Orchard In Blossom (Plum Trees), 1888, Vincent Van Gogh

Loneliness Marilyn feared the consequences of abandonment, but it was something she had to contend with more and more in the later stages of her life. After finally buying a home of her own in 1962, Marilyn said, “I could never imagine buying a home alone. But I’ve always been alone, so why couldn’t I imagine it?” A few weeks before her death, radio DJ Tom Clay pressed Marilyn about her loneliness. Marilyn replied, “Have you ever been in a house with 40 rooms? Well, multiply by loneliness by 40.” - The Marilyn Encyclopedia by Adam Victor.

What?

Black Widow Spider Crawls from Grape Bag, Bites Woman

A Vermont woman got more than a sweet fruit when she reached into her bag of grapes: a black widow spider scurried up her arm and bit her.

The 21-year-old stayed overnight in the hospital and will be monitored “for months” for symptoms, such as muscle pain, according to WPTZ.com.

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Beautiful image.

Filmed in my studio.

cloud formation from orbit

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A piece of children’s book history is now on display at Harvard’s Houghton Library: The library has acquired the sketches and proofs that led to Jean de Brunhoff’s ABC de Babar, first published in Paris in 1934.

Jean’s Babar books were inspired by the stories his wife, pianist Cécile de Brunhoff, told their children at bedtime. Jean wrote and illustrated seven Babar books before his death in 1937. After 1937, Jean and Cécile’s son, Laurent, picked up where his father left off, writing and illustrating more than 40 books about the beloved elephant.

The talented Emily Elder in a frame from a test shoot called "1943"

This is great. I think it's the episode where the opening credits were printed on the eggs.

(3/6) “I wasn’t going to give up. We tried taking Grace to another hospital but they told us the same thing: ‘There’s nothing we can do.’ But then we brought her to Sloan, and they told us: ‘We think there’s one more thing we can try.’ It was an experimental antibody called Humanized 3F8. It triggered Grace’s immune system to attack her cancer. It was so painful. It felt like she was getting a root canal over her entire body. After two rounds of treatment they did another scan. They wanted to see if there was any progress. The therapy was so painful that if it wasn’t working they wanted to stop. They called me in the office to give me the results. They told Grace to wait outside. I was so nervous. I could barely stand. When I walked in, nobody was saying anything at first. I thought: ‘Oh, God. They don’t want to tell me.’ Suddenly they said: ‘This is amazing. It’s never happened before.’ And they held up her scan and the cancer was gone. It had been everywhere: her pelvis, her skull, her bones, her arms. And now it was gone. All of us started crying.” – You may remember the post from a few days ago that told the story of The Band of Parents, who raised $2,000,000 to fund the development of an antibody. Humanized 3F8 was that antibody. Grace’s life was saved through their efforts. Right now we are holding our own fundraiser to help the team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in their fight against pediatric cancer. As you can see, this research saves lives. There are three days left. Over 33,000 people have donated so far and we are nearing $1.3 million. It would be amazing if we could reach 50,000 donations by the end of the series. Even if it’s a small amount, please consider donating: http://bit.ly/1TpFcdy