#undark

[questionableadvice]

~ Undark, 1921

“Does Undark really contain radium? Most assuredly."

Undark was produced by the US Radium Corporation and was the product used by the "Radium Girls" to paint the dials of wristwatches. It also caused many of them to die painful deaths with the full knowledge of the Corporation.

More about the Radium Girls and the corrupt US Radium Corporation found here* and of course in Kate Moore's book The Radium Girls.

*warning for one historic picture of the effects of radium and a lot of descriptions of an evil corporation being evil

[be-gay-cause-crime]

Oh hey I forgot to let y’all know I got some actual radium items recently! (The uh. Previously mentioned Phinney Walker travel clock turned out to not be radioactive… despite what research told me, the joys and sadnesses of buying a Geiger counter when already owning radioactive materials)

Anyhow, I have two radium-containing items! I’ll show them in chronological order of getting them

First up we have the war veteran! It’s a WW2 air speed indicator that I got from an old military stuffs shop! (The shopkeeper is very nice, showed off his radium dials with pride lol) it doesn’t glow anymore since the phosphor burned out, but it’s about 80 years old though to I can’t blame it. My dad thinks it was in a training aircraft bc the top speed is only 160 mph, but most aircrafts wouldn’t go their top speed.

I also know where it was made thanks to info on the dial! It was made in Bronx, New York for the Aeromarines, though outside of that there wasn’t much I could find out about it, still a fun piece of history and I’m happy to have it in my collection!

Next up is a Westclox Big Ben I picked up, it still works too! It was made in the US and still very faintly glows in the dark too, you can kinda see it on camera (last picture, turn your brightness up)

[deadskink]

Introducing Thylacoleo Messor! One of the many creatures I’ve designed for UNDARK, my fallout fan project set in South Australia.

The “reapers” as the locals call them, are the product of a pre-war cloning experiment that went awry after radiation got in the mix. They leap from trees and cave roofs, dragging people up into the darkness. Never to be seen again.

[sitting-on-me-bum]

A yellow-eyed penguin parent and chick, the world’s rarest penguin species. Their biggest remaining stronghold is on the Auckland Islands.

Visual: Bill Morris for Undark

[drawnnnquartered]

“Undark/Notime” (2023), handprinted linocut on paper. This was for an alumni print exchange and the theme was Light and Darkness.

[dndsettingsinfo]

Undark Village [50×40] by Mapzilla

[thanatophobia-thoughts]

Down on the Body Farm: The Forensics of Decaying Corpses

Researchers at outdoor "body farms" look to the microbes of human decay to help identify corpses and pinpoint time of death.

I know I’ve talked about mortuary methods that return the body to the earth before -- as compost, as trees -- so here’s ANOTHER fascinating method: you can donate your body to a Body Farm, and let researchers learn about decay by watching your rotting corpse! 

This may not be everyone’s cup of tea, admittedly. It’s not quite as nice as thinking in terms of compost, or even being a tree, but it does do a great service. The more we understand about decay, the better all around -- but this is also useful for solving cases or murder, as well. 

Do you want to help out with unsolved crimes, even after your death? This is your chance! Not to mention you’ll also be fostering an environment based upon your decay with fungus and other sorts of things. It’s a two-fold help! 

This article gets into the details of how Body Farms began, how they’re used, and what has been learned from them. It’s a great read to understand more about decay, as well as to see how we are useful, even in our decay, to new life, and to the currently living. 

[nasfera2]

Psychiatry, Racism, and the Birth of 'Sesame Street'

How an African-American psychiatrist helped design a groundbreaking television show as a radical therapeutic tool for helping minority preschoolers.

“The show had had originally been conceived as a novel way of bringing remedial education into the homes of disadvantaged children, especially children of color.“

“Chester Pierce, however, never lost sight of the hidden curriculum that, for him, had always been at the heart of “Sesame Street.” “Early childhood specialists,” he reflected in 1972, “have a staggering responsibility … in producing planetary citizens whose geographic and intellectual provinces are as limitless as their all-embracing humanity.”“

“What mattered most about “Sesame Street” was not the alphabet songs, the counting games or the funny puppets. What mattered most was its vision of an integrated society where everyone was a friend and treated with respect.“