Elizabeth Báthory is hot. I'd do her. The thing is she holds the world record (according to
GWR) for being the most prolific serial killer in history. Supposedly, she may have
tortured and killed as many as 2000 young girls, which probably makes her bi or lesbian (not that there's anything wrong with that). Some say she is the
real inspiration for Bram Stoker's
Dracula.
posted by sluglicker
on Mar 18, 2006 -
62 comments
Oveta Culp Hobby and the Women's Army Corps. Early in 1941 Congresswoman
Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts (the first woman to serve in the United States House of Representatives) met with General
George C. Marshall, the Army's Chief of Staff, and informed him that she intended to introduce a bill to establish an Army women's corps, separate and distinct from the existing
Army Nurse Corps. Rogers remembered the female civilians who had worked overseas with the Army under contract and as volunteers during World War I: serving without benefit of official status, they had to obtain their own food and quarters, and they received no legal protection or medical care. Upon their return home they were not entitled to the disability benefits or pensions available to U.S. military veterans. Rogers was determined that if women were to serve again with the Army in a wartime theater they would receive the same legal protection and benefits as their male counterparts. After a long and acrimonious debate, the following year the bill was finally approved by Congress and signed into law by FDR.
Oveta Culp Hobby, chairman of the board of the Houston Post, was
appointed as Director of the
WAAC.
(more)
posted by PenguinBukkake
on Sep 4, 2005 -
4 comments
More than 16,000 photos related to the USGS from the years 1868 through 1992 are now available online where they may be easily searched, viewed, and downloaded free of charge.
These are old stereo pairs, sites drowned by dams, geologists and surveyers in horse drawn wagons, petroglyphs, national parks, Mount St. Helens, John Wesley
Powell, hoodoos, arches, ruins, mines...
posted by the Real Dan
on Apr 14, 2005 -
16 comments
"Precious Lord" sung by Mahalia Jackson (mp3)
No artist brought more acclaim to gospel music than
Mahalia Jackson (October 26, 1911 – January 27, 1972). Beginning in 1950, her
divine (.wav) talents were featured weekly on
Studs Turkel's radio program, and through
her music and gentle personality she became so beloved worldwide that
her funeral rivaled that of royalty. Mahalia sang "Precious Lord" at Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.'s funeral -- at Mahalia's funeral, Aretha Franklin did the honors.
Mahalia was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame posthumously
in 1997. Word has it she also made a mean
okra gumbo.
posted by miss lynnster
on Jan 27, 2005 -
6 comments
"Jesus?" he murmured, "Jesus -- of Nazareth?..." Pontius Pilate,
prefect of
Judea, is
the only historical figure named in the
Nicene Creed -- Coptic
saint or
eternally damned, his role in the
greatest story ever told has been debated by many of history's greatest minds:
St Augustine,
Dante Alighieri,
Tintoretto,
John Ruskin,
Mikhail Bulgakov,
Monty Python. Unfortunately,
there is very little historical evidence about him. His role in the
death of a
certain charismatic
Galilean healer and
apocalyptic preacher
is still being debated today by
theologians and historians
alike. He is also, of course, the main character of
The Procurator of
Judea, the classic short story (complete text in main link) by
Anatole France. (France's magnificent story has lately been tragically neglected by publishers, even if the author was one of his era's most acclaimed writers in the world -- he won the Nobel Prize in 1921 over Shaw, Yeats, Joyce, Thomas Hardy, D.H. Lawrence, and Proust, and when he died in 1924,
hundreds of thousands of people followed his funeral procession through Paris). These last 2,000 years of fascination with
Pilatus can be explained, some argue...
(more inside, for those unwilling to wash their hands of this post)
posted by matteo
on Jun 24, 2004 -
37 comments
One hundred years ago today, 1,358 members of the
Kleindeutschland, the German neighborhood on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, boarded a chartered ferry named the
General Slocum for a picnic excursion to Long Island. A fire broke out in the ship's hold while it cruised up the East River, the captain ran the vessel aground on the rocky shores of North Brother Island amid the swift currents of
Hell Gate, and when it was all over 1,021 people (mainly women and children) had perished by drowning or from the fire, and it remained the worst single-day New York City disaster until 9/11.
posted by Vidiot
on Jun 15, 2004 -
16 comments
Black ships and samurai In 1853 four ships under Commodore Perry anchored off the coast of Japan against the wishes of the Japanese. According to historian John Dower, "This initial encounter between the United States and Japan was eye-opening for all concerned, involving a dramatic confrontation between peoples of different racial, cultural, and historical backgrounds. We can literally see this encounter of "East" and "West" unfold through the splendid, yet little known, artwork produced by each side at the time." This beautiful exhibition includes many examples of this artwork, juxtaposing scenes of the encounter from Japanese and American artists' points of view. (Part of MIT's open courseware initiative.)
posted by carter
on Mar 14, 2004 -
18 comments
Reference nuts, here's a great product for you. Good stuff for the wall of your study.
posted by tetsuo
on Jan 29, 2004 -
8 comments
The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM to cognoscenti) one of the lesser known but most influential movements of the past quarter century. After the
innovators of Metal ran out of steam in the late 70's and were stampeded in the maelstrom of punk, heavy metal (and testosterone-soaked delindquents everywhere) found itself in a quandary). A number of UK acts took some cues from the punks, shortened the songs, reigned in the self-indulgence and speeded up the tempo, and upped the relevance and intelligence of the lyrical content, while still retaining the vocal prowess, instrumental pyrotechnics and young warrior energy that makes it Metal in the first place.
Some groups became world famous. Others only
big in Europe. Some great ones
missed stardom by just a
notch. Many of these acts have been cited as inspirations by Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Napalm Death and the thrash/death metal hordes, and even many post-punks. An interesting summary for fans, and a good introduction for non-mans who may have to recalibrate their opinion of the genre after checking some of these bands out.
posted by jonmc
on Dec 17, 2003 -
17 comments
The Bottom Line: Manhattan court rules to evict club. A New York City Greenwich Village landmark,
The Bottom Line Cabaret, which has let the music play from such stars as Bruce Springsteen for close to 30 years, has been
evicted after falling behind by nearly 3 years with is rent and not being able to work out a long-term with it's landlord:
New York University (NYU).
This comes despite the cash contributions from celebrities like Springsteen and Viacom's CEO, last-minute corporate sponsorships from AT&T and others, and the efforts of fans around the world. Even the best efforts of fans at
SaveTheBottomLine.com weren't able to save the club, which says it may consider shopping around for some new digs. But, as of now,
The Bottom Line is homeless.
posted by nyukid
on Dec 4, 2003 -
31 comments
A million lives. Links to thousands of biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, diaries, letters, narratives, oral histories and more.
posted by pooligan
on Aug 25, 2003 -
3 comments
The Elliot Avedon Museum and Archive of Games. Board games from a thirteenth-century 'Book of Games',
Inuit games,
card games,
row games,
puzzles,
ethnographical papers on games, etc.
A different kind of game at
Streetplay -
stickball,
hopscotch,
galleries, and
street games worldwide.
posted by plep
on Jul 16, 2003 -
2 comments
The first 50 years of Fiat advertising images. Fiat has been a pioneer in the development and management of its corporate image through advertising. Famous artists as Dudovich, Codognato, Casorati and De Chirico have created beautiful posters and designs for this Italian giant of which 100 from the 1899 to 1950 period have been selected for their online historial archive. The oldest being this fantastic “
Fabbrica Italiana Di Automobili” poster from 1899.
posted by riffola
on Jun 8, 2003 -
7 comments
A bunch of very beautiful
Old Japanese Maps has been put online. Java application Insight(tm) required to view and includes a nifty GIS application to overlay old maps on current maps with 3-D animated fly-throughs. State of the art in online map presentation "The digital images are even better than the originals because you can amplify them, rotate them to look at them from different angles," Mr. Zhou said. "In practical terms, this is a better way of using the material than actually coming here to see the pieces."
posted by stbalbach
on Apr 13, 2003 -
5 comments
There's One In Every Family: You know that uncle whose name can't be mentioned at table, without loud swallowing, dark looks and deathly silence ensuing? The shady New Orleans grandmother whose photographs have been hastily removed from the family album, though the red stain from one of her garters remains? Call them black sheep or family skeletons, the Internet keeps making it
easier and
easier to dig them up and out.
Outing your forebears and close family members has become an up and coming thing. In other words: I'll show you my black sheep if you show me yours.
posted by MiguelCardoso
on Feb 23, 2003 -
31 comments
Quanto putas mihi stare hoc conclave ? That's "How many prostitutes does it take to change a lightbulb?" in Latin. No, actually it's "How much do you think I paid for this apartment?". Here's hoping, in the wake of the BBC's superb
The Roman Way series, written and presented by David Aaranovich, that good old Latin is on its way back, albeit in an Internet, soundbitey way. Those intending to smuggle some into MetaFilter should definitely start
here. The owner, for instance, might find
Ne ponatur in mea vicinitate useful - "Not in my backyard". And
Nihil curo de ista tua stulta superstitione - "I'm not interested in your dopey religious cult" should prove popular in the God threads.
Vale!
posted by MiguelCardoso
on Feb 3, 2003 -
26 comments
History of Iraq from the Denver Post. "President Bush speaks of the need to 'defend civilization'.. Then I point out the irony of defending civilization against the cradle of civilization".
posted by stbalbach
on Feb 2, 2003 -
31 comments
Is
Gavin Menzies the Stephen Wolfram of history? That's the question
today's New York Times (login:
dr_mabuse, pw:
mabuse) suggests in a Menzies profile. Menzies has a new book out,
1421, which claims that the Chinese discovered America seven decades before Columbus did.
Some people have made similarly precise claims about this planet's developments.
Others have seen their amateur claims initially mocked and later proven to be correct. Is Menzies onto something or is he a crank? And how do we place the passionate amateur within the realm of scholarly pursuits?
posted by ed
on Jan 5, 2003 -
17 comments
1901 Back on it's feet again... At last it's the 1901 show!(the date not the time) and the
UK Public Record Office 1901 Census is up and testing again after having crashed due to overdemand earlier in theyear. And it works! I've discovered my great grandfather was a wheelwright and that his eldest son was a labourer at the gas works (I saw my first naked girlfriend in a bedroom in the shadow of that very gasworks!) and that I had a great great Uncle Percy!
posted by terrymiles
on Nov 15, 2002 -
4 comments
Am I the only one who doesn't think
this is news? This story also showed up
here a few days ago. (more inside)
posted by kate_fairfax
on Nov 4, 2002 -
54 comments
Almost sixty years after the end of the Second World War, the battlefields of
Western Europe,
Scandanavia,
Russia and the
Pacific continue to reveal poignant relics of the men who fought and died. These links may be of interest to anyone with even a passing interest in military history.
posted by Doozer
on Oct 25, 2002 -
7 comments
