The New Road.

'Rob Amberg's photographs tell a story of change within a rural community. This exhibit and his forthcoming book provide an intimate, long-term look at the social, cultural, and environmental impact of the construction of an interstate highway through rural Madison County, North Carolina.'




Dogpatch USA.

An abandoned amusement park.

'While planning your trip to Arkansas you might have found the town of "Dogpatch" on your Rand McNally in between Harrison and Jasper on Highway 7. Local residents petitioned the post office and the name of the town was changed to "Marble Falls" in 1997, but Dogpatch still lingers on many maps. Dogpatch took its name from an amusement park that opened here in 1968. Over a thousand acres were originally set aside for development. By comparison, Disneyland was forty acres. The park was based on a popular comic strip called "Li'l Abner" which was set in the fictional town of Dogpatch, know in the strip as the most miserable place on earth. (Contrast that with Disney's advertising slogan.) '




1940s Gandhi, Hirohito, Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler Masks.




A Disney Rejection Letter from 1938.




What Goes Bump in the Japanese Night?

'Drawn from local tradition, the stories describe long-nosed mountain goblins called tengu, water imps that impregnate women, and mysterious men who inhabit the forests. Thinking of these while descending a path toward Nambu Shrine, I suddenly saw a shadowy form some ten yards away in the gloom. It was on all fours, bigger than a dog, smaller than a horse but it wouldn’t scare like a deer. It was definitely watching me, and not at all afraid - unlike me. I whipped out my camera before beating a hasty retreat. The only things visible in the photo are a few branches and a pair of glowing eyes. '




A Map of Hinduism's Holiest City.

'The temple-choked city of Varanasi (1) is the most sacred place in the world for hindus - comparable to what Jerusalem means for christians, or Mecca for muslims. It is located on the Ganges River in northern India, in the state of Uttar Pradesh. According to Mark Twain, Varanasi “is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together.” '




Amnesty International's United Nations of War.

' ‘Everybody Is Against Everybody – Somebody Has To Be For Them’: the message behind this Amnesty International poster is ultimately a pessimistic one – war is so endemic to the human condition that we can’t hope to eradicate, only to alleviate it.'

'That rather hobbesian world view is underscored by this world map composed of soldiers, warriors and fighters of every colour, creed and continent, a veritable United Nations of War, all placed as geographically correct as possible: from loinclothed tribes armed with long sticks or bows and arrows make up much of South America, while the north of the continent is lined with belligerents in Pilgrim dress, Revolution-era garb, Civil War uniform and even the Ku-Klux Klan costume. And so on for each continent, mutatis mutandis.'




The World War That Never Happened: US Occupies USSR.

'On 27 October 1951, the US magazine Collier’s devoted an entire 130-page issue to the theme of “Russia’s Defeat and Occupation, 1952-1960; Preview of the War We Do Not Want.” The cover showed an American soldier in a helmet emblazoned with US and UN insignia, reading MP (Military Police) Occupation Forces...'




Maurice de Vlaminck's 'Landscape with Red Trees', 1906.




The Law of the Playground.




Wake Up Everybody! - Melvin and the Bluenotes, 1975.




Soviet WW2 Propaganda Films.




Tango Argentina.




Winter Song.




Doris Ulmann's Photographs of South Appalachia.

' "I am not interested exclusively in literary faces, because I have been more deeply moved by some of my mountaineers than by any literary person, distinguished as he may be. A face that has the marks of having lived intensely, that expresses some phase of life, some dominant quality or intellectual power, constitute for me an interesting face. For this reason, the face of an older person, perhaps not beautiful in the strictest sense, is usually more appealing than the face of a younger person who has scarely been touched by life." '

'This site provides access to 1800 of approximately 12,000 images from the Ulmann Photograph Collection. The images were scanned prior to the development of local standards and information provided about each image is incomplete and sometimes inaccurate. Staff from Special Collections and University Archives are in the process of reviewing the images and correcting information. In some cases, the images will be rescanned. As corrected information about the images becomes available, it will be added to a revised collection that will be linked from this one. Ultimately, this draft collection will be replaced in its entirety by the fully curated collection.'




Vanuatuan Gong.

'The towering slit gongs of northern Vanuatu are among the largest freestanding musical instruments on earth. Found primarily on Ambrym, Malakula, and neighboring islands, they are carved from the trunks of large breadfruit trees, hollowed out to create a resonating chamber with a narrow slitlike aperture. In each village, a number of gongs, comprising a sort of informal orchestra, stand on the village dancing ground. Gong orchestras are played at major social and religious events such as initiations, funerals, and dances. When playing, the musician stands in front of the gong and strikes the lip of the slit with a clublike wood beater. As the gong ensemble is played, rhythms of immense variety and complexity can be produced through the carefully coordinated actions of multiple drummers.'




Free Reading, Writing and 'Rithmetic Resources.

'EduChoices offers some good free stuff online: 25 Places to Read Free Books Online l 50 Online Writing Websites for New Writers l Ranking of 20 Universities that Offer Free Courses Online (with links to the free courses), as well as information about university courses etc. l Great Reference Sites Other Than Wikipedia l Free Linux Tutorials for Beginners l Useful Online Calculators For Almost Every Educational and Life Need. '




Newsmap.

Social news site - another way of viewing the news online.




Vintage Baseball Photos.




Vintage Vespa Images.

'I gathered these to make an installation in my bathroom'.




Photo of Old Steam Locomotives in Chicago.



Astro Pics.

A Partial Eclipse over Manila Bay.

Thackeray's Globules.

Beneath the South Pole of Saturn.