Guest Thinkers — June 27, 2011

Photos of Historic NYC Pride March

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

The 31st annual New York City Pride March was held just two days after Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill making New York the sixth and largest state to achieve equal marriage. The firs marriage licenses for same-sex couples will be available on July 24.

Sex advice columnist Dan Savage and husband Terry Miller served as Grand Marshals of Sunday’s parade, in honor of their spectacularly successful viral video campaign against LGBT youth suicide, “It Gets Better.”

Check out my complete photo set from NYC Pride 2011.

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Culture & Religion

President Obama Joins the “It Gets Better Project”

The online video series, created by sex columnist Dan Savage and his husband Terry in response to recent LGBT teen suicides, has reached the White House. Savage talks to Big Think about its success.

Map displaying a rail route from Helsinki to Bruxelles, passing through cities like Tallinn, Riga, Warsaw, Berlin, and Hamburg. Northern and Central Europe countries are labeled.

Strange Maps

In the Baltics, 85 millimeters separate East from West

A new railway will switch the Baltic region’s train gauge from Soviet to standard European — a megaproject with political, economic, and military dimensions.

Poster for the 1939 New York World's Fair, featuring a stylized skyline, ocean liner, and the slogan "The World of Tomorrow," encapsulating future visions that captivate imaginations and inspire exploration.

The Future

The future in 1939: Microfilm and Elektro the Moto-Man

By looking back at future dreams we can see our current hopes and visions in a whole new light.

einstein general relativity curved spacetime

Starts With A Bang

The fabric of space is a Cheshire Cat

Most waves need a medium to travel through. But the way that light and gravitational waves travel show that space can’t be a medium at all.

A drawing of a dragon on a pile of gold, symbolizing hope.

High Culture

“Eucatastrophe”: Tolkien on the secret to a good fairy tale

For J.R.R. Tolkien, the single most important element of a fairy tale was the dramatic reversal of misfortune in the story’s ending.

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