Photograph by Pierre Jahan/Archives des museés nationaux Beginning in 1938, the threat of war prompted a large-scale evacuation of France’s public art collections. The storage sites chosen for works of art were châteaux, tranquil locations in the heart of the French countryside, far from strategic targets, and thus escaping the imminent danger of bombing.…
Back in 2010, billionaire Sir Richard Branson and AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes made a bet. Sir Richard and Tony each wagered their Formula 1 racing teams (then Lotus Racing and Virgin Racing) would finish ahead of each other in their debut season, and that the loser would serve as a female cabin crew on…
Located on the Dutch side of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin (i.e., Sint Maarten) is the famous Maho Beach. While it has the characteristic white sand and turquoise water of a Caribbean paradise that is not what makes Maho Beach such a popular tourist destination. Rather, it has much to do with the…
On April 22, 2013, the Oklahoma Historical Society in partnership with the First Lutheran Church unearthed a 6-ft x 3-ft x 3-ft (1.83m x 0.91m x 0.91m) chest, buried in the church’s basement exactly 100 years prior. Dubbed the ‘Century Chest‘, the project was created in 1913 by Virginia Sohlberg of the Ladies Aid…
Have you ever looked at an object or building and thought, “hey that kind of looks like a face!”? It’s actually a psychological phenomenon known as pareidolia. Pareidolia involves a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant; it’s a form of apophenia (seeing meaningful patterns or connections in…
It’s been a while since I’ve done a ‘famous quotes‘ compilation so I culled through hundreds of quotes on ‘friendship’ last night, and these wee the fifteen that resonated most. I then overlaid the quote onto a picture because what would a Sifter post without images be? If you have any personal favourites to…
Redditor and fellow Canadian crujones43 decided to do something special for his son’s 11th birthday. Rather than just hand him a present, he decided to give him the gift of adventure. Not only was it a great way to spend the day with his son, but he documented the entire event, providing captions and…
Clement Valla is an artist, programmer and designer living and working in Brooklyn, New York. He received his BA from Columbia and his MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design where he is currently an associate professor of Graphic Design. In his ongoing series entitled, Postcards from Google Earth, Valla discovers and collects…
Located 135 meters (443 ft) underground is the famous Wieliczka Salt Mine in southern Poland. Entered into the UNESCO First World Heritage List in 1978, it was also proclaimed a Historical Monument by the President of the Republic of Poland in 1994. The mine is located in the town of Wieliczka and is within…
Photograph via kikootwo on Reddit Back in the year 2000, a 1,003 kilogram (2,211 lbs) meteorite was discovered near Fukang, a city located in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, China. Named the ‘Fukang meteorite‘, it was identified as a pallasite, a type of stony–iron meteorite, with striking olivine crystals throughout. Pallasites are extremely rare…
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