That's Interesting
-
Can Western universities survive without China?
03rd September, 2020Some universities fear they have become too financially dependent on fee-paying Chinese students – and thanks to Covid-19, many of them are staying away this year. Salvatore Babones, an associate professor at the University of Sydney, says Australia is particularly vulnerable to this, while Vivienne Stern of Universities UK says it’s just one of a number of serious concerns for UK and US universities.
Read More -
What Did the Roman Emperors Look Like?
28th August, 2020“Using the neural-net tool Artbreeder, Photoshop and historical references, I have created photoreal portraits of Roman Emperors,” writes designer Daniel Voshart. “For this project, I have transformed, or restored (cracks, noses, ears etc.) 800 images of busts to make the 54 emperors of The Principate (27 BC to 285 AD).”
Read More -
How Risky is Australian Household Debt?
25th August, 2020Household debt levels have increased considerably over the past 30 years, both in Australia and elsewhere. In Australia, and other countries with relatively high household indebtedness, this is consistently cited as a key risk to financial and macroeconomic stability.
Read More -
One of the Oldest Buddhist Manuscripts Has Been Digitized & Put Online: Explore the Gandhara Scroll
14th August, 2020Buddhism goes way back — so far back, in fact, that we’re still examining important evidence of just how far back it goes. At the the blog of the Library of Congress, you can read online the Gandhara Scroll which has been laboriously and carefully unrolled and scanned, and which, having originally been written about two millennia ago, ranks as one of the oldest Buddhist manuscripts currently known.
Read More -
The Strange Costumes of the Plague Doctors Who Treated 17th Century Victims of the Bubonic Plague
11th August, 2020In the 17th and 18th centuries,with the bubonic plague sweeping Europe, plague doctors wandered towns and countryside in a “fanciful-looking costume [that] typically consisted of a head-to-toe leather or wax-canvas garment,” writes the Public Domain Review, “large crystal glasses; and a long snout or bird beak, containing aromatic spices (such as camphor, mint, cloves, and myrrh), dried flowers (such as roses or carnations), or a vinegar sponge.”
Read More -
Jackie McLean: Bluesnik (1961) Blue Note (updated)
10th August, 2020LondonJazzCollector posted: “Continuing with the theme of Blue, and Blue Note, after Blue Hour, welcome Bluesnik, and my very odd Liberty mono edition Selection: Bluesnik (McLean) . . . Artists Freddie Hubbard, trumpet; Jackie McLean, alto sax; Kenny Drew, piano; Doug Watkin”
Read More -
How Ornette Coleman Shaped the Jazz World: An Introduction to His Irreverent Sound
10th August, 2020Ornette Coleman “arrived in New York in 1959,” writes Philip Clark, “with a white plastic saxophone and a set of ideas about improvisation that would shake jazz to its big apple core.” Every big name in jazz was doing something similar at the time, inventing new styles and languages. Coleman went further out there than anyone, infuriating and frustrating other jazz pioneers like Miles Davis.
Read More -
View 250,000 British Paintings & Sculptures Free Online
10th August, 2020With a viral pandemic bringing travel bans and restrictions down on the entire world, the days of traipsing around the world for Instagram impressions, or saving and scraping for that vacation honeymoon, or making even more important journeys, may be on hold indefinitely. Fortunately, art galleries worldwide have been preparing their collections for independent lives online, with ultra-high-resolution photography; materials that rarely appear on view in any form; and more context than visitors typically get on a guided tour.
Read More