The Protestant ethic and the spirit of wokeness
By Ian Buruma
Writing about “Woke” has at least two pitfalls. One is that any criticism of its excesses provokes accusations of racism, xenophobia, transphobia, misogyny, or white supremacy. The other problem is the word itself, which has been a term of abuse employed by the far right, a battle cry for the progressive left, and an embarrassment to many liberals.
This issue also comes with a free UK & Ireland guide — featuring 52 short breaks around Britain and Ireland, whether it’s cycling in the Peak District or exploring Edinburgh’s finest wine bars.
Bolivia: An off-road take on the classic journey from the Atacama Desert to the Uyuni Salt Flat.
Florida: The show must go on in the Sunshine State, be it the Everglades or tropical Keys.
Sardinia: Hiking trails, colourful townsand resilient communities from coast to mountains.
Camino de Santiago: Retrace ancient pilgrim paths.
Jaipur: Art is all around you in Rajasthan’s largest city.
Perth: The capital of Western Australia beckons with revitalised public spaces.
South Moravia: Germanic villages, ancient forests and wine cellars in the Czech Republic’s south east.
Belém: Long overlooked as a culinary destination, this Brazilian city puts the spotlight on Amazonian ingredients.
Bali: Where to stay on this popular Indonesian island.
BARRON’S MAGAZINE – JUNE 19, 2023 ISSUE – Beyond the Fed Rate pause; China-founded online retailer Shein is growing into a global titan.
The controversial China-founded retailer is growing into a global titan. Analysts say that many Western competitors are ignoring the app—at their peril.
Freeport stands to gain from the move to alternative energy—and it has the strongest balance sheet of any copper miner.
Fears of AI are weighing on the shares of Universal Music and Warner Music, but that is overdone.
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW – JUNE 18, 2023: Stephen King reviews of S. A. Cosby’s blistering new Southern gothic, “All the Sinners Bleed,” which graces our cover this week. Also featured are John Vaillant’s chillingly prescient book about a 2016 Canadian wildfire; a history that pieces together a botany expedition in the Grand Canyon some 85 years ago; and the spiky, percussive, heavy-metal-infused novel “Gone to the Wolves.”
Stephen King reviews S.A. Cosby’s latest novel, “All the Sinners Bleed.”
Titus Crown is an ex-F.B.I. agent who gets a sheriff’s job, almost by accident, in a rural Virginia community. He’s Black. Mr. Spearman teaches geography and wears a coat of many countries on Earth Day. He’s white. Given the name of the town and county where these two live — Charon — one can expect bad things to happen, and they certainly do. As in S.A. Cosby’s previous two novels, “Blacktop Wasteland” and “Razorblade Tears,” the body count is high and the action pretty much nonstop.
In Melissa Sevigny’s “Brave the Wild River,” we meet the two scientists who explored unknown terrain — and broke barriers.
Let’s start this story on a sun-blistered evening in August 1938. A small band of adventurers had just concluded a 43-day journey from Utah to Nevada — although perhaps “journey” is too tame a description for a trip that had required weeks of small wooden boats tumbling down more than 600 miles of rock-strewn rivers. The goal was twofold. First, to simply survive. And then, to chart the plants building homes along the serrated walls of the Grand Canyon.
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (June 16, 2023) – Three young Iranian women share their diaries; plus, a profile of the YouTube superstar MrBeast; and inside the moral crisis of America’s doctors.
The corporatization of health care has changed the practice of medicine, causing many physicians to feel alienated from their work.
By Eyal Press
Some years ago, a psychiatrist named Wendy Dean read an article about a physician who died by suicide. Such deaths were distressingly common, she discovered. The suicide rate among doctors appeared to be even higher than the rate among active military members, a notion that startled Dean, who was then working as an administrator at a U.S. Army medical research center in Maryland. Dean started asking the physicians she knew how they felt about their jobs, and many of them confided that they were struggling. Some complained that they didn’t have enough time to talk to their patients because they were too busy filling out electronic medical records.
Jimmy Donaldson, a.k.a. MrBeast, has become a viral sensation for his absurd acts of altruism. Why do so many people think he’s evil?
Even within this context, Donaldson stands out for his dedication to understanding how YouTube works. For most of his teenage years, “I woke up, I studied YouTube, I studied videos, I studied filmmaking, I went to bed and that was my life,” Donaldson once told Bloomberg. “I hardly had any friends because I was so obsessed with YouTube,” he said on “The Joe Rogan Experience” last year.
For most of history, the only lights made by humans were naked flames. Daily life was governed by the times of sunrise and sunset, outdoor nighttime activities depended on the phase of the Moon, and viewing the stars was a common and culturally important activity. Today, the widespread deployment of outdoor electric lighting means that the night is no longer dark for most people—few can see the Milky Way from their homes. Outdoor lighting has many legitimate uses that have benefited society. However, it often leads to illumination at times and locations that are unnecessary, excessive, intrusive, or harmful: light pollution.
Data on shark populations in coral reefs raise concern and hope for recovery
Sharks and their relatives are some of the most threatened vertebrates on Earth, with approximately one-third estimated or assessed as threatened with extinction (1). This is a major problem because as predators that help keep the food web in balance, these animals play a variety of vitally important ecological roles (2) and in doing so help to keep healthy many ecosystems that humans depend on. Coral reefs provide homes for countless fish species that are vital for fisheries and are therefore an especially important ecosystem for humans—and one where the decline of shark populations seems to be especially acute
India does not love the West, but it is indispensable to America
No country except China has propped up Russia’s war economy as much as oil-thirsty India. And few big democracies have slid further in the rankings of democratic freedom. But you would not guess it from the rapturous welcome Narendra Modi will receive in Washington next week. India’s prime minister has been afforded the honour of a state visit by President Joe Biden. The Americans hope to strike defence deals.
The Brazilian president faces resistance from Congress, the state oil company and agribusiness
Its real test will come when it hits Russia’s prepared defences
A deadly shipwreck in Greek waters highlights its dangers
The technology developed by DeepMind that plays Go and chess can also help to write code.
An artificial intelligence (AI) system based on Google DeepMind’s AlphaZero AI created algorithms that, when translated into the standard programming language C++, can sort data up to three times as fast as human-generated versions.
“We were a bit shocked,” said Daniel Mankowitz, a computer scientist at DeepMind who led the work. “We didn’t believe it at first.”
Extensive flooding could have severe consequences for farming, health and the environment.
The 66-year-old Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper River in south Ukraine collapsed on the morning of 6 June after a suspected explosion, triggering a catastrophic humanitarian and environmental crisis.
The Guardian Weekly (June 16, 2023) – Ukraine and the Kakhovka dam burst. Plus: biting down into doughnut economics
More than a week has passed since the collapse of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine. Only as the flood waters begin to recede is the long-term scale of the disaster becoming apparent.
With suspicion (though not yet, according to western capitals, conclusive proof) falling on Moscow, Dan Sabbagh, Artem Mazhulin and Julian Borger report on a human and environmental catastrophe, and what it might mean for Ukraine’s counteroffensive plans against Russia.
And amid reports of disunity among Moscow’s ruling elite, Shaun Walker went along to a gathering of exiled influential Russians who are once again daring to dream of an end to Vladimir Putin’s rule.
Times Literary Supplement (June 16, 2023): E.M. Forester’s last romance; Freudian foreign policy; Richard Ford runs out of gas; What it is to be human and Wars of succession…
Boomers Daily 