It’s been quite a week, so here’s the cover of my copy of January 1934’s Country Life magazine. The masthead has some design issues but the artwork is sublime.
What is that strange toy? It can’t possibly be based on a real plane, can it?
Yes. Yes it can. The “small, tubby airplane” is the Gee Bee! Also described as “A Cute But Dangerous Airplane” and the “Fastest and Most Dangerous Airplane in the World“.
Want one? As of May 2019, you can for the low, low price of only $899,000!
It’s a shame more people don’t pose with random skulls these days.
(Note: In its own random way, the damage to the paper makes this image of the “Father of Modern Pathology” Rudolf Virchow even better.)
Fun Fact: In 1986, Otto von Bismarck challenged Rudolf Virchow to a duel. Virchow turned down the challenge, but it lives on as the infamous SAUSAGE DUEL.
“Bismarck’s challenge to Virchow was something of a media sensation. Sometimes readers will now find this duel is fictionalized as the sausage duel. In brief, the tale says that after Bismarck issued the challenge, Virchow accepted, and since he had been challenged, he had the choice of weapons. He chose pork sausages, a cooked one for himself and a raw one for Bismarck. The raw sausage would inevitably have infected Bismarck with Trichinella. Bismarck then withdrew from the duel.” — from Virchow’s page at Famous Scientists
Would you like to know more? Check out “The Great Sausage Duel of 1865” at Skulls in the Stars.
Hey! Skulls! We’ve circled back!
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