1. Strong contender for Cosiest Home on the Internet
Jade is the “forever nesting” mother of four behind the instagram account @_cosyhome.
Doesn’t it feel like you could be on the set of Love Actually?!
“Everything I buy is second hand”, she says. “I love vintage & always searching charity shops & eBay for treasures & bargains”.
2. An Art Nouveau Hotel Lost in Time
Grand Hotel Europa in Prague, located on the famous Wenceslas Square was built in 1889 and rebuilt in the art nouveau style in 1905. During it’s more than one hundred-year existence Hotel Evropa became one of the most valuable architectural landmarks. It’s unique interior has appeared in many films of various world productions, for example the well known ‘Mission Impossible’ with Tom Cruise and was used as the inspiration for the dining room in the movie Titanic.
In the 1920s, the hotel became one of the most luxurious and modern hotels in Europe for its time (hot water in the rooms, central heating, lift). It is also in this hotel that the British philanthropist Nicholas Winton settled down to organize the first stage of the rescue of hundreds of Czechoslovak Jewish children from Nazism, just before the Second World War. In the 1950s, the hotel was nationalized by the Communists and began to fall into ruin, its prestige disappearring.
Since 2016, it is supposedly under development to be renovated into a W Hotel under Marriott International, but the landmark has yet to reopen.
Photos found on Shutterstock, information via Wikipedia.
3. New York’s Lost Skyscraper
The famous Singer Tower, a New York City skyscraper that once defined an era, and has now been completely forgotten. Upon its completion it was the tallest building in the world, surpassing Philadelphia’s city hall which was the previous record holder. The Singer building was one of the worlds most beautiful examples of urban architecture – now it is an example of poor historic preservation.
4. “A Future City from the Past”
Brutal mega structures inspired by JG Ballard, imagined by Clemens Gritl.
5. Napoleon’s toothbrush, c 1795
6. This steamer trunk from 1890 converts to a dresser so the traveller didn’t have to unpack.
Found on The Fabulous Weird Trotter.
7. The literature clock tells you the current time using a literary snippet
You can try the online version now or pre-order your very own literature clock here.
8. Someone decided to unlock the Mystery of the Postmodern British Sweaters
If you’ve been reading MessyNessyChic a while, you might recall back in 2016, we found this Insane 1980s Book of Knitted Sweaters. Sarah Archer of The Cold War Correspondent took things step further.
9. A Solid List to Listen to
Discover the podcasts here.
10. The Deluge’ (2002) by Bill Viola
The short was part of ‘Going Forth By Day’, a five-part projection-based installation by prolific video artist that addresses the complexity of human existence and explores cycles of birth, death, and rebirth.
11. The Problem NASA had with its Space Suit Pee Pouches
NASA had to relabel the penis sleeve for urinating in space suits from “small” “medium” and “large” to “large” “gigantic” and “humungous” because astronauts would only choose the large and they keep slipping off. True story.
Donald Rethke, who earned the nickname “Dr. Flush” for his work on zero-gravity waste management, stated in an interview for a documentary (the 2008 “Space Suit” episode of Moon Machines, on the Science Channel) that the size chart for the urinary condoms attached to the Maximum Absorbency Garment space suit system had to be changed because astronauts refused to choose the “small” size:
“Inside the urine collection assembly, which we call the pee pouch, is a one liter bag. And the attachment to the body was a condom with a hose on the end of it which allowed the urine to flow freely into the bag. The condoms initially came in three different sizes: small, medium and large. But few astronauts, whatever their real dimensions, refused to accept that they were anything but large. We changed the names to large, gigantic, and humongous.”
Found on Reddit.
12. Pablo Picasso’s first (1896) and last (1972) self portrait
See the full evolution of his portraits throughout his life here. For context, you should also watch Picasso’s process to get an idea.
13. Skiers vs Snowboarders, 1985
