Category Archives: History

An international eye test chart (part of the collection of the US National Library Of Medicine) designed by German optometrist George Mayerle around 1907. To wit:

Running through the middle of the chart, the seven vertical panels test for acuity of vision with characters in the Roman alphabet (for English, German, and other European readers) and also in Japanese, Chinese, Russian, and Hebrew. A panel in the center replaces the alphabetic characters with symbols for children and adults who were illiterate or who could not read any of the other writing systems offered. Directly above the center panel is a version of the radiant dial that tests for astigmatism. On either side of that are lines that test the muscular strength of the eyes. Finally, across the bottom, boxes test for color vision, a feature intended especially (according to one advertisement) for those working on railroads and steamboats.

You can buy a limited edition print of it here.

kottke

Behold: Al Capone’s bulletproof 1928 Cadillac Town Sedan – not only the automotive apogee of American gangster history but – with its fully tested asbestos-wrapped steel plate door panels – one of the first armoured cars in history.

Currently on sale for a cool million.

uncrate

An image captured by the crew of Apollo 14 in 1971 from their command module Kittyhawk. To wit:

With Earth’s sunlit crescent just peaking over the lunar horizon, the cratered terrain in the foreground is along the lunar farside. Of course, while orbiting the Moon, the crew could watch Earth rise and set, but the Earth hung stationary in the sky over Fra Mauro Base, their landing site on the lunar surface. Rock samples brought back by the Apollo 14 mission included a 20 pound rock nicknamed Big Bertha, later determined to contain a likely fragment of a meteorite from planet Earth.

(Image: Apollo 14, NASA, JSC, ASU (Image Reprocessing: Andy Saunders))

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Excerpts from the Instagram account Royalty Now created by graphic designer Becca Saladi.

To wit: historical figures digitally reimagined as if they were modern folk.

From top: Alexander The Great, Nefertiti, Napoleon, Mary Queen Of Scots, Louis XV, Agrippa, Elizabeth I, Cleopatra, Caligula and Anne Boleyn.

Previously: The Absolute Spit

mymodernmet

Rob Cross tweetz:

My restored and colourised photo of a bustling Thomas Street in the Dublin Liberties with Meath Street on the right.I would date the photo as early 1970s going by Ford Cortina Mk lll that features in the photo which was launched at the 1970 Earl’s Court Motor Show.

Times Square NYC in the 70s and 80s (subsequently Dettol-and-wire-brushed in the mid 90s) captured in all its sleazy, greasy, STDeezy glory by renowned photographer Andreas Feininger.

MORE: Vintage Photos Capture Times Square’s Depravity in the 1970s and 1980s (Vintage Everyday)

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