M.J. Rose

Mandalas above…

Behold.

From Bored Panda,

The Hypnotizing Beauty Of Iranian Mosque Ceilings

“Middle Eastern architecture is renowned for its kaleidoscopic beauty. If you haven’t had a chance, yet, to witness it for yourself, Instagram photographer m1rasoulifard can take you on a mesmerizing visual journey. He captures the best of Iran’s architectural details in his hypnotizing photos.

From the J?meh Mosque, one of the oldest still standing in Iran, to Chah?r B?gh school, the photographer aims to show the history of Iranian architecture and design.

For more Iranian mosque interiors, you can also have a look at this post. Because they are historic structures, many of these mosques also impose heavy restrictions on photography, so these photos are a real treat!…”

For an incredible gallery of these, click here.

Creepy or fantastic? We are having a hard time deciding.

Titanic 2 – An Australian billionaire’s project to revive RMS Titanic in 2018…

It’s finally spring. What better topic than chastity belts? 😉

Here’s another nice piece from our clever friends at Atlas Obscura…

A chastity belt caricature from 1590 (Image: Heinrich Wirrich/Wikimedia)

Everything You’ve Heard About Chastity Belts Is a Lie

by Sarah Laskow

“What was the chastity belt? You can picture it; you’ve seen it in many movies and heard references to it across countless cultural forms. There’s even a Seattle band called Chastity Belt. In his 1969 book Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask), David R. Reuben described it as an “armored bikini” with a “screen in front to allow urination and an inch of iron between the vagina and temptation.” “The whole business was fastened with a large padlock,” he wrote. With this device, medieval men going off to medieval wars could be assured that their wives would not have sex with anyone else where they were far, far away, for years at a time.

Yes, it sounds simultaneously ridiculous, barbarous and extremely unhygienic, but…medieval men, you know? It was a different time.

This, at least, has been the story that’s been told for hundreds of years. It’s simple, shocking, and, on some level, fun, in that it portrays past people as exceeding backwards and us, by extension, as enlightened and just better. It’s also, mostly likely, very wrong….”

For the rest, and some very interesting pictures, click here.