Tag Archives: March 2024

Culture, Essays, Magazines, Media, Opinion, Politics, Previews, Reviews

Culture/Politics: Harper’s Magazine – March 2024

Leave a comment

HARPER’S MAGAZINE – MARCH 2024: The new issue features ‘The Pentagon’s Silicon Valley Problem’ – How Big Tech is losing the wars of the future…

The Pentagon’s Silicon Valley Problem

How Big Tech is losing the wars of the future

Illustrations by Yoshi Sodeoka
Illustrations by Yoshi Sodeoka

by Andrew Cockburn

“Artificial intelligence may indeed affect the way our military operates. But the notion that bright-eyed visionaries from the tech industry are revolutionizing our military machine promotes a myth that this relationship is not only new, but will fundamentally improve our defense system—one notorious for its insatiable appetite for money, poorly performing weapons, and lost wars. In reality, the change flows in the other direction, as new recruits enter the warm embrace of the imperishable military-industrial complex, eager to learn its ways.”

The Case Against Children

Illustrations by María Jesús Contreras

Among the antinatalists

by Elizabeth Barber

“People would rather be enthusiastic collaborators in a global project than be skeptics of its fundamental integrity. Antinatalism implies or counts on our eventual extinction, and thinking this way is painful.”

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

The New Criterion – March 2024 Preview

Leave a comment
The New Criterion – The March 2024 issue features:

Israel’s eternal dilemma  by Victor Davis Hanson
Enrique Gómez Carrillo  by Anthony Daniels
The singularity of speech  by Wilfred M. McClay
A life in ballet  by Peter Martins

New poems  by Amit Majmudar, James Matthew Wilson & Michael Casper

Magazines, Reviews, Science, Technology

American Scientist Magazine – March 2024

Leave a comment
Current Issue

American Scientist (February 15, 2024): The latest issue features “Deconstructing DNA Beyond the Helix” – science educator and artist Caryn Babaian explores through illustration the molecular details and interactions that can affect DNA’s structure. She contends that for people to fully understand DNA, it must be shown in relationship to water. 

Deconstructing DNA Beyond the Helix

BY CARYN BABAIAN

An artist’s experimental approach to Rosalind Franklin’s Photo 51 reveals the molecule’s intricate biochemistry.

When Sharks Eat an Angler’s Haul

BY DAVID SAMUEL SHIFFMAN

Tensions are rising as the ocean’s great predators nab fish on the line, inciting a major new challenge in human–wildlife conflict.

Magazines, Photography, Travel, Views, Wilderness

National Geographic Magazine – March 2024

Leave a comment
Image

National Geographic Magazine (February 14, 2024) – The new issue features ‘The Hidden World of Hyenas – Why these misunderstood – and maligned – animals are one of Africa’s most successful predators…

These creatures of the ‘twilight zone’ are vital to our oceans

With with big eyes and very long teeth.

The species help harness carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, deep in the ocean, but much is still unknown about this region and its fascinating inhabitants.

Love them or hate them, hyenas are getting the last laugh

The spotted hyena is Africa’s most successful predator—and one of its most misunderstood animals. But decades of cutting edge research is yielding greater understanding, respect, and protection.

Culture, Essays, History, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews, Society

Arts/Politics: The Atlantic Magazine – March 2024

Leave a comment
Image

The Atlantic Magazine – February 13, 2024: The latest issue features ‘To stop a school shooter’ – the case of the contested Basquiats; uncancel Woodrow Wilson; and start-up cities. Plus Michael R. Jackson, the despots of Silicon Valley, Raina Telgemeier, the James Bond trap, “Africa & Byzantium,” Marilynne Robinson, and more.

TO STOP A SHOOTER

photo of building with "Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School" on it, behind trees against cloudy gray sky

Why would an armed officer stand by as a school shooting unfolds? By Jamie Thompson

It was the early afternoon of Valentine’s Day 2018, and the campus of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was full of kids exchanging stuffed animals and heart-shaped chocolates. Scot Peterson, a Broward County sheriff’s deputy, was in his office at the school, waiting to talk with a parent about a student’s fake ID. At 2:21 p.m., a report came over the school radio about a strange sound—firecrackers, possibly—coming from Building 12. Peterson stepped outside, moving briskly, talking into the radio on his shoulder. Then the fire alarm rang. Peterson, wearing a sheriff’s uniform with a Glock on his belt, started running.

A Trove of ‘Lost Basquiats’ Led to a Splashy Exhibition. Then the FBI Showed Up.

A man looking at a large portrait of Basquiat in museum gallery with two paintings hanging in the background.

Why is it so hard to root out fakes and forgeries?

By Bianca Bosker

Arts, Culture, History, Magazines, Previews, Reviews, Travel

Arts/History: Smithsonian Magazine – March 2024

Leave a comment

Smithsonian Magazine (February 12, 2024) – The latest issue features ‘Recovering The Lost Aviators of World War II’; Inside the search for a plane shot down over the Pacific – and the new effort to bring its fallen heroes home…

The Remarkable Untold Story of Sojourner Truth

a close up a Sojourner Truth statue

Feminist. Preacher. Abolitionist. Civil rights pioneer. Now the full story of the American icon’s life and faith is finally coming to light

On May 29, 1851, a woman asked to address the attendees of the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention in Akron. She cut a striking figure, close to six feet tall even without her crisp bonnet. She was more than likely the only Black person in the room.

A procession of participants had already sounded off about the plight and potential of the “fairer sex” during the two-day gathering. “We are told that woman has never excelled in philosophy or any of the branches of mathematics,” said abolitionist Emily Rakestraw Robinson before noting that women were largely barred from higher education. Lura Maria Giddings lamented: “The degraded, vicious man, who scarcely knows his right hand from his left, is permitted to vote, while females of the most elevated intelligence are entirely excluded.” A dispatch about women’s labor from Paulina W. Davis, who would later create the women’s rights periodical The Una, painted a verbal picture of “mother and sister toiling like Southern slaves, early and late, for a son who sleeps on the downiest couch, wears the finest linen and spends his hundreds of dollars in a wild college life.”


Foreign Affairs, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Previews, Reviews

Commentary Magazine – March 2024 Preview

Leave a comment
Image

Commentary Magazine (February 10, 2024) – The latest issue features ‘Power Broke Her’ – The Rise and (Maybe) Fall of Lina Khan; The ‘As A Jew’: A Brief History; What Putin and Xi have in Common; Hostages – What Price is Too High?; On Joan Didion and more…

The Power Broke Her

The Power Broke Her

The Rise and (Maybe) Fall of Lina Khan

by Adam J. White

Lina Khan was pleased with her progress. Appearing before the Economic Club of New York in July 2023, she outlined her vision as the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission under Joe Biden and its success so far. Never mind the fact that, just days earlier, a federal court had delivered her agency yet another high-profile setback.

Is AI Just Theft Under Another Name?

Is AI Just Theft Under Another Name?

by James B. Meigs

The magazine Popular Mechanics, where I once worked, used to have a column called “Saturday Mechanic.” It was a guide to basic car repair for the weekend tinkerer, and its author had decades of experience both in fixing cars and writing about them. Nonetheless, for each column, he would perform the task in question, carefully documenting each step with photographs. It was a lot of work, in other words.

Books, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

Literary Review Of Canada – March 2024 Preview

Leave a comment

Literary Review of Canada -March 2024: The latest issue features:

Something at Work – Wade Rowland’s unsettling forecast

By David Marks Shribman 

The Storm of Progress: Climate Change, AI, and the Roots of Our Dangerous Ethical Myopia by Wade Rowland

State of the Arts – Max Wyman makes his case

By Marlo Alexandra Burks 

The Compassionate Imagination: How the Arts Are Central to a Functioning Democracy by Max Wyman

Culture, Journalism, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews

Previews: The Progressive Magazine- Feb/March 2024

Leave a comment
The Progressive Magazine - Reporting the truth since 1909. - Progressive.org

theprogressive Magazine February/March 2024:

Breaking’s Storied Road to the Olympics

b-girl_AP23267762920756.jpg

From the South Bronx to the Summer Olympics, this urban dance style finally gets its due. 

By MARCUS REEVES

Forging a New Path as Partners with Latin America

master-gmd-gmd3m-g3200m-g3200m-gcw0013960-ca000007.jpg

A group of U.S. lawmakers recently visited South America with a fresh perspective on U.S. foreign policy in the region. 

By JEFF ABBOTT

Middle America: Getting Beyond ‘Us Versus Them’

We’ve become increasingly alienated from one another. It’s time we get back in touch with each other, get out of our heads, and reconnect with our common humanity, writes Ruth Conniff. 

RUTH CONNIFF

1

Culture, Magazines, Photography, Previews, Reviews, Travel

National Geographic Traveller – March 2024

Leave a comment

National Geographic Traveller Magazine (February 2, 2024): The latest issue features South Africa to discover luxury rail journeys, coastal road trips and mountain adventures. Plus, plan a once-in-a-lifetime Canada road trip, discover Dubai’s hidden history and go river rafting in Spain.

Also inside this issue:

Scotland: experience the UK at its most elemental with a trek across the frost-covered Highlands.
St Vincent and the Grenadines: culture and conservation on a Caribbean island-hopping tour.
Kyrgyzstan: the formidable Tian Shan mountains are home to one of the world’s most enigmatic predators.
Canada: everything you need to know about planning a once-in-a-lifetime Canadian road trip.
Berlin: the movers and shakers reinventing the German capital’s enduring arts and culture scene.
Dubai: a hidden history lies behind the ultramodern facade of this grand and luxurious metropolis.
Murcia: River rafting, bar-hopping and empty beaches in one of southeast Spain’s most overlooked regions.
Bogota: Indigenous ingredients are king in Colombia’s fertile, mountain-bound capital.
Hong Kong: In Asia’s ‘World City’ unforgettable stays come with dazzling dining options and skyline views.

Plus,France marks 150 years of Impressionism; music festivals in Petra and beyond; the flavours of West Bengal; Nashville for music-lovers; Zanzibar’s hotel scene; a family adventure in North Queensland; a city break in Dijon; a woodland stay in Beaulieu; top reads for 2024; and kayaking essentials.

We talk with author Dom Joly on travelling to Canada’s Fogo Island with a flat-earther, and Louis Alexander discusses running a marathon on all seven continents. In our Ask the Experts section, the experts give advice on unique safari experiences, travelling to Japan for cherry-blossom season, off-road bikepacking trails in the UK and the best group tours for wheelchair users. The Info celebrates 50 years of Bhutan opening its borders to international travellers, while Hot Topic explores the potential disruption caused by Iceland’s volcanoes and Report asks whether the aviation industry can really achieve net zero CO2 by 2050. Finally, photographer Josh Humbert talks about capturing Tahiti’s surfers for How I Got the Shot.