The Berlin Wall

An animated summary of the history of the Berlin Wall - here

The velocipede

The earliest usable and much copied velocipede was German Karl Drais' Laufmaschine (German for "running machine"), the world's first 'push bike' or balance bicycle (sometimes also called 'swiftwalker' in English), patented in January 1818 and very popular for a short while both in France (where it was called draisienne), and the United Kingdom (where it was nicknamed dandy horse, as it was very popular among dandies). It was made entirely of wood and had no practical use except on a well-maintained pathway in a park or garden.

De Drie Katjes

From Bibliodyssey

Mission Heliographique – The Patrimony of Paris in Photos

In 1851, the Commission de Monuments Historiques embarked on an unprecedented survey of the French landscape. Five photographers traveled to the far reaches of France. Their targets would be the buildings that made up the heritage of France – the “architectural patrimony” of the country. It was to be known as a Mission Heliographique, and the photographers returned with plates and prints portraying buildings – many of which no longer exist. Sadly, upon return, their negatives remained largely unpublished for over a century.

Until now.

Cornucopia Of The World

The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens

Futhark

Let's reunite with England

Daniel Hannan is a Journalist and Conservative MEP. He writes in The Telegraph:

A surprising number of Americans believe that Barack Obama was not born in Hawaii, and that records of his birth certificate have been forged.

A thought occurs. If the forty-fourth president was indeed, as the “birthers” aver, born in Kenya in 1961, he would have been born a British subject. Perhaps his entire career is a clever scheme to bring the colonists’ rebellion to an end and revoke the Declaration of Independence.

If so, we should ensure that the reunification of the two states happens on the best possible terms. It would be nice if Americans learned to make tea properly (clue: the water has to be seriously hot). They might even find that the rules of cricket repay study. As for Britain, we could begin by adopting (or readopting) low taxes, sheriffs, a separation of powers, open primaries, localism, the direct election of public officials, a non-state healthcare system, capitalism, patriotism and sovereignty. The more I think about it, the more attractive it looks.

A different time, the same words.

I've been reading, The Forger's Spell, an interesting non-fiction book about a man who forged and sold a faux-Vermeer to Hermann Goering. A chapter about Goering contains a comment he made to a psychologist at Nuremberg:

The people can always be brought to do the bidding of their leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for their lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.

There's something familiar about that thought . . .

And on the other side of the Atlantic

From 1917 to 1919, the Woman's Land Army of America brought more than 20,000 city and town women to rural America to take over farm work after men were called to war. Most of these women had never before worked on a farm, but they were soon plowing fields, driving tractors, planting and harvesting.

The Land Army's "farmerettes" were paid wages equal to male farm laborers and were protected by an eight-hour workday. For many, the farmerettes were shocking at first--wearing pants!--but farmers began to rely upon the women workers.

Continue

Dig For Plenty

WWII posters from the UK's National Archive

Old Photos from Japan

More here

The falling piano

A beautiful short film using old postcards and photos from the Library of Congress


Hauschka - Morgenrot from Jeff Desom on Vimeo.

Paper Theaters | Teatros de Papel

Bring drama into your home. More about the history of paper theaters here.

For the ambitious traveler or armchair cartophiliac

The most famous trips in history



Images courtesy Good Magazine