Culture, the Humanities, and the Collapse of the Grand Narratives - "Both Schmidt and Weissmann observe that, while the traditional fields of the liberal arts are in decline, the younger disciplines are faring quite well. The only branch of the humanities which sees no decline in college degrees is cultural studies, which can be described as a mix of theoretical approaches to the study of human culture, including everything from gender and racial studies to ethnology. If there is a shift in perception among students (and scholars) that needs to be examined, it is the fall of the traditional disciplines and the triumph of cultural studies. No scholar who participates in the debate about the crisis in the humanities seem to need to explain why cultural studies is important, while they go out of their way trying to make the case for literature, philosophy, and history. Why have the traditional humanistic disciplines lost their ground? New York Times columnist David Brooks argues that the root cause of the crisis is a lack of purpose—humanist scholars have abandoned their mission to cultivate the human soul. As cultural studies emerged, the humanities turned from an inward to an outward focus and the old notions of truth, beauty, and virtue were exchanged for political categories of race, gender, and other markers of identity. One might contend that the humanities had an outward focus even before cultural studies entered the scene—not so long ago the cultivation of the soul was regarded as a social mission. The older disciplines, which grew and flourished in the first half of the 20th century, were deeply interlinked with the narratives of the nation and the Enlightenment. From the national point of view, the purpose of the historian was to serve as the memory and the storyteller of the state, while literary scholars were concerned with the preservation and cultivation of the nation’s soul. In this historical setting, the purpose of a liberal arts education was to offer young Americans the broad knowledge-base needed to develop into the morally and intellectually mature citizens that a liberal democracy demands. Over the past 50 years, these grand narratives were overthrown... The biggest problem for the traditional humanities disciplines is not cultural studies, but the fact that there is no longer a case to be made for the cultivation of the soul. This problem is not new. It has evolved over centuries and is intimately linked with the battle between the arts and the sciences which dates back to the schism between utilitarians and romantics. The greater historical force behind this development is the secularisation process: the triumph of science as the dominant cultural force in Western society. The concept of “the humanities” first emerged in the US in the mid-20th century as a response to a radical form of secularism that flourished among scholars and intellectuals of that time: positivism. The positivist philosophy held that the only knowledge worth pursuing—the only truth—was that produced by the natural sciences. Thus, the origin of the term “the humanities,” and of the debate about its crisis, are closely tied to the fear that the cultural memory and activity in society would be obliterated by a one-dimensional focus on science. Over the past 70 years, however, the positivist narrative itself has disintegrated. After World War II, Western intellectuals became painfully aware that while science could be used for the betterment of human life, it could also be used to inflict great harm... The rise of Marxist cultural radicalism on the campuses of Western universities in the late 1960s was, at its core, a passionate rejection of the Enlightenment narrative... Many humanists tried to re-introduce Marxism as a grand narrative, hoping that dialectical theory and socialist ethics could bestow upon the modern humanities a strong social mission. Once again, it did not happen, partly because the socialist states, which were supposed to serve as proof of the superiority of the Marxist ideology, rapidly crumbled under the weight of their own corruption, and partly because the moral and cultural relativism inherent in positivism could not be eradicated from the Western mind... In recent years, social scientists have taken on the role of moral educators, in much the same way that humanities scholars did 50 years ago"
Another Time, Another Place (1958 film) - Wikipedia - "During the film's principal photography in Britain, Connery was confronted on-set by gangster Johnny Stompanato, then-boyfriend of Lana Turner, who suspected the actor was having an affair with Turner. Stompanato pointed a gun at Connery and warned him to keep away from Turner. Connery responded by grabbing the gun out of Stompanato's hand and twisting his wrist, causing him to run off the set. After Stompanato's death, it was rumoured that a Los Angeles mobster held Connery responsible, causing Connery (who was then in Los Angeles to make Darby O'Gill And The Little People (1959) for Walt Disney) nervously looking over his shoulder for a time."
Meme - Facehugger to Hello Kitty: "Where is your mouth?"
Chess champion Magnus Carlsen disqualified for wearing jeans - "The world's top chess player quit a major tournament in New York City after officials told him he couldn't wear jeans to compete. Magnus Carlsen, 34, was competing in the International Chess Federation (FIDE)'s World Blitz Chess Championship and the World Rapid Chess Championship... Carlsen was told he would be fined $200, and was asked to change his clothes, the federation said. Carlsen declined to do so but offered to change for the next day. When that offer was refused, Carlsen said it "became a bit of a matter of principle," according to the BBC... The federation said in a statement shared on social media that dress code rules are made clear to participants, are communicated ahead of each event, and are "designed to ensure professionalism and fairness for all participants." The events were also within a "short walking distance" from the players' accommodations, the federation said, "making adherence to the rules more convenient. Earlier in the day, another player, Ian Nepomniachtchi, was fined for breaching the dress code by wearing sports shoes, the federation said. Nepomniachtchi changed his shoes and was allowed to continue playing in the tournament, officials said."
How India's 'Mango Man' Grew a Tree With 300 Flavors - "The seeds of his obsession with mango grafting was sown at the age of 15, when Khan saw crossbred roses in a friend’ s garden, with one rose plant growing flowers of different colors. It made him wonder if one tree could also produce different kinds of fruits."
Meme - "A propos de moi
bonjour. je cherche une relation durable et stable. pas de flic pas de nazi svp. + de 40 ans si possible. ouverture d'esprit, sens de I'humour et gentleman. pour ceux qui veulent, discutons"
Endives To Beat The Wife With - "If you overheard someone ordering 打老婆菜 “da lao po cai” (literally means “vegetable to beat the wife”) at cze char place, do not be surprised. That person is not domestically violent. He is just ordering a plate of stir-fry escarole, a type of endive... The origin of its quirky name traces back to tales from ancient times. There was a farmer who brought a whole basket of endives home for his wife to cook. The leaves with high water content wilted in contact with heat and shrunk dramatically. After cooking, a whole basket of endives was reduced to only a small bowl of stir-fried greens. The husband was furious when he saw the small dish. He thought his wife took pinches of it while cooking and so he beat her up, hence the name “da lao po cai.” Escarole has the least bitter taste in the endive family; it requires little or no cooking. Its mild and tender core with crunch of a lettuce is suitable for salad, goes well with fruits and egg. The tougher outer leaves are great for soups, and it is also perfect for sautéing to draw out the natural nutty flavour with a slight bitterness."
Thread by @tradingMaxiSL on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "Surprising Facts, Tiny Details and Clever tricks That Make Movies Unforgettable A Thread 🧵👇
1. In Saving Private Ryan (1998), Jackson has a bruise on his thumb that was a common injury during WWII from soldiers' thumbs getting caught in the loading mechanism of M1 Garands.
2. How they filmed the train scene in "Back To The Future 3"
3. In the Docking Scene in Interstellar(2014), one can notice that Cooper tries to push his head in the opposite direction of the spin, while Brand keeps her's towards the spin, resulting in her blacking out. A subtle detail to show how he's the more experienced one.
4. A terrific foreground miniature by Spanish effects maestro Emilio Ruiz del Río for Conan the Destroyer (1984).
5. Lighting a freeway for Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
6. In Men In Black, the Edgar suit decomposes as the movie goes on.
7. The Toothless animation for this scene in "How to Train Your Dragon" was modelled on one of the animators cat with tape stuck to it's tail
8. Exterior of the sewer set in the movie 'IT'
9. In The Lord of the Rings, the filmmakers used a special lighting rig for Galadriel so that her eyes appear to reflect the starlight. This is because Galadriel is the last Elf in Middle-Earth to have seen the light of the Trees of Valinor.
10. In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Professor Lupin sleeps through most of the train ride to Hogwarts. The date is the 1st of September, 1993. There really was a full moon the previous night; he was exhausted because he'd transformed the night before.
11. How Charlie Chaplin Accomplished The Stunt In Modern Times
12. In Interstellar (2014) the black hole was so scientifically accurate it took approx 100 hours to render each frame in the physics and VFX engine. Meaning every second you see took approx 100 days to render the final copy
13. Marlon Brando's jaw prosthetic for The Godfather
14. In Toy Story 4 (2019), a closer look at Buzz Lightyear shows that his stickers are slowly starting to peel away.
15. Behind the scenes footage of the filming process of The Titanic, 1997
16. In Free Guy (2021), you can see a bottle of gin labelled "Subtle Product Placement". This is actually a bottle of Aviation Gin...a brand which is partially owned by Ryan Reynolds.
17. In Rocky (1976), when he runs through the Italian marketplace, the people's amused expressions as they look on is genuine, as they had no idea why a man was running back and forth being followed by a van. The man who throws him the orange was completely improvised.
18. When Liam Neeson was asked to play the antagonist in A Million Ways to die in the West (2014) (directed by Seth McFarlane) he accepted due to a scene in Family Guy where Peter says “Imagine Liam Neeson in a Western! Ha! With that funny accent of his!”
19. In Spirited Away (2001), the family car is based on the first-generation Audi A4 1.8T, from the mid-1990s. The production team even drove around an Audi A4 1.8T on some jagged roads and recorded the sounds to make the film as accurate as possible.
20. In "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," Jane Russell's pool scene was meant to end with a muscleman diving over her, but he accidentally clipped her, knocking her into the water. “I wasn’t supposed to end up in the pool at all,” she later said, “but it turned out better that way.”
21. In the Harry Potter Movies (2001-2011), Snape’s costume was the only one that never changed. According to costume designer, Jany Temine: "Because, it was perfect. When something is perfect you cannot change it.”
22. In The Incredibles there is a clearly reference to Die Hard 3, the scene of the phone with Samuel L. Jackson, who also plays Frozono, and the policeman
23. Behind the scenes on The Dark Knight, how the hospital explosion looked in-camera.
24. In "Titanic" (1997), the couple in bed accepting their fate are Isidor and Ida Straus, co-owners of Macy's. Ida refused a lifeboat when Isidor declined a spot, as there were still women and children on board. They were last seen walking arm in arm.
25. In The Truman Show (1998), the Moon is briefly illuminated by the "lightning", hinting that it's much closer that it should be.
26. In Deadpool 2, one of the rednecks talking about toilet paper is actually Matt Damon in four hours worth of prosthetic makeup.
27. In La Haine (1995) there is a scene where Vinz talks to himself in the mirror. In the filming of this scene however, there is no mirror involved. The actor is in another room with a body double standing across him mimicking his movements.
28. Director Sam Raimi finds a way to slip this car into every film he does. Uncle Ben drove one in Spiderman 2002
29. In Escape From L.A. (1996), actor Kurt Russel practiced playing basketball in between scenes because he wanted to legitimately make every shot during the basketball challenge. He made every shot, including the full court one.
30. In A Bug's Life (1999), the queen is seen to have a pet named "Aphie." In real life, this little bug is an aphid and they live in harmony with the ants, but not as pets, but as "livestock"."
Japan’s tourism is a victim of its own success - "The sudden uptick in tourist numbers is undoubtedly a consequence of the strategy announced by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to push tourist numbers to 60 million annual visitors by 2030. Although more than half the arrivals to Japan have been from other Asian countries, the most considerable increase has been from Mexico, up 104% from before the pandemic, followed by U.S. travelers (47.3%) and Middle Eastern visitors (44.6%), according to the JNTO. The influx of tourists, bolstered by an attractive dollar-yen exchange rate, contributed 5.3 trillion yen (€31.4 billion or $33.7 billion) to the Japanese economy in 2023. In May, the yen hit its lowest level since 1990, at 160 to the dollar, following the Bank of Japan’s historic reversal of its negative interest rate policy in March. Despite the success of the Prime Minister’s tourist strategy, local areas, burdened by labor shortages, have begun to experience the hidden cost of mass tourism. More than half of Japanese companies say they do not have enough employees, according to a recent survey by Teikoku Databank, a credit research firm. The lack of staff has led to a record number of corporate bankruptcies: 1,016 bankruptcies were recorded in May, with the service and transportation sectors among the hardest hit. Famous for its omotenashi or hospitality culture, Japan has had to take sweeping measures, targeting tourism everywhere from Tokyo to the most remote islands. In Shibuya, for example, the capital’s trending district, the authorities have curbed nightlife due to noise and bad behavior. Japan’s islands have also begun to feel the aftershocks of this tourist boom. The surge of foreigners to some remote islands in the Okinawa region has prompted several local governments to impose an entry tax on travelers. Miyajima Island, off the coast of Japan, began to charge 100 yen (€0.59 or $0.63) to foreigners arriving by boat to visit Itsukushima Shrine last October"
Should We Be Eating Three Meals a Day? - "Intermittent fasting, where you restrict your food intake to an eight-hour window, is becoming a huge area of research. Giving our bodies at least 12 hours a day without food allows our digestive system to rest, says Emily Manoogian, clinical researcher at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California, and author of a 2019 paper entitled "When to eat". Rozalyn Anderson, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin's School of Medicine and Public Health, has studied the benefits of calorie restriction, which is associated with lower levels of inflammation in the body. "Having a fasting period every day could reap some of these benefits," she says. "It gets into the idea that fasting puts the body in a different state, where it's more ready to repair and surveil for damage, and clear misfolded proteins." Misfolded proteins are faulty versions of ordinary proteins, which are molecules that perform a huge range of important jobs in the body. Misfolded proteins have been associated with a number of diseases. Intermittent fasting is more in line with how our bodies have evolved, Anderson argues. She says it gives the body a break so it's able to store food and get energy to where it needs to be, and trigger the mechanism to release energy from our body stores. Fasting could also improve our glycaemic response, which is when our blood glucose rises after eating, says Antonio Paoli, professor of exercise and sport sciences at the University of Padova in Italy. Having a smaller blood glucose increase allows you to store less fat in the body, he says... Some experts argue it's best to have one meal a day, including David Levitsky, professor at Cornell University's College of Human Ecology in New York, who does this himself. "There's a lot of data showing that, if I show you food or pictures of food, you're likely to eat, and the more frequently food is in front of you, the more you're going to eat that day," he says. This is because, before we had fridges and supermarkets, we ate when food was available. Throughout history, we consumed one meal a day, including the Ancient Romans who ate one meal around midday, says food historian Seren Charrington-Hollins. Wouldn't one meal a day leave us feeling hungry? Not necessarily, Levitsky argues, because hunger is often a psychological sensation... Manoogan doesn't recommend sticking to one meal a day, since this can increase the level of glucose in our blood when we're not eating – known as fasting glucose. High levels of fasting glucose over a long period of time is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Keeping blood glucose levels down requires eating more regularly than once a day, Manoogan says, as this prevents the body thinking it's starving and releasing more glucose when you do eventually eat in response. Instead, she says, two to three meals a day is best – with most of your calories consumed earlier in the day. This is because eating late at night is associated with cardio-metabolic disease, including diabetes and heart disease... But eating too early in the morning should be avoided, too, she says, as this wouldn't give you sufficient time to fast. Also, eating too soon after waking up works against our circadian rhythm... It's also worth remembering that breakfast as we know and love it today is a relatively new concept. "The Ancient Greeks were the first to introduce the concept of breakfast, they'd eat bread soaked in wine, then they had a frugal lunch, then a hearty evening meal," says Charrington-Hollins. Initially, breakfast was exclusive to aristocratic classes, says Charrington-Hollins. It first caught on in the 17th Century, when it became the luxury of those who could afford the food and the time for a leisurely meal in the morning. "The concept today of breakfast being the norm [came about] during the Industrial Revolution in the 19th Century and its introduction of working hours""
X Users Didn't Like a Paper's Tone and Findings, So They Got It Rejected - "At Frontiers in Psychology, it seems that users on X are now part of the peer review process. On January 4th, the paper "Meta-analysis: On average, undergraduate students’ intelligence is merely average," was accepted to the journal... the paper went viral, quickly accruing over 54,000 views, wide discussion on X and Reddit, and coverage in popular media (including RCS). It garnered this attention for its intriguing yet simultaneously obvious finding: over the past 80 years, as a far greater proportion of North Americans attended college, the average IQ of college undergraduates dropped from around 120 to 102, just slightly above the average of 100. As the authors, Bob Uttl, a psychologist and faculty member at Mount Royal University, and his students Victoria Violo and Lacey Gibson, noted, "The decline in students’ IQ is a necessary consequence of increasing educational attainment over the last 80 years. Today, graduating from university is more common than completing high school in the 1940s." College students no longer come solely from the ranks of the highly intelligent and privileged, they come from all corners of society. Uttl and his colleagues noted that this has implications. For example, academic standards and curricula might have to be adjusted. Moreover, employers can't assume that applicants with university degrees are more capable or smarter than those without degrees. A little over a month after Uttl, Violo, and Gibson's paper was accepted and the abstract published, they were abruptly notified by email that it was rejected. They were apprised that Specialty Chief Editor Eddy Davelaar, a Professor of Psychology and Applied Neuroscience at Birkbeck, University of London, overrode the three peer reviewers who approved the paper and even his own handling editor. His reasons were subsequently forwarded to Uttl and his colleagues. While Davelaar raised a couple of issues with the paper's methods, the vast majority of his focus was on its tone. He wrote that the use of the word "merely" in reference to college students' just-above-average IQ was "demeaning." He also noted that the authors' critiques of other scientists' works "could have been packaged more sensitively." He also called unfounded the authors' opinion that the widening participation policies of universities were the cause of undergraduates' falling IQs... “several posts” on X triggered Dr. Davelaar’s review. As readers were only able to view the abstract, and thus weren't able to assess the authors' methodology, it seems clear that they complained purely about the authors' tone and provocative conclusions. Davelaar only found 'problems' with Uttl, Violo, and Gibson's methods afterwards."
Trust the Science, because the Science is unbiased
This is why policymakers' delusion that sending more and more people to university is better is costly
Phở or Phố, Bún or Bùn - Sauce or Soup? - "When you see Phở Gà or Phở Bò, which are both soups, Phở refers to the long, flat noodle not to the soup itself; that means if you get a bowl of soup in the US purporting to be Phở but it has a round noodle and not a flat one, you really have a Bún. Confused? Bún also refers to the noodle, this time a round one. It can also be a soup, but can also be a bowl of noodles with a delicious sauce, not a soup, that is called, Bún Thịt Nướng. The literal translation: Noodle, Meat, Grilled... We also erroneously assumed Phở was always a soup, because that was all we ever saw it as. Knowledge is enlightening and also saddening; I wish I had known sooner of these other dishes with Phở in the name that were not soup. Phở Cuốn Hà Hội, Phở Hưng Bền, Phở Trôn, and Phở Chiên Phồng, to name a few Phở dishes that are defiently not soup, but all use the Phở noodle, either steamed, fried, or stir fried – all also delicious. Each a very happy discovery... Since Bún refers to the noodle, it can be a soup or a noodle dish that comes with a sauce; not always a soup though or a sauced dish... The big distinction here is that Phở no more means soup than if I were to tell you that any dish we call beef would be a medium rare filet, or rib eye, or NY strip. It could also be a hamburger, or short ribs, or brisket; basically it is the main ingredient in the dish, or one of the main ingredients, but it does not, by itself, tell you whether or not it is a soup. No one would confuse a beef tenderloin and béarnaise sauce with beef stew (but the former does deserve some investigation and a trial run to confirm it cannot be made into a delicious soup); both dishes have beef in the name, that’s it. So, just because you see Phở or Bún in the name of the dish, don’t assume it is a soup or noodles with a sauce."
US city tells residents to stop sticking googly eyes on its statues - "The comedy eyes have appeared on statues and murals around the city of Bend, Oregon, causing a viral sensation. "While the googly eyes placed on the various art pieces around town might give you a chuckle, it costs money to remove them with care to not damage the art," the city said in posts on social media."
Meme - PeterSweden: "Incredible bias from the BBC tonight. They are calling Marine Le Pen's party for "far right'. Meanwhile the Socialists/Communists are being called just "left wing""
Crypto Medium @BTCryptoMedium: "It's not a surprise... *bell curve where the far left is 'left', the centre left is 'right' and the moderate left onwards are 'far right'*"
Meme - "When they are all in a relationship:
*orange skinned boy, tattooed face boy, buck teeth girl, vampire teeth (with blood lines on chin) boy, odd looking boy, buck teeth boy*
Yet you're still fucking single!"
Meme - russiann_raccoonn: "Where's the corset from!!!"
pe3rrl_: "it's a brace for scoliosis"
Thread by @LEBassett on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "A landlord in Las Vegas admitted that he required a homeless mom of 5 to sign a housing contract that required her to perform blowjobs for 5 years and barred her from dating any man who's larger than him or owns a gun. @l_tousignant writes: -
The lease also barred her from eating any "aphrodisiacs," like oysters or strawberries. He didn't disclose that the home was in foreclosure. The woman is suing him, and the trial is ongoing until Oct. 3. I'm rarely so shook after editing a piece that I have to take a walk, but I have to go take a walk."
Thread by @shawnwenzel on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "The income tax system in Canada is unfair to married people. Your income tax is calculated based on your INDIVIDUAL income where your benefits are calculated based on FAMILY income. This amounts to a "marriage tax" for a traditional single-income household. So, if you're a guy in a good job and your wife is a stay at home mom, you're in the top tax bracket while your wife pays no tax, but she doesn't quality for any benefits because she's married to you and your family income is over the threshold. An incentive to stay "single". Self-employed people have another way around this: give your wife a stay-at-home job in the business, which allows you to balance your individual income and benefit entitlement between you. People in normal salaried jobs can't do that though."
Realistic Dems are finally realizing their toxic party needs an overhaul - "It took a brutal electoral beating, but non-delusional Democrats are finally recognizing the putrid stink coming off their party. But will the left let them do anything about it? In an interview with the New York Times’ Frank Bruni, former Pete Buttigieg adviser Lis Smith, a veteran of New York politics, put it vividly: “The Democratic brand is in the toilet.” Yes: Between the obsessive demonization of President-elect Donald Trump and his supporters, the rank incompetence of the Biden administration and the constant push toward race-and-gender-war lunacy, Democrats have transformed their party into a soup of hazardous sludge. Americans now associate Dems with high crime, high prices, migrant gangs taking over cities and biological men in women’s sports — which has about as much appeal as expired milk. Yet the trouncing of Kamala Harris proved that their favorite distraction tactic — screaming “Trump is Hitler” and his supporters are vile rubes — is a massive dud. As lefty Timesman Ezra Klein put it on his podcast to a listener complaining that he platforms Trump allies, The Donald “has been elected or almost elected president three times now,” so “Don’t expect this show to be a resistance show.” The Democrats’ way back starts with a return to common sense."
Texas most wanted fugitive, 17, accused of killing Sonic manager in argument over fake money arrested 3 months after murder - "A Texas teen has been arrested more than three months after she allegedly fatally shot a “caring” Sonic manager during an argument over trying to pay for food with counterfeit money. Adiah Roberson, 17, was captured in a Dallas apartment complex parking lot, following a multi-agency operation while she was a fugitive on the Texas 10 Most Wanted list since July 16... Roberson is accused of murdering Daniel Shrewsbury while he was working the night shift at a San Antonio Sonic on July 7. Shrewsbury, who was killed days before his 34th birthday, had reportedly gotten into an argument with Roberson and two others after the group tried to purchase food with the counterfeit funds. As the trio left the establishment, Shrewsbury tried to take a picture of their license plate, the San Antonio Police Department told the outlet. Another suspect, Joshua Joseph, 27 — who was arrested in August and slapped with murder charges — allegedly told the Sonic manager he would get shot while he tried snapping the photo... Roberson was also wanted for forgery of a government document."
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