Turn of the century bloggers

Media criticism, circa 1908. A cool century later and the guys writing Hustled History would be bloggers, maybe even Iowahawk--that is, if they were consistently funny. Unfortunately, while they might have been pretty good by 1908 standards, there are too many jokes of the quality of King Harold getting arrow-root spilled in his eye in a restaurant. Because at the battle of Hastings, you see, he was...shot in the eye. With an arrow, get it? An arrow! In the eye! Steve Martin, call your lawyer.

But there's some good stuff and it's a reminder of how historically literate even their scurrilous anonymous snarky gutter-humorists had to be back in those days. I got the graphic for the Anchoress's hair shirt from this book, and this analysis of the Battle of Trafalgar reminds us that the more the media changes, the more it stays the same. Just think "Petraeus" instead of "Nelson":

And the very next article: darn those craven critics!

More below the jump, about the state of the British Navy:

Sleep soundly, gentle reader, nothing to worry about as we downsize the navy and reap the Peace Dividend of 1066:

Check out those wonderfully PC warship names in the last paragraph! Now remind me...where have I heard this story recently?