Tag Archives: Reviews

Culture, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Previews, Reviews, Society

Views: The New York Times Magazine – Sept 10, 2023

September 8, 2023 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (September 10, 2023): The Education Issue features Americans Are Losing Faith in the Value of College. Whose Fault Is That?; Affirmative Action Is Still in Effect. For Men, and more….

Americans Are Losing Faith in the Value of College. Whose Fault Is That?

For most people, the new economics of higher ed make going to college a risky bet.

By Paul Tough

A decade or so ago, Americans were feeling pretty positive about higher education. Public-opinion polls in the early 2010s all told the same story. In one survey, 86 percent of college graduates said that college had been a good investment; in another, 74 percent of young adults said a college education was “very important”; in a third, 60 percent of Americans said that colleges and universities were having a positive impact on the country. Ninety-six percent of parents who identified as Democrats said they expected their kids to attend college — only to be outdone by Republican parents, 99 percent of whom said they expected their kids to go to college.

Affirmative Action Is Still in Effect. For Men.

The scene outside a bar that is popular among Tulane students.

Declining male enrollment has led some colleges to adopt an unofficial policy that many find objectionable: “We need to admit men, and women are going to suffer.”

By Susan Dominus

In the spring of 2021, about 2,000 students on the campus of Tulane University in New Orleans received an email they were expecting. They had filled out an elaborate survey provided by Marriage Pact, a matchmaking service popular on many campuses, and the day had come for each of them to be given the name of a fellow student who might be a long-term romantic partner. When the results came in, however, about 900 straight women who participated were surprised by what the email offered: a friend match instead of a love interest.

Birds, Photography, Reviews, Views, Wildlife

Views: Favorite Birds Of Wildlife Photographers

September 8, 2023 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Anna’s Hummingbird, Calypte anna

Hummingbird Map — U.S. range of the Anna’s hummingbird Guilbert Gates

Photograph by Gretchen Kay Stuart

“I’ve always been enchanted by hummingbirds,” Stuart says. “Their tiny size and iridescent plumage make them seem as though they are born out of fairy tales.”

Evening Grosbeak, Coccothraustes vespertinus

Photograph by Melissa Groo

Evening Grosbeak Map — U.S. range of the evening grosbeak Guilbert Gates

The evening Grosbeak tends to hover north of Groo’s home in Central New York State. So she was delighted when a flock of them recently appeared outside her house. “When they roam further south in winter in search of food, I’ve been blessed with their presence, sometimes over months,” she says. “This past winter and into very early spring, I had a flock of up to 15 visiting my platform bird feeder daily, hoovering up black oil sunflower seeds.”

Northern Pygmy-Owl, Glaucidium gnoma

Photograph by Gerrit Vyn

Northern pygmy-owl Map — U.S. range of the northern pygmy owl Guilbert Gates

In Western Oregon where Vyn lives, the tooting of the northern pygmy-owl is the sound of spring. “Even when you don’t see them, while hiking through the forest or sitting in a lush patch of sword ferns on the forest floor and looking up into the canopy, just knowing they are somewhere up there, watching, deepens the experience and magic of place,” he says.

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Reviews: ‘The Week In Art’

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The Week In Art Podcast (September 7, 2023): It’s our 250th podcast, and in this special episode we focus on the future. We ask leading figures across the art world to tell us about their hopes and concerns for the visual arts. Among them are Max Hollein, the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York,

Bénédicte Savoy, the co-author of the Saar-Savoy report into the restitution of cultural heritage, Shanay Jhaveri, the head of visual arts at the Barbican, the Berlin-based curator Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Kymberly Pinder, the dean of Yale School of Art, and the artist Tomás Saraceno. Host Ben Luke is then joined by three core members of The Art Newspaper’s team and regular guests in the first 249 episodes of this podcast: editors-at-large Cristina Ruiz and Georgina Adam and our contemporary art correspondent Louisa Buck discuss the present and future of museums and heritage, art and artists and the art market.

Magazines, Podcasts, Previews, Research, Reviews, Science

Research Preview: Science Magazine – Sept 8, 2023

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Science Magazine – September 8, 2023: Reducing single-use cutlery with green nudges: Evidence from China’s food-delivery industry; Anatomy of a volcanic eruption undersea, and more…

Anatomy of a volcanic eruption undersea

Submarine flows from the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha‘apai eruption decimated seafloor cables

In December 2021, an undersea volcano in the southern Pacific Ocean, the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha‘apai (hereafter called the Hunga volcano) began erupting. In January 2022 the eruption reached a powerful climax, triggering atmospheric waves that traveled around the globe and a tsunami that swept across the Pacific Ocean. An estimated 75% of Earth’s volcanoes are underwater, and 20% of all fatalities caused by volcanic eruptions since 1600 CE have been associated with underwater volcanism (3).

Reducing single-use cutlery with green nudges: Evidence from China’s food-delivery industry

China’s high demand for online food delivery resulted in an increase in the use of disposable, single-use cutlery. Disposable cutlery increases plastic pollution, and paper napkins and wooden chopsticks contribute to environmental degradation that endangers wildlife and marine species and compromises human health. Informed by the literature on “green nudges, ” which are prompts to promote environmentally friendly behaviors, He et al. collaborated with Alibaba to use its mobile food delivery platform, Eleme, in a longitudinal field study across China.

Analysis, Economics, Finance, Reviews, Videos

Analysis: Argentina’s Dysfunctional Economy

Video September 7, 2023 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

The Economist (September 7, 2023) – Rampant inflation, a booming black market for US dollars and crippling debt – welcome to Argentina, one of the world’s most dysfunctional economies. How did it end up like this?

Video timeline: 00:00 – Argentina’s economy is in crisis 01:21 – What is happening now? 04:16 – Why is this happening? 05:52 – Overspending 07:00 – Printing money 08:03 – Borrowing money 08:51 – Trade controls 11:06 – What are the solutions?

Economics, Financial, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Previews, Reviews

Previews: The Economist Magazine – Sept 9, 2023

September 7, 2023 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

The Economist Magazine (September 9, 2023): The new Middle East has more money and less mayhem. For now…; America’s Supreme Court should adopt new ethics standards How artificial intelligence will affect the elections; Javier Milei would be a danger for democracy in Argentina….

The new Middle East has more money and less mayhem. For now

Economies are booming and wars are fading. But climate change is looming

If you thought the Middle East was stagnant, think again. The Gulf economies are among the richest and most vibrant on the planet, helped by a Brent crude oil price that rose back to over $90 per barrel this week. A $3.5trn fossil-fuel bonanza is being spent on everything from home-grown artificial intelligence models and shiny new cities in the desert, to filling the coffers of giant sovereign-wealth funds that roam the world’s capital markets looking for deals.

America’s Supreme Court should adopt new ethics standards

Three judges are struggling to hold up the roof of the Supreme Court

Lifetime tenure can easily slip into entitlement

Next term will be agonising for the Supreme Court. Some combination of voters and courts will determine whether Donald Trump becomes president again and whether he goes to prison. President Joe Biden’s son has a case before the courts. Dozens of states have changed their voting laws since 2020 and the nine justices on the Supreme Court may be asked to look at them. If the presidential election in 2024 is close, the court may have to step in and adjudicate. With so much at stake, America needs a Supreme Court that is broadly seen as legitimate and, ideally, impartial. Regrettably, trust in the court is at its lowest point since pollsters began asking about it.

Magazines, Podcasts, Previews, Research, Reviews, Science

Research Preview: Nature Magazine – Sept 7, 2023

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nature Magazine – September 7, 2023 issue: In this week’s issue, Christopher Doughty and his colleagues reveal that a small percentage of leaves in tropical forest tree canopies might be approaching a critical temperature of 46.7 °C, above which photosynthesis begins to fail.

How would room-temperature superconductors change science?

A large-bore, full-scale high-temperature superconducting magnet built by Commonwealth Fusion Systems and MIT’s PSFC.

The prized materials could be transformative for research — but only if they have other essential qualities.

The wave of excitement caused by LK-99 — the purple crystal that was going to change the world — has now died down after studies showed it wasn’t a superconductor. But a question remains: would a true room-temperature superconductor be revolutionary?

With the arrival of El Niño, prepare for stronger marine heatwaves

A wide view of a snorkeler floating above major bleaching on a coral reef in French Polynesia

Record-high ocean temperatures, combined with a confluence of extreme climate and weather patterns, are pushing the world into uncharted waters. Researchers must help communities to plan how best to reduce the risks.

Oceans are warming up, and dangerously so. Since April this year, the average global sea surface temperature has been unusually high and rising; by August, oceans in the Northern Hemisphere had reached record-high temperatures, even surpassing 38 °C in one area around Florida.

Arts & Literature, Books, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

Arts/Books: Times Literary Supplement – Sept 8, 2023

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Times Literary Supplement (September 8, 2023): The new issue features Modern conspiracy theories, China’s Platonic republic, Jonathan Raban’s last days, Sebastian Faulks’s Neanderthal, the English country house, and more….

Culture, Magazines, Politics, Previews, Reviews, Society

Politics: The Guardian Weekly – September 8, 2023

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The Guardian Weekly (September 8, 2023) – The issue features Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s progressive vision for US politics, graduate jobs market pressured by artificial intelligence, migrants in North Africa Spanish enclave of Melilla, and more…

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s explosive entrance on to the US political scene at the age of 29, as the youngest woman ever to be elected to the House of Representatives, was a beacon of hope for the progressive left during the dark days of the Trump presidency.

Five years on, AOC is established as an influential figure in the Democratic party, known for her advocacy of green policies and efforts to engage marginalised groups. In a wide-ranging interview, she talks to Washington bureau chief David Smith about the climate crisis, misogyny in US politics and the potential – one day – for a presidential run of her own.

For those with an eye farther afield, on the graduate jobs market, Hibaq Farah and Tom Ambrose consider the future careers most likely to withstand the coming onslaught of artificial intelligence.

In Features, Matthew Bremner’s investigation into the massacre of migrants in the north African Spanish enclave of Melilla is a sobering but important read. Jay Owens changes the pace somewhat with an exploration of dust, and what it reveals about the world around us.

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

Previews: Country Life Magazine – Sept 5, 2023

September 5, 2023 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Country Life Magazine – September 6, 2023: The new issue features Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer’s vision for the countryside; Chelsea Physic Garden and motoring on at Goodwood; Remembering Elizabeth II and more…