Saturday 1 August 2015

Trivia (should have been 3 May)

The Most Iconic Toys of All Time – Do You Still Own Some of Them?
via MakeUseOf by Dave LeClair
Throughout history, certain toys have gone above and beyond the realm of being “just for kids.” They’ve become nothing short of iconic. Some have gone on to be collectors items worth thousands of dollars, and others are so popular that they are still mass-produced and played with by kids and adults today.
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Postcards from Fictional Destinations
from myprint247 via Stephen’s Lighthouse
myprint_mordor
Sending postcards is a long-standing tradition. The first souvenir postcard was sent from Vienna in 1871, and these cardboard missives quickly became a holidaymaker favourite.
Now internet access is available across the globe, the humble holiday postcard has fallen out of favour. However, we’re still a fan of them here at myprint! We’ve been flexing our creative muscles, and have put together some cards from famous movie locations. From Amity Island to Arendelle, take a look at our postcards from fictional destinations.
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The pig’s epitaph
via A Don’s Life by Mary Beard
640px-Edessa_pig_stele
In the Roman Popular Culture course that I coordinate with Jerry Toner in Cambridge, we have been spending a bit of time thinking (a) about the role of pigs in popular culture (the famous Testamentum Porcelli being a great example, the spoof last will and testament of a pig called Marcus Grunter Corocotta, and well known to St Jerome as a text that made school kids hoot with laughter, and (b) about the role of the Roman epitaph and tomb design as part of non-elite self-representation in the Roman world (for example the so-called Tomb of the Baker or the bit in Petronius' Satyricon where Trimalchio gets down to his tomb design, chap. 70-71 here [in English]).
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What Some Of The Most Famous Websites Used To Look Like
via MakeUseOf by Dave LeClair
You’re probably familiar with Facebook and how it looks. You know Apple, eBay and Yahoo and the way their websites work, but do you remember what these websites looked like years ago?
Looking at the changes these websites have gone through gives us an interesting look at how the trends in web design have changed over the years. After all, it’s the big guys who set the trends that the rest of the Internet tends to follow. So take a look at the infographic below, and prepare for a trip down memory lane!
Via NinjaEssay

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The two faces of Leo Tolstoy
via OUP Blog by Andrew Kahn
Tolstoy
Imagine that your local pub had a weekly, book themed quiz, consisting of questions like this:
‘Which writer concerned himself with religious toleration, explored vegetarianism, was fascinated (and sometimes repelled) by sexuality, and fretted over widening social inequalities, experienced urban poverty first hand while at the same time understanding the causes of man made famine?’
Would you be buying the drinks that night, or going home penniless?
Continue reading and find out the detail of the answer which you must have guessed from the headline of this piece is Tolstoy.

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Swingers: 1900
via Shorpy Historical Photo Archive – Vintage Fine Art Prints by Dave
Swingers: 1900
From circa 1900, somewhere in North America, comes this glass negative labeled “Lettis. Women on swing”.
The giant hats are especially fetching.
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Why we should read Dante as well as Shakespeare
via OUP Blog by Peter Hainsworth
1260-Beatrice_Addressing_Dante_(by_William_Blake)
Dante can seem overwhelming.
T.S. Eliot’s peremptory declaration that ‘Dante and Shakespeare divide the modern world between them: there is no third’ is more likely to be off-putting these days than inspiring. Shakespeare’s plays are constantly being staged and filmed, and in all sorts of ways, with big names in the big parts, and when we see them we can connect with the characters and the issues with not too much effort.
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Game of Thrones edition of Monopoly launched
via the Guardian by Samuel Gibbs
Game of Thrones Monopoly
Winter is coming. Get your houses prepped, your hotels built and your lands in order – Game of Thrones Monopoly is almost here. The perennial property game that either annoys or excites legions every Christmas with its almost endless toil of collecting rent and fighting off the housing inspector, is getting a very blood thirsty spin.
HBO announced that Game of Thrones Monopoly will be available later this year in the US costing $60. A UK release and price has yet to be released.
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Hair for sale
via National Archives by Etienne Joseph
Last year, when I finally took the plunge and sheared my precious dreadlocks (which I had grown rather attached to after over a decade of loving cultivation), I was confronted with a new situation – human hair is a commodity. I say this because everyone who learnt of my separation from my 10 year growth offered the same response – ‘Did you keep them? You could sell them you know.’
I never did sell my hair. Somehow it just never felt right (the sale, not the hair), but if I had, I would have been taking my first baby steps in an industry which stretches back at least 5,000 years. The Ancient Egyptians constructed wigs out of human hair, amongst other things, and wore them as much to denote rank as for reasons of hygiene. The English word wig is derived from the 16th century French word for a head of false hair – perruque. The perruque became known colloquially as a periwig, and the peri was eventually dropped to leave simply wig by the later part of the seventeenth century.
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Possible Anne Boleyn portrait found using facial recognition software
via the Guardian by Ian Sample, science editor
The Nidd Hall portrait held at the Bradford Art Galleries and Museums, thought to be of Anne Boleyn.
Images of beheaded queen were destroyed after her death in 1536, leaving only one contemporary likeness.
She won the heart of King Henry VIII, divided the church and lost her head. But nearly 500 years after Anne Boleyn met her death, only one uncontested portrait of her remains.
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