Big Tech, real estate, and even video games are being targeted by new regulations in China. This regulatory upheaval could be yet another sign that Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party is trying to reign in the business sector.
Category Archives: Reviews
Previews: London Review Of Books – November 4
Previews: New Scientist Magazine – October 30
Science: 4000-Year-Old Mummies, Digital-Hygiene Checks, Ancient Snakes
The unexpected origins of a 4000-year-old people, protecting your ‘digital presence’ and what to expect from COP26.
In this episode:
00:48 The origins of the mysterious Tarim mummies
For decades there has been debate about the origins of a group of 4000-year-old individuals known as the Tarim Basin mummies. Their distinct appearance and clothing has prompted scientists to hypothesise they had migrated from the North or West. Now, a team of researchers have used modern genomics to shed new light on this mystery and reveal that migration was not the mummies’ origin.
Research article: Zhang et al.
News and Views: The unexpected ancestry of Inner Asian mummies
08:59 Research Highlights
Making wood mouldable, and how ancient snakes diversified their diets.
Research Highlight: Moulded or folded, this wood stays strong
Research Highlight: Finicky no more: ancient snakes ate their way to success
11:09 How a regular ‘digital-hygiene’ check can protect your reputation
Attaching a researcher’s name to a paper without them knowing is an unscrupulous practice that can have serious repercussions for the unwitting academic. To prevent this, computer scientist Guillaume Cabanac is advocating a once-a-month ‘digital-hygiene’ check, to identify incorrect acknowledgements, and help prevent research malpractice.
World View: This digital-hygiene routine will protect your scholarship
18:51 What to expect from COP26
This week sees the start of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), with an estimated 20,000 people — including world leaders, scientists and activists — expected to be in attendance. Jeff Tollefson, senior reporter at Nature, joins us to explain what’s on the agenda for the conference.
News Explainer: COP26 climate summit: A scientists’ guide to a momentous meeting
Top New Artists: Boston-Based Roboticist, Painter And Designer Joe Taveras
Galerie Michael Presents JOE TAVERAS
Joe Taveras is a Boston-based roboticist, designer, and artist who has spent the majority of his career selling robots around the world. A creative from the outset, his art initially consisted of eclectic musical compositions. It wasn’t until the arrival of the pandemic (March 2020) that he migrated to a new medium: painting. Having had no formal training, he used his time in quarantine to engage in rapid experimentation with an array of styles and mediums in order to truthfully convey his vision. He consistently aims to push the boundaries of innovation with his art, exploring new techniques that reflect his inner and outer environment, questioning our collective future, social norms, and our interminable integration with technology.
His paintings are in private collections in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, the Middle East, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Ghana, Vietnam, China, Canada, and more.
Previews: Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter – NOV ’21
International Art: Apollo Magazine – November 2021
FEATURES | Andrew Russeth on the imperial splendours of the National Palace Museum of Korea; Tacita Dean interviewed by Robert Barry; Susan Moore views one of the world’s finest collections of 17th-century Chinese porcelain; Claudia Tobin on the aesthetic investigations of the writer Vernon Lee in Florence
| REVIEWS | Nancy Princenthal on Jasper Johns in Philadelphia and New York; Michael Prodger on Frans Hals’s male portraits; Douglas Murphy on Sophie Taeuber-Arp at Tate Modern; Nicola Jennings on the Spanish baroque sculptor Luisa Roldán; Charles Nicholl cracks open a book about medieval manuscripts; Andrew James Hamilton on the efforts to find a lost Maya sculpture; Thomas Marks on watching the drama of a restaurant in real time |
| MARKET | A preview of the second part of Asian Art in London, and the latest art market columns from Susan Moore, Emma Crichton-Miller and Samuel Reilly |
| PLUS | Bernadine Bröcker Wieder and Douglas McCarthy ask if museums should be dabbling in NFTs; Rosamund Bartlett on Dostoevsky’s taste in Old Masters; Samuel Reilly visits David Livingstone’s birthplace; Will Wiles defends architectural photographers from their critics; Kirsten Tambling on Louis Wain, the man who drew cats; and Robert O’Byrne on the most expensive project in the history of art-book publishing |
Book Reviews: ‘The Hungry Eye – Eating, Drinking And European Culture’ (2021)
Eating and drinking can be aesthetic experiences as well as sensory ones. The Hungry Eye takes readers from antiquity to the Renaissance to explore the central role of food and drink in literature, art, philosophy, religion, and statecraft.
In this beautifully illustrated book, Leonard Barkan provides an illuminating meditation on how culture finds expression in what we eat and drink. Plato’s Symposium is a timeless philosophical text, one that also describes a drinking party. Salome performed her dance at a banquet where the head of John the Baptist was presented on a platter. Barkan looks at ancient mosaics, Dutch still life, and Venetian Last Suppers. He describes how ancient Rome was a paradise of culinary obsessives, and explains what it meant for the Israelites to dine on manna. He discusses the surprising relationship between Renaissance perspective and dinner parties, and sheds new light on the moment when the risen Christ appears to his disciples hungry for a piece of broiled fish. Readers will browse the pages of the Deipnosophistae—an ancient Greek work in sixteen volumes about a single meal, complete with menus—and gain epicurean insights into such figures as Rabelais and Shakespeare, Leonardo and Vermeer.
Art Views: Claude Monet’s “The Basin At Argenteuil”
Painted along the banks of the Seine, Le bassin d’Argenteuil captures the rise of the middle class and the founding tenants of Impressionism Painted in 1874, Le bassin d’Argenteuil provides a glimpse into the ‘golden’ era of Impressionism. During this time, Claude Monet and his fellow Impressionists, including Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edouard Manet and Alfred Sisley, codified their ideas while painting along the banks of the Seine. Expressing the dynamism of nature and the modernity of the Third Republic, Le bassin d’Argenteuil combines light and leisure to evoke the excitement of a new visual language. The painting, which brings together the artist most synonymous with Impressionism and the town identified with its origins, will be sold at Christie’s on 11 November as part of The Cox Collection: The Story of Impressionism. Learn More: https://www.christies.com/features/cl…
Reviews: Top New England Road Trip Foodie Places
14 Great New England Road Trip Food Spots
The Green Spot | Oakland, Maine
Expect killer pies and great lobster rolls at this beloved gourmet grocery and café.
Sunny Day Diner | Lincoln, NH
This cute-as-a-button spot makes superb banana bread French toast and a road trip–worthy Reuben.
Red Hen Baking | Middlesex, VT
Some of the best breads in New England are baked here. Don’t miss the egg sandwiches and tartines.
King Arthur Baking Café, Bakery & Store | Norwich, VT
From bread, jam, and porridge to a perfect grilled cheese, this café has day-trippers covered.
Four Aces Diner | West Lebanon, NH
There’s a 1952 Worcester diner car hidden in this non-descript building, and its eggs Benedict and poutine are terrific.
Bob’s Clam Hut | Kittery, ME
While the menu is vast, it’s really all about the fried clams (ask for them “Bob’s style”).
Puritan Backroom | Manchester, NH
They claim to have invented chicken tenders, so you have to try them — either straight up or baked parmigiana-style.
The Farm Table | Bernardston, MA
Several restaurants inside Kringle Candle serve brunch through dinner (hit the more casual Tavern for excellent flatbreads).
Publick House | Sturbridge, MA
The bread basket, with its cornbread and sticky buns, is the stuff of legend. So is the classic turkey dinner.
Modern Diner | Pawtucket, RI
You can’t miss with any of the many daily specials here, but we love the chouriço special and yummy custard French toast.
Rein’s Deli | Vernon, CT
Of course the main route between NYC and Boston has a terrific deli. Love the matzo ball soup and corned beef.
Dottie’s Diner | Woodbury, CT
The doughnuts here are so beloved, their recipes are held like state secrets. Same with the plump, buttery chicken pies.
The Lunch Box | Meriden, CT
This is the best place to try Connecticut’s signature steamed cheeseburgers, full stop.
Clam Castle | Madison, CT
Come for fried fish and hot butter lobster rolls, then — if you time it right — catch a beach sunset at Hammonasset State Park.
Where are your favorite spots in New England to get road trip food?
These “Editors’ Picks for Food Lovers” originally appeared in the May/June 2018 issue of Yankee.
Boomers Daily 