Arts & Literature, Culture, Homes, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

Previews: Country Life Magazine-January 10, 2024

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Country Life Magazine – January 9, 2024: The latest issue features ‘Walk This Way’ – England’s secret sunken roads; Return of the curly-coated retriever; Tom Parker Bowles on the comfort of pie; Britain’s most poisonous plants, and more…

Curls, curls, curls

The intelligent, powerful curly-coated retriever was favoured by the Victorians and is still winning plaudits as a working breed, discovers Katy Birchall

Rolling in the deep

Ben Lerwill follows in the foot-steps of our ancestors to explore the history of holloways, those sunken and often secret routes criss-crossing the countryside

Little crop of horrors

From hemlock and henbane to giant hogweed, Britain is home to a host of poisonous plants. John Wright reveals how to spot the dangerous and the deadly

Why we all cry for pie

Tom Parker Bowles earns his crust with an ode to the enduring appeal of this humble, yet oh so heavenly savoury creation

Lady Violet Manners’s favourite painting

The broadcaster chooses a poignant work that speaks of absolute parental devotion

A distant horizon conquered

Fiona Reynolds explores the ancient Wiltshire Downs, with her sights set firmly on the far-off landmark of Cherhill Monument

The future as a footstool

The landmark 1980s restoration of London’s Liverpool Street Station is under threat from new proposals, argues Ptolemy Dean

The Midas touch

In the first of two articles, John Goodall investigates the early history of Madresfield Court, Worcestershire, which has been in the same family for 900 years

I can’t believe it’s British butter

Butter is making a comeback in a welcome celebration of our dairy heritage—Jenny Linford meets the artisan makers who are helping to spread the word

The good stuff

Tackle the snow in style this winter with Hetty Lintell’s pick of the best skiing accessories

Sweet dreams are made of these

The gardens at Villa Durazzo-Pallacini in Italy are Heaven on Earth for Charles Quest-Ritson

‘I have seen a very pretty thing…’

Lucien de Guise reveals how you can add a true touch of Ottoman opulence to your home

Interiors

Amelia Thorpe selects the hottest new stoves, fires and range cookers, and Giles Kime examines the growing range of options fuelled by bioethanol

Money for old rope

Deborah Nicholls-Lee looks at how hemp can help in the battle against climate change

Architecture, Home Design, Homes, Tours, Videos

Design: Tour Of A Coastal Ranch Home In California

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The Local Project (January 9, 2024) – Situated in a frequently cold, wet and windy location, Ramirez Residence by Norman Millar Architects and Judith Sheine Architect is a sea ranch home that is built to complement the rugged landscape.

Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction to the Modern Ranch 01:10 – A Coastal Location and its History 02:12 – The Architectural Collaboration and Design Guidelines 04:04 – Building the Interiors into the Landscape 04:29 – The Clients Coastal Requests 05:26 – A Traditional and Natural Material Palette 06:55 – Respecting the History of Sea Ranch

Placed north of San Francisco, and positioned along miles of ocean coastline, Ramirez Residence possesses an interesting history that goes back to the community’s conception by Alfred Boeke. Transforming a sheep ranch on a degrading landscape into an ideal utopian community, Alfred Boeke implemented strict design guidelines for the architecture of the buildings and the way they sat in the landscape. As such, each of the surrounding homes were inspired by weathered barns, designed out of local timber and made to withstand the harsh climate over a long period of time.

Built into the landscape, Ramirez Residence was specifically designed to preserve local views and communal open spaces. Based on the design principles and ideas of the weathered barns with the slopping roof of a ranch, Ramirez Residence appears fairly simple in its exterior form. With no overhangs to prevent uplift from the strong winds, the house tour shows an almost box-like home clad in local timbers but, once inside, a complex and articulated interior design reveals itself. Following the house tour inside, the reveal of built-in furniture continues the idea of a home nestled into the landscape. Emphasising this idea in the bathrooms and kitchen, the architects encourage the idea that the rooms and kitchen are objects within the home.

Arts & Literature, Books, Magazines, Poetry, Previews, Reviews

Arts & Literature: Kenyon Review – Winter 2024

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Kenyon Review – Winter 2024: The Winter 2024 issue of The Kenyon Review includes an essay by Carrie Cogan, the winner of the 2023 Kenyon Review Nonfiction Contest, selected by Leslie Jamison; work by the 2021 Kenyon Review Developmental Editing Fellows, Allison Albino, Emily Stoddard, and Jane Walton; poetry by Sara Abou Rashed, Sarah Ghazal Ali, David Joez Villaverde, and Kim Garcia; fiction by K-Ming Chang, Melissa Yancy, and Brian Ma; nonfiction by Oz Johnson and Sarah Minor; and much more. The cover art is by DARNstudio, which consists of Ron Norsworthy and David Anthone.

Lowest of the Low on a High Red Hill

By Carrie Cogan

I rode west with a childhood friend who was driving to a job in California. We passed through Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and still there was no sign of the Commander. My friend placed a bag of chocolate-covered espresso beans on the console between us, jumble of rich dark gems, glittering like they were wet. I crunched them in my teeth without thinking. Sometimes I drove and let her sleep. When clouds clotted the sun her hair still glowed, some mix of orange and yellow and pink. Toast, or the honey for it, or the cinnamon.

After we spent a day and a night in a certain desert town, I told my friend to go on without me. I’d stay. The town was bordered by empty hills and endless sky: room to disappear. I found an unopened pack of Juicy Fruit gum on the sidewalk, which I took for a sign.

News, Podcasts, Politics, Stories

News: Wider Conflict In Israel-Gaza War, South Korea Political Crisis

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The Globalist Podcast (January 9, 2024) – Nik Gowing discusses whether the Israel-Gaza war could spark a wider conflict in the region – and beyond.

Also, Steven Borowiec updates us on South Korea’s political crisis ahead of national elections and, with less than a week to go, we look ahead to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos.

News, Newspapers, Views

The New York Times — Tuesday, January 9, 2024

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Israel Says Its Military Is Starting to Shift to a More Targeted Gaza Campaign

Three Israeli soldiers wearing green uniforms in front of a tank.

Israeli officials privately say that they hope to complete the transition by the end of January, but that the timeline could change.

Why Iowa Turned So Red When Nearby States Went Blue

Over the past 15 years, the Upper Midwest has seen a remarkable state-by-state sorting of voters along partisan lines.

Israeli Strikes in Lebanon Kill Hezbollah Commander, Militia Says

The latest strikes across Israel’s northern border came as the U.S. secretary of state made another trip to the Middle East in efforts to prevent a wider war.

Exhausted, on the Defensive and at ‘Hell’s Gate’ in Ukraine

The country’s forces along a broad stretch of the front say that, with Russia pushing forward, the war has never been so dangerous.

Analysis, Business, Economics, Pollution, Reviews, Videos

Analysis: The Business Of Waste Management (CNBC)

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CNBC (January 8, 2024) – CNBC Marathon explores the economics of waste management and how the United States is solving its trash problem. In 2019, the North American waste management market reached $208 billion.

Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 00:48 How Trash Makes Money In The U.S. (Published July 2021) 15:59 How Amazon, American Airlines And Subaru Burn Waste To Make Energy (Published May 2022) 32:24 How To Clean Up The World’s Most Polluted Rivers (Published August 2022) 46:16 Where Do EV Batteries Go When They Die? (Published March 2023)

Thanks to advancements in modern chemistry and support from municipal governments, landfills have seen astonishing financial success in recent years. Burning waste to make energy is a $10 billion industry in the U.S., and the fastest growing part of the business is waste from big companies like Amazon, Subaru, Quest Diagnostics and American Airlines.

They’re part of a growing corporate movement toward “zero landfill” as pressure mounts to reach sustainability requirements. It’s estimated that every year, millions of tons of plastic enter the ocean through rivers, and as global waste generation increases, the problem is poised to worsen.

But a host of companies from Baltimore, Maryland to Bengaluru, India are working on the issue, developing novel methods to capture trash from rivers before it reaches the ocean. Dozens of electric vehicles are scheduled to debut in the next few years and over 300 million electric vehicles are expected to be on the world’s roads by 2030.

The lifetime for an EV battery is estimated to be 12 to 15 years in moderate climates, but that doesn’t mean the batteries end up in landfills when they die.

Innovations, Magazines, Previews, Research, Reviews, Technology

Preview: MIT Technology Review – January 2024

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MIT Technology Review (January/February 2024) – The new issue features 10 Innovations that could change our World.

10 Breakthrough Technologies 2024

Every year, we look for promising technologies poised to have a real impact on the world. Here are the advances that we think matter most right now.

AI for everything

We now live in the age of AI. Hundreds of millions of people have interacted directly with generative tools like ChatGPT that produce text, images, videos, and more from prompts. Their popularity has reshaped the tech industry, making OpenAI a household name and compelling Google, Meta, and Microsoft to invest heavily in the technology.

Super-efficient solar cells

Solar power is being rapidly deployed around the world, and it’s key to global efforts to reduce carbon emissions. But most of the sunlight that hits today’s panels isn’t being converted into electricity. Adding a layer of tiny crystals could make solar panels more efficient. WHY IT MATTERS

Apple Vision Pro

Apple will start shipping its first mixed-reality headset, the Vision Pro, this year. Its killer feature is the highest-resolution display ever made for such a device. Will there be a killer app? It’s early, but the world’s most valuable company has made a bold bet that the answer is yes. WHY IT MATTERS

Weight-loss drugs

The global rise in obesity has been called an epidemic by the World Health Organization. Medications like Mounjaro and Wegovy are now among the most powerful tools that patients and physicians have to treat it. Evidence suggests they can even protect against heart attacks and strokes. WHY IT MATTERS

Arts & Literature, Culture, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews

Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – Jan 15, 2024

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Former President Donald Trump marching on pavement blocks that read “2023” and “2024.”

The New Yorker – January 15, 2024 issue: The new issue‘s cover features Barry Blitt’s “Back to the Future” – The artist depicts a goose-stepping Donald Trump, determined to march back into political relevance.

Has School Become Optional?

A silhouette of a kid sitting on a desk revealing two people walking.

In the past few years, chronic absenteeism has nearly doubled. The fight to get students back in classrooms has only just begun.

By Alec MacGillis

Absenteeism underlies much of what has beset young people, including falling school achievement, deteriorating mental health, and elevated youth violence.

What Frantz Fanon and Ian Fleming Agreed On

Portraits of men divided by photos of protest.

From opposite directions, the revolutionary intellectual and the creator of James Bond saw violence as essential—psychologically and strategically—to solving the crisis of colonialism.

By Daniel Immerwahr

More than fifty years later, Zohra Drif could still picture the Milk Bar in Algiers on September 30, 1956. It was white and shining, she recalled, awash in laughter, young voices, “summer colors, the smell of pastries, and even the distant twittering of birds.” Drif, a well-coiffed law student in a stylish lavender dress, ordered a peach-Melba ice cream and wedged her beach bag against the counter. She paid, tipped, and left without her bag. The bomb inside it exploded soon afterward.

News, Podcasts, Politics, Stories

News: Blinken Middle East Tour, US Troops Exit Iraq, Ecuador Organized Crime

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The Globalist Podcast (January 8, 2024) – Antony Blinken’s latest multi-stop tour of the Middle East, Iraq prepares US-led troop exit and Ecuadorean president Daniel Noboa’s plan to hold a referendum on security measures.

Also, the business news and the winners of the Golden Globe Awards.

News, Newspapers, Views

The New York Times — Monday, January 8, 2024

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From Lebanon to the Red Sea, a Broader Conflict With Iran Looms

An Iranian flag with buildings in the background.

With its proxies attacking from many vantage points and its nuclear program suddenly revived, Iran is posing a new challenge to the West — this time with Russia and China on its side.

As Gaza Losses Mount Under Strikes, Dignified Burials Are Another Casualty

“The lucky are those who have someone to bury them when they die,” Dr. Mohammad Abu Moussa, a radiologist at one Gaza hospital, said of those killed by Israeli airstrikes.