Brooks
Brooks has been making leather bicycle saddles since 1866.
Oblomov
Oblomov is the best known novel by Russian writer Ivan Goncharov, first published in 1859. Oblomov is also the central character of the novel, often seen as the ultimate incarnation of the superfluous man, a symbolic character in 19th-century Russian literature. Oblomov is a young, generous nobleman who seems incapable of making important decisions or undertaking any significant actions. Throughout the novel he rarely leaves his room or bed and famously fails to leave his bed for the first 150 pages of the novel.
Terrapin à la Maryland
In the 19th century, a dish called "Terrapin à la Maryland", a sort of turtle soup, was a trendy meal at elite restaurants.
Sword swallowing
Originating in India before 2000 BC, the deadly art of sword swallowing has a long and varied history. The art takes about three to seven years to learn and approximately five more to master.
Red Fort
The Red Fort is a 17th century fort complex constructed by the Mughal emperor Shahjahan in the walled city of Old Delhi.
Astrolabe
An astrolabe is an historical astronomical instrument used by classical astronomers, navigators, and astrologers.
Francis Ponge
In his most famous work, Le parti pris des choses, Francis Ponge meticulously described common things such as oranges, potatoes and cigarettes in a poetic voice, but with a personal style and paragraph form much like an essay.
Linnaeus’ flower clock
Linnaeus' flower clock was a garden plan hypothesized by Carolus Linnaeus that would take advantage of several plants that open or close their flowers at particular times of the day to accurately predict the time. He called it specifically the Horologium Florae, and proposed the concept in the 1751 publication Philosophia Botanica.
John Dillinger
Dillinger’s death is often described as the beginning of the end of the Gangster Era. On July 22, 1934, 85 years ago, FBI agents shot and killed Dillinger during a confrontation. Dillinger, whose name once dominated the headlines, was a notorious and vicious thief. Between September 1933 and July 1934, he and his violent gang terrorized the Midwest, killing 10 men and wounding seven others, robbing banks and police arsenals, and staging three jail breaks—killing a sheriff during one and wounding two guards in another. Just 12 hours after Dillinger’s death on July 22, 1934, Harold May of the Reliance Dental Manufacturing Co. created this death mask of Dillinger’s face at the Cook County Morgue in Chicago to demonstrate the quality of the company’s plaster. People sought to remember the deceased in many ways, but death masks were uncommon at this point in history. Although the creation of a death mask seems bizarre, the FBI case files describe an even stranger scene at the morgue: “Every politician and his friend in Chicago crowded into the morgue for the morbid purpose of viewing Dillinger’s remains....Great confusion existed at the morgue for several days, inasmuch as there were thousands of people who attempted to gain admission to view Dillinger’s body.” Police departments across the country asked the FBI for copies of the death mask. The FBI denied the requests after determining that providing copies would result in a “tremendous burden.” However, the FBI decided to permit officers to cast their own copies from the original while attending the newly created FBI National Academy, which still exists today. FBI National Academy attendees cast molds as part of forensic modeling studies for many years. As a result, countless copies still exist and are sometimes auctioned online as originals. After his death, 27 individuals were convicted in federal courts on charges of harboring and aiding and abetting Dillinger and his cronies during their reign of terror. Through additional FBI casework, arrests, and law enforcement partnerships, the gangster threat quickly declined.
Grand Sopot Hotel
Grand Sopot Hotel is a hotel in the seaside resort Sopot in Poland.