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  • Family Emergency May 11, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Actualite
    Family Emergency

    Events have unfortunately overtaken the Beachcombings and this blogger is about to travel around the world to see a sick relative. Beachcombing is suspended until better weather. Might be a week might be a month…

    Daily History Picture: Marijuana Hell May 11, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Marijuana Hell

    Marijuana facts…

    Daily History Picture: Signing Peace May 10, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Signing Peace

    Peace signature in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.

    Daily History Picture: British Troops Post Mareth May 9, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: British Troops Post Mareth

    British soldiers after battle of Mareth Line 1943

    Biggest European Cities: 1800-2018 May 8, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary, Modern
    Biggest European Cities: 1800-2018

    Messing around with numbers for the great European cities over the last two hundred years: I’m not interested so much in the biggest cities as the capitals of the most important countries. Can these be taken as barometers for the successes and failures of their countries? A few things stand out. First, growth is constant […]

    Daily History Picture: Kill the Dragon May 8, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Kill the Dragon

    1963, dragon killed in puppet show in Paris.

    Mermaid Monday: Brewster Mermaid May 7, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Mermaid Monday: Brewster Mermaid

    Some crappy days in London now, sigh. Here in any case, while I’m away, is an American mermaid case that washed up in an Irish newspaper in 1873. The original sources was supposedly the Provincetown Advertiser. We are at Brewster in Massachusetts. A supposed mermaid was seen upon the beach at Brewster last Thursday by […]

    Daily History Picture: German Space Program May 6, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: German Space Program

    German Space program: sorry…

    Immortal Meals #36: Courtesan and Parsley May 6, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern
    Immortal Meals #36: Courtesan and Parsley

    This is an account of a legendary meal (perhaps too legendary?) that took place in the 1860s in Paris. The host and the subject of the meal was Cora Pearl a British courtesan based in the French capital. Her cuisine was legendary for the quality and quantity of the food that was served. Indeed a […]

    Daily History Picture: Headless Men May 4, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Headless Men

    Headless men, late medieval manuscript, note the chest eye and low beard.

    The Aura Machine! May 4, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary
    The Aura Machine!

    This bit of fun comes from Paul Tabori’s biography of British ghost hunter Harry Price. No date is given. Are we perhaps in the 1930s? A less sweeping claim was made by a gentleman who had invented a way of testing the human aura!… It seemed that the ‘aura’ machine was a violet-ray apparatus; it […]

    Graffiti Trick Against the Persians May 3, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Ancient
    Graffiti Trick Against the Persians

    This is an early example of operational psychology in battle. We are in 480 BC and a massive Persian fleet is heading south along the Greek coast to meet the allied Greek navy. However, within the Persian flotilla, are the ships of the Ionian cities of Asia Minor, Greek-speaking communities who, just ten years before, […]

    Daily History Picture: Wright Flies in New York May 2, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Historical Pictures
    Daily History Picture: Wright Flies in New York

    Wright goes around the Statue of Liberty.

    What Poltergeists Do and Poltergeist Noise May 2, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary, Modern
    What Poltergeists Do and Poltergeist Noise

    Introduction Been reading a lot about poltergeists recently, perhaps the most fascinating of all Fortean phenomena. I’ve collected a list of my favourite poltergeist actions; and then my favourite poltergeist sounds. I try and pass very quickly over the banal and well known. These come from tens of different cases. Poltergeist Acts Stones thrown; showers […]

    Beachcombed 95 May 1, 2018

    Author: Beach Combing | in : Beachcombed
    Beachcombed 95

    Dear Reader, a crappy month with a *serious* wordworm problem in the house and a health disaster in the wider family. As a result the next month might be particularly tricky towards the end. Please be patient if there is interruption in service. The most popular posts this month were Why Did the Chicken Cross […]