The Triumph of Death - Pieter Breugel the Elder

This, found while doing research into a few related topics, a grotesque masterpiece that's rather fetching, don't you think?

Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Triumph_of_Death

Right click, open in a new tab and admire the details. The painting is inspired by the Bubonic Plague, which swept Europe and Asia a number of times to devastating effect.

In some instances, in towns up to 50% of the population died in a couple of years, in countries upwards of 25%.

This Pandemic, hate to say it, but it's just the warm-up before the practice...

Details: Category: Ideas & Questions; Created: 16 February 2022

Strange Tales of World Travel: Gina & Scott Gaille

Found this at the library, and so while soliciting inspiration took the time to give it a read.

As the title suggests, it's premised on the idea that the most interesting thing about travel is the people that you meet, and with this in mind Scott & Gina interviewed fellow travelers for their most interesting tales.

A couple of the best - "Honey of Man", "UFO's" & one about a fellow traveler that had eaten a "Cobra Bird" - apparently a species of Hawk that eats cobras and so has developed an immunity to their venom - and by eating the hawk one experiences some psychedelic effects.

I tried looking this up to verify - to no avail. I'll check it again at the library today.

Unfortunately too many of the stories are from Scott and Gina themselves, and it reads a bit like an "influencers journal", adventure travel done solely with the point of regaling their friends and relatives with their adventures. But - if you see a copy in the library, pull it down and look up "Honey of Man", perhaps 3 pages, but curious...