Sheep & Goats

Pierrine Gaston-Sacaze

Pierrine Gaston Sacaze (1797 - 1893) was a shepherd and a botanist born in the hamlet of Bagès, above Béost  in Béarn.

His work constitutes a monumental herbarium of the Pyrenees in thirteen volumes currently on deposit at the Pyrenean Botanical Conservatory of Bagnères-de-Bigorre ( Hautes-Pyrénées ).

To ensure the conservation of this very fragile herbarium, it is frozen at -30° for one month every five years and only researchers will be able to consult it.

Archie Butterworth

Archibald James Butterworth (1912 –2005) was an inventor and racing motorist who, in 1948, designed and constructed the A.J.B. Special, a four-wheel drive Formula One car.

He was winner of the Brighton Speed Trials in 1949 and 1951. After a serious accident in 1951, he gave up competition, but continued to supply race car engines of his own design, notably to Bill Aston for the Aston Butterworth Grand Prix car and Archie Scott Brown for the Elva-Butterworth sports racing car.

Colourised 1890's Film

Customer Alex sent me the link to this beautiful video of the 1890's. 

It has been colourised and shows (from 2.10) fantastic footage of Chasseurs Alpins.

Greg Walker

Retired "Green Beret" Greg Walker is a former soldier and police officer.  From 2009 until 2018, Greg provided case management and advocacy for the most seriously injured, wounded, or made ill special operations and conventional force warriors and their families.  A wounded warrior himself, Mr. Walker has written extensively on the subject of successful rehabilitation and recovery.  

Greg is a LIfe member of the Special Operations and Special Forces Associations. Today, Greg continues his efforts by supporting those private sector efforts in Afghanistan and Ukraine to provide relief and relocation options for those uprooted by the wars in their countries and sports the 'Support Ukraine' blue beret.

Fred Jüssi

Fred Jüssi (born January 29, 1935) is an Estonian biologist, nature writer and photographer.

Jüssi was born in Aruba, Netherlands Antilles, where his father worked for a Venezuelan oil company. His family returned to Estonia and settled in Tallinn when Jüssi was 3 years old. He studied biology and zoology at the University of Tartu, graduating in 1958. He has worked as a school teacher, as inspector for nature protection (1962–1975), radio broadcaster for Eesti Raadio, freelance writer and nature campaigner. In Eesti Raadio he ran the program Looduse aabits (ABC book of nature) from 1976 to 1986.

In October 1980, Jüssi was a signatory of the Letter of 40 Intellectuals, a public letter in which forty prominent Estonian intellectuals defended the Estonian language and protested the Russification policies of the Kremlin in Estonia. The signatories also expressed their unease against Republic-level government in harshly dealing with youth protests in Tallinn that were sparked a week earlier due to the banning of a public performance of the punk rock band Propeller.

In the beginning of the 1990s he was for a few years the president of Estonian Nature Fund. Jüssi has published numerous books, articles and audio recordings related to nature. He was the first recipient of Eerik Kumari Award, given to him in 1989.

Jüssi is probably the most influential person in Estonia engaged in writing, talking and popularising nature.

Sviatoslav Karavansky

Sviatoslav Karavansky (1920, Odesa, Ukraine - 2016 Baltimore, USA) was a linguist, writer, translator, journalist, and political dissident. A political prisoner detained in Soviet labor camps and prisons for 31 years, Karavansky was best known for his great and tireless dedication, over many decades, to the study and preservation of the Ukrainian language.

In  1979 Karavansky and his wife (and political prisoner) Nina Strokatathey left the USSR for the United States of America after being deprived of their Soviet citizenship.

Gina Martin

Gina Martin is a British political activist and author. She is known for her case to make upskirting illegal in England and Wales, which resulted in the Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019.

Martin also authored a book, Be the Change: A Toolkit for the Activist in You, and rejected a nomination for an award of an Order of the British Empire in 2020.

Martin wrote on Twitter: “It would be deeply hypocritical of me to accept this honour while continuing to be vocal in my commitment to anti-racism and understanding the deep and unsettling race issues the British empire has built into the foundation of our country and many others” citing concerns about the "violence and oppression" of the British Empire.

Pompompurin

Pompompurin is a good-natured Golden Retriever introduced by the Japanese company Sanrio in 1996. Pompompurin lives in his own basket in the entrance hall of his sister-owner's house. His trademark is his brown beret that is always on top of his head.

Pompompurin's interest is collecting shoes, drinking milk and eating cream caramel pudding. He also spends a lot of time sleeping (one could say he has a talent for it!), doing aerobics, and hanging out with his best friends. He's a laidback dog who loves soft stuff and easily makes friends. He dreams of being even bigger. He perks up when he hears his owners say "Let's go out!" and he'd rather not hear "Stay!"

Pompompurin's best friends include a hamster called Muffin, a mouse named Scone, and a bird named Custard who loves to steal Pompompurin's hat and perch on his head. He secretly likes it when the wind blows Pompompurin's beret off, so he can retrieve it!

For Frans & Co

Judge Alexander Mamaluy

Alexander Mamaluy (a judge of the Ukrainian Economic Court, PhD, Lecturer), voluntarily went to the front in Eastern Ukraine after Putin's first invasion of the country in 2014. 

Mamaluy was part of the 93rd Separate Guards Mechanized Brigade in Avdeevka, Pisky, Netaylovo and Pervomaysk. 

In September 2014 and in January 2015, he participated in fighting at Donetsk airport. After demobilization he went to serve in the border troops.

His book 'War Diary' tells the story of the fight in Donbass during 2014-2015.

Margaryta Zatuchna

Forced to flee from the Nazis as a baby, 82-year-old Margaryta Zatuchna has been pushed out of her home again -- this time by Russian President Vladimir Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine.

Margaryta Zatuchna pictured with her mother in 1940 

Days before the Nazis invaded her hometown of Kharkiv in October 1941, she was evacuated to a village in the Ural Mountains.

Back in Kharkiv, the Nazis rounded up and murdered an estimated 16,000 Jews. Many were shot at close range or pushed into mass graves and left to die.

After the Red Army regained control of the city in 1943, Margaryta returned to Kharkiv with her family and grew up under Soviet rule. She finished her university education and became an engineer.

Peace lasted until February 24, when Russian forces launched an unprovoked attack on Ukraine and encircled Kharkiv's estimated 1.4 million residents.

The siege and relentless bombardment took its toll: Margaryta awoke on the morning of March 20 to find her husband had passed away in his sleep.

"We couldn't bury him because of the fighting," she said. "His body is still in the morgue."

Margaryta reached out to her younger brother in New Jersey, and he hastily set in motion her evacuation with the help of multiple charities across three countries.

Margaryta insists she does not want to become a refugee. The survivor -- of both the Holocaust and now Russia's onslaught -- hopes to return to Kharkiv to bury her husband of almost 40 years and see her beloved city at peace again.

Thanks, Frans

L'école des Femmes / Laura Sfez

L'école des Femmes is created and owned by Laura Sfez, a Paris native raised between Paris and Los Angeles. Laura is heavily influenced by both French fashion; the essence of what a 'Femme' is and/or should be; elegant, powerful, sleek, sexy and mature. Los Angeles on the other hand, fed Laura a very exciting Hollywood pop culture era and a somewhat obsession with film.

"I think in movies and I live for adventure and it’s poetry." Women lack fun in their day to day wardrobe. The aim of the clothing is to not only be evocative of familiar and classic female roles such as schoolgirls, secretaries, secret agents, and movie icons, but they should also be built to last a lifetime. The quality and sense of classic style are crucial to the designs.

The name L'école des Femmes merely references the concept of an army of female roles donned by women throughout the many eras of fashion. These often transport women back to familiar roles perhaps perceived once as degrading, but now all the more empowering as an affirmation of femininity and elegance. Every piece is designed to make a woman feel unique, fun, sexy and beautiful.

Thanks Brian

Football Supporters

An England fan looks on during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia group G match between England and Belgium

Jesus Arrizabalaga, a supporter at the Athletic Club Bilbao 

Bilbao Supporter

Angèle

Angèle Van Laeken (1995), better known by her stage mononym Angèle, is a Belgian singer-songwriter, musician, pianist, record producer and actress.

She was one of 2018's biggest breakout acts in French and Belgian pop, breaking Stromae's record for weeks at the top of the Belgian singles charts with her 2018 single "Tout oublier" which features her brother (rapper) Roméo Elvis.

Angèle spent a difficult adolescence in a strict Catholic school before attending the Decroly School. The artistic options at this high school helped develop her musical skills. She then enrolled in the Jazz Studio Antwerp for a jazz education before joining her father's band.

In 2021 Angèle made her film debut in Annette, directed by Leos Carax.

Rowan LeCompte

Rowan LeCompte never forgot the day his life was changed. It was July 1, 1939, he was 14 years old and was visiting Washington with an aunt. Through the window of a taxicab, Mr. LeCompte saw a building that left him transfixed. It was Washington National Cathedral, with its slender Gothic spires ascending to the heavens.

Under construction for 32 years, it was far from finished. Scaffolding lined the walls, columns were incomplete and temporary buildings were covered with tar paper.

But within the cathedral’s walls, Mr. LeCompte found a world of wonder. The darkness was brightened only by flickering candles that gave off the scent of wax; an organist was playing Handel; and the north rose window, Mr. LeCompte recalled, appeared to be “floating in the dark.”

“It was a magic, marvellous, dim, ravishingly beautiful place, and I was stunned,” he said in a 2009 NPR interview.

The cathedral became nothing short of an obsession. Mr. LeCompte began to study its stained-glass windows and a little more than two years later, he approached the cathedral’s architect, Philip Hubert Frohman, with a design for a small window in an out-of-the-way chapel. The design was approved on the spot, and Mr. LeCompte, aged 16, was paid $100.

From that day, Mr. LeCompte devoted his life to stained glass in general, and to Washington National Cathedral in particular. It was the only job he would ever have.

Stained glass may have been an ancient art, but Mr. LeCompte saw his windows as an expression of his time. In one window he included small images of ballistic missiles as a quiet protest against military proliferation.

In a depiction of the childhood of Jesus, Mr. LeCompte slyly included a self-portrait, modelling the face of Joseph after his own.

Thanks Frans

Trump's Executive Order 13769 Targeting Boineros

The investigations into Donald Trump's criminal charges make fascinating, though time-consuming, reading.

From the charges that Trump University swindled thousands of students to violating the Voting Act, the Klu Klux Clan Act and most of all his tax returns, is all "old news" to a certain extend.

Much has already been said about his Executive Order 13769 (his "Muslim Travel Ban"), but Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance also found this so far overlooked Nov. 2017 Memorandum from the NSA to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security regarding beret wearers. 

The spy agency reportedly recommended, among other steps, that men and women wearing berets be considered for secondary screening at international airports. An additional note was made regarding "Men with Berets and Beards" and "Men with Berets and a Francophone Accent". Secondary screening can involve everything from a simple pat-down to a full strip-search.

In the NSA document, analysts offered no reason for the recommendation. One Congressional source said that the recommendation did not violate federal guidelines against profiling. “In an airport, it seems quite clear that someone wearing a beret is making a different statement entirely from someone wearing, say, a cowboy hat,” the source said.