When someone mentions the word “history”, it means a) we’re not dating anymore, 2) I’m outta here, or 3) that boring class where you learned about the Civil War over and over and over each year in school (at least they did when I was in school, but I’m so old that the Vietnam War was NOT “history” then; it was “news”).  Its a shame that school history focuses on American history so much (or British history, if you’re in England, etc).  There are so many other fascinating subjects, and they all have some kind of history. Seems like no matter what the subject is, there’s someone, somewhere, who is fascinated enough to plot a timeline.

What have we learned from history? (via Yesbutnobutyes)

The history of the internet on a timeline. C'mon take a look, its funny.

A short history of hacking. Forget Second Life, these are real heroes and villians in cyberspace!

The history of jokes.

The history of Uncle Sam. He has the face of a butcher. No, really.

The history of the Jedi Knights and the Sith Lords.

The History of Playing Cards.

The Evolution of Speech Balloons: A Pictoral History.

The origins of photography.

The heavenly sounds of the Glass Armonica. Now, I’ve set up wine giblets and filled them with different levels of water to play them (I have a weird family), but I never knew there was a real instrument made of this! Be sure to checkout the virtual armonica linked at the end of the article.

Here’s a web site dedicated to documenting the known factual history of Military Decoy Paratrooper Dummies. If that’sa not obscure, then I don’t know what is.

From Mother Jones: A Timeline of the Iraq War. This is just the first installment, but you can sign up to be notified of future editions.

The history of sex in the movies.

A short history of tear bottles.

The history of Absinthe, part of the Virtual Absinthe Museum.

Earth’s Ancient History is some fascinating reading, but there is a LOT of it, so you may want to bookmark the site.

A bit of medieval history is being recreated in France. Michel Guyot set out to build his castle the hard way -- the medieval way. With only hammers and chisels to carve the stones. With only horses to cart the rock. Without power tools. (via Neatorama)

The amazing history of the vibrator.

HISTORY?

I don’t know about this, a lot of it sounds made up on the spot. but its interesting, so here it is. (Thanks, April!)
The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the  water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the1500s:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water..

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying . It's raining cats and dogs.

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, Dirt poor. The wealthy had slate floors that wo uld get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it  would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance way. Hence the saying a thresh hold.

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat.They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old..

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, bring home the bacon. They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat..

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead  poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt  bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to  a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, saved by th e bell or was considered a dead ringer.

And that's the truth...Now, whoever said History was boring ! ! !

Thought for today: History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.  -Napoleon Bonaparte

humor jokes video funny history historian timeline Save To Del.icio.us