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“Cattle walking the last mile to this slaughterhouse are treated to this dazzling, but incongruous display of light before the end in Gross-Umstadt near Darmstadt, West Germany, on November 29, 1962. The chandelier came from a nearby factory that didn’t have room to assemble it there, so they decided to assemble it in this slaughterhouse. The name of the Arab ruler who ordered the 532 bulb chandelier made up of 200,000 separate parts is a secret. Also, a secret is the price he paid for it.”
(via forwhenifeellikesharing)
Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.
When the exact moment of your birth is accompanied by a large clap of thunder, the rest of your life is pretty much guaranteed to be a bumpy ride. When Mary of Burgundy was engaged to the Archduke Maximilian, it marked the first recorded use of a diamond engagement ring with a ring set with thin, flat pieces of diamonds in the shape of an “M.”
She died young, after a fall of her horse broke her back and she passed away days later. What stuck in history was the whole engagement ring concept.
But we can trace this mark-your-territory wedding trend way, way back, eons before Max and his fair Lady M. Below, how our love affair with the rock slowly evolved.
Pre-History: The caveman tied cords made of braided grass around his chosen mate’s wrists, ankles, and waist, to bring her spirit under his control.
Circa 2800 BC: Egyptians are buried wearing rings made of a single silver or gold wire on the third finger of their left hands, believed to be connected directly to the heart by the vena amoris.
2nd Century BC: According to Pliny the Elder, the groom gives the bride first a gold ring to wear during the ceremony and at special events, then an iron ring to wear at home, signifying her binding legal agreement to his ownership of her.
1st Century BC: Puzzle rings first appear in Asia, where sultans and sheiks use them to tag each of their wives.
1217: The bishop of Salisbury puts an end to the popular practice of seducing girls into mock marriage with rings made of rushes. His solution? Declaring a marriage with a rush-ring legally binding.
1456: The Gutenberg bible is published. There is no mention of betrothal or marriage rings in this or any other edition of the bible.
1477: In one of the first recorded uses of a diamond engagement ring, Archduke Maximilian of Austria proposes to Mary of Burgundy with a ring that is set with thin, flat pieces of diamonds in the shape of an “M.”
1700s: Silver “poesy rings” engraved with flowery sayings are in vogue in Europe. Across the Atlantic Ocean, the Puritans give their betrotheds useful thimbles instead of rings, which are derided as frippery. Eventually, however, many thimbles get their tops sliced off and are worn as rings anyway.
1800s: The highly sentimental Victorians make jewelry from human hair, and use gemstones to spell out names or endearments, such as a D-E-A-R-E-S-T ring set with a sequence of diamond, emerald, amethyst, ruby, emerald, etc.
1867: Diamonds are discovered in the Cape Colony (now a province in South Africa), the beginning of a huge increase in the diamond supply.
1880: Cecil Rhodes, who arrived in South Africa in 1873, founds the DeBeers Mining Company with other investors. Within the decade, they will control 90 percent of the world’s diamond production.
President Obama awards Bob Dylan the Presidential Medal of Freedom, “our Nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”
The times they are a-changin’!
Glass Beach is a protected beach, but not for its natural beauty. Located just outside of Fort Bragg, California it became an illegal dumping ground for residents in the late nineteenth century who lacked any kind of refuse pickup. It wasn’t until 1967 that the illegal dump was finally closed by city leaders and the local water board. The beach was cleaned of large refuse, but small pieces of glass and plastic that had been worn down by the elements remain, giving the beach its name and its unusual beauty.
(via adastra30)
From the first time we step into an English class, we’re told that the rules matter, that they must be followed, that we must know when it’s appropriate to use a comma and what it means to employ the subjunctive mood. But do these things really matter? Outside of the classroom, what difference does it make if we write “who” instead of “whom” or say “good” instead of “well”?
Ryan Bloom breaks down the language wars in his post, “Inescapably, You’re Judged by Your Language”: http://nyr.kr/M2IOWy
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