Il New Yorker si prende tempo per raccontare la storia e indagare la plausibilità di Candy, un libro del 1958 (poi fu fatto anche il film, nel 1968, con Marlon Brando e Walther Matthau e un miliardo di altri attori in vari cameo), che predata molto della controcultura e delle rivolte studentesche. È una satira sul settore dei libri-spazzatura, è un libro-spazzatura, è un libro volgare, sporco, inutile, peraltro in parte anche una parodia sexy (as in: commedia sexy all'italiana) del Candido di Voltaire, nientedimento. Però anche un libro fuori dall'ordinario, anzi "straordinario", di quella straordinarietà che a quanto pare non invecchia. È stato anche tradotto in italiano. Se lo trovate, magari è una interessante lettura per l'estate.
Money quote: "Candy begins with exhilarating precision; the opening chapters are my favorite pages of any book ever written, with its exquisitely tuned language guiding us through an ecstatic parody of outrageous ego-driven meaninglessness, pulled off with the combination of subtle precision and insane audacity that you might find in a pilot successfully flying a plane under the Brooklyn Bridge. As it continues, the book’s writing gradually collapses, with an entropy that might well be described as obscene, into a tone of sloppy, lascivious wildness that syncs well with its plot. Along the way, it goes on extremely unnecessary tangents to satirize nearly everything imaginable to an audience of its time: psychotherapy, New York City, Hollywood screenwriting, Jewish mothers, quack doctors, New Age healing, progressive causes, pretension, naïveté, innocence, idealism, corruption, generosity, selfishness, spiritual searching, gurus, the male gaze, awareness of the male gaze, “daddy issues,” sexual repression, sexual liberation—as one review suggested, sex itself—and perhaps most of all, the reader who would buy such a book—a person they surely pictured on the banks of the Seine, scratching his head as to what the hell he was reading and whether it was turning him on or not."
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/07/11/destined-for-the-dirty-book-bin/
Money quote: "Candy begins with exhilarating precision; the opening chapters are my favorite pages of any book ever written, with its exquisitely tuned language guiding us through an ecstatic parody of outrageous ego-driven meaninglessness, pulled off with the combination of subtle precision and insane audacity that you might find in a pilot successfully flying a plane under the Brooklyn Bridge. As it continues, the book’s writing gradually collapses, with an entropy that might well be described as obscene, into a tone of sloppy, lascivious wildness that syncs well with its plot. Along the way, it goes on extremely unnecessary tangents to satirize nearly everything imaginable to an audience of its time: psychotherapy, New York City, Hollywood screenwriting, Jewish mothers, quack doctors, New Age healing, progressive causes, pretension, naïveté, innocence, idealism, corruption, generosity, selfishness, spiritual searching, gurus, the male gaze, awareness of the male gaze, “daddy issues,” sexual repression, sexual liberation—as one review suggested, sex itself—and perhaps most of all, the reader who would buy such a book—a person they surely pictured on the banks of the Seine, scratching his head as to what the hell he was reading and whether it was turning him on or not."
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/07/11/destined-for-the-dirty-book-bin/
The Paris Review
Destined for the Dirty-Book Bin
B. J. Novak on one of his favorite books.
Disegnare facce con l'intelligenza artificiale. Cioè, se le inventa lei. Impressionante.
Money quote: "However, the other way around, generating realistic images based on denoscriptions, is much harder, and takes years of graphic design training. In machine learning this is a generative task, which is also much more challenging than discriminative tasks, as a generative model has to produce much richer information (like a full image at some level of detail and variation) based on a smaller seed input."
https://blog.insightdatascience.com/generating-custom-photo-realistic-faces-using-ai-d170b1b59255
Money quote: "However, the other way around, generating realistic images based on denoscriptions, is much harder, and takes years of graphic design training. In machine learning this is a generative task, which is also much more challenging than discriminative tasks, as a generative model has to produce much richer information (like a full image at some level of detail and variation) based on a smaller seed input."
https://blog.insightdatascience.com/generating-custom-photo-realistic-faces-using-ai-d170b1b59255
Perché il vetro del vostro nuovo smartphone si danneggia proprio come quello di cinque anni fa - il mio articolo per La Stampa
https://www.lastampa.it/2018/11/15/tecnologia/perch-il-vetro-del-vostro-nuovo-smartphone-si-danneggia-proprio-come-quello-di-cinque-anni-fa-EPpFIYUKu3kfv6HBc9A0CL/premium.html
https://www.lastampa.it/2018/11/15/tecnologia/perch-il-vetro-del-vostro-nuovo-smartphone-si-danneggia-proprio-come-quello-di-cinque-anni-fa-EPpFIYUKu3kfv6HBc9A0CL/premium.html
LaStampa.it
Perché il vetro del vostro nuovo smartphone si danneggia proprio come quello di cinque anni fa
Nonostante i grandi progressi della tecnologia, non si può avere un materiale che sia contemporaneamente trasparente, sottile, resistente agli urti e ai graffi. Almeno per ora
Come si costruisce una comunità di lettori? Telecom italia intervista Federico Ferrazza direttore di Wired italia.
Money quote: “Personalmente credo che la qualità, la varietà e l’affidabilità dell’informazione che offriamo sia il modo migliore per costruire e coltivare una comunità di lettori che possa riconoscersi in quello che facciamo, indipendentemente da come sono arrivati su una nostra pagina. Penso anche che sia molto importante essere predisposti ad ascoltare e imparare dai propri lettori e patrocinare un clima di dibattito, tra loro e con noi, il più costruttivo possibile.”
https://www.lemacchinevolanti.it/approfondimenti/qualita-e-affidabilita-come-costruire-una-comunita-di-lettori
Money quote: “Personalmente credo che la qualità, la varietà e l’affidabilità dell’informazione che offriamo sia il modo migliore per costruire e coltivare una comunità di lettori che possa riconoscersi in quello che facciamo, indipendentemente da come sono arrivati su una nostra pagina. Penso anche che sia molto importante essere predisposti ad ascoltare e imparare dai propri lettori e patrocinare un clima di dibattito, tra loro e con noi, il più costruttivo possibile.”
https://www.lemacchinevolanti.it/approfondimenti/qualita-e-affidabilita-come-costruire-una-comunita-di-lettori
Le Macchine Volanti
Qualità e affidabilità: come costruire una comunità di lettori
Una conversazione con Federico Ferrazza, direttore di Wired Italia.
Non sono l’unico a essere ossessionato dagli zainetto, allora
Money quote: “When Eric Ushiroda moved to a tiny Japanese village in the mid-1990s to work as a teacher, there was one thing he learned almost immediately: His middle-school students in this chilly, forested town were obsessed with L.L. Bean backpacks”
https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/570211/
Money quote: “When Eric Ushiroda moved to a tiny Japanese village in the mid-1990s to work as a teacher, there was one thing he learned almost immediately: His middle-school students in this chilly, forested town were obsessed with L.L. Bean backpacks”
https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/570211/
The Atlantic
Our Backpacks, Our Selves
These bags are one of the most constant material items in a kid’s life, and they serve as both status symbols and intimate companions.
La nascita di professioni inedite in redazione. Trasformazione digitale o morte anche per la stampa? Se ne parla da tempo a quanto pare.
Money quote: ““In 2018, it’s important we start seriously thinking about how these roles — and the people in them — can evolve. These jobs are not easily categorized and are difficult to explain not only during a dinner party or in conversations with our parents — even colleagues battle to grasp their peculiarities.””
http://www.niemanlab.org/2017/12/the-rise-of-bridge-roles-in-news-organizations/
Money quote: ““In 2018, it’s important we start seriously thinking about how these roles — and the people in them — can evolve. These jobs are not easily categorized and are difficult to explain not only during a dinner party or in conversations with our parents — even colleagues battle to grasp their peculiarities.””
http://www.niemanlab.org/2017/12/the-rise-of-bridge-roles-in-news-organizations/
Nieman Lab
The rise of bridge roles in news organizations
"In 2018, it's important we start seriously thinking about how these roles — and the people in them — can evolve. These jobs are not easily categorized and are difficult to explain not only during a dinner party or in conversations with our parents — even…
Recensione iPad Pro, la nostra pagella - la mia lunga analisi per Wired
https://www.wired.it/mobile/tablet/2018/11/16/ipad-pro-pagella/
https://www.wired.it/mobile/tablet/2018/11/16/ipad-pro-pagella/
Wired
Recensione iPad Pro, la nostra pagella
Abbiamo messo alla prova i 10 punti chiave del nuovo tablet per professionisti di Apple: potenza da vendere, ma lo tiene frenato il sistema operativo
C’è un problema con l’idea della dignità umana. Ed è che si tratta di un concetto molto recente, in qualche modo ambiguo nelle sue fondamenta e debole.
Money quote: “Beyond its youth, there is another reason our concept of dignity is tenuous: it comes with a peculiar existential challenge. To appreciate this challenge, start by considering that the relative youth of our concept of human dignity is juxtaposed by its present ubiquity. The moralised concept of dignity is a cornerstone of our contemporary Western ethos, standing shoulder to shoulder with other fundamental ideals such as liberty and equality”
https://aeon.co/essays/human-dignity-is-an-ideal-with-remarkably-shallow-roots
Money quote: “Beyond its youth, there is another reason our concept of dignity is tenuous: it comes with a peculiar existential challenge. To appreciate this challenge, start by considering that the relative youth of our concept of human dignity is juxtaposed by its present ubiquity. The moralised concept of dignity is a cornerstone of our contemporary Western ethos, standing shoulder to shoulder with other fundamental ideals such as liberty and equality”
https://aeon.co/essays/human-dignity-is-an-ideal-with-remarkably-shallow-roots
Aeon
Human dignity is an ideal with remarkably shallow roots | Aeon Essays
Human dignity is a concept with remarkably shallow historical roots. Is that why it is so presently endangered?
Giocare a Space Invaders con alieni che evolvono...
Money quote: "You are the last hope of the human kind as the defense against the InvaderZ. They are deployed by their mothership with the sole purpose of entering earth's atmosphere. Although they are not a danger for you as an individual, if 5 of them gets through, everything is doomed. You can only shoot one projectile at the time, so be mindful, as you are not getting another shot until the last fired projectile disperse into the space or hits a target"
https://github.com/victorqribeiro/invaderz
Money quote: "You are the last hope of the human kind as the defense against the InvaderZ. They are deployed by their mothership with the sole purpose of entering earth's atmosphere. Although they are not a danger for you as an individual, if 5 of them gets through, everything is doomed. You can only shoot one projectile at the time, so be mindful, as you are not getting another shot until the last fired projectile disperse into the space or hits a target"
https://github.com/victorqribeiro/invaderz
GitHub
GitHub - victorqribeiro/invaderz: Space invaders, but the invaders evolve with genetic algorithm
Space invaders, but the invaders evolve with genetic algorithm - victorqribeiro/invaderz
Semplice ma completa spiegazione di cosa è successo e cosa sta per succedere con la Brexit. La mia personale idea è che prima - quando bisognava costruire una coscienza collettiva - ci sia stata invece davvero molta separazione e ignoranza, della quale internet ha fatto pulizia finendo nelle mani sbagliate. Insomma, poi riflettiamo anche sulle responsabilità di chi non ha costruito, anziché puntare solo il dito sui populisti che invece stanno distruggendo.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-brexit-fantasy-goes-down-in-tears/
Money quote: “Contrary to the claims of the Brexiteers, Britain already had substantial flexibility within the E.U. Having long ago opted out of the common currency and other E.U. initiatives, it retained the freedom to set its own interest rates and fiscal policies, check visitors at the border, and reject some of the legislative directives from Brussels, but it enjoyed all the advantages of the single market. To the extent that any E.U. member country was having its cake and eating it, Britain was the one. Now it has spent two and a half years trying to sabotage its future. As Bill and others are discovering, this can be a painful truth to contemplate.”
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-brexit-fantasy-goes-down-in-tears/
Money quote: “Contrary to the claims of the Brexiteers, Britain already had substantial flexibility within the E.U. Having long ago opted out of the common currency and other E.U. initiatives, it retained the freedom to set its own interest rates and fiscal policies, check visitors at the border, and reject some of the legislative directives from Brussels, but it enjoyed all the advantages of the single market. To the extent that any E.U. member country was having its cake and eating it, Britain was the one. Now it has spent two and a half years trying to sabotage its future. As Bill and others are discovering, this can be a painful truth to contemplate.”
The New Yorker
The Brexit Fantasy Goes Down in Tears
If no agreement can be reached, Britain could crash out of the E.U. without any exit deal, a prospect that horrifies business leaders and investors but is looked upon with equanimity by some ardent Brexiteers.
Nel cuore di Manhattan c'è un'ultima fattoria sopravvissuta all'esplosione urbana. Costruita a metà del settecento in stile olandese (che poi erano i coloni originari di Manhattan) una volta era al centro di un chilometro quadrato di campi. Oggi ha un giardino di poche decine di metri.
Money quote: "Rapid development in the area was quickly turning the land from rural to urban, and with it many of the old farmhouses were being demolished. Seeing their old home under threat, Mary Alice Dyckman Dean and Fannie Fredericka Dyckman Welch bought the property in 1915 specifically to save it from being swallowed up by the urban sprawl."
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/dyckman-farmhouse
Money quote: "Rapid development in the area was quickly turning the land from rural to urban, and with it many of the old farmhouses were being demolished. Seeing their old home under threat, Mary Alice Dyckman Dean and Fannie Fredericka Dyckman Welch bought the property in 1915 specifically to save it from being swallowed up by the urban sprawl."
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/dyckman-farmhouse
Atlas Obscura
Dyckman Farmhouse
Built around 1785, it's a rare relic of rural Manhattan.
Come ti costruisco la prossima bolla pompando aspettative irrazionali. I monopattini elettrici come strumento di trasporto di massa. Sì, come no.
Money quote: "In effetti sono la soluzione più razionale per la mobilità intelligente dell'ultimo miglio, quando devi arrivare lì dove non arriva la metropolitana o dove non puoi circolare in auto”
Money quote: "In effetti sono la soluzione più razionale per la mobilità intelligente dell'ultimo miglio, quando devi arrivare lì dove non arriva la metropolitana o dove non puoi circolare in auto”
Letture domenicali.
Abbiamo fottuto il pianeta. Questo articolo del New Yorker spiega bene come e quanto. Preferisco questa rivista a una pubblicazione scientifica perché secondo me il punto è proprio questo: la scienza ha fallito la sua missione politica, speriamo ad altri vada meglio.
E la politica, direte voi? Beh, non vorrei che si pensasse che chi c’era prima di Donald Trump fosse migliore...
Money quote: “Scientists have warned for decades that climate change would lead to extreme weather. Shortly before the I.P.C.C. report was published, Hurricane Michael, the strongest hurricane ever to hit the Florida Panhandle, inflicted thirty billion dollars’ worth of material damage and killed forty-five people. President Trump, who has argued that global warming is “a total, and very expensive, hoax,” visited Florida to survey the wreckage, but told reporters that the storm had not caused him to rethink his decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accords. He expressed no interest in the I.P. C.C. report beyond asking “who drew it.” (The answer is ninety-one researchers from forty countries.) He later claimed that his “natural instinct” for science made him confident that the climate would soon “change back.” A month later, Trump blamed the fires in California on “gross mismanagement of forests.””
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/11/26/how-extreme-weather-is-shrinking-the-planet
Abbiamo fottuto il pianeta. Questo articolo del New Yorker spiega bene come e quanto. Preferisco questa rivista a una pubblicazione scientifica perché secondo me il punto è proprio questo: la scienza ha fallito la sua missione politica, speriamo ad altri vada meglio.
E la politica, direte voi? Beh, non vorrei che si pensasse che chi c’era prima di Donald Trump fosse migliore...
Money quote: “Scientists have warned for decades that climate change would lead to extreme weather. Shortly before the I.P.C.C. report was published, Hurricane Michael, the strongest hurricane ever to hit the Florida Panhandle, inflicted thirty billion dollars’ worth of material damage and killed forty-five people. President Trump, who has argued that global warming is “a total, and very expensive, hoax,” visited Florida to survey the wreckage, but told reporters that the storm had not caused him to rethink his decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accords. He expressed no interest in the I.P. C.C. report beyond asking “who drew it.” (The answer is ninety-one researchers from forty countries.) He later claimed that his “natural instinct” for science made him confident that the climate would soon “change back.” A month later, Trump blamed the fires in California on “gross mismanagement of forests.””
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/11/26/how-extreme-weather-is-shrinking-the-planet
The New Yorker
How Extreme Weather Is Shrinking the Planet
With wildfires, heat waves, and rising sea levels, large tracts of the earth are at risk of becoming uninhabitable. But the fossil-fuel industry continues its assault on the facts.
Ci sono medici cardiologi che non sono poi così convinti che farsi l’elettrocardiogramma con un orologio sia necessariamente un bene.
Money quote: “Apple’s new watch sounds like a win for anyone interested in their heart health. It will notify wearers of a slow or irregular heart rhythm, and it can take a basic electrocardiogram (ECG), a recording of the electrical activity of the heart”
https://medium.com/s/story/im-a-heart-doctor-heres-why-im-wary-of-the-new-apple-watch-2b1999f2d942
Money quote: “Apple’s new watch sounds like a win for anyone interested in their heart health. It will notify wearers of a slow or irregular heart rhythm, and it can take a basic electrocardiogram (ECG), a recording of the electrical activity of the heart”
https://medium.com/s/story/im-a-heart-doctor-heres-why-im-wary-of-the-new-apple-watch-2b1999f2d942
Medium
I’m a Heart Doctor. Here’s Why I’m Wary of the New Apple Watch
Apple’s new watch sounds like a win for anyone interested in their heart health. It will notify wearers of a slow or irregular heart rhythm, and it can take a basic electrocardiogram (ECG), a…
Bare Bones aggiorna BBEdit alla versione 12.5 - il mio articolo per Macity
https://www.macitynet.it/bbedit-12-5/
https://www.macitynet.it/bbedit-12-5/
Macitynet.it
Bare Bones aggiorna BBEdit alla versione 12.5 - Macitynet.it
Nuove funzionalità, Lorem Ipsum incorporato e supporto per Swift, oltre a decine di correzioni bug per l’editor di testo più antico e potente di macOS
Mi rifiuto, personalmente. Ma se a qualcuno serve, ecco noscript e impostazioni per trasformare ViM in una sorta di Excel. Più o meno.
Money quote: "I tried to edit data in spreadsheet programs, I really did.
But it's a fact: Vim ruins you for life. Power corrupts."
http://alangrow.com/blog/turn-vim-into-excel-tips-for-tabular-data-editing
Money quote: "I tried to edit data in spreadsheet programs, I really did.
But it's a fact: Vim ruins you for life. Power corrupts."
http://alangrow.com/blog/turn-vim-into-excel-tips-for-tabular-data-editing