Polish Brand of Communism
In February 1977 Tomasz Strzyżewski, censor no C-36 of the Kraków Main Office for Control of Press, Publications and Public Performances, boarded the ferry to Sweden at Świnoujście, Poland, for…
When Name Recognition Is Not Good
The Netflix show Five Came Back: The Reference Films consists of twelve government-sponsored propaganda films. The first episode is Nazi Concentration Camps is about the well-known and appalling conditions the…
The Treaty of Versailles and Germany
The Treaty of Versailles held Germany (a.k.a Germany Empire), and Germany alone, responsible for World War I: not Serbia who planned the assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand; not the Austrian-Hungarian Empire…
Cut-and-Paste Gone Awry
....because who the fuck is Ryan?!?
Unintentional Car Repair
This article reminded me of a story my grandmother told me. My grandmother's commute to New York City required a Metro-North train from the Green Farms Station in Westport, CT…
Hawks in Wisconsin?
My wife and I spent a Sunday afternoon driving through western Wisconsin and ran across an ode to Hawkeyes in Barron. With the historical rivalry, animosity and even hatred between…
Hurtigruten Excursion #1: Ålesund
The first excursion selected for our northbound Hurtigruten Coastal Express was the Art Nouveau Walk in Ålesund, Norway. Ålesund is known for the art nouveau architecture during the town's reconstruction…
Open-Water Sunset
For various reasons - mainly clouds - It wasn't until our fourth full day on Hurtigruten's northbound Coastal Express that we were wowed by the sunset. Though the picture's metadata…
1896 British America
The 1896 textbook The New Eclectic Series: Elementary Geography includes a map of British America - Canada - as defined by the British North America Act, 1867 which created the…
The Athens Acropolis and Museum
My Wow, I'm in Athens! moment came quickly after my arrival. After my driver picked me up at the airport and drove me to the hotel, I checked in and…