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August 18, 2025 | Time

The Long Global History of Ghosts

Amost two centuries ago, Irish immigrants brought a festival called Samhain to North America. Samhain had ancient pagan roots. It was celebrated as a harvest festival at the end of October, but also marked a day when the veil between this world and the next was at its thinnest. The Irish brought Samhain to the New World in the late 1840s when a devastating potato famine forced millions of them to leave Ireland. They came to the New World aboard “coffin ships,” thus named for their high death rat
December 18, 2024 | Time

What to Know About the Real Y2K Problem Before You Watch Y2K

Nearly 25 years after the year 2000 began without the much-hyped possible computer catastrophe, Y2K is enjoying a resurgence as Americans become nostalgic for the late '90s and early '00s. The computer cataclysm that never happened is now enjoying a cultural moment, whether as a sight gag in Abbott Elementary, a plot device in The Righteous Gemstones, or as the theme of a new apocalyptic comedy aptly named Y2K. In that movie, a group of teens fight for their lives after Y2K results in a sort of
September 4, 2024 | Time

Bangladesh’s Protests Have Been Decades in the Making

In early July, thousands of protesters took to the streets of Bangladesh after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s proposed 30% reservation, or quotas, in the public sector jobs for descendants of muktijoddhas (freedom fighters), or veterans of Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence. Previously, the government had reserved a certain number of jobs for minority and oppressed groups, including disabled people, women, and people from underdeveloped districts. The largest number of seats, 30%, however, wa
July 18, 2024 | Time

J.D. Vance’s Vision of Appalachia Is Nothing New

On Monday, Donald Trump announced his vice-presidential nominee: freshman Republican Senator J.D. Vance, who has made a name for himself over the past decade thanks to the success of his 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy. That book catapulted Vance into the political spotlight with a superficial account of the plight of the white working class, especially in Appalachia. It spotlighted the myriad problems Appalachian families face as they attempt to distance themselves from decades of abuse, alcoholis