History
Historical Facebook
Ever wonder what the world would have been like if Facebook had been around hundreds of years ago? Me neither. But someone obviously has. Check out updates from God, Abraham Lincoln and the Titanic here.
How the Earth Got its Shape
Measure of the Earth by Larrie Ferreiro tells how an early eighteenth century band of European explorer set out to measure a degree of latitude at the equator in South America using the very latest astronomical and surveying equipment in order to settle a scientific dispute. Descartes said that the Earth was egg-shaped, whilst Isaac [...]
Stanley Kubrick’s Chicago and Other Archive Images
In 1949 a 21-year-old Stanley Kubrick was sent on a photojournalism assignment to Chicago. The resulting photos are now in the Library of Congress, but you can see some of them on Chris Wild’s excellent website How to Be a Retronaut. As well as the Kubrick photos, the site is a veritable treasure trove of [...]
Against All Odds by Paul Connolly
Paul Connolly was abandoned as a new born baby and grew up in care at the St. Leonards’ Children’s Home in London’s East End, where the children were regularly abused by their carers. Paul became a boxer and personal trainer, but six of the children he shared his 8-bed dorm with are dead. Against All [...]
Triangle: The Fire That Changed America by David von Drehle
In 1911, 146 mostly young Jewish and Italian women were killed in a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in NYC, in what was then the worst workplace disaster in the history of America. Most of the victims were trapped behind a locked exit, in what was supposed to be a modern fireproof building, but [...]
Top of The Pops LPs
BBC4 has started showing vintage episodes of Top of the Pops, which used to be required viewing in TVMole’s house (along with Coronation Street, Multicoloured Swapshop, The Krypton Factor, It’s a Knockout and The Great Egg Race). However, a recent overheard twitter conversation evoked an erstwhile forgotten memory: getting on the bus from Grandma’s to [...]
2:46: Aftershocks, An Oral History of the Japanese Earthquake
2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake is a fast response publication to Kindle that was created by a group of Twitter users to raise funds for the Japanese Red Cross. The book contains photos, artwork and essays from people around the world, including Yoko Ono, and took just over one week to assemble. 100% [...]
Classic Cars
Louwman Museum in The Hague, Netherlands houses a collection of 230 vintage and classic cars, from a 1875 horse-drawn steam fire engine to a 1914 Dodge Type 30 and 1949 Ferrari. See the cars and read more on Coolhunting.
Ancient Aboriginal Astronomers
Archaeologists have fond a type of stone circle 80km outside Melbourne that is aligned to a summer sunset and is dated to greater than 10,000 years, which is much earlier than Stonehenge or the Pyramids. It suggests that Aborigines were studying the stars much earlier than previously known. Read more on PSFK.
The Art of Video Games: Smithsonian, 16th March – 30th September, 2012
The Smithsonian Museum is staging an exhibition dedicated to the history and evolution of video games from the Atari VCS to PlayStation 3, and from early developers like Carol Shaw to current designers such as Kellee Santiago. It also explores how video games have influenced, and been influenced by contemporary history and pop culture. Until [...]
