Veteran's Day

My grandpa served in WWII in the Philipines.  I guess he had three purple hearts.  I asked Mom, but she won't tell me what they were for.  I think one actually had to do with blood donation.  Grandpa was O- (as am I).  A little fuzzy on the details, but I guess they needed blood to save another soldier's life.  Grandpa said they could take what they needed from him.  They took quite a lot and almost killed granpa.  That is why I like to donate blood sometimes when I feel like I can.

Daguerreotypes

Maybe I am kind of a weird archaeologist.  The pyramids are cool and all, but I do view bread as one of world's wonders.  Just all the steps involved, it is amazing to me that someone way back when figured all that out.  No I am not going to claim that aliens really invented bread.  Learning how to make bread is on my list for things I want to learn though.  Anyways I also view Louis Daguerre's invention of the daguerreotype in the same way.  I don't think most know photographs started out as metal plates not paper.  In school they warned against the process as being too dangerous.  Mercury vapor is used to develop the image, and from what I understand many of the first photographers went insane from those vapors.  In perusing youtube though I have found some demonstrations.  One guy in Buffalo, NY appears to have a studio devoted to making them.  I am currently typing this on my phone, which has limited ability, but when I get a chance I will add a link.  I am curious what sort of safety precautions the youtubers are using, hopefully something.  In the one I watched it just showed the person's hands.  The Buffalo guy just showed a blacked out screen with an explanation of what he was doing (that vid said the vapor exposure had to happen in complete darkness.)