Historic Video of Japan

The original black and white video (speed corrected w/added sound) can be found here.

The Theremin

Discover: Creepy Music and Soviet Spycraft: The Amazing Life of Leon Theremin

The ever growing television

A friend's FaceBook post about Samsung's massive 219 inch MicroLED TV got me wondering if there was data about the average size of the TV by year. A quick Google search provided me with the following.

From Tribeca: Movie Industry Must Bring The Theater "Home"

Lazarus Lizard (Podarcis muralis)

I remember first seeing these lizards about fifteen years ago crawling on the rock walls while I was taking a walking through Mt. Lookout. Living in Northern Kentucky, I'd never seen the little critters before. Today, they seem to be everywhere.

In the Cincinnati area they are generally referred to as Lazarus lizards. Apparently they are not native to the area. According to Buckeye Yard & Garden Online:

"In 1951, 10-year-old George Rau Jr., step-son of Fred Lazarus III, came across some common wall lizards scurrying across rocky slopes while on a family vacation to Lake Garda in northern Italy. George smuggled a few (6 to 10 depending on the reference source) through Customs to release them at his family's home on Torrence Court located in the eastern Cincinnati suburb of Hyde Park.

Some of the European expats thrived to eventually become so numerous that Torrence Court became known as Lizard Hill. Local residents called them "Lazarus lizards" in misplaced recognition of the lizard's perceived patrons. Of course, they should have been named "George's Lizards" in honor of their true sponsor.

The lizard story may ring like local folklore; however, George Rau wrote a letter in 1989 to herpetologists at the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History detailing his role as the lizard leader. He also repeated his story in several interviews with the news media.

Research conducted by Cassandra Homan for her 2013 University of Cincinnati M.S. Thesis (see "More Information" below) added credibility to Rau's claim. She compared genetic samples collected from the Cincinnati lizards to samples taken from the reported source population in Europe and confirmed a substantial loss of genetic diversity indicating a genetic bottleneck. Her computer simulations suggested the bottleneck was likely associated with only three individuals surviving their release to become the founders of the Cincinnati populations."

Buckeye Yard & Garden Online: The Rise of Lazarus Lizards

A Study of History, Arnold Toynbee

Wikipedia: A Study of History

Fruits and vegetables, before and after cultivation

Washington Post: Fruits and vegetables used to look so different you might not even recognize them

How Dictators Come To Power In A Democracy

How Dictators Come To Power In A Democracy

Obscuriosity

An interesting online shop selling reproductions of historical navigation instruments, timepieces, and various other curiosities.

Obscuriosity

The Touching Story Behind These Unique Headstones

The graves of a Catholic woman and her Protestant husband who, due to the segregation of the period, were not allowed to be buried together.

In the 19th century, the Dutch lived with a form of segregation known as pillarisation. The two primary pillars were the Catholic and the Protestant. Each pillar had there own separate schools, newspapers, banks, hospitals, trade unions, political parties, ect. This often led to a situation were people of one pillar had little to no contact with people from another.

In 1842, J.W.C. van Gorkum, a colonel of the Dutch Calvary, married  J.C.P.H van Aefferden. The marriage was no doubt scandalous as van Gorkum was Protestant and van Aefferden a Catholic. Despite this, the two remained married until the passing of van Gorkum in 1880. Eight years later van Aefferden passed away. Though the couple wished to be buried together, the pillarisation of the period would not allow it. As a work around, arraignments were made for each to be laid to rest near the wall which separated the Catholic side of the cemetery from the Protestant side. The tomb stones rise above the wall with two hands reaching over the top clasped together.

Headstone of J.W.C. van Gorkum

Headstone of J.C.P.H van Aefferden

The cemetery near the chapel in't Zand

Pillarisation

Boing Boing: Segregated headstones reach over the cemetery wall

Then and Now: Blending Historic & Modern Photographs

Historian consultant Jo Hedwig Teeuwisse has created a fascinating series of photos which she calls "Ghosts of History." The series consists of mostly old World War II photos of various places overlapped with a modern photo of the same place. 

Teeuwisse: Cherbourg, avenue de Paris, ancien Poste de Police, jardin Public

Teeuwisse: Rue Dom Pedro, civilians and American soldiers tear down the sign indicating the headquarters of the Todt organization in Cherbourg

Teeuwisse: rue Armand Levéel à Cherbourg

It seems Teeuwisse wasn't the first person to utilize this captivating technique. Photographer Seth Tara created the following series for a 2004 History Channel ad campaign titled "Know Where You Stand." 

http://www.ghostsofhistory.co.uk/ghosts-of-history-images/

http://sethtaras.wordpress.com/know-where-you-stand/