WORLD CLASS PERFORMER V Do you know why, during... that brilliant BTS performance, it was Kim Taehyung — among all the members — who took on specific responsibilities before the group's largest audience since their debut? V’s performance AT FIFA HALFTIME SHOW revealed an aspect of live performance that often goes unnoticed by the public: the cognitive complexity involved in executing last-minute changes without compromising artistic quality. #Taehyung demonstrates a rare ease when he needs to deviate from the script. He responds to the environment, the cameras, the audience, and last-minute adjustments with a spontaneity that never feels merely improvised, but rather organic. In these unpredictable moments, Taehyung seems to be in his element, revealing an artistic confidence that few performers can maintain under such pressure. For a vocalist, altering the distribution of a song's lines is one of the riskiest tasks imaginable. After years of performing a song the same way, musical and muscle memory become deeply ingrained. Breaking this pattern requires an exceptional level of concentration, as the brain must inhibit established responses and replace them with a new sequence — all while the performance is unfolding in real time. For the presentation of “Dynamite”, #V took on vocal parts that were not originally assigned to him and even altered the lyrics themselves. These changes were prepared in an incredibly short timeframe — just hours after he had performed the standard version of the song during the tour in Paris. In other words, his brain had to switch between two different versions of the same song on practically the same day, without letting one interfere with the other. The challenge was not merely vocal. He had to synchronize these new cues with highly precise choreography, stage blocking, camera positioning, interaction with the other members, movement across a vast stadium, and the pressure of singing entirely live before the planet's largest sports audience. All of this took place while his body was still bearing the physical and mental toll of an intense touring schedule. It is precisely this kind of situation that distinguishes a great singer from a world-class artist. Vocal technique must work in tandem with memory, motor coordination, spatial awareness, breath control, rhythm, interpretation, and the ability to adapt under pressure. A slight slip-up in the cue, singing a word from the old version, or a delay of a fraction of a second could have compromised the entire flow of the performance. None of that happened. #BTSV executed every change with absolute naturalness, as if that version had always existed. His vocals remained steady and powerful, his stage presence stayed magnetic, and his delivery exuded confidence from start to finish. At no point was the complexity of the task apparent to the audience. Paradoxically, this invisibility is one of the greatest indicators of technical excellence: when the extraordinary appears simple. And there is a detail that makes this feat even more significant. The section with the modified lyrics ended up becoming the most viral moment of the entire performance. It was the part replayed by media outlets, shared on social media, turned into thousands of videos, and remembered by audiences around the world. Yet, the significance of that moment went beyond technical execution. Taehyung achieved something rare: a cultural shift. His magnetism transcended languages, geographies, cultures, and different audience bubbles. The performance generated digital waves, emotional reactions, debates on performance art, a massive aesthetic impact, and completely organic viral reach. It was a historic performance because it simultaneously combined a supreme level of technical skill, immense artistic responsibility, and a cultural impact that continued to expand long after the show ended. Few artists manage to turn a performance into a global event. #KimTaehyung did.show more

I remember that in all the OT7 interviews at... the beginning of the Arirang promotions, the members, without exception, credited Kim Taehyung with creating “Into the Sun,” as did the track's producers. They also shared that the most memorable moment of the songwriting camp was with Tae, while he created the melody and the producers spontaneously added harmonies. Even Bang PD and Pdogg gave Taehyung credit for the song's creation. “Into the Sun” quickly became one of the most acclaimed songs on the album, both by critics and the public. The connection is surreal, just as the song went viral after Tae's choreography. Seeing him technically and artistically expressing emotional release from beginning to end of the track on this tour connects me deeply with the song. In this excerpt, Tae, at his melodic climax or culminating point, creates an ascending melody with a crescendo (F4 - G4 - A4) with projection and a full/rich voice 🫠🤌🏽 GENIUS COMPOSER TAEHYUNG #KimTaehyung #V #Taehyung #BTSVshow more

The funniest part about Kendrick Lamar’s trash Super Bowl... halftime performance — is that the audience didn’t know any of the songs from his GNX album…A album that was “critical acclaimed” and debuted at number one after his rap beef with Drake… Kendrick has many hit songs that people are familiar with, and that he could have performed — but, because of his envy and jealousy of Drake, he embarrassed himself on the world’s largest stage…A missed opportunity fueled by envy, jealousy, and pure hate… The audience of about 60K people only knew the Drake diss song “Not Like Us” — one song that was “allegedly” heavily pushed by UMG in the 20V1 industry “Elimination of Drake” campaign.. So what happened to the catalog of the 22 time Grammy award winner — and the only rapper to win a Pulitzer prize???🤭😅 #DrakeIsHimshow more

Listen closely to this segment of BTS's performance at... the World Cup final show. When Kim Taehyung enters, his voice takes on a much greater spatial presence. It is as if his voice “takes over” the stadium. Although the vocalists share the melodic line, Taehyung's entry immediately alters the spatial perception of the performance. This week, alongside other vocal professionals, I was exploring the concept of “DOMINANT TIMBRE.” While not a formal technical term in vocal acoustics, it is frequently used to describe voices whose timbral identity naturally stands out within an ensemble. In terms of social perception — specifically in behavioral and communication studies — the term can also describe vocal tones that convey authority, power, or dominance. This perception can be explained by a combination of factors related to vocal projection, the harmonic spectrum, resonance, and acoustic presence. The result is a voice that seems to fill the stadium. V's voice possesses: • Greater vocal projection: the voice seems to “travel” effortlessly across the stadium. • More energy in the mid-high harmonics (singer's formant): this region of the spectrum allows a voice to stand out, even in a massive venue. • Highly efficient resonance: the vocal tract is configured so that the sound gains body and depth. • Greater “acoustic presence”: the voice seems to occupy more three-dimensional space, whereas other voices sound more localized. This explains why two people can sing the exact same pitch, at the same intensity (measured in dB), and the same melody, yet one of them seems “three times larger.” The brain interprets this voice as having more presence because it contains more acoustic information within the frequency ranges to which we are most sensitive. TAEHYUNG AT FIFA HALFTIME SHOW #Kimtaehyung #Taehyung #V #BTSVshow more

Q: Was there a particularly memorable moment working with... the members on this album? Tyler Spry: There’s a video that’s gone around on the Internet when I was writing with V, James Essien and Sean Foreman. That video is not the making of any of the songs that made the album, but it was one of the most fun days I had in the studio with the guys. We were just jumping up and down, singing the songs. I think that it was one of the freest days we had in the studio, creatively. So I do hope that song gets to see the light of day.show more

One of the key reasons Gene Wilder introduced the... limp to Willy Wonka's character in the 1971 hit film "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" was to make it difficult for the audience to tell if he was lying or not. The limp was a deliberate part of Wilder's performance strategy to keep the audience guessing about Wonka's true intentions and emotions. Wilder wanted to convey a sense of unpredictability and ambiguity in the character. By using the limp as a physical quirk, he could emphasize the idea that Willy Wonka was a complex and enigmatic individual. This made it challenging for the audience to discern whether he was being sincere or putting on an act, which added an extra layer of intrigue to the character's interactions with the children and their families. In essence, the limp served both to create a multifaceted portrayal of Willy Wonka and to contribute to the overall mystique and uncertainty surrounding the character, making Gene Wilder's performance as Wonka all the more captivating and memorable.show more

They did not take cursive from the schools because... children no longer needed it. They took it because of what it was quietly building in them. Consider what the exercise actually is. A child, six years old, is handed a pen and asked to draw a single unbroken line that becomes a word. The wrist must float. The fingers must hold a living pressure, never quite the same twice, always correcting. The eye must follow the ink forward and trust the hand to finish what it has begun. There is no lifting, no stopping, no starting over mid-word. The loop must close. The ascender must rise and return. The sentence must travel from one margin to the other as a single continuous gesture, and at the end of it the hand must still be steady. Twelve years of this. Every day. Ten thousand small acts of sustained, self-correcting attention, carried out below the level of conscious thought, until the motion belongs to the body and the body belongs to the motion. This is not penmanship. It is the slow construction of an interior form. The hand that has learned to carry a line without breaking it is the hand of a mind that has learned to carry a thought without breaking it. The two are not metaphors for one another. They are the same faculty, trained in the same child, by the same daily discipline. Continuity of the stroke becomes continuity of the reasoning. The patience of the loop becomes the patience of the argument. The commitment to finish a word one has started becomes the commitment to finish a sentence, a paragraph, a life's idea, without reaching for the nearest distraction halfway through. Print is a different creature entirely. Print lifts. Print stops. Print assembles a word out of separate, stamped, interchangeable pieces, each one beginning and ending in isolation. A mind raised only on print learns to think the way print is made, in discrete tokens, in replaceable units, in fragments that can be recombined by any outside hand without the owner noticing the substitution. It is precisely the shape of thought a language model produces. It is precisely the shape of thought a language model can steer. Cursive is kata. This is the whole of it. A form repeated daily, for years, not for the sake of the form but for what the repetition lays down in the practitioner beneath the form. The swordsman does not train kata so that one day he may fight in kata. He trains it so that when the moment comes and there is no time to think, the movement is already inside him, older and deeper than thought, and it rises on its own. Cursive was the kata of the literate mind, the daily quiet drilling of continuity, of patience, of a line held steady under the long pressure of its own length. And the signature it produced at the end, that small flourished mark unique to a single human being on earth, was only the outward proof of an inward form no machine and no other hand could ever reproduce. Take the kata away and the practitioner is left with vocabulary in place of faculty. He can recognise a whole thought when he encounters one. He cannot carry one himself. He can admire a finished argument. He cannot sustain one long enough to close its loop. He begins books he does not finish, sentences he does not end, ideas he abandons the moment the screen in his palm offers him a brighter one. And when the machine begins feeding him tokens in the exact shape his schooling taught him to receive, he meets it with no interior resistance at all, because no interior form was ever built in him to push back with. They removed it quietly, across a generation, and they removed it in the last years before the machines arrived. Twelve years of daily practice in unbroken, embodied, self-authored thought, gone from the curriculum of almost every child in the Western world, just as the instruments designed to complete their sentences for them came online. The hand forgets. The mind, having never been taught the kata, forgets a thing it never knew it had. That is what cursive was. That is what was taken. And that is why the thought of anyone who still writes by hand, in long unlifted lines, remains, quietly, stubbornly, and without their ever needing to announce it, their own. Now the question stands open. What else has been banned, phased out, quietly retired from the curriculum and from common life over these same decades, under the same soft excuses? Mental arithmetic. Memorisation of poetry. Latin. Logic as a formal subject. Map reading. Knot work. The keeping of a commonplace book. The reading aloud of long passages in class. Singing in parts. What was each of those actually building in the child, beneath the surface of the lesson, and whose interest was served by its disappearance?show more

Producer Tyler Spry via Billboard about Taehyung (3) Q:... Was there a particularly memorable moment working with the members on this album? 👤There's a video that's gone around on the Internet when I was writing with V, James Essien and Sean Foreman. That video is not the making of any of the songs that made the album, but it was one of the most fun days I had in the studio with the guys. We were just jumping up and down, singing the songs. I think that it was one of the freest days we had in the studio, creatively. So I do hope that song gets to see the light of day.show more

Can you really say he deserves this nomination? I... doubt it. No doubt, Ronwen Williams isn't just one of the first eleven among the South African AFCON players. He was the best among them. He did not just play at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2024; he has redefined what it means to be a custodian between the posts. His performance wasn't merely exceptional; it was a masterclass in goalkeeping that will be talked about for years to come. In the quarterfinals against Cape Verde, Williams didn't just save penalties;he choreographed a dance of rebellion, stopping four out of five shots in the shootout. This wasn't just skill; it was as if he had peered into the future, knowing precisely where each ball would go. This feat alone would have been enough to etch his name in AFCON history, but Williams was just warming up. His journey through the tournament was marked by clean sheets and crucial saves, showcasing a blend of athleticism, intuition, and sheer willpower. Against Morocco, a team riding high on confidence, Williams stood tall, his presence in goal was like that of an immovable fortress. Each save was not just a stop; it was a statement, a declaration that on this day, in this tournament, he was unbeatable. The semifinals against Nigeria, laughs! The clash of the Titans. The real AFCON finals, no offence. A match where the stakes were as high as the tension, saw Williams concede but only after a battle where he seemed to stretch time itself, diving, parrying, and commanding his area with the authority of a seasoned general. His performance in the penalty shootouts wasn't just about stopping the ball; it was about breaking the spirit of the opposition, making them doubt their abilities with every save. When the tournament concluded, and the awards were handed out, there was no surprise when Williams was named the Goalkeeper of the Tournament. This wasn't just an award; it was an acknowledgment of a stellar performance that transcended the ordinary. That's an extraordinary performance. His stats - five clean sheets, six penalties saved, and an array of saves that defied physics - tell a story of dominance, of a goalkeeper who didn't just play the game but owned it. Bosso ke mang? Ke Williams! Oga na master! I celebrate Williams, not just for his individual brilliance but for how he carried an entire nation's hopes on his shoulders. In a tournament where every game was a battle, Williams was South Africa's greatest shield, their beacon of hope, and ultimately, their hero even while bowing to the Super Eagles. His performance at AFCON 2024 will be remembered not just for what he did on the field but for how he inspired a generation of goalkeepers and football fans across Africa. In the Hall of AFCON fame, many names will be remembered, but few will shine as brightly as Williams, whose gloves seemed to have a mind of their own, saving not just goals but etching moments into the hearts of football lovers everywhere. His was not just a performance; it was a phenomenon, a testament to what one individual can achieve when they rise to the occasion, not just as a player, but as a legend in the making. So, I DOUBT that he doesn't just deserve the nomination, especially being the first goalkeeper in history to be nominated for the Yashin Trophy while playing for a club in Africa. He deserves to win it. And I am very proud of him. I mean, watch these 👇🏾 God bless Ronwen Williams God bless South Africa God Bless Africashow more

The Ed Sullivan show was a staple in many... US households. It featured a mix of new and popular hip music along with the more established "parent's" music coming from stars like Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. One of the hip new 60s groups that made it's way onto the Sullivan stage was the Mamas and the Papas. The story goes that the band was upset about having to lip sync their performance. So in pure hippy rebel fashion Michelle Phillips decides to eat a banana during what should be her parts of the vocal harmonies to the songs they were supposed to be performing! There's still some debate on whether this was a truly rebellious gesture on the part of the band, or if the band was just having a bit of fun. Michelle Phillips debunked the story (I'll post in the comments) but still there are those who insist that it was an act of 60s Flower Children rebellion!show more

From a distance, this figure seems to be wearing... a robe draped over his shoulders. Step closer, and you realize it is not a robe. It's his own skin... This is the statue of Saint Bartholomew, carved in 1562 by the Lombard sculptor Marco d'Agrate, and it stands inside the Duomo of Milan. Bartholomew was one of the twelve apostles of Christ, and according to tradition he was martyred in the cruelest way imaginable: he was flayed alive, his skin stripped from his body, and then beheaded. D'Agrate chose to show him not in the moment of agony, but afterward, standing upright in defiance, his own flayed skin wrapped around him like a garment. What makes the sculpture extraordinary is the precision beneath that skin: every muscle, every tendon, every vein and cord of the human body is exposed and rendered with such accuracy that anatomists have studied it. This was the Renaissance at its most fearless, when the same curiosity that drove artists to dissect the human body in secret produced an image of a man turned inside out, his suffering transformed into a study of how a human being is actually made. And the sculptor knew exactly how remarkable his achievement was. At the base of the statue he carved a line in Latin that has outlived him by nearly five centuries: Non me Praxiteles, sed Marcus finxit Agrates. "I was not made by Praxiteles, but by Marco d'Agrate." He was comparing himself to the greatest sculptor of ancient Greece, and daring you to disagree... I started this newsletter because the artists of the past were truly extraordinary, and fewer and fewer people are showing us what they were capable of. Every week I try to. If that is something you would like to be part of, you can join at the link below, and if you'd like to support my work, a paid subscription is what makes it possible: Thanks for reading.show more

This is real gun camera footage from a P-51... Mustang, chasing a German Bf 109 down to the treetops until it goes down in flames. The American pilot flying it, Lt John Kirla, shot down five enemy planes in a single day, becoming an ace in one mission. This footage captures one of his victories over a Bf 109. This is his story.. From Trainee to the Yoxford Boys John Kirla was not a born fighter ace. He was an ordinary young American who had come up through flight training in Texas, graduating at the start of 1944. He learned his trade on trainers, moved up to fighters, and got just 15 hours in the P-51 Mustang before being sent to England as a replacement pilot. He joined the 362nd Fighter Squadron of the 357th Fighter Group, a unit based at Leiston that was already becoming a legend. The 357th was the first group in the Eighth Air Force fully equipped with the Mustang, and it would go on to produce more aces than any other fighter group in the Eighth, including Chuck Yeager and Bud Anderson. Kirla was the newest pilot in a squadron already filled with experienced aces. His job was to escort American bombers deep into Germany and protect them from the Luftwaffe. On November 27 1944, he got the day that would define him. Five Victories in One Mission That morning the 357th ran headlong into a massive swarm of German fighters trying to get at the bombers. Kirla's flight dropped their fuel tanks and dived straight into the middle of it. Almost immediately, the fight became a swirling, low-level brawl of Mustangs, Messerschmitts, and Focke-Wulfs twisting across the sky. Kirla picked out his first target and opened fire, and from that moment he did not stop hunting. In his own account, he spotted a Bf 109 that was attacking an American bomber. He went after it, closed to just 30 yards, and when the German threw his fighter into a tight barrel roll straight down toward the ground, Kirla stayed glued to his tail and, in his words, clobbered him all over until he went down. An Ace in a Day He kept finding more. Again and again through that wild, sprawling fight, Kirla latched onto an enemy aircraft and did not let go. At one point he watched a German fighter shoot down one of his fellow Mustang pilots right in front of him, and closed in for revenge. As he described it afterward, he opened fire, saw pieces start to fly off the enemy aircraft, and watched it fall out of the sky like a leaf drifting to the ground. Rather than breaking away and climbing back to safety, Kirla chased his targets down low, following them almost to the ground, the fighters weaving over villages and treetops until the enemy aircraft finally went down. By the time the fight was over, John Kirla had shot down five German aircraft in a single mission. He had become an ace in a day, one of the relatively few American fighter pilots to achieve that in a single mission. The Mustang That Changed the Air War The Mustang was the aircraft that made days like Kirla's possible. The P-51 combined long range, high speed, and deadly firepower, and it could follow the bombers all the way to their targets and fight the German fighters on equal or better terms. By the end of the war, P-51 groups had claimed close to 5,000 enemy aircraft shot down, about half of all American air-to-air kills in the European theater. Kirla's own group, the 357th, became the top-scoring Mustang group in the Eighth Air Force. Flying one of the finest escort fighters of the war, men like Kirla helped turn the tide of the air war over Germany. The gun-camera film rolling every time he pressed the trigger captured it all, including the footage you are watching. John Kirla's Legacy John Kirla flew on to the end of his combat tour and finished the war as a double ace, credited with 11 and a half enemy aircraft destroyed in the air. He was awarded the Silver Star and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his courage in the skies over Europe. He had gone from a trainee with a handful of hours in a Mustang to one of the deadliest fighter pilots in one of the deadliest fighter groups of the war, in the span of a single year. The footage of his Mustang chasing a Bf 109 down to the trees is only a few seconds long. But behind those few seconds is a young American who climbed into a fighter, dove into a swarm of the enemy, and shot down five of them before the day was out. This was the story of John Kirla. I post a story like this every single day. Most people never see them. Follow so you don't miss the next one.show more

2. Teasers / MV / Live presentations We believe... all the content should include all members. Not some content, but all of it. We see some people excusing the exclusion of Lee Know in some content because "he will appear in other content", we don't understand why he would be excluded out of any content when the group includes 8 members. There isn't an excuse for this to happen all the time. We will only talk about recent releases and God's Menu to not make this even longer. a) Gods Menu - A title track where they gave him zero lines and screen time (song that they continue to sing, so the company could have made a redistribution of the lines). b) Megaverse - They gave him lines in the initial release, but then they cut his part to 3 seconds, and decided to delete his center part leaving him with half of a line. c) Hall Of Fame - Every live presentation they would cut Lee Know on his own part recording from below all of the other members and only listening to Lee Know's voice without being able to look at him. d) S-Class - They stopped recording the kick he does and instead they record the other members, Lee Know sings there. e) JJAM - When it was dance racha time, Lee Know got almost no time, during the life presentation the moment he goes to the center he says his line "I know..." and while he says it, the screen gets black, so he doesn't have that time on screen, later he is placed at the back covered during the dance break. He is the dance leader. f) Walkin on Water' - During the live presentation, they decided to record everyone on his part, and cut it from his own fancam. g) Recent teasers - He was completely excluded from the first teaser and only included in the second one, he got no solo recording on the MV like the other members. h) Giant - There is a part on the video where all the members are shown, Lee Know is covered and the lights are lowered where he is, making him invisible. During the live presentation, they record other members on his part, they put the dance focus on others, being the only part he has where he sings alone. i) YOUTH - After the release of the MV, the company decided to edit the video causing views to freeze and deleting a very important part where it thanked the people involved. The time from when the video was finished to when it was published was enough to arrange all the details, and the part deleted was so big, it was impossible to miss it. This happened before with his other individual work “Dawn”, which was deleted after some time, and re-uploaded, deleting all the views it had accumulated. This means one of two things, the company puts less interest and effort in Lee Know's work, or the company is purposefully hindering Lee Know's work. Either of the two is unacceptable by a company with so many resources and that claims to be a leader in the industry. This only shows a lack of professionalism and care. j) Dance leader - We know he is the dance leader, and K-stays and the members have talked a lot about how involved he is and how hard he works in that position, but the company refuses to include any footage of him doing it, and even cuts the parts where he gives his all. Just recently K-Stays were raving about how hard Lee Know worked as the dance leader and how much effort it took, One Label cut all of that footage from the Talker. It appears they don't want stays to look at anything he does, or to not give him recognition for anything.show more

The main bronze door of Milan Cathedral weighs 37... tons and took a single sculptor 10 years to complete. The Duomo of Milan is one of the largest and most intricate cathedrals on earth, and its five bronze doors were built to be worthy of it. Every inch of the great central door is covered in sculpted bronze, dozens of scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary, faces caught mid-emotion, figures that seem to press forward out of the metal as if trying to step into the world... It was designed by the sculptor Ludovico Pogliaghi, who received the commission in the 1880s and did not see his door installed until 1906, having poured a decade of his life into modelling every figure by hand. And his was just the beginning. The five doors of the cathedral were not made together, or even in the same lifetime. They were created across nearly seventy years, by a succession of different sculptors, each carving their panels with the same obsessive care. The final door was not completed until 1965, its unveiling taken as the symbolic close of a cathedral that had been under construction, in one form or another, for 579 years... More than a century ago, the English polymath John Ruskin tried to put into words what it means to build something like this. He managed it in a single sentence. "When we build," he wrote, "let us think that we build for ever."show more

It's beautiful to hear Kim Taehyung's ability to transition... between low, medium, and high registers, alternating between different tones, vocal techniques, and dynamics, delivering all of this on stage with grace and technical control, expressiveness, interpretation, and style. Taehyung, who possesses the widest vocal range and tessitura in BTS, goes from a C3 (dense edge register/chest voice, in “Love me Again”) to an E5 (flageolet register/thin edge, in “My Universe”), without tension or excessive vocal effort. His voice exhibits the strength and range of both vocal categories (baritone ↔ tenor). Technically, what allows Taehyung to explore these vocal possibilities is his vocal range and tessitura. He is what we call a “BARITENOR”. A baritenor is a type of male voice that combines characteristics of a baritone and a tenor, possessing a vocal tessitura that transitions between the low register of a baritone and the high register of a tenor, but with a generally darker, fuller, and richer timbre than that of a typical tenor. #KimTaehyung #V #Taehyungshow more

When Mulayam's government tried to organise namaz on the... steps of the mahant's house in Ayodhya, pressing right up against Hanuman Garhi, a police officer threw away the first mat the moment it was placed. That officer was doing his job in a government that was actively working against him. An IG Zone above him had already said he would organise the event on the roof of the temple if he could. The political machinery of the state was pushing one way. That officer and that SSP were pushing the other. Brijlal documented what happened inside the mahant's residence that day. Idols of Ganesh and other deities were desecrated during the Iftaar. This is what SP governance looked like at its most unguarded. Not a fringe incident. A government-organised political operation at one of Hinduism's most sacred sites that ended with the desecration of Hindu deities. And Akhilesh Yadav is the heir to this legacy. #NoNamazOnRoadsshow more

There is a room in Málaga that was built... to be the closest thing on earth to standing inside heaven. It is called the camarín of the Virgin of Victory, and it is hidden at the top of a tower inside the Santuario de la Victoria. To reach it, you climb and the ascent is the entire point... The building you are climbing through was completed in 1700, and it was designed as a single argument made in stone. At the bottom lies a crypt: a black chamber crowded with white plaster skeletons, a meditation on death and the brevity of life. From there a staircase rises, and as you climb it the light grows stronger and the imagery changes from bones to saints. The architects of the time understood this ascent as the soul's own journey, the dark crypt as the stage of penitence, the staircase as the stage of spiritual progress, and the room at the very top as the final stage: the union of the soul with the divine. That room at the top is the camarín, and its dome is one of the most extraordinary interiors in Spain... Every surface is covered in white and gold plasterwork. There is no empty space anywhere. The Baroque called this horror vacui, the horror of the void: the conviction that a space meant to represent heaven should not contain a single bare patch of stone. Out of that plasterwork emerge angels, flowers, birds, and mirrors. The mirrors are not decoration alone. They catch the light pouring in through the windows of the drum and throw it around the chamber, so that the gold seems to move and the whole room appears to shimmer and breathe. This wonder was built by people who believed that if you wanted to show a human being what heaven might feel like, you did not describe it to them. You built a room, and you let them climb into it... -- -- -- If you enjoyed this, I write a weekly newsletter read by over 50,000 people who love rediscovering the beauty of the past. You can join us here: If you'd like to support my work, a paid subscription is what makes it possible.show more

NEW: Recently released January 6 footage shows one of... the J6 protesters flashing something as he appears to be leaving the Capitol building. Many online are suggesting that the item he is holding is a badge and that he is a Federal agent. The man in the video is Kevin James Lyons and he was sentenced to over four years in prison. Lyons admitted to taking a wallet from then-Speaker Pelosi's staffer as well as a framed photo of Pelosi with late Congressman John Lewis. Lyons was an HVAC technician and was arrested in his home state of Illinois just one week after J6. On the evening of J6, Lyons shared a photo of the picture frame he took with his friends and said: "I'm pretty confident I am now a multiple Federal felon." It is very unlikely that the item he is holding is a badge and if it is, it is probably one that doesn't belong to him. Source assist: Brick Suitshow more

Madain Saleh, also known as Al-Hijr, is a pre-Islamic... archaeological site located in the northwest of Saudi Arabia. It is one of the most important archaeological sites in the Middle East and was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2008. Madain Saleh is a place of great historical and cultural significance, and it is a must-visit destination for anyone interested in the history and culture of the Arabian Peninsula. Madain Saleh was the second city of the Nabataean kingdom, which was established in 2nd Century BC. The Nabataeans were an Arab tribe who were known for their expertise in carving tombs and buildings out of rock. They were also skilled in agriculture, trade, and commerce. The Nabataean kingdom was centered in Petra, which is located in modern-day Jordan. Madain Saleh served as a strategic outpost for Nabataeans, and it was an important stop on the trade routes that connected the Arabian Peninsula with the Mediterranean world. Archaeological site of Madain Saleh covers an area of 13 square kilometers. It is located in a remote desert region, and it is surrounded by rocky mountains and valleys. The site contains around 130 tombs, which were carved out of the sandstone cliffs. The tombs are adorned with intricate carvings and inscriptions, which provide insights into the culture and religion of the Nabataeans. The most famous tomb at Madain Saleh is the Qasr Al-Farid, which means "the lonely castle." This tomb is located on a hilltop and is surrounded by a large courtyard. It is the largest tomb at the site, and it is considered to be one of the finest examples of Nabataean architecture. The tomb was never completed, and it is believed that it was abandoned after the death of the Nabataean king who commissioned it. Another important tomb at Madain Saleh is the Tomb of Lihyan son of Kuza. This tomb is located in the southern part of the site and is carved into a rock cliff. It features a large entrance hall, a central chamber, and a series of smaller rooms. The tomb is decorated with intricate carvings and inscriptions, which provide insights into the religious beliefs of Nabataeans. Madain Saleh is not just a site of tombs; it also contains a number of other important structures. These include the Al-Khuraymat and Al-Sabika temples, which were used for religious ceremonies and rituals. The site also contains a number of houses, wells, and cisterns, which provide insights into the daily lives of the Nabataeans. Madain Saleh was abandoned in the 3rd Century AD, after decline of the Nabataean kingdom. The site was rediscovered in the 19th Century by the Swiss traveler Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. Since then, it has been studied by archaeologists from all over the world. The site is now managed by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage, which has carried out extensive restoration and preservation work. Madain Saleh is not just a site of historical and cultural significance; it is also a place of great natural beauty. The site is surrounded by rugged mountains and valleys, and it is home to a diverse range of flora and fauna. Visitors to the site can enjoy hiking and camping, as well as exploring the ancient ruins. Madain Saleh is a site of great historical and cultural significance, and it is a must-visit destination for anyone interested in the history and culture of the Arabian Peninsula. Ancient ruins at Madain Saleh provide a glimpse into the engineering and architectural skills of the Nabataeans, as well as their religious beliefs and cultural practices. However, as the site becomes an increasingly popular tourist destination, there are concerns about its preservation and the impact of tourism on the local environment. It is important that the Saudi government and local communities work together to ensure that the site is protected and that tourism is managed in a sustainable way. 🎥© Paris Verra #archaeohistoriesshow more

Case File - Trash Bag Killer Exhibit No -... AN2347 An image from the case file of The Trash Bag Killer In this image the victim lays dead on the bed having been strangled T.J., short for Tanner James, was an 18-year-old from the flat, fertile farmland near Galesburg, lllinois. He was born and raised on a family-owned grain and soybean farm that has been in the Jenkins family for over a century. His upbringing was a masterclass in hard work, responsibility, and the unspoken bond of family. His father, was a man of few words but immense integrity, taught him how to read the land and the weather. His mother, the heart of the home, ran the household and a small farm stand, instilling in him the values of kindness and community. He grew up as the middle child between two sisters. One of TJ’s interests was his prize possession a 1972 Chevy pickup that he was constantly doing work on. TJ needed a part and had been searching around for it for a while. He then spotted one online and made arranger to potentially buy it. The drive for the part was five hours and TJ was happy when he arrived and the seller said he had the part. Unbeknownst to TJ the seller was the serial killer known as the Trash Bag Killer and before he knew it TJ was incapacitated and strangled. The killer enjoyed his time with TJ’s body before dismembering it and disposing of it in trash bags. #serialkiller #aigeneratedshow more

In 1944, a 14-year-old Black boy named George Stinney... was arrested in South Carolina. He was falsely accused of killing two white girls without a single piece of solid evidence, simply because he was the last person seen with them. He wasn't allowed to see his family, was interrogated without a lawyer, and "confessed" under pressure and fear. His trial lasted only a few hours with an all-white jury. Just 81 days after his arrest, he was executed in the electric chair. He was so small that his feet didn't reach the floor, so they had to place a Bible under him to make the straps fit. The most shocking part: he was innocent. In 2014, seventy years later, a court officially overturned the conviction and declared him innocent. But George never came back. His story became a symbol of racial injustice and the failures of the legal system—a child executed in the name of justice, but justice came far too late.show more