π₯ Discover this must-read post from The New Yorker π π Category: Culture / On and Off the Avenue β
Hereβs what youβll learn: For pet lovers who hate taking care of pets: A self-sustaining ecosystem containing two or three needy miniature shrimp that can live for years without much help from you. Besides the crustaceans, the four-inch glass sphere contains pebbles, a neat branch of artificial coral, and algae that provide oxygen and food β the perfect guests ($99).Pot, protests, and Cher are back, so why not lava lamps? It was invented by Edward Craven Walker, a British accountant…
π Explore this trending post from The New Yorker π π Category: Culture / Open Questions π‘ Main takeaway: Political life is inevitably disappointing, because all political movements contain contradictions. Democrats see themselves as defenders of the working class, but their party leans toward the highly educated; Old-school Republicans talk about freedom from big government while tolerating the predation of big business. When anyone argues about how society should be run, they risk hypocrisy, because reality is complex. So perhaps the New Right's contradictions are normal.The field shows how this is not the case. The contradictions of the New Right…
β¨ Read this must-read post from The New Yorker π π Category: Culture / The Weekend Essay π Key idea: Suddenly, the health care system I relied on was strained and shaken. Doctors and scientists at Columbia University, including George, did not know whether they could continue their research, or even get jobs. (Columbia was one of the Trump administration's first targets in its crackdown on alleged anti-Semitism on campus; in May, the university laid off 180 scholars after cutting federal funding.) If George changed jobs, we didn't know if we would be able to get insurance, since I had…
π₯ Explore this must-read post from Culture Latest π π Category: Culture,Culture / Digital Culture,Punch Line β
Hereβs what youβll learn: On September 19, In 1982, Scott Fahlman, an assistant professor of computer science research at Carnegie Mellon University, posted a message to the university's bulletin board program that would later define how people communicate online.His suggestion: Use :-) and :-( as markers to distinguish jokes from serious comments.While Falman describes himself as "the inventor...or at least one of the inventors" of what would later be called the smiley face icon, the full story reveals something much more interesting than…
π₯ Explore this awesome post from The New Yorker π π Category: Culture / Photo Booth π Hereβs what youβll learn: Austin's path, like that of many New York artists, eventually rested on the vicissitudes of real estate. At Clear Comfort, she built a remarkable existence of self-determinationβfor thirty years, she lived there alongside Tate, whom she had fallen in love with while on vacation in the Catskills. (A series of bizarre photographs show Tate dancing outside in the sun.) But the Austen family's money was lost in the crash of 1929, and she and Tate, struggling to support themselves,…
π₯ Read this awesome post from Culture | The Guardian π π Category: Retro games,Games,Games consoles,Culture,Sega,Nintendo β
Main takeaway: TThere's an old saying that history is written by the victors, and that's as true in video games as anywhere else. Nowadays, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the Nintendo Entertainment System was the only console available in the mid-to-late 1980s. If you grew up in Nintendo's target markets of Japan and North America, this weird game is basically chunky He was The only game in town β the company owned Mario after all, and its similar control over third-party developers…
π₯ Check out this insightful post from Culture | The Guardian π π Category: Books,National Book Awards,Culture,Awards and prizes,US news,Lebanon,Israel,Gaza,Israel-Gaza war,Palestine β
Key idea: Rabih Alameddine won the National Book Award for Fiction for βThe True Story of Naive Raja (and His Mother),β a darkly comic tale that spans six decades of the life of a Lebanese family.The novel, which explores Lebanon's sprawling history including civil war and economic collapse, is told through the eyes of its titular hero: a 63-year-old gay philosophy teacher who confronts his past and his relationship with his mother and his homeland.True to his irreverent…
β¨ Explore this awesome post from Culture | The Guardian π π Category: Smokey Robinson,Music,Pop and rock,Soul,Culture,US news π‘ Key idea: Two other former employees of soul music star Smokey Robinson, both male and female, have alleged that he sexually assaulted them, which he denies.Robinson is already facing similar allegations from four other former employees, who filed a joint lawsuit in May. This week, lawyers for the defendants filed a motion to add two more defendants to the lawsuit, both of whom are unidentified.The man, who worked as a car driver for Robinson, claims that Robinson fondled himself in front…
β¨ Read this must-read post from Culture | The Guardian π π Category: Brian Cox,Podcasts,Fox News,Culture,Fox,Christianity,Religion,US news π Main takeaway: A Fox News Channel announcement of a new podcast series about Jesus Christ has turned into a bizarre Hollywood holiday story, with several actors attached to a massive 52-episode project claiming their recordings are 15 years old and being released without their prior knowledge.The new audiobook, titled The Life of Jesus Christ Podcast, was announced Wednesday as part of a splashy rollout of the network's new Christian column called Fox Faith, which aims to guide listeners "through the life, teachings…
β¨ Read this awesome post from Culture | The Guardian π π Category: Theatre,Ivo van Hove,Arthur Miller,Paapa Essiedu,Hayley Squires,Bryan Cranston,West End,Stage,Culture π‘ Hereβs what youβll learn: IIn 2014, Ivo van Hove's Young Vic staging of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge drew comparisons to the monumental Greek drama. Lightning has struck twice in this brilliant, stunning production of Miller's 1946 play - it masters the art of doing less for more effect and is presented in the same West End venue as its predecessor.Van Hove, known for giving classics his own spin, seems to return here, letting the actors…
