moved into "romantic symbolism", and their titles can be interpreted visually through shapes and forms and words. Twombly often quoted the poet Stéphane Mallarmé, as well as many classical myths and allegories in his works. Examples of this are his Apollo and The Artist and a series of eight drawings consisting solely of inscriptions of the word "VIRGIL". In a 1994 retrospective, curator Kirk Varnedoe described Twombly's work as “influential among artists, discomfiting to many critics and truculently difficult not just for a broad public, but for sophisticated initiates of postwar art as well.” After acquiring Twombly's Three Studies from the Temeraire (1998-99), the Director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales said "sometimes people need a little bit of help in recognising a great work of Art that might be a bit unfamiliar".>>

Beyond wrote:
Spaghetti -- No sauce.

owlice wrote:

neufer wrote: sometimes people need a little bit of help in recognising
a great work of Art that might be a bit unfamiliar

Sometimes, people can recognize
a great work of Art
by his purple sweatshirt
or red boots
(and lack of pants),
even if the rest of him
might be a bit
unfamiliar.

neufer wrote:

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/image.php?page=&gallery_id=2&image_id=569 wrote:

[b][size=125][color=#FF00FF]Unnamed Mercury Crater[/color][/size][/b]

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Of Interest: This image, taken with the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC), shows a large crater in Mercury's southern hemisphere that has not yet been assigned a name. This crater eventually will be named for a deceased artist, musician, painter or author who has made outstanding contributions to his or her field and who has been considered a historically significant figure for at least 50 years.>>

Beyond wrote: It's gonna take more than spaghetti sauce to cover THAT Art

owlice wrote:"who has been considered a historically significant figure for at least 50 years" does not preclude those who die before they reach age 50; it's about length of influence, not length of life. Felix Mendelssohn, who IIRC died at 37, would likely be considered eligible, as would, I should hope, Dylan Thomas.

Besides, if you add the length of the lives of the Brontë siblings you might just get 50.

owlice wrote:
"who has been considered a historically significant figure for at least 50 years" does not preclude those who die before they reach age 50; it's about length of influence, not length of life. Felix Mendelssohn, who IIRC died at 37, would likely be considered eligible, as would, I should hope, Dylan Thomas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soupy_Sales wrote:

[b][i][color=#0000FF]Soupy Sales developed pie-throwing into an Art form: straight to the face, on top of the head, a pie to both ears from behind, moving into a stationary pie, and countless other variations.[/color][/i][/b]

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<<Soupy Sales (January 8, 1926 – October 22, 2009) was an American comedian, actor, radio-TV personality and host, and jazz aficionado. He was best known for his local and network children's television show, Lunch with Soupy Sales; a series of comedy sketches frequently ending with Sales receiving a pie in the face, which became his trademark.

Sales was born Milton Supman, in Franklinton in Franklin County, North Carolina to Irving and Sadie Supman. His father, a dry goods merchant, had immigrated to America from Hungary in 1894. His was the only Jewish family in the town; Sales joked that local Ku Klux Klan members bought the sheets used for their robes from his father's store. Sales graduated from Huntington High School in Huntington, West Virginia in 1944. He then enlisted in the United States Navy and served on the USS Randall (APA-224) in the South Pacific during the latter part of World War II. He sometimes entertained his shipmates by telling jokes and playing crazy characters over the ship's public address system. One of the characters he created was "White Fang," a large dog that played outrageous practical jokes on the seamen. The sounds for "White Fang" came from a recording of "The Hound of the Baskervilles". He took the record with him when he left the Navy.

Sales is best known for his daily children's television show, Lunch With Soupy. The show was originally called 12 O'Clock Comics, and was later known as The Soupy Sales Show. Improvised and slapstick in nature, Lunch with Soupy Sales was a rapid-fire stream of comedy sketches, gags, and puns, almost all of which resulted in Sales receiving a pie in the face, which became his trademark. In many of his shows he appeared in costume, performed his dance, the Soupy Shuffle, introduced many characters such as Nicky Nooney, the Mississippi Gambler, etc., and took "zillions" of pies in the face. In one of his routines he came out in a toga - reciting "Friends, Romans, Countrymen - lend me your ears!" Out of camera range a box of rubber ears were being dropped on his head from a ladder.
..................................................................................................
Soupy Sales puppets:

• White Fang, "The Biggest and Meanest Dog in the USA," who appeared only as a giant white shaggy paw with black triangular felt "claws" jutting out from the corner of the screen. Fang spoke with unintelligible short grunts and growls, which Soupy repeated back in English, for comic effect. White Fang was often the pie thrower when Soupy's jokes bombed.
  
  Black Tooth, "The Biggest and Sweetest Dog in the USA", also seen only as a giant black paw with white triangular felt (just the opposite of White Fang), and with more feminine, but similarly unintelligible, dialogue. Black Tooth's trademark was pulling Soupy off-camera to give loud and noisy kisses.
  
  Pookie the Lion, a lion puppet appearing in a large window behind Soupy (1950s), was a hipster with a rapier wit. For example: Soupy: "Do you know why my life is so miserable?" Pookie: "You got me!" Soupy: "That's why!" One of Pookie's favorite lines when greeting Soupy was, "Hey bubby... want a kiss?". In the Detroit shows, Pookie never spoke but communicated in whistles. That puppet also was used to mouth the words while pantomiming novelty records on the show.
  
  Hippy the Hippo, a minor character who occasionally appeared with Pookie the Lion and never spoke. Frank Nastasi gave Hippy a voice for the New York shows. Clyde Adler also voiced Hippy in the shows done in the late 1970s.

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Regular live characters included:

• Peaches, Soupy's girlfriend, visually played by footage of Sales in drag.
  
  Philo Kvetch, a private detective played by Sales in a long-running comedy skit during the show's New York run (a parody of early 20th century fictional detective Philo Vance).
  
  The Mask, evil nemesis of Philo Kvetch, revealed in the last episode to be Nikita Khrushchev, who had been deposed about a year earlier.
  
  "Onions" Oregano, henchman of The Mask, played by Frank Nastasi, who ate loads of onions. Every time Oregano would breathe in Philo's direction, Philo would make all sorts of comic choking faces, pull out a can of air freshener, and say "Get those onions out of here!"
  
  Hobart and Reba, a husband and wife who lived in the potbelly stove on the New York set.
  
  Willie the Worm was a 35-cent toy Sales got from Woolworth's, according to WXYZ art director Jack Flechsig. With animated squeezings of his rubber air bulb, the latex accordion worm flexed in and out of a little apple. Willy was "The Sickest Worm in all of Dee-troit" and suffered from a perennial cold and comically-explosive sneeze. He helped read birthday greetings to Detroit-area kids while the show was on WXYZ. Willie didn't survive the show's move to the Big Apple.

..................................................................................................
On January 1, 1965, miffed at having to work on the holiday, Sales ended his live broadcast by encouraging his young viewers to tiptoe into their still-sleeping parents' bedrooms and remove those "funny green pieces of paper with pictures of U.S. Presidents" from their pants and pocketbooks. "Put them in an envelope and mail them to me", Soupy instructed the children. "And I'll send you a postcard from Puerto Rico!" He was then hit with a pie. Several days later, a chagrined Soupy announced that money (mostly Monopoly money) was unexpectedly being received in the mail. He explained that he had been joking and announced that the contributions would be donated to charity. As parents' complaints increased, WNEW's management felt compelled to suspend Sales for two weeks. Young viewers picketed Channel 5. The uproar surrounding Sales' suspension increased his popularity.>>

Ann wrote:

owlice wrote:
"who has been considered a historically significant figure for at least 50 years" does not preclude those who die before they reach age 50; it's about length of influence, not length of life. Felix Mendelssohn, who IIRC died at 37, would likely be considered eligible, as would, I should hope, Dylan Thomas.

Oh? Then I suggest Crater Brontë, where you get three authors for the price of one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_craters_on_Mercury wrote:

Code: Select all

Crater 	Latitude 	Longitude 	Diameter (km) 	Named after
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bronte 	  38.7 N 	  125.9 W 	       60 	   The Brontë family, English writers and artists

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_locations_in_the_StarCraft_series#Brontes wrote:
<<The Koprulu Sector (from Turkish köprülü, meaning bridged) is the main setting for games and books about the fictional StarCraft universe. This sector of space was colonized by Terrans, near the edges of Protoss space. It is situated on the galactic fringe of the Milky Way, 60,000 light years from planet Earth. The events in this sector are triggered by an exodus of human beings from Earth. There were roughly nine to thirteen important Confederate colony planets in the sector by the 25th century. However, war broke out with the Zerg invasion and subsequent clashes with the Protoss at the dawn of the 26th century. During the Guild Wars, the sector was divided into at least five zones. The locations featured here have been featured prominently at one time or another in the StarCraft universe, whether as a battlefield within the games or as a significant part of the contextual background of the story.
.....................................................
Brontes

The Brontes system was a core Confederate system. It has one colony on the world of Brontes IV, with a small orbital platform for space traffic in orbit of the planet. Unlike most planets in Terran space, Brontes IV has a more diverse environment, ranging from the typical wastelands of Terran colonies through highly volcanic areas to large jungles. Several areas of the planet have large valleys rich in mineral deposits.

The colony was attacked in the initial Zerg invasion of the Koprulu Sector, but the combined efforts of the colonial militia and a detachment of Tassadar's expeditionary force prevented the invasion from achieving immediate success. The actions of the Protoss and a rebel Terran group known as the Fist of Redemption led to the Swarm losing control of Incubus Brood to Atticus Carpenter, the leader of the Terran rebels.

Following a long war of attrition against the Protoss and the colonists, the Zerg were able to overrun and destroy their adversaries, ending the campaign with the culling of the renegade Incubus Brood. The status of the planet since the end of the Brood War is not known.
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Dylar

The Dylarian system is a core Terran system in the Koprulu Sector. The colony on Dylar IV formed one of the key worlds of the Terran Confederacy, housing the base of operations for Omega Squadron. The colony was attacked by the Zerg and presumed infested in the initial stages of their invasion of the Sector. The status of the colony after the end of the Brood War is not known.

The Dylarian system also housed a large orbital shipyard facility. These shipyards were vital to the Confederate fleet and later became the property of the Terran Dominion. It is at these shipyards that Jim Raynor's troops managed to commandeer a small fleet of combat vessels for his new rebel organisation after the fall of Tarsonis, even managing to hijack Arcturus Mengsk's flagship, the Hyperion, from the command of General Duke. During the early stages of United Earth Directorate's invasion of the Sector the shipyards were raided again, this time by UED forces to capture a large number of Dominion battlecruisers for use in their campaign. General Duke attempted to defend the shipyards in the new flagship Norad III, but his forces met defeat at the superior firepower of the UED fleet.>>

owlice wrote:

Besides, if you add the length of the lives of the Brontë siblings you might just get 50.

I haven't seen anything that suggests that getting to age 50 is necessary. This is the second time you've alluded to this being a requirement; where are you getting that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Ball wrote:

Harvey Ross Ball (July 10, 1921 – April 12, 2001) was an American commercial artist. He is recognized as the earliest known designer of the smiley, which became an enduring and notable international icon. Ball was born and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts. During his time as a student at Worcester South High School, he became an apprentice to a local sign painter, and later attended Worcester Art Museum School, where he studied fine Art.

His design of the Smiley came about in 1963. The State Mutual Life Assurance Company of Worcester, Massachusetts (now known as Hanover Insurance) purchased Guarantee Mutual Company of Ohio. The merger resulted in low employee morale. In an attempt to solve this, Ball was employed in 1963 as a freelance artist to create a smiley face to be used on buttons, desk cards, and posters. In less than ten minutes the smiley face was complete.

The use of the smiley face was part of the company's friendship campaign whereby State Mutual handed out 100 smiley pins to employees. The aim was to get employees to smile while using the phone and doing other tasks. The buttons were highly popular, with orders in lots of 10,000. More than 50 million smiley face buttons were sold by 1971, and the smiley has been described as an international icon.

Ann wrote:
if you add the length of the lives of the Brontë siblings you might just get 50.

Sam wrote:
In two years Harvey Ball will be eligible:

neufer wrote:

Ann wrote:
if you add the length of the lives of the Brontë siblings you might just get 50.

<<My favourite piece of information is that
Branwell Bronte, brother of Anne, Emily & Charlotte,
died standing up leaning against a MANTELpiece ,
in order to prove it could be done.>> - Douglas Adams
------------------------------------------------------
+31 Patrick Branwell Brontë (26 June 1817 – 24 September 1848)
+30 Emily Jane Brontë (30 July 1818 — 19 December 1848)
+29 Anne Brontë (17 January 1820 – 28 May 1849)
+39 Charlotte Brontë (21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855)
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130 years

Goodricke is credited with discovering the periodic variation of the namesake, δ Cephei, of the Cepheid variable stars.

Although several stars were already known to vary in apparent magnitude, Goodricke was the first to propose a mechanism to account for this. He suggested that Algol is what is now known as an eclipsing binary. He presented his findings to the Royal Society in May 1783, and for this work, the Society awarded him the Copley Medal for that year. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on 16 April 1786. He never learned of this honour however, as he died four days later from pneumonia.[1] He never married.

Ann wrote:
Anyone know of anyone who made a lasting contribution to arts or science at age 17, and then dying before the age of 21?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89variste_Galois wrote:

<<Évariste Galois (October 25, 1811 – May 31, 1832) was a French mathematician born in Bourg-la-Reine. While still in his teens, he was able to determine a necessary and sufficient condition for a polynomial to be solvable by radicals, thereby solving a long-standing problem. His work laid the foundations for Galois theory, a major branch of abstract algebra, and the subfield of Galois connections. He was the first to use the word "group" as a technical term in mathematics to represent a group of permutations. A radical Republican during the monarchy of Louis Philippe in France, he died from wounds suffered in a duel under questionable circumstances at the age of twenty.>>