Opus – Page 174 – Encyclopædia of the sublime

Lawn bowls

Bowls historians believe that the game developed from the Egyptians. One of their pastimes was to play skittles with round stones. This has been determined based on artefacts found in tombs dating circa 5,000 B.C. The sport spread across the world and took on a variety of forms, Bocce (Italian), Bolla (Saxon), Bolle (Danish), Boules (French) and Ula Maika (Polynesian). The oldest Bowls green still played on is in Southampton, England where records show that the green has been in operation since 1299 A.D. There are other claims of greens being in use before that time, but these are, as yet, unsubstantiated.

Stämpfli Express

The Stampfli Express is a rowing boat for 24 rowers and coxswain made by Swiss manufacturer Stampfli Racing Boats. The boat can be rigged for either 24 scullers or for 16 scullers and 8 sweep rowers.

Giorgio Morandi

Giorgio Morandi was an Italian painter who specialized in still life. Federico Fellini paid tribute to him in his film La Dolce Vita, which featured Morandi's paintings.

Lun-class ekranoplan

The Lun-class ekranoplan is a ground effect vehicle used by the Soviet and Russian navies from 1987 until sometime in the late 1990s. It flew using the lift generated by the ground effect of its large wings when close to the surface of the water—about 4 metres or less. Although they might look similar and have related technical characteristics, ekranoplans like the Lun are not aircraft, seaplanes, hovercraft, nor hydrofoils – rather, "ground effect" is a separate technology altogether. Equipped for anti-surface warfare, it carried the P-270 Moskit (Mosquito) guided missile. Six missile launchers were mounted in pairs on the dorsal surface of its fuselage with advanced tracking systems mounted in its nose and tail.

Undulatus asperatus

Undulatus asperatus is a rare, newly recognized cloud formation, that was proposed in 2009 as the first cloud formation added since cirrus intortus in 1951 to the International Cloud Atlas.

Sigiriya

Sigiriya (Lion's rock) is an ancient rock fortress and palace ruin situated in the central Matale District of Sri Lanka, surrounded by the remains of an extensive network of gardens, reservoirs, and other structures.

Jan Grzebski

Jan Grzebski was a Polish man who woke up from a 19-year coma to find the Communist party no longer in power and food no longer rationed.

Eden Project

The Eden Project is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England. The complex is dominated by two huge enclosures consisting of adjoining domes that house thousands of plant species, and each enclosure emulates a natural biome.

Apsley Cherry-Garrard

Born on this day in 1886, the explorer was only in his twenties when in 1910 he volunteered to go to the Antarctic with explorer Robert Falcon Scott and his men. Their mission: to be first to make it to the South Pole. That expedition did not go as planned—at all. But it led to the writing of his book, which chronicled his adventure seeking emperor penguin embryos and of being a part of the search party that found the body of Scott and his two companions, Lt. Henry Bowers and Edward A. Wilson, the expedition’s chief scientist.

Monte Verità

Monte Verità in Ascona has served as the site of many different Utopian and cultural events and communities since the beginning of the twentieth century. Artists and other famous people attracted to this hill included Hermann Hesse, Carl Jung, Isadora Duncan, Paul Klee, Carlo Mense, Rudolf Steiner, and Mary Wigman.