Nobody Cares about History

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

 

[Sid]

How 'cancelling' Christmas reignited a civil war - BBC Reel

As governments around the world weigh up how much to restrict Christmas celebrations in an effort to combat the pandemic, it's worth noting this isn't the first time in history that politicians have tried to exercise control over the seasonal festivities. In the 1640s, the Parliament of...

www.bbc.co.uk

chop, chop.

 

[danielravennest]

Ancient fast food stall excavated in Pompeii:

Archaeologists in Pompeii, the city buried in a volcanic eruption in 79 AD, have made the extraordinary find of a frescoed hot food and drinks shop that served up the ancient equivalent of street food to Roman passersby.

Known as a termopolium, Latin for hot drinks counter, the shop was discovered in the archaeological park's Regio V site, which is not yet open the public, and unveiled on Saturday.

Traces of nearly 2,000-year-old food were found in some of the deep terra cotta jars containing hot food which the shop keeper lowered into a counter with circular holes.

 

[Lexxi]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Victorian bathhouse uncovered beneath Manchester car park

Mayfield baths found in ‘stunning’ condition by archaeologists on site behind Piccadilly station

www.theguardian.com

 

[Free]

How a Suburban Housewife Became a Pioneer of Military Intelligence

Elizebeth Friedman is one of the greatest cryptanalysts in American history and you've probably never heard of her.

www.military.com

Friedman was the primary codebreaker for our [U.S.] military during that war and pioneered many of the techniques that were used so successfully during the next generation's war. In the interim, she worked with Coast Guard intelligence to combat rum running during Prohibition, decoding criminal messages and often testifying in trials to help convict the bootleggers.

During World War II, she worked with the Navy but was not allowed to lead her codebreaking unit. As a woman, she was required to report to a junior male officer because women weren't allowed those positions of authority then.

Her intelligence work helped take down Nazi cells in South America and prevented Germany from bringing the war to our hemisphere in hopes of diluting American strength on the European fronts. Since the work was secret, Friedman sat by quietly as J. Edgar Hoover claimed credit for her work as the FBI took down the enemy intelligence networks.

There is a PBS American Experience documentary on her.

The Codebreaker | American Experience | PBS

Discover the fascinating story of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, the groundbreaking cryptanalyst who helped bring down gangsters and break up a Nazi spy ring in South America. Her work helped lay the foundation for modern codebreaking today.

www.pbs.org

 

[Lexxi]

Wasn't sure where to put this one, but as it's History, I'll put it here.

 

[Free]

 

[Isabeau]

When Radio Stations Stopped a Public Figure From Spreading Dangerous Lies

When radio was king, many outlets chose to cease broadcasting Father Charles Coughlin's anti-Semitic sermons

www.smithsonianmag.com

In speeches filled with hatred and falsehoods, a public figure attacks his enemies and calls for marches on Washington. Then, after one particularly virulent address, private media companies close down his channels of communication, prompting consternation from his supporters and calls for a code of conduct to filter out violent rhetoric.

Sound familiar? Well, this was 1938, and the individual in question was Father Charles E. Coughlin, a Nazi-sympathizing Catholic priest with unfettered access to America’s vast radio audiences. The firms silencing him were the broadcasters of the day.

...

 

[Innula Zenovka]

The article, and the town's full history, is very interesting.

 

[Isabeau]

Not certain where to place this but it’s a beautiful little thread.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Maureen Colquhoun, the UK's first openly lesbian MP, dies aged 92

The Labour politician represented Northampton North from 1974 to 1979 and was a campaigner on gender issues

www.theguardian.com

 

[Free]

Did Pirates Really Practice A Form Of Gay Marriage In The 1600s?

Matelotage is believed to have begun during the 1600s and continued aboard pirate ships through the 1700s.

allthatsinteresting.com

In pirate communities of the 17th and 18th centuries, ships were male-dominated, tightly packed, and the ship’s crew largely formed their own mores and rules. Matelotage developed in that environment where crew mates often knew one another more intimately than the wives and children they’d left behind on land.

In some cases, matelotage was affectionate, even fraternal; in others, it was romantic and sexual. But regardless of the nature of each relationship, pirates took the bonds of matelotage very seriously.

 

[Isabeau]

A ‘little bit of treasure’ saved from the dump as old local photos discovered in bags of unwanted slides

Paul Moar spent eight hours sifting through the slides to look for Shetland pictures

www.shetnews.co.uk

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Canadian museum's ancient carving is one I made earlier, says local artist

A stone figure found on a beach was probably by a Lekwungen people artefact, the Royal British Columbia Museum said, but Ray Boudreau begged to differ

www.theguardian.com

When I read the headline and introductory paragraphs I thought this sounded like some sort of a joke, but having read the whole piece, I now see there's a lot more to it than that, and certainly the artist needs to answer some questions, I think, simply clarify where and when he first found the stone on which he worked, and the sort of condition it was in when he found it.

 

[bubblesort]

If I ever run across a millennial who needs to learn how to dial a phone number, I'm going to show them this video.

It's too bad they cut away when they did at the end. They missed the part where grandpa receives a call about his car's warranty, then smashes the phone.

 

[Isabeau]

 

[bubblesort]

From that thread... I just spent 2 minutes of my life listening to 100 year old farts, LOL

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Lexxi]

Stonehenge may be a rebuilt Welsh stone circle, new research shows

Archaeological excavations in 2018 uncovered six empty holes for missing monoliths, confirming that the four remaining standing stones were part of a former circle. The results of the research, which will be featured in a BBC documentary airing Friday night, also revealed significant links between Waun Mawn and Stonehenge, suggesting that at least part of the former circle was brought from the Preseli Hills to Salisbury Plain.

Parker Pearson and his team found that Waun Mawn shares an identical diameter with the enclosing ditch of Stonehenge, that both sites are aligned on the midsummer solstice sunrise and that one of Stonehenge's bluestones has an unusual cross-section that matches one of the holes left at Waun Mawn and chippings in that hole are of the same rock type as the Stonehenge rock, according to the research paper in the February 2020 issue of Antiquity.