Monday links

On June 10, 1964, Democrats Filibustered the Civil Rights Act. Related - 1920's KKK application form.

This article on impotence trials of the 14th through 17th centuries contains an awe-inspiring collection of cheesy sexually-themed metaphors.

18 Urban and Wilderness Survival Hacks That Would Make MacGyver Proud.

Classic Pin-Up Girls Before and After Editing: The Real Women Behind Gil Elvgren's Paintings.

How Dr. Seuss Changed Education in America.

What it was like to eat out in Victorian England.

ICYMI, most recent links are here, and include how regulations make all cars look so much alike, why almost all city trees are male and produce so much pollen, and the anniversaries of D-Day and Dunkirk.

Tuesday links

March 5th is the anniversary of Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech.

The official fast food French fry power rankings.

The Accidental Invention of Bubble Wrap.

Posthumous Dr. Seuss Book from an unfinished manuscript to be published later this year: Dr. Seuss's Horse Museum.

California is named after Queen Calafia, a fictional warrior queen who ruled over a kingdom of black women.

Do anxious owners make for anxious dogs? A new study explores whether pets and owners share personalities.

ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include a history of cheese, the physics of why sparks fly when you microwave grapes, an interactive map of the geography of the Odyssey, and that time Columbus tricked Jamaicans out of supplies using knowledge of an upcoming lunar eclipse. 

Friday links

For Dr. Seuss's birthday, his little-known book of nudes: The Seven Lady Godivas (ok for work), plus Private Snafu: The World War II Propaganda Cartoons Created by Dr. Seuss, Frank Capra, and Mel Blanc, and This is Ann... she drinks blood!: Dr Seuss Does Malaria.

D.C. Police Once Gave the President a Speeding Ticket.

A Brief History of Cheese.

On February 29, 1504, Columbus tricked Jamaicans out of supplies using knowledge of an upcoming lunar eclipse.

The Geography of the Odyssey - an interactive map.

The physics of why sparks fly when you microwave grapes.

ICYMI, most recent links are here, and include photos of Victorian women with extremely long hair, a snail slime love spell, and some advice from 1612 on the roasted goat lung method of preventing drunkenness.

Friday links

For Dr. Seuss's birthday, his little-known book of nudes: The Seven Lady Godivas (SFW), plus Private Snafu: The World War II Propaganda Cartoons Created by Dr. Seuss, Frank Capra, and Mel Blanc, and This is Ann... she drinks blood! Dr Seuss Does Malaria.

A Restaurant in Madrid That’s the Oldest in the World Has Had the Same Fire Burning for 293 Years.

Mystery of 500-year-old secret code used by Spanish king finally solved.

From 1799, a list of risk factors for spontaneous combustion, plus more recent science.

Why Do Ballet Dancers Turn Clockwise?

Pedaling pictures: The art and science of GPS doodling.

ICYMI, Wednesday's links are here, and include that time Columbus tricked the Jamaicans out of supplies using knowledge of an upcoming lunar eclipse, why cats meow, and Abraham Lincoln's terrible blind date.

Thursday links

It's that time of year - a roundup of recommendations for beer, wine and whiskey pairings to drink with Girl Scout cookies.

Washing machine history.

Why Do Ballet Dancers Turn Clockwise?

It's Dr. Seuss's birthday - here's his little-known book of nudes: The Seven Lady Godivas (OK for work)

Air Force doctor wins NASA 'Space Poop Challenge'.

Some animals kill each other after sex because their distinction between hungry and flirty is blurred.

ICYMI, Tuesday's links are here, and include 17th century competitive eating, that time Christopher Columbus tricked Jamaicans using knowledge of an upcoming lunar eclipse, where nature is most likely to kill you, how long it would take for a single person to fill up an entire swimming pool with their own saliva, and video of a group of tigers ripping a drone out of the sky then trying to eat it.

Dr. Seuss's Little-Known Book of Nudes: The Seven Lady Godivas (OK for work)

Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904-1991) (wiki), better known as "Dr. Seuss" was born on March 2, 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Here's the story of one of his lesser-known masterpieces; I think that Ladies Godiva, rather than Lady Godivas, is probably grammatically correct, but what the heck.

Unlike the rest of Dr. Seuss's oeuvre, the Lady Godiva book was racy. Publishers’ Weekly wrote of it:

Originally published in 1939, this revisionist farce attempts to rectify the “shameful” story of “a big blond nude trotting around the town on a horse” and Peeping Tom, the “illicit snooper.” The frothy, historical romp presents seven Lady Godivas (Ladies Godiva?) whose father, the Lord of Coventry, is thrown from a horse and killed. The noble daughters vow to postpone their marriages to the seven Peeping brothers until they discover “some new and worthy Horse Truth, of benefit to man.” This gives Seuss the opportunity to contrive the origins of such wisdoms as, “Don’t put the cart before the horse.”

Wrote the author in the preface:

A beautiful story of love, honor and scientific achievement has too long been gathering dust in the archives.

The book, however, was a complete flop. Ten thousand copies were printed on the first run, and only about 2,500 were sold. The Seven Lady Godivas eventually went out of print, causing Geisel to later say:

I attempted to draw the sexiest babes I could, but they came out looking absurd.

See more, including the rest of the artwork, at Brain Pickings.

From What Pet Should I Get

A Long-Lost Dr. Seuss Book was released in 2015: What Pet Should I Get?

This is Ann... she drinks blood! Dr Seuss Does Malaria.

Private Snafu: The World War II Propaganda Cartoons Created by Dr. Seuss, Frank Capra, and Mel Blanc.

25 Advertisements By Dr. Seuss Before He Was Dr. Seuss. 

Wednesday links

For Dr. Seuss's birthday, his little-known book of nudes: The Seven Lady Godivas (SFW), plus Private Snafu: The World War II Propaganda Cartoons Created by Dr. Seuss, Frank Capra, and Mel Blanc, and This is Ann... she drinks blood! Dr Seuss Does Malaria.

Why Is It 'Eleven, Twelve' Instead of 'Oneteen, Twoteen'?

Why Being a ‘Black Sheep’ Is a Bad Thing and Other Ag-Idioms Explained.

1970s-era Air Force Rescue Beacon Disguised As Dog Poop, plus lipstick guns and shoe transmitters.

Can't get tickets to Hamilton? Here it is re-enacted by Marshmallow Peeps.

The Moral Threat of Bicycles in the 1890s.

ICYMI, Monday's links are here, and include that time Columbus tricked Jamaicans using fore-knowledge of a lunar eclipse, Leap Day/Year links, bullet-proof sofas, vintage sexist ads, and historic mad scientists.