#lovecats

Cleomenes. Maris Warrington Billings. New York: John Lane Company, 1917. First edition. Original dust jacket; art by D. P. Lathrop.

“The central figure is Cleomenes, the great sculptor, who is commissioned by the emperor to make a statue symbolizing maidenhood. This piece of art is known in the present as the famous Medici Venus. In his search for a beautiful virtuous maiden to serve as model Cleomenes chooses a young Greek slave girl and sets to work in the atmosphere of danger and intrigue of Nero’s court.” 

How Many Species Share Our Planet?

The answer: we have NO IDEA. Most taxonomists think that we have not even begun to discover all the species that live on Earth.  After nearly 250 years of organized study and exploration, and the finding of over 15,000 new living beings each year, taxonomists are still uncomfortable giving concrete estimates. And they are the experts! What makes counting species so hard?

Scientists have identified and named nearly 8.7 million species, but that number is constantly challenged by scientists presenting new methods and models for estimating how many more we have to find. Statistical models are the most inexact of sciences. And scientists are proposing new models for estimating the number of species every year, each with wildly different numbers.

But it’s not just statistics. One of the biggest reasons we do not know how many species share our planet is that 99 percent of all potential living space is under the ocean, and we humans have explored less than 10 percent of it.

Elegant and comfy conversation seating.

#Grantchester #JamesNorton #SidneyandAmanda

The growth of language popularity across the globe (via A new way of looking at the world’s languages | World Economic Forum)

she was a queen with neither crown nor kingdom, the most powerful piece on the board with no moves left to make, so she overturned the table.

l.s. | CHRYSALIS © 2016 (via these-sacred-walls)

☯ Tumblr Animals

Robin Wright reading Variety for American Vogue, December 1987. Photograph by Matthew Rolston.

Wright started her career as a model, when she was 14. She played Kelly Capwell on the soap opera Santa Barbara at age 18. She transitioned into feature film work as Buttercup in the cult hit The Princess Bride (1987), and as Jenny Curran in Forrest Gump (1994). The latter role garnered her widespread critical acclaim as well as Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild nominations for Best Supporting Actress.