decadence and depravity

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[curseworm]

im extremely devout but nobody can figure out what im worshipping

[sutured-infection]

Cellulose nitrate was used to make dice from the late 1860s until the middle of the twentieth century, and the material remains stable for decades. Then, in a flash, they can dramatically decompose. Nitric acid is released in a process called outgassing. The dice cleave, crumble, and then implode.

From Dice: Deception, Fate & Rotten Luck by Ricky Jay and Rosamond Purcell, 2002.

[genderoutlaws]

An abandoned theater in Rochester, New York. Formerly a pornographic theater, then just a facade after the Walgreens next door gutted it to use as a warehouse. The Walgreens with it's shampoo and baby formula and half of the store locked in cages; the contradictions stare into you. You go because it is the nearest pharmacy, close in walking distance for you and your disabled loved ones.

The Walgreens shuts down and it too, is now just a vacant facade, next to a vacant facade. You stare into the large windows meant to advertise it's contents, now only showcasing absence. A wide open space with torn up floors. You think about how perfect the location could be for low income housing, for squatting, for anything other than standing as a constant reminder of the city's failures to her people. The parking lot is empty, save for the occasional cop car, to ensure no one uses the lot or the building for anything at all. The cop ensures the space will stay as useless as himself.

They add letters to the theater's marquee; a reminder and encouragement of surveillance. "If you see something, say something. In progress call 911, over and done call 311." They board up the doors, ensuring that the space will stay in it's intended form: empty, useless, an eyesore that reminds everyone of their place. The freshly boarded up door has been emblazoned with a message from those who lack.

"A man would shelter, if he could / in the nook behind this new plywood / the building, abandoned / the man is too / how I wish you'd imagine / that it were you."

[numberonevirginiansimp]

Pictured above is Rain, an artwork by Thurlow Small Architecture, hung from the M Street NE underpass in the NoMa neighborhood of Washington, DC. It’s one of three artworks in a series commissioned by the neighborhood to beautify the area.

And by beautify, I mean drive out the unsightly homeless.

Local law states that the homeless cannot encamp on, in, or under public art, so the NoMa Parks Foundation identified three underpasses uniquely situated out of the elements and targeted them for their installations. Now of course, it doesn’t completely deter souls seeking shelter, but it does empower law enforcement to harass them and drive them into more hidden, less comfortable crevices of the city. Out of sight and out of mind.

There is a cold, cruel beauty in the piece. It’s almost self-conscious in a way. Art weaponized against the viewer, designed to resemble the very element they are trying to escape. Rain.

[tolkien-witch]

“Yet it is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.”

-Gandalf, The Return of the King: The Last Debate, page 861.

[sacred-portal]

[cargopantsman]

[nojamnojelly]

[unofficial-estonia]

The original flag of Estonia survived Soviet occupation thanks to two members of Estonian Students Society, who hid it behind their farmhouse’s chimney wall for 50 years.

Nowadays, the original flag of Estonia is on proud display at the Estonian National Museum in Tartu.

[unofficial-estonia]

The original flag, now displayed at the Estonian National Museum

[miamaimania]

Berlin ◯ Ph. Alberto Cassani

[kedreeva]

Mama and baby <3

[donuts-multifandom-hellhole]

Something that I get chills about is the fact that the oldest story told made by the oldest civilization opens with "In those days, in those distant days, in those ancient nights."

This confirms that there is a civilization older than the Sumerians that we have yet to find

Some people get existential dread from this

Me? I think it's fucking awesome it shows just how much of this world we have yet to discover and that is just fascinating

[sleepymccoy]

@makaeru peer review cos this made me check when the Sumerians happened and I forget how recent history is for every other continent. 7000 - 8000 years ago just isn't that long when you're in Australia, and the amount of detailed history we have access to here is wonderful and should be recognised more internationally

Source (non Aboriginal)

And a quote I picked out from a longer interview with an Aboriginal local elder about the area where he touched on the history

Source (the rest of the interview is really interesting and all transcribed, have a look if you're curious)

[chaotic-archaeologist]

This is part of my Ancient Civilizations class that I teach, which does a whole week about Australia and the Torres Strait Islands because I was sick of never seeing them represented in USAmerican history contexts. With the help of @micewithknives and @acearchaeologist I've learned so many incredible things about Australia's past and it's been incredibly rewarding to share them with students.

[aggressivelybicaptainamerica]

My favorite fact about Aboriginal oral history is the fact that we pretty recently discovered that the Aboriginal myth of the 7 Sisters, an origin story for the Pleiades star cluster, accurately reflects a point TEN THOUSAND YEARS AGO when two stars in the constellation got close enough together to no longer be distinguishable by the naked eye.

The story? 6 sisters running from something that took their 7th sister.

[jinkohhh]

as a gilgar gunditj woman, i was not expecting to see my culture on my dash.

thank you for spreading our words and treating our culture with respect.

[rosieandthemoon]

By Heather Roblin, the Daphne and Apollo sterling silver ring set.

[thoughtkick]

“The prettier the garden, the dirtier the hands of the gardener.”

— B. E. Barnes, Put in work.

[aeli-noir]

[wearepaladin]

Rest in peace Marjane Satrapi.

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

After the Rain by john bowen, 1965

[thehereticpharaoh]

This is what hieroglyphs and figures in ancient Egyptian temples looked like before their colors faded. They were recreated using a polychromatic light display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, following thorough research.

[tomb-mold]

im watching a little doc on youtube about an 11th century castle, and theres a bit where they are talking to a group of older women who are working on a large hand embroidered tapestry commemorating its nearly 1000 years of history & into the modern era.. and off on the border they show a bit where the women have stitched themselves working on it into the piece itself, and it made me kinda emotional

how amazing to have a visual depiction of the women who spent literal years painstakingly stitching such a wonderful piece of art that historically would have gone uncredited

[augustaauctions]

Turquoise and silver lamè gown and stole, 1959.

[iliothermia]