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spaceshipsandpurpledrank · 17 days

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#talkin #tik tok #lonnie johnson #black history #black people

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mrsoulstice · 3 months

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Did you know-Lonnie Johnson, the man who invented the “Super Soaker” was awarded $72.8M in a Hasbro Settlement for unpaid royalties. The super soaker was the world’s best selling toy.✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿

#black history month #black history #super soaker #black excellence #Lonnie Johnson #black men

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stupjam · 1 year

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Dr. Lonnie Johnson, inventor of the Super Soaker and many other things, as an inkling! Kind of an unusual real life cross-over, but I think Splatoon really owes it to Dr. Johnson for the toy gun concept! Sometimes it's easy to forget that these toys and fun things that are common had a start and history. In the background are several of his inventions such as a robot he made in high school, Super Soaker, and ceramic battery. Dr. Johnson holds over 100 patents and is now working on sustainable energy technology. Check a brief biography here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8uaocyFkIs

#splatoon #black history month #super soaker #lonnie johnson

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rhapsodynew · 23 days

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youtube

For most people, House of the Rising Sun evokes memories of the 1964 hit The Animals. The song itself, however, has a hidden and shockingly extensive history that began much earlier than the mid-1960s.

The melody itself is a traditional English ballad, but it has become popular as an African American folk song. It was recorded by Texas Alexander in the 1920s, then by a number of other performers, including Ledbelly, Woody Guthrie, Josh White and later Nina Simone.

But it was Nina's version that The Animals heard.

No one can claim the rights to the song, which means that it can be recorded and sold without royalties. But many bands made covers of it after it became a hit with The Animals.

Historians have not been able to definitively identify what the "House of the Rising Sun" is, but here are two of the most popular theories:

1.This song is about a brothel in New Orleans. The House Of The Rising Sun was named after its owner, Madame Marianne Le Soleil Levant (which means "Rising Sun" in French). The brothel operated from 1862 to 1874, and then closed due to complaints from neighbors.

2.We are talking about a women's prison in New Orleans called the Orleans Parish Women's Prison, the entrance gates of which were decorated with paintings of the rising sun. This could explain the phrase from the song "ball and chain".

Ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax recorded his version of the song in 1937 with a 16-year-old girl named Georgia Turner. In this context, the song is sung in the first person in the present tense, when the singer laments how the House of the Rising Sun destroyed her life. In this traditional folk version, the main character is either a prostitute or a prisoner. The Animals changed the character to a gambling enthusiast to make their version more suitable for radio.

In 1964, this folk song became a worldwide hit for The Animals. Their version reached number one in the UK on July 9, and in America on September 5.

Animals vocalist Eric Burdon explained in a 2010 interview for Songfacts:

House of the Rising Sun is a song that I was just destined to perform. She was made for me, and I was made for her. It was a great song to tour with Chuck Berry because it became a way to reach the audience without copying Chuck Berry himself. It was a great trick, and it worked. In fact, not only a trick, but also a great record.

Bob Dylan included this song on his first album in 1962 with a folk arrangement like that of American folk singer Dave Van Ronk. When The Animals recorded it two years later, it transformed Dylan. The musician realized that he could apply a rock rhythm to a folk song. Bob bought an electric guitar and started playing it, which made him famous at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, where he performed an electric set for the first time.

The Animals recorded the song in the studio in just one take, as they honed it by constantly performing on tour. John Steele, the band's drummer, recalled this.:

On May 17, 1964, we played in Liverpool, and then went to London, where Mickey Most booked a studio for the ITV show Ready Steady Go! Because of the reaction we got to Rising Sun, we asked to record this song as well, to which he said, "OK, we'll do it in the same session." We tuned in, played a few bars for the sound engineer – it was mono without overdubs – and recorded it only once. After listening, Mickey said: "That's it, it's a finished single." The sound engineer said that the song came out too long, but instead of shortening it a little, Mickey plucked up the courage and said, "Now we live in a microgrove world, we'll release it." A few weeks later, the song became No. 1 worldwide. When we knocked the Beatles off the top in America, they sent us a telegram that read: "Congratulations from The Beatles (band)."

Producer Mickey Most added:

Everything was in the right place, the planets were in the right place, the stars were in the right place, and the wind was blowing in the right direction. It took only 15 minutes to record, so I can't take much credit for producing it. It was just an incident that captured the atmosphere in the studio.

My old collection of cover version

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girlactionfigure · 1 year

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This is Lonnie Johnson.⁣

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He is a NASA rocket scientist, nuclear engineer and an inventor with over 100 patents. He also accidentally created the best selling water toy of all time—the Super Soaker.⁣

First person he squirted with the Super Soaker:⁣

"I don't actually remember the first person I squirted. You know I remember the first time I shot the gun and I gave it to my daughter and let her play with it. But I think the first memorable person was actually when I was at an office function when I was in the air force and my coworkers were there. I was a captain in the military at the time and this major who outranked me saw me holding the gun and said 'captain what is that?' I said 'it is my water gun sir' and he said 'does it work?' I said 'Yes, sir' and I turned and shot him right between the eyes. It was hilarious. Of course after that the whole picnic turned into a riot we were throwing water beer from cups and everything it was a great ice breaker we had a great time."⁣

Favorite invention besides the super soaker:⁣

"That is like asking what is my favorite child, haha. Actually, I have a hard time choosing. I can say that there are five or four top highlights: my robot that I built when I was in high school, of course, was a game changer for me. The Super Soaker, the Nerf dart guns, my invention on the Galileo spacecraft, the lithium battery technology that I'm developing right now, the solid state batteries as well as the lithium fuel cells. And of course, the heat engine - my engine that converts heat directly into electricity without any moving mechanical parts. So those are the things that are highlights. I can't say one is my favorite because they all have had dramatic impacts on my life."⁣

Advice to kids who want to be inspiring inventors:⁣

"My advice for kids who are inspiring inventors is to persevere. Don't give up your visions and the things that you want to make sometimes only you can see them. Only you can realize what potential impact it could have. When I built my first robot it was with an erector set and I think I may have been about 6 years old at the time."⁣

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History Cool Kids

#Lonnie Johnson #NASA #Super Soaker

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thedepartmentofdiscoveries · 9 days

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Lonnie Johnson, inventor of Super Soaker a large plastic pump-action water gun, firing invention while standing on grass outside his home. (Photo's by Thomas S. England/Getty Images)

Lonnie Johnson, inventor of Super Soaker a large plastic pump-action water gun, holding his invention & its US patent while sitting on grass outside his home. (Photo by Thomas S. England/Getty Images)

#lonnie johnson #super soaker water pistol #1990s #90s #black and white photography #inventors #getty images #black and white

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afrotumble · 4 months

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Lonnie Johnson, rocket scientist and super soaker inventor.

#science #inventions #lonnie johnson

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randomberlinchick · 11 months

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Watch "Lonnie Johnson - Another Night to Cry" on YouTube

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Good night y'all! 💋

#lonnie johnson #another night to cry #blues music #music i love #Youtube

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frankensteinsfunhouse · 6 months

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#lonesome ghost blues #lonnie johnson #audio #music #song #Spotify

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cosmicanger · 2 years

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Lonnie Johnson, the NASA engineer who invented the Super Soaker

#lonnie johnson #black art #crafts #design

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spaceshipsandpurpledrank · 3 months

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#talkin #tik tok #bhm #lonnie johnson #nerf #super soaker #black history #nasa #youthpastorryan #black history month

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suujatan · 1 year

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Was looking up things invented by black people for a project, ended up stumbling upon an archived article on Lonnie Johnson, the inventor of the supersoaker.