A charming 1972 BBC documentary piece on Welsh miners and factory workers competing in an annual leek growing competition. “You’ve got to know your leeks, grow your leeks, show your leeks. ” From an Adam Curtis post about vegetables, which contains a surprising number of videos about vegetables.
Category archives: Nostalgia
No parking space too small for swivelling 1927 car
British Pathé uploaded this sweet little demo of a 1927 car with front wheels that swivel flat.
What the sound of a dial-up modem looks like
This is a spectogram of a dial-up modem handshake sound. Via FlowingData. When I plugged in my first modem for the first time I heard this sound sequence and thought something was broken. Took me a few goes to figure out it was supposed to sound like this. Finally got connected and discovered bulletin boards. …
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How to draw on a blackboard: beautiful tips from 1909
A lovely book “by Massachusetts based artist and teacher Frederik Whitney (1858-1949) on the lost art of blackboard drawing”. “Ability to draw easily and well on the blackboard is a power which every teacher of children covets. Such drawing is a language which never fails to hold attention and awaken delighted interest”. Via Public Domain Review . …
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When a quarter-acre section in St Heliers cost £2300
Welcome to 1965, when a quarter-acre section in St Heliers cost £2300.
A career kicks off at 15 shillings a week
I found my Dad’s apprenticeship papers from 1942. He started a five-year Cabinetmaking and Machining apprenticeship on 15 shillings (less than one pound) a week and would have ended it on 67 shillings (over three pounds). I tried to use the RBNZ inflation calculator to see what the equivalent wages would be in today’s money …
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“What a waste if you merely brawn your pig’s head”
My Dad died a while ago, and my Mum before him, so I am now in possession of a number of cardboard boxes filled with family things. I expect I’ll eventually get through them but so for I’ve managed just one or two. From one came a little stack of recipe books bought during various …
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A comeback for pneumatic tubes
I kinda love this idea. The Economist reported recently on the concept of using pneumatic pipes to deliver goods. “In the late 19th and early 20th century, underground tubes were used in many cities to speed up the transport of mail between post offices and government buildings. “Letters were put into capsules, the capsules into …
So let us begin anew: John F Kennedy’s inaugural speech
Earlier I tweeted a link to Business Insider’s post about Google’s latest doodle, which commemorates the 50th anniversary of former US President John F Kennedy’s inaugural speech: It seems to have struck a chord so it prompted me to dig out the speech on YouTube (big thanks to CSPAN for posting it). And Bartleby provides …
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How future computers were imagined in 1981
From 1981: “Imagine, if you will, sitting down to your morning coffee, turning on your home computer to read the day’s newspaper. Well, it’s not as far-fetched as it may seem.” “It takes over two hours to receive the entire text of the newspaper over the phone, and with an hourly use charge of $5 …
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