gnostek1 / 3The epitome of the Rohan Master's art is the " Lamentation of the Virgin " (f. 135, Pl. 57) from the Hours of the Cross. The grieving Virgin cannot be consoled by the Apostle John , who looks up in consternation at a saddened God.
01The Grandes Heures de Rohan were painted around 1420, likely in Paris, by an anonymous master known only by the manuscript.
02The full-page Death miniature shows a naked man, skin already graying, exchanging a scroll of words directly with God.
03The manuscript's patron remains unknown — one of the most personal books of the Middle Ages has no confirmed name attached.
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01Lorz claimed it was a joke; the Amateur Athletic Union banned him for life, then reversed it after a year.
02The actual winner, Thomas Hicks, was given strychnine and brandy mid-race by his handlers.
03Four of the 32 starters finished; the course was a Georgia-summer 90°F with a single water station.
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01The SAPS Rural Safety Unit was disbanded in 2007, citing budget restructuring, not case clearance rates.
02South Africa's overall murder conviction rate hovers near 12%; farm attack cases track even lower.
03Parliamentary testimony documented dockets physically removed from police stations before court dates.
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01God kills Job's ten children, 7,000 sheep, and 3,000 camels on a bet with Satan.
02The prose frame—where Job is rewarded—was likely added centuries after the original poem was written.
03At the end, God mocks Job from a whirlwind for 71 verses without answering a single question.
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01The 1281 invasion fleet numbered an estimated 4,400 ships — one of history's largest amphibious forces.
02Japanese defenders held the Mongols at bay for 53 days before the typhoon finished the job.
03The word 'kamikaze' was born here — then repurposed by Japanese pilots 663 years later.
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01Colonel Allan MacLean was wounded multiple times before being taken by Chinese soldiers on November 29, 1950.
02The combined Task Force — roughly 3,000 men — suffered casualties above 50% before breaking through the encirclement.
03MacLean's replacement, Lieutenant Colonel Don Faith, was killed leading the breakout; he received a posthumous Medal of Honor.
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01The murals in Samarkand's Afrasiyab palace depict Chinese envoys carrying silk bolts to a Sogdian king, circa 660 CE.
02A painted goose in one panel was identified as a Chinese diplomatic gift species, helping scholars decode the entire scene.
03The room was buried under a medieval city for centuries; excavation began only in 1965 by Soviet archaeologists.
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01Law was convicted of murder in London in 1694 but escaped prison and reinvented himself as a monetary theorist.
02His Banque Générale issued paper money backed by nothing; the resulting Mississippi Bubble wiped out France's middle class.
03Louis XV personally granted Law French citizenship and the title Controller-General — the kingdom's highest financial office.
gnostek1 / 6The Kwakwaka'wakw continue the practice of potlatch. Illustrated here is Wawadit'la in Thunderbird Park , Victoria, B.C. , a big house built by Chief Mungo Martin in 1953. Wealthy, prominent hosts would have a Big House specifically for…
01Chiefs destroyed copper shields worth thousands of blankets to publicly shame competing chiefs.
02Canada criminalized the potlatch in 1885; practitioners faced up to six months in prison.
03Kwakwaka'wakw chief Dan Cranmer hosted an illegal 1921 potlatch; 45 attendees were arrested.