I was doing research for another post a while back, and found something a bit…unusual. It was an old Japanese scroll about farting. No, you didn’t misread that last sentence. I’d make a crack* about my own historical research being far less interesting, but I did once read Gargantua and Pantagruel, so I’d be lying. […]
Tag Archives: history
Shitty Jobs
Was thrifting the other week and noticed a novel set during The Great Stink. I left the book but made a note to read up on the historical event, which was pretty interesting. My favourite part of the Wikipedia article, though, was this list of Sewage Related Occupations of the Era, which includes some fantastic […]
Ze Sniffles
Longest Inaugural Address: William Henry Harrison’s in 1841. He delivered the 1 hour 45 minute oration without wearing a hat or coat in a howling snowstorm, came down with pneumonia, and died one month later. His was the shortest tenure in the White House. Which led to my favourite LOLcat (or LOLpresident, in this case) […]
Paris, 1900
I’ve never been to a World’s Fair, and that spectacle seems to have diminished in importance over the past century. Back in the day, though, they were A Big Deal, as evidenced by these colourised photos from the Paris event, in which the city’s buildings seem to have doubled in number for the occasion – […]
A Man Escaped
If you haven’t seen the amazing Bresson film, you should. I first saw it in my Film 101 class at UofT, where my classmates had a habit of talking through every goddamn movie, Citizen Kane included. When A Man Escaped was shown, though, you could’ve heard a pin drop. Sadly, this was also the case […]
Collabo-Babies
I found this page by accident, searching a throwaway line from Band of Brothers (“Don’t. Salute. The Germans!”) and found this fascinating article: The generation of babies born to women who “fraternised” with the enemy in WWII. Historians estimate that more than 800,000 children were born to German soldiers enforcing the four-year Nazi occupation of […]
Presidential Desks
Some of my favourite articles on Wikipedia are the esoteric, pointless-knowledge entries. Today’s example, Presidential Desks. Did you know there have only been five desks used in the Oval Office? Only Lyndon Johnson had his own, personal desk, and it led to this terrific anecdote: This desk was used by Johnson from the time he […]
20s Slang
I love dictionaries of all stripes, and this collection of slang from 1920s America proves why. We need to bring some of these terms back, and how! My faves: Chassis – the female body Fire extinguisher – a chaperone Giggle Water – An intoxicating beverage; alcohol Hayburner – (1) a gas guzzling car Spifflicated – […]
How Cholera Made Paris
Just wrapped up Series 2 of Downton Abbey (hugely disappointing, compared with the stellar Series 1). Maggie Smith had one of her usual great throwaway lines about a party in Paris that was hit by cholera, and a quick search uncovered this article. Worth a read for anyone who thinks Paris is nothing but romance […]
Failing at LIFE
Two ying-yang features of “Web 2.0”, if you will (and please don’t): Terrible user interfaces and poke-fun-at-selfism when you don’t expect it. This collection of terrible LIFE Magazine covers are presented – with facepalmed commentary – by LIFE itself. (Well, the magazine, at least.) As a chicken fancier myself, I’ve never minded the Big Chicken […]