orbisonblue:

kozacy:

In the heat of battle, photographer Horace Bristol captured one of the most unique and erotic photos of WWII.

Bristol photographed a young crewman of a US Navy “Dumbo” PBY rescue mission, manning his gun after having stripped naked and jumped into the water of Rabaul Harbor to rescue a badly burned Marine pilot. The Marine was shot down while bombing the Japanese-held fortress of Rabaul.

“…we got a call to pick up an airman who was down in the Bay. The Japanese were shooting at him from the island, and when they saw us they started shooting at us. The man who was shot down was temporarily blinded, so one of our crew stripped off his clothes and jumped in to bring him aboard. He couldn’t have swum very well wearing his boots and clothes. As soon as we could, we took off. We weren’t waiting around for anybody to put on formal clothes. We were being shot at and wanted to get the hell out of there. The naked man got back into his position at his gun in the blister of the plane.”

“And well, there was his butt, and I had a camera. I mean I AM a historian.”

That is the BEST EVER quote about the nature of historians I’ve ever seen

latin phrases worth knowing:

bleachclla:

(in case you wanted to know because i fucking love this language) 

  • ad astra per aspera – to the stars through difficulties 
  • alis volat propriis – he flies by his own wings 
  • amantium irae amoris integratio est – the quarrels of lovers are the renewal of love 
  • ars longa, vita brevis – art is long, life is short 
  • aut insanity homo, aut versus facit – the fellow is either mad or he is composing verses 
  • dum spiro spero – while I breathe, I hope 
  • ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem – with the sword, she seeks peace under liberty 
  • exigo a me non ut optimus par sim sed ut malis melior – I require myself not to be equal to the best, but to be better than the bad
  • experiential docet – experience teaches 
  • helluo librorum – a glutton for books (bookworm) 
  • in libras libertas – in books, freedom 
  • littera scripta manet – the written letter lasts 
  • mens regnum bona possidet – an honest heart is a kingdom in itself 
  • mirabile dictu – wonderful to say 
  • nullus est liber tam malus ut non aliqua parte prosit – there is no book so bad that it is not profitable in some part 
  • omnia iam fient quae posse negabam – everything which I used to say could not happen, will happen now 
  • poeta nascitur, non fit – the poet is born, not made 
  • qui dedit benificium taceat; narrat qui accepit – let him who has done a good deed be silent; let him who has received it tell it 
  • saepe ne utile quidem est scire quid futurum sit – often, it is not advantageous to know what will be 
  • sedit qui timuit ne non succederet – he who feared he would not succeed sat still 
  • si vis pacem, para bellum – if you want peace, prepare for war 
  • struit insidias lacrimis cum feminia plorat – when a woman weeps, she is setting traps with her tears 
  • sub rosa – under the rose 
  • trahimir omnes laudis studio – we are led on by our eagerness for praise
  • urbem latericium invenit, marmoream reliquit – he found the city a city of bricks; he left it a city of marble 
  • ut incepit fidelis sic permanet – as loyal as she began, so she remains