Long 19th- 20th centuries

Mustache Cup

Victorian Accoutrements: the Mustache Cup and the Welsh Wig

Here you are looking at the compound microscope developed by Robert Hooke (d 1703), a Renaissance scientist more famous for dabbling in academic fields as disparate as physics and palaeontology than a particular discovery. Nevertheless, his microscope allowed him to illustrate things he included in _Micrographia_, which utterly captivated his British audience. Samuel Pepys the […]

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Hubertus Pilates and His Exercise Inventions at a War Camp

Hubertus Pilates and the Exercises He Developed While Imprisoned in a War Camp

According to rentechdigital.com, there are 3,615 Pilates studios in the US as of July 14, 2023. And even if your town doesn’t have one, your local gym might offer Pilates classes — it’s an exercise style with a lot of staying power, and it was started by this guy here: Joseph Hubertus Pilates (1883-1967). Pilates’

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Jerry Morris and the Discovery That Exercise Is Good for You

Jerry Morris and the Discovery That Exercise Is Good for You

“We in the West are the first generation in human history in which the mass of the population has to deliberately exercise to be healthy.” — so wrote Jeremiah “Jerry” Morris towards the end of his 99-year life of remarkable scholarship about the effects of disease and physical movement. Or really, the lack of physical

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Ina Boyle famous composer from Ireland

Ina Boyle Ireland’s Most Prodigious Musical Composer

It is both St Patrick’s Day and Women’s History Month, so I thought it might be appropriate to feature one of Ireland’s most prolific composers, Ina Boyle. Never heard of her? Even in her lifetime, as she was churning out chamber music, choral pieces, concertos, and symphonies, most of her work was never performed, so

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Acadia National Park

https://chrissysenecal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PXL_20230807_185351865-1.mp4 Acadia National Park received its name in 1919. The biodiversity of New England’s only National Park is unusual, stemming from its past history of glaciers. Here you see some glacial domes on top of Mount Sargent. At 1,373 feet above sea level, one can see for miles around.

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snake oil went from traditional Chinese medicine to huckster

Origins of Snake Oil

“Snake Oil” earned the connotation of being a huckster’s fake medical treatment in the early 20th century thanks largely to the efforts of one Clarke Stanley, whose infamous product is featured here. However, the actual origins of snake oil as a medicinal product have a different and more legitimate background in Chinese traditional medicine. Clarke

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