What Makes Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon Perhaps the Most Revolutionary Painting of the 20th Century?

‌

Prac­ti­cal­ly any­one could take one glance at Les Demoi­selles d’Av­i­gnon and iden­ti­fy it as a Picas­so, even if they’ve nev­er seen it before and could­n’t say any­thing else about it. That alone goes some way to explain­ing why the paint­ing would end up ranked as the most impor­tant art­work of the twen­ti­eth cen­tu­ry, at least…

Thanksgiving Menu at the Plaza Hotel in New York City (1899)

‌

Above, we have the menu for an 1899 Thanks­giv­ing din­ner at the Plaza Hotel in New York. If you were a turkey, you had it rel­a­tive­ly easy. But the ducks? Not so much. On the menu, you’ll find Mal­lard duck and Rud­dy duck. But also Red-head duck, Long Island duck­ling, Teal duck and…

How to Improve Your Attention Span: Daniel Pink’s Strategies for the Digital Age

‌

In his new video above, the writer Daniel Pink pro­pos­es the fol­low­ing exer­cise: “Grab a book and time your­self. How long can you read with­out get­ting up or check­ing your phone? Real­ly try to push your­self, but don’t judge your­self if it’s only a few min­utes. Write down your time; that’s your base­line.”…

Watch Winsor McCay’s The Sinking of the Lusitania, the First Major Animated Propaganda Film (1918)

‌

You might know Win­sor McCay (1867? ‑1934) for the gor­geous­ly sur­re­al Lit­tle Nemo com­ic strip or for his ear­ly ani­mat­ed short Ger­tie the Dinosaur (1914). But did you know that he also cre­at­ed some of the ear­li­est exam­ples of ani­mat­ed pro­pa­gan­da ever?

On May 7, 1915, the RMS Lusi­ta­nia was just…

200 Ansel Adams Photographs Expose the Rigors of Life in Japanese Internment Camps During WW II

‌

Images cour­tesy of the Library of Con­gress.

Actor George Takei was once best known as Star Trek’s Mr. Sulu. He still is, of course, but over the last cou­ple decades his friend­ly, intel­li­gent, and wicked­ly fun­ny pres­ence on social media has land­ed him a new pop­u­lar role as a civ­il lib­er­ties advo­cate. Takei’s…