an article by
Christopher Adam Bagley (Liverpool John Moores University, UK and University of Southampton, UK) and Nader Al-Refai (Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan)
published in Journal for Multicultural Education Volume 11 Issue 2 (2017)
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review and synthesize published studies and practice in the “integration” of ethnic and religious minorities in Britain and The Netherlands, 1965-2015, drawing out implications for current policy and practice.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is an evaluative review and report of results of work on citizenship education for young Muslims and their peers in English schools.
Findings
Young Muslims have positive attitudes to “good citizenship”, as Islamic socialization makes them particularly responsive to citizenship messages. But there is hard-core racial prejudice and Islamophobia in about 25 per cent of adults. In The Netherlands, this xenophobia has supported far-right politicians who are strongly anti-Muslim. This paper cites evidence that continued prejudice may lead to alienation and radicalization of some minorities.
Research limitations/implications
Unchecked prejudice concerning minorities can have negative implications for both majority and minority groups – this broad hypothesis deserves further research in both Dutch and British societies.
Practical implications
In Britain, success in Muslim schools in fostering positive citizenship implies that Muslim groups can maintain “quiet dignity” in following Islamic pathways to good citizenship.
Social implications
State support for religious-foundation schools should be offered to all religious groups and should not be withheld from Muslim minorities for “security” reasons.
Originality/value
This overview by two Muslim educators offers new insights and proposals in the acceptance of Muslim minorities in Europe.
Saturday, 30 September 2017
Teaching giants to learn: lessons from army learning in World War II
an article by Max Visser (Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands) published in The Learning Organization Volume 24 Issue 3 (2017)
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to discuss the “truism” that learning organizations cannot be large organizations and, conversely, that large organizations cannot be learning organizations. This paper analyzes learning in the German and US armies in the Second World War, based on a four-dimensional model of the learning organization.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper entails a secondary analysis of historical and military sources and data.
Findings
It is found that the German and US armies differed in learning capacity, which can be plausibly, but not exclusively, related to differences in the battlefield performance between those armies in the Second World War.
Research limitations/implications
The research scope of the paper is limited to the analysis of two particular armies in the Second World War. Implications of theory reside in the importance of organizational learning capacity and its dimensions for learning in current organizations.
Practical implications
The paper has clear practical implications for large organizations wishing to become effective and responsible learning organizations.
Originality/value
This is among the first organizational papers to analyze army learning in the Second World War and to derive lessons from that analysis for current large organizations.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to discuss the “truism” that learning organizations cannot be large organizations and, conversely, that large organizations cannot be learning organizations. This paper analyzes learning in the German and US armies in the Second World War, based on a four-dimensional model of the learning organization.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper entails a secondary analysis of historical and military sources and data.
Findings
It is found that the German and US armies differed in learning capacity, which can be plausibly, but not exclusively, related to differences in the battlefield performance between those armies in the Second World War.
Research limitations/implications
The research scope of the paper is limited to the analysis of two particular armies in the Second World War. Implications of theory reside in the importance of organizational learning capacity and its dimensions for learning in current organizations.
Practical implications
The paper has clear practical implications for large organizations wishing to become effective and responsible learning organizations.
Originality/value
This is among the first organizational papers to analyze army learning in the Second World War and to derive lessons from that analysis for current large organizations.
Skills and cities: knowledge workers in Northwest-European cities
an article by Marco Bontje, Sako Musterd and Bart Sleutjes (Centre for Urban Studies, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands) published in International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development Volume 8 Number 2 (2017)
Abstract
In the early 21st century, attracting knowledge workers has become an essential ingredient of urban competitiveness strategies. Such strategies are often based on theories claiming that cities should attract highly skilled talent to stay or become economically successful.
Such theories have meanwhile met with considerable criticism and empirical evidence seems to make the assumptions of these theories doubtful. The most frequently seen argument is that talent moves to places where there are jobs.
However, if the focus shifts from attracting to retaining or from 'necessary conditions' to additional preferences, new avenues for policy and research open up.
In this article we will first review the debate so far about what attracts and retains knowledge workers. We will then add recent empirical evidence to this debate from a survey of knowledge workers in the city-regions of Amsterdam and Eindhoven.
Our survey results make clear that 'knowledge workers' are a highly diverse category in which we should distinguish sub-groups with quite contrasting residential preferences. These preferences should be met to retain them to the area they settled in.
Abstract
In the early 21st century, attracting knowledge workers has become an essential ingredient of urban competitiveness strategies. Such strategies are often based on theories claiming that cities should attract highly skilled talent to stay or become economically successful.
Such theories have meanwhile met with considerable criticism and empirical evidence seems to make the assumptions of these theories doubtful. The most frequently seen argument is that talent moves to places where there are jobs.
However, if the focus shifts from attracting to retaining or from 'necessary conditions' to additional preferences, new avenues for policy and research open up.
In this article we will first review the debate so far about what attracts and retains knowledge workers. We will then add recent empirical evidence to this debate from a survey of knowledge workers in the city-regions of Amsterdam and Eindhoven.
Our survey results make clear that 'knowledge workers' are a highly diverse category in which we should distinguish sub-groups with quite contrasting residential preferences. These preferences should be met to retain them to the area they settled in.
The bedroom tax in the Supreme Court: implications of the judgment
an article by Jed Meers (University of York, UK) published in Journal of Poverty and Social Justice Volume 25 Number 2 (June 2017)
Abstract
In common with most decisions of the Supreme Court, the judgment in R. (on the application of Carmichael) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2016] UKSC 58 tells two stories: a short version and a long version. This article outlines both.
The short story is the immediate impact of the decision: the application of the high-bar 'manifestly without reasonable foundation test', a distinction drawn on 'transparent medical need', and the lack of regard given to international obligations under the UNCRPD and the UNCRC.
The long story is how this decision fits into the 'cut-and-devolve' approach to welfare reform in the UK, where local authorities are left to mitigate the effects of centrally determined benefit reductions without adequate support.
After outlining the basis of the decision and its likely effects, this article argues that the decision does little to square this key structural circle at the heart of the UK government's welfare reform agenda.
Abstract
In common with most decisions of the Supreme Court, the judgment in R. (on the application of Carmichael) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2016] UKSC 58 tells two stories: a short version and a long version. This article outlines both.
The short story is the immediate impact of the decision: the application of the high-bar 'manifestly without reasonable foundation test', a distinction drawn on 'transparent medical need', and the lack of regard given to international obligations under the UNCRPD and the UNCRC.
The long story is how this decision fits into the 'cut-and-devolve' approach to welfare reform in the UK, where local authorities are left to mitigate the effects of centrally determined benefit reductions without adequate support.
After outlining the basis of the decision and its likely effects, this article argues that the decision does little to square this key structural circle at the heart of the UK government's welfare reform agenda.
Ten more "catch-up" stories, only five months behind now!
Cabinet of Curiosities
via An Awfully Big Blog Adventure by Joan Lennon
Domenico Remps (1620-1699)
Like every writer who goes into schools, I have been asked many times, "Where do you get your ideas?" And I trot out the same old answer, how everything I see or hear or do or come across or experience in any old way goes into the soup between my ears, and how then this bit and then that bit and then another bit will float to the surface and bump into each other and a what if will ensue ... And it all sounds pretty revolting, really. And then, not long ago, I rediscovered the delectable Lucinda Lambton and her beguiling TV programmes from the 80s and I realised how much more elegant it would be to compare a head full of this and that to a cabinet of curiosities.
Continue reading
=============================
In Praise of Agatha Christie’s Accidental Sleuths
via 3 Quarks Daily: Radhika Jones in New York Times
The mystery writer Agatha Christie at her home in Wallingford, England, in 1956. Hubert de Segonzac/Paris Match, via Getty Images
I don’t remember ever buying one. They just materialized in the house when I was 12, a row of well-thumbed paperbacks, in the bookcase under the basement stairs. I read them over and over, until the pages were soft as cotton. On a visit to Portland, Ore., in January, browsing the shelves of Powell’s Books, I felt the familiar pull. I walked out with “Ordeal by Innocence,” an Agatha Christie sleeper hit (no one I ask ever seems to know it), in which a young man, Jack Argyle, one of an adopted brood in postwar England, is found to be innocent of the murder of his mother, for which he’d been convicted.
Continue reading
=============================
Humans have practised dentistry for at least 13,000 years
via Boing Boing by Andrea James
Who needs anesthesia when you have a sharp rock and some naturally-occurring asphalt to fill a cavity? Archaeologists found evidence of Paleolithic dentistry. After the team used computer reconstructions to examine the cavities, they analysed the bitumen in the fillings.
Continue reading
=============================
Plants Glow All the Time. We Just Don't Usually See It.
via Big Think by Robby Berman
Kangaroo's Paw, UV-style (CRAIG BURROWS)
Photographer Craig Burrows has just published some beautiful photos that reveal a secret side to flowers, capturing, as he puts it, “something we always see, but never can observe”. He’s an ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence (UVIVF) photographer.
Continue reading
=============================
17th century Japan through English eyes
via The National Archives Blog by Benjamin Trowbridge
Martin Scorsese’s recent cinematic epic Silence captures in vivid tones the intensity of persecution of Portuguese Jesuits and Japanese converts to Christianity in 17th century Japan. Although such a cinematic experience is intended to shock and provoke debate over faith, it also lifts the lid on a forgotten aspect of early modern history: when European trade and culture first made contact with the ancient kingdom of Japan.
For this reason I was intrigued as to whether The National Archives held any records shedding light on the dawn of Anglo-Japanese relations during the early 17th century.
Continue reading if only to see the fascinating map from 1596.
=============================
Marvellous murmurations
via OUP Blog
The following is an extract from Animal Behaviour: A Very Short Introduction by Tristram D. Wyatt and explains in detail how mumurations occur.
Shortly before sunset, especially in winter from October to February, flocks of tens of thousands of European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) fly in aerobatic displays called murmurations. The flocks swirl and morph, transforming from, for example, a teardrop shape into a vortex, and then into a long rope. The spontaneous synchronised flock turns as if of one mind. An early 20th century British bird watcher and author Edmund Selous was mystified how such big flocks could be so beautifully coordinated.
Continue reading
=============================
Do Smarter People Look More Intelligent? It Depends on Their Gender
via Big Think by Elise Bohan
Facial Traits and Perceived Intelligence
What’s in a face? Turns out, more than you think.
In 2014, Czech scientist Karel Kleisner conducted a study in which participants viewed photographs of 40 male and 40 female subjects and rated their intelligence. Kleisner sought to discover if there was a relationship between perceived and measured intelligence. He also investigated whether there is an intelligent ‘look.’ In other words, are specific facial traits associated with attributed and actual intelligence?
Continue reading
=============================
Time lapse of pills dissolving in water
via Boing Boing by Mark Frauenfelder
The beauty of pills and capsules releasing their payload.
Watch the stunning video here
=============================
23 things artificially intelligent computers can do better/faster/cheaper than you can
via Seth Godin’s Blog
Predict the weather
Read an X-ray
Play Go
Correct spelling
Figure out the P&L of a large company
Pick a face out of a crowd
Count calories
Fly a jet across the country
Maintain the temperature of your house
Book a flight
Give directions
Create an index for a book
Play Jeopardy
Weld a metal seam
Trade stocks
Place online ads
Figure out what book to read next
Water a plant
Monitor a premature newborn
Detect a fire
Play poker
Read documents in a lawsuit
Sort packages
Continue reading
I would definitely remove “create an index for a book” from this list, and I know my neo-natal nurse friend would remove the “monitor a premature newborn”.
The point that Godin is making is that we should be learning to do something that a computer cannot do or we will be out of work.
=============================
via An Awfully Big Blog Adventure by Joan Lennon
Domenico Remps (1620-1699)
Like every writer who goes into schools, I have been asked many times, "Where do you get your ideas?" And I trot out the same old answer, how everything I see or hear or do or come across or experience in any old way goes into the soup between my ears, and how then this bit and then that bit and then another bit will float to the surface and bump into each other and a what if will ensue ... And it all sounds pretty revolting, really. And then, not long ago, I rediscovered the delectable Lucinda Lambton and her beguiling TV programmes from the 80s and I realised how much more elegant it would be to compare a head full of this and that to a cabinet of curiosities.
Continue reading
=============================
via 3 Quarks Daily: Radhika Jones in New York Times
The mystery writer Agatha Christie at her home in Wallingford, England, in 1956. Hubert de Segonzac/Paris Match, via Getty Images
I don’t remember ever buying one. They just materialized in the house when I was 12, a row of well-thumbed paperbacks, in the bookcase under the basement stairs. I read them over and over, until the pages were soft as cotton. On a visit to Portland, Ore., in January, browsing the shelves of Powell’s Books, I felt the familiar pull. I walked out with “Ordeal by Innocence,” an Agatha Christie sleeper hit (no one I ask ever seems to know it), in which a young man, Jack Argyle, one of an adopted brood in postwar England, is found to be innocent of the murder of his mother, for which he’d been convicted.
Continue reading
=============================
via Boing Boing by Andrea James
Who needs anesthesia when you have a sharp rock and some naturally-occurring asphalt to fill a cavity? Archaeologists found evidence of Paleolithic dentistry. After the team used computer reconstructions to examine the cavities, they analysed the bitumen in the fillings.
Continue reading
=============================
via Big Think by Robby Berman
Kangaroo's Paw, UV-style (CRAIG BURROWS)
Photographer Craig Burrows has just published some beautiful photos that reveal a secret side to flowers, capturing, as he puts it, “something we always see, but never can observe”. He’s an ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence (UVIVF) photographer.
Continue reading
=============================
via The National Archives Blog by Benjamin Trowbridge
Martin Scorsese’s recent cinematic epic Silence captures in vivid tones the intensity of persecution of Portuguese Jesuits and Japanese converts to Christianity in 17th century Japan. Although such a cinematic experience is intended to shock and provoke debate over faith, it also lifts the lid on a forgotten aspect of early modern history: when European trade and culture first made contact with the ancient kingdom of Japan.
For this reason I was intrigued as to whether The National Archives held any records shedding light on the dawn of Anglo-Japanese relations during the early 17th century.
Continue reading if only to see the fascinating map from 1596.
=============================
via OUP Blog
The following is an extract from Animal Behaviour: A Very Short Introduction by Tristram D. Wyatt and explains in detail how mumurations occur.
Shortly before sunset, especially in winter from October to February, flocks of tens of thousands of European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) fly in aerobatic displays called murmurations. The flocks swirl and morph, transforming from, for example, a teardrop shape into a vortex, and then into a long rope. The spontaneous synchronised flock turns as if of one mind. An early 20th century British bird watcher and author Edmund Selous was mystified how such big flocks could be so beautifully coordinated.
Continue reading
=============================
via Big Think by Elise Bohan
Facial Traits and Perceived Intelligence
What’s in a face? Turns out, more than you think.
In 2014, Czech scientist Karel Kleisner conducted a study in which participants viewed photographs of 40 male and 40 female subjects and rated their intelligence. Kleisner sought to discover if there was a relationship between perceived and measured intelligence. He also investigated whether there is an intelligent ‘look.’ In other words, are specific facial traits associated with attributed and actual intelligence?
Continue reading
=============================
via Boing Boing by Mark Frauenfelder
The beauty of pills and capsules releasing their payload.
Watch the stunning video here
=============================
via Seth Godin’s Blog
Predict the weather
Read an X-ray
Play Go
Correct spelling
Figure out the P&L of a large company
Pick a face out of a crowd
Count calories
Fly a jet across the country
Maintain the temperature of your house
Book a flight
Give directions
Create an index for a book
Play Jeopardy
Weld a metal seam
Trade stocks
Place online ads
Figure out what book to read next
Water a plant
Monitor a premature newborn
Detect a fire
Play poker
Read documents in a lawsuit
Sort packages
Continue reading
I would definitely remove “create an index for a book” from this list, and I know my neo-natal nurse friend would remove the “monitor a premature newborn”.
The point that Godin is making is that we should be learning to do something that a computer cannot do or we will be out of work.
=============================
10 of the Best Short Stories about Cats
via Interesting Literature
Previously, we’ve offered our pick of classic cat poems, and that post proved so popular that in this post we’ve set ourselves the task of compiling a top ten list of the best cat stories. The classic cat stories below range from the comical to the horrific, the tragic to the heart-warming – but they all have one thing in common, that they are purr-fect stories about cats (sorry, we’ll stop short of making a tail/tale pun here).
Continue reading
via Interesting Literature
Previously, we’ve offered our pick of classic cat poems, and that post proved so popular that in this post we’ve set ourselves the task of compiling a top ten list of the best cat stories. The classic cat stories below range from the comical to the horrific, the tragic to the heart-warming – but they all have one thing in common, that they are purr-fect stories about cats (sorry, we’ll stop short of making a tail/tale pun here).
Continue reading
Europe leads the way in assistive robots for the elderly
an article by Robert Bogue (Independent Consultant, Okehampton, UK)
published in
Industrial Robot: An International Journal Volume 44 Issue 3 (2017)
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide details of European research projects and product developments involving robots that can assist the ageing population.
Design/methodology/approach
Following an introduction, the role of assistive robots and research into the nature of the human–robot interaction are considered. The paper then discusses a selection of European research projects and a number of companies producing or developing assistive robots. Finally, brief conclusions are drawn.
Findings
In recognition of the fact that the growing, ageing population has needs that place an unsustainable burden on carers and healthcare providers, Europe is investing heavily in assistive robots. Many European Union-funded, collaborative projects have been conducted and several continue today which build on the extensive body of earlier research. Significant progress is being made, and assistive robot research has moved on from purely technological developments to field trials involving real people in realistic environments. Several products exist or are at an advanced stage of development and have often benefited or arisen from these projects. Europe is in a very strong position to capitalise on this emerging market opportunity.
Originality/value
This provides a detailed insight into European assistive robot development activities.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide details of European research projects and product developments involving robots that can assist the ageing population.
Design/methodology/approach
Following an introduction, the role of assistive robots and research into the nature of the human–robot interaction are considered. The paper then discusses a selection of European research projects and a number of companies producing or developing assistive robots. Finally, brief conclusions are drawn.
Findings
In recognition of the fact that the growing, ageing population has needs that place an unsustainable burden on carers and healthcare providers, Europe is investing heavily in assistive robots. Many European Union-funded, collaborative projects have been conducted and several continue today which build on the extensive body of earlier research. Significant progress is being made, and assistive robot research has moved on from purely technological developments to field trials involving real people in realistic environments. Several products exist or are at an advanced stage of development and have often benefited or arisen from these projects. Europe is in a very strong position to capitalise on this emerging market opportunity.
Originality/value
This provides a detailed insight into European assistive robot development activities.
Friday, 29 September 2017
Effect of an adaptive career-consultation mobile application on students’ competency development
an article by Po-Han Wu and Yu-Hsien Huang (National Taipei University of Education, Taiwan) published in International Journal Mobile Learning and Organisation Volume 11 Number 3 (2017)
Abstract
Graduate youth unemployment has recently substantially increased, and the learning-application gap is a major problem. Universities are crucial for addressing this gap. An adaptive career-consultation mobile application (ACCMA) integrating student capabilities and interests was developed to help students connect what they are learning at university with workplace needs.
With a questionnaire, 475 senior university students were surveyed. The ACCMA was significantly more beneficial than general career counselling at assisting students in understanding their capabilities and interests and planning their future careers.
Additionally, students were more satisfied with this method of career consultation.
It is suggested that the learning-application gap can be reduced by using mobile technology to provide students with information and by assessing students' capabilities and interests, and how they may fit in the current employment market. This will enhance their employability and competitiveness and reinforce their future career development.
Abstract
Graduate youth unemployment has recently substantially increased, and the learning-application gap is a major problem. Universities are crucial for addressing this gap. An adaptive career-consultation mobile application (ACCMA) integrating student capabilities and interests was developed to help students connect what they are learning at university with workplace needs.
With a questionnaire, 475 senior university students were surveyed. The ACCMA was significantly more beneficial than general career counselling at assisting students in understanding their capabilities and interests and planning their future careers.
Additionally, students were more satisfied with this method of career consultation.
It is suggested that the learning-application gap can be reduced by using mobile technology to provide students with information and by assessing students' capabilities and interests, and how they may fit in the current employment market. This will enhance their employability and competitiveness and reinforce their future career development.
Denunciatory technology: forging publics through populism and secrecy
an article by Matthew D. Sanscartier (Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada) published in Economy and Society
Volume 46 Issue 1 (2017)
Abstract
This paper theorizes contemporary institutionalized forms of denunciation, or what I call ‘denunciatory technologies’. Denunciatory technologies are mechanisms that allow citizens to report one another to the state for a wide range of wrongdoing, such as welfare fraud.
The scarce literature on such initiatives relies heavily on concepts of neoliberalism to explain their emergence and operation.
I first argue that a focus on neoliberalism fails to recognize these technologies as a sophisticated type of statecraft that promotes public sensibilities.
I then offer a more robust account of denunciatory technologies. Rather than relying on an analysis of neoliberalism, I argue that these technologies fuse the policing of political criminals like the ‘welfare cheat’ to the very notion of ‘public good’, and refract vertical populist energies back onto the population.
I conclude that, through such technologies, publics become an integral tool in their own governance.
Abstract
This paper theorizes contemporary institutionalized forms of denunciation, or what I call ‘denunciatory technologies’. Denunciatory technologies are mechanisms that allow citizens to report one another to the state for a wide range of wrongdoing, such as welfare fraud.
The scarce literature on such initiatives relies heavily on concepts of neoliberalism to explain their emergence and operation.
I first argue that a focus on neoliberalism fails to recognize these technologies as a sophisticated type of statecraft that promotes public sensibilities.
I then offer a more robust account of denunciatory technologies. Rather than relying on an analysis of neoliberalism, I argue that these technologies fuse the policing of political criminals like the ‘welfare cheat’ to the very notion of ‘public good’, and refract vertical populist energies back onto the population.
I conclude that, through such technologies, publics become an integral tool in their own governance.
Ten interesting items I found in my search for the more serious "stuff"
Biologists Discover That Communities of Bacteria Timeshare Their Food
via Big Think by Robby Berman
Two biofilms (SÜEL LAB @ USCD)
They’re supposed to be the simplest of creatures. Bacteria are prokaryotes: they’re single-celled organisms whose cells even lack a membrane-enclosed nucleus. And yet, biologists at UC San Diego recently discovered something truly startling: Bacterial communities cooperate when food sources are limited. “What’s interesting here is that you have these simple, single-celled bacteria that are tiny and seem to be lonely creatures, but in a community, they start to exhibit very dynamic and complex behaviors you would attribute to more sophisticated organisms or a social network,” said molecular biologist Gürol Süel of UC San Diego’s Division of Biological Sciences.
Continue reading
=============================
New materials allow 2.8l/day of solar-powered desert water-vapor extraction
via Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow
Researchers from MIT, UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley, and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology published a paper in Science describing a solar-powered device that uses a new type of metal organic framework (MOF) to extract up to three litres of water per day from even the most arid desert air.
Continue reading
=============================
This way to the ginger pop shop! The day I stepped into the pages of the Famous Five
via the Guardian by Lucy Mangan
Inspiration for Five’s HQ … Lucy and Blyton’s creations, with Corfe Castle in the distance. Photograph: Jim Wileman for the Guardian
Corfe Castle in Dorset has, as 11th-century castles often do, an amazing history. One of the earliest castles to be built with stone. Mentioned in the Domesday Book. Twice besieged during the civil war. One of the last Royalist strongholds in the southeast until it finally fell to parliamentary forces. But most important of all – and the reason I am here today, clambering up the mound on which its ruins stand – is that at some point in the early 1940s Enid Blyton paid a visit. She rechristened it Kirrin Island, pushed it out to sea, and made it the headquarters of her most beloved creation: the Famous Five.
Continue reading
=============================
Oregonians to vote on whether to end constitutional ban on duels between public officials
via Boing Boing by Rob Beschizza
Move over, Florida! Oregon may supplant you as America's best source of mesmerizingly bizarre violent confrontations, if voters there overturn a constitutional ban on duels.
Continue reading
=============================
Death of a dictator
via The New Statesman by Mary Beard
How Caesar’s murder set the template for political assassination.
The assassination of Julius Caesar on 15 March 44BC (“the ides of March” by the Roman system of dating) is the most famous political murder in history. Caesar had recently been made “dictator for life”, and he was killed in the name of “liberty” by a group of men he counted as friends and colleagues. In the aftermath, the assassins issued coins with a design specially chosen to celebrate the deed and press home the message: it featured the memorable date (“EID MAR”), a pair of daggers and the image of the small hat, “the cap of liberty”, regularly presented to Roman slaves when they were granted their freedom. This was liberation on a grander scale, freeing the Roman people from tyranny.
Continue reading
=============================
Graphene May Be the Key to Drinkable Ocean Water
via Big Think by Robby Berman
Graphene lattice (UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER)
Graphene is absolutely amazing stuff, the lightest, strongest stuff we know of. According to the University of Manchester:
=============================
The 5 weirdest moons in 5 minutes
via Boing Boing by Mark Frauenfelder
Our friend Ariel Waldman is a space enthusiast extraordinaire. She made a video about “the five weirdest, oddball, mysterious moons in our solar system”.
Continue reading and watching
=============================
A Short Analysis of Euripides’ Helen
via Interesting Literature
Helen is not the most famous of Euripides’ plays, but it is one of the most curious – and it deserves close analysis and study. The play was first performed in 412 BC at that year’s City Dionysia. In summary, the plot of Helen turns on an old conspiracy theory first put forward by the ancient historian Herodotus: that ‘Helen of Troy’ was a mere phantom conjured by Hera, and that the real wife of Menelaus spent the duration of the Trojan War in Egypt, having been taken there by Hermes and kept safe out of harm’s way. (This is the basis of H. D.’s modernist epic poem Helen in Egypt (New Directions Books).) The Greeks and the Trojans both go to war over what is, effectively, an illusion. The goddess Hera is responsible for the phantom Helen and, therefore, the cause of the Trojan War: she’s seeking revenge on mortals over something called the Judgement of Paris.
Continue reading
=============================
Watch MC Escher make art in this short documentary
via Boing Boing by Bob Beschizza
M.C. Escher: Adventures in Perception (1971) is a 20-minute Dutch documentary about the artist and includes scenes of him working in his studio.
Continue reading for more information and a link to the video.
=============================
David Jones – the 20th century’s great neglected genius
Thomas Dilworth’s biography, a lifetime’s work, finally does justice to this deeply spiritual, original artist and poet
via Arts & Letters Daily: A.N. Wilson in the Spectator
Self-portrait
When Stravinsky visited David Jones in his cold Harrow bedsit, he came away saying, ‘I have been in the presence of a holy man.’ Other admirers included T.S. Eliot (his publisher) and the Queen Mother (who wrote asking if she could buy some of his work). Harold Bloom, Kenneth Clark and W.H. Auden were all not merely admirers, but passionate in their admiration. Auden thought Jones’s long Eucharistic poem ‘The Anathemata’ the ‘finest long poem written in English this century’.
Continue reading
via Big Think by Robby Berman
Two biofilms (SÜEL LAB @ USCD)
They’re supposed to be the simplest of creatures. Bacteria are prokaryotes: they’re single-celled organisms whose cells even lack a membrane-enclosed nucleus. And yet, biologists at UC San Diego recently discovered something truly startling: Bacterial communities cooperate when food sources are limited. “What’s interesting here is that you have these simple, single-celled bacteria that are tiny and seem to be lonely creatures, but in a community, they start to exhibit very dynamic and complex behaviors you would attribute to more sophisticated organisms or a social network,” said molecular biologist Gürol Süel of UC San Diego’s Division of Biological Sciences.
Continue reading
=============================
New materials allow 2.8l/day of solar-powered desert water-vapor extraction
via Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow
Researchers from MIT, UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley, and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology published a paper in Science describing a solar-powered device that uses a new type of metal organic framework (MOF) to extract up to three litres of water per day from even the most arid desert air.
Continue reading
=============================
This way to the ginger pop shop! The day I stepped into the pages of the Famous Five
via the Guardian by Lucy Mangan
Inspiration for Five’s HQ … Lucy and Blyton’s creations, with Corfe Castle in the distance. Photograph: Jim Wileman for the Guardian
Corfe Castle in Dorset has, as 11th-century castles often do, an amazing history. One of the earliest castles to be built with stone. Mentioned in the Domesday Book. Twice besieged during the civil war. One of the last Royalist strongholds in the southeast until it finally fell to parliamentary forces. But most important of all – and the reason I am here today, clambering up the mound on which its ruins stand – is that at some point in the early 1940s Enid Blyton paid a visit. She rechristened it Kirrin Island, pushed it out to sea, and made it the headquarters of her most beloved creation: the Famous Five.
Continue reading
=============================
Oregonians to vote on whether to end constitutional ban on duels between public officials
via Boing Boing by Rob Beschizza
Move over, Florida! Oregon may supplant you as America's best source of mesmerizingly bizarre violent confrontations, if voters there overturn a constitutional ban on duels.
Continue reading
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Death of a dictator
via The New Statesman by Mary Beard
How Caesar’s murder set the template for political assassination.
The assassination of Julius Caesar on 15 March 44BC (“the ides of March” by the Roman system of dating) is the most famous political murder in history. Caesar had recently been made “dictator for life”, and he was killed in the name of “liberty” by a group of men he counted as friends and colleagues. In the aftermath, the assassins issued coins with a design specially chosen to celebrate the deed and press home the message: it featured the memorable date (“EID MAR”), a pair of daggers and the image of the small hat, “the cap of liberty”, regularly presented to Roman slaves when they were granted their freedom. This was liberation on a grander scale, freeing the Roman people from tyranny.
Continue reading
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Graphene May Be the Key to Drinkable Ocean Water
via Big Think by Robby Berman
Graphene lattice (UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER)
Graphene is absolutely amazing stuff, the lightest, strongest stuff we know of. According to the University of Manchester:
- It’s ultra-light, yet immensely tough.
- It’s 200 times stronger than steel, but it is incredibly flexible.
- It’s the thinnest material possible as well as being transparent.
- It’s a superb conductor and can act as a perfect barrier – not even helium can pass through it.
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The 5 weirdest moons in 5 minutes
via Boing Boing by Mark Frauenfelder
Our friend Ariel Waldman is a space enthusiast extraordinaire. She made a video about “the five weirdest, oddball, mysterious moons in our solar system”.
Continue reading and watching
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A Short Analysis of Euripides’ Helen
via Interesting Literature
Helen is not the most famous of Euripides’ plays, but it is one of the most curious – and it deserves close analysis and study. The play was first performed in 412 BC at that year’s City Dionysia. In summary, the plot of Helen turns on an old conspiracy theory first put forward by the ancient historian Herodotus: that ‘Helen of Troy’ was a mere phantom conjured by Hera, and that the real wife of Menelaus spent the duration of the Trojan War in Egypt, having been taken there by Hermes and kept safe out of harm’s way. (This is the basis of H. D.’s modernist epic poem Helen in Egypt (New Directions Books).) The Greeks and the Trojans both go to war over what is, effectively, an illusion. The goddess Hera is responsible for the phantom Helen and, therefore, the cause of the Trojan War: she’s seeking revenge on mortals over something called the Judgement of Paris.
Continue reading
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Watch MC Escher make art in this short documentary
via Boing Boing by Bob Beschizza
M.C. Escher: Adventures in Perception (1971) is a 20-minute Dutch documentary about the artist and includes scenes of him working in his studio.
Continue reading for more information and a link to the video.
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David Jones – the 20th century’s great neglected genius
Thomas Dilworth’s biography, a lifetime’s work, finally does justice to this deeply spiritual, original artist and poet
via Arts & Letters Daily: A.N. Wilson in the Spectator
Self-portrait
When Stravinsky visited David Jones in his cold Harrow bedsit, he came away saying, ‘I have been in the presence of a holy man.’ Other admirers included T.S. Eliot (his publisher) and the Queen Mother (who wrote asking if she could buy some of his work). Harold Bloom, Kenneth Clark and W.H. Auden were all not merely admirers, but passionate in their admiration. Auden thought Jones’s long Eucharistic poem ‘The Anathemata’ the ‘finest long poem written in English this century’.
Continue reading
Thursday, 28 September 2017
Being empathetic is good, but it can hurt your health
an article by Jennifer Breheny Wallace in The Washington Post 25 September
(Jun Cen for The Washington Post)
Your husband was just passed over for a promotion, and he’s depressed. Your friend’s breast cancer has returned. As a supportive spouse and friend, you feel their pain. Growing research suggests there’s a cost to all that caring.
Empathy – the ability to tune into and share another person’s emotion from their perspective – plays a crucial role in bringing people together.
It’s the joy you feel at a friend’s wedding or the pain you experience when you see someone suffering.
It’s an essential ingredient for building intimacy in relationships, says Robin Stern, associate director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. “When someone feels seen and heard by you,” she says, “they begin to trust you.”
But this seemly positive emotion can also have a downside, particularly if someone gets so consumed by another’s feelings that they neglect their own feelings and needs. Stern says those who regularly prioritize others’ emotions over their own are more susceptible to experiencing anxiety or low-level depression.
Continue reading
Obviously a syndicated piece as the link to The Washington Post goes back to Facebook which is where I first saw it. This now goes to the Sydney Morning Herald!
(Jun Cen for The Washington Post)
Your husband was just passed over for a promotion, and he’s depressed. Your friend’s breast cancer has returned. As a supportive spouse and friend, you feel their pain. Growing research suggests there’s a cost to all that caring.
Empathy – the ability to tune into and share another person’s emotion from their perspective – plays a crucial role in bringing people together.
It’s the joy you feel at a friend’s wedding or the pain you experience when you see someone suffering.
It’s an essential ingredient for building intimacy in relationships, says Robin Stern, associate director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. “When someone feels seen and heard by you,” she says, “they begin to trust you.”
But this seemly positive emotion can also have a downside, particularly if someone gets so consumed by another’s feelings that they neglect their own feelings and needs. Stern says those who regularly prioritize others’ emotions over their own are more susceptible to experiencing anxiety or low-level depression.
Continue reading
Obviously a syndicated piece as the link to The Washington Post goes back to Facebook which is where I first saw it. This now goes to the Sydney Morning Herald!
How to Be There for Others Without Taking on Their Pain
a blog post by Malia Bradshaw for Tiny Buddha
“Letting go helps us to live in a more peaceful state of mind and helps restore our balance. It allows others to be responsible for themselves and for us to take our hands off situations that do not belong to us. This frees us from unnecessary stress.” ~Melody Beattie
When our loved ones suffer, it’s hard not to get swept up in their pain. We want so desperately to fix them, to take away their hardship, and to see them flourishing.
As a control freak, I often find myself going into “fixer mode” when my partner is struggling with work stress, which only makes me more anxious when nothing I suggest works, and him more frustrated when I get so preoccupied with his issues.
Then, after all my frantic attempts at control, there’s a little voice inside that tells me to stop. To listen. To be there for him without trying to change anything. To witness his pain and sit next to him while he feels it.
In this way, it’s not my job to fix his problems. It’s my job to be there for him with love as he figures out how to handle his own suffering. I am freed from feeling the responsibility of taking on his pain.
Here are a few tips for how to not get overwhelmed when others are suffering.
Continue reading
“Letting go helps us to live in a more peaceful state of mind and helps restore our balance. It allows others to be responsible for themselves and for us to take our hands off situations that do not belong to us. This frees us from unnecessary stress.” ~Melody Beattie
When our loved ones suffer, it’s hard not to get swept up in their pain. We want so desperately to fix them, to take away their hardship, and to see them flourishing.
As a control freak, I often find myself going into “fixer mode” when my partner is struggling with work stress, which only makes me more anxious when nothing I suggest works, and him more frustrated when I get so preoccupied with his issues.
Then, after all my frantic attempts at control, there’s a little voice inside that tells me to stop. To listen. To be there for him without trying to change anything. To witness his pain and sit next to him while he feels it.
In this way, it’s not my job to fix his problems. It’s my job to be there for him with love as he figures out how to handle his own suffering. I am freed from feeling the responsibility of taking on his pain.
Here are a few tips for how to not get overwhelmed when others are suffering.
Continue reading
Wednesday, 27 September 2017
Prospection, well-being, and mental health
a post by Andrew MacLeod for the OUP blog
That we remember the past is obvious. But as well as the ability to recall what has already happened to us, we are also able to imagine what might happen to us in the future. Is this capacity for prospection important? Absolutely. Being able to anticipate what might happen and take relevant steps, prioritise goals, and form plans of action for what we are going to do have been fundamental to our evolutionary success. Prospection underpins most of what we do on a daily basis, enabling us to navigate our way through the complexities of life. But surviving, reproducing, and functioning, fundamental as they are, do not tell the whole story about what most of us would think of as a good life. We also want lives that are happy. How is prospection important for this kind of emotional well-being? This question has been at the heart of what I have spent the last 30 years researching.
Continue reading
Prospection was not a term with which I was familiar before reading this blog post. I asked Mr Google what the word was about and it comes from the same stem as prospecting (as in looking for gold).
Wikipedia says: In psychology, prospection is the generation and evaluation of mental representations of possible futures. This ability fundamentally shapes human cognition, emotion, and motivation, and yet remains an understudied field of research, according to some psychologists.
Perhaps I should now go an buy (borrow) Mr Macleod’s book to learn more.
That we remember the past is obvious. But as well as the ability to recall what has already happened to us, we are also able to imagine what might happen to us in the future. Is this capacity for prospection important? Absolutely. Being able to anticipate what might happen and take relevant steps, prioritise goals, and form plans of action for what we are going to do have been fundamental to our evolutionary success. Prospection underpins most of what we do on a daily basis, enabling us to navigate our way through the complexities of life. But surviving, reproducing, and functioning, fundamental as they are, do not tell the whole story about what most of us would think of as a good life. We also want lives that are happy. How is prospection important for this kind of emotional well-being? This question has been at the heart of what I have spent the last 30 years researching.
Continue reading
Prospection was not a term with which I was familiar before reading this blog post. I asked Mr Google what the word was about and it comes from the same stem as prospecting (as in looking for gold).
Wikipedia says: In psychology, prospection is the generation and evaluation of mental representations of possible futures. This ability fundamentally shapes human cognition, emotion, and motivation, and yet remains an understudied field of research, according to some psychologists.
Perhaps I should now go an buy (borrow) Mr Macleod’s book to learn more.
Toddler Groups - Mental Health Front Line Defence
Toddler groups are an underestimated first line of defence against perinatal mental illness
Toddler Groups, don’t you love them!
Picture the scene, a busy crowded room, toys strewn across the floor, babies protectively huddled together on play mats trying to avoid being run over by a boisterous toddler peddling towards them on a little tricycle at alarming collision-course speed; someone hosting a small craft activity in the corner involving green paint and that eternal evil – glitter! And Mums having a cup of tea in the corner, snatching little bits of conversation in-between watching out that Charlie doesn’t bop Emily on the head again with the plastic rolling pin!
Continue reading
Do we as individuals do enough? Do we as a community do enough? This article is written from a Christian viewpoint and asks whether churches are doing enough to understand the issues.
Toddler Groups, don’t you love them!
Picture the scene, a busy crowded room, toys strewn across the floor, babies protectively huddled together on play mats trying to avoid being run over by a boisterous toddler peddling towards them on a little tricycle at alarming collision-course speed; someone hosting a small craft activity in the corner involving green paint and that eternal evil – glitter! And Mums having a cup of tea in the corner, snatching little bits of conversation in-between watching out that Charlie doesn’t bop Emily on the head again with the plastic rolling pin!
Continue reading
Do we as individuals do enough? Do we as a community do enough? This article is written from a Christian viewpoint and asks whether churches are doing enough to understand the issues.
Tuesday, 26 September 2017
Bipolar disorder and addictions
a post by John B. Saunders for OUP Blog
Bipolar disorder is characterized by significant fluctuations in a person’s mood, which may occur for no apparent reason. It tends to persist and people affected by it have phases when they are very happy and active, and phases when they are feeling very sad and hopeless, with often normal moods in between. Some people with bipolar disorder like the “high” phase so much that they may take no action until their mood is so elevated that they are hypomanic or even manic. In the “down” phase the person feels pervasively sad and may slump into a severe depression and feel life is closing in around them. Bipolar disorder typically starts in a person’s late teen or early adult years.
Bipolar disorder consists of two major types. Bipolar disorder, type I is the classical and well-known disorder, which used to be called manic-depressive illness. Episodes of hypomania and depression tend to alternate, with each phase lasting for days or weeks. Bipolar disorder, type II, is characterized by shorter-lived episodes of abnormal mood (it is sometimes termed “rapid cycling”) and there is a predominance of depressive phases. Bipolar disorder, type I occurs in approximately 1% of the adult population. Bipolar disorder, type II is more common and estimates vary from 2-3% to up to 6% of the general population. Some people use the term bipolar disorder, type III to indicate a disorder where hypomanic episodes are precipitated by antidepressant medications. A form of bipolar disorder can also be induced by substance use. Sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish between bipolar disorder and certain forms of post-traumatic stress disorder and some authorities argue that there can be an overlap between these disorders.
Continue reading and be aware that the article was written to provide an introduction to the release of the Second Edition of Addiction Medicine
Bipolar disorder is characterized by significant fluctuations in a person’s mood, which may occur for no apparent reason. It tends to persist and people affected by it have phases when they are very happy and active, and phases when they are feeling very sad and hopeless, with often normal moods in between. Some people with bipolar disorder like the “high” phase so much that they may take no action until their mood is so elevated that they are hypomanic or even manic. In the “down” phase the person feels pervasively sad and may slump into a severe depression and feel life is closing in around them. Bipolar disorder typically starts in a person’s late teen or early adult years.
Bipolar disorder consists of two major types. Bipolar disorder, type I is the classical and well-known disorder, which used to be called manic-depressive illness. Episodes of hypomania and depression tend to alternate, with each phase lasting for days or weeks. Bipolar disorder, type II, is characterized by shorter-lived episodes of abnormal mood (it is sometimes termed “rapid cycling”) and there is a predominance of depressive phases. Bipolar disorder, type I occurs in approximately 1% of the adult population. Bipolar disorder, type II is more common and estimates vary from 2-3% to up to 6% of the general population. Some people use the term bipolar disorder, type III to indicate a disorder where hypomanic episodes are precipitated by antidepressant medications. A form of bipolar disorder can also be induced by substance use. Sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish between bipolar disorder and certain forms of post-traumatic stress disorder and some authorities argue that there can be an overlap between these disorders.
Continue reading and be aware that the article was written to provide an introduction to the release of the Second Edition of Addiction Medicine
Ten interesting items, no gloom and doom here
Caught Our Eyes: It's Electric!
via Picture This, Library of Congress by Julie Stoner
I am the first to admit that my knowledge of cars is rather limited. And perhaps like me, you thought electric cars were a relatively new phenomenon. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled across the 1919 photograph below of a car being charged!
Continue reading
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10 things you should know about weather
via OUP Blog by Storm Dunlop
Supercell Chaparral New Mexico by tpsdave. Public Domain via Pixabay.
From the devastating effects of tornadoes and typhoons to deciding the best day for a picnic, the weather impacts our lives on a daily basis. Despite new techniques and technologies that allow us to forecast the weather with increasing accuracy, most of us do not realise the vast global movements and forces which result in their day-to-day weather. Storm Dunlop tells us ten things we should know about weather in its most dramatic and ordinary forms.
Continue reading
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Where are the Teletubbies, 20 years on?
via The New Statesman by Antonia Quirk
“I literally couldn’t believe I had to work in this thing. That I’d signed a contract...” The actress Pui Fan Lee remembered what it was like to play the red-suited Po for an episode of Witness marking the 20th anniversary of the first episode of Teletubbies. Lee had just graduated from drama school and took the job as one might take a job delivering pizzas. Little did she know she was now a part of the Beatles of kids’ television, a show that mesmerised not only the target audience, but everybody else, too, who couldn’t stop talking about it.
Continue reading
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Surprise! It's a submarine!
via Boing Boing by Jason Weisberger
Submarine emergency ascents are really cool. The soundtrack kind of sucks. I turned it off after a few iterations.
Continue reading [should be watching]
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The centenary of The Scofield Reference Bible
via OUP Blog by the Oxford University Press Bible editorial team
Vitrail de la cathédrale américaine de la Sainte-Trinité de Paris, by GO69. CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
In the history of evangelical Protestant thought in America, few publications have been more influential, or more seminal, than The Scofield Reference Bible (first published in 1909, and thoroughly revised by the original author for publication in 1917). The Rev. Dr. C. I . Scofield labored for years to produce this annotated and cross-referenced edition of the King James Version Bible, in order to explicate for interested Christian believers an approach to understanding the deeper meaning of the Scriptures.
Continue reading
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Yevgeny Yevtushenko obituary
Rebellious Russian poet and author of Babi Yar, who became a celebrity in the west
via the Guardian by Robin Milner-Gulland
Yevtushenko at the Yad Vashem museum of the Holocaust in Jerusalem, 2007. His poem Babi Yar, which brought him fame in 1961, sprang from the second world war Nazi massacre at a ravine near Kiev. Photograph: Jim Hollander/EPA/Rex/Shutterstock
In the middle of a novel published in the Soviet Union in 1981, two young people are exchanging opinions about Russian poetry. After several names have come up, one asks the other, “And how about Yevtushenko?”, to which he gets the reply: “That’s another stage that’s already past.” An unremarkable exchange, of course, save that the novel (Wild Berries) was by the poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko himself.
It indicates several things about Yevtushenko, who has died aged 84: his unquenchable self-regard, his ability to laugh at himself, his appreciation of the vagaries of fame. It also reminds us that there was a brief stage when the development of Russian literature seemed almost synonymous with his name.
Continue reading
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Ten facts about the harp
via OUP Blog by Berit Henrickson
Alizbar by Medunizza. CC BY – SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
The harp is an ancient instrument found in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, and tunings in musical cultures throughout the world. In the West, the harp has been used to accompany singing in religious rituals and court music. It even appears as a solo instrument in jazz and popular music and with symphony orchestras.
Continue reading
=============================
The Doors' Ray Manzarek tells, and plays, the history of "Riders on the Storm"
via Boing Boing by David Pescovitz
The great Ray Manzarek makes magic on the Fender Rhodes as he reveals the musical evolution of the classic Doors song. (Don't blink or you'll miss guitarist Robby Krieger.)
(via Laughing Squid)
Continue reading, listening and watching
=============================
Wild chimpanzees have surprisingly long life spans
via 3 Quarks Daily: from Phys.Org
A member of the Ngogo community of chimpanzees in Uganda's Kibale National Park.
Credit: Brian Wood/Yale University
A 20-year demographic study of a large chimpanzee community in Uganda's Kibale National Park has revealed that, under the right ecological conditions, our close primate relatives can lead surprisingly long lives in the wild. The study, published March 19 in the Journal of Human Evolution, establishes an average life expectancy of about 33 years in its sample of 306 chimpanzees, nearly twice as high as that of other chimpanzee communities and within the 27- to 37-year range of life expectancy at birth of human hunter-gatherers. These findings are important for understanding the evolution of chimpanzee and hominin life histories, the researchers argue.
Continue reading
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Before there was an EPA we had Tom Lehrer
via Boing Boing by Jason Weisberger
A reminder of where things were headed without environmental protections.
via Picture This, Library of Congress by Julie Stoner
I am the first to admit that my knowledge of cars is rather limited. And perhaps like me, you thought electric cars were a relatively new phenomenon. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled across the 1919 photograph below of a car being charged!
Continue reading
=============================
via OUP Blog by Storm Dunlop
Supercell Chaparral New Mexico by tpsdave. Public Domain via Pixabay.
From the devastating effects of tornadoes and typhoons to deciding the best day for a picnic, the weather impacts our lives on a daily basis. Despite new techniques and technologies that allow us to forecast the weather with increasing accuracy, most of us do not realise the vast global movements and forces which result in their day-to-day weather. Storm Dunlop tells us ten things we should know about weather in its most dramatic and ordinary forms.
Continue reading
=============================
via The New Statesman by Antonia Quirk
“I literally couldn’t believe I had to work in this thing. That I’d signed a contract...” The actress Pui Fan Lee remembered what it was like to play the red-suited Po for an episode of Witness marking the 20th anniversary of the first episode of Teletubbies. Lee had just graduated from drama school and took the job as one might take a job delivering pizzas. Little did she know she was now a part of the Beatles of kids’ television, a show that mesmerised not only the target audience, but everybody else, too, who couldn’t stop talking about it.
Continue reading
=============================
via Boing Boing by Jason Weisberger
Submarine emergency ascents are really cool. The soundtrack kind of sucks. I turned it off after a few iterations.
Continue reading [should be watching]
=============================
via OUP Blog by the Oxford University Press Bible editorial team
Vitrail de la cathédrale américaine de la Sainte-Trinité de Paris, by GO69. CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
In the history of evangelical Protestant thought in America, few publications have been more influential, or more seminal, than The Scofield Reference Bible (first published in 1909, and thoroughly revised by the original author for publication in 1917). The Rev. Dr. C. I . Scofield labored for years to produce this annotated and cross-referenced edition of the King James Version Bible, in order to explicate for interested Christian believers an approach to understanding the deeper meaning of the Scriptures.
Continue reading
=============================
Rebellious Russian poet and author of Babi Yar, who became a celebrity in the west
via the Guardian by Robin Milner-Gulland
Yevtushenko at the Yad Vashem museum of the Holocaust in Jerusalem, 2007. His poem Babi Yar, which brought him fame in 1961, sprang from the second world war Nazi massacre at a ravine near Kiev. Photograph: Jim Hollander/EPA/Rex/Shutterstock
In the middle of a novel published in the Soviet Union in 1981, two young people are exchanging opinions about Russian poetry. After several names have come up, one asks the other, “And how about Yevtushenko?”, to which he gets the reply: “That’s another stage that’s already past.” An unremarkable exchange, of course, save that the novel (Wild Berries) was by the poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko himself.
It indicates several things about Yevtushenko, who has died aged 84: his unquenchable self-regard, his ability to laugh at himself, his appreciation of the vagaries of fame. It also reminds us that there was a brief stage when the development of Russian literature seemed almost synonymous with his name.
Continue reading
=============================
via OUP Blog by Berit Henrickson
Alizbar by Medunizza. CC BY – SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
The harp is an ancient instrument found in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, and tunings in musical cultures throughout the world. In the West, the harp has been used to accompany singing in religious rituals and court music. It even appears as a solo instrument in jazz and popular music and with symphony orchestras.
Continue reading
=============================
via Boing Boing by David Pescovitz
The great Ray Manzarek makes magic on the Fender Rhodes as he reveals the musical evolution of the classic Doors song. (Don't blink or you'll miss guitarist Robby Krieger.)
(via Laughing Squid)
Continue reading, listening and watching
=============================
via 3 Quarks Daily: from Phys.Org
A member of the Ngogo community of chimpanzees in Uganda's Kibale National Park.
Credit: Brian Wood/Yale University
A 20-year demographic study of a large chimpanzee community in Uganda's Kibale National Park has revealed that, under the right ecological conditions, our close primate relatives can lead surprisingly long lives in the wild. The study, published March 19 in the Journal of Human Evolution, establishes an average life expectancy of about 33 years in its sample of 306 chimpanzees, nearly twice as high as that of other chimpanzee communities and within the 27- to 37-year range of life expectancy at birth of human hunter-gatherers. These findings are important for understanding the evolution of chimpanzee and hominin life histories, the researchers argue.
Continue reading
=============================
via Boing Boing by Jason Weisberger
Thousands of mental health patients spend years on secure wards
an article by Denis Campbell, Health policy editor, for the Guardian in July 2017
An NHS secure mental health unit. Critics have said stays in these wards should not be a long-term option. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian
Thousands of mental health patients are being kept in secure wards for years at a time when they should be being rehabilitated and preparing to leave hospital, a NHS watchdog has revealed.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) criticised both NHS and for-profit mental health providers for forcing such a large number of patients to endure what it called “outdated and sometimes institutionalised care”, often miles from home. The practice leaves already vulnerable patients feeling isolated and less likely to recover, the CQC warned.
More than 3,500 patients in 248 mental health wards are kept locked-in. In 2015-16 some stayed for 45 days, but others had been there for up to 1,744 days – four and a half years – the care regulator found.
Continue reading
Four and a half years locked away is simply not sensible but in these times of austerity (for which read staff shortages) may be the only answer for those who are not only a danger to themselves but possibly to others.
An NHS secure mental health unit. Critics have said stays in these wards should not be a long-term option. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian
Thousands of mental health patients are being kept in secure wards for years at a time when they should be being rehabilitated and preparing to leave hospital, a NHS watchdog has revealed.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) criticised both NHS and for-profit mental health providers for forcing such a large number of patients to endure what it called “outdated and sometimes institutionalised care”, often miles from home. The practice leaves already vulnerable patients feeling isolated and less likely to recover, the CQC warned.
More than 3,500 patients in 248 mental health wards are kept locked-in. In 2015-16 some stayed for 45 days, but others had been there for up to 1,744 days – four and a half years – the care regulator found.
Continue reading
Four and a half years locked away is simply not sensible but in these times of austerity (for which read staff shortages) may be the only answer for those who are not only a danger to themselves but possibly to others.
And another ten items for you to enjoy
See Which Commodities Make the World Go Round
via Big Think by Frank Jacobs
What makes the world go round? Not love or money. Except if it's the love of oil, and the money to pay for it. This world map shows each country's main export, excluding services. The results are colour-coded. The map is dominated by blue.
And you guessed it: blue is for petroleum, petroleum products, oil, crude oil... whatever you want to call the black sticky stuff that used to be dinosaurs, powers your pickup and is polluting the planet into oblivion.
Continue reading
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The 19th-century teen girl who overpowered men in traveling shows
via Boing Boing by Andrea James
Bill Kirby shares interesting stories about Augusta, Georgia history. Here, he discusses Lulu Hurst, a local teen girl who wowed audiences by overpowering any man who dared to accept her strength challenge.
Continue reading
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Earth Divided in Ten Zones of Equal Population
via Big Think by Frank Jacobs
As of this writing, Earth is a few million people short of the 7.5-billion mark. Considering that we add about 200,000 people to the planet every day, you may be reading this as the World Population Clock passes that symbolic milestone. Or, more likely, with that figure already firmly in the rear-view mirror.
Continue reading
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Eating people will not give you the nutrition you need
via Boing Boing by David Pescovitz
Evidence of cannibalism among past human species goes back almost one million years. But what made our ancestors eat each other? Probably not so much our nutritional value as it’s sorely lacking, says University of Brighton archaeologist James Cole.
Continue reading
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From Jeeves to the Twitter egg, the sad inhabitants of the internet’s graveyard
via The New Statesman by Amelia Tate
Time of death: 16:00. Cause of death: cracked. We are sad to announce that this weekend saw the untimely and unfortunate demise of the Twitter Egg – the default profile picture known as the face of internet trolls everywhere. The egg has been replaced by a generic (and fitting) shadowy man; the egg is dead.
Continue reading
Not, of course, new news but I love the image.
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Closer to fiction: a look at the unreliability of autobiographies
via OUP Blog by Edmund Gordon
Blur bookcase by Lum3n.com. Public Domain via Pexels.
How accurately do writers depict themselves? Through researching the life of English writer Angela Carter, Edmund Gordon discovered an interesting difference between what biographies and autobiographies can provide.
Continue reading
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The Glubb Pasha papers: a precarious existence
via The National Archives Blog by Graham Jevon
Historical documents are precious items, but their existence can be precarious. This was emphasised to me when an archival surprise radically altered the scope of a project that began as a Master’s thesis and resulted in my book Glubb Pasha and the Arab Legion: Britain, Jordan, and the End of Empire in the Middle East (Cambridge University Press, 2017).
My original intention was to examine the causes and consequences of King Hussein’s dismissal of British officer Glubb Pasha from his role as commander of the Jordanian army – the British-financed Arab Legion – on 1 March 1956.
Continue reading
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10 of the Best Elegies Everyone Should Read
via Interesting Literature
The Oxford English Dictionary defines an elegy as ‘A song or poem of lamentation, esp. for the dead; a memorial poem’. Death, and memorialising the dead, has long been a feature of poetry. Here are ten of the best elegies from English poetry, from the Middle Ages to the 1980s. What would you add to our list of the greatest elegiac poems in English? (Shelley’s Adonais, by the way, would have been number 11 on this list if we’d extended it beyond a top ten.)
Continue reading
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Evolution Is Slower Than It Looks and Faster Than You Think
via 3 Quarks Daily: Carrie Arnold in Wired
Skip Sterling / Quanta Magazine
In the 1950s, the Finnish biologist Björn Kurtén noticed something unusual in the fossilized horses he was studying. When he compared the shapes of the bones of species separated by only a few generations, he could detect lots of small but significant changes. Horse species separated by millions of years, however, showed far fewer differences in their morphology. Subsequent studies over the next half century found similar effects – organisms appeared to evolve more quickly when biologists tracked them over shorter timescales.
Continue reading
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via Big Think by Frank Jacobs
What makes the world go round? Not love or money. Except if it's the love of oil, and the money to pay for it. This world map shows each country's main export, excluding services. The results are colour-coded. The map is dominated by blue.
And you guessed it: blue is for petroleum, petroleum products, oil, crude oil... whatever you want to call the black sticky stuff that used to be dinosaurs, powers your pickup and is polluting the planet into oblivion.
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via Boing Boing by Andrea James
Bill Kirby shares interesting stories about Augusta, Georgia history. Here, he discusses Lulu Hurst, a local teen girl who wowed audiences by overpowering any man who dared to accept her strength challenge.
Continue reading
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via Big Think by Frank Jacobs
As of this writing, Earth is a few million people short of the 7.5-billion mark. Considering that we add about 200,000 people to the planet every day, you may be reading this as the World Population Clock passes that symbolic milestone. Or, more likely, with that figure already firmly in the rear-view mirror.
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via Boing Boing by David Pescovitz
Evidence of cannibalism among past human species goes back almost one million years. But what made our ancestors eat each other? Probably not so much our nutritional value as it’s sorely lacking, says University of Brighton archaeologist James Cole.
Continue reading
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via The New Statesman by Amelia Tate
Time of death: 16:00. Cause of death: cracked. We are sad to announce that this weekend saw the untimely and unfortunate demise of the Twitter Egg – the default profile picture known as the face of internet trolls everywhere. The egg has been replaced by a generic (and fitting) shadowy man; the egg is dead.
Continue reading
Not, of course, new news but I love the image.
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via OUP Blog by Edmund Gordon
Blur bookcase by Lum3n.com. Public Domain via Pexels.
How accurately do writers depict themselves? Through researching the life of English writer Angela Carter, Edmund Gordon discovered an interesting difference between what biographies and autobiographies can provide.
Continue reading
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via The National Archives Blog by Graham Jevon
Historical documents are precious items, but their existence can be precarious. This was emphasised to me when an archival surprise radically altered the scope of a project that began as a Master’s thesis and resulted in my book Glubb Pasha and the Arab Legion: Britain, Jordan, and the End of Empire in the Middle East (Cambridge University Press, 2017).
My original intention was to examine the causes and consequences of King Hussein’s dismissal of British officer Glubb Pasha from his role as commander of the Jordanian army – the British-financed Arab Legion – on 1 March 1956.
Continue reading
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via Interesting Literature
The Oxford English Dictionary defines an elegy as ‘A song or poem of lamentation, esp. for the dead; a memorial poem’. Death, and memorialising the dead, has long been a feature of poetry. Here are ten of the best elegies from English poetry, from the Middle Ages to the 1980s. What would you add to our list of the greatest elegiac poems in English? (Shelley’s Adonais, by the way, would have been number 11 on this list if we’d extended it beyond a top ten.)
Continue reading
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via 3 Quarks Daily: Carrie Arnold in Wired
Skip Sterling / Quanta Magazine
In the 1950s, the Finnish biologist Björn Kurtén noticed something unusual in the fossilized horses he was studying. When he compared the shapes of the bones of species separated by only a few generations, he could detect lots of small but significant changes. Horse species separated by millions of years, however, showed far fewer differences in their morphology. Subsequent studies over the next half century found similar effects – organisms appeared to evolve more quickly when biologists tracked them over shorter timescales.
Continue reading
=============================
NASA Unveils New Searchable Video, Audio and Imagery Library for the Public via Research Buzz Firehose: NASA Blog
NASA officially has launched a new resource to help the public search and download out-of-this-world images, videos and audio files by keyword and metadata searches from NASA.gov. The NASA Image and Video Library website consolidates imagery spread across more than 60 collections into one searchable location.
Continue reading
and I [the author of Research Buzz] hope you have a spare couple hundred hours
NASA officially has launched a new resource to help the public search and download out-of-this-world images, videos and audio files by keyword and metadata searches from NASA.gov. The NASA Image and Video Library website consolidates imagery spread across more than 60 collections into one searchable location.
Continue reading
and I [the author of Research Buzz] hope you have a spare couple hundred hours
7 Ways to Extinguish Gaslighting
as blog post by Marie Hartwell-Walker for the World of Psychology blog
The term “gaslighting” has been coined from a 1944 movie in which a husband who is trying to steal his wife’s inheritance convinces her that she is imagining things when she starts to notice odd and furtive behavior on his part. Their gas lights flicker whenever he is in the attic, searching for jewels he thinks are hidden there. He convinces her that she’s imagining things. Gradually, his lies and manipulation make her, and other people, question her sanity. Gaslighting has become a useful term for what goes on in some emotionally abusive relationships.
When gaslighting, the abuser finds a way to make the victim think she or he is “crazy” by steadily questioning their perception of reality. It only works because the abuser also knows how to appear like a friendly, even loving, concerned friend, lover or work supervisor at least some of the time. The victim can’t believe that someone who loves or cares for them would purposefully and systematically try to hurt them.
Continue reading
There are several useful suggestions (not all seven will apply to every case) and links for further reading.
The term “gaslighting” has been coined from a 1944 movie in which a husband who is trying to steal his wife’s inheritance convinces her that she is imagining things when she starts to notice odd and furtive behavior on his part. Their gas lights flicker whenever he is in the attic, searching for jewels he thinks are hidden there. He convinces her that she’s imagining things. Gradually, his lies and manipulation make her, and other people, question her sanity. Gaslighting has become a useful term for what goes on in some emotionally abusive relationships.
When gaslighting, the abuser finds a way to make the victim think she or he is “crazy” by steadily questioning their perception of reality. It only works because the abuser also knows how to appear like a friendly, even loving, concerned friend, lover or work supervisor at least some of the time. The victim can’t believe that someone who loves or cares for them would purposefully and systematically try to hurt them.
Continue reading
There are several useful suggestions (not all seven will apply to every case) and links for further reading.
Monday, 25 September 2017
Mental health and productivity at work: Does what you do matter?
an article by Melisa Bubonya (The University of Melbourne, Australia),
Deborah A.Cobb-Clark (The University of Sydney, Australia, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) and ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course, Australia) and
Mark Wooden (The University of Melbourne, Australia and Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)) published in Labour Economics Volume 46 (June 2017)
Highlights
Much of the economic cost of mental illness stems from workers’ reduced productivity. Using nationally representative panel data we analyze the links between mental health and two alternative workplace productivity measures – absenteeism and presenteeism (i.e., lower productivity while attending work) – explicitly allowing these relationships to be moderated by the nature of the job itself.
We find that absence rates are approximately five percent higher among workers who report being in poor mental health. Moreover, job conditions are related to both presenteeism and absenteeism even after accounting for workers’ self-reported mental health status.
Job conditions are relatively more important in understanding diminished productivity at work if workers are in good rather than poor mental health. The effects of job complexity and stress on absenteeism do not depend on workers’ mental health, while job security and control moderate the effect of mental illness on absence days.
JEL Classification: I12, J22, J24
Full text (PDF)
Highlights
- Poor mental health is associated with both higher absence and presenteeism rates.
- Job conditions influence presenteeism, but only among persons in good mental health.
- The contribution of job control to absence is greater for those in poor mental health.
- Initiatives that reduce job stress offer the most potential to lift productivity.
Much of the economic cost of mental illness stems from workers’ reduced productivity. Using nationally representative panel data we analyze the links between mental health and two alternative workplace productivity measures – absenteeism and presenteeism (i.e., lower productivity while attending work) – explicitly allowing these relationships to be moderated by the nature of the job itself.
We find that absence rates are approximately five percent higher among workers who report being in poor mental health. Moreover, job conditions are related to both presenteeism and absenteeism even after accounting for workers’ self-reported mental health status.
Job conditions are relatively more important in understanding diminished productivity at work if workers are in good rather than poor mental health. The effects of job complexity and stress on absenteeism do not depend on workers’ mental health, while job security and control moderate the effect of mental illness on absence days.
JEL Classification: I12, J22, J24
Full text (PDF)
The UK unemployment rate is at least three times the official rate
an article from the Boing Boing blog by Cory Doctorow
The UK &ndash like most countries &ndash excludes “inactive workers” (students, new parents, people who don’t want a job) from its unemployment figures, but “inactive” is such a slippery concept that it can paper over huge cracks in the labor market.
The official UK unemployment rate is 4.5%, the lowest its been since the 1970s. The true rate is more like 14% or higher. The dark matter of UK unemployment is about what you’d expect: people in the “gig economy” who hate it, people on zero-hours contracts or in part-time work who want full-time work.
Continue reading
The UK &ndash like most countries &ndash excludes “inactive workers” (students, new parents, people who don’t want a job) from its unemployment figures, but “inactive” is such a slippery concept that it can paper over huge cracks in the labor market.
The official UK unemployment rate is 4.5%, the lowest its been since the 1970s. The true rate is more like 14% or higher. The dark matter of UK unemployment is about what you’d expect: people in the “gig economy” who hate it, people on zero-hours contracts or in part-time work who want full-time work.
Continue reading
Sunday, 24 September 2017
Swearing at work: the mixed outcomes of profanity
an article by Yehuda Baruch (University of Southampton, UK), Rea Prouska (London South Bank University School of Business, UK),
Ariane Ollier-Malaterre, (Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Canada) and
Jennifer Bunk, (West Chester University, Pennsylvania, USA)
published in Journal of Managerial Psychology Volume 32 Issue 2 (2017)
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the use and misuse of swearing in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach
Using a qualitative methodology, the authors interviewed 52 lawyers, medical doctors and business executives in the UK, France and the USA.
Findings
In contrast to much of the incivility and social norms literatures, the authors find that male and female business executives, lawyers and doctors of all ages admit to swearing. Further, swearing can lead to positive outcomes at the individual, interpersonal and group levels, including stress-relief, communication-enrichment and socialization-enhancement.
Research limitations/implications
An implication for future scholarship is that “thinking out of the box” when exploring emotion-related issues can lead to new insights.
Practical implications
Practical implications include reconsidering and tolerating incivility under certain conditions.
Originality/value
The authors identified a case in which a negative phenomenon reveals counter-intuitive yet insightful results.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the use and misuse of swearing in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach
Using a qualitative methodology, the authors interviewed 52 lawyers, medical doctors and business executives in the UK, France and the USA.
Findings
In contrast to much of the incivility and social norms literatures, the authors find that male and female business executives, lawyers and doctors of all ages admit to swearing. Further, swearing can lead to positive outcomes at the individual, interpersonal and group levels, including stress-relief, communication-enrichment and socialization-enhancement.
Research limitations/implications
An implication for future scholarship is that “thinking out of the box” when exploring emotion-related issues can lead to new insights.
Practical implications
Practical implications include reconsidering and tolerating incivility under certain conditions.
Originality/value
The authors identified a case in which a negative phenomenon reveals counter-intuitive yet insightful results.
Are ICT displacing workers in the short run? Evidence from seven European countries
an article by Smaranda Pantea (European Commission, Brussel, Belgium and Ministry of Public Finance, Romania), Anna Sabadash (Eurostat, European Commission, Luxembourg) and Federico Biagi (European Commission, Seville, Spain and University of Padua, Italy) published in Information Economics and Policy Volume 39 (June 2017)
Highlights
This paper examines the short run labour substitution effects of using ICT at firm-level in the manufacturing and services sectors in seven European countries, during the period 2007–2010. The data come from a unique dataset provided by the ESSLait Project on Linking Microdata, which contains internationally comparable data based on the production statistics linked at firm level with the novel ICT usage indicators.
We adopt a standard conditional labour demand model and control for unobservable time-invariant firm-specific effects.
The results show that ICT use has a statistically insignificant labour substitution effect and this effect is robust across countries, sectors and measures of ICT use. Our findings suggest that increased use of ICT within firms does not reduce the numbers of workers they employ.
JEL classification: J23, J24, O33, L86
Highlights
- We study the short run substitution effect of ICT use on firms' employment.
- We use highly accurate quantitative measures of ICT use within firms.
- We use a longitudinal dataset containing internationally comparable firm level data for seven European countries, covering manufacturing and services sectors.
- We find no evidence that ICT substitutes labour in the short run.
- The insignificant effect of ICT is very robust across ICT measures, countries and sectors.
This paper examines the short run labour substitution effects of using ICT at firm-level in the manufacturing and services sectors in seven European countries, during the period 2007–2010. The data come from a unique dataset provided by the ESSLait Project on Linking Microdata, which contains internationally comparable data based on the production statistics linked at firm level with the novel ICT usage indicators.
We adopt a standard conditional labour demand model and control for unobservable time-invariant firm-specific effects.
The results show that ICT use has a statistically insignificant labour substitution effect and this effect is robust across countries, sectors and measures of ICT use. Our findings suggest that increased use of ICT within firms does not reduce the numbers of workers they employ.
JEL classification: J23, J24, O33, L86
How I Stopped Trying to Please Everyone and Started Prioritizing Myself
a post by Berni Sewell for Tiny Buddha
“When you say ‘yes’ to others, make sure you don’t say ‘no’ to yourself.” ~Paolo Coehlo
My whole body was shaking. Tears streaming down my face, my nose blocked and throat sore from crying. Yet, no sound escaped my mouth except an occasional gentle sigh or hushed sob I was unable to control.
My husband was lying in bed next to me. I held my breath and lay motionless whenever he stirred in his sleep.
He had an early start ahead and needed rest. I didn’t want to disturb him, bother him with my silly crying fits. I didn’t want him to know that I was unhappy.
He wouldn’t understand, I didn’t even understand myself. I had a good life. A loving family, caring friends, a promising career I enjoyed.
Continue reading
“When you say ‘yes’ to others, make sure you don’t say ‘no’ to yourself.” ~Paolo Coehlo
My whole body was shaking. Tears streaming down my face, my nose blocked and throat sore from crying. Yet, no sound escaped my mouth except an occasional gentle sigh or hushed sob I was unable to control.
My husband was lying in bed next to me. I held my breath and lay motionless whenever he stirred in his sleep.
He had an early start ahead and needed rest. I didn’t want to disturb him, bother him with my silly crying fits. I didn’t want him to know that I was unhappy.
He wouldn’t understand, I didn’t even understand myself. I had a good life. A loving family, caring friends, a promising career I enjoyed.
Continue reading
Saturday, 23 September 2017
10 items starting with dangerous science and ending with John Milton
10 Most Dangerous Scientific Experiments in History
via Big Think by Paul Ratner
A masked ecologist militant is pictured with a barrel falsely contaminated during a demonstration against nuclear energy near the Tricastin nuclear power plant run by Areva in Bollene, southern France, on November 25, 2011, during a visit of France's President
Science is a force for good in our world, improving lives of people all across Earth in immeasurable ways. But it is also a very powerful tool that can become dangerous in some situations. Especially when it gets entangled in politics. At other times, science’s inherent ambition to push boundaries of what is known can also lead to some heart-stopping moments.
The following list is in no way exhaustive but gives us a place to start when thinking about the serious responsibility that comes with the march of science.
Continue reading
=============================
Till death do us part? Divorce in medieval England
via The National Archives Blog by Claire Kennan
In the middle ages, Church courts dealt with all religious matters including marriage, divorce and the punishment of adultery. Even after the Reformation, Church jurisdiction over marriage disputes continued until 1857. Within the E135 series, which I have been cataloguing as part of my PhD placement, is a discrete selection of documents dealing with these issues.
Continue reading
=============================
A southern three-banded armadillo unballing itself
via Boing Boing by Mark Frauenfelder
Found in South America, the southern three-banded armadillo “are the only species of armadillos capable of rolling into a complete ball to defend themselvelves”.
Continue reading
=============================
Ten facts about children’s literature
via OUP Blog by the Oxford Reference marketing team
Photograph by Mi PHAM. Public Domain CC0 1.0 viaUnsplash.
Most of us have a favourite story, or selection of stories, from our childhood. Perhaps they were read to us as we drifted off to sleep, or they were read aloud to the family in front of an open fire, or maybe we read them ourselves by the light of a torch when we were supposed to be sleeping. No matter where you read them, or who read them to you, the characters (and their stories) often stick with you forever.
Continue reading
=============================
Ordnance Survey's digital map of Britain offers stunning views
via BBC Technology News
A new digital tool produces 3D aerial views of countryside walks, cycle routes and mountain climbs.
It has been developed by Ordnance Survey, which hopes the interactive maps will make the outdoors safer and more fun.
Link here to see the video [it will not embed from http to https]
=============================
The Best A. E. Housman Poems Everyone Should Read
via Interesting Literature
A. E. Housman (1859-1936) didn’t write a great deal of poetry, but the poems he left behind are loved by millions around the world. But what are Housman’s best poems? Drawing up a ‘top ten’ has proved difficult. We’ve included some of his most famous poems, but have also included some of the poems which, we feel, show Housman doing what he did best: tugging at the heartstrings through skilfully crafted verse.
Continue reading
=============================
A requiem for the overnight sleeper – and a European way of life
via the Guardian by Andrew Martin
The cross-border overnight train services are dying out. We are losing a way to forge links with the neighbours just when we need them the most
‘The journey on a British sleeper was often over well before the end of the night.’ The Caledonian Sleeper from London to Fort William in 2000. Photograph: National Railway Museum/SSPL via Getty Images
If you read European railway timetables from the decades before Britain joined the EU, you notice how much more foreign “the continent” seemed to be. In the 1960s, the Thomas Cook Continental Timetable was prefaced by “Visa requirements”, closely followed by “Fees for obtaining visas”, and relevant extracts from the passport regulations. Only then is the prospective traveller directed to the trains, the lists of which are footnoted with details of exotic operational practices: “At Hendaye, the Paris-Lisbon couchettes are jacked up to change the bogies, on account of the difference in track gauge between France and Spain.”
Continue reading
=============================
How East Germany’s Stasi tried to drive activists insane, and how they resisted
via Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow
Eavesdropping station, Racing Snake
East Germany’s secret police, the Stasi, were the most aggressive surveillance force of their day – at the Stasi’s peak, one in 60 East Germans was snitching for the agency.
The tactics that the Stasi deployed to recruit informants – blackmail, cash, patriotism, immunity from prosecution, and gamification – are less interesting than the things the Stasi did to their adversaries, inflicting mental torture of various types to drive the opposition to attack itself, or simply give up.
Continue reading
=============================
A Long-Sought Mathematical Proof, Found and Almost Lost
via 3 Quarks Daily: Natalie Wolchover in Quanta
As he was brushing his teeth on the morning of July 17, 2014, Thomas Royen, a little-known retired German statistician, suddenly lit upon the proof of a famous conjecture at the intersection of geometry, probability theory and statistics that had eluded top experts for decades.
Continue reading
=============================
The 'Monuments Men' in Normandy after D-Day
via The National Archives Blog by Anne-Lise Depoil
You may have heard of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives (MFAA) officers, better known as the ‘Monuments Men’ – if you haven’t seen Clooney’s movie, maybe you have read this blog post on art looted by the Nazis in Bruges. Both focused on the essential part these special officers of the Allied armies played in the recovery of looted works of art during and after the Second World War.
Continue reading
=============================
Why Milton still matters
via 3 Quarks Daily: Boyd Tonkin in The Spectator
John Milton, c.1642 (Photo: Getty)
Just 350 years ago, in April 1667, John Milton sold all rights to Paradise Lost to the printer Samuel Simmons – for £5, with another £5 due once Simmons had the first run of 1,300 copies off his hands. That sounds like a bargain for the 12-book epic poem of Satan’s war with Heaven, Eve’s ‘fatal trespass’ and the expulsion from Eden that soon became a monumental pillar of the literary canon.
Continue reading
via Big Think by Paul Ratner
A masked ecologist militant is pictured with a barrel falsely contaminated during a demonstration against nuclear energy near the Tricastin nuclear power plant run by Areva in Bollene, southern France, on November 25, 2011, during a visit of France's President
Science is a force for good in our world, improving lives of people all across Earth in immeasurable ways. But it is also a very powerful tool that can become dangerous in some situations. Especially when it gets entangled in politics. At other times, science’s inherent ambition to push boundaries of what is known can also lead to some heart-stopping moments.
The following list is in no way exhaustive but gives us a place to start when thinking about the serious responsibility that comes with the march of science.
Continue reading
=============================
Till death do us part? Divorce in medieval England
via The National Archives Blog by Claire Kennan
In the middle ages, Church courts dealt with all religious matters including marriage, divorce and the punishment of adultery. Even after the Reformation, Church jurisdiction over marriage disputes continued until 1857. Within the E135 series, which I have been cataloguing as part of my PhD placement, is a discrete selection of documents dealing with these issues.
Continue reading
=============================
A southern three-banded armadillo unballing itself
via Boing Boing by Mark Frauenfelder
Found in South America, the southern three-banded armadillo “are the only species of armadillos capable of rolling into a complete ball to defend themselvelves”.
Continue reading
=============================
Ten facts about children’s literature
via OUP Blog by the Oxford Reference marketing team
Photograph by Mi PHAM. Public Domain CC0 1.0 viaUnsplash.
Most of us have a favourite story, or selection of stories, from our childhood. Perhaps they were read to us as we drifted off to sleep, or they were read aloud to the family in front of an open fire, or maybe we read them ourselves by the light of a torch when we were supposed to be sleeping. No matter where you read them, or who read them to you, the characters (and their stories) often stick with you forever.
Continue reading
=============================
Ordnance Survey's digital map of Britain offers stunning views
via BBC Technology News
A new digital tool produces 3D aerial views of countryside walks, cycle routes and mountain climbs.
It has been developed by Ordnance Survey, which hopes the interactive maps will make the outdoors safer and more fun.
Link here to see the video [it will not embed from http to https]
=============================
The Best A. E. Housman Poems Everyone Should Read
via Interesting Literature
A. E. Housman (1859-1936) didn’t write a great deal of poetry, but the poems he left behind are loved by millions around the world. But what are Housman’s best poems? Drawing up a ‘top ten’ has proved difficult. We’ve included some of his most famous poems, but have also included some of the poems which, we feel, show Housman doing what he did best: tugging at the heartstrings through skilfully crafted verse.
Continue reading
=============================
A requiem for the overnight sleeper – and a European way of life
via the Guardian by Andrew Martin
The cross-border overnight train services are dying out. We are losing a way to forge links with the neighbours just when we need them the most
‘The journey on a British sleeper was often over well before the end of the night.’ The Caledonian Sleeper from London to Fort William in 2000. Photograph: National Railway Museum/SSPL via Getty Images
If you read European railway timetables from the decades before Britain joined the EU, you notice how much more foreign “the continent” seemed to be. In the 1960s, the Thomas Cook Continental Timetable was prefaced by “Visa requirements”, closely followed by “Fees for obtaining visas”, and relevant extracts from the passport regulations. Only then is the prospective traveller directed to the trains, the lists of which are footnoted with details of exotic operational practices: “At Hendaye, the Paris-Lisbon couchettes are jacked up to change the bogies, on account of the difference in track gauge between France and Spain.”
Continue reading
=============================
How East Germany’s Stasi tried to drive activists insane, and how they resisted
via Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow
Eavesdropping station, Racing Snake
East Germany’s secret police, the Stasi, were the most aggressive surveillance force of their day – at the Stasi’s peak, one in 60 East Germans was snitching for the agency.
The tactics that the Stasi deployed to recruit informants – blackmail, cash, patriotism, immunity from prosecution, and gamification – are less interesting than the things the Stasi did to their adversaries, inflicting mental torture of various types to drive the opposition to attack itself, or simply give up.
Continue reading
=============================
A Long-Sought Mathematical Proof, Found and Almost Lost
via 3 Quarks Daily: Natalie Wolchover in Quanta
As he was brushing his teeth on the morning of July 17, 2014, Thomas Royen, a little-known retired German statistician, suddenly lit upon the proof of a famous conjecture at the intersection of geometry, probability theory and statistics that had eluded top experts for decades.
Continue reading
=============================
The 'Monuments Men' in Normandy after D-Day
via The National Archives Blog by Anne-Lise Depoil
You may have heard of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives (MFAA) officers, better known as the ‘Monuments Men’ – if you haven’t seen Clooney’s movie, maybe you have read this blog post on art looted by the Nazis in Bruges. Both focused on the essential part these special officers of the Allied armies played in the recovery of looted works of art during and after the Second World War.
Continue reading
=============================
Why Milton still matters
via 3 Quarks Daily: Boyd Tonkin in The Spectator
John Milton, c.1642 (Photo: Getty)
Just 350 years ago, in April 1667, John Milton sold all rights to Paradise Lost to the printer Samuel Simmons – for £5, with another £5 due once Simmons had the first run of 1,300 copies off his hands. That sounds like a bargain for the 12-book epic poem of Satan’s war with Heaven, Eve’s ‘fatal trespass’ and the expulsion from Eden that soon became a monumental pillar of the literary canon.
Continue reading
Half of pupils expelled from school have mental health issue, study finds
a report by Sally Weale, education correspondent, in the Guardian of 20 July 2017
IPPR thinktank says permanently excluded children in England face significant disadvantage because of ‘broken system’
Only one in a hundred permanently excluded pupils will go on to get five good GCSEs, the study found. Photograph: FangXiaNuo/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Read the Guardian’s report here
The IPPR’s press release heralding the interim report adds ‘burningly unjust system’ to the title above.
I spent quite a while looking for the interim report of July and/or the final report due in September and found neither. The information I did find horrified me quite enough!
IPPR thinktank says permanently excluded children in England face significant disadvantage because of ‘broken system’
Only one in a hundred permanently excluded pupils will go on to get five good GCSEs, the study found. Photograph: FangXiaNuo/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Read the Guardian’s report here
The IPPR’s press release heralding the interim report adds ‘burningly unjust system’ to the title above.
I spent quite a while looking for the interim report of July and/or the final report due in September and found neither. The information I did find horrified me quite enough!
Social model of emotional labour and client satisfaction: exploring inter- and intrapersonal characteristics of the client−provider encounter
an article by Anat Drach-Zahavy and Dana Yagil (University of Haifa, Israel) and Ilana Cohen (Ministry of Health, Israel) published in
Work & Stress: An International Journal of Work, Health & Organisations
Volume 31 Issue 2 (2017)
Abstract
As part of healthcare organisations’ efforts to improve client satisfaction, special attention is directed to care providers’ expression of authenticity through genuine emotional displays in care encounters. The study’s aim was to test a mediating–moderating model for predicting clients’ satisfaction.
The model combined intrapersonal forces (the healthcare provider’s level of caring and emotional load) and interpersonal forces (meeting the client in a team of professionals or alone, and client−provider similarity), as predictors of emotional labour strategies, and subsequent client satisfaction.
Clients’ evaluation of whether or not the emotional displays were authentic was intended to moderate the link between emotional labour and client satisfaction. The sample consisted of 103 healthcare providers’ encounters with clients’ family members, randomly selected from five nursing homes.
Data were collected by validated questionnaires at three time points. Mixed linear model analyses generally supported the proposed model. Meeting a client’s family in teams, ethnic similarity, and providers’ caring and emotional load stimulated higher levels of deep acting.
Meeting clients alone and less emotional load involved more surface acting. These findings offer empirical support for the social interaction explanation of emotional labour, pointing to the importance of social characteristics of the service encounter in shaping emotional labour strategies and maintaining client satisfaction.
Abstract
As part of healthcare organisations’ efforts to improve client satisfaction, special attention is directed to care providers’ expression of authenticity through genuine emotional displays in care encounters. The study’s aim was to test a mediating–moderating model for predicting clients’ satisfaction.
The model combined intrapersonal forces (the healthcare provider’s level of caring and emotional load) and interpersonal forces (meeting the client in a team of professionals or alone, and client−provider similarity), as predictors of emotional labour strategies, and subsequent client satisfaction.
Clients’ evaluation of whether or not the emotional displays were authentic was intended to moderate the link between emotional labour and client satisfaction. The sample consisted of 103 healthcare providers’ encounters with clients’ family members, randomly selected from five nursing homes.
Data were collected by validated questionnaires at three time points. Mixed linear model analyses generally supported the proposed model. Meeting a client’s family in teams, ethnic similarity, and providers’ caring and emotional load stimulated higher levels of deep acting.
Meeting clients alone and less emotional load involved more surface acting. These findings offer empirical support for the social interaction explanation of emotional labour, pointing to the importance of social characteristics of the service encounter in shaping emotional labour strategies and maintaining client satisfaction.
Friday, 22 September 2017
Another eclectic mix from fairy stories to physics. Enjoy today's ten
A beautifully illustrated edition of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen
via Boing Boing by MaryKate Smith Despres
The Hans Christian Andersen classic, The Snow Queen, is a quick and enjoyable read, made all the more so with printmaker Sanna Annukka’s gorgeous illustrations. You’ll likely recognize the textile designer’s aesthetic from Marimekko and, not surprisingly, many of her illustrations make full use of her bold, geometric patterns through the characters’ dress. Her landscapes look like fabrics, too. A panel that shows a wintry countryside looks like it could be a weaving and I wish I could buy another, a garden in full bloom, by the bolt.
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Quantum fields
via OUP Blog by Art Hobson
Particles by geralt. CC0 Public domain via Pixabay
Some say everything is made of atoms, but this is far from true. Light, radio, and other radiations aren’t made of atoms. Protons, neutrons, and electrons aren’t made of atoms, although atoms are made of them. Most importantly, 95% of the universe’s energy comes in the form of dark matter and dark energy, and these aren’t made of atoms.
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Watch a 200-ton boulder get blowed up real good
via Boing Boing by Andrea James
Heavy rains on the west coast have caused rockslides like this behemoth blocking an Oregon highway south of Eugene. Oregon DOT set up a camera as they blasted it into manageable chunks.
Continue reading
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Was my grandmother a witch?
via the Guardian by Melinda Salisbury
Melinda Salisbury: ‘I always thought she would be imprisoned for a hundred years in a tree, or turn into a bird, or just step into the next life.’ Photograph: Alicia Canter for the Guardian
When I was young, I believed my grandmother was a witch. I’m not sure why; maybe it was her wiry grey hair, her wicked cackle and the mischievous glint in her steely blue eyes. Perhaps it was that she seemed to know what I needed or wanted before I had even realised it, as if by magic.
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Darwin Was a Slacker and You Should Be Too
Many famous scientists have something in common – they didn’t work long hours.
via Arts & Letter Daily: Alex Soojung-Kim Pang in Nautilus
When you examine the lives of history’s most creative figures, you are immediately confronted with a paradox: they organize their lives around their work, but not their days.
Figures as different as Charles Dickens, Henri Poincaré, and Ingmar Bergman, working in disparate fields in different times, all shared a passion for their work, a terrific ambition to succeed, and an almost superhuman capacity to focus. Yet when you look closely at their daily lives, they only spent a few hours a day doing what we would recognize as their most important work. The rest of the time, they were hiking mountains, taking naps, going on walks with friends, or just sitting and thinking. Their creativity and productivity, in other words, were not the result of endless hours of toil. Their towering creative achievements result from modest “working” hours.
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Tyrannosaurus rex was a sensitive lover, new dinosaur discovery suggests
via the Guardian by Ian Sample and agencies
Well preserved T rex fossils have revealed new insights into the dinosaurs’ sex lives. Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images
It made its name by terrorising Earth at the end of the Late Cretaceous, but Tyrannosaurus rex had a sensitive side too, researchers have found.
The fearsome carnivore, which stood 20 feet tall and ripped its prey to shreds with dagger-like teeth, had a snout as sensitive to touch as human fingertips, say scientists.
T rex and other tyrannosaurs would have used their tactile noses to explore their surroundings, build nests, and carefully pick up fragile eggs and baby offspring.
But the snout is thought to have served another purpose. Experts believe that males and females rubbed their sensitive faces together in a prehistoric form of foreplay.
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Primitive Technology: Turn on the closed captions!
via Boing Boing by Gareth Branwyn
It's no secret that Boing Boing (along with over 4 million other netizens) loves the Primitive Technology channel on YouTube. We've covered this channel numerous times (about a guy making primitive tech in the wilds of Far North Queensland, Australia with nothing but the gym shorts on his ass). I anxiously await each episode and am like a kid at Christmas when I get the alert that a new one is up.
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The real Casanova
His name is synonymous with serial seduction but Casanova's memoirs reveal a man greater than the sum of his ‘conquests’
via Arts & Letters Daily: Laurence Bergreen in AEON
Everyone thinks that they know about Casanova, the legendary lover who proceeded from one romantic conquest to another, but almost no one really does. They believe that he was handsome, distinguished and practised in the arts of love, a virtual Zorro of the boudoir. That he was a wealthy member of the upper class, and celebrated in his lifetime for his exploits. So runs the fable of the great lover.
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Glenda Jackson on playing poet Stevie Smith – archive, 1977
via the Guardian by Janet Watts
Mona Washbourne (left) and Glenda Jackson in the play ‘Stevie’. Photograph: Nick Rogers/ANL/REX/Shutterstock
Glenda Jackson met Stevie Smith on a poetry-reading platform in the 1960s, when the poet from Palmers Green came into a late-blossoming fame. “This extraordinary little figure stood directly in front of me – which was odd, because people usually approach you at an angle – and I remember these eyes boring into me, and this grin, and a strange skirt and sandals and ankle socks. Then she romped on to the stage and did Not Waving But Drowning: and I thought, Well, lady, you’re not as strange as you look.”
Continue reading
=============================
via Boing Boing by MaryKate Smith Despres
The Hans Christian Andersen classic, The Snow Queen, is a quick and enjoyable read, made all the more so with printmaker Sanna Annukka’s gorgeous illustrations. You’ll likely recognize the textile designer’s aesthetic from Marimekko and, not surprisingly, many of her illustrations make full use of her bold, geometric patterns through the characters’ dress. Her landscapes look like fabrics, too. A panel that shows a wintry countryside looks like it could be a weaving and I wish I could buy another, a garden in full bloom, by the bolt.
Continue reading
=============================
via OUP Blog by Art Hobson
Particles by geralt. CC0 Public domain via Pixabay
Some say everything is made of atoms, but this is far from true. Light, radio, and other radiations aren’t made of atoms. Protons, neutrons, and electrons aren’t made of atoms, although atoms are made of them. Most importantly, 95% of the universe’s energy comes in the form of dark matter and dark energy, and these aren’t made of atoms.
Continue reading
=============================
via Boing Boing by Andrea James
Heavy rains on the west coast have caused rockslides like this behemoth blocking an Oregon highway south of Eugene. Oregon DOT set up a camera as they blasted it into manageable chunks.
Continue reading
=============================
via the Guardian by Melinda Salisbury
Melinda Salisbury: ‘I always thought she would be imprisoned for a hundred years in a tree, or turn into a bird, or just step into the next life.’ Photograph: Alicia Canter for the Guardian
When I was young, I believed my grandmother was a witch. I’m not sure why; maybe it was her wiry grey hair, her wicked cackle and the mischievous glint in her steely blue eyes. Perhaps it was that she seemed to know what I needed or wanted before I had even realised it, as if by magic.
Continue reading
=============================
Many famous scientists have something in common – they didn’t work long hours.
via Arts & Letter Daily: Alex Soojung-Kim Pang in Nautilus
When you examine the lives of history’s most creative figures, you are immediately confronted with a paradox: they organize their lives around their work, but not their days.
Figures as different as Charles Dickens, Henri Poincaré, and Ingmar Bergman, working in disparate fields in different times, all shared a passion for their work, a terrific ambition to succeed, and an almost superhuman capacity to focus. Yet when you look closely at their daily lives, they only spent a few hours a day doing what we would recognize as their most important work. The rest of the time, they were hiking mountains, taking naps, going on walks with friends, or just sitting and thinking. Their creativity and productivity, in other words, were not the result of endless hours of toil. Their towering creative achievements result from modest “working” hours.
Continue reading
=============================
via the Guardian by Ian Sample and agencies
Well preserved T rex fossils have revealed new insights into the dinosaurs’ sex lives. Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images
It made its name by terrorising Earth at the end of the Late Cretaceous, but Tyrannosaurus rex had a sensitive side too, researchers have found.
The fearsome carnivore, which stood 20 feet tall and ripped its prey to shreds with dagger-like teeth, had a snout as sensitive to touch as human fingertips, say scientists.
T rex and other tyrannosaurs would have used their tactile noses to explore their surroundings, build nests, and carefully pick up fragile eggs and baby offspring.
But the snout is thought to have served another purpose. Experts believe that males and females rubbed their sensitive faces together in a prehistoric form of foreplay.
Continue reading
=============================
via Boing Boing by Gareth Branwyn
It's no secret that Boing Boing (along with over 4 million other netizens) loves the Primitive Technology channel on YouTube. We've covered this channel numerous times (about a guy making primitive tech in the wilds of Far North Queensland, Australia with nothing but the gym shorts on his ass). I anxiously await each episode and am like a kid at Christmas when I get the alert that a new one is up.
Continue reading
=============================
His name is synonymous with serial seduction but Casanova's memoirs reveal a man greater than the sum of his ‘conquests’
via Arts & Letters Daily: Laurence Bergreen in AEON
Everyone thinks that they know about Casanova, the legendary lover who proceeded from one romantic conquest to another, but almost no one really does. They believe that he was handsome, distinguished and practised in the arts of love, a virtual Zorro of the boudoir. That he was a wealthy member of the upper class, and celebrated in his lifetime for his exploits. So runs the fable of the great lover.
Continue reading
=============================
via the Guardian by Janet Watts
Mona Washbourne (left) and Glenda Jackson in the play ‘Stevie’. Photograph: Nick Rogers/ANL/REX/Shutterstock
Glenda Jackson met Stevie Smith on a poetry-reading platform in the 1960s, when the poet from Palmers Green came into a late-blossoming fame. “This extraordinary little figure stood directly in front of me – which was odd, because people usually approach you at an angle – and I remember these eyes boring into me, and this grin, and a strange skirt and sandals and ankle socks. Then she romped on to the stage and did Not Waving But Drowning: and I thought, Well, lady, you’re not as strange as you look.”
Continue reading
=============================
Backstage With Billie Holiday
via 3 Quarks Daily: John Leland in The New York Times
Billie Holiday with Carl Drinkard on Broad Street, receiving a gift from a fan.
Jerry Dantzic
Jerry Dantzic
Billie Holiday was a great American storyteller and a great American story. Her working materials were simple pop songs and standards – rarely blues – but her medium was her body itself: her voice, her back story. The past imprinted its lines on her skin; the future seemed to be running out. Few voices in America have announced themselves as unmistakably as hers, and few have carried as fully formed a narrative load.
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