the fisherman of halicarnassus

they say death is the greatest pain in the world, but the most unbearable kind of it is the loss of a child. what you want for a living being who's a part of you, whom you gave birth to, whom you love and have devoted your life to, is always a long and healthy life, but sadly not every mother gets to live out that wish. the best-known example of this is michelangelo's pieta, which means "mercy" in italian; that scene where mary carries her child in her arms with an endless grief. image

michelangelo made this sculpture at the age of 24 on commission, and jean bilheres de lagraulas, who served as a cardinal at st. peter's basilica for many years, wanted the sculpture as a tomb monument so he'd continue to be remembered after his death. the sculpture's reference source isn't the bible but the scenes of lamentation following the death of christ that were depicted in 14th-century german art. the sculpture was made by carving a single block of marble, and the terms of the commission were extremely demanding for such a young sculptor. the first of the terms was that the figure of christ be life-sized, and the other was that the sculpture be "more beautiful than any marble work to be seen in rome at the time, and that no master of the era could produce a better one." these ambitious conditions were asked for despite michelangelo's youth, and the sculpture was given as a commission to this little-known sculptor.

to realize the idea of a life-sized christ, which was one of the terms of the commission, michelangelo created the sculpture by carving a single block of carrara marble. we see the difference between mother and son through contrasts. horizontal and vertical, living and dead, nude and clothed. in order to create a life-sized christ and achieve balance in the composition, mary's shoulders were widened and an effort was made to create a proportional composition with an abundance of fabric. in the work, mary carries her son with a pained, resigned expression. even though it's an extremely striking and beautiful composition visually, there are criticized points too. one of them is that mary, who should be in her 50s at her son's death, looks far too young, but michelangelo explained this criticism as "the effect of mary being pure and a virgin having left her unspoiled." the other detail that makes the sculpture special is that michelangelo carved the latin sentence "michaelangelvs bonarotvs florentinvs faciebat" (michelangelo buonarroti, the florentine, made this) onto the sash mary wears. the pieta is the only work the artist signed in his entire career. image

it's a painting so small in size that seeing it in person for the first time gives you that "meeting up with a girl you matched with online and finding out she's way shorter than expected" feeling. image

some people survive. others refuse to be victims.

in 1978, 15-year-old mary vincent was left for dead—her arms hacked off with a hatchet, her body thrown off a 30-foot cliff.

but she didn't die.

she packed her severed limbs with dirt to stop the bleeding.
she climbed back up that cliff.
she walked nearly three miles, naked, drenched in blood, holding up the raw stumps of her arms so she wouldn't bleed out.
cars passed. no one stopped.

until one couple finally did.

her attacker, lawrence singleton, served just eight years in prison. when he walked past her in court, he whispered:

"i'll finish the job when i get out."

mary vanished. she lived in fear. but she never stopped fighting.

singleton? he did it again. he murdered a woman named roxanne hayes in 1997. this time, there was no early release—he was sentenced to death.

mary? she rebuilt her life. she went to college. she had kids. she became an artist. she testified against him at trial, ensuring everyone knew exactly what kind of monster he was.

she wasn't just a survivor. she won.

mary vincent is what happens when a person refuses to break.
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lockdown mode offers an extreme, optional level of security for the very few users who, because of who they are or what they do, may be personally targeted by some of the most sophisticated digital threats, such as those from nso group and other private companies developing state-sponsored mercenary spyware. turning on lockdown mode in ios 16, ipados 16, and macos ventura further hardens device defenses and strictly limits certain functionalities, sharply reducing the attack surface that potentially could be exploited by highly targeted mercenary spyware.

at launch, lockdown mode includes the following protections:
-messages: most message attachment types other than images are blocked. some features, like link previews, are disabled.
-web browsing: certain complex web technologies, like just-in-time (jit) javascript compilation, are disabled unless the user excludes a trusted site from lockdown mode.
-apple services: incoming invitations and service requests, including facetime calls, are blocked if the user has not previously sent the initiator a call or request.
-wired connections with a computer or accessory are blocked when iphone is locked.
-configuration profiles cannot be installed, and the device cannot enroll into mobile device management (mdm), while lockdown mode is turned on.
image source

a 14 year old australian boy who wanted to explore the world, so he snuck to a plane wheel well, it opened in mid-air and the boy fell out. the photographer was just testing his new lenses and was shocked after developing those images. image
wheel-well stowaway

when you reach the top of the hill, you will see bodrum.
don't assume that you will leave as you came.
others before you were the same too.
as they departed, they all left their souls behind.
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