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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

These Gorgeous Photos Capture China’s Quickly Vanishing Traditional Ways of Life

A new book of photography addresses the tumultuous changes currently rocking China and seeks to capture traditional ways of life that may soon disappear

The symbol of the Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest yakuza family and the ones who put out their new magazine.

Japanese Mafia Has Its Own Magazine

Looking to boost morale, the Japanese crime syndicate is putting out a magazine

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Russian Authorities Are Deciding If It’s Illegal to Paint Putin in a Negligee

Russian police are flexing their newly appointed authority under the country’s anti-gay propaganda law

Strikes began in July in New York, and have now spread to the South.

Why It’s a Big Deal That Fast Food Strikes Have Spread to the South

Fast food workers are asking for more money and to unionize, something that’s unusual to see in the South

Saving the Last of the Great Carousels

The ornate, well made carousels of the past are in danger - degrading, being sold piecemeal and sometimes even for parts

Can Wikipedia Edits Predict Box Office Success?

How do you quantify the buzz around a movie? One group of researchers suggests looking at Wikipedia edits

How Old Are Dumplings?

Were cavemen making them?

Computer Programmer Creates Beautiful Watercolor Paintings With Code

Sometimes it’s astonishing how good computer programmers are at making computers do a whole number of things you might never imagine a machine should do

Football Team Losses Make Fans Eat Their Feelings

A fan’s closeness to his team may be so tied up in his personal identity that his body interprets the loss as an effrontery to his own psyche

Blind People Can Still Identify Race (And Be Racist)

People’s idea of race has far less to do with what people look like, and far more to do with what society teaches us about what people are like

Damaged goods

Just Denting an Aluminum Can Makes People Less Likely to Recycle It

Cutting up paper, too.

LinkedIn Has a Pitch for Teens: Create a Profile You Actually Want to Show Colleges

LinkedIn’s grand scheme is to modernize the college application process, but first it has to convince teens to sign up for an account

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Queen Guitarist Brian May Explains Exactly How Bohemian Rhapsody Was Made

Hear, piece-by-piece, how one of the greatest rock songs was put together

What Happens to the Internet When Google Goes Down?

For five minutes on Friday, Google.com went down. While it was down the internet saw a 40% drop in traffic

Before Crime Novels, the Late Elmore Leonard Specialized in Westerns

The author was in the middle of a 46th novel when he passed away following complications from a stroke

Millennials’ Raucous “Hookup Culture” Is All a Big Myth

From the 80s to today, college-aged kids aren’t having any more sex than before

Getty Just Made 4,600 Incredible Images Public Domain

These images must still be credited, but they can be used for both commercial and non-commercial material

An emergency call center

911 Won’t Always Know Your Location If You Call From a Cell Phone

Among the networks, AT&T and T-Mobile seem to be the biggest culprits at leaving out pertinent location information when customers make emergency calls

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Who Are the 2.8 Million Non-Hispanic Americans Who Speak Spanish at Home?

There are 37.6 million Americans who speak Spanish at home, but only 34.8 million self-identify as Hispanic

In Venezuela, Human Hair Is Hot on the Black Market

The thieves—both men and women—grab their long-haired victim or hold her at gun or knife point, then cut her hair off at the base of the pony tail

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