CULTURE
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Was William Shakespeare’s Marriage Closer—and Less Estranged—Than We Thought?: A 17th-Century Letter Changes What We Know About the Bard’s Life.
Image via Hereford Cathedral and Hereford Mappa Mundi Trust At this point, every aspect of William Shakespeare’s life has produced…
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The Heavy-Metal Band Disturbed Covered Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” Ten Years Ago, and It’s Still Topping the Charts
“The Sound of Silence” Is the Most Metal Song of the Past Decade”: imagine that headline, and the contrarian culture…
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A Meditative Tour of Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Architectural Masterpiece
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater is a “house museum,” first designed as a residence, and now open to the public. In…
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Miles Davis’ Album On the Corner Tried to Woo Young Rock & Funk Fans: First Considered a Disaster, It’s Now Hailed as a Masterpiece
Miles Davis didn’t put out any studio albums from 1973 until the middle of 1981. In explaining the reasons for…
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The Extreme Life and Philosophy of Hunter S. Thompson: Gonzo Journalism and the American Condition
Hunter S. Thompson has been gone for two decades now. When he went out, as the new Pursuit of Wonder…
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Carl Sagan Issues a Chilling Warning About the Decline of Scientific Thinking in America: Watch His Final Interview (1996)
Until the end of his life, Carl Sagan (1934–1996) continued doing what he did all along — popularizing science and…
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The Ark Before Noah: Discover the Ancient Flood Myths That Came Before the Bible
The Lord said to Noah, there’s going to be a floody, floody; then to get those children out of the…
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How Chinese Characters Work: The Evolution of a Three-Millennia-Old Writing System
Contrary to somewhat popular belief, Chinese characters aren’t just little pictures. In fact, most of them aren’t pictures at all.…
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The Medieval Manuscript That Features “Yoda”, Killer Snails, Savage Rabbits & More: Discover The Smithfield Decretals
As much as you may enjoy a night in with a book, you might not look so eagerly forward to…
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Who Really Built the Egyptian Pyramids—And How Did They Do It?
Although it’s certainly more plausible than hypotheses like ancient aliens or lizard people, the idea that slaves built the Egyptian…
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