Apocalyptic Lamb

Arches National Park, Utah photo: Elliot McGucken

elk have such beautiful bone webs

Jungjin Lee

One of my favorite historical tidbits is that Arab traders, for centuries, fooled Europeans into thinking cinnamon came from a rare, vicious and fearsome cinnamon bird.

The belief was so prevalent, in fact, that the mythical cinnamon bird shows up in the writings of Herodotus and Aristotle, all the way into medieval European manuscripts where it’s illustrated in all its fierce, cinnamony glory:

Pliny the Elder expressed skepticism of the bird in his writings, rightly assuming that it was a tale invented to keep control on the trade and prices by reducing competition, but the belief was already so widespread that it persisted in many areas into the early 1300’s.

Sword with gold and silver decorated hilt from Nuremburg, Germany, dated 1547

from The Dresden State Art Collection

How are you doing today?

From the London Longsword Academy's Facebook page.

A phenomenally enameled silver Swept-hilt Rapier, Germany, ca. 1606, housed at the Staaliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.