Views: The Beautiful And Bizarre ‘Eyes” Of Animals

“The cornea, which in fish is simply a transparent protective cover for the eye, became an image-forming structure in its own right,” wrote the late Michael Land, a biologist at the University of Sussex in England, in a 2005 study in the journal Current Biology, “because it now had air on one side and water on the other.”

Some organisms have kept basic structures—flatworms and mollusks still have their simple pit eyes—while others sprouted mirrored components, elaborate pupil dynamics and arrangements that let their owner see above and below a waterline simultaneously. Even in animals that rely primarily on sensations besides sight, incredible eye features persist.

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Saturday Morning News: Latest Headlines From London (May 22, 2021)

Georgina Godwin sets the tone for the weekend. A look at the day’s newspapers; editor of London’s ‘The Evening Standard’ Emily Sheffield on The Stories festival due to take place in September; plus: a visit to the German pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

Views: Meersburg On Lake Constance, Germany (4K)

Meersburg is a town in the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg. On the shore of Lake Constance (Bodensee), it’s surrounded by vineyards.

Video timeline: 0:00 Introduction 2:58 Meersburg, Vineyards’ Town 6:45 Meersbug’s Old Town 9:15 Bodensee (Lake Constance) 11:25 Brief View of Constance City 12:45 Boat Ride along Rhine River

Medieval Meersburg Castle houses the Fortress Museum, showing a medieval living room and castle dungeon. Nearby, New Palace has baroque architecture and frescoes. Above town, the Droste Museum displays poet Annette von Droste-Hülshoff’s personal writings and belongings.

Italian Villa Views: Carate Urio, Lake Como (Video)

Carate Urio is on the western shore of Lake Come, about ten kilometers from the town of Como. Originally founded as two inhabited areas -Urio and Carate Lario- the shared a common history and ties, so were administratively unified in 1927.

Lake Como, in Northern Italy’s Lombardy region, is an upscale resort area known for its dramatic scenery, set against the foothills of the Alps. The lake is shaped like an upside-down Y, with three slender branches that meet at the resort town of Bellagio. At the bottom of the southwest branch lies the city of Como, home to Renaissance architecture and a funicular that travels up to the mountain town of Brunate. 

Enchanting period villa, dating back to the early 1700, with direct access to the lake; lakefront park of over 2000 square meters planted with centuries-old trees, splendid swimming pool surrounded by the greenery with solarium / relaxation area, lakefront walk of over 100 meters, 3 proprietary docks with convenient docking / entry and exit for medium-sized boats. The property is composed as follows: Main villa of about 750 square meters, on three levels, with up to 6 bedrooms, each with its bathroom. Guest villa of 450 square meters on 3 levels, with a private park of about 2800 square meters connected to the main garden through a historic and romantic bridge overlooking the Via Vecchia Regina. Large uncovered parking area for at least 6 cars as well as garages and storage rooms.

Political News: Brooks & Capehart On Israel-Hamas Cease-Fire, Senate Hearing

New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart join Amna Nawaz to discuss the week in politics, including cease-fire in the Middle East and the Senate’s chances of establishing a commission to look into the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Shakespeare: ‘Hamnet’ Author Maggie O’Farrell

Maggie O’Farrell’s “Hamnet,” one of last year’s most widely acclaimed novels, imagines the life of William Shakespeare, his wife, Anne (or Agnes) Hathaway, and the couple’s son Hamnet, who died at 11 years old in 1596.

On this week’s podcast, O’Farrell says she always planned for the novel to have the ensemble cast it does, but that her deepest inspiration was to capture a sense of the young boy at its center.

“The engine behind the book for me was always the fact that I think Hamnet has been overlooked and underwritten by history,” she says. “I think he’s been consigned to a literary footnote. And I believe, quite strongly, that without him — without his tragically short life — we wouldn’t have the play ‘Hamlet.’ We probably wouldn’t have ‘Twelfth Night.’ As an audience, we are enormously in debt to him.”

Legendary Race Cars: ‘1970 Porsche 917 K’ In Steve McQueen’s ‘Le Mans’ Movie

Too often the word ‘iconic’ is applied to a car, but rarely is the term truly justified. In the case of the 1970 Porsche 917K, chassis no. 031/026, the car that contested the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans in the hands of Hailwood and Hobbs, resplendent in full blue and orange Gulf livery, and a car that featured in much of the original racing footage used in Steve McQueen’s Le Mans movie, the word ‘iconic’ doesn’t really even come close to doing it justice.

RM Sotheby’s is honored to offer this incredibly iconic racing car and ‘Le Mans Legend’ movie star at its flagship Monterey auction on 13-14 August in California. To any automotive or motorsport enthusiast, the Porsche 917 needs no introduction, and it is the car’s early 917K coupe form, that truly ignites the passions of these enthusiasts most strongly.

Commonly regarded as ‘The World’s Greatest Sports Car’, boasting a near-perfect flat-12 cylinder, air-cooled engine that could propel the car to speeds in excess of 230 mph, the Porsche 917 set a standard for design, engineering, and sheer performance that took endurance sports car design to new levels and which proved dominant over three incredible seasons of World Championship racing.

4K Aerial Views: Dubai – United Arab Emirates

Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates known for luxury shopping, ultramodern architecture and a lively nightlife scene. Burj Khalifa, an 830m-tall tower, dominates the skyscraper-filled skyline. At its foot lies Dubai Fountain, with jets and lights choreographed to music. On artificial islands just offshore is Atlantis, The Palm, a resort with water and marine-animal parks.

Walking Tour: Bayreuth – Southern Germnay (4K)

Bayreuth is a town on the Red Main river in Bavaria, Germany. At its center is the Richard Wagner Museum in the composer’s former home, Villa Wahnfried. Wagner’s operas are performed at the Bayreuther Festspielhaus, home of the annual Bayreuth Festival. On the eastern outskirts, the Hermitage Gardens surrounds the Altes Schloss Eremitage palace and the Temple of the Sun (Sonnentempel), honoring the god Apollo.