[Page Twenty Three]

Letter to Mourning the Ancient from Mourning the Ancient

[#281]

  • June 6, 2006

    [Note: Well, 6-6-06 came and went. Too bad the stupid postmark didn't say 666!]

    35mm pictures

    [#282]

  • The last of the 35mm days...

    [Note: These are among the last of the photos we had developed in 1995. The photo developers all basically told us to never return! The picture second to last has two things of note about it. One, I forgot to take off my panties to show the paint underneath, oops! I'm not even sure why I put them back on in the first place after getting the paint done??? And two, this picture shows our first expansion symbol amulet, made of clay. We later made new ones, with a slightly redesigned symbol, and gave the clay one to a friend. The friend stuck it into his pocket and it rained that night and guess what? It melted in his pocket!]

    Very old sword belts/lapel pin

    [#283]

  • Fascist Italy and AOUW

    Here are two unusual and interesting sword belts, which have nothing in common except they are both very old. The first, on top, is from fascist Italy. Beautifully crafted, it is satin on the back, with fine metal thread on the front. The Medusa and Italian arms crests are forged in silver.

    The lower belt is from the 'A.O.U.W.' Founded in 1868, this is a fraternal lodge organization for 'men skilled in the mechanical arts.' The A.O.U.W. stands for 'Ancient Order of United Workmen.' From what I know it was dissolved in the early 1950's.
    No idea why they used a skeletal hand for the symbol...]

    [I'm unsure what the above antique lapel pin represents, maybe a 'secret society'?]

    Leper colony coin

    [#285]

  • Philippines

    [Note: If you used this coin you were truly screwed.
    Not only did they imprison you on an island, but you even had your own coinage to remind you how fucked you were!
    At least you had Chuck from Death singing about your plight!]

    [Below: CD]

    [Below: Cassette]

  • Below are some old pictures of this horrible disease...

    [Below: Nodular leprosy seen here in a Finnish patient diagnosed in 1945.]

    [Below: A 38-year-old man whose face has become paralyzed from leprosy, from 1847.]

    [Below: Extensive nodular leprosy in a 28-year-old woman, from 1847.]

    [Below: A poor soul after the ravages of leprosy...]

    [Below: From 1938, a letter from Egypt to Germany, a letter you don't want to receive in the mail -- from the International Congress of Leprosy.]

  • In the time it took you to read this you now have contracted leprosy from these pictures, which are highly contagious and are infectious even through a computer screen.
    Sorry.

    [Below: Here's a bonus couple of pictures for your viewing pleasure. How about some cholera and black death? The fact that they used to use these bizarre masks is so... odd.]

    [Below: In the past you had to have a pass to get into many cities that stated you were free of disease. Here is an Italian pass from 1722, it certifies that the holder is free from cholera and 'pest' (black death!). Think of it as the covid-19 pass of the Middle Ages, except this one doesn't clot your blood, destroy your immune system and leave you with myocarditis.]

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