Lagniappe of Research #6: Chinese Women And Crime, Early 1900s Edition I assume that, like me, you're fascinated with the Chinese cities of the pre-WW2 era, and so you know about the crime scenes in them, especially in Shanghai, and the major personages involved in the crime scenes, Big-Eared Du and Pockmarked Huang and all the rest. (There are many places you can read about the rogues of Old Shanghai, as it's called: here's a good place to start). And, just possibly, you know about the criminals and crime-solvers of Chinese detective and mystery fiction of the pre-WW2 years, Sun Liaohong's Arsène Lupin-like Lu Ping (and his Sherlock Holmes-like opponent, Cheng Xiaoqing's Huo Sang) and the others like them. But even those of us who have pored over Paul French's Old Shanghai A-Z and have practically memorized Graham Earnshaw's Tales of Old Shanghai are probably uneducated in the crimes committed by the Chinese women of the period. In 1919 3,992 women were convicted of crimes in China. In 1907 in Guangzhou it was reported that In 1911, one observer tut-tutted,
Step Inside The Macabre & Sinister Nightclubs Of 1920's Paris Since the dawn of time, man has always been mesmerized with the dark side of nature. The realm of the supernatural, of the unknown, where nefarious and shadowy characters roam has fascinated and terrified society for eons. Rewind to Paris in the 1920s and that same obsession with macabre and sinister was starting to gain mainstream appeal. It was during that era that several popular nightclubs mysteriously opened across the city. Demonic faces and gargoyles decorated the exteriors, whilst all manner of ghouls, zombies and even vampires lurked deep inside waiting to prey on their unsuspecting guests. Two of the most popular were the Cabaret de l’Enfer (Cabaret of Hell) and the Cabaret du Neant (Cabaret of Nothingness). Would you dare step inside and share a drink with the Devil?
War Eagles: The greatest Ray Harryhausen film never made Imagine Avatar, but with Vikings, Nazis and giant eagles… In 2009, stop motion legend Ray Harryhausen visited The Watershed in Bristol to discuss his movie-making career. In between getting our DVD of Jason and the Argonauts signed and fighting the urge to high five an 89 year old man, our interest was peaked about a project he said he’d spent the past 30 years trying to make – War Eagles. The story of War Eagles dates all the way back to the 1930s when it was originally going to be made by Merian C. The story was one that since then has been used in films like Dances With Wolves, The Last Samurai and Avatar, but the concept itself was pretty unique. Just prior to the start of WWII, a publicly humiliated Army Air Corps test pilot, court-martialed and discharged from the service for an unauthorized flight that ultimately endangered the life of President Roosevelt, takes the only job he can get – flying an experimental airplane around the world from pole to pole.
YES PLEASE! The Rail Zeppelin: Experimental train that resembled a Zeppelin airship The Schienenzeppelin or rail zeppelin was an experimental railcar which resembled a zeppelin airship in appearance. It was designed and developed by the German aircraft engineer Franz Kruckenberg in 1929. Propulsion was by means of a propeller located at the rear, it accelerated the railcar to 230.2 km/h (143 mph) setting the land speed record for a petrol powered rail vehicle. Anticipating the design of the Schienenzeppelin, the earlier Aerowagon, an experimental Russian high-speed railcar, was also equipped with an aircraft engine and a propeller. The railcar was built at the beginning of 1930 in the Hannover-Leinhausen works of the German Imperial Railway Company (Deutsche Reichsbahn). As originally built it had two conjoined BMW IV 6-cylinder petrol aircraft engines (later a single BMW VI 12-cylinder of 600 horsepower (450 kW)) driving a four-bladed (later two-bladed), fixed pitch ash propeller.
"Classic Six:" New York City Apartment Building Living, 1880s-1910s Collection History The group of materials presented here includes albums produced between 1908 and 1913 by developers and the real estate industry to entice potential middle and upper class tenants to New York City’s “principal high class apartment houses,” declares one volume’s subtitle. Each featured apartment house is briefly described, and illustrated with an exterior photograph and one or more floor plans. Among the Milstein Library Division’s most heavily consulted New York City real estate resources, these albums are supplemented in this digital presentation by trade catalogues for contemporary plumbing fixtures that may have been part of the modern and luxury appointments in these apartments. Background Until shortly after the Civil War the well to do in New York City lived in private houses, and only the working class and the poor lived in multiple dwellings. Several factors facilitated the move towards apartment living. Related Resources Alpern, Andrew. _____ . _____ .
Editable old newspaper template We have just added to our popular free editable PowerPoint newspaper templates with this Old Times newspaper design. With these you can create your own news headlines, articles and insert your own pictures. This spoof newspaper template could have many uses, including college and school projects and fun cards to send news to your friends and family. You could make a nice news magazine using the template or create an old-style “Wanted” poster with reward. If you are stuck for ideas for content, have a look at our history ideas. A list of various phantom islands recorded throughout history Phantom islands can generally be divided into three groups. Most of the phantom islands recorded through history were usually derived and marked according to the reports made by early ship captains and sailors, during their missions to explore new realms. Many of the phantom islands in this category were later revisited and proved to be non-existent, or mistaken for some already extant island. The second group of phantom islands is of purely mythical or fictional origin, but people decided to put them on the maps of the known real world. The third category of phantom islands was intentionally “created.” With all of this said, let’s look at some phantom islands mentioned through history. 1 Antillia This phantom island is also known as the Isle of Seven Cities. The island of Antillia is one more mythical phantom island, and the idea for it comes from an old Iberian legend. Antillia appeared on a map for the first time in the 1424 portolan chart of Venetian cartographer Zuane Pizzigano.
10 Mysterious Human Populations Humans Mysterious populations challenge our notions of the world. Some remain shrouded in the shadows of time; others are enigmatic because of their isolation or unique origin stories. The more we learn, the more complex the story of man becomes. 10Population Y The Americas were the final frontier for human expansion. These colonizers did not arrive via boat. In 2003, Brazilian scientists were shocked to discover Polynesian DNA in the bones of the extinct Botocudo tribe. 9Ramapough Mountain People 30 miles outside New York City, in New Jersey’s Appalachians, exists a mysterious population known as the Ramapough Mountain People. Many Ramapough Lenape share surnames like De Groot, De Freiss, Van der Donk, and Mann. 8Guanches The Guanche are the aboriginal inhabitants of the Canary Islands. The most common maternal DNA line was U6b—a group unknown on the African mainland. 7Liqian Romans Liqian is located in northwest China on the edge of the Gobi Desert. 6Yamnaya 5Duhare 4Ice Age Invaders 3Hazara
Behold- the most gorgeous cars of the Art Deco era... The Art Deco movement influenced design and marketing in many different industries in the 1930s, and the motor industry was no exception. During the 1930s, when most folks couldn’t even afford to put food on the table, upscale car makers turned out luxury vehicles with incredible features. Some of these features, like front-wheel drive and electric wipers, were ahead of their time. After 1929, the American automobile industry, suffered a hard blow because of the economical depression which started with the crash on Wall Street in October 1929. The greatest impact of the streamlined designs was in fact that the 1930’s cars became eye catchers. 1939 ZIS-101 Sport coupe. source Sadly, most people know next to nothing about the 1935 Voisin C28 Aerosport other than the painfully obvious: it looks fantastic. 1938 Hispano Suiza Dubonnet Xenia. 1935 Auburn 851 Supercharged Speedster. source 1938 Talbot-Lago T150-C SS Teardrop Coupé. source 925 Rolls Royce Phantom. source stralia 1960 – currumbin
The Emu War – Veritable Hokum First, some notes on accuracy: I’m not 100% sure on all of these dates (some had two dates listed, some had none and I had to guess based on what happened before and after). I’m pretty sure I’m correct to within a day or two, but the ones I’m least sure about are October 31 (might have been earlier) and November 4 (might have been the 3rd or 5th). (Update: someone on reddit linked me this photo of the actual vehicle that the emus ran off the road.) (Update 2: a whole lot of Australians have individually informed me that emus don’t say “tweet” – more like an awful guttural honk-growl.) Oh, and there was no official surrender ceremony. Moving on: Aren’t emus great? They’re as hard to kill, in any case. What else? And they’re still awful for crops. I get my wisdom teeth removed in about an hour, and between the pain and the painkillers I’m not sure I’ll get the next comic up on schedule. ~Korwin
Map of The Unexplored World From 1881 Map found via reddit The map above appeared in Jules Verne’s The Great Explorers of the Nineteenth Century and shows the areas of the world that remained unexplored (to Westerners) in 1881. While all of Europe, Asia and North America had been fully explored by 1881, the interiors of South America, Australia, and Africa had yet to be fully explored and mapped. Keep in mind that when this map was produced, the Berlin Conference, that formalized the Scramble for Africa, was still 3 years in the future. Finally, there is some debate as to when the the North Pole was reached. You can read the full copy of The Great Explorers of the Nineteenth Century for free on Kindle. To learn more about exploration in the 19th century have a look at the following books: Enjoy this post?