Culture

Bitcoin Exchange Berlin Is Bringing Digital Currency to Market

"While there was beer, it was less of a bar environment and more of a full-fledged street market. There was stuff perched up on crates, other products in a shopping cart. The DJ spun reggae records that kept the vibe chill and quiet. Business cards were exchanged, while others had their contact info on stamps to save paper. What makes this Berlin series different than the open air exchanges in New York, for example, is that people were actually buying and selling products, on top of the typical bitcoin exchange. Also, there were girls. And it was arty." Continue reading →

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These Are Heady Times for Glass Blowers’ High Art

"Now that marijuana has been legalized for medical purposes in 20 states, and for recreation in Washington and Colorado, makers of what is known as 'heady glass' are showcasing their work in art books and public competitions. There are as many as 12,000 head shops in the U.S., experts estimate. The Champs Trade Show, described as 'the premier counterculture B2B expo since 1999,' the show has grown from 4,300 square feet of exhibition space in its first year to 180,000 at its latest event in July at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Jeff Hirschfeld, the show's chief executive, estimates some exhibitors draw in more than $500,000 in sales." Continue reading →

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Petting & Walking With Cheetahs in Africa at Mukuni Big 5 Safaris

"When I first arrived in Zambia and a visit to the Devil’s Pool was unavailable, I immediately wanted to find out about interacting with cheetahs. The well mannered management at JollyBoys Backpackers Lodge in Zambia prompted a visit to the Mukuni Big 5 Safari Park. It wasn’t just walking with a cheetah they offer. It was also walking with lions and elephants as well. The company is on a mission to actively support the dying cheetah population. They have announced a captive breeding program to ensure that the population of cheetahs in the wild continues to grow. After raising the cubs they are released into the wild." Continue reading →

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Looters ransack Baghdad museum [2003]

"Unesco has urged the US and Britain to deploy troops at Iraq's key archaeological sites and museums to stop widespread looting and destruction. Armed men have been roaming the streets of Baghdad since the city was taken by US troops on Wednesday. A museum guard said that since Thursday, hundreds of looters had carried away artefacts on carts and wheelbarrows. The museum's deputy director said looters had taken or destroyed 170,000 items of antiquity dating back thousands of years. 'They were worth billions of dollars,' she said. 'The Americans were supposed to protect the museum. If they had just one tank and two soldiers nothing like this would have happened.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLooters ransack Baghdad museum [2003]

Egypt’s political chaos decimates historical treasures

"Magdy Tahami looks in disbelief at what remains of Egypt’s tiny Mallawi museum. The ground is littered with glass from the display cabinets, which once housed its precious collection, after a mob attacked and looted the building, during a nationwide crackdown on Islamist protesters. Before, hundreds of antiquities, statuettes, gold and jewels told the history of Egypt, from pharaonic times to the Muslim caliphs, from the Omayyad dynasty in the 7th century to the Fatimids in the 12th, and touching on Greek and Roman antiquities. For 20 years, these historic treasures were assistant-director Tahami’s whole life." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEgypt’s political chaos decimates historical treasures

Guarding Kerala’s Great Temple Treasures

"How much is the treasure, which has been estimated at up to one trillion rupees ($19 billion), actually worth? 'We have no idea because the digital inventory is going on,' he says before giving a mini inventory of his own, listing the items he has seen in the vaults. Mr. Harikumar estimates that the inventory of Vault A will take another year to complete – it began in February, with 3D images taken of each artifact with equipment provided by state-owned Keltron, an electronics specialist. Five of the six chambers have been opened but Vault B remains closed after a submission to the Supreme Court from the Travancore royal family that said opening it could unleash a curse." Continue reading →

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Calvin & Hobbes Creator’s Life Lessons Become Beautiful New Comic

"As much as I'd have loved it if comic-creator Bill Watterson had kept working forever, there's something bittersweet about the fact that Calvin & Hobbes is no more. While Calvin and his pet tiger may never go on a new adventure, we can continue to learn lessons from Watterson and his creations, as evidenced by this new comic by Zen Pencils artist Gavin Aung Than. The comic below is Than's rendition of an excerpt from Bill Watterson's 1990 speech at Kenyon College (site of David Foster Wallace's famous 'This Is Water' speech, as it happens). It is just lovely. Read it, and prepare to feel emotions." Continue reading →

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In Bhutan, a stock trade a day keeps stress away [2009]

"The outside world is coming to Bhutan, slowly. Television arrived here in 1999 and there are now around 10,000 Internet connections in a country of under 700,000 people. Bhutan still has no traffic lights since the first one was withdrawn after protests from residents that it was unsightly. In the stock exchange's bare trading floor, computers sit on sparse wooden desks. There are no TVs on the walls, no shouts into telephones, no empty coffee cups or discarded paper. Peldon, dressed in traditional Bhutanese dress, typed in her one trade for the day before an 11 am deadline, when buy and sell orders are matched up by computer software that has not been updated since 1993." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIn Bhutan, a stock trade a day keeps stress away [2009]

102-year-old woman parachutes from Idaho bridge

"Dorothy Custer celebrated turning 102 on Sunday by parachuting from a bridge in Idaho. For her 101st birthday last year, Custer zip-lined over the Snake River Canyon. This year, however, she told KMTV that she had planned to have a 'very calm birthday.' But those plans changed when her family gave her a tandem jump with professional BASE jumper, Sean Chuman, for her birthday. In BASE jumping — which stands for Buildings, Antennas, Spans, and Earth — participants jump off of platforms and then parachute to the ground. 'That was a thrill,' Custer says just after landing. 'But it was so quick! It was over with before I knew it.' 'There’s nothing much left to do but just live now,' she explains." Continue reading →

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The search for the world’s biggest BASE jump!

"Patrick Kerber opened a new exit point, by wingsuit BASE jumping off the Wengen-Jungfrau peak in Switzerland. Exit Point: Wengen-Jungfrau Peak, 4060m; Rockdrop: 138m; Landing: Lauterbrunnen; Flyable Altitude: 3240m; Time in Freefall: 2min 03s" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe search for the world’s biggest BASE jump!