Best of the internet - September
This 19th-century celebrity-signature quilt was made entirely by one girl, Adeline Harris Sears, who began this project at seventeen years old. Sears incorporated hundreds of celebrity autographs into a quilt, sending a small diamond of white silk in the mail to prominent figures of her day with a request that the recipient send it back signed. She wound up getting signatures from luminaries such as Charles Dickens, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Jacob Grimm, as well as eight U.S. presidents, including Abraham Lincoln! Really a special project.
The Illustrated Book of Poultry. I stumbled across this recently and had to share - an 1870s guide to the keeping of "exotic chickens." Apparently, breeding these birds was once a hobby of Queen Victoria, and it soon caught on. They are... visually striking birds. Plenty of full-color images at the link.
A proposal to increase New York City biodiversity by reintroducing beavers to local parks. The argument in favor is that beavers thrived in the New York area for centuries before the Dutch settled in the area in the 1600s, and that bringing them back will improve New York's ecological future. I'm not convinced of the actual merits of the policy suggestion -- the article admits that beaver dams can cause flooding in local rivers, that beavers will damage local trees, and may well spread parasites. However, it's an interesting read, and one I found entertaining.
The largest cave in the world.. Sơn Đoòng cave, located in Vietnam. It was discovered in 1990 by Hồ Khanh, a Vietnamese conservationist. Sunbeams shine straight into the cave from above, which create a spotlight effect. The cave itself is absolutely breathtaking.
Exchange from the early days of the internet about dogs in elk. This is a very funny 1999 exchange from a woman living in New Mexico whose dogs found an elk carcass and refuse to be separated from it. Not for the faint of heart to read, although very amusing. Title: "I'm glad I have cats" XD
Featured Blog: Weird Medieval Guys
The strangeness of medieval art is something us moderns don't really appreciate. Often bawdy, always elaborate, they could feature anything from swordfighting snails to a mythical animal that used poop as a defense mechanism. You'd think illustrations that were often gilded with literal gold would be a little more serious with their subject matter. Then again, it's very amusing to look at -- sort of like a precursor to modern cartoons.
Featured artist: Erik Johansson
Erik Johansson's work is dreamlike and surreal, combining elements of fantasy. A chimney puffing dark blue clouds of night into an otherwise-at-sunset landscape. A woman carrying a pair of shears to cut away the paper sky to reveal the dawn. My favorite is Expecting Winter. You can see a selection of his works here.
Featured image
A frozen soap bubble. This image was a 2018 winner of the Wikimedia Commons' Picture of the Year contest. I love how you can see the frost tendrils branch out, almost like coral.