Radar's New Writeups

Major Matt Mason (thing)

2007-03-13T04:21:37Z

"Major Matt Mason. He was a great astronaut: a full-on, lifelike astronaut, made with rubber and wire, kind of like Gumby. He was bendable and poseable, and I went through a few of them because after a while the wires get all twisted."

-Tom Hanks, when asked "What was your favorite toy as a kid?" by Disney Adventures magazine

1967 was not a good year for America. The military was beginning to get bogged down in the quagmire that was Southeast Asia, though the disastrous Tet Offensive was still a year away. Hot on the heels of the successful Project Gemini, NASA was dealt a crushing blow on January 27th, 1967, when the crew of Apollo 1 burned alive on a launch pad at Cape Canaveral. President Lyndon B. Johnson was so disgusted with his role in the whole state of affairs that he eventually chose not to run for reelection. Despite troubles at home and abroad, a toy line…

Sergeant Major of the Army (person)

2007-01-30T05:14:13Z

The Sergeant Major of the Army (SMA) is the highest ranking enlisted soldier in the United States Army. Unlike other ranks, there is only one SMA in the Army at any given time. Since the creation of the position in 1966, there have been 13 SMAs.

Considering that many soldiers retire at the rank of Master Sergeant (E7), First Sergeant (E8), or Sergeant Major (E9) after 20-plus years of service, the Sergeant Major of the Army must truly be an Army "lifer". Carefully selected from among the Army's Command Sergeant Majors (E9), all SMAs have around 30 years of military service under their belts at the time of their selection. The SMA serves a four-year term, after which he retires, having obtained the highest possible enlisted rank.

The insignia for Sergeant Major of the Army closely resembles the other high grade Sergeant insignia. It is comprised of three upturned chevrons on top of three downward arcs (sometimes called rockers), with the American eagle in the…

Sally Cruikshank (person)

2006-06-26T04:47:21Z

Sally Cruikshank is a self-taught animator whose distinctive style is fairly well known, despite her moniker being far from a household name. Her art is instantly recognizable for its whimsical, nondescript characters, bright colors, and surreal environments that often give life to inanimate objects. (Not surprisingly, Cruikshank holds Max Fleischer cartoons among her biggest influences.) Her first forays into animation produced several successful underground cartoon shorts in the mid-to-late 1970's, and although it has been nearly twenty years since the last of these cartoons, she still has a devoted fan base.

Rather than setting out to find fame and fortune as an animator, Cruikshank first tried her hand at animation at the urging of a friend. Ducky, her first cartoon, appeared in 1971 while she was still attending college. The 3-minute short was culled from Cruikshank's habit of drawing ducks, and although it wasn't widely shown, it did encourage her to keep drawing.…

Faces on the Kitchen Floor: Belmez, Spain, 1971 (thing)

2005-10-12T05:34:37Z

"...without doubt, the most important paranormal phenomenon this century."

-Professor Hans Bender, German paranormal expert

In late August of 1971, Maria Gomez Pereira noticed a stain on the hearth of her kitchen in the small town of Belmez, Spain. Maria paid little attention to the spot, but soon noticed that it seemed to grow and change with each passing day. On August 23rd, Maria glanced at the spot again.

There, staring up from the tile, was a human face.

Although somewhat crude in appearance, the stain had clearly taken the form of a person's face. The expression of the face seemed to indicate sorrow, the visage of someone burdened by deep grief and worry. Furthermore, it appeared to be female.

No amount of scrubbing or cleaning would get rid of the face, which actually looked more grievous after any attempt to rub it away. Terrified by the apparition, which continued to fluctuate on a daily basis,…

bottle rocket war (thing)

2005-07-18T23:35:40Z

NEVER point or throw fireworks at another person.

- National Council on Fireworks Safety

Around the ninth century AD, the Chinese discovered how to make gunpowder. Not long afterwards, someone packed a charge of gunpowder into a wooden tube and attached it to a thin, long stick. This new invention was quickly adapted for entertainment and warfare, and the basic design of these simple rockets has gone unchanged for a millennium. In the early 20th century, a miniaturized version of the ancient Chinese design surfaced and was dubbed the bottle rocket, a small, fast firework that was ideally launched at an angle from a glass bottle. Like the Chinese warriors of 900 years before, it didn't take long for teenage boys everywhere to realize that bottle rockets were much more fun when launched at other people. Other boys that were fired upon with bottle rockets were quick to retaliate, and the bottle rocket war was born.

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How to legally obtain street signs (idea)

2005-06-01T23:50:34Z

TAMPA, Florida (CNN) -- Three defendants were sentenced to 15 years each in state prison Friday for uprooting a stop sign at an intersection where three teen-agers were killed in a crash a few hours later.
Nissa Baillie, 21, Thomas Miller, 20, and Christopher Cole, 20, each faced 27 to 46 years in prison after being convicted of manslaughter in the incident. It is believed to be the first U.S. case in which the removal of a traffic sign has led to a manslaughter conviction.¹

The horrible 1997 deaths of three Florida youths were made even more tragic by the fact that a simple, childish act of theft led to the car accident that claimed their lives. After the aforementioned stop sign was stolen, the teens unknowingly coasted through an intersection and were t-boned by an 8-ton truck. Three deaths and three lengthy prison sentences, all stemming from one lousy stop sign. A stop sign. Traffic signs look cool hanging in pool room…