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Until the end of his life, Carl Sagan (1934–1996) continued doing what he did all along — popularizing science and “enthusiastically conveying the wonders of the universe to millions of people on television and in books.” Whenever Sagan appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson during the 70s and 80s, his goal was to […]
Popular culture has long since claimed Easter as an occasion for trickster rabbits, dyed-egg hunts, and marshmallow chicks of unnatural hues — none of which are actually in the Bible. Though that probably doesn’t surprise you, you may not be aware of just how far the modern holiday has drifted from its textual origins. In the […]
It was surely not a coincidence that the New York Times published its story on the trial of a certain Gadalias and Saulos this past Monday, April 14th. The defendants, as their names suggest, did not live in modernity: the papyrus documenting their legal troubles dates to the reign of Hadrian, around 130 AD. These men […]
You can be forgiven for thinking the concept of “flow” was cooked up and popularized by yoga teachers. That word gets a lot of play when one is moving from Downward-Facing Dog on through Warrior One and Two. Actually, flow — the state of “effortless effort” — was coined by Goethe, from the German “rausch”, […]
The Austrian military engineer Conrad Haas was a man ahead of his time — indeed, about 400 years ahead, considering that he was working on rockets aimed for outer space back in the mid-sixteenth century. Needless to say, he never actually managed to launch anything into the upper atmosphere. But you have to give him […]
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After the Mexican Revolution, the country was left fragmented and impoverished. In this context, the construction of a new national identity based on revolutionary ideals—such as social justice and inclusion—was necessary to unify the country and legitimize the ruling party, which positioned itself as the revolution’s rightful heir. Mural art played an essential role, […]
A century before Mansa Musa’s famous pilgrimage, the political and cultural landscape of medieval West Africa was dominated by the empire of Kānem.
South Sudan, which split from Sudan in 2011, is one of the youngest countries in the world and the youngest in Africa. It represents one of a handful of cases in which an independence movement has actually succeeded and generated a fully sovereign state recognized by the United Nations. The road to […]
The Peter Rabbit letters were written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter on 4th September 1893. What would become The Tale of Peter Rabbit was first told in a letter to Noel Moore, the five-year-old son of Beatrix’s former governess Annie Moore (née Carter). Noel was ill in bed and Beatrix (28 July 1866 – 22 … Continue reading "Beatrix Potter’s Illustrated Peter Rabbit Letters" The post Beatrix Potter’s Illustrated Peter Rabbit Letters appeared first on Flashbak.
