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With the help of robotics specialists, we can separate the truth from the hype.

Gadgets & Gear

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Tesla announced a 5 foot 8 humanoid robot. Here's WHY.That shirt! http://shop.MKBHD.comAll the official info: https://www.tesla.com/AITesla AI day: https://y...

Gadgets & Gear

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A roomful of strangers are milling around the kitchen of an austere Victorian home when the first portal opens. It’s in the refrigerator. A family walks up to it and is swallowed whole by its comfo…

Spaces

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What should one expect at Meow Wolf? Well, expect the unexpected. Expect a mind altering experience, visually, through touch, and all of your senses. Meow Wo...

Spaces

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Lear about the word sprezzatura and in its meaning in art.

Living Well

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Sprezzatura is the rehearsed spontaneity and studied carelessness that lies at the center of persuasive discourse of any sort.

Living Well

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Quartz is a guide to the new global economy for people in business who are excited by change. We cover business, economics, markets, finance, technology, science, design, and fashion.

Living Well

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"We are living out the fantasies of people several generations ago."Art by Dirck Van Delen and Marc Salamat https://marcsalamat.com/

Living Well

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A behind-the-scene look at the life of Terence McKenna.

Biography

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Wise words from Terrence McKenna! This guy is on another level. Thanks for watching and please subscribe!For more wisdom, visit https://russjamieson.comSpeak...

Biography

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The "altered statesman" emerged from Leary's long shadow to push a magical blend of psychedelics, technology, and revelatory rap. He had less time than he knew. In May 1999, the psychedelic bard Terence McKenna returned to his jungle hideaway on Hawaii's Big Island after six weeks on the road. He was relieved to be home. […]

Biography

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Had the United States not purchased the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803, the world would be a very different place. While many may recall that it was...

Curious World

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The Haitian Revolution (French: Révolution haïtienne [ʁevɔlysjɔ̃ ajisjɛ̃n]), was a successful anti-slavery and anti-colonial insurrection that took place in the former French colony of Saint-Domingue that lasted from 1791 until 1804. It affected the institution of slavery throughout the Americas. Self-liberated slaves destroyed slavery at home, fought to preserve their freedom, and with the collaboration of mulattoes, founded the sovereign state of Haiti. It led to the greatest slave uprising since Spartacus's unsuccessful revolt against the Roman Republic nearly 1,900 years prior. The Haitian Revolution was the only slave uprising that led to the founding of a state free from slavery and ruled by non-whites and former captives. With the increasing number of Haitian Revolutionary Studies in the last few decades, it has become clear that the event was a defining moment in the racial histories of the Atlantic World. The legacy of the Revolution was that it challenged long-held beliefs about black inferiority and of the enslaved person's capacity to achieve and maintain freedom. The rebels' organizational capacity and tenacity under pressure became the source of stories that shocked and frightened slave owners. François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture (French: [fʁɑ̃swa dɔminik tusɛ̃ luvɛʁtyʁ] 20 May 1743 – 7 April 1803), also known as Toussaint L'Ouverture or Toussaint Bréda, was the best-known leader of the Haitian Revolution. His military and political acumen saved the gains of the first Black insurrection in November 1791. He first fought for the Spanish against the French; then for France against Spain and Britain; and finally, for Saint-Domingue (modern Haiti)'s colonial sovereignty against Napoleonic France. He then helped transform the insurgency into a revolutionary movement, which by 1800 had turned Saint-Domingue, the most prosperous slave colony of the time, into the first free colonial society to have explicitly rejected race as the basis of social ranking. Though Toussaint did not sever ties with France, his actions in 1800 constituted a de facto autonomous colony. The colony's constitution proclaimed him governor for life even against Napoleon Bonaparte's wishes. He died betrayed before the final and most violent stage of the armed conflict. However, his achievements set the grounds for the Black army's absolute victory and for Jean-Jacques Dessalines to declare the sovereign state of Haiti in January 1804. Toussaint's prominent role in the Haitian success over colonialism and slavery had earned him the admiration of friends and detractors alike. Toussaint Louverture began his military career as a leader of the 1791 slave rebellion in the French colony of Saint-Domingue; he was by then a free black man and a Jacobin. Initially allied with the Spaniards of neighboring Santo Domingo (modern Dominican Republic), Toussaint switched allegiance to the French when they abolished slavery. He gradually established control over the whole island and used political and military tactics to gain dominance over his rivals. Throughout his years in power, he worked to improve the economy and security of Saint-Domingue. He restored the plantation system using paid labour, negotiated trade treaties with Britain and the United States, and maintained a large and well-disciplined army. In 1801, he promulgated an autonomist constitution for the colony, with himself as Governor-General for Life. In 1802 he was forced to resign by forces sent by Napoleon Bonaparte to restore French authority in the former colony. He was deported to France, where he died in 1803. The Haitian Revolution continued under his lieutenant, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who declared independence on January 1, 1804. The French had lost two-thirds of forces sent to the island in an attempt to suppress the revolution; most died of yellow fever.

Curious World

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Duke University historian Laurent Dubois discusses slavery, culture, and ideology in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, which upon the triumph of its revolution in 1804 became the nation of Haiti—the first and only nation established through a slave rebellion. He explores the widely divergent notions of freedom that developed in Haiti and the United States, and compares their deeply distinct declarations of independence—the first two such documents in world history.

Curious World

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A fascinating legacy of Malta’s WW II experience are the Lascaris War Rooms; an underground complex of tunnels and chambers that were hollowed out from the limestone escarpment on which Valletta sits. They housed the War Headquarters from which the defense of the islands was conducted during WW II.

Alt Travel

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The World War Two Siege of Malta took place from 1940 to 1942. This tiny island’s prime location meant it was in the spotlight for the war on the Mediterranean. Malta certainly got the raw deal during the war from start to finish. The very day after Mussolini declared war – on June 10, 1940 – Italian bombers commenced attacking the capital of Valletta. Holding the record for heaviest sustained bombing, Malta endured a staggering attack lasting 154 days and nights with a total of 6,700 bombs dropped. Air raids throughout the war over Malta totalled 3,343.

Alt Travel

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Motion smoothing is the process of inflating a film’s framerate by artificially adding frames. Most movies are filmed at a rate of 24 frames per second (fps), while HD TVs often have a refresh rate of around 60 fps. Yet when your TV tries to compensate, it can make the movie look a little too smooth. It can also mean you can see small “artifacts” or visible defects, in the frames. In other words, a setting designed to make your display look better can actually make it look less cinematic.

Movies, Series & Docs

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I recently watched a video that’s gone viral on YouTube that asks the question: What if Jason and Argonauts had smoother stop-motion?Great question! The only...

Movies, Series & Docs

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In the late 18th century, two successful revolutions occurred in the Americas. The first was in the United States, which won independence from Britain in 1783. The second was in Haiti, which was then the French colony of Saint-Domingue. That second revolution began with a mass uprising of enslaved Haitians in August 1791. Haiti's revolution led first to the ending of slavery in the colony in 1793, then to slavery's end throughout the French empire in 1794, and finally to Haitian independence from France in 1804. What was the relationship between these two remarkable revolutions?

Curious World

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Malta is indeed a wonderful archipelago centered in the Mediterranean Sea. Aside from the obvious attraction of beautiful golden beaches and a dazzling turqu...

Alt Travel

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Strasbourg-based photographer Julien Douvier utilizes a variety of techniques to create these beautifully meditative cinema-graphs of urban life and nature. He films and edits every image with an obsessive attention to detail, a fact not lost on several fashion clients that have commissioned Douvier

Cinemagraph

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If there’s one type of person we admire, it’s the person who’s able to get things done without even trying. You know that person. He’s the student who aces the final exam “without even studying”. She’s the Instagram model who woke up with perfect hair. And both of them are in great shape by “just eating right”. Statements like these may annoy us. But at the same time, we can’t help admiring or envying people who have things come to them easy. It’s difficult to explain why we feel this way. The philosopher Nietzsche observed that our vanity and self-love promotes the culture of the genius. “For if we think of genius as something magical”, he wrote, “we are not obliged to compare ourselves and find ourselves lacking.” This is why we enjoy watching talent shows and athletic competitions at the highest level. There is a mystique that surrounds these top performers. We marvel at how they are able to do things that no one can. Reality is a little different. But first, a story from the fifteenth century.

Men's Style

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Vibrant night urban shots by Jun Yamamoto a.k.a. jungraphy, a talented self-taught photographer, and retoucher currently based in Tokyo, Japan. Jun focuses mainly on urban and street photography.

Alt Travel