Pieter Breguhel's The Flatterers

Via Mona Goldwater, Social Mores Ed.

The inscription around the frame reads “Because so much money passes through my purse, therefore I am always surrounded by flatterers 1592," (which may be a reference to a Flemish proverb).

click to enlarge

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Flower #52 - Passion Flower

By Jack Brummet

click to enlarge

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Seattle Art Museum's Peru: Kingdoms of the sun and the moon exhibit

By Jack Brummet, Art Ed.

This was a fascinating show of rarely seen sculpture, metalwork, painting and textiles spanning the last 3,000 years, and including work from the Mochica, Chimu and Inca cultures.   There was also a lot of detail on archaelogy, artifact preservation, and especially on the "discovery," reasurrection and preservation of Machu Picchu.  It is varied across the arts, and is especially heavy on ancient (1st to5th century) ceramics, most of which as the best preserved I have ever seen.  Many of the pieces do not even include one hairline crack.

As the show progresses, the art shifts during the Colonial and Vice-royal eras as Christianity seeps in (travelling, we've seen this same phenomena in both Turkey and Colombia).  Finally the show progresses into the modern era, and you see both contemporary and indigenous-focused painting.

I lived the gold and jade chalice and the arms golden gloves

The triple deity (father, son, holy ghost)

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The Alpha Gull/Dominance

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Pyramids in Antarctica?

By Jack Brummet, Alien Lore Ed.

Alas, the story is shaky, and shows all the hallmarks of a hoax.  If this were true, we all know the team could and would not "keep silent about the discovery."  Nonetheless, it's a good story, whether it's true or not. The following text is from a post on the In Serbia news site:

"Three ancient pyramids have been discovered in the Antarctic by a team of American and European scientists. Two of the pyramids were discovered about 16 kilometers inland, while the third one was very close to the coastline, media reported.

"An expedition to the bizarre structures should answer the intriguing question whether they are artificial or natural.

"The first reports about the pyramids appeared in western mass media last year. Few pictures were posted on some web-sites with a commentary that the strange structures could serve evidence that the ice-covered continent used to be warm enough to have had an ancient civilization living there.

"By the current moment little is still known about the pyramids, the team continues to keep silent about the discovery. The only reliable information provided by the scientists was that they were planning an expedition to the pyramids to research them more thoroughly and determine for sure whether the structures were artificial or natural. No details about the time frame of the expedition were offered.

"In case the researchers prove the pyramids are man-made structures, the discovery may bring about the biggest revision of human history ever made."

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Painting: crowd control

By Jack Brummet

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Ballard Travel Posters

By Jack Brummet

I saw these two Ballard travel posters in a shop at 24th NW and 80th Street. . .

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Happy New Year! Let's make it happen.

Happy New Year from Mona Goldwater, Pablo Fanque, and Jack Brummet.

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Drawing: Knifefight

By Jack Brummet

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The best tank ever, and possibly a prototype for a bullet-proof urban transportation system

By Jack Brummet, Urban Transportation Ed. 

This would be a great vehicle to commute to work in.  A little slow, sure; I'm guessing it has a maximum speed of under ten miles per hour. And, yeah, people behind you might honk.  But then, they may not when they see how easily you can slip into reverse. This image/article comes from the always wonderful Modern Mechanix. It was first published in 1936.

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President Obama's favorite television shows, according to the New York Times

By Jack Brummet, Entertainment Ed. and Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Ed.

Over the years, we've had tantalizing hints about BHO's downtime entertainment.  We know he loves Al Green, and even sang a few bars of a tune by the Reverend.  He told the press at one point that his favorite Bob Dylan song was "I ain't going to work on Maggie's farm no more."  He's mentioned other songs, performers, and movies he likes.  Recently, his television viewing was chronicled in these excerpts from Michael D. Shear's article in the New York Times:

Obama’s TV Picks: Anything Edgy, With Hints of Reality

"Mr. Obama is … a devotee of Showtime’s 'Homeland,' which offers an eerily familiar mirror to the president’s own foreign policy adventures: terrorism, Iranian nuclear negotiations, drone strikes, and an intelligence agency struggling for legitimacy with Congress and the American people.

"It may be a fool’s errand to psychoanalyze anyone — let alone a sitting president — based only on the books he reads or the music he listens to, or the television shows he watches." - Michael D. Shear

"And the list of heavies continues. Mr. Obama has told people he is a big fan of 'Game of Thrones,' a brutal imagining of the wars in medieval Europe. He has raved about 'Boardwalk Empire' and the BBC’s 'Downton Abbey,' two period dramas that document the angst and difficulties that people faced during those times. And he has worked his way through the DVDs of AMC’s smoldering 'Mad Men' series, telling friends that the character of Peggy Olson has given him insight into what it must have been like for his strong-willed grandmother in a world dominated by men.

"These days, when Mr. Obama retreats to the White House residence after a long day on the other end of the colonnade, he is working his way through the DVD box set of AMC’s 'Breaking Bad,' the award-winning TV drama about a drug-dealing high school teacher. The show just ended after five seasons, but the president is way behind and frequently reminds those around him not to give anything away."

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Photo: Lost dog on Highway 97

By Jack Brummet

I found this on a bulletin board at a gas station along Highway 97, traveling from Mazama to Wenatchee. . .

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