Monthly Archives: June 2011

The Rod of the Weak, the Staff of the Brave

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Rhys

Born in Corsica in 1750, Letizia Ramolino’s upbringing was unremarkable for the time. She received no formal education and, at fourteen, married a law student and settled down to what should have been a life of child-bearing and domestic monotony. … Continue reading →

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Death Through the Lens

Posted on June 19, 2011 by Rhys

Photography can be a dangerous art both for the exponents and their subjects. The Most Beautiful Suicide On May 1, 1947, twenty three-year old Evelyn McHale threw herself from the 86th floor of the Empire State Building. She fell a … Continue reading →

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Modern Sculpture, Ancient Texts and Corporate Recruiting

Posted on June 15, 2011 by Rhys

For over twenty years, a coded sculpture in the grounds of the CIA headquarters at Langley, Virginia has remained undeciphered. The sculpture, named Kryptos by its creator Jim Sandborn and installed in 1990, is a copper screen covered in 1,800 … Continue reading →

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Jesus , Aphids and Parthenogenesis

Posted on June 10, 2011 by Rhys

The image above shows an infant Jesus being cradled by His mother who is in turn held by her mother, Anne.  Known as Anna Selbdritt, this depiction of the Holy Kinship became popular in the 14th century – Leonardo da … Continue reading →

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Rudyard Kipling, The Great Game and the Undead

Posted on June 5, 2011 by Rhys

For much of the nineteenth century, Russia and Britain battled for control of Central Asia. The rivalry was known as The Great Game after Rudyard Kipling popularised the term in his 1901 novel, Kim. A minor incident of The Great … Continue reading →

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Shakespeare, William of Orange and the October Revolution

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Rhys

Both William Shakespeare and the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, had a tremendous influence on their respective native languages. It has even been suggested that they were the same person due to the similarities in their … Continue reading →

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