The best free cultural & educational media on the web
The best free cultural & educational media on the web
≡ Category: Life, Science | ≅ 4 Comments
Robert Sapolsky – one of the world’s leading neurobiologists, a MacArthur Fellow, Stanford professor, and author of Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers — breaks down an intriguing question. Precisely in what ways are we (humans) different from other animals inhabiting our world? The differences are fewer than we think. But there are some, and they’ll make [...]
≡ Category: History, Life | ≅ Leave a Comment
During the past decade, Tony Judt emerged as one of America’s leading public intellectuals. He’s combative, often controversial (especially when talking about Israel), and sometimes disliked. But he’s taken seriously. And many have had nothing but sheer praise for his master work, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945. The NYU historian had built up a [...]
≡ Category: Life, Music | ≅ 4 Comments
The place: A produce market in Valencia, Spain. The day: Just a day like any other. But then suddenly Verdi’s La traviata booms out over the speakers, and opera singers, initially masquerading as shopkeepers, take center stage. Stick with it until the end. The customer reaction is precious. We’ve added this one to our YouTube [...]
≡ Category: Life, Literature | ≅ 1 Comment
For the 13th time, Chinese authorities arrested the well-known Chinese writer Liao Yiwu (The Corpse Walker) as he boarded a plane to attend a literary festival in Cologne, Germany. He has now been placed under house arrest. You can learn more about it here. (Also read Philip Gourevitch’s blog post for The New Yorker.) Please join this newly [...]
≡ Category: Life, Media, Psychology | ≅ 2 Comments
A team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania spent a good six months studying The New York Times list of most-e-mailed articles, hoping to figure out what articles get shared, and why. And here’s what they essentially found:
People preferred e-mailing articles with positive rather than negative themes, and they liked to send long articles [...]
≡ Category: Life | ≅ Leave a Comment
You stare. You get stared at. It happens countless times every day. But have you ever pondered what’s really happening here? Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, a professor at Emory University, has been giving it some thought. You can get a quick introduction above, and more extensive thinking in her new book, Staring: How We Look. Thanks Nicole [...]
≡ Category: Books, Life, Literature | ≅ 1 Comment
More sad news. J.D. Salinger, who brought us The Catcher in the Rye, has died at 91. Here’s the initial news release.
Boy, when you’re dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in [...]
≡ Category: Life, Science | ≅ Leave a Comment
Apparently, the Swedes call when they know you’ll be home. Worth a listen.
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≡ Category: Life | ≅ Leave a Comment
So how did you do?
Thanks Scott for the tip on that one.
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≡ Category: Life, Religion | ≅ Leave a Comment
The lines below are taken from Voltaire’s “Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne,” written in response to the Lisbon earthquake of 1755. Then, as now, there’s a little wisdom here for those (hint: Pat Robertson) inclined to infer moral superiority from the suffering of others.
What crime, what sin, had those young hearts conceived
That lie, bleeding and [...]
≡ Category: Film, Life | ≅ 3 Comments
Welcome to the new world of digital filmmaking. Give this one a minute to get going.
Thanks Nats and Gary for sending this one along. Have a great link to share with us? (I know you do!) Write us at mail at openculture dot com.
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≡ Category: Life, Science, Technology | ≅ 1 Comment
Every year, The Edge.org poses a thought-provoking question to 150+ engaging thinkers, and the answers never disappoint. This year, they throw out the question: How is the Internet Changing the Way You Think? In this collection, you will find answers by George Dyson, Clay Shirky, Tim O’Reilly, Marissa Mayer, Richard Dawkins and many more. Below, [...]
≡ Category: Life, Science | ≅ 1 Comment
A little public service announcement… Dan Buettner, a writer for National Geographic, has studied the world’s longest-lived peoples. Most of his findings are summed up in his book, The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest. And here, in this video, he boils things down even further, giving you 9 [...]
≡ Category: Life, Science | ≅ Leave a Comment
The New York Times asks: Can an old brain learn, and then remember what it learns? Can it keep nimble and throw off the rust? Happily, new studies suggest that it can, and it largely comes down to nudging neurons in the right direction by challenging our ingrained perceptions, confronting new ideas, and constantly pushing [...]
≡ Category: Art, Life | ≅ Leave a Comment
Some very powerful images in this New York Times feature. But, taken together, they don’t say much good for 2009. Bring on the New Year…
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≡ Category: Life | ≅ 1 Comment
To eat bacon sandwiches? Or not to eat bacon sandwiches? That’s the question that David Spiegelhalter, “Professor Risk” at Cambridge University, tackles in this short video examining stats, life, and whether we should err on the side of caution … or risk. This clip is part of Cambridge’s YouTube channel, which now appears in our Smart [...]
≡ Category: Life, TED Talks | ≅ 2 Comments
Last week, we waded into the best of TED debate. What’s the best TED Talk out there? It’s hard to say. Purely subjective. But we can say one thing. Jill Bolte Taylor’s “Stroke of Insight” talk reaches the top of many lists. What happens when a neuroanatomist experiences a massive stroke and feels all the [...]
≡ Category: Current Affairs, Life, Television | ≅ 7 Comments
David Simon once called his HBO series, The Wire, “a political tract masquerading as a cop show.” Think of it as a five season, 3600 minute, artistic depiction of the escalating breakdown of urban society. The show is art. But it is also life in the biggest sense. And it’s why some thinkers have likened [...]
≡ Category: Life, Philosophy | ≅ 1 Comment
News broke today that Claude Lévi-Strauss, one of France’s towering intellectuals, has died. He was 100 years old. The New York Times has a lengthy obit that covers the career of the anthropologist who brought us “structuralism” and helped us look at diverse cultures in new ways. NPR has also aired a short piece (in [...]
≡ Category: History, Life | ≅ 1 Comment
There’s no sound, and the clip only runs 20 seconds. But this is the only known footage of Anne Frank, and it’s now online. The Anne Frank House does a good job of setting the scene for the video taken on July 22, 1941. “The girl next door is getting married. Anne Frank is leaning [...]
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