The world’s biggest retailer stumbled in the early innings of the e-commerce revolution. Now that Walmart has found its footing, it’s poised for big profits.
BBC Earth (July 7, 2023) – Sir David Attenborough presents remarkable, new animal behaviors from all the continents, including a kidnapping macaque to thirsty bats navigating crocodile-infested waters.
The Local Project (July 7, 2023) – An exclusive house tour and a thoughtful marrying of architecture and landscape, Flockhill Homestead is a beautiful yet practical farm residence that offers a novel experience of the New Zealand landscape.
Video timeline: 00:00 – Intro to the Luxurious AirBnB 00:47 – The Project Architect 01:17 – A Family and an Environmental Centred Brief 02:13 – Democratising the Bedrooms 02:40 – Protection From the Harsh Environment 03:15 – The Heritage and History of The Flockhill Region 03:32 – The Materials Used Throughout 04:47 – Utilisation Throughout the Seasons 05:18 – The Calmness of Shadow 05:53 – A Collaborative Effort
This exclusive house tour goes inside a high country sheep station that doubles as an Airbnb where Warren and Mahoney take a symbiotic approach to create an elegant refuge, where interior design harmonises with the heavy masonry elements embedded in the landscape that can also withstand the harsh conditions. The exclusive house tour shows a dwelling that responds to its incredible locale – in the way of outlooks, heritage and practicality.
Located halfway between Christchurch and Arthur’s Pass, the homestead and Airbnb is perched on a plateau above the working farm, which offers an equal viewpoint of the mountains, limestone rock formations and Lake Pearson. A pool sits on the edge of the property at the top of a cliff, allowing one to feel as if they are floating above the dramatic landscape.
The exclusive house tour reveals The fluid approach taken by the team in the architecture and interior design of the homestead. Spaces are arranged in a single linear strip to access constant views towards the lake and mountains in the distance, fostering a continuous connection between internal and external spaces. The large home is designed for four individual owners so there are shared zones, including a communal kitchen and large fireplace, and private spaces pushed to the corners of the home.
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (July 9, 2023) – In this week’s cover story, Sarah A. Topol reports on how the U.S. military continues to build up Guam and other Pacific territories — placing the burdens of imperial power on the nation’s most ignored and underrepresented citizens. Plus, an interview with the British writer-actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge, a profile of the winemaker Maggie Harrison and inside the D.N.C.’s primary problem.
As tensions with China mount, the U.S. military continues to build up Guam and other Pacific territories — placing the burdens of imperial power on the nation’s most ignored and underrepresented citizens.
Waller-Bridge, 37, is co-starring in the just-released “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” (This is after previously contributing to the screenplay for a film about another iconic character: the 2021 James Bond effort, “No Time to Die.”) Further out on the horizon, Waller-Bridge, who also created the spy-thriller series “Killing Eve,” is working on a show based on the “Tomb Raider” video game for Amazon Studios. (At the time of publication, though, that show’s progress is currently on hold because of the W.G.A. writers’ strike.)
The Globalist Podcast, Friday, July 7, 2023: Monocle’s Istanbul correspondent, Hannah Lucinda Smith, on Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Turkey.
Also, the significance of the G7 justice ministers meeting in Tokyo, updates on Wagner leader Yevgeniy Prigozhin and Russia, plus a look at the UAE’s self-driving cars.
Decades behind its initial schedule, the dangerous job of eliminating the world’s only remaining declared stockpile of lethal chemical munitions will be completed as soon as Friday.
New Federal Decisions Make Alzheimer’s Drug Leqembi Widely Accessible
The F.D.A. gave full approval to the drug, but added a black-box warning about safety risks. Medicare said it would cover most of the high cost.
How Tom Brady’s Crypto Ambitions Collided With Reality
The superstar quarterback is among the celebrities dealing with the fallout from the crypto crash. Others, like Taylor Swift, escaped.
Architectural Digest (July 6, 2023) – A tour of Denham Place, a 17th-century country estate situated just 30 minutes from central London. Built in 1688, this historic property is on the market for £75,000,000 and has just completed an extensive 8-year restoration.
An incredible 12 reception rooms, 12 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, and grounds inspired by Versailles, make this stately home palatial–and with past residents including the Bonaparte Imperial family, it is a house truly fit for royalty.
The house was constructed in 1688–1701 for Sir Roger Hill, and the architect was probably William Stanton.
FRANCE 24 (July 6, 2023) – Beaune is the wine capital of France’s Burgundy region. Above ground, the old fortified city is already beautiful. But the real treasure is hidden below the surface, down in the cellars. They contain two million bottles of wine, in a total of five kilometres of galleries, all linked together.
One of the oldest cellars in Beaune has been occupied for four generations by the Maison Drouhin. It contains traces of the city’s ancient past. Meanwhile, the cellars of Maison Champy were once frequented by Louis Pasteur and Gustave Eiffel. The much more modern Jadot winery has an unexpected skylight.
BBC Science Focus Magazine (July 2023) – What our future with Artificial Intelligence really looks like, according to the experts; How to take control of AI before it’s too late, and more…
OpenAI is back in the headlines with news that it is updating its viral ChatGPT with a new version called GPT-4. But when will this be available, how does it work and can you use it?
Artificial intelligence art generators train themselves on art pulled straight from the internet… but what happens when most of the art out there is now made by AI?
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious