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Italian journalist to be beatified for helping Jews escape persecution

Journalist who helped saved Jews from Holocaust is on the path to be named a saint.

An Italian journalist and father of seven, who helped hundreds of Jews to escape Nazi persecution, will be beatified on June 15 in the Italian city of Carpri.Odoardo Focherini who died aged 37 in the Hersbrueck Nazi concentration camp [...]

Business | Cyberculture | History | Journalism | Media | Technology

News report from 1981 about the Internet.

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A human interest story about an early experiment in online journalism. Imagine a time when “owns home computer” is enough to identify a random talking head as authoritative. Look for the rotary telephone hooked up to an acoustic modem.

News report from 1981 about the Internet. [MOBILE VIDEO].

[...]

Culture | History | Nature | Science

Do Black Holes Create New Universes? Physicist Lee Smolin Interview

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Can’t wait until we get this end-of-year state-mandated testing/evaluation over with, so my son can go back to reading stuff like this guy’s book.

“Reality is structured to a series of moments so that anything that is real is real in a moment of time, and if something appears to persist in time, that’s because [...]

Essays | History | Humanities | Rhetoric | Writing

The Essayification of Everything

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The word Michel de Montaigne chose to describe his prose ruminations published in 1580 was “Essais,” which, at the time, meant merely “Attempts,” as no such genre had yet been codified. This etymology is significant, as it points toward the experimental nature of essayistic writing: it involves the nuanced process of trying something out. Later [...]

Academia | Culture | Design | Education | History | Humanities | Literature | Philosophy | Rhetoric

Ave atque vale

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What is a liberal education and what it is for? From Cicero’s artes liberales, to the attempts at common curricula in more recent times, to the chaotic cafeteria that passes for a curriculum in most American universities today, the concept has suffered from vagueness, confusion, and contradiction. From the beginning, the champions of a liberal [...]

Culture | History | Rhetoric | Writing

The Speech Eisenhower Never Gave On The Normandy Invasion

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A fascinating text from an alternate history.

“Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops,” Eisenhower wrote. “My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery [...]

Amusing | Business | Cyberculture | Games | History | PopCult | Technology

‘Atari Dump’ Will Be Excavated, After Nearly 30 Years

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The New Mexico landfill or “Atari Dump” where the game console maker buried its mistakes — the biggest being the game E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial — will be dug up by game developer Fuel Industries, which hopes to make a documentary about the project.

Also known as the “Atari Graveyard” or the “E.T. Dump”, the [...]

Aesthetics | Art | Books | Culture | Design | History | Humanities | Literature | PopCult

When F. Scott Fitzgerald Judged Gatsby By Its Cover

With a big Hollywood movie now in theaters, some recent printings of the book have abandoned the classic cover in favor of one that ties in more closely with the film. So high school students working their way through the summer reading list this year will be hard pressed to find a copy without [...]

Design | History | Science | Technology

Plans for the Little Known Confederate Helicopter

The possibilities of combining Civil War re-enactment and steampunk fantasy role-playing are mind-boggling. Just imagine Rhett Butler steam-flying Scarlet out of Atlanta.

The American Civil War brought about great advances in the use of technology in warfare. Balloons, railroads, ironclad ships, and even a submarine were demonstrated throughout the conflict, and new ideas were [...]

Aesthetics | Culture | Design | History | SciFi

8 Questions for ‘Star Trek’ Superfans Restoring Galileo Shuttlecraft

This nerd’s geek heart grew three sizes today. Ubernerds are restoring the Gallileo set piece from the original Star Trek.

Dedicated fans are giving new life to the shuttlecraft used in the original “Star Trek” television series.

Two “Star Trek” fans are a couple of weeks away from fully restoring the last surviving large set [...]