#history

America was supposed to be Art Deco

America embraced Art Deco, a style combining classical elements, Modernism, and diverse cultural influences, leading to architectural masterpieces in the 20th century.

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Understanding construction productivity stagnation

Modern houses differ significantly from historical ones due to increased wealth and investment in housing.

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Biological warfare at the 1346 Siege of Caffa

The Black Death in the mid-14th century devastated Europe, the Near East, and North Africa, causing unprecedented mortality; one quarter to one third of Europe’s population perished, with similar losses elsewhere.

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Marxism and post-modernism

Critical Theory is distinct from Communism, Fascism, and National Socialism, despite some superficial similarities.

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Gerald Bull’s giant guns

Gerald Vincent Bull (1928–1990) was a Canadian engineer known for developing long-range artillery.

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René Girard's view on Christianity as a means to end religion

René Girard viewed Christianity as revealing and condemning the mechanisms of scapegoating and mimetic desire, central to human conflict.

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In 1913, Hitler, Trotsky, Tito, Freud and Stalin all lived in Vienna

In 1913, Vienna was home to influential figures such as Adolf Hitler, Leon Trotsky, Joseph Tito, Sigmund Freud, and Joseph Stalin, whose actions shaped the 20th century.

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More people, more prosperity

Debate persists over humanity’s growth likened to cancer and warnings of possible water shortages, despite evidence that humans generate more than they consume and resources are not depleting.

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The floating homes of Lake Titicaca

The Uros Islands were created by the indigenous Uros people in Lake Titicaca as a defensive measure against Inca incursions.

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Christian atheism

Christian atheism is an atheistic belief system that engages with Christian teachings and culture while rejecting the literal existence of God.

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The link between rice cultivation and collectivism

The rice theory suggests that cultures in areas where paddy rice farming is prevalent tend to be more collectivist due to the high labor demands and need for cooperation that rice cultivation requires.

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T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia)

Thomas Edward Lawrence (1888-1935), also known as Lawrence of Arabia, was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer.

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Mao's theory on the atomic bomb

In 1957, he reportedly suggested to a Yugoslav visitor that China’s vast territory and large population could withstand significant losses.

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Mapping (almost) every law, regulation and case in Australia

The map visualises Australian law, where proximity indicates similarity, providing insight into how laws, regulations, and cases interrelate.

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Bowie Bonds

Bowie bonds were asset-backed securities using David Bowie’s royalty streams from albums and live performances as collateral, first issued in 1997.

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Tourism's role in economic development

This study examines the causal relationship between tourism and economic development in a sample of 123 countries from 1995 to 2019, utilising the Dumistrescu and Hurlin Granger causality test, with a focus on heterogeneous panels of countries.

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NYT techno-cynicism was an intentional editorial decision

A few years ago, the New York Times chose to apply an investigative and critical approach to technology reporting, focusing more on scrutiny than on business or consumer interests.

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Unmoved mover

The unmoved mover, or prime mover, is Aristotle’s concept of a primary cause of all motion in the universe, which itself is not moved by anything else.

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Quoting C.S. Lewis on nuclear risk

C.S. Lewis compares living in the atomic age with past dangers like the plague, Viking raids, and other risks like cancer or accidents, highlighting the continuity of human exposure to threats.

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Democritus

Democritus was an Ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher known for proposing an atomic theory of the universe.

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Ancient migration to the Americas happened in separate waves

Paleoanthropologists have long thought that the ancestors of American natives came over from Siberia about 13,500 years ago, but evidence suggests human presence in the Americas may date back over 30,000 years.

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Statistics of Deadly Quarrels

Statistics of Deadly Quarrels, a 1960 book by Lewis Fry Richardson, explores the mathematical and social aspects of war, analysing conflicts from the early 19th to mid-20th century using a base 10 logarithmic scale.

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Civilization: The West and the Rest by Niall Ferguson

Niall Ferguson attempts to explain why the West led the world in recent centuries, and what this could mean for the future.

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Reading ancient scrolls with AI

The Vesuvius Challenge 2023 awarded its Grand Prize for successfully reading a 2000-year-old scroll that discusses music, food, and life’s pleasures, originally buried by the eruption that created the Herculaneum Papyri.

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Quoting Will Durant on the value of summaries and dissemination

> Human knowledge had become too great for the human mind.

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