Historical Photos least likely you'd ever seen!

Is it because it never existed? With the advances of imaging technologies, statements like, "He walks like me, talks like me, speaks like me, looks like me but it ain't me!" is possible...
Thanks SK, for contribution.

The Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln in 1861

Hippo cart in 1924. The hippo belonged to a circus and apparently enjoyed pulling the cart as a trick

 

Charlie Chaplin in 1916 at the age of 27

  

Suntan vending machine, 1949

Annie Edison Taylor (1838-1921), the first person to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. She did it in 1901 because she needed money, and after doing it said she wouldn't recommend it to anyone!

  

 

Only known authenticated photo of Billy the Kid, ca. 1879

  

Sharing bananas with a goat during the Battle of Saipan, ca. 1944

  

Jesse James, approximately 16 years old

 

Advertisement for Atabrine, an anti-malaria drug. Sign was put up at the 363rd station hospital in Papua, New Guinea during WWII.

How could parents ensure that their children were getting sunlight and fresh air when living in apartment buildings? The baby cage, ca. 1937

  

Hotel owner pouring acid in the water when black people swam in his pool, ca. 1964

  

Bookstore ruined by an air raid, London 1940

  

Little girl comforting her doll in the ruins of her bomb damaged home, London, 1940.

 

Animals being used as a part of medical therapy in 1956.

Artificial legs, United Kingdom, ca. 1890

Unknown soldier in Vietnam, 1965

1920's lifeguard

1928 fashion show at the beach

Former slave showing whipping scars

Measuring bathing suits in the early 1920s. If they were too short, the women would be fined.

A space chimp poses for the camera after a successful mission to space in 1961

 

Testing new bulletproof vests, 1923

A mom and her son watch the mushroom cloud after an atomic test 75 miles away, Las Vegas, 1953.

Walter Yeo, one of the first people to undergo advanced plastic surgery. His eyelids were damaged in World War I and he got a skin transplant to replace them.

Illegal alcohol being poured out during Prohibition, Detroit 1929.

Austrian boy receives new shoes during WWII

  

The Ford Theater, where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated

Children eating their Christmas dinner during the Great Depression: turnips and cabbage.

Annette Kellerman promoted women's right to wear a fitted one-piece bathing suit, 1907. She was arrested for indecency.

 

Princeton students after a freshman vs. sophomores snowball fight in 1893

Martin Luther King Jr. with his son by his side removing a burnt cross from his front yard, 1960

  

The original Ronald clown of McDonald's in 1963


 

Apollo I crew members rehearsing their water landing in 1966.

President Richard Nixon trying to use chopsticks while visiting China in 1972

Construction of the Manhattan Bridge, 1908

Construction of the Berlin Wall, 1961

Hitler's officers and cadets celebrating Christmas, 1941

Abraham Lincoln's hearse, 1865

Frozen Niagara Falls, 1911

Last prisoners of Alcatraz leaving, 1963

A penniless mother hides her face in shame after putting her children up for sale, Chicago, 1948

Putting on a crinoline (skirt support), 1855

 

Recovering bodies after the Titanic disaster, April 1912.

A most beautiful suicide - 23 year old Evelyn McHale leapt to her death from an observation deck (83rd floor) of the Empire State Building, May 1, 1947. She landed on a United Nations limousine.

The real Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin, ca. 1927

Melted and damaged mannequins after a fire at Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum in London, 1930.

New York City fire station, ca. 1912

Operation Babylift: Vietnamese orphans transported by airplanes to America in 1975.

Polish children examined by German officers to see if they qualify as Aryan, and would be allowed to live.

Santa Claus in New York, ca. 1900

Smallpox victim, New York, 1881

5:00 P.M., September 3rd, 1967 -
Sweden changed from driving on the left side to driving on the right - this was the result.

Unpacking the Head of the Statue of Liberty, delivered June 17, 1885

It takes all kinds

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson 2011 (Biography)
The world takes a leap forward not with soldier ants like us but by those who think outside the box. They have not no qualms about upsetting the status quo and upsetting peoples' feelings. They have a clear vision of what they want to do in life and they pursue their dream at all cost.
After Jobs knew that he was not going to live long enough, he invited a writer, Walter Isaacson, to write his story, giving a one-to-one bare-it-all kind of  exposé. The end product also had input from the receiving end.
It is a thick book, 700 odd pages, graphically narrating all the adventures, misadventures, confrontations, the highs, the lows and the poignant moments in the life of the man who found another use for our fingers, to swipe something off if we do not like it or had enough off.
We all know about Steve Job being adopted and how his mother, an unmarried college student arranged to give Steve away for adoption to a college educated couple. Upon, his arrival. however, Steve became unwanted as they couple wanted a baby girl. And Steve landed up with a mechanic as a father.
The earlier part of the book shows that Steve grew in a loving family with plenty of love and support from his adoptive parents who tried to ensure a college education that they missed out. He had a lot of freedom growing up in the 60s in California.
We also know about his dropping out of school and his liaison with Steve Wozniak. He had a time of soul searching in India after discovering about his adoption. He was wondering about trying psychedelic drugs, Hinduism, Zen Buddhism, veganism, walking bare foot, dressing in traditional Indian garb with a bad case of body odour as he refrained from bathing!
Along the way came a daughter whom he declined to acknowledge till a paternity test approval.  Of course, we all know about his great work in Apple till he was booted out and how he was called back to rejuvenate that later ailing company. He must have a dynamic leader of the companies with many successes to speak for themselves. To be in the same team to share such a feat is something else. One has to has a hide thicker than the hippopotamus', able to withstand his tantrums, unjust demands to brink of tantrums, his reality distortion visions, his piercing eyes that wilt you to submission, a painful character, a slave driver, etecetera...
And the work in animation and Pixar... He did not really invent anything per se but rather he got the right people who would follow the right path to scavenge the technology lying around. There are many inventions lying around where the inventors do not know what their work can be used for! (like the touch technology which was later used in iphone!)
One interesting thing that he mentioned in his lifetime is "People do not know what they want, we show them what they want". In other words, we are all wondering about aimlessly like headless chicken or rudderless boats until someone shows us the way! (my interpretation)
His Oriental based philosophy in life also suggests that everybody is sent to Earth to perform their work and one should excel in theirs. A barber with his tonsorial skills should endeavour to improve his skills to serve mankind and so do computer computer makers. And a lay person, not in that particular field, got no business meddling in others' territory. Hence, the Apple phones are sealed without screws.
Just when you think this man who could and would change destiny and not going to take any setbacks lying down without giving a darn good fight, the coup de grâce came in the form a single mutated cell in the pancreas. After experimenting gravely with alternative medicine, trying state of the art molecular cell targeted genetic level treatment which eventually failed due to mutation of cancer cells, liver metatstasis and transplant, he took his final bow....

Where other ideologies are allowed!

Amma Ariyan (അമ്മ അറിയാന്‍,Report to Mother, Malayalam; 1986)
Screenplay and Direction: John Abraham

It is a pure coincidence that at a time when I was watching this movie, certain leaders in the Malaysia are up in arms against the screening of a romantic historical drama set during the time of the Communist insurgence in Malaya. Watching a 2-minute trailer of 'The New Village', they were convinced that the movie was glorifying the communist terrorists and belittling the role of the armed forces!

The journey of a thousand miles starts with a singls step...

Amma Ariyan has the reputation of being the only South Indian film to make it to the British Film Institute's Top 10 Indian film list. Well, I suppose you have to film maker to understand why such a stature was given to a seemingly low budget low lighting scruffy looking non professional looking quasi-documentary film commie linked people funded simple movie.
The story starts with Purushan, a village lad, leaving his house after a dip in a muddy river for Delhi after bidding farewell to his mother. He promises to write to her despite the fact that it was not his nature to write letters.
He starts his journey of a thousand miles through the remote jungle path from his humble abode. The jeep that he is travelling as a passenger is stopped and taken by the police to transport a dead body. Purushan has a strong feeling, more to the brink of obsession, that he had seen the dead man. The image of the dead man  keeps on playing on his mind.

Rashid sure likes his drinks!

John Abraham

He inquires about the dead man who is told to have hung himself from the villagers. He gets patchy information about his name, Hari, and that he is a tabla player. Nobody actually knew about his whereabouts and background. He decides that he must find out more about this man and inform his mother about his death.
Purushan sets to inform his female companion about his change of plans, his earlier plans to leave for Delhi. (We are not told why he was going to Delhi!).

And off he sets on a crusade to find the background of the dead man and inform his mother.

Starts an entourage..

Along the way, in the background, in a narrative, as if he is writing a letter to his own mother, Purushan, tells about the happenings around him. He goes on a almost a wild goose chase trying to identify this Hari chap. He is sent from here to there to inquire about him. In the movie, you will find that most men are jobless and loafing around doing nothing. One by one the his party of one snowballs as more people join in the fracas. Potpourri of people of various religions join in.

Different people  give different views on Hari, on his outlook of life, good ones and bad. Pretty soon, it comes to light that all these people are Naxalites. As they travel all the way down to Cochin City, Purushan talks about the rich heritage and fortune the State of Kerala had and how travelers from near and far had come to trade. Some brought religion and culture whilst some squandered its wealth. He also talks about how commercialization had set in every aspect of life - education, medical and pharmaceutical practice. Police brutality, bullying of the workers clan, hoarding of essential goods, of how workers become blind with cheap booze and how the people power uncovered these atrocities are highlighted. I sense a little mocking of religion and the Goddess who is supposed to protect the land.
The entourage finally reaches Cochin City. The bad news is finally broken to the mother who replies that she can never understand his son and shed a tear. The End.
This offering is not meant to allay the day to day anxiety of the workers (read poor) community but rather highlight their sorrows and tease them to do something about it. We know that both Bengal and Kerala are the two states in India with 100% literacy rate and that the Communist Party has a strong hold here. It is surprising that in spite of its good indicators in life expectancy, health, education and per capita expenditure, its inequality between the urban and rural haves and have not is dangerously apparent.

Kerala, despite being one the poorest states in India, has exceptional rates of adult literacy, life expectancy and health.
 Image by Shareen Brysac. India, 2009.