A 13-year-old eagle huntress in Mongolia – Photo by Asher Svidensky
The Kazakhs of the Altai mountain range in western Mongolia are the only people that hunt with golden eagles, William Kremer says at the BBC World Service. Today there are around 400 practicing falconers.
Photographer Asher Svidensky took pictures of five boys learning the skill – and Ashol-Pan, the daughter of a particularly celebrated hunter.
Hunting with eagles
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The 13 greatest opening lines from novels of the 1950s
There are many things that make us read the first page of a book, JPW tells us at Whizzpast.
It can be an author’s reputation, a favorable review, a recommendation by a trusted friend or a breathtaking cover. Yet all these pale into insignificance compared against the importance of a wonderful opening line.
There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. —C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
Great opening lines
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10 Words and Phrases You Won’t Believe Are 100 Years Old
They may have been on people’s tongues even earlier, but 1914 marks the earliest year the lexicographers at the Oxford English Dictionary could document these words and phrases in print, Judith B Herman tells us at Mental Floss.
Big screen: A hundred years ago, before there was television with its small screen to provide contrast, the big screen already meant the movies. The Fresno (Calif.) Morning Republican on October 24, 1914 reported, “The stage hands will devise noise effects to help carry out the illusion on the big screen.”
Old words
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The Underrated, Universal Appeal of Science Fiction
Why do so many readers still look down on the genre of Orwell and Atwood? Chris Beckett asks.
People who know me have read a book of mine out of curiosity and then told me, in some surprise, that they liked it—”even though I don’t normally like science fiction.” Indeed, when a short story collection of mine won a non-genre prize, it was apparently a surprise to the judges themselves: According to the chair of the judging panel, “none of [them] knew they were science-fiction fans beforehand.”
The assumption seems to be that a book that comes with a genre label like “science fiction” must necessarily be lightweight stuff—not really comparable with “non-genre” works.
The appeal of science fiction
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Libraries are dying? Think again
Like many visitors in Seattle, Glenn Nagel found himself in the city trying to avoid the rain. After wandering around, he eventually made his way to the Seattle Public Library to escape the dreary weather, Jareen Imam writes for CNN.
Glenn Nagel was awestruck by the Seattle Central Library
“It’s just an incredible building,” he said. “I spent an hour and a half just taking pictures, and while doing that, I was getting the idea that I should visit other libraries.”
This past year, Nagel has traveled to 12 libraries across the United States, photographing their shelves and hallways like an explorer.
The main public library in San Antonio was designed to tap into the city’s Hispanic heritage, according to Robey Architecture Inc.’s website.
Thriving libraries
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Quote of the Day
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Alma Alexander
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