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Isaac Asimov Laments the "Cult of Ignorance" in the United States (1980)
1+ day, 8+ hour ago (179+ words) To be sure, the aver'age Amer'i'can can sign his name more or less leg'i'bly, and can make out the sports headlines'but how many nonelit'ist Amer'i'cans can, with'out undue dif'fi'cul'ty, read as many as a thou'sand con'sec'u'tive words of small print,…...
Hannah Arendt on "Personal Responsibility Under Dictatorship:" Better to Suffer Than Collaborate
2+ day, 8+ hour ago (122+ words) Image by Bernd Schwabe, via Wiki'me'dia Com'mons We have exam'ple after exam'ple of these kinds of refusals to par'tic'i'pate in a mur'der'ous'sys'tem or fur'ther its aims. Arendt was aware these actions can come at great cost. The alter'na'tives, she argues,…...
Rare Film of Sculptor Auguste Rodin Working at His Studio in Paris (1915)
6+ day, 8+ hour ago (238+ words) We've pre'vi'ous'ly fea'tured a series of remark'able lit'tle films of French artists Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Claude Mon'et and Edgar Degas. Here we wrap things up with just one more: a rare glimpse of the great sculp'tor Auguste Rodin. Rodin first rent'ed…...
When The Surrealists Expelled Salvador Dal" for "the Glorification of Hitlerian Fascism" (1934)
1+ week, 8+ hour ago (292+ words) Image by Carl Van Vecht'en, via Library of Con'gress and Wiki'me'dia Com'mons The Hitler obses'sion began years ear'li'er. "I often dreamed of Hitler as a woman," Dal" sup'pos'ed'ly said, His flesh, which I imag'ined as whiter than white, rav'ished me....
Time Travel Back to 1926 and Watch Wassily Kandinsky Make Art in Some Rare Vintage Video
2+ week, 1+ day ago (209+ words) Have you ever won'dered what it would be like to trav'el back in time and look over the shoul'der of one of the ear'ly 20th cen'tu'ry's great'est artists to watch him work? In this brief film from 1926, we get to see…...
The Splendid Book Design of the 1946 Edition of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
2+ week, 3+ day ago (171+ words) Cre'at'ed by Clarence P. Hor'nung, the design cap'tures the essence of Gib'bon's clas'sic, show'ing Roman pil'lars pro'gres'sive'ly crum'bling as your eyes move from Vol'ume1 to Vol'ume7. George Macy lat'er called the col'lec'tion, which also fea'tures illus'tra'tions by the great 18th-cen'tu'ry print'mak'er…...
David Bowie Picks His 12 Favorite David Bowie Songs
3+ week, 8+ hour ago (82+ words) Note: An ear'li'er ver'sion of this post appeared on our site in 2019. David Bowie's 100 Must Read Books The Art Col'lec'tion of David Bowie: An Intro'duc'tion How David Bowie Used William S. Bur'roughs' Cut-Up Method to Write His Unfor'get'table Lyrics David Bowie…...
How William S. Burroughs Used the Cut-Up Technique to Shut Down London's First Espresso Bar (1972)
3+ week, 1+ day ago (172+ words) London's first prop'er cof'fee shop'one equipped with a Gag'gia cof'fee machine'opened at 29 Frith Street. This was a place where teenagers too young for pubs could come and gath'er, and it is said by some that the intro'duc'tion of this cof'fee…...
How Humans Migrated Across The Globe Over 200, 000 Years: An Animated Look
3+ week, 2+ day ago (83+ words) Note: An ear'li'er ver'sion of this post appeared on our site in 2019. Where Did Human Beings Come From? 7 Mil'lion Years of Human Evo'lu'tion Visu'al'ized in Six Min'utes Watch Ani'ma'tions Show'ing How Humans Migrat'ed Across the World Over the Past 60, 000 Years…...
Kurt Vonnegut Diagrams the Shape of All Stories in a Master's Thesis Rejected by U. Chicago
4+ week, 1+ day ago (76+ words) Note: An ear'li'er ver'sion of this post appeared on our site in 2014. Kurt Von'negut Explains "How to Write With Style" The Shape of A Sto'ry: Writ'ing Tips from Kurt Von'negut Kurt Von'negut Offers 8 Tips on How to Write Good Short…...