Timeless New York street scenes, discovered after nearly 50 years

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1ZEchbm

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."
Read more: http://ift.tt/1RTQFX3

Who Owns Antarctica?

Read more: http://ift.tt/1IHcuqb

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1kx9Yac

Why Mormons identify with Syrian refugees

They were religious exiles once too.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1YUPiGK

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1IH2TiV

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)
Read more: http://ift.tt/1mszuP8

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1mszsa1

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...
Read more: http://ift.tt/1JMkGjM

The Opium Wars, Neoliberalism, and the Anthropocene

David Palumbo-Lui interviews prolific Bengali author Amitav Ghosh
Read more: http://ift.tt/1NXMV0E

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)
Read more: http://ift.tt/1IGQZWg

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
Read more: http://ift.tt/1IGCVfB

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1JhVxCH

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1OyZfdt

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1JLcDUo

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
Read more: http://ift.tt/1RSLruw

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1VrzZFc

​The 11 Sci-Fi Films That Defined 2015

The best films about the future this year. By Brian Merchant.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1Rasylp

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1OtK92w

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1SnlFhs

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)
Read more: http://ift.tt/1ZCH34o

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1VqwcrT

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...
Read more: http://ift.tt/1QZDgg4

‘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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/22z85vL

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1NWfgV1

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)
Read more: http://ift.tt/1Px4xoA

“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)
Read more: http://ift.tt/1mpBtn6

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1NQBHwY

The wild and rugged beauty of Patagonia

In pictures: the rugged and captivating beauty of Patagonia and its wildlife
Read more: http://ift.tt/22y8fUj

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1Jf1zUt

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1SlI8eB

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1JeYvI0

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1ICAlar

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?’
Read more: http://ift.tt/1QWJygD

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1RQCty7

Ramanujan – a humble maths genius

Ramanujan’s mathematical ability has become the stuff of legend.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1NP7QF8

State Dept. counts 'bringing peace' to Syria as a 2015 win

A spokesman says the U.S. is “winning fight against violent extremists.”
Read more: http://ift.tt/1QWamOb

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.
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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1MFtd7O

Russians pay the price of new anti-Turkish measures

Russia imposes sanctions on Turkey and marginalises Turkish interests in Russia to its own detriment.
Read more: http://ift.tt/22wPZe1

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1OX9UsE

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1QXJahw

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1mo17J2

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)
Read more: http://ift.tt/1mo17ss

The League of Extraordinary Assholes

There's a jerk in every room. Is it you?
Read more: http://ift.tt/1kpN6t8

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1kpN6t4

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1YPbeDb

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1kpx5U6

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.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1mfOvnU

The Hustlers at Scores

The Ex-Strippers Who Stole From (Mostly) Rich Men and Gave to, Well, Themselves. By Jessica Pressler.
Read more: http://ift.tt/1IA1hrj