Amateur photographer Frank Larson captured New York City in the 50s. His thousands of negatives had been stashed away in an attic since his death in 1964. But recently, a grandson discovered them.
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Thursday 31 December 2015
How Clementine Churchill Wielded Influence As Winston's Wife
Biographer Sonia Purnell says Clementine once remarked that she "would have loved to have been a statesman in her own right if only she had been born with trousers rather than petticoats."
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UN: 1 in 122 people worldwide have been forced to flee homes
European countries need to set up a "massive" refugee resettlement programme, the head of the UN refugee agency says.
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Why Mormons identify with Syrian refugees
They were religious exiles once too.
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The food desert of the north
Despite living in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, the majority of homes Canada's Nunavut territory suffer from chronic food insecurity. Without relief in sight, survival sometimes comes down to killing a narwhal.
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Raw: Sydney Rings in 2016
Thousands of people gathered in Sydney to celebrate the start of 2016 with a spectacular fireworks display at the city's harbor. (Dec. 31)
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Why did China hold a cremation competition?
Earlier this week the Chinese government hosted an unusual competition. More than 50 of the country's best battled it out to be crowned the country's top cremator.
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A 900-pound elephant seal shut down Highway 37 because she could
As soon as I heard about her, I was in love: the 900-pound elephant seal who shut down Highway 37 in Sonoma County, northeast of San Francisco. Elephant seals have no natural predators; they pretty...
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The Opium Wars, Neoliberalism, and the Anthropocene
David Palumbo-Lui interviews prolific Bengali author Amitav Ghosh
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The Importance of Being Orwell
In his introduction to a volume of George Orwell’s diaries, the late Christopher Hitchens dissected one of the 20th century’s finest political minds. (July ’12)
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Sun, surf and skin: Australian depictions of the beach
On the Beach brings together 76 works reflecting the diversity of Australian stories on sandy, sea-washed shores
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A History of Violence, The International Terrain of Murder
Going back to my post yesterday about the US murder rate, I wanted to go back and consider the regional and international terrain. As we've discussed before, there really is no such thing as a US murder rate. The US has always had a few geographically distinct murder rates. Murder in New England for instance is not that much more common than it is in Western Europe, whether today or 25 years ago. But the South has always had dramatically higher murder rates than the rest of the country.
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Zahi Hawass: Nefertiti tomb theory 'baseless'
One of Egypt's leading archaeologists has taken sides in a bitter dispute arising from events of more than 3,300 years ago: the fabled location of Queen Nefertiti's tomb.
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Kurosawa’s Japan Revisited
Akira Kurosawa’s Ikiru (1952) was the first film I saw after I moved to Japan in 1987. I recall how, whenever I’m asked why I left my secure-seeming life in New York City to move to a small room on the backstreets of Kyoto, I say that I didn’t want to die feeling I’d never lived. Perhaps something in me was already moving toward Ikiru even then. I chose Japan as the place to move to in part because it seemed to be a quietly realistic society inclined to see life within a frame of death.
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The best Australian photos of 2015
Here are some of the most memorable, newsworthy, creative and talked-about images from professional and amateur photographers alike
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China’s armed drones appear built from stolen data from US cyber intrusions
China’s vibrant military blogosphere presented a video this month revealing a missile-firing unmanned aerial vehicle in action, dropping bombs against ground targets. The Caihong-4, or CH-4, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is a testament to the remarkable success of China’s military in copying vital high-technology weapons that currently are considered among the most cutting edge arms systems used in modern combat operations for both ground strikes and intelligence-gathering.
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The 11 Sci-Fi Films That Defined 2015
The best films about the future this year. By Brian Merchant.
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Wednesday 30 December 2015
Scientists Sequence First Ancient Irish Human Genomes
A team of geneticists from Trinity College Dublin and archaeologists from Queen’s University Belfast has sequenced the first genomes from ancient Irish humans, and the information buried within is already answering pivotal questions about the origins of Ireland’s people and their culture.
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A Strange Tale of Fruitcakes and the Collin Street Bakery
Sandy Jenkins was a shy, daydreaming accountant at the Collin Street Bakery, the world’s most famous fruitcake company. He was tired of feeling invisible, So he started stealing—and got a little carried away. By Katy Vine.
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Landays: Cries of the Pashtun Women
The border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is a lawless no-man's-land where violence and suffering rage, and no one has it harder than the region's 21 million Pashtun women. Their mode of rebellion? Short-verse poems called landays. By Eliza Griswold. (Apr. ’14)
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A Renowned, But Forgotten, 17th-Century Japanese Artist Is Once Again Making Waves
Long neglected, the 17th-century Japanese artist Tawaraya Sōtatsu influenced Western art 400 years later.
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What Is EFF Reading? Books, Movies, and TV Shows of 2015
What books, TV shows, and movies helped shaped the way EFF staff were thinking about cutting edge issues this year? Each December we like to look back...
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‘Black Dragon River’ Charts History Along The Amur
Dominic Ziegler’s thrillingly thorough geo-history follows the Amur River from its origin on the Mongolian steppes, along the Trans-Siberian Railway and through centuries of Eurasian history. By Jean Zimmerman.
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Superman Caught on Tape in Russia
Did this guy really stop a ton of sliding metal? Or was it just a coincidence? You be the judge.
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Fossilized Tropical Forest Found — in Arctic Norway
An ancient fossil forest in Norway with tropical origins is one of the earliest forests to appear on Earth. By Mindy Weisberger. (Nov. 20)
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“London Fog,” a study of the great city’s legendary atmosphere
Christine L. Corton reminds us that England’s capital “has always been susceptible to mist and murk.” By Michael Dirda. (Nov. 16)
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Melbourne man wins National Geographic's 2015 Photo Contest
Melbourne photographer James Smart wins National Geographic's 2015 Photo Contest with a shot of a tornado in the United States.
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The wild and rugged beauty of Patagonia
In pictures: the rugged and captivating beauty of Patagonia and its wildlife
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Tuesday 29 December 2015
Q: How do I estimate the probability that God exists?
Mathematician: Before jumping into this question, it is important to realize that probabilities are not objective, observer independent quantities. We can think of the claim that a particular outcome will happen with a probability of 0.30 as meaning (loosely speaking) that given the information available to me right now, if I could replay this scenario many times, then in about 30% of those occurrences I would expect that particular outcome would occur.
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China Blasts 'Hypocritical' U.S. Over Anti-Terror Surveillance Law
Criticism is "hypocritical," said state-run Xinhua, adding that the U.S. also required technology firms to cooperate in anti-terror surveillance.
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Ancient Rome v North Korea: Spectacular 'executions' then and now
Reported executions in North Korea evoke interesting parallels from the history of ancient Rome, writes Prof Stephen Harrison, from Oxford University.
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27th December 2007 - Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto assassinated
Benazir Bhutto, a former Pakistani prime minister and the first democratically elected female leader of a Muslim country, is assassinated at age 54 in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi. A polarizing figure at home and abroad, Bhutto had spent three decades struggling to stay afloat in the murky waters of Pakistani politics.
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The Religious Right Is Right to Be Scared: Christianity Is Dying in America
Why try to understand complicated things like demographics for the decline of your faith when you can blame gays and liberals for waging a ‘war on religion?’
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28th December 1895 - First commercial movie screened
The world’s first commercial movie screening takes place at the Grand Cafe in Paris. The film was made by Louis and Auguste Lumiere, two French brothers who developed a camera-projector called the Cinematographe. The Lumiere brothers unveiled their invention to the public in March 1895 with a brief film showing workers leaving the Lumiere factory. On December 28, the entrepreneurial siblings screened a series of short scenes from everyday French life and charged admission for the first time.
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Ramanujan – a humble maths genius
Ramanujan’s mathematical ability has become the stuff of legend.
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State Dept. counts 'bringing peace' to Syria as a 2015 win
A spokesman says the U.S. is “winning fight against violent extremists.”
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I revealed the truth about President Erdogan and Syria. For that, he had me jailed
Turkey’s regime not only smuggled guns into Syria, it used ‘state security’ as an excuse to imprison the journalists who reported it. By Can Dündar.
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Read more: http://ift.tt/1NORH2u
A Sinuous Opera House By MAD Architects
Architecture studio MAD Architects designed the ‘Harbin Opera House’, a dramatic sinuous building overlooking the Songhua River in the Chinese city of Harbin. The opera house is located on an island called ‘Cultural Island’ and hosts a grand as well as a small theater. The structure’s curved facade consists of aluminum panels and glass pyramids.
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Russians pay the price of new anti-Turkish measures
Russia imposes sanctions on Turkey and marginalises Turkish interests in Russia to its own detriment.
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Holy Skate: Century-Old Church Converted to Colorful Park
A 100-year-old church in Spain is hosting pilgrimages of a new sort now that its interior is lined with skate ramps instead of pews, its soaring cathedral ceilings covered in vibrant murals.
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No Teacher of Zen
Norman Fischer has never had much use for Zen teachers. But after years of being one himself, he has a fuller appreciation of the role a teacher plays.
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Study of ancient skulls from Vanuatu sheds light on Polynesian origins
Skulls found at a 3,000-year-old cemetery in Vanuatu may provide a vital clue to the origin of the Polynesian people.
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Slow corruption
When a woman last year confessed that she would not know what to do if her fetus were diagnosed with Down’s syndrome, Richard Dawkins promptly replied: "Abort it and try again. It would be immoral to bring it into the world if you have the choice..." By Vidar Halgunset. (Dec. 7)
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The League of Extraordinary Assholes
There's a jerk in every room. Is it you?
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The True Story of Roland the Farter, and How the Internet Killed Professional Flatulence
Roland, court minstrel to 12th century English king Henry II, probably had many talents.
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Lapland: The Last Wilderness of Europe
From cascading waterfalls and mighty mountain peaks, to ancient forests and tundra-like heaths, from green-white glacier melt water to crystal clear rivers, Lapland is home to the last remaining areas of extensive wilderness in Europe.
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The Battle of Enfarinats
In a tradition that dates back more than 200 years, the town of Ibi, Spain, celebrates the festival of Els Enfarinats on December 28 with a mock battle taking place outside the town hall.
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Monday 28 December 2015
Can a French Friar End the 21st-Century Slave Trade?
It’s 2015, and more than 20 million people are still held in some form of slavery all over the world. Traveling deep into the Amazon, William Langewiesche discovers why an unspeakable degradation is proving so hard to combat—and finds a man of God who has dedicated his life to the fight.
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The Hustlers at Scores
The Ex-Strippers Who Stole From (Mostly) Rich Men and Gave to, Well, Themselves. By Jessica Pressler.
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