Microbiome experts warn of an ‘invisible extinction’ of gut bacteria that’s harming human health Post-Gazette
UNPAID WORK FOR THE GOVERNMENT IS INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE: Tax preparation costs nation 6.5 billion hours, $210 billion
VITAMIN D UPDATE: Researchers help develop rapid, reliable vitamin D test.
Studies show vitamin D is an important pro-hormone with a powerful impact on immune function and metabolic health.
Freakonomics: What Do A Full Moon, The Super Bowl, And Tax Day Have In Common?
‘Inclined Toward Treason’: More And More Russian Soldiers Reportedly Refusing To Fight In Ukraine.
Reuters: “Luigi Lineri’s home workshop is covered in stones – tens of thousands of them. They resemble animal heads, human faces and other forms, and the artist and poet believes may have been shaped by prehistoric humans. Lineri has built his vast collection over the last 50 years, making his finds along the Adige river, near Verona in northern Italy…” [As a collector of stones and shells since childhood, this story articulates how each stone brings us a message, that we should share.]
The Verge: “Google Docs could soon suggest ways to improve the quality of your writing in addition to fixing straightforward grammar and spelling errors, the company has announced. A purple squiggly line will appear under suggestions to help make your writing more concise, inclusive, active, or to warn you away from inappropriate words. These new Google suggestions have long been available via third-party services like Grammarly, which is able to integrate with Google Docs and aims to help improve the quality of your writing. Depending on the quality of Google’s native suggestions, it could vastly reduce the need for these third-party services. Does it count as “sherlocking” when someone other than Apple does it?…”
“The UN Library & Archives Geneva is the official repository of all documents produced or held by UN Geneva that have enduring historical and administrative values.Preserving and providing access to these primary sources is at the core of our mission. This why we are delighted to announce that the new UN Archives Geneva Platform is available online. The launch of the new platform is a breakthrough. It provides access to the extraordinary wealth of archival documents managed by the UN Library & Archives Geneva and contribute to a better understanding of the history multilateralism…”
Maybe a little unexpectedly, Amazon Studios have given us a very watchable and classily upscale espionage drama-thriller in the spirit of John le Carré.
There’s something old-fashioned about All the Old Knives, romance-cum-spy thriller starring Chris Pine and Thandiwe Newton.
It’s a luxuriously paced adult drama with the confidence that its two leads can hold the audience as they dance around each other, barely concealing the pain of their complicated history.
All the Old Knives is a heady cocktail of chemistry and suspense, served up in a taut package. It’s the kind of movie that is rarely made for cinemas anymore, one that relies not on whiz-bang-flash but the charisma of its stars, the strength of its plotting and the style of its vibe. Increasingly, these mid-range movies (neither small indies nor tentpole blockbusters) are found on streaming services, as All the Old Knives is, in this case on Amazon Prime Video.
All the Old Knives review – Chris Pine and Thandiwe Newton add class to CIA spy drama
*Graveyard Clay* [Cré na Cille]
The author is Máirtín Ó Cadhain, and I am surprised how compelling I am finding this novel, translated from the Irish. The premise is that the dead inhabitants of a graveyard complain and bicker about their lot, most of all about the new arrivals sent their way. Dear reader, these are NIMBY dead people. Imagine Dante’s Inferno, but instead of the elegant circles of hell it resembles the kind of squabbling and black humor you might find in a cranky Irish pub.
Excerpt:
I wonder what sort of funeral I had? I won’t know until the next corpse I’m acquainted with arrives. It’s high time now for someone to come.
This is a well-known novel, especially in Ireland, and often it is considered the best Irish-language novel of all time. But I’ve never heard people telling other people they ought to read it, and in that sense it doesn’t seem so very well known in the United States at all. This is the translation I have been enjoying.
