Clancy Tucker's Blog, page 47

4 August 2021 - GERARD BRION'S STUNNING MINIATURE PARIS

 

GERARD BRION'S STUNNING

 MINIATURE PARIS 

 

G'day folks,

Gerard Brion is a French artist who has devoted his time and energy to recreating the capital city of his country, Paris, in minute detail. There's no doubt in my mind that you'll be amazed by the incredible effort this miniaturist has gone to to reform the famous boulevards and monuments of the City of Light on such a small scale. Take a look:










Clancy's comment: Extraordinary work. I wonder if he allows people to check it out?
I'm .... 

3 August 2021 - WHO KILLED WHO IN THE FAMOUS CRIPPEN MURDER CASE?

 

WHO KILLED WHO IN 

THE FAMOUS CRIPPEN 

MURDER CASE?

G'day folks,

Cora, the flirtatious wife of Dr Crippen, disappeared from her London home on 31 January 1910, sparking one of the most puzzling and notorious murder cases in British legal history – and one that is still unresolved today.

Hawley Harvey Crippen, born in 1862, was an American homeopath. He practised in New York where, in 1894, he married Corrine "Cora" Turner, a struggling music hall singer who went under the stage name of Belle Elmore.

Later that year Crippen started working for a mail order pharmaceutical company and was appointed London manager when the business was extended to England in 1897.

Cora, however, proved to be the fly in the ointment. After affairs in America she continued to take lovers in London while becoming increasingly frustrated over her failure to succeed as a professional singer. Her demands meant that Crippen lost his job in 1899 because his boss thought he was spending too much time on Cora’s career.

On 31 January, 1910, after a dinner party at their home in Holloway, North London, Cora disappeared. Crippen told her friends that she had returned to the US to visit relatives. Later, he claimed that she had died after being taken ill.

That could have been the end of the matter, but Crippen made the fatal mistake of quickly asking his secretary and lover, Ethel Le Neve, to move in with him. Cora’s suspicious friends contacted the police.

Crippen told detectives that Cora had left him for another man, and that he had lied to her friends to save face. When the police returned a few days later to ask more questions, Crippen and Le Neve had vanished.

A search of the house revealed body parts beneath the cellar floor, the police suspecting straight away that the corpse was Cora’s. A nationwide hunt was immediately mounted for Crippen and Le Neve.

The two suspects had boarded a ship bound for Canada but unfortunately for them the captain became suspicious of them after reading newspaper reports of the case and alerted police using the newly invented wireless telegraph. His message read:

"Have strong suspicions that Crippen London cellar murderer and accomplice are among passengers. Mustache taken off. Growing beard. Accomplice dressed as boy. Manner and build undoubtedly a girl.”

They were arrested when the ship reached Canada and sent back to Britain to stand trial.

Though the court was told of a drug found in the body and that newly manufactured clothing at the scene ruled out claims the remains were years old, the most damning evidence against Crippen came from pathologist Bernard Spilsbury. He said that a piece of skin from the human remains carried an abdominal scar “consistent with Cora’s medical history.”

A jury took just 27 minutes to find Crippen guilty of murder, for which he was hanged. Le Neve was tried separately, accused of being an accessory after the fact.

She was acquitted and left Britain for the US on the morning of Crippen's execution. At his request, her photograph was placed in his coffin and buried with him.

However, nearly a century later, scientists in America looking into the case compared the DNA from the cellar tissue to DNA from Cora’s modern-day relatives. Not only was there no match – proving that the corpse was not Cora’s – but it was the wrong sex – the body remains in the cellar belonged to a man!

John Trestrail, the toxicologist who led the new research, said: "Hawley Crippen was tried solely on the evidence that he killed Cora. The body wasn't hers, so he was convicted and hanged in error."

Referring to the glass slide of tissue evidence used by Spilsbury to identify the body as Cora's, Mr Trestrail said: “This was the evidence on which Crippen was convicted. But the substance in the slide is not Cora Crippen. No question. I don't say Hawley Crippen is innocent, but he is no longer proven guilty."

The results were conclusive, said Dr David Foran, head of the forensic science programme at Michigan State University. "That body cannot be Cora Crippen, we're certain of that."

James Patrick Crippen, the doctor’s closest living relative, made a formal request for Hawley Crippen to be pardoned and his bones returned to America. But the Criminal Cases Review Commission refused to refer the case to the Appeal Court.

It said it could not do so because Mr Crippen was too distantly related. In law, the person bringing such an appeal had to be a close relative. It is understood the Commission did not examine the grounds for the appeal.

Before he was executed, Crippen wrote in a letter to Le Neve: “Face to face with God, I believe that facts will be forthcoming to prove my innocence.” John Trestrail said: “When I read that the hairs stood up on my arms. I think he was right."

 

Clancy's comment: Interesting, but I'm sure many innocent people have been wrongly convicted.

I'm ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

14 August 2021 - BRILLIANT GRAPHICS PRODUCED BY YOUNG TURK

 

BRILLIANT GRAPHICS 

PRODUCED BY YOUNG TURK 

G'day folks,

What if you could make your most surreal and strange dreams come to life? That's almost what 19-year-old Kerem Ciğerci from Istanbul did. He uses graphic manipulations to create dream-like images, by mixing objects from different worlds, playing with size, proportion, and more.  So sit back, relax, and enter an alternate universe with these unbelievable images you could admire all day.












Clancy's comment: Extraordinary work.
I'm ... 

9 August 2021 - MAGNIFICENT LOG-PILING ART

 

MAGNIFICENT 

LOG-PILING ART

 

G'day folks,

It's incredible to think that you can turn just about anything into an art form - believe it or not, there are people who arrange huge piles of logs into beautiful pictures. Unfortunately though, these works of art will gradually disappear throughout the cold winter months. Will these works of art inspire you to create your own log pile art?  







   Clancy's comment: Amazing, eh? Art can be made out of anything.
I'm ... 

2 August 2021 - STUNNING HAND-DECORATED VIOLINS

 

STUNNING 

HAND-DECORATED 

VIOLINS 

 

G'day folks,

Few man-made objects are as graceful and elegant as classic string instruments like the cello or the violin.   These statuesque instruments are just as pleasing to the eye as they are to the ear, but this Italian artist found a way to render them even more precious and beautiful. Leonardo Frigo is a talented artist from Italy, who creates illustrations with deep meaning on string instruments. Admire his works and learn more about the artist’s craft below as I showcase stunning artworks by the artist.

After learning how to restore violins and other instruments without harming the instrument’s sound and longevity at an art university in Venice for five years, Leonardo Frigo started experimenting with the embellishment of these precious instruments. Instruments Decorated by Leonardo Frigo

Over time, he perfected this unique technique and started decorating violins and cellos with narrative designs, quotes, and other decorative elements, turning the musical instruments into legitimate storybooks. Instruments Decorated by Leonardo Frigo

Understandably, each of his projects takes up to a month to complete, as the process requires mapping out the illustrations, removing the varnish, decorating the instrument, and then revarnishing and reattaching the strings.









 Clancy's comment: Yet again, another clever artist.
I'm ... 

1 August 2021 - JAPANESE MOTHER SERVES FUN FOOD

 

JAPANESE MOTHER 

SERVES FUN FOOD

 

G'day folks,

It seems like this Japanese mother of three is capable of making any dish look as cute and pretty as it is appetizing.  Etoni was not officially trained in any kind of food art, in fact, she started getting creative with food as a way to convince her daughters to eat. She ended up becoming a master of kyaraben, an elaborate style of bento that features foods that looks like popular characters and things from the world around us.

















Clancy's comment: What a great mother. Loooooooove Japanese food! Just sayin' ....
I'm ...  

6 August 2021 - STUNNING BANANA ART BY ANNA CHOJNICKA

 

STUNNING BANANA ART 

BY ANNA CHOJNICKA

 

G'day folks,

I'm always pleased to showcase the talents of others, but here is one talent that will surprise you.

Art can be created on virtually anything. For Anna Chojnicka, the unconventional canvas of choice is... a banana. It all started in March 2020, when the lockdown was implemented for the first time. To add some color to her days, Anna decided to attempt a daily art challenge. The challenge soon became a hobby, and Anna hasn’t stopped creating banana art ever since.
 Now, let's check out her amazing work ...














Clancy's comment: Amazing work, eh?
I'm ... 

26 July 2021 - EXTRAORDINARY SANDCASTLES

 

EXTRAORDINARY 

SANDCASTLES 

 

G'day folks,

A vacation well spent is one spent at the beach, and no day at the beach is complete without sunbathing and sandcastles.  A few buckets and shovels are all it takes to make your own little fantasy mansion in the sand, complete with a moat and a plastic dinosaur on guard (playing the role of a fire-breathing dragon, of course). For some people, making sandcastles is more than just a fun beach-day pastime.

Sculpting castles in the sand is a true art form, constructing minute architectural masterpieces that royalty would dream of living in. These castles don’t have the longest lifespan, given the impact of high tide and heavy winds, but they are nonetheless breathtaking.













 Clancy's comment: Brilliant work. They bring back fond memories.

I'm ... 

25 July 2021 - ABANDONED 10,000-ROOM NAZI HOTEL NEVER USED

 

ABANDONED 10,000-ROOM 

NAZI HOTEL NEVER USED

 

G'day folks,

There is a 10,000 room beachfront hotel that no one has ever stayed at. 

A hotel so huge it stretches over a staggering three miles and has 10,000 bedrooms all facing the sea. That is because this beach resort named Prora was built by the Nazis between 1936 and 1939 on Hitler’s orders. Prora lies on an extensive bay between the Sassnitz and Binz regions, known as the Prorer Wiek, on the narrow heath (the Prora) which separates the lagoon of the Kleiner Jasmunder Bodden from the Baltic Sea. 

 

The buildings extend over a length of 4.5 kilometres and are roughly 150 metres from the beach. The coast offers a long flat sand beach, which stretches from Binz to the ferry port. This beach was thus an ideal location for the establishment of a seaside resort. During that same period, Hitler was making preparations for war which ultimately took priority, and the massive building project was never finished.

The buildings extend over a length 3 miles (5 km) and are roughly 500 feet (150 metres) from the beach.

 During the few years that Prora was under construction, all major construction companies of the Reich and nearly 9,000 workers were involved in this project, but with the onset of World War II in 1939, building on Prora stopped and the construction workers transferred to weapon factories.   The eight housing blocks, the theater, and cinema stayed as empty shells, and the swimming pools and festival hall never materialized.

After the war, Prora was used as a military outpost for the East German army. But since German reunification in 1990, the buildings have stood empty.

 

Clancy's comment: If they'd spent less time on these sorts of things, and the holocaust, they may have been more successful in war.

I'm ...

 

 

 

 

30 July 2021 - MOST DANGEROUS TRAIL IN THE WORLD

 

MOST DANGEROUS 

TRAIL IN THE WORLD

 

G'day foks,

There is a mountain located in China called Mt. Huashan, and plenty of people have died on this mountain. 

One look at these pictures and you’ll see why. There is a hiking trail that has been dubbed as the world’s most dangerous hiking trail which reaches a height of 7,087 feet high. It has a nickname of “The Heavenly Stairs.”

The paths have been reinforced due to a recent influx of tourists, but they are nonetheless dangerous, and carry a reputation for fatal falls. Although no official statistics are kept, some say that the number may be as much as about 100 fatal falls a year. Some of the more dangerous parts of the trails have names like Thousand-Foot Precipice, Hundred-Foot Crevice and Black Dragon Ridge.

 

Clancy's comment: And it leads to a Taoist temple! Definitely not for me.

I'm ...