TheCollector
What Are Slavoj Žižek’s Most Intriguing Ideas?
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12 hours ago
Patterns in Humanity
2024 in writing
A brief recap of my 2024 posts
an hour ago
A brief recap of my 2024 posts
TheCollector
9 Artists Who Defined Art Nouveau
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6 hours ago
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...
11 hours 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
10 Must-Visit Historic Sites in San Diego
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14 hours ago
A Collection of...
Collections: Coinage and the Tyranny of Fantasy ‘Gold’
This week on the blog I want to take a brief detour into discussing historical coinage, particularly...
yesterday
This week on the blog I want to take a brief detour into discussing historical coinage, particularly in the context of modern fantasy and roleplaying settings. In particular, the notions I want to tackle are first how did ancient currency systems work in terms of value (what...
TheCollector
6 Facts About Ilya Repin You Should Know
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yesterday
Classical Wisdom
Cicero and Leadership
Philosophy in Action?
yesterday
Flashbak
Lightning Strikes: William Jennings’ Early Photographs of Elusive Electricity
Anglo-American photographer William Jennings (1860–1946) is best known for his aerial pictures of...
yesterday
Anglo-American photographer William Jennings (1860–1946) is best known for his aerial pictures of his adopted city of Philadelphia and the aeronautical industry, and photographs of lightning. Setting out to prove “lightning bolts were not of the zig-zag form pictured by artists”,...
TheCollector
Psychology & Spirituality: Exploring the Intersection With Carl Jung’s Analytical Psychology
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yesterday
Wrong Side of...
Truth in the old myths
On Troy, King Arthur and the Flood of Noah
yesterday
On Troy, King Arthur and the Flood of Noah
TheCollector
What Is Panpsychism?
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yesterday
Flashbak
Street Shots of New York City in 1978
“Every day was like being in a scene from a movie set in the city” – George Wright In ‘New York...
2 days ago
“Every day was like being in a scene from a movie set in the city” – George Wright In ‘New York 1978’, British photographer George Wright shows us the city. Having trained as a graphic design at London’s Wimbledon School of Art in the early 1970s, Wright took a class taught...
TheCollector
Is Plato’s Republic a Feminist Work?
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2 days ago
History Today Feed
What is Modernity?
What is Modernity?
JamesHoare
Thu, 01/02/2025 - 09:09
2 days ago
What is Modernity?
JamesHoare
Thu, 01/02/2025 - 09:09
TheCollector
10 Historic Towns Near New York City to Visit
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2 days ago
Dreams of Space -...
Space Ship to the Moon (1952)
Happy New Year!
A "Space Ship to the Moon" is your present for a new year. I really like the...
3 days ago
Happy New Year!
A "Space Ship to the Moon" is your present for a new year. I really like the illustrations in this book. The story is OK but the visions of spacecraft, a space station and mining on the Moon are worth seeing. This is a relatively low cost book used so if you like...
TheCollector
6 Most Common Ethical Dilemmas of the 21st Century
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3 days ago
Flashbak
Historical Figures in Ridiculous Frippery: Ruff Love For Old Masters
“If you spent your life concentrating on what everyone else thought of you, would you forget who you...
3 days ago
“If you spent your life concentrating on what everyone else thought of you, would you forget who you really were? What if the face you showed the world turned out to be a mask… with nothing beneath it?” — Jodi Picoult, Nineteen Minutes Volker Hermes lampoons traditional...
Hundred Rabbits
Summary of changes for December 2024
Hey everyone!
This is the list of all the changes we've done to our projects during the month of...
3 days ago
Hey everyone!
This is the list of all the changes we've done to our projects during the month of December.
Summary Of Changes
100r.co, updated the documentation for our various projects.
Left, added support for unicode input(Mastodon).
Rabbit Waves, added a page on Air to Ground...
TheCollector
Who Were the Important Jewish Philosophers of the Medieval Period?
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3 days ago
CrimethInc.
2024: Out of the Frying Pan, into the Fire : The Year in Review
It’s time to take stock of the year have just lived through and get oriented for the year ahead....
3 days ago
It’s time to take stock of the year have just lived through and get oriented for the year ahead. Here, we review the events of 2024 and our own contributions to the fight for a better world.
A year that began amid genocide in Palestine and war in Ukraine and Sudan is concluding...
TheCollector
Rare Ancient Coin Collection Found in Jordan Valley
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4 days ago
Overcoming Bias
What Culture Can You Trust?
Star Wars came out when I was 17, and made a big impression on me; I loved it.
4 days ago
Star Wars came out when I was 17, and made a big impression on me; I loved it.
TheCollector
The 4 Most Important Cultures in Ancient Anatolia
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4 days ago
Hidden History
The Story of the Cow
The history of the domestic cattle goes back at least 10,000 years. There are well over 1000...
4 days ago
The history of the domestic cattle goes back at least 10,000 years. There are well over 1000 distinct breeds of Cattle in the world today, and somewhere between 1 and 1.5 billion individual animals, making them, by some counts, the fourth most numerous mammal in existence behind...
TheCollector
Luxembourg in WWII: From Neutrality to Occupation
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4 days ago
Flashbak
Views of Polar Regions: Watercolours By Queen Victoria’s Spy
Illustrator Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Hamilton Smith (26 December 1776 – 21 September 1859) was an...
4 days ago
Illustrator Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Hamilton Smith (26 December 1776 – 21 September 1859) was an English artist, naturalist, antiquary, illustrator, natural historian, soldier, explorer, writer and spy. That’s quite the package for a man who produced these drawings and...
Wrong Side of...
Technology indistinguishable from magic
Our age of miracles: the medical breakthroughs of 2024
4 days ago
Our age of miracles: the medical breakthroughs of 2024
TheCollector
Words and Worlds: Does Language Shape Our Reality?
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4 days ago
Flashbak
The Metamorphoses du Jour by JJ Grandville – 1829
Told in 73 coloured lithographs, Les Metamorphoses du Jour (1829) by French artist J.J. Gandville...
5 days ago
Told in 73 coloured lithographs, Les Metamorphoses du Jour (1829) by French artist J.J. Gandville (born Jean-Ignace-Isidore Gérard; 1803-1847) is a satire on the bourgeois middle class of Parisian society in the Romantic period. Grandville’s characters have a human body and an...
TheCollector
5 Women in Logic You Should Know
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5 days ago
Wrong Side of...
The Indian-American century
On the Anglo-Indo-sphere
5 days ago
TheCollector
5 Women in Philosophy of Mind You Should Know
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5 days ago
Classical Wisdom
Three New Year’s Resolutions from Epicurus
An Epic Start to the New Year
5 days ago
An Epic Start to the New Year
History Today Feed
On the Spot: Nicholas Radburn
On the Spot: Nicholas Radburn
JamesHoare
Mon, 12/30/2024 - 11:40
5 days ago
On the Spot: Nicholas Radburn
JamesHoare
Mon, 12/30/2024 - 11:40
TheCollector
What Are the Most Spoken Indigenous Languages in Canada?
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5 days ago
Patterns in Humanity
Age and infertility
Facts and misconceptions about maternal age-related infertility
6 days ago
Facts and misconceptions about maternal age-related infertility
TheCollector
What Were Gustav Klimt’s Composition Techniques?
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6 days ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup
The Essential Greeks
6 days ago
African History...
The Meroitic script and the documents of ancient Kush (ca. 300BC-450CE)
The Meroitic writing system of the kingdom of Kush is one of the best-known, yet most enigmatic...
6 days ago
The Meroitic writing system of the kingdom of Kush is one of the best-known, yet most enigmatic scripts of the ancient world.
Trying to Understand...
Le Missile passera toujours ... mais qui est prêt à l’admettre ?
Another of my essays in French.
6 days ago
Another of my essays in French.
TheCollector
What Were the Consolations of Boethius?
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6 days ago
Overcoming Bias
Decision Selection Bias
As futarchy interest and activity are way up lately, this seems a good time to elaborate on one of...
a week ago
As futarchy interest and activity are way up lately, this seems a good time to elaborate on one of its most technical issues, one that @metaproph3t also discussed recently: decision selection bias.
Global Inequality...
To be young, perchance to dream
A review of Miloš Vojinović's “The political ideas of the Young Bosnia”
a week ago
A review of Miloš Vojinović's “The political ideas of the Young Bosnia”
TheCollector
Ben Franklin in Politics: The Founding Father Who Was Never President
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a week ago
Flashbak
Leeds Kids the 1970s
Self-styled ‘Luddite photographer” Eric Milese (“relatively recently gone digital – 2011”) named the...
a week ago
Self-styled ‘Luddite photographer” Eric Milese (“relatively recently gone digital – 2011”) named the picture below of kids ‘tobogganing’ down a dry, rocky slope in the northern English city of Leeds in the 1970s “The Cresta Run”. It is not the original Cresta Run, which is a...
TheCollector
A History of the Free City of Danzig (Now Gdansk)
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a week ago
A Collection of...
Gap Week: December 27, 2024 (Year in Review)
Hey folks! Year is coming to a close, so once again I’m going to offer a bit of an end-of-year...
a week ago
Hey folks! Year is coming to a close, so once again I’m going to offer a bit of an end-of-year reflection on the state of the project, along with a brief ‘what’s on the stove’ coverage of what may be coming up. Also, here’s a cat picture: In terms of the project itself, 2024 was,...
TheCollector
The Legacy of Emperor Pedro II: Brazil’s Golden Age
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a week ago
Flashbak
Bullshit Jobs: The Emptiness of Life In A Corporate Office
“If one wanted to crush and destroy a man entirely, to mete out to him the most terrible punishment,...
a week ago
“If one wanted to crush and destroy a man entirely, to mete out to him the most terrible punishment, all one would have to do would be to make him do work that was completely and utterly devoid of usefulness and meaning.” – Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The House of the Dead From faces...
Classical Wisdom
The Pompeii Mosaics
Frozen by Fire
a week ago
TheCollector
Anglo-French Wars: 13 Conflicts Between France & England
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a week ago
Flashbak
Mazes and Labyrinths: An Illustrated History (1922)
“There is no route out of the maze. The maze shifts as you move through it, because it is alive.” –...
a week ago
“There is no route out of the maze. The maze shifts as you move through it, because it is alive.” – Philip K. Dick, VALIS William H. Matthews leads us through his 1922 book Mazes and Labyrinths from his home in Ruislip in the English county of Middlesex. Compiled shortly...
TheCollector
The Philippine-American War: The US’s First “Vietnam”
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a week ago
Classical Wisdom
The Essential Greeks
***Now Enrolling: Starting January 15th, 2025
a week ago
***Now Enrolling: Starting January 15th, 2025
TheCollector
10 Can’t-Miss South American Films
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a week ago
Classical Wisdom
Happy Holidays!
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah from Anya, Joel and Frida at the End of the World!
a week ago
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah from Anya, Joel and Frida at the End of the World!
Dreams of Space -...
Santa and The Space Men
It has been a while but here is a strange Christmas post for you. Something about Santa and Flying...
a week ago
It has been a while but here is a strange Christmas post for you. Something about Santa and Flying Saucers seems to go together like White wine and Cracker Jack. Sort of sweet and tangy and gets your attention.
Santa and the Space Men is a play for children about how Santa is...
TheCollector
A History of the House of Savoy: From Its Origins to Its End
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a week ago
Hidden History
The 1914 Christmas Truce
[NOTE: I re-run this diary every year.] The Christmas Truce of 1914 was one of the most famous...
a week ago
[NOTE: I re-run this diary every year.] The Christmas Truce of 1914 was one of the most famous events to come out of the First World War. Some have called it the last gasp of the chivalric age of professional militaries and gentlemen officers, to be followed by the full horrors...
TheCollector
4 Important Philosophers of German Idealism You Should Know
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a week ago
Flashbak
Harold Lloyd’s Amazing Christmas Tree
For American actor Harold Lloyd (April 20, 1893 – March 8, 1971) Christmas was the time to...
a week ago
For American actor Harold Lloyd (April 20, 1893 – March 8, 1971) Christmas was the time to illuminate his home in Beverly Hills, California, with a magnificent tree. His granddaughter Suzanne says preparation began around Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday in November), when her...
TheCollector
When the US Senate Put Comic Books on Trial
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a week ago
Overcoming Bias
What Priority The Innocent?
It is good if criminal law avoids punishing the innocent.
a week ago
It is good if criminal law avoids punishing the innocent.
TheCollector
Were Anglo-Saxon Pagans a Threat to Medieval Christian Society?
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a week ago
Hidden History
Antarctic Snow Cruiser
In 1939, the United States began work on a colossal motor vehicle to be used for exploration and...
a week ago
In 1939, the United States began work on a colossal motor vehicle to be used for exploration and field work in Antarctica. By 1939 Antarctica remained as one of the last unexplored regions on the planet. Norwegian adventurer Roald Amundsen had been the first human to reach the...
TheCollector
The Extraordinary Story of Dido Elizabeth Belle
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a week ago
Wrong Side of...
Hearing the language of Christ on the road to Damascus
Notes on Christian Syria
a week ago
TheCollector
Who Invented the Ukulele?
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a week ago
Classical Wisdom
Andromeda: The Beauty of the Mediterranean
Take a Santa Pause
a week ago
Flashbak
The Prostitutes’ Gaze: The Integrity of Mid-Century Sex Workers (NSFW)
“I take photos to amuse myself” – Georges Thiry Georges Thiry (1906 – 19940 took many pictures...
a week ago
“I take photos to amuse myself” – Georges Thiry Georges Thiry (1906 – 19940 took many pictures in his native Belgium. From 1935 to 1975, he produced 40,000 negatives, almost as many contact sheets and a number of prints. His focus was on artist, chiefly Surrealists – René...
TheCollector
Can Perfumes Be Art? Famous Artists Who Designed Perfume Bottles
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a week ago
CrimethInc.
Sacrificial Violence and Retribution
In the following analysis, we explore the responses to two different extrajudicial killings as a way...
a week ago
In the following analysis, we explore the responses to two different extrajudicial killings as a way to understand the different forms of violence that are coming to the fore in our society right now. In the appendix, we offer an incomplete roundup of various responses to the...
Wrong Side of...
Leaving behind the history written in letters of blood
Reflections on the Revolution in Europe, Part 3
a week ago
Reflections on the Revolution in Europe, Part 3
TheCollector
The Historically Accurate Greek Armors of Dimitrios Katsikis (Interview)
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a week ago
History Today Feed
‘Disputing Disaster’ by Perry Anderson review
‘Disputing Disaster’ by Perry Anderson review
JamesHoare
Mon, 12/23/2024 - 10:26
a week ago
‘Disputing Disaster’ by Perry Anderson review
JamesHoare
Mon, 12/23/2024 - 10:26
TheCollector
Do Coincidences Mean Anything? Exploring Carl Jung’s Notion of Synchronicity
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a week ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup
St. Nick and Saturnalia
a week ago
African History...
on the Nubian priests of Rome and the Moors of Spain
When the 12th-century West African scholar Ibrahim al-Kanemi moved to the city of Seville in Spain...
a week ago
When the 12th-century West African scholar Ibrahim al-Kanemi moved to the city of Seville in Spain and became one of the most celebrated Andalusian poets, he wasn't the first from his region to visit the Moorish kingdom.
Flashbak
The Mongrel Mob of Aotearoa New Zealand
Photographer Jono Rotman’s arresting portraits of the Mongrel Mob of Aotearoa New Zealand show us...
a week ago
Photographer Jono Rotman’s arresting portraits of the Mongrel Mob of Aotearoa New Zealand show us the gang’s members in isolation. To avoid controlling the narrative and anaesthetising their spirit, while “still letting them retain their mystery and privacy”, Rotman took the...
TheCollector
The Greek Revolution: How Greece Was Freed From the Ottomans
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a week ago
Flashbak
Glasgow in the 1980s: ‘From An Insider’s Point of View’
The Cranhill Arts Project has been collecting pictures of Glasgow, Scotland, to show the place ...
2 weeks ago
The Cranhill Arts Project has been collecting pictures of Glasgow, Scotland, to show the place “from an insider’s point of view”. Among its growing collection of Glasgow peoples’ photographs are these from the 1980s. All these snapshots have been labelled by the people who...
TheCollector
A Christmas Carol in Context: Dickens’ Beloved Festive Fable
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2 weeks ago
Flashbak
The Months: Gardens of Art by Eugène Grasset
In 1894, Eugène Grasset (25 May 1845 – 23 October 1917) received a commission from the French...
2 weeks ago
In 1894, Eugène Grasset (25 May 1845 – 23 October 1917) received a commission from the French department store La Belle Jardinière to create 12 original works of art to be used as a calendar. Grasset’s woodcuts show women in fashionable costumes of the period each bearing a sign...
TheCollector
What Are the Books of the Old Testament? Order & Overview
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2 weeks ago
A Collection of...
Collections: On Bread and Circuses
Coming off of some of the discussion of Gladiator II (I, II), this week I want to discuss the place...
2 weeks ago
Coming off of some of the discussion of Gladiator II (I, II), this week I want to discuss the place of ‘bread and circuses’ in the narrative of Roman decadence and decline. This is one of those phrases which long ago entered the standard lexicon, but which gets used and...
Classical Wisdom
St. Nicholas
The Saint behind Santa
2 weeks ago
TheCollector
Notre Dame Unveils Plans for Contemporary Stained Glass
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2 weeks ago
Open Culture
The Story Behind the Making of the Iconic Surrealist Photograph, Dalí Atomicus (1948)
With his cane, his famous waxed mustache, and his habit of taking unusual animals for walks,...
2 weeks ago
With his cane, his famous waxed mustache, and his habit of taking unusual animals for walks, Salvador Dalí would appear to have cultivated his own photographability. But taking a picture of the man who stood as a living definition of popular surrealism wasn’t a task to be...
History Today Feed
Habsburg Prague, Capital of the Renaissance
Habsburg Prague, Capital of the Renaissance
JamesHoare
Fri, 12/20/2024 - 09:47
2 weeks ago
Habsburg Prague, Capital of the Renaissance
JamesHoare
Fri, 12/20/2024 - 09:47
Wrong Side of...
Will the last young professional to leave Britain turn off the lights?
'Get out as early as you can, And don’t have any kids yourself’
2 weeks ago
'Get out as early as you can, And don’t have any kids yourself’
TheCollector
10 Ancient Cities Around the World to Visit
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2 weeks ago
Open Culture
The Junky’s Christmas: William S. Burrough’s Dark Claymation Christmas Film Produced by Francis Ford...
Back in 1993, the Beat writer William S. Burroughs wrote and narrated a 21-minute claymation...
2 weeks ago
Back in 1993, the Beat writer William S. Burroughs wrote and narrated a 21-minute claymation Christmas film oddly produced by Francis Ford Coppola. And, as you can well imagine, it’s not your normal happy Christmas flick. Nope, this film – The Junky’s Christmas – is all about...
TheCollector
What Was Jesus’s Religious Background?
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2 weeks ago
Classical Wisdom
Ode to a Grecian Tour
Seats Still Available
2 weeks ago
TheCollector
Complete Kelmscott Press Book Collection Sells Out at Auction
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2 weeks ago
CrimethInc.
News from the Front: The Reflections of a Russian Anarchist in Rojava : On the Collapse of Assad,...
The toppling of the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria was many years overdue. Yet the tragedies in...
2 weeks ago
The toppling of the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria was many years overdue. Yet the tragedies in Syria are not over. Israel has bombed hundreds of locations around the country and seized a considerable amount of land in the southwest, while Turkish proxy forces are threatening...
TheCollector
The Full English Breakfast: History of a British Tradition
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2 weeks ago
History Today Feed
Sex Before Sex Education
Sex Before Sex Education
JamesHoare
Thu, 12/19/2024 - 12:10
2 weeks ago
Sex Before Sex Education
JamesHoare
Thu, 12/19/2024 - 12:10
TheCollector
Are Isaac and Ishmael Enemies in the Bible?
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2 weeks ago
Open Culture
Richard Feynman Enthusiastically Explains How to Think Like a Physicist in His Series Fun to Imagine...
“It’s interesting that some people find science so easy, and others find it kind of dull and...
2 weeks ago
“It’s interesting that some people find science so easy, and others find it kind of dull and difficult,” says Richard Feynman at the beginning of his 1983 BBC series Fun to Imagine. “One of the things that makes it very difficult is that it takes a lot of imagination. It’s very...
Flashbak
42 Various Apocalyptic Scenes from Raphael’s Prophetic Messenger of Astrology (1827–61)
The future is portrayed as dramatic, dangerous and dynamic in these visions published in the...
2 weeks ago
The future is portrayed as dramatic, dangerous and dynamic in these visions published in the astrological magazine The Prophetic Messenger (1827 to 1861). More commonly known as Raphael’s Almanac in a nod to the Jewish archangel Raphael, the name was used a nom de plume by a...
History Today Feed
The Long Debate on Assisted Dying
The Long Debate on Assisted Dying
JamesHoare
Thu, 12/19/2024 - 09:05
2 weeks ago
The Long Debate on Assisted Dying
JamesHoare
Thu, 12/19/2024 - 09:05
TheCollector
10 Historic Towns to Visit in Georgia
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2 weeks ago
Open Culture
John Coltrane Draws a Picture Illustrating the Mathematics of Music
Physicist and saxophonist Stephon Alexander has argued in his many public lectures and his book The...
2 weeks ago
Physicist and saxophonist Stephon Alexander has argued in his many public lectures and his book The Jazz of Physics that Albert Einstein and John Coltrane had quite a lot in common. Alexander in particular draws our attention to the so-called “Coltrane circle,” which resembles...
TheCollector
What Did Martin Luther Have to Say About Justification?
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2 weeks ago
Trying to Understand...
The Year of Failing To Understand.
Not your usual end-of-year review.
2 weeks ago
Not your usual end-of-year review.
TheCollector
The Soldier with a Secret: Who Was Sarah Emma Edmonds?
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2 weeks ago
Open Culture
Hear Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast from 1938: The Original Tale of Mysterious...
A month ago, drones were spotted near Morris County, New Jersey. Since then, reports of further...
2 weeks ago
A month ago, drones were spotted near Morris County, New Jersey. Since then, reports of further sightings in various locations in the region have been lodged on a daily basis, and anxieties about the origin and purpose of these unidentified flying objects have grown apace. “We...
History Today Feed
The Libellous Letters of the Chevalier d’Eon
The Libellous Letters of the Chevalier d’Eon
JamesHoare
Wed, 12/18/2024 - 09:29
2 weeks ago
The Libellous Letters of the Chevalier d’Eon
JamesHoare
Wed, 12/18/2024 - 09:29
Open Culture
Watch the Sex Pistols’ Christmas Party for Kids–Which Happened to Be Their Final Gig in the UK...
I’m not sure the Sex Pistols had “available for children’s parties” on their press release, but on a...
2 weeks ago
I’m not sure the Sex Pistols had “available for children’s parties” on their press release, but on a cold and grim Christmas in 1977, that’s exactly what happened. While many Britons were settling in for a warm yuletide, the Pistols decided to host a party/benefit for the...
TheCollector
Could the “Year Without a Summer” Happen Again? Here’s What Experts Say
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2 weeks ago
Classical Wisdom
Calm in the Face of Crisis
Putting the Greek Back into Stoicism
2 weeks ago
Putting the Greek Back into Stoicism
TheCollector
‘Spiral Jetty’ Added to National Register of Historic Places
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2 weeks ago
Hidden History
The Great Horse Flu Epidemic of 1872
An epidemic of “Horse Flu” in 1872 virtually shut down the US economy and paralyzed the entire...
2 weeks ago
An epidemic of “Horse Flu” in 1872 virtually shut down the US economy and paralyzed the entire country. By the 1870s, the once-rural agrarian United States was beginning to emerge as an industrial power. The Civil War had spurred the rapid development of industry such as iron...
TheCollector
How Did the Tudors Celebrate Christmas?
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2 weeks ago
Open Culture
The Ingenious Engineering of Leonardo da Vinci’s Self-Supporting Bridge, Explained
The video above from Sabins Civil Engineering promises to reveal “the MAGIC behind Da Vinci’s Self...
2 weeks ago
The video above from Sabins Civil Engineering promises to reveal “the MAGIC behind Da Vinci’s Self Supporting Bridge.” That sounds like a typical example of YouTube hyperbole, though on first glance, it isn’t at all obvious how the fragile-looking structure can stay up, much less...
History Today Feed
New Year, Old Books
New Year, Old Books
JamesHoare
Tue, 12/17/2024 - 09:14
2 weeks ago
New Year, Old Books
JamesHoare
Tue, 12/17/2024 - 09:14
Flashbak
Hunter S Thompson Sets Fire To His Christmas Tree (1990)
“’NO, HUNTER, NO! PLEASE, HUNTER, DON’T DO IT!'” – Hunter S. Thompson’s secretary Deborah Fuller...
2 weeks ago
“’NO, HUNTER, NO! PLEASE, HUNTER, DON’T DO IT!'” – Hunter S. Thompson’s secretary Deborah Fuller before the writer torched his Christmas Tree In January 1990, Sam Allis was on assignment for TIME magazine at writer Hunter S. Thompson’s (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) home...
Open Culture
Watch The Insects’ Christmas from 1913: A Stop Motion Film Starring a Cast of Dead Bugs
Kind Reader, Will you do us the honor of accepting our holiday invitation? Carve five minutes from...
2 weeks ago
Kind Reader, Will you do us the honor of accepting our holiday invitation? Carve five minutes from your holiday schedule to spend time celebrating The Insects’ Christmas, above. In addition to offering brief respite from the chaos of consumerism and modern expectations, this...
TheCollector
Get to Know Alma Mahler: Composer, Muse, and Scandalous Woman
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2 weeks ago
Classical Wisdom
Beyond Stoicism
New Event: January 7th, 2025
2 weeks ago
New Event: January 7th, 2025
TheCollector
The Brigantaggio: How Did Southern Italy Respond to Unification?
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2 weeks ago
Flashbak
Have A Weird Christmas With Our Album Of Vintage Photo Oddities
There’s a weird vibe running through this album of Christmas images. Harvested from Robert E....
2 weeks ago
There’s a weird vibe running through this album of Christmas images. Harvested from Robert E. Jackson’s phenomenal collection of snapshots we see all kinds of unusual goings on. One Christmas card features a photo of the sender covered in rats; on another a man canoodles a...
Wrong Side of...
Welcoming the stranger
Caldwell's 'Reflections on the Revolution in Europe', Part Two
2 weeks ago
Caldwell's 'Reflections on the Revolution in Europe', Part Two
TheCollector
7 Artists of German Expressionism You Should Know
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2 weeks ago
History Today Feed
‘Lower than the Angels’ by Diarmaid MacCulloch review
‘Lower than the Angels’ by Diarmaid MacCulloch review
JamesHoare
Mon, 12/16/2024 - 11:25
2 weeks ago
‘Lower than the Angels’ by Diarmaid MacCulloch review
JamesHoare
Mon, 12/16/2024 - 11:25
TheCollector
Who Is Satan in the New Testament?
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2 weeks ago
Open Culture
How Keith Jarrett Played on a Broken Piano & Turned a Potentially Disastrous Concert Into the...
Nearly fifty years ago, the celebrated young pianist Keith Jarrett arrived in the West German city...
2 weeks ago
Nearly fifty years ago, the celebrated young pianist Keith Jarrett arrived in the West German city of Köln (better known in English as Cologne). Having just come off a 500-mile-long road trip from Switzerland, where he’d played a concert the previous day, he was left with barely...
TheCollector
Heracles Cleans the Augean Stables: The Hero’s Fifth Labor
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2 weeks ago
Open Culture
A Simple, Down-to-Earth Christmas Card from the Great Depression (1933)
The Smithsonian sets the scene for this Christmas card sent in 1933, a few years into the Great...
2 weeks ago
The Smithsonian sets the scene for this Christmas card sent in 1933, a few years into the Great Depression. They write: Despite the glum economic situation, the Pinero family used a brown paper bag to fashion an inexpensive holiday greeting card. They penned a clever rhyme and...
CrimethInc.
Announcing The Beautiful Idea : A New Podcast
Participants in CrimethInc. projects are collaborating with veterans of other anarchist media...
2 weeks ago
Participants in CrimethInc. projects are collaborating with veterans of other anarchist media platforms on a new podcast, The Beautiful Idea, which will offer reporting and analysis of current events. The first episode of The Beautiful Idea has just been released!
In their own...
TheCollector
The Furies: Goddesses of Vengeance and Retribution
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2 weeks ago
African History...
The intellectual history of Ethiopia and Eritrea: Ge'ez manuscripts and scholars (ca. 200-1900CE)
The unique manuscript collections of Ethiopia and Eritrea written in the Ge'ez script are arguably...
2 weeks ago
The unique manuscript collections of Ethiopia and Eritrea written in the Ge'ez script are arguably the best-known works of literature produced in pre-colonial Africa.
TheCollector
Heracles and the Erymanthian Boar: The Hero’s Fourth Labor
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2 weeks ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup
Free Will: A Fairy Tale?
2 weeks ago
TheCollector
Roman Military Ranks: From Legionary to General
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2 weeks ago
Flashbak
Eugene Von Bruenchenhein And His Wife Marie: A Love Story
Eugene Von Bruenchenhein (1910–1983) was an American self-taught artist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin....
3 weeks ago
Eugene Von Bruenchenhein (1910–1983) was an American self-taught artist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He left a vast archive of poetry, apocalyptic paintings, paintbrushes made with his wife’s hair, drawings, notebooks, audio tapes and hundreds of sculptures made from chicken bones,...
TheCollector
10 Historic Christmas Towns in the US to Visit
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3 weeks ago
Dreams of Space -...
Distant Worlds (1932)
An early children's science fiction book about spaceflight.
Borrowing from a book-seller...
3 weeks ago
An early children's science fiction book about spaceflight.
Borrowing from a book-seller description:
Friedrick Mader, "the German Jules Verne" according to Sam Moskowitz, was a popular author of fantastic romances in post-World War One Germany. DISTANT WORLDS is his only novel...
TheCollector
A Complete Guide to Fresco Painting
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3 weeks ago
A Collection of...
Collections: Nitpicking Gladiator II, Part II
Last week, we started our nitpicking of Gladiator II (2024) by looking at the problems with the...
3 weeks ago
Last week, we started our nitpicking of Gladiator II (2024) by looking at the problems with the films chronology and its portrayal of the Roman army of the early third century, both in its equipment and in its battle tactics. This week, we’re going to move forward to the main...
TheCollector
What Is the Philosophy of Cynicism?
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3 weeks ago
Classical Wisdom
Sappho
Fragments of Poetry
3 weeks ago
TheCollector
Hidden Figure Identified in Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Fresco
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3 weeks ago
Open Culture
How Medieval Islamic Engineering Brought Water to the Alhambra
Between 711 and 1492, much of the Iberian Peninsula, including modern-day Spain, was under Muslim...
3 weeks ago
Between 711 and 1492, much of the Iberian Peninsula, including modern-day Spain, was under Muslim rule. Not that it was easy to hold on to the place for that length of time: after the fall of Toledo in 1085, Al-Andalus, as the territory was called, continued to lose cities over...
Wrong Side of...
Keeping it in the Family
Britain’s Cousin Marriage Conundrum
3 weeks ago
Britain’s Cousin Marriage Conundrum
Open Culture
The Sinking of the Britannic: An Animated Introduction to the Titanic’s Forgotten Sister Ship
We all know about the Titanic. Less often do we hear about the Britannic—the sister passenger liner...
3 weeks ago
We all know about the Titanic. Less often do we hear about the Britannic—the sister passenger liner that the British turned into a hospital ship during World War I. Launched in 1914, two years after the Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Britannic featured a number of...
TheCollector
10 Historic Towns in Oregon Worth Visiting
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3 weeks ago
Flashbak
Charles Green Shaw Cocktail Book of Rhymed Recipes (1930s)
This great little book created by Charles Green Shaw in the 1930s features black and white...
3 weeks ago
This great little book created by Charles Green Shaw in the 1930s features black and white illustrations and poetic recipes for various cocktails. A leading figure in early American abstraction, Charles Green Shaw (May 1, 1892 – April 2, 1974) was an American painter, poet,...
TheCollector
Yayoi Kusama Debuts New Infinity Room in Australia Retrospective
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3 weeks ago
Dr Alun Withey
News Just In: Dr W Joins TikTok – @dralun7
Yes, it’s true – I’ve finally joined the 21st century and decided to try something new. I am still...
3 weeks ago
Yes, it’s true – I’ve finally joined the 21st century and decided to try something new. I am still only setting things up, so please be patient with the extremely cheesy and clunky vids as I try to work out what I’m doing! I’ve only got a couple of videos up at the moment too, …...
TheCollector
How Did the Soviet Union Influence the World?
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3 weeks ago
Open Culture
Binge-Watch Classic Television Programs Free: The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Lone Ranger, Dragnet, That...
Earlier this week, we featured the 99-year-old Dick Van Dyke’s performance in Coldplay’s new music...
3 weeks ago
Earlier this week, we featured the 99-year-old Dick Van Dyke’s performance in Coldplay’s new music video, full of visual references to the sitcom that made him a household name in the early nineteen-sixties. And a household name he remains these six decades later, though one does...
History Today Feed
Absinthe: From Green Fairy to Moral Panic
Absinthe: From Green Fairy to Moral Panic
JamesHoare
Thu, 12/12/2024 - 09:28
3 weeks ago
Absinthe: From Green Fairy to Moral Panic
JamesHoare
Thu, 12/12/2024 - 09:28
TheCollector
10 Ancient Sites in New Mexico You Should Visit
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3 weeks ago
Open Culture
Watch the Surrealist Glass Harmonica, the Only Animated Film Ever Banned by Soviet Censors (1968)
The Soviet Union’s repressive state censorship went to absurd lengths to control what its citizens...
3 weeks ago
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...
TheCollector
Rosemaling in America: Norwegian-American Folk Art (Origins & History)
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3 weeks ago
Trying to Understand...
In the Shallows Of The Deep State.
But is there anything there?
3 weeks ago
But is there anything there?
TheCollector
The Hidden Meaning of Plato’s Cave Allegory
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3 weeks ago
Open Culture
The Engineering of the Strandbeest: How the Magnificent Mechanical Creatures Have Technologically...
Life evolves, but machines are invented: this dichotomy hardly conflicts with what most of us have...
3 weeks ago
Life evolves, but machines are invented: this dichotomy hardly conflicts with what most of us have learned about biology and technology. But certain specimens roaming around in the world can blur that line — and in the curious case of the Strandbeesten, they really are roaming...
Wrong Side of...
The case for a Global Sanctuary City
What if the Syrians can’t return home?
3 weeks ago
What if the Syrians can’t return home?
Flashbak
48 Hours In The Life of Andy Warhol, 1981
In spring of 1981, Andy Warhol (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was setting up Myths, a...
3 weeks ago
In spring of 1981, Andy Warhol (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was setting up Myths, a portfolio of ten screenprints featuring fictional characters: The Star (Greta Garbo in her titular role in the 1931 film Mata Hari), Uncle Sam, The Witch (Margaret Hamilton, star of the...
History Today Feed
On the Spot: Lucy Noakes
On the Spot: Lucy Noakes
JamesHoare
Wed, 12/11/2024 - 08:43
3 weeks ago
On the Spot: Lucy Noakes
JamesHoare
Wed, 12/11/2024 - 08:43
Open Culture
When Christmas Was Legally Banned for 22 Years by the Puritans in Colonial Massachusetts
Complaints about the commercial-age corruption of Christmas miss one critical fact: as a mass public...
3 weeks ago
Complaints about the commercial-age corruption of Christmas miss one critical fact: as a mass public celebration, the holiday is a rather recent invention. Whether we credit Charles Dickens, Bing Crosby, or Frank Capra—men not opposed to marketing—we must reckon with Christmas as...
TheCollector
What Is Assemblage? A Look Into 3D Collage Techniques
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3 weeks ago
CrimethInc.
Resisting Local Authoritarianism and Multipolar Imperialisms in Georgia : A Deeper Look into the...
On the one-hundred-year anniversary of the uprising in Georgia against Soviet annexation, the...
3 weeks ago
On the one-hundred-year anniversary of the uprising in Georgia against Soviet annexation, the struggle for independence from Russian rule remains the chief force driving the popular mobilization that has been growing over the past several months. Yet today’s movement points to a...
TheCollector
Dolly Wilde: The Tragic Story of Oscar Wilde’s Niece
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3 weeks ago
Flashbak
The Yule Goat: Photographs of Finland’s Nuuttipukki (1928)
“Good Thomas brought Christmas and bad Nuutti took it away” – Finnish saying On January 13, it’s...
3 weeks ago
“Good Thomas brought Christmas and bad Nuutti took it away” – Finnish saying On January 13, it’s Saint Knut’s day in Finland, which usually marks the end of the Christmas season. And the Nuuttipukki is at your door. The strange, goat-like creature is a thirsty man dressed in...
Overcoming Bias
Conquest and Liberation of Academia
During my graduate studies (’93-97), I looked at the history of prizes in science.
3 weeks ago
During my graduate studies (’93-97), I looked at the history of prizes in science.
TheCollector
The Met Reveals Design for New Modern and Contemporary Wing
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3 weeks ago
Hidden History
The Albuquerque “Broken Arrow” Nuclear Accident
In 1957, a B-36 nuclear bomber accidentally dropped a Mark 17 hydrogen bomb while landing at...
3 weeks ago
In 1957, a B-36 nuclear bomber accidentally dropped a Mark 17 hydrogen bomb while landing at Kirtland Air Force Base just outside of Albuquerque NM. In January 1950, President Harry Truman announced that the United States would begin a crash program to develop and deploy a weapon...
TheCollector
8 Outstanding Women in the History of Philosophy
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3 weeks ago
Open Culture
Hear the Evolution of Electronic Music: A Sonic Journey from 1929 to 2019
It’s easy to get the impression that enthusiasts of electronic music listen to nothing else. (Not...
3 weeks ago
It’s easy to get the impression that enthusiasts of electronic music listen to nothing else. (Not that it isn’t true for some of them, who tend to relegate themselves to smaller subgenres: consult Ishkur’s Guide to Electronic Music for a map of the sonic territory.) And it’s...
History Today Feed
The UN Declaration of Human Rights
The UN Declaration of Human Rights
JamesHoare
Tue, 12/10/2024 - 09:05
3 weeks ago
The UN Declaration of Human Rights
JamesHoare
Tue, 12/10/2024 - 09:05
Open Culture
99-Year-Old Dick Van Dyke Sings & Dances in a Touching New Coldplay Video, Directed by Spike Jonze
There’s one thing right with our world, and it’s Dick Van Dyke. Appearing in a new Coldplay music...
3 weeks ago
There’s one thing right with our world, and it’s Dick Van Dyke. Appearing in a new Coldplay music video, Mr. Van Dyke dances barefoot and sings knowingly a little off-key—before reflecting on a century of life on this planet. What is love? Is he afraid of dying? What does luck...
Wrong Side of...
Europe's absent-minded revolution
Christopher Caldwell's 'Reflections on the Revolution in Europe', 15 years on
3 weeks ago
Christopher Caldwell's 'Reflections on the Revolution in Europe', 15 years on
TheCollector
The Art of Collage and Assemblage in Modern Art
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3 weeks ago
Classical Wisdom
Does FREE WILL Exist?
And if not, what are the consequences?
3 weeks ago
And if not, what are the consequences?
Trying to Understand...
L'Étrange défaite: Réalité et réalisme
Another of my essays in French.
3 weeks ago
Another of my essays in French.
TheCollector
5 Great European Christmas Markets Worth Traveling For
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3 weeks ago
Flashbak
John Martin’s Thrilling Illustrations for Paradise Lost (1827)
“Of Man’s First Disobedience, and the Fruit Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste Brought Death...
3 weeks ago
“Of Man’s First Disobedience, and the Fruit Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste Brought Death into the World, and all our woe” – The opening lines to Paradise Lost by John Milton, illustrated by John Martin John Milton’s (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) epic poem...
TheCollector
What Is Platonic Love in Simple Words?
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3 weeks ago
Open Culture
Arthur C. Clarke Predicts the Rise of Artificial Intelligence & Questions What Will Happen to...
We now live in the midst of an artificial-intelligence boom, but it’s hardly the first of its kind....
3 weeks ago
We now live in the midst of an artificial-intelligence boom, but it’s hardly the first of its kind. In fact, the field has been subject to a boom-and-bust cycle since at least the early nineteen-fifties. Eventually, those busts — which occurred when realizable AI technology...
History Today Feed
Sarah Mae Flemming and the Forgotten Women of Civil Rights
Sarah Mae Flemming and the Forgotten Women of Civil Rights
JamesHoare
Mon, 12/09/2024 - 09:58
3 weeks ago
Sarah Mae Flemming and the Forgotten Women of Civil Rights
JamesHoare
Mon, 12/09/2024 - 09:58
Open Culture
An Illustrator Creates a Kindle for Charles Dickens, Placing 40 Miniature Classics within a Large...
For a design class project, Rachel Walsh, a student at Cardiff School of Art and Design, set out to...
3 weeks ago
For a design class project, Rachel Walsh, a student at Cardiff School of Art and Design, set out to explain the concept of a Kindle to Charles Dickens. Recognizing that Dickens, a 19th-century author, wouldn’t understand modern terms like ebooks, downloads or the internet, she...
Flashbak
Take Your Best Shot: Vintage Fairground Shooting Gallery Photos
During their first participation in Paris-Photo in 2006, Lumiere des Roses shared a series of...
3 weeks ago
During their first participation in Paris-Photo in 2006, Lumiere des Roses shared a series of fairground photos of men with guns at the shooting gallery. These snapshots were taken mostly in the 1920s and 1930s. Many looks remarkably fresh. When I was just a baby my mama told...
TheCollector
Cubism and Collage: How Picasso and Braque Revolutionized Art
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3 weeks ago
African History...
Taming and domesticating the wild: the War-Elephants of ancient Aksum and Kush
In his 1668 description of the West African kingdom of Benin, the Dutch writer Olfert Dapper...
3 weeks ago
In his 1668 description of the West African kingdom of Benin, the Dutch writer Olfert Dapper reported that “The king shows himself only once a year to his people, going out of his court on horseback, accompanied by three or four hundred noblemen on horseback.”
TheCollector
10 Must-See Exhibitions in Europe This Year (2025)
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3 weeks ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup
Homer, Heracles, and Virgil
3 weeks ago
Homer, Heracles, and Virgil
TheCollector
Pablo Picasso’s Composition Techniques Explained Through 6 Works
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3 weeks ago
History Today Feed
Death of a Turkey Legend
Death of a Turkey Legend
JamesHoare
Sun, 12/08/2024 - 00:00
3 weeks ago
Death of a Turkey Legend
JamesHoare
Sun, 12/08/2024 - 00:00
TheCollector
What Are Salvador Dalí’s Composition Techniques?
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4 weeks ago
Flashbak
A Native’s Look At New York City In The 1980s
Photographer Ronnie Ginnever shares more of her pictures New York, this time from the late 1970s and...
4 weeks ago
Photographer Ronnie Ginnever shares more of her pictures New York, this time from the late 1970s and 1980s. You can see her great photos form the city in the 1960s here. Now she takes us back to the MUDD club, shows us Susann Dalton’s jacket for the Palladium and we buy some...
TheCollector
How Accurate Were the Fight Scenes in Gladiator?
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4 weeks ago
Classical Wisdom
Virgil and the Aeneid
Rome's Greatest Epic
4 weeks ago
TheCollector
Art Basel Miami Beach Opens 2024 Fair
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4 weeks ago
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