Tuesday links

October 10th, 732 - the clash of civilizations at the Battle of Tours.

What You Actually Got From Those Vintage Back-of-Magazine Ads.

Why 3 Man-Sized Cages Hang From a Medieval German Church Steeple.

Get a Nobel Prize ready: If you’re dealing with menopause symptoms, this beer that might help.

How Do Termites Build Their Huge Structures?

The Plan to Launch Giant Wi-Fi Balloons Over Puerto Rico.

ICYMI, Monday's links are here, and include and include nose hair extensions, body organs you can live without, Columbus Day, the 4.5 million pieces of undelivered mail that piled up in the Washington, D.C. Dead Letter Office during the Civil War. and some remastered and colorized images from the Civil War era (including Lincoln and Mark Twain).

Friday links

A collection of vintage ads you would never see today.

Ex-FBI agent opens cold case review into who betrayed Anne Frank.

The Existential Horror Created by the First X-Ray Images.

Need a gift for the person who has everything? Check out the reviews on this UFO Detector.

Someone Bought Hitler’s Boxers for $6,700.

How a bit of nutmeg, cinnamon, and black pepper set off bloody conflicts and discovery of the New World.

ICYMI, Wednesday's links are here, and include advice on settling in New York in 1820, a guide for speaking to hormonal women, some wedding dress history, and, from 1803, the Ottoman Empire's first map of the newly minted United States.

A Collection of Vintage Celebrity Endorsements

We're accustomed to celebrity athletes endorsing products related to their areas of expertise (think Michael Jordan and Nikes), but it's hard to imaging why anyone would care about Mohammad Ali's opinion on roach killing or Doris Day's opinion on construction equipment:

Sammy Davis, Jr. was notorious for his drinking, so this one kinda makes sense:

Lucille Ball apparently had a couple of vices we didn't know about:

Humphrey Bogart selling Whitman's Samplers:

Here's Jerry Lewis with Colonel Sanders:

Boris Karloff:

Sonny and Cher, because when you think of Cher you think Bible, right?

Here's Pope Leo XIII around the torn of the 20th century endorsing Vin Mariani, a wine and cocaine cocktail:

Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) from Star Trek:

Roy Rogers:

Bob Hope:

And, in the future president category, Ronald Reagan:

And The Donald, although since he's selling his own products, I guess this doesn't really count:

Lots more here.

Wednesday links

A collection of vintage ads you would never see today.

Stolen Van Gogh paintings found after 14 years.

The 1980s Crime Ring That Poisoned Japan's Candy And Never Got Caught.

These maps show how the continents would look if you could see gravity.

How All 50 State Capitals Got Their Names.

Stalin's body double.

ICYMI, Monday's links are here, and include how birds avoid crashing into each other in mid-air, old pictures of the death-defying sport known as ‘Auto Polo’, Columbia grad's experience with the gender misconduct system after he called himself handsome, and the Buddhist Kung Fu nuns who are biking the Himalayas.

A collection of vintage ads you would never see today

I've always been fascinated by vintage ads. You can find them in near-infinite numbers on Al Gore's interwebs, and, as is all too frequently the case, I had a hard time stopping once I started. I've tried to limit this set somewhat by leaving out the blatantly sexist ones (I've posted a collection of those already), the blatantly racist (just because) and (mostly) those on the health benefits of cigarettes (of which there are a LOT).

So, here you go - ads that would never see the light of day these days:

Previous related posts:

Sexist vintage ads

Fashion Ads From The 1970s

Monday links

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

Leap Day: The Story Behind This Quirky Calendar Event, Five Weird Facts About Leap Years and the messy math of Leap Years.

Bullet-proof chairs and sofas are coming.

Gallery of sexist vintage ads.

A 5,000-year-old Egyptian dress is the oldest woven garment on record.

15 of History's Greatest Mad Scientists.

ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include fashion advice from a 1980s Stasi (East German secret police) disguise seminar, the accidental invention of the microwave, the next generation of Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robot, and a super slow motion video on the chemistry of matches.

Sexist vintage ads

These vintage ads are mostly selling products to/for women who are emitting foul odors from various body parts, but there are some for women who aren't up to snuff in the kitchen, and a few more generally sexist ads thrown in:

Lots more here, here, here, here and here.