Media Round-up: Out Like a Lamb

How To Ship an Obelisk

In the 19th century Egyptian rulers gifted several large 1500BC obelisks to Paris, London and New York, all of which are still standing today. We already know how these things were erected, but how did they get there? The images above and below (from a 1878 article in the French magazine “La Nature”) show the vessel used for the transportation of the fragile 250 tonne heavy granite stone which is now in London.

360-Degree Panorama Takes You Inside Prague’s Off-Limits Baroque Library

The room’s walnut paneling, gilt laurels and Escher-like inlaid marquetry make quite an impression. Beyond the rare tomes, guests who look carefully at the bookshelves might spot two hidden doors, masked with fake book spines, that lead to secret stairways — something you probably won’t catch in Martin’s panorama.

Chernobyl, My Primeval, Teeming, Irradiated Eden

It’s not just the forest that’s come back but all its creatures. It’s the land of Baba Yaga, the old witch of Russian folktales. Is this the world before ­humanity? Or after? Is there a difference?

Apocalypse Pictures: 10 Failed Doomsday Prophesies

(Artwork from Getty Images/Bridgeman Art Library)

Many Christian Europeans entered the year 1666 with trepidation: The Bible describes 666 as the ominous Number of the Beast. A prolonged plague that had wiped out much of London’s populace in 1665 didn’t help assuage fears, and when the Great Fire of London (pictured in an illustration) occurred, many believed their time had come.

Witch Chronicles Published Online After 350 Years of Darkness

The notebook, was written by a Puritan named Nehemiah Wallington. During this time, many women were accused - many falsely - of having a relationship with the devil. Wallington recounted the dire fates of this women in his notebook. The trials he writes about are eerily similar to the Salem Witch Trials, in Salem, Massachusetts.

The Book of Sand

The Book of Sand site is a hypertext, with a nonlinear structure and dynamic images. This story [Jorge Luis Borges’ “Book of Sand”] is well-suited for such a presentation, since it deals with a supernatural book whose many pages are in no discernible order. And the story’s spare, haunting atmosphere comes through clearly, if not more strongly, when it is read in short, random fragments. But the site is also a puzzle – because only you, the reader, can decide in what order to view the pages.

NASA Astronauts Perform the Spacesuit Ballet