È morta a 88 anni Myriam Sarachik, una delle scienziate più importanti del pianeta non solo per la sua ricerca (notevole) ma per la sua vita e il ruolo che ha avuto nel definire il ruolo delle donne nel mondo accademico e della ricerca in America.
Money quote: "The New York-based scientist overcame sexism and personal tragedy to make major contributions to the field, for which she received recognition this year"
https://web.archive.org/web/20211012190222/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/31/science/myriam-sarachik-physics.html
Money quote: "The New York-based scientist overcame sexism and personal tragedy to make major contributions to the field, for which she received recognition this year"
https://web.archive.org/web/20211012190222/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/31/science/myriam-sarachik-physics.html
web.archive.org
Myriam Sarachik Never Gave Up on Physics (Published 2020)
The New York-based scientist overcame sexism and personal tragedy to make major contributions to the field, for which she received recognition this year.
C'è un villaggio in Slovacchia che per secoli ha girato intorno a se stesso. E non sono gli unici.
Money quote: "These buildings were put up roughly once every 30 or 40 years, and each time the skew was counterclockwise—a pattern that occurred consistently over the course of 300 years."
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/slovakia-neolithic-rotating-buildings
Money quote: "These buildings were put up roughly once every 30 or 40 years, and each time the skew was counterclockwise—a pattern that occurred consistently over the course of 300 years."
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/slovakia-neolithic-rotating-buildings
Atlas Obscura
The Mystery of Neolithic Slovakia’s Rotating Villages
It’s hard to think straight when your brain is asymmetric.
Il Wall Street Journal ci regala un singolo articolo che è contemporaneamente una delle cose più importanti da capire anche in Italia e un esempio di giornalismo da manuale. Senza spocchia, anzi in maniera piacevole.
Money quote: "What do the wealthy pay in federal taxes? On paper, the top marginal income-tax rate is 37% on ordinary income and 23.8% on capital gains. Government estimates put high-income filers’ average rates in the mid-20s.
A new Biden administration analysis, however, pegs the average tax rate for the 400 wealthiest households at 8.2% from 2010 to 2018. If that is right, the administration has a firmer case to raise taxes on the ultrarich.
But it isn’t so simple. To understand why, we’ll get to tax policy, but let’s start with fourth-grade math. Fractions!"
https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-the-income-tax-rate-on-the-rich-8-or-23-depends-on-whose-math-you-use-11633874400
Money quote: "What do the wealthy pay in federal taxes? On paper, the top marginal income-tax rate is 37% on ordinary income and 23.8% on capital gains. Government estimates put high-income filers’ average rates in the mid-20s.
A new Biden administration analysis, however, pegs the average tax rate for the 400 wealthiest households at 8.2% from 2010 to 2018. If that is right, the administration has a firmer case to raise taxes on the ultrarich.
But it isn’t so simple. To understand why, we’ll get to tax policy, but let’s start with fourth-grade math. Fractions!"
https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-the-income-tax-rate-on-the-rich-8-or-23-depends-on-whose-math-you-use-11633874400
WSJ
Is the Income-Tax Rate on the Rich 8%, or 23%? Depends on Whose Math You Use
A White House study says the wealthiest households pay an average tax rate of 8.2%. If that’s right, the Biden administration has a firmer case for raising taxes on the ultrarich.
L’incredibile successo della Southwest, la prima, vera low cost del pianeta: la “love airline”
Money quote: “Fifty. Five-O. No one who was there for the start-up of Southwest Airlines can quite believe that much time has passed. No one can believe how successful their irreverent little company has become, either. “I wish I’d had enough money to buy the stock in the early days,” says Gene Van Overschelde, one of the original pilots and the first head of Southwest’s pilots union. If he’d put just under $1,000 into the company’s stock in 1978, he would have more than $1.5 million today.”
https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/southwest-airlines-50-anniversary/
Money quote: “Fifty. Five-O. No one who was there for the start-up of Southwest Airlines can quite believe that much time has passed. No one can believe how successful their irreverent little company has become, either. “I wish I’d had enough money to buy the stock in the early days,” says Gene Van Overschelde, one of the original pilots and the first head of Southwest’s pilots union. If he’d put just under $1,000 into the company’s stock in 1978, he would have more than $1.5 million today.”
https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/southwest-airlines-50-anniversary/
Texas Monthly
Hot Pants, Love Potions, and the Go-go Genesis of Southwest Airlines
Fifty years ago this month, the Dallas-based carrier first took flight. It’s reflecting on its past as it confronts a pandemic-shaped future.
La morte di Kenzo ha lasciato un grande vuoto, anche un anno dopo
Money quote: "One of our biggest tributes to Kenzo was the spring 2018 show, where we designed for his muse and frequent collaborator Sayoko Yamaguchi and our muse Ryuichi Sakamoto. We cast 83 Asian models to walk the show. We used our time there to tell the younger versions of “us” that we matter and that we can reach these high places, just as his existence had told me. Kenzo came to all of our shows, and he was the celebrity I cared most about. I always ran up to him afterward, and he always told us how much he appreciated our efforts to keep the past alive."
https://www.thecut.com/2020/10/kenzo-takada-showed-me-a-different-way.html
Money quote: "One of our biggest tributes to Kenzo was the spring 2018 show, where we designed for his muse and frequent collaborator Sayoko Yamaguchi and our muse Ryuichi Sakamoto. We cast 83 Asian models to walk the show. We used our time there to tell the younger versions of “us” that we matter and that we can reach these high places, just as his existence had told me. Kenzo came to all of our shows, and he was the celebrity I cared most about. I always ran up to him afterward, and he always told us how much he appreciated our efforts to keep the past alive."
https://www.thecut.com/2020/10/kenzo-takada-showed-me-a-different-way.html
The Cut
Kenzo Takada Showed Me a Different Way to Be Asian in Fashion
Remembering the Japanese designer who changed my life.
"The Last Duel" racconta un Medioevo spietato - la mia recensione di un film da vedere scritta per Fumettologica
https://www.fumettologica.it/2021/10/the-last-duel-recensione-film-ridley-scott/
https://www.fumettologica.it/2021/10/the-last-duel-recensione-film-ridley-scott/
Fumettologica
"The Last Duel" racconta un Medioevo spietato
Ambientato nella Francia del Medioevo, "The Last Duel" di Ridley Scott racconta la condizione quasi surreale delle donne nel Medioevo.
Altro che olandese volante. Negli oceani da quarant'anni gira una balena che parla in falsetto. E questo ha generato una vera e propria leggenda tra gli umani. Chissà fra le balene.
Money quote: "Watkins and his team tracked the whale for more than a decade. They published a paper about the potential of underwater sound systems such as the Pentagon’s for tracking individual whales in 2004, but when the paper received mainstream media coverage, the whale entered the popular imagination. People began to wonder: if the whale was vocalizing on a different frequency to others, could other whales hear him? Could he hear them? Was he swimming the ocean, plaintively calling into the darkness? Was he alone? Was he … lonely?"
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jul/13/loneliest-whale-in-the-world-search
Money quote: "Watkins and his team tracked the whale for more than a decade. They published a paper about the potential of underwater sound systems such as the Pentagon’s for tracking individual whales in 2004, but when the paper received mainstream media coverage, the whale entered the popular imagination. People began to wonder: if the whale was vocalizing on a different frequency to others, could other whales hear him? Could he hear them? Was he swimming the ocean, plaintively calling into the darkness? Was he alone? Was he … lonely?"
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jul/13/loneliest-whale-in-the-world-search
the Guardian
The search for the loneliest whale in the world
When people learned he vocalized at a much higher pitch than other whales, they wondered: could other whales hear him? Was he plaintively calling, never hearing a reply? Was he lonely?
Anche io sostengo che sono un freelance e a lavorare da casa ci sono abituato da vent'anni. Ma questo articolo ricorda che il burnout è dietro l'angolo per tutti.
Money quote: "A year ago, I would have told you that the new workplace conditions of the pandemic would have little effect on me, since I’ve essentially been working like this all my life. But I now realize that my familiarity with working from home may be having a certain frog-boiling-in-water effect."
https://meghandaum.medium.com/i-work-so-much-im-sore-from-my-chair-6bfb32f4d736
Money quote: "A year ago, I would have told you that the new workplace conditions of the pandemic would have little effect on me, since I’ve essentially been working like this all my life. But I now realize that my familiarity with working from home may be having a certain frog-boiling-in-water effect."
https://meghandaum.medium.com/i-work-so-much-im-sore-from-my-chair-6bfb32f4d736
Medium
I Work So Much I’m Sore From My Chair
As a freelancer, I thought I was made for pandemic-style work life. Maybe I was wrong.
Abbiamo perso il controllo eel mondo (se mai l'avevamo avuto)
Money quote: "I am here to tell you that the reason so much of the world seems incomprehensible is that it is incomprehensible. From social media to the global economy to supply chains, our lives rest precariously on systems that have become so complex, and we have yielded so much of it to technologies and autonomous actors that no one totally comprehends it all.
In other words: No one’s driving"
https://onezero.medium.com/the-modern-world-has-finally-become-too-complex-for-any-of-us-to-understand-1a0b46fbc292
Money quote: "I am here to tell you that the reason so much of the world seems incomprehensible is that it is incomprehensible. From social media to the global economy to supply chains, our lives rest precariously on systems that have become so complex, and we have yielded so much of it to technologies and autonomous actors that no one totally comprehends it all.
In other words: No one’s driving"
https://onezero.medium.com/the-modern-world-has-finally-become-too-complex-for-any-of-us-to-understand-1a0b46fbc292
Medium
The Modern World Has Finally Become Too Complex for Any of Us to Understand
Vast systems, from automated supply chains to high-frequency trading, now undergird our daily lives — and we’re losing control of all of…
A quanto pare il disastro ferroviario per fortuna senza vittime (cinque feriti sul treno) è passato per adesso abbastanza inosservato da noi. Però il treno della Amtrak che centra la bisarca incastrata al passaggio a livello è una bomba.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03NkGLVbQLA
Money quote: "The driver and his dog were "shaken up" but uninjured in the collision, the sheriff's office said. Five people on board the train were transported to two area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, the sheriff said. All patients involved in the incident have been treated released, a spokesperson for the hospitals told ABC News Saturday afternoon, though couldn't confirm how many there were total."
https://abcnews.go.com/US/dramatic-video-shows-amtrak-train-slamming-semi-truck/story?id=80619175
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03NkGLVbQLA
Money quote: "The driver and his dog were "shaken up" but uninjured in the collision, the sheriff's office said. Five people on board the train were transported to two area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, the sheriff said. All patients involved in the incident have been treated released, a spokesperson for the hospitals told ABC News Saturday afternoon, though couldn't confirm how many there were total."
https://abcnews.go.com/US/dramatic-video-shows-amtrak-train-slamming-semi-truck/story?id=80619175
YouTube
Amtrak Train Collides With Semi Car Hauler in Oklahoma
An Amtrak train running between Fort Worth and Oklahoma City struck a truck carrying a number of cars that was across the tracks close to Thackerville, Love County.
Credit: Brandon Sampspn via Storyful
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Credit: Brandon Sampspn via Storyful
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To purchase this video…
Ma voi lo sapevate che Facebook vuole cambiare nome? Secondo The Verge lo fa per due motivi: Zuckerberg vuole espandersi e definire il metaverso come sua grande invenzione, e poi perché la fiducia del pubblico sta crollando e serve un rebranding alla luce degli scansali attuali e dei probabili scandali futuri. Quale sarà il nome? Mistero.
Money quote: "I’m told that the new Facebook company name is a closely-guarded secret within its walls and not known widely, even among its full senior leadership. A possible name could have something to do with Horizon, the name of the still-unreleased VR version of Facebook-meets-Roblox that the company has been developing for the past few years. The name of that app was recently tweaked to Horizon Worlds shortly after Facebook demoed a version for workplace collaboration called Horizon Workrooms."
https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/19/22735612/facebook-change-company-name-metaverse
Money quote: "I’m told that the new Facebook company name is a closely-guarded secret within its walls and not known widely, even among its full senior leadership. A possible name could have something to do with Horizon, the name of the still-unreleased VR version of Facebook-meets-Roblox that the company has been developing for the past few years. The name of that app was recently tweaked to Horizon Worlds shortly after Facebook demoed a version for workplace collaboration called Horizon Workrooms."
https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/19/22735612/facebook-change-company-name-metaverse
The Verge
Facebook is planning to rebrand with a new name
The tech giant wants to be known for more than social media’s ills.
Un articolo molto molto particolare su cosa di aspetta e cosa no, poi. E, dal punto di vista editoriale, la sensazione che la Paris Review ce l'ha fatta a svecchiarsi.
Money quote: "I’ve never seen a soul move through the air. I am not sure that we are anything more than a skin-bag of electrical impulses. But ghosts are different from the other uncanny citizens. They are only one step away from the known. To become a ghost, you don’t have to be bitten by a vampire or receive a curse or encounter a mad scientist or fall under the spell of a full moon. All you have to do is die."
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2021/09/16/all-you-have-to-do-is-die/
Money quote: "I’ve never seen a soul move through the air. I am not sure that we are anything more than a skin-bag of electrical impulses. But ghosts are different from the other uncanny citizens. They are only one step away from the known. To become a ghost, you don’t have to be bitten by a vampire or receive a curse or encounter a mad scientist or fall under the spell of a full moon. All you have to do is die."
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2021/09/16/all-you-have-to-do-is-die/
The Paris Review
All You Have to Do Is Die - The Paris Review
Drawing on centuries of literary hauntings, Rowan Hisayo Buchanan devises a quiz to help you determine what kind of ghost you would be.
Smettere di preoccuparsi. Superare l'ansia. Magari fosse facile. O no?
Money quote: "After examining more than 10,500 potentially eligible studies, we found 36 (comprising more than 5,000 participants across nine countries) that were suitably high-quality and relevant for our purposes. These studies featured psychological interventions for combating worry and rumination that fell into seven broad type""
https://psyche.co/ideas/heres-how-to-take-back-your-life-from-long-term-worrying
Money quote: "After examining more than 10,500 potentially eligible studies, we found 36 (comprising more than 5,000 participants across nine countries) that were suitably high-quality and relevant for our purposes. These studies featured psychological interventions for combating worry and rumination that fell into seven broad type""
https://psyche.co/ideas/heres-how-to-take-back-your-life-from-long-term-worrying
Psyche
Here’s how to take back your life from long-term worrying
Long after they’ve gone, stressors can cause harm to your health. These psychological techniques offer a powerful defence
Geni, come altro definirli?
Perché l’hype sul metaverso sta superando persino quella sul quantum computing
https://ovahi.substack.com/p/anatomy-of-hype-quantum-computing
Perché l’hype sul metaverso sta superando persino quella sul quantum computing
https://ovahi.substack.com/p/anatomy-of-hype-quantum-computing
C’è un pezzetto del folklore contemporaneo americano che passa attraverso la costruzione di non-luoghi alcolici. Uno di questi è la catena Margaritaville, che a sorpresa ha aperto anche su una terrazza che affaccia Times Square a New York. E ci racconta molto dell’America contemporanea.
Money quote: “But this is the kind of leisure Margaritaville is built on. Almost all the Margaritaville restaurants and resorts — a vaguely tropics-themed hospitality empire inspired by one of Jimmy Buffett’s most popular songs — exist within massive tourist destinations like Cozumel, Mexico, or Atlantic City, New Jersey. On the surface, Times Square feels like a natural addition. But while other locales can at least offer some seclusion from the world in the form of a beach or an island, Times Square is in the middle of everything. It is hectic, crowded, overpriced, and blatantly capitalistic, a place where no one actually lives and few New Yorkers hang out unless they’re seeing a show or bringing their out-of-town niece to the Disney Store. It has no chill. But maybe the point is it’s not unsalvageable. Amid the stress and the noise, if you delude yourself enough, you can turn off your brain and have fun. So for 24 hours, I tried.”
https://www.eater.com/22644505/margaritaville-times-square-new-york-hotel-restaurants
Money quote: “But this is the kind of leisure Margaritaville is built on. Almost all the Margaritaville restaurants and resorts — a vaguely tropics-themed hospitality empire inspired by one of Jimmy Buffett’s most popular songs — exist within massive tourist destinations like Cozumel, Mexico, or Atlantic City, New Jersey. On the surface, Times Square feels like a natural addition. But while other locales can at least offer some seclusion from the world in the form of a beach or an island, Times Square is in the middle of everything. It is hectic, crowded, overpriced, and blatantly capitalistic, a place where no one actually lives and few New Yorkers hang out unless they’re seeing a show or bringing their out-of-town niece to the Disney Store. It has no chill. But maybe the point is it’s not unsalvageable. Amid the stress and the noise, if you delude yourself enough, you can turn off your brain and have fun. So for 24 hours, I tried.”
https://www.eater.com/22644505/margaritaville-times-square-new-york-hotel-restaurants
Eater
Margaritaville and the Myth of American Leisure
My weirdly blissful 24 hours of coconut shrimp, psychedelic light shows, BOOZE, and the myth of American leisure
Tucker Carlson ha visto il fascismo: il nostro futuro è decisamente a rischio. Molto.
Money quote: "The Trump administration lavished Orban with praise. Trump has even likened the Hungarian strongman to himself, calling him a “tough man, but he is a respected man … probably, like me, a little bit controversial, but that’s okay. You’ve done a good job, and you’ve kept your country safe.” Trump’s ambassador in Budapest confessed frankly that his boss envies Orban’s ability to bully and suppress his critics: “I can tell you, knowing the president for a good 25 or 30 years, that he would love to have the situation that Viktor Orbán has, but he doesn’t.”"
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/08/tucker-carlson-has-seen-the-future-and-it-is-fascist.html
Money quote: "The Trump administration lavished Orban with praise. Trump has even likened the Hungarian strongman to himself, calling him a “tough man, but he is a respected man … probably, like me, a little bit controversial, but that’s okay. You’ve done a good job, and you’ve kept your country safe.” Trump’s ambassador in Budapest confessed frankly that his boss envies Orban’s ability to bully and suppress his critics: “I can tell you, knowing the president for a good 25 or 30 years, that he would love to have the situation that Viktor Orbán has, but he doesn’t.”"
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/08/tucker-carlson-has-seen-the-future-and-it-is-fascist.html
Intelligencer
Tucker Carlson Has Seen the Future, and It Is Fascist
An important marker on the Republican road to authoritarianism.
L'ho scoperto solo adesso grazie ad Andrea, ma all'inizio del 2022 chiude la mia rivista di critica letteraria preferita: The Believer.
Money quote; "“This was not an easy decision but a necessary one, unfortunately,” Jennifer Keene, dean of UNLV’s College of Liberal Arts, said in a news release. “The Believer consumed a significant portion of BMI’s resources. After reviewing the data with internal and external stakeholders, it was clear that there was no path forward to continue publishing the magazine. Print publications in general have been facing increasing headwinds in recent years, which makes them a financially challenging endeavor.”"
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2021-10-19/the-black-mountain-institute-will-cease-publishing-venerable-believer-literary-magazine
The final issue, No. 139, is scheduled to be published in February/March 2022.
Money quote; "“This was not an easy decision but a necessary one, unfortunately,” Jennifer Keene, dean of UNLV’s College of Liberal Arts, said in a news release. “The Believer consumed a significant portion of BMI’s resources. After reviewing the data with internal and external stakeholders, it was clear that there was no path forward to continue publishing the magazine. Print publications in general have been facing increasing headwinds in recent years, which makes them a financially challenging endeavor.”"
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2021-10-19/the-black-mountain-institute-will-cease-publishing-venerable-believer-literary-magazine
The final issue, No. 139, is scheduled to be published in February/March 2022.
Los Angeles Times
The Black Mountain Institute will cease publishing venerable Believer literary magazine
Months after the departure of director Joshua Wolf Shenk, UNLV's institute announced on Tuesday it will stop producing the Believer next spring.
Ci credete che c’è una serie tv, coprodotta e co-scritta da Amanda Peet, che racconta le storie di un dipartimento di letteratura inglese in un college americano? E che questa serie, scritta anche da una certa Annie Julia Wyman, che ha preso il suo dottorato di ricerca ad Harvard, è diventata un fenomeno su Netflix?
Money quote: ”Here is where I ought to disclose my own bias: I’m the child of an English professor, one I’ve interviewed for this website. For people like my dad, The Chair is something like Star Wars meets the Super Bowl; according to the texts I received this weekend, the show has managed to meet sky-high expectations. And that enthusiasm isn’t just coming from the ivory tower; following its release last Friday, The Chair has stayed squarely in Netflix’s Top 10, joining the likes of Grace and Frankie and Outer Banks. The average viewer may be more engaged by the presence of a Grey’s Anatomy alum than the casual references to affect theory, but it’s possible they’re picking up on the authenticity underneath.
Much of that authenticity comes from cocreator Annie Julia Wyman, who has an unusual credential for a Hollywood screenwriter: a PhD from Harvard, where she earned her doctorate in 2017 after penning her dissertation on the comic novel.”
https://www.theringer.com/tv/2021/8/24/22638728/the-chair-netflix-annie-julia-wyman-amanda-peet
Money quote: ”Here is where I ought to disclose my own bias: I’m the child of an English professor, one I’ve interviewed for this website. For people like my dad, The Chair is something like Star Wars meets the Super Bowl; according to the texts I received this weekend, the show has managed to meet sky-high expectations. And that enthusiasm isn’t just coming from the ivory tower; following its release last Friday, The Chair has stayed squarely in Netflix’s Top 10, joining the likes of Grace and Frankie and Outer Banks. The average viewer may be more engaged by the presence of a Grey’s Anatomy alum than the casual references to affect theory, but it’s possible they’re picking up on the authenticity underneath.
Much of that authenticity comes from cocreator Annie Julia Wyman, who has an unusual credential for a Hollywood screenwriter: a PhD from Harvard, where she earned her doctorate in 2017 after penning her dissertation on the comic novel.”
https://www.theringer.com/tv/2021/8/24/22638728/the-chair-netflix-annie-julia-wyman-amanda-peet
The Ringer
The Harvard PhD Turned Screenwriter Behind Netflix’s Hit ‘The Chair’
How Annie Julia Wyman transitioned from Cambridge to Hollywood and cocreated Netflix’s academic drama with Amanda Peet
RIcordi dalla pandemia. Fare puzzle per rimettersi insieme e rimettere insieme il mondo. Dietro però c'è molto di più.
Money quote: "Like many others, I turned to jigsaws at the start of the pandemic as a way to manage stress, and symbolically reimpose order on a chaotic world"
https://psyche.co/ideas/on-the-consolatory-pleasure-of-jigsaws-when-the-world-is-in-bits
Money quote: "Like many others, I turned to jigsaws at the start of the pandemic as a way to manage stress, and symbolically reimpose order on a chaotic world"
https://psyche.co/ideas/on-the-consolatory-pleasure-of-jigsaws-when-the-world-is-in-bits
psyche.co
On the consolatory pleasure of jigsaws when the world is in bits | Psyche Ideas
It’s not memory that makes us human but meaning-making. When life falls apart, jigsaw puzzles help us put some pieces back