41–46 of 46 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
He had SIX KIDS and left his family for months at a time.
....to make money and provide for his family? Lots of people did back then and still do now.
I suppose this is a nitpick, but what kind of timekeeping was available for this? > He kept walking, one step at a time, and hit 50 miles with four minutes and 43 seconds to spare. My understanding of the time is that pocket watches very rarely had second hands, or maybe not even minute hands. And certainly wouldn't be expected to maintain such accuracy over a period of ten hours. What else would be available in a pr…
Watches were used for navigation. They also had both minute and second hands in those days; you can verify the latter by looking at them on ebay.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The culture of the past feels so unrelatably foreign that it really feels like a fictional world. One idea for teaching history is to emphasize that which you, as a time traveler, would find startlingly strange ("wait, WAT?!?"). A 1700's British officer, traveling with American militia, is utterly boggled... the American officer, he is talking with his men , asking them what they think !?! A WWII American officer,…
One of my favourites: at the height of the British Empire, a private rises on merit to become Chief of the Imperial General Staff - rising from the lowest rank to the very highest. The equivalent is impossible today. Edit: Correction.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which of the two?
Celebrating eccentricity.
(preventive anti-outrage disclaimer: I'm not suggesting that homosexuality is eccentric, I'm only suggesting that it might have been considered eccentric by many in mid-20th century UK)
The culture of the past feels so unrelatably foreign that it really feels like a fictional world. Can you imagine hearing that some dude is walking really far and going to see an improvised carnival with an entourage of “bodyguards” with whips keeping people away from some guy walking thousands of laps around a track?
> Can you imagine hearing that some dude is walking really far and going to see an improvised carnival with an entourage of “bodyguards” with whips keeping people away from some guy walking thousands of laps around a track? The right person could absolutely pitch this as a reality TV show. The culture of the past looks different because the material conditions are different, but what are people really doing here? The…
American Ninja Warrior / Unbeatable Banzuke, but for walking.
The culture of the past feels so unrelatably foreign that it really feels like a fictional world. Can you imagine hearing that some dude is walking really far and going to see an improvised carnival with an entourage of “bodyguards” with whips keeping people away from some guy walking thousands of laps around a track?