You should read this for 6/19/2022:
Art, Music, and Film
George Oates Returns to Revitalize the Flickr Commons
Books, Libraries, Writing, and Language
Top 10 novels told in a single day “From James Joyce and Virginia Woolf to Nicholson Baker, the ‘circadian novel’ can pack lifetimes of experience into 24 hours”
Oxford University Press to end centuries of tradition by closing its printing arm
Oxford University’s right to print books was first recognised in 1586, in a decree from the Star Chamber. But the centuries-old printing history of Oxford University Press will end this summer, after the publishing house announced the last vestige of its printing arm was closing.
The closure of Oxuniprint, which will take place on 27 August subject to consultation with employees, will result in the loss of 20 jobs. OUP said it follows a “continued decline in sales”, which has been “exacerbated by factors relating to the pandemic”.
We Need to Talk About the Backlist
Backlist matters for two simple and connected reasons: it’s two thirds of what people buy, and it’s markedly more profitable for publishers, with better margins and fewer returns from bookstores. Period.
Climate Change | Climate Repair
What tree rings reveal about America’s megadrought “How we know the American west is experiencing a once-in-a-millennium drought”
Coronavirus | COVID-19
A doctor falsely told lawmakers vaccines magnetize people: ‘They can put a key on their forehead. It sticks.’ How did this person manage to graduate high school, never mind college and medical school? This is someone who is not rational, and should not be practicing medicine.
Food and Drink
How to eat: Nutella
There’s More Than One Way to Make ‘Authentic’ Cornbread
History and Archaeology
A Band Of Burglars: NPR’s Best Watergate Stories
We are marking a milestone, 50 years of NPR, with a look back at stories from the archive.
On June 17, 1972, a band of five burglars broke into the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters at the Watergate Complex in Washington, D.C. After failing to wiretap the office’s phones during their first break-in, they returned with a new microphone. However, before successfully carrying out their plan, a security guard had noted that the doors’ locks were taped. The police were called, and the burglars were arrested.
The following stories from the archive convey the news as they came out in 1972, when the Watergate scandal was first unfolding, along with perspectives from civilians, professionals and those implicated.
Footprints of possibly last dinosaurs to walk Britain found in Kent
Politics and Society
To make room for the disparagement of the dead teen, the investigators excluded crucial information from the report, like the initial supervisor’s notes from the shooting scene and any attempts made by the crime lab to reconstruct the shootings and track bullet trajectories. The latter would have shown Jenison fired from the side of the vehicle, rather than from the rear, calling into question his assertions that the reversing van was coming towards him.
Officer Jenison also did not know who was in the van at the point he started firing. All he knew was he was checking on a suicidal teen who might have been carrying a knife. Instead of verifying any of this, he opened fire on the driver of the van simply because he chose to reverse down the driveway like anyone would when pulling out of a garage.
Jenison’s post-shooting interview was solicitous and cordial. It also occurred four days after the shooting and after the officer had been given the chance to review the recordings. His claims that he thought the van was going to hit him went unchallenged, even though the recording showed the van moving in a straight line down the driveway until its course was altered by Jenison’s shooting of the driver.
Abigail Disney:
Science and Nature
Half the trees in two new English woodlands planted by jays, study finds
Mysterious coelacanth fish can live for 100 years – study
The slow-moving fish, which grow to be the size of a human, are nicknamed a “living fossil”, and also grow at a very slow pace.
Females do not reach sexual maturity until their late 50s, the study by French scientists said, while male coelacanths are sexually mature at 40 to 69 years old. And maybe strangest of all, researchers think pregnancy in the fish lasts about five years.
Referral link: Curiosity Stream delivers shows across the full spectrum of the non-fiction genre to demystify science, nature, history, technology, society, lifestyle and more. $19.99/year for thousands of films (or $2.99/month).
Technology
Google is totally changing how ads track people around the Internet. Here’s what you need to know.
SetApp: A Suite of macOS Apps for a Single Price Affiliate link for a great collection of ver 200 apps for macOS and iOS for a flat subscription fee.
Women’s Work
Unpaid Caregivers Were Already Struggling. It’s Only Gotten Worse During The Pandemic
Two-thirds of survey respondents who identified as unpaid caregivers said they experienced mental health challenges during the pandemic, such as symptoms of anxiety or depression, or suicidal thoughts.
Only one-third of people with no caregiving responsibilities reported the same symptoms.
Of the more than 10,000 survey respondents, more than 40% identified as being unpaid caregivers.
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