This thread is for strange things that catch your fancy and give you artistic ideas.
This, for starters:
The Silent Twins (http://crimefeed.com/2016/02/silent-twins-the-haunting-case-of-the-gibbons-siblings/)
(http://i.imgur.com/zRYmdcY.jpg)
This poor bastard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_McCunn
On a brighter note, the Dukha people (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dukha_people)
There have been some amazing photo articles about them in my facebook feed lately, particularly some about the golden eagle falconers.
And this (http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/gallery/2014/feb/21/prehistoric-forest-uncovered-by-storms-in-cardigan-bay-in-pictures). On several different levels. An ancient, dead and drowned forest giving rise to legends of a lost kingdom. But, also what lost 21st century coastal cities occasionally revealed by storms may spark in the way of legends and mythology in a few thousand years.
(http://i.imgur.com/pphhgkj.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/4tV8Ebw.jpg)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma-x-cGtcYA
https://youtu.be/7qjfCTzvAA4
https://youtu.be/DY4zcQEU7jg
https://youtu.be/6RzMymk6w9s
This tumbler blog (http://crisolyn-uendelig.tumblr.com/) has some fodderish images for the steampunk-minded. She has some music playing so turn your sound down before clicking if music on webpages bothers you. (I usually hate music on blogs, but this wasn't bad).
http://io9.gizmodo.com/brilliant-and-bejeweled-prostheses-designed-to-stand-ou-471017214
Transhumanist story, anyone?
Those are beautiful, and struck a chord. Some future character of mine will have prosthetics like them.
Future geopolitics. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/04/29/six-maps-that-will-make-you-rethink-the-world/)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Millin#World_War_II
Another interesting article regarding prosthetics. This one pushes the utility envelope.
http://www.boredpanda.com/prosthetic-arm-tattoo-artist-jc-sheitan-tenet-jl-gonzal/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0o7lajjzBg
http://www.openculture.com/2013/12/british-library-puts-1000000-images-into-public-domain.html
Earlier this week, Oxford's Bodleian Library announced that it had digitized a 550 year old copy of the Gutenberg Bible along with a number of other ancient bibles, some of them quite beautiful. Not to be outdone, the British Library came out with its own announcement on Thursday:
We have released over a million images onto Flickr Commons for anyone to use, remix and repurpose. These images were taken from the pages of 17th, 18th and 19th century books digitised by Microsoft who then generously gifted the scanned images to us, allowing us to release them back into the Public Domain. The images themselves cover a startling mix of subjects: There are maps, geological diagrams, beautiful illustrations, comical satire, illuminated and decorative letters, colourful illustrations, landscapes, wall-paintings and so much more that even we are not aware of.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/03/heres-how-nasa-thinks-society-will-collapse/441375/
NASA's take on how this society could collapse. Some good dystopian and/or post-apocalyptic settings in this.
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/10/26/the-museum-of-witchcraft-in-boscastle-england-holds-the-worlds-largest-collection-of-witchcraft-memorabilia/
Victorian American Burlesque Theatre, 1890s http://mashable.com/2014/11/11/victorian-burlesque-dancers/#pMysUz6mEkqL