Culture

10 (Unwritten) Rules for Imitating an Accent 0
- Culture
- July 26, 2018
I heard a radio advertisement from the local zoo for an Australian Outback exhibit. The narrator spoke in a thick, caricature Aussie accent. It made me wonder: When is it acceptable to imitate an accent, and when is it taboo? After extensive internet research, here are 10 unwritten rules floating around in the internet ether
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Isaac Asimov’s ‘Foundation’: The Science Fiction Masterpiece You Probably Haven’t Read 0
- Culture
- July 25, 2018
What if we could use science to predict the future of humankind and, thereby, prevent the collapse of civilization as a result of wars, economic crises or any other unforeseen event that could endanger its existence? This is the starting point of the Foundation saga, a series of seven books written by the brilliant and
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Leonard Bernstein’s Search for Faith 0
- Culture
- July 24, 2018
”I’m no longer quite sure what the question is, but I do know that the answer is Yes.” Thus did Leonard Bernstein famously conclude his Norton Lectures on the nature of music at Harvard University, 1973. This year we commemorate the 100th anniversary of Bernstein’s birth Aug. 25, a good time to unpack his statement.
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$3 Million Government Study Finds Link Between Excessive Drinking and Aggressive Nightclub Behavior 0
- Culture
- July 24, 2018
Perhaps unaware of centuries of evidence that suggests some kind of connection between excessive alcohol consumption and aggressive behavior on the part of revelers, including its own, the U.S. government launched a series of studies to learn more in 2014. Since then, the cumulative tab for the ongoing studies into the behavior of alcohol-consuming nightclub
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George Orwell Knew We’d Buy the Screens That Are Used Against Us 0
- Culture
- July 24, 2018
Sales of George Orwell’s utopian novel 1984 (1949) have spiked twice recently, both times in response to political events. In early 2017, the idea of ‘alternative facts’ called to mind Winston Smith, the book’s protagonist and, as a clerk in the Ministry of Truth, a professional alternator of facts. And in 2013, the US National
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What Living in a Single-Sex Dorm Has Taught Me About Men and Women 0
- Culture
- July 23, 2018
The college I attend is admittedly not your average college. We have no majors and no minors. We have no professors and no lectures, and I’ve not cracked open a textbook in the entire time I’ve been here. We don’t have many tests at all. (Don’t worry, we still learn—just not in the conventional way). Most
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