The People’s Pyramid in Toxteth, Liverpool is an eccentric but fascinating way to send off a loved one. For just £99, a small portion of their cremated remains can become a part of the pyramid, which is being built with 34,592 bricks. It’s a fitting send-off for the modern age, a reminder of the 12 BC Roman pyramid tomb in Rome, and a unique way for a loved one to become part of something greater than themselves. Read full article here
We often think of geniuses as mysterious and other-worldly – but what if they’re far more accessible than that? Ralph Waldo Emerson suggests that geniuses don’t have different kinds of thoughts from the rest of us – they simply take them more seriously. The article argues that genius is not about exoticism, but rather about paying attention to and being brave enough to hold onto our own thoughts and feelings, even when they don’t find an echo in the world around us. Read full article here
The music industry has changed dramatically over the last few decades – with the number of songwriters credited on number one hits more than doubling. This is due to a combination of factors, including money, the computer and a changing definition of what songwriting is. For example, if The Beatles’ classic “I Feel Fine” was released today, it would likely have four writers credited instead of two, due to the influence of producers, samples and interpolations. With the rise of lawsuits, artists now preemptively add songwriter credits to their songs, even if the similarities between their song and the source material are coincidental. It all goes to show that the music industry is becoming more complex and competitive. Read full article here
Live out your Mario Kart dreams in Phoenix – Lev Libeskind is creating a funky apartment building inspired by the popular Nintendo racing game. Featuring colour-blocked windows and a multicolored path that extends from the sidewalk through the courtyard, Rainbow Road will bring the player’s experience to life with a gallery and a courtyard for events and art installations. Breaking ground this spring or early summer, it’s the perfect opportunity to live out your gaming fantasies! Read full article here
Hair has been an integral part of defining sexuality and gender for centuries. During the Renaissance, Sandro Botticelli emerged as the great painter of hair, making it a threshold to erotic desire. His Idealized Portrait of a Woman (allegedly Simonetta Vespucci), painted in the early 1480s, defied Florentine sumptuary laws with over two hundred painted pearls in her hair. Unfortunately, Botticelli was eventually defeated by religious repression, and his Christ the Redeemer of circa 1500 was his only late painting in which he still showed an interest in hair. Read full article here
Egg prices are soaring this year, up a whopping 49%, and the main culprit is bird flu. This is the worst outbreak in US history, with 57.7 million poultry birds infected. It’s not just the US that’s suffering either – Britain, Japan and other countries are also feeling the pinch, with chicken feed prices, energy prices and other factors driving up egg costs. The good news is, while egg prices remain high, chicken meat prices are starting to fall – due to the fact that broilers (birds used for meat) don’t live as long as layers (birds used for eggs). Read full article here
To the Chinese Emperor Zhu Di, it seemed as if he’d seen and experienced all that the world had to offer and that life was now boring. But then, the admiral Zheng He returned from the first great expedition of exploration. Of all the treasures and animals Zheng He brought with him, nothing sparked Zhu Di’s sense of wonder like the graceful awkwardness of the giraffe. The giraffe proved to him that he did indeed live in a wondrous and fascinating world, and we should let the giraffe remind us of the same. Read full article here
Edible cactus is a mainstay in Mexico, and it’s beginning to gain hold in America. The prickly pear cactus grows natively as far north as Connecticut, and it already sees scattered use throughout the US. Some farmers use it as a fence for crops and a magnet for pollinators, but it’s slowly becoming more popular as a true specialty crop. If the mass-market appeal is there, then the prickly pear cactus could be the next cash crop and a boon to sustainability. Read full article here
Does truth really exist? Alethic nihilism is the theory that nothing is true. This theory says that there are no true beliefs, no true assertions, no true anythings. For example, saying that the longest river in Ireland is the Shannon is not the truth but a fact. Another example is believing that there is a fly in your soup, and even if there really is, it is not the truth but the reality. If you think that this doesn’t make sense, well, that’s not true! Read full article here
Older millennials might remember hating brussel sprouts as a kid, but then coming around to enjoying them. This isn’t just because their palette changed; the sprouts actually do taste better now. When harvesting became mechanized in the 1960s, only extremely bitter varieties were suitable for the process. That resulted in 30 years of disgusting Brussels sprouts, before Dutch biotechnologists found the bitter compounds in the sprouts and painstakingly bred a better plant. Read full article here
