Serendipities
Prepared to Explain
There are people who enter a room prepared to converse. Others arrive prepared to explain.
Phases of a Person
Around 1850, the Boston photographers Southworth & Hawes made a daguerreotype of an unidentified woman using a sliding plateholder that allowed them to expose the same silvered copper plate again and again.
Hierarchy Is Mostly a Matter of Scale
In Costa Rica, two young photographers built an elaborate macro setup to photograph a fer-de-lance — one of the region’s more venomous snakes.
Christopher Gray Biplane
Christopher Gray, the longtime New York Times “Streetscapes” columnist, had an unusual final request: after his death, he wanted his skeleton articulated and displayed at his old school, St. Paul’s.
The Pumpkin on the Tower
In October 1997, someone somehow placed a large hollowed-out pumpkin on the lightning rod at the very top of McGraw Tower at Cornell — 173 feet above the ground.
Nobody Did It
Long before children discovered the phrase “It wasn’t me,” European households had already invented someone more convenient to blame.
Pompeii, Now with Lobsters
Pompeii, which has already survived eruption, burial, excavation and two millennia of interpretation, has now accepted a new indignity: giant lobsters.
Felix Feneon
The Modern Raconteur, only 120 years ago.
Uncanny Radiology
When you can’t get enough time in the office.
Peanut Butter Floor
Some artists leave a body of work.
Emperor and Hanged Man
Knowledge shows a man how to succeed.
Serendipity Matisse
In 1961, the Museum of Modern Art displayed Matisse’s Le Bateau upside down for 47 days.
Steaming Islet Beneath a Pastel Horizon
In 1831, a volcano produced a brand-new island in the Mediterranean.
Ivory Bird History
Some men have hobbies. I have supporting careers.
The Year the World Became Modern
1874: The Year the World Became Modern
Violon Dingres 2
Some men have hobbies. I have supporting careers.
Cyanometer
How blue is blue? Naturally, someone built an instrument for that.