April 5, 2013

When Was the Last Time This Happened?

Daniel Honan

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Today’s date is 4/5/2013–all different digits. When was the last time this happened?

The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.

Mini Philosophy

Lessons from the Roman Empire about the danger of luxury

Are we enslaved by the finer things in life?

A colorful abstract painting is centered over a black-and-white collage of old newspaper clippings featuring portraits and articles.

Smart Skills

The creativity hack no one told you about: Read the obits

Reading obituaries can boost creativity by exposing you to distant ideas, fueling the associations that lead to unexpected breakthroughs.

A man in a suit sits on a chair against a white backdrop, with illustrated green skyscrapers, solar panels, and trees in the background.

A liberal critique of liberalism: What needs to change

“The disease is the fact that liberalism, which used to be an ideology of building, has become an ideology of blocking.”

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01:17:12 min

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with

Derek Thompson

Visualization of a section through the large-scale structure of the universe highlighting cosmic web patterns and distributions.

Starts With A Bang

Ask Ethan: Is dark energy just leftover momentum from the Big Bang?

Since 1998, we’ve known our Universe isn’t just expanding, but the expansion is accelerating. Could the Big Bang itself be the reason why?

Man in a dark shirt smiling against a purple background with black scribbles and a white rectangle, reminiscent of "The Year of Living Biblically," embracing the chaos with serene humor.

Books

What happens when you follow the Bible literally for a whole year?

A.J. Jacobs looks back at what he learned about religion, himself, and modern American culture during “The Year of Living Biblically.”

Up Next

Why Afghanistan is Still Relevant

I think we would like our friends outside of Afghanistan to ask why Afghanistan is important to the world and why the world should persist with Afghanistan. And my answer to […]