Viewing entries tagged
History
Flickr photo gallery of variations of the iconic WWII British propaganda poster asking its citizens to keep calm and carry on.
The original designer is unknown and the image now belongs in the public domain. Read more about the fascinating history of this poster at its Wikipedia page.
[Via]
This accident occurred on October 17, 1814 when ruptured vats at the Meux and Company Brewery caused some "323,000 imperial gallons (1,470 m3) of beer" to burst into the streets of London.
The wave of beer destroyed two homes and crumbled the wall of the Tavistock Arms Pub, trapping the barmaid under the rubble.
The brewery was located among the poor houses and tenements of the St Giles Rookery; where whole families lived in basement rooms that quickly filled with beer. The wave left nine people dead: eight due to drowning and one from alcohol poisoning.
I can't believe this wasn't in my AP European History curriculum.
[Via]
In 1941 Oregan State's football team made the Rose Bowl for the first time and upset second-ranked Duke. Jack Yoshihara, a Japanese American sophomore reserve on the team couldn't make the trip and instead, per President Roosevelt's excutive orders following the bombings at Pearl Harbor, was sent to an internment camp in Idaho for the duration of the war, along with countless other Japanese Americans and immigrants.
LA Times reports:
In June, Yoshihara was among the Oregon State students of Japanese ancestry, interned during World War II, who were given honorary degrees by the university. After receiving his diploma, Yoshihara was asked to hold up his 1942 Rose Bowl ring, given to him 1985, bringing cheers from the crowd at Reser Stadium.
87-years-old Yoshihara now runs a refrigerator and air conditioning shop in Portland.
[Via]
Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Of course, there's also this photo from voting day that makes me NOT want to vote. Ever.
Photo by Jason DeCrow/AP
View more here.
[Via]
Most states look inward into their own unique history when erecting a statue. However, Serbia lately has had an endearing tendency to look instead at Hollywood. They've already erected statues honoring Rocky, Bruce Lee, and Tarzan (played by Johnny Weissmuller). And now as a symbol of peace with his right fist raised firmly in the air, Bob Marley posthumously, with "Bob Marley - fighter for freedom armed with a guitar" inscribed at the base, has the honor of joining this esteemed statuesque league.
Still, historians will be hard pressed to explain away the Balkans’ strange taste for idolatry. Even now, the meaning of the string of statues is hard to comprehend. Last November, Bojan Marceta, a 28-year-old Serb who raised money for the Rocky statue, offered The New York Times a reason. “My generation can’t find role models so we have to look elsewhere,” he said. “Hollywood can provide an answer.”
Read more here.
#150. Saving Austrian Jews from occupying Germans during WWII. #151. Michael Chang:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU2-jsRJRJE]
What I like about Barack Obama's speech today [full text] is that it challenges us. How refreshing. Instead of feeding people what they want to hear with essentialist arguments and bifurcate statements, he challenged us to seek to understand nuance and complexity. Whether we the American public accept this task remains to be seen.
I admit the headline makes no sense; I just wanted to channel Coolio for a moment. This past weekend the Red Sox hosted the Wankees, and I'm sure most of you have all heard or seen it by now, but during the Sunday game, the Sox slammed four home runs off one Yankee pitcher. Correction: Four consecutive home runs off one pitcher. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAGTfFJFsfA]
What a thing to see and experience for those people at the game who'd never been to a baseball game before. Now they're going to expect that at every game henceforth.
Oh yea, and here's some Coolio. You know you want it. 1,2,3,4 get yo woman on the floor ya'll:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNj3IFkKCOw]
Update: ESPN's Bill Simmons made a funny about ARod:
A-Rod is like pollen -- you can always count on him to make an impact in April and May.
