Fitness instructor carves his girlfriend’s name into the Colosseum.
The Cheat with the Ace of Diamonds, by George de la Tour, c. 1635. Louvre Museum, Paris.
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Miscellany
In January 1787 Catherine the Great embarked on a six-month survey of her empire, and Gregory Potemkin, former lover and governor general of Crimea, was among those in charge of the tour. Georg von Helbig, a critic of Potemkin, coined the term Potemkin villages to indict the governor general for falsifying his accomplishments, going so far as to claim that while Catherine sailed the Dnieper River, elaborate facades were set up, removed, and placed farther downriver so that she would see the same scenes five or six times.
Your piping-hot lie is the best of lies.
—Plautus, c. 200 BCLapham’sDaily
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Roundtable
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