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ObscureHistoryFilter: Any pointers to resources about how Switzerland was like in 1817? What was life like? What was the political and economic situation? What technology was around? I'm trying to create a Call of Cthulhu campaign based in that place and time, and I'm trying to be as realistic as possible (aside from the cosmic horrors).
posted to Ask Metafilter by Zarkonnen
at 6:12 AM on July 25, 2008
(11 comments)
The UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History
has an extensive,
searchable online collection. It focuse on material art and household items and has objects from all over the world. The website can be browsed either by geographic orgin:
Africa,
Asia,
North and Central America,
Pacific,
South America, or through its two exhibits,
Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives and
Fowler in Focus. Some of my favorite objects (but really, everything is entrancing) are
The Blind Scholar (
a Taiwanese handpuppet),
Chikunga (
a Zambian mask) and a
stirrup spout bottle which looks like a puma eating a piglet (
Peruvian). All items have accompanying descriptions and some have short texts or audioguides with further information.
posted to MetaFilter by Kattullus
at 9:36 AM on July 23, 2008
(3 comments)
The Mehterhane
or
Mehter, as they are often known, are thought to be the oldest military marching band in the world. Starting around the 13th century, the
band accompanied the Ottoman empire troops (
Janissaries, or
yeniçeri, roughly meaning "new troops" and were comprised mostly of young men from the Balkans) into battle, spreading their music along the way and influencing western classical composers like
Mozart and
Beethoven.
posted to MetaFilter by sleepy pete
at 10:44 AM on July 19, 2008
(14 comments)
Мотылёк
-
Butterfly - is just a sweet little Russian cartoon (with subtitles) (and foxes). I seem to get a little speck of something in my eyes when I watch it for some reason.
posted to MetaFilter by Wolfdog
at 10:43 AM on July 14, 2008
(30 comments)
What is that symbol one finds at the beginnings or endings of chapters of books called? It's like a little arabesque, but with a (reasonably) flat bottom or top.
posted to Ask Metafilter by damnthesehumanhands
at 6:45 PM on July 10, 2008
(11 comments)
In Parentheses
is a collection of many ancient, medieval and classic texts from all over the world, many of whom are hard to find anywhere, let alone on the internet. There are translations from
Greek,
Old Norse,
Medieval Irish,
Japanese,
Incan,
Old French,
Medieval Latin and many more! As well as all that they have
papers in medieval studies and
vaguely decadent and
orientalism series. Adding to that there's a
linguistics section with wordlists and language flash cards in languages such as
Icelandic,
Quechua,
Basque,
Classical Armenian and a whole bunch more.
[flashcard links go to pdf files]
posted to MetaFilter by Kattullus
at 12:19 PM on July 10, 2008
(18 comments)
I'm looking for historical travel journals and books in the public domain. Specifically I'm interested in anything related to Victorian era exploration of the middle east and central Asia.
posted to Ask Metafilter by thewalrus
at 1:02 PM on July 7, 2008
(13 comments)
Are there any good English-language sources on dissent in World War II era Japan?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Kattullus
at 11:10 AM on July 3, 2008
(7 comments)
Thinking of Joe Cocker's great cover of the Beatles'
"With a Little Help From My Friends", I started wondering: what other cover versions have actually changed the
time signature of the original?
posted to Ask Metafilter by flapjax at midnite
at 9:54 PM on June 21, 2008
(48 comments)
The Milgram Experiment Today?
"Students commonly assume that, even if
Milgram’s famous experiment sheds important light on the power of situation today, were his experiment precisely reproduced today, it would not generate comparable results. To oversimplify the argument behind that claim: The power of white lab coats just ain’t what it used to be. Of course, that assertion has been difficult to challenge given that the option of replicating the Milgram experiment has been presumptively unavailable — indeed, it has been the paradigmatic example of why psychology experiments must be reviewed by institutional review boards ('IRBs'). Who would even attempt to challenge that presumption? The answer:
Jerry Burger, a psychology professor at Santa Clara University. With some slight modifications, Burger manage to obtain permission to replicate Milgram’s experiment — and the results may surprise you."
[Via MindHacks]
posted to MetaFilter by homunculus
at 4:35 PM on June 19, 2008
(60 comments)
Imago Urbis: Giuseppe Vasi’s Grand Tour of Rome is a rich and innovative geographic database that projects Vasi's 18th century engravings of Roman architecture onto the contemporary map of Giambattista Nolli
[previously] with supplementary modern satellite, photographic and mapping overlays together with copious background detail. The work was undertaken by researchers at the
University of Oregon (announcement) [
via]
posted to MetaFilter by peacay
at 11:21 PM on June 11, 2008
(3 comments)
Maps: Finding our place in the world
is an exhibit at the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, and it runs until this Sunday June 8. That page contains images of a few of the maps. One of the many great things included is an
animated map of the US Civil War in 4 minutes (one week per second, timeline noted at bottom, casualty counter rolling in bottom right corner -
info about this animation)
The exhibition book was previously
linked here; that site includes higher-resolution versions of some more of the maps. I was floored by all the stuff they have; in terms of the rarity of the stuff in it, and the geek-delight factor, I think it's probably the best gallery show I've ever seen.
posted to MetaFilter by LobsterMitten
at 9:48 PM on June 4, 2008
(24 comments)
"In this rare documentary, Satyajit Ray talks about his films. Part
1,
2,
3.
Satyajit Ray... is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Born in the city of Calcutta into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and letters, Ray studied at Presidency College and at the Visva-Bharati University. Starting his career as a commercial artist, Ray was drawn into filmmaking after meeting French filmmaker Jean Renoir and viewing the Italian neorealist film Bicycle Thieves during a visit to London. He directed thirty-seven films, including feature films, documentaries and shorts. Ray's first film, Pather Panchali, won eleven international prizes, including Best Human Document at Cannes film festival"
posted to MetaFilter by vronsky
at 7:04 PM on June 4, 2008
(7 comments)
The year was 1957: the Soviet Union had launched the
cutest little sattelite ever. And it didn't just
look good, it
sounded good, too! As sweet a sound as any
avant garde composer of the 1950's might dream up! Of course, the US would have to get a little metal ball of its
own into space, but things
didn't go so well. They did manage to get one up there in
1958, but nobody knows if it sounded as good as ol' Sputnik. But anyway, most folks weren't listening to satellites 50 years ago, they were listening to, well, lessee, there was...
posted to MetaFilter by flapjax at midnite
at 7:35 AM on June 2, 2008
(16 comments)
Come, take a
ride and
look at some of the
Islamic Art of the past. Or, you could call it
Art of the
Islamic World if you're so inclined. If not, then how about taking into account some of the
major milestones of
Islam throughout the
centuries, from
past till
present (
more examples here), including the
art of
Calligraphy and
Architecture. Not to mention the
Arab world's contribution to
music, both
old and
new. [
Previously mentioned,
here,
here,
here, and
here, with a
wonderful comment from
nickyskye as usual]
posted to MetaFilter by hadjiboy
at 10:03 PM on May 29, 2008
(29 comments)
As Moscow changes, so does its population of stray dogs. During Soviet times, Moscow's stray dogs foraged for food and avoided humans, since there wasn't much to be gained from begging. As the city became increasingly affluent, the dogs' behavior changed radically. Some recent adaptations include passive subway begging, observing stoplights, and a food scam called the "come-from-behind ambush." The stray dogs, whose population is estimated at 26,000, have even ceased some of their interpack warfare. Observe the Moscow subway dog
here.
posted to MetaFilter by Afroblanco
at 11:15 AM on May 29, 2008
(26 comments)
What was daily life like behind the iron curtain? I recently returned from a vacation in a former Warsaw Pact country and could not help but wonder what things were like there 20 years ago.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Anonymous
at 7:31 PM on May 28, 2008
(25 comments)
History is a Weapon
-- Featuring
Propaganda by the inventor of modern PR,
Edward Bernays, essays by
Bill Clinton,
Eugene Debs,
Frederick Douglass,
Sojourner Truth,
Mark Twain, the entirety of
A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn, and
much, much more.
posted to MetaFilter by empath
at 11:58 PM on May 26, 2008
(55 comments)
One fine old day in old LA, in the year of nineteen and sixty, one Frederick Usher met
Eddie "One String" Jones, heard him lay down some deep blues on his
diddley bow, and was so taken with Jones'
monochord masterpieces that he ran home, grabbed his tape recorder and recorded Jones in the alley. One other recording session ensued soon thereafter, which was
released as an LP in 1964. By that time, however, the mysterious Eddie Jones (if that was even his real name) was long gone, and was never heard from again.
[NOTE: see hoverovers for link descriptions]
posted to MetaFilter by flapjax at midnite
at 12:09 AM on May 24, 2008
(22 comments)
What's the big deal with JL Austin's "How To Do Things with Words"?
posted to Ask Metafilter by limon
at 8:04 PM on May 20, 2008
(10 comments)
Three of the giants of Brazilian guitar were Laurindo Almeida (1917-1995; wiki
here), Luiz Bonfa (1922-2001; wiki
here), and Baden Powell (1937-2000; wiki
here). Here is Laurindo Almeida w/the MJQ playing
One Note Samba; here is Luiz Bonfa playing the theme from
Black Orpheus (which he composed); and here is Baden Powell playing
Samba Triste.
posted to MetaFilter by ornate insect
at 10:54 AM on May 19, 2008
(17 comments)
It stands as one of the more unusual turning points of the Cold War, thanks mostly to the surprise appearance of several naked middle-aged women. Taking The Cure: How a group of British Columbian anarchists inspired democracy in Russia.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 11:25 PM on May 13, 2008
(7 comments)
Selections of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Calligraphy
from the collection of The Library of Congress. 373 individual pieces from ranging in time from the 9th to the 19th Century, all explained and some translated. A few personal favorites (note that very high quality scans can be viewed by clicking the appropriate link after clicking thumbnail):
marriage decree,
verses on tragic love,
practice sheet,
verses 10-11 of the 48th chapter of the Qur'an,
poetic verses offering advice,
frontispiece of Qur'anic exegesis and
quatrain by Rumi. There are also four special presentations:
Calligraphers of the Persian Tradition,
Ottoman Calligraphers and Their Works,
Qur’anic Fragments and
Noteworthy Items. This last presentation also features representational art, for instance images of
The battle of Mazandaran and
the Persian king Bahram Gur hunting.
posted to MetaFilter by Kattullus
at 5:21 PM on May 12, 2008
(11 comments)
What one book will allow others to gain the truest insight into the soul of each city or region
posted to Ask Metafilter by reenum
at 10:21 PM on May 6, 2008
(16 comments)
What clothes did Africans wear before contact with the Arabs?
posted to Ask Metafilter by markovich
at 10:00 AM on May 2, 2008
(3 comments)
An extraordinary piece of magazine writing by Chris Jones.
Jones tells the story of how the body of Sergeant Joe Montgomery makes its way from a Baghdad suburb to its final resting place in a grave in Indiana. It's one of the finest pieces of journalism that I've read in years. It’s extremely moving without being saccharine or twee. It’s a military story, but utterly without jingoism or indictment. And it’s wonderfully observed. If I taught a first-year creative writing course, I'd make this required reading.
posted to MetaFilter by dbarefoot
at 9:57 PM on April 30, 2008
(87 comments)
Ways of Seeing, the BBC documentary written and hosted by novelist and art critic
John Berger, is back up on YouTube. (scroll down for direct links to all four half-hour episodes) "I actually find it rather disturbing that -- despite our claims to be a culture that's increasing freedom of choice all the time -- we haven't come up with anything quite as astute, subversive or beautiful as Ways of Seeing since. Not on the BBC, and not even -- especially not -- on the internet. Download it while you still can."
posted to MetaFilter by vronsky
at 2:06 PM on April 30, 2008
(32 comments)
Tohoku University's Kano Collection
is an unparalleled collection of japanese books from the Edo period. The beautiful and grizzly
Kaibou zonshinzu anatomical chart has been
making the blogrounds lately but that's only one of the countless treasures the Kano Collection has to offer. Stumbling around near-blindly, like a non-Japanese reader such as myself, with only minimal help from the site, I have come across an amazing variety of beautiful objects, such as
this picture book,
a scroll with images of animals,
city map,
map of Japan,
battle map,
another picture book,
the Kaitai shouzu anatomical chart and
this picture scroll which has
my favorite little scene I've come across in the collection. Whole days could be spent just surfing idly through the Kano Collection.
posted to MetaFilter by Kattullus
at 4:06 AM on April 28, 2008
(9 comments)
The other day I happened to come upon a music video that is just so grooving, so human and so
real, that, well, it
moved me, darling.
Just check it out. After watching the clip, I learned that these guys are mostly disabled by polio (that's why several of them are in those rather unusual wheelchairs) and that they were living on the grounds of the Kinshasa zoo, which is where the clip was filmed. Then I learned that last year they were seeking to bring
a lawsuit against the UN. Then I found
some other clips. And now I am a
major fan of
Staff Benda Bilili.
posted to MetaFilter by flapjax at midnite
at 3:30 AM on April 26, 2008
(47 comments)
