Mysteries of a Nazi Photo Album Wednesday | Updated Readers of Lens and EinesTages quickly figured out that the photographer was Franz Krieger. (“World War II Mystery Solved in a Few Hours.”) Lens has shared this story with Der Spiegel, the leading German newsweekly, and Spiegel Online, its Web edition. Lens hat Spiegel Online bei dieser Geschichte um Unterstützung gebeten. There are certainly many photo albums of Nazi leaders and many photo albums of the Nazis’ victims. At least one does, however, and it has surfaced in New York City. Two pages in this album, on the Eastern Front in 1941, are devoted to prisoners. Four pages later, there is Hitler himself, waiting at a train station for the arrival of Adm. Clearly, this photographer had a lot of access — and not a little talent. But who was he? And what was he showing to posterity? Private collection, via The New York TimesPage 11: Bus window. Little of the battlefield is seen (the front was, by then, far ahead), but a great deal of destruction is evident. Ogefr. Dr.
Real Vampire Hunter Kits From The 1800s One of the most intriguing mysteries of the 19th century involves the manufacturing and selling of vampire killing kits. Several vampire hunter kits have turned up in recent years, and some have sold for exorbitant amounts of money. The true origin of these vampire kits is shrouded in mystery. Although it can’t be 100 percent proven, there seems to be historical evidence that vampire hunting kits became popular in western Europe after the release of Bram Stoker’s Dracula in 1897. More likely intended as souvenirs for rich novelty collectors, these kits would typically include garlic, a bible, stakes, crosses, silver bullets, and glass vials that held various concoctions to ward off vampires.
BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group Derinkuyu, or: the allure of the underground city My friend Robert and I finished reading Alan Weisman's The World Without Us almost simultaneously – and we both noted one specific passage. Before we get to that, however, the premise of Weisman's book – though it does, more often than not, drift away from this otherwise fascinating central narrative – is: what would happen to the Earth if humans disappeared overnight? What would humans leave behind – and how long would those remnants last? These questions lead Weisman at one point to discuss the underground cities of Cappadocia, Turkey, which, he says, will outlast nearly everything else humans have constructed here on Earth. [Images: Derinkuyu, the great underground city of Cappadocia; images culled from a Google Images search and from Wikipedia]. [Images: Derinkuyu and a view of Cappadocia; images culled from a Google Images search and from Wikipedia]. Some tunnels lead from building to building. [Image: A map, altered by BLDGBLOG, of an underground Cappadocian metropolis].
Abandoned Places: 10 Creepy, Beautiful Modern Ruins Abandoned Places: 10 Creepy, Beautiful Modern Ruins Abandoned Places | We humans are explorers by nature. The quest for discovery, both old and new, is part of what separates us from rest of the animal kingdom. Since the world we live in has been largely mapped and plotted, we urban adventurers turn our sights toward the relics of old and the ruins of the recent past. If you find beauty in urban decay, in the crumbling and abandoned places of yesteryear, you’ll want to read on. Abandoned Submarine Base, Ukraine In a bay on the northern shores of the Black Sea, the Soviet army maintained an elaborate submarine base throughout much of the Cold War. Abandoned Submarine Base Gallery The Ruins of Detroit by Marchand and Meffre In the United States, few cities have felt the burn of urban decay more than Detroit. Ruins of Detroit Gallery Beelitz Military Hospital, Berlin It is rare that a ruin like this should decay so gracefully and without the marks of vandalism. Beelitz Military Hospital Gallery
World War II: Before the War - Alan Taylor - In Focus The years leading up to the declaration of war between the Axis and Allied powers in 1939 were tumultuous times for people across the globe. The Great Depression had started a decade before, leaving much of the world unemployed and desperate. Nationalism was sweeping through Germany, and it chafed against the punitive measures of the Versailles Treaty that had ended World War I. China and the Empire of Japan had been at war since Japanese troops invaded Manchuria in 1931. Germany, Italy, and Japan were testing the newly founded League of Nations with multiple invasions and occupations of nearby countries, and felt emboldened when they encountered no meaningful consequences. The Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, becoming a rehearsal of sorts for the upcoming World War -- Germany and Italy supported the nationalist rebels led by General Francisco Franco, and some 40,000 foreign nationals traveled to Spain to fight in what they saw as the larger war against fascism. Click to view image
7 selfies tomadas antes del momento exacto de morir. | Ciertas Cosas # 1 Sin miedo a las alturas Xenia Ignatyeva tomó un selfie desde un puente de 28 pies de la tierra para impresionar a sus amigos. Con 17 años de edad, la niña rusa perdió el equilibrio y cayó sobre un cable, que trágicamente estaba electrocutado. #2 Jenni Rivera En diciembre de 2012 la estrella pop mexicana Jenni Rivera y su comitiva tomó esta selfie justo antes de despegar en un avión privado que lamentablemente se estrelló y que no dejó sobrevivientes. #3 Feliz El 26 de abril 2014 Courtney Sanford envió esta foto de su reacción a la canción Pharrel Williams ‘Happy’ mientras conducia a través de Carolina del Norte; segundos más tarde se estrelló contra un camión y el accidente resultó ser fatal. # 4 Jadiel Este es una selfie sacada por un famoso músico de reggaetón de Puerto Rico llamado Jadiel, la cual fue subida a Instagram momentos antes de que tuviera un accidente de motocicleta fatal en Nueva York en mayo de 2014. #5 MH17 Selfie # 6 Pistola selfie # 7 río selfie
See-through church, Limburg/Belgium by Gijs Van Vaerenbergh | Architecture Lab Project Details: Location: Limburg, Belgium Type: Cultural - Public Architects: Gijs Van Vaerenbergh - www.gijsvanvaerenbergh.com Photos: Kristof Vrancken / Z33 – Mine Daelemans photo by Kristof Vrancken / Z33 The church is a part of the Z-OUT project of Z33, house for contemporary art based in Hasselt, Belgium. Z-OUT is an ambitious longterm art in public space project that will be realised on different locations in the Flemish region of Limburg over the next five years. photo by Kristof Vrancken The church is 10 meters high and is made of 100 layers and 2000 columns of steel. The design of the church is based on the architecture of the multitude of churches in the region, but through the use of horizontal plates, the concept of the traditional church is transformed into a transparent object of art. photo by Mine Dalemans
Why Nikola Tesla was the greatest geek who ever lived Additional notes from the author: If you want to learn more about Tesla, I highly recommend reading Tesla: Man Out of Time Also, this Badass of the week by Ben Thompson is what originally inspired me to write a comic about Tesla. Ben's also got a book out which is packed full of awesome. There's an old movie from the 80s on Netflix Instant Queue right now about Tesla: The Secret of Nikola Tesla. It's corny and full of bad acting, but it paints a fairly accurate depiction of his life. The drunk history of Tesla is quite awesome, too.
Burlington Bunker - Corsham, Wiltshire | Britain's Subterranean City