Airplane Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style
EDW Lynch, laughingsquid.comTo pass the time during long flights, artist Nina Katchadourian goes to the lavatory, adorns herself in tissue paper costume, and creates hilarious self-portrait photos in the style of Flemish Renaissance paintings. She calls the ser…
“Categorization of baked goods (and pancakes) in English and Chinese” - from my blog ‘haonowshaokao’
-James
We are never so virtuous as when we are ill. Has a sick man ever been tempted by greed or lust? He is neither a slave to his passions nor ambitious for office; he cares nothing for wealth and is content with the little he has, knowing that he must leave it. It is then that he remembers the gods and realizes that he is mortal: he feels neither envy, admiration, nor contempt for any man: not even slanderous talk can win his attention or give him food for thought, and his dreams are all of baths and cool springs. These are his sole concern, the object of all his prayers; meanwhile he resolves that if he is lucky enough to recover he will lead a sober and easy life in future, that is, a life of happy innocence.
So here for our guidance is the rule, put shortly, which the philosophers seek to express in endless words and volumes: in health we should continue to be the men we vowed to become when sickness prompted our words.
| — | Pliny the Younger, letter to Valerius Marcinius (via historical-nonfiction) |
In the days following the rogue US soldier’s shooting spree in Kandahar, most of the media, us included, focused on the “backlash” and how it might further strain the relations with the US.
Many mainstream media outlets channelled a significant amount of energy into uncovering the slightest detail about the accused soldier – now identified as Staff Sergeant Robert Bales. We even know where his wife wanted to go for vacation, or what she said on her personal blog.
But the victims became a footnote, an anonymous footnote. Just the number 16. No one bothered to ask their ages, their hobbies, their aspirations. Worst of all, no one bothered to ask their names.
In honoring their memory, I write their names below, and the little we know about them: that nine of them were children, three were women.
The dead:
Mohamed Dawood son of Abdullah
Khudaydad son of Mohamed Juma
Nazar Mohamed
Payendo
Robeena
Shatarina daughter of Sultan Mohamed
Zahra daughter of Abdul Hamid
Nazia daughter of Dost Mohamed
Masooma daughter of Mohamed Wazir
Farida daughter of Mohamed Wazir
Palwasha daughter of Mohamed Wazir
Nabia daughter of Mohamed Wazir
Esmatullah daughter of Mohamed Wazir
Faizullah son of Mohamed Wazir
Essa Mohamed son of Mohamed Hussain
Akhtar Mohamed son of Murrad Ali
The wounded:
Haji Mohamed Naim son of Haji Sakhawat
Mohamed Sediq son of Mohamed Naim
Parween
Rafiullah
Zardana
Zulheja
Although little is known about Giulia Tofana, I find her mystery, badassery, and general amazingness too potent to pass up.
To start it all, dear Giulia was accused of poisoning her husband. Do we know if she really did? Not really. Does it matter? Nope. Because whether or not she did or didn’t kill that inconvenient husband of hers, she went into the poison business, together with her daughter Girolama. They created that staple poison found in the retinue of even the most amateur connoisseurs of political intrigue; Aqua Tofana. Giulia and Girolama then went on to sell this poison to every hard pressed and abused wife in town, who all in a space of twenty years disposed of their pesky husbands.
Now, tons of insufferable married men up and dying in one area is bound to be noticed, unfortunately. Authorities were sent to apprehend the purveyor of these potent potions (um, alliteration anyone?). Now you would think Giulia’s run would be over. WRONG - Because everyone in the community loved her so much they just hid her in the church (and back then you were always safe from police if you managed to hightail it into a church in time). Now, of course, I do wonder if maybe at least some of those people (probably the men) hid her because they were absolutely terrified of her…But is that important? Not really.
The thing that sucks though is that all good things must come to an end — including sympathetic murdering sprees. The police finally got tired of being completely effeminized by a badass lady with a chemistry set and unfortunately broke into the church, grabbed her, and took her for questioning and torture. She eventually confessed to the rough estimate of 600 murders over 20 years — mostly of abusive husbands. That’s 1 murder a week, kids.
I have a thing for dangerous women.
菠萝包 (Bo Luo Bao) Pineapple Bun
A sweet pastry popular in Hong Kong, Macau, some other areas in southern China, and in Chinese communities in North America. The name actually originated from the fact that its sugary top crust is cooked to a golden-brown color, and because its checkered top resembles the epicarp of a pineapple.
