Wonderful photographs of the Faeroe Islands by Jonathan Nackstrand. (The Atlantic)
The Silver Line, which extends Washington, DC's Metro out to Dulles airport, is finally nearing completion four years late. Cost so far is $5.8 billion for 11.5 miles, $504 million/mile, $95,000/foot ($313,000/meter). And almost all of it is above ground, plans for tunnels having been rejected as too expensive. People who wanted the line buried through Tyson's Corner actually sued the MDTA, arguing that their projected costs for tunnels were so high they must be lying, but the courts found they were the best available estimates. (Washington Post, wikipedia)
Twenty new words Merriam-Webster is adding to the dictionary this year.
The fascinating tale of Asia's biggest drug smuggler, Tse Chi Lop, who got his start in Toronto.
James Bond as a defender of traditional architecture and foe of modernism.
The Supreme Court fight over the power of Federal regulatory agencies; West Virginia vs. EPA has the potential to gut the power of the regulatory state.
HD 3167, a star 150 light years from earth, has a most unusual planetary system, with two planets in polar orbits and one in a near equatorial orbit, 102 degrees away from the other two. We used to have theories about how solar systems evolved but now we know of systems that violate all of them.
Archaeologists using Lidar continue to find more ancient towns and ceremonial sites in the central American jungle.
How the Unification Church brought Sushi to America (NY Times)
In September Ford announced its largest ever investment in manufacturing, $7 billion, to build factories for batteries and electric trucks in Kentucky and Tennessee. This is being driven by surprising demand for their electric F-150. Coming next, a big battle over whether the factories will be unionized.
New recycling center in rural Japan, built from recycled materials, is both attractive and eco-friendly. I like it that they have an area where people can leave unwanted but working stuff and other people can just take it.
The Fast Grants program for Covid-19 research produced some great results, which leads Derek Thompson to argue that we need to drastically overhaul our science-funding system; one poll found almost 80 percent of grant-winning scientists would change the focus of their research if they thought they could get funding for it. (The Atlantic) Here's a question: who should decide what the top scientists focus on? The scientists themselves? Or should we as a society try to direct their work toward common goals?
Vincent Van Gogh, illustrations from his letters to his brother.
A group of conservative to moderate academics, upset with the universities they know, have banded together to create a new school dedicated to freedom of speech and inquiry, the University of Austin. Niall Ferguson lays out their plan at the Washington Post; the university's web site here.
Strange events on the border between Poland and Belarus; Belarus has been admitting thousands of refugees from the Middle East and funneling them toward the Polish border, which is the EU border, and the German Interior Minister just said this is a calculated move by Belarus and Russia to destabilize Europe.
Lots of great internet rumors about the crowd disaster at the Astroworld concert, for example that rapper Travis Scott organized it as a satanic ritual: "This ain’t a festival, it’s a sacrifice." Also: "The music industry is demonic and collects souls." Which might be true, at least metaphorically.
Review of a book about England's most famous female criminals, from the 16th century to the 20th.
Obituary of David Graeber, anarchist anthropologist and one of the central figures in the Occupy movement. My review of Debt is here. Graeber was almost exactly my age, so his death (from necrosis of the pancreas) is perhaps my introduction to the phase of life when deaths of one's peers becomes a major theme.
Fights over banning books from school libraries are focused on two issues: sexually explicit content and race. Seems like a motte/bailey operation, in that the activists really care most about race but when pushed they retreat to the sex issue because that has very wide support (Washington Post)
These architects transformed a brutalist building with a blank concrete facade into something better both inside and out; I feel like we should be doing more of this and giving more attention to the people doing it.
This week's music is Mozart's Symphony No. 40, the definition of classicism in music, outstanding performance from a small ensemble. If you just want the most famous three minutes, go here.
3 comments:
ABout the border thing - it's hard to stay cool when you hear about recent movements. Seems like Łukaszenko is trying to escalate the tensions: there are reports about shots near the border, about Belarussian guides using lasers to blind POlish guards. Migrants report they are pushed toward border by Belarusian soldiers.
This is the region which has very cold weather during the winter and according to the reports by the locals, the migrants do not seem to be prepared for that at all. There could be piles of bodies soon.
HD 3167, a star 150 light years from earth, has a most unusual planetary system, with two planets in polar orbits and one in a near equatorial orbit, 102 degrees away from the other two. We used to have theories about how solar systems evolved but now we know of systems that violate all of them.
...but the linked article includes perfectly sensible possible explanations for how the two planets may have achieved their polar orbits, with no violations of our understanding of how solar systems evolve? *head scratch*
A group of conservative to moderate academics, upset with the universities they know, have banded together to create a new school dedicated to freedom of speech and inquiry, the University of Austin. Niall Ferguson lays out their plan at the Washington Post; the university's web site here.
So will their dedication to freedom of speech and inquiry include allowing the sorts of liberal professors they don't approve of to teach there? Will they allow the teaching of evolution? How about critical race theory? Socialist theory? Etc? I wonder...
Lots of great internet rumors about the crowd disaster at the Astroworld concert, for example that rapper Travis Scott organized it as a satanic ritual: "This ain’t a festival, it’s a sacrifice." Also: "The music industry is demonic and collects souls." Which might be true, at least metaphorically.
So was the Shiloh Baptist Church Disaster also a satanic ritual? How about the Camp Randall Stadium Crush?
When there's a stampede over a football game, or church attendance, or even just Black Friday sale at Walmart, these people never seem to leap to Satanism to explain things... but a stampede at a rap concert or a nightclub or other such social activities that they don't approve of, suddenly it must be Satan! Weird how that works...
These architects transformed a brutalist building with a blank concrete facade into something better both inside and out; I feel like we should be doing more of this and giving more attention to the people doing it.
I agree we ought to be improving badly designed extant buildings, particularly old and dilapidated ones that haven't been properly maintained; and we should also be designing future buildings better in the first place.
I feel it is important to note, however, that Brutalism itself is not to blame, though that seems to be the implication The building could have had this feature designed into it to begin with, and achieved it in concrete - it's just the people who designed and built the building didn't bother. Have the same uncaring designers and builders construct the same building out of neo-modern architectural materials and they'd likely have made just as ugly and badly designed of a structure.
There are 3 spanish words/idioms
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