Here’s some of our top picks for stories in culture:
Time: Syria’s Looted Past: How Ancient Artifacts Are Being Traded for Guns – Abu Khaled knows the worth of things. As a small-time smuggler living along the porous border between Syria and Lebanon, he has dabbled in antiquities as much as the cigarettes, stolen goods and weapons that make up the bulk of his trade. So when a smuggler from Syria brought him a small, alabaster statue of a seated man a few weeks ago, he figured that the carving, most likely looted from one of Syria’s two dozen heritage museums or one of its hundreds of archaeological sites, could be worth a couple thousand dollars in Lebanon’s antiquities black market. So he called his contacts in Beirut. But instead of asking for cash, he asked for something even more valuable: weapons”…Continue Reading
Mashable:Amazing Examples of Toilet Paper Tube Art [PICS] – You might think the cardboard tube inside a roll of toilet paper is useless beyond the bathroom, but you’d be wrong. Artist Anastassia Elias creates interesting, diorama-like scenes in the less than two-inch diameter of a cardboard toilet paper tube. The intricate artwork doubles as a unique shadow box. Adding light enhances the scene”…Continue Reading
The Atlantic: Can a Kids’ Toy Bring More Women Into Engineering? – Bob the Builder. Jimmy Neutron. Lego Man. Sid the Science Kid. Handy Manny. The science-loving, tower-building cartoon heroes popular among kids today are all boys, or — I suppose, in the case of Lego Man — men. Incidentally, so are about 90 percent of America’s engineers”…Continue Reading
Wooster Collective: THE TAMING OF THE BEASTS (PHOTOS) – I needed to bring the spirits of the African Rhinos into Asia. To help in the settling of their restless spirits. In 2010 there were 333 rhinos illegally killed for their horns in South Africa. In 2011 the total rose to 448. And as of September this year the total is recorded at 373 violent deaths. The current spike in demand of South African Rhino horn is driven primarily by medicinal demand from Asian countries mainly Vietnam and China, Malaysia, India and South Korea. Their horns are used presumably to treat fever, cancer and diabetes and as a detoxification tonic after over-indulgence”…Continue Reading
Photo by hovic – old aleppo album
