Life’s a glorious mess, and exurb1a’s “Everybody Is a Total Mess (and You Should Be One Too)” proves we’re all just giraffes on roller skates. From Tchaikovsky’s anxious genius to Kafka’s existential dread, history’s icons were flailing too—and that’s the point! Through wisdom from the Tao Te Ching and humanity’s darkest moments, exurb1a shows how […]
Long before Middle-earth captured our imaginations, J.R.R. Tolkien was crafting another enchanting world—this one for his children. From 1920 to 1943, Tolkien brought Father Christmas to life through a series of letters, penned annually to delight his family. These weren’t your ordinary holiday notes. This video from Nerd of the Rings explores how Tolkien’s creativity […]
Ever caught yourself—or your kid—sounding like you’ve just stepped off a flight from another hemisphere after binge-watching a show? In this episode of Otherwords, Erica Brozovsky, Ph.D., explores how TV can sprinkle a little linguistic magic (or chaos?) into our speech. Some parents are concerned (or thrilled?) that their kids might be developing an Australian […]
[Source: Jim Benton]
The holiday season has arrived, and what better way to celebrate than by combining the magic of pop culture with festive cheer? This year’s holiday edition of Montreal Comiccon brought a super fun mix of creativity and holiday spirit to the Montreal Convention Centre. From superheroes sporting Santa hats to beloved characters decked out in […]
Over a thousand years ago, a sprawling city in the heart of modern-day Illinois rivaled London in size and complexity. Known today as Cahokia, it was home to around 15,000 people and served as the epicenter of the Mississippian culture—a pre-Columbian civilization that thrived across much of the Midwest and Southeast United States.
Watch as Lance Geiger, The History Guy, explores the ancient origins of “Rock, Paper, Scissors,” tracing it back to 3rd-century China during the Han Dynasty. The game, called Ishin (hand commanding), featured gestures symbolizing animals: a thumb for a frog, a pinky for a centipede, and an index finger for a snake. The game reflected […]
Check out this video from The Paint Explainer featuring all the last known isolated tribe in just 8 minutes!
Fifty years before the architecture for the web was created, Jorge Luis Borges had already imagined an analog equivalent. Sophie Bassouls/Sygma via Getty Images Roger J. Kreuz, University of Memphis How will the internet evolve in the coming decades? Fiction writers have explored some possibilities. In his 2019 novel “Fall,” science fiction author Neal Stephenson […]
In a world where reckless drivers are a growing concern, one planet’s government has proposed a radical solution: assigning driver credit scores to monitor driving behavior. By installing cameras and microphones in vehicles, the government plans to reduce accidents and reward safe driving—but at the cost of individual privacy. Drive safely? Your score goes up. […]