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History Geek

I am a history geek and not afraid to admit it. I love more than just history in itself, I love it's creation of the present and in particular I love Eastern European history. But not only and yet especially ... more specifically Poland; Belarus, Russia, the Baltics, Ukraine and the Balkans.

And funnily enough I graduated from university with a Masters in Anglo American History and in Eastern European Religious History. I wonder why :)

10 predictions from the First Internet Bust and what became of them... →

One of the original digital marketing execs, GM O’Connell, made some predictions in 2002 about how the Internet would impact people and brands. Here, he looks back and assesses his accuracy, and, along the way, reveals some timeless truths about marketing in the digital age.

Documentary inspired and hosted by Alain de Botton, based on his book The Consolations of Philosophy

A guide to happiness. This part is about Socrates as an example for self-confidence. The guide brings history back to our everyday life.

From Francis Bacon to Hobbes to Turing: George Dyson on the History of Bits

What Sir Francis Bacon has to do with the dawn of the Internet and the inner workings of your iPhone.

The term bit (the contraction, by 40 bits, of “binary digit”) was coined by statistician John W. Tukey shortly after he joined von Neumann’s project in November of 1945. The existence of a fundamental unit of communicable information, representing a single distinction between two alternatives, was defined rigorously by information theorist Claude Shannon in his then-secret Mathematical Theory of Cryptography of 1945, expanded into his Mathematical Theory of Communication of 1948. “Any difference that makes a difference” is how cybernetician Gregory Bateson translated Shannon’s definition into informal terms. To a digital computer, the only difference that makes a difference is the difference between a zero and a one.

That two symbols were sufficient for encoding all communication had been established by Francis Bacon in 1623. ‘The transposition of two Letters by five placeings will be sufficient for 32 Differences [and] by this Art a way is opened, whereby a man may expresse and signifie the intentions of his minde, at any distance of place, by objects… capable of a twofold difference onely,’ he wrote, before giving examples of how such binary coding could be conveyed at the speed of paper, the speed of sound, or the speed of light.

fuckyeahhistorycrushes:

Does Julius Caesar really need introduction?

He was a raging liberal (sort of), he knew how to throw a good party, he was ridiculously charismatic. He was a badass (when he was kidnapped by pirates, he went back after he was ransomed and crucified them), and, oh yeah, he conquered Gaul. On his own. And wrote a flawless book about it. And there was something about crossing the rubicon?

(via rexcerebri)

Cartographic Curiosities

The Story Behind The ‘Keep Calm And Carry On’ Poster

The simple poster with the phrase “Keep Calm And Carry On” became popular in this modern day and age.

But how did it come about?

Barter Books has created a short video that looks at its origins.

According to the video ‘The Story of Keep Calm and Carry On’, it started in the beginning of World War II in England.

In the spring of 1939 during the build up to war with Germany, the British government commissioned a series of propaganda posters to offer the public reassurance of the dark days that laid ahead.

Three posters were created: “Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution, Will Bring Us Victory”; “Freedom Is In Peril, Defend It With All Your Might”; and “Keep Calm and Carry On”

The posters were uniform in style, featured a “special and handsome typeface” so that it would be difficult for the enemy to counterfeit, two colors, and the crown of King George VI as the only graphic device.

The “Keep Calm and Carry On” posters were never used—as they were held in reserve, and were intended for use only in times of crisis or invasion, which never happen.

Until its rediscovery, in a second-hand bookshop in northeastern England in 2000, did it become one of the iconic images of the 21st century.

The New York Times Launches New Tumblr Archiving Historic Photography

The New York Times has just launched a Tumblr blog called ‘ The Lively Morgue’ showcasing great photographs from their archives, accompanied by the notes that appear on the back of each one.

According to NYT social media editor Liz Heron, the blog “draws from the historical riches of [their] photography morgue” which houses some 5 to 6 million prints and 300, 000 sacks of negatives.

More interesting are the details that readers often don’t get to see—the scribbles and stamps on the reverse side of each photo that tells you when and how often a photo was used and in what context.

‘The Lively Morgue’ is essentially a collection of great black and white photographs that takes you on a nostalgic and historically important journey and at the same time, gives a peek into what goes on in the one of the world’s most established newsroom.

“We hope you’ll enjoy the serendipity of discovery, that you’ll know something of the thrill we feel when we unlock the door of the morgue and walk into a treasure house made of filing cabinets, index cards, manila folders and more 8-by-10s than anyone can count,” says The New York Times.

The Empire State Building

Early-1932, after seeing a photograph in the New York Times of the great Helen Keller at the top of the newly-opened Empire State Building, Dr. John Finley wrote to her and asked what she really “saw” from that height. Keller — famously both deaf and blind from a very early age — responded with the incredible letter seen below, within which lies one of the greatest, most evocative descriptions of the skyscraper and its surroundings ever to have been written.

A truly beautiful letter.

(Source: AFB; Image: Helen Keller in 1956, via.)

victoriousvocabulary:

PHOBOS

[noun]

(Ancient Greek Φόβος, pronounced [pʰóbos], meaning “fear” or “terror”) the personification/God of horror and fear in Greek mythology. He is the offspring of Ares and Aphrodite and was known for accompanying Ares into battle along with his brother, Deimos, the goddess Enyo, and his father’s attendants.

(via dreamsflyfree)