10 things I thought would interest you: a miscellany of trivia

Older Brain Really May Be a Wiser Brain
via 3quarksdaily by Azra Raza on 20 May From The New York Times
When older people can no longer remember names at a cocktail party, they tend to think that their brainpower is declining. But a growing number of studies suggest that this assumption is often wrong. Instead, the research finds, the aging brain is simply taking in more data and trying to sift through a clutter of information, often to its long-term benefit.

Arts & Letters Daily 25 May
In Britain, multiculturalism has become a career opportunity and a source of political patronage, says Theodore Dalrymple... more

Arts & Letters Daily 1 June
Pythagoras was right: his universe may not be as simple as he imagined, but it proves ever more comprehensible by the day... more

Arts & Letters Daily 27 May
Shakespeare vs. Milton. Prithee, who is the greater figure in literary history? Nigel Smith thinks he knows the answer... more

Arts & Letters Daily 2 June
"You know, guys," he intoned, "sex is the greatest thing in the world." He paused, and then added with infinite wistfulness, "But... more

Internet-Enabled Piano Could Transform Concerts via Pogue's Posts by David Pogue on 20 May
Just imagine how Yamaha's Internet-connected piano, the Disklavier Mark IV, could transform live performances.

How a trove of priceless antiquities survived in Afghanistan
via 3quarksdaily by Abbas Raza on 4 June
Roger Atwood in National Geographic:
Omara Khan Massoudi knows how to keep a secret. Massoudi is director of the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul. Like the French citizens during World War II who hid works of art in the countryside to prevent them from falling into Nazi hands, Massoudi and a few trusted tahilwidars - key holders - secretly packed away Afghanistan's ancient treasures when they saw their country descend into an earthly hell.
More here. [Thanks to Marilyn Terrell.] The objects in the photo gallery are amazing.

Arts & Letters Daily 7 June
Paris is a miraculous city in no small measure because modern architects have not been able to get their hands on it. Roger Scruton explains. more

Arts & Letters Daily 16 June
It's not just NASA pilots who need to nap. Arts & Letters Daily readers need naps, too. Herewith, a complete guide. more

Arts & Letters Daily 18 June
Why do government efforts to correct problems so often seem to make things worse? Because people are the problems. more
Hazel's comment: People? A problem? Surely not. Just think, if there were no people then there'd be no problem but I'm people so I wouldn't exist -- and anyway I'm not a problem -- it's all those others.

New Research on How the Mind Works
via 3quarksdaily by Robin Varghese on 10 June
In the NYRB [New York Review of Books], Israel Rosenfield and Edward Ziff review several new books on neuroscience and implications of the research for memory, meaning, representation and reality.
Hazel's comment: This, which is quite a long read, is fascinating. I was particularly taken with the idea, which I had not come across before, that memory plays a part in recidivism of addicts.