Sinatra villa on sale

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Hidden away in the mountains above the Coachella Valley in California is the exclusive party retreat where Frank Sinatra lived during the Seventies, using his private helicopter to fly guests in for parties with the Rat Pack.

Now the ten-acre property, named for Sinatra's character Angelo Maggio from Oscar-winning 1953 film From Here to Eternity, is on the market for $3.9million, complete with a second outdoor pool, tennis court, fire pit and parking for 24 cars.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3100673/I-built-Way-Frank-Sinatra-s-custom-designed-California-villa-hosted-Rat-Pack-parties-Seventies-goes-sale-3-9million.html#ixzz3bRoWSLw2 

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Get away: While Sinatra owned other retreats in Palm Springs (pictured) and Manhattan, Villa Maggio - named after his character Angelo Maggio from 1953 film From Here To Eternity - was his only truly private bolt hole

world's oldest MURDER case?

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 Is this the world's oldest MURDER case? 430,000-year-old skull was struck twice before being dumped in the 'Pit of Bones'

The nearly complete skull (pictrured) was found on the site of Sima de los Huesos in Spain. It shows two penetrating lesions on the frontal...

earliest brain surgery's patients

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 Brain surgery's earliest patients revealed: Haunting images of disfigured skulls and brains discovered in a university basement 

The images, found at Yale University, show Dr Harvey Cushing's patients between 1990-1930. The collection includes haunting images of...

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Judy Garland

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 EXCLUSIVE: How Judy Garland smiled as she slit her left wrist down to her artery, set herself on fire before a concert and tried to have...

Stevie Phillips became Judy Garland’s ‘shadow’ in 1960. In her shocking new book, Phillips details the star's suicide attempts, and drug...

Sandbanks 100 years ago

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How Sandbanks went from windswept wasteland to millionaire's row: Fascinating pictures show how one of the world's most sought-after addresses looked just 100 years ago 

A A A century ago, Sandbanks was largely deserted with just a handful of wooden holiday homes, only becoming popular in the early 20th century, as this black and white photographs taken between 1907 and the Second World War show. Now the peninsula in Portland (main image), Dorset is thought to be worth a combined £933 million and is home to a number of celebrities and wealthy business moguls, including football manager Harry Redknapp and Maxim Demin, the Russian millionaire owner of Championship club AFC Bournemouth

A 20th Century Artist Who Paved The Way for The 21st Century Lesbian

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"Edouard Manet's 'Olympia' scandalized nearly everyone when it was first exhibited at the 1865 Paris Salon, its nude subject confronting the viewer with an unflinching gaze and brazen sexuality. Francisco Goya's Nude Maja, created over half of a century earlier, was similarly shocking, both because of the model's visible pubic hair and palpable lack of shame. A third equally heretical and pivotal nude painting, however, is often erased from the conversation: American artist Romaine Brooks' 1910 'White Azaleas.'" (Read more here)

A Brief Yet Complex History Of Crayola Crayon Colors

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"Few things stir up childhood nostalgia as quickly as a fresh box of crayons. It's easy to see what makes them an appealing collectors' item. For Ed Welter, a former Nike project manager from Oregon, the allure went a step further. No one, not even Crayola, had recorded a full history of crayons. So it became Welter's challenge." (Read more here)

Simón Bolívar

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Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military leader who was instrumental in the revolutions against the Spanish empire.

Simón Bolívar was a South American soldier who was instrumental in the continent's revolutions against the Spanish empire. Born into wealth, Bolívar was sent to Spain for his education, soon deciding to immerse himself in the political sphere in Europe. After France invaded Spain in 1808, he became involved in the resistance movement and played a key role in the Spanish American fight for independence. In 1825, the "Republic of Bolivia" was created in honor of the inspirational leader, hailed by many as El Libertador (The Liberator). He died on December 17, 1830 in Colombia Continue ...

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Anastasia: Duchess (1901–1918)

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Anastasia was the daughter of the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II. After she and her family were executed, rumors claimed that she might have survived.

Anastasia was born on June 18, 1901, in Petrodvorets, Russia. On July 16, 1918, she and her family were executed in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Speculation arose as to whether she and her brother, Alexei Nikolaevich, might have survived. In 1991, a forensic study identified the bodies of her family members and servants, but not hers or Alexei's. A 2007 DNA test of a second grave identified her and her brother's bodies. Read on ,,,

Harvey Milk

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One of the first openly gay politicians elected to public office, Harvey Milk was an icon for gay rights during the 1970s. His eloquence, humor, and charm quickly made him a popular figure in San Francisco. Dubbed the Mayor of Castro Street (the center of the city’s gay community at the time), he gained a loyal following among the local LGBT community for his work as an advocate and community organizer. Read on ...

Harvey Milk in 1977. (Photo: Archive)

Ma Rainey

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Singer Ma Rainey was the first popular stage entertainer to incorporate authentic blues into her song repertoire and became known as the "Mother of the Blues." 

Born Gertrude Pridgett on April 26, 1886, in Columbus, Georgia, Ma Rainey became the first popular stage entertainer to incorporate authentic blues into her song repertoire. She performed during the first three decades of the 20th century and enjoyed mass popularity during the blues craze of the 1920s. Rainey's music has served as inspiration for such poets as Langston Hughes and Sterling Brown.
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Queen Consort Jane Seymour

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Anne Boleyn's successor, Queen Consort Jane Seymour, was Henry VIII’s third wife. She bore his first male heir, King Edward VI, before dying of complications.

Synopsis

Jane Seymour was born in England c. 1509. After Henry VIII's wife, Anne Boleyn, was executed, Jane and Henry married on May 30, 1536. On October 12, 1537, she gave birth to Henry VIII's first male heir, King Edward VI, the future king of England. She died of childbirth complications less than two weeks later, on October 24, 1537, in London, England, after having been queen for only a year and a half.

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19th century Japan in early colour images

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Pictures, that date between 1863 and 1877 and taken by Felice Beato, are among the earliest examples of coloured photography ever produced.

Beato, who is widely considered one of the world's first photojournalists, lived in Yokohama and used his stint in Japan to photograph a wide range of subjects, among them courtesans, geisha and simple scenes documenting everyday life.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3092617/Courtesans-samurai-tender-family-scenes-Stunning-colour-photos-Edo-era-Japan-dating-1863-display.html#ixzz3asqhguPs

A History of the World in 100 Objects

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See all the objects in the series A History of the World in 100 Objects
continue ...

1. Making Us Human (2,000,000 - 9000 BC)
2. After the Ice Age: Food and Sex (9000 - 3500 BC)
   
3. 1: Mummy of Hornedjitef
4. 6: Bird-shaped pestle
5. 2: Olduvai stone chopping tool
6. 7: Ain Sakhri lovers figurine
7. 3: Olduvai handaxe
8. 8: Egyptian clay model of cattle
9. 4: Swimming reindeer
10. 9: Maya maize god statue
11. 5: Clovis spear point
12. 10: Jomon pot

Mountbatten Murder

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Charles makes vigil to the spot where Mountbatten was murdered

As part of a poignant visit to the scene of the atrocity where his beloved relative was assassinated, Charles was led around the picturesque seaside village of Mullaghmore by Timothy Knatchbull (pictured right, top left image) the then 14-year-old boy who survived the attack, which claimed the life of four people. Following the fatal explosion, which took place in August 1979, Timothy was pulled from the wreckage alive. But, tragically, his twin brother Nicholas, his grandmother Doreen - who was Charles' godmother - and his grandfather, Charles' mentor Lord Mountbatten, were all killed. Paul Maxwell, a 15-year-old from Killynure, Country Fermanagh, who had worked on preparing the boat for fishing, also died. The blast took place when the earl, who holidayed for decades at nearby Classiebawn Castle, took his family onboard the pleasure boat Shadow V (pictured bottom left) to pick lobster pots and fish. The visit to the harbour (right) - some 36 years after the tragedy took place - came after a moving speech during which Charles spoke of his family's 'deep loss' after the death of Mountbatten.

Vintage Jamaica

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Built in 1881 by the Hon David Gideon in Victorian architectural style, the DeMontevin Lodge is located in Port Antonio, Portland, Jamaica.

Vintage Jamaica ~~~ 1815 Hurricane

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The hurricane of October 1815 is frequently mentioned in general 19th century historical accounts as having been particularly severe. One interesting co-incidence is the catastrophic eruption of the volcano Tambora in Indonesia in April of 1815. It is widely recorded that the eruption had a serious impact on global climate for several years after 1815; it is probably unlikely that the Jamaican hurricane had any link to the eruption - but 1816 came to be known as 'the year without a summer' because of the eruption's impact on temperatures world-wide. authentic reports here

the Mystery of Edwin Drood

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At last, the Mystery of Edwin Drood is SOLVED: Dickens' unfinished novel finally gets an ending - 145 years after the author died without...

The Mystery of Edwin Drood was written and published in instalments, and when Dickens died in 1870 he had not yet completed the ending.

Cyber Archaeology

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'Cyber archaeology' rebuilds lost treasures: Public project uses photos to create 3D models of artefacts destroyed by ISIS

PhD students came up with the idea of reconstructing objects digitally from crowdsourced images days after ISIS militants reportedly smashed...

The Witness at Dachau

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Revealed: How an American doctor witnessed Dachau's SS guards being tortured and shot dead by GIs in 'cold blood' because they 'so had it...

Letters discovered after the death of Captain David Wilsey revealed his detailed account of how US soldiers tortured and killed the death...

Shakespeare

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Is this what Shakespeare REALLY looked like? Historian claims to have uncovered only portrait of the Bard made in his lifetime

The image, said to show the Bard 'with a film star's good looks', was identified by botanist and historian Mark Griffiths in the first...

'the bookkeeper of Auschwitz'

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Holocaust survivor reduces 'the bookkeeper of Auschwitz' to tears as she confronts him at his trial and reveals how she saw her parents sent to their deaths in the gas chambers

Kathleen Zahavi, 86 (left), who lost 100 family members in Auschwitz, was speaking at the trial of Oskar Groening, 93 (right), who is accused of being complicit in the murders of 300,000 camp victims in 1944. Mrs Zahavi told the court of the moment she arrived at the camp, and was separated from her mother and aunt. When she later asked where they were, a guard pointed to a plume of smoke and said 'there are your parents'. Mrs Zahavi, who now lives in Canada, said she travelled to the court 'because it is the last thing I can do for my dead family.' Groening an S.S. officer at the camp (inset), broke down in tears as she spoke and was unable to look at her.

pre-WWI Russia in world's earliest colour photos

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Stunning 100-year-old images of pre-WWI Russia are among some of the world's earliest colour photos (including an antique selfie!)

Taken in the early 20th century by Russian chemist Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky (pictured top right in a self-portrait), these are some of the earliest colour photographs in existence, showing Russia before the First World War and the revolution of 1917 which would see the monarchy ousted and communism ushered in. Prokudin-Gorsky used a camera he designed himself to capture the same image three times, using red, green and blue filters, on to a glass plate. The plate would then be inserted into a projector which would combine the images, creating a colour photograph. While some of the images show the wealthy upper classes (left), most concentrate on field workers (centre), shopkeepers, and labourers (bottom right), showing what everyday life was like in Russia at the turn of the century.

Gold 4-excelentes and silver 4-reales

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The lure of gold drew many explorers into the Americas, and created the myth of Eldorado, the city of gold. The conquistadors and other early European settlers looted the gold treasures of the native populations and exported much of it to Europe.

This first New World treasure was reflected in the coinage of Ferdinand and Isabella, Christopher Columbus's patrons, whose gold coins became plentiful as a result. Until the middle of the sixteenth century, the bulk of New World treasure reaching Europe was gold. In the first decade, it was about 4,000 kilos, rising to 15,000 in the 1530s (nearly 12,000 of which was loot from Inca Peru, including the emperor Atahualpa's famous treasure) and reaching a peak of 42,000 kilos in the 1550s. Read on...

Vintage Jamaica ~ love story

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https://youtu.be/h9RNHhy8T7k

Before social media, email, and text messaging there was the international tale - Papa's Letters. A true love story of the power and passion of romance experienced through love letters between David, a handsome, charismatic Jamaican immigrant living in Brooklyn, NY and Avril, a beautiful teen living in Jamaica, WI.

Classical Mythology: triggering and offensive

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"These texts, wrought with histories and narratives of exclusion and oppression, can be difficult to read and discuss as a survivor, a person of color, or a student from a low-income background."

Classical Mythology Too Triggering for Columbia Students

Roman and Greek mythology "contains triggering and offensive material that marginalizes student identities in the classroom" students say.

SOCIAL.REASON.COM

tea to a whore?

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Can drinking tea turn you into a whore?

In eighteenth-century England, there were many reasons why families might have been torn apart, or why dutiful wives and hardworking husbands could suffer a fall from grace. Heart-rending tales of ...

HISTORYOFLOVEBLOG.WORDPRESS.COM

Mighty Girl, Jacqueline Cochran

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Today in Mighty Girl history, Jacqueline Cochran, the first woman pilot to break the sound barrier and one of the greatest aviators in history, was born in 1906. Cochran amassed more than 200 speed, distance, and altitude records by the time of her death in 1980 -- more than any pilot in aviation history. She set her most famous record on May 18, 1953 when she flew a Canadair F-86 Sabre jet at an average speed of 652.337 mph, becoming the first woman to go "supersonic."

In addition to her many record-setting feats, the Florida native also ferried American built aircraft across the Atlantic to support the British war effort prior to the United States' entry into WWII. Cochran played a major role in the formation of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) and served as its director; a role in which she supervised the training of hundreds of women pilots. Under her direction, the WASP pilots flew 60 million miles of operational flights and delivered over 12,000 aircraft of 78 different varieties over two years. For her war efforts, she received the Distinguished Service Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Cochran is one of 26 female aviators featured in "Women Aviators: 26 Stories of Pioneer Flights, Daring Missions, and Record-Setting Journeys" for ages 12 and up at http://www.amightygirl.com/women-aviators

Cochran's story and that of the WASPs is also told in the excellent documentary for ages 10 and up, "Fly Girls," at http://www.amightygirl.com/american-experience-fly-girls

If your Mighty Girl wants to become a pilot or you'd like to encourage her interest in flight, check out our blog post, "Mighty Careers: I Want To Be A Pilot!" for girl-empowering books, toys, and clothing at http://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=6249

For more stories of female aviators, visit our “Plane / Flight” section athttp://www.amightygirl.com/…/general-intere…/transportation…

And, to discover more adventurous real-life women role models, visit our “Explorers/ Adventurers” book section at http://www.amightygirl.com/boo…/history-biography/biography…

And so it is ...

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Caribbean super-rat history

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The so-called rice rats of the Caribbean, some of which grew to the size of cats, have been the subject of a scientific DNA investigation. Now extinct, researchers regard what happened in the Caribbean as one of the largest mammal extinction events in the past few thousand years.

Caribbean super-rat history extracted from DNA - BBC News here ...

Scientists piece together the history of a group of extinct Caribbean rats, some of which grew to the size of cats.

BBC.COM

Charles Dickens' Victorian Values

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In 1865 there was a cataclysmic social explosion in a Caribbean colony of Jamaica that had a profound impact on English society and severely questioned Victorian liberal values. Celebrated novelist, Charles Dickens’ support for the genocidal Governor of Jamaica in the Morant Bay rebellion was by no means abnormal and in a context where issues of race, empire and morality were subjects of debate in Victorian England.

Pambazuka - The other darker Charles Dickens

Pambazuka News is produced by a pan-African community of some 2,600 citizens and organisations - academics, policy makers, social activists, women's organisations, civil society organisations, writers,...

PAMBAZUKA.NET

All-Indian Cast in Silent Film

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How a silent film featuring an all-Native cast came to be made, then appear lost forever, to be discovered nearly a century later, then restored and shown to the cast’s descendants become one of the most fascinating stories in the history of American film making.

Discovery of Long-Lost Silent Film With All-Indian Cast Has Historians Reeling

A story about Daughter of Dawn, a long-lost silent film featuring an all-Native American cast.

INDIANCOUNTRYTODAYMEDIANETWORK.COM

1200-Year-Old Tradition

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Japanese artist Shinri Tezuka sculpts molten candy with his bare hands to keep a 1200-year-old tradition alive:

Realistic Animal Lollipops By Young Japanese Master Keep 1200-Year-Old Tradition Alive

Amezaiku, the art of making realistic animal lollipops, has been a Japanese tradition since the 8th century, but 26 year-old Shinri Tezuka is the young master...

BOREDPANDA.COM