The Economist Magazine (August 12, 2023 issue): Why Biden’s China strategy is not working; Saudi Arabia upends sport; The attack on universal values; Twitternomics lives on; How green is your EV and more…
Supply chains are becoming more tangled and opaque
On august 9th President Joe Biden unveiled his latest weapon in America’s economic war with China. New rules will police investments made abroad by the private sector, and those into the most sensitive technologies in China will be banned. The use of such curbs by the world’s strongest champion of capitalism is the latest sign of the profound shift in America’s economic policy as it contends with the rise of an increasingly assertive and threatening rival.
The countries’ economic ties are more profound than they appear
image: alberto miranda
When it comes to tracing the geography of global supply chains, few companies provide a better map than Foxconn, the world’s largest contract manufacturer. This year the Taiwanese giant has built or expanded factories in India, Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam. The Chinese production sites once loved by Western companies are firmly out of fashion. Souring relations between the governments in Washington and Beijing have made businesses increasingly fretful about geopolitical risks. As a consequence, in the first half of the year, America traded more with Mexico and Canada than it did with China for the first time in almost two decades. The map of global trade is being redrawn.
I adored Niklas Natt och Dag’s brilliantly cynical debut, The Wolf and the Watchman, and The City Between the Bridges is just full of filth and cynicism, the perfect combination for depicting the late 18th century and its terrible iniquities. The watchman of The Wolf and the Watchman returns to solve a new crime, this one the brutal murder of a tenant’s daughter on the eve of her wedding to a seemingly sensitive nobleman. Natt och Dag is particularly adept at savagely ripping the notion of a “civilized age” apart and showing the raw suffering underneath. As a side note, I’ve long believed that historical fiction is only to be trusted when the author is willing to describe bad smells to set the scene, and this book is full of truly disgusting odors.
Set in the dying colonial era, Kevin Jared Hosein’s searing debut examines race, class, and decolonization through the lens of two families, one white and wealthy, the other Black and disenfranchised, as their lives become ever more entwined after the disappearance of the white family’s patriarch. Like the best historical fiction, Hungry Ghosts is immersed in the ideas and complexities of its’ shifting time period, for a triumph of well-researched storytelling.
In one of those amazing life twists that feels as bizarre as it is inspiring, Tara Ison, the writer of the cult hit Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead has crafted one of the best tales of collaboration ever written. In Between the Hour of Dog and Wolf, Tara Ison takes us into the mind of an adolescent Jewish girl being hidden with a French family during WWII. She spends so much time pretending to align with the ideals of the occupiers that she finds herself beginning to agree with them, in what reads as a Jewish version of Lacombe, Lucien. Perhaps it’s not such a twist—both book and film are about the ways we assume new roles when necessary to survival, whether that’s taking a job as a fashion consultant to feed siblings and putting on a batshit fashion show (a la Babysitter) or pretending to be a fascist to to protect from others knowing that you are Jewish. Okay, maybe that last comparison is a bit of a stretch, but still, everyone should read this book and also everyone should should rewatch that movie.
Bret Easton Ellis is back, this time with a new serial killer novel that brings together all the best aspects of Less Than Zero and American Psycho. It’s 1981, Missing Persons is playing on the stereo, and future writer Bret is doing bumps with his prep-school friends by the poolside, dressed sharply in Ralph Lauren, as a killer makes his way closer and closer to their wealthy enclave. Ellis’ teenage emotional truths collide with violent fictional set-pieces for an epic tale of Southern Californian sins.
New Scientist Magazine – August 12, 2023 issue: The Four Ways to Age; Can Quantum Simulations ever be real?; Heaviest animal ever; Spotting Saturn’s Rings; Concrete batteries; Finding Homo Naledi and more…
Your body is ageing down one of four – or more – possible pathways. Figuring out your “ageotype” could help you zero in on the things you can do to stay healthier for longer
THERE is a (probably apocryphal) story about Henry Ford sending agents out to junkyards across the US in search of scrapped Model Ts. The famous industrialist wanted to know which of the car’s vital components failed first, so he could do something about it. The agents reported back that every bit of the car was susceptible to failure, but some were more susceptible than others, except for one – a component of the steering system called the kingpin, which almost never failed. They expected Ford to announce plans to extend the working lives of the weaker components. Instead, he ordered his engineers to make less resilient kingpins. No point wasting good money on a component that always outlived the others.
nature Magazine – August 10, 2023 issue: Algorithm designs 3D shapes to follow specific pathways; Why Indigenous youth need a voice in the climate debate; DNA leaks linked to inflammageing in the brains of mice; JWST spots what could be a quasar from the early Universe….
The Scopus, Dimensions and Web of Science databases are introducing conversational AI search.
The conversational AI-powered chatbots that have come to Internet search engines, such as Google’s Bard and Microsoft’s Bing, look increasingly set to change scientific search, too. On 1 August, Dutch publishing giant Elsevier released a ChatGPT-like artificial-intelligence (AI) interface for some users of its Scopus database, and British firm Digital Science announced a closed trial of an AI large language model (LLM) assistant for its Dimensions database. Meanwhile, US firm Clarivate says it’s working on bringing LLMs to its Web of Science database.
The Guardian Weekly (August 11, 2023)– The issue features Trump playing the victim, escape from Xinjiang, a day off with Matthew Broderick and more…
Donald Trump’s appearance in court in Washington last week to plead not guilty to his third indictment on criminal charges showed how the 45th president of the United States continues to defy every law of political physics.Washington bureau chief David Smith explores how playing the political martyr only firms up support for Trump to be the Republican candidate in the 2024 presidential race and silences critics within his party as well as among Democrats. We profile Trump’s new nemesis, prosecutor Jack Smith, while reporter Chris McGreal takes the temperature among voters in Iowa where the first Republican caucus will take place in January next year.
There have been few authoritative accounts of China’s persecution of the Uyghur people and the repression of their culture in Xinjiang province.Our main feature is an extract from poet Tahir Hamut Izgil’s memoir that details how, seeing the crackdown intensify and friends arrested, he planned to escape knowing that he dare not even say goodbye to his parents.
As the Hollywood industrial action continues, actors and directors have withdrawn from promoting their work, but luckily for Culture Xan Brooks caught up with Matthew Broderick just before the strike was called.He talks about his role as Richard Sackler in the new Netflix drama about the OxyContin scandal, playing opposite his wife, Sarah Jessica Parker, on stage and why escaping his legacy as Ferris Bueller is not an option.
Archaeologists have spent decades excavating the remnants of the Cossack capital of Baturyn in north-central Ukraine. Based on the excavation’s findings, the Ukrainian government has reconstructed the town’s citadel—including the wooden Church of the Resurrection, defensive walls, rampart, and moat—which was destroyed by Russian soldiers in 1708.
In 1708, Peter the Great destroyed Baturyn, a bastion of Cossack independence and culture
By DANIEL WEISS
On November 2, 1708, thousands of Russian troops acting on the orders of Czar Peter I, known as Peter the Great, stormed Baturyn, the Cossack capital in north-central Ukraine. The Cossack leader, or hetman, Ivan Mazepa—who had been a loyal vassal of the czar until not long before—had departed with much of his army several days earlier to join forces with the Swedish king Charles XII, Peter’s opponent in the Great Northern War (1700–1721). The fortified core of Baturyn consisted of a citadel on a high promontory overlooking the Seim River and a larger adjoining fortress densely packed with buildings, above which soared the brick Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. The citadel and fortress were each surrounded by defensive walls, earthen ramparts, and moats whose sides were lined with logs. Although they sustained heavy losses, the Russian forces managed to seize Baturyn, which proved to be a key victory.
Times Literary Supplement (August 11, 2023): – Race today and yesterday – The Black and Asian British experience; Orwell’s political pilgrimage; Germany via Scotland; Adam Mars-Jones trilogy and the Grenfell play…
Country Life Magazine – August 9, 2023:The art of the shell seeker; High time – the daring life of a steeplejack; Animal architects; grand rentals and Thelwell’s legacy…
The master builders of the British countryside
Exploring labyrinthine tunnels and forest skyscrapers, John Lewis-Stempel gets lost in the world of animal architecture
Grace and favour rooms
Many grand country houses are now welcoming overnight guests. Rosie Paterson checks in
Always reaching for the stars
Ben Lerwill requires a head for heights as he meets steeplejacks working at the top of their game
Natural History Museum (August 8, 2023) – The Isle of Wight is a traditional British holiday resort. It’s well-known for its beautiful sandy beaches, dramatic cliffs, stunning countryside and many tourist attractions.
Video timeline:0:00 A brief history of the Isle of Wight 1:13 Theo Vickers tells us about the geology of the island 1:35 Jack Wonfor talks about the diversity of fossil remains and how it is the best place in Europe for dinosaur discovery 2:02 Dr Susannah Maidment explains as to why the island is so good for dinosaur finds 2:35 Over 20 dinosaur species so far have been discovered on the Isle of Wight 2:52 Prof Paul Barrett tells us about the early palaeontologists, including William Fox and Sir Richard Owen 3:15 The Isle of Wight early dinosaur discoveries helped form much of what we know about dinosaurs today. 3:50 Original dinosaur discoveries are still relevant today. 4:15 New dinosaurs still being found today. 4:33 The dinosaurs found on the Isle of Wight. Iguanodon, Polacanthus, Omithopods, Sauropods, Neovenator and Eotyrannus. 5:26 How could you make your own discovery? 5:34 Techniques for finding dinosaur remains. 6:06 Dinosaur Island, the Isle of Wight’s excellent museum of geology, where there are many dinosaurs and fossils. 6:52 Why the Isle of Wight is a lovely place to visit. 7:08 how it is so easy to find a fossil on the beach.
But did you know that it is also the best place in Europe to find dinosaurs and the fossils of numerous other prehistoric animals, from ammonites to alligators?
Join our palaeontologists Dr Susannah Maidment and Professor Paul Barrett, as well as local experts, to discover what makes the Isle of Wight so special to them.
Art in America Magazine (August 8, 2023) – The issue features Fall 2023: Icons – Artists who have made an impact, plus The Ruscha Effect, Cave_bureau, Pippa Garner, Marfa vs. Naoshima, Françoise Gilot, and more.
Suzanne Jackson: a history drawing-cracked wall, 2016–19.PHOTO TIMOTHY DOYON/COURTESY ORTUZAR PROJECTS, NEW YORK
Suzanne Jackson, whose work a history drawing-cracked wall (2016–19) features on the cover of the Fall 2023 issue of Art in America in a detail of the larger work shown here in full, told A.i.A. the backstory of her creation from her home in Savannah, Georgia. (Jackson is also the subject of a feature profile in the same issue.)
As told to A.i.A. The “history” in history drawing is thehistory of making the drawing. Over the three years I was working on it—it’s a big drawing—the whole process just happens from day to day: you’re adding something new, building it, working through composition and how elements come into the spaces in different ways. Each time you come back to work on it, something new has happened in your life.
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious
Literary Hub (August 9, 2023) – 
Natural History Museum
Boomers Daily 