Clive Bell suggested that "Art transports us from the world of man's activity to a world of aesthetic exaltation.  For a moment we are shut off from human interests; our anticipations and memories are arrested; we are lifted above the stream of life" (Art, 1914).  Our photo is courtesy of the San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives.

A ghostly sighting from 1899, from the National Archives U.K.

La Sousa Clown Band at Luna Park, 1909, scanned by the Seattle Municipal Archives.

"You're nothing but a few chemicals!—Why worry about the general election?  You may 'go off' by spontaneous combustion."  From The Sketch, 1910.

"We must make the best of that which is, and must believe it best for the present, and accommodate ourselves to it" (Matthew Henry, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, 1839).  (Photo courtesy of the San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives.)

It's been said that there are many ways to fly.  Photo courtesy of the San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives.

Note the two backward N's in Mt. Wilson's one-hundred inch telescope, 1920.

You've heard of Lindbergh's so-called monoplane, Spirit of St. Louis, but which one?  Indeed, "Spirit is not singular" (Glenn Poveromo, The Spirit's Self-Help Book).  Our photo is courtesy of the San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives.

"The jumper plunges into this vortex" (Tobi Tobias, "Three Times Lucky," New York Magazine, 1984).  Photograph by Leslie Jones, date uncertain.

"Those are bigger fingerprints than yours, though” (Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, Enchanted Village, 1950).  Pictured is Ralph Hargrove, 1966.

The eclipse of August 31, 1932.

You've heard of an airplane's "horsepower," but did you know how literally to take that?  From c. 1937.

Here's a fine line of screech owls from Bird Lore, 1919.

INSTRUCTIONS: Click to force a smile on this Pacific Southwest Airlines personality

From the Costică Acsinte Archive.

"We wear our years like a red badge of courage — and some of us even admit our age" (Kay Allenbaugh, Chocolate For A Woman's Blessings).  Our photo is courtesy of the San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive.

INSTRUCTIONS: Click to see how Judge Paul B. Johnson, Sr.'s photographer tried to be flattering.

"We can none of us ... escape what frames us" (Michael Joyce, Moral Tales and Meditations).  Photo courtesy of the Standford Archives.

Every writer has experienced this: "When the weight of the paper equals the weight of the room, we'll spin-up!"  Astronaut training photo with speech balloon as scanned by the San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives.