This precursor to the great Charles Fort (complete with a shower of frogs) appears in Punch, 1867.

"The answer is simple: you can't.”

—Jonah Lehrer, Imagine: How Creativity Works (2012)

Here's the opening piano solo from the film The Exorcist (1973) being played back in 1877 (London Society magazine).  Totally tubular!

From Prof. Oddfellow's sketchbook:

An illustration from an 1898 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.  The caption reads: "Were chewing sailor boots in ecstasy."

An illustration from a 1919 issue of Everybody's magazine.

An illustration from a 1901 issue of McClure's magazine.  The caption reads: "Filled my bosom full of smothered language."

"Every bubble is the product of some form of irrational exuberance."
—Matthew Bishop, Essential Economics: An A to Z Guide (2009)

"Underlying every bubble is what I call a Big Truth."
—Peter Atwater, Moods and Markets: A New Way to Invest in Good Times and in Bad (2012)

"Every bubble is coming from the atman, soul, your being."
—Paramahamsa Nithyananda, Guaranteed Enlightenment (2009)

"Most bubbles are very friendly."
—David Lewman, SpongeBob SquarePants Survival Guide (2002)

[Our illustration is from Nursery Nonsense, or Rhymes Without Reason by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, 1864.]

An illustration from an 1898 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.

This puzzle encodes a familiar expression. Can you decode it?

Hint: The expression originated in the armed forces.

Answer: "All present and accounted for." The circle represents "all." The wrapped gift is a "present." And the fingers are "a-counting four." (The answer is in black text on the black background. Highlight it to view.)

An illustration from a 1914 issue of Harper's magazine.  The caption reads: "Many a day she must have sat there, just thinking."