10 for Today (30 November 2019) starts with a stunning image of an equestrian archer and ends with peaceful Vikings (contradiction in terms?)

Prelude of The Hun-Chinese War
via About History

The Hunno-Chinese Wars ( 202 BC – approximately 181 AD, with interruptions) – a series of military conflicts between the Hunnish and Han China and the allies of the opposing sides.
The result was the destruction of the Hunnish state, which was one of the reasons for the Great Migration.
Continue reading [and if you simply cannot be bothered just enjoy the image above which is, unfortunately, not attributed].

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These otherworldly caves in Bermuda were the birthplace of Fraggle Rock
via Boing Boing by David Pescovitz

Crystal Cave by Andrew Malone, CC)
In Bermuda, the enchanting Crystal Caves attract tourists with their huge stalactites and stalagmites above the clear water pools. As a child, Michael K. Frith frequently visited the caves and never forgot their weird, otherworldly beauty. Those caves would eventually inspire Frith, working with puppeteer Jim Henson, to co-create Fraggle Rock, a beloved muppet TV series that premiered in 1983.
Continue reading

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‘I Have a Gentle Cock’: An Anonymous Medieval Poem
via Interesting Literature
‘I Have a Gentle Cock’ dates from the Middle Ages – probably the fourteenth century – as the Middle English spelling (reproduced in the original below) suggests. And yes, there is a bawdy double entendre going on in the title of this short medieval lyric: ‘cock’ is not just a cockerel, one suspects, especially as it appears, suggestively, in the ‘lady’s chamber’ at the end of the poem…
Continue reading

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Who invented modern democracy?
via the OUP blog by Joanna Innes

The Promulgation of the Constitution of 1812. Oil painting by Salvador Viniegra. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Did modern democracy start its long career in the North Atlantic? Was it invented by the Americans, the French and the British? The French Revolution certainly helped to inject modern meaning into a term previously chiefly associated with the ancient world, with ancient Greece and republican Rome. In the 1830s the French commentator Alexis de Tocqueville concluded from his trip to the United States that it was possible for a modern state to function as a democracy (in both a political and a social sense)—even though it remained to be seen if what worked in the new world could be made to work in the old. The British establishment was late in embracing democratic rhetoric, retaining reservations well into the twentieth century, but the British model of representative government gave the people some role while holding them in check—which was reassuring for nervous elites elsewhere.
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The Private Edward Gorey
The cult artist and author proves an evasive subject for biography, a fact that would surely have delighted him.
via the Boston Review: apolitical and literary forum by John Crowley

Born to Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward GoreyMark Dery
Little, Brown and Company, $35 (cloth)

In his small books, Edward Gorey mastered the art of false nostalgia, evoking in the reader a mood at once fearsome, absurd, unsettling, and comic. In the first of Gorey’s published books, The Unstrung Harp (1953), the character of Mr. C. F. Earbrass, “the noted novelist”, begins in some trepidation his new book, to be titled (like the book that contains him) The Unstrung Harp. Begun while Gorey was still an undergraduate at Harvard, it is nevertheless the best book ever made about the awful pains and fleeting pleasures of writing a novel. The Unstrung Harp has quite a lot of prose, but in subsequent projects, Gorey whittled down his texts to the slivers of scintillating ambiguity that would become a hallmark of his style: The Listing Attic (1954), limericks; The Doubtful Guest (1957), couplets; The Object-Lesson (1958), obscure scraps of prose narration. By 1962 he had published ten of his little books. The Willowdale Handcar appeared that year, and it would be my introduction to his work. I bought it as a gift for my sister, not knowing that with it I (and she) had begun a life of loving Gorey.
Continue reading

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What if Doggerland had survived?
via Boing Boing by Rob Beschizza

Countries surrounding the North Sea imposed an outsize impact on world affairs. But the sea itself was once land, and might have stayed that way had world temperatures been a degree or two different.
Continue reading

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Depicting the real Edward II
via About History by Kathryn Warner

Edward II (born 1284, king of England 1307-1327) appears in the perennially popular Mel Gibson vehicle Braveheart (1995) as the camp, fey, feeble prince whose gorgeous but unfulfilled French wife Isabella cuckolds him with the manly hero Sir William Wallace, whom the film presents as the real father of Edward’s son. (In fact, Wallace was executed by Edward I on 23 August 1305; Isabella of France arrived in England on 7 February 1308 and never met her husband’s father; Isabella and Edward II’s eldest child Edward III was born on 13 November 1312.) Edward II also appears in the recent Hollywood film The Outlaw King, in which Chris Pine plays Robert Bruce, who became King Robert I of Scotland in 1306 and who defeated Edward at the battle of Bannockburn near Stirling Castle in June 1314. In this film, Edward is depicted as a raving, screaming, self-pitying psychopath sporting an anachronistic fifteenth-century pudding bowl haircut.
Continue reading and discover that this man has, like so many, been a victim of “the winner writes the history”.

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A Short Analysis of the ‘Little Jack Horner’ Nursery Rhyme
via Interesting Literature
‘Little Jack Horner’ has attracted a good deal more speculation than many other famous nursery rhymes, and others have had a fair bit. But for some reason, this little children’s rhyme about a boy eating a Christmas pie and pulling out a plum has been the subject of more debate than 90% of nursery rhymes in the English language. Why has the rhyme of ‘Little Jack Horner’ attracted such wild analysis, interpretation, and speculation?
Continue reading

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Viking city: excavation reveals urban pioneers not violent raiders
via the Guardian by David Crouch in Ribe

The discoveries at Ribe defy the popular image of Vikings as mainly raiders. Photograph: Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images
Excavations in Ribe, Denmark show that Viking culture was based on sophisticated production and trade. Is their brutal reputation unfair?
In an extraordinary moment captured on film this summer, the tuning pegs and neck of a lyre, a harplike stringed instrument, were carefully prised out of the soil of Ribe, a picturesque town on Denmark’s south-west coast. Dated to around AD720, the find was the earliest evidence not just of Viking music, but of a culture that supported instrument-makers and musicians.
Continue reading

Entrepreneurial ecosystems and public policy in action: a critique of the latest industrial policy blockbuster

an article by Ross Brown (University of St Andrews, UK) and Suzanne Mawson (University of Stirling, UK) published in Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society Volume 12 Issue 3 (November 2019)

Abstract

Efforts to develop entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) have proliferated in recent years, marking it out as the latest industrial policy ‘blockbuster’.

This article reports the findings from the first comprehensive empirical analysis of EE policy approaches. It posits a basic typology of different policy frameworks deployed under the ecosystem rubric.

The findings suggest the concept is fraught with conceptual ambiguity and is predominantly (and rather crudely) used to promote ‘more’ entrepreneurship.

The research suggests the concept is a ‘messy metaphor’, open to wide-ranging misinterpretation and misuse by policymakers.

In terms of recommendations, eradicating network failures, avoiding crude policy isomorphism and tailoring bespoke interventions to the specific nature of EEs are viewed as key policy lessons.

JEL Classification: L26, O12, O25, R58

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End-user development for personalizing applications, things, and robots

an article by Fabio Paternò and Carmen Santoro (CNR-ISTI, HIIS Laboratory, Pisa, Italy) published in International Journal of Human-Computer Studies Volume 131 (November 2019)

Highlights

• An analysis of the historical evolution of the end-user development field;.
• A design space for analyzing and comparing contributions in the area of EUD for IoT and/or robotic applications;.
• An analysis of a set of representative approaches according to the proposed design space;.
• A discussion of a research agenda for the EUD field.

Abstract

The pervasiveness of ICT technologies has led to a growing need to empower people to obtain applications that meet their specific requirements.

End-User Development (EUD) is a growing research field aiming to provide people without programming experience with concepts, methods and tools to allow them to create or modify their applications.

Recent mainstream technological trends related to the Internet of Things (IoT) and the availability of robots have further stimulated interest in this approach.

In the paper, we discuss the historical evolution of EUD, then we analyses the main current challenges with respect to recent technological trends (IoT and social robots) through the use of some conceptual dimensions, and conclude with a discussion of a possible research agenda for the field.

Full text (PDF 11pp)

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Towards an evidence‐base for student wellbeing and mental health: Definitions, developmental transitions and data sets

an article by Michael Barkham and Louise Knowles (University of Sheffield, UK), Emma Broglia (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, Lutterworth, UK; University of Sheffield, UK), Géraldine Dufour (University of Cambridge, UK), Mark Fudge (Keele University, UK), Alan Percy (University of Oxford, UK), Afra Turner (Kings College London, UK) and Charlotte Williams (Birkbeck University of London, UK) on behalf of the SCORE Consortium (Student Counselling Outcomes, Research & Evaluation Consortium) published in Counselling and Psychotherapy Research Volume 19 Issue 4 December 2019)

Abstract

Against a background of huge changes in the world of university and college students since the turn of the millennium, together with a multitude of reports on student mental health/well-being, this article argues that the field of student mental health is hampered by the imprecise use of terms, a rush to action by universities in the absence of a robust evidence‐base, and a lack of overall coordination and collaboration in the collection and use of data.

In response, we argue for clearer and more consistent use of definitions of, as well as differentiations between, student well-being and mental health, for a longitudinal approach to the student body that captures their developmental transitions to and through university, and a strategic and systematic approach to the use of bona fide measures in the collection of data on well-being and on the process of outcomes in embedded university counselling services.

Such a coordinated approach will provide the necessary evidence‐base upon which to develop and deliver appropriate support and interventions to underpin and enhance the quality of students’ lives and learning while at university or college.

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Determinants of 21st-century digital skills: A large-scale survey among working professionals

an article by Ester van Laar, Alexander J. A. M. van Deursen and Jan A. G. M. van Dijk (University of Twente, the Netherlands) and Jos de Haan (The Netherlands Institute for Social Research SCP, The Hague, the Netherlands) published in Computers in Human Behavior Volume 100 (November 2019)

Highlights

• Conducted a survey to examine determinants of 21st-century digital skills.
• The sample included 1,222 professionals working within the creative industries.
• The results show that the skill levels vary substantially.
• Each skill is explained by a different set of determinants.
• The development of each skill asks for a unique policy-targeting approach.

Abstract

The current workplace increasingly asks for workers with highly digitally skilled knowledge who produce and distribute ideas and information. As such, understanding the factors behind differences in the level of various 21st-century digital skills is of decisive importance.

This study aims to examine

1. the level of 21st-century digital skills among knowledge workers, and
2. the determinants contributing to the level of these skills.

The following digital skills are investigated: information, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and problem solving.

Potential determinants that can be influenced by stakeholders are also included, such as social support and training. A large-scale online survey was conducted among professionals (N = 1,222) who work within knowledge-intensive creative industries.

The results show that the level of 21st-century digital skills varies considerably. Furthermore, each 21st-century digital skill is explained by a different set of determinants, thereby requiring unique approaches for the development of each skill.

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Prison and Promise - The Challenge of Long Term Illness

a post from the Mind and Soul Foundation


As part of the various roles I have held, I’ve had the amazing privilege to journey with people through all kinds of challenges life can throw. Bereavement, redundancy, tragedy - if there’s one thing I have learned in 20 odd years as a medic, psychologist and church leader, it is that no matter who you are, and how you live life, it can throw storms at you. But perhaps one of the cruellest situations to find yourself in is one that often goes unnoticed by many - that can slip into the background or fall out of focus for even close friends or family - and that is long term illness.

But apart from the obvious - not being well - what is it about long term illness which makes it such a tough journey? And how does this impact on our mental health and wellbeing?

These are really important questions, so I want to unpack them in this, the first of three articles thinking about the challenges of long term illness.

There are three things, aside from the original illness that typically make life tougher when you are unwell over a longer period of time.

(1) Isolation
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(2) Emotional/Mental Health Impact
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(3) Treatment and Care
…

Long term illness sucks - finding that your own body suddenly becomes the thing that limits you and holds you back from the things you long to be doing. But there are ways to manage the challenges it brings - to find the promise and potential even within pain and challenge.

Humanitarian aid and political motives: The role of country leaders’ birth regions

a column by Christian Bommer, Axel Dreher and Marcello Pérez-Alvarez for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal

International humanitarian aid plays an important role in the response to natural disasters.

This column argues that political motives play a role in the allocation of aid. Focusing on the allocation of US humanitarian assistance, it shows that disasters that affect the birth regions of leaders of recipient countries receive substantially more funding than other comparable disasters.

This suggests that there is a ‘home bias’ in humanitarian aid.

Continue reading USA-based but would appear to be relevant to my UK readers.

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The changing shape of youth justice: Models of practice

an article by Roger Smith (Durham University, UK) and Patricia Gray (University of Plymouth, UK) published in Criminology and Criminal Justice Volume 19 Issue 5 (November 2019)

Abstract

This article reports on a two-year investigation, which maps out contemporary approaches to the delivery of youth justice in England, in light of substantial recent changes in this area of practice.

The findings are derived from a detailed examination of youth offending plans and a series of corroborative semi-structured interviews with managers and practitioners from selected youth offending services.

Our inquiry has enabled us to develop a detailed three-fold typology of youth justice agencies’ orientations towards practice, represented as ‘offender management’, ‘targeted intervention’ and ‘children and young people first’; as well as a small number of ‘outliers’ where priorities are articulated rather differently.

Our findings enable us to reflect on this evidence to suggest that there are a number of ‘models’ of youth justice practice operating in parallel; and that there does not appear at present to be the kind of ‘orthodoxy’ in place which has sometimes prevailed in this field. We also raise doubts about previous representations of unified models of youth justice presumed to be operative at national or jurisdictional levels.

We conclude with a number of further observations about the combined effect of current influences on the organisation and realisation of youth justice, including the growing emphasis on localised responsibility for delivery and increasingly complex expectations of the service context.

Full text (PDF 18pp)

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Theory of mind in animals: Current and future directions

an article by Christopher Krupenye and Josep Call (University of St Andrews, UK) published in WIREs Cognitive Science Volume 10 Issue 6 (November/December 2019)

Visual Abstract

Forty years of research has sought to determine whether nonhuman animals, like this bonobo, have a theory of mind.



Abstract

Theory of mind (ToM; a.k.a., mind‐reading, mentalizing, mental‐state attribution, and perspective‐taking) is the ability to ascribe mental states, such as desires and beliefs, to others, and it is central to the unique forms of communication, cooperation, and culture that define our species. As a result, for 40 years, researchers have endeavoured to determine whether ToM is itself unique to humans.

Investigations in other species (e.g., apes, monkeys, corvids) are essential to understand the mechanistic underpinnings and evolutionary origins of this capacity across taxa, including humans.

We review the literature on ToM in nonhuman animals, suggesting that some species share foundational social cognitive mechanisms with humans.

We focus principally on innovations of the last decade and pressing directions for future work. Underexplored types of social cognition have been targeted, including ascription of mental states, such as desires and beliefs, that require simultaneously representing one's own and another's conflicting motives or views of the world.

Ongoing efforts probe the motivational facets of ToM, how flexibly animals can recruit social cognitive skills across cooperative and competitive settings, and appropriate motivational contexts for comparative inquiry.

Finally, novel methodological and empirical approaches have brought new species (e.g., lemurs, dogs) into the lab, implemented critical controls to elucidate underlying mechanisms, and contributed powerful new techniques (e.g., looking‐time, eye‐tracking) that open the door to unexplored approaches for studying animal minds. These innovations in cognition, motivation, and method promise fruitful progress in the years to come, in understanding the nature and origin of ToM in humans and other species.

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The Africa Debt Monitor

Posted by Danielle Serebro (Collaborative Africa Budget Support Initiative (CABRI), Pretoria, South Africa) for the Public Financial Management Blog

Public debt transparency depends on three key conditions: (i) effective recording, (ii) an extensive reporting function, and (iii) a willingness to share debt-related information (UNCTAD, 2018). Anomalous cases, such as Mozambique, where “off-book” loans were contracted to purchase fishing vessels and military equipment, and Zambia, which is suspected of hiding substantial external debt, have contributed to a general perception that African countries are unwilling to share their debt data and do not meet the third condition of debt transparency.

CABRI, through its Africa Debt Monitor (ADM), a platform for peer-exchange on African central government debt, has learnt that this general perception is false. More than half of the countries approached to participate in the ADM voluntarily completed an extensive three-part survey covering domestic- and foreign-currency debt, risk benchmarks and contingent liabilities, and cash- and debt-management institutional arrangements, policies and practices.

What seems to matter for governments is that they have a say in how their data is collected and used, and that data collection exercises result in insights and tools they find relevant and useful. The ADM was developed by CABRI in consultation with African debt management offices (DMOs) and provides the type of debt-related information that officials consider a prerequisite for making informed decisions and promoting debt sustainability. It features multiple tools that include (i) individual country debt profiles; (ii) cross-country comparisons of debt management practices and procedures; (iii) individual country data tables; and (iv) the Debt Data Explorer. These tools facilitate peer-learning and inter-country exchanges on debt management.

Continue reading

Publics and their Problems: Notes on the Remaking of the South Bank, London

an article by Alan Latham (University College London, UK) and Jack Layton (Affiliation unknown) published in International Journal of Urban and Regional Research Volume 43 Issue 6 (November 2019)

Abstract

Cities are full of disputes about organizing public life. These disputes are important for deciding how spaces get used, and they are integral to how publics form and develop. In all sorts of ways they define the potentialities of urban public life.

This article tells the story of the Southbank Centre's plans to redevelop their central London site, and Long Live Southbank's protest of these plans to save their skateable space.

Through this detailed case study the article develops a distinctive conceptual apparatus for making sense of public disputes.

Drawing links between Deweyan pragmatism and assemblage theory, the article explores how publics were drawn together as assemblages of humans and non‐humans with the capacity to act and argue. It follows the arguments that each side made – and the justifications underpinning them – to explore the different ideas of public‐ness that were at stake in the disagreement.

This also helps highlight the space for cooperation that existed.

The article emphasises the part affect played in shaping the dispute; recognising its role in public reasoning, and in how people get pulled into different publics. This is a story not only of disputation, but of how a corner of London expanded its public‐ness.

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Information literacy, creativity and work performance

an article by Ming-Shian Wu (Aletheia University, Taiwan) published in  Information Development Volume 35 Issue 5 (November 2019)

Abstract

In the digital age, information literacy, defined as the ability to effectively identify information needs, access needed information, and evaluate and use information, is a crucial skill set for both individuals and organizations.

Therefore, understanding the relationships between information literacy, creativity, and work performance could not only help enterprises recognize the importance of information literacy and its influence on the workplace, but also provide educators with guidance for planning related training programs. This empirical study explores the relationships between self-efficacy in information literacy, creativity and work performance.

The findings show that:

1. self-efficacy in defining information needs, self-efficacy in evaluating information and self-efficacy in using information can significantly positively affect creativity;
2. creativity can significantly positively affect work performance; and, 
3. creativity mediates the association between self-efficacy in information literacy and work performance.

Implications based on the findings are also discussed.

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Bipolar disorder and depression in early adulthood and long‐term employment, income, and educational attainment: A nationwide cohort study of 2,390,127 individuals

an article by Christian Hakulinen (University of Helsinki, Finland; Aarhus University, Denmark) and Katherine L. Musliner and Esben Agerbo (Aarhus University, Denmark) published in Depression and Anxiety Volume 36 Issue 11 (November 2019)

Abstract

Background
Mood disorders are known to be associated with poor socioeconomic outcomes, but no study has examined these associations across the entire worklife course. Our goal was to estimate the associations between bipolar disorder and depression in early adulthood and subsequent employment, income, and educational attainment.

Methods
We conducted a nationwide prospective cohort study including all individuals (n = 2,390,127; 49% female) born in Denmark between 1955 and 1990. Hospital‐based diagnoses of depression and bipolar disorder before age 25 were obtained from the Danish psychiatric register. Yearly employment, earnings, and education status from ages 25 to 61 were obtained from the Danish labor market and education registers. We estimated both absolute and relative proportions.

Results
Population rates of hospital‐diagnosed depression and bipolar between ages 15–25 were 1% and 0.12%, respectively. Compared to individuals without mood disorders, those with depression and particularly bipolar disorder had consistently poor socioeconomic outcomes across the entire work‐life span. For example, at age 30, 62% of bipolar and 53% of depression cases were outside the workforce compared to 19% of the general population, and 52% of bipolar and 42% of depression cases had no higher education compared to 27% of the general population. Overall, individuals with bipolar disorder or depression earned around 36% and 51%, respectively, of the income earned by individuals without mood disorders. All associations were smaller for individuals not rehospitalized after age 25.

Conclusions
Severe mood disorders with onset before age 25, particularly bipolar disorder, are associated with persistent poor socioeconomic outcomes across the entire work‐life course.

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Migration and post-conflict reconstruction: The effect of returning refugees on export performance in the former Yugoslavia

a column by Dany Bahar, Andreas Hauptmann, Cem Özgüzel and Hillel Rapoport for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal

The economic debate on immigration has focused on migration’s short-term labour market and fiscal effects. Less attention has been given to the long-run economic opportunities linked to migration.

This column uses the case of refugees returning to the former Yugoslavia from Germany after the end of the Yugoslav wars to explore the role that returning migrants play in shaping the industrial development of their home country. The findings support the idea that migrants are drivers of knowhow and technology transfers between countries.

Continue reading

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Is positive psychology all it’s cracked up to be?

an article by Joseph Smith published in The Highlight

Kaiser Permanente commissioned a mural on a downtown Denver building to encourage people to talk about depression and other mental illnesses. 

RJ Sangosti/Denver Post/Getty Images
Just over 20 years old, this field has captivated the world with its hopeful promises — and drawn critics for its moralising, mysticism, and serious commercialisation.

The story of positive psychology starts, its founder often says, in 1997 in his rose garden.

Martin Seligman had just been elected head of the American Psychological Association and was in search of a transformational theme for his presidency. While weeding in his garden one day with his young daughter, Seligman found himself distracted and frustrated as Nikki, then 5, threw flowers into the air and giggled. Seligman yelled at her to stop, at which point Nikki took the professor aside. She reminded him how, from ages 3 to 5, she had been a whiner, but on her fifth birthday, had made a conscious decision to stop. If she could change herself with an act of will, couldn’t Daddy stop being such a grouch?

Seligman had an epiphany. What if every person was encouraged to nurture his or her character strengths, as Nikki so precociously had, rather than scolded into fixing their shortcomings?

He convened teams of the nation’s best psychologists to formulate a plan to reorient the entire discipline of psychology away from mostly treating mental illness and toward human flourishing. Then, he used his bully pulpit as the psychology association’s president to promote it. With Seligman’s 1998 inaugural APA presidential address, positive psychology was born.

Continue reading

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‘Misinformation’ and ‘Disinformation’ Are Not the Same Thing

a post by Meghan Moravcik Walbert for the Lifehacker blog [via Stephen Abram at Stephen’s Lighthouse]


If the past three years have seemed more like 300, the coming year is really about to test us all. The countdown to the 2020 election is about to begin and we’ve got to prepare ourselves for the onslaught of misinformation and disinformation—and it’s important to know the difference. Because they’re not the same thing.

Remember way back when we were still trying to get comfortable with calling a lie a “lie”? We’ve gotten better about telling it like it is—a lie is not an inaccuracy or spin or an exaggeration or a stretching the truth. It’s an intentionally false statement. You tell a lie with the intention of deceiving, and intent is everything when it comes to determining a false statement from a lie.

Same with misinformation and disinformation, which have two different meanings.

Misinformation is “incorrect or misleading information,” according to Merriam-Webster. This is the “spin” version of a lie. Whether or not there was intent, misinformation is incorrect or inaccurate information that causes people to be misinformed.

Disinformation is more sinister. It’s “false information deliberately and often covertly spread (as by the planting of rumours) in order to influence public opinion or obscure the truth,” Merriam-Webster says.”

As we enter this next challenging year of living among both the inaccurate and the all-out fake on social media and in the news, here’s a mnemonic device to help you remember the difference: Misinformation is misleading. Disinformation is a damn lie.

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Industrial policy, place and democracy

an article by David Bailey (University of Birmingham, UK), Dan Coffey (Leeds University Business School, UK), Maria Gavris (Warwick Business School, UK and Carole Thornley (Keele Business School, UK) published in Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society Volume 12 Issue 3 (November 2019)

Abstract

Industrial policy is a potential vehicle for more participative and democratic forms of policy formation. But in Britain an ademocratic policy culture is transforming into an undemocratic one.

This article explores the roots of this in major sea changes in the industrial policy climate of Western Europe, where non-discriminatory and aspatial policy stances are now giving way under pressure to openly discriminatory policies aimed at favoured industries or locations.

The British case is contrasted with France, Germany and Italy, and their variety of responses. It is proposed that an extended notion of ‘place’ offers a basis for social dialogue.

JEL Classification: L98, O52, R11

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Why It’s Essential to Treat Corporations as Persons, Except When It’s Not

a post by Chris MacDonald for The Business Ethics Blog

I’ve long held that you can’t understand much about business ethics if you don’t understand a bit about markets (their role and limits), corporations (their nature and purpose), and managers (their role and the limits on it). Of those three, it is perhaps the corporation that raises the most controversy, although the other two certainly generate their share.

A corporation is, very roughly, an entity recognised by the law and that exists independently of the people who form it. The general term “corporation” includes business corporations (Walmart, Amazon, etc.), as well as cooperatives (such as ACE Hardware and Dairy Farmers of America) and nonprofit corporations (including charities, universities, hospitals, etc.). Some churches are corporations too.

Corporations are treated as persons under the law just about everywhere. The notion has raised controversy in the US, especially in the wake of the 2010 Citizens United* decision of the US Supreme Court. But that controversy sometimes leads people to miss the fact that corporate personhood isn’t some idiosyncratic American thing. Corporations are treated as persons pretty much everywhere. (If you know an exception, let me know in the Comments section below). Take Canada’s criminal code, for example. The Criminal Code is full of sentences that say “every one who” or “every person who” does such-and-such is guilty of a crime. In the Definitions section of the Code, it clarifies that those terms (“every one” and “person”) are to be read as including organisations, and that “organisation” means “a public body, body corporate, society, company, firm, partnership, trade union or municipality” (and certain kinds of associations).

Continue reading noting that the examples are from North America. I have read it carefully and can find, from my limited knowledge of corporate law, nothing that cannot be applied in the UK.

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Why social network site use fails to promote well-being? The roles of social overload and fear of missing out

an article by Huan-YouChai, Shuai-Lei Lian, Xiao-Wei Chu, Sanyuya Liu and Xiao-Jun Sun (Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China) and Geng-Feng Niu (Xi'an Jiaotong University, China) published in Computers in Human Behavior Volume 100 (November 2019)

Highlights

• There was no significant correlation between SNS use and subjective well-being.
• SNS use had a suppressing effect on subjective well-being via social overload.
• FoMO moderated the direct and indirect relations between SNS use and subjective well-being.

Abstract

Considering the popularity of social networking sites (SNSs) and the inconsistent results regarding the effect of SNS use on subjective well-being, this study intended to address the question “why SNS fails to predict subjective well-being” by investigating the suppressing role of social overload and moderating role of fear of missing out (FoMO).

A sample of 1,319 Chinese adolescents was recruited to complete measures on SNS use, social overload, FoMO and subjective well-being.

Results showed that SNS use had a positively direct effect on subjective well-being, while the indirect effect via social overload in this association was significantly negative, suggesting that SNS use had a suppressing effect on well-being via social overload.

FoMO moderated the suppressing effect of social overload; specifically, the indirect and direct effects were both more potent for adolescents with higher FoMO. Implications and limitations of this study are also discussed.

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Borrowed identities: Class(ification), inequality and the role of credit-debt in class making and struggle

an article by Matthew Sparkes (University of Cambridge, UK) published in The Sociological Review Volume 67 Issue: 6 (2019)

Abstract

Class analysis has re-emerged as a pertinent area of enquiry.

This development is linked to a growing body of work dubbed cultural class analysis, that utilises Bourdieu’s class scheme to develop rich understandings of how culture and lifestyle interacts with economic and social relations in Britain, generating inequalities and hierarchies. Yet cultural class analyses do not properly account for the way individuals resist their relative class positions, nor the role of unsecured credit in facilitating consumption.

This article contributes to this area by examining how unsecured credit and problem debt influences consumption and class position amongst individuals with modest incomes.

Drawing on 21 interviews with individuals managing problem debt, this article details how class inequality emerges through affective states that include anxiety and feelings of deficit. It also shows how these experiences motivate participants to rely on unsecured credit to consume cultural goods and engage in activities in a struggle against their class position, with the intention of enhancing how they are perceived and classified by others.

The findings indicate that cultural class analyses may have overlooked the symbolic importance of mundane consumption and goods in social differentiation.

This article further details how these processes entangle individuals into complex liens of debt – which lead to over-indebtedness, default, dispossession and financial expropriation – illustrating how investigations of credit-debt can better inform understandings of class inequality, exploitation and struggle.

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Do disclosure and transparency affect bank’s financial performance?

an article by Isaiah Oino (Coventry University, UK) published in Corporate Governance Volume 19 Issue 6 (2019)

Abstract

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of transparency and disclosure on the financial performance of financial institutions. The emphasis is on assessing transparency and disclosure; auditing and compliance; risk management as indicators of corporate governance; and understanding how these parameters affect bank profitability, liquidity and the quality of loan portfolios.

Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 20 financial institutions was selected, with ten respondents from each, yielding a total sample size of 200. Principal component analysis (PCA), with inbuilt ability to check for composite reliability, was used to obtain composite indices for the corporate governance indicators as well as the indicators of financial performance, based on a set of questions framed for each institution.

Findings
The analysis demonstrates that greater disclosure and transparency, improved auditing and compliance and better risk management positively affect the financial performance of financial institutions. In terms of significance, the results show that as the level of disclosure and transparency in managerial affairs increases, the performance of financial institutions – as measured in terms of the quality of loan portfolios, liquidity and profitability – increases by 0.3046, with the effect being statistically significant at the 1 per cent level. Furthermore, as the level of auditing and the degree of compliance with banking regulations increases, the financial performance of banks improves by 0.3309.

Research limitations/implications
This paper did not consider time series because corporate governance does not change periodically.

Practical implications
This paper demonstrates the importance of disclosure and transparency in managerial affairs because the performance of financial institutions, as measured in terms of loan portfolios, liquidity and profitability, increases by 0.4 when transparency and disclosure improve, with this effect being statistically significant at the 1 per cent level.

Originality/value
The use of primary data in assessing the impact of corporate governance on financial performance, instead of secondary data, is the primary novelty of this study. Moreover, PCA is used to assess the weight of the various parameters.

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7 Keys to Finding Balance in Complex Times

a post by John C. Panepinto for the World of Psychology blog



We live in a complex, fast-paced, and ever-changing time, and one aspect of daily life that seems elusive is a sense of balance. Often when people talk of happiness, they are really speaking of the by-product of living in a balanced and meaningful way. Yet many forces, some internal and others external, push and pull in the moment or over the course of the day or week, enough so that we find ourselves off centre. Too much time spent in this mode wears us out and invites a feeling of being out of sync and trying to catch up or catch our breath.

Complexity challenges us to change for an important reason: simplicity. The process is one of transformation (not just addition) and we become more able and complex individuals, better able to integrate into the ongoing demands of each of our roles. Less really is more. But only if we find the power and perspective afforded by a sense of balance.

Continue reading

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Inside a Panic Attack: What It's Like When Anxiety Strikes

a post by Haley West for the Tiny Buddha blog



“Those who suffer from mental illness are stronger than you think. We must fight to go to work, care for our families, be there for our friends, and act ‘normal’ while battling unimaginable pain.” ~Unknown

It’s strange having a panic attack while surrounded by p eople. I’m experiencing something so private and so personal, but unless I externalise it, they are completely unaware. It’s almost an art to be able to hide it — to train myself well enough to function in front of others to the point that, if I do reveal to them the nature of my anxiety, they reply, “I had no idea.”

If you’ve never experienced a panic attack, they are almost impossible to explain. But I’m going to try.

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Trade effects of WTO: They're real and they're spectacular

a column by Mario Larch, José-Antonio Monteiro, Roberta Piermartini and Yoto Yotov for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal

Though economic theory clearly makes the case for WTO trade rules, the empirical evidence of their effect is mixed.

This column argues that previous studies may have underestimated the positive role of GATT/WTO membership by not taking into account the non-discriminatory nature of their agreements. Besides market access, the agreements provide greater transparency and predictability that benefit WTO members and non-members alike.

Taking these effects into account suggests that, on average, GATT/WTO membership has increased trade between Members by 171% and trade between member and non-member countries by about 88%.

Continue reading for a clear exposition of how the WTO works

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10 Poems for Today (Monday 25 November) with thanks to Interesting Literature

‘To a Louse’: A Poem by Robert Burns
via Interesting Literature
‘To a Louse’, a poem written in the Habbie dialect, sees Robert Burns musing upon the louse that he spots crawling on a lady’s bonnet in church – the louse does not observe class distinctions and regards all human beings equally, as potential hosts. As Burns concludes, ‘O wad some Power the giftie gie us / To see oursels as ithers see us!’ Such a power or ability would save us a lot of bother and ‘foolish notions’; but we cannot see ourselves as others see us. The one thing we cannot do is take the view of that louse.
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‘Stars, I have seen them fall’: A Poem by A. E. Housman
via Interesting Literature
‘Stars, I have seen them fall…’: this short eight-line poem by A. E. Housman (1859-1936) is untitled, so we’ve given its first line here. Although the stars seem to fall, they remain in the sky; although rain falls into the sea, the sea remains the same saltwater it has always been. Housman’s poem is about futility, and offers a less celebratory take on the stars in the night sky than the one we tend to get from much (especially Romantic) poetry.
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‘Never Give All the Heart’: A Poem by W. B. Yeats
via Interesting Literature
As the title of this short Yeats poem makes clear, the great Irish poet W. B. Yeats offers the would-be lover some advice: don’t dive headlong into love or infatuation, for your beloved won’t thank you for it: never give all the heart. It’s best to keep a little passion back: ‘He that made this knows all the cost, / For he gave all his heart and lost.’
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‘The Badger’: A Poem by John Clare
via Interesting Literature
How many great poems about badgers are there in English literature? ‘The Badger’, by the criminally underrated English Romantic poet John Clare (1793-1864), is perhaps the greatest of this small and select group. ‘The Badger’ is written in rhyming couplets, also known as ‘heroic couplets’ – and although Clare describes the way the badger is hunted and caught, he imbues the creature with a quiet heroism and nobility. After describing the badger’s appearance and habits, Clare then details how the badger is caught, trapped, and baited.
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‘To a Skylark’: A Poem by Percy Shelley
via Interesting Literature
‘To a Skylark’ is one of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s best-loved poems. Shelley completed it in June 1820; the inspiration was an evening walk he had taken with his wife, Mary, in Livorno, in north-west Italy. Mary later described the circumstances that gave rise to the poem: ‘It was on a beautiful summer evening while wandering among the lanes whose myrtle hedges were the bowers of the fire-flies, that we heard the carolling of the skylark.’
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‘Goodbye’: A Poem by Alun Lewis
via Interesting Literature
Alun Lewis (1915-44) is one of the best-known English poets of the Second World War. Lewis wrote ‘Goodbye’ about his first night with his wife.
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A Short Analysis of William Blake’s ‘Cradle Song’
via Interesting Literature
‘Cradle Song’ is intended to be sung by a mother to her newborn child in order to lull the baby to sleep. The repetition of ‘Sweet’ at the beginning of many of the poem’s stanzas (or perhaps we should say, the song’s verses) helps to create a soothing effect. One wonders how many infants have been eased into dreamland by maternal recitals of Blake’s poem.
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‘The Waterfall’: A Poem by Henry Vaughan
via Interesting Literature
There’s something about the seventeenth-century poet Henry Vaughan (1621-95) which smacks more of the later Romantic movement than of the metaphysical ‘school’ to which he belonged. This poem, describing the natural beauty of the waterfall, is a fine demonstration of how Vaughan anticipated Romanticism by over a century.
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‘Go Now’: A Poem by Edward Thomas
via Interesting Literature
Inspired by his impassioned friendship with Eleanor Farjeon, Edward Thomas (1878-1917) wrote his poem ‘Go Now’ about a woman parting ways with the male speaker and the effect that her two simple words – ‘Go now’ – had on him and his appreciation of nature.
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A Short Analysis of Elizabeth Akers Allen’s ‘Rock Me to Sleep’
via Interesting Literature
Elizabeth Chase Akers Allen (1832-1911) was an American author and poet whose 1859 poem, ‘Rock Me to Sleep, Mother’ (the ‘mother’ word is sometimes omitted) is still relatively well-known, thanks to the opening lines: ‘Backward, turn backward, O time, in thy flight; / Make me a child again, just for to-night.’
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How and where is artificial intelligence in the public sector going? A literature review and research agenda

an article by Weslei Gomes de Sousa, Elis Regina Pereira de Melo, Rafael Araújo Sousa Farias and Adalmir Oliveira Gomes (University of Brasilia, Brazil) and Paulo Henrique De Souza Bermejo (University of Brasilia, Brazil; NeXT/UnB, Brazil) published in Government Information Quarterly Volume 36 Issue 4 (October 2019)

Highlights

• The public sector is increasing the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in its services.
• Artificial neural networks are the most used among eight AI techniques identified.
• A research framework is presented to help develop new studies and solutions.
• AI can require new policies and investigations about ethical implications.
• Some journals focus on AI and others address specific themes regarding the public sector.

Abstract

To obtain benefits in the provision of public services, managers of public organisations have considerably increased the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) systems.

However, research on AI is still scarce, and the advance of this technology in the public sector, as well as the applications and results of this strategy, need to be systematised. With this goal in mind, this paper examines research related to AI as applied to the public sector.

A review of the literature covering articles available in five research databases was completed using the PRISMA protocol for literature reviews.

The search process yielded 59 articles within the scope of the study out of a total of 1682 studies.

Results show a growing trend of interest in AI in the public sector, with India and the US as the most active countries.

General public service, economic affairs, and environmental protection are the functions of government with the most studies related to AI. The Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) technique is the most recurrent in the investigated studies and was pointed out as a technique that provides positive results in several areas of its application.

A research framework for AI solutions for the public sector is presented, where it is demonstrated that policies and ethical implications of the use of AI permeate all layers of application of this technology and the solutions can generate value for functions of government.

However, for this, a prior debate with society about the use of AI in the public sector is recommended.

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Urban planning and sustainable cities

an article by Rosario Adapon Turvey (Lakehead University, Orillia, Ontario, Canada) published in International Journal of Sustainable Society Volume 11 Number 3 (2019)

Abstract

This article is a review of scholarly works on planning for urban futures with special reference to sustainable cities. The article aims to produce an update of the challenges and current perspectives on urban planning, sustainability and development across the globe.

As informed by research from the academic and scientific communities, the review provides the prospective directions and trends for securing a sustainable urban future. Within the sustainable cities discourse, recent intellectual inquiry has centred on the conceptualisation and knowledge production in creating sustainable cities.

Though the scope of the review may not be exhaustive, the purpose is to articulate the current progress in the research front concerning concepts and definitions on sustainable cities, planning and methods for urban sustainability development and assessment.

The ultimate goal is to provide local authorities, practitioners and/or city governments with some perspective and guidance in working towards urban sustainability in the future.

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“Here, There, in between, beyond…”: Identity Negotiation and Sense of Belonging among Southern Europeans in the UK and Germany

an article by Fabio Quassoli (University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy) and Iraklis Dimitriadis (University of Milan, Italy) published in Social Inclusion Volume 7 Issue 4 (2019)

Abstract

Whilst most of the research on intra-EU mobility has mainly focused on the reasons behind young Southern Europeans leaving their home countries, and secondly on their experiences within the new context, little is known about their sense of belonging and identities.

This article aims to fill this gap by exploring Italian and Spanish migrants’ social identity repositioning and the cultural change characterising their existential trajectories.

Drawing on 69 semi-structured interviews with Italians and Spaniards living in London and Berlin, this article shows that the sense of belonging to one or more political communities and boundary work are related to individual experiences and can change due to structural eventualities such as the Brexit referendum. While identification with the host society is rare, attachment to the home country is quite common as a result of people’s everyday experiences.

Cultural changes and European/cosmopolitan identification are linked to exposure to new environments and interaction with new cultures, mostly concerning those with previous mobility experience, as well as to a sentiment of non-acceptance in the UK.

However, such categories are not rigid, but many times self-identification and attachments are rather blurred also due to the uncertainty around the duration of the mobility project.

This makes individual factors (gender, age, family status, employment, education) that are often considered as determinants of identification patterns all but relevant.

Full text (PDF 11pp)

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Can we have too much data?

a column by Daron Acemoğlu, Ali Makhdoumi, Azarakhsh Malekian and Asuman Ozdaglar for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal

The Cambridge Analytica scandal highlighted the sophisticated ways social media platforms can allow companies to infer information about users and non-users from shared data.

This column shows how correlations between platform users’ and non-users’ characteristics mean companies can obtain data at below equilibrium prices, implying welfare inefficiencies for individuals. The authors make some suggestions of regulations that could improve on these data-sharing inefficiencies for users and non-users of the platforms.

Continue reading 

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From rituals to magic: Interactive art and HCI of the past, present, and future

Myounghoon Jeon (Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, USA), Rebecca Fiebrink (Goldsmiths, University of London, UK), Ernest A. Edmonds (De Montfort University, Leicester, UK) and Damith Herath (University of Canberra, Australia) published in International Journal of Human-Computer Studies Volume 131 (November 2019)

Highlights

• Interactive art and HCI have contributed to one another.
• Interaction, creativity, embodiment, affect, and presence are common elements.
• Machine intelligence will open new potentials in interactive art.
• Challenges and opportunities for collaboration between the two were identified.

Abstract

The connection between art and technology is much tighter than is commonly recognised.

The emergence of aesthetic computing in the early 2000s has brought renewed focus on this relationship.

In this article, we articulate how art and Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) are compatible with each other and actually essential to advance each other in this era, by briefly addressing interconnected components in both areas – interaction, creativity, embodiment, affect, and presence.

After briefly introducing the history of interactive art, we discuss how art and HCI can contribute to one another by illustrating contemporary examples of art in immersive environments, robotic art, and machine intelligence in art.

Then, we identify challenges and opportunities for collaborative efforts between art and HCI.

Finally, we reiterate important implications and pose future directions.

This article is intended as a catalyst to facilitate discussions on the mutual benefits of working together in the art and HCI communities. It also aims to provide artists and researchers in this domain with suggestions about where to go next.

Full text (PDF 12pp) and there are colour images which is not usual for an academic journal.

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Do we actually grow from adversity?

a ost by Eranda Jayawickreme and Frank J. Infurna for the Big Think blog

"That which does not kill us, makes us stronger"?


How much people believe they’ve changed often isn’t associated with how much they’ve actually changed. frankie's/Shutterstock.com

In our culture, there's this idea that enduring a tragedy can be good for your personal growth. You'll have a newfound appreciation for life.

You'll be grateful for your friends and family. You'll learn from the experience. You'll become more resilient.

This theme appears in media coverage, time and again, in the wake of natural disasters and terrorist attacks.

But what does the science say?

Is there actually value in pain and suffering? Was philosopher Frederich Nietzsche onto something when he said, “That which does not kill us, makes us stronger"?

A powerful narrative

As psychologists, we've been studying this question for the better part of the last decade.

We're not the first to grapple with these questions. Psychologists Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun have written about how, after experiencing loss or trauma, people reported feeling a greater appreciation for life, closer to their friends and family, stronger, more spiritual and more inspired. They dubbed this phenomenon “post-traumatic growth."

The appeal of this finding is obvious. It shows there's a silver lining to tragedy. It's also consistent with the biblical theme of redemption, which says that all pain and suffering will ultimately lead to freedom.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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‘I want to keep up with the younger generation’ - older adults and the web: a generational divide or generational collide?

an article by Cristina Costa (Durham University, UK), Gemma Gilliland (University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK) and Jennifer McWatt (Bahrain Polytechnic) published in International Journal of Lifelong Education Volume 38 Issue 5 (September/October 2019)

Abstract

This paper considers the social significance of digital technologies in older adults’ lives by exploring the impact the web has on their lived experiences.

The study of digital literacies and digital cultures is mostly focused on youth, thus paying limited attention to older adults’ engagement with the web.

With this paper, we aim to contribute to under-theorised debates of older adults’ digital experiences beyond generalisations of generational and/or digital divides.

Focus groups interviews with older adults enrolled in sessions on digital literacies were used to get insight into this cohort’s online experiences.

The findings revealed that older adults’ key motivation to become digitally literate was driven by a desire of remaining relevant in a contemporary world, in other words, of cultivating their identity as active citizens in a digital society.

We offer considerations and reflections on the findings through the application of the works of Karl Mannheim to the phenomenon investigated.

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10 for Today (24 November 2019) starts with Victorian photography and ends with a nursery rhyme

The first great photography craze
via AbeBooks.com by Richard Davies

Before Instagram, selfie sticks, disposable cameras, Polaroids, and box brownies, there were carte de visites – small photographic albumen prints, mounted on card, which were wildly popular during the Victorian era.
Also known as CdV, carte de visites followed the early pioneering photographic techniques such as daguerreotype and ambrotype, which were expensive and difficult to reproduce. Cartes de visites were born from calling cards, which bore the owner’s name and usually an emblem, and were presented to the host during a social visit. Homes often had a tray near the door for collecting calling cards.
Continue reading

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The Hall Typewriter: the world's first 'laptop'
via Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow

Martin Howard from Antique Typewriter (previously) writes, "In 1881, Thomas Hall, a Brooklyn engineer, invented the first portable typewriter that would enable a person to type with the machine anywhere, even on one’s lap. This was also the first index typewriter, a typewriter with no keyboard that requires one to use a selector. In this case, a black handle is depressed to choose the characters when typing. The Hall, despite its unusual design, proved to be quite successful over the next twenty years."
Continue reading [for a fascinating story and some marvellous images]

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The First Modern Ghost Story: Kipling’s ‘Mrs Bathurst’
via Interesting Literature
In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle analyses one of Rudyard Kipling’s most baffling stories
I agree with Neil Gaiman: Rudyard Kipling was at his best in the short story form. The generous 800-page Fantasy Masterworks volume of Kipling’s ‘fantastical tales’ which I own (The Mark of the Beast And Other Fantastical Tales (Fantasy Masterwork) [link is to Amazon) showcases the work of a writer who possessed not only a staggering imagination but narrative ingenuity which we rarely see in writers of short stories. Of all Kipling’s short stories, ‘Mrs Bathurst’ is one of the most ingenious. It is also one of the most genuinely chilling.
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30 Mummies Including Mother Holding an Infant Discovered in 2,000-Year-Old Egyptian Tomb
via Ancient Origins by Ed Whelan

Fragment of painted cartonnage found inside the tomb. Credit: Ministry of Antiquities
The Ministry of Antiquities in Egypt has announced a major archaeological discovery in the south-east of the country. An international team has uncovered 30 Egyptian mummies that are approximately 2000 years old. The mummies include adults, children and infants and they were found in a network of burial chambers . A room full of items related to ancient funerary practices was also brought to light. This discovery is expected to help us to better understand Ancient Egypt during a crucial period of change.
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Reconsidering the period room as a museum-made object
via the OUP blog by Marie-Ève Marchand

“Castle” by Tama66. Public Domain via Pixabay.
For those of us used to visiting historical houses and encyclopedic museums, the word “period room” will sound familiar. A period room is a display combining architectural components, pieces of furniture, and decorative objects organized to evoke — and in some rare cases recreate — an interior, very often domestic and dating from a past era.
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The Quest to Acquire the Oldest, Most Expensive Book on the Planet
Unwrapping the Most Beautiful Gutenberg of Them All
via Arts & Letters Daily: Margaret Leslie Davis in Literary Hub

A wooden box containing one of the most valuable books in the world arrives in Los Angeles on October 14, 1950, with little more fanfare—or security—than a Sears catalog. Code-named “the commode,” it was flown from London via regular parcel post, and while it is being delivered locally by Tice and Lynch, a high-end customs broker and shipping company, its agents have no idea what they are carrying and take no special precautions.
The widow of one of the wealthiest men in America, Estelle Betzold Doheny is among a handful of women who collect rare books, and she has amassed one of the most spectacular libraries in the West. Acquisition of the Gutenberg Bible, universally acknowledged as the most important of all printed books, will push her into the ranks of the greatest book collectors of the era. Its arrival is the culmination of a 40-year hunt, and she treasures the moment as much as the treasure.

From The Lost Gutenberg by Margaret Leslie Davis, published by TarcherPerigee, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © 2019 by Margaret Leslie Davis.

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'Extraordinary' 500-year-old library catalogue reveals books lost to time
The Libro de los Epítomes was a catalogue for Hernando Colón’s 16th-century collection, which he intended to be the biggest in the world
via the Guardian by Alison Flood

His life’s work ... Hernando Colón. Photograph: Biblioteca Colombina (Seville)
It sounds like something from Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Shadow of the Wind and his The Cemetery of Forgotten Books: a huge volume containing thousands of summaries of books from 500 years ago, many of which no longer exist. But the real deal has been found in Copenhagen, where it has lain untouched for more than 350 years.
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This wooden bike has blades instead of wheels so you can ride it down a snow covered mountain
via Boing Boing by Mark Frauenfelder

The Velogemel is a wooden bike that was invented in Grindelwald, Switzerland in 1911. It looks like a lot of fun to ride on down a snowy mountain at a speed of 25 mph. No brakes, though. You have to use your feet to slow down.

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10 of the most controversial people in Russian history
The hard part was keeping the list down to ten.
via the Big think blog by Scotty Hendricks

• Russia's history is fascinating and filled with colorful characters.
• Some of the most influential of them have been extremely controversial.
• Here are ten of the most interesting, both good and bad.

Russia is a fascinating place. Its history is filled with adventures, drama, triumphs, and tragedies. Many of the most interesting people to grace that history have been extremely controversial. Today, we'll look at ten of them.
Continue reading but for those who do not want to then I can tell you who the TOP TEN are.

1. Ivan the Terrible
2. Mikhail Bakunin
3. Peter the Great
4. Leo Tolstoy
5. Dmitri Mendeleev
6. Catherine the Great
7. Viktor Tikhonov
8. Joseph Stalin
9. Grigori Rasputin
10. Mikhail Gorbachev

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A Short Analysis of the ‘Little Boy Blue’ Nursery Rhyme
via Interesting Literature Dr Oliver Tearle analyses this children’s rhyme

‘Little Boy Blue’ is a popular children’s rhyme, but as is the case with so many nursery rhymes (as we’ve been discovering in the course of researching these posts), the meaning of ‘Little Boy Blue’ is far from apparent. What does this curious little nursery rhyme mean, or is it an example of that genre of perennial appeal, nonsense verse?
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10 for Today (23 November 2019) starts with vintage electronics and then follows the usual miscellany to end with hand grenades

Inside an incredible "prop library" of vintage electronics and obsolete consumer tech
via Boing Boing by David Pescovitz

Brooklyn's LES Ecology Center maintains an incredible library of vintage consumer electronics cherry-picked from the relentless flow of e-waste streaming through their facility. From hulking videocassette decks to curious CRTs, classic video game systems to iconic landline telephones, the E-Waste Warehouse Prop Library provides prop rentals for film, television, and theatrical productions. They should also host birthday parties.
Continue reading [and watch a video]

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Thinkers and Drinkers
via Arts and Letters Daily: Clare Bucknell in the Literary Review
If you had been in the vicinity of the Turk’s Head Tavern on Soho’s Gerrard Street on a Friday evening in the second half of the 18th century, you might have recognised a number of famous men disappearing up the stairs to a private room.
The Club, as Leo Damrosch explains in this group biography of its members, was a dining, drinking and debating society for some of the leading lights of the age, established by Samuel Johnson and the portraitist Joshua Reynolds in 1764 to lift Johnson’s spirits as he struggled to complete his edition of Shakespeare’s plays. At its high point in the 1770s it brought together Johnson and Reynolds, James Boswell, Edmund Burke, Edward Gibbon, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Oliver Goldsmith and David Garrick.

The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age

By Leo Damrosch

Yale University Press 488pp £20 order from our bookshop

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A Summary and Analysis of the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Fairy Tale
via Interesting Literature
The meaning of one of the oldest fairy tales in the world – analysed by Dr Oliver Tearle

Iona and Peter Opie, in their The Classic Fairy Tales, call ‘Beauty and the Beast’ the most symbolic fairy tale after Cinderella, and ‘the most intellectually satisfying’. It’s also one of the oldest: we can trace the archetypal versions of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ back some 4,000 years, making it over 1,000 years older than Homer. If that doesn’t make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck a little, what will it take?
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4,000-Year-Old Lost Mesopotamian City Discovered in Iraq
via Ancient Origins

3D reconstruction of an ancient Mesopotamian city. (Satori / Adobe Stock)
A 4,000-year-old lost city has been discovered in Iraqi Kurdistan, according to researchers.
“We weren’t expecting to discover a city here at all,” said Christine Kepinski, who explored the site, according to the French National Center for Scientific Research journal  [includes some stunning images].
The excavation of the site, known as Kunara and located near the city of Sulaymaniyah, was only possible after Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was deposed in 2003. Researchers also noted that the ISIS terrorist group’s presence in Iraq also hampered their efforts.
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How boring was life in the British Empire?
via the OUP blog by Jeffrey Auberbach

British Empire map, 1886, printed on linen. From the British Library. CC0 via Wikimedia Commons
Boredom is a pervasive problem. Teenagers suffer from it. Workers are afflicted by it. Psychologists research it. Academic conferences are devoted to it. There is even evidence that you can die of it. And while there are those who claim that boredom can foster creativity, many people would rather give themselves an electric shock than be bored.
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Prophet of the Human-built World: an introduction to John Ruskin
Linking our prayers and our purchases, our art and our labour.
via Arts and Letters Daily: Alan Jacobs in Cardus
The Victorian sage John Ruskin (1819–1900) was a titanic figure in his own lifetime, and has not been wholly forgotten. But he is perhaps best remembered today for the bizarre incoherence of his romantic life, and especially for his unconsummated marriage to Effie Gray, which has been the subject of books, television and radio programs, and movies. Does he still matter? I argue that he does, because he is the deepest inquirer I know into the ways that human making shapes and is shaped by the material conditions of human lives, and how the relationship between that making and those conditions has enormous consequences for the spiritual lives of human beings.
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Beowulf the work of single author, research suggests
via the Guardian by Nicola Davis
Debate over whether poem was written by multiple authors or one has raged for years

The Beowulf manuscript at the British Library in London. Photograph: British Library
Beowulf, the epic poem of derring-do and monsters, was composed by a single author, research suggests, pouring cold water on the idea it was stitched together from two poems.
One of the most famous works in Old English, Beowulf tells of the eponymous hero who defeats the monster Grendel and his mother, thereby rescuing the Danes from a reign of terror, before returning to his homeland and later dying in a battle with a dragon.
But the poem has been the subject of a long-running debate. While some argued the work is the product of multiple poets, others – including the scholar and Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien – have said the evidence suggests it is a single poet’s work.
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"Conch island" formed by fishermen discarding shells
via Boing Boing by Rob Beschizza

Posted on YouTube without description, via Reddit, where commenter VikingMart identifies the location as Anegada in the British Virgin Islands.
Continue reading and also watch the video

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The mystery behind Minoan bull-leaping
Did a poorly understood ancient civilization somersault over charging bulls?
via the Big Think blog by Matt Davis

• The Minoan civilization, which existed on the island of Crete nearly 5,000 years ago, produced a treasure trove of artwork showing a unique sport or ritual: men leaping over charging bulls
• Scholars have argued over whether the Minoans actually performed this dangerous activity, though the evidence seems to suggest that they did.
• If so, modern bull-leaping sports, such as those practiced in France and Spain, may have their roots in ancient Minoa.

Continue reading

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The Early History of the Grenadiers
via About History
Grenadiers – selected infantry units and / or cavalry, originally intended for the assault of enemy fortifications, mainly in siege operations.

Grenadiers were armed with hand grenades and firearms. Hand grenades used to be called “grenades” or “grenadics”; they were a hollow cast-iron ball filled with gunpowder with a wick; they were used for throwing at enemy fortifications. Given the short range of the flight of grenade, the military man needed maximum strength, courage, resourcefulness, fearlessness and skill to get to the right distance. From the grenades went the name of units using this type of weapon. Subsequently, grenadiers began to call the elite units of the line infantry.
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