Mostly, I Write

È scientificamente provato che i gatti riconoscono i nomi degli altri gatti. Money quote: "Humans communicate with each other through language, which enables us talk about things beyond time and space. Do non-human animals learn to associate human speech with specific objects in everyday life? We examined whether cats matched familiar cats’ names and faces (Exp.1) and human family members’ names and faces (Exp.2). Cats were presented with a photo of the familiar cat’s face on a laptop monitor after hearing the same cat’s name or another cat’s name called by the subject cat’s owner (Exp.1) or an experimenter (Exp.2). Half of the trials were in a congruent condition where the name and face matched, and half were in an incongruent (mismatch) condition. Results of Exp.1 showed that household cats paid attention to the monitor for longer in the incongruent condition, suggesting an expectancy violation effect; however, café cats did not. In Exp.2, cats living in larger human families were found to look at the monitor for increasingly longer durations in the incongruent condition. Furthermore, this tendency was stronger among cats that had lived with their human family for a longer time, although we could not rule out an effect of age. This study provides evidence that cats link a companion's name and corresponding face without explicit training." https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-10261-5

Pubblicità memorabili. La storia del “Blown Away Guy” Money quote: "The ad campaign was conceived by Art Director Lars Anderson. Steve Steigman was the photographer. Steigman wanted a male model with long hair in order to show the effect of the wind, but when such a model could not be found on the day of the shoot, they used the makeup artist who was hired for the shoot, Jac Colello." https://www.vintag.es/2022/02/blown-away-guy.html

C'è bisogno di moltissima riflessione in quest'epoca piuttosto complessa. Un insospettabile modo per arrivare al dunque. Money quote: "With our collapsing democracies and imploding biosphere, it’s no wonder that people despair. The Austrian psychoanalyst and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl presciently described such sentiments in his book Man’s Search for Meaning (1946). He wrote of something that ‘so many patients complain [about] today, namely, the feeling of the total and ultimate meaninglessness of their lives’. A nihilistic wisdom emerges when staring down the apocalypse. There’s something predictable in our current pandemics, from addiction to belief in pseudoscientific theories, for in Frankl’s analysis, ‘An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behaviour.’ When scientists worry that humanity might have just one generation left, we can agree that ours is an abnormal situation. Which is why Man’s Search for Meaning is the work to return to in these humid days of the Anthropocene." https://aeon.co/ideas/what-viktor-frankls-logotherapy-can-offer-in-the-anthropocene

Farsi pubblicità, spiegato ai nerd. Money quote: "I've dealt with any number of technically brilliant people who produce outstanding work. The majority of them never bothered to write down their work and communicate it to others - report writing is too boring, uninteresting, and hard. And irrelevant. Or so they thought. But if you've done great work, if you've produced superb software or fixed a fault with an aeroplane or investigated a problem, without telling anyone you may as well not have bothered. You have to write, you have to tell people, and you have to do so in a way that they will take notice." https://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/SellYourselfSellYourWork.html

Se sentite il bisogno di monitorare una serie di servizi, mi stanno parlando bene di questo che costa molto poco ed è pure semplice da usare Money quote: "Light, ergonomic and reliable monitoring for anything, because you deserve dependable and clean wallboard." https://monitoror.com

Il grande problema dell'estrazione delle informazioni dai Pdf. Perché una volta che ce le hai messe dentro poi non si riescono più a togliere. Il mistero orrendo di uno standard che è stato semplicemente frainteso. Money quote: "The main problem is that PDF was never really designed as a data input format, but rather, it was designed as an output format giving fine grained control over the resulting document." https://www.filingdb.com/pdf-text-extraction

Questo secondo me ridefinisce l'espressione "a fin di bene". Chapeau. Da oggi Patagonia è un'azienda che reputo in buona fede. Money quote: "A half century after founding the outdoor apparel maker Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, the eccentric rock climber who became a reluctant billionaire with his unconventional spin on capitalism, has given the company away. Rather than selling the company or taking it public, Mr. Chouinard, his wife and two adult children have transferred their ownership of Patagonia, valued at about $3 billion, to a specially designed trust and a nonprofit organization. They were created to preserve the company’s independence and ensure that all of its profits — some $100 million a year — are used to combat climate change and protect undeveloped land around the globe." https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/climate/patagonia-climate-philanthropy-chouinard.html

Non so come finirà in San Salvador, ma sono contento di non essere nato là: le fotografie sono impressionanti Money quote: "It was only the latest display of power by the young president, in office less than a year whose take-total-charge style has earned him an enormous following at home and much concern there and elsewhere. “I call it punitive populism,” said Salvadoran security specialist Jeannette Aguilar. “These measures come in the context of Bukele’s style of publicity and media use that seek to ingratiate him with public opinion.”" https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-29/stripped-prisoners-on-floor-latest-tool-of-salvadoran-president

Slower News aggiorna raramente (una volta al mese, forse) però centra il bersaglio e quello che sceglie di aggregare di solito vale la pena di leggerlo. https://www.slowernews.com

Lo Straniero di Albert Camus e la difficoltà di tradurlo in inglese. Money quote: "First impressions matter, and, for forty-two years, the way that American readers were introduced to Meursault was through the detached formality of his statement: “Mother died today.” There is little warmth, little bond or closeness or love in “Mother,” which is a static, archetypal term, not the sort of thing we use for a living, breathing being with whom we have close relations. To do so would be like calling the family dog “Dog” or a husband “Husband.” The word forces us to see Meursault as distant from the woman who bore him." https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/lost-in-translation-what-the-first-line-of-the-stranger-should-be

Non dimentichiamoci. Il metaverso di Meta/Facebook/Oculus/Quest è partito subito con il piede sbagliato. Money quote: "Some apps in the virtual-reality metaverse are "dangerous by design", the NSPCC has warned in response to a BBC News investigation. A researcher posing as a 13-year-old girl witnessed grooming, sexual material, racist insults and a rape threat in the virtual-reality world. The children's charity said it was "shocked and angry" at the findings." https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-60415317

Tanto bella Barbie, ma sarà anche buona? Preparare degli Hot Dog un po' speciali come forma d'arte. Fico. Money quote: "the creative handiwork of Anna Hezel and Gabriella Paiella, the resident dynamic “Deranged Crafts” duo from Lucky Peach. When they recently put their heads together and thought about what kinds of Disney princesses would inspire them most, they thought of hot dogs… “Obviously.”" https://womenyoushouldknow.net/grossly-appealing-disney-princesses-reimagined-as-hot-dogs/

Essere genitori di figli piccoli nel fine settimana (il momento peggiore, ve lo dico io) Money quote: "You’re a parent now. And without the structure of school, your offspring look to you to be their playmate, encyclopedia, snack bitch, and cruise director. And parents, wanting a break themselves, can’t seem to catch one. But there are ways to make those work-free days a little less chaotic and hopefully, more enjoyable." https://lifehacker.com/how-to-actually-enjoy-a-weekend-with-your-kids-1848703212

Rip https://www.ilpost.it/2022/09/08/regina-elisabetta-morta/

Il corsivo collega la mano al cervello, incoraggia l’originalità, migliora la capacità di leggere, di prestare attenzione, di concentrarsi, di imparare e di farsi venire le idee, 🛝 https://thevision.com/cultura/utilita-corsivo-scrittura/

Ritorna lo scontro di civiltà. O piuttosto ritorna l'orso russo, spietato e famelico come tutti gli orsi? L'abisso dell'anima russa in questo articolo del 2014, anno dell' inglobamenti della Crimea. Money quote: "Non c’è da stupirsi che questi ultimi abbiano finito per percepire la Russia come una forza distruttrice. Joseph Conrad, che nella sua nativa Polonia sperimentò in prima persona l’insaziabile fame di territorio dell’impero russo, lo definì un impero del nulla. In “Autocrazia e guerra” (1905), per esempio, scrisse che fin dalla sua nascita in Russia “la brutale distruzione della dignità, della verità, della rettitudine, di tutto ciò che è buono nella natura umana è stata la condizione della sua esistenza”. Sotto l’ombra opprimente dell’autocrazia russa “nulla poteva crescere”. Circa otto decenni dopo, in “La tragedia dell’Europa centrale” (1984), Milan Kundera avrebbe fatto un’osservazione simile: quando i russi portarono il totalitarismo nel suo paese “fecero tutto il possibile per distruggere la cultura ceca”. Infatti, per lui, la “civiltà russa totalitaria è la negazione radicale dell’Occidente moderno”. “" https://www.indiscreto.org/i-due-abissi-dellanima-russa/

Un bel ritratto di MacKenzie Scott, che è una donna con una identità forte e definita ma che è tuttavia segnata dal mondo nel quale è nata. Alla fine, tutto quel che ha fatto ricade sulle fortune (e sfortune) del padre e poi del marito Jeff Bezos. Questo ritratto cerca di spiegare chi è Scott, perché fa beneficienza e cosa succede quando una donna diventa estremamente ricca ma non è più "protetta" dal marito estremamente potente oltre che ricco. Money quote: "But as Ms. Scott’s fame for giving away money has grown, so, too, has the deluge of appeals for gifts from strangers and old friends alike. That clamor may have driven Ms. Scott’s already discreet operation further underground, with recent philanthropic announcements akin to sudden lightning bolts for unsuspecting recipients." https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/10/business/mackenzie-scott-charity.html

Il nuovo e giovane presidente del Cile, l'uomo del cambiamento, è andato a vivere in un'area depressa della capitale e lancia un segnale forte. Molto interessante. Money quote: "Unlike the White House in the U.S., 10 Downing in the U.K. or Argentina’s Quinta Presidencial de Olivos, Chile doesn’t have a presidential residence. Each leader has chosen where to live. Billionaire former president Sebastian Pinera was allowed to stay at his mansion in a swanky part of Santiago called San Damian, but Michelle Bachelet and Ricardo Lagos had to move to homes that met security requirements. All of them were in the more expensive eastern parts of Santiago." https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-04-11/why-chile-s-president-bought-a-home-in-a-dangerous-area

Voleva essere seppellita con la sua Ferrari preferita. Anzi, dentro. E così è stato. Money quote: "The crane operators were careful not to mow over the existing graves as they maneuvered the 17-foot long, gray wooden box toward the 19-foot hole in the middle of the Alamo Masonic Cemetery. Inside the box lay the perfectly manicured corpse of the 38-year-old socialite and heiress, Sandra West. Mrs. West was positioned as if reclining in the driver’s seat of her beloved 1964 powder-blue Ferrari 300 America. In accordance with her will, she was dressed in her favorite white lace Italian nightgown with “the seat slanted comfortably.” The radio was tuned to her favorite station. The box was then filled with concrete to deter opportunistic graverobbers." https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/grave-of-sandra-west-and-her-ferrari

È un bell'articolo di GQ americano: circolava un po' di tempo fa per raccontare la storia incredibile di Steve Buscemi. Forse l'avete letto o sentito. Casomai ve lo foste persi, eccolo qui Money quote: "Buscemi has a whole three-story brownstone to himself in Brooklyn's idyllic Park Slope neighborhood, which is basically Sesame Street if the Muppets were gluten-intolerant and wore fashion clogs. He moved here back in the early '90s, long before it became a punch line about yuppies. I live here too and can confirm he is a neighborhood institution: There's our famous park, there's our famous food co-op, there's Steve Buscemi." https://www.gq.com/story/the-remaking-of-steve-buscemi-profile