13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. 653)

1. “Dreaming of Pomegranates”, 1913, by Felice Casorati an Italian painter, sculptor and printmaker More from this artist found on Weimar Art. 2. A master-planned retirement community with more than 1,740 RV homes Mobile home and RV parks cover a considerable portion of eastern Mesa, Arizona. The circular cluster is the Venture Out RV Resort.…

The Princess Pretenders

The possible survival and escape of the Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia, was one of most captivating and romantic mysteries of the 20th century. The youngest daughter of the last Tsar of Russia, was assumed to have been tragically murdered along with her parents and siblings by communist revolutionaries in 1918, when they were lured…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. 652)

1. The U.S. Is Giving Away Lighthouses for Free Each year, the US General Services Administration auctions off lighthouses to the public. This year, the General Services Administration (GSA) will give away six of the historic beacons, including the Warwick Neck Light, at no cost. An additional four will be sold via public auction. The…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. 651)

1. Cardboard studies of shops & little businesses in L.A By Ana Serrano found via Present & Correct. 2. Food styling really has come a long, long way Found on Weird Old Food. 3. The Realist Paintings of a Forgotten 19th Century Artist John Frederick Peto (21 May 1854, Philadelphia – 23 November 1907, Island…

Maud & the Cult of the Clitoris

Maud Allan– beauty of the Belle Epoque, concert pianist-turned actress, dancer and choreographer and … sex-crazed lesbian spy for German wartime conspirators? Suddenly, my morning research into an Edwardian postcard just got a lot more interesting… She was born in Maud Durrant in Canada in 1873 and moved to Germany at the age of 25 to study…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. 650)

1. Luna Luna, the secret art amusement park hidden away for 35 years One summer in 1987, the world’s first art amusement park appear in Hamburg Germany, featuring a ferris wheel by Basquiat, a carrousel by Keith Haring, an enchanted tree by David Hockney, a glass maze by Roy Lichtenstein and music by Phillip Glass.…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DCXLIX)

1. Just a three-storey 7th Century Cave In Maharashtra, India, the Ellora Caves is one of the largest rock-cut monastery-temple cave complexes in the world, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, featuring Buddhist, Hindu and Jain monuments, and artwork, dating from the 600-1000 CE period. There are over 100 caves at the site, all excavated from the basalt cliffs in the Charanandri Hills, 34…

Your Ticket Aboard the World’s First Cruise Ship

Let’s take a cruise through history (see what I did there) aboard the SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise, a German passenger ship of the Hamburg-America Line launched in 1900 and credited with having been the first purpose-built cruise ship. It only spent six years in service before it was accidentally grounded off the coast of Jamaica (oops),…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DCXLVIII)

1. Inside Denmark’s secret nuclear bunker, now open to the public A top-secret atomic bunker has opened to the public in Denmark. Built to withstand a nuclear attack, it’s now an astonishing subterranean museum that sheds light on Cold War paranoia. 2. In the 1980s there were a line of spy toys called “Spytech” 3.…

New York’s Incredible Lost Rooftop Theatres

There are some things we’ve lost that I’ll never understand. Midcentury automobile design comes to mind, as well as piano bars & cocktail lounges on our airplanes, hand-painted typography and artisanal signs lining our high streets, and now, I’ll add rooftop theatres to my list. From previous research on the ladies of the Ziegfeld Follies, I’d come across the…