Old Tom Parr

In Westminster Abbey, there lies the body of Old Tom Parr in an incredible place of honor resting in the hall of nobles and princes. Of these he was none; he was an oddity. He lived to be 152 years old.

That is right this old man told you to shut your mouth.

Born: 1483
Died: November 1635

No one is really sure how old he really was at his death but he prescribes 
"keep your head cool by temperance and your feet warm by exercise. Rise early, go soon to bed, and if you want to grow fat [prosperous] keep your eyes open and your mouth shut."1

1.Westminster Abbey: Thomas Parr 

; http://www.westminster-abbey.org/our-history/people/thomas-parr

2. Darwin Country: Parr, Thomas (1483-1635) 'Old Parr'; http://www.darwincountry.org/explore/001716.html

Longest Known Beard in History

Hans Langseth who died in 1927, had the longest known beard in history. When he died, it was measured at 18.6 feet long.

Hans Langseth at 66

He started to grow this beard at 19 for a local beard-growing competition. After the competition ended, Hans continued to grow his now flowing facial hair.

At his death, 17.6 feet of Hans' beard was cut off, which i now in the Smithsonian.






Sources:
Hans Langseth: http://hanslangseth.com/HansLangseth/index.html
"The World's Longest Beard Is One Of The Smithsonian's Strangest Artifacts": http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/smithsonian-home-worlds-longest-beard-180953370/?no-ist

Old Colorized Black and White Photographs

It can be amazing to see dull grey photographs transformed into color. In recent days, I discovered a thread on Reddit and Imgur. This thread shows views of iconic blank and white photographs colored by the digital hand. My favorites are below:

Albert Einstein, 1921:





klassixx posted the colored versions.






















Hindenburg, 1937:















See more colorful pictures at the link above and here.

Fun Fact:

Did you know that J.R. Tolkien would write letters to his children every Christmas?
Yeah, he would write to them as Santa Claus and tell them of what wonderful adventures were happening each year at the North Pole.

I hope you had a great time over the holidays!