All posts by She Seeks Serene

My Journey of Reimagining Life, Love and Education

Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – April 24, 2023

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The New Yorker – April 24 & May 1, 2023 issue:

JooHee Yoon’s “Drawing Hands with A.I. (After M. C. Escher)”

A hand drawn on a piece of paper rises off the page and draws another hand on the piece of paper which in turn draws the...

The artist discusses artistry, artificial intelligence, and the human experience.

Chatbots and image generators, newly on the rise, have sparked our imaginations—and our fears. As artificial-intelligence machines sharpen their ability to translate written prompts into images that accurately capture both style and substance, some visual artists worry that their specialized skills might be rendered irrelevant.

“Drawing Hands,” M. C. Escher, 1948.

The Future of Fertility

A futuristic scene of metallic DNA strands which wrap around a central petri dish containing a human ovum.

A new crop of biotech startups want to revolutionize human reproduction.

In 2016, two Japanese reproductive biologists, Katsuhiko Hayashi and Mitinori Saitou, made an announcement in the journal Nature that read like a science-fiction novel. The researchers had taken skin cells from the tip of a mouse’s tail, reprogrammed them into stem cells, and then turned those stem cells into egg cells. 

Crooks’ Mistaken Bet on Encrypted Phones

A group of four men sit around a table piled with cocaine. They are illuminated by the light of a cell phone hovering...

Drug syndicates and other criminal groups bought into the idea that a new kind of phone network couldn’t be infiltrated by cops. They were wrong—big time.

Many criminals have been convicted as a result of encrypted-phone stings—more than four hundred in the U.K. alone.Illustration by Max Löffler

Travel: A Tour Of Bellagio, Lake Como, Switzerland

The Traveler (Uploaded April 17, 2023) – Bellagio is a village on a promontory jutting out into Lake Como, in Italy. It’s known for its cobbled lanes, elegant buildings and Villa Serbelloni Park, an 18th-century terraced garden with lake views.

Nearby are the Tower of the Arts, a venue for exhibitions and performances, and the Romanesque San Giacomo Church. Close to rocky Loppia Beach, the Museum of Navigational Instruments displays sundials and compasses.

News: U.S. ‘Intel Leaks’ May Benefit Ukraine, Thailand Elections, French Unrest

The Globalist, April 17, 2023: Ukraine after the leaks – an update on the mood and movements in the country over the weekend. Plus: a lookahead to the Thai elections, more unrest in France and our first coverage from this year’s Salone del Mobile.

Front Page: The New York Times — April 17, 2023

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Sudan Fears ‘Ghost of Civil War’ as Explosions Rock Capital

The Khartoum International Airport in Sudan on Sunday.
CREDITPLANET LABS, VIA AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

The civilian death toll is climbing and concern over a broader conflict is growing as rival generals vie for control of Africa’s third-largest country.

Two Children, a Burst of Gunfire and the Year That Came After

When a gunman opened fire in two classrooms in Uvalde, Texas, 19 children died. Two fourth graders wounded in the massacre are still trying to recover.

Google Devising Radical Search Changes to Beat Back A.I. Rivals

The tech giant is sprinting to protect its core business with a flurry of projects, including updates to its search engine and plans for an all-new one.

When Freezing Sperm Makes a Patriotic Statement

Some Ukrainian soldiers are trying to ensure that even if they die in the war, their partners can still build families. They also want to send Russia a message of defiance.

Norway Travel: Bergen And Oslo By Train (4K)

MemorySeekers (April 16, 2023) – Bergen is a historic city in Norway. We start our trip with a walk around the Bryggen full of colourful wooden buildings dating back hundreds of years. The Bergen to Oslo train ride on the Bergenline is a world-famous train ride and we hitch a ride on an amazing 7-hour train ride across Norway to the Capital, Oslo.

With just a few short hours in Oslo, we’ll see a few of the city highlights. Join us for one of the most amazing train rides in the world, from Bergen to Oslo.

Arts & Literature: Kirkus Reviews – April 15, 2023

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Kirkus Reviews – April 15, 2023 Issue:

April’s Best Fiction Is Music to Our Ears

April’s Best Fiction Is Music to Our Ears

I recently returned to the Metropolitan Opera to see The Hours, based on Michael Cunningham’s novel. It was wonderful to be back in the glittering hall, after three long pandemic years, listening to Renee Fleming, Joyce DiDonato, and Kelli O’Hara bring Virginia Woolf and Cunningham’s other characters to life. That experience sent me looking for novels about music, and I was thrilled to see that Brendan Slocumb has a new one coming out only a year after his bestselling debut, 

Return Trip to Indieland

Return Trip to Indieland

In the fourth annual Indie Issue, we let the books speak for themselves in these excerpts from a trio of starred Indieland picks: a memoir by two sisters who survived the Holocaust; another memoir about a teen’s coming-of-age on a sailing-school ship; and a collection of short stories from a renowned Bengali author.

In Daniel Seymour’s From Auschwitz With Love, sisters Manci Grunberger Beran and Ruth Grunberger Mermelstein describe their arrival at the concentration camp:

Father realized that we didn’t have much time together. So, he said to us, “No matter what happens, I want you to remember three things.”

Travel: Walking In Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France

Walk n Explore (Uploaded April 16, 2023) – Saint-Rémy-de-Provence is a beautiful village in the Alpilles region of Provence, Southern France. It has a rich historical and cultural heritage, with ancient Roman monuments, museums, art galleries and festivals.

Saint-Rémy-de-Provence has a strong connection with Vincent Van Gogh, the famous Dutch painter who spent a year in the town from May 1889 to May 1890. He voluntarily admitted himself to the Saint-Paul de Mausole psychiatric hospital, where he was treated by Dr Théophile Peyron.

During his stay, he painted some of his most well-known works, such as The Starry Night, Irises, Self-Portrait and Almond Blossoms. He was inspired by the landscapes, colours and light of Provence, and often depicted the olive groves, cypresses, wheat fields and mountains of the Alpilles region. He also painted scenes from the hospital and its gardens, such as The Garden of Saint-Paul Hospital and The Courtyard of the Hospital at Arles.

Front Page: The New York Times, Sunday, April 16, 2023

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Pentagon Leaks: New Twists in a Familiar Plot

A Ukrainian artillery team unloading artillery shells. The leaked Pentagon documents warned of looming shortages of the munitions, but Ukrainian officials have been saying that publicly for months.
CREDITFINBARR O’REILLY FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Some in Ukraine even welcomed the disclosures as confirming what they have been saying for months — that its forces desperately need more weapons and munitions.

Rival Generals Unleash Fighting in Sudan, Dashing Dreams of Democracy

Heavy smoke billows above buildings in the vicinity of the Khartoum airport on Saturday.
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One of Africa’s largest countries is spinning out of control, as weeks of mounting tensions between two military leaders erupted in battles in the capital, Khartoum, and in other cities.

A Beauty Treatment Promised to Zap Fat. For Some, It Brought Disfigurement.

CoolSculpting is among the most popular fixes for unwanted bulges. But the risk of a serious side effect appears to be higher than previously known.

How a Campaign Against Transgender Rights Mobilized Conservatives

Defeated on same-sex marriage, the religious right went searching for an issue that would re-energize supporters and donors. The campaign that followed has stunned political leaders across the spectrum.

Ocean Views: Predators Of The World’s Coral Reefs

Smithsonian Channel (April 15, 2023) – From Lionfish to Peacock Mantis Shrimp, here’s a look at some of the reef’s fiercest predators from ‘Castro’s Secret Reef,’ Deadly Australians: Oceans and Beaches,’ ‘Great Blue Wild: Indonesia,’ and ‘David Attenborough’s Great Barrier Reef.’