‘Editor’s Picks’ Podcast (May 29, 2023) – Three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, why Donald Trump is very likely to be the Republican nominee for president, how to fix Britain’s National Health Service (09:55) and companies’ “away days” are getting unnecessarily creative (17:15).
Daily Archives: May 29, 2023
Nepal Views: 70 Years Since First Mount Everest Climb
Nepal’s government honored record-holding climbers Monday during celebrations of the first ascent of Mount Everest 70 years ago.
The celebrations come amid a growing concern about temperatures rising, glaciers and snow melting, and weather being harsh and unpredictable on the world’s tallest mountain.
Hundreds of people from the mountaineering community, Sherpa guides and officials attended a rally in Kathmandu to mark the anniversary. Participants waved celebratory banners and walked in the center of Kathmandu to tunes played by military bands.
Among those honored were Sherpa guides Kami Rita, who climbed Everest twice this season for a record 28 times overall, and Sanu Sherpa, who has climbed all of the world’s 14 highest peaks twice.
Technology: What Is Generative AI Good For?
Video timeline: 00:00 – What is generative AI? 00:46 – Breakthroughs and take-up of the technology 02:03 – Strengths 03:32 – Weaknesses
Art Tributes: Inside The Australian Artist John Olsen’s World (1928-2023)
SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE
26 May – 17 June
On the day of his state funeral, Australian Story revisits the Olsens, a family forged by their father’s passion and drive for painting. As John became a darling of the art world in the 60s and 70s, his obsessive focus on dedication to his work often cast a long shadow on those around him.
Months after his death, the Vivid festival of light will pay tribute to John Olsen, projecting his art onto the “greatest blank canvas on earth” — the sails of the Sydney Opera House. His children, Tim and Louise Olsen, will be there to marvel at his achievements and celebrate the life that has shaped them.
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Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – June 5, 2023
The Case For and Against Ed Sheeran
The pop singer’s trial for copyright infringement of Marvin Gaye and Ed Townsend’s “Let’s Get It On” highlights how hard it is to draw the property lines of pop.
The Trials and Triumphs of Writing While Woman
From Mary Wollstonecraft to Toni Morrison, getting a start meant starting over.
When the critic Joanna Biggs was thirty-two, her mother, still in her fifties, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. “Everything wobbled,” she recalls. Biggs was married but not sure she wanted to be, suddenly distrustful of the neat, conventional course—marriage, kids, burbs—plotted out since she met her husband, at nineteen. It was as though the disease’s rending of a maternal bond had severed her contract with the prescribed feminine itinerary. Soon enough, she and her husband were seeing other people; then he moved out, and she began making pilgrimages to visit Mary Wollstonecraft’s grave.
News: Erdoğan Victory Divides Turkey, Modi Opens New Parliament
Monday, May 29, 2023: Monocle’s Istanbul correspondent, Hannah Lucinda Smith, unpacks the hard nationalism dominating Turkish politics as provisional results from the run-off election come in.
Plus: Prime minister Modi unveils India’s new parliament building, and Karen Krizanovich is back from Cannes with all the latest from the Croisette.
The New York Times – Monday, May 29, 2023
Despite Inflation, Earthquakes and Tough Race, Erdogan Is Re-elected
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has given few indications that he intends to change course at home, where he faces a looming economic crisis, or in foreign policy, where he has vexed Western allies.
NEWS ANALYSIS
In Pursuit of Consensus, Did Biden Find the Reasonable Middle or Give Away Too Much?
The deal to raise the debt ceiling bolsters President Biden’s argument that he is committed to bipartisanship, but it comes at the cost of rankling many in his own party.
With Watchful Eyes, a Nationwide Network Tracks Antisemitic Threats
The mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh led to arguably the most ambitious effort ever undertaken to protect Jewish institutions in America.
Barely Noting War in Public, Putin Acts Like Time Is on His Side
Vladimir V. Putin of Russia looks like a commander in absentia, treating the war in Ukraine as unfortunate but distant. His options have narrowed, but he is still betting on outlasting his foes.
International Art: Apollo Magazine – June 2023 Issue
Naples in Paris
Once a hunting lodge for the Bourbon monarchs, the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples is now home to one of the world’s most significant collections of Italian painting. This exhibition at the Musée Louvre in Paris (7 June–8 January 2024) brings more than 60 masterpieces from the museum to France. Highlights of the paintings on view include Parmigianino’s Portrait of a Young Girl (or Antea) (1524–27) and Guido Reni’s Atalanta and Hippomenes (1620–25).
Travel Tour: Village Of Giethoorn, Netherlands
A walking/cycling path named: ‘Binnenpad’ runs right trough this area. Tourist shops and restaurants (which are well represented) are interspersed with typical Dutch houses with thatched roofs.
Date recorded: May, 2023
Boomers Daily 