World War I witnessed the death of hundreds of thousands of military horses. Steven Spielberg’s latest film “War Horse” has brought their exploits and plights to national attention. And these photos, from Simon Butler’s “The War Horses,” reveal the powerful and, at times, terrifying world of equine — and human — life during wartime.
Japanese Buddhist monks wearing gas masks during training against possible air raids, 1936
This penny, minted in 1793 in Philadelphia, just sold for $1.38 million.
Black-Figure Neck-Amphora with Departure Scene and Battle Scene, Attributed to the Antimenes Painter, Greece, 520 B.C.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Currently not on view
‘Women firefighters direct a hose after the Japanese attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor.’
A first-edition copy of On the Origin of Species (1859) with a letter signed by Charles Darwin on the inside cover.
U.S Patent Office, c. 1925(via Shorpy)
Good Ideas
Despite the very high cost of this little gadget, I really want some! I could think of a million little games to play with them…
Are We Dumb Yet?
Can we please put a moratorium on documentaries on inane topics? And how about we make documentaries without terrible actors, awkward camera angles, disorienting effects, and dramatic backgrounds.
Seriously. I’m surprised we haven’t made “Pig Fucking Through the Ages” or “The History of the Spitball” already.
Can you imagine a documentary about muscles? Can you imagine a bunch of failed actors shaving each other’s chest hair in a clearly-fake computer-generated bath-house? Can you imagine this scene being played twelve times over a half-hour period?
Well, imagine no more, my friends. I JUST WATCHED THAT DOCUMENTARY. It was not a documentary, really. It wasn’t educational. It wasn’t even porn, which I might have been fine with. It was empty, like the hearts of the poor actors who agreed (under duress or in desperation, no doubt) to shave their chest hair, on the teevee, for half an hour.
