One of the questions I got on this site recently was, “Does Hardee’s serve biscuits and gravy at night?”
As I wrote about in Everything I Know About Breakfast, Hardee’s is the clear fast-food breakfast winner, but I didn’t actually know the answer so I had to look it up.
I could not find this information from Hardee’s website, but thankfully The Examiner stepped up and let the world know that, “The majority of Hardee’s restaurant locations serve breakfast from 6:00 AM to 10:30 AM. However some Hardee’s locations serve breakfast all day long!”
Bonus Note from Cha Cha Answers: Hardee’s has all you can eat biscuits and gray on Sunday at a lot of locations, but not all of them.
Edit: this post is currently up to 31 “false reality” movies + 2 TV shows. Updates follow the original post.
Movies can make us question reality by prompting these types of questions:
What is real? Are we real? Is this life real?
What is a simulation or a lie being told to us?
How do we know? What evidence might help?
In this blog post I’ve attempted to categorize the following mind-bending movies into conflict narratives where these questions have been asked in one way or another. I don’t attempt to answer the questions – I’ll leave that to you. Many of these movies could fit into more than one conflict narrative type, but I’ve chosen to choose one that I felt was the best fit. If you have another movie you’d like to add or have a differing opinion, please let me know in the comments below.
Every Facet of Your Life is a Lie (Man vs. Society) #Escape
The Truman Show – In this movie, Jim Carrey’s character lives inside a television show without knowing it. Everything and every person around him is either fake or a paid actor. It’s not until he reaches middle age that he starts to wonder if things aren’t exactly as they seem. This movie explores the process a man goes through when he discovers that his world is a lie and how he must break out.
THX 1138 – One of George Lucas’ first films, this movie portrays a man who is forced to live the status quo for reasons he doesn’t understand. In his heart he knows there is more to this life than what he is being allowed to believe. While he doesn’t know what is on the ‘other side’ he begins to run and starts the process of escaping the world in which he lives (underground) and only once outside is redeemed.
1984 – A movie where the real truth is never known and is always changing, it revolves around a man in a community dominated by lies and an overbearing government. All information is controlled, propaganda runs rampant, personal lives are controlled, and privacy is non-existant. The central character temporarily breaks free only to be recaptured and re-assimilated into the system.
You’re Being Lied to or Controlled by a Computer (Man vs. Machine) #Trust
2001: A Space Odyssey – HAL 9000 is a computer program designed to help run a space ship on a mission to Jupiter – or so Dave thinks. What Dave comes to find out – after being locked out of the spaceship by HAL 9000 – is that the mission is actually quite different (just like the android’s secret mission in the movie, Alien). Dave overcomes the computer by disabling it’s memory banks, but in the end is still consumed by the primary mission HAL 9000 was trying to protect – the monolith.
Wall-E – At the end of this movie you discover that the main computer on the space ship holding all of the humans has been lying to the humans in order to stay in control of them. What’s the lesson here? Don’t let computer programs run your space ships! The humans eventually take control and go home.
The Matrix – Mr. Anderson (Neo) is always looking for something, but he doesn’t know what he’s looking for. When he gets a message to “follow the white rabbit” and decides to “see how deep the rabbit hole goes” he discovers that he has not only been living in a simulated reality his whole life, but that he’s also the key to redeeming the rest of the human race enslaved by a computer program.
Thirteenth Floor – Have you ever drove in a single direction for as far as you could go just to see what happens? How do you actually know the world is round unless you test it? In this movie, the characters create a simulation and in doing so discover that they themselves are living inside a simulation. What do you do with that information when you discover everything you know isn’t real?
The Village (2004) – “The Village” is not actually set in the 1800s. The inhabitants live in a wildlife preserve in modern times and that the government is bribed not to fly planes over the area so that the children who were born there will still believe in the group’s olde-tymie lifestyle and live as the “elders” want them to. As Ed said in the comments, “It’s the best example of Plato’s cave.”
You’re Not Who You Think You Are (Man vs. Himself) #Memory
Oblivion – This movie got a lot of flack for being a Frankenstein of previous movies like Moon and Wall-E, but I’ve included it because I think it underlines one of the central themes here and one I think is most popular (either among movie-makers or movie-goers) in that you may not be who you think you are – but you can still become the person you want to be – as long as you break social norms.
Moon – Imagine you’re a miner on another planet and your shift is almost up – you’ll soon be able to go home, but you start to get sick and so instead of doing your normal, daily routine, you change something and in the process you discover that you weren’t going home at all. Instead you were going to be replaced – by someone who looks just like you. You are not who you think you are. Mind blown.
Blade Runner – In this movie Harrison Ford is a ‘police officer’ of sorts who’s primary role is to find and arrest androids living in the public. The problem is that some of the androids he’s chasing after don’t even know they are really a robot. He’s developed a way to get them to realize they aren’t “real”, but in the process begins to question his own reality – and in this way discovers his own truth.
Total Recall – You have the perfect life, the perfect job, and the perfect wife, but something doesn’t seem quite right. You find yourself seeking an adventure…on Mars! You find a way that you can ‘remember’ going to Mars without actually going (much cheaper), but this catapults you into a world where everything you thought you knew was a lie and you find yourself on your way to Mars, for real.
Memento – In this movie, the main character can’t remember short-term memories and his last long-term memories were of his wife getting murdered right in front of him. He is continually searching for the man who murdered his wife and keeps notes on his progress by tatooing clues on his body. The only problem is that he can’t remember who he is or what he’s doing, which is very confusing to him.
A Scanner Darkly – Who is the good guys and who are the bad guys? How far will you go to find out? What if you can’t remember at the end from when you started? A Scanner Darkly is where Memento meets The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as a police officer goes undercover to break a drug ring, losing his identity and mind in the process. Who is a man who has lost his own memory?
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – In this movie Jim Carrey plays a man so upset with his girlfriend that he hires a man to erase every memory of her from his mind. In the process we get to travel through all of the memories as they are erased – all the while experiencing new memories with the very woman he was trying to erase. This movie explores the role of memory with self and destiny.
The Bourne Identity – Like Total Recall, this movie involves a man trying to reconstruct his past and discovering skills and connections he didn’t know he had. In the end, as in Total Recall, Jason Bourne decides to become a different man than the one he used to be. The erasing of his memory has allowed him to become a different person – so again – who is a man without his memory? What is memory?
The Number 23 – In a moment of serendipity, the main character discovers a book in a small book store written by him – that he didn’t remember writing. You can imagine how this would be disconcerting, but what if you discovered a code in the book that re-opened up a mental disorder you had forgotten you had and helped you discover a murder you forgot you committed? Yeah, weird.
I sometimes have dreams for years that I don’t realize aren’t true until, by chance, I happen to think of that place during the day. In a single moment years of memories are vaporized and my idea of what is real or not is shattered. I decided to write this section to help bridge the previous memory section with this next section on place because I think dreams (or memories of dreams) are a good example of both.
You’re Not Where You Think You Are (Man vs. Nature) #Information
Inception – If you’ve ever dreamed you may have noticed how the dream can seem longer than the actual amount of time it takes to dream it. And if you’ve ever had a lucid dream you may have noticed that there are certain things you can control in your dream. This movie takes those two concepts to the extreme, but the question remains: how do you know when you’re still dreaming or what is real?
Pandorum – You wake up in a spaceship and have no idea how you got there. When you begin to explore the ship you discover there are some skills you remember having, but don’t recall specifics. Eventually you discover you are on a ship headed to another planet, but you have no idea where you are. If only you knew where you actually were – if only you had the information you needed to escape.
Vanilla Sky – In a form of memory erasure, one of Tom Cruise’s character’s girlfriends decides to end both of their lives in a car wreck. Fortunately (?) Tom Cruise’s character survives, but his face is disfigured and he wakes up in a world alone with him and his therapist. Imagine how he feels when he realizes that he’s not actually alive, but has opted into a virtual reality which he’s forgotten to escape.
Being John Malkovich – Where is a man’s thoughts? Do they live inside his head? What happens if someone else gets inside your head? Who are you if someone else is controlling your body? In this movie a puppeteer finds a strange tunnel behind a filing cabinet in an office that allows him to control John Malkovich’s body. Where is this man when he is in the mind of another man? Who is he?
He’s Not Who You Think He Is (Man vs. Man) #Deception
The Prestige – There is a term called “the long con” which involves a prolonged act used to deceive another person or group for your own gain. In this movie there is a long con that is not revealed until the end of the movie and a healthy dose of irony in it’s revelation, which I won’t cover here. The man you thought you knew may not be the man you thought at all – and who are you when you’re twice?
SALT – Another long con, this one involving children of ambassadors raised in a special school in order to be distributed in key locations in the government to be activated at the appropriate time. However, even the most intricate of plans and training can be overcome by the person you choose to be today. Like Jason Bourne, this central character decides to be the person she is now, not who she was.
Central Themes of These 22 Movies
You may notice that all of these movies follow a central theme: that there is a feeling like something isn’t right, that there is something else out there, and that you must break the social norms to escape to that other place – and once you do you are either redeemed or crucified for it. There is also a theme of memory loss or the questioning of the memories we do have. As humans we don’t always trust the memories we have and when those memories are gone, who are we? Are we just a accumulation of memories or something else?
You may notice that Jim Carrey appears more than once as an actor (The Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and The Number 23) and that the author Philip K. Dick‘s movies (Blade Runner, Total Recall, and A Scanner Darkly) all share similar themes. I didn’t know this, but apparently The Truman Show is a Philip K. Dick short story. One more connection: Matt Damon from The Bourne Identity also played in a Philip K. Dick movie called The Adjustment Bureau. It’s like a game of 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon.
By the way, all of the movie links above to Amazon are affiliate links. I make a small percentage of money if you buy something from Amazon through those links. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and it helps support the writing of this site. Thanks for reading!
Updates
Update 8/29/2013:
A friend recently pointed me to Dark City, which, theologian Gerard Loughlin interprets as a retelling of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. “For Loughlin, the city inhabitants are prisoners who do not realize they are in a prison. John Murdoch’s escape from the prison parallels the escape from the cave in the allegory.” This allegory is very similar to the movie, THX 1138, where Robert Duvall literally climbs up out of the ‘cave’. I haven’t seen Dark City, but when they realize they aren’t where they think they are, that makes me think it’s a Man vs. Nature film.
Update 9/18/2013:
I was listening to Tropical MBA Podcast episode 24 which played David Foster Wallace’s 2005 commencement speech to Kenyon College, of which much was relevant to this topic. “A huge percentage of the stuff that I tend to be automatically certain of is, it turns out, totally wrong and deluded…[Education] has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time, that we have to keep reminding ourselves over and over: ‘This is water.’ ‘This is water.’ It is unimaginably hard to do this, to stay conscious and alive in the adult world day in and day out.” David killed himself on his back porch in September of 2008, just over 3 years after making this speech, “It is not the least bit coincidental that adults who commit suicide with firearms almost always shoot themselves in: the head. They shoot the terrible master. And the truth is that most of these suicides are actually dead long before they pull the trigger.”
Update 7/8/2014:
I was listening to Tim Ferriss’ podcast with Jason Silva who listed his top, “False Reality [movies] that makes you question your reality”. The one I hadn’t heard of before was Enemy starring Jake Gyllenhaal:
Inception
The Matrix
The Truman Show
Existenze
Vanilla Sky
Memento
Enemy – A man seeks out his exact look-alike after spotting him in a movie.
Jason Silva is a Venezuelan-American television personality, filmmaker, and performance philosopher who currently host’s National Geographic’s Brain Games.
Update 10/9/2014:
Reverse-Reality Movies, where everything is a game:
The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997)
The Game (1997)
“How much do you trust your own memory?” Movies:
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
The Moment (2013)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
“Where do you think you are?” Movies:
The Signal (2014)
Does the Bible hint at some of these themes? James 4:14 says: “You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” What is real?. Paul hints that the only thing that is “real” is the things we can’t see. 2 Corinthians 4:18 says, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
TV Shows
Southpark – Grounded Vindaloop – the animated characters in the show realize they are all stuck inside an Oculus Rift virtual reality (VR) world and need help desk support (ala Vanilla Sky) to get out. Once out, we realize they are all actually real boys.
Scrubs – My Screw Up – Dr. Cox spends the episode preparing for his son’s birthday with his brother, Ben. Only at the end of the episode is it revealed that Ben is dead and Dr. Cox has been instead preparing for his funeral, unbeknownst to him.
Quotes and YouTube Videos
From the Cafe scene in Inception, “Where are you right now?”
From Scrub’s “My Screw Up”, “Where do you think we are?”
When something hasn’t been accomplished, a common saying is:
We can land a man on the moon, but we can’t…”
What would we be saying if this had never happened?
When something new is released, a common saying is:
The best thing since sliced bread.”
Before sliced bread you had to slice your own bread. Was this a bad thing?
When the work you’re doing ultimately doesn’t matter, a common saying is that you are
Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic”
What would we be saying if we had never lost the Titanic? No one makes sayings about space shuttle accidents, but they do like to say:
Houston we have a problem.”
Are common sayings useful?
In a world where we are more and more connected, but have less and less in common, maybe we need these old sayings. Of course my opinion is USA-centric and to an extent, generation-centric. While shows like Friends and Seinfeld are like cannon for my generation, they have little relevance with anyone who has graduated high school in the last 8 years. It’s been almost 18 years since I graduated high school, to give you context.
Are Internet memes and viral videos useful?
While there are gigantic swaths of the Internet that can avoid the gaze of a majority of the world, the closest thing to a chance for commonality is going to be the most “viral” elements, which are Internet memes and viral videos who can garner more eyeballs than even the most popular television show, movie, or video games. And since you brought up video games, while “Mario” was the Mickey Mouse of my 8-bit generation that title has since been replaced by Angry Birds. For perspective, my daughter has an Angry Birds t-shirt and plays it far more than Super Mario on her Wii, but she plays Minecraft more by far.
Reasoning by analogy versus the First Principles reasoning
In a TED talk on Tesla, SpaceX, and Solarcity, Elon Musk was asked by Chris Anderson, “How have you [built all of these companies]? These projects are so — Paypal, SolarCity, Tesla, SpaceX, they’re so spectacularly different, they’re such ambitious projects at scale. How on Earth has one person been able to innovate in this way? What is it about you?” and this was Musk’s response:
I work a lot. I mean, a lot…I do think there’s a good framework for thinking. It is physics. You know, the sort of first principles reasoning. Generally I think there are — what I mean by that is, boil things down to their fundamental truths and reason up from there, as opposed to reasoning by analogy. Through most of our life, we get through life by reasoning by analogy, which essentially means copying what other people do with slight variations. And you have to do that. Otherwise, mentally, you wouldn’t be able to get through the day. But when you want to do something new, you have to apply the physics approach. Physics is really figuring out how to discover new things that are counterintuitive, like quantum mechanics. It’s really counterintuitive. So I think that’s an important thing to do, and then also to really pay attention to negative feedback, and solicit it, particularly from friends. This may sound like simple advice, but hardly anyone does that, and it’s incredibly helpful.”
When we speak and relate in metaphors, we may be helping communicate with each other, but we are not creating anything new. So are common sayings useful? Yes, if you want to communicate, but not if you want to create something new.
Erich Stauffer figurines are worth about $10-$35 USD per figurine or roughly $3 per inch (buy the price guide to know for sure). The price depends on the condition of the figurine and what the figurine is depicting. Also they sometimes came with paper labels on the front or hang tags so if it has those, it’s worth more. Furthermore, they sometimes came in sets. If they are in pristine condition, in a set, and have paper attachments, they are at the highest end of the scale.
About Erich Stauffer Figurines
Erich Stauffer, a porcelain figurine artist, is said to have been a designer for several different porcelain figurine companies including Goebel and Kalk, but probably only worked for Arnart Creation (also known as Original Arnart Creation, Japan or Original Arnart Creation, New York). Arnart was founded in 1953 in Japan to produce porcelain art, and has offices on 5th Avenue in New York, New York under their new name, Arnart Imports Inc.. Erich Stauffer designed fake versions of Hummels and Kalk figurines for Arnart from 1953 to 1970 under the brands Arnart Imports, 5th Avenue, ArMark, Royal Carlton, Royal Chintz, and Royal Crown.
Arnart is known by its crown and crossed arrow symbols on the bottom, some of which are printed with numbers in a series in porcelain or on a sticker. Erich Stauffer designed “fake Hummels,” which used a crown symbol. Goebel Hummels had similar marks in use from 1934 to 1942. Arnart also produced “fake Kalks,” which carry the two three-feathered crossed arrows, trade marks of the Porzellanmanufaktur Kalk company from Eisenberg, Thuringia in Germany. Because Arnart produced both fake Hummels and fake Kalks, some have speculated that Erich Stauffer worked for either or both in Germany, but this theory is not supported. It is most likely that Erich Stauffer only worked for Arnart.
Some people place Erich Stauffer figurines back to 1940 because of the United States ban on imports from Germany during World War II, which started in September 1939 when the United Kingdom and France both declared war on Germany. On December 11, 1941, the United States declared war on Germany. The New Deal, which was the name that President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave to a sequence of economic stimulus programs initiated between 1933 and 1938 to combat recession, included blocking imports from Germany to the United States. However, Arnart Creation was not founded until 1953, eight years after the end of World War II on August 15, 1945.
Designed by Erich Stauffer
It is true that Hummel porcelain figurines were manufactured by Goebel in Germany, which was no longer able to export to the United States during World War II, but Arnart more than likely capitalized off not the import ban, but the general popularity of the premium porcelain brands of Goebel Hummel and Kalks. Erich Stauffer, a traditional German name, may even have been invented to make it seem as though the Arnart imports were from Germany. This could explain why it is so hard to find out information about Erich Stauffer, the designer.
Another reason why the import ban theory does not hold up is due to the fact that the ban also applied to Japan, where the figurines were initially produced. After World War II, Arnart was part of the influx of cheap Japanese imports flooding the US market. Arnart’s imitations began to tarnish their brand so in 1957 Arnart changed their name to “5th Avenue” after securing their 5th Avenue office in downtown New York and stopped using a printed stamped “Made in Japan” pottery mark, replacing it with a “Made in Japan” sticker. In 2000, 5th Avenue changed their name back to Arnart Imports Inc.
What is an Erich Stauffer Figurine Worth?
Erich Stauffer Figurine
Erich Stauffer figurines selling on online auction services such as Ebay end anywhere from $5 to $40. The price varies by how clear the mark on the bottom is, whether a number exists or not, if there are any chips or cracks in the porcelain, and if it has a sticker. A sticker, because of the chance of removal over time, makes it more valuable. It is important to note that even though the figurines, also known as “fake Hummels” or “fake Kalks” are imitations, over time have become valuable in their own right. However, as long as Arnart Imports Inc. is still in business, the price of Erich Stauffer figurines will never be as high as Goebel’s Hummels.
Erich Stauffer figurines usually look like Hummels or Kalks and can be identified by the crown or crossed arrow symbols, but also by a beehive symbol or taglines such as “Made in West Germany” or “Designed by Erich Stauffer”. One person has also reported seeing “Divinity Artware” under one Erich Stauffer figurine. Figurines stating that they were made in Germany were not. They are hand-painted porcelain figurines from Japan. They may also say “New York,” but again, Erich Stauffer figurines which say “New York” originally had “Made in Japan” stickers and were made in Japan. The best way to find out what your figurine is worth is to have it professionally appraised or by purchasing one of the books below:
One reviewer said, “I’ve been selling on ebay for about a year and have read numerous books on ebay. How to Sell Antiques and Collectibles on ebay….and Make a Fortune….is the Best book I’ve come across. A lot of the other books on ebay…contain information you could find on the ebay website. This book is different…got a lot of great tips about selling in the most popular catagories, ect.”
Arnart’s Erich Stauffer Fake Hummels
Arnart sold Hummel look-alike figurine with a crown label designed by German artist Erich Stauffer. Arnart was big importers of cheap Japansese goods in the 1950’s and 60’s, which also with a crown label.
The first Hummel figurines were sold in 1935. The figurines are all based on the drawings and paintings of children by sister Maria Innocentia Hummel. Much of the art was done in the 1930s.
In addition to figurines of children, there are figurines of saints – a stylistic departure from the figurines of playful children which was copied by Erich Stauffer for Arnart. Hummel and Erich Stauffer were both artists, but Hummel worked for Goebel and Stauffer worked for Arnart Imports (also known as Arnart Creations, among other names).
Hummels were made by Goebel up until June of 2008 when Goebel discontinued making them. It is important to note that Hummel is not a brand or a company, but a line of porcelain figurines distributed by the Goebel company. All Hummels are Goebel figurines, but not all Goebel figurines are Hummels.
Erich Stauffer Figurines Book
How much is an Erich Stauffer figurine worth?
I’ve compiled all of my writing on the history of Erich Stauffer, Erich Stauffer figurines, and Arnart into one volume, which is available exclusively on the Kindle at Amazon. Don’t have a Kindle? You can still read the book on your computer, mobile phone, or tablet by downloading the Kindle software for your device.
Learn who Erich Stauffer was, find out more about Arnart Imports and Erich Stauffer Figurines. What is an Erich Stauffer figurine worth? This isn’t a Erich Stauffer figurines price guide, but there are some ranges and metrics of evaluation you can use. Learn how to Identify fake Hummels and other Arnart figurines based on crowns, crossed arrows, and porcelain marks. There are no pictures in this book, but there is lots of information about Erich Stauffer figurines and Arnart Imports that you might find useful in identifying and verifying your porcelain figurines.
Here’s an excerpt from the introduction of the book:
If you’re reading this book, you’ve probably purchased or inherited a porcelain figurine with a strange inscription on the bottom. You look closely and faintly make out the words, “Erich Stauffer” and if you’re lucky, some hand-drawn crossed-arrows. Some figurines have stickers, some have paper labels, some are numbered and others not.
You probably did a web search to see what your figurine was worth or who made it. You might have found some eBay listings or an antiques web site with a few figurines for sale, but you probably still have questions about who Erich Stauffer was, what they are worth, and why the figurines were made. This book seeks to answer those questions.
Erich Stauffer Figurines Price Guide
The price varies by how clear the mark on the bottom is, whether a number exists or not, if there are any chips or cracks in the porcelain, and if it has a sticker. But I didn’t know exactly what metrics to use or what the official names of the figurines were or if the numbers on the bottom under “Designed by Erich Stauffer” were unique to each porcelain figurine or if that ID number tied it to a set.
What I found out by researching the completed Ebay auctions from the last 6 months was that:
Not all Erich Stauffer figurines had paper tags glued to the front, some used tags on a string
The ID numbers seem to correspond to groups of figurines, meaning they were meant to be sets – making collecting all of the figurines to a set more valuable than the individual figurine
Some of the Erich Stauffer figurines have the same name, even though they aren’t part of the same set
Some ID numbers are also re-used, even if they are not part of the same set
If the number has a division symbol (/) it may be a limited run or made to look like it was a limited run
I don’t know what the S or the U at the beginning of the ID stood for/stands for
The prices of Erich Stauffer figurines ranges from $1.86 to $20.89 each with this limited sample:
Joan Oates is known for collecting Phoenix Bird Chinaware and Erich Stauffer figurines (fake Hummels). In Maloney’s Antiques & Collectibles, she actually gives her phone number and address with this request:
Wants to buy Erich Stauffer child-like figurines; must say “Designed by Erich Stauffer” underneath and give style number, price, describe activity, give height.
And on ArtMLS (Art Multiple Listing Service) she wrote:
Interested in child-like, Hummel look-alikes marked ‘Designed by Erich Stauffer’ and numbered, made in Japan and imported by Arnart Imports.
If you’re asking yourself, “How can I sell my Erich Stauffer figurines?” or “How much are my Erich Stauffer figurines worth?”, email Joan Collett Oates at koates120@earthlink.net.
In addition to being an adviser on several different antique collectible books, she has also written her own book on Phoenix Bird Chinaware by the same name.
Joan Virginia Oates was born in 1928. Joan currently lives in Marshall, Michigan. Before that, Joan lived in West Bloomfield, MI from 1988 to 1988. Before that, Joan lived in Constantine, MI from 1992 to 2005.
If you’re interested in an Erich Stauffer figurines price guide, check out The Official Price Guide to Flea Market Treasures: 5th Edition, by Harry Rinker, which Joan Oates advised on. It has a list of 16 different fake Hummel (Arnart Imports/Royal Crown) Erich Stauffer figurine prices.
Arnart Imports Porcelain Marks
Not only was the Japanese ceramic industry smaller in scale compared to the Chinese, but the porcelain marks were also applied for different reasons that on the Chinese porcelain. Personal signatures by the artists involved, such as Erich Stauffer, are quite common. We also find a different attitude towards what marks that are put on the Japanese porcelain and in particular the export porcelain from the 19th century and onwards.
The entire range of Imperial reign marks so common on Chinese porcelain, genuine or not, is mostly lacking. The marks are more commercially oriented, such as with Arnart Imports, are more numerous, and can vary even within a set of pieces. They can indicate the name of the factory, the potter, the decorator, the pattern, the customer, the exporter, the importer or both or a part of them or maybe just say “Made in Japan”, “Japan”, “Nippon”, “Happiness” or “Good luck” in any number of ways.
Increasing the confusion are the hundreds of porcelain decorating firms active in the early to mid 20th century simultaneously putting many different marks on the same wares seemingly at random but probably for some reason. To take just one example, the Noritake company which has been active for about one hundred years only, are thought to have used over 400 different marks.
Arnart Imports Inc., owner of the Erich Stauffer figurines, is still in operation and is currently located in 230 Fifth Avenue, New York. The company specializes in porcelain gifts and decorative accessories. First registrated trade mark is the Crown and A’s mark registred April 30, 1953. A mark looking like a bee hive, was first used the last of December 1957. Both were cancelled in 2001.
Arnart Imports Inc., mark registred in 1957. Cancelled June 6th, 2001.
Arnart Imports Inc., Crown and A’s mark in use since April 30, 1953. Cancelled February 17, 2001.
Arnart Imports Inc., Crown and A’s mark in use since 1953 combined with the ‘bee hive’ in use since 1957, both cancelled in 2001.
Arnart Imports Inc., Royal Carlton, was registred for porcelain tableware, in 1957; Royal Crown was registred for use on animal and bird figures 1965 – 1987. Several similar ‘Royal’ marks with a crown and a brand mark exists, all from the second half of the 20th century.
Arnart Creations Crossed Arrows
Crossed arrows were stamped in several countries as a porcelain brand. Whether this was in reference to the famous Meissen crossed swords, it should be presumed to be. Today, you will find mark crossed arrows on porcelain dishes, porcelain figurines, and knickknacks from the following countries:
France: Paris porcelain factory Bloch (often with the addition: “PORCELAINE DE PARIS FRANCE”)
Japan: Arnartcreation or Arnart (often with a multi-digit number)
USA: Homco (Home Improvement Co.) (often with a multi-digit number, decorative name and / or artist name)
In addition, there are also hand-painted Markung crossed arrows, but the problem of a properly assigning them is that there were several companies that are used weapons as a trademark. For example, the porcelain factory, Rauenstein, crossed flags, the teat porcelain villages crossed spears, and Volkstedter porcelain factory used cruising signs, all of them together with a certain similarity which is presumably intended. You can see how it can be hard to identify porcelain pieces to a manufacturer.
When looking at Arnart marks and seeing the different number combinations one tends to believe that there was some connection between Arnart and HOMCO. The marks themselves – and the items these marks appear on – are not HOMCO as the marks were registered by Arnart and the mold style, decoration and other marks clearly indicate Arnart as source. Arnart was in the replication business so they simply used a numbering system similar to HOMCO to better position themselves in the marketplace. Arnart even went as far as to use the HOMCO numbering scheme for some Erich Stauffer figurines.
Here are some books on Volkstedter porcelain and HOMCO “Denim Days” figurines:
One reviewer said of Barker’s HOMCO guide, “This was for my mom, she collects denim days. She loves the book. Now she can see what to look for next.” What will you look for next?
How to Identify Porcelain Figurines
A figurine is a statuette that represents a human, deity (god), or animal. Figurines may be realistic or iconic, depending on the skill and intention of the figurine designer. The earliest figurines were made of stone or clay, but modern versions are made of porcelain, ceramic, metal, glass, wood, and plastic (think G.I. Joe’s and other action figures). Figurines with movable parts, which allow limbs to be posed, are more likely to be called dolls, mannequins, or action figures. If they can move on their own they are called robots or automata, depending on which part of the world you live in.
Figurines and miniatures are sometimes used in board games, such as chess, and tabletop games like Risk. Old figurines have been used to discount some historical theories, such as the origins of chess. Figurines are still used in digital games in the form of avatars or characters in a game that are manipulated by the player using a computer or gaming console. In this sense, figurines are simply meant to represent something else, much like the original definition where we stated that figurines are “statuettes that represent a human, deity (god), or animal.
Porcelain figurines began in China. There are prehistoric figurines of pregnant women called Venus figurines, because of their presumed representation of a female goddess, or some connection to fertility. The two oldest known examples are made of stone, were found in Africa and Asia, and are several hundred thousand years old. Many made of fired clay have been found in Europe that date to 25-30,000 BC, and are the oldest ceramics known.
These early figurines are among the first signs of human culture. One cannot know in some cases how they were used, but we can hypothesize that they had religious or ceremonial significance and may have been used in many types of rituals. Many are found in burials, which helps back-up this hypothesis. Some may have been worn as jewelry or intended to amuse children, much the same way we use action figures to amuse children to today (or children or amused by figurines and dolls so we make more of them).
Porcelain and other ceramics are common materials for figurines. There are many early examples from China where it originated, which drove the experimentation in Europe to replicate the process. The first European porcelain figurines, produced in a process mastered in Germany were known as Meissen ware after the city where it began. Soon the technique was copied in other cities, such as Dresden.
Modern figurines, particularly those made of plastic are often referred to as figures. They can encompass modern action figures and other model figures as well as Precious Moments and Hummel figurines (which are not plastic), Bobbleheads and all kinds of memorabilia. Three companies which continue to produce figurines are Arnart, Royal Doulton, and Lladró.
Figurines of comic book or sci-fi/fantasy characters without movable parts have been referred to by the terms inaction figures (originally used to describe Kevin Smith’s View Askew figurines) and staction figures (a portmanteau of statue and action figures coined by Four Horsemen artists to describe Masters of the Universe figures). This is just an example of how figurines continue to evolve and change.
Before the Suggett Daily News there was the Succat Downing Street, a daily in London, which was ran by Meawyn Succat, who later moved to France and then to Ireland to convert the Irish to Catholicism in the 5th century. You may know of him better as St. Patrick, which he was later named after being declared a saint. When the Succat family came to Virginia in the 18th century, their name was changed to Suggett and the SDN was renamed the Suggett Daily News.
John Suggett and Mildred Davis of Virginia had Rev. James Suggett who married Sarah Redding, also of Virginia. James and Sarah moved to Kentucky and had John Pope Suggett. John married Mary Ann O’Rear of Kentucky, moved to Missouri, and had Daniel J. Suggett. Daniel married Elizabeth Boulds of Missouri and had Starling Greene Suggett who together with his second wife, Constance Eleanor Hopkins continued on the tradition of The Suggett Daily News.
A Tale of Two Constance Hopkins
Constance Hopkins (May 11, 1606 – October 1677), also sometimes listed as Constanta was probably born in Hursley, Hampshire, England. Constance was the second daughter of Stephen Hopkins, by his first wife, Mary. Some believe she was named in honor of Constance (Marline) Hopkins. Constance, at the age of fourteen, along with her father and his second wife Elizabeth (Fisher), accompanied by brother Giles, half-sister Damaris as well as two servants by the name of Edward Doty and Edward Lester were passengers on the Mayflower on its journey to the New World in 1620. Along the way her half-brother Oceanus was born, the only child born on the Mayflower journey.
A Brief History of Rev. James Suggett
In the war of 1812, he accompanied his cousin Colonel Richard Mentor Johnson, (later Vice President of U.S. to Van Buren) who commanded the troops in the battle of Thames, which was decisive battle that helped end the war. Richard was and is the only Vice President to be elected by the United States Senate based on majority vote. He was popular primarily for killing the Indian leader at the battle of Themes.
One day while James was tending to farming chores in Kentucky he heard a peculiar noise in his stable and upon going out to see what caused it, he found a large buck quietly feeding himself from the horse trough. He hastly slammed the door shut to fasten the deer in but he was not quick enough. The frightened animal plunged against the door and carried it off the hinges, It remained fast on his horns and while he was struggling with it, James laid hold of him, thinking he could hold him down, but the deer proved to be the stronger of the two, and dragged him to the lot fence. Seeing that he was going to jump over, he let go and the deer went over the fence ‘light as a bird’, the door still on his horns. The deer disappeared in the woods and that was the last he saw of the deer–or his stable door.
For fun I started writing the screenplay for the fourth installment of the Back to the Future series:
Doc Brown’s kids are now 18 and 22. We see them acting like typical teenagers, hanging out in their cabin on the train, listening to their iPods and watching their iPads when the girl gets up to grab a snack. The kitchen area is lined with invented ways to make toast or cook hot dogs. Jules grabs a bottle of juice and steps outside nonchalantly. That’s when the camera shows where and when they are.
Doc Brown, their father, is studying dinosaurs in a dense jungle. “Dad, how long are we going to be here?” Jules exclaims.
Doc inches closer to the dinosaur and the camera switches to Verne, who is turning up the gain on his amp, which is connected to his 1974 Les Paul. He begins to play his guitar softly and the baby dinosaur who was asleep opens its eyes. Doc Brown inches closer.
Jules goes in to talk to her mom, who is reading. Vernes music can still be heard in the background. Jules sighs so her mom asks Jules if she feels she missed out on having a normal life in one place.
Just then the baby dinosaur sees Doc and at the same time the dinosaur squeels, Verne feedbacks his guitar and the song gets heavier and faster. Drum overlay also kicks in and now we see the mother of the baby dinosaur, a full grown T-Rex. Doc begins to run back to the train saying, “I’m getting to old for this!” He radios to his wife, “Prepare to move. I’m on my way.”
The beat of the T-Rex’s feet match the beat of the bass drum playing along with Verne’s music. His mom moves into the pilots chair and sees the T-Rex approaching with Doc running in front. Jules sits down in the co-pilot seat, looks at her mother, then out the window and screams, “Dad!”
They start up the train and float it into position just as Doc approaches the door and as Verne’s music reaches a crescendo. Doc jumps in and they all take off into the future, but not before the T-Rex takes a bite at the rear of the train.
Update:
So apparently Jules and Verne are both boys so the beginning will need to be a little different. Instead of having a girl and a boy, one son will be more interested in science and the other in girls. We’ll make Verne the geek and Jules the chaser.
So now that we have these actors who are playing Doc’s sons, the one most like him, Verne, will play a young Doc Brown who in 1940 attended school with Strickland. His brother, Jules will be traveling back to visit them in the future. This is how he will get there.
The dinosaur damages the train when they are taking off. Docs wife had set an emergency course for 2015, which is their safety year. They know they will be able to find parts during that time. While the train is getting worked on, Jules goes for a walk while Verne stays back to help his dad. That’s when he spots the Delorean. His dad had just had the upgrades made on it. He can’t resist getting in so he sits down…fill in reason to take car here…Jules arrives in 1940 in the Delorean.
Since today is Palm Sunday and we are entering into Passion Week leading up to Good Friday and Easter, I wanted to share a small snippet of that story, which may have influenced Star Wars. But even if you don’t care about Star Wars, it’s still a really cool story that shows God’s power.
The “Jedi Force Push”
In this story, Jesus has triumphantly entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, met with his 12 Disciples for the Passover, and is now about to be betrayed by Judas, on of his disciples. He has just spent the night praying and is really stressed about what is about to happen next.
So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I Am He.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, “I Am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground. -John 18:3-6 ESV
Although not exactly a Jedi Force Push, it does seem as if the very act of Jesus saying, “I AM” forced the “band of soldiers and some officers” to fall to the ground. To give you a little back story, a long time ago Moses met with God on a mountain in Exodus 3 and in verses 13-14 Moses asks God his name.
Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you.’”
God’s name is divine and has power. When Jesus, the Son of Man, said “I Am He,” there was power in that and the group of men fell down. This could have influenced George Lucas in the development of the Force and it’s capabilities.
The “The Rebels”
Immediately after this scene, Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples tries to defend Jesus with a sword by cutting off the ear of the high priest’s slave. To fully understand the significance of this action, you have to understand that part of Jesus’ plan during his time on Earth was to fulfill prophecy. One of the most blatant preparations for this happens in Luke 22 where Jesus makes sure his disciples have a sword to fulfill prophesy from Isaiah 53:12.
He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one. For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment.” And they said, “Look, Lord, here are two swords.” And he said to them, “It is enough.” -Luke 22:36-38 ESV
Isaiah 53:11-12 (NET) says, “Having suffered, he will reflect on his work, he will be satisfied when he understands what he has done. ‘My servant will acquit many, for he carried their sins. So I will assign him a portion with the multitudes, he will divide the spoils of victory with the powerful, because he willingly submitted to death and was numbered with the rebels, when he lifted up the sin of many and intervened on behalf of the rebels.” And in Luke 22:52, “Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”
Could this use of the term “rebels” have influenced George Lucas when he was writing Star Wars? Could the reference to the “power of darkness” have influenced Star Wars’ “dark side of the Force”?
The “Hero’s Journey”
George Lucas, the writer and director of Star Wars, is known to have been influenced by Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces, which identifies the “Hero’s Journey”, a universal motif of adventure and transformation that runs through virtually all of the world’s mythic traditions. While I believe the Bible to be true, much of Campbell’s “mythic traditions” are taken from the Bible. According to Wikipedia, “George Lucas was the first Hollywood filmmaker to credit Campbell’s influence. Lucas stated following the release of the first Star Wars film in 1977 that its story was shaped, in part, by ideas described in The Hero with a Thousand Faces and other works of Campbell’s…Lucas discusses this influence at great length in the authorized biography of Joseph Campbell, A Fire in the Mind:
I [Lucas] came to the conclusion after American Graffiti that what’s valuable for me is to set standards, not to show people the world the way it is…around the period of this realization…it came to me that there really was no modern use of mythology…The Western was possibly the last generically American fairy tale, telling us about our values. And once the Western disappeared, nothing has ever taken its place. In literature we were going off into science fiction…so that’s when I started doing more strenuous research on fairy tales, folklore, and mythology, and I started reading Joe’s books. Before that I hadn’t read any of Joe’s books…It was very eerie because in reading The Hero with a Thousand Faces I began to realize that my first draft of Star Wars was following classic motifs…so I modified my next draft [of Star Wars] according to what I’d been learning about classical motifs and made it a little bit more consistent…I went on to read ‘The Masks of God’ and many other books.
Wikipedia continues, “It was not until after the completion of the original Star Wars trilogy in 1983, however, that Lucas met Campbell or heard any of his lectures. The 1988 documentary The Power of Myth was filmed at Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch. During his interviews with Bill Moyers, Campbell discusses the way in which Lucas used The Hero’s Journey in the Star Wars films (IV, V, and VI) to re-invent the mythology for the contemporary viewer. Moyers and Lucas filmed an interview 12 years later in 1999 called the Mythology of Star Wars with George Lucas & Bill Moyers to further discuss the impact of Campbell’s work on Lucas’ films.”
The Easter Story
Jesus was the ultimate hero because, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” -John 3:16 KJV. But have you heard the good news? Jesus has risen. He overcame death. I don’t know anyone else who has ever done that. It’s pretty unique. And people were so shaken by it that they spent the rest of their lives telling other people about it and even gave up their own lives to continue telling the story. It’s easy to get caught up in the “fun” stories in the Bible about Jedi-like pushes and prophecy being fulfilled, but Paul warns in Collosians 2:18-19 to focus on “the Head” (Jesus), “Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.”
How to watch Star Wars in Telnet
1. Click on the start button (lower left-hand corner of the screen)
2. Click on to Run, type “Telnet”, then click OK
3. In the command prompt that comes up type “o” (without the quotes), then press enter
4. You should get another prompt that says <to>, then type “towel.blinkenlights.nl” (again, without the quotes), the press enter
There will be a couple screens of text that load and then a movie will start: the entire Star Wars: A New Hope in special text characters.
Someone has way too much time on their hands but it*s amazing to see what they’ve done.
Jim Halpert is a character in the American version of The Office. One thing that interested me about the final season was Jim’s newly found entrepreneurial spirit. One of Jim’s college friends starts up a sports marketing company using an idea they had come up with in college and offers Jim a chance to partner with him. Jim initially says no after talking to his wife, Pam, but after seeing that Pete, also known as “New Jim”, is heading down the same career path as Jim, he decides to take the opportunity without telling Pam.
Jim’s marketing company is called “Athlead”, which is as one Redditor described it, “Sports Marketing. ie. People like Jim are the guys who convince NASCAR that Pepsi should be the official cola of NASCAR,” while another described it as, “some kind of publicity firm for athletes.” According to The Office Wikia, “Athlead is a sports marketing company based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is run by Jim Halpert and several other employees.”
When Darryl Philbin shows frustration with his job, Jim offers Darryl to join him in his potential opportunity, but Darryl tells him to tell Pam first, which he does. Pam seems to accept the idea of Jim taking the opportunity, but while Jim is excited, Pam is still upset he didn’t tell her immediately. Jim then impulsively agrees to put in $10K into the company, which angers Pam as that was more than what they agreed to put in and that Jim’s business partners claimed they were all set.
Getting Permission
Jim continues with his new business activities but finds that all of his business partners are in Philadelphia while he is still in Scranton. When the distractions Jim faces while talking over the phone prove too much, his friend says that him staying in Scranton isn’t working out for the business. He asks David Wallace if he can start working part time at Dunder Mifflin, handling any client problems from Philly. When David points out he might be needed in the office in some moments of crisis, Jim asks Stanley and Phyllis to cover for him, who agree, but not until after they take advantage of him. Jim takes Stanley and Phyllis on an expensive lunch. Stanley orders the most expensive items on the menu, and Phyllis proceeds to get drunk, prying a decorative wine bottle from a wooden partition, hoping it’s filled with wine. After the trio return from lunch, Phyllis laughingly tells him that of course, they’ll cover for him, “We love you guys.”.
Darryl’s Day Job
Jim is set to start his sports marketing job before Christmas and Darryl is under the impression that Jim forgot to offer him a position. When a drunken Darryl is ready to tell Jim off, Jim reveals that he talked to his friends about giving him a job. When Dwight Schrute learns that Darryl will be leaving Dunder-Mifflin to join Athlead, he tries to browbeat Darryl into staying by tallying up his perceived job failures since taking the Athlead job and holding a meeting on customer loyalty. While watching documentary footage of the event that has been uploaded onto the internet, Darryl laughs saying, “This is what I will miss when I move to Philadelphia.”
The Office Christmas Party
Before Jim leaves to start his sports marketing job in Philadelphia, he and Pam convince the office to allow Dwight to throw his version of a Christmas party so that Jim can poke fun at him. However, Jim leaves before the party is over, upsetting both Dwight and Pam. When Jim returns unexpectedly, Dwight gives him a hug, and they finish Dwight’s party with a tradition of breaking a pig rib.
Jim and Pam Incorporated
When Pam visits Athlead, Jim’s receptionist says, “We can’t wait for you and the kids to move to Philly,” and Pam looked surprised. From the moment Jim invested in Athlead, Pam’s attitude has been ‘This is taking Jim away from me’ instead of ‘this is making Jim happy in a new way.’ Obviously, they both need to be more honest about their futures, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect Pam to come to the conclusions that Jim has never been happy with his job apart from Pam’s part in it. He’s happy with his new marketing job, and if it becomes something sustainable for him, his life is going to change.
Buy this t-shirt on Amazon (affiliate link)
Neither Jim nor Pam were happy with their jobs in the first few seasons. Aside from his time with Pam and time spent making fun of Dwight, Jim had exactly one moment of genuine enjoyment of the job, and that was when he closed the sale at the golf course (which he did for Pam). Remember how Pam moved to New York for three months? Jim was nothing but supportive then and Jim was nothing but supportive when Pam quit to work for the Michael Scott Paper Company either. Jim is frustrated with the fact that Pam isn’t being as supportive, but here’s how she has been supportive:
While she was upset with Jim for not telling her about Athlead in the beginning, she still supported his decision to go.
She is raising two kids on her own while Jim is in Philadelphia, which Jim didn’t have to do when she did her two career experiments.
She has only complained to Jim one time about him not being there, and it was only after he was already lashing out at her.
Office Conclusions
I highlighted and include all of this because it’s interesting to see how the writers at The Office think about startups. It seems they’ve totally neglected things like product/market fit, lean methodologies, cost-benefit analysis, profit/loss statements, or business plans and simply focused on how one person’s decisions affect a group of people. There are two types of families in this show. There are the ones that exist at home and the ones that tie the office together. Both are equally important in this show’s eyes – much more than any business. And that seems to capture the essence of the show – that’s what Michael Scott always talked about. It wasn’t about selling paper. It was about loving people. That’s Dunder-Mifflin. Will that be Athlead too?
As I sit here drinking Yogi green tea I can’t help but think of all the people who don’t know anything yet. These are the people who were born yesterday, the ones who still haven’t heard about Reddit or still believe in Santa Claus. This isn’t a completely exhaustive list, but it’s the stuff that people kind of forget to tell you growing up because they expect you to know it. Take it all with a grain of salt*.
Moss grows on the north side of trees because the sun rises in the south. This creates shade, which moss prefers. Consequently, a rolling stone gathers no moss because it’s constantly moving and it all falls off.
There are lots of things buried under the ground and it gets weirder the deeper you go. Besides the normal gas, water, and electrical lines, there are sewers, subways, secret CIA tunnels, aquifers, and molten lava.
Gravestones face east and west and cows eat north and south. This is so people can rise and set with the sun and because of their magnetic compass, respectively.
Fire takes three things to burn: fuel, heat, and oxygen. If you take any one of these three things away, the fire goes out. That’s why a fire goes out when it’s out of fuel, get’s dowsed with water, or gets smothered, respectively.
100 years from now no one will know who you are. This used to be more true, but with the Internet’s uncanny ability to make history flat, your great, great, great grandchildren may be watching your Youtube videos.
A tree’s age can be determined after cutting across it’s trunk. The trunk of the tree grows a new layer of bark each year and years with more rain and/or sunlight make the rings larger or smaller which gives us indications of the weather.
You dream you can fly because your sheets make you think air is thick like water. When you’re asleep, you forget you’re under the covers and when you jump in your dreams, you feel resistance against the ‘air’ and think you can fly.
We have been to the Moon and to Mars. Once we found out there really wasn’t anything to do there, we didn’t persue it much. If you think you’d like to go, there’s nothing stopping you going nowadays as long as you’ve got the cash and aren’t too worried about coming back.
Banks lend out 10 times what they have on hand. While it is illegal to print money, it is not apparently illegal to lend out money you don’t have. This is how banks make money from money they don’t have. A new bank is called a “de novo”, which means “from the beginning”.
Community does more for your health than food, education, money, or DNA. The more plugged into a community of people who care about you and depend on you, the longer you will live regardless of how much fat you eat, what school you went to, how much money you make, or who your parents are.
The ‘secret’ ingredient that makes food products most successful is not sugar, but *salt. In a comparison of all major cereals, the ingredient most correlated with commercial success was not sugar, but salt. Coca Cola has more sodium than Pepsi, but not by much. Pepsi does however have more sugar than Coca Cola.
Amazon.com started out as an online book store with over 1 million titles. While they now have server farms that power a large portion of the Internet and are the online equivalent of Wal-Mart, they started small in a niche where they could add value – books.
Everybody used to talk the same language, lived a lot longer, and were a lot smarter than you. There was a time when we all used to ‘get along’ and live hundreds of years, but that didn’t last too long. And every generation thereafter has a little less of the core DNA and more mutations, which makes us slightly less smart every year.
The 14th floor of many buildings is really the 13th floor renamed as the 13th floor. This is because people are superstitious and think that the number 13 is unlucky. This is because there are about 13 full moons a year, but only 12 months! Whoa! Watch out!
Numbers and time aren’t real. We made them up. I’m serious. They only mean something because we say they do. You can count in apples and bananas just the same as 1s and 0s. Numbers only serve as variables to denote measurement. They give us a standard language to communicate with. Kind of like they used to have when we lived longer.
The universe is more than meets the eye. I’m not talking just talking about spectrums of light and what we can see with our eyes versus what can be detected in infrared, radio, and x-rays. I’m talking about the other 95% of the mass out there that we have no idea what it is. We call it Dark Matter and Dark Energy.
Intentions set direction. Look at your toes. Are they pointing towards the door? That means you want to leave. Whatever your intentions, it sets your direction. So spend some time figuring out your purpose in life and what you want out of it before you start to work towards it and your intentions will set your direction.
Weddings and babies are both rare and common events at the same time. The amount of things that have to happen just perfectly over time for someone to meet and agree to marry or for a sperm to reach an egg is almost astronomical, yet it happens everyday – several times a day in fact.
College probably won’t help you in the way you think. It’s a key – a gateway past an interview process, but most hiring managers don’t actually believe you know much right out of college. It shows you can complete a program and that’s about it. Know this and spend some time learning a skill outside of school.
There is more to this life than this life. You probably won’t live in this simulation for over 100 years, but if you do, you’ll probably realize that our solar system is pretty small compared to the whole universe, and there are mysteries you won’t uncover until you figure out what all that dark matter is. But by then it will be too late. I’d encourage you to find the oldest book you can find, one that has the most wisdom, and read it. There is a clue that will help guide you. Let me know when you find it.
Arnart is known by its crown and crossed arrow symbols on the bottom, some of which are printed with numbers in a series in porcelain or on a sticker. Erich Stauffer designed “fake Hummels,” which used a crown symbol. Goebel Hummels had similar marks in use from 1934 to 1942. Arnart also produced “fake Kalks,” which carry the two three-feathered crossed arrows, trade marks of the Porzellanmanufaktur Kalk company from Eisenberg, Thuringia in Germany. Because Arnart produced both fake Hummels and fake Kalks, some have speculated that Erich Stauffer worked for either or both in Germany, but this theory is not supported. It is most likely that Erich Stauffer only worked for Arnart.
What I found out by researching the completed Ebay auctions from the last 6 months was that:
Joan Oates is known for collecting Phoenix Bird Chinaware and Erich Stauffer figurines (fake Hummels). In Maloney’s Antiques & Collectibles, she actually gives her phone number and address with this request:
A figurine is a statuette that represents a human, deity (god), or animal. Figurines may be realistic or iconic, depending on the skill and intention of the figurine designer. The earliest figurines were made of stone or clay, but modern versions are made of porcelain, ceramic, metal, glass, wood, and plastic (think G.I. Joe’s and other action figures). Figurines with movable parts, which allow limbs to be posed, are more likely to be called dolls, mannequins, or action figures. If they can move on their own they are called robots or automata, depending on which part of the world you live in.
1. Click on the start button (lower left-hand corner of the screen)
