The Balloon Factory

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Text on Button The BaLLOOn FacToRy ETC
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Black text with red and black curls on white background.

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The Balloon Factory ETC was a famous restaurant in New York City circa 1960. 

In 2012, in the same area of New York, an art installation reimagined the idea of the historic balloon factory by creating limited balloons to look like meat cuts and sausages in the style of fake food windows in Japan. 

Catalog ID AD0944

Full Speed Ahead Houston

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Text on Button FULL SPEED AHEAD PORT OF HOUSTON
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Image of ship in white with white text on blue background.

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The Port of Houston is one of the world's largest ports and serves the metropolitan area of Houston, Texas. The port is a 50-mile-long complex of diversified public and private facilities located a few hours' sailing time from the Gulf of Mexico. Located in the fourth-largest city in the United States, it is the busiest port in the U.S. in terms of foreign tonnage, second busiest in the U.S. in terms of overall tonnage, and sixteenth busiest in the world. 

Notable firsts include: First port to be built with federal funds and local matching funds, thus guaranteeing local support (every port since 1930 has had a local match requirement), first direct shipment of cotton to Europe (November 1919 via the M/V Merry Mount), and first double-stack container train (1981).

Sources

PHA and Bond Fast Facts. (n.d.). Port of Houston Authority. Retrieved December 3, 2024, from https://web.archive.org/web/20090607041507/http://www.portofhouston.com/bondfacts/bondfacts.html

Why do we say "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!"? (n.d.). BookBrowse. Retrieved October 31, 2019, from https://www.bookbrowse.com/expressions/detail/index.cfm/expression_number/125/damn-the-torpedoes-full-speed-ahead.

 

Catalog ID AD0947

FATS is Beautiful

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Text on Button FAST ANALYSIS OF TAPE SURFACES FATS is beautiful INNOVATION DATA PROCESSING
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Pink text with blue nuclear icon in negative space of A with blue and pink text on white background.

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FATS, Fast Analysis of Tape Surfaces, is a program that will function on any IBM (International Business Machines Corporation) computing device or IBM-compatible tape drive or virtual tape system (VTS) supported by the host z/OS system.

FATS certifies the usability of physical tapes, both new and old, by writing a pattern on the full length of the tape; this is equivalent to the function of hardware tape certifiers. This helps to avoid write data errors at application run time by identifying potentially defective tapes.

Innovation Data Processing, the creator of FATS, is an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) of non-disruptive mainframe z/OS and OS/390 business protection and storage management solutions, known for their ability to eliminate business downtime in mainframe and mixed mainframe S/390 Linux, Windows, UNIX and Linux, SAN, NAS and LAN enterprise storage environments, delivers exceptional reliability and prize-winning price/performance. The IDP alliance with EMC Development Partner, which began in 1991, continues to deliver a continuous stream of solutions that combine the overwhelming power of Symmetrix DMX Enterprise Storage with the robust functionality of Innovation Data Processing software.

Sources

IBM. American Corporation. (n.d.). Brittanica Money. Retrieved October 15, 2019, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/International-Business-Machines-Corporation.

INNOVATION DATA PROCESSING. (2015). FATS/FATAR/FATSCOPY USER’S MANUAL VERSION 4.9.30 [Ebook] (4th ed.). Little Falls, NJ. https://www.fdr.com/Manuals_CurrentVersion/15133/FATSCOPY_V49L30_draft_October29.pdf

 

 

Catalog ID AD0946

Keep Talkin

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Text on Button KEEP TALKIN'
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Illustration of teeth with text in black on orange background.

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ARMOUR STAR FRANKS WITH THE "Open-fire" flavor!

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Know information about this button? Contact us here.

Catalog ID IB0693

Son of the Instant Button Book

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White button affixed on sticker book. The stickers can be pulled off and placed on the white button. The button can be removed from the cover of the book and worn. Book dimensions are 3 1/2 inch x 10 inch.

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Designed by Larry Ottino, Marty Solomon, and Harvey Toback, Son of the Instant Button Book was published in 1968 as the sequel to The Instant Button Book. It features a blank button attached to the front cover and five pages of adhesive color stickers—to be applied to the blank button—with slogans related to the hippie and left-wing political ideas of the day. Some of the slogans were particularly cheeky, including: “Virginity isn’t incurable”, “Warning: I am naked beneath these clothes”, and “God Save the Queens!”.

Sources

Beat Books (n.d.) Son of the Instant Button Book. Retrieved from https://www.beatbooks.com/pages/books/38286/hippie-buttons-david-martin…

Catalog ID IN0125

The Instant Button Book

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White button affixed on sticker book. The stickers can be pulled off and placed on the white button. The button can be removed from the cover of the book and worn. Book dimensions are 3 1/2 inch x 10 inch.

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David Martin and Denis Larkin published The Instant Button Book in 1967. Attached to the book cover is a blank white unlocking pinback button. Inside, the book has several pages of paper button faces for people to create their own buttons for any situation. The button faces are printed on a pressure-sensitive paper and, when removed from the waxy backing paper, can stick to the blank pinback button. The Instant Button Book is described as an “occasionally funny, often politically incorrect novelty book” due to its jokes surrounding the political climate of the 1960s. There are a few first and second editions for sale on retail sites. However, several are missing the attached blank white button. Most listings claim that the book does contain all the paper button face stickers. The Instant Button Book is a rare find that is listed for resale anywhere from $20 to $135.

Sources

BobbyBananas. (n.d.). VTG the instant button book David Martin Denis Larkin 1967 stickers 1st print [Shopping listing]. Etsy. https://www.etsy.com/listing/1803973938/vtg-the-instant-button-book-david-martin 

Derringer Books. (n.d.). The instant button book [Shopping listing]. https://www.derringerbooks.com/pages/books/28059/david-with-martin-denis-larkin/the-instant-button-book 

The Peculiar Manicule. (2017, October 9). The instant button book [Photograph]. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/137122318@N07/37586442641/in/photostream/ 

Catalog ID IN0124

If It's Brown Flush It Down

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Text on Button If it's Brown… Flush it Down
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Illustration of a toilet and text in white on brown background.

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This catchy motto was coined in the 1980s during a water shortage in New York by Mayor Ed Koch. The drought was caused by lack of rain so the reservoirs were only at 30% capacity. The normal capacity was 88%. To solve this, Mayor Koch called for cutbacks in water usage and this quip was utilized.

Mayor Koch, a democrat, was mayor from 1978-1989 and one of three mayors to be elected a second term. He was known for his humor and brash personality.

Sources

Almasy, S. (2013, March 7). New York's brash former mayor, Ed Koch, dies at 88. CNN. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2013/02/01/us/ed-koch-obit/index.html

Carmody, D. (1981, January 23). WHAT CAUSED DROUGHT IN NEW YORK CITY AND HOW TO COPE WITH IT. The New York Times, pp. 3. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/23/nyregion/what-caused-drought-in-new-…

Vestel, L. B. (2009, May 22). Hippies, Hollywood and the Flush Factor. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/22/hippies-hollywood-and-the-fl…

 

Catalog ID HU0203

B57 Night Intruder

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Text on Button B-57 NIGHT INTRUDER
Image Description

Image of a plane in the sky with black text on blue background.

Curl Text MADE IN THE USA
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During the Korean War, the U.S. Air Force was in need of a high-performance bomber that was capable of accurate weapon delivery at night and in poor weather conditions. The outdated Douglas B-29 Intruder could not meet those demands despite its success as an Allied plane in World War II. Since there was not enough time to design, build, and test a new bomber from scratch, the Americans looked to the United Kingdom for some help. The U.K. allowed the USAF to adapt its newly developed jet—the English Electric Canberra—to suit the wartime needs of the United States. The resulting product was the Martin B-57 Night Intruder, which was not only well equipped for volatile weather, but also fuel-efficient. 

In collaboration with the Glenn Martin Company, the USAF manufactured over 400 B-57 Night Intruders between 1951 and 1959. The aircraft took its maiden flight on July 20, 1953, and was officially retired in 1983. The plane was also sold and exported to other nations including Pakistan, which used the B-57 Night Intruder in the Indo-Pakistani Wars of 1965 and 1971.

Sources

Martin EB-57B Canberra. (n.d.). Air Force Armament Museum Foundation. Retrieved December 3, 2024, from https://afarmamentmuseum.com/details-b57.html

ScaleCraft (n.d.). Martin B-57 Night Intruder (Canberra). Retrieved December 3, 2024, from http://www.scalecraft.com/browseproducts/Martin-B-57-Night-Intruder-(Canberra).HTML

 

Catalog ID AD0943

XF4D Skyray

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Text on Button XF4D SKYRAY
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Image of a plane in the sky with red text on dark blue background.

Curl Text MADC
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The Douglas XF4D-1 Skyray was a single-place, single-engine delta-winged fighter powered by a turbojet engine. It had retractable tricycle landing gear and was to operate off of the U.S. Navy’s aircraft carriers as a high altitude interceptor. The Skyray was designed by the legendary Ed Heinemann, for which he was awarded the Collier Trophy in 1954. Two prototypes were built (Bu.Nos. 124586, 124587). It was a delta-winged aircraft, though the wingtips were significantly rounded. 

Sources

Swopes, B. R. (2017). Douglas XF4D-1 Skyray. 3 October 1953. This Day in Aviation. Important Dates in Aviation History. https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/douglas-xf4d-1-skyray/

 

Catalog ID AD0942