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Joined February 2015
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A fashionable walking dress from the 1830s.
Despite its name, a walking dress wasn't intended for long country walks. It was smart daytime clothing worn by middle and upper class women when going out shopping, visiting friends or strolling in the park.
Worn with a corset, bonnet, gloves and often a shawl, it was designed to look fashionable and respectable in public. Victorian ladies were expected to dress appropriately for the occasion, and even a simple stroll could require a change of clothes!
Credit: The Met Museum
#VictorianFashion #FashionHistory
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Pumas don't just jump, they rewrite the laws of gravity.
Using a solid trunk as a launchpad, this ghost of the forest turns raw muscle into pure flight.
📸 Golemba
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The Stanford Prison Experiment lasted less than a week in 1971, but its claims about human nature endured for decades.
Now, a new Netflix series is bringing one of psychology's most controversial studies, and some of the biggest concerns surrounding it, back into the spotlight. cnn.it/3UITLGd
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Sweden is committing more than €100 million to a sweeping classroom overhaul: replacing tablets and screens with traditional printed textbooks to help reverse falling student performance and sharpen focus.
After more than a decade of embracing digital-first education, Swedish authorities are now pivoting back to paper-based learning. Official data and recent studies cited by the Ministry of Education show that prolonged screen use in class has been linked to shorter attention spans, weaker reading comprehension, and reduced critical-thinking abilities.
Research consistently finds that reading on illuminated screens requires greater mental effort and invites more distractions compared to the calm, linear experience of physical books—factors believed to have contributed to declining academic outcomes in recent years.
Under the new plan, every student will receive printed textbooks for all core subjects, restoring books as the central learning tool. Digital devices and online resources will remain available as supportive tools, but they will no longer dominate daily instruction.
This bold €100+ million investment signals Sweden’s leadership in rethinking the role of technology in education. It underscores a broader, growing recognition worldwide: while screens provide speed and access, the hands-on, distraction-free engagement of physical books supports deeper concentration, stronger memory retention, and more effective long-term learning.
By choosing paper over pixels, Sweden is charting a path toward a more balanced, evidence-informed classroom future—one that puts proven pedagogical principles ahead of unchecked digital trends.
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On this day in 1966 a colliery spoil tip collapsed and destroyed part of the village Aberfan in Wales and killed 144 people, 116 of them children.
I've read & seen so much about this disaster I can barely think about it without crying to this day.
nmrs.org.uk/mines-map/accide…
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“Don’t disturb my circles!” Archimedes supposedly says this to a Roman soldier just seconds before being slain during the fall of Syracuse. It reportedly happened on this day — Oct. 22 — in the year 212 BC.
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Imagine living in a town where the rooftops were the streets.
Around 9,000 years ago, Çatalhöyük, in present-day Türkiye, developed into one of the most remarkable Neolithic settlements ever discovered.
Its mud-brick houses stood tightly packed together, with almost no streets between them. People moved across flat rooftops and climbed down ladders through roof openings to enter their homes.
Inside, daily life unfolded around hearths, ovens, storage spaces and raised platforms. Some houses contained elaborate wall paintings, symbolic installations featuring bull horns, and burials beneath the floors.
What fascinates me most is how this community organised its entire living environment differently from the cities we know today. The roof was a pathway, the home was a place of ritual, and the past could literally lie beneath your feet.
Çatalhöyük challenges our assumptions about how early communities lived, built and connected with one another.
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Passport stamps showing the only known exchange of spies in the Second World War:
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A 5-year-old boy died after a large video display board that had been mounted on a wall at his Florida elementary school fell on him, officials said. abcnews.link/WuxVfNZ
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Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s iron dagger is one of the most fascinating objects found in his tomb, which was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922.
Unlike most Bronze Age weapons, which were made of copper or bronze, this exceptional piece was crafted from iron, an extraordinarily rare material in ancient Egypt during the 14th century B.C. Its blade, accompanied by an ornate hilt and a sheath decorated with gold motifs, reveals the craftsmanship of the era.
Decades after its discovery, scientific analysis confirmed that the dagger’s iron came from a meteorite. Using modern techniques, researchers identified a composition rich in nickel and cobalt, characteristic of meteoritic iron. This demonstrates that ancient artisans knew how to work with a material from space long before iron smelting became widespread.
For the Egyptians, the sky held profound symbolic and religious significance. Although we do not know exactly how they interpreted the origin of this metal, the dagger serves as an extraordinary link between archaeology, science, and the cosmos.
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The National Park Service gave a massive bear the playful name Honky Chonk Beardonkadonk. Over the warmer months at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, brown bears focus heavily on building up fat reserves to survive the harsh winter ahead. Salmon serve as a vital calorie source, enabling these animals to pack on an immense amount of mass. Park officials note that Alaskan brown bears can consume between 36 and 41 kilograms of food daily during the summer and autumn months, adding roughly 1.4 to 2.7 kilograms of body fat every single day.
This accumulated energy is essential for their long-term survival. Once the bears withdraw to their winter dens, their metabolic rate drops significantly. They undergo months without any food or water, surviving purely on the physical reserves they accumulated when salmon were plentiful. By the time their hibernation cycle ends, they can lose as much as one-third of their total body mass.
The public competition known as Fat Bear Week turns this natural seasonal shift into an interactive vote, allowing people worldwide to appreciate the bears of Katmai and the healthy environment that supports them. Ultimately, the dramatic weight gain of a bear reflects a much larger success story about abundant fish migrations, reliable access to nutrition, and the vital physical preparation needed to endure the upcoming freeze.
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Object thought to be Amelia Earhart’s missing plane likely just 'large trees', researchers find trib.al/LRANriZ
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Until 1928, ship’s cats were exempt from the UK laws that mandated a 6-month quarantine for imported animals. When the government revoked this exemption, the Royal Navy contemplated banning cats to avoid the bureaucratic headaches. However, there were concerns that a ban could hinder recruitment because many men believed cats brought good luck and refused to sail without at least one on the ship. It was decided that sailors could keep their cats without quarantine as long as the cats remained confined while in port.
#cat #cats #catlovers #catlore
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The greatest act of love is letting go. Even if it means drowning in darkness, it is by guiding the child towards the light that you save them.
She had believed for 25 years that her father had abandoned her, but she learned that he had died saving her life.
In October 1917, an immigrant ship carrying hopeful passengers across the Atlantic from Italy to New York was caught in a storm. Among them was Antonio Russo, a 28-year-old carpenter, tightly holding his five-year-old daughter, Maria. His wife had died in childbirth, and this journey was a desperate attempt for him to find hope in an unknown land and give his daughter a life free from the poverty of his past.
However, everything changed at 2 a.m.
Waves as high as houses crashed against the deck. Icy water flowed down to the lower decks where third-class passengers like Antonio and Maria slept, causing the ship to creak and tilt. Screams echoed in the darkness. Passengers pushed and scratched at each other as they surged towards the stairs. Antonio lifted Maria out of the water, his arms burning hot, trying to make his way through the chaos.
It was useless. The ship was already tilting sharply, and the floodwaters were rapidly increasing.
Antonio saw something no one else had seen: a porthole shattered into pieces, just big enough for a child to squeeze through. And in the distance outside, a beam of light pierced the storm. A rescue ship. Terrified, he turned to his daughter, who was clinging to him, crying and calling for her mother.
He didn't hesitate. He pushed Maria out the broken window. She fell into the black sea, screaming. And from beyond the glass, Antonio's voice followed her. Swim, Maria! Swim towards the light! They're coming! He knew she had a chance. He knew that wasn't the case. Seven minutes later, the ship disappeared beneath the waves. Antonio Russo was one of the 117 third-class passengers who drowned that night, and his body was never found. Maria was pulled from the water 45 minutes later. She was semi-conscious. She was freezing. But she was alive.
She was taken to a hospital ship and then placed in an orphanage in New York. She couldn't speak English and didn't know where she was. For the next 25 years, she carried a heavy heart, believing that her father had thrown her into the sea because he didn't want her. She didn't know that he had died trying to save her. At the age of 30, the truth finally reached her.
A researcher found her father's name among the deceased recorded in the shipwreck's records. For the first time, she understood. Those moments spent in the porthole were not an act of abandonment, but an act of love.
Maria lived a long life. She married and had four children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Now, 31 lives owe their fate to a seemingly impossible choice made by a man caught in a storm in the middle of the ocean.
In 1995, Maria, then 83 years old, spoke in an interview about a memory that shaped her life. I thought my father was trying to kill me. I didn't realize he was saving me. My birthday, all the wonderful moments I've experienced, it's all because my father chose me over himself. He guided me through life. I hope I can make him proud.
Some acts of love resonate across generations. Others are acts of love that will never fade away.
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
This post recounts a fabricated story of Antonio Russo and daughter Maria in a 1917 shipwreck, presented as fact with no supporting historical records or evidence; the image is AI-generated.
cestvraica.com/debunk/antonio…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_s…
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Around 985 AD, Norse explorers established settlements in Greenland, building farming communities that managed to survive for centuries despite the island’s brutal climate and extreme isolation. However, as contact with mainland Europe diminished and trade routes weakened, these once-thriving colonies slowly disappeared during the 1400s. Historians still debate what caused their decline, with theories ranging from worsening climate conditions and economic hardship to migration and changing relationships with Indigenous populations.
For hundreds of years, Europeans had little idea what had become of Greenland’s Norse inhabitants. In 1721, missionary Hans Egede traveled to the island hoping to reconnect with descendants of the original Viking settlers, believing they might have abandoned Christianity over the centuries. Instead, he encountered the remains of deserted settlements, revealing that the Norse communities had vanished long before his arrival. Their disappearance remains one of the most fascinating mysteries of Viking history.
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Richard "Dick" Winters is the most well-known member of Easy Company and the central figure in Band of Brothers. This is largely due to his exemplary leadership, his courage, and the respect he earned from the men under him. During WWII, Winters rose to the rank of major and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. However, he always remained humble and never associated himself with being a hero.
Winters later recalled a letter that Mike Ranney wrote to him. Ranney stated, “I cherish the memories of a question my grandson asked me the other day when he said, 'Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?' Grandpa said, 'No, but I served in a company of heroes.'”
#BandofBrothers #DickWinters #ww2 #DamianLewis #ww2history #WWII
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Joe Toye is portrayed by Kirk Acevedo in "Band of Brothers". The real Joe Toye was a better leader and soldier than he's depicted to be in the series, and he spoke with a Philly/Reading, PA accent, not a Brooklyn one. Much of his story is untold in "Band of Brothers", including the fact that he broke his leg during a windy training jump on March 30, 1943. Later, when Easy Company was pinned down after running head on into the German 107 Panzerbrigade near the town of Nuenen in the Netherlands, the company commander, Dick Winters, asked for a live prisoner. Joe, who was a squad leader, left his squad behind and ventured out by himself into no-mans land, and impressively, he returned with a prisoner.
Fellow Easy Company veterans all described Joe Toye as “the toughest of the tough.” He’d gotten strong from having to go to work in the coal mines. He was also an amateur boxer. Don Malarkey described him as being a great guy who always thought of others and was built like steel. “He came across like Superman,” Malarkey noted in his memoir, “a guy who had all this strength but never let it go to his head.” Frank Perconte echoed the same, stating that Toye “was a tough sonuvabitch, but he never had to go around trying to prove it.” He was also described as having a good sense of humor. Fellow soldiers recalled Toye singing Irish songs to lift the men’s spirits during some of the most trying times of the war.
After losing his leg at Bastogne and returning home from the war, Joe Toye met his wife, Ellie, while recovering at a hospital in Atlantic City. They married and had four children, three boys and a girl. His youngest son, Jonathon, was born with what was likely a severe form of cerebral palsy. He was unable to walk, talk, go to the bathroom on his own, or feed himself. When he was three years old, Jonathon had to be put in a state-run home and school for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Jonathon's diagnosis hit his parents really hard. Joe and Ellie divorced in 1963. Joe remained close to his children, and he visited Jonathon almost every day in the care home until Jonathon's passing at age 32. Joe had remarried in the late 1960s to a widow named Mary Vogel and he became a devoted father to her four children as well. He passed away in 1995, a year and a half after his son Jonathon's passing. #bandofbrothers #ww2 #easycompany #WWII
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Lizzie Bordern 1892 ~ "Lizzie Borden took an axe, she gave her mother 40 whacks; when she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41."
More unsolved mysteries: historydefined.net/fascinati…
