Assorted, Interesting, Fun
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Mughal jade dagger handle
Carved out of white ‘moss in snow’ jadeite jade, probably from Burma, this carved dagger hilt from the 17th Century Mughal empire at its peak is very typical of the Central Asian Islamic tradition, that represented more animals than in other branches of Islamic art, possible from a distant memory of animism and the wonderful works of ancient Bactria in modern Afghanistan, founded by Alexander the Great on his way to India. The steel blade is from Damascus and repeatedly folded like Japanese samurai swords, with the wonderful patterns known as Damascene work. Its creation in India evidences the trading links between different regions of the Islamic world. The piece is inlaid with small rubies, and now resides in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Loz
Image credit: Jastrow -
This. Peel away at my layers. Everything that makes me ME…and at the core, Looney Tunes is all you’ll find.
This. And The Wizard of Oz.:)
(via blackdistraction)
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I made a little tune but I didn’t know what to use it for. So. I made this.
perfect use
It just kept getting better and better.
(via blackdistraction)
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A direct image of a solar system being born in the Orion Nebula, 7,500 light-years from us. The entire disk is 53 billion miles across, or 7.5 times the diameter of our solar system.Picture source:Hubble Space Telescope
(via space-pics)
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North American Gulf Coast From Space At Night. (I Labeled The Cities For Context)
(via space-pics)
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Mughal jade cup
It wasn’t just the Chinese that were in love with carved jade in multiple forms, their neighbours across the Himalaya developed a fine taste for it too, embellishing the stone with their own special brand of intarsia work (inlaying hard stone into soft, like on the Taj Mahal). Jade is very tough to carve, and the work represented in hollowing out a boulder to make such a delicate near paper thin cup must have been phenomenal, taking the imperial artisans many years. This cup was made in the 18th century out of ‘mutton fat’ nephrite jade and was used for wine. The inlay work in traditional Muslim plant forms includes gold surrounds and carved rubies and emeralds. The piece resides in the Musee Guimet in Paris.
Loz
Image credit: Vassil -
OSIRIS-REx is a long way from home! It snapped this image on December 19, as it closed in on asteroid Bennu, seen glowing brightly in the top right.
That less-bright dot in the lower left? That’s Earth, and you can even see the Moon in orbit around it. A normal snapshot wouldn’t show Earth so well at that distance (114 million kilometres, or 71 million miles), but OSIRIS-REx kept its shutter open for five full seconds. 📷: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin Space http://bit.ly/2QDTfT0