#utterlyinteresting

Orange trees being watered in a Spanish courtyard.

Angélique Marguerite Le Boursier du Coudray (c. 1712 – 17 April 1794) spent twenty-five years traveling the towns of France, teaching obstetrics in an effort to share her extensive knowledge with poor country midwives. Madame Du Coudray invented the first life size obstetrical mannequin, or “The Machine”, for practicing mock births. Only one example of the original machine, patented in 1778, survived and is on display in the Musée Flaubert et d’histoire de la médecine in Rouen, France. It includes a life-size mannequin representing the lower part of the female body, a doll the size of a newborn baby, and various accessories demonstrating female anatomy, a seven-months fetus, twins, etc. Between 1760 and 1783, she traveled all over rural France, sharing her extensive knowledge with poor women. During this period, she is estimated to have taught in over forty French cities and rural towns and to have trained 4,000 students directly. She was also responsible for the training of 6,000 other women, who were taught directly by her former students. In addition, she taught about 500 surgeons and physicians, all of them men. In her thirty years of teaching she taught over 30,000 students. Through this educational effort Du Coudray became a national sensation and international symbol of French medical advancement. Via Anonymous Works.

-John Waters on the sorry state of today's rebels (WSJ)

Chewbacca speaking English on set of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, this is what Han would hear.

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Model maker Michael Lynch created a mock crowd by cutting and painting 450,000 cotton swabs. To simulate cheering, filmmakers placed fans beneath the setup.

Gay Bob, the world’s first gay doll, ca. 1978

The Howard Law School graduating class, ca. 1900