Thursday, June 19, 2008

Old New York

Lots of great pictures of NY in the 1800s and early 1900s.

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Early Photo Tampering

Before Photoshop, they “doctored” photos in other ways. Even back in the 1800s. 

Thursday, May 22, 2008

The Original Indy

Otto Rahn was a Nazi archaeologist who inspired the Harrison Ford character. Here’s his strange and fascinating story.

Saturday, May 03, 2008

The Most Annoying Toy Ever

My dad lives in the country next to some ranch that has all these roosters that never seem to shut up. So I can relate. 

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Pope Joan

Was there a female pope?

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

WWII Plane Art

Most of those pilots seemed to have one thing on their minds. 

Friday, April 11, 2008

The Sword of Gou Jian

In 1965, a 2000 year old sword was discovered it a watery tomb, still sharp and uncorroded. Yes, this is real and not a line from a fantasy novel.

Apparently, it has a unique blend of metals and compounds that made it resist even tarnishing after laying in water for 2000 years. The ancient civilizations were more advanced in some ways than many people think. This reminds me of the Greek Parthenon, which had been damaged by many centuries and war, had metal stays in it that resisted corrosion until some British tried to replace them with unprotected iron which ended up rusting. Those were later replaced by Titanium. 

Monday, March 31, 2008

Abandoned Shed in Antarctica

Come see photos of a real time capsule. The Scott and Shackleton’s abandoned huts in Antarctica.Amazing stuff. 

Monday, March 17, 2008

Interesting

800 Jews were protected by the Nazi who created the “final solution”. They were on Adolf Eichmann’s list.

The discovery that 800 Jews had survived Hitler’s Final Solution in the middle of Berlin staggered the city’s liberators. That they had survived in the full knowledge of the Nazi high command beggared all belief. The Russians had stumbled upon the last Jewish sanctuary in Germany – and upon an extraordinary story of survival. And yet over the years it has been a story that few have been able or willing to tell. Because how could this have happened? Who were these survivors? And what was Hitler’s sinister purpose in permitting them to live?

Among those 800 men and women were personal dramas of every kind. They were the bravest of the brave, the lucky and the cunning. They were collaborators and spies. There were also many “privileged” Jews – spouses of non-Jewish Germans. But most mysteriously, they were Jews whose lives had been protected by the highest-ranking Nazis. Little is known about them because their files were burnt by the Gestapo just days before the Russians arrived.

Friday, February 08, 2008

Old Police Blog

The Daily Mirror is an interesting blog from the LA Times covering police stuff from 50 years ago. Here’s lots of great ads from the times illustrating the articles, like the one above.

I love this period so when I have more time I will be reading a lot of this site.