John Camkiran (johncamkiran)

Not long ago @aviationdoctor.eth shared a modern example of Art Deco – here’s my response. This is Rose Hill, a 45-story Manhattan skyscraper by Rockefeller that opened in 2021. Big fan of the buttresses with bottom-lit chevron reliefs, which I find produce an appearance that is simultaneously imposing and refined.

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By 1633, Ottoman coffeehouses numbered around 600. That year, Sultan Murad IV attempted to ban them for their role in stirring unrest, but the ban failed and coffee culture spread westwards. The London Stock Exchange (1680) and Lloyd’s of London (1688) are among the many notable intuitions that began as coffeehouses.

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Napoleon tried everything to curry favour with the Egyptians, including proposing the mass conversion of his army to Islam. In his memoirs, he recounts having Islamic scholars investigate whether there was any leeway on the issues of wine and circumcision. They were unexpectedly accommodating.

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Emerging victorious from a perilous battle at sea only to perish in a storm mere hours later is a most wicked twist of fortune. Such was the fate of many aboard HMS Bellerophon, which had just helped defeat the French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar. The tempest struck that night and lasted several days.

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