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CrimethInc.
Then They Came for the Palestinians : How to Respond to the Kidnapping of Mahmoud Khalil On March 8, Department of Homeland Security agents kidnapped Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian organizer...
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On March 8, Department of Homeland Security agents kidnapped Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian organizer and graduate student at Columbia University who had permanent residency in the United States. Donald Trump’s State Department arbitrarily revoked his residency. They are holding...
History Today Feed
‘This Land of Promise’ and ‘Multicultural Britain’ review ‘This Land of Promise’ and ‘Multicultural Britain’ review JamesHoare Tue, 03/11/2025 - 09:08
4 hours ago
Open Culture
When Charlie Chaplin First Spoke Onscreen: How His Famous Great Dictator Speech Came About Charlie Chaplin came up in vaudeville, but it was silent film that made him the most famous man in...
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Charlie Chaplin came up in vaudeville, but it was silent film that made him the most famous man in the world. His mastery of that form primed him to feel a degree of skepticism about sound when it came along: in 1931, he called the silent picture “a universal means of...
Wrong Side of...
The seed of Elon Khan Ultra-prolific men are not like the rest of us
5 hours ago
Flashbak
Strangely Familiar: Peter Mitchell Paints The Everyday In Colour Film “I had always believed a photograph could be as powerful as a painting.” – Peter Mitchell     Peter...
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“I had always believed a photograph could be as powerful as a painting.” – Peter Mitchell     Peter Mitchell allows us to imagine the stories between his  colour photographer of 1970s and 80s England, particularly the northern city of Leeds he calls home. A self-described “man of...
Open Culture
How the Moving Image Has Become the Medium of Record: Part 1 Image via Wikimedia Commons How did we get to the point where we’ve come to believe so many lies...
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7 hours ago
Image via Wikimedia Commons How did we get to the point where we’ve come to believe so many lies that 77 million Americans voted into the White House a criminal reality TV star from NBC, one groomed by a reality TV producer from CBS, who then appointed his Cabinet from Fox and X...
Overcoming Bias
Romantic Decay As Cultural Drift For the last year or so I’ve focused on the idea that our world’s dominant monoculture is slowly...
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18 hours ago
For the last year or so I’ve focused on the idea that our world’s dominant monoculture is slowly going maladaptive, due to cultural drift.
Classical Wisdom
ALL HAIL CAESAR??? Should We Glorify Caesar? And Those Like Him?
22 hours ago
Flashbak
Why The BBC Wanted To Keep George Orwell Off The Radio “I am quite seriously worried about the situation and about the wisdom of our keeping Orwell...
yesterday
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yesterday
“I am quite seriously worried about the situation and about the wisdom of our keeping Orwell personally on the air.” – the BBC controller outlines his reasons for keeping George Orwell off the air     In his his lifetime, George Orwell (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was thought...
Open Culture
Watch “The Birth of the Robot,” Len Lye’s Surreal 1935 Stop-Motion Animation Robots seem to have been much on the public mind back in the nineteen-thirties. Matt Novak at...
yesterday
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yesterday
Robots seem to have been much on the public mind back in the nineteen-thirties. Matt Novak at Paleofuture gives the example of a moment in 1932 when “the world was awash in newspaper stories about a robot that had done the unthinkable: a mechanical man had shot its inventor.”...
Open Culture
Why “The Girl from Ipanema“ ‘ Is a Richer & Weirder Song Than You Realized Say what you want about YouTube’s negative effects (endless soy faces, influencers, its devious and...
yesterday
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yesterday
Say what you want about YouTube’s negative effects (endless soy faces, influencers, its devious and fascist-leaning algorithms) but it has offered to creators a space in which to indulge. And that’s one of the reasons I’ve been a fan of Adam Neely’s work. A jazz musician and a...
TheCollector
Venus Cloacina: Meet the Roman Sewer Goddess Over the course of their history, the Romans built a complex and dense network of sewers in the city...
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Over the course of their history, the Romans built a complex and dense network of sewers in the city of Rome. However, only one of them was held in the highest regard. It was the oldest sewer in the city, and it was called Cloaca Maxima (“The Greatest Sewer”). In the beginning,...
TheCollector
William Gladstone: Britain’s Record-Breaking Prime Minister The Victorian era featured many political giants. Robert Peel, Benjamin Disraeli, and Lord Salisbury...
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The Victorian era featured many political giants. Robert Peel, Benjamin Disraeli, and Lord Salisbury are some obvious examples. Yet the man who spent the most time as prime minister was none other than William Gladstone.   Gladstone was Great Britain’s prime minister for twelve...
African History...
A complete history of Mogadishu (ca. 1100-1892) Journal of African cities: chapter 16.
2 days ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekly Wisdom Quiz Beginnings, Endings, and Education
2 days ago
TheCollector
The Expulsion of Polish Jews From Nazi Germany: Polenaktion Explained In the early hours of October 28, 1938, Berlin resident Mendel Max Karp was still sleeping when...
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In the early hours of October 28, 1938, Berlin resident Mendel Max Karp was still sleeping when police officers burst into his apartment to order him to leave the territory of the German Reich. He was then arrested and deported to the German-Polish border on a special train. Mr....
TheCollector
Preacher & Religious Author: Who Was John Bunyan? Among the written works which came out of the Protestant Reformation, probably the most surprising...
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Among the written works which came out of the Protestant Reformation, probably the most surprising is the widely popular work The Pilgrim’s Progress, a work of fiction from an untrained preacher called John Bunyan. His book was not any sort of treatise of theology; instead, it...
Wrong Side of...
The Great Madman Theory of History vindicated Has Nigel Farage just ended his chance of victory?
2 days ago
TheCollector
10 Must-See Ancient Monuments Around the World Ancient times refer to the period spanning from the early development of human civilizations to the...
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Ancient times refer to the period spanning from the early development of human civilizations to the end of classical antiquity, roughly 3000 BCE to 500 CE. This era saw the rise of powerful empires, complex societies, and remarkable advancements in art, architecture, and...
TheCollector
What Is the First Epistle of Peter About? There is no doubt that the audience the First Epistle of Peter (1 Peter) had in mind was suffering...
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There is no doubt that the audience the First Epistle of Peter (1 Peter) had in mind was suffering persecution. Whether it was from Nero before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE or during the reign of Domitian a decade or so afterward, the readers can find wisdom and...
weird medieval guys
My favourite etymologies: clue A word for worms, string, romance, and advice
3 days ago
TheCollector
Who Were the Aboriginal Leaders of the Frontier Wars? 4 Key Figures Most of what we know about the people involved in the Australian Frontier Wars, and the massacres...
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Most of what we know about the people involved in the Australian Frontier Wars, and the massacres that unfolded, comes from the journals of those who were involved in them; that is, European settlers, pastoralists, and government officials. They also come (especially with regard...
TheCollector
What Is the Book of Hebrews About? Some refer to the Book of Hebrews as the “better book.” It compares the Old Testament ceremonial...
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Some refer to the Book of Hebrews as the “better book.” It compares the Old Testament ceremonial system and its fulfillment, highlighting how the fulfillment is, in every instance, better than the type that pointed to the antitype. It is arguably the best link between Old...
Flashbak
Honoré Daumier, Portraits des Célébrités du Juste-Milieu At the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, you can see these sculptured portraits of celebrities by French artist...
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At the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, you can see these sculptured portraits of celebrities by French artist Honoré Daumier (February 26, 1808 – February 10 or 11, 1879). Created between 1832 and 1835, Les Célébrités du Juste-Milieu (The Celebrities of the Golden Mean) terracotta look...
TheCollector
Sejanus: The Praetorian Prefect With Imperial Ambitions Tiberius Caesar had the unenviable task of succeeding his stepfather Augustus. He would always be a...
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Tiberius Caesar had the unenviable task of succeeding his stepfather Augustus. He would always be a pale shadow of the charismatic founder of the Roman Empire. Tiberius’s time in power was also scarred by the influence of Sejanus, the prefect of the emperor’s Praetorian Guard....
TheCollector
Is Capitalism Reliant on Fossil Fuels? Energy-dense ‘fossil fuels’ – such as coal, oil, and natural gas – are derived from fossilized...
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Energy-dense ‘fossil fuels’ – such as coal, oil, and natural gas – are derived from fossilized organic matter. However, their combustion releases large amounts of carbon dioxide, fuelling global warming on an industrial scale. Indeed, since the Industrial Revolution, the...
TheCollector
10 Ancient Greek Islands to Visit Greece, one of the world’s oldest civilizations, traces its history back to at least 7000 BCE, when...
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Greece, one of the world’s oldest civilizations, traces its history back to at least 7000 BCE, when Neolithic settlements emerged across the region. By 3000 BCE, the Cycladic, Minoan, and Mycenaean civilizations flourished, setting the stage for Greece’s cultural and intellectual...
TheCollector
Who Were the 5 Most Important Lutheran Reformers? Any student of the Protestant Reformation will be intimately familiar with the likes of Luther and...
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Any student of the Protestant Reformation will be intimately familiar with the likes of Luther and Melanchthon, both of whom spearheaded the reforms in the western church in the first half of the 16th century. However, their legacy only endured because of those who followed their...
Dreams of Space -...
Rockets and Space Coloring Book (1960) Some nice space pictures (to color) for you today.  Coloring books may be one of the ultimate forms...
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Some nice space pictures (to color) for you today.  Coloring books may be one of the ultimate forms of ephemera. There were meant to be used, admired? and then thrown away. Yet many children owned them and there were at least 40 issued between 1950 and 1970 on space themes. If...
TheCollector
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: How Russia Left World War I In both World Wars, people assume the Allied Powers had a crushing advantage and would have...
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In both World Wars, people assume the Allied Powers had a crushing advantage and would have inevitably won the conflicts. World War I, however, was almost a victory for Germany. Far from the American focus on the Atlantic Ocean, Germany had also been fighting Russia, which was an...
TheCollector
Archaeologists Find World’s Oldest Known Bone Tools in Africa Early hominids were systematically producing bone tools at least one million years sooner than...
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Early hominids were systematically producing bone tools at least one million years sooner than archaeologists previously believed, according to a new study published in Nature. Researchers from the CSIC-Spanish National Research Council unearthed an ancient bone toolkit in...
Flashbak
René Magritte’s Art Deco Posters and Music Covers Belgian painter René Magritte (21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) is best known for his Surrealist...
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Belgian painter René Magritte (21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) is best known for his Surrealist art. But before he relocated from Brussels to Paris in 1927 and began hanging out with André Breton (19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) and other Surrealists, Magritte worked as...
TheCollector
Still-Life: 8 Facts About the Most Underrated Genre Still-life painting is one of the oldest genres in history, yet it is often dismissed as too simple...
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Still-life painting is one of the oldest genres in history, yet it is often dismissed as too simple and not serious enough to be considered “high” art. Still, this genre has a long history spanning from antiquity. Still-life painting has evolved with human society, adapting to...
Classical Wisdom
Ancients After Alexander The Hellenistic Age
4 days ago
TheCollector
4 Must-Read Works by Søren Kierkegaard, Father of Existentialism Søren Kierkegaard is largely considered to be the father of existentialism. He wrote extensively...
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Søren Kierkegaard is largely considered to be the father of existentialism. He wrote extensively about subjects such as the human condition, despair, anxiety about existence, and how to achieve an authentic and actualized Self. Kierkegaard never shied away from the messy parts of...
TheCollector
What Are the Origins of the Folk Horror Genre? Originating in British cinema during the 1960s and 1970s, classic works of folk horror such as The...
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Originating in British cinema during the 1960s and 1970s, classic works of folk horror such as The Wicker Man (1973), have created their own set of features usually used as shorthand by folk horror creators in many mediums. Featuring isolated, rural communities grappling with the...
Open Culture
A Tour of the Final Home Designed By Frank Lloyd Wright: The Circular Sun House Some remember the nineteen-nineties in America as the second coming of the nineteen-fifties....
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Some remember the nineteen-nineties in America as the second coming of the nineteen-fifties. Whatever holes one can poke in that historical framing, it does feel strangely plausible inside Frank Lloyd Wright’s Circular Sun House. Though not actually built until 1967, it was...
Open Culture
Watch the Sci-Fi Short Film “I’m Not a Robot”: Winner of a 2025 Academy Award Victoria Warmerdam, the writer and director of the short film, “I’m Not a Robot,” summarizes the...
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Victoria Warmerdam, the writer and director of the short film, “I’m Not a Robot,” summarizes the plot of her 22-minute film as follows: The film “tells the story of Lara, a music producer who spirals into an existential crisis after repeatedly failing a CAPTCHA test—leading her...
History Today Feed
The Affair of the Sausages The Affair of the Sausages JamesHoare Fri, 03/07/2025 - 08:52
4 days ago
TheCollector
8 Locations in Greece Related to the Odyssey Homer’s The Odyssey has been a cornerstone of Western literature for millennia, chronicling the epic...
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Homer’s The Odyssey has been a cornerstone of Western literature for millennia, chronicling the epic journey of King Odysseus as he strives to return home after the Trojan War. This timeless narrative has inspired countless adaptations, with the latest being Christopher Nolan’s...
Open Culture
Get 40% Off 3 Months of Coursera Plus & Access Unlimited Courses – Offer Ends March 9 Now through March 9, 2025, Coursera is offering 40% off a three-month subscription to Coursera Plus....
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Now through March 9, 2025, Coursera is offering 40% off a three-month subscription to Coursera Plus. This plan provides access to 7,000+ courses for one all-inclusive price, including programs from 350 universities (e.g., Duke and the University of Michigan) and companies like...
Wrong Side of...
The Lives of the Othered Are some people worth less?
4 days ago
TheCollector
Baroque Music: Contrast and Drama The Baroque Era’s genesis lay in Italy, established during the Council of Trent between 1545 and...
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The Baroque Era’s genesis lay in Italy, established during the Council of Trent between 1545 and 1653. The Council’s mission was simple: How could they inspire people to follow the Catholic faith and come back to the Church’s fold? Where the Protestants opted for simplicity, the...
A Collection of...
Collections: What Do Historians Do? For this week, I want to take a step back (we’ll be back to our series on Rings of Power next week!)...
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For this week, I want to take a step back (we’ll be back to our series on Rings of Power next week!) and talk about the craft of history: we’ve talked about “How Your History Gets Made” from the perspective of the different people who do it – research historians, public...
TheCollector
Was the Spanish Inquisition Really That Harsh? (Truths & Myths) When most people think of the Spanish Inquisition, they picture horrific scenes of torture and...
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When most people think of the Spanish Inquisition, they picture horrific scenes of torture and cruelty, thousands of people burning at the stake, and a tyrannical religious regime with too much power. What led to these misconceptions and propaganda surrounding the Inquisition,...
TheCollector
Trove of Ancient Gold Jewelry Found in Egypt’s Karnak Temple Ongoing excavations at Egypt’s Karnak Temple Complex revealed a cache of ancient gold artifacts....
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Ongoing excavations at Egypt’s Karnak Temple Complex revealed a cache of ancient gold artifacts. Stashed for centuries inside a ceramic vessel, the collection of jewelry, amulets, and statuettes remains remarkably well-preserved.   Karnak Temple Jewelry Dates Back to Egypt’s 26th...
TheCollector
Who Are the Main Aboriginal Clans from West & Central Australia? Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland form the macro-region known as Eastern Australia, along...
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Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland form the macro-region known as Eastern Australia, along with the Tasmanian Island, Jervis Bay Territory, and the Australian Capital Territory. The remaining mainland states of South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory...
TheCollector
Bayeux Tapestry Fragment Rediscovered in Germany A missing piece of the Bayeux Tapestry, one of the world’s most famous medieval artworks, was...
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A missing piece of the Bayeux Tapestry, one of the world’s most famous medieval artworks, was recently rediscovered in Germany. The epic embroidery, which depicts events leading up to William the Conqueror’s victory over King Harold II, dates back to the 11th century.   Fragment...
Flashbak
23 Before And After Vintage Snapshots “Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well.” — Mark Twain    ...
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“Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well.” — Mark Twain     Take a moment to look at the photo above. We don’t know Maureen. She’s the subject of a pair of ‘BEFORE’ and AFTER’ polaroids from Robert E Jackson’s astounding archive of snapshots....
TheCollector
History of Christian Missionaries: From Apostles to Modern Day Christians believe Jesus Christ came to Earth with a divine message. After the Ascension, the...
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Christians believe Jesus Christ came to Earth with a divine message. After the Ascension, the followers of Jesus took the baton from him and picked up the task of spreading that same message. These messengers were called missionaries. This post will investigate Christian...
TheCollector
Who Was Jan Hus? The Priest Who Defied the Pope Before Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church in Wittenburg, Germany, before...
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Before Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church in Wittenburg, Germany, before Gutenberg’s printing press, and even before the Protestant Reformation, opposition to the theology and hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church was rare. One of the more prominent...
Open Culture
The Classic 1972 Concert Film Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii Gets Restored & Will Soon Hit IMAX... Today, when we watch genre-defining concert films like Monterey Pop, Woodstock, Gimme Shelter, or...
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Today, when we watch genre-defining concert films like Monterey Pop, Woodstock, Gimme Shelter, or Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, we look upon the audience with nearly as much interest as we do the performers. But Pink Floyd never did things in quite the same way as...
Open Culture
Historian Answers Burning Questions About The Renaissance Courtesy of Wired, historian Alexander Bevilacqua (Williams College) answers the internet’s burning...
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Courtesy of Wired, historian Alexander Bevilacqua (Williams College) answers the internet’s burning questions about the cultural rebirth that came to be known as The Renaissance. In 30+ minutes, Bevilacqua covers an array of questions, including: When did The Renaissance begin?...
TheCollector
10 Charming Historic Towns in Scotland The Kingdom of Scotland was founded in 843 AD when Kenneth MacAlpin unified the Picts and Scots,...
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The Kingdom of Scotland was founded in 843 AD when Kenneth MacAlpin unified the Picts and Scots, though its story stretches back much further—to the ancient standing stones of Orkney, the Roman frontier of the Antonine Wall, and the shadowy reigns of the early Celtic kings....
TheCollector
Augustine vs Baudrillard: Are Words Signs of Reality or Hyperreality? To say that the famous pessimist Augustine wrote prolifically because of his hope in the power of...
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To say that the famous pessimist Augustine wrote prolifically because of his hope in the power of the word is not to speak rashly. Words, Augustine thought, illuminate the ontology of human existence. Contrastingly, the French postmodern philosopher and cultural theorist, Jean...
TheCollector
Himmler, Hitler, & Occultism: The Nazi Search for the Arcane The Nazi regime’s fascination with the occult has long captivated and horrified people in equal...
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The Nazi regime’s fascination with the occult has long captivated and horrified people in equal measure. The idea that one of history’s most brutal regimes actively pursued mystical artifacts and esoteric beliefs seems almost unfathomable. Yet, as this exploration reveals,...
Overcoming Bias
Futarchy As Meta Governance While anyone can buy stock in public firms, private equity firms are instead held by a more...
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While anyone can buy stock in public firms, private equity firms are instead held by a more concentrated and exclusive set of owners.
Res Obscura
AI legibility, physical archives, and the future of research A followup to "The leading AI models are now good historians"
6 days ago
TheCollector
What Is the Story of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle? The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is one of the most important artifacts of English history. As a text, it...
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The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is one of the most important artifacts of English history. As a text, it is a remarkable record of events that helps shine a light onto the so-called “Dark Ages.” However, the Chronicle is more than just a record. In many ways, it is more than a mere...
Classical Wisdom
Roman Britain: Origin or Decline? What can we learn from Transition?
6 days ago
TheCollector
What Is the Epistle of Jude About? Though the Epistle of Jude addresses much of the same content that the other epistles do, how the...
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Though the Epistle of Jude addresses much of the same content that the other epistles do, how the author does it is different. He quotes from the Book of Enoch and refers to Sodom and Gomorrah, the epic tale of destruction in the Old Testament. His use of this source material is...
Flashbak
Mystery, God And The Wonder of Death: Cristoforo de Predis’ Illuminated Visions “He commanded and they were created.” – Psalm 33     Cristoforo de Predis (1440-1486) painted his...
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“He commanded and they were created.” – Psalm 33     Cristoforo de Predis (1440-1486) painted his visions of the final judgement in the late 15th Century. We see fish above the sea, the sun and moon dying, blood dripping from trees and winged demons dropping naked, fragile...
TheCollector
What Are the Top 5 World Heritage Sites in the Philippines? The Philippines is one of the most beautiful archipelagos in the world. Connecting 7640 islands, it...
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The Philippines is one of the most beautiful archipelagos in the world. Connecting 7640 islands, it is a canvas where nature has painted some of its most magnificent wonders. With a history spanning hundreds of years, the country attracts tourists from all over the world for its...
Open Culture
How Stephen King Foretold the Rise of Trump in a 1979 Novel Nobody opens a Stephen King novel expecting to see a reflection of the real world. Then again, as...
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Nobody opens a Stephen King novel expecting to see a reflection of the real world. Then again, as those who get hooked on his books can attest, never is his work ever wholly detached from reality. Time and time again, he delivers lurid visions of the macabre, grotesque, and...
History Today Feed
The Wild Hunt in England The Wild Hunt in England JamesHoare Wed, 03/05/2025 - 09:23
6 days ago
Wrong Side of...
Bumping up against solid reality Pourquoi mourir pour Donetsk? Britain's young might well wonder
6 days ago
Trying to Understand...
All About Aid. Well, probably more than you wanted to know, anyway.
6 days ago
TheCollector
Hel: The Giantess Queen of the Norse Underworld Helheim The giant Hel was one of the children of the trickster giant Loki. Born half-living and half-dead,...
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The giant Hel was one of the children of the trickster giant Loki. Born half-living and half-dead, she was a terror to look upon and feared by the gods, so Odin banished her to the underworld, where she became its queen. Her power in Helheim was absolute; not even Odin could...
Open Culture
Carl Jung’s Hand-Drawn, Rarely-Seen Manuscript The Red Book Despite his one-time friend and mentor Sigmund Freud’s enormous impact on Western...
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Despite his one-time friend and mentor Sigmund Freud’s enormous impact on Western self-understanding, I would argue it is Carl Jung who is still most with us in our communal practices: from his focus on introversion and extroversion to his view of syncretic, intuitive forms of...
TheCollector
Simone Weil: Did George Herbert Convert the French Mystic? Despite living about 300 years before her, George Herbert drastically influenced the life of Simone...
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Despite living about 300 years before her, George Herbert drastically influenced the life of Simone Weil, a Jewish philosopher of the early to mid-20th century. Weil, accustomed to terrible migraines, was reading one of Herbert’s poems when she had an experience that changed her...
TheCollector
Roman-Era Hermes Statue Found in Ancient City of Aspendos Turkish archaeologists unearthed an ancient statue of Hermes, the winged messenger of the gods, in...
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a week ago
Turkish archaeologists unearthed an ancient statue of Hermes, the winged messenger of the gods, in the Greco-Roman city of Aspendos. It was found alongside objects associated with other major deities in Greek mythology.   Turkish Archaeologists Uncover Fragmented Hermes Statue  ...
Overcoming Bias
Philosophical Angst As Culture Skepticism In her new book, my podcast co-host Agnes Callard does a great job of expressing classic...
a week ago
TheCollector
Where Was King Arthur’s Mount Badon? War between the Britons and the Anglo-Saxons started in c. 430 CE and continued for centuries. For...
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a week ago
War between the Britons and the Anglo-Saxons started in c. 430 CE and continued for centuries. For some time, the Anglo-Saxons faced little difficulty in conquering new territory. However, a war leader, either named Ambrosius Aurelianus or King Arthur, helped the Britons fight...
Classical Wisdom
What to Expect When You're Dead *New Event* April 2nd, 2025
a week ago
Hidden History
Project Mercury Project Mercury was America’s entry into the Space Race and was intended to put a human into space...
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Project Mercury was America’s entry into the Space Race and was intended to put a human into space before the Soviet Union did. The Soviet launch of the Sputnik satellite in October 1957 caused a near-panic in the United States and led to desperate calls to “catch up”. President...
TheCollector
Are We Justified in Using Inductive Reasoning? Imagine being a scientist developing a new drug. You test it on over 1,000,000 patients of...
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a week ago
Imagine being a scientist developing a new drug. You test it on over 1,000,000 patients of widespread backgrounds, and none experiences any side effects. You put it on the market and, once again, receive no notification of undesired outcomes. Imagine then prescribing it to one of...
TheCollector
The Stroop Effect: Can Your Brain Glitch? The Stroop effect is one of the most fascinating discoveries of experimental psychology that...
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a week ago
The Stroop effect is one of the most fascinating discoveries of experimental psychology that uncovers how our brain processes information. Named after psychologist John Ridley Stroop, it reveals how cognitive interferences can make seemingly simple cognitive tasks surprisingly...
Open Culture
How the Nazis Waged War on Modern Art: Inside the “Degenerate Art” Exhibition of 1937 Before his fateful entry into politics, Adolf Hitler wanted to be an artist. Even to the most...
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a week ago
Before his fateful entry into politics, Adolf Hitler wanted to be an artist. Even to the most neutral imaginable observer, the known examples of the estimated 2,000 to 3,000 paintings and other works of art he produced in his early adulthood would hardly evidence astonishing...
Flashbak
Harold Fisk Maps the History of the Mississippi River, 1944 In 1944, Harold Fisk was a geologist and cartographer working for the US Army Corps of Engineers...
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a week ago
In 1944, Harold Fisk was a geologist and cartographer working for the US Army Corps of Engineers when he made these 15 maps to illustrate the government’s “Geological Investigation of the Alluvial Valley of the Lower Mississippi River”. Fisk’s ingenious maps shows a different...
History Today Feed
Pompey’s Greatest Show on Earth Pompey’s Greatest Show on Earth JamesHoare Tue, 03/04/2025 - 09:08
a week ago
Open Culture
Andrei Tarkovsky’s Message to Young People: “Learn to Be Alone,” Enjoy Solitude I remember the first time I sat down and watched Andrei Tarkovsky’s lyrical, meandering sci-fi epic...
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a week ago
I remember the first time I sat down and watched Andrei Tarkovsky’s lyrical, meandering sci-fi epic Stalker. It was a long time ago, before the advent of smartphones and tablets. I watched a beat-up VHS copy on a non-“smart” TV, and had no ability to pause every few minutes and...
TheCollector
How the Song of Roland Shaped the Way We (Still) Think of Charlemagne The Song of Roland, one of the earliest pieces of French literature, started as a verbally shared...
a week ago
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a week ago
The Song of Roland, one of the earliest pieces of French literature, started as a verbally shared poem that was eventually written down. Several manuscripts of it exist, but Digby 23 has had the most influence. Because The Song of Roland sings the praise of Charlemagne, it is...
TheCollector
Is The Prince of Egypt (1998) an Accurate Portrayal of Ancient Egypt? The Prince of Egypt is a 1998 award-winning animated film based on the Book of Exodus in the Bible....
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a week ago
The Prince of Egypt is a 1998 award-winning animated film based on the Book of Exodus in the Bible. Set in ancient Egypt, the main characters reference actual historical figures. In this article, we will examine how life in ancient Egypt is shown in the movie to find out how...
Overcoming Bias
Respect The Social Wild While most foragers had great respect for nature, our farmer-era ancestors had less resepct.
a week ago
TheCollector
Understanding Beethoven in 5 Compositions Ludwig van Beethoven is labeled as an innovator and a rebel in the world of music. To paraphrase Bob...
a week ago
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a week ago
Ludwig van Beethoven is labeled as an innovator and a rebel in the world of music. To paraphrase Bob Marley’s song, No Woman No Cry, “No Beethoven, no modern music.” Despite his growing and eventual deafness, he composed some of the world’s most memorable music. His association...
Classical Wisdom
What’s the Role of Education? For the Individual... and for Society?
a week ago
TheCollector
Who Won the Battle of Gaines’ Mill? With the Union and Confederate capital cities so close together, it seemed common sense for the...
a week ago
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a week ago
With the Union and Confederate capital cities so close together, it seemed common sense for the Union to use its manpower and industrial advantage to take the quickest route to end the war: seize the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. The Peninsula Campaign of 1862 was an...
Wrong Side of...
Farewell to Our Kith and Kin Why doesn't Britain doesn't stand up for Canada?
a week ago
TheCollector
What Bible Translations Existed Before and During the Protestant Reformation? For various reasons, up until well after the Protestant Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church...
a week ago
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a week ago
For various reasons, up until well after the Protestant Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church generally resisted the translation of the Bible into vernacular, or common, languages. However, the Catholic Church was unable to stem the tide for various reasons, particularly in the...
Open Culture
Where The Simpsons Began: Discover the Original Shorts That Appeared on The Tracey Ullman Show... When it first went on air in the late nineteen-eighties, Fox had to prove itself capable of playing...
a week ago
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a week ago
When it first went on air in the late nineteen-eighties, Fox had to prove itself capable of playing in a televisual league with the likes of NBC, CBS, and ABC. To that end, it began building its prime-time lineup with two original programs more thematically and aesthetically...
History Today Feed
Maiden Flight of the Spitfire Maiden Flight of the Spitfire JamesHoare Mon, 03/03/2025 - 09:11
a week ago
Open Culture
The Story Of Menstruation: Watch Walt Disney’s Sex Ed Film from 1946 From 1945 to 1951, Disney produced a series of educational films to be shown in American schools....
a week ago
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a week ago
From 1945 to 1951, Disney produced a series of educational films to be shown in American schools. How to bathe an infant. How not to catch a cold. Why you shouldn’t drive fast. Disney covered these subjects in its educational shorts, and then eventually got to the touchy subject...
TheCollector
Who Won the Battle of Hampton Roads? The Union blockaded the Confederate coast during the American Civil War as part of the Anaconda...
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a week ago
The Union blockaded the Confederate coast during the American Civil War as part of the Anaconda Plan. To fight the overwhelming Union advantage in manpower and ships, the Confederacy adopted a new technology: the ironclad vessel. These low-profile ships were covered in metal...
TheCollector
London in WWII: The Horror of the London Blitz “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields...
a week ago
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a week ago
“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender,” famously declared British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the House of Commons on June 4, 1940. At...
African History...
African cities in the 19th century: cosmopolitan urban spaces between three worlds. When the German adventurer Gerhard Rohlfs visited the city of Ibadan in 1867, he described it as...
a week ago
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a week ago
When the German adventurer Gerhard Rohlfs visited the city of Ibadan in 1867, he described it as “one of the greatest cities of the interior of Africa” with “endlessly long and wide streets made up of trading stalls.” However, unlike many of the West African cities he had...
TheCollector
How to Keep Your Head in King Henry VIII’s Court Treason, tyranny, and terror are fabled words of King Henry VIII, one of history’s most...
a week ago
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a week ago
Treason, tyranny, and terror are fabled words of King Henry VIII, one of history’s most controversial autocrats and matrimonial monsters. During his reign, King Henry VIII would marry six times, beheading two of his queens and two of his trusted ministers.   Historians concur...
Classical Wisdom
Weekly Wisdom Quiz Plato, Aristotle, and Euripides
a week ago
TheCollector
Who Won the Battle of Fort Donelson? Initial Union attempts to storm the nearby Confederate capital city of Richmond, Virginia had been...
a week ago
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a week ago
Initial Union attempts to storm the nearby Confederate capital city of Richmond, Virginia had been unsuccessful in 1861. Thus, the Union began the process of retaking Confederate territory in the Western Theater west of Virginia. The first target was Tennessee, the “top” of the...
Flashbak
Johann Gottlob von Kurr’s The Mineral Kingdom, 1859 Johann Gottlob von Kurr (1798-1870) was professor of mineralogy and botany at the Stuttgart...
a week ago
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a week ago
Johann Gottlob von Kurr (1798-1870) was professor of mineralogy and botany at the Stuttgart Polytechnic Institute when in 1858 he published Das Mineralreich in Bildern. The work was delivered in two sections. The first is an introduction including topics such as the formation of...
TheCollector
What Is the History of Arizona’s London Bridge? Many have heard the rhyme “London Bridge is Falling Down,” and many know that the current London...
a week ago
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a week ago
Many have heard the rhyme “London Bridge is Falling Down,” and many know that the current London Bridge was not the original. However, did you know that a bridge that used to be in London actually took a trip overseas, and now resides on a completely different body of water?  ...
TheCollector
10 Beautiful Libraries in the U.S. You Should Visit Libraries have long stood as pillars of knowledge and culture, evolving from ancient archives to...
a week ago
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a week ago
Libraries have long stood as pillars of knowledge and culture, evolving from ancient archives to modern public institutions. The earliest known libraries date back to the 7th century B.C., such as the Library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh, which housed a vast collection of cuneiform...
TheCollector
The Surprising Ways Tomb Robbing Changed the Course of Egyptian History In ancient Egypt, the physical memory of the deceased was essential. They believed that another life...
a week ago
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a week ago
In ancient Egypt, the physical memory of the deceased was essential. They believed that another life would begin in the afterlife that was the same as life on Earth but without any problems. Their tombs were packed with objects necessary for survival in this afterlife....
TheCollector
The German Revolution of 1918-1919: The Birth of the Weimar Republic On November 10, 1918, Theodor Wolff, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Berliner Tageblatt,...
a week ago
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a week ago
On November 10, 1918, Theodor Wolff, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Berliner Tageblatt, announced that “the greatest of all revolutions” had occurred in Germany. The previous day, a wave of anti-war protests, collectively known as the November Revolution, had caused the...
TheCollector
Joya de Cerén: A Glimpse at the Mayan Pompeii While numerous Mayan discoveries and archeological sites can be found throughout Central America,...
a week ago
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a week ago
While numerous Mayan discoveries and archeological sites can be found throughout Central America, the distinctiveness of Joya de Cerén provides a peek at Mayan life in a small farming settlement over 1,500 years ago. A volcanic eruption and the resulting ash that froze the city...
TheCollector
Why Is There So Much Blood in Mesoamerican Mythology? In the Aztec mythos, Huitzilopotchli sought revenge on his sister Coyolxauhqui for attacking their...
a week ago
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a week ago
In the Aztec mythos, Huitzilopotchli sought revenge on his sister Coyolxauhqui for attacking their mother, throwing her head into the sky to become the moon watching over. In the Maya mythos, Buluc-Chabta wore a necklace made of human eyes. Brutality and war were often the way of...
Flashbak
The Making of The Conversation – An Interview with Francis Ford Coppola, 1974 In 1966, Francis Ford Coppola was working as a scriptwriter when he talked with fellow American...
a week ago
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a week ago
In 1966, Francis Ford Coppola was working as a scriptwriter when he talked with fellow American director Irvin Kershner (born Isadore Kershner (April 29, 1923 – November 27, 2010)) about spy movies. The time was ripe with espionage plots. The James Bond films were hugely popular...
Wrong Side of...
Crop rotation in the 14th century The Year of the Plague, part 4
a week ago
TheCollector
The Authorship Debate: Who Is the Real Shakespeare? William Shakespeare is widely attributed as the author of 39 plays and 154 sonnets. They are lauded...
a week ago
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a week ago
William Shakespeare is widely attributed as the author of 39 plays and 154 sonnets. They are lauded as works of poetic and theatrical genius. Their all-encompassing nature demonstrates a thorough knowledge of classical texts, world travel and other languages. It is partly this...
TheCollector
10 Ancient Cities That You Can Still Visit Today The term ancient times generally refers to the period before the Middle Ages, spanning from the rise...
a week ago
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a week ago
The term ancient times generally refers to the period before the Middle Ages, spanning from the rise of the first civilizations around 3000 BCE to roughly 500 CE. It was an era defined by towering empires, complex societies, and monumental achievements in art, architecture, and...
Hundred Rabbits
Summary of changes for February 2025 Hey everyone! This is the list of all the changes we've done to our projects during the month of...
a week ago
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a week ago
Hey everyone! This is the list of all the changes we've done to our projects during the month of February. Summary Of Changes 100r.co, added Dinghy gelcoat, Week 10, Week 11, and Week 12 of the Victoria to Sitka logbook. Updated solar with new pictures and corrected information...
TheCollector
How to Decode Goryeo Buddhist Paintings in Korean Art Among Korea’s rarest and most beautiful religious artifacts, the Goryeo Period Buddhist paintings...
a week ago
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a week ago
Among Korea’s rarest and most beautiful religious artifacts, the Goryeo Period Buddhist paintings were largely lost due to colonization and war. Retrieved from Japanese temples, their imagery is now interpreted to represent stories of the afterlife. Alongside their religious...
weird medieval guys
My favourite etymologies: "to curry favour" Or, the unfathomably dark depths of the equine soul
a week ago
Classical Wisdom
What is Love? With Armand D’Angour A recording from Classical Wisdom's live video
a week ago
TheCollector
Ancient “Woodhenge” Discovered in Denmark Newly unearthed evidence of a Stonehenge-like circle in Denmark, which has been dubbed “Woodhenge,”...
a week ago
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a week ago
Newly unearthed evidence of a Stonehenge-like circle in Denmark, which has been dubbed “Woodhenge,” may offer new insights into shared belief systems across Neolithic-era Europe.   “The Timber Circle is a Window into the Past”   According to experts, the recently discovered...
TheCollector
Collection of Old Masters Poised to Break Auction Records With discerning taste and a sprawling Park Avenue apartment to fill, American philanthropists Jordan...
a week ago
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a week ago
With discerning taste and a sprawling Park Avenue apartment to fill, American philanthropists Jordan and Thomas A. Saunders III spent decades acquiring a storied collection of European Old Master paintings. Now, this collection is heading to Sotheby’s, where it is likely to set...
TheCollector
Goryeo Celadon: The Famed Ceramics of Medieval Korean Art The precise craft of making celadon ceramics in Korea from the 10th century until the 14th century...
a week ago
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a week ago
The precise craft of making celadon ceramics in Korea from the 10th century until the 14th century produced timeless art objects that are still admired today. They were created with a jade-green glaze on top of painstakingly etched inlay, the pinnacle of technological advancement...
TheCollector
Interview With Adriano Marinazzo: Michelangelo Masterpieces in the US TheCollector recently had the pleasure of speaking with curator Adriano Marinazzo about...
a week ago
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a week ago
TheCollector recently had the pleasure of speaking with curator Adriano Marinazzo about Michelangelo: The Genesis of the Sistine, an exciting new exhibition held at the Muscarelle Museum of Art at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. On view from March 6 to May 28, 2025, the...
A Collection of...
Collections: The Siege of Eregion, Part II: What Siege Camp? This is the second part of our [your guess is as good as mine] part series looking at the Siege of...
a week ago
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a week ago
This is the second part of our [your guess is as good as mine] part series looking at the Siege of Eregion from the second season of Amazon’s Rings of Power. Last week, we saw how the logistics of this sequence absolutely do not work: Adar’s army has to cover an absurd amount of...
Classical Wisdom
Dialogues of Plato Conversations Across Time
a week ago
TheCollector
Arthur Wellesley: The Iron Duke of Wellington Who Beat Napoleon Undoubtedly one of Britain’s greatest heroes, Arthur Wellesley, the 1st Duke of Wellington, is known...
a week ago
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a week ago
Undoubtedly one of Britain’s greatest heroes, Arthur Wellesley, the 1st Duke of Wellington, is known mainly for his victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, which ended over seven centuries of conflict between England and France.   His influence, however, spread...
TheCollector
Who Is Jesus in Islam? According to a well-known hadith (a term for authoritative Islamic traditions about Muhammad),...
a week ago
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a week ago
According to a well-known hadith (a term for authoritative Islamic traditions about Muhammad), Muhammad saw Jesus as the closest of all the prophets to himself, both in this life and hereafter. Jesus is also honored in Islam with several titles given to no other prophet—including...
Open Culture
The Experimental Movement That Created The Beatles’ Weirdest Song, “Revolution 9” As of this writing, the Beatles’ “Revolution 9″ has more than 13,800,000 plays on Spotify. This has...
a week ago
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a week ago
As of this writing, the Beatles’ “Revolution 9″ has more than 13,800,000 plays on Spotify. This has no doubt generated decent revenue, even given the platform’s oft-lamented payout rates. But compare that number to the more than half-a-billion streams of “Blackbird,” also on the...
TheCollector
10 Oldest Universities in Continuous Operation in the U.S. Universities have long been the backbone of intellectual progress, dating back to ancient...
a week ago
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a week ago
Universities have long been the backbone of intellectual progress, dating back to ancient institutions like Nalanda and the Academy of Athens. The medieval era saw the rise of structured higher education in Europe, with Bologna (1088) and Oxford (1096) becoming global centers of...
TheCollector
6 Famous Artworks That Are Lost Forever For centuries, humans have considered pieces of art important enough to preserve and cherish despite...
a week ago
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a week ago
For centuries, humans have considered pieces of art important enough to preserve and cherish despite their seeming impracticality. Still, in spite of our efforts to keep them intact, works of art too often fall victim to tragic accidents. Some pieces remain known only in art...
TheCollector
Newly Discovered Frescoes Reveal Ancient Ritual in Pompeii A century before the ancient city’s destruction, artists adorned the walls of a Pompeii banquet hall...
a week ago
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a week ago
A century before the ancient city’s destruction, artists adorned the walls of a Pompeii banquet hall with a procession of Dionysian revelers. Brightly colored and nearly life-sized, the newly identified fresco figures dance, hunt, and imbibe in the name of the god of wine.  ...
TheCollector
5 Special Forces Groups of World War II World War II spawned innovations in all aspects of warfare. From jets to rudimentary guided rockets...
a week ago
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a week ago
World War II spawned innovations in all aspects of warfare. From jets to rudimentary guided rockets and missiles, this conflict forever changed the face of war. The rise of special forces units within the militaries of the participants was also a significant development within...
Flashbak
Dear Me: Letters by Famous Faces to Their Teenage Selves Alun CummingAmongst letters to their 16-year-old selves, writer Stephen King advises against taking...
a week ago
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a week ago
Alun CummingAmongst letters to their 16-year-old selves, writer Stephen King advises against taking recreational drugs. Musician Alice Cooper has words of romance –  “Trashy girls are exciting for about five minutes… Keep your eye out for a good-lookin’ church girl. Then you’ll...
TheCollector
Paul Cezanne’s Metaphysical Paintings in 3 Works: A Failed Synthesis? Paul Cézanne’s late works attempted to relay nature, as well as his own impressions of it, with...
a week ago
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a week ago
Paul Cézanne’s late works attempted to relay nature, as well as his own impressions of it, with minimal artifice. He eschewed the weighty influence of artistic tradition—especially the rules of linear perspective—and increasingly relied upon the pure tones of individual...
Overcoming Bias
Can Systems Stop Culture Drift? Compared to before writing, religions that had sacred texts were better able to resist changes to...
a week ago
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a week ago
Compared to before writing, religions that had sacred texts were better able to resist changes to their religious dogmas and dogma-enforce social rules.
TheCollector
The Valois Dynasty: Crisis, Triumph, and Downfall Upon the death of Philip IV in 1314, the French Crown was the most powerful in Europe. The new king...
a week ago
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a week ago
Upon the death of Philip IV in 1314, the French Crown was the most powerful in Europe. The new king Louis X was the successor of Clovis, Charlemagne, and Saint Louis; his royal patron St Denis watched over the dynasty which had maintained an unbroken patrilineal succession for...
TheCollector
What Are the Five Pillars of Islam? The foundation of religious life for Sunni Muslims, who comprise around eighty-five percent of...
a week ago
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a week ago
The foundation of religious life for Sunni Muslims, who comprise around eighty-five percent of Muslims worldwide, is known as the “Five Pillars of Islam.” They are designed not merely for personal use, but to foster solidarity within the Muslim ummah, or community. They are not a...
Open Culture
Kate Bush, Annie Lennox and 1,000 Musicians Protest AI with a New Silent Album The good news is that an album has just been released by Kate Bush, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn of...
a week ago
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a week ago
The good news is that an album has just been released by Kate Bush, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn of Gorillaz, The Clash, Tori Amos, Hans Zimmer, Pet Shop Boys, Jamiroquai, and Yusuf (previously known as Cat Stevens), Billy Ocean, and many other musicians besides, most of them...
Open Culture
Ella Fitzgerald Sings Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love” (1969) In 1969, Ella Fitzgerald released Sunshine of Your Love, a live album recorded at the Venetian Room...
a week ago
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a week ago
In 1969, Ella Fitzgerald released Sunshine of Your Love, a live album recorded at the Venetian Room in The Fairmont San Francisco. Recorded by music producer Norman Granz, the album featured contemporary pop songs that showcased Fitzgerald’s ability to transcend jazz standards....
History Today Feed
The Nabateans are Coming The Nabateans are Coming JamesHoare Thu, 02/27/2025 - 09:00
a week ago
History Today Feed
The Nabataeans are Coming The Nabataeans are Coming JamesHoare Thu, 02/27/2025 - 09:00
a week ago
TheCollector
10 Oldest Museums in the U.S. Museums have long been places of curiosity and wonder, housing objects that tell the stories of...
a week ago
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a week ago
Museums have long been places of curiosity and wonder, housing objects that tell the stories of civilizations past. The idea of collecting and displaying artifacts for public study dates back centuries. Consider the Mouseion of Alexandria, an ancient Greek institution devoted to...
TheCollector
3 Key Muslim Leaders Who Rose During the Second Crusade Pope Urban II’s call for a crusade to the Holy Land saw an astonishing response across Western...
a week ago
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a week ago
Pope Urban II’s call for a crusade to the Holy Land saw an astonishing response across Western Europe. A desire for wealth, adventure, and salvation saw the launch of the First Crusade in 1096. Three years later, Jerusalem fell to Christian advances. Shock waves rippled...
TheCollector
Brazil in World War II: The Forgotten Ally In the 1930s, Brazilian dictator Getúlio Vargas pushed to expand and industrialize his country’s...
a week ago
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a week ago
In the 1930s, Brazilian dictator Getúlio Vargas pushed to expand and industrialize his country’s economy—until the outbreak of World War II upended his plans. In response to repeated Axis attacks on Brazilian shipping, Brazil joined the Allies in 1942 and made significant, though...
Trying to Understand...
Before The Past Was New. Why should we bother trying to understand?
a week ago
TheCollector
Emotivism: Are Moral Statements Mere Emotions? The concept of morality is often recognized as difficult to define. Discerning moral from immoral is...
a week ago
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a week ago
The concept of morality is often recognized as difficult to define. Discerning moral from immoral is bound to result in heated debates, so much so that it often appears impossible to reach an agreement on the outcome of discussions on the matter. What is it then—within the nature...
Classical Wisdom
The Dark Side of Love Euripides' Epic Battle between Love and Law
a week ago
TheCollector
Great Wall of China Is Centuries Older Than Previously Thought Dating back millennia and once spanning over 13,000 miles, the Great Wall of China is one of the...
a week ago
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a week ago
Dating back millennia and once spanning over 13,000 miles, the Great Wall of China is one of the most ambitious construction projects ever undertaken by humans. Recent excavations at the ancient monument suggest that its oldest sections were built 300 years earlier than...
Wrong Side of...
Phantom Borders The past is never dead. It's not even past
a week ago
TheCollector
Value Theory: Is it Immoral to Disrespect the Environment? Imagine being the last man on Earth. After your death, nothing would be left on the planet. In such...
a week ago
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a week ago
Imagine being the last man on Earth. After your death, nothing would be left on the planet. In such conditions, would it be immoral to blow up and destroy the very last Redwood on Earth before your death? This thought experiment, by New Zealander philosopher Richard Sylvan, is...
TheCollector
Discover Leah Chase: How a Black Chef Changed Food, Art, & History Chefs have over the years have become their own form of celebrities. While women were still getting...
a week ago
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a week ago
Chefs have over the years have become their own form of celebrities. While women were still getting a foothold in a former boy’s club, Leah Chase, a chef in New Orleans, Louisiana, broke the glass ceiling, becoming an author and television personality known today as the “Queen of...
Open Culture
What Makes Diego Velázquez’s Las Meninas One of the Most Fascinating Paintings in Art History Diego Velázquez painted Las Meninas almost 370 years ago, and it’s been under scrutiny ever since....
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Diego Velázquez painted Las Meninas almost 370 years ago, and it’s been under scrutiny ever since. If the public’s appetite to know more about it has diminished over time, that certainly isn’t reflected in the view count of the analysis from YouTube channel Rabbit Hole above,...
Open Culture
When William Faulkner Set the World Record for Writing the Longest Sentence in Literature: Read the... Image by Carl Van Vechten, via Wikimedia Commons “How did Faulkner pull it off?” is a question many...
a week ago
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a week ago
Image by Carl Van Vechten, via Wikimedia Commons “How did Faulkner pull it off?” is a question many a fledgling writer has asked themselves while struggling through a period of apprenticeship like that novelist John Barth describes in his 1999 talk “My Faulkner.”...
History Today Feed
‘Friends in Youth’ by Minoo Dinshaw review ‘Friends in Youth’ by Minoo Dinshaw review JamesHoare Wed, 02/26/2025 - 09:00
a week ago
TheCollector
Split-Brain: Two Selves in One? We tend to perceive ourselves as something unified and immutable—whether we call it our soul,...
a week ago
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a week ago
We tend to perceive ourselves as something unified and immutable—whether we call it our soul, essence, or self. Yet, whenever we try to explain it, the questions start. Is it just perception itself? Could it be composed of several elements or even just be an illusion? There has...
TheCollector
9 Defining Moments in British Medieval Warfare Interestingly, the medieval period in Britain begins with a battle. In 1066 CE, the Battle of...
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a week ago
Interestingly, the medieval period in Britain begins with a battle. In 1066 CE, the Battle of Hastings marked the beginning of Norman rule and a new era in Britain. Medieval warfare in Britain was often used as a tool to help implement feudalism and maintain the centralization of...
Classical Wisdom
Going LIVE with Armand D’Angour Love Isn’t Only for the 14th
a week ago
TheCollector
Excavations Reveal Ancient “Mosaic House” in Pergamon Turkish archaeologists discovered 2,000-year-old mosaics in Pergamon, an important center of power...
a week ago
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a week ago
Turkish archaeologists discovered 2,000-year-old mosaics in Pergamon, an important center of power and culture in Hellenistic Greece. The “ornate” tile floors, which belong to a Roman period residence, offer new insights into the lives of the ancient city’s elite.   Mosaic House...
TheCollector
A Day in the Life of a Medieval Woman in England “Medieval” has come to mean backward, uninformed, and brutal, particularly when looking at the lives...
a week ago
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a week ago
“Medieval” has come to mean backward, uninformed, and brutal, particularly when looking at the lives of women. This does not reflect the reality of the time but is an interpretation of a later age that sought to create a divide between the enlightened Classical world and their...
Hidden History
The Fantasy Game of Tak The board game Tak (pronounced to rhyme with “back”) originally appeared as a prop in the...
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a week ago
The board game Tak (pronounced to rhyme with “back”) originally appeared as a prop in the fantasy/scifi book series The Kingkiller Chronicle, and was then brought to life in the real world. History In 1994, aspiring author Patrick Rothfuss began work on his first book,...
Flashbak
Notes on the Sexual Habits of the ‘Astonishingly Depraved’ Adélie Penguin, 1911 “There seems to be no crime too low for these Penguins” – Dr. George Murray Levick, notes on the...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
“There seems to be no crime too low for these Penguins” – Dr. George Murray Levick, notes on the sexual habits of the Adélie penguin, Antarctica, 1911     Back in 1911, a select group of readers learned of the “astonishing depravity” and “hooligan males” of the Adélie penguins...
TheCollector
Science and Philosophy: Are They So Different? Any expression, headline, or news containing the word scientific is often awarded high authority...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Any expression, headline, or news containing the word scientific is often awarded high authority within mainstream media and the community. It is thought that the use of the scientific method for the pursuit of an investigation guarantees its validity and reliability. However,...
TheCollector
Director of Dreams: Who Is Akira Kurosawa? Today, the world knows Japanese cinema. Whether anime, 1950s Godzilla movies, or rogue samurai,...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Today, the world knows Japanese cinema. Whether anime, 1950s Godzilla movies, or rogue samurai, Japanese movies have undoubtedly caused a splash the international realm of modern and contemporary film. Master Director, Akira Kurosawa, etched his mark deeply in his home country of...
Open Culture
Jimi Hendrix Plays the Beatles: “Sgt. Pepper’s,” “Day Tripper,” and “Tomorrow Never Knows” Who invented rock and roll? Ask Chuck Berry, he’ll tell you. It was Chuck Berry. Or was it Bill...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Who invented rock and roll? Ask Chuck Berry, he’ll tell you. It was Chuck Berry. Or was it Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard? Muddy Waters? Robert Johnson? Maybe even Lead Belly? You didn’t, but if you asked me, I’d say that rock and roll, like country blues, came not...
History Today Feed
An Uneasy Propaganda Alliance An Uneasy Propaganda Alliance JamesHoare Tue, 02/25/2025 - 09:21
2 weeks ago
Open Culture
The 48 Laws of Power Explained in 30 Minutes: “Never Outshine the Master,” “Re-Create Yourself,” and... Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws of Power has been a popular book since its first publication over a...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws of Power has been a popular book since its first publication over a quarter-century ago. Judging by the discussion that continues among its fervent (and often proselytizing) fans, it’s easy to forget that its title isn’t How to Become Powerful....
TheCollector
The 10 Museums With the Largest Ancient Egyptian Collections Egyptian artifacts are showcased at international museums across the Western world. If anyone was...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Egyptian artifacts are showcased at international museums across the Western world. If anyone was determined to see every great collection of ancient Egyptian art, they would need to travel across three continents. The museums on this list have tens of thousands of Egyptian...
TheCollector
Once-Stolen Egon Schiele Work Set to Fetch $1.9 Million at Auction Fritz Grünbaum, a Viennese art collector, acquired dozens of works by the enigmatic expressionist...
2 weeks ago
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Fritz Grünbaum, a Viennese art collector, acquired dozens of works by the enigmatic expressionist Egon Schiele in the early 20th century. Grünbaum was murdered under Nazi Germany’s occupation of Austria, and his art collection was seized and dispersed. Now, a Schiele watercolor...
TheCollector
Coherentism and Its Limits: Definition & Criticism Imagine waking up on a seemingly normal morning and discovering that all the knowledge you—and most...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Imagine waking up on a seemingly normal morning and discovering that all the knowledge you—and most of the world—held accountable up to that moment was inaccurate and unreliable. While this seems like an implausible scenario, it is logically possible for some groundbreaking...
Classical Wisdom
What is the Key to Happiness? Do You Agree with Aristotle?
2 weeks ago
TheCollector
Archaeologists May Have Found Second Pharaonic Tomb in Egypt The recent discovery of King Thutmose II’s long-lost royal tomb has been touted as Egypt’s most...
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2 weeks ago
The recent discovery of King Thutmose II’s long-lost royal tomb has been touted as Egypt’s most impressive archaeological find since King Tut. Now, just days later, the same archaeologists say there is a yet-undiscovered second tomb of Thutmose II located nearby.   The Royal...
TheCollector
Paul Delaroche’s Artistic Career: A Master of History Paintings Paul Delaroche was a 19th-century French painter who specialized in and earned his fame in history...
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Paul Delaroche was a 19th-century French painter who specialized in and earned his fame in history paintings. Most of his work focused on emotional tales taken from English history. Delaroche experienced massive success among his contemporaries, and his paintings continue to...
Flashbak
Living The Outlaw Life in Suburban America: ‘Once the needle goes in, it never comes out’ ‘There weren’t supposed to be drugs back then. It was supposed to be mom’s apple pie and white...
2 weeks ago
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‘There weren’t supposed to be drugs back then. It was supposed to be mom’s apple pie and white picket fences.” – Larry Clark on drugs, outsiders and “a record of his secret teenage life.” in suburban America     When director and photographer Larry Clark (born January 19, 1943) ...
CrimethInc.
"The Only Immigrant Trying to Steal My Job Is Elon Musk" : A Bus Driver's Perspective on Elon Musk's... In the following narrative, a bus driver describes how the cuts that Elon Musk is carrying out in...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
In the following narrative, a bus driver describes how the cuts that Elon Musk is carrying out in the federal government are affecting ordinary public transit workers. There is a poetic opposition between the figure of the anonymous bus driver and Elon Musk, the billionaire car...
TheCollector
10 Myths About the Greek God Dionysus Dionysus was one of the twelve Olympian deities the ancient Greeks believed ruled over the cosmos....
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Dionysus was one of the twelve Olympian deities the ancient Greeks believed ruled over the cosmos. He was the patron god of wine and merriment, credited with the discovery of the grapevine. He was also known to cause madness in those who offended him. Dionysus was commonly...
Wrong Side of...
A continent led by donkeys Europe’s independence from the US will be hard and expensive
2 weeks ago
TheCollector
Is Lying Always Wrong? Exploring Different Ethical Routes Have you ever felt that telling the truth is morally overrated? There are certainly many situations...
2 weeks ago
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Have you ever felt that telling the truth is morally overrated? There are certainly many situations where total transparency could trigger disastrous outcomes for all parties involved. Wouldn’t lying then be a moral duty in order to mitigate such negative consequences?  These...
Open Culture
Neil deGrasse Tyson Lists the Best and Worst Sci-Fi Movies: The Blob, Back to the Future, 2001: A... Neil deGrasse Tyson may not be a film critic. But if you watch the video above from his Youtube...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Neil deGrasse Tyson may not be a film critic. But if you watch the video above from his Youtube channel StarTalk Plus, you’ll see that — to use one of his own favorite locutions — he loves him a good science fiction movie. Given his professional credentials as an astrophysicist...
History Today Feed
The Birth of Giovanni Morelli The Birth of Giovanni Morelli JamesHoare Mon, 02/24/2025 - 08:57
2 weeks ago
TheCollector
Heracles Steals the Cattle of Geryon: The Hero’s Tenth Labor King Eurystheus tasked Heracles with stealing the cattle of the three-headed giant Geryon, ruler of...
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King Eurystheus tasked Heracles with stealing the cattle of the three-headed giant Geryon, ruler of Erytheia, an island at the westernmost edge of the world. During his journey to the mysterious island, Heracles crossed the scorching Sahara Desert and argued with the god of the...
Open Culture
David Bowie Performs an Ethereal Acoustic Version of “Heroes,” with a Bottle Cap Strapped to His... Not long ago I stumbled upon this pretty wonderful video of David Bowie playing an acoustic version...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Not long ago I stumbled upon this pretty wonderful video of David Bowie playing an acoustic version of “Heroes,” one of my favorite songs, and I thought I’d quickly share it today. Why wait? Appearing at Neil Young’s annual Bridge School Benefit concert in October 1996, Bowie...
Trying to Understand...
Quand ça s’arrêtera en Ukraine, qui éteindra les lumières? Another of my essays in French.
2 weeks ago
Overcoming Bias
Four Awakenings We start our lives focused on the concrete immediate narrow world around us in space, time, social...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
We start our lives focused on the concrete immediate narrow world around us in space, time, social distance, and abstraction.
TheCollector
Tristan da Cunha: An Island at the Edge of the World Located in the South Atlantic, directly between Cape Town in South Africa and Buenos Aires in...
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Located in the South Atlantic, directly between Cape Town in South Africa and Buenos Aires in Argentina, the island of Tristan da Cunha is the most remote inhabited place on the planet. It is a windswept place of natural beauty that has been home to a unique community for more...
TheCollector
9 Myths About the Greek Goddess Hera In Greek mythology, Hera was the goddess of women, marriage and married life. She was the queen of...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
In Greek mythology, Hera was the goddess of women, marriage and married life. She was the queen of the gods by her marriage to Zeus. In art, she was generally depicted wearing a crown and a peplos, a long sleeveless robe that was customary for women in ancient Greece. She was a...
Classical Wisdom
Weekly Wisdom Quiz Plus Roundup of Resources
2 weeks ago
African History...
A history of the medieval coastal towns of Mozambique ca. 500-1890 CE. The East African coast is home to the longest contiguous chain of urban settlements on the...
2 weeks ago
Flashbak
The Talking Parrot Tells All: When Madame Tussaud’s Caught Fire, 1925 “Criminals represented in the Chamber of Horrors, however, will have no feelings in the matter, as...
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“Criminals represented in the Chamber of Horrors, however, will have no feelings in the matter, as they are all dead” – Report on the fire as Madame Tussaud’s, London 18 March 1925   The fire that tore threw London attraction Madame Tussaud’s on 18 March 1925 melted the famous...
TheCollector
Who Won the Siege of Petersburg? Despite having much of its most valuable territory retaken by the summer of 1864, the Confederacy...
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Despite having much of its most valuable territory retaken by the summer of 1864, the Confederacy continued to resist. If it could hold on, perhaps it could win the war by wearing down the Union enough to seek peace terms. Thus, new general-in-chief Ulysses S. Grant needed to...
TheCollector
How Many Israelite Temples Were Built? According to the Bible, David gathered building materials for a temple that was to replace Israel’s...
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According to the Bible, David gathered building materials for a temple that was to replace Israel’s mobile house of worship, called the tabernacle, which had been built under Moses’s direction during Israel’s nomadic years in the Sinai Peninsula. David’s son and successor Solomon...
TheCollector
10 Oldest Skyscrapers Around the World Skyscrapers weren’t always the shimmering glass-and-steel giants we know today. In the late 19th...
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Skyscrapers weren’t always the shimmering glass-and-steel giants we know today. In the late 19th century, the idea of building upward wasn’t just a necessity. It was a statement. Cities were swelling, land was expensive, and new engineering feats made it possible to defy...
TheCollector
10 Myths About the Greek Goddess Artemis Artemis is one of the twelve Olympian gods in Greek myth, the daughter of Leto and Zeus. Unlike her...
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Artemis is one of the twelve Olympian gods in Greek myth, the daughter of Leto and Zeus. Unlike her twin brother, Apollo, who represented civilization and order, Artemis represented the untamed wilderness. Depicted as a young maiden, the goddess was very protective of her...
Overcoming Bias
Our Big Oops Humanity has a huge problem, of which few are aware.
2 weeks ago
TheCollector
The Mind-Body Problem & Consciousness: Dualism vs. Materialism Dualism is the idea that while the body is made of physical material, the mind is made of something...
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Dualism is the idea that while the body is made of physical material, the mind is made of something immaterial. The counterpart to this is materialism, which posits that both the mind and body are composed of the same material, physical substance. There is much more to each...
TheCollector
6 Famous Operas Based on the Bible Performance arts are often based on traditions and narratives that have inspired human history...
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Performance arts are often based on traditions and narratives that have inspired human history throughout the ages. It is no surprise then that the Bible has played a role in creating a myriad of musical and artistic works by a diverse array of writers and composers. Several of...
TheCollector
Who Was Rudolf Steiner? (Life and Philosophy) Do you ever think about the people who have changed our world and how we think? Rudolf Steiner was...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Do you ever think about the people who have changed our world and how we think? Rudolf Steiner was one such person. He wasn’t just a philosopher or writer, he was an innovative educator, esotericist, artist, and original thinker whose ideas still astound us today. Steiner’s...
Flashbak
Christy Rupp: Rat Patrol in New York City, 1979 In 1979, American artist Christy Rupp (born 1949) created a street poster of a prowling, life-sized...
2 weeks ago
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In 1979, American artist Christy Rupp (born 1949) created a street poster of a prowling, life-sized rat. With a keen interest in animal behaviour and habitat, Rupp’s popster coincided with a three-week strike by NYC sanitation workers. As the rubbish bags piled up on the city’s...
TheCollector
What Is the Difference Between Sunni and Shia Islam? According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad’s prophetic status was well-established among his followers...
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According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad’s prophetic status was well-established among his followers before his death. However, a disagreement emerged soon afterward about the prophet’s death regarding his intent for the leadership structure of the fledgling Muslim community. The...
Wrong Side of...
Democracy vs liberalism in the heart of Europe ‘All state authority is derived from the people’
2 weeks ago
TheCollector
10 Must-Visit Historic Towns in Mississippi From its early indigenous cultures to European settlement and its role in pivotal moments like the...
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2 weeks ago
From its early indigenous cultures to European settlement and its role in pivotal moments like the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement, the Magnolia State has been at the heart of American history. Known for its Delta blues, rich literary tradition, and Southern hospitality,...
TheCollector
Aristotle’s Unexplored Discovery: Being as Implication Parmenides’ thoughts on the nature of Being painted the nature of reality as monistic and...
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Parmenides’ thoughts on the nature of Being painted the nature of reality as monistic and unchanging, derived from the axiom of “nothing can come from nothing.” Aristotle’s reply to Parmenides’ views on change allowed for breakthroughs in the history of human thought. Some of...
Dreams of Space -...
Die Mondexpedition (1966) Die Mondexpedition is the original  German book that was translated into English in 1969 as The Log...
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Die Mondexpedition is the original  German book that was translated into English in 1969 as The Log of a Moon Expedition. It's full title at the time was Die Mondexpedition: 14 Mal 24 Stunden auf dem Mond roughly translated as The Lunar Expedition: 14 times on the moon for 24...
Global Inequality...
Poison for the soul Review of David Lay Williams’s “The Greatest of All Plagues”
2 weeks ago
TheCollector
Why European Militaries Collectively Downsized After the Cold War Throughout the Cold War, European militaries were very well-armed and capable of fighting intense...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Throughout the Cold War, European militaries were very well-armed and capable of fighting intense conflicts over an extended period. Centuries of warfare on the European continent had conditioned people throughout Europe that war was a fact of life. Yet by the 1990s and early...
TheCollector
North America to Get its First Leonardo da Vinci Museum Leonardo lovers in North America are soon in for a rare treat. Following complex collaborations...
2 weeks ago
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Leonardo lovers in North America are soon in for a rare treat. Following complex collaborations between international parties, the first-of-its-kind Leonardo da Vinci Museum of North America is officially heading to Pueblo, Colorado.   Leonardo da Vinci Museum Set to Open in...
A Collection of...
Collections: The Siege of Eregion, Part I: What Logistics? This is the first part of our [I don’t know; a few?] part series looking at the Siege of Eregion...
2 weeks ago
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This is the first part of our [I don’t know; a few?] part series looking at the Siege of Eregion sequence from the second season of Amazon’s Rings of Power and what we can learn by pointing out its missteps. And I’m not going to bury the lede here: this entire sequence is a mess....
TheCollector
Leahy Law: Context, Overview, & History During the Cold War, the United States became a major exporter of weapons to countries fighting...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
During the Cold War, the United States became a major exporter of weapons to countries fighting communism around the world. The issue of US arms sales to foreign militaries accused of human rights violations has been the subject of intense debate in the American political arena...
Classical Wisdom
The Colosseum Rome's Iconic Arena
2 weeks ago
TheCollector
Bodhidharma: The Legendary Founder of Kung Fu & Zen (Myth vs Facts) Zen Buddhism’s enigmatic teachings and its masters have influenced East Asian art, philosophy, and...
2 weeks ago
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Zen Buddhism’s enigmatic teachings and its masters have influenced East Asian art, philosophy, and poetry for over a thousand years. However, the entire tradition traces itself back to one legendary man, credited not only with bringing Zen to China but also with the development...
CrimethInc.
Become an Anarchist or Forever Hold Your Peace As Donald Trump and Elon Musk subordinate the United States government to their pursuit of...
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As Donald Trump and Elon Musk subordinate the United States government to their pursuit of totalitarian power, Democrats remain in a defensive posture, accusing them of lawlessness. But neither courts nor laws will suffice to halt the descent into autocracy. Massive numbers of...
TheCollector
How Did the Arrival of Europeans Change North America? The process of colonizing North America transpired quickly between 1492 and 1620 with an increasing...
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The process of colonizing North America transpired quickly between 1492 and 1620 with an increasing number of settlers arriving in bigger groups after 1600. As more Europeans arrived in the region, demand for land escalated. Eventually, the invaders displaced Native Americans...
Open Culture
How Do You Use AI in Your Daily Life? Share the Applications That Have Made a Big Difference Image by Jernej Furman, via Wikimedia Commons It would be difficult to imagine the last couple of...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Image by Jernej Furman, via Wikimedia Commons It would be difficult to imagine the last couple of years without artificial intelligence, even if you don’t use it. Can you recall the last day without some AI-related news item or social-media post — or indeed, a time when the hype...
Open Culture
A Behind-the-Scenes Tour of Saturday Night Live’s Iconic Studio To help celebrate SNL’s 50th anniversary, Architectural Digest has released a new video featuring...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
To help celebrate SNL’s 50th anniversary, Architectural Digest has released a new video featuring Heidi Gardner, Chloe Fineman, and Ego Nwodim giving a tour of the Saturday Night Live set. The show has been broadcasting live from Studio 8H, located at 30 Rockefeller, since SNL...
TheCollector
10 Historic Towns in Germany You Should Visit Germany’s past is written across its landscapes, from the Roman frontier to medieval fortresses and...
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Germany’s past is written across its landscapes, from the Roman frontier to medieval fortresses and the echoes of empire. It was here that Charlemagne forged the foundations of the Holy Roman Empire in the 9th century, where Martin Luther ignited the Protestant Reformation in the...
History Today Feed
Curbing the Power of the Popes Curbing the Power of the Popes JamesHoare Fri, 02/21/2025 - 07:00
2 weeks ago
TheCollector
Don Quixote: Was the First Modern Novel Born in Captivity? First published in 1605, Don Quixote is considered by many to be the first modern novel. Because of...
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First published in 1605, Don Quixote is considered by many to be the first modern novel. Because of this, it is still widely read and beloved over 400 years later. However, the daunting nature and outdated language of the massive text preclude many from having more than a passing...
The Scholar's Stage
The Euro-American Split (I): Dread Possibility THERE ARE DECADES WHEN possibility is constrained in a narrow frame. The terrain has been surveyed,...
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THERE ARE DECADES WHEN possibility is constrained in a narrow frame. The terrain has been surveyed, boundaries have been laid, and rules have been established. In such an age there is still room for high drama: The decisive round of a boxing match draws the eye despite the...
TheCollector
El Greco Altarpieces Reunited For First Time in 200 Years Nine monumental paintings by El Greco once decorated monastery walls in Toledo, Spain, where the...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Nine monumental paintings by El Greco once decorated monastery walls in Toledo, Spain, where the Greek-born artist spent most of his career. Most of these canvases eventually ended up elsewhere—but now, thanks to Madrid’s Prado Museum, they are hanging together again for the...
TheCollector
The Battle of Shiloh: A Battle in Two Parts The Battle of Shiloh was a complex two-day struggle in the early Spring of 1862 on the banks of the...
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2 weeks ago
The Battle of Shiloh was a complex two-day struggle in the early Spring of 1862 on the banks of the Tennessee River near Savannah, Tennessee, in Hardin County. The movements, engagements, first-hand accounts, and secondary source material have been heavily studied since the...
Patterns in Humanity
Sub-replacement fertility in pre-baby boom Europe Past perspectives on fertility decline
2 weeks ago
Flashbak
The International Atlas of Clouds and of States of the Sky by the Office National Météorologique,... “Ho! Ho! Ho! To the bottle I go To heal my heart and drown my woe Rain may fall, and wind may blow...
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“Ho! Ho! Ho! To the bottle I go To heal my heart and drown my woe Rain may fall, and wind may blow And many miles be still to go But under a tall tree will I lie And let the clouds go sailing by” — J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring     … Continue reading "The...
TheCollector
What We Know About Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ So Far For his next historical blockbuster, award-winning filmmaker Christopher Nolan is taking on The...
2 weeks ago
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For his next historical blockbuster, award-winning filmmaker Christopher Nolan is taking on The Odyssey. The film, set to be released next year, will likely be the most ambitious—and the most expensive—adaptation of Homer’s epic Greek poem to date. Read on to discover newly...
TheCollector
7 of the Most Inhospitable Places on Earth If one thing can be said about the human species, it’s that we are incredibly resourceful. We can...
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If one thing can be said about the human species, it’s that we are incredibly resourceful. We can survive and put down roots virtually anywhere we choose, from the icy wastes of the Arctic to the searing heat of the Sahara.   Yet some places on the planet are so inhospitable that...
TheCollector
The Complex and Contentious History of Crimea The status of the Crimean Peninsula has entered international public consciousness over the past...
2 weeks ago
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The status of the Crimean Peninsula has entered international public consciousness over the past decade. Since the events of 2014, when it was annexed from Ukraine by the Russian Federation, the state has been labeled as occupied by some and liberated by others.   This, however,...
TheCollector
Connecting the Wrong Dots: What Is Apophenia? Apophenia is our tendency to find meaningful connections between unrelated things. Otherwise known...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Apophenia is our tendency to find meaningful connections between unrelated things. Otherwise known as patternicity, it is a common phenomenon that highlights our intrinsic need for meaning and order in our lives. Can we dismiss apophenia as a mere cognitive bias, an error of...
Open Culture
The Architectural History of the Louvre: 800 Years in Three Minutes Setting aside just one day for the Louvre is a classic first-time Paris visitor’s mistake. The place...
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Setting aside just one day for the Louvre is a classic first-time Paris visitor’s mistake. The place is simply too big to comprehend on one visit, or indeed on ten visits. To grow so vast has taken eight centuries, a process explained in under three minutes by the official video...
History Today Feed
How Have Cults Shaped American History? How Have Cults Shaped American History? JamesHoare Thu, 02/20/2025 - 08:36
2 weeks ago
TheCollector
10 Locations from the Odyssey and Their Real-Life Counterparts Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film, “The Odyssey,” slated for release on July 17, 2026, is a...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film, “The Odyssey,” slated for release on July 17, 2026, is a cinematic adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem. The narrative follows Odysseus, portrayed by Matt Damon, on his arduous journey home following the Trojan War, encountering...
History Today Feed
Delivering the Chinese Post Office Delivering the Chinese Post Office JamesHoare Thu, 02/20/2025 - 07:00
2 weeks ago
Open Culture
Optical Poems by Oskar Fischinger: Discover the Avant-Garde Animator Despised by Hitler & Dissed by... At a time when much of animation was consumed with little anthropomorphized animals sporting white...
2 weeks ago
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At a time when much of animation was consumed with little anthropomorphized animals sporting white gloves, Oskar Fischinger went in a completely different direction. His work is all about dancing geometric shapes and abstract forms spinning around a flat featureless background....
TheCollector
Satyrs in Greek Art: Rowdy Party Animals Satyrs were creatures linked strongly with Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, pleasure, and theater....
2 weeks ago
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Satyrs were creatures linked strongly with Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, pleasure, and theater. These party-loving, mischievous, and uninhibited creatures were an exception in ancient Greek art because there was no solid mythological tradition around satyrs. Instead, they were...
TheCollector
Attalid Kingdom of Pergamon: A Great Power of the Hellenistic World During the Hellenistic era, an obscure city in western Asia Minor (modern Turkey) became one of the...
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During the Hellenistic era, an obscure city in western Asia Minor (modern Turkey) became one of the leading states of the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE. The Attalids, who ruled Pergamon, were a curious dynasty. Unusually harmonious in an era known for intra-dynastic strife, they were...
Classical Wisdom
The Top 10 Pre-Socratics, ahem, Natural Philosophers Time to Rename "the tyrants of the spirit"?
2 weeks ago
TheCollector
Egypt Announces First Royal Tomb Discovery Since King Tut The royal tomb of King Tutankhamun, located in Egypt’s famous Valley of the Kings, was discovered in...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
The royal tomb of King Tutankhamun, located in Egypt’s famous Valley of the Kings, was discovered in 1922. Now, for the first time since then, another royal tomb has been unearthed in Egypt: that of King Thutmose II. The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiques has dubbed the...
Classical Wisdom
Who Were the "Pre-Socratics"? Classical Wisdom Litterae
2 weeks ago
TheCollector
5 Women in Epistemology You Should Know Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that deals with knowledge, belief, and the relationship...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that deals with knowledge, belief, and the relationship between the two. Being one of the core philosophical disciplines from antiquity, epistemology has always been dominated by men. Nonetheless, in the last decades, almost all novelties...
TheCollector
Nietzsche’s Eternal Recurrence: A Metaphor for Embracing Life Nietzsche’s ideas concerning the eternal recurrence (or eternal return) were far from unique. But...
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2 weeks ago
Nietzsche’s ideas concerning the eternal recurrence (or eternal return) were far from unique. But his own interpretation of the thought that life repeats itself eternally formed the foundation of so much of his own philosophy. Did he mean for us to take it literally or...
Flashbak
Cover Stars of The Face Magazine – Photos 1980 – 2004 There’s a new exhibition of The Face, the glossy British magazine that through the 80s and 90s was...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
There’s a new exhibition of The Face, the glossy British magazine that through the 80s and 90s was the lightning rod of the progress of popular culture and styled a generation. The Face was well produced, designed and written monthly with music at its core but an expanded focus...
TheCollector
What Is Black History Month? Originating in the United States, BHM has become an annual celebration of the history and...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Originating in the United States, BHM has become an annual celebration of the history and achievements of black people in many countries across the world, such as the UK and Canada. The months predominantly used for celebration are February and October, with the celebrations...
Open Culture
Watch David Byrne Lead a Massive Choir in Singing David Bowie’s “Heroes” Throughout the years, we’ve featured performances of Choir!Choir!Choir!–a large amateur choir from...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Throughout the years, we’ve featured performances of Choir!Choir!Choir!–a large amateur choir from Toronto that meets weekly and sings their hearts out. You’ve seen them sing Prince’s “When Doves Cry,” Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” (to honor Chris Cornell) and Leonard Cohen’s...
Open Culture
Hear the Jazz-Funk Musical Adaptation of Dune by David Matthews (1977) Even if you’ve never read Frank Herbert’s Dune, you may well have encountered its adaptations to a...
2 weeks ago
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Even if you’ve never read Frank Herbert’s Dune, you may well have encountered its adaptations to a variety of other media: comic books, video games, board games, television series, and of course films, David Lynch’s 1984 version and Denis Villeneuve’s two-parter earlier this...
History Today Feed
‘The Great Siege of Malta’ by Marcus Bull review ‘The Great Siege of Malta’ by Marcus Bull review JamesHoare Wed, 02/19/2025 - 08:00
2 weeks ago
Trying to Understand...
What We Talk About, When We Talk About Talks. The End may be further away than you think.
2 weeks ago
History Today Feed
Pelayo: the Reluctant Visigoth and the Reconquista Pelayo: the Reluctant Visigoth and the Reconquista JamesHoare Wed, 02/19/2025 - 07:00
2 weeks ago
TheCollector
What Did Albert Camus Really Mean by the Absurd? It is widely (but wrongly) believed that what Camus means by the absurd is something like life...
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It is widely (but wrongly) believed that what Camus means by the absurd is something like life viewed from a distance is completely meaningless. What Camus actually says is that life viewed in a particular way only appears meaningless. The crucial nuance, often missed, is that...
TheCollector
Post-Modern Stoics? The Revival of Stoicism in the Late 20th Century It probably should not be too much of a surprise that Stoicism, one of the most deviant and...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
It probably should not be too much of a surprise that Stoicism, one of the most deviant and uncharacteristic branches of ancient philosophy (the Cynics notwithstanding), should attract the attention of late 20th-century intelligentsia. Even Plotinus spoke of the Stoics as being...
TheCollector
Lost Camille Claudel Sculpture Sells for $3.8 Million A bronze sculpture by Camille Claudel, lost for over a century, was recently rediscovered in an...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
A bronze sculpture by Camille Claudel, lost for over a century, was recently rediscovered in an uninhabited Parisian apartment. Over the weekend, the bronze cast of The Age of Maturity fetched $3.8 million at a Philocale auction in Orléans, France—proving that Claudel’s artistic...
Wrong Side of...
The lone wolves of Germany Why weak states resort to collective punishment of citizens
2 weeks ago
TheCollector
The Battle of Navarino: The Last Battle of the Age of Sail The Battle of Navarino on October 20, 1827 sits between two eras. As the first steam-powered ships...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
The Battle of Navarino on October 20, 1827 sits between two eras. As the first steam-powered ships took to the seas, two great masses of wooden sailing ships clashed in one last fleet action with the fate of an empire on the line. For a final time fleets of sailing ships impacted...
Hidden History
The Vigenere Cipher The Vigenere Cipher is an encryption system that was developed over 500 years ago, and a variant of...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
The Vigenere Cipher is an encryption system that was developed over 500 years ago, and a variant of it was still being used by Soviet KGB spies in the 1950s. Ever since people have been writing, they have been searching for ways to make their written messages secure. This has...
TheCollector
The Stono Rebellion: America’s Largest Slave Uprising By 1739, slavery in colonial America had been entrenched for over 100 years. The dependence on...
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By 1739, slavery in colonial America had been entrenched for over 100 years. The dependence on enslaved people to grow American crops was only increasing, but freedom was in the air. One September night, South Carolina slaves rose up to fight for their liberty. Though the exact...
TheCollector
What Was the Role of Judges in Ancient Israel Before It Became a Monarchy? The story of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt, with Moses as its protagonist, is probably the most...
3 weeks ago
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The story of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt, with Moses as its protagonist, is probably the most well-known of all stories in the Hebrew Bible. Joshua’s conquest of Canaan, epitomized by the siege of Jericho, is also retold often. Similarly, David’s slaying of Goliath, his flight...
Open Culture
Why Are the Names of British Towns & Cities So Hard to Pronounce?: A Humorous But Informative Primer When they make their first transoceanic voyage, more than a few Americans choose to go to England,...
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When they make their first transoceanic voyage, more than a few Americans choose to go to England, on the assumption that, whatever culture shock they might experience, at least none of the difficulties will be linguistic. Only when it’s too late do they discover the true meaning...
History Today Feed
Adolphe Sax’s Brass Wars Adolphe Sax’s Brass Wars JamesHoare Tue, 02/18/2025 - 08:00
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The Firebombing of Tokyo The Firebombing of Tokyo JamesHoare Tue, 02/18/2025 - 07:00
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TheCollector
Who Is Ruby Bridges? On November 14, 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges became one of the first Black students to attend an...
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On November 14, 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges became one of the first Black students to attend an all-white public school in the South. Escorted by federal marshals through crowds of segregationists, Ruby stepped onto her new school’s campus and into the history books. Ruby is...
Open Culture
When William S. Burroughs Appeared on Saturday Night Live: His First TV Appearance (1981) Though he never said so directly, we might expect that Situationist Guy Debord would have included...
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3 weeks ago
Though he never said so directly, we might expect that Situationist Guy Debord would have included Saturday Night Live in what he called the “Spectacle”—the mass media presentation of a totalizing reality, “the ruling order’s nonstop discourse about itself, its never-ending...
TheCollector
What Is Rudolf Steiner’s Philosophy of Freedom? Do you want to learn about philosophy and how it affects our idea of freedom? If you do, then Rudolf...
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Do you want to learn about philosophy and how it affects our idea of freedom? If you do, then Rudolf Steiner’s philosophy of freedom is something you’ll find incredibly interesting. In his famous book The Philosophy of Freedom, Steiner, an Austrian philosopher, anthroposophist,...
Classical Wisdom
The American Cincinnatus Washington's Great Inspiration
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Futarchy And Self-Dealing Governance Compared to divided government, a more central government has stronger incentives to help the polity...
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Compared to divided government, a more central government has stronger incentives to help the polity as a whole.
Flashbak
Marvels of the Universe, 1912 – Curious Scientific Illustrations From A Compendium of Life First published in 1912, readers could learn all things about everything in Marvels of the Universe...
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First published in 1912, readers could learn all things about everything in Marvels of the Universe : a popular work on the marvels of the heavens, the earth, plant life, animal life, the mighty deep. It was published as a periodical in London by Hutchinson and Company, founded...
Open Culture
Brian Eno Attempts to Figure Out What Art Does in a New Book Co-Written with Artist Bette A Brian Eno was thinking about the purpose of art a decade ago, as evidenced by his 2015 John Peel...
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Brian Eno was thinking about the purpose of art a decade ago, as evidenced by his 2015 John Peel Lecture (previously featured here on Open Culture). But he was also thinking about it three decades ago, as evidenced by A Year with Swollen Appendices, his diary of the year 1995...
Open Culture
Watch the Historic First Episode of Saturday Night Live with Host George Carlin (1975) 50 years of Saturday Night Live. It all started here with this first episode, aired on October 11,...
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50 years of Saturday Night Live. It all started here with this first episode, aired on October 11, 1975. George Carlin hosted the show. Billy Preston and Janis Ian served up the music. Jim Henson staged an elaborate puppet show. And “the Not Ready for Prime Time Players”...
History Today Feed
Diocletian’s Great Persecution Diocletian’s Great Persecution JamesHoare Mon, 02/17/2025 - 08:56
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The Great German Peasant’s War The Great German Peasant’s War JamesHoare Mon, 02/17/2025 - 08:55
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Open Culture
Inside SNL: Al Franken Reveals How Saturday Night Live Is Crafted Every Week As Saturday Night Live celebrates its 50th anniversary, Al Franken takes you inside the making of an...
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As Saturday Night Live celebrates its 50th anniversary, Al Franken takes you inside the making of an SNL episode. He should know a thing or two about the subject. Part of the original SNL writing team, Franken spent 15 years writing and performing for the show. (Anyone remember...
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Quiz Lots and Lots of Love
3 weeks ago
African History...
Internal diasporas and the state in African history The Wangara chronicle, one of West Africa's oldest surviving historical texts composed around 1650,...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
The Wangara chronicle, one of West Africa's oldest surviving historical texts composed around 1650, contains an interesting account explaining the migration of a group of scholars from medieval Malī against the wishes of its ruler:
Overcoming Bias
Futarchy and the Transfer Problem I recently tweeted on the ineffectiveness of Medicine, and thus on waste we could cut by cutting...
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I recently tweeted on the ineffectiveness of Medicine, and thus on waste we could cut by cutting back on it.
Global Inequality...
Trump, the state and the revolution To say that Trump in his new incarnation is different from the Trump No.
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Grant Wood: America The Sensual Grant Wood’s most famous picture is American Gothic (1930), that painting stepped in storytelling...
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Grant Wood’s most famous picture is American Gothic (1930), that painting stepped in storytelling and subversive wit of two farmers looking lean, staid and weather-beaten as they stand guard before their lean and staid home. But there’s lot more to him that than hit. Wood was a...
Wrong Side of...
Rome’s miserable fate The Year of the Plague #3
3 weeks ago
A Collection of...
Fireside Friday, February 14, 2025 (On Grant Funding) Hey folks! Happy Valentine’s Day. Fireside this week and then hopefully next week we’ll start into...
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3 weeks ago
Hey folks! Happy Valentine’s Day. Fireside this week and then hopefully next week we’ll start into our look at the Siege of Eregion in Season 2 of Rings of Power and also the larger Tolkien legendarium. I confess, watching the show, my suspension of disbelief fell much faster...
Classical Wisdom
Greek Mythology's Greatest Love Story Cupid and Psyche
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Open Culture
Meet Jesse Welles, the Folk Singer Who Turns News into Folk Music, Writing Songs on Elections, Plane... At first glance, Jesse Welles resembles nothing so much as a time traveler from the year 1968....
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3 weeks ago
At first glance, Jesse Welles resembles nothing so much as a time traveler from the year 1968. That’s how I would open a profile about him, but The New York Times’ David Peisner takes a different approach, describing him recording a song in his home studio. “Welles, a...
Open Culture
Flannery O’Connor: Friends Don’t Let Friends Read Ayn Rand In a letter dated May 31, 1960, Flannery O’Connor, the author best known for her classic story, “A...
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3 weeks ago
In a letter dated May 31, 1960, Flannery O’Connor, the author best known for her classic story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” (listen to her read the story here) penned a letter to her friend, the playwright Maryat Lee. It begins rather abruptly, likely because it’s responding to...
Res Obscura
Happy Lupercalia A special discount on subscriptions in honor of the Roman wolf holiday
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Classical Wisdom
Fun Fact: The Other Types of Love Can you think of 30 meanings of “Love”?
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Reenacting Trauma So far I’ve watched 34 episodes of Couples Therapy, wherein Dr.
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Wrong Side of...
The beautiful rebirth of Dresden (2) A city rises from the ashes
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Wrong Side of...
The beautiful rebirth of Dresden (1) The Florence on the Elbe
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Open Culture
How the Fairlight CMI Synthesizer Revolutionized Music In the credits of Phil Collins’ No Jacket Required appears the disclaimer that “there is no...
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In the credits of Phil Collins’ No Jacket Required appears the disclaimer that “there is no Fairlight on this record.” Cryptic though it may have appeared to most of that album’s many buyers, technology-minded musicians would’ve got it. In the half-decades since its introduction,...
Flashbak
The Art of Erotic Ex Libris (NSFW) Ex Libris is a Latin phrase that translates as “from the books”. Also known as bookplates, Ex Libris...
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Ex Libris is a Latin phrase that translates as “from the books”. Also known as bookplates, Ex Libris were first used in Germany in the 15th Century. These designs are pasted into a book’s inside cover or endpaper as a sign of ownership. The first books were highly valuable and...
History Today Feed
Searching for the Soul of the Beaver Searching for the Soul of the Beaver JamesHoare Thu, 02/13/2025 - 09:28
3 weeks ago
CrimethInc.
The Students Walk Out in Los Angeles : A Report from the Streets In the opening weeks of Donald Trump’s second presidency, some of the fiercest expressions of...
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In the opening weeks of Donald Trump’s second presidency, some of the fiercest expressions of defiance have come from the communities that Trump is threatening to attack. In Los Angeles, students have engaged in weeks of walkouts and other protests against the mass deportations...
Open Culture
Jane Austen Used Pins to Edit Her Manuscripts: Before the Word Processor & White-Out Before the word processor, before White-Out, before Post-It Notes, there were straight pins. Or, at...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Before the word processor, before White-Out, before Post-It Notes, there were straight pins. Or, at least that’s what Jane Austen used to make edits in one of her rare manuscripts. In 2011, Oxford’s Bodleian Library acquired the manuscript of Austen’s abandoned novel, The...
Classical Wisdom
What is Love? Daphnis, Chloe and the Ancient Novel
3 weeks ago
Open Culture
What It Was Like to Get a Meal at a Medieval Tavern At least since The Canterbury Tales, the setting of the medieval tavern has held out the promise of...
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At least since The Canterbury Tales, the setting of the medieval tavern has held out the promise of adventure. For their customer base during the actual Middle Ages, however, they had more utilitarian virtues. “If you ever find yourself in the late medieval period, and you are in...
History Today Feed
‘The Crowd in the Early Middle Ages’ by Shane Bobrycki review ‘The Crowd in the Early Middle Ages’ by Shane Bobrycki review JamesHoare Wed, 02/12/2025 - 09:25
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Open Culture
Watch 10 Great German Expressionist Films: Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari & More In 1913, Germany, flush with a new nation’s patriotic zeal, looked like it might become the dominant...
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In 1913, Germany, flush with a new nation’s patriotic zeal, looked like it might become the dominant nation of Europe and a real rival to that global superpower Great Britain. Then it hit the buzzsaw of World War I. After the German government collapsed in 1918 from the economic...
Trying to Understand...
Stories We Tell Each Other. Because contingency frightens us.
3 weeks ago
CrimethInc.
Eight Things You Can Do to Stop ICE The Trump administration is paving the way for mass deportations by building new prison camps and...
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The Trump administration is paving the way for mass deportations by building new prison camps and invoking the Alien Enemies Act, which was used to justify the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Motivated by nativism and white nationalism, Steven Miller and...
Hidden History
The Sobibor Rebellion In October 1943, inmates at the Nazi extermination camp in Sobibor, in Poland, organized an uprising...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
In October 1943, inmates at the Nazi extermination camp in Sobibor, in Poland, organized an uprising that destroyed the camp and led to the escape of hundreds of prisoners. In January 1942, a group of fifteen Nazi government officials met in the Wannsee suburb of Berlin with...
Wrong Side of...
The case against child voters Votes at 16 is the most cynical of politics
4 weeks ago
Open Culture
Horrifying 1906 Illustrations of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds: Discover the Art of Henrique Alvim... H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds has terrified and fascinated readers and writers for decades since its...
4 weeks ago
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4 weeks ago
H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds has terrified and fascinated readers and writers for decades since its 1898 publication and has inspired numerous adaptations. The most notorious use of Wells’ book was by Orson Welles, whom the author called “my little namesake,” and whose 1938 War...
Flashbak
Illustrations from Lorenz Oken’s Atlas of Living Things, 1833-1834 These wonderful illustrations of a broad variety of fora fauna are from German naturalist Lorenz...
4 weeks ago
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4 weeks ago
These wonderful illustrations of a broad variety of fora fauna are from German naturalist Lorenz Oken’s huge atlas of living things, the Allgemeine Naturgeschichte für alle Stände atlas (1833-1834) (General natural history for all classes). Published over seven instalments, its...
Open Culture
Tracing English Back to Its Oldest Known Ancestor: An Introduction to Proto-Indo-European People understand evolution in all sorts of different ways. We’ve all heard a variety of folk...
4 weeks ago
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4 weeks ago
People understand evolution in all sorts of different ways. We’ve all heard a variety of folk explanations of that all-important phenomenon, from “survival of the fittest” to “humans come from monkeys,” that run the spectrum from broadly correct to badly mangled. One less often...
History Today Feed
On the Spot: Geoffrey Parker On the Spot: Geoffrey Parker JamesHoare Tue, 02/11/2025 - 08:25
4 weeks ago
Classical Wisdom
Why Do We Love Violence? The Tainted Glory of the Gladiator
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Flashbak
Painted Backgrounds for Early 20th Century Photographers, 1908 Before image filters and digital backdrops added depth and interest to photographs, placing subjects...
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4 weeks ago
Before image filters and digital backdrops added depth and interest to photographs, placing subjects in exquisite settings, there were hand-painted backgrounds for photography studios. Beginning in the mid-1800s, decorative backgrounds worked at the intersection of traditional...
History Today Feed
‘The Brothers Grimm: A Biography’ by Ann Schmiesing review ‘The Brothers Grimm: A Biography’ by Ann Schmiesing review JamesHoare Mon, 02/10/2025 - 11:03
4 weeks ago
Open Culture
Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains Who Was the Greatest Scientific Mind in History Neil deGrasse Tyson has spent his career talking up not just science itself, but also its...
4 weeks ago
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4 weeks ago
Neil deGrasse Tyson has spent his career talking up not just science itself, but also its practitioners. If asked to name the greatest scientist of all time, one might expect him to need a minute to think about it — or even to find himself unable to choose. But that’s hardly...
Open Culture
Hear an AI Chatbot, Masquerading as a Clueless Grandmother, Waste the Time of an Internet Scam... And now for a good use of AI. The UK-based telecom company O2 has developed a chatbot (“named...
4 weeks ago
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4 weeks ago
And now for a good use of AI. The UK-based telecom company O2 has developed a chatbot (“named Daisy”) that performs a noble task. Impersonating an elderly grandmother, the chatbot engages with internet fraudsters and then systematically frustrates them and wastes their time. As...
African History...
On the history of the Bantu expansion: old misconceptions and new evidence The southern half of the African continent is populated by speakers of about 550 closely related...
4 weeks ago
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4 weeks ago
The southern half of the African continent is populated by speakers of about 550 closely related languages that are referred to as the Bantu languages.
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Quiz Plus Roundup of Resources
4 weeks ago
Flashbak
The Brilliant Paper Bag Hats Made by Self-Taught Artist moses of Hawaii Born Murray Odessky on October 16, 1931, the artist who would eventually change his name to “moses”...
a month ago
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a month ago
Born Murray Odessky on October 16, 1931, the artist who would eventually change his name to “moses” moved to the Big Island of Hawaii and began to create 255 brilliant paper bag hats – sculptures that he donated to the Mingei Museum in San Diego, CA. Until he died in 2015, moses...