Hungarian embroiderist Ágnes Herczeg has devoted most of her time to studying needle lace and pillow lace.
Monday, April 29, 2024
Thai Cats
The breeding of Siamese cats was originally reserved for the royal family. Certain cats also were believed to be the “keepers” of Buddhist temples, which resulted in these cats being closely guarded and highly revered.
Postapocalyptic Artwork Of The Day
*Warning: reading this might make you nauseous.
War rat mask: This is a cannibal rat, trained specifically to hunt other rats. A dozen rats were locked in a box and not fed. After some time, there was only one, the strongest and most vicious rat left.
Read more: Design You Trust
Sunday, April 28, 2024
Sunday Links
Buon Ricordo Plates (above) were introduced 60 years ago as a marketing tool for an association of regional Italian restaurants. They featured designs inspired by restaurants’ signature dishes. (Image: Luciano Paselli)
This might be the most horrifying video I have ever seen.
The driver made all the passengers comfortable before starting the trip. He has everything under control. via everlasting blort
A Martini Tour of New York City Gary Shteyngart’s month of vermouth-rinsing and fat-washing.
Joe is his own grandfather (Futility Closet)
Charlotte Braun, a very noisy little girl who annoyed Charlie Brown, made just 10 appearances in Peanuts before vanishing entirely, never to be mentioned again. via perfect for roquefort cheese
The Rise and Impending Fall of the Dental Cavity
Dublin Airport blessing of the planes to go ahead for 77th time as Father Des Doyle gets security clearance.
Keith Haring painted a mural for an Iowa elementary school in 1989. It is going on public display for the first time.
Best pet ever? The Thermonator
The Oldest Trees in the World: From Methuselah the bristlecone pine to a descendant of Japan's first tea tree.
Coming soon to a neighbourhood near you: Americans opposed to policies like abortion access, support for transgender rights and vaccine mandates during the pandemic are starting to move to other states based on their political opinions. (TYWKIWDBI)
Saturday, April 27, 2024
Pompeii's Museum Reopens
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| Image: Archaeological Park of Pompeii |
The Antiquarium museum in Pompeii fully reopened this week for the first time in more than 40 years.
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| The goddess Venus stands on a quadriga drawn by elephants in this first-century A.D. fresco |
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| Cast of Vesuvius victim with baby |
Photograph Of The Day
The blades atop the iconic Moulin Rouge windmill in Paris fell to the ground in the early hours Thursday.
Botticelli's Primavera
Looking at Sandro Botticelli’s iconic Renaissance masterpiece (late 1470s or early 1480s).
Yo-Yo Ma performing in Alaska on earth day
Yo-Yo Ma performed Bach's Prélude from Suite No. 2, amidst the birch trees on Lower Tanana Dene lands in Fairbanks, Alaska.
(Kottke)
Friday, April 26, 2024
Simulation of a Nuclear Blast in a Major City
This collaboration between documentary filmmaker Neil Halloran and Nobel Peace Prize - Research and Information simulates a nuclear blast in a major city in order to demonstrate the estimated deaths that would result.
Read more: Open Culture
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Technical Difficulties
When I opened my blog yesterday the formatting was wonky. I managed to fix it but decided that I didn’t really like the layout anymore and switched back to the previous template which has a less cluttered look. I originally changed it a few years ago so that the blog would work better with mobile devices. Let me know if you are having difficulty viewing the new/old format.
Cosmati pavement
The seven century old tiled floor at the crossing of the shrine of Edward the Confessor and the main altar of the Royal Peculiar, Westminster Abbey, is composed of nearly ninety thousand individual pieces of coloured glass and stones. Ever since the pavement was laid, every coronation has taken place upon it.
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| PHOTO: Westminster Abbey |
The drama of home buying - Let The Journey Begin
An ad campaign for StreetEasy depicts each stage of the process of buying a home in the style of epic Renaissance paintings.
A Day in TOKYO in 1968
This film by Japan’s National Tourism Organization was produced to introduce Tokyo to foreign tourists.
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
"There's always jobs in Toronto!"
Some SCTV Canadian humour with the late great John Candy and Joe Flaherty playing a couple of down and out Maritimers looking for a pot of gold in Toronto who pick up exotic Québécoise hitchhiker, Andrea Martin. It’s a parody of Don Shebib’s classic “Goin’ Down The Road” and Jayne Eastwood recreates her role as Betty, the girlfriend from the original film.
Cavalry horses run loose through London
Noise from builders near Buckingham Palace caused five horses from the Household Cavalry to bolt during a rehearsal. A number of personnel and horses were injured as the animals, one covered in blood, galloped through rush hour crowds, smashing into vehicles.
Cracking Chirality
The building blocks of life possess a mysterious symmetry. In a mirror, our bodies appear symmetrical from the right to the left. But hold one hand on top of the other, rather than palm-to-palm, and you’ll notice that they are not in fact the same; they have a defined right- or left-handedness, or chirality.
via Aeon
Things I have drawn
Things I Have Drawn imagines a world in which the things kids draw are real. It started as a silly little project between dad, Tom, and his 6-year-old son, Dom. They get a little help from AI.
Discover the Largest Handmade Model of Imperial Rome
The archaeologist and architect Italo Gismondi created Il Plastico. an amazing model of Rome-in-miniature. Working at a 1:250 scale, Gismondi built most of Il Plastico between 1933 and 1937, with later expansions after its installation in the Museo della Civiltà Romana.
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Cursed Celebrity Portraits
Norwegian artist Bård Edlund makes "digital porcelain sculptures" of celebrities kissing themselves: Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian, Timothée Chalamet, Margot Robbie, Nicki Minaj, Justin Timberlake, Miley Cyrus and more…
Hyperrealistic Paintings by Marco Grassi
Monet's Water Lily Garden
In 1890, French impressionist artist Claude Monet started renovating his garden in Giverny, inspired by tranquil scenes from the Japanese prints he collected. I spent a delightful day there many years ago, surrounded by beauty.
Artist Of The Everyday
Toaster Typewriter
Ritika Kedia’s Toaster Typewriter creates custom breakfasts with this typewriter that burns letters onto a piece of bread using heat-resistant wires formed as alphabets.
Monday, April 22, 2024
Good Dad
This little girl is already a better driver than many I see on the QEW
Zhang Shuai from Henan province China has made over 120 interactive toys for his daughter from cardboard
— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) April 22, 2024
pic.twitter.com/gqG0GDzA0Z
Group Action
This is a video of a Nippon Sport Science University group activity held on December 13, 2019 at the Ishikawa Sports Center in Kanazawa, Japan.
via Blort
Wyatt’s bedroom is nicer than mine
When remodeling his house, Bryan Davies found an unused space along the wall and decided to turn it into a tiny bedroom for his cat, Wyatt.
More: Bored Panda
Sunday, April 21, 2024
Sunday Links
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| Bleached coral off the Keppel Islands, Australia, at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef, last month.Credit...Renata Ferrari/AIMS, via Reuters |
Rising temperatures are causing an extreme coral reef bleaching event that is expected to be the most extensive ever.
I want to print and frame this: Advice from Kevin Kelly on the occasion of his 73rd birthday
You cannot walk on water or raise the dead. But you can do something that Jesus never did: eat a banana. A study pinpoints the origin of 151 food crops.
Do you have to use the toilet as soon as you enter a coffee shop? There’s a name for that.
Lawmakers on a Louisiana House committee voted Thursday to repeal a law requiring employers to give child workers lunch breaks. Link
Next Stop Paris, a production using AI animation technology, looks ghastly. (via)
Which one is his date? A young man with Oedipus issues
The Poor Clares of Arundel, the singing nuns who have turned medieval Latin hymns into modern hits.
Anne Boleyn's 14th Century French home, just 40km from Paris, is on the market for 950 000€ and it’s a beauty.
What Happens After a Highway Dies? Rochester is serving as a national model for how to actually get it done.
City residents around the world rate their downtowns. The appeal of cities varies by region.
All the fire gods Thanks Bruce!
A map of the unique dialect of the Shetland Isles which retains a high degree of autonomy due to geography and isolation from southern dialects.
Mini rope bridges have been built in a British forest to enable dormice to feel safer as they cross from one part of the wood to another.
What Happens After a Highway Dies? Rochester is serving as a national model for how to actually get it done.
If you’re travelling to London here are 13 charming neighbourhoods you'll want to take a stroll through.
Three dismal years in psychoanalysis with Melanie Klein’s disciple “Going to a child psychoanalyst four times a week for three years was bad enough. Reading what she wrote about me was worse.”
Saturday, April 20, 2024
Quilt for Gaza
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| photo Maya Pontone/Hyperallergic) |
On March 24 hundreds of pro-Palestine activists unfurled a massive quilt on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, calling for an end to Israel’s hostilities in Gaza. Prints of the quilt are available for purchase online. All proceeds will go to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the humanitarian relief organization that aids Palestinian refugees in Gaza and elsewhere.
Friday, April 19, 2024
Murmuration
Watching this has made my day a little bit better.
(Tacky Raccoons)Beautiful starling murmuration. pic.twitter.com/v4S7IwTYvu
— Nature & Cosmos (@nature2cosmos) November 26, 2023
Drawing a phénakistiscope
YouTuber LimbaTrip draws a phénakistiscope and brings the animation to life.
Thursday, April 18, 2024
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Teaser
Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.
I first read One Hundred Years of Solitude the summer I was at home with my newborn son and that opening sentence is burned into my memory. I read the book during the brief periods when the baby slept and I associate it with the feel of the hot sun beating down on me while I worked on my tan in our pocket-sized back yard.
It is a very complex novel and I’m interested in seeing how it translates to a mini-series.
All New Atlas
Sons of Beatles have released a new song
When two musicians with famous fathers co-create a song, it's bound to attract attention - especially when the names attached to the song are Lennon and McCartney. "Primrose Hill" is a song by James McCartney, with cowriting credit to Sean Ono Lennon.
(NPR)
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Rats Driving Tiny Cars
Apparently learning and acquiring mastery over a new skill decreases stress hormones in rats. Kuzko and Kronk are two little rescue rats who put that finding to the test as they master the skill of driving a car. When the cars come out the rats are quick to jump in on their own and hit the gas!
Roland Icking/FACadE
Animal Behaviour
Five animals meet regularly to share their problems in group therapy sessions led by Dr Clement, a canine psychotherapist.
Thanks Hanan
Crack-Up
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
DOCOOK
Emperor penguin chicks jump off a 50-foot cliff in Antarctica
A penguin chick’s first jump into the water is typically only a foot or two, but in this case, the group ended up alongside a cliff's edge. This video was filmed for National Geographic’s SECRETS OF THE PENGUINS, premiering Earth Day 2025 on Nat Geo.
Talking stamps (1972)
More: Dangerous Minds
The Ultimate Nagmobile
Giovanni Michelotti designed the production version of this snappy wee vehicle in 1957 and his elegant design set the tone for future Frisky models. I love these photos of the 1959 Frisky Convertible Special.
Approximately 1,500 of these vehicles were produced but only 75 remain today.
via Memo Of The Air
Monday, April 15, 2024
Stilted Glass house rises over a lake amid mountains
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| View of the Glass House | all renderings © Kseniia Kolesnikova |
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