National Geographic Flashback
June 24, 2008 10:35 PM Subscribe
The National Geographic Flashback is a section where the magazine publishes old pictures from its archives. There are many strange and wondrous pictures. Some of my favorites include: turtle riding, cooking with verbs, moving the lawn at Stonehenge, Robert Peary at the North Pole, artist along the Dordogne, cannibal fork, Great Pyramid of Khufu lit up by 6500 bulbs and flying car.
Love it! I've always enjoyed the Flashback page in my dead-tree copy of the magazine, but I didn't know they had a Flashback archive online. Thanks, Kattullus!
posted by amyms at 11:17 PM on June 24, 2008
posted by amyms at 11:17 PM on June 24, 2008
Like many magazine photos of scantily clad women, the surfboard shot in the 2001 set appears to be printed backwards.
The caption on the chimp photo in the 2007 set is, um, yeah something wrong there...
Otherwise, great stuff!
posted by Tube at 11:21 PM on June 24, 2008
The caption on the chimp photo in the 2007 set is, um, yeah something wrong there...
Otherwise, great stuff!
posted by Tube at 11:21 PM on June 24, 2008
I was expecting something else, maybe archaeology neatly tucked under the rug, for that "moving the lawn" link.
posted by pracowity at 3:56 AM on June 25, 2008
posted by pracowity at 3:56 AM on June 25, 2008
If Peary was the first person at the north pole, where did he take the postcard in order to mail it?
posted by schlaager at 8:49 AM on June 25, 2008
posted by schlaager at 8:49 AM on June 25, 2008
As it has been quite some time since I actually picked up a hard copy of National Geographic I was wondering where it stands these days as a picture magazine? Clearly the golden age of the picture magazines such as Life is over but are there any truly great modern picture mags left?
posted by well_balanced at 9:21 AM on June 25, 2008
posted by well_balanced at 9:21 AM on June 25, 2008
Kattullus, I don't know how you do it, but you consistently find great stuff that I really enjoy - thanks.
posted by madamjujujive at 12:58 PM on June 25, 2008
posted by madamjujujive at 12:58 PM on June 25, 2008
Excellent nostalgic stuff! My first and favourite experience of an old issue of NG was when I was in Tanzania last year, staying in a lodge on the rim of the Ngorongoro crater; the loo-side reading was provided for us (it was a posh place...) - an old leather-bound NG omnibus (with the issues from Q4 1972 I think).
Upon flicking through, I found an article about the place I live - with some entertaining old photos (bad fashion! bad hair! places that are no longer there!), and then - bam! - an interview with my great-grandfather that I'd never seen or heard of before! I was absolutely floored - a very weird coincidence. The staff kindly let me take a photocopy, and I've subsequently tracked down the issue on eBay to share with my relatives (particularly his children who, although they'd heard of the interview, had never seen it).
In the pre-internet days, I expect that resources like NG offered an amazing insight into exotic foreign places, peoples and cultures - most of which we nowadays take for granted, and the access to such information we definitely take for granted.
posted by Chunder at 2:09 PM on June 25, 2008 [2 favorites]
Upon flicking through, I found an article about the place I live - with some entertaining old photos (bad fashion! bad hair! places that are no longer there!), and then - bam! - an interview with my great-grandfather that I'd never seen or heard of before! I was absolutely floored - a very weird coincidence. The staff kindly let me take a photocopy, and I've subsequently tracked down the issue on eBay to share with my relatives (particularly his children who, although they'd heard of the interview, had never seen it).
In the pre-internet days, I expect that resources like NG offered an amazing insight into exotic foreign places, peoples and cultures - most of which we nowadays take for granted, and the access to such information we definitely take for granted.
posted by Chunder at 2:09 PM on June 25, 2008 [2 favorites]
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