C’è una Influencer che sta mettendo sottosopra l’idea che correre faccia bene e sia fighissimo. Quella simpatica ossessione che fa fare la maratona a migliaia e migliaia di persone e ha costruito persino il successo di emittenti radiofoniche (vedi Linus per Radio DeeJay) in realtà andrebbe un attimo ripensata.

Money quote: ”Since Erin began chronicling her adventures on social media, she’s done as much for the world of running as some record-setting athletes. She deploys goofy antics and self-deprecating humor to reveal hard truths about the sport: that it isn’t always pretty, that you don’t have to do it perfectly for it to matter, and that it can, as she says, fricken hurt. And she’s found success by challenging the notion that the only reason to run is to run faster and better. These views, like Erin herself, are out of place in the highly polished veneer of most social media sports accounts, but clearly strike a chord, which is why she now has nearly a million followers on TikTok alone.”

https://www.runnersworld.com/beginner/a44495105/erin-azar-struggle-runner/

Se ci pensate, è il matrimonio perfetto: fare foto a pellicola e tenere un diario. Combinando formati e modi di sviluppo e stampa si possono creare dei diari memorabili.

Money quote: ”So when I wanted to up my film development game I started a film development journal. Soon after I started the journal I wanted some way to better gauge results and progress over time, so I started printing small prints of my photographs, thumbnails I guess you’d call them, and pasted them into the journal adjacent to the process notes.”

https://warrenworks.com/improve-your-practice-through-journaling/

Spiazzante e anche un po’ ”problema da primo mondo”, se non fosse che dietro c’è un tipo di sofferenza che è difficile non ridicolizzare. Vale una lettura capire perché il New Yorker si interroga sui motivi per cui bisogna punire Barbie.

Money quote: ”At my prep school in Los Angeles, popular girls were _everywhere_, spritzing themselves with the Gap perfume called Heaven and presumably all gathering at the same Beverly Hills mansion to snort coke, get waxed, and act aloof around the same boys who only ever spoke to me if they were asking to borrow my TI-82 graphing calculator. It only got worse when I became friendly with two of these popular girls--we ran cross-country together--and found them wickedly funny, and (worse) genuinely _nice_. It all seemed like a cosmic clerical error, a lopsided allocation of assets. The story that was helping me survive my own adolescence--that the popular girls were hopelessly vapid and morally bankrupt--had collapsed; now I had a more robust vision of their superiority, validated and verified, to wear like a hair shirt. Turns out that Barbie was just the first name I gave to the lifelong project of punishing myself with the imagined perfection of others.”

https://archive.is/KIgS0

Il business di quelli che fanno libri finti, cioè solo le spine da mostrare bellamente allienate sugli scaffali. Perché c’è un business anche per quello.

Money quote: ”During the pandemic lockdown in 2020, remote work created increased demand for the company’s services. ”People were requesting books for Zoom meetings,” Mr. Roberts said. ”They wanted classic literature, cookbooks or other things for their backgrounds, kind of like props but also to reflect their personality and tastes. People wanted to avoid getting made fun of for having a romance novel in their background.”

While it mostly specializes in the sale of real books, the company has also dabbled in the world of faux ones. The book seller has cut books -- so only the spines remain -- and glued them to shelves for cruise ships, ”where they don’t want to have a lot of weight or worry that the books will fall off the shelves if the weather gets bad,” Mr. Roberts said.”

https://archive.is/cmR4I

Arrivato! 42, il libro definito su Douglas Adams. Quasi due anni di attesa…

I finalisti dei Tiny Awards

Money quote: In May, the creators of two of my favorite newsletters, Naive Weekly and Web Curios, reached out to see if I’d consider joining the selection committee of Tiny Awards, a tiny prize to honor websites that “best embodies the idea of a small, playful and heartfelt web.” I loved the idea and quickly accepted.”

https://waxy.org/2023/07/vote-on-the-tiny-awards/

Ma al di là di questa segnalazione, tutto il movimento che c’è dietro è interessante.

https://tinyawards.net

A quanto pare non faranno mai una Ricoh GR Monochrome. E questo, a mio avviso, è un errore enorme.

Money quote: ”As soon as the PENTAX K-3 III MONOCHROME was released, there was a strong demand for a MONOCHROME model for the RICOH GR series. But RICOH will not make the GR MONOCHROME. I don’t even plan. 98% no, you can’t do it for some reason. Expecting, waiting, and demanding will all be in vain.”

https://pentaxrumors.com/2023/07/12/kimio-tanaka-there-will-be-no-monochrome-ricoh-gr-camera/

La data di uscita in Italia dell’ultimo film di Hayao Miyazaki
👉 https://t.co/joGmUn4avK

Un po’ di tempo fa ho letto che un autore americano, peraltro morto da un bel po’, scriveva tutto su una macchina per scrivere elettrica non per luddismo ma perché il computer per lui era troppo dispersivo: troppe finestre che entravano in mezzo. Ci sono altri che bloccano il computer o cose del genere. Ma il problema di chi scrive (e in generale di chi deve fare qualcosa) è relativamente più piccolo rispetto a quello di chi legge. Perchè c’è tantissimo da leggere e non si va da nessuna parte. Letteralmente. Come spiega anche questo commentatore a un articolo di Internazionale di un po’ di tempo fa.

Money quote: ”Il risultato? Non ci godiamo il viaggio, non comprendiamo i significati di quel che leggiamo e non ci rimane impresso in testa nulla di nulla di nulla. Tutto questo è figlio del multitasking, del fatto che vogliamo e dobbiamo essere sempre connessi, della tendenza di molti a non staccare mai dal lavoro. Cosa fare dunque?”

(La risposta probabilmente è spegnere tutto, ma non si può, e quindi non c’è. Io se potessi riavere indietro il tempo perso su cose ”compulsivamente inutili”, non quelle normalmente inutili che fanno bene, solo quelle compulsive, sarei già a quota mille tra libri letti e libri scritti).

https://gioeleurso.com/2023/07/24/sindrome-lettura-frettolosa-di-cosa-si-tratta/

"Oppenheimer" vince tutto - la
Mia recensione per Fumettologica

https://fumettologica.it/2023/08/oppenheimer-recensione-film-christopher-nolan/

Poi ci metto dentro altre cose di numeri e concetti

Cosa succede dopo che ci hanno rubato i dati? Questa ricerca più o meno lo spiega. Fanno impressione i valori "all'ingrosso" dati ad esempio alle carte di credito.

Money quote: "A common mistake is to confuse Deep Web with Dark Net. When we talk about the Deep Web, we refer to websites that are not indexed by search networks and usually need credentials. In fact, the Deep Web makes up most of the Internet. As users, we interact with just the fraction that happens to be open.

The Dark Net, on the other hand, is harder to reach. For the most part, it can only be accessed via the Onion routing protocol, usually with the Tor Browser. Even so, many of the websites we offer as examples are only available with invitations from existing members."

https://www.bitdefender.com/blog/hotforsecurity/dark-net-sounds-mysterious-lets-see-whats-really-available-for-sale/

A cosa servono i robotaxi? A molte cose, il semplice trasporto dal punto A al punto B a quanto pare non è l'unica e neanche la principale. A San Francisco, infatti, a quanto pare i robotaxi sono alcove viaggianti.

Money quote: "“We got in and just got straight to it, making out,” said Megan, who got into the Cruise wearing nothing but a robe. “One thing led to another, and he made sure that I was taken care of, if you will. … I was like, ‘I have no underwear on, and I am ready to go in this kimono.’ And I was using his slippers that were like five sizes too big.” "

https://sfstandard.com/2023/08/11/san-francisco-robotaxi-cruise-debauchery/

A quanto pare, le persone uditive sono cognitivamente diverse dalle persone visive. E chissà quante altre forme di diversità neurologica esistono. Perché l'idea che ci sia un solo tipo di persone (per di più di sesso maschile) è alquanto limitante oltre che limitata.

Money quote: "Our research is about how this simple choice influences people’s thinking. If the way a person thinks about incoming information is based only on the content itself, then it should not matter whether they hear or read it. But in recent experiments, we have found evidence that this seemingly inconsequential choice of modality does have an impact on how people reason."

https://psyche.co/ideas/do-you-think-more-clearly-when-reading-or-when-listening

I migliori libri per chi ama l'architettura - la mia booklist per Macity

https://www.macitynet.it/i-migliori-libri-per-chi-ama-larchitettura/

Sono allergico a cani e gatti quindi me per tutto questo è letteralmente fantascienza. Tuttavia, posso capire che la vera ricerca delle intelligenze aliene è sul nostro pianeta: è quella degli altri mammiferi superiori con i quali stiamo assieme tutti i giorni. (Voi, perlomeno, perché a me viene l'asma, oltre a puzzare di brutto).

Money quote: "When I was writing my first book on dog cognition, I asked my friend what he would like to know about a dog’s mind. At the time, he lived with Maggie, a good-natured mixed breed. “What does she know about me?” he said. His response has stayed with me, as it is not uncommon: People wonder not just what their dogs are thinking but what they are thinking about them—whether they see through our deceits or feel the love we feel for them."

https://archive.is/jjzDY

(Originale: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/09/what-dogs-know-about-people/671454/ )

Stiamo decostruendo le nostre costruzioni mentali: concettuali, sociali e altro. Ad esempio, i dinosauri che governavano il mondo. Tutto questo e molto altro viene rimesso in fila con questo articolo. Aeon, e il sito gemello Psyche, stanno facendo un lavoro incredibile.

Money quote: "The last day of the Cretaceous was different, a cataclysm of unfathomable speed and violence. The flying pterosaurs, the coil-shelled ammonites and all dinosaurs but birds vanished, not to mention deep losses to surviving groups of creatures such as lizards and mammals. No species could have prepared for what was to come, even if they had somehow been granted foreknowledge of the calamity. Within minutes of impact, the ground under the feet of dinosaurs in ancient Montana began to shake from seismic shockwaves emanating from the strike. Only a few hours later, tiny chunks of rock, glass and other debris thrown into the atmosphere by the strike began to rain down all over the planet. No single particle had much of an effect, but together the millions of tons of byproduct produced by the impact created so much friction that the result was a horrific heat pulse – hot enough to cause dry forest tinder to burst into flame. Earth’s temperature was set to broil, turning the last non-avian dinosaurs into what could be described as Cretaceous chickens in the oven. The mammals, birds, lizards and other meek creatures that would survive that first day did so by finding shelter underground, little more than a few inches of soil or water shielding them from the global conflagration.

And that was merely the first day, followed by three years of a biting, impact winter that would almost bring photosynthesis to a halt and test the limits of biological resilience. About 75 per cent of all known species went extinct in a geological snap of the fingers."

https://aeon.co/essays/earths-story-is-not-about-dynasties-but-communities

Gli orologi sono una passione, tipicamente maschile. Chi non ce l'ha (la maggior parte degli abitanti del pianeta) non riesce a capire cosa la generi e a cosa serva. Letteralmente, non lo capisce. Ma per chi è stato morso dalla mania degli orologi, è un'infezione che non si cura più.

Beh, a vederla da fuori sembra una cosa da matti e non c'è molto di più da dire. In realtà, è tutto molto più complicato e sofisticato. E questo, il più grande collezionista e commerciante di Rolex al mondo, è in una sotto-sotto-sotto nicchia molto particolare. Alla quale aggiunge anche molto dal suo.

Money quote: "“Rolex has done an extraordinary job with its marketing, and still does — its ties to sport, Hollywood and so on — even to the point that it’s been criticized for running ad campaigns for watches nobody can buy,” explains Silver. “Does Rolex make the best watches in the world? No. They’re not even that rare — Rolex makes hundreds of thousands of watches every year. But there’s a genius in creating a brand and a product that’s so desirable to all creeds and walks of life. And the substance is there.”

“For me, as for a lot of people, it’s about the design, the colors, the outside of the watch,” he adds, noting that classic Rolex models the likes of the Oyster and Submariner are likely the most copied watches — by other watch brands, never mind counterfeiters — ever. “If I was in a hostage situation and had to name all the parts of a mechanical watch movement, I’d probably fail. Customers typically know more about watches than me. But I do know what sells. I know how to dress a watch up.”"

https://www.insidehook.com/article/watches/vintage-watch-company-worlds-largest-rolex-collection

Uno dei discorsi più lucidamente capace di predire il futuro, ancora attualissimo. Perdete dieci minuti a leggerlo, non ve ne pentirete.

Money quote: "They want to bring them up in space, they want to colonize the Moon, they can’t wait to go to Jupiter, much less Mars. They’re all very busy, they’re coming around, they even have long hair and they even have beards, and they come around and they say ‘Oh, I can’t wait to get into my first space shuttle!’—that is the future.

This is regarded as ecology and it’s not ecology. It’s futurism! It’s what Exxon wants to do. It’s what Chase Manhattan wants to do. It’s what all the corporations want to do. But it is not utopia, it is pure futurism. It is the present extended into the future."

https://unevenearth.org/2019/10/bookchin_doing_the_impossible/

Come trasformare un fastidioso ritardo nella partenza di un aereo in una opportunità di fare non solo buone PR ma anche notizia: lei e lui si incontrano mentre sono al bar che aspettano di partire, scocca la scintilla e oggi si sposano.

Money quote: "Liz Edwards, communications director at Tui UK, said: “No one likes a flight delay but this one was clearly meant to happen."

https://www.indy100.com/news/love-is-in-the-air-pair-to-marry-after-delayed-plane-led-to-chance-meeting

Non solo Heineken se ne va dalla Russia, ma la multinazionale olandese chiude la commercializzazione di tutti i suoi marchi in quel Paese. Come la globalizzazione è passata attraverso la diffusione uniforme di determinati prodotti in tutto il mondo (con la trasformazione di supermercati, ristoranti, negozi ovunque), così la sua amputazione delle carcasse in cancrena passa attraverso la cancellazione completa.

Money quote: "La cervecera holandesa Heineken ha completado la venta de sus operaciones en Rusia al Grupo Arnest al precio de 1 euro, una operación que supondrá que el grupo se anote una perdida acumulada total de unos 300 millones de euros."

https://www.elmundo.es/economia/empresas/2023/08/25/64e887e6e4d4d80c748b45ab.html

Lettura domenicale! Se vi piace la fotografia (a me piace!) e vi interessa provare a fare foto quadrate, che poi sarebbe il formato del 6x6, ecco qualche consiglio utile.

Money quote: "2 - A square frame is equal and balanced on all sides, which lends itself well to compositions that involve symmetry. Look for opportunities to split the frame equally on both sides with similar shapes, patterns, or reflections.

Placing the horizon line horizontally through the middle of the frame, along with a reflection works well for this, or try an upside down double exposure with the subject overlapping in the middle of the frame.

Symmetry can be used well in other aspect ratios too, but the square frame presents some unique opportunities for this technique."

https://shootitwithfilm.com/six-composition-tips-when-shooting-square-format/