Tonight I ate spareribs.
I threw the bones in the fire.
I'll throw the ashes in my garden.
In a few centuries archaeologists may dig them up and then everybody will think that 2021 people burned pigs and spread their remains, probably to ward of the Corona plague.
Sorry ;)
Let's organise an annual 'think of future archaeologists day' when we remind each other to put it in our will to have all sorts of stuff put into our coffins so we will one day make archaeologists of the future very happy.
OK, let's make this a real thing, seriously.
And not just have stuff put in your coffin, also just go bury something nice on Future Archaeologists Day, like maybe just a coin while walking the dog or something.
I'm going to pick a date and start this tradition.
Is August 17th taken as some sort of international day for this or that?
Maybe December 2nd is a better date, David Macaulay's Birthday.... who's that you say?
He wrote this gem;
Myheritage.com has created some sort of animate your old photos application and I'm of course using it to feed my history addiction.
I apologise in advance to all the ancestors I'm about to offend.
Very fake history.
I'm sorry Queenie.
Oh... no oh no... sorry Shakespeare.
This one is pretty good.
Portrait by Hans Memling.
I think that when you share this that it is important to mention that this was published in 1940 and that historians have adjusted their view of Medieval hygiene quite a bit since then.
I love that there was a time when there was a 'Sewage Works Journal' where they published such wonderful historical articles by a Sanitary and Hydraulic engineer called Harold Farnsworth Gray.
He sounds like quite the chap.
The hole article; sewerhistory.org/articles/whreg…
The Pedlar is a painting by Hieronymus Bosch, made in around 1500.
Although historians long disagreed, these days it's generally accepted the painting shows a pedlar, a man symbolic for sin but also repentance.
Let's check out some details and if we can make sense of them.
This basket is one of the reasons historians think the man is a pedlar.
In several other paintings and images of that era we see men with similar baskets and stories about pedlars being attacked by dogs were common.
And.. I think that may be a cat skin...
The dog looks mean, the spiked collar shows the dog was probably used for hunting or was a guard dog.
The spikes protect the dog from wild animals or other guard dogs.
He's got a nasty grin but the stick seems to keep him away for now.
Also, he was still a good boy.
Everybody;
Coca Cola invented Santa's look in the 1930s!
History;
Here some pre- 1930s American Santa illustrations.
Look familiar?
CC managed to cement this look into American (and then global) society with its advertising campaigns, but they didn't invent the look.
And yes of course, Santa is originally Saint Nicholas, a pretty awesome chap, especially celebrated in the Netherlands.
He saved murdered kids and gave money to girls without a dowry.
His celebration was exported to America by Dutch immigrants.
As a Dutch person; You're welcome.
A bit more about the original Saint Nicholas.
Nic was a generous nice chap, when he heard that a man could not afford dowries for his daughters, which meant the woman would remain UNMARRIED (shock horror) and possibly become prostitutes (yeah but no) he wanted to help.