horse of a different colour

Not only do humans suffer from the heat and associated plagues, their animal companions do too and cannot adapt so easily.
In order to provide some relief from the oppressive mosquitoes and horse-flies that have really taken advantage of the hot weather, some ranch-hands have taken to decorating their horses with zebra-stripes, finger-paints mixed with a cocktail of natural repellants—experimenting with the recipe to find what works best and does not cause any further irritation for the animals or riders. The zebra got its stripes, biologists believe, for disruptive-camouflage—not to disappear into the background but to blur together, so a predator had a harder time singling out any individual member from the herd. There may be an element of glare thrown into the mix too, helping to regulate temperature. Maybe there is another reason such a coat is preferred altogether that we are completely missing. It's impossible to say, however, what a lion or mosquito actually sees when it looks at a fancy striped horse and I imagine that the horse has no concept how it looks to them either, though free to wonder with human and horsey bias.  I suspect the horses do not care, so long as the flies are shooed away.

the sound and the flurry - we've got a million of them

Quirk Books has a clever series of ice-cream flavours taken from book-titles, with some nice iconic packaging that is an homage to both industry-standards.  Be sure to check out there other entertaining and literate posts.  What sorts of similar product cross-overs can you come up with?

survival and revival

Finally I had the chance to see the interior of the Ringkirche in the Rheingauvierteil. Like the Lutherkirche, this Gründerzeit (Founding Epoch) structure was built as part of the Wiesbadener Programme, to introduce anchor-protestant churches in communities of the newly annexed Duchy of Nassau by the kings and later emperors of Prussia, of the evangelic persuasion. The church was a favourite of Kaiser Wilhelm II. 
I did not want to take many pictures of the interior, as I was being given a tour by another very house-proud church-lady, but there were some very fine, art nouveau elements and murals. Pausing for a few moments in that big space was also very serene.
The church's architect, Johannes Otzen, designed many impressive and keystone monuments, like this church in the Leipzig neighbourhood of Plagwitz that we visited earlier in the year.  The factory-community itself, on the banks of the White Elster, is a product of the Founding Epoch, characterised by a boom in manufacturing that grew municipalities to meet the demands of the Industrial Revolution and shift to urban and urbane living.

once upon a time or märchenland

In a year long celebration of the centennial of the Brothers Grimm publication of an authoritative collection of folklore and fairy-tales, though respected in other subjects such as linguistics and law as well, many places across Europe with an affinity to the pair are honouring their heritage and connection. Mental-Floss also joins in offering a tribute with a few of their tales not yet fully limned with the treatment of popular-culture, featuring duplicitous morals and personified sausages (Würste). These bizarre stories are definitely worth the read.