The English Channel

Здесь не было правильного ответа, но думаю, сразу заметно, какая книга более академичная это Book 1. Читать её легко, потому что автор умеет в принцип согласованности. Book 2 — это краткий и динамичный overview всей европейской истории, от Античности до наших дней. Book 1: Wiesner-Hanks, M.E. (2013). Early Modern Europe, 1450–1789. Cambridge University Press Book 2: Jenkins, S. (2019). A Short History of Europe: From Pericles to Putin. Public Affairs

Book 2: The second Borgia pope, Alexander VI, arrived in office in 1492 as father of eight children (by three women), five of whom he made cardinals. One of his sons, Cesare, became a legend of dissolution and hooliganism. Disfigured by the syphilis brought back to Europe by sailors from America — a return for the diseases they had taken there — Cesare was beyond any law. His sister, Lucretia, was married three times, two husbands being killed by her jealous brother. The Venetian ambassador wrote that ‘every night four or five men are discovered assassinated, bishops, prelates and others. All Rome trembles for fear of being murdered.’ Cesare lost power only when Alexander died in 1503, going into exile in Spain and dying there four years later, aged just thirty-one.

Book 1: Cesare Borgia was the son of Rodrigo Borgia, a Spanish nobleman who became Pope Alexander VI (pontificate 1492–1503). Cesare Borgia combined his father’s power and his own ruthlessness to build up a state in central Italy. He made good use of new military equipment and tactics, hiring Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) as a military engineer, and murdered his political enemies, including one of the husbands of his sister, Lucrezia. Despite his efforts, after his father’s death his state fell apart, which Machiavelli ascribed not to some weakness, but to the operations of fate (fortuna in Italian), whose power even the best-prepared and most merciless ruler, the one with virtù, could not fully escape, though he might try.

Перерабатываю лекции по истории и читаю разные книги по одним и тем же периодам. Встречаю такие вот контрасты:

Я вот не знал этот термин «фотосушка» 👴🏻 вы про него слышали? А английский аналог знаете (я — нет)?

The art of matching background. Inspired by Rodchenko: По правилам «фотосушки» любой участник может принести свои фотоработы и повесить их «сушиться» на веревки с помощью бельевых прищепок. В обмен на свои фотографии можно забрать любые другие. Свою фотографию можно подписать, оставить на обороте контакты для связи или необычное послание ее будущему обладателю. В рамках текущей выставки «Родченко.Личное» с 19 по 28 января Центр «Зотов» присоединится к движению и проведет собственный формат «сушки» на тему родченского конструктивизма.

To dive into my 'year in review' post, I’ll start with the question @irina_culture asked her followers about the top track of the year. It actually got me thinking about music albums. MP3 players first came out like 20 years ago, and since then, I’ve drifted away from listening to full albums. Nowadays, it's all about self-made selections, track collections, and streaming playlists. This year, however, I stumbled upon 3 albums that reignited my passion for the old good format. The first I already mentioned on my birthday (да, это группа «Заточка», альбом «Как в американском фильме»), the second was a random discovery—a vintage Russian band singing in English. And then there’s Tom Gaebel’s album “Perfect Day”. It's like a mashup of Frank Sinatra, Christian gospels, and motivational coaches’ talks. The lyrics are like: Wake up, stop dreaming, Start living you life! or The flowers in spring, The robins that sing, The sunbeams that shine They’re yours, they’re mine… This album evokes the ultimate New Year's mood with Tom’s smooth voice, celebratory vibe, and ingenuous messages. Cheers to music and Happy New Year, thanks for being here! 🥂

In my lectures on student assessment, I don't take into account situations with such cute gifts from students. But I should have! Now I’m not sure if I will manage to evaluate this group's projects objectively 🤔

I like the way Gaiman envisions the brave new online world as the era of blogging. Btw, my own first blog is turning 20 (twenty!) these days. I registered on Livejournal on December 17, and first posted on December 21 in 2003. My first blogpost on the web was a complaint about not getting enough sleep 🥱

What actually made me think of ‘sticcking a fork’ Neil Gaiman was interviewed on Icelandic television. Around the 25 minute mark of the program, the topic turned to the author’s thoughts about the internet: “I love blogging. I blog less now in the era of microblogging. I miss the days of just sort of feeling like you could create a community by talking in a sane and cheerful way to the world. But it’s interesting because people are leaving [social media]. You know, Twitter is over, yeah Twitter is done, Twitter’s… you stick a fork in, it’s definitely overdone. The new Twitters, like Threads and Blue sky… nothing is going to do what that thing once did. Facebook works but it doesn’t really work. So I think probably the era of blogging may return and maybe people will come and find you and find me again.”

I wonder how many English idioms came to prominence because of baseball or football 🏈 Stick a fork in it is a commentary that something is finished, over, completed, or can go no further. The earliest known use of the expression stick a fork in it was by Dizzy Dean, an American baseball player and commentator, in the 1940s when referring to a pitcher who was doing a poor job: “You can stick a fork in him folks—he’s done.”

We are free to decide how positive/negative “inspiresting” is, but I liked this quote: Anderson insists anyone is capable of giving a TED-esque talk. You just need an interesting topic and then you need to attach that topic to an inspirational story. Robots are interesting. Using them to eat trash in Nairobi is inspiring. Put the two together, and you have a TED talk.  I like to call this fusion “the inspiresting.” Stylistically, the inspiresting is earnest and contrived. It is smart but not quite intellectual, personal but not sincere, jokey but not funny. It is an aesthetic of populist elitism. Politically, the inspiresting performs a certain kind of progressivism, as it is concerned with making the world a better place, however vaguely. The whole essay about “the inspiresting” is here.

A delightful essay on winter published on The Hedgehog Review 🦔 has anyone heard of this site? Snowstorms are decidedly nonapocalyptic. The decisions they force on us are not as wrenching as an evacuation order, and the penalties for an incorrect decision are not usually existential, if one simply decides to stay home. A winter storm is more of a general assertion of natural indifference to human volition. [yes, the language here is not always flawless and laconic, but appropriate for the winter meditations] In Canada or the snowier parts of New England and the Midwest, winter travel always bears an implied asterisk. [красиво про «задачу со звёздочкой»] This small but meaningful restriction of freedom puts the lie to the dream of unbounded freedom or autonomy. (…) Snow forces literal slowness [alliteration intended?] and uncertainty on a culture focused on the quick and the sure.

An academic presentation in a nutshell. This stuff never gets old.

​​How horses influenced feudalism (from my History lectures) 👉 After the collapse of the Roman Empire in Western Europe, barbarian kingdoms abandoned its system of taxation. 🦄 In the Middle Ages, the backbone of medieval European armies was heavy cavalry consisted of the knights. Large-scale permanent armies were impossible since the fiscal system didn’t work. 🤺 The knights were landholding nobles, whose ability to be warriors depended on their leisure time needed to train their warrior skills. Landed estates, located on the fiefs (feoda in Latin), provided the economic support that made this way of life possible. 🛡️ Land was also a source of income sufficient to purchase arms and equipment. Take horses, for example. 🐎 The cost of warhorses valued through the pay of an infantry soldier in medieval England (equal to what a semi-skilled tradesman or well off farmer could expect to make) was the following: • The price of a basic warhorse (rouncey) = 360 days wages (1.3–1.4 years income, taking Holy Days into account), • a HQ warhorse (courser/palfrey) would be equal to 840 days wages (3–3.2 years income), • the best warhorse (destrier) would be equal to 1560 days wages (5.6–6 years income). 🎠 Taking the median US household income as $57 500, representing someone whose income is reasonably comfortable (for 2017): • The price of a basic warhorse was worth about $74 750. • a HQ warhorse was worth $172 500 • and the best warhorses were worth $322 000.

Was much into emails after reading Digital Etiquette by Victoria Turk (2019). When it comes to “art of work”, she writes mostly about emails (and Slack). Group chat etiquette is wholly in the chapter named “art of friendship”. Here is the typology of group chats she suggests: • The family group

You and your siblings soon start a second group – without your parents.

• The passive-aggressive flatshare group

Conversations almost always devolve into debates over the cleaning rota, with attempts to use emoji to soften your requests…

• The neighbourhood watch group

This is like a flatshare group, except it includes everyone in your building or perhaps the whole street. What could possibly go wrong?

• The birthday party group

The inevitable group you find yourself added to any time someone’s trying to organise an event.

• The lads’ group

Sexist memes, poor-taste jokes and calling everyone a see-you-next-Tuesday is par for the course.

Seems like so much time has passed since 2019 🤔 Any group types you’d add to the list?