Here is what Europe looked like at the end of the last ice age (cc. 10,000 BC). It was even more united than today, wasn’t it? Anyway, the last glacial period occurred from the end of the Eemian interglacial to the end of the Younger Dryas, encompassing the period c. 110,000 – c. 11,700 years ago. This most recent glacial period is part of a larger pattern of glacial and interglacial periods known as the Quaternary glaciation extending from c. 2,588,000 years ago to present. What…? To present…?
The same thing with some modern points of reference:
We all know the meaning of the word ‘hangover’, don’t we? Sure, most of us has had that rather painful experience at some point (or many points) in life, but do we really know what “hanging over” means? Well, we have recently come across this meme on social media and were curious to find out whether what it says is true. Here’s what we’ve found.
Well, apparently, there was once a sleeping system like that indeed!
In Victorian England, the concept of a ‘two-penny hangover’ gained widespread popularity among the homeless population in the country. The term ‘two-penny hangover’ was so commonly used that it found its way into the literature of that era.
Contrary to what it might sound like, it didn’t refer to a cheap night out or the cost of getting drunk. Instead, it denoted a place where individuals who were homeless and destitute, particularly those living in the country’s major cities during that period, could find shelter and rest for the night.
A slum in Market Court, Kensington, 1860s.
If you happened to be a person living on the streets and had managed to earn some money during the day, your options for spending the night varied depending on your budget: you could pay a penny for a sitting spot, two pence for a ‘hanging-over’ spot, or four to five pennies for a lying-down spot.
London’s ‘Gin Lane’ by William Hogarth
The rooms were not heated and the person running the place unhooked the rope and kicked everyone out a 6am. Almost every morning some old timer would not get up, dead and frozen. The principal reference for such an establishment is George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London of 1933:
“At the Twopenny Hangover, the lodgers sit in a row on a bench; there is a rope in front of them, and they lean on this as though leaning over a fence. A man, humorously called the valet, cuts the rope at five in the morning. I have never been there myself, but Bozo had been there often. I asked him whether anyone could possibly sleep in such an attitude, and he said that it was more comfortable than it sounded — at any rate, better than bare floor.”
Recreation of the two-hangoover from the 1978 United Artists film “The Great Train Robbery.”
The twopenny hangover is also mentioned in a work from a century earlier, The Magic Skin by Honoré de Balzac: “We … made it a point of honour to find out whether you were roosting in a tree in the Champs-Elysées, or in one of those philanthropic abodes where the beggars sleep on a twopenny rope.”
The correlation appears quite compelling, with Orwell himself using the term “hangover” to explain the approach. Nevertheless, when examining the historical context of the term, it becomes evident that it originates from the concept of something that endures or lingers – a remnant or consequence – of intoxication, rather than someone physically being suspended over something.
The two-penny hangover has also been suggested as the possible origin of to be able to sleep on a clothesline, meaning to be so extremely tired one could sleep anywhere. There might be an association there, though it’s impossible to be sure.
Life in the German Democratic Republic was probably not too amazing for most people, but these photos definitely are. A follow up to our post on life in West Berlin.
East German punk taking the U-Bahn next to an Volkspolizei officer, East Berlin, East Germany (1986)During an airshow in Magdeburg in 1974, a soldier and his girlfriend spend some personal time together. Image credit: Thomas Hoepker/Magnum PhotosA pantomime theater group eats on a rooftop in East Berlin, 1984. Image credit: Thomas Hoepker/Magnum PhotosAn East Berlin punk, 1987. Image credit:Harald HauswaldThree men riding public transit look dreary from a long day on the job. Harald HauswaldA Soviet soldier looks over an event in the medieval city center of Bautzen. Image credit: Thomas Hoepker/Magnum PhotosA young girl walks through the streets of Quedlinburg, 1974. Image credit: Thomas Hoepker/Magnum PhotosA group of teens sit around a fountain in East Berlin, circa 1970s. Image credit: Thomas Hoepker/Magnum PhotosThe Betriebskampftruppen paramilitary group marches through East Berlin, 1974. Image credit: Thomas Hoepker/Magnum PhotosActors sit in the cafeteria of East Berlin’s Berliner Ensenble theater, 1974. Thomas Hoepker/Magnum PhotosA man rests under the dandelion fountain in Dresden, in the city center of Prager Strasse. Image credit: Thomas Hoepker/Magnum PhotosA rally celebrating the 25th anniversary of the founding of East Germany takes place in East Berlin, 1974. Image credit: Thomas Hoepker/Magnum PhotosA hooligan passed out under a tree following a soccer match, while the others in attendance leave the area. Image credit: Harald HauswaldA storefront displays propaganda poster in East Berlin, 1974. Image credit: Thomas Hoepker/Magnum PhotosMembers of the paramilitary Betriebskampfgruppen group march in East Berlin, 1974. Image credit: Thomas Hoepker/Magnum PhotosA group of female performers dancing for the audience at Friedrichstadt Palace in East Berlin, 1984. Image credit: Thomas Hoepker/Magnum PhotosAnti-Nazi graffiti on a wall in an East German city, 1990. Image credit: Thomas Hoepker/Magnum PhotosAn abandoned trailer covered in graffiti on the streets of Prenzlauer Berg, 1974. Thomas Hoepker/Magnum PhotosNew Waver in East Berlin, 1984. Image credit: Thomas Hoepker/Magnum PhotosMay Day celebrations take place at Karl Marx Allee in East Berlin, 1974. Image credit: Thomas Hoepker/Magnum PhotosWorld War II ruins in East Berlin display the words “never war again” in graffiti, 1974. Image Credit: Thomas Hoepker/Magnum PhotosArmed guards watch over a public soccer event to make sure the hooligans in the crowd do not get out of hand. Image credit: Harald HauswaldHooligans jump a fence and rush the field after a closely fought soccer match. Image credit: Harald HauswaldYoung men in a rainstorm with German flags at Alexanderplatz Square in East Berlin. Image credit: Harald HauswaldSchoolchildren on a class outing having an ice cream break in front of a shop in Erfurt, 1974. Image credit: Thomas Hoepker/Magnum PhotosA Free German Youth Organization band plays in front of a statue of Vladimir Lenin in East Berlin, 1974. Image credit: Thomas Hoepker/Magnum PhotosA young couple getting close on the sidewalk as a “hooligan” looks on. Image credit: Harald HauswaldA group of youths gathers on their motorcycles near Hoyerswerda, 1975. Image credit: Thomas Hoepker/Magnum PhotosA parade marking the 35th anniversary of the proclamation of East Germany held at the Karl Marx Allee in East Berlin, 1984. Image credit: Thomas Hoepker/Magnum PhotosA couple out dancing. Location unknown. Image credit: Harald HauswaldA parade in East Berlin in 1959 marking the 10th anniversary of the proclamation of East Germany. Image credit: Thomas Hoepker/Magnum PhotosWomen planting potatoes in a field, 1975. Image credit: Thomas Hoepker/Magnum PhotosTwo men in East Berlin deliver coal to apartments in the city. Image Credit: Thomas Hoepker/Magnum PhotosChildren playing with a soccer ball at the Berlin Wall in 1963. Image credit: Thomas Hoepker/Magnum Photos
Imagine being trapped in a 62-mile long traffic jam that lasted for an incredible 12 days. That’s exactly what happened to the poor folks attempting to traverse the Beijing-Tibet expressway in August 2010. The trip ended up taking as long as three days.
Not caused by closure or natural disaster, this all-time tie-up cause was simply the result of too many vehicles clogging the road, particularly a bevy of heavy trucks carrying construction supplies into Beijing, ironically for road work that was intended to help ease congestion.
Situated 80 meters from the Irish shore is an impressive sea stack known as Dun Briste or the ‘Broken Fort’. It is an astonishing formation in the sense that it allows you to see layer upon layer of multicolored rock strata. The cliffs in the area, including the stack were formed in the Lower Carboniferous period, a geological term applied to a period about 350 million years ago, when sea temperatures around Ireland were much higher than today.
Dun Briste was cut off from the mainland by the sea in 1393, and according to a passage in the annals by MacFirbis the people living on the cliffs had to be rescued by ship ropes. Local folklore tells a different story though. Legend has it that a pagan chieftain once lived on the spot where the stack stands. When he refused to convert to Christianity, St. Patrick struck the ground with his crozier, splitting a chunk of the mainland into the ocean, with the chieftain on top.
Nevertheless, the first story seems to hold more truth. A few years ago, a helicopter landed several scientists on the stack; they were the first humans to set foot there for ages. They stayed there overnight and examined the surface where they found the remains of a medieval house, walls, cultivation ridges, and a corn grinding stone.
What life was like behind the Wall. Or more like surrounded by a wall, because after all it was East Germany that was behind the Wall and the Iron Curtain and whatever.
The life of the samurai was tough. The life of the ninja was even tougher.
In fifteenth-century Japan, the samurai of Iga and Koga in Japan began their training as soon as they could stand. A boy born into an acclaimed samurai family would be raised to become a warrior willy-nilly as simply no other career options were available. He would spend most of his childhood learning the martial disciplines. Swordsmanship, spear skills, bow and arrow skills, later even guns were also part of the curriculum for any would-be samurai. Riding and swimming were, of course, part of the training too. For a young ninja boy, however, it would be a bit tougher than that…
By the beginning of their teenage years, young ninja boys in the ninja villages of Iga and Koga will have internalized the the basics of ninjutsu.
Ninja kid learning the principles of balance, supervised by his dad, his primary instructor throughout his life.
Young ninja learning underwater breathing techniques utilizing a bamboo tube. Later in life he might have to hide for hours under the surface of a lake or river to avoid detection by enemies.
Vital swordsmanship training. Ninja kid taking his first lesson in how to deal with a ring of attackers. He has to anticipate how each bamboo rods will swing back and forth in order to avoid contact with them.
Ninja boy in extensive missile practice, learning how to spin the shuriken and hit the target accurately.
Young ninja learning survival skills traveling into the mountains and catering for himself. He is cooking a bag of rice buried under a campfire, with the rice wrapped in a cloth and soaked in water.
Ninja child interviewed by the shonin, or head of the ninja settlement. He is assessing the child’s progress.2-, 3- and 4-man techniques for jumping over tall obstacles like walls:
Ninja teamwork with excellent acrobatic skills. On the other side of the wall the vigilant observer might conclude that the ninja has the ability of flying. In this technique one ninja runs forward carrying his mate on his shoulders, who then leaps from this lifted position.
Two ninja assisting a third to maneuver over a wall by giving him a powerful ‘leg up’.
Four men forming a human pyramid.
Ninja utilizing an ashigaru’s yari, or long spear, to pole-vault over a ditch.
