Tea at Trianon: Snowflakes in the Highest Resolution

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, January 3, 2021

Snowflakes in the Highest Resolution

From My Modern Met:

Everyone knows that snowflakes are unique arrays of tiny crystals—no two are precisely the same. However, capturing the unique designs of snowflakes using photography can be very tricky. Snowflakes are easily disfigured with the slightest warmth or touch, so renowned photographer Nathan Myhrvold had to develop a specialized camera when he decided to shoot the most technically advanced images of snowflakes ever attempted. As a photographer, chef, and founder of Modernist Cuisine, Myhrvold's years of experience in food photography prepared him with the speed, innovation, and technical skill for this challenge. With his purpose-built camera, he captured stunning images of delicate snowflakes at the highest resolution to date. (Read more.)