Bicentennial Map of early GIScience professional, data journalist, and geologist William Smith:

A delineation of the strata of England and Wales. : With part of Scotland; exhibiting the collieries and mines, the marshes and fen land originally overflowed by the sea, and the varieties of soil according to the variations in the substrata, illustrated by the most descriptive names. (Published London: John Cary, 1815.)

The naked Truth freed from the grasp of Falsehood and Envy by grim reaper Time (1737 - completed on the day before the artist’s suicide)

by François Lemoyne, 1688 - 4 June 1737, now Wallace Collection, London.

Voluntary burning of superstitious books at Ephesus by new converts of St. Paul. (The Roman "Index of Prohibited Books", inner frontispiece of the 1758 edition.)

"Multi autem ex eis, qui fuerant curiosa sectati, contulerunt Libros, et combusserunt coram omnibus. Act. Cap.XIX. V.19"

"19 Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed." [Acts 19:19-20, King James Bible]

Executio in effigie

Nomen Erasmi nunquam peribit –

"You're a mess, honey."
(Marlene Dietrich, "Touch of Evil", 1958.)

"His is a thought experiment."
by Avi Steinberg (The New Yorker)

(cf. "Die Methode des Gedankenexperiments"
by Ulrich Kühne, Suhrkamp Verlag 2005, 410 pages,
via, e.g., Amazon Int/US, Germany, UK, France, Japan)

Cover of Charlie Hebdo, Wednesday, Jan 14, 2015:

All is forgiven!

Beagle 2 Mars lander’s remains may have been spotted on red planet
Press conference on Friday (16/01/15) will provide an update on the fate of the Mars spacecraft that disappeared on Christmas day in 2003
(Ian Sample, the guardian, Monday 12 January 2015 18.30 GMT)

Cardiologists are bad for your health. This study shows that you are far more likely to survive a major cardiac event if cardiologists are out of town. Quite scary really.

Mortality and Treatment Patterns Among Patients Hospitalized With Acute Cardiovascular Conditions During Dates of National Cardiology Meetings
by Anupam B. Jena, Vinay Prasad, Dana P. Goldman, John Romley
doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.6781
JAMA Intern Med. Published online December 22, 2014.
http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2038979

Abstract:
Importance  Thousands of physicians attend scientific meetings annually. Although hospital physician staffing and composition may be affected by meetings, patient outcomes and treatment patterns during meeting dates are unknown.
Objective   To analyze mortality and treatment differences among patients admitted with acute cardiovascular conditions during dates of national cardiology meetings compared with nonmeeting dates. Read More »

Einstein's twin-paradox Gedankenexperiment for real!

Meet the Twins Unlocking the Secrets of Space
Scott Kelly will spend one year in space, his identical twin Mark will stay on Earth while NASA studies them both
by Jeffrey Kluger, Time, Dec 29, 2014.

(continue:
http://time.com/meet-the-twins-unlocking-the-secrets-of-space/)

MEAI (5-Methoxy-2-aminoindane), a.k.a. Chaperon
- a cure for alcoholism?
(New Scientist, Daily Mail, David Nutt)

Donkeys: The New Goats
(modern farmer, issue 07, winter 2014/15)

modern farmer: Eat More Squirrel in 2015

"Forget apple pie: Squirrel may win the title as the most American of dishes. Squirrel sustained this country’s earliest settlers and was commonly found on the 19th century menus of the grandest of hotels — even the White House. President William Henry Harrison listed Squirrel Burgoo — a thick meat and vegetable stew — as one of his favorite foods, while famously finicky eater James Garfield gave squirrel soup his highest praise."

(continue: Recipe for Rack of Squirrel á la Forestiere)

The Second Death: the devil torturing souls as well as being tortured himself in hell

"And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire: this is the second death. And whosoeuer was not found written in the booke of life, was cast into the lake of fire." [Rev 20:14-15 KJB]

(Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, 1411/16 CE, Musée Condé, Ms.65, f.108r)

T.S. Eliot on Love Beach while on his honeymoon with his second wife.

George Bernard Shaw surfing.

Mahomet débordé par les intégristes:
"C'est dur d'être aimé par des cons"
Charlie Hebdo, 2006.

(Muhammad overwhelmed by fundamentalists:
"It's hard to be loved by idiots".)

Classic Muhammad cartoon by Kurt Westergaard, 2005.

Muhammad (far right, with white turban), along with Buraq and Gabriel, visit Hell, and see demons punishing the ungodly and scornful.

(Source: Mirâj Nâmeh, commissioned by Shah Rukh in Khorasan c.1436 CE (840 AH), Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des manuscrits, Supplément turc 190, page 65r.)
 
For more pictures of Muhammad by islamic artists, see:
Muhammad Image Archive.

R.I.P. Stéphane Charbonnier, a.k.a. Charb
(21 August 1967 – 7 January 2015)