Thus the Question, “If It’s Tourist Season, Why Can’t We Shoot Them?”

Exhibit Label Lessons, or Be Like Liedtke

Curator’s Comment, Part the First: Beverly Serrell, in her opening paragraph to Chapter 6, said exhibit labels should provide, “information about objects accessible to visitors with different backgrounds and interests.” This may not be what she had in mind (even if it might be effective):

 

Curator’s Comment, Part the Second: Or you could skip all that layering and just write compelling, provocative labels, like Walter Liedtke, who died tragically last year, did. Here’s his label for the Merrymakers at Shrovetide:

Source

Interactive Museum Hologram is Too Historically Accurate

Fine for late-night NBC, but maybe a wee NSFW

http://www.hulu.com/watch/927985

Donald Trump, Through the Ages

Actually By John Flowers

From McSweeney’s

The ancestry of Donald Trump stretches back to the Ancient World. Listen, as several of Trump’s forebears recount some of the most famous moments in history.

The Death of Julius Caesar

So this is, maybe, a week after the Ides of March. I’m in Rome. I got a new coliseum there. Great coliseum. I build a lot them. Make a lot of money. Very successful.

So I’m in Rome. And Brutus and his cabal ask me to say a few words about Caesar. Really, begging me to say something about him. And Brutus is an honorable guy. So, I’m like, “Sure. Whatever.”

But then right before my speech, Brutus comes up to me — he’s real nervous, Brutus — and he says, “Whatever you do in your speech, don’t blame me for Caesar’s death.”

I think, “That’s odd.” But, whatever. Brutus is an honorable guy.

So I deliver this speech. Great speech. Tremendous speech. It’s about Caesar. He’s dead. Lot of emotions. Really brings down the house. I get rave reviews for the speech. Rave reviews. Everybody loves it.

But then, weeks later, the media is saying I said these things that I never said. Awful things.

I’ll give you an example: The New Rome Times, which is losing money left and right. Unreadable. Total trash. Hates the empire. But the New Rome Times says that I came to praise Caesar, which is totally false.

What I said was — and this is a direct quote — “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.” Not to praise him. How they get the exact opposite out of that, I don’t know. But that’s the media for you.

The Last Supper

I love Jesus, I do. But the guy can be long-winded. “Blessed are these people, Blessed are those people.” Basically, everybody’s blessed, but he’s gotta read through the whole Roman census before you find that out.

Like this one night, Jesus and his crew are one table away from me. And I’m hearing him go on and on about something. Won’t stop talking about it.

I can’t take it anymore. So I lean over. I say, “Jesus, you make a nice speech and all. Kind of belabor the point; Peter’s falling asleep over here. So let me cut to the chase: Someone’s gonna betray you tonight, and it’s Judas.”

Jesus gives me this look, like I’m the one who’s betrayed him.

I say, “C’mon, Jesus, it’s the worst kept secret in Jerusalem. Guy owes everybody in town money. Suddenly, he’s flashing 30 pieces of silver.” I love Jesus, but he’s probably still trying to figure out who killed Abel.

Problem is, Jesus never had a sense for business. Never did. Here’s a guy who can turn water into wine — and I know wine. Bought a vineyard, doing terrible business, I buy it, now it’s making a profit. Yuge, yuge profit. But here’s a guy who can turn water into wine; still pays for it when he goes out.

I’m like, “Jesus, just order water!” Or at least make Judas pay.

I mean, seriously, who finds a mole in his operation, invites the guy out to dinner?

Jesus, that’s who.

The Third Crusade

So, I tell the Knights Templar, “Richard the Lionheart? Please. Should be called Richard the Lazy Bastard. Seriously. He had one thing to do. One thing. Capture Jerusalem. What’s he do? Makes peace with Saladin.”

I ask Saladin about that, too. Sal’s a friend. I say, “Sal, what the hell happened?” He says, “Your guy’s no good. Can’t negotiate. Awful negotiator.”

Never would have happened if I led the Third Crusade. I know negotiators. If they ever invent the printing press, I plan on writing a book on it.

Hell, I know this one guy — awful guy, terrible human being — but he knows how to negotiate. Genghis Khan. Horrible human being. Great negotiator. I bring him in; Jerusalem is taken in two days. Tops.

The American Revolution

I would have people come up to me all the time and say, “Mr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you should lead our troops. You should have lead.” And I should have, because I would have ended the war, Day One.

I would have gone up to King George III, whom I know. I would have said, “Georgie, we’re leaving.”

He’d cry, he’d beg, he’d try to convince us to stay. I’d say, “No, no, no. Here’s the way it works: We leave, you get nothing, that’s the deal” And then I’d turn to the French, and I’d say, “And you … Thanks for the help. Now give us a statue. A woman. But not an ugly one.”

Papers would be signed the next morning.

 

Read the Rest

Mathematically Speaking, Even the Historical Conspiracy Theories Are Reality Somewhere

Leftists Secretly Gathering for History Book Conference

Actually By Cassidy Pen

From The National Report, August 25, 2015

Students across America will soon be taught the far left’s take on American History should proposals agreed on during high-level closed door meetings ever see the light of day.

A secret panel has convened to re-write history books in accordance with Common Core principles under the direction of civil rights leaders and advocacy groups. Unconfirmed, but reported attendees of the conference include President Obama, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center, GLAAD Executive Director Sarah Kate Ellis, and members of the “Black Lives Matter” group.

Dr. Cornel West was invited to the conference, but a prior commitment made him unavailable.

The meeting is being hosted by the Howard Zinn Education Project, which coordinates two non-profit organizations advocating what they claim to be “more accurate, complex, and engaging understanding of American History.” In other words, prepare for a socialist indoctrination of your children underwritten by one of the furthest left authors in American History…a naked socialist, if you will.

Topics of special urgency among the attendees include the Constitutional Convention, Causes of the Civil War, the 1960’s radical anti-war and civil rights movements, and a thorough rethinking of the Reagan Administration. The gathering wishes to expunge God from society and classify the Constitution as a secular document. The Civil War would be looked at as a class struggle, as will other noble wars fought during our nation’s growing period and development as a world leader. Special praise to the radical 60’s peace and civil rights movements and equal disdain for the Reagan Revolution are also proposed.

This is the kind of garbage that your children will be learning should this revisionist history be forced down their throats.

By Howard_Zinn_at_lectern.jpg: Jim from Stevens Point, WI, USA derivative work: Gobonobo (Howard_Zinn_at_lectern.jpg) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Howard Zinn, author of the popular screed, “The People’s History of the United States,” advocates abject Socialism under the guise of how America has oppressed working people, women, and minorities through a discriminatory capitalist system that rewards the rich and “continues to steal from everyone else.”

Read the Rest Here

Happy Fifth Anniversary to Us! (NSFW)

Today is the American Hysterical Society’s five-year (or 60-month, 1,825th-day, 43,800th-hour, 2,628,000th-minute, or 157,680,000th-second) anniversary! If the AHS were a child, according to some and among other things, we would want to please our friends, be like our friends, and agree with rules. We don’t actually want those things, but at this age we’d be able to do them if we did.

It’s been an amazing five years for us. We have published 658 posts, logged almost 73,000 visits, and assembled the largest catalog of humorous history and museum books, essays, cartoons, links, and songs on the planet. Not bad for a museum that doesn’t pay for collections or advertise itself.

That said, it has been a difficult year for us. The Society’s staff has gotten a little off-focus. Partly that’s because we have been thinking about some bigger projects (a series of books actually) which has taken time away from our daily work. We apologize for any inconvenience or boredom this has caused. We hope to remedy the situation with a series of strategic retreats and layoffs.

Still, as any five-year-old we like gifts. The traditional five-year anniversary gift is wood. With that in mind we would like to ask, in case you were thinking of getting us something, for these:

 

Story Here (cause you’re curious).

Not only are they rare examples of historic material culture, they are doubly suited to this particular anniversary.

And remember:

Idealism is what precedes experience; cynicism is what follows. David T. Wolf

Professor Murray’s Review of the WORST British Government Ever

Since the beginning of the twentieth century anyway.

NSFW (language)

OK, Hun…

Colonial Americans Were Like the Chinese of Today

Who says newer Americans have no connection to America’s early history?

From Fresh Off the Boat, “Gotta Be Me” (S2 E22)