The Wengernalp Railway is a 19.11 kilometres long rack railway line in Switzerland. It runs from Lauterbrunnen to Grindelwald via Wengen and Kleine Scheidegg, making it the world’s longest continuous rack and pinion railway. The name refers to the alpine meadow of Wengernalp, above Wengen.
Filmed on June 25, 2023
The Globalist Podcast, Wednesday, July 5, 2023: Threats to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant after Russian workers are told to evacuate.
Why are China and the US limiting exports of each other’s semiconductors? Plus, the mail-order catalogue that changed perceptions of masculinity in the US.
At a virtual summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the leaders of Russia, China and India each focused on their own driving issues.
Mutual skepticism between the United States and China over a wide range of economic and security issues has festered in recent years.
Despite his alliance with abortion-rights supporters and L.G.B.T.Q. advocates, the president has deftly avoided becoming enmeshed in battles over hotly contested social issues.
The order came in a lawsuit filed by the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana, who claim the administration is trying to silence its critics.
Video timeline: 00:00 – Intro to the Unique Clifftop Home 00:58 – The Location 01:37 – The Site and its Aspect 02:00 – The Architecture Brief 02:39 – The Interiors Brief 03:15 – Working with the Materiality 03:41 – Crafting the Textures and the Touch 04:18 – Drawing Light Deep Into the house 05:01 – The Element of Surprise
Bossley Architects has built a visually striking and welcoming home defined by strong geometric architecture on the exterior and a soft, sinuous feel on the inside. Built on the picturesque clifftops overlooking Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, the home is comfortable yet capable of accommodating a growing family.
The site posed two main challenges – exposure to the elements of the nearby ocean and a long, narrow allotment. The house takes advantage of this shape with a series of walls and fins built angled towards the sea. Walls located at the east and west ends of the site also create a partially enclosed courtyard that both welcomes sun and provides shelter from the weather.
A modest palette features in-situ concrete as the main material, which is durable and allows the concrete to resemble fluid, free forms, resulting in a number of sculptural walls and curves in the interior of the home. This is offset against panels of marble cladding, glass-reinforced concrete fascias, walnut flooring, cedar ceilings and aluminium joinery. There are also a number of windows and openings built into the architecture of the home, which serve an important role in scoping and drawing light deep inside.
Additionally, a ‘slow stair’ has been incorporated to provide a sense of circulation into the linear structure. The staircase has a very long tread, so as one moves from the ground floor to the bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs they experience vertical movement in a more rounded way. The home holds most of its spirit in the interior design. Sonya Cotter Design crafted an interior experience that layers furniture and finishes in a way that works to create personality and warmth. However, most of the selections, whilst varied, all are designed to patina, invoking a constant sense of movement across surfaces throughout the home.
Literary Review – July 2023 Issue: Brushes with the Dutch Golden Age; @LauraCummingArt’s ‘Thunderclap’ – a remarkable experiment in form as well as a richly satisfying extended meditation on art, life and death’; Bismarck’s Great Gamble; Eden by Thames – The Infinite City: Utopian Dreams on the Streets of London…
The Other Pandemic: How QAnon Contaminated the World By James Ball
Back in the mists of time, great idealism surrounded social media. There was a sense that global interconnection would shift us into a more egalitarian and democratic age. How time makes fools of us all.
Thunderclap: A Memoir of Art & Life & Sudden Death By Laura Cumming
As a teenager with an interest in art, growing up on London’s Old Kent Road with a father whose mantra was ‘God gave you legs to walk’ (he didn’t believe in God but he did believe in walking), I often found myself on Sunday afternoons walking to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. I remember distinctly the day I discovered the Dutch painters. It wasn’t Rembrandt or Vermeer who caught my eye, but Hendrick Avercamp and, especially, Pieter de Hooch.
Trails and lifts lead to the ski slopes of Schmittenhöhe mountain. Southwest, views from Gipfelwelt 3000 panoramic platform, at the top of the Kitzsteinhorn glacier, take in Hohe Tauern National Park and the looming Grossglockner mountain.
The Globalist Podcast, Tuesday, July 4, 2023: The latest on Israel’s major military operation in the West Bank.
Plus: the Hong Kong police’s bounties for self-exiled activists, the inauguration of Thailand’s new government and the soft power of military hospital ships.
Israel said it used drone-fired missiles and ground troops against militant targets in the Jenin refugee camp. The assault killed at least eight Palestinians, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Piles of regulations, or “kludge,” and a culture of “no” are limiting the ability to turn building blocks into something new.
At a time when lawmakers and parents are seeking to restrict what can and cannot be taught in classrooms, many teachers are seeing efforts to limit what can be staged in their auditoriums.
An assault case that rattled one of France’s best soccer teams remains unresolved despite a series of arrests. Its main characters have paid a heavy price.
Video timeline: 0:00 AI software 0:42 Why white-collar jobs? 2:01 AI and job cuts 3:52 What’s next?
Initial images, video and product designs could be taken over by machine learning tech. In fact, one report says nearly 4,000 workers lost their jobs in May to AI. Dropbox cut 16% of its workforce in part to invest more in the tech, while IBM sees a future where 30% of clerical work could be taken over by AI.
WSJ explains why AI may take some white-collar jobs – but also add new ones.
The war shows how technology is changing the battlefield. But mass still counts, argues Shashank Joshi
Jamming is knocking drones and missiles out of the sky
Boomers Daily 