Headlines

David Hockney, iconic British artist known for his...

David Hockney, iconic British artist known for his colorful landscapes and pool scenes, dies at 88 . “His work is admired — loved is not too strong a word — by the millions who, worldwide, flock to see it because it presupposes an expectation of pleasure.”

A philosophy of home

The household is a community, as much as the state, and ancient philosophy had much more to say about it than we think - by Sandrine Bergès Read on Aeon

Nü Tennis

Every day, about 16,000,000 hours of tennis are played. The percentage of that devoted to tournament play approaches zero. So why is informal tennis built on a zero-sum model? In a game, every shot is designed to have the opponent fail. The goal is to have your opponent miss

Required Reading

This week: Jean Shin’s memorial to the trees of Greenwood Cemetery, the 250th anniversary nobody wants, Pride bar-hopping, and more.

This is clever & depressing: the Apocalypse Early...

This is clever & depressing: the Apocalypse Early Warning System tracks private jet activity. “In the event of an imminent nuclear apocalypse, we suspect that many people who have access to private jets will immediately take to the skies…”

A Hand-Drawn Visual Guide to Chili Peppers

For his great visual field guide to the chili peppers of the world , Erik Gauger hand-drew 176 peppers from India, South America, Korea, Thailand, Africa, and seemingly every other place on the Earth. Capsaicin, the compound that makes chili peppers hot is an evolutionary

John Thomson’s photos of China (1860s-70s) ....

John Thomson’s photos of China (1860s-70s) . “Unlike many other early photographers he didn’t spend all his time photographing palaces and ruins. He also captured a lot of daily life including peasants, merchants, and criminals.”