Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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The London Eye: Some Facts You May Want to Gaze at
The people at confused.com seem to spend quite a bit of time commissioning infographics like these. They’re not overly beautiful, but convert what would otherwise be a pretty insufferable tour into an informative browsing experience. We’re passing this on to you now.
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Adventures of a 00 Agent – The Herzog Affair
Why don’t we do it in the road? Why not indeed, Mr. McCartney. While we’re at it why not in Paddington Station, the jungle or an old car parts factory in Digbeth? Let me beat you to the blush, I’m referring to the joy of singing, not sex, opera not operatics. For opera has long been making love to its audience in the strangest of places. One rendezvous in the early Noughties, orchestrated by an unlikely matchmaker, BBC3, was at Paddington station. At 9pm a flash-mob dressed as football fans converged upon the concourse and belted-out Madam Butterfly. A year before, The Birmingham Opera Company staged Bernstein’s Candide in a dilapidated manufacturing plant. Hardly the setting for romance but both critics and the local community were love-struck.
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A Splendid Day Out With The Bulls
A sweeper arrives on the scene of the matador’s latest conquest at the Málaga bullring in August 2011. The bull’s trail leaves an undignified smear across the arena.
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Jesus Spotted in Topanga Canyon, Los Angeles
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Dunwich: The Town That Keeps Falling Into The Sea
There was once a perfectly placed natural harbour at Dunwich but, while there was a Roman outpost there, it wasn’t until around 630 AD, when Saint Felix came bounding over from France holding the…
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Paphos: Sex Centre of The Ancient World
Everyone, everywhere in Cyprus, will at some point mention the goddess, be it to sell you a villa or a bottle of wine. I challenge you to name more heavily marketed deity. But there’s nothing new under the heavens and when it comes to exploiting the famously sexy lady, the ancients were equally adept. Thanks to establishing the island as a cult centre for Aphrodite, thousands of pilgrims from all over the eastern Mediterranean were drawn to the festivals held in her name, including the four day long Aphrodisia. We might think of it as sex tourism but to the pagan societies of the period, the fornication, rituals and orgies conducted in the name of Aphrodite were sanctified as well as advantageous. Sacred prostitution, mentioned in the Golden Bough, placated the gods and protected the land from famine and drought by activating the reproductive forces of nature. Stass Paraskos, author of Aphrodite, The Mythology of Cyprus, paints an interesting picture of Paphos, a city on the west coast, which was the centre of the cult.
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Occupy Wall Street: Leadership Vacancy
‘Inchoate’ was a word often used to describe the Occupy Wall Street gatherings. It’s unclear whether those watching from their armchairs would make the best candidates to lend some greater coherency to the movement. (Photo credit: Hana Seligman)
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Photos: The World of London Boxing & Cage-Fighting
The trials and tribulations of Rocky and his life may tell a heart-warming story on the silver screen, but fight nights in London are less about the fortunes of a chosen few and more about a gamble on a cast of many; it is not uncommon to have around 24 fighters passing in and out of the ropes on a single saturday night.
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Generation Skill: Playing Sonic The Hedgehog With my Mum
I think video games are fascinating: as works of design, as a medium of art and as a development of cultural importance. As a consequence, I decided to attempt an…
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Video: Qatari Investment in Marbella Includes Epic Orchestral Soundtrack
From Nasir Bin Abdullah and Sons comes a €400 million mega-plan to attract wealthy visitors to Spain’s famously over-developed Costa Del Sol. The Al Thani Port appears to contain luxury residential property as well as commercial space. Once opened, it is unclear whether there will be a tax to inhibit or prevent poor people from marking up the new floors or asking how much things cost.
Got any book recommendations?