My late cat pooped in his tray and now I’m thinking about how empires crumble.

Pigments, their use as a status symbol and the role in colonialism.

The House of Savoy — blue blood and blue shirts.

Homer’s hazy recollection of a party.

Homer’s story of trickster Hermes.

An expensive rebrand to Evri.

The J. Cage discarded iris story.

Britain’s first nuclear weapon, a porcelain pattern, a waltz.

Kenny Loggins sings Footloose.

Scorpion tails in piles of gravel.