Flickr - Jassy-50

For postcard lovers, flickr's Jassy-50 has 12 sets of postcards. The collector, collected these postcards for nearly 50 years. My favorite is the (naturally) the airports set. It seems that most postcard are scenic from all around the world. The airports set is pretty much an exception.

Jassy-50's Poscard Sets
http://flickr.com/photos/jassy-50/collections/72157603352909098/

Blog - At The Edge

As you can see, this blog has a small collection of vintage Indian print ads. These ads are actually from old Reader's Digest magazines. The blog is in English, but is dedicated to India.

At The Edge
http://8ate.blogspot.com/2008/04/vintage-indian-print-ads-index.html

The McCord Museum in Quebeq

The McCord Museum of Canadian History is located in Quebec, Canada. You can find information about their exhibitions and view online exhibitions as well. I started with the Thematic section, since it seems like a good started point for viewing. Especially, if you want to learn about Canada's role in history. They have a really wide range of themes. They are both fun and serious.

Of course, there are other things to check out besides the Thematic Tours. On the Thematic page, you actually have three options for viewing the exhibitions. You can 1) view the web tour 2) view movie clip (QT) 3) view Flash clip. I recommend the "view the web tour" to start with, especially if you are unable to watch the QT and/or Flash clips.

If you like cartoons, check out the cartoon section at this page. It's very good. Remember this is all related to Canada's history. So you aren't gonna see anything like Mickey Mouse or Tin Tin;-P It's more political like with humor.

The site use these words to describe their thematic page" "Discover new aspects of the history of Canada in the 19th and 20th centuries through thematic tours".

By the way, you can view the site both in English and French.





http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/en/keys/webtours/

Sandy Allen 2nd World Tallest Woman: Be In Peace

Yesterday, I read in the news that the world tallest living woman (That's according to Guinness. There is another taller young woman in China who is not in the Guinness Book. I saw a documentary about her a while back), Sandy Allen, had passed away at age 53. I read on CNN.com that she was proud of herself, and was dedicated to telling children at church and schools, that it's okay to be different. Being tall was a very effective way to teach them that. Overall, She was quite an amazing woman.

I decided to look her up on the net, and came upon a site for tall women who are 6'6 1/2 and over. There is a page about her.

Tallest Known Living Women
http://www.tallwomen.org/tallest/heights/tallest2.htm

Two YouTube videos of Sandy Allen. The first one is Sandy in her later years. In the second one you'll see a younger Sandy.

Sandy Allen- Worlds 2nd Tallest Woman



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L0jxiQcyWk


Young Sandy Allen



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVXVPpy4g1Q

The Carosello

This Italian site celebrates Carosello, which is part of their pop culture/nostalia (that's my understanding). It started in 1957. I am a bit confused about what it is. The only thing I recognized from this site is a cartoon show called Calimero, one of my favorite cartoons when I was a kid. The online translator that I used to translate the site did a horrible translation. Gosh. It translated the word "cost" as "coast". I'm pretty sure it's a typo there. It's fun to look through the site anyway. You can find a bunch of online translators if you need one.

Check out the "immagini" (images). There are some interesting stuff. When you get there, you'll see 6 items. Click on them and see where it will lead you to. Some of the nifty stuff are the advertising, children record covers (not sure they are really records. They call it "covered of discs") and books.

I use the Bablefish to translate the navigations' words below:

immagini - images
sondaggi - surveys
storia - history
articoli - articles

I guess, for those who are clueless about the Italian tv culture and and/or don't speak Italian (count me in for both), the 'immagini' would probably be the most fun part to "educate" ourselves. ;-)

Carosello
http://www.mondocarosello.com/

The History of The Side Shows

When I first saw the movie "Freaks" (1932) about 20 years ago, I was mesmerized. always wanted to get the DVD once it came out. It was so long ago that I've seen it, that watching it again was like watching it for the first time.

A detailed information about the movie from B Movie Central:

B Movie Central "Freaks"
http://www.bmoviecentral.com/bmc/reviews/34-duanes-reviews/70-freaks-1932-62-minutes.html

After watching it, I was both amazed and dismayed. I was amazed to see them as they were. I'm not old enough to see "freaks sideshow" as they were called. So to see them on the screen, was almost like a peek into their world. It was a way to see who they really were. They were incredible and had amazing feats that were unique to each of them.

My dismay was due to the fact, that I felt that the director was taking advantage of them, and humiliating them by displaying them as "freaks", rather than as humans who just happen to be different. I felt that the director was biased. It was sad to see that they were seen as "human oddities". It's sad that they lacked the medical needs that we have today.

So, as I was saying, I'm not old enough to have seen those "freaks shows" booths). A friend of mine told me that she remember these sideshows in Coney Island during the late 50's, I believe. It's just incredible that this went on for so long. The the truth is that it's still happening. It's just a "modern" version. As a matter of fact, you can find their websites on the internet. I've seen a few myself.

I do recommend that you watch the movie,. It will make you think. After watching the movie, I was looking for info about the actors.I wanted to know who they really were. How they felt. What they thought of it. How they were dealing with their life and their daily tasks.

The site below answers some of my question. For example, Olga Roderick ("The Bearded Lady" as she was called) said that she would never act again upon finding out how insulting the movie was "everywhere".

Missing Links Freaks of Nature
http://www.missinglinkclassichorror.co.uk/freaksnattxt.htm


The University of Sheffield has information about the history of Freaks Shows. Check it out:

University if Sheffield Freak Shows History
http://www.nfa.dept.shef.ac.uk/history/shows/freaks.html


A great official site for the incredible Johnny Eck ("The Half Boy") who was in the movie.

Johnny Eck Museum
http://www.johnnyeckmuseum.com/

When You Gotta Go..

The gallery has pictures of outhouses from many places all over the US, and a few other countries. These pictures were all sent by the readers. Some of these pictures are quite interesting I'd say. Some of these are still in use, some were converted for other uses. Such as a changing room at the pool, with flowers around it and as a storage shed.

My favorite is the one in which the owner put old boots with pant legs in it. The outhouse stands at the end of his driveway. He says it has become a "somewhat a local tourist attraction". You will find this outhouse under "Bob Oder's Outhouse".

Outhouse Gallery by Don Ponder
http://www.donponder.com/fame.htm

Now, after viewing this site, I wondered why the outhouses have the crescent moon on them. Originally, I thought it was probably to let the "foul" odor out, or something like that. But it was the shape that really puzzled me. Why a crescent? Well, I found out that the answer isn't exactly what I thought.

The Legends of America's site tells us that back in the Colonial times many people were illiterate. So they used the moon crescent as a symbol for women, and the star as a symbol for men. It is also believed that the cutout let in the light from the outside through in windowless outhouses. Another belief is that the men's outhouses often fell into a bad shape, that they ended up using the women's outhouses which were much cleaner and had a better stability.

Legends of America
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/WE-Outhouse2.html