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Several years ago, we brought you a transcription and a couple of audio interpretations of the oldest known song in the world, discovered in the ancient Syrian city of Ugarit and dating back to the 14th century B.C.E.. Likely performed on an instrument resembling an ancient lyre, the so-called “Hurrian Cult Song” or “Hurrian Hymn […]
Given the dominance YouTube has achieved over large swathes of world culture, we’d all expect to remember the first video we watched there. Yet many or most of us don’t: rather, we simply realized, one day in the mid-to-late two-thousands, that we’d developed a daily YouTube habit. Like as not, your own introduction to the […]
One of the most propulsive forces in our social and economic lives is the rate at which emerging technology transforms every sphere of human labor. Despite the political leverage obtained by fearmongering about immigrants and foreigners, it’s the robots who are actually taking our jobs. It is happening, as former SEIU president Andy Stern warns in his book […]
Most Dylanologists disagree about which is the single greatest song in Bob Dylan’s catalog, but few would deny “Blind Willie McTell” a place high in the running. It may come as a surprise — or, to those with a certain idea of Dylan and his fan base, the exact opposite of a surprise — to […]
Funny how not that long ago coloring books were considered the exclusive domain of children. How times have changed. If you are the sort of adult who unwinds with a big box of Crayolas and pages of mandalas or outlines of Ryan Gosling, you owe a debt of gratitude to the McLoughlin Brothers and illustrator Kate […]
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Founded by the English Stage Company (ESC in 1956, London’s Royal Court Theatre focuses on contemporary theatre. The building on Sloane Square has put on plays since its completion in 1888. The venue truly arrived when on 8 May 1956, John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger opened – a play that marks the beginning of … Continue reading "Vintage Posters for The Royal Court Theatre" The post Vintage Posters for The Royal Court Theatre appeared first on Flashbak.
Egyptian blue, the world’s first synthetic pigment, is so much more than just a color. Its incomparable radiance was revered by pharaohs, and its complex chemical properties have long mystified researchers. Nearly 5,000 years later, it continues to captivate us with its ancient beauty—and its surprising potential in cutting-edge fields such as solar energy, […]
It seemed to me that a person who goes to the circus to see a trained lion will also want to see it on the poster: a lion that is real but different from the one that can be seen in the zoo.” – Hubert Hilscher Hubert Hilscher (25 October 1924 – 19 September … Continue reading "Hubert Hilscher’s Trippy Circus Posters" The post Hubert Hilscher’s Trippy Circus Posters appeared first on Flashbak.
When something is 100% certain, we often say that it’s “as sure as the sun rises in the east.” That’s because the sun is the most dependable thing in all of human history. Except perhaps in Japanese mythology. Personified by the goddess Amaterasu (lit. “Heaven Shining”), one of the most important deities in the […]
England’s Prison Population Problems JamesHoare Thu, 06/26/2025 - 08:58
