१८ ऑगस्ट, २०२६
The news from Sicily.
1. "American Hiker Dies After Lightning Strike on Mount Etna in Italy/Rescuers found a 29-year-old man in serious condition on the volcano’s eastern slope on Sunday. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital in Catania" (NYT gift link)("On Monday, Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology reported that another volcanic vent had opened in the valley, with fresh lava flowing overnight.... During a volcanic eruption, tiny collisions among the rising particles of ash can create static electricity, which may in turn produce volcanic lightning").
2. "Thieves Steal 4 Renaissance Paintings From Italian Museum in Brazen Heist/The works, by Antonello da Messina, were taken as the Sicilian city of Messina held a religious celebration" (NYT gift link)("The celebration, the Procession of the Vara, is a religious ritual that takes places every Aug. 15. Some 100,000 people attended the celebration and the city’s law enforcement officials were focused on maintaining order there, city officials said....The theft is a blow to the city.... [F]or the past few years the city has focused on the 'Messina, City of Antonello' brand...).3. The Procession of the Vara:
पोस्ट्स
२१ टिप्पण्या:
So many people holding hands in "The Procession." Sweet.
Pasadena, for the win.
I know whenever I'm traveling around the world, I like to find an active volcano that I can climb onto and hang out.
You will regret messing with Vulcan (Italy) or Pele (Hawaii), but Iceland has no issues in selling volcanic stones as souvenirs. I suppose Loki and the Vikings tricked the gods into staying in Norway, so it's safe. Phew!
They should enjoy their religious traditions while they are still allowed.
Since they cannot be sold on the open market, it’s likely that they were stolen on order for some billionaire, like that piece of Ancient Greek statuary that Jackie Onassis described on his yacht, she was Jackie Kennedy at the time she saw it.
**Italian Museum in Brazen Heist**
I initially read "Brazen Heist" as the name of the town and thought, "that sounds German."
It's a real shame when this happens to a small museum. The day is coming when the really big, really crowded, really expensive museums have all the famous art and there will be even less discovery, less serendipity in travel.
You can die on an Italian volcano through no fault of your own, but those who remember you will think you were the guy who recklessly walked down into the volcano's fiery cone.
Brazenheists indeed:
"Major Recent German Heists
Gelsenkirchen Bank Heist (December 2025): Burglars used an industrial drill to bore through a basement wall from an adjacent parking garage into a Sparkasse savings bank branch in the Buer district. They looted over 3,000 safe deposit boxes during the quiet Christmas weekend, making off with an estimated €30 million or more in cash, gold, and jewelry.
Dresden Green Vault Heist (November 2019): Thieves broke into the historic Grünes Gewölbe museum in Dresden, stealing 21 pieces of antique jewelry containing thousands of diamonds with a total insured value of over €113 million. Portions of the stolen treasure were later recovered in late 2022 following legal agreements and trials."
**Italian Museum in Brazen Heist**
It was not a brazen heist, not even a marble one , either wood or canvas I would assume.
Brazen Heist would be a good name for a band.
Fix it Again Satan…
As with the Louvre, I think we're all learning just what lousy security these ancient European museums have.
No Italians, even briefly. 😃
There's a 50% chance that those paintings were fake anyway
If boxing was still as big as it once was, I could see a justification for using the old line “The theft is a blow to the city”
Boxing, or what passes for boxing today, is a joke that is not even funny.
OT… RIP Frank Beard, Master of the Texas Shuffle.
There are still a lot of small churches, palaces, or local museums scattered all over Europe that have some masterwork just hanging on the wall, with no security other than some old lady with a space heater in the corner who will yell at you if you don't put a one-euro coin in the box, but otherwise probably wouldn't notice if you walked right out with the piece.
The previous commenters are right in saying this practice is soon going to pass.
Probably because of the other practice, of letting people with no connection to local culture overrun the place.
But enough about Viking River Cruises....CC, JSM
No mention of the thousands of young male immigrants pouring in. Dishonest. Utterly dishonest. What's your fucking point, anyway? Stupid distraction?
Lighten up, Francis.
When there is a fierce effort to avoid real, life-transforming, existential issues while also feigning to be current, you are grossly insulting the humans there, their plight, and their culture. women all over Europe, but especially Italy, France, Sweden and Britain are being raped and murdered again, worse than the Rape of Nankin, and we're playing tourist? One has no reason nor job nor responsibility to be opinionated nor current. I'm just saying that if you choose to be a flaneur, you're not serious: you are an igorant propagandist, and it's time for more cultural creativity, like needlepoint, rather than addressing reality. Which is fine, if you don't want to face it. Which can also be quite pointed. But playing cutiepie with other people's catastrophies is neither neutral nor eclectic.
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