"Towards a Cultural History of Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion Car" includes photographs and video of the car at the 1933-1934 Chicago World's Fair. The Dymaxion car was a likely influence on the teardrop-shaped cars of the 1939 World's Fair's Futurama. Norman Bel Geddes, designer of Futurama, was one of the few lucky passengers in the Dymaxion Car. So was H. G. Wells, who used Dymaxion-like cars in his film The Shape of Things to Come.

If it weren't for that character Henry Ford, all of us would have gone on fewer rides. So of course his great grandson, Alfred B. Ford, wants to take us on a ride in what he describes as "a spiritual Disneyland."

Muppet Central News reports: "The Walt Disney Company and The Jim Henson Company today announced that they have entered into an agreement under which Disney will acquire the beloved Muppets and Bear in the Big Blue House properties from Henson. The transaction includes all Muppet assets, including the Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo and Animal characters, the Muppet film and television library, and all associated copyrights and trademarks, as well as all the Bear in the Big Blue House characters, television library, copyrights and trademarks."

As I understand it, Jim Henson was very careful about licensing characters from Sesame Street for commercial products. He thought children would have a hard time distinguishing between education, self-esteem and commerce if the same characters were used for all three. That's why he distinguished between the Muppets (who entertained and sold things) and Sesame Street (which educated and raised self-esteem) with only a few characters shared between the two.

Fortunately, the Disney corporation has the highest level of integrity when it comes to such things, and there should be no problems ahead.

(DANNY ADDS: The Henson family has been down this road before. Disney pushed for ownership of all the Muppet characters the last time the companies had a partnership -- which ended in an acrimonious split. Eisner really pissed off the Henson family, and I'm surprised Henson Associates came back. Maybe they think Eisner's on the way out anyway, and they're better off with the Devil they don't know than the Mouse they do.)

"The house was remodeled to accommodate the museum. Two doorways that formerly led to the bedrooms were widened. A sofa and reclining chair with small coffee table were replaced with these show cases.

"And we feel -- ah -- sick about Disney doing sequels because if you look at the quality of their sequels like Lion King 1½ and their Peter Pan sequel and stuff, it's pretty embarrassing." -- Steve Jobs

The Flat Joint is a site dedicated to flat rides. Lots of interesting factoids, many modern photos.