13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CLXXVII)

1. Arsenic Wafers, nibbled on by Victorian women to get a very pale skin tone Say the word arsenic and most people think “deadly poison.” Arsenic was the poison of choice for murderers up through the latter part of the nineteenth century, and it is still used for homicides up to the present time. It…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CLXXIV)

1. The Man who Collects Stones For years, every day, Luigi Lineri has walked along the Adige in search of stones… In the mid-1960s, Lineri noticed that some of the small rocks that have supported the watercourse for millennia, although smoothed by the incessant passage of time and water, still bear the traces of some…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CLXXIII)

1. A Double-Decker Caravan complete with chandelier and marble fireplace Image (c) Matt Bucknall What was once derelict scrubland at Sutton House in Hackney has been transformed into a late 20th century-themed urban oasis with an edible garden, and art installations including The Grange – a 1970s caravan fitted out as a historic stately home. Details on…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CLXXII)

1. Before alarm clocks were invented, there was the knocker-up The old English occupation known as a “Knocker-Upper”, involved going from client to client and tapping on their windows (or banging on their doors) with long sticks until they were awake. It lasted into the 1920s. Found on the Geneology website. 2. Calling Secret Service…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CLXXI)

1. Brooklyn’s Hidden “Hole in the Wall” Restaurant Serving Up Home Cooked Caribbean when we write hole in the wall, we mean it literally. There’s no name, no sign, no hours, no menu, no door to walk through. Just a rectangular cutout from a storefront grate, just by the intersection of Kingston Avenue and St.…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CLXX)

1. Turtle Beach More than 250,000 olive ridley turtles on Playa Ostional to lay their eggs in a mass nesting known as arribada. Photo by Kent Gilbert, Corbis, found via Kateoplis. 2. A 360-Degree Bubble Lets You Ride Atop a Plane Imagine being able to, mid-flight, take an elevator or staircase up to the SkyDeck, a…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CLXVIX)

1. The Weirdly Awesome Micro Cars of Hungary All you need to know about these cars found on Jalopnik. 2. This News Headline The Mysterious reappearance of Flight 513, more about this dubious story here. More eye-brow raising headlines from Weekly World News here 3. Basra, Iraq, once the “Venice of the East”, Then &…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CLI)

1. Late Victorian Mountaineers Late Victorian mountaineers, including a lady fully dressed and corseted, cross a crevasse in the Alps, 1900 (from Getty Images’ book “Decades of the 20th Century—1900s” by Nick Yapp, scanned by WeirdVintage). 2. The Perils of Wearing Crinolines on Public Transportation, 1850s In 1858, crinolines had to be hung outside public transportation to get aboard.…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CL)

1. A Vast, Private Collection of Tiny Folk-Art by Unknown Artisans Few know exactly what to call the collection of Americana that fills Steven Burke and Randy Campbell’s Greek Revival compound that fills Steven Burke and Randy Campbell’s Greek Revival compound in Hillsborough, N.C. “Neither common nor rare, they have never taken shape as a category…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CXLXVII)

1. Enjoying a round of mini-golf on the roof of the Seneca Hotel, 1930 The Seneca, 200 E Chestnut,Chicago, is now an apartment building. Found on Calumet 412. 2. This is how Jeeps were shipped during WW2 (Some assembly required). Some great additional reading found here, images found on Reddit and this forum, and…