Best ukelele brands3/2/2023 ![]() ![]() The 15CM-E concert ukulele ( link to Amazon) is one of their most popular models and for a really good reason. A lot of their ukes are either made of mahogany or spruce and you are sure to be getting some spectacular sonic textures out of their models. While they specialize in manufacturing budget-friendly starter. Cordoba is notorious for using high-quality woods. If your ukulele playing is really taking off, Mahalo has better quality models to choose from such as the Mahalo 2016K deluxe model with koa back and sides and abalone inlays. Mai, Lanikai is a Chinese brand thats relatively fresh to the ukulele scene. ![]() Mahalo also has plenty of fun designs to choose from so you can bring out the true Hawaiian in your playing, or pick an electro model that can be plugged into a small amp. Or choose one of the Java ukuleles with geared machine heads, brass frets and Aquila strings. ![]() Start playing with a coloured soprano ukulele, a popular entry level instrument suitable for beginners of any age, with quality, reliable geared machine heads for easy tuning and a good sound. Have you ever asked yourself what ukulele should I buy, or, whats the best ukulele in musical instrument shops The Got A Ukulele reviews page collates the. They make consistently good quality instruments. With consistently high standards of construction and reliable geared machine heads you can count on Mahalo for quality and affordable prices. Kala is the biggest and most well known ukulele brand, and they have lots of options in this price range. Mahalo offers a comprehensive range from the best-selling entry-level coloured ukuleles through to high quality ukuleles in soprano, tenor and baritone versions. Mahalo brand is the world's best-known ukulele brand with a huge variety of good quality models. We can think of quite a few music greats who play (ed) Fender guitars, like Jimmi Hendrix and Eric Clapton to name just two. ![]()
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![]() ![]() Narrated by four different demigods, The Mark of Athena is an unforgettable journey across land and sea to Rome, where important discoveries, surprising sacrifices, and unspeakable horrors await. What if he's now attached to Roman ways? Does he still need his old friends? As the daughter of the goddess of war and wisdom, Annabeth knows she was born to be a leader, but never again does she want to be without Seaweed Brain by her side. What more does Athena want from her?Īnnabeth's biggest fear, though, is that Percy might have changed. Annabeth already feels weighed down by the prophecy that will send seven demigods on a quest to find-and close-the Doors of Death. In her pocket Annabeth carries a gift from her mother that came with an unnerving demand: Follow the Mark of Athena. Annabeth hopes that the sight of their praetor Jason on deck will reassure the Romans that the visitors from Camp Half-Blood are coming in peace.Īnd that's only one of her worries. With its steaming bronze dragon masthead, Leo's fantastical creation doesn't appear friendly. As Annabeth and her friends Jason, Piper, and Leo fly in on the Argo II, she can't blame the Roman demigods for thinking the ship is a Greek weapon. Just when she's about to be reunited with Percy-after six months of being apart, thanks to Hera-it looks like Camp Jupiter is preparing for war. The Mark of Athena (The Heroes of Olympus #3)Īnnabeth is terrified. And it seems Jason, Piper and Leo are the chosen ones to embark on a terrifying new quest And when Percy Jackson wakes up with no memory of his past, it's clear things are only just beginning. But now rumours of a terrible curse - and a missing hero - are flying around camp. Despite the monsters roaming the woods and demigods practising archery with flaming arrows and explosives - some things just have to be taken on trust. Apparently this is the only safe place for children of the Greek Gods. When Jason, Piper and Leo crash-land at Camp Half-Blood, they have no idea what to expect. Join the Heroes of Olympus - Percy Jackson and friends - for an adventure like no other. Now available for the first time: all five novels from the amazing Heroes of Olympus series, collected in one stunning digital edition. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, Rick's first novel featuring the heroic young demigod, was the overall winner of the Red House Children's Book Award in 2006. He lives in San Antonio, Texas, with his wife and two sons. Rick Riordan has now sold an incredible 55 million copies of his books worldwide RICK RIORDAN IS THE MYTHMASTER The Greek Gods are alive and kicking - go to and see for yourself 'A cracking read' - Sunday Express 'Explosive' - Big Issue 'Action-packed' - Telegraph Rick Riordan is an award-winning mystery writer. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was about to go terribly wrong. ![]() Its massive bronze hull glittered in the sunlight.Part of her wanted to kidnap Percy right now, get on board and get out of here while they still could. She heard that whispering laughter again, as if the presence had followed her from the ship. Published in October 2nd 2012 the book become immediate popular and critical acclaim in fantasy, young adult books. Annabeth felt as if someone had draped a cold washcloth across her neck. The Mark of Athena PDF book by Rick Riordan (The Heroes of Olympus 3) Read Online or Free Download in ePUB, PDF or MOBI eBooks. ![]() ONE FATAL PROPHECY SEVEN BRAVE DEMIGODS A QUEST TO FIND - AND CLOSE - THE DOORS OF DEATH. The Mark of Athena is the explosive third part in Rick Riordan's number one series - Heroes of Olympus. ![]() Alfred kinsey3/2/2023 ![]() “We have been arrested, investigated by sheriffs, and repeatedly stood up by the police” Kinsey wrote in a letter to Gregg. But there were far graver risks, given the work’s taboo topic. Alan Gregg, 1943īy 1944, however, Kinsey was encountering logistical problems due to wartime rationing and the difficulty of obtaining draft deferments for graduate researchers. Kinsey attractive in manner and impressive in his account of his work. Kinsey, “ National Research Council – Sex Research – Kinsey,” September 8, 1944, Rockefeller Foundation records, Projects, RG 1.1, Series 200, Rockefeller Archive Center.Īlfred C. The following year, when Kinsey worried that the RF might be trying to distance itself publicly from sex research, Gregg assured him that “neither I personally nor this Division of the Foundation nor the Foundation as a whole wishes to have or has thought of any repudiation of your work.” Letter from Alan Gregg to Alfred C. Medical Sciences Director Alan Gregg met with Kinsey in 1943, and described the zoologist as “attractive in manner and impressive in his account of his work.” Gregg viewed Kinsey’s research program as “quite extraordinary.” Excerpt from Officer’s Diary, “ Alan Gregg,” September 3, 1943, Rockefeller Foundation records, RG 12, F-L Rockefeller Archive Center. The Foundation funds made it to Kinsey through the intermediary of NRC expertise and testimony, but very soon, RF staff members themselves began to pay attention. Foundation Staff Take Notice of KinseyĪlan Gregg, Director of the Medical Sciences Division of the Rockefeller Foundation Rockefeller Foundation records, Photographs, Rockefeller Archive Center. “ Excerpt from letter of chairman to director of Division of Medical Sciences, Rockefeller Foundation, through Division of Medical Sciences, National Research Council,” Rockefeller Foundation records, Projects, RG 1.1, Series 200, Rockefeller Archive Center. The funding history is summarized in a Januletter. A testament to the priority placed on Kinsey’s work, fully half of all annual RF contributions to the NRC Committee went to his sex research. By 1947, Kinsey’s project was allotted $40,000 annually in NRC funding, which in turn came entirely from the Rockefeller Foundation. Kinsey’s first NRC grant in 1941 amounted to $1,600. Their decision to support Kinsey was a radical shift, which RF staff and leaders ultimately stood behind for years. Prior to their support of Kinsey, NRC Committee members had typically been conservative in their funding decisions, opting to support studies of animal rather than human sexuality. In 1941, the NRC Committee took notice of Kinsey’s research. But when the Bureau ceased operations in 1933, the NRC Committee continued to fund projects with direct support from the RF. ![]() Established in 1922, the NRC Committee originally operated with funding from another Rockefeller-created agency, the Bureau of Social Hygiene. Meanwhile, the Rockefeller Foundation was supporting the National Research Council’s (NRC) Committee for Research in the Problems of Sex. 2003 June 93(6): 896-897.The course piqued his interest and marked a pivotal moment in his career, as he quickly shifted focus from insects to humans. Kinsey: A Pioneer of Sex Research.” American Journal of Public Health. ![]() (Photo by Arthur Siegel/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images/Getty Images) Funding Research on the “Problems of Sex”Īlfred Kinsey was a Harvard-trained entomologist studying wasp genetics at Indiana University when, in the late 1930s, he agreed to teach a course on marriage and reproduction. Why and how did a large foundation get involved in human sexuality research - and what was this funding relationship like, especially as the controversy heated up?Īlfred Kinsey. (Philadelphia: Saunders, 1948).īut there is a much less well-known story about Kinsey and his research enterprise: that the Rockefeller Foundation (RF) funded much of his work. Martin, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. This assertion transformed American society by challenging American attitudes toward sexual normalcy. The rest of the population is spread across a “continuum” at points somewhere in between. The most well-known of the study’s conclusions asserts that only ten percent of the human population is fully heterosexual, and likewise only ten percent is exclusively homosexual. Moreover, it has been a source of heated controversy ever since. What exists today as the well-known Kinsey scale was at mid-century a revolution in scientific understanding of human sexuality. ![]() It has been over seventy years since Alfred Kinsey published research findings asserting that people do not fit exclusively into binary sexual categories. ![]() ![]() ![]() They built more mills on the Merrimack in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and Manchester, New Hampshire. Lowell died in 1817, but the Boston Associates went on to build a complete factory town along the powerful Merrimack River in Massachusetts, naming it Lowell in his honor. Hours were long, and the work was repetitive. Factory work allowed for little independent action. For the total mill operation to run smoothly, all the machines had to be operating at the same time and at a steady speed. It was not easy to be a mill worker, though. The operators fed the threads into the machine and then allowed it to do the work, stopping the process only if threads broke or there was a malfunction. The machines in the Lowell textile mills only made one kind of cloth, and they were easy to operate without much training. Cotton, delivered to the mill in bales, traveled through the entire building, going through a different part of the manufacturing process in each room until exiting as finished cloth. Belts ran up from the wheels to all floors to run the machines. Waterwheels, wheels that rotate due to the force of moving water, powered the mills the rotation of the wheel is then used to power a factory or machine. The Boston Associates hired the best machinists they could find to build the advanced textile machinery that filled the company's mills. The production process became known as the Waltham-Lowell system, named after the Massachusetts towns in which the four-story brick mills resided. For the first time in the United States, raw bales of cotton could be transformed into bolts of cloth under one roof. Two years later, the company had built the water-powered mill Lowell had envisioned. Knowing he would need large amounts of money to create a factory, in 1812 Lowell formed an association of wealthy investors, the Boston Associates. Textile mechanic Samuel Slater (1768–1835) had already successfully mechanized the spinning, or yarn-making, process, and other busi-nesspeople had followed his example, creating the early factories in New England. He then began to study other processes of textile production to determine how to carry out large-scale production at low cost. ![]() Back in Massachusetts, Lowell was able to create his own version of a working power loom with the help of a highly skilled mechanic. He was impressed with British technology, particularly an automated weaving machine called the power loom (a frame or machine used to weave thread or yarn into cloth) that was not available in the United States. In 1810, Lowell had visited England's textile mills (cloth-making factories). This method changed in the early nineteenth century, due in large part to the efforts of wealthy Boston businessman Francis Cabot Lowell (1775–1817). One of the first steps in the shift to the factory system was cottage labor, in which unfinished materials were distributed to workers (usually women) in their homes, to be completed and returned to the manufacturer. In 1815, most of the goods used by an American family were either made in the home or obtained from a local craftsperson. ![]() Wolf spider brown recluse3/2/2023 ![]() ![]() Young children, elderly people and hypersensitive people are most likely to have a strong reaction to a spider bite. Overall, spider bites tend to be insignificant for most people. People who are more sensitive to yellow sac spider venom may experience the following symptoms are being bitten: They typically live outdoors, but fall weather can drive them indoors where they could be found in closets or dressers. They are identifiable by the dark-brown color around their head and their yellow/cream-colored bodies. Their bites are generally not very severe. Yellow sac spiders are found all over NC and are the most common cause of spider bites in North America, NCSP reports. You should still get medical attention if you’re bitten by a false widow since the bite area could get infected. The venom in their bites can cause fever, nausea and muscle aches, but they aren’t nearly as lethal as a black widow bite. They look almost identical to black widows except they don’t have the distinct hourglass marking, according to NC State Parks. Keep an eye out for false widows as well. However, they aren’t the only venomous spiders in the state. The brown recluse and black widow may be the deadliest spiders in NC. Other Venomous Spiders False widow spider (credit: North Carolina State Parks) If the bitten person doesn’t get better after taking the medication, a doctor will administer an antivenom that fights against the venom in the spider’s bite. When first bitten, wash the bite area well with soap and warm water, apply a cold compress and elevate the area to stop the spread of venom.ĭoctors treat black widow bites with medications that help muscles relax and ease the pain. ![]() Their venom mainly affects the nervous symptom, which causes pain in the lymph nodes.Įven though male and female black widows can bite, the female’s bites are more severe. Black widow range map (credit: NC State University)ĭue to the black widow bite being mild, people have trouble realizing immediately that they were bitten at all. Indoors, they’re usually found in crawl spaces, attics, basements, under appliances and in dark and damp corners, so be careful when cleaning and doing other housework. The brown widow is a newcomer to NC and seen often.īlack widows most commonly found outdoors under rocks, wood piles, dense plant growth and electrical equipment boxes. Three different types of black widows can be found in NC, according to a NC State University:Ĭlose-up of black widows and spiderlings (Getty Images) Male black widows are smaller than the females and have red and white markings on the back of the abdomen similar to younger spiders. The young spiders are tan/grey and have orange and white stripes along their abdomens. It’s important to be aware that only adult female black widows have the signature markings. ![]() 8 scary movies shot in North Carolina to get you … ![]() Outline drawing3/2/2023 ![]() ![]() This knee will fill in the empty space that was left at the bottom of the arm. Then, draw a curved line for the knee on the right. Step 4 – Next, draw the start of his legs and other detailsĬontinuing with this person’s outline drawing, we will be starting the legs and a few other details.įirst, draw the back of his shirt bunched up at the bottom by drawing some small, curved lines close to one another. You’ll see in the finished image that his arms will be resting on his legs, so try to keep that in mind as you draw them. Use some curved lines to draw them coming don from the sleeves, and have them bent at the elbows. First, we will be drawing the short sleeves of his shirt.ĭraw some curved lines coming down from the arms of the shirt, and then add some straight, horizontal lines at the ends of them. Now you’re ready to start drawing some arms in this step of our guide on how to drawa person’s outline. Then, draw some lines down from the shoulders for the starts of his arms to finish off this step. Extend some slightly sloping, curved lines down from the sides of the neck hole that you just drew. ![]() The neck hole will look a bit pointy at the base of it, as shown in the reference image. First, draw a curved line across the base of his neck, and then draw another one close beneath it. We will be moving down from the head and onto the chest and arms for this person’s outline drawing in this second step.įirst, we will be drawing the neck hole of his shirt. Step 2 – Now, draw the start of his chest and arms Then, we will be using some more curved, wavy lines for the hair atop his head.įinish off this step by using another rounded line for his ear at the base of his hair, and then we can move on to the second step of the guide. Try to copy this line as it appears in our reference image, as this will help you to replicate the correct facial proportions for the outline. ![]() This guide on how to draw a person’s outline will begin with the head outline of the man that we will be drawing.įirst, use a rounded line for the front of his face. How to Draw A Person’s Outline – Let’s Get Started! Step 1 Your Person’s Outline Drawing is Complete!.Here’s how you can make your person’s outline drawing even better….Step 6 – Finish off your person’s outline drawing with color.Step 5 – Add the final details to your person’s outline drawing.Step 4 – Next, draw the start of his legs and other details.Step 2 – Now, draw the start of his chest and arms.How to Draw A Person’s Outline – Let’s Get Started!. ![]() My safe f secure3/2/2023 ![]() However, I still haven't been able to come up with any "dangerous" impact. If so, there is even one more trouble point around this flow. So, the very main trouble is the fact that you can use any email without confirming it (that it's yours)? Right? Not so with F-Secure! After signing up, I was immediately logged-in, and could download and install F-Secure SAFE. It is internet standard that newly created accounts have to be activated via mail before being able to login. The first was a couple of weeks ago when I created my F-Secure Community account, and all over a sudden I got mails regarding my F-Secure SAFE trial license (see: 04298521 Unwanted subscription to F-Secure SAFE). Note: This is my second negative experience with the "My F-Secure" site. Saying I'm disappointed would be too positive a statement. This is easy with F-Secure Internet Security. Some of them being children, that should be limited via "Kindersicherung". So who told you to switch to Italian when choosing Switzerland as location? You had to offer at least German, French, and Italian to choose from.įinally, a question to F-Secure SAFE: It seems this does no longer support multiple users on a single Windows machine. On click an the whole web page appears in Italian language? What the heck! Nearly 2/3rd of Switzerland is German speaking, 23% is French speaking, 9% is Italian speaking, 1% it speaking Romantsch. Let me correct, so, click there an change to Switzerland. Really? Are you a security company, or someone doing their first steps in programming.Įven worse: Being logged into the My F-Secure Account, I see "location: Australia" at the bottom. Remember, I have been logged into that account, and could look around, download SAFE, etc. But look at this: F-Secure tells me that I first have to activate my account by clicking on the link in the mail. However, clicking at the user icon (to right), I was still logged in!! I actively had to click on logout, to be able to login again. At least this is what the webpage told me. Not so with F-Secure! After signing up, I was immediately logged-in, and could download and install F-Secure SAFE.īusy with configuration, I left the webpage (switched away from the browser) unattended for too long, so I saw I had been automatically logged out when switching back to the browser. I'm baffled a company like F-Secure is unable to create a secure, working web interface!Ī login is required to get access to a trial version of F-Secure SAFE, so I created one. ![]() I'm currently only interested in a Windows solution. ![]() I thought I'd have a deeper look into F-Secure SAFE, first, to understand the difference. I'm not willing do discuss this in an online chat, and there is no public email address it could sendit to.į-Secure IS has been my security suite for many year. I'm posting below text here in the hope some responsible person at F-Secure might forward it to the right place. ![]() The plane effect prologue3/2/2023 ![]() But now you can just skip all these original events completely (even unintentionally, if you miss that quest marker) and still play the storylines of all alliances with all the same old dialogs and quests about your lack of soul. It is mentioned in numerous dialogs throughout the game, and many quest plots revolve around this feature of yours (in short, your character is able to do a couple of things or survive in situations that common people can not). You've lost it when Mannimarco performed his ritual on you, and your main personal goal is to reclaim it somehow. But in doing so they screwed up with their own original idea of ESO storyline, which is mostly based on the fact that your character HAS NO SOUL. I understand that Zenimax wants to position Morrowind more like standalone game than just another DLC (selling it in boxes etc.), so they even created the alternative start, which takes the player directly to Vvardenfell. The trailer also alleviated many of those who felt that Nolan’s vision couldn’t get any better than his last film, ‘The Dark Knight.’ This movie has been said to prove them all wrong.īased on what everyone who was present at the screening has said, the trailer sounds epic! It definitely sounds like it has to be watched in an IMAX theater or you won’t get the effect it’s meant to give otherwise.I don't like the way they turned the main plotline of the game into some kind of optional side quest that you can take in the starting area. They applaud Hardy’s ability to pull off this menacing character leaving no doubt that this will not be an easy fight for Batman. The consensus of those in attendance do agree that this prologue sets up Bane as Batman’s greatest foe. rep in attendance told reporters that this is just a preliminary trailer and the audio has not been finalized yet. Many say he did have a British type accent but couldn’t be sure. The only negative that the reporters had to say of the trailer was that you couldn’t understand a word Hardy was saying. ![]() The final shot (which brought a chill up everyone’s spine) was a startling glimpse of Bane holding Batman’s shredded, ruined cowl in his fist and throwing it to the ground. Another bigger plane belonging to Bane swoops in with a squad of tactical commandoes and metal cables and proceeds to crash the CIA jet and extract Bane in the process, all in midair!Īfterwards, there’s a quick minute montage of footage showing Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and Selina Kyle, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake, Christian Bale as Batman, scenes of the Batwing chasing the Batmobile, brawls on the streets of Gothan and more of Bane. Thus starts a sequence of scenes worthy of being part of a James Bond film. All of a sudden, it’s revealed that Bane is one of the prisoners! Wearing the trademark face mask, the CIA agent (played by ‘Game of Thrones’ Aiden Gillen) asks, ‘Was it your plan to get caught?” To which Bane replies, “It was my plan to crash this plane”. ![]() While on the plane, the CIA operatives try to strong arm their way to get the prisoners to reveal Bane’s whereabouts. These prisoners are associates of the mercenary known as Bane. ![]() Pavel can be “read” in the” leaked” CIA files). Pavel and three additional masked prisoners over to them. Apparently the CIA makes a money- for-hostage deal with a local militia to turn Dr. The sequence is said to start with Commissioner Gordon speaking at the funeral of Harvey Dent then switches to an elaborate heist scene that involves Bane. In a nutshell, the trailer can be called ‘Bane on a Plane’ as it mainly introduces the type of villain Tom Hardy plays in the movie. Taking bits and pieces from those who attended the screening and wrote about it, I was able to piece together some details of this highly anticipated trailer. ![]() Last night at Universal Studios Hollywood, director Christopher Nolan hosted a special screening of the prologue trailer that will be shown with Tom Cruise’s movie ‘Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.’ Almost everyone agreed that it was a mind blowing experience and a must see in an IMAX theater. For you brave souls, read on…and don’t say you weren’t warned! If you were planning on seeing the trailer for ‘The Dark Knight Rises,’ then you probably don’t want to read any further than this sentence as this article will be revealing some details. ![]() Minetest bucket filler3/2/2023 ![]() ![]() Intuitively, all the aimed buttons should be on the mouse, and the free buttons on the keyboard. In minecraft-type games, there are two classes of buttons : those triggering an 'aimed action' (punching, placing blocks, anything that requires aiming), and those triggering a 'free action' (jumping, sneaking, etc). One problem would be creative mode, though, where having "destroy node" and "place node" available without cycling through the toolbar is more important. This is probably less efficient than other systems, but I feel it is a lot simpler and more logical. ![]() The rest as per shovels.ĭropped items are picked up with the right mouse button. Wielding a sword: left click on a dirt node or door does nothing (say to prevent accidental digging), left clicking an entity attacks it. The use key cycles through the screwdriver's modes. Right clicking a door opens the door, right clicking a dirt node does nothing. Wielding a screwdriver: left click on a dirt node rotates the node, left click on a door rotates the door. Right clicking a door opens it, right clicking a dirt node does nothing. Wielding a dirt block: left click on a dirt node places a dirt node, left click on a door places a dirt node in front of the door. The use key eats the apple (the apple's actual function). Wielding an apple: left click on a dirt node digs the dirt (if everything defaults to digging), left click on a door digs the door. Hitting the use key also does nothing (a shovel has no function on its own). Right clicking a door opens the door, right clicking a dirt block does nothing (a dirt block has no function itself). Wielding a shovel (or your hand): left click on a dirt node digs the dirt, left click on a door digs the door. So you can no longer dig with a placeable node. The strongest consequence: you would use the left mouse button to dig if you're wielding a digging tool or your hand, but also to place nodes if you're holding a placeable node. Use key: use the wielded item regardless of the node being pointed at. Right mouse button: use the node being pointed at. ![]() Left mouse button: apply the wielded item to the node being pointed at. Ok, after mulling over the original question, here's my proposal: I have tried to improve the controls menu in Minetest a bit by adding some controls (change volume, cycle through hotbar), but it never got merged. F8: Toggle cinematic mode (“lazy” camera)īoth keys can not be remapped in-game (but should).Some recent useful keys have been added since then: It is the perfect example of how messed up the entire controls system in Minetest really is.Īs for the other controls: I still hold (mostly) the same opinion as of the first post, since not much changed (at least the F4 problem is not finally solved!). IMO the “use” key is the weirdest control in Minetest. The funniest thing about the use key that it does not really have something to do with using. In fly mode, you are automatically fast, so the use key makes you go down again then. Then pressing the use key makes you go fast, except when you are in a liquid or on a ladder. Things become interesting if you have both configured the use key as “climb down” key and are in fast mode but not in fly mode. Too bad if there's two mods using the use key, then you have a problem. For instance, the Sprint mod uses this key by default to sprint. The use key (like a few other keys) can also be recognized by mods. You can also configure in the keybindings menu that this key is used to climb/swim down, as an alternative to the sneak key. When you are in fast mode, but not in fly mode, the use key makes you run fast. IDK what the "use" key means, but whatever. ![]() Rebook pumps3/2/2023 ![]() ![]() Unveiled to the world at a trade show in March 1989, the sneaker was introduced to the public and pushed as the latest in athletic tech in September of that year. Litchfield and his team, working with the consultancy Design Continuum, came up with the Pump: a sneaker with a big button on the tongue that allowed the wearer to “pump up” the sneaker each time they put it on. Reebok president Paul Fireman wanted new tech to counter Nike, and put engineer Paul Litchfield in charge of a project to build a customizable sneaker. Reebok gained market share in the mid-80s by connecting its sneakers with the aerobics craze, but Nike commandeered the space by the late 80s with its Air Jordan line and its Air Max running sneakers with visible air. In the 1980s, sneaker companies were all about pioneering new gimmicks. ![]() Today a successor to the original shoe is the only Pump sneaker the company sells. By the time POGs hit, Pumps were on the way out. Pumps were a blip in the history of sneakers-an early 1990s fad. I’ve never owned a pair of original Pumps. Gear Regulator sneakers, a $65 knock-off. ![]() “When you wanted something,” she said, “it was like a quest for you.” But I never got them. Image by kikfoto licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0 They even ended up in political cartoons, which tend to only add new tropes about every half-century. They had a controversial “banned” commercial. The next year, Dee Brown, a 6-foot-1 rookie, beat all-time dunker Shawn Kemp in part by incorporating the Pump into his dunk routines. They are etched in basketball lore: Legendary dunker Dominique Wilkins-the future NBA Hall of Famer nicknamed “The Human Highlight Reel”-wore the Pump for his 1990 Slam Dunk Contest win. Reebok, until then previously best known for women’s aerobic footwear, even managed to briefly pull ahead of Nike in market share as a result. They were famously and controversially expensive-$170 at launch, an outlandish figure that led to a moral panic in the nation’s newspapers. The Reebok Pumps were a pop culture phenomenon even before they went on sale in November of 1989. Reebok didn’t make them in kids’ sizes yet so I couldn’t even get them, but one of the first products I can remember wanting was a pair of Reebok Pump sneakers. ![]() AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |