You should read this for 7/31/2021:
Art, Music, and Film
The mystery of the Georgian papier-mache horse – in pictures
Vija Skangale, a curator, grew up in Tbilisi, Georgia, in the 1980s, and now lives in London. One day, looking through childhood photos, she found an image of her four-year-old self atop a papier-mache horse at the local zoo. “All my Tbilisi friends have a similar photo,” she says, “but I knew nothing about the photographer.” So she posted on social media and was overwhelmed by the response.
Books, Libraries, Writing, and Language
I was born in poverty in Appalachia. ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ doesn’t speak for me. I tried, three times, to read Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy. I couldn’t finish it. First, he keeps repeating himself. Second, he’s pompous and overwritten. But most of all, his disdain for the working poor, and his absolutely inaccurate assessments of how they live, were completely out of line with reality.
‘Be not solitary, be not idle’: secrets of 400-year-old self-help book unlockedAnatomy of Melancholy is one of my favorites, so I’m delighted that a new edition is forthcoming, albeit a Penguin Classic paperback at the rich cover price of $50.00 +.
Climate Change | Climate Repair
Summer is Hot, but This Is Abnormal
Stories to save the world: the new wave of climate fiction
Can Solar Farms Help Save Bees?
Princeton University’s Net Zero America study estimated that the area taken up by ground-mounted solar panels in the United States will have to increase by nine million acres by 2050 to reach carbon neutrality. And that means that what’s going in with the land underneath the panels, which solar companies typically haven’t given much thought to, is starting to get more attention.
Over the past few years, solar farm developers have increasingly been encouraged to transform the space underneath their solar panels into a safe haven for bees, butterflies and other endangered pollinators.
Great Barrier Reef: leading scientists praise Unesco’s ‘in danger’ warning
Five of the world’s leading reef and climate scientists have thanked Unesco for recommending the Great Barrier Reef be listed as world heritage “in danger”, saying it was the right decision in part because Australia had not “pulled its weight” in reducing emissions.
The group of scientists, including the Australian professors Ove Hoegh-Guldberg and Terry Hughes, wrote to the UN body on Thursday saying the recommendation to downgrade the 2,300-km reef system’s world heritage status was “the right decision”.
Food and Drink
Juice is great, but these 8 recipes show why zest is best for bright citrus flavors
Cocktail of the week: Pied à Terre’s lemon pie – recipe “A lemon curd vodka cocktail to mark 30 years of swish London restaurant Pied à Terre.”
History and Archaeology
Keeping It Eel: How One Historian Is Using Twitter and Medieval Factoids to Help Endangered Animals See also his Twitter feed: Surprised Eel Historian, PhD and Website Historia Cartarum
If only Stonehenge were of use in the culture wars, then it might be protected
Newly Released Tapes Go Inside Nixon’s White House During The Watergate Scandal
Politics and Society
On Jan. 31, 2018, the Paradas — referred to as “Person 1” and “Person 2” in the new documents — led the FBI to the cave, where agents performed tests that confirmed the Paradas’ finding: There was something large and metal a few feet underneath them in the cave. The next month, the FBI used highly sensitive equipment called a gravimeter to determine that whatever was behind the wall weighed up to nine tons and had the density of gold.
Science and Nature
he dingo is Australia’s first introduced species, but until recently its history has been uncertain. The fact that there are no dingo fossils in Tasmania indicates that dingoes must have arrived after rising waters separated the island from the Australian mainland about 12,000 years ago.
The 1969 discovery of archaeological evidence in caves on the Nullarbor Plain near Madura, Western Australia, has led to general agreement that the dingo was on the Australian mainland at least 3500 years ago
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Technology
Why Are Gamers So Much Better Than Scientists at Catching Fraud?
Scientists engage in similar shenanigans with the images in their papers. Spliced, duplicated, touched-up, recolored, and otherwise Photoshopped images from microscopes or blots are rife in scientific publications, and are overlooked by peer reviewers with worrying regularity. The eagle-eyed microbiologist Elisabeth Bik, considered the world expert in spotting “problematic” scientific images, routinely reports her concerns about images to the relevant universities or journals—and often goes completely unheard.
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Women’s Work
A grandmother didn’t answer her phone during a class. She was sent back to prison.
Pay It Forward and Make It Better
PHOTOS: Improvised Library Brings Joy Of Books To Kids Living In Gang Territory
Stuff I Wrote
Something Wonderful
20 million Americans still don’t have enough to eat. A grass-roots movement of free fridges aims to help. “In hard-hit neighborhoods of Philadelphia, residents set up free fridges to feed hungry neighbors. It’s part of a mutual aid movement that took off during the pandemic.”
eeling blah? Science shows you can boost happiness by taking time for small moments of delight. We’ve got ideas to try out right now. So grab your headphones and let’s play!
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