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The Soviet Union’s repressive state censorship went to absurd lengths to control what its citizens read, viewed, and listened to, such as the almost comical removal of purged former comrades from photographs during Stalin’s reign. When it came to aesthetics, Stalinism mostly purged more avant-garde tendencies from the arts and literature in favor of didactic […]
5 months ago

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Wim Wenders’ New Short Film Reminds Europe of the Lessons of World War II

World War II officially ended on September 2, 1945. It followed, by less than three weeks, an equally momentous event, at least in the eyes of cinephiles: the birth of Wim Wenders. Though soon to turn 80 years old, Wenders has remained both productive and capable of drawing great critical acclaim. Witness, for example, his […]

10 hours ago 1 votes
Pablo Picasso’s Childhood Paintings: Precocious Works Painted Between the Ages of 8 and 15

It’s hard to imagine from this historical distance how upsetting Pablo Picasso’s 1907 modernist painting Les Demoiselles d’Avignon was to Parisian society at its debut. On its 100th anniversary, Guardian critic Jonathan Jones described it as “the rift, the break that divides past and future.” The painting caused an uproar, even among the artist’s peers. It was […]

10 hours ago 1 votes
Harvard Lets You Take 133 Free Online Courses: Explore Courses on Justice, American Government, Literature, Religion, CompSci & More

Image by Rizka, via Wikimedia Commons In South Korea, where I live, there may be no brand as respected as Habodeu. Children dream of it; adults seemingly do anything to play up their own connections to it, however tenuous those connections may be. But what is Habodeu? An electronics company? A line of clothing? Some […]

3 days ago 3 votes
Will Machines Ever Truly Think? Richard Feynman Contemplates the Future of Artificial Intelligence (1985)

Though its answer has grown more complicated in recent years, the question of whether computers will ever truly think has been around for quite some time. Richard Feynman was being asked about it 40 years ago, as evidenced by the lecture clip above. As his fans would expect, he approaches the matter of artificial intelligence […]

4 days ago 3 votes
Leonardo da Vinci’s Elegant Design for a Perpetual Motion Machine

Is perpetual motion possible? In theory… I have no idea…. In practice, so far at least, the answer has been a perpetual no. As Nicholas Barrial writes at Makery, “in order to succeed,” a perpetual motion machine “should be free of friction, run in a vacuum chamber and be totally silent” since “sound equates to […]

4 days ago 8 votes

More in history

Miss Margaret Morris’ Merry Mermaids

“Everyone should live creatively. It is now recognised that the creative urge – other than sex – is manifest in varying degrees, not only in musicians, writers and painters, but in all human beings…. Creation in the widest sense must surely be adding to what already exists. If you contribute something to others and to … Continue reading "Miss Margaret Morris’ Merry Mermaids" The post Miss Margaret Morris’ Merry Mermaids appeared first on Flashbak.

5 hours ago 1 votes
At What Cost Should We Have Great Works?

Does unearthing the history take away from the grandeur?

5 hours ago 1 votes
‘America, América’ by Greg Grandin review

‘America, América’ by Greg Grandin review JamesHoare Mon, 06/02/2025 - 09:07

11 hours ago 1 votes
How Marcus Aurelius Influenced Famous American Military Leaders

When the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote down his personal memoirs while on a campaign against barbarian tribes in Germany, he could not have fathomed how practicing his Stoicism would help determine the outcome of battles across the globe far into the future. From Ulysses S. Grant and Theodore Roosevelt to General James Mattis, […]

22 hours ago 1 votes
Weekly Wisdom Quiz

Ancient Egypt, Diogenes, and more!

yesterday 2 votes