— Martin Niemöller, who died in 1984
Cities are much more than collections of buildings; they are places where people gather for art, culture and commerce. Cultural places are places we often visit alone but where we don’t feel alone. We share what we see and experience with others, and we feel a sense of belonging and connection, even if we don’t know or don’t talk to the others participating in the cultural event. Cultural places fulfil a need to gather, to share, to learn and to experience something unexpected, or beautiful, or challenging.
The joyousness of dogs. We love them and they love us, as no small measure of philosophical material bears out Dogs
Top Economists Study What Happens When You Stop Using Facebook Cal Newport
Walter Bagehot, the Literary Banker National Review
MIT Technology Review: “In the unprecedented outbreak of a new coronavirus sweeping the world, the germ’s genetic material may ultimately tell the story not just of where it came from, but of how it spread and how efforts to contain it failed.
HOW SOUTH KOREA IS COMPOSTING ITS WAY TO SUSTAINABILITY New Yorker
The Conversation – “Millions of Americans
enjoy feeding and watching backyard birds. Many people make a point of
putting food out in winter, when birds needs extra energy, and spring,
when many species build nests and raise young. As a wildlife ecologist
and a birder, I know it’s important to understand how humans influence
bird populations, whether feeding poses risks to wild birds, and how to
engage with birds in sustainable ways. There is still much to learn about the risks and benefits of feeding birds, particularly through large integrated national citizen science networks like Project FeederWatch.
But we now have enough information to promote healthy interactions that
can inspire future generations to care about conservation…”
Scholz, Lauren, Algorithms and Contract Law (August 1, 2019).
Cambridge Handbook of the Law of Algorithms, 2019. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3525503 –
“Generalist confusion about the technology behind complex algorithms
has led to inconsistent case law for algorithmic contracts. Case law
explicitly grounded in the principle that algorithms are constructive
agents for the companies they serve would provide a clear basis for
enforceability of algorithmic contracts that is both principled from a
technological perspective and is readily intelligible and able to be
applied by generalists.”
Cities are much more than collections of buildings; they are places where people gather for art, culture and commerce. Cultural places are places we often visit alone but where we don’t feel alone. We share what we see and experience with others, and we feel a sense of belonging and connection, even if we don’t know or don’t talk to the others participating in the cultural event. Cultural places fulfil a need to gather, to share, to learn and to experience something unexpected, or beautiful, or challenging.
The joyousness of dogs. We love them and they love us, as no small measure of philosophical material bears out Dogs
Here’s What a Googol-to-One Gear Ratio Looks Like
'Like fine wine': The Pussycat Dolls revel in noughties nostalgia
The pop icons, recently reunited after a decade-long split, are touring Australia next month.
Walter Bagehot, the Literary Banker National Review
MIT Technology Review: “In the unprecedented outbreak of a new coronavirus sweeping the world, the germ’s genetic material may ultimately tell the story not just of where it came from, but of how it spread and how efforts to contain it failed.
HOW SOUTH KOREA IS COMPOSTING ITS WAY TO SUSTAINABILITY New Yorker
Lunch with Freeman Dyson. The notoriously contrarian polymath, who died last week, was a slow eater. He did nearly all of the talking Dyson
“And I told you: no works of art, no
language, no words, no thought, nothing.
Nothing except a sort of incomprehensible
and totally erect stance in the midst of
everything in the mind. And don’t expect
me to tell you what all this is called, and
how many parts it can be divided into;
don’t expect me to tell you its weight;
or to get back in step and start
discussing all this so that I may,
without even realizing it,
start THINKING.”
language, no words, no thought, nothing.
Nothing except a sort of incomprehensible
and totally erect stance in the midst of
everything in the mind. And don’t expect
me to tell you what all this is called, and
how many parts it can be divided into;
don’t expect me to tell you its weight;
or to get back in step and start
discussing all this so that I may,
without even realizing it,
start THINKING.”
Antonin Artaud (translated by David Rattray)
What We Know About Deja Vu
Scientists do have some hypotheses for what brings déjà vu to the surface of consciousness – from the idea that it might be a built-in processing glitch in the brain, or an indication of healthy memory, to the slightly more puzzling notion that it’s part of quantum entanglement. – Aeon
It’s OK to feed wild birds – here are some tips for doing it the right way
Algorithms and Contract Law
Play Catch
Catch? Yeah, a simple
game of catch.
Get a softball, tennis
ball, football, doesn’t
matter, any kind.
Ask him
out to the street, into
the back yard.
Start easy
with that first toss,
increase the distance
between
you – until
the space is just
right. Back,
forth, easy.
Find the rhythm
between you.
Have some fun, back
and forth.
You’ll learn something,
so will he.
What?
I don’t know, that’s
why you have
to play catch with
your Dad.
Final Cromwell novel holds eerie torch to the truth, so how much is fiction?
Hillary Mantel's rich fictional world matches what the sources say with uncanny precision, finds historian Thomas Penn.
