BlogCadre - history

How the Joker evolved

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:27:55 -0500

Here is a pictorial history of how the Joker evolved from campy, annoying prankster to murderous, dark villain. Link.

Any reviews on The Dark Knight? Share it in the comments.

First Digital Computer Music Recording from 1951

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:05:50 -0500

Historians have found the earliest digital computer music recording, which was made in 1951 by the BBC for a musical performance in a children's radio show.

The recording captures one of the earliest computers to use short term random access memory playing God Save the King, Baa Baa Black Sheep and a short piece of Glenn Miller's In The Mood.

The Ferranti Mark 1 computer was built by UK electrical engineering firm Ferranti in collaboration with Manchester University, UK. It was the world's first commercial computer, and nine were sold between 1951 and 1957.

Link to article.
Link to mp3 file of recording
[via MeFi]

What a way to die

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 23:41:14 -0500

This is a Chachapoyas mummy that was found in the Amazon rainforest of nothern Peru. Link.

Map of first moonwalk

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:15:48 -0500

Here is a map which shows the first moonwalk done on July 21, 1969. Link to full image.

A History of Evil

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 22:46:39 -0600

Here is an animated mockumentary that omaggs2000 put together explaining the history of evil in western civilization from Ancient Greece to present day. If you don't enjoy the story, you will enjoy the animation. Link.

King Tut's face unveiled to public

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 13:12:40 -0600

After 85 years since he was discovered, King Tut's face is finally being unveiled to the public.

Archaeologists took the mummy from its stone sarcophagus and placed it in a climate-controlled case inside his tomb in Luxor's Valley of the Kings.

Until now, only about 50 living people have seen the face of the boy king, who died more than 3,000 years ago.

As experts lifted Tutankhamun from his coffin they briefly set aside the white linen covering his remains, revealing a shrivelled black face and body.

The move is part of a plan to protect the remains. Archaeologists say they are under threat from the heat and the humidity brought into the tomb by the vast numbers of tourists visiting each year.

Link

Mustaches of the Nineteenth Century

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 10:37:16 -0500

For those of you who like history and also enjoy hairy upper lips then you will enjoy the daily blog Mustaches of the Nineteenth Century. So what will you find on the site? Lots and lots of hair.

Dear Gentle Reader,
Many of the following pages have graphic and clear images of the masculine mustache in all its forms, both sublime and grotesque. My intent is not to shock or titillate, but merely to inform on the subject. The Nineteenth Century gave us many things, but above all it was a hotbed of facial hair experimentation and this is but a poor sampling of those many lost forms.

I don't know if I can handle all of this facial hair masculinity.

[via delicious]

The Map of Humanity by James Turner

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 21:22:48 -0500

Illustrator James Turner created The Map of Humanity in order to describe the human condition in an organized map form based on names from history and fiction. Here James Turner describes the map in his own words.

Disturbing Auschwitz Photographs

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 17:23:19 -0500

In December of 2006, a former United States Army Intelligence officer donated photographs of German SS officers in the notorious Auschwitz he had found more than 60 years ago while serving in Germany.

As Ms. Erbelding and other archivists reviewed the album, they realized they had a scrapbook of sorts of the lives of Auschwitz’s senior SS officers that was maintained by Karl Höcker, the adjutant to the camp commandant. Rather than showing the men performing their death camp duties, the photos depicted, among other things, a horde of SS men singing cheerily to the accompaniment of an accordionist, Höcker lighting the camp’s Christmas tree, a cadre of young SS women frolicking and officers relaxing, some with tunics shed, for a smoking break.

History of Typography in the Toronto Subway

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 10:56:55 -0500

Joe Clark wrote an interesting and extensive article, Inscribed in the Living Tile - Type in the Toronto Subway, on the history and degradation of typography in the Toronto Subway.

The Toronto subway has a typographic heritage all its own, starting with a unique font. But, with renovation after renovation and after a series of new station additions, signage and wayfinding in the system are a total mess. The latest “standard” in Toronto subway signage uses fake Helvetica and is a clone of Massimo Vignelli’s work from 40 years ago.

It's a long read, but an interesting one. [via digg]

The New 7 Wonders of the World

Sun, 08 Jul 2007 01:17:05 -0500

The New 7 Wonders of the World have been named. The winners are:

Chichen Itza, Mexico
Christ Redeemer, Brazil
The Great Wall, China
Machu Picchu, Peru
Petra, Jordan
The Roman Colloseum, Italy
The Taj Mahal, India

The 7 Wonders were chosen by people all over the world via an online vote.

New7Wonders has now launched the nominations for the New7Wonders of Nature. The nominations are open through August 8, 2008.

Related:
New 7 wonders of the world named (CNN)

Nuclear reactor secrets found in 70-year-old sealed letters

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 14:43:03 -0500

Instructions on how to build a nuclear reactor, kept safe by James Chadwick, discoverer of the neutron, were sealed in envelopes for over 70 years. Chadwick felt that the contents were "far too sensitive to publish at the time" and described as "cutting-edge science."

The envelopes contain the work of two French scientists, Hans Von Halban and Lew Kowarski, who worked in the Cavendish laboratory in Cambridge.

It reveals detailed experiments on nuclear fission, covering the components needed to make a nuclear reactor, how to create plutonium from uranium, and methods to stabilise nuclear chain reactions.

Dr Brian Cox, a particle physicist from Cern, said: "These papers describe what was cutting-edge science at the time.

"The sheer amount of knowledge that these papers contain amazes me - only eight years after Chadwick discovered that a neutron even existed, these scientists are already looking at how to use neutrons to bring about nuclear fission and energy.

History of Blogging, from Blogger to Twitter

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 21:43:00 -0500

[via The Presurfer]

The Holes of Lima, Peru

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 23:35:24 -0500

A series of mysterious holes which stretch for miles in Peru have been baffling researchers:

These strange holes, stretching for miles over uneven, hilly ground, were here for so long that the local people have no idea who made them, or why. Funny thing is no one really saw the big picture until the area was seen from the air.

Hundreds of man- sized holes are carved into the barren rock near Lima, Peru on a plain called Cajamarquilla.

Some sectiosn have holes in rigid and perfect prescision; some run in rows that curve up in arches, some staggered lines. They vary in depth to about 6-7 feet deep yet some are merely shallow indents as if not completed - though surrounded by those that are.

To date, no one has a clue why they're here, who made them or what they were.

I'm wondering if this was used as a walking path up and down the mountainous terrain. The holes, serving as a "ladder" would make it easier to climb the mountain.

What do you guys think the purpose of the holes was?

[via MeFi]

Declaration of Independence bought in thrift store for $2.48

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 21:50:26 -0600

Stan Caffy is hitting himself in the head right now for donating a national treasure to a Nashville thrift shop last year.

Caffy unknowingly bought a rare copy of the Declaration of Independence 10 years ago at a yard sale. Last year he donated the document thinking it was just trash. Michael Sparks snatched it up for $2.48 and is auctioning it off for more than $250,000.