Landsailing

Obsolete furniture

A chair for a deformed woman with very short legs and a very long torso? No. But that is what I would think at first glance, since I come from a time when this sort of shape is always the shape of a chair, and chairs are for sitting in.

Actually it is a "prie-dieu," furniture for the posture of kneeling, with a ledge to put your folded hands upon in prayer.

Death by Elephant

" The intelligence, domestication, and versatility of elephants gave them considerable advantages over other wild animals such as lions and bears used as executioners by the Romans. Elephants are more tractable than horses: while a horse can be trained to charge into battle, it will not willingly trample an enemy soldier, and will instead step over him. Elephants will trample their enemies, hence the popularity of war elephants with generals such as Hannibal. Elephants can be trained to execute prisoners in a variety of ways, and can be taught to prolong the agony of the victim by inflicting a slow death by torture or quickly killing the condemned by stepping on the head."

Elephant in this drawing doesn't look too happy about its job.

Also, note:

"Being crushed by captive elephants is also a major occupational hazard for elephant keepers in zoos and circuses;^[29] since the 1990s, this has led some such facilities to replace free contact between elephants and keepers with "protected contact" where keepers remain outside the elephant enclosure.^[30]"

A net to constrain the brain

Reticle, derived from the Latin for "net". Refers to what is commonly know as "crosshairs." Werner Herzog pushed his table up against the wall and, facing its blank whiteness, drew a reticle to stare at while he worked on the script for Fitzcarraldo.

Is it frivolous of me to wonder if he drew a German #1, German #4, or an Illuminated German #4 reticle?