Top History Blogs
Share the Top History Blogs on
Mirabilis.ca
Ostrich egg patterns oldest form of art and communication
From The Telegraph: Ostrich egg patterns oldest form of art and communication. Engraved patterns on the side of ostrich eggs dating back to the Stone Age could be the oldest form of written communication known to man, claims a new study. The etchings, thought to be 60,000 years old, were used to...
Lost Jewish tribe found in Zimbabwe
From the BBC: Lost Jewish tribe ‘found in Zimbabwe’. In many ways, the Lemba tribe of Zimbabwe and South Africa are just like their neighbours. But in other ways their customs are remarkably similar to Jewish ones. They do not eat pork, they practise male circumcision, they ritually slaughter their animals, some of...
Surface that refuses to get wet
From Science Daily: Water Practically Flies Off ‘Near Perfect’ Hydrophobic Surface That Refuses to Get Wet. Engineering researchers have crafted a flat surface that refuses to get wet. Water droplets skitter across it like ball bearings tossed on ice. Cool, hmm? The design is inspired by spiders. Spiders! Spiders use their water-repelling hairs...
The Virgin Queen, the serpent and the doctored portrait
From The Independent: The Virgin Queen, the serpent and the doctored portrait. When this painting of Queen Elizabeth I was last displayed to the country in 1921, curators at the National Portrait Gallery noticed spots of discolouration which cast a spiralling shadow across the Tudor posy the monarch held in her...
From Scott Adams’ blog at dilbert.com: Crazy or disciplined? My wife and I often have very different recollections of events. And not just the little details. Sometimes our shared memories don’t even feature the same mammals, themes, or points. The scary part is that we don’t realize these differences until we...
Lasers lift dirt of ages from artworks
From the BBC: Lasers lift dirt of ages from artworks. Physicists have applied the same laser techniques commonly used for tattoo removal to clean several famous works of art, including wall paintings. Laser cleaning is well established for stone and metal artefacts already. It has now been successfully applied to the wall paintings...
O Say Can You See?
The grooviest place on the National Mall
Feeling groovy? You will be if you visit the newly renovated store at the National Mall entrance to the museum. Its new look is a tribute to the recent past, specifically the popular culture of the 1950s-1980s, and it should......
Powerful lessons from the Greensboro Four
On February 1, 1960, four African American college students—Jibreel Khazan (formerly Ezell Blair Jr.), Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil and David Richmond—sat down at the segregated Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and politely asked for service. Their request was......
The stress. The mental focus. Getting your mind "in the zone." Fear, worry, doubt. The waiting! The anticipation! With the high drama attached to the Olympic games, what's happening in the minds of the athletes gets a lot of attention......
Illustration of Nirenberg’s chart of the 64 3-letter combinations that form the genetic code. An image of his handwritten chart may be seen on the National Library of Medicine Web site. Courtesy of the Office of History, National Institutes of......
If you are planning a visit to the museum, please stop in at the Nina and Ivan Selin Welcome Center to see our new addition, “An American Timeline.” The timeline is a multitouch application on a tabletop computer that features......
Spitalfields Life
Anyone who has ever visited Dennis Severs’ house in Folgate St will recognise this spectacular chimneypiece in the bedroom with its idiosyncratic pediment designed to emulate the facade of Christ Church, Spitalfields. The fireplace itself is lined with an exquisite array of Delft tiles which you may have admired, but very...
I walked in sunlight through the frost to discover the market full of life early this morning. The very first thing that caught my eye were these Auriculas (or Laced Primulas) and I bought the only tray of fifteen plants outright for £10. On the very same Sunday last year,...
Rodney Archer kindly took me to lunch at E.Pellicci yesterday, but first I went round to his eighteenth century house in Fournier St to take this portrait of him in front of his cherished fireplace that once belonged to Oscar Wilde. One day in 1970, Rodney was visiting an old...
For over fifteen years they have kept a celebrity album behind the counter at E.Pellicci, the Italian family-run cafe in the Bethnal Green Rd that was founded in 1900 by Priamo Pellicci. Salvatore (on the extreme left of the picture above) started the album after Julie Christie came in for...
In 1877, photographer John Thomson and radical journalist Adolphe Smith published “Street Life in London” in twelve monthly parts. A series of portraits of common people following upon the model of Henry Mayhew’s “London Labour and London Poor,” adding photography to the project. “We have sought to portray these harder phases...
Hullabaloo at the Thrift Store
One Saturday morning recently, I was walking down Brick Lane when I saw a long line of hundreds of excited young people that stretched the entire length of Sclater St. When the Thrift Store decided to post an invitation to their jumble sale on facebook, they never dreamed that over...
A Passion to Understand
Book Review: The War Before by Safiya Bukhari
The War Before: The True Life Story of Becoming a Black Panther, Keeping the Faith in Prison and Fighting for Those Left Behind is a collection of interviews, speeches, pamphlets and essays written by late Black Panther Party activist Safiya Bukhari. With an introduction by Laura Whitehorn, a foreword...
The Murder of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark There are many things we know today that they didn’t know back in 1969. For instance, we know the the FBI had a counter-intelligence program and that part of their program was to infiltrate, undermine and destroy civil...
Cher's Interview With Mugisho Ndabuli Theophile from DR Congo
There is a fantastic interview today over at AskCherLock.com with Mugisho Ndabuli Theophile from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mugisho speaks of the terrible circumstances and crimes committed against women in DR Congo and of his efforts to start his new program Congolese Females Action For Promoting Their...
Book Review: Gangs: A Journey into the Heart of the British Underworld by Tony Thompson
It occurred to me that I should begin to review some of the books and texts that had the most impact on me in my effort to learn more about the world around me. The reviews should post about once a twice a month. Many of the reviews will be...
Interview: Kate Malarkey - FXB
Back in January, I posted about the organisation FXB International. Nico from FXB contacted me via Twitter to thank me for my post and I jumped at the chance to ask him for further information. Well, it is slightly under a month since we first made contact but Kate from...
[Photo source] The Black Panther Party originally began as the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense and their aim was to protect people from police brutality and to promote Black power and consciousness in the US. They originally began in Oakland, California where the...
California Genealogical Society and Library blog
The Morning After Who Do You Think You Are? - First Saturday Free!
First Saturdays FREEIntroduction to GenealogySaturday, March 6, 201011:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.Sometimes things are carefully scripted and planned. Sometimes it's just plain dumb luck. This month the California Genealogical Society and Library's First Saturday Free and Introduction to Genealogy class (taught by Lisa Gorrell) just happens to come the morning...
Board of Directors MeetingWednesday, February 17, 2010Photograph by Kathryn M. Doyle, Oakland, California, 2/17/10.Copyright 2009, Kathryn M. Doyle...
Ethnic Genealogy Series: Chinese Ancestry - A Workshop in Two Sessions
The California Genealogical Society and Library, in partnership with the National Archives and Records Administration - San Francisco, presents a FREE two-part workshop on researching Chinese ancestry. Members Christine DeVillier, Jeanie Low and Kay Speaks will share their experience and the knowledge gained researching their own Chinese ancestors. The classes...
eNews March 2010, Vol. 4, No. 3
The March 2010 issue of the eNews, volume 4, number 3, has been published and emailed to members and friends. As always, the eNews features timely information about the California Genealogical Society and our upcoming events. Each edition also includes Editor's Picks: Suggested Links From the Blogosphere and a photo...
Judy Avery's Report From London: Who Do You Think You Are?
I'm so excited that Judy Avery agreed to send a report from this year's WDYTYA - Live. Okay, I'm a little jealous, too. Thank you, Judy, for taking time out to be our eyes and ears in London!It's been a busy and jam-packed couple of days so at night I've...
What We Missed and How Technology Saved the Day
The California Genealogical Society presented a full-day program last Saturday, February 20, 2010, in honor of Black History Month and at the last minute the whole thing was threatened with cancellation, or at least a significant postponement. In his article CGS February Meeting a History Maker,...
Macedonian Documents
History of the Macedonian People - Alexander III - Lord of AsiaHistory of the Macedonian People from Ancient times to the PresentPart 7 - Alexander III - Lord of Asiaby Risto Stefov rstefov@hotmail.comThe victory at Issus ushered in a new era for Macedonia. Alexander's thinking was no longer "if" but...
"Alexander the Great was Macedonian, tied to the present Macedonians" - faximille edition of the Russian "Illustrated Notes" from the 16th century.The book has 10,000 pages, covering all of history until the 16th century. It was made on direct orders by the Russian czar Ivan Grozny. His wish had been...
History of the Macedonian People - Alexander III - The Greatest of the Great ConquerorsHistory of the Macedonian People from Ancient times to the PresentPart 6 - Alexander III - The Greatest of the Great Conquerorsby Risto Stefov rstefov@hotmail.comAlexander, son of Philip II and Polyxena (Olympias) was born in Pella...
Закон за Грб на Н.Р. Македонија
Статија од македонскиот весник Нова Македонија од 1962 годинаЗакон за грбот на Народна Република МакедонијаЧлен 1Грбот на Народна Република Македонија е поле опкружено со житно класје испреплетено со плодови афион и листови тутун кои на долната страна се поврзани со лента исшарана со народни мотиви. На лентата е напишано Н....
History of the Macedonian People - Philip II - The Greatest of the KingsHistory of the Macedonian People from Ancient times to the PresentPart 5 - Philip II - The Greatest of the Kingsby Risto Stefov rstefov@hotmail.comPhilip II was born in Pella, the capital of ancient Macedonia, in the year...
ЕДНО ИМЕ ИМАМЕПокрај Егеј Македонци,покрај Вардар Македонции по Пирин Македонци,славно име, непокорно.Едно име имамево душата го носиме,за тебе живот давамео, Македонијо! x2Како килим полиња,а до небо планини,реките златоносни,а езера бисерни.Едно име имамево душата го носиме,за тебе живот давамео, Македонијо! x2Мајко Македонијобалканска убавице,кој се родил во тебеи животот дава за тебе.Едно...
Tactical Pants Blog
Tactical Talk: Trigger Pull Tactical
If you’re looking for straight-up tactical talk, look no further than Trigger Pull Tactical. The blog is operated anonymously by TP (Trigger Pull), a veteran law enforcement officer who also served in the military and now works with a full-time tactical team. His description is vague and for good reason,...
These aren’t your daddy’s Levis. Oh no. Discreet tactical jeans are more like your casual, off-duty ninja jeans. It give an Average-Joe look for those packing like James Bond. So, why look like Joe instead of Bond? With more and more folks receiving a carry concealed license, there’s a growing interest in...
Introducing Kitanica PNT X.A Tactical Pants
Imagine how the paparazzi treat a new starlet. The garish, potbellied thugs pace outside her home, hovering around the wrought-iron gate while shoveling Coffee Bean muffins down their gullets and wiping sweat beads away with a star map. Once she makes the descent from her private castle, they clamor her...
Behind the Seams: Criminal Hotspots, EMS/Fire Blogger Meet-up and More
Find out what those experimental criminologists have been up to in the video above. (The Crime Map) Going to be in Baltimore on March 5? We hear the BIGGEST EMS/Fire blogger meet-up of all time is taking place. (Happy Medic) SouthLAnd premiers on TNT to rave reviews … at least from...
You’re never too young to be tactical. Believe us: In our infancy, we were scaling crib walls with a blankie in the front pocket, a backup binky in the back. Ah, memories. But do they actually make tactical pants for babies? Of course! While the itsy-bitsy look-alikes aren’t 100 percent replicas...
Tactical Talk: EOTAC’s Fernando Coelho
Nobody’s more passionate about perfecting the tactical pant than Fernando Coelho. In 2005, the president and founder of EOTAC set out to introduce a better-fitting, more durable pant to the market. And he did just that — first working on Woolrich’s Elite Series and then for his own tactical clothing company...
The Quack Doctor
Whitehead’s Essence of Mustard
WHITEHEAD’S ESSENCE OF MUSTARD. —– CHILBLAINS are prevented from breaking, and their tormenting itching instantly removed, by WHITEHEAD’s ESSENCE of MUSTARD, universally esteemed for its extraordinary efficacy in Rheumatisms, Palsies, Gouty Affections, and Complaints of the Stomach; but where this certain remedy has been unknown or neglected, and the Chilblains have actually suppurated,...
I will be hosting the next edition of Carnivalesque on 21 March, so am now inviting nominations of your favourite recent blog posts on any aspect of early modern history. You can use the Carnivalesque form, or contact me direct. Please nominate specific posts rather than whole blogs, and don’t be modest...
DELICACY of Complexion.—The incomparable BLOOM of NINON DE L’ENCLOS, superior to any thing yet discovered for rendering the skin soft, smooth, and beautiful in the extreme. Its wonderful effects in removing freckles, morphews, worms, &c. justly entitle it to that preference so long bestowed on it by the most elegant...
And now for something completely different… We leap forward into the 1950s today with this Public Service Announcement from the US Food and Drug Administration. The presenter is actor Raymond Massey and his advice is all too relevant today. ‘There are no Z-rays’ is undoubtedly the best line of the film, but it’s...
McAlister’s All-Healing Ointment
McALISTER’S ALL-HEALING OINTMENT OR WORLDS SALVE Has been an old family nurse for the past twenty years, and known all around the world as the most soothing and healing ointment in existence. McALISTER’S ALL-HEALING OINTMENT Never Fails to Cure. Salt Rheum, Scrofula, Ulcers, Small Pox, Sore Nipples, Mercurial Sores, Erysipelas, Carbuncles, Corns, Bunions, and...
Dr Velpeau’s Magnetic Love Powders
WANTED! An industrious and strictly honest man in each County in the State to take orders by samples for Velpeau’s Magnetic Agents. Salary first year $800, and small commission, payable monthly. For full particulars address Dr. M. Velpeau, 422½ Broadway, N. Y., sending stamp. Source: The Sauk County Standard, (Baraboo, Wisconsin) 18 July 1855 —————————————————————————————– This advert might not...