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Picture of the Day

children's playground 1912

Children’s playground in 1912

If it seems like today’s kids have gotten “softer” compared to the kids decades ago, perhaps it’s because playgrounds have gotten softer as well. Thanks to state laws and personal injury lawyers, the landscape of the typical playground has changed a lot over the years, making it a safer and more “educationally interactive” environment. On the other hand, maybe those rough-and-tumble recreation areas of yesteryear served as an early life lesson that the world was a harsh and unforgiving place.

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What Was It Like To Go Through A Gas Attack In World War 1

Arthur Empey was an American living in New Jersey when war consumed Europe in 1914. Enraged by the sinking of the Lusitania and loss of the lives of American passengers, he expected to join an American army to combat the Germans. When America did not immediately declare war, Empey boarded a ship to England, enlisted in the British Army (a violation of our neutrality law, but no one seemd to mind) and was soon manning a trench on the front lines.

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What Was Life Like For a Jester In The Medieval Era?

Stanczyk by Jan Matejko

(art: Stańczyk by Jan Matejko)

Being a true Jester was very hard work. You had to be a one-man entertainment machine.

One had to be able to memorize long-form poetry, tailor jokes to fit the crowd, tactfully tease your patron without committing offense, and zing guests that your patron wasn’t fond of.

You had to play instruments, sing, dance, perform acrobatics, and design and maintain your own motley.

They would learn puppetry, ventriloquism, juggling, balancing, and slight of hand.

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What Was Life Like During The Holodomor: The Great Famine Of Ukraine 1932 to 1933

holomodor

It is known as the Holodomor. The communist induced famine killed up to 3.9 million people between 1932-33 in Ukraine alone.

The reasons for the famine are a subject of scholarly and political debate. Some scholars suggest that the man-made famine was a consequence of the economic problems associated with changes implemented during the period of Soviet industrialisation. There are also those who blame a systematic set of policies perpetrated by the Soviet government under Stalin designed to exterminate the Ukrainians.

So what was life like during the famine?

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How Did Germany De-Radicalize Its People After The Fall of The Nazi Party?

(Force confrontation: German soldiers react to footage of concentration camps, 1945.)

The process of denazification and the trials of various war criminals in Germany was enormous. The Nazi party had 8.5 million members by the end of the war. Somewhere in the region of 18 million people served in the German armed forces during the war, many of whom had committed atrocities and war crimes. 17.2 million people voted for the Nazi party in the 1933 election. Almost 22 million had been members of the German Labour Front, the Nazi replacement for the Trade Unions. Perhaps as many as 45 million individuals were members of or associated with organs of the Nazi party. As such, the process of denazification would have to be conducted on an epic scale.

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How Did The United States Get So Powerful?

Geography

  1. Size: It is the 3rd largest in area and population. The two countries bigger than the US – Russia and Canada have way too much unusable land. The 2 countries bigger than the US in population – India and China are still climbing up from the colossal destruction faced in the 19th century – early 20th century and also face severe resource constraints. Russia has still not settled in terms of governance. Australia & Canada have too few people. That leaves the US in a nice sweet spot.

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Picture of the Day

rita hayworth pinup

Rita Hayworth, 1941. This was one of the most popular pinup photos among American soldiers and sailors during World War II.

Four months after Hayworth’s photo was published, America went to war. And soldiers took the silk-and-lace picture along to remind them of home. Eventually, the picture became one of the most famous and most frequently reproduced American pinup images ever.

By the end of the war, more than 5 million copies of this photo were sold. The US Navy named her, “The Red-Head We Would Most Like to be Ship-Wrecked with”. Only Betty Grable, smiling cutely over her shoulder in a white bathing suit and heels, with legs that went on forever, sold more pin-ups.

(source)

Picture of the Day

mary ann bevan

Mary Ann Bevan, after developing acromegaly, toured the sideshow circuit as “The Ugliest Woman in the World”, November 1919

Mary Ann Webster was born in 1874 in London into a large family and was quite an ordinary girl. Aged 29, she married Thomas Bevan and the couple went on to have four children, but Mary Ann’s appearance was drastically changing due to acromegaly, a disorder caused by the body producing too much growth hormone.

After the death of her husband in 1914, she no longer had the income to support herself and her four children. Bevan decided to capitalize on her appearance and entered a “Ugliest Woman” contest which she won.

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I’m a German soldier in 1939. What are my chances to survive until 1945?

By the end of the war the Germans had 12.5 million men under arms. Over 4 million died during the war.

Survival depended upon where you were stationed.

If you were in the East there was a much higher chance of being killed and wounded than if you were in the West or in Denmark or Norway.

At the edges of the most vicious battles, such as the fighting near Vienna near the end of the war, or in Silesia, or in Czechoslovakia (where the Germans won major victories til the very last day) the chances of dying were very high.

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Picture of the Day

Young “Teddy Boys” somewhere in England, 1956

In 1953, a sweeping trend in fashion took over Britain’s teen boys. It was an adaptation of Edwardian romanticism; tailored velvet blazers and button-down shirts coupled with drainpipe jeans or trousers, skinny ties, and chunky leather shoes. Top off the outfit with a quiffed up hairdo, and you have the look of a classic Teddy Boy.

However, the Teddy Boy was much more than just a fashion statement — it was an entire British subculture. Born from post-war gloom in the early 1950s, Teddy Boys (Teds, as they preferred to be called) were Britain’s original teen subculture. All others; mods, rockers, and punks, can be traced back to this phenomenon. Indeed, even the Beatles have the Teddy Boy fad to thank for their signature styles.

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