Are you preparing your summer vacation itinerary? Or perhaps, are you looking for places to visit in the United States? Curbed created a list of their favorite tours, sites, and buildings in the United States -- “for architecturally minded travelers to add to their itinerary”: 

1. Sea Ranch 
2. Portland Building 
3. Golden Gate Bridge 
4. Hallidie Building 
5. SFMOMA
6. Space Needle
7. Gas Works Park
8. Hearst Castle
9. The Majestic Yosemite Hotel
10. Eames House
11. Sheats-Goldstein House
12. Schindler House
13. Stahl House
14. Griffith Observatory 
15. Frank Lloyd Wright Hollyhock House
16. The Broad Museum
17. The Gamble House
18. Chicano Park
19. Spiral Jetty 
20. Arcosanti
21. David & Gladys Wright House
22. Taliesin West
23. Aspen Art Museum
24. Denver Art Museum
25. United States Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel 
26. Judd Foundation 
27. Klyde Warren Park
28. Dallas Pritzker District
29. Fair Park Dallas
30. Price Tower
31. Menil Drawing Institute
32. Saint John’s Abbey and University Church
33. Whitney Plantation
34. Gateway Arch
35. Piazza d’Italia
36. Jazz Houses: Where They Lived 
37. Farnsworth House
38. Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory
39. Milwaukee Art Museum 
40. Unity Temple 

I’ve listed the first 40 places for your convenience. If these 40 locations seem inadequate for your curious adventurous self, then you might wanna check the full list over at Curbed! Happy tour itinerary hunting! 

image credit: Cary Bass via wikimedia commons

Instagram takes us behind the scenes on a textile artist's creative process on the first installment of their #HiddenGems series. Melbourne-based, Cat (@cat-rabbit) shows her process in creating her textile dolls, also the story behind how she started making stop motion videos on her account.



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Melbourne-based textile artist Cat (@cat_rabbit) takes us behind the scenes of her world in our first installment of our new weekly series that uncovers unique and treasured accounts — they’re the real #HiddenGems of Instagram. 💎 ✨

A post shared by Instagram (@instagram) on Jun 22, 2019 at 10:54am PDT

Each creation has a different story to tell, and Cat makes sure she can amplify that through her videos as well. These stop motion videos may be short and simple, but the effort, creativity, and artistry is beyond its running time.

image credit: cat-rabbit on Instagram

Millenials are known for their short attention span, love for social media, and being able to articulate their opinions in Twitter's 280-word limit. Bridget Read fears that these are the reasons why millennials could kill opera, as their limited time and effort is not what the field asks for in terms of full appreciation: 

The sheer nerdiness required of the true opera fan, who is reading, listening, and viewing as well as understanding the composer and the piece in their historical contexts, and knowing the performers and conductors—all at the same time for hours on end.

With the advent of technology and the pressing issues of fending for themselves, it is evident that there is a limited time allotment for leisurely activity (which also plays into the millennial’s short attention span). But of course, besides the millenials' own culture and habit not meeting what the field needs, there is also the issue of economy:

Behind these allegations is, of course, the world’s deeply troubled economy, which has effectively made it unlikely that most of us will be able to afford what our parents could.

With all her points laid out on the table, is there a chance that millennials - or alternatively, the current generation would lead opera to its demise? 



image credit: Reto Albertalli (Courtesy of Rolex) via Vogue

Sexism in the workplace seems to be quite common, especially in professions that are “male-coded”. In the academia, however, one would expect a bit less of that. 

A viral twitter thread by a female lecturer at the University of Melbourne proves otherwise. Hannah McCann got sick of being told what not to wear that she took to the Internet to make a guide for her fellow academics of what to actually wear to get ahead in the industry.

Some say you should never wear large earrings when you give a talk because it implies you want to distract the audience. If you want to wear large earrings but not be thought an idiot, why not distract the audience from their femmephobic critique with this very fine banana hat pic.twitter.com/y4ZPVL16st

— Hannah McCann (@binarythis) July 8, 2019

It's hilarious, of course - obviously made to mock the way people dictate what women should wear so they could be more respectable in their eyes. Then again, nothing does say “respect and obey me” like a horse demon costume.

(via The Huffington Post)

image credit: via Hannah McCann

Finding the lack of stock photos for people falling outside gender norms unsatisfactory, Vice editors and Zackary Drucker teamed up to create a stock photo library to fill the gap.The Gender Spectrum Collection showcases trans and non-binary models in all aspects of everyday life. The collection was also created to show more representation than standing in front of a flag:

“There are so few images of trans and gender non-conforming people in stock imagery. Typing transgender into a search engine yields results that are generic – a white trans woman in front of a trans flag, and that’s pretty much it,” says Drucker. “We were interested in revealing trans and non-binary people in everyday life: falling in love, taking selfies, gossiping, going to school, waiting for a bus. Our identities are so often sensationalised, but we navigate the world and are embedded in society in ordinary ways.”

Even if they are people outside the norm, they are also people who navigate their lives as much as the normal people do - and they deserve proper representation and treatment as well.

(Via The Guardian )

images via The Gender Spectrum Collection

Scientists have now debunked a major fuel to the fire that is white imperialism and racism: the existence of ‘pure Europeans’. National Geographic details the wonders of paleogenetics and DNA identification, and how technology was able to swipe the notions of European purity to dust.

New evidence suggests that ancestral Europeans are in fact a culmination of different races and cultures:

Their findings suggest that the continent has been a melting pot since the Ice Age. Europeans living today, in whatever country, are a varying mix of ancient bloodlines hailing from Africa, the Middle East, and the Russian steppe.

Three major movements of people, it now seems clear, shaped the course of European prehistory. Immigrants brought art and music, farming and cities, domesticated horses and the wheel. They introduced the Indo-European languages spoken across much of the continent today. They may have even brought the plague. The last major contributors to western and central Europe’s genetic makeup—the last of the first Europeans, so to speak—arrived from the Russian steppe as Stonehenge was being built, nearly 5,000 years ago. They finished the job.

All these pieces of evidence point that Europe is a continent of immigrants and that there is no such thing as ‘racial purity’ - unlike what some people love to insist.

image credit : Rémi Bénali via National Geographic

There is a belief that human bonds are formed through common interests, but it seems that this also applies for dolphins. A study conducted on the bottlenose dolphins residing in Shark Bay (an Australian World Heritage Site) revealed that male dolphins spend time with their fellows that share the same interests as them:

The researchers analysed the behaviour of 37 male dolphins – 13 ‘spongers’ and 24 ‘non-spongers’ – in Shark Bay over nine years from 2007 to 2015.

The male spongers spent significantly more time with other spongers, and this was nothing to do with whether they were related. In other words, it was their common interest that brought them together.

Foraging with a sponge was long thought incompatible with the needs of male dolphins in Shark Bay – i.e. to invest time in forming close alliances with other males,” said Dr Simon Allen, co-author of the study and biologist at the University of Bristol. “This study suggests that, like their female counterparts and indeed like humans, male dolphins form social bonds based on shared interests.”

It looks like dolphins of the same interests, pod together!

image credit: Gregory "Slobirdr" Smith via wikimedia commons

There is hope for regaining a paralysed person’s movement, as researchers from Australia has found a way to give back hand and arm movement to them. The Huffington Post has the details: 

According to a study published in The Lancet, two years after surgery and following intensive physical therapy, participants were able to reach their arm out in front of them and open their hand to pick up and manipulate objects.

Lead researcher Dr Natasha van Zyl from Austin Health in Melbourne, Australia told HuffPost UK the surgery is “a life-changing event” which enables people to do everyday tasks without the use of aids and adaptive devices.

“Most often we are reconstructing elbow extension, hand opening, grasp and pinch,” she explained. “After reconstruction people can hold a drink, use cutlery, brush their hair or teeth, put on makeup, handle money, pick up objects, use tools and use electronic devices more easily and independently.”

imag credit: via medical news today

In some shocking news : The Wolf of Wall Street Producer Riza Aziz has been charged with embezzling millions of dollars from the Malaysian government. The Guardian has the details: 

Riza, who ran a Hollywood production company Red Granite Pictures, appeared in a Kuala Lumpur court on Friday morning charged with five counts of money laundering, accused of receiving $248 million into Swiss bank accounts from the Malaysian state fund 1MDB, which was controlled by Najib. Each charge carries a five-year jail sentence.

Red Granite was a relative unknown on the Hollywood scene before it stumped up $100m to help director Martin Scorsese make The Wolf of Wall Street. Three months after shooting began, Red Granite also presented the film’s star, Leonardo DiCaprio, with the Oscar given to Marlon Brando for On the Waterfront, worth around $600,000, as a lavish birthday present. DiCaprio has since surrendered the statue as part of the 1MDB investigation.

It looks like the producer of a crime movie has his own fair share of crime (allegedly).

image credit: Reuters via The Guradian

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake has hit Southern California, a day after the region has been rocked by its strongest tremor in 20 years. This earthquake has caused fires, power shortages, and damaged roads: 

"The quake did last for some time," said Mark Ghilarducci, director of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, about Friday's tremor. "It was felt widely throughout most of Southern California and even as far north here as Sacramento. The shaking intensity was very significant."

In light of the events, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared states of emergency for both Kern and 

San Bernardino counties as the quakes damaged homes and infrastructure. The governor also made a formal request for federal assistance.

Ghilarducci said Ridgecrest and the town of Trona both reported fires from gas leaks, damaged roads, and thousands without power.

WATCH: @CBSLA anchors seek shelter under desk during live broadcast when 6.9 magnitude Southern California earthquake strikes pic.twitter.com/hB7wyWulQD

— Evan Rosenfeld (@Evan_Rosenfeld) July 6, 2019

The earthquake also tested news anchors’ stop, drop, and hold as they were broadcasting : 

In Los Angeles, news anchors Juan Fernandez and Sara Donchey at the local CBS station were broadcasting live as Friday's quake hit.

“We’re experiencing very strong shaking," a visibly concerned Donchey told viewers as she and her colleague looked up at the rattling studio lights.

"I think we need to get under the desk.”



image credit: screenshot of the Interactive Map from US Geological Survey

People can find ways to gather support and morale boost. For the case of The Hanwha Eagles, a South Korean professional baseball team, the way was through technology. In a recent game, the team filled 3 rows of robots to cheer for them. Sora News 24 also adds a detail that makes the whole act interesting, and quite sad: 

It bears mentioning that the Eagles aren’t exactly doing well — “the team has finished last in their league four out of the last five years,” according to CTV, “so the seats taken up by the fanbots might be otherwise empty.”

The Fanbots are soulless machines, but they sure are enthusiastic.

image credit: SBS Korea via Sora News 24

A Roman shipwreck with ancient cargo has been discovered, surprisingly undisturbed. Reported by a team of two volunteer divers from University of Cyprus, this Roman shipwreck is loaded with ancient products. The Epoch Times has the details: 

Archaeologists have discovered an undisturbed Roman shipwreck loaded with ancient-era products, the study of which is expected to bring new understandings about ancient trade in the region.

The discovery was made in the sea off Protaras, a resort town popular among tourists for its beaches along the Mediterranean, according to a statement from the Department of Antiquities in the Republic of Cyprus.

A team of archaeologists is already at Protaras and is working on the documentation and protection of the site.

“The site is a wreck of a Roman ship, loaded with transport amphorae, most probably from Syria and Cilicia. It is the first undisturbed Roman shipwreck ever found in Cyprus, the study of which is expected to shed new light on the breadth and the scale of seaborne trade between Cyprus and the rest of the Roman provinces of the eastern Mediterranean,” said the Department of Antiquities.

image credit: Georges Jansoone via wikimedia commons

In the quest of further understanding one of the most mysterious (and vaguely terrifying) celestial objects in the universe, scientists have now managed to determine a black hole’s spin rate.  What was considered a difficult feat back then, has now been accomplished - and the results are quite astonishing: 

According to a study published in the Astrophysical Journal, the event horizon of one of these stellar objects is spinning close to or at the speed of light—around 670 million miles per hour. (The event horizon is the point of no return around a black hole past which not even light can escape.)

The four other black holes that the team of astronomers studied appear to be spinning at about half that rate. Furthermore, the scientists found that the vortex of material circling around one of the five black holes is spinning at around 70 percent of the speed of light.

The collection of dust and gas around a black hole—known as an accretion disk—becomes superheated to many millions of degrees as it gradually gets sucked it, generating X-ray light that astronomers can detect using specialized observatories.

The five black holes the team investigated for the latest study have masses between 160 and 500 million times that of our sun. They all are consuming matter from their accretion disk, causing them to grow rapidly.

These observations are significant because while we have been able to measure the mass of black holes with relative ease in the past, determining their spin rate has proven to be far harder. Such results can help scientists to understand how black holes grow and evolve over time.

( Via Newsweek )

image credit: wikimedia commons

Mat Westhorpe sent out a tweet in dejection, showing his nephew’s own way of coping through his illness was playing video games. This tweet turned out to be a catalyst for his nephew to spend his final days with joy and elation, all thanks to Westhorpe, and the video game community: 

There was nothing anybody could do for him; after almost six years of debilitating illness, all medical treatments had been exhausted or were no longer viable. We watched helplessly as this isolated, disabled and lonely autistic teenager unknowingly faced his final days.

Elite Dangerous had become a vital component of Michael’s care package. It is an online spaceship simulator set in a 1:1 scale approximation of the Milky Way galaxy, giving each player the freedom to explore its vast, austere beauty. It could be quite tranquil and very time consuming. Michael revelled in it. For us, it was a lifeline: I spent time with Michael in the game world as he tried to escape the suffering of the real one.

Facebook groups, Twitter and a post on the Elite forum (carefully tended by moderator TJ, to whom I owe many thanks for his diligence and diplomacy) were filled with other Elite players (CMDRs) clamouring to take Michael on excursions to the far side of the galaxy, to crew up and go to war, or to run rescue missions. CMDR Picard discovered a new Earth-like world, named it Michael’s Rest and offered to take Michael there.

Michael loved the attention. It was difficult to decide how much to share with him; his autism and experience of the last five years meant that his social tolerances were poor, so we tried to discourage too much contact with strangers on the internet. But the overwhelming kindness of this video game community was such a powerful, positive thing that it would have been a shame to keep Michael from it.

image credit: Matthew Westhorpe via The Guardian

Here’s an upcoming solution to hospitals’ treatment of burns and wounds : SpinCare. SpinCare is a medical device that “sprays on” a nanofiber skin that covers the wound area. Think of it as a bandage, but more spot on and faster. Fast Company has more details: 

Israeli startup Nanomedic Technologies Ltd., a subsidiary of medical device company Nicast, has invented a new mechanical contraption to treat burns, wounds, and surgical injuries by mimicking human tissue. Shaped like a children’s toy, the lightweight SpinCare emits a proprietary nanofiber “second skin” that completely covers the area that needs to heal.

All one needs to do is aim, squeeze the two triggers, and fire off an electrospun polymer material that attaches to the skin.

The product is already being tested in hospitals. In the coming year, following FDA clearance, Nanomedic plans to expand to emergency rooms, ambulances, military use, and disaster relief response like fire truck companies.

image credit: Nanomedic Technologies Ltd. via Fast Company