Month: November 2021

Crate of Curios part 59

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And before I know it, it’s Sunday night again and time to compose another Crate. Luckily, due to my inherent digital magpie tendencies, there is no lack of material at hand, the difficulty lies in making the choice of material. Yet also this task seems to be getting easier with practice. Hence, let us proceed to opening this week’s Crate with no further ado.

  1. “I always wrote stories about things I knew, namely my life, my experience, the places and the people I met. Plots come to me at such odd moments, when I am walking along the street, or examining a hat shop… Suddenly a splendid idea comes into my head”. – The modern murder mystery owes a great debt to Dame Agatha Christie, whose own life includes an episode of unsolved mystery as well.

2. What else do people who read Dostoyevsky read? This rather unusual map will tell you.

3. ‘Serenaded by birds’ sounds very romantic… unless the birds happen to be Australian magpies.

4. Why do they say “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”? Here’s the answer.

5. Is it possible to practice open-mindedness? In one word – yes – and here are 5 ways how to do it.

6. And to finish off for today… let’s appreciate the new deities of the new era (by redpenblackpen)

And that’s it for this time. Happy reading and until next week!
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If you want to receive the Crate to your mailbox, you can subscribe here at Substack.

Crate of Curios part 58

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Still dreaming about heating and dry warm laundry, although the days are still mild for November, the sky is clear and blue and the breeze gentle. Birds sing, leaves fall and eateries are constructing glass or plastic-walled porches for winter visitors, as we, the guests, have gotten used to being outside-inside and want to keep the illusion of dining is fresh air. Anyhow, winter is coming. And until it gets here, let’s amuse ourselves by opening yet another Crate of Curios.

  1. “Hilda is a creation out of my head. I had various models over the years, but some of my best Hilda paintings I’ve ever done were done without a model. When she was much younger I used to use my celebrity daughter to model for Hilda even though she was tiny and skinny. I used her as a model. An arm is an arm and a leg is a leg and all you have to do is add a little fat.” Duane Bryers about creating one of the most iconic pin-up girls that graced the pages of U.S. magazines from 1950’s till early 1980’s.

2. Apparently there is a vaccine against fake news.

3. When nature itself offers underwater dick pics.

4. How do people sneeze around Europe? Find out here.

5. If the Egyptian pyramids were inverted… they’d be Indian stepwells.

6. And to finish off for today… let’s have some poetry spamming by The Bard himself.

And that’s it for this time. Happy reading and until next week!
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If you want to receive the Crate to your mailbox, you can subscribe here at Substack.

Crate of Curios part 57

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The ‘warmer outside than inside’ season is in full swing and the weather forecast promises a brief period of ‘cold outside-cold inside’ next week and then back to ‘warmer outside than inside’, which means than most likely we’re not gonna see any heating before December. On one hand, with the current gas prices it’s good news for the wallet, on the other I’m kind of over having the place constantly full of drying laundry as it simply Does.Not.Dry. Anyhow… moving on to more pleasant things – it’s time to open this week’s Crate.

  1. “Nothing is a mistake. There’s no win and no fail. There’s only make.” – Meet Corita Kent, the “Pop Art Nun” whose silkscreen posters were among the defining pop art of the 1960’s and 70’s.

2. Corita Kent also created 10 rules for her Immaculate Heart College students. They are worth keeping in mind. (no affiliate connection)

3. Apparently there’s only one main rule for making good decisions. Action beats inaction.

4. The reason why the kitchens in our apartments look like they do hails from… The Frankfurt Kitchen and the first certified woman architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky.

5. Want to know the true size of any country in relation to others? Check out this nifty site.

6. And to finish off for this week, here’s a little robot comic by Puddlemunch.

And that’s it for this time. Happy reading and until next week!
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If you want to receive the Crate to your mailbox, you can subscribe here at Substack.

Crate of Curios part 56

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As we are enjoying an unusually warm beginning of November, higher-than-usual electricity bills and rising food prices are already slowly heralding how the coming winter might look like. However, the sun is still here is the morning hours and that’ll keep us going until the Christmas lights are lit – and until that happens let’s amuse ourselves with yet another Crate of Curios.

  1. “There is no great secret in fortune making. All you do is buy cheap and sell dear, act with thrift and shrewdness and be persistent. It is the duty of every woman, I believe, to learn to take care of her own business affairs.” Hetty Green, the ‘Witch of Wall Street,’ who amassed a fortune worth as much as $3.8 billion in today’s money during the Gilded Age, was the richest woman in America at the time.

2. Why does life seem to get more complicated as time passes? Perhaps it’s due to entropy.

3. Remember, back in the 90’s when internet was still young and we still bought books to learn to use it?

4. Need to order a beer in Australia? Check this guide first.

5. What do physicists do all day? Some of them study the physics of walking with a cup of coffee.

6. And to finish off for this week – here’s a little comic about dictionaries by Hannah Hillam.

And that’s it for this time. Happy reading and until next week!
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If you want to receive the Crate to your mailbox, you can subscribe here at Substack.

Crate of Curios part 55

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Autumn is approaching, evening are getting uncomfortably chilly and now, after the clocks were turned to winter time again, also dark. However, there’s still hope – soon Christmas lights will be switched on on the streets, skating rinks will be opening again and not to forget – an extra hour of sleep in the morning is always good. However, to distract ourselves until then, let’s open this week’s Crate without further ado.

  1. “In 1975, Jeanne Mammen tells the art historian Hans Kinkel, who conducts the only interview she will ever give: “You must always write that my pictures were created between 1890 and 1975. …I have always wanted to be just a pair of eyes, walking through the world unseen, only to see others. Unfortunately one was seen.”

2. Where does Albus Dumbledore get his sweets? By the looks of it, in the Oldest Sweet Shop in the world in Pateley Bridge in Yorkshire.

3. Did you know that population density in North Africa is so… uneven?

4. Bangladesh is moving to revive the production of the historical Muslin fabric.

5. Did you know that blue bananas exist?

6. And to finish off for this week, let’s have a little tech support comic by Nathan W. Pyle.

And that’s it for this time. Happy reading and until next week!
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If you want to receive the Crate to your mailbox, you can subscribe here at Substack.