History from the Web

Date: May 16, 2013 Author: Grant Comments: 2 Replies

Part of why I write at Hankering for History is that I love sharing. I don’t just like sharing what I’ve learned, but also what I run across on other websites. Whether it’s a video clip, an article, breaking-news, or someone selling history doodads online, I want you guys to know about it as well. It’s time, for History from the Web!

I was sent an article from a reader which I couldn’t help but sharing–World War II’s Strangest Battle: When Americans and Germans Fought Together. This interesting tale is the only recorded time that American and German troops fought together in World War II. It is a wild–and almost unbelievable–story that you have to check out for yourself.

In research for an essay comparing and contrasting the Executive branches during the American Civil War and World War I, I ran across this insightful timeline. This timeline provides an easy to interpret look at civil liberties–or lack thereof–during periods of war, in American history. In past years we have dealt with loss of privacy, the violation of our constitutional rights, and unwarranted pat-downs from TSA agents. We try to tell ourselves, “This is for our own good. I am willing to endure ‘naked body scanners’ if it means that I can safely fly from point A to point B.” I am guilty of this as well, but it is good to look back over our shoulders (every once in a while) and see the correlations as history unfolds.

In a “too soon” moment, a German opera house has announced that it will be cancelling its Nazi-themed production of a Wagner opera. This opera, having run for less than a week, was cancelled because of the audiences’ complaints about scenes portraying the gassing of Jews. It was reported that the “scenes were so upsetting that some audience members sought medical help following early performances.” So, if you are a fan of Richard Wagner and his operatic masterpiece Tannhäuser, this bit of historical news might be right up your alley.

The last bit of history from the web is an article from DuckRabbits. In his article, Ancient Aliens (and a defense of mythology), the author gives his opinion about History Channel’s Ancient Aliens. The article covers the theory of ‘ancient aliens,’ as well as the possible misinterpretations of gods and angels–you know, the gods and angels that were really aliens… It is a well written article and a great defense of mythology.

History from the Web

Date: May 3, 2013 Author: Grant Comments: 3 Replies

There has been a lot of ‘history’ mentioned in the news lately. One of the blogs that I follow, Military History Now, wrote an excellent article yesterday entitled How a Full Moon Cost the Confederacy its Most Valuable General. This article was exceptionally relevant yesterday as it was the 150th anniversary of the death of Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. The article explains that scientific material, published by Sky and Telescope, proves that General “Stonewall” Jackson incurred friendly fire due to a particularly bright moon that was in the sky that fateful night. I found the entire article very, very interesting; well worth the read.

Jamestown Cannibalism Evidence

Almost every history website, especially those that cover current events and history, have mentioned the recent findings that further proved that the settlers of Jamestown were forced to resort to cannibalism. While The History Blog has a top-notch post worth checking out–Evidence of survival cannibalism found at Jamestown, I found a great article from someone who was not writing from a historical point of view, but from a scientific one. Bones Don’t Lie, written by an anthropology PhD student, helps give a historical and scientific breakdown of the Jamestown cannibalism evidence.

The last interesting article I ran across today was from the good old HNN. George Mason’s History News Network is helping bring light to a current problem on the internet. The article starts with an extremely blunt introduction–”Wikipedia has a problem with women.” From there the article explains how Wikipedia is lacking when it comes to articles about women, especially non-white women. There is a saying that goes something along the lines of “history is written by the winners.” Generally history is written by rich, white men. That is how it has always been, but it appears that things are about to change. Needless to say, Wikipedia is about to get a major upgrade in its content.

History from the Web

Date: March 28, 2013 Author: Grant Comments: 1 Reply

I have some exciting news! (If you have a vehicle registered in the state of Tennessee.) The Tennessee Civil War Preservation Association (TCWPA) has brokered a deal with the state of Tennessee so that an individual can now own a Tennessee Civil War Sesquicentennial License Plate. Now you can show off your love for history AND help the TCWPA. All proceeds from the license plates will support Civil War battlefield preservation in Tennessee and the Civil War Trails program. The coolest part is that the first year’s $35.00 fee has been covered. I spoke to Mary Ann Peckham, the Executive Director of TCWPA, this morning and she informed me that they still need about 125 people to sign up for the Civil War Sesquicentennial License Plate before that can start manufacturing them. It is really easy to order, so go get more information and order yours today!

Official Tennessee Civil War Sesquicentennial License Plate

I recently stumbled across a very informative Youtube channel–Crash Course. You may remember several months ago I praised Khan Academy for their informative online videos; however, I will admit, they can be monotonous and sometimes boring. Crash Course, on the other hand, is very informative and very humorous. These videos, conducted by John and Hank Green (you may know them as the Vlogbrothers), are fast paced, fun, and educational. The videos are broken up into two list: United States History and World History. (They cover other aspect of education as well.) Below is one of the videos, The Constitution, the Articles, and Federalism.

The Constitution, the Articles, and Federalism: Crash Course US History #8

The last bit of history I am sharing today is an article from The Atlantic. The article, Cracker Barrel’s Oddly Authentic Version of American History, is an informative piece about Cracker Barrel, the institution of the general store, and the importance of Cracker Barrel’s acquisition of antiques. When you stop in your local Cracker Barrel, it is impossible to miss the large collection of apparent knickknacks. However, to my disbelief, these knickknacks are authentic antiques. Here is an excerpt from the article. I suggest reading the article in its entirety.

The antiques, according to [Cracker Barrel], are real ones. They come from across the U.S. to the Cracker Barrel Decor Warehouse in Lebanon, Tennessee. The company has a mock restaurant that it uses to plan the decor of every single location; designers arrange the elements for each new store in a way that looks right, make a plan (with photographs) for where the objects should go, and send it off with those objects to the new location.

The New York Times reported in 2002 that the restaurants’ demand for old objects had grown so much that American antique dealers were struggling to source them.

So maybe next time you are in a Cracker Barrel, take the opportunity to look around and check out the antiques that adorn the restaurant’s wall.

History from the Web

Date: February 11, 2013 Author: Grant Comments: Leave a reply

History-from-the-Web Part of why I write at Hankering for History is that I love sharing. I don’t just like sharing what I’ve learned, but also what I run across on other websites. Whether it’s a video clip, an article, breaking-news, or someone selling history doodads online, I want you guys to know about it as well. It’s time, for History from the Web!

The last few weeks have produced several historical, thought-provoking events in the news. The largest of these events was in Britain, where scientist were able to confirm, through DNA analysis, that they had found the body of King Richard III. This took the internet by storm. While ironic, internet memes are certainly not lost on me, I was amazed at how quickly it started. Even Saturday Night Live got involved and had a skit about King Richard III. My favorite mention of King Richard III was a picture that I got off the Tudor Tutor. It was a screen shot from Twitter, explaining the fines that King Richard III owed for his “parking.”

King Richard III’s parking fees!

The Tudor Tutor had a great compilation of King Richard III memes from the web, including the picture to the right. While this story was huge in the world of history, I think it was intended to be more of a story on the impressiveness of science.

In other news, I was recently sent, by a reader, a story from the New York Times, When Jim Crow Drank Coke. Not only does Coca-Cola have a checkered past because of one of the ingredients in their beverages, light is now being shed upon Coca-Cola for their segregationist business practices (from the times of the Jim Crow law era.) If I told you any more about the article, if would take from the piece.

I do highly recommend reading it. I don’t feel that any organization should be shunned for how it acted sixty to seventy years ago, in fact, I am sure that several major organizations established their own Jim Crow laws. The mention of this article isn’t to bring shame to Coke, I just thought it was historically interesting.

Coke-Racist

I received an email from Ben, producer of a weekly music podcast called All Time Top Ten, wanting to share his podcast with the readers of Hankering for History. Each week Ben and a guest pick a topic and count down their ten favorite songs based on that topic. Two weeks ago, Ben and his guest laid out their Top Ten Songs About Historical Events . From The Dust Bowl Blues to Ohio, these guys have covered the “greatest songs in history about history.” So if you’ve got some time to kill, or you can list to podcast on the job or while you workout, check it out. It isn’t just the songs, but you will received some history about the songs and how history influenced the music.

History from the Web

Date: December 31, 2012 Author: Grant Comments: Leave a reply

History-from-the-Web

If you are unfamiliar with auto-tuning, it is a trend in current music. It was originally established as hardware/software to correct pitch in music recording. In the last two or three years, auto-tuning has been used to distort music into a new style. The first commercial use of this technology was used in Cher’s Believe, in 1998. But the history of auto-tune isn’t the purpose of this portion of the article.

Earlier this year, PBS Digital Studios, a division of PBS, released a video on Youtube entitled, Mister Rogers Remixed | Garden of Your Mind. This video takes video clips from various episodes from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and used auto-tune to make a song. PBS Digital Studios states that:

This is the first in a series of PBS icons remixed.

Below is the video. I realize that this is an opportunity to reach out to the younger generations, but what do you think? Would Fred Rogers be happy with this? Is this how history will remember Mister Rogers?

Mister Rogers Remixed | Garden of Your Mind | PBS Digital Studios

I was recently sent a story–from a reader–titled “Facebook bans Gandhi quote as part of revisionist history purge.” In this article, NaturalNews.com claims that “Facebook declares war on human history.” Facebook has suspended their account and is using the violation of “community guidelines” as their reason for doing so. Natural News says,

The historical rise of oppressed Indian people against tyrannical British rule is apparently no longer allowed to be discussed on Facebook. The very IDEA of a free people overcoming tyrannical government rule now “violates community guidelines.” The removal of this content is akin to online book burning and the destruction of history.

The people over at Natural News are definitely heated up. The post ends with this:

Memorize this quote, because it too shall soon be purged from the internet:

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” -Thomas Jefferson

I highly recommend that you go read that article.

Shave-and-Haircut-two-bits

Surely you have heard this before. If not–you have, go refresh it in your brains…–you can hear it here. I was reading a post at Vantage Point of the One-Eyed Jack, and there was a link to a history of “two bits.” It was really interesting. In case you want to know how much two bits was, it was a quarter. I know, right? I wish I could get a haircut for a quarter today… For a VERY interesting explanation on two bits and more, check out this article.