29 november 2013

Mohammed & Ali


"This 17th-century mural on the Iman Zahdah Chah Zaid Mosque in Isfahan, Iran is identified by various sources as depicting either the assassination of Ali (Mohammed's cousin) in 661 A.D., or Ali receiving a blow at the Battle of the Camel five years earlier in 656 A.D. Either way, it seems that the veiled figure holding up the wounded Ali is Mohammed himself, or at least his spirit. His facial features are clearly visible beneath the veil."

(Via Mohammed Image Archive)


26 november 2013

Number 1 Rabbit Proof Fence

Number 1 Rabbit Proof Fence

"Construction of the Number 1 Rabbit Proof Fence began in 1901. It stretched 1834 kilometres from the south coast to the northwest coast, along a line north of Burracoppon, 230 kilometres east of Perth. Unfortunately by 1902 rabbits had already been found west of the fence line."

Via: The Rabbit Proof Fence (Western Perspectives on a Nation, Library and Information Service of Western Australia)

Diana Rigg as Mrs Emma Peel, The Avengers, April 1965




21 november 2013

Onsamehangend en stompsinnig

Oormatige gebruik van SMS-taal programmeer die intellek vir die uiterste afkorting van
gedagtegange sonder die hegwerk van grammatika. In so ’n mate dat jy nie meer weet wat is
taalmatig nodig om ’n gedagte of ’n argument in logies opeenvolgende volsinne of
stellings uit te druk nie. Jy raap hier en skraap daar en kom só oor as onsamehangend en stompsinnig.

---

Bron:

ISSN 1995-5928
Die artikel sal binnekort in PDF-formaat beskikbaar wees.

15 november 2013

Montage of Cottingley Fairies and illustrations from Princess Mary's Gift Book


Montage of Cottingley Fairies and illustrations from Princess Mary's Gift Book (Wikipedia)

Dear Miss Elsie Wright


June 30
Dear Miss Elsie Wright

I have seen the wonderful pictures of the fairies which you and your cousin Frances have taken, and I have not been so interested for a long time. I will send you tomorrow one of my little books for I am sure you are not too old to enjoy adventures. I am going to Australia soon, but I only wish before I go that I could get to Bradford and have half an hours chat with you, for I should like to hear all about it. With best wishes

Yours sincerely

Arthur Conan Doyle

Mr Gardner told me about it.

(Via)

14 november 2013

Hourglass Nebula


Hourglass Nebula

Cardboard fairies


"The Cottingley Fairies appear in a series of five photographs taken by Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths. Elsie borrowed her father’s camera and took pictures of what seemed to be fairies. At the time some people weren’t sure whether the photographs were real or not. Many years later, the girls confessed to drawing the fairies on cardboard and placing them in the landscape with pins."

(National Media Museum, Bradford, UK)


Infinite vibrations

"We see objects within the limits which make up our colour spectrum, with infinite vibrations, unused by us, on either side of them. If we could conceive a race of beings which were constructed in material which threw out shorter or longer vibrations, they would be invisible unless we could tune ourselves up or tone them down. It is exactly that power of tuning up and adapting itself to other vibrations which constitutes a clairvoyant, and there is nothing scientifically impossible, so far as I can see, in some people seeing that which is invisible to others. If the objects are indeed there, and if the inventive power of the human brain is turned upon the problem, it is likely that some sort of psychic spectacles, inconceivable to us at the moment, will be invented, and that we shall all be able to adapt ourselves to the new conditions. If high-tension electricity can be converted by a mechanical contrivance into a lower tension, keyed to other uses, then it is hard to see why something analogous might not occur with the vibrations of ether and the waves of light."


Uit: The Coming of the Fairies, Arthur Conan Doyle

The second of the five Cottingley Fairies photographs, showing Elsie with a winged gnome, picture from the front cover of The Coming of the Fairies by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Zie ook hier.


09 november 2013

Stranger than strange

September 11, 1952 - Flatwoods, WV - Stranger than strange...

Probably the most scrambled, irritatingly strange story ever, the Flatwoods Monster/Alien/UFO/Meteor/ remains one of those inexplicable tales touting many witnesses and just as many versions of what was seen and heard. As best as can be determined, a Meteor (confirmed by the research of Major Donald Keyhoe) passed along a trajectory placing it roughly in the West Virginia mountains approximately 7pm on Sept. 11th, 1952. Residents of Flatwoods reported seeing strange lights in the skies that did not fit any description of a meteor and its known flight patterns. But here's where it gets really weird. A group of kids witnessed a fiery red ball zip across the sky and impact just beyond Bailey Fisher farm. Mrs. Kathleen May took a flash light to help the kids as they made their way into the dark woods to see where the fireball landed. With her were her two teenaged sons, Eddie and Freddie, Neil Nunley, Gene Lemon (the oldest among them, at 17), Tommy Hyer and Ronnie Shaver with his dog. The group saw a pulsing red light just beyond a hilltop and when they approached encountered some kind of being with a cornucopia of peculiar features: It was eight feet tall, had glowing red eyes, a strange drape-like clothing, claws, an enormous round, red head covered by some kind of pointed hood, was surrounded by a foul smelling mist and was making frightening hissing sounds as it approached the boys, scaring them all to death and sending them fleeing into the night.

Via