He hadn’t made his rubber quota for the day so the Belgian-appointed overseers had cut off his daughter’s hand and foot. Her name was Boali. She was five years old. Then they killed her. But they weren’t finished. Then they killed his wife too. And because that didn’t seem quite cruel enough, quite strong enough …
The third modern olympiad, despite the dropping of such noble sports as kite flying, pigeon racing, cannon shooting and fire fighting, is still talked about as one of the strangest and most misguided sporting events in history. A few reasons: The games was moved from the fairly reasonable location of Chicago to the comparative backwater …
Strychnine, Egg Whites, Brandy and a Human Zoo: The Terrible 1904 Olympics Read More »
A man, a plan, a canal; Panama! Not just a palindrome, but a rejected heading for this blog post. 1904 saw the apex of Theodore Roosevelt’s super-sized presidency with work finally beginning on the digging of a canal between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans – a project whose scale remains impressive in 2018. Here is …
This month’s mix features one of the only recordings in existence by a ‘castrato’ – a man who was castrated as a youth in order to maintain his choirboy-like vocal range. Most recordings featured in my mixes have little, if any, information available about them, and few of the artists even have a biography online, …
Samuel Hynes described the Edwardian era as a “leisurely time when women wore picture hats and did not vote, when the rich were not ashamed to live conspicuously, and the sun really never set on the British flag” – but aside from the fashionable cliques of the upper class, nothing could be further from the …
January 8 — The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system January 18 — The Herero Rebellion in German South-West Africa begins January 23 — The Ã…lesund Fire destroys most buildings in the town of Ã…lesund, Norway, leaving about 10,000 people without shelter February 7 — The Great Baltimore …
MP3 direct download | Itunes | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) | MP3 pack One of the least thought about, but perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the way we listen to music is its loudness – that is, the quantity rather than just the quality. Modern day audiophiles will be familiar with the …
Félix Vallotton — The Five Painters Edvard Munch — Dr. Linde’s Sons C. M. Coolidge – His Station and Four Aces Jacek Malczewski – Law Hugo Simberg — The Wounded Angel John William Waterhouse – Echo and Narcissus Pablo Picasso – Portrait of Angel Fernández de Soto Paula Modersohn-Becker — The Old Farmer Paul Klee …
…aside from The Great Train Robbery of course. Alice in Wonderland The Gay Show Clerk The Kingdom of the Fairies Life of an American Fireman Momijigari Diving Lucy The Sick Kitten Old London Street Scenes Runaway Match Electrocuting an Elephant The Infernal Cauldron Desperate Poaching Affray Mary Jane’s Mishap The Music Lover A Chess Dispute
1903 is a marquee year for aviation, mainly because “first flight” sounds much snappier than “first controlled, sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft” – and balloon pioneers are too far back in history to fit in with the age of innovation. All the same, the Wright brothers retain their fascination, their first flight at …
