provides links to information management, information sources and other "useful stuff" with a strong bias towards the management of information in a careers guidance context.
As of 17 July 2017 I include mental health information and comment.
I tweet as @careersinfo and am on LinkedIn and Facebook as Hazel Edmunds
“It’s not your job to like me—it’s mine.” Byron Katie
Why are breakups so painful? Whether we are the dumper or the dumpee, the range of emotions we feel is universal: devastation, sadness, and anger. Oh, and there’s the acute pain, as if your heart had been gouged from your chest, stabbed a dozen times with a butter knife, and booted to the curb.
Am I right?
Of course I am. I’ve been there. We all have. I intimately experienced a broken heart and its rippling effects when my partner and I ended our seven-year relationship. I admit that I was the architect of the break-up. I was mostly shut off, insecure, and jealous during the tenure of the relationship. Our breakup was sticky. It was messy. It was ugly…downright.
As if the pain isn’t enough, we can’t sleep, we lose our appetite or eat like a cow, we stop bathing, we look homeless, and we watch YouTube playlists of How to Get Your Ex Back in Thirty days. Sad days.
You see, a breakup is a loss. It’s a death of a relationship. It’s a death of an identity that was entangled with our ex partner. The stages of a breakup are similar to grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. It’s no wonder we’re a mess when we split from an ex.
The good news is that there is an antidote to our hot-messed-up heart: mindful self-compassion.
a post by Daniel Aaronson and Brian Phelan for the OUP blog
Robot arm technology by jarmoluk. Public domain via Pixabay
The fear of automation technology and its potential to displace a large portion of the global labor force is nearly ubiquitous. A 2018 survey from the Pew Research Center reports that almost 80 percent of respondents across 10 countries believe that robots and computers are likely to take over much of the work currently done by humans sometime in the next 50 years and this change will cause much more harm than good, including job loss and rising inequality.
A certain unease about technology is warranted as there is strong evidence that technological innovation causes some people to lose their jobs. However, there is no credible evidence that technological change – at any point in time – has led to a net decline in overall employment. Still, it’s only natural to wonder whether this time could be different.
a post by Tristan Greene published in Artificial Intelligence [grateful thanks to ResearchBuzz: Firehose for this item]
Humanity’s mental health crisis has reached pandemic proportions. Bluntly put: we don’t seem capable of solving the problem on our own. Cutting edge AI research shows a clear path forward, but society as a whole will have to accept the fact that mental health is real in order for us to take the first steps.
Machine learning researchers in academia, government, and industry are all scrambling to adapt and apply modern artificial intelligence techniques – deep learning in particular – to the suicide problem. The big idea seems to be that AI can act as a sort of early detection system for mental health distress by identifying and monitoring specific markers that indicate suicidal behavior.
NOTE: This is based on research in the USA and the contact numbers given at the end of the article are for US residents. Samaritans in the UK can be reached on 116 113 (free from landlines and mobiles 24/7). NOTE 2: Nothing will replace human face-to-face interaction but it certainly appears that this research has identified means by which that intervention can happen for people who were not thought to be at risk.
a column by Thomas Blanchet, Lucas Chancel and Amory Gethin for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
Despite the growing importance of inequalities in policy debates, it is still difficult to compare inequality levels across European countries and to tell how European growth has been shared across income groups.
This column draws on new evidence combining surveys, tax data, and national accounts to document a rise in income inequality in most European countries between 1980 and 2017. It finds that income disparities on the old continent have increased less than in the US and shows that this is essentially due to ‘predistribution’ policies.
Chloe Billing City-REDI Institute, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK. C.A.Billing@bham.ac.uk
View further author information
, Philip McCann & Raquel Ortega-Argilés ORCID Icon
Philip McCann University of Sheffield Management School, Sheffield, UK. p.mccann@sheffield.ac.uk
View further author information
& Raquel Ortega-Argilés ORCID Icon
Raquel Ortega-Argilés City-REDI Institute, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
Correspondence
r.ortegaargiles@bham.ac.uk
ORCID Iconhttp://orcid.org/0000-0002-7783-2230
View further author information
ORCID Icon
a C.A.Billing@bham.ac.uk
City-REDI Institute, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
b p.mccann@sheffield.ac.uk
University of Sheffield Management School, Sheffield, UK. c
(Corresponding author) r.ortegaargiles@bham.ac.uk
City-REDI Institute, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
Regional Studies
Volume 53, 2019 - Issue 5: Regional aspects in small firm financing
This paper discusses the various potential impacts of Brexit on UK regions and outlines the sub-national governance challenges these potential impacts raise. In the light of these, the types of activities that UK sub-national governance bodies have initiated in preparation for Brexit are then reviewed. The conclusions suggest that the UK sub-national institutional system is largely unprepared for the post-Brexit realities.
a post by Therese J Borchard for the World of Psychology blog
Despite its name, atypical depression is one of the most common types of depression, affecting between 25 to 40 percent of depressed people. Because the symptoms differ from those of typical depression, this subtype of depression is often misdiagnosed.
Atypical depression was named in the 1950s to classify a group of patients who did not respond to electroconvulsive therapy or to the tricyclic antidepressant Tofranil (imipramine). They did, however, respond to monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) antidepressants.
Some of the same treatments that work for classic depression work for atypical depression, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and cognitive-behavioral therapy; however, full recovery is more achievable when this type of depression is identified and addressed.
Here are a few facts about atypical depression you should know.
an article by Nicola Ingram (Lancaster University, UK) and Kim Allen (University of Leeds, UK) published in The Sociological Review Volume 67 Issue 3 (May 2019)
Abstract
Graduate outcomes – including rates of employment and earnings – are marked by persistent inequalities related to social class, as well as gender, ethnicity and institution. Despite national policy agendas related to social mobility and ‘fair access to the professions’, high-status occupations are disproportionately composed of those from socially privileged backgrounds, and evidence suggests that in recent decades many professions have become less socially representative.
This article makes an original contribution to sociological studies of inequalities in graduate transitions and elite reproduction through a distinct focus on the ‘pre-hiring’ practices of graduate employers.
It does this through a critical analysis of the graduate recruitment material of two popular graduate employers. It shows how, despite espousing commitments to diversity and inclusion, constructions of the ‘ideal’ graduate privilege individuals who can mobilise and embody certain valued capitals.
Using Bourdieusian concepts of ‘social magic’ and ‘institutional habitus’, the article argues that more attention must be paid to how graduate employers’ practices constitute tacit processes of social exclusion and thus militate against the achievement of more equitable graduate outcomes and fair access to the ‘top jobs’.
an article by Lynda Cheshire, Robin Fitzgerald and Yan Liu (The University of Queensland, Australia) published in Urban Studies Volume 56 Issue 6 (May 2019)
Abstract
As people who live in closest proximity to us, the conduct of neighbours can have an impact upon our lives, even if they are relative strangers.
While previous research has generally examined the positive effects of good neighbour interactions, neighbours can also be a source of nuisance, conflict and distress.
In the advent of socio-structural processes of urban policy and change – such as gentrification and densification – the taken-for-granted conventions that once regulated neighbour interactions are being eroded, potentially leading to greater levels of neighbour problems and complaints.
In this paper, we apply a latent modelling approach to identify subgroups of neighbourhoods based on their profiles of neighbour problems and to assess whether these subgroups are characterised by the degree of social change in the neighbourhood towards the dual processes of gentrification and densification.
The findings show that high intensity problems are associated with both processes, but that class factors of gentrification are more influential than density in accounting for neighbour tensions.
a column by David M. Higgins and Brian Varian for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Britain tried to reorient its trade towards the Empire via an advertising campaign led by the Empire Marketing Board.
As this column shows, in economic terms, the initiative was a complete failure, producing no increase in the Empire’s share of Britain’s imports.
Imperial sentiment conflicted with economic reality: Britain was the biggest global importer of produce from the late 19th century to the interwar period, and the EMB’s activities were constrained by entrenched consumer preferences for non-Empire foodstuffs, such as Argentine beef and Danish butter.
an article by Peter Forbes published in Eurozine [first published by New Humanist 1/2019]
The number of deaths caused globally by antibiotic resistance is increasing at alarming speed. The problem is well known, but governments and pharma appear not to take it seriously. Progress in bacteriophage research gives cause for optimism, however: using CRISPR gene editing technologies, these organisms can be deployed as an alternative to antibiotics.
In November 2015 Tom Patterson, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, was on holiday with his wife Steffanie Strathdee when he fell ill. Patterson, who is now 70, had a gallstone and a pancreatic abscess, both of which were treatable. But an infection by Acinetobacter baumannii caused a greater problem. This organism, which colonises skin wounds such as burns, became notorious for its resistance to antibiotics during the 2003 Iraq war. Patterson became comatose and increasingly skeletal; the antibiotics he was given were failing. But Strathdee is an infectious diseases epidemiologist and she knew something about bacteriophages, microscopic organisms that had been used to combat infections successfully in the Soviet Union and other parts of Eastern Europe for a century but had never been accepted by Western medicine. Bacteriophages, or “phages” as they are commonly known, were allowed only as a last resort in cases like Patterson’s.
Social networking is such a massive part of all our lives that it can no longer be ignored. The question is whether social media sites are good for society.
As with everything, there are good things and bad things about social networking. And in this article we explore some of the positive effects of social media.
a column by Clémence Berson, Morgane Laouénan and Emmanuel Valat for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
Hiring discrimination against ethnic minorities remains an important issue in most industrialised countries, but few tools have proven their effectiveness in fighting this discrimination.
Based on an original correspondence study in France, this column argues that the organisation of recruitment has a large impact on discrimination
The findings suggest that companies that centralise HR practices across establishments are less likely to discriminate against minority ethnic applicants in the first round of selection.
an article by Cristina Asenjo Palma (University of Edinburgh, Scotland) published in Critical Social Policy Volume 39 Issue 2 (May 2019)
Abstract
In the UK, conflict resolution strategies have become increasingly popular within community development practice. Conflict resolution has been used to prevent homelessness, tackle neighbourhood disputes, address family conflict, facilitate community involvement, address discrimination and reduce anti-social behaviour.
The promise of conflict resolution is that confidential and informal processes of ‘justice from below’ might better reconcile community interests, improve relationships and promote social change. Within the field of community development, these promises have been widely vaunted.
However, outside community development, conflict resolution has been subject to extensive criticism.
This article draws upon debates in legal scholarship to discuss four criticisms in particular: that conflict resolution disadvantages vulnerable groups, undermines social justice, suppresses legitimate grievances and mistreats public issues as private problems. It then considers these criticisms in relation to community development practice and explores potential solutions.
a post by Therese J Borchard for the World of Psychology blog
“I ask not for a lighter burden, but broader shoulders,” says a Jewish proverb. That is the essence of emotional resilience … broader shoulders. We can’t control what illness we are diagnosed with, what tragedies come our way, or how many disappointments we will run into in our day.
However, we can control how we face adversity of all kind: the big whoppers that feel as though they are sealing our fate and that we will never ever breathe fresh air again, and the inconveniences and frustrations that can easily put us in a bad mood every day.
Here are some pieces of wisdom from sage philosophers, authors, and shrewd people from different time periods on how to handle difficulty with grace, to recognize specks of light in the dark, and to develop the emotional resilience that will make for broad shoulders.
Hazel’s comment: Not all of the 25 quotes will be relevant today, some may be relevant to you always and some never. Take what you need and leave the rest.
The Wit and Wisdom of Ancient Jewish Graffiti
via ResearchBuzz Firehose: Eve Kahn for Atlas Obscura
Researchers in the field have uncovered related messages ranging from “Lasius is a pervert” to “Good luck in your resurrection.” Greek dedicatory inscription of Samuel, son of Saphara. Painted onto ceiling tile from the Dura‐Europos synagogue, which requests “may he be remembered [who] founded these things thus.” PUBLIC DOMAIN/YALE UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY
“You will come to an evil end if you rob this grave” and “My beloved was here” ranked among the most popular messages for graffiti writers in ancient Jewish communities.
Starting some 3,000 years ago, Jews scratched walls at homes and public spaces with prayers, warnings, blessings on deceased relatives, and store advertisements. They even used graffiti to mark rows of theater seats that were reserved for Jewish groups. In the margins of the texts, they sketched outlines of ships, people, menorahs, and synagogue columns. Continue reading
==============================
Wit, Exile, Jew, Convert, Genius
The life and art of Heinrich Heine
via Arts & Letters Daily: Joseph Epstein in Commentary
Friendship, Love, the Philosopher’s Stone,
These three things are ranked alone;
These I sought from sun to sun,
And I found—not even one.
— Heinrich Heine
Heinrich Heine was one of those writers, rare at any time, welcome always, who found it impossible to be dull. In everything he wrote, he captivated, sometimes infuriated, often dazzled. Heine, who was born in 1797 and died in 1856, wrote poetry, plays, criticism, essays, fiction, travel books, and journalism. All of it was marked by passion and wit, not a standard combination. “I hate ambiguous words,” he noted, “hypocritical flowers, cowardly fig-leaves, from the depth of my soul.” He thought himself, not incorrectly, in the line of Aristophanes, Cervantes, Molière. Matthew Arnold called Heine “the most important German successor and continuator of Goethe in Goethe’s most important line of activity…as ‘a soldier in the war of liberation of humanity.’” Continue reading
==============================
"Wonderfully unimpressive": hill-climbing in London
via the Big Think blog by Frank Jacobs
London is an unlikely destination for hill-climbing. The local topography is mostly flat, with some soft undulations. The city’s tallest building – the Shard, at 306 m (1,000 ft) or 310 m (1,020 ft) if you include the tip – easily beats the highest natural point, Westerham Heights in the south-eastern borough of Bromley (245 m, 804 ft).
But if you’re in London anyway and you’ve seen all of the usual sights, why not seek out the highest points in each of its 32 boroughs? Yes, many are ridiculously low and obscure. Nevertheless, ‘hill bagging’ is a thing even in London, as an alternative and mildly ironic (and thus perhaps very British) form of urban exploration. Alternatively, there's the London Peaks Relay, a 240-km (150-mile) race in which a team of runners visit the highest point in every London borough within 24 hours. Continue reading
==============================
This fish sounds like a vibrating phone
via Boing Boing by Rusty Blazenhoff
Today I learned the Splendid Toadfish, a creature found only in the Caribbean Sea, produces a sound like a phone on vibrate. National Geographic writes:
This grumpy-looking splendid toadfish has a special skill. That’s not the sound of a phone vibrating… the toadfish is “singing.” A similar species, the Bocon toadfish, produces its song with muscles surrounding its swim bladder. Researchers have discovered that the fish sing in unique patterns of ‘boops’ and grunts (Bocon toadfish sounds recorded separately from this video).
Videographer Bob Mazur thought he was hearing sounds coming from SCUBA gear, until he spotted this noisy fish hiding under the coral. Some toadfish sounds are used to attract females to nesting sites, and others are used as warning signals–probably the case in this instance. During this dive in Cozumel, several fish could be heard singing over each other. What a splendid toadfish surprise.
==============================
A Short Analysis of Katherine Mansfield’s ‘Bliss’
via Interesting Literature
On one of Mansfield’s great stories of desire and disappointment
Katherine Mansfield’s ‘Bliss’ is one of her first great short stories – the genre she excelled at (she never wrote a novel, and her poetry failed to make a mark on the literary world). ‘Bliss’ was first published in 1918, and is shot through with homoerotic longing and the animalistic nature of sexual desire. However, because Mansfield was writing in 1918, these things can only be hinted at through symbolism and suggestion, as this analysis will attempt to show. Continue reading
==============================
Why are we living in an age of anger – is it because of the 50-year rage cycle?
via the Guardian by Zoe Williams
From passive-aggressive notes on ambulance windscreens to bilious political discourse, it feels as though society is suddenly consumed by fury. What is to blame for this outpouring of aggression? ‘Unprocessed anger pollutes the social sphere. Every outburst legitimises the next.’ Illustration: Ben Boothman at Agency Rush
A neighbour objected to a young couple from Newcastle being naked in their own home. “We are sick of seeing big bums, big boobs and little willy,” was the core message of the note, crescendoing to: “We will report you both for indecent exposure.” It is such a small thing, banal, without consequence. It connects to no wider narrative and conveys nothing but the bubbling discomfort of human beings living near each other. Yet when Karin Stone (one of the nakeds) posted the note on Facebook, 15,000 people pored over it. An Australian radio show interviewed her. I have got to be honest, I am heavily emotionally invested in the story myself and I do not regret a second of the time I have spent reading about it. Continue reading
==============================
Battle of Breitenfeld, 1631 – The Thirty Years War
via About History by Alcibiades
The Battle of Breitenfeld is one of the major battles of the Thirty Years’ War, during which the Swedes inflicted a crushing defeat on the Catholic League under the command of the Count of Tilly. This was the first major victory of the Protestants in their war with the Catholics. Continue reading
==============================
This ancient thought exercise will have you questioning your identity
via the Big Think blog by Philip Perry Model of a Greek trireme. Credit: Deutsches Museum, Munich, Germany.
It’s a myth that you get a new body every 7-10 years. The reason is, different cells last different lengths of time. Colon cells last only about four days, skin cells two to three weeks, and neurons a lifetime. In that, the body you are in now is not the same as it was last week, last month, or last year, although it feels the same. So are you truly the same person?
It may predate him, but the ancient Greek historian Plutarch was the first to write this intriguing thought exercise down. It’s called the Theseus Paradox or the ship of Theseus. A hero of Greek mythology and the supposed founder of Athens, Theseus is said to have won a number of naval battles and defeated several monsters, including the Minotaur. Plutarch’s recording of the memorial set up to honor this epic founder has had great thinkers scratching their heads for millennia since. Continue reading
==============================
Watch thousands of robots pack groceries in a warehouse
via Boing Boing by Andrea James
Ocado robots zip around simultaneously filling orders without bumping into each other in this fascinating look at a modern warehouse. Continue reading[and watch the video]
==============================
10 of the Best Poems about Heaven
via Interesting Literature
What are the most heavenly poems in all of literature?
Who deserves a place in heaven? And what is heaven like? Contemplating the former question and imagining an answer to the latter has occupied many a poet’s mind down the ages. Here are ten of the very best poems about heaven… Continue reading
Stand firm & carry on: Churchill's 1940 instruction leaflet on surviving the German invasion
via AbeBooks by Richard Davies
April 1940. Britain’s darkest hour as the country braced for invasion by German forces. Prime Minister Winston Churchill took the extraordinary step of printing and distributing 14 million leaflets, titled Beating the Invader, featuring instructions on what to do when German troops reached British soil.
The key messages were quintessential Churchill – “Stand firm” and “Carry On.”
The leaflet contains more 1,300 words printed on the front and rear. It begins with an introduction from Churchill. Dunkirk would be evacuated in June, meaning Germany controlled mainland Europe and Britain was next in line for invasion. The leaflets were distributed across the country but most were thrown away when the invasion failed to materialize. Surviving copies are now highly collectible as an important example of government mass communication during World War II. They are also appealing to collectors of Churchill memorabilia.
The leaflet speaks to a wide audience, providing guidance to citizens living along England’s south coast where the invasion was expected to occur and to people in other areas. The War Office appeared to have two goals – provide instructions to people who could be caught up in the fighting and ensure people living elsewhere did not panic. The messaging is practical but the leaflet also contains an element of stiff upper lip public relations with reassuring text that describes how the British forces will counter-attack. Continue reading
==============================
Glorious Revolution of 1688 in England
via About History by Alcibiades
The Glorious Revolution is the name of the revolution occurring in 1688 in England, which resulted in the overthrow of King James II. The Dutch corps under, the command of William of Orange, took part in the coup, and he became the new King of England under the name of William III sharing the throne with his wife Maria II, the daughter of James II. The coup was widely supported among the most diverse sectors of English society. Continue reading
==============================
Why tumbleweeds tumble
via Boing Boing by David Pescovitz
Recently, Carla posted about tumbleweeds invading Victorville, California leading to numerous 911 calls. Why do tumbleweeds tumble though? To make more tumbleweeds of course. Continue reading[and there’s a video to watch]
==============================
A Short Analysis of John Clare’s ‘The Secret’
via Interesting Literature
This little poem by John Clare (1793-1864) is not his most famous, but it’s worth sharing here because it so perfectly puts into words the power of untold love. ‘I loved thee, though I told thee not’: undoubtedly we could all tell a similar story, especially during those powerful years when we’re in the grip of first love. Continue reading
==============================
How Christopher Columbus's son built 'the world's first search engine'
via the Guardian by Alison Flood ‘Changing the model of what knowledge is’ … detail from portrait of Hernando Colón. Photograph: Biblioteca Colombina (Seville)
For 30 years, Hernando Colón, the illegitimate son of Christopher Columbus, travelled the world with a quest, albeit one very different to that of his coloniser father: to build the biggest library the world had ever seen. Between 1509 and his death in 1539, Colón travelled all over Europe – in 1530 alone he visited Rome, Bologna, Modena, Parma, Turin, Milan, Venice, Padua, Innsbruck, Augsburg, Constance, Basle, Fribourg, Cologne, Maastricht, Antwerp, Paris, Poitiers and Burgos – buying books everywhere he went and eventually amassing the greatest private library in Europe. Continue reading
==============================
Secret history: uncovering stories that never officially happened
via OUP blog by Rory Cormac
Shredder_mechanically_device by Stux. CC0 via Pixabay
Spy fiction has been a popular genre for over 100 years. Tales of Bond and Bourne continue to fascinate audiences worldwide. Sometimes, however, the realities of the shadowy world of espionage can be just as engrossing.
There is just one problem: finding out what actually happened.
This is especially the case when writing about deniable interference in the affairs of others: intelligence officers know it as “covert action.” Covert action involves using spies to influence events in other countries. Highly controversial, it is perhaps the most sensitive—and secretive—of all government activity. Continue reading
==============================
Battle of Mycale 479 BC – Persian Wars
via About History by Alcibiades
The battle of Mycale is one battle of the Greco-Persian Wars, which occurred in 479 BC, near the Cape of Mycale. In the battle of Mycale, the Persian army suffered a crushing defeat. Under the leadership of the Spartan King Leotychides, and the Athenian Xanthippus, almost the entire Persian army was destroyed. Ionian cities, which had been under Persian rule, allied with the Hellenes. Continue reading
==============================
Getting dressed in the 14th century was a pain in the ass
via Boing Boing by Seamus Bellamy
For women, getting dressed in 14th-century Europe was apparently a full-time job.
So. Many. Layers.
That someone – probably some dude that never had to wear the stuff – thought it was a good idea to complicate things by making it so that you couldn't get dressed without assistance from a family member or servant? Ugh.
==============================
This little-known physics law silently controls your life
via the Big Think blog by Philip Perry Forked lightning over Istanbul, Turkey. Credit: Getty Images.
Ever noticed that shapes in nature tend to repeat themselves? Leafless tree branches, for instance, resemble the branching nerve endings inside the human body, which also resemble forked lightning strikes, subways maps, and even the tributaries of a river basin. Scientists have noticed these similarities too, and one has identified the properties that come along with it.
Everything flows from the fluids inside our bodies to the electricity that feeds our homes. But it’s more than that. Information in computers and cultural norms flow too, as do artistic movements and breakthrough developments. Everything has flow and the greater our knowledge about it, the better we can manage our life and the world around us. Continue reading
==============================
A Short Analysis of W. B. Yeats’s ‘Easter 1916’
via Interesting Literature
W. B. Yeats (1865-1939) wrote ‘Easter 1916’ in the summer of 1916, shortly after the Easter Rising in Dublin and when the events were still fresh in the memory. Yeats’s feelings towards the rising – more details about which can be read here – since he deplored violence (in most cases) as a way of achieving Irish independence from the British. In ‘Easter 1916’, Yeats refers to a number of key figures in the struggle for Irish independence, although without naming them, so the poem requires a bit of analysis and context. Continue reading
Paolo Veneri and Fabrice Murtin (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paris, France) published in Regional Studies Volume 53 Issue 5 (2019)
Abstract
This paper assesses the levels and trends in living standards across regions in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries from the early 2000s to 2012. It applies a measure of welfare called multidimensional living standards (MDLS) at the regional level.
The MDLS builds on the equivalent-income approach by combining monetary income with non-monetary (health and jobs) outcomes and taking into account how such outcomes are distributed amongst individuals.
Results highlight that regional disparities are amplified when observed through an MDLS lens, as opposed to purely income-based regional disparities. The paper also shows that metropolitan residents experience, on average, higher levels of the MDLS and income than those in other regions.
a post by Joshua Kauffman for the Tiny Buddha blog
Thanks to the Internet, our lives are full of people. We’re connected literally all the time.
And yet, despite our ceaseless connection, we feel disconnected.
As the pace of life becomes ever more frenetic, we’re like charged atoms, bumping into each other more and more, pinballs in the machine. We come into contact (and conflict), but we don’t commune so much.
As real relationships of depth and quality become harder-won in this busy new world, their value is more keenly felt. Simply put, in the words of Brené Brown, “Connection is what gives purpose and meaning to our lives. It’s why we’re here.”
As we fight to carve out space for these connections whose value has become so apparent, it’s natural that we cling to them more dearly.
However, sadly, often the tight clinging to something is the sign that the time has come to let it go. With something as valuable as a relationship, how do we know when that time is? How do we know when it’s time to move on?
a column by Judith Delaney and Paul Devereux for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
Women are much less likely to study STEM degrees at university.
This column reveals that in the case of Ireland, the gender gap is concentrated in the areas of engineering, technology, and mathematics.
Subject choice in secondary school is the most important predictor of the portion of the gap that can be explained, with a small role for grades achieved in mathematics versus English. A gender gap of 9% remains even among students who studied the same subjects and achieved the same grades at secondary school.
an article by Jette Kofoed (Aarhus University, Denmark) and Elisabeth Staksrud (University of Oslo, Norway) published in New Media & Society Volume 21 Issue 4 (April 2019)
Abstract
In this article, we investigate the power of prevailing definitions within the research field of cyber-bullying. We address how these definitions, mostly deriving from developmental psychology, have had a problematic influence on the way researchers, policymakers, practitioners working with interventions, and children and young people themselves approach the challenge of understanding and preventing cyber-bullying and its consequences.
We analyse how the definition of cyber-bullying stemming from developmental psychology is inadequate in addressing the complexities of technologically mediated exclusionary processes in educational- and peer-group settings.
The dominant research paradigm has suppressed such complexity by deeming irrelevant the extensive experience with cyber-bullying of many children and young people. Thus, we argue that it is necessary for the research field to refine definitional work.
Research on cyberbullying needs to draw on a broad spectrum of empirical data and incorporate multiple and diverse theoretical perspectives.
a post by Daniel Tomlinson for the Reolution Fundation blog The way we shop in the UK has changed dramatically in just the space of a decade. In 2008 less than five per cent of retail spending was online, and that share has almost quadrupled in the years since. The latest statistics published just this morning show that in March this year almost a fifth of retail spending was carried out online. Our changing spending habits don’t just mean some emptier high streets and a surge in delivery vans whizzing around our neighbourhoods; they also have a profound effect on the lives of the near three million people that work in retail. We detailed in a report published earlier this year the scale of this change in retail – and its impact on people and places. This work was drawn from our analysis of important metrics like pay and employment. But today I wanted to tell the story of these changes on retail workers past and present using their own words (as taken from two focus groups we ran for this report). Continue reading
an article by Daniel Sage (Edge Hill University, England) published in Critical Social Policy Volume 39 Issue 2 (May 2019)
Abstract
Unemployment is associated with a range of health and social problems, such as poor physical health and well-being. Welfare state research has recently considered how social policies can ameliorate the harmful effects of unemployment.
This article argues that such policy suggestions disregard the role of the work ethic in shaping the experience of unemployment. In societies that glorify employment as a signifier of identity and status, it is unsurprising that those without employment suffer.
Previous research supports this view, showing how subscription to the work ethic is associated with wellbeing amongst unemployed people. Original analysis of the European Values Study confirms the importance of the work ethic, showing how unemployed people with weaker work ethics have significantly higher life satisfaction than those with stronger work ethics.
The article concludes that the most effective way of dealing with the deleterious effects of unemployment is to challenge the centrality of employment in contemporary societies.
a post by Sharon Martin for Happily Imperfect [the World of Psychology blog]
Are you quick to blame yourself – even for things you didn’t do or couldn’t control?
When things go wrong, is your immediate response: “It’s all my fault” or “I shouldn’t have done that”?
For many of us, self-blame and criticism are insidious. We’re unrelenting with our demands and expectations, and we’re our own worst critic when things don’t go as planned or we don’t perform perfectly.
Why we’re so hard on ourselves
Self-blame and self-criticism are learned behaviors. A blaming or critical parent, teacher, friend, or family member may be the original source of your inner-critic.
Children are especially vulnerable to blame, rage, and criticism because they don’t have a strong sense of self. They base their self-concept on what others tell them. So, if you were repeatedly told you’re needy or you’re stupid, you probably grew up believing it.
Our negative beliefs can also result from what wasn’t said or done for us as children. For example, if your parents weren’t attentive to your feelings, the unspoken message was that your feelings (and you) don’t matter.
When criticism, blame, verbal abuse, and emotional neglect are chronic, we internalize this critical voice and make it our own. We continue to repeat these negative false beliefs (I’m ugly, I’m stupid, It’s all my fault, I’m worthless) and reinforce them until they become automatic.
We also tend to choose partners in adulthood who repeat this cycle of blame and criticism. We’re unconsciously drawn to people who criticize and blame us because we’re used to it – and it validates the negative beliefs we have about ourselves.
an article by AnaFerreira and SoraiaTeles (University of Porto, Portugal) published in International Journal of Human-Computer Studies Volume 125 (May 2019)
Highlights
Phishing email subject lines contain high and diverse persuasive power in just a few words.
The paper builds on the well-known and foundational work of Cialdini's (2007), Gragg's (2003) and Stajano and Wilson (2011) to derive a unique list of Principles of Persuasion in social engineering, resulting from the application of the relational method by two independent researchers.
The study of the relations between existing persuasion principles was applied to the content analysis, by two independent researchers, of a random sample of phishing emails subject lines (N = 194), dated from 2008 to 2017. A thematic content analysis and a sample characterization in terms of visual elements and targeted content, revealed that the most prominent persuasion principles were ‘Authority’, ‘Strong Affect’, ‘Integrity’ and ‘Reciprocation’. The persuasion principle ‘Strong Affect’ was the one containing the larger percentage of references with the presence of visual elements. The use of the pronoun ‘you’ and ‘your’ was more evident for the categories ‘Strong Affect’ and ‘Authority’, while the employment of the pronouns ‘we, us, our’ was more expressive in the ‘Reciprocation’ principle.
This paper presents a method on the way to define a tool for automated identification of principles of human persuasion in social engineering, within phishing emails. Future solutions should focus on the use of socio-technical aspects related mainly to a small number of persuasion principles (‘Authority’ and ‘Distraction – Strong Affect’), which seem to be the most commonly used in phishing emails.
Abstract
Phishing is a very dangerous form of social engineering with the aim to deceive people into disclosing private/confidential information.
Despite widespread warnings and means to educate users to identify phishing messages, these are still a prevalent practice and a lucrative business.
The authors believe that persuasion, as a style of human communication designed to influence others, has a central role in successful digital scams. Research on persuasion applied to phishing emails is scarce and tends to build on Cialdini's work alone.
Only a single study has proposed a list of merged principles from three different perspectives but it has methodological limitations regarding the analysis’ performance by a single researcher and the testing of principles in a small, not validated sample of phishing emails. This paper aims to fill those gaps by building on Cialdini's, Gragg's and Stajano & Wilson's works to derive a unique list of Principles of Persuasion in Social Engineering (PPSE), resulting from the application of the relational method by two independent researchers.
The PPSE are identified, by two independent researchers (Kappa > 0.789) on a sample of phishing email subject lines (N = 194), dated from 2008 to 2017 and randomly selected from a reliable phishing archive (millersmiles.co.uk).
A thematic content analysis, together with the sample characterization in terms of visual elements and targeted content, revealed that the most prominent principles of persuasion in phishing emails were ‘Authority’, ‘Strong Affect’, ‘Integrity’ and ‘Reciprocation’. The larger percentage of references with the presence of visual elements was found for the ‘Strong Affect’ principle. The use of the pronouns ‘you' and ‘your’ was more evident for the categories ‘Strong Affect’ and ‘Authority’, while the employment of the pronouns ‘we, us, our’ was more frequent in the ‘Reciprocation’ principle.
This paper constitutes a step further in understanding the use of principles of persuasion in phishing emails with future applications on how their recognition can be automated.
an article by Jordan McKenzie and Roger Patulny (University of Wollongong, Australia), Rebecca E Olson (University of Queensland, Australia), Alberto Bellocchi (Queensland University of Technology, Australia) and Kathy A Mills (Australian Catholic University, Australia) published in The Sociological Review Volume 67 Issue 3 (May 2019)
Abstract
Research focusing on the management of emotion features prominently in studies of employee attrition, gender inequality and workplace satisfaction, but rarely in research on worker solidarity.
Against a backdrop of increasing individualisation within late modern society, research about workplace management of emotion has become bifurcated along sociological or organisational psychology lines.
Within the sociology literature, management of emotion is theorised as a commercialised, relational and (often) alienating experience. Within organisational psychology literature and research, the emphasis is on harnessing individual traits and skills (e.g. emotional intelligence) to regulate emotions for increased productivity and employee retention.
In this article, the authors call for a new research agenda that prioritises the examination of solidarity between workers alongside the analysis of emotion management. This call is based in a critical reading of the sociological and organisational psychology scholarship addressing the management of emotions.
Through the example of teaching work, the authors provide a critique of scholarship on workplace strategies that promote highly individualised understandings of managing emotions through resilience training and other simplified techniques. They argue that workplaces should recognise the dangers of uncritically adopting individualised strategies for managing emotions, and propose a research agenda that seeks to understand how emotion management can affect worker solidarity.
an article by Steve Graby (Centre for Disability Studies, University of Leeds, UK) and Roxanne Homayoun (Independent scholar, Northampton, UK) published in Disability & Society Volume 34 Issue 2 (2019)
Abstract
The recent financial collapse of Northamptonshire County Council sets a worrying precedent for local authorities in the United Kingdom, and in particular for disabled people who depend on services provided by local authorities, such as Direct Payments for personal assistance, for their daily living needs.
While the Northamptonshire situation has been blamed on financial incompetence, we argue that it has deeper roots in austerity policies implemented by Conservative-led governments since 2010 on a national level. We also argue that the placement of responsibility for funding personal assistance services in the hands of local authorities creates a deeply unjust ‘postcode lottery’ for disabled people, and we call for a national right to all services necessary for independent living, regardless of cost.
a column by Karl Aiginger for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
Populism represents a challenge to liberal democracy, pluralism, human rights, and the exchange of ideas.
This column examines the features and drivers of populism, as well as the potential strategic response by the EU and its member states. This includes a vision for Europe to become the role model for high-income societies providing well-being, lower unemployment, and less inequality, and a leader in decarbonisation and public sector management.
a post by Therese J Borchard for the World of Psychology blog
When I was a young girl, I struggled with obsessive-compulsive disorder. I believed that if I landed on a crack in the sidewalk, something terrible would happen to me, so I did my best to skip over them. I feared that if I had bad thoughts of any kind, I would go to hell.
To purify myself, I would go to confession and Mass over and over again, and spend hours praying the rosary. I felt if I didn’t compliment someone, like the waitress where we were eating dinner, I would bring on the end of the world.
a column by Dirk Schoenmaker for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
The ECB’s market-neutral approach to monetary policy undermines the general aim of the EU to achieve a low-carbon economy.
The column argues that steering the allocation of the Eurosystem’s assets and collateral towards low-carbon sectors would reduce the cost of capital for these sectors relative to high-carbon sectors. A modest titling approach could accelerate a transition to a low-carbon economy, and could be implemented without interfering with the priority of price stability.
Magdalena Nowicka and Dennis Ohm (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany) and Łukasz Krzyżowski (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany; AGH University of Science and Technology, Poland) published in Current Sociology Volume 67 Issue 5 (May 2019)
Abstract
The recent massive arrival of war refugees has challenged Europe’s political unity and fanned the flames of anti-Muslim populism.
Both discourses have been framed in terms of ‘shifting solidarity’ between the European Union member states, their citizens and the refugees. At stake, the article argues, is the delineation of the collectivity linked by the obligation of solidarity.
Drawing on insights from research conducted among Polish-born migrants in Germany about their practices and attitudes towards helping the refugees, and critically engaging with social theory, this article offers a new understanding of transnational solidarity.
Transnational solidarity, it argues, needs to embrace the tension between cosmopolitan and particularistic ideas around belonging. The article suggests defining transnational solidarity as an outcome of socio-culturally and spatio-temporally specific interpretations of the norm of solidarity.
As a heuristic device, transnational solidarity helps us to understand the shifting alliances for and against refugees in Europe.
“The key to being happy is knowing you have the power to choose what to accept and what to let go.” ~Dodinsky
It hit me as I cruised along at full speed on a busy motorway on my way to a friend’s house.
Shaking like a leaf, I pulled myself out of the car and stood by the side of the road. I desperately gulped in the fresh air, a frantic attempt at calming myself down.
This was the ninth day in a row I’d experienced a wave of panic so intense, it felt like I was about to die. It was utterly unbearable.
I’d been worrying about all the work I had left to do on my Master’s dissertation and berating myself for taking a day off to spend time with friends when I should have been working. All of a sudden, my throat closed up, my chest tightened, and my hands shook so much that I was convinced I would lose control of the car.
This was the final straw.
I’d been waiting for a magic solution, a miraculous savior, a quick fix that would snap me out of my near-constant state of worry. I’d been waiting for the universe to wave its wand and finally grant me a normal life. It wasn’t happening.
I wasn’t willing to face up to the work I needed to do in order to stop indulging in my bleak hypothetical predictions about the future. And more importantly, I didn’t even know what the work was. But that day, I made the decision to find the key to a happy life and to start putting in some serious elbow grease.
an article by Markus Moos, Nick Revington, Tristan Wilkin and Jean Andrey (University of Waterloo, Canada) published in Urban Studies Volume 56 Issue 6 (May 2019)
Abstract
We investigate the spatial relationships among three prominent facets of contemporary urbanism – gentrification, studentification, and youthification – in the context of Canadian post-secondary educational institutions (universities and colleges).
We conduct the analysis in three major Canadian cities with substantial knowledge economy sectors using confidential Statistics Canada census files, which include information on individuals and their geographies, and the location of universities and colleges, by enrolment size. We document ‘spillover’ effects of expansions in student enrolment and the building of campuses by analysing the geographic correlations among universities and gentrification and youthification.
Studentification and youthification are to some extent coincident but not entirely, whereas the connection to gentrification is more complex.
Our work provides novel insight into the ways the three different facets of contemporary urbanism overlap and contribute to our understanding of how universities and colleges, as hallmarks of the knowledge economy, influence the social geography of cities.
In a system in which inequality, consumption and the desire for recognition correlate, giving plays a central role: gifts express our sense of our own value as much as that of others. Only by legitimizing areas of acknowledgement beyond economic success can we move towards a more inclusive form of giving, argues sociologist Alain Caillé.
a post by Christopher Wright for the Panopticon blog (a blog about information law written by specialist barristers from 11KBW)
Sometimes the Easter Bunny comes bearing mysteriously non-egg shaped gifts to the data protection practitioner. The judgment of the always-worth-reading Warby J in Rudd v Bridle & J&S Bridle Ltd [2019] EWHC 893 (QB) is just such a delivery, albeit that this one appears to contain a high content of asbestos.
The factual background to the case is set out in the judgment in some detail, and it is, frankly, too long, boring and depressing to warrant repetition here. In essence, Dr Rudd is a medical expert on exposure to asbestos. Mr Bridle is a long-standing campaigner on asbestos issues, who takes a heavily divergent view from Dr Rudd and is mostly sceptical of claims about the effects of asbestos exposure. Mr Bridle has been running an almost equally long-standing campaign against Dr Rudd, which including reporting him to the GMC on the grounds of having made false reports in his expert evidence in various legal proceedings. It is clear from the evidence set out in the judgment that Mr Bridle considers that Dr Rudd is part of conspiracy to assist asbestos claimants to recover damages on (in his view) a false basis.
Entirely unsurprisingly, Dr Rudd is unkeen on Mr Bridle’s allegations against him and wished to learn more about what Mr Bridle was doing. He made a subject access request under section 7 DPA, and indeed issued a notice under section 10 DPA 1998. This, on any view, somewhat spiralled. On being told by Mr Bridle that he was not the data controller at all, but rather his company was, a second SAR and notice were issued against the company. The view of the Defendants in response to the issued subsequent claim was that almost all of the data requested was exempt on grounds of legal professional privilege (para 10 of Sch 7), the journalism exemption (section 32) or the regulatory proceedings exemption (section 31). By the time of trial, the data withheld on the basis of the latter two exemptions had been disclosed, but on the basis that it had been properly within the exemptions.
Hazel’s comment: I do not as a normal rule bring you items on data protection or, indeed, on other aspects of information law but this case fascinated me not so much for the legal aspects but the personal animosity shown between the two parties.
a post by Diana Raab for the World of Psychology blog
“There is mud, and there is the lotus that grows out of the mud. We need the mud in order to make the lotus.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Over the past few years, many of us in the helping professions have noticed an emotional shift that feels like a sense of gloom hanging over much of our universe. Many factors have no doubt contributed to these feelings, such as personal, political, environmental, and global issues.
Some people have found themselves harboring a deep sense of darkness or negativity, but the fact is, there is no darkness without light. That is, we would not be able to understand the concept of dark feelings if, at some point, we had not seen the light. In most cases, for happiness to ensue, there needs to be a balance of lightness and darkness or, as the Taoists call it, the yin and the yang.
It’s true that sometimes the darkness overshadows the light, and for some people, it can be difficult to focus on positive thoughts. For very sensitive individuals, watching or listening to news broadcasts can be overwhelming and unbearable. As such, many have simply chosen to completely shut themselves off from this type of negative information overload.
a column by Paul Johnson and Chris Papageorgiou for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
The recent wave of growth in several developing economies has led to many analysts to claim that poorer countries are catching up with advanced economies.
This column argues that, with the exception of a few countries in Asia which exhibited transformational growth, most of the economic achievements in developing economies have been the result of removing inefficiencies which are merely one-off level effects. While these effects are not unimportant and are necessary in the process of development, they do not imply ongoing economic growth.
an article by Barbara Stiglbauer and Bernad Batinica (Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria) and Silvana Weber (Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg, Germany) published in Computers in Human Behavior Volume 94 (May 2019)
Highlights
We examined health and well-being effects of wearable self-tracking devices.
We offer an extensive summary of theoretical explanations for the proposed effects.
We examined the proposed effects empirically within a randomized control study.
Fitness tracker usage increased perceived physical health and accomplishment.
Effects were more pronounced if users additionally used the accompanying app.
Abstract
The use of wearable self-tracking devices to increase health and well-being is on the rise; yet, there is a lack of scientific evidence concerning their actual benefits. This article summarizes theoretical assumptions (e.g., social cognitive theory, cognitive dissonance, conditioning, observer effects) to explore how wearables might positively affect health and well-being outcomes.
A longitudinal randomized control study with a pre-post measurement design was conducted to examine the effects of wearing a fitness tracker for two weeks. Health consciousness, physical health, and indicators of psychological well-being served as dependent variables.
The results suggest that wearing the fitness tracker had a statistically small but significant positive effect on users' perceived physical health and their sense of accomplishment (vs. waitlist control group), while health consciousness increased with a large effect size for all participants in the study.
If users in the experimental group additionally used the accompanying app, the positive effects on indicators of self-reported health and well-being were more pronounced.
Practical implications and open research questions are critically discussed.
an article by David Rudlin published in the Guardian
Bradley Stoke, Bristol, an example of the late 20th-century housing estates that followed rules set out in 1977’s Design Bulletin 32. Photograph: SWNS
From cul-de-sacs to retail parks, Britain’s planning rules cause environments that are bewildering, illogical and ugly. We have forgotten that urban areas are grown
Here is something you might try if you live in Britain. Go to your favourite urban place, whether it be the centre of a large city or a small market town. Close your eyes, turn around three times and walk in that direction for 15 minutes (or an hour if you’re in London). I can predict with a reasonable degree of confidence that the place where you end up will be crap.
You may be stuck in the no-man’s-land around the ring road, or in a brutally functional industrial estate, or among the endless rows of parked cars in a retail park, or lost in a tangle of suburban cul-de-sacs. Wherever you are, the environment will generally be bewildering, illogical and ugly.
an article by Joel Hawkes (University of Victoria, BC, Canada) published in Disability & Society Volume 34 Issue 1 (January 2019) Abstract
I was teaching rhetoric at the University of Victoria when I received the ‘Quick Reference Guide: Assisting Students in Distress’, part of the university’s initiative to address the increasing problem of mental illness on university campuses.
I immediately read a rhetoric that presented mental health as Madness, as something to be feared, a threat to the university, class and the individual.
This short article is a brief rhetorical analysis of this Guide, and suggests that we must move beyond fear if we are to begin to address the mental health crisis on university campuses.
“Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible in us be found.” ~Pema Chodron
Pop spirituality and our cultural attitude would have you think it best to banish negativity from your life. Give it the quarantine treatment until it gets better and can rejoin our polite, positive, placative society.
We are encouraged to cleanse negativity, a blanket descriptor of things that don’t feel good. Push it away with an exhale and inhale positivity. Anger, sadness, and critical thinking can all be forms of “bad vibes” that are sought to be avoided.
This banishment of negativity is so simplistic. We are humans, capable of such a wonderful range of emotion and experience. Who are we to banish some of the low, dark, hollow notes from our octaves of existence? Too much cleansing makes us dry, brittle, and sterile.
When joy and exuberance are out for too long, they get stale. When you are always bathing in the light, the light bulb begins to wane and eventually will dim and burn out. A life of constant light is not sustainable. It’s also not possible. Life is much more wonderfully and tragically complicated. Some of the richest parts linger in the shadows or even in the deepest, dark corners of our lives.
an article by Khatidja Chantler (University of Central Lancashire, UK), Geetanjali Gangoli (University of Bristol, UK) and Ravi K. Thiara (University of Warwick, UK) published in Critical Social Policy Volume 39 Issue 2 (May 2019)
Abstract
This article examines how the marginality of Muslim communities in India and the UK intersects with gender based violence (GBV) in Muslim communities.
We briefly outline the socio-economic positioning of Muslims and then move on to
discuss communalism in India and radicalisation in the UK and
consider personal laws in India and the call to Sharia law in the UK to elucidate the ways in which these wider policies, legislation and discourses impact on Muslim women experiencing GBV in both contexts.
We conclude that there is a continuum between state responses and community responses, and personal and criminal law in entrenching GBV at a structural and interpersonal level in both India and the UK and that the current socio-political context further limits public spaces available to Muslim women to access support for GBV.
a column by Thilo Huning and Nikolaus Wolf for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
State borders can change due to both political and economic disputes.
This column shows how the formation of the German state can be traced back to British political intervention at the end of the Napoleonic War. In preventing Russia from gaining territory westwards, Britain set in motion a series of events that gave Prussia strategic trade advantages. This led to the formation of Europe's first customs union (the Zollverein) and prepared the political unification of Germany.
a post by Jonice Webb for the Childhood Emotional Neglect blog [World of Psychology]
Becoming aware of the silent role of Childhood Emotional Neglect (CEN) in your adult life is no small thing. It’s true.
Once you know it, you cannot go back. You now know what you know, and like the cake that cannot be unbaked, you are changed forever.
Childhood Emotional Neglect: When your parents fail to respond enough to your emotional needs as they raise you.
But just as you cannot go back, it’s also hard to go forward. Even though you realize why you struggle with emptiness or numbness, disconnection and/or lack of fulfillment, it’s natural to assume that since it’s rooted in your childhood, you must be stuck with it forever.
But it is my goal to make sure that every man, woman, and child who is living with CEN learns that this assumption could not be more wrong.
As a psychologist who has treated almost every diagnosis in the book, I have never seen a mental health struggle that is more fixable and has its roots in more areas of one’s life, than CEN. Nor have I seen one that has such a clear and defined path to healing.
The Amazing and Unique Chimu Civilization or Culture
via About History by Alcibiades
The Chimu civilization or Chimor Kingdom, was located in the Andes, on the northern coast of Peru. They are usually overshadowed by the Incas in history, but it is important to note that the Incas adopted many aspects of the Chimu culture. For example, the rulers inherited the title, but not the property, of their predecessor; allowing conquered people some autonomy, etc. They flourished in the 14th century until the 1470s, when the last ruler was captured by the Incas. During this period, they built large cities, which were based on agriculture with massive irrigation systems. They were great textile craftsmen; as well as with gold, silver and copper. Continue reading
==============================
Tomato plants can detect an imminent animal attack
via Boing Boing by David Pescovitz
Tomato plants can detect the telltale sign of nearby snails – slime – and release an enzyme that deters those and other pests before they even touch the leaves, according to new research. The defense mechanism also keeps caterpillars from munching on the plants. Continue reading
==============================
The Best James Joyce Stories Everyone Should Read
via Interesting Literature
James Joyce’s collection Dubliners (1914) was not an initial commercial success. It sold just 379 copies in its first year of publication, and 120 of those were bought by Joyce himself. Yet Dubliners redefined the short story and is now viewed as a classic work of modernist fiction, with each of its fifteen short stories repaying close analysis. Here are five of Joyce’s very best stories from Dubliners. Continue reading
==============================
The Surprising History (and Future) of Fingerprints
via Arts & Letters Daily: Chantel Tattoli in the Paris Review ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATION BY ELLIS ROSEN.
Recently, for a background check for a visa, I had to get fingerprinted by an agent admissible to the FBI while I was still in France. No, we can’t fingerprint you, the website of the Embassy of the United States in Paris stated clearly. No, you can’t fingerprint yourself, the sites of the bureau-approved, USA-based channelers stated. Perhaps, I thought, I would gather my smirches—all those wasted on laptop screens, medicine cabinets, and eyeglasses—and dump them on a bureaucrat’s desk, like payment rendered in coin.
Instead, I fell on a National Fingerprint Collecting Clearinghouse technician named Eve Humrich. She has built a career on the fingertips of expats. I met her at her office on a mezzanine inside a squash club in Montmartre (though she travels between Paris, London, and Brussels for her clients). “I need to see your ID,” Humrich said. I showed my passport—using one type of identification to badge me into the realm of another. Humrich kissed each digit to a lubricious black pad, then onto an official paper card. With a small magnifying lens, she inspected the results: “These are nice and clear.” Continue reading
==============================
Scientists 'transplant memories' between sea snails via injection
via the Guardian by Ian Sample Science editor Aplysia californica at night, Channel Islands, California. Photograph: Jeff Rotman/Getty Images
Science may never know what wistful memories play on the mind of the California sea hare, a foot-long hermaphrodite marine snail, as it munches on algae in the shallow tide pools of the Pacific coast.
But in a new study, researchers claim to have made headway in understanding the simplest kind of memory a mollusc mighat form, and, with a swift injection, managed to transfer such a memory from one sea snail to another.
David Glanzman, a neurobiologist at the University of California in Los Angeles, believes the kinds of memories that trigger a defensive reflex in the snail are encoded not in the connections between brain cells, as many scientists would argue, but in RNA molecules that form part of an organism’s genetic machinery. Continue reading
==============================
Animal of the Month: 11 facts about koalas
via the OUP blog “Koala Bears Tree Sitting Perched Portrait Grey” by skeeze. CC0 via Pixabay
Koalas: the adorable fluffy mascots of Australia who seem to cuddle everything in sight. It’s no wonder that tourists flock to visit them, photograph them, and feed them the leaves of their all-time favourite food, eucalyptus. Apart from their tree-hugging habits and rigid diet though, how much do you actually know about them? Continue reading
==============================
Battle of Nordlingen (1634) – The Destruction of the Swedish army
via About History by Alcibiades
The Battle of Nördlingen was fought on September 6, 1634. It was one of the key battles of the Thirty Years’ War. The battle was fought between Sweden and the Heilbronn League against Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Bavarian League. The battle led to a victory and new strengthening of the Habsburg (Catholic) position and French entry into the war. Continue reading
==============================
Beautiful chart shows how the English alphabet evolved
via Boing Boing by Andrea James
Matt Baker from UsefulCharts.com made a detailed poster and video of how the English alphabet evolved over the last 4,000 years, but his elegant and colorful topline is the simplest iteration of the process: Continue readingand watch a fascinating video
==============================
7 myths you learned in biology class that you probably still believe
via the Big Think blog by Philip Perry
You’ll be surprised how many commonly known science “facts” are actually total misconceptions.
Science classes are supposed to give students not only the most up-to-date knowledge and information but also a belief in the scientific method and perhaps imbue them with the logic and reasoning skills associated with it. Trouble is, there are a lot of myths out there that sabotage these lofty goals. In fact, many of them originate in science classes themselves, taught over and over by teachers too lazy to look them up. Despite already being debunked, they persist. Here are 7 commonly held myths from biology class you probably still believe. Continue reading
==============================
A Short Analysis of D. H. Lawrence’s ‘Discord in Childhood’
via Interesting Literature
On Lawrence’s short poem about childhood
The novelist, short-story writer, and poet D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930) had a curious relationship with trees. He reportedly liked the climb mulberry trees in the nude to stimulate his imagination. And trees loom large in his work. In ‘Discord in Childhood’, an early poem which he began writing in 1909 when Lawrence was still only in his mid-twenties, Lawrence uses the ash-tree to suggest the discordant relationship between the tree’s supposed healing properties (it was supposed to play a valuable role in children’s health) and the suffering endured by a child listening to its parents arguing. Continue reading
It turns out that ink is made largely by mixing pigments with liquids! Various emulsifiers and such also factor in. How about that! The bright sheets of colorful slime are very satisfying and relaxing, and the Printing Ink Company's trade videos seem, somehow, to understand the appeal of this. I want to eat the ink.
==============================
A Short Analysis of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s ‘Youth and Age’
via Interesting Literature
‘Youth and Age’, as the title suggests, explores the passing of time and the onset of old age. What does it mean to grow old? In this great Romantic poem about ageing, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) grapples with this very question. Continue reading
==============================
How Posture Makes Us Human
The philosophy and science of standing up straight.
via Arts & Letters Daily: Sander L. Gilman in Nautilus
The very notion of what in the ancient world defines the human being in contrast to all other living things is simple: upright posture. Best known of the ancient commentators is Plato, who, according to legend, is claimed to have seen the human as bipedal and featherless. To describe humans as “featherless” sounds odder to modern ears than does the functional association of bipedalism and intelligence, but Plato sees the absence of bodily covering as a move away from the base toward the human, for he is quite aware that the other bipedal animal is the bird. Greek thought gives the bird a middle role between the human and the gods, since birds are connected to the gods through their use in divination. Responding to Plato’s contorted definition of man, Diogenes of Sinope, known as the Cynic, notoriously plucked a (bipedal) chicken and took it to Plato’s Academy, declaring, “Here is Plato’s man”. Continue reading
==============================
The answer to life, the universe and everything might be 73. Or 67
via the Guardian by Hannah Devlin, Science correspondent Gaia’s all-sky view of our Milky Way galaxy and neighbouring galaxies, based on measurements of nearly 1.7 billion stars. Photograph: ESA/Gaia/DPAC
A crisis of cosmic proportions is brewing: the universe is expanding 9% faster than it ought to be and scientists are not sure why.
The latest, most precise, estimate of the universe’s current rate of expansion - a value known as the Hubble constant - comes from , which is conducting the most detailed ever three-dimensional survey of the Milky Way.
The data has allowed the rate of expansion to be pinned down to a supposed accuracy of a couple of percent. However, this newest estimate stands in stark contradiction with an independent measure of the Hubble constant based on observations of ancient light that was released shortly after the Big Bang. In short, the universe is getting bigger quicker than it should be.
The mismatch is significant and problematic because the Hubble constant is widely regarded as the most fundamental number in cosmology. Continue reading
==============================
A Short Analysis of Virginia Woolf’s ‘The Mark on the Wall’
via Interesting Literature
On one of Woolf’s most iconic short stories
Virginia Woolf’s distinctive talents did not arrive fully formed in her first published work. One of her very first published pieces of writing was actually produced when she was still very young: it was an obituary for the family dog, Shag. When Woolf published her first novel, The Voyage Out, in 1915, there were a few signs that she would become a great modernist writer, but not many. The Mrs Dalloway who appears in this first, altogether more conventional novel is markedly different from her reincarnation, in the novel Mrs Dalloway, ten years later. In the ten years that intervened, Woolf had forged a new path for herself, and published two further novels. But it was in short fiction that she first perfected the modernist style that would make her one of the great writers of the twentieth century. Continue reading
==============================
Battle of Pydna, 168 BC – Third Macedonian War
via About History by Alcibiades
The Battle of Pydna occurred during the Third Macedonian War. It was fought on 22 June, 168 BC. This battle was decisive, and led to the complete subjugation of Macedonia to Rome. The exact date of the battle has been determined by the lunar eclipse that occurred the day before the battle. Continue reading
==============================
Can electrical stimulation of the brain enhance mind?
via the OUP blog Michal Kucewicz
Image by Laura Miller, Mayo Clinic laboratory. Used with permission
It is almost philosophical to think that our mental representations, imagery, reasoning, and reflections are generated by electrical activity of interconnected brain cells. And even more so is to think that these abstract phenomena of the mind could be enhanced by passing electricity through specific cellular networks in the brain. Continue reading
==============================
Dogs are smarter than cats, but raccoons are off the charts crafty
via Boing Boing by Jason Weisberger
PBS asked experts a question intended to inflame the masses: Which is smarter, a dog or a cat?
A neuroscientist gave the best answer, with some 'measured neuron density shows dogs in the lead' answer.
Breed-specific cognitive and behavioral specialists hemmed and hawed about how every species is special.
No one doubts the raccoons will kill us all. Continue reading
==============================
Dense stellar clusters may foster black hole megamergers
via the Big Think blog by Jennifer Chu (MIT News Office)
Black holes in these environments could combine repeatedly to form objects bigger than anything a single star could produce.
When LIGO’s twin detectors first picked up faint wobbles in their respective, identical mirrors, the signal didn’t just provide first direct detection of gravitational waves — it also confirmed the existence of stellar binary black holes, which gave rise to the signal in the first place.
Stellar binary black holes are formed when two black holes, created out of the remnants of massive stars, begin to orbit each other. Eventually, the black holes merge in a spectacular collision that, according to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, should release a huge amount of energy in the form of gravitational waves. Continue reading
==============================
F. V. Branford: A Forgotten Poet of WWI
via Interesting Literature
In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle reads the work of a forgotten war poet
The poetry of Wilfred Owen is the most widely-studied writing about the First World War, written by a man who experienced the fighting first-hand. Poets like T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound – who, unlike Owen, were part of modernism as well as being modern – didn’t experience the horrors of the trenches themselves, although they both wrote about the war afterwards. Eliot’s The Waste Land is full of war imagery, while Pound’s Hugh Selwyn Mauberley contains one of the most brilliantly angry and impassioned diatribes about the war’s sheer waste of life to be found anywhere in modern literature. Continue reading
My career in information management started back in 1987 working on the Training Access Points project. Nearly thirty years later I am still concerned to ensure that end users, and their mediators, have access to appropriate, relevant information in a form that they can understand, at a time and in a place that is right for them. The Internet seems to be for everyone and everywhere but the digital divide gets bigger. By pointing advisers in the direction of resources I hope to increase what can be done to help clients/customers.
I ran my own company for 16 years but am now a semi-retired freelancer.
![Greek dedicatory inscription of Samuel, son of Saphara. Painted onto ceiling tile from the Duraâ€Europos synagogue, which requests “may he be remembered [who] founded these things thus.â€](https://assets.atlasobscura.com/article_images/56066/image.jpg)
