Historical Fragments

[Catoptric]

I was going over some antiquarian cookbooks and never heard of this guy (the world's first 'Celebrity Chef.')

ALEXIS SOYER
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_Soyer

He was heavily involved in the Crimean War and was involved in the Wellington Barrack's kitchen, at which point he seemed exhausted and died from a stroke. His wife had died decades prior from birth complications that are believed to have been the result of being startled during a thunder storm, and she herself was one of the more accomplished painters of that time.

Emma Soyer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Soyer

His books are more of a historical account in addition to recipes (and the only other book that I found that had a similar literary approach was a Greek-Irish man named Lafcadio Hearn (his name was later changed to Yakumo Koizumi) (1850-1904) who wrote Kwaiden, and spent some time in New Orleans and had a pretty decent creole cookbook (1885)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafcadio_Hearn

[Catoptric]

Pekin Noodle Parlor in Butte, Montana,

The First Chinese Restaurant in America Has a Savory—and Unsavory—History (1911 opium den, gambling hall, and speakeasy)
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-cul ... NwoRKYLQtA


Hisashige Tanaka (1799-1881) Calligraphy automaton



The Himalayan Towers of China (Tibet. . . Though China. . .)
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2023/02/t ... china.html



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The Tandy corporation and it's impact on business is notable (the only remaining company is the Cost Plus World Market, which had a spinoff franchise eventually renamed Pier 1 Imports, which was sucked up by that "KNOWLEDGE!" guy hitherto known as Tai Lopez, along with the Radioshack branding as an online business, in spite of the fact that the word radio is now practically a relic of a bygone age unless you are into scientific terms. The Leonards' store Tandy bought (and then not long after sold to Dillards) is also an interesting concept and something of a pioneer in "one-stop shop" concepts (though tethered by the inconvenience in a time when people would rather drop their groceries directly into a car rather than use a monorail. . . which is why the company was short lived and seemed destined to fail without branding itself for growth opportunities.)



And the reality that much of history gets swept away into obscurity is not entirely lost, even if Isaac Asimov was promoting it in a magazine ad. . .



I posted about an abandoned computer store in Oklahoma (which searching for will pop up on here,) circa early 2000s, and an even more interesting hardware store closed in the 1960s.

https://okmag.com/blog/whats-left-of-a-family-legacy/

Bonebrake Hardware Store.
104 S Sheb Wooley Ave, Erick, OK 73645

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bonebrak ... 143888295/

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I was just thinking of how the sirens of Homer's (900 BC) The Odyssey resemble the Ba (fragments of spirit of the deceased that are winged birds with the head resembling the likeness of the deceased,) and it turns out they were using the sirens as funerary reference similar to Egyptian Ba.

Sirens as Soul Bearers on Lycian Grave Reliefs in the Classical Period
https://www.academia.edu/4025190/Sirens ... cal_Period

A new translation of the Odyssey was done by Emily Wilson, and I'm reminded that Dante's Inferno had a prose and poem form which is similar in contrast to some of the earlier versions such as Alexander Pope.

I'm just now looking at The Iliad translated by Stanley Lombardo, as there seems to be about 10 other versions.




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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochno_Stone





Could the mystery of the Cochno Stone be solved? Neolithic carvings found near a Scottish housing estate to be revealed for the first time in 50 years
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech ... years.html

[Catoptric]

Since I park in the back of a retail place (open and closing has key access) I also happen to be adjacent to a Half Price Books, which is infamous for throwing out a lot of stuff that wouldn't normally make it onto the shelves, including some 1960s era Playboys.

The edition I'm looking at had a sticky note with an approximate value of it, with a high of $38, and a low of $3 (safe to say they just had it end up in the trash either way, and I had 2 others from that time and am amazed at how thick the magazines were; similar to the Sunday edition of newspapers.)

I was amazed to find something called a Bar-Tronic drink dispenser made by K&M Electronics that has a listing price of $5000 during that time (an average house could be acquired for less than $12,000 during the 60s.) The only reference to it I can find online is in reference to a Slot-Tronic, which is a slot machine that automatically dispenses a drink as a way to pay out winnings, and people would avoid having to go to the bar.

https://pennymachines.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?p=6457

Very little info apart from it having 24 different drink mixes (and I assume you would invert a specific kind of bottle in place of where it would need to be used.

The following page even has a two-seater gyroplane by McCulloch Aircraft, with a $15,000 listing price. . .

I find it kind of funny that Arthur C Clarke is one of the writers listed in the opening pages, and he was always a bit fruity.

[HighlyIrregular II]

I was amazed to find something called a Bar-Tronic drink dispenser made by K&M Electronics that has a listing price of $5000 during that time (an average house could be acquired for less than $12,000 during the 60s.) The only reference to it I can find online is in reference to a Slot-Tronic

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archi ... -09-10.pdf

See p. 64 of the pdf (p. 68 of magazine):

"Like its commercial counterpart, the Bar-O-Mat (below), the Bar -Tronic makes extensive use of special, momentary-action switches by Switchcraft, Inc. Both machines are said to be goof-proof and to mix a perfect drink every time."

[Catoptric]

Moorish slave that was widely regarded for his intelligence and became the first black Freemason, and the basis for The Magic Flute by Mozart. . . Upon his death his body was skinned and used for a natural history museum. . .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Soliman

The opera was also censored in recent times, as the original referred to "the ugly black man."
https://www.talkclassical.com/threads/m ... red.85948/

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/vPJFLwu51wLQnU8a/


Ancient plant
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puya_raimondii

[Catoptric]

Haniwa (埴輪) are terracotta clay figures that were made for ritual use and buried with the dead as funerary objects during the Kofun period (3rd to 6th centuries AD) of Japan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haniwa

Some Buddhist influences
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kofun_period

In popular culture they are most often depicted as shown here in this pottery workshop (which are based on actual design elements in earlier styles, which then evolved into more human-looking designs.)

https://visitkinosaki.com/tour-packages ... -workshop/

The most familiar aspect that has occurred is its depiction as caricatures popularized in videogames such as, 'Hani in the Sky,' and 'Hani on the Road' for Turbografx-16 aka PC Engine in Japan, though I doubt it has any resemblance to historical haniwa (the reference has mostly become a meme.)



Armor from that period (which contradicts my assumption that metal armor was introduced to Japan from Europe, when it clearly predates any influence.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank%C5%8D

In the level design at the 3 minute mark of this video game you can see a distinct reference to the Daisen-Kofun (tomb of Emperor Nintoku in Sakai, Osaka, Japan.)



It's easy to think of parallels with the Dogu of the Jomon period (though not funerary objects, I can see some influences in popular culture.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog%C5%AB


More Kofun period channels
https://www.youtube.com/@japankofun

[Catoptric]

Major Walter Summerford was struck by lightning three times--getting paralyzed in the process--over the course of his lifetime and recovered until the third one left him struggling, and apparently, he had been struck even after death.

His mustache does look a bit buzzed.

https://qr.ae/p2sjK1


Meet Walter Summerford, The Man Who Survived Four Lightning Strikes; Once Even After His Death
https://www.news18.com/viral/meet-walte ... 73091.html



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Something to note, when looking at old books I see a lot of history and people's lives summarized. An example is a book donated to a private school that costs currently $25,000, where a book was donated around the time they opened. The person that donated it only recently died and was born in 1920 (so he lived 98 years and died in 2018.) The house he lived in currently is worth around $11 million.

https://obits.dallasnews.com/us/obituar ... id=1617392
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4808 ... 0671_zpid/?


Book
Of Courage Undaunted by James Daugherty
School
https://www.niche.com/k12/cistercian-pr ... irving-tx/


One cook book had some recipes written on some breast cancer medicine hormone therapy note paper as well as the duplicate half of an unused prescription pad paper (recipes were meatloaf and bulgogi) and I was looking into whether the person died of cancer, but the book was a Pampered Chef "graduated in 1999" cookbook course,) and would I assume not have been a recent occurance. I thought maybe they were a Nurse, but still don't know. At other times it became apparent that some books are left over from an estate being cleaned up after their death, and I'm seeing a lot of stuff tossed away that would have been from the same person, who seemed to have kept things from the 1960-1970s, and most likely died. The occasional little slips of advertising (or even something like a job prospecting sheet, or even drafting paper used for a planned grill construction circa that time period, is rather interesting, and gives a tangible impression about sometimes life at that moment.

I'm also really worried that some of the stuff being tossed out is covid related. . . I have seen a few masks and cleanup crap, but I've never been that paranoid about it (though I do take precautions when I can. . . I tend to take a fatalistic outlook.



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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Emil_Pettersson

From Shipwreck to (cannibal island) Royalty: Carl Emil Pettersson’s Journey to Becoming a King
https://historicflix.com/from-shipwreck ... ng-a-king/


https://globalbizarre.com/carl-emil-pet ... es-a-king/






A similar story with a person adopted by an aboriginal tribe in Australia.
https://www.quora.com/What-are-a-few-ob ... ype=answer


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Speaking of sailing and ships. . .

The only remains of passengers on the Titanic are shoes that were treated with chemicals (probably arsenic to preserve them) whereas the rest of the body will be eaten away by microorganisms.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/UqYYzcb5WCosatv1/


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A CBS gameshow, titled, 'Press Your Luck,' contestant was accuswd of cheating, after successfully winning what would now be the equivalent of $300,000. It seems he really was pressing his luck, at some point, when he went crazy and died.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_Your_Luck_scandal


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The French did an experimental train design, called, 'Aerotrain' in 3 km of suspended train tracks during the 1970s, where the project never took on any more effort after achieving above 200 mph, and was left abandoned in a farm shed, where eventually it burned down and was scrapped in the 1990s.



Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%C3%A9rotrain


Some other concepts have been attempted elsewhere, such as Britain:
https://www.keymodelworld.com/article/a ... perimental

A train called, 'Tracked Hovercraft' (the one that was destroyed in a shed fire.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracked_Hovercraft

[Catoptric]

For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact, Unaware of World War II

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ ... i-7354256/


A dumbed down (plagerized version of the article)
https://tsk.quora.com/In-1978-a-helicop ... _type=post


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Smithfield Decretals

A possible medieval text (or late renaissance forgery (since it seems to be first mentioned sometime in the mid 1550s? Though I have no reason to actually suspect this, it does resemble some attempts to construct books to sell to wealthy buyers,) codex/manuscript that resembles Yoda or Nosferatu.

https://blog.polona.pl/2016/04/yoda-czy-nosferatu/

[Catoptric]

King Leopold II and his evil reputation in Africa
https://www.quora.com/profile/Casper-Ko ... _type=post


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25,000 'Brothel Girls' (women forced into sex slavery who died from complications with abortions, stds, and attempting to flee the "plantation") bodies were dumped at a Jokanji Temple (because religion would somehow make it okay, as long as they were blessed.)

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_ ... Kanto.html



Even though the 'Red Light District' had been started by the Tokugawa Shogunate, I couldn't help but think of similarities to the samurai class and how they entertained themselves and perhaps the inequalities that would differentiate social classes. Things like the Geisha seem like something that would stem from prostitution, but are generally seen as requiring a higher social standing and background just to be a part of, that they wouldn't need to stoop to the level of prostitute which would primarily happen due to being impoverished and owing debt (whereas if someone like a farmer had a daughter, they would be more likely thrown into such a circumstances compared to a male who would tend crops.)

The Oiran are the term used to define the prostitute, who have the stereotypical high heels and flamboyant outfit that would stand out amongst any culture in a similar fashion, whereas Geisha are in formal clothing as most edo era upper-class would appear.
https://myobjectofdesire.wordpress.com/ ... vs-geisha/

The blackening of the teeth might have convinced some WW2 soldiers that they offered head. . . but anyone who looks at it would be convinced that nothing could possibly be seen as sexual. . .

More details
https://mai-ko.com/travel/culture-in-ja ... iran-tayu/

They would have been in an area called Yoshiwara: Tokyo Japan’s Red Light District, Jokan-ji Temple and the Lives of Courtesans
https://japanbwoe.wordpress.com/2024/04 ... ourtesans/

[Catoptric]

Since the Dong of Humanity


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Ancient walls or structural remains in a New Zealand forest (Te Matua Ngahere)

https://maps.app.goo.gl/daWQQk8Ley3mawK36

Connected to?

Archaeologists found artifacts in the Waipoua forest. The data they got back was considered so sensitive it's "restricted", and not to be viewed by general public until the year 2063. I did a "Google Earth" search.



Something different (celtic 10th century and not polynesians from 13th century settlement?)
https://www.elocal.co.nz/Articles/2107