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Res Obscura
When the Sackler Brothers studied LSD One of the stranger episodes from the 1950s golden age of psychedelic therapy, and what it tells us...
22 hours ago
3
22 hours ago
One of the stranger episodes from the 1950s golden age of psychedelic therapy, and what it tells us about the history of technology
Patterns in Humanity
Are women better at jigsaw puzzles? An analysis of the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship
22 hours ago
TheCollector
Archaeologists Find Lost Residence Depicted on Bayeux Tapestry undefined
21 hours ago
Open Culture
Explore a Digitized Edition of the Voynich Manuscript, “the World’s Most Mysterious Book” A 600-year-old manuscript—written in a script no one has ever decoded, filled with cryptic...
2 hours ago
1
2 hours ago
A 600-year-old manuscript—written in a script no one has ever decoded, filled with cryptic illustrations, its origins remaining to this day a mystery…. It’s not as satisfying a plot, say, of a National Treasure or Dan Brown thriller, certainly not as action-packed as...
History Today Feed
How Does History Judge Prime Ministers? How Does History Judge Prime Ministers? JamesHoare Thu, 01/30/2025 - 09:19
3 hours ago
Open Culture
How Robert Frost Wrote One of His Most Famous Poems, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” Several generations of American students have now had the experience of being told by an English...
3 hours ago
1
3 hours ago
Several generations of American students have now had the experience of being told by an English teacher that they’d been reading Robert Frost all wrong, even if they’d never read him at all. Most, at least, had seen his lines “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— / I took the...
TheCollector
6 Historical Places to Visit in Berkshire undefined
6 hours ago
Wrong Side of...
Britain’s Project 2029 Can you just do things? We shall find out
yesterday
TheCollector
5 Fascinating Verses From the Quran About Other Religions undefined
yesterday
Open Culture
Mahatma Gandhi’s List of the Seven Social Sins; or Tips on How to Avoid Living the Bad Life Image via Wikimedia Commons In 590 AD, Pope Gregory I unveiled a list of the Seven Deadly Sins –...
yesterday
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yesterday
Image via Wikimedia Commons In 590 AD, Pope Gregory I unveiled a list of the Seven Deadly Sins – lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride – as a way to keep the flock from straying into the thorny fields of ungodliness. These days, though, for all but the most devout,...
History Today Feed
Following Threads to Colonial Barbados Following Threads to Colonial Barbados JamesHoare Wed, 01/29/2025 - 09:40
yesterday
Flashbak
Loving Couples Posing For Studio Portraits in the 1970s Before the ubiquitous smart phone and achieving physical perfection through fillers and filters,...
yesterday
2
yesterday
Before the ubiquitous smart phone and achieving physical perfection through fillers and filters, anyone seeking a professional look hired a studio photographer. These portraits of couples from the 1970s are a release from all that narcissism. The lovers paid for these pictures...
Open Culture
How Frank Lloyd Wright Became Frank Lloyd Wright: A Video Introduction Frank Lloyd Wright is unlikely to be displaced as the archetype of the genius architect anytime...
yesterday
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yesterday
Frank Lloyd Wright is unlikely to be displaced as the archetype of the genius architect anytime soon, at least in America, but even he had to start somewhere. At nine years old, as architecture YouTuber Stewart Hicks explains in the video above, Wright received a set of blocks...
Trying to Understand...
The Curse Of Zhou Bai Den. Or, masochism for fun and profit.
yesterday
TheCollector
James, Son of Alpheus, of the Twelve Disciples: Bio, Legacy, and Death undefined
yesterday
CrimethInc.
It's Safer in the Front : Taking the Offensive against Tyranny Faced with intensifying repression and state violence, there is an understandable inclination to...
2 days ago
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2 days ago
Faced with intensifying repression and state violence, there is an understandable inclination to seek safety by avoiding confrontation. But this is not always the most effective strategy. “Counterintuitive though it is, in a confusing situation, often the best, if not safest,...
TheCollector
Battle of Raphia: How Did It Reshape Ancient Syria? undefined
2 days ago
Classical Wisdom
One Spot Left: In Search of Homer Book Now to join me on Cephalonia
2 days ago
Overcoming Bias
Federal Futarchy Futarchy is a new financial-market-based form of governance.
2 days ago
Hidden History
The First Space Launch Everybody knows about the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s and...
2 days ago
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2 days ago
Everybody knows about the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 60s, which began with the Russian Sputnik and ended with the American moon landing. But in reality, the first man-made object to enter outer space was not Russian, and not...
TheCollector
What Language Does Your Brain Speak? Ockham’s Mental Language Explained undefined
2 days ago
Open Culture
When Neapolitans Used to Eat Pasta with Their Bare Hands: Watch Footage from 1903 Even if you don’t speak Italian, you can make a decent guess at the meaning of the word...
2 days ago
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2 days ago
Even if you don’t speak Italian, you can make a decent guess at the meaning of the word mangiamaccheroni. The tricky bit is that maccheroni refers not to the pasta English-speakers today call macaroni, tubular and cut into small curved sections, but to pasta in general. Or at...
History Today Feed
Forgeries, Fakes, and Phantom Time Forgeries, Fakes, and Phantom Time JamesHoare Tue, 01/28/2025 - 08:38
2 days ago
Flashbak
Finding Ourselves on Ward 81, 1976 “They are the women we might have been or one day become” – Ward 81 by Dr Karen Jacobs and Mary Mark...
2 days ago
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2 days ago
“They are the women we might have been or one day become” – Ward 81 by Dr Karen Jacobs and Mary Mark Ellen   In 1976, photographer Mary Ellen Mark and her friend, the sociologist Dr. Karen Folger Jacobs, documented the lives of women living in the high-security, all-female wing...
TheCollector
Marcus Aurelius: Philosopher Emperor of Rome undefined
2 days ago
Flashbak
Andy Warhol’s Life After Death: Cards, Posters And Other Post-Warhol Ephemera Andy Warhol’s star shone brighter after his death on February 22, 1987. The artist succumbed to...
3 days ago
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3 days ago
Andy Warhol’s star shone brighter after his death on February 22, 1987. The artist succumbed to cardiac arrest while in hospital for gall bladder surgery. Prolific, talented and successful in life, much of Warhol’s work only came to light after his unexpected death, such as early...
TheCollector
Headless Ancient Greek Sculpture Found in Garbage Bag undefined
3 days ago
Classical Wisdom
Epicurus and The Pursuit of Happiness Tasting the Perfect Tomato
3 days ago
TheCollector
What Is Rousseau’s Social Contract Theory? (Definition & Criticisms) undefined
3 days ago
Wrong Side of...
Rats! The Year of the Plague #2
3 days ago
History Today Feed
‘The Grammar of Angels’ by Edward Wilson-Lee review ‘The Grammar of Angels’ by Edward Wilson-Lee review JamesHoare Mon, 01/27/2025 - 10:34
3 days ago
TheCollector
Was the USSR a Colonial Power? undefined
3 days ago
Open Culture
How Erik Satie’s ‘Furniture Music’ Was Designed to Be Ignored and Paved the Way for Ambient Music Imagine how many times someone born in the eighteen-sixties could ever expect to hear music. The...
3 days ago
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3 days ago
Imagine how many times someone born in the eighteen-sixties could ever expect to hear music. The number would vary, of course, depending on the individual’s class and family inclinations. Suffice it to say that each chance would have been more precious than those of us in the...
TheCollector
5 Famous Philosophy Quotes That Can Change Your Life undefined
3 days ago
Open Culture
A 1933 Profile of Frida Kahlo: “Wife of the Master Mural Painter Gleefully Dabbles in Works of Art” Walter Keane—supposed painter of “Big Eyed Children” and subject of a 2014 Tim Burton film—made a...
3 days ago
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3 days ago
Walter Keane—supposed painter of “Big Eyed Children” and subject of a 2014 Tim Burton film—made a killing, attaining almost Thomas Kinkade-like status in the middlebrow art market of the 1950s and 60s. As it turns out, his wife, Margaret was in fact the artist, “painting 16 hours...
TheCollector
Who Was Huayna Capac? The Life & Times of the Last True Inca King undefined
4 days ago
African History...
The Nsibidi script ca. 600-1909 CE: a history of an African writing system Nsibidi is one of Africa's oldest independently invented writing systems.
4 days ago
TheCollector
Fordlandia & 20th-Century Colonialism in the Amazon Rainforest undefined
4 days ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup Leadership and the Ancients
4 days ago
TheCollector
What Is the Paradox of Time Travel? undefined
4 days ago
Flashbak
Manuel Orazi’s Occultist Magic Calendar Mil DCCCXCVI, 1895 This French occultist calendar illustrated in the Art Nouveau style by Italian artist and designer...
5 days ago
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5 days ago
This French occultist calendar illustrated in the Art Nouveau style by Italian artist and designer Manuel Orazi (1860 – 1934) was printed in an symbolic edition of 777 copies to commemorate magic for the coming year of 1896. Each double page uses the Christian calendar (name...
TheCollector
What Were Henri Matisse’s Composition Techniques? undefined
5 days ago
Wrong Side of...
Our philanthropists and their oligarchs Some foreign billionaires seem to be welcome in British politics
5 days ago
TheCollector
6 Must-See Marvels of Inca Architecture undefined
5 days ago
A Collection of...
Gap Week (January 24, 2025) Hey, folks. As much as I hate doing it, I have to pull a ‘gap week’ this week, as the second part of...
6 days ago
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6 days ago
Hey, folks. As much as I hate doing it, I have to pull a ‘gap week’ this week, as the second part of the Gracchi series (on the younger brother, Gaius Gracchus) isn’t done yet and I have some academic travel that I need to prepare for which is going to demand most of my …...
TheCollector
What Is Infinity? A Philosophical Approach undefined
6 days ago
Classical Wisdom
Antigone Storms and Tyrants
6 days ago
TheCollector
How True Is the Saga of Egil Skallagrimsson (Viking Hero)? undefined
6 days ago
Open Culture
Noam Chomsky Defines What It Means to Be a Truly Educated Person There may be no more contentious an issue at the level of local U.S. government than education. All...
6 days ago
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6 days ago
There may be no more contentious an issue at the level of local U.S. government than education. All of the socioeconomic and cultural fault lines communities would rather paper over become fully exposed in debates over funding, curriculum, districting, etc. But we rarely hear...
Flashbak
The Sun by Frans Masereel, A Story Without Words – 1919 “One discovers the light in darkness, that is what darkness is for; but everything in our lives...
6 days ago
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6 days ago
“One discovers the light in darkness, that is what darkness is for; but everything in our lives depends on how we bear the light,” – James Baldwin, Nothing Personal      The Sun (1919) by Frans Masereel (1889–1972) opens with an artist resting his head on his desk beneath an open...
History Today Feed
The Mad Duchess Lives The Mad Duchess Lives JamesHoare Fri, 01/24/2025 - 09:10
6 days ago
Open Culture
Where Do You Put the Camera? Every Frame a Painting Presents Insights from Famous Directors Whether or not we believe in auteurhood, we each have our own mental image of what a film director...
6 days ago
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6 days ago
Whether or not we believe in auteurhood, we each have our own mental image of what a film director does. But if we’ve never actually seen one at work, we’re liable not to understand what the actual experience of directing feels like: making decision after decision after decision,...
TheCollector
9 Historical Places to Visit in Gloucestershire undefined
6 days ago
Open Culture
Coursera Offers $200 Off of Coursera Plus (Until January 27), Giving You Unlimited Access to Courses... A new deal to start a new year: Coursera is offering a $200 discount on its annual subscription plan...
6 days ago
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6 days ago
A new deal to start a new year: Coursera is offering a $200 discount on its annual subscription plan called “Coursera Plus.” Normally priced at $399, Coursera Plus (now available for $199) gives you access to 90% of Coursera’s courses, Guided Projects, Specializations, and...
Overcoming Bias
Celebrity v CEO v Politician Why are celebrities, CEOs, and politicians three different types of people who don’t overlap much?
6 days ago
Classical Wisdom
How To Eat: An Ancient Guide to Healthy Living Registration *NOW* Open
a week ago
TheCollector
6 Beautiful Works by Ilya Repin You Should Know undefined
a week ago
Patterns in Humanity
Immigration and crime: Norway Are immigrants overrepresented in crime in Norway? And why?
a week ago
TheCollector
What Is First Timothy About? undefined
a week ago
Flashbak
How John Steinbeck Harnessed Desire and Self-Doubt To Write The Grapes of Wrath “This is the longest diary I ever kept. Not a diary of course but an attempt to map the actual...
a week ago
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a week ago
“This is the longest diary I ever kept. Not a diary of course but an attempt to map the actual working days and hours of a novel. If a day is skipped it will show glaringly on this record and there will be some reason given for the slip.” – John Steinbeck, Working Days, The …...
TheCollector
What Is the Diamond Sutra? The Oldest Printed Book in the World undefined
a week ago
Open Culture
Revisit Pop-Up Video: The VH1 Series That Reinvented Music Videos & Pop Culture In the eighties, people lamented the attention-span-shortening “MTV-ization” of visual culture. By...
a week ago
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a week ago
In the eighties, people lamented the attention-span-shortening “MTV-ization” of visual culture. By the mid-nineties, networks were trying to figure out how to get viewers to sit through music videos at all. A solution arrived in the form of Pop-Up Video, a program pitched by...
History Today Feed
Who to Blame for Early Modern Climate Change? Who to Blame for Early Modern Climate Change? JamesHoare Thu, 01/23/2025 - 09:18
a week ago
Open Culture
The Oldest Beer Receipt (Circa 2050 BC) Above, we have the Alulu Beer Receipt. Written in cuneiform on an old clay tablet, the...
a week ago
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a week ago
Above, we have the Alulu Beer Receipt. Written in cuneiform on an old clay tablet, the 4,000-year-old receipt documents a transaction. A brewer, named Alulu, delivered “the best” beer to a recipient named Ur-Amma, who apparently also served as the scribe. The Mesopotamians drank...
TheCollector
The History of Urban Fires: From Ancient Cities to Today undefined
a week ago
Res Obscura
The leading AI models are now very good historians Three case studies with GPT-4o, o1, and Claude Sonnet 3.5, and what they mean
a week ago
TheCollector
Power Players: 4 Vice Presidents Who Shined Beyond the President undefined
a week ago
Wrong Side of...
Wandsworth Prison Blues It's certain that fine women eat/A crazy salad with their meat
a week ago
Trying to Understand...
The Sword Is Mightier... ...than the pen. In Ukraine anyway.
a week ago
TheCollector
What Is the Book of Acts About in the Bible? undefined
a week ago
Open Culture
Watch 950 Weather Reports Presented by David Lynch, Straight from His Los Angeles Home Los Angeles is hardly a city known for its varied weather, but if one lives there long enough, one...
a week ago
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a week ago
Los Angeles is hardly a city known for its varied weather, but if one lives there long enough, one does become highly attuned to its many subtleties. (Granted, some of the local phenomena involved, like the notorious Santa Ana winds, can produce far-from-subtle effects.) The late...
History Today Feed
‘Man-Devil’ by John J. Callanan review ‘Man-Devil’ by John J. Callanan review JamesHoare Wed, 01/22/2025 - 09:21
a week ago
Open Culture
Watch an Avant-Garde Bauhaus Ballet in Brilliant Color, First Staged in 1922 We credit the Bauhaus school, founded by German architect Walter Gropius in 1919, for the aesthetic...
a week ago
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a week ago
We credit the Bauhaus school, founded by German architect Walter Gropius in 1919, for the aesthetic principles that have guided so much modern design and architecture in the 20th and 21st centuries. The school’s relationships with artists like Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Laszlo...
TheCollector
10 Must-See Exhibitions in the US This Year (2025) undefined
a week ago
Hidden History
The 1968 Utah Sheep Kill In 1968, a malfunctioning nerve gas test at the Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah killed several...
a week ago
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a week ago
In 1968, a malfunctioning nerve gas test at the Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah killed several thousand sheep and provoked an outcry. In March 1968, researchers at the Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah were scheduled to perform three experiments involving a lethal nerve gas known as...
TheCollector
Olaf Tryggvason: The Christian Viking’s Life & Death undefined
a week ago
Open Culture
The Story of How Quentin Tarantino Became a Filmmaker and Created Pulp Fiction, as Told by Quentin... For a film, explained a young Quentin Tarantino in one interview, “the real test of time isn’t the...
a week ago
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a week ago
For a film, explained a young Quentin Tarantino in one interview, “the real test of time isn’t the Friday that it opens. It’s how the film is thought of thirty years from now.” It just so happens that Pulp Fiction, which made Tarantino the most celebrated director in America...
Flashbak
Momoyogusa (A World of Things) by Kamisaka Sekka (1909-1910) Kamisaka Sekka (Japanese 1866 – 1942) produced his woodblock print masterpiece Momoyogusa (A World...
a week ago
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a week ago
Kamisaka Sekka (Japanese 1866 – 1942) produced his woodblock print masterpiece Momoyogusa (A World of Things) between 1909 and 1910. The three-volume set of 60 images, commissioned by the publishing firm Unsōdō of Kyoto, borrows its name from the eighth-century poetic text...
History Today Feed
Behind Donald Trump’s Palace Walls Behind Donald Trump’s Palace Walls JamesHoare Tue, 01/21/2025 - 09:54
a week ago
Open Culture
Download a 417-Megapixel Panorama of the Andromeda Galaxy—A Decade-Long NASA Project in the Making Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have created a majestic 417-megapixel panorama of the...
a week ago
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a week ago
Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have created a majestic 417-megapixel panorama of the Andromeda galaxy, located some 2.5 million light-years away from our planet. Taking more than a decade to complete, the photomosaic captures 200 million stars, which is only a...
TheCollector
Where Did King Arthur Fight His Legendary Battles? undefined
a week ago
Overcoming Bias
Gender Norms Are Complex, Opaque Wondering how to make clear our cultural drift problem, it occurred to me that historical fiction,...
a week ago
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a week ago
Wondering how to make clear our cultural drift problem, it occurred to me that historical fiction, especially using time travel, could make vivid how key norms and values have actually changed greatly over time, and not always in obviously good ways.
TheCollector
What Are the Ethical Values of Gen Z? undefined
a week ago
Classical Wisdom
Martin Luther King and LOVE How Dr. King was inspired by the Classics...
a week ago
TheCollector
The Crazy Cult of Indian Guru Osho Bhagwan & His Mixed Legacy undefined
a week ago
History Today Feed
‘The Worlds of Victor Sassoon’ by Rosemary Wakeman review ‘The Worlds of Victor Sassoon’ by Rosemary Wakeman review JamesHoare Mon, 01/20/2025 - 10:25
a week ago
TheCollector
What Was the Massachusetts 54th Regiment? undefined
a week ago
Open Culture
Why David Lynch’s Dune Went Wrong: A Comparison with Denis Villeneuve’s Hit Adaptation Denis Villeneuve’s recent film adaptation of Dune is generally considered to be superior to the late...
a week ago
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a week ago
Denis Villeneuve’s recent film adaptation of Dune is generally considered to be superior to the late David Lynch’s, from 1984 — though even according to many of Lynch’s fans, it could hardly have been worse. In a 1996 piece for Premiere magazine, David Foster Wallace described...
Wrong Side of...
The Worst Year Ever The Year of the Plague #1
a week ago
TheCollector
Song Hunter: The Life of Alan Lomax undefined
a week ago
CrimethInc.
Reports from the Festivals of Resistance / Day of the Forest Defender January 18 is the Day of the Forest Defender, honoring the life of Manuel “Tortuguita” Terán, who...
a week ago
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a week ago
January 18 is the Day of the Forest Defender, honoring the life of Manuel “Tortuguita” Terán, who was murdered by Georgia State Troopers two years ago while protesting the construction of Cop City in Atlanta, and everyone else who has given their lives in the fight against those...
TheCollector
5 Great Books About Aboriginal History You Should Read undefined
a week ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup The MUST-READ Classics
a week ago
African History...
The forts and castles of Africa: a brief architectural history. For much of African history, the construction of fortresses and fortified structures was a mostly...
a week ago
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a week ago
For much of African history, the construction of fortresses and fortified structures was a mostly urban phenomenon associated with large states.
TheCollector
What Is the Pauline Epistle Titus About? undefined
a week ago
Flashbak
People of London’s Maida Vale the 1970s and early 1980s Bristol Gardens runs between Formosa Street and Clifton Villas and in London’s Maida Vale. Artist...
a week ago
14
a week ago
Bristol Gardens runs between Formosa Street and Clifton Villas and in London’s Maida Vale. Artist and photographer Sheila Burnett has not longed moved to the area when she began to take pictures of the people who lived and worked there.     In the 1970s, Sheila arrived in London...
TheCollector
What Is Year 1 of History? Comparing Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Conventions undefined
a week ago
Overcoming Bias
Beware Shared Basic Value Changes Most of our activities can be seen as nested plans, to achieve nested goals.
a week ago
TheCollector
Who Was Carl Linnaeus? (Life, Works, & Legacy) undefined
a week ago
Flashbak
Watch The Alphabet, David Lynch’s horrific 1968 short, “There’s a connection between music, film, painting, writing, everything, you’re into, the more...
a week ago
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a week ago
“There’s a connection between music, film, painting, writing, everything, you’re into, the more they’re going to help each other” – David Lynch     David Lynch’s 1968 short The Alphabet was inspired by his first wife Peggy’s niece reciting her ABCs during a nightmare then waking...
TheCollector
A Brief History of Aboriginal Australia: The World’s Oldest Culture undefined
a week ago
Dreams of Space -...
The Eager Beaver Space Book (1962) As I keep digging in my collection I have found Space Beavers! This was a promotional comic book...
a week ago
21
a week ago
As I keep digging in my collection I have found Space Beavers! This was a promotional comic book from Cities Service gasoline. It probably was a give-away with purchase. It reflects the early 60s where the Mercury launches had taken place and we were looking ahead to the future....
A Collection of...
Collections: On the Gracchi, Part I: Tiberius Gracchus This week, we’re going to talk a bit about the brothers Tiberius (trib. 133) and Gaius (trib. 123-2)...
a week ago
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a week ago
This week, we’re going to talk a bit about the brothers Tiberius (trib. 133) and Gaius (trib. 123-2) Gracchus, the famous Roman reformers of the late second century. There’s actually a fair bit to say about both of them, so we’re going to split this treatment over two weeks,...
TheCollector
The Real Bjorn Ironside: Ragnar Lodbrok’s Most Famous Son undefined
a week ago
Classical Wisdom
The First Greek Philosopher Beyond Mythology
a week ago
Flashbak
The Handwriting of 12 Famous Authors “My spelling is Wobbly. It’s good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places.”...
a week ago
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a week ago
“My spelling is Wobbly. It’s good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places.” ― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh   In The Handwriting of 12 Famous Authors we look at writers who communicated in long hand, and sometimes wrote their books in the same manner. For...
TheCollector
World Monuments Fund Lists Moon as Endangered Heritage Site undefined
a week ago
Wrong Side of...
Britain is institutionally 'anti-racist' The road from Macpherson to Rotherham
a week ago
TheCollector
What Role Did Women Play in the Scientific Revolution? undefined
a week ago
Open Culture
The Creative Genius of David Lynch (RIP): Discover His Films, Music Videos, Cartoons, Commercials,... Image by Sasha Kargaltsev via Wikimedia Commons As every cinephile has by now heard, and lamented,...
a week ago
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a week ago
Image by Sasha Kargaltsev via Wikimedia Commons As every cinephile has by now heard, and lamented, we’ve just lost a great American filmmaker. From Eraserhead to Blue Velvet to Mulholland Drive to Inland Empire, David Lynch’s features will surely continue to bewilder and inspire...
Overcoming Bias
What Would Socrates Do? Christians often ask themselves, as a guide to living, “What would Jesus do?” In her new book Open...
a week ago
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a week ago
Christians often ask themselves, as a guide to living, “What would Jesus do?” In her new book Open Socrates, my podcast-cohost Agnes Callard suggests we instead ask “What would Socrates do?”
TheCollector
Los Angeles Museums Launch Fire Relief Fund for Artists undefined
a week ago
Flashbak
Cynthia The Celebrity Mannequin (1932) Cynthia was a mannequin who looked remarkably human, in a sort of unusual way before extreme...
a week ago
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a week ago
Cynthia was a mannequin who looked remarkably human, in a sort of unusual way before extreme cosmetic surgery became a fashion choice. Created in 1932 by sculptor and retail display designer Lester Gaba (1907-1987) for Saks Fifth Avenue, New York, Cynthia caused a stir.     When...
TheCollector
6 Famous Musicians at the Center of Big Mysteries undefined
a week ago
Open Culture
Freddie Mercury & David Bowie’s Isolated Vocals for Queen’s “Under Pressure” (1981) In the summer of 1981, the British band Queen was recording tracks for their tenth studio album, Hot...
a week ago
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a week ago
In the summer of 1981, the British band Queen was recording tracks for their tenth studio album, Hot Space, at Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland. As it happened, David Bowie had scheduled time at the same studio to record the title song for the movie Cat People. Before...
TheCollector
Explore Frida Kahlo’s Composition Techniques in 6 Works undefined
2 weeks ago
Open Culture
Watch Design for Disaster, a 1962 Film That Shows Why Los Angeles Is Always at Risk of Devastating... “This is fire season in Los Angeles,” Joan Didion once wrote, relating how every year “the Santa Ana...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
“This is fire season in Los Angeles,” Joan Didion once wrote, relating how every year “the Santa Ana winds start blowing down through the passes, and the relative humidity drops to figures like seven or six or three per cent, and the bougainvillea starts rattling in the driveway,...
History Today Feed
What Counts as a Planet? What Counts as a Planet? JamesHoare Thu, 01/16/2025 - 09:24
2 weeks ago
TheCollector
10 Must-Visit Historic Towns in Colorado undefined
2 weeks ago
Open Culture
10,000+ Free Online Certificates & Badges: A Resource for Lifelong Learners For those looking to boost their skills or explore new fields without breaking the bank, Class...
2 weeks ago
18
2 weeks ago
For those looking to boost their skills or explore new fields without breaking the bank, Class Central has done the heavy lifting. Known as a search engine for online courses, Class Central has compiled what might be the largest collection of free online certificates and badges...
TheCollector
Lineup Revealed for First Sotheby’s Auction in Saudi Arabia undefined
2 weeks ago
Res Obscura
2,000-year-old wine and the uncanny immediacy of the past Why artifacts like the Carmona Wine Urn, the Pazyryk Rug, and the Sword of Goujian are so important
2 weeks ago
TheCollector
11 Facts About Glenn Miller: The Musician Who Disappeared undefined
2 weeks ago
Wrong Side of...
The Terrible Loneliness of Genius The Canon Club: Vincent van Gogh
2 weeks ago
Trying to Understand...
When Ukraine Is Over ... How will they turn out the lights?
2 weeks ago
TheCollector
Rigoberta Menchú: Fighting for Indigenous Rights in Guatemala undefined
2 weeks ago
Open Culture
Watch Bob Ross’ The Joy of Painting from Start to Finish: Every Episode from 31 Seasons in... Bob Ross the man died nearly thirty years ago, but Bob Ross the archetypal TV painter has never been...
2 weeks ago
13
2 weeks ago
Bob Ross the man died nearly thirty years ago, but Bob Ross the archetypal TV painter has never been more widely known. “With his distinctive hair, gentle voice, and signature expressions such as ‘happy little trees,’ he’s an enduring icon,” writes Michael J. Mooney in an...
History Today Feed
Who Was the Real Henry III? Who Was the Real Henry III? JamesHoare Wed, 01/15/2025 - 09:30
2 weeks ago
Open Culture
Do You Really Need to Take 10,000 Steps a Day? We are regularly urged to take 10,000 steps a day. However, it turns out 10,000 isn’t exactly a...
2 weeks ago
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We are regularly urged to take 10,000 steps a day. However, it turns out 10,000 isn’t exactly a number anchored in science. Rather, it’s a product of marketing. According to a Harvard medical website, that figure goes back to “1965, when a Japanese company made a device named...
TheCollector
10 Major Players of the Haitian Revolution undefined
2 weeks ago
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The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857: Causes, Events, & Legacy undefined
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6 Ancient Greek and Roman Classics Everyone Should Read What is missing?
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A Kodachrome Trip To Lord Howe Island in 1961 in 1961, a groud of freinds took a flight to Lord Howe Island, an irregularly crescent-shaped...
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in 1961, a groud of freinds took a flight to Lord Howe Island, an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. Many decades later the album of kodachrome photos they took were...
TheCollector
The Life & Mysterious Disappearance of Glenn Miller undefined
2 weeks ago
Hidden History
The Marco Polo Bridge Incident For Europeans, the Second World War started on September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland. For...
2 weeks ago
19
2 weeks ago
For Europeans, the Second World War started on September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland. For the United States, it began with the December 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. But for Asians, the war began on June 7, 1937, at the Marco Polo Bridge in China. The Second...
TheCollector
Popular Gladiator Weapons: Tools of the Arena undefined
2 weeks ago
Open Culture
Watch Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo and Gertie the Dinosaur, and Witness the Birth of Modern Animation... “Considering that, in a cartoon, anything can happen that the mind can imagine, the comics have...
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“Considering that, in a cartoon, anything can happen that the mind can imagine, the comics have generally depicted pretty mundane worlds,” writes Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson. “Sure, there have been talking animals, a few spaceships and whatnot, but the comics have...
History Today Feed
‘Naples 1343’ by Amedeo Feniello review ‘Naples 1343’ by Amedeo Feniello review JamesHoare Tue, 01/14/2025 - 09:23
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Discover the Playful Drawings That Charles Darwin’s Children Left on His Manuscripts Charles Darwin’s work on heredity was partly driven by tragic losses in his own family. Darwin had...
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2 weeks ago
Charles Darwin’s work on heredity was partly driven by tragic losses in his own family. Darwin had married his first cousin, Emma, and “wondered if his close genetic relation to his wife had had an ill impact on his children’s health, three (of 10) of whom died before the age of...
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What Is Ephesians About? undefined
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How To Beat Brain Rot Combat the Word of the Year
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Yves Tanguy: 6 Facts About the Outstanding Surrealist undefined
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Flashbak
Der Struwwelpeter: Heinrich Hoffmann’s Deadly Book For Naughty Children Just look at him! There he stands, With his nasty hair and hands. See! His nails are never cut; They...
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Just look at him! There he stands, With his nasty hair and hands. See! His nails are never cut; They are grim’d as black as soot; And the sloven, I declare, Never once has combed his hair; Anything to me is sweeter Than to see this Struwwelpeter. – Der Struwwelpeter (Shaggy-Peter...
TheCollector
Is Sufism a Part of Islam or Separate From It? undefined
2 weeks ago
History Today Feed
Archdruid William Price Challenges Funerary Rites Archdruid William Price Challenges Funerary Rites JamesHoare Mon, 01/13/2025 - 10:35
2 weeks ago
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The Congolese Teen Exhibited in a US Zoo: Who was Ota Benga? undefined
2 weeks ago
Open Culture
Everything You Need to Know About Saturday Night Live: A Deep Dive into Every Season of the Iconic... Saturday Night Live began its 50th season last fall, around the same time as the premiere of Jason...
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2 weeks ago
Saturday Night Live began its 50th season last fall, around the same time as the premiere of Jason Reitman’s film Saturday Night, which dramatizes the program’s 1975 debut. All of this has put fans into something of a retrospective mood, especially if they happen to have been...
TheCollector
The Collector’s Guide for the Art Fair undefined
2 weeks ago
Open Culture
Nirvana Before They Were Nirvana: Watch Their 1988 Performance Recorded in a Radio Shack Here’s a strange home video of Nirvana when they were unknown, playing inside a Radio Shack in the...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Here’s a strange home video of Nirvana when they were unknown, playing inside a Radio Shack in the band’s hometown of Aberdeen, Washington. The video was recorded on the evening of January 24, 1988, after the store had closed. In those days the group went by the name of Ted Ed...
Wrong Side of...
Britain's Chernobyl? How bad will the fallout be?
2 weeks ago
TheCollector
The Skeletons of Shanidar Cave: What Can They Tell Us About the Past? undefined
2 weeks ago
African History...
A complete history of the Sudano-Sahelian architecture of west Africa: from antiquity to the 20th... The westernmost region of Africa which forms the watershed of the great rivers of the Senegal, the...
2 weeks ago
24
2 weeks ago
The westernmost region of Africa which forms the watershed of the great rivers of the Senegal, the Volta and the Niger, is home to one of the world's oldest surviving building traditions, called the ‘Sudano-Sahelian’ architecture.
Flashbak
A Trip To Butlin’s In 1982 ‘Our true intent is all for your delight’… – Butlin’s holiday camp motto     Photographer Barry...
2 weeks ago
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‘Our true intent is all for your delight’… – Butlin’s holiday camp motto     Photographer Barry Lewis takes us on a holiday to Butlin’s Skegness in 1982. This was first ever Billy Butlin holiday camp. It opened at Skegness in 1936 – and still exists today. Lewis had worked for...
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What Was the Teapot Dome Scandal? undefined
2 weeks ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup Stoicism and Buddhism
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Peter (Simon) of the Twelve Disciples: Bio, Death, Legacy undefined
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Flashbak
Far Out Images from Johann Zahn’s Oculus Artificialis (1685) “A complete treatment of the construction and use of lensed optical instruments. Presented in three...
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“A complete treatment of the construction and use of lensed optical instruments. Presented in three fundamentals, that is, bases: the physical, the mathematical, and the practical or mechanical” – Oculus Artificialis Teledioptricus sive Telescopium     The German student of light...
TheCollector
Marcus Garvey: A Leader in the Pan-Africanist Movement undefined
2 weeks ago
A Collection of...
Fireside Friday, January 10, 2025 Hey folks, Fireside this week! I’m currently working on a post “On the Gracchi” taking a somewhat...
2 weeks ago
40
2 weeks ago
Hey folks, Fireside this week! I’m currently working on a post “On the Gracchi” taking a somewhat darker look at everyone’s favorite Roman reformers (though hardly the same black takedowns Alexander and Cleopatra got) , which will hopefully be ready for next week. Before we dive...
TheCollector
Pol Pot: Overseer of the Cambodian Genocide undefined
2 weeks ago
Overcoming Bias
Toward More Direct Signals As I’ve attributed a large fraction of human behaviors to signaling incentives, I feel I should...
2 weeks ago
27
2 weeks ago
As I’ve attributed a large fraction of human behaviors to signaling incentives, I feel I should address a key signaling question, about which I was recently reminded.
TheCollector
Luigi Cherubini’s Medea: An Ancient Greek Opera Diva undefined
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Open Culture
In 1894, A French Writer Predicted the End of Books & the Rise of Portable Audiobooks and Podcasts The end of the nineteenth century is still widely referred to as the fin de siècle, a French term...
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22
2 weeks ago
The end of the nineteenth century is still widely referred to as the fin de siècle, a French term that evokes great, looming cultural, social, and technological changes. According to at least one French mind active at the time, among those changes would be a fin des livres as...
TheCollector
10 Must-Visit Museums in Massachusetts undefined
2 weeks ago
Open Culture
How Marcel Marceau Used Mime to Save Children During the Holocaust In 1972, Jerry Lewis made the ill-considered decision to write, direct, and star in a film about a...
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27
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In 1972, Jerry Lewis made the ill-considered decision to write, direct, and star in a film about a German clown in Auschwitz. The result was so awful that he never allowed its release, and it quickly acquired the reputation—along with disasters like George Lucas’ Star Wars...
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Who Won the Battle of Chattanooga? undefined
2 weeks ago
Flashbak
Bertha Czegka: Skiing Bunnies And Other Satire Biography Bertha Czegka (July 30, 1880 – November 4, 1954) was a member of the “Association of...
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2 weeks ago
Biography Bertha Czegka (July 30, 1880 – November 4, 1954) was a member of the “Association of Visual Artists” in her native Austria. In the interwar period, the painter worked as an illustrator on children’s books. One highlight among her later works is a poster she created in...
Wrong Side of...
Twitter's White Terror era The Vibe Shift comes to Britain
3 weeks ago
TheCollector
What Is Second Timothy About? undefined
3 weeks ago
Flashbak
Travels in the Air, 1871 “The balloon was isolated, as if it were in a vacuum; beneath us stretches an immense abyss, above...
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3 weeks ago
“The balloon was isolated, as if it were in a vacuum; beneath us stretches an immense abyss, above the infinite expanse of sky” – James Glaisher, Travels In The Air, 1871      Travels in the Air tells the story of balloon travel since the first ‘aerostatic’ flight by the...
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What Is the Philosopher’s Stone? undefined
3 weeks ago
Open Culture
Explore the Newly-Launched Public Domain Image Archive with 10,000+ Free Historical Images We’ve often featured the work of the Public Domain Review here on Open Culture, and also various...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
We’ve often featured the work of the Public Domain Review here on Open Culture, and also various searchable copyright-free image databases that have arisen over the years. It makes sense that those two worlds would collide, and now they’ve done so in the form of the just-launched...
History Today Feed
Hopes, Fears, and Early Modern Astrology Hopes, Fears, and Early Modern Astrology JamesHoare Thu, 01/09/2025 - 09:45
3 weeks ago
Open Culture
Coursera Offers $200 Off of Coursera Plus (Until January 27), Giving You Unlimited Access to Courses... A new deal to start a new year: Coursera is offering a $200 discount on its annual subscription plan...
3 weeks ago
26
3 weeks ago
A new deal to start a new year: Coursera is offering a $200 discount on its annual subscription plan called “Coursera Plus.” Normally priced at $399, Coursera Plus (now available for $199) gives you access to 90% of Coursera’s courses, Guided Projects, Specializations, and...
TheCollector
10 Must-See Historic Sites in Arizona undefined
3 weeks ago
Open Culture
The Night When Miles Davis Opened for the Grateful Dead (1970) What’s that, you ask? Did Miles Davis open for the Grateful Dead at the Fillmore West? In what world...
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3 weeks ago
What’s that, you ask? Did Miles Davis open for the Grateful Dead at the Fillmore West? In what world could such a thing happen? In the world of the late sixties/early seventies, when jazz fused with acid rock, acid rock with country, and pop culture took a long strange trip. The...
TheCollector
The History of Communism in Vietnam: From the 1920s to Today undefined
3 weeks ago
Trying to Understand...
The Long Run. The future belongs to them.
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Open Culture
Compare the “It Ain’t Me Babe” Scene from A Complete Unknown to the Real Bob Dylan & Joan Baez... A Complete Unknown, the new movie about Bob Dylan’s rise in the folk-music scene of the early...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
A Complete Unknown, the new movie about Bob Dylan’s rise in the folk-music scene of the early nineteen-sixties and subsequent electrified break with it, has been praised for not taking excessive liberties, at least by the standards of popular music biopics. Its conversion of a...
History Today Feed
The Rebecca Riots: Why Did Wales Rise Up? The Rebecca Riots: Why Did Wales Rise Up? JamesHoare Wed, 01/08/2025 - 09:37
3 weeks ago
Flashbak
From Window: A Photographer’s Obsession With His Wife And Freezing Time “I work and photograph while hoping to stop everything. In that sense, my work may be some kind of...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
“I work and photograph while hoping to stop everything. In that sense, my work may be some kind of revenge drama about living now.” – Masahisa Fukase     One morning in the summer of 1973, Masahisa Fukase (25 February 1934 – 9 June 2012) photographed his wife since 1964, Yoko...
Open Culture
The World in a Cloverleaf: A World Map from 1581 In 1581, the medieval cartographer and Protestant theologian Heinrich Bünting created a symbolic map...
3 weeks ago
25
3 weeks ago
In 1581, the medieval cartographer and Protestant theologian Heinrich Bünting created a symbolic map of the world that adorned his book Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae (Travel Through Holy Scripture). Hand-colored and shaped like a three-leaf clover, the map put Jerusalem at its...
Global Inequality...
How the mainstream abandoned universal economic principles (but forgot to mention it)
3 weeks ago
TheCollector
7 Women Artists Who Became Works of Art undefined
3 weeks ago
Hidden History
The French Space Cat Felicette France joined the Space Race in the 1950s, and one of her missions was a test flight involving the...
3 weeks ago
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France joined the Space Race in the 1950s, and one of her missions was a test flight involving the first (and so far only) cat to enter space. It did not end well for the cat. In the aftermath of the Second World War, France, under the leadership of General Charles De Gaulle, was...
TheCollector
The History of Left-Handedness: Why Is This a Bias? undefined
3 weeks ago
Open Culture
Why the Tavern Scene in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds Is a Master Class in Filmmaking Ideally, a viewer should be able to identify the work of a particular auteur from any one scene that...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Ideally, a viewer should be able to identify the work of a particular auteur from any one scene that the auteur has directed. In reality, it’s not always possible to do so, even in the work of filmmakers with highly idiosyncratic styles. But in the case of Quentin Tarantino, it...
History Today Feed
‘The Tree Hunter’ by Thomas Pakenham review ‘The Tree Hunter’ by Thomas Pakenham review JamesHoare Tue, 01/07/2025 - 09:36
3 weeks ago
Flashbak
A Walk Around Leeds in The 1970s We’re shopping in 1970s Leeds as Eric Miles shows us around the city centre. We mooch past Austicks’...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
We’re shopping in 1970s Leeds as Eric Miles shows us around the city centre. We mooch past Austicks’ Bookshop, where as a teenager writer Alan Bennett worked part-time job. We pop into the County Arcade, walking amid the mahogany shop fronts, pink marble columns, and cast iron...
Open Culture
Radio Caroline, the Pirate Radio Ship That Rocked the British Music World (1965) Nowadays musicians can reach hundreds, thousands, sometimes millions of listeners with a few,...
3 weeks ago
29
3 weeks ago
Nowadays musicians can reach hundreds, thousands, sometimes millions of listeners with a few, usually free, online services and a minimal grasp of technology. That’s not to say there aren’t still economic barriers aplenty for the struggling artist, but true independence is not an...
TheCollector
The Popol Vuh: A Maya Myth Told in Dance and Song undefined
3 weeks ago
Global Inequality...
“To the Finland Station” Trump as a tool of history
3 weeks ago
TheCollector
What Is Philippians About? undefined
3 weeks ago
Overcoming Bias
Fear Change Evolution in animals selects not only for static features, like claws, but also for behaviors that...
3 weeks ago
23
3 weeks ago
Evolution in animals selects not only for static features, like claws, but also for behaviors that change with context.
TheCollector
5 Ancient Roman Monuments & How They Survived to the Modern Day undefined
3 weeks ago
Dr Alun Withey
To Tip or Not To Tip: A Victorian Traveller’s Perspective Like it or not, tipping is a big part of hospitality and the service industry. Debates about how...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Like it or not, tipping is a big part of hospitality and the service industry. Debates about how much/whether to tip rumble on, but they are not new. Even in the 18th and 19th centuries, travellers were complaining about the amount of unwanted or unexpected extras they had to pay...
TheCollector
What Was the League of Cambrai? undefined
3 weeks ago
Wrong Side of...
Britain's sinking reputation The Anglo diaspora is horrified by the old country
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‘Ocean’ and ‘Tracks on the Ocean’ review ‘Ocean’ and ‘Tracks on the Ocean’ review JamesHoare Mon, 01/06/2025 - 11:02
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Open Culture
The Skeleton Dance, Voted the 18th Best Cartoon of All Time, Is Now in the Public Domain (1929) The July 17, 1929 issue of Variety carried a notice about a laugh-filled new short film in which...
3 weeks ago
26
3 weeks ago
The July 17, 1929 issue of Variety carried a notice about a laugh-filled new short film in which “skeletons hoof and frolic,” the peak of whose hilarity “is reached when one skeleton plays the spine of another in xylophone fashion, using a pair of thigh bones as hammers.” The...
TheCollector
How to Unlock Your Unconscious According to Carl Jung undefined
3 weeks ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup Wisdom for the New Year
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Overcoming Bias
Feels Gone Wrong The films A Complete Unknown, on Bob Dylan, and In Restless Dreams, on Paul Simon, make vivid to me...
3 weeks ago
36
3 weeks ago
The films A Complete Unknown, on Bob Dylan, and In Restless Dreams, on Paul Simon, make vivid to me the huge emotional appeal of becoming a musician like them.
TheCollector
Mangal Pandey: The Spark That Ignited the Sepoy Mutiny undefined
3 weeks ago
African History...
The pre-Islamic civilizations of west Africa While West Africa has been part of the Muslim world since the late Middle Ages, as famously...
3 weeks ago
39
3 weeks ago
While West Africa has been part of the Muslim world since the late Middle Ages, as famously demonstrated by the golden pilgrimage of Mali's Mansa Musa in 1324, Islam had only arrived in the region at the close of the 1st millennium.
TheCollector
5 Ukrainian Virtual Museums to Visit From the Comfort of Your Home undefined
3 weeks ago
Flashbak
Welcome To Holy Land USA: Inside America’s Jerusalem, 1980 “You can tell that Garry Winogrand was my hero. I learned so much from him about how to tell a story...
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“You can tell that Garry Winogrand was my hero. I learned so much from him about how to tell a story or a joke within a frame” – Lisa Barlow, Holy Land, USA     In 1980s, Lisa Barlow found Jerusalem in a turning off Connecticut’s Route 69. A huge cross on the roadside alerted …...
TheCollector
What Was the Political Significance of the Comintern? undefined
3 weeks ago
Patterns in Humanity
2024 in writing A brief recap of my 2024 posts
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B-24 Liberators: The Aircraft That Ended the Reign of the U-Boat undefined
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Flashbak
Jean And Rose – A Paris Photo Love Story From 1929 In 1929, Jean, 20, was living on rue Clairault, Paris. He worked at a brokerage house on rue de la...
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3 weeks ago
In 1929, Jean, 20, was living on rue Clairault, Paris. He worked at a brokerage house on rue de la Grange Batelière. On December 11, Jean met Rose, 18, at the city’s Saint-Lazare metro station. She lived in the 15th arrondissement, and took classes in hairdressing at the École...
TheCollector
What Are Slavoj Žižek’s Most Intriguing Ideas? undefined
3 weeks ago