M.J. Rose

Life in miniature…

Artist Pete Goldlust intricately carves Crayola crayons into animal totems here.

…and artist Diem Chau has discovered the beauty of old carpenter pencils. Her tiny graphite elephant reminds me of the saying about the camel and the eye of a needle, or the angel dancing on a head of a pin…

For more, click here.

Thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities, The New York Public Library is mapping history! –

Elephant-Shaped Buildings and Other Curiosities: NYPL’s Map Librarian Talks About Making Historical Geography a Part of the Internet

By Matt Knutzen, Geospatial Librarian – The New York Public Library

“One hundred years ago, a building-sized elephant stood across the street from the Coney Island Cyclone. The “elephant bazaar,” which once occupied the area on the North side of Surf Avenue, was an exciting discovery for The New York Public Library’s Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, which, with the aid of a generous three-year grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), is busy transforming NYPL’s historical paper map and atlas collections into a powerful digital resource….”

I was browsing National Geo’s Gallery of World Wonders for something to share here, and it was nearly impossible to decide which image to choose as an intro. Alas, after some consideration, this one won –

Hungary: Masked Avengers

Photograph by Joe Petersburger

“When the calendar turns to pre-Lent carnival season, one thing’s a given in the river town of Mohács in southern Hungary: The busók are coming. Not that anyone could miss them. Arriving by rowboat on the Danube and cloaked in shaggy pelts, carved wooden masks, ram’s horns, and the scraggly chops of a barbarian, some 500 men (and a few women) parade through town, bombarding the air with the jangle of cowbells…”

More about these masked fellows here, and even more world wonders here at World Wonders Photo Galley at National Geographic.