Salomé’s Dance

An evening pause: Music by Charles Barber. This comes from the 1913 silent film, Salomé, based on an Oscar Wilde play. Rarely seen, the movie represents a very early attempt to do something “edgy”. It succeeds about as well as modern “edgy” films, showing us a very shallow representation of human existence. But the visuals give us a glimpse into that early film world, when sets and costume were usually the only way to show something strange and striking.

Hat tip Judd Clark.

Real Space – Every Space Station Size Comparison

An evening pause: Some quick visual space station history. Note how almost all the non-U.S. stations are essentially assembled using revisions of the same early Soviet-era modules. Note too how the future private stations are all very different from each other. The contrast illustrates the difference between what you get when governments control everything, and when competition and freedom rule.

Hat tip Edward Thelen.

Voidwalkeraudio – Desire

An evening pause: The visuals come from the 1927 German film by Fritz Lang, Metropolis, and cover the scene dubbed “Maria’s Dance.” You can see the full movie here, as well as many other places on line.

Hat tip Judd Clark, who adds, “To understand what’s going on here, one needs to see the whole movie, preferably the latest restored version, and to really understand, one needs to read Lang’s wife Thea Von Harbou’s book “Metropolis”.

Simon Sinek – How great leaders inspire action

An evening pause: Though I do not think his hypothesis goes far enough, this short TED talk posits some intriguing ideas about leadership. And it seems somehow appropriate today on the Ides of March, which also makes me wonder what Julius Caesar (and other successful leaders, both good and evil) would think of these ideas.

Hat tip Doug Johnson.

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