A collection of photographs at Environmental Graffiti gives a glimpse into the lives of women in China in the 19th century. About this photograph:
To create those amazing ‘wings’, the hair was wrapped around a piece of wood at the back. “The [Manchu] style is simple and graceful, and must have been designed, one would almost think, to represent horns, enabling the wearer to hold her own against her antagonistic husband,” joked photographer John Thomson, who took many 19th-century Chinese photographs, including this one from 1869.
Customs and fashions varied from Formosa to Manchuria to the enclaves of minority tribes. Read about each with the photographs. Warning: bound feet. Link
Alex Moore was properly floored, because, well, you just don't expect a palindrome to be so clever and topical at the same time. He has the backstory at Death and Taxes. Link-Thanks, Brian!
The condom industry in America, which had been quite robust to that point, was pushed underground after the country went full prude and the Comstock Act of 1873 outlawed the sale of contraceptives by mail. People still bought them, but advertising had to be very creative to get around the law.
Carol Queen says, “What’s interesting about that moment historically, as far as ads for any product that had a sexual purpose, is that there’s a cryptic language being used that made people think about the real function without ever actually saying it.”
Still, venereal diseases (VD, now called STDs) were a big problem. What turned the condom industry around was the U.S. military, which in World War II was determined to avoid the VD problems of the first World War.
By the time the U.S. entered World War II, American soldiers were much better prepared for VD. The military stopped focusing only on prevention through abstinence and post-infection treatment, incorporating condoms on its approved list of prophylactics. Troops could purchase sets of three condoms for ten cents at “pro stations” placed for easy access, day or night. The military also created an aggressive advertising campaign promoting safe sex through prevention, combining images of sexy women with the not-so-sexy effects of VD.
Read the rest of the story at Collector's Weekly, along with many photographs of clever historical condom packaging. Link
The right music and some clever editing can make a movie something else completely. In this case, Fight Club becomes a tale of a dysfunctional relationship. Or rather, a different kind of dysfunctional relationship than the 1999 film intended. Link -via mental_floss
Today is Black Cat Appreciation Day. Why? Because, as organizer Wayne Morris says,
Black Cats are frequently the last to be adopted and are often put to sleep. I came up with this idea in the hope that opinions could be changed and the Black Cat would be a welcome addition in everyone's home! Black cats are playful, loving, and sometimes even remind you of miniature panthers with their shiny black coats! Save a life and get a wonderful friend...adopt a black cat!!!
Celebrate this online holiday by posting pictures of your black cat at the Facebook event page, or better yet, by making the decision to adopt a cat. I have a black cat; why doesn't everyone? Link
-via Buzzfeed, where you can see more black cat pictures.
Older homes that have been added to, altered, and modernized over the years sometimes contain surprising empty spaces. Andrea's family discovered that as they worked on their home. A little space under the stairs became a secret playroom for a small child. As their family grew, more work was done, and more small spaces found, until they had four "secret rooms" not quite large enough to be called a room, but big enough for children to play in. See how it all came about, with pictures, at Happy Chaos. Link -via b3ta
Purple Hearts are awarded to service members who are wounded in war. There are quite a few folks you know from the worlds of TV, movies, or literature that you may never have suspected are recipients of the Purple Heart. For example, James Arness, who played Marshal Dillon for years on TV's Gunsmoke.
Arness (or Aurness before he started acting) enrolled in the US Army in 1943. He wanted to be a fighter pilot, but with a height of 6’7”, there was no way that was going to happen – the maximum height of pilots at the time was 6’2”. So instead he served as a rifleman. Unfortunately, his height singled him out to be the first off the boat to test the water depth for the other men, leaving him to be the first target for the enemy. As a result, Arness was injured less than a year into his service during an invasion on Anzio, Italy, when he was shot in the right leg.
On the upside, his time in the hospital led to his work in television… eventually.
Read the rest of Arness' story, and those of other notable veterans with Purple Hearts at mental_floss. You might be able to guess a couple of them, but you won't guess all of them -and there are more in the comments, too. Link
In a psychedelic world where modern dance meets special effects, this was way cool in its time. Ballet Zoom was a popular Spanish TV dance troupe of the mid-1970s. Read more about them and see more video at a tribute blog. Link | English translation -via Boing Boing
The Tuscaloosa News informs us that arresting 55-year-old Walter White is the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office's top priority. Does this mean the end of Breaking Bad? No, just a series of coincidences. The Alabama man has the same name as the series' main character, engages in the same crime (methamphetamine manufacture), and was charged in 2008 (the same year Breaking Bad premiered). Link -via Fark
This article will take you back to an earlier time, when computers had few images and we played text-based games. At the time, they were state-of-the-art, but this analysis will make you either laugh or cringe -or both! Get a look into the sadistic minds who developed these games at Rant Gaming. Link-Thanks, Alex Galbraith!
Historically, cults and their leaders haven't had much luck getting good publicity. Maybe it's because of their intense religious fervor or their creepy recruiting methods, but most people do their best to avoid these cliques (not to mention the punch they serve). But hey, they aren't all bad. Ancient mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras had his own cult (er, "brotherhood") and if it weren't for him, children today might not be stuck at their desks trying to understand the multiplication tables. While most of Pythagora's philosophical beliefs seem pretty normal now, his theories on mathematics, music, and astronomy truly salvaged his legacy from "total whackjob" to "the father of numbers."
LET'S TALK TURKEY
Pythagoras was born on the island of Sámos (off what is now the western coast of Turkey) around 580 B.C.E. As a child, he spent most of his time writing poetry, reciting Homer, and learning to play the lyre. So he was a little precocious, to say the least. By the time Pythagoras turned 22, he pretty much absorbed everything his primary teacher, Pherecydes, had to offer in the areas of math and astronomy, so he was promptly shoved off to Egypt to further his studies. Luckily for our young scholar, this allowed him to get the heck out of Sámos, which was fast becoming a seething pit of unrest thanks to the ruling tyrant, Polycates.
WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN
Pythagoras made a quick beeline for the land of the Sphinx and immediately sought out the knowledgable priests of Egypt. But temple after temple turned him away, refusing to let him study with them because he didn't have the proper training in fasting and breathing. That is, until he arrived on the steps of the temple at Diospolis. There, Pythagoras was allowed to experience this training under their guidance, and, if able to endure the "hazing," would be admitted.
After completing the rites necessary for admission (and learning the extraordinariily complicated Diospolis handshake), Pythagoras was accepted into the priesthood. He spent the next 22 years there, learning geometry and cosmology while embracing the priesthood's other traditions, such as living life without personal possessions, adhering to a vegetarian diet, and, perhaps most famously, being strictly forbidden to eat beans. Although many historians are unsure why, some have postulated that the bean ban was due to the fact that they caused flatulence (still do), which destroyed the mental peace the priesthood of Diospolis felt was necessary for meditation. Another school of thought notes that black and white beans were used for voting at the time, and remaining sans beans was the equivalent of being apolitical. But, beans or not, during Pythagoras' time as a leader in this brotherhood, he began to develop philosophical beliefs that would one day become the cornerstone of his own teachings.
A Grand Theft Auto mod lets you play the game as a horse. No good could ever come of letting a horse loose behind the wheel of a convertible, I said, and I was right. All this needs is a clip of "Oh, Wilbur!" and a whinny at the end. -via Metafilter
Nemo Gould's kinetic sculpture The Visitor depicts an alien who has landed his craft on prehistoric Earth. Watch his eyes light up, his head turn to look out the "windows," and his, um, appendages flip levers in a video at the artisy's site. It was made from:
Typewriter case, picture frame, fresnel lens, electric massager, chandelier parts, voltage meters, book clippings, aquarium plants, LEDs, motors, fiber optic cable, laboratory beaker.
Blue Chimp has escaped from a primate research facility, and a hunter is after him with a tranquilizer gun! This animation by Lee Daniels contains violence and bathroom humor. It's the beginning of a webseries featuring Blue Chimp. Link -via Kuriositas
