The earliest written source related to the inhabitants of the Venetian lagoons, is a letter from Cassiodorus, written in 537.

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol. II, Chapter 21, § 249 (tr. Adrian Del Caro and Christopher Janaway): Dilettantes, dilettantes! This is what those who pursue knowledge or art out of love for them and joy in them, ‘for their pleasure’, are disparagingly called by those who are in it for profit, because they are delighted only by the money that can be earned through them. This disparagement is based on their wretched conviction that no one would seriously engage in…

Hawsers hang over the deck of the SS Jeremiah O’Brien—one of only two surviving operational Liberty ships from World War II—now docked at in San Francisco. The post Ropey appeared first on 75CentralPhotography.

The abandoned AT&T Long Lines Achille Tower near Achille, Oklahoma. The post Achille’s Tower appeared first on 75CentralPhotography.

From Empire of the Winds: The Global Role of Asia’s Great Archipelago, by Philip Bowring (I.B. Tauris, 2018), Kindle pp. 159-160: Nusantarian commerce in the western Indian Ocean did not suddenly vanish, leaving the settlements cut off from their roots. Ships from Java and Sumatra continued to play a role in Indian Ocean trade at least until the thirteenth century, not least in the slave trade. In the mid-tenth century an Arab ship encountered off Mozambique a group of raiders described as…

My first encounter with this walk was when I accompanied the great Iain Sinclair on his passage through the area between Leyton Midland Road and Wanstead Flats in November 2016, recounted in his book The Last London. I’d then continued that walk myself out to Barking during the 2020 lockdown. I was overdue an expedition to complete this railway ramble from Leyton Midland Road to Gospel Oak, with the route now named The Suffragette Line in honour of Annie Huggett from Barking, the oldest…

Earth, yet it is governed with the same Ease, and with less Trouble to the Subject, than many petty Villages in other Parts of the World. Robert Campbell (1769–1846)

Some 110 years ago this month, a great view of the conning tower and forward turrets, complete with newly-installed 15″/42 Mark I guns, of the future Renown-class battlecruiser HMS Repulse, seen whilst fitting out at John Brown & Co’s Clydebank yard, Scotland. August 1916 National Records of Scotland, UCS1-118-443-295 The 10th RN ship to carry the name, Repulse commissioned 18 August 1916, just over two months too late for Jutland. The month prior, she hit 31.73 knots on her speed trials,…

It shouldn’t be that much of a surprise, as Harpoon entered service in 1977– yes, almost 50 years ago– but the new Harpoon Coastal Defense System (HCDS) was validated at its Developmental Test (DT-1) at Point Mugu Sea Range (PMSR) in July 2026, “validating the system’s ability to engage and neutralize maritime threats.” Boeing Photo via DVIDS 260721-O-HP119-5272 During the event, the Harpoon missile successfully launched from land and engaged the target vessel in near-shore/littoral waters. It…

Whatever the catalyst was—murder of his friend Amalasuintha, or just a desire to avenge Rome and Romans against the Goths—Byzantine Emperor Justinian I decided it was time to re-assert control over the western provinces of the once mighty Roman Empire.Justinian had recently recovered much of North Africa from the Vandals. That military action in 533 had been swift under his general Belisarius, and he hoped for a similar outcome in Italy. He prepared by sending gifts of gold to the Frankish…

One of the attractions of walking through the Financial District is realizing how many of these mostly nonconforming, cow path-like streets got their start 400 years ago in the colonial outpost of New Amsterdam. Broadway, Broad Street, Maiden Lane, Wall Street—these are their anglicized names, but they all date back to the four decades in the 17th century when the tip of Lower Manhattan was a Dutch-owned settlement with canals, windmills, and about 1,500 people. Then the British sailed into New…

Join me for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF THE CITY OF LONDON this afternoon Bank Holiday Monday 31st August at 2pm CLICK HERE TO BOOK . On Bank Holiday Monday, let us to consider the highdays & holidays of old London Boys lining up at The Oval, c.1930 School is out. Work is out. All of London is on the lam. Everyone is on the streets. Everyone is in the parks. What is going on? Is it a jamboree? Is it a wingding? Is it a shindig? Is it a bevy? Is it a bash? These are the high days and holidays of…

Arrian, Discourses of Epictetus 1.9.19 (tr. W.A. Oldfather): As soon as you have fed your fill to-day, you sit lamenting about the morrow, wherewithal you shall be fed. ὅταν χορτασθῆτε σήμερον, κάθησθε κλάοντες περὶ τῆς αὔριον, πόθεν φάγητε. Matthew 6:11 (KJV): Give us this day our daily bread. τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον.

Frisch gebackene neapolitanische Pizza im Kaja Pizza Köök in Tallinn Versteckt in einer ruhigen Wohnstraße in Tallinn gibt es im Kaja Pizza Köök neapolitanische Pizza aus dem Holzofen. Für mich war es die beste Pizza der Reise und eine der besten, die ich bisher gegessen habe. Kaja Pizza Köök hatte ich schon vor meiner Reise nach Tallinn im Netz entdeckt. Ich hatte nach guter Pizza gesucht und der kleine Laden tauchte dabei ziemlich schnell auf. Mein ursprünglicher Plan ging allerdings nicht…

From Empire of the Winds: The Global Role of Asia’s Great Archipelago, by Philip Bowring (I.B. Tauris, 2018), Kindle pp. 134, 147: Nusantarians, protected by their seas and ships, were relatively safe on their islands from more populous mainland powers. But it is remarkable that their mainland foothold – the Cham territory – on the southern coastal border with China lasted as long as it did: from settlement, probably from Borneo, around 1000 BCE to Champa’s final extinction by Vietnam in 1832.…

Meet Thrissops formosus, a beautifully streamlined ray-finned fish that patrolled the warm tropical waters of Europe during the Late Jurassic, roughly 150 million years ago. At first glance, this handsome fellow looks surprisingly modern—rather like a herring decided to grow teeth, become a serious predator and pose magnificently for the fossil record.Thrissops formosus was an early teleost,

Copson Street Copson Street Wilmslow Road

On 30 August 1976, the Notting Hill Carnival ended in a riot, with more than 100 police officers taken to the hospital and 60 carnival-goers needing hospital treatment after the clashes which led to the arrest of at least 66 people. The trouble started after police tried to arrest a pickpocket near Portobello Road on the main carnival route. The police were attacked with stones and other missiles, however only two were convicted. On 30 August 1572 Elizabeth I issued a decree: ‘no foteball…

Wenn man an Traditionsrestaurants in Herne denkt, dann kommt man ums Forsthaus im Revierpark Gysenberg nicht herum. War doch das schnuckelige Fachwerkhaus über eine Jahre eine Bank für Gemütlichkeit und gute Küche. Leider hat dies… Der Beitrag Rebe, Feuer und Flamme für die Waldgeschwister erschien zuerst auf Sternestulle.

The Osgtrogothic prince Eutharic took as his wife Amalasuintha, daughter of Theodoric the Great. Eutharic was in line to succeed Theodoric as king of the Ostrogoths, but he died too soon. After Theodoric died, however, Eutharic's and Amalasuintha's son Athalaric became king.There was a bit of a problem that the Ostrogoths had with Amalasuintha, however. When Theodoric died in 526, Athalaric (516 - 534) was only 10 years old, and so Amalasuintha as regent wielded the real power in the…

Kurt Daluege isn't as widely remembered as Himmler, Heydrich or Eichmann, but he built the machinery a lot of their worst crimes ran on. As chief of Nazi Germany's Order Police for seven years, he turned a uniformed constabulary into an instrument of occupation, deportation and mass shooting. Then, in the summer of 1942, acting in Reinhard Heydrich's place, he gave the order that erased an entire Czech village from the map and sent its surviving children to a gas van. This is the story of his...

This is the second of two-part posts on the last two volumes of Sonetoismo by Filipino poet Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles. My thoughts on the penultimate volume, Dahilan (Reason), can be read here. Sa Wala Ka Maniwala by Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles (De La Salle University Publishing House, 2026) Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles is one of the writers I've discussed most