Snowboard Was Invented In The 1960s
Its Popularity Continues To Rise Today
As far as winter sports go, snowboard is a young one. Its appearance next month at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver will only be the fourth time in Olympic history.
Snowboard is a hybrid of skiing, surfing and skateboarding. In the 1960s and 1970s, early adopters of snowboard and the boards they used were called “snurfers.” Snowboard’s rising popularity and cool factor are undeniable, yet like many things in life, the evolution of this sport is a bit murky.
If you gathered old photos of the sport for picture scanning services, you could use the converted digital images to create a visual timeline that looks something like this:
Sherman Poppen is credited with the invention of the snurfer by attaching two skis together for his daughter in 1965. Five years later, a surfer by the name of Dimitrije Milovich, inspired by cafeteria tray-sledding, designed the first snowboard. Other early designers include Bob Webber and Jake Burton Carpenter. The media, including skateboard magazines, started paying attention to the sport in the mid to late 70s. The first official competition was held in 1981 in Colorado. In 1985, a snowboard-specific magazine debuted.
As illustrated in this photo taken at the Breckenridge Dew Tour, the sport of snowboard is an impressive one that involves high jumps, spins, rotations and tricked-out choreography. It gets more difficult and intense each year. (One Olympic halfpipe hopeful, Kevin Pearce, sustained a serious brain injury in late December while training for a complicated new move, and still remains in the hospital.)
Today, you’ll often find snowboarders sharing snowy mountains with skiers. Lessons are easy to sign up for, and gear is simple to buy or rent. We’ve come a long way from the days of Poppen’s bolted skis, but photos from that era remain a treasure, so preserve any that you discover. Picture scanning services make it a cinch to explore the evolution of snowboard.
Follow a tradition long enough, and it becomes innate, secondhand.
Have an old family photo but have no idea where it’s from? You know, the ones you’ve forgotten about or didn’t know you even had and found unlabeled? That’s where Maureen Taylor, also known as the 
Maureen is famous in the world of genealogy and really knows her stuff. She’s written a bunch of book and magazine articles on the topic, as well as being a contributing editor at Family Tree Magazine and editorial board member of Legacy Magazine. She’s also been a featured expert on CNN, the Today Show and in Martha Stewart Living.
Who could resist a girl like Maria?
In the movie, Maria arrives at the Von Trapp family home to serve as governess to the kids (their father, the captain, is a widower). The film continues to be a beloved classic today, but it turns out the true story behind it is just as interesting, if not more.
It is difficult to pinpoint the exact origins of Bamboo Tattoo Art as the practice is so old the history is almost lost, being tied up with myth and legend. Many countries in South East Asia lay claim to be the birthplace of this ancient art form. However, it is generally believed to have originated in the Khmer period around 3000 years ago. In Thailand, bamboo tattooing began in the Buddhist temples, with monks receiving religious text tattoos from grand master monks for protection. Throughout periods of conflict in Thailand, soldiers would visit temples to be tattooed by the monks with spells for such things as protection, strength or invisibility.
Tattoos have changed throughout the years, especially in the United States and have become more widespread in its popularity. A tattoo gun is now the most common way to get tattooed in the modern world. The basic machine was invented by Thomas Edison and patented in the United States in 1876 called Stencil Pens. It was originally invented to be used for engraving, but in 1891 Samuel O’Reilly realized that it could be modified and used to put in inside the skin. He later introduced and patented the tube and needle system. Most modern tattoo machines can control needle depth, speed, and force, which has allowed tattooing to become a very precise art form.
One major Pinup starlette of the 30’s and 40’s is Betty Grable. She had a long and fulfilling acting career but is better known for her famous Pinup photo peeking over her shoulder in her bathing suit. It was actually widely rumored that the particular pose and angle of the photo were specifically chosen to hide the fact that she was pregnant at the time of the shoot. That photo made her the number 1 pinup girl of the WWII era. That photo even prompted her studio to studio to eventually insure her perfect legs for over a million dollars. That photo was even later included in Life Magazine’s “100 Photos that Changed the War.”
Second to Betty during the pinup era was Rita Hayworth. Born Margarita Cansino, the vivacious, young brunette Latina gained the attention of Hollywood and her career began to pick up quite quickly. She was born into dance and performed with her father in a Latin dance team in Vaudeville. After a string of nondescript movies, she changed her name to Rita Hayworth. The studio knew she was a candidate for stardom, but it wasn’t until they put her through an intense makeover that she arose as a beauty. They raised her hairline through electrolysis and dyed her beautiful brown hair to a fiery, flaming red. Her image of “The Love Goddess,” as she was to be known, was born. The US Navy named her “The redhead we would most like to be shipwrecked with.” She was so loved that there was actually a record released with the sound of her heartbeat. One of the most famous films from this time was “Gilda” where she sang in a Black strapless gown and the image of her has become positively iconic.
