Interesting Links for 09-11-2021

[andrewducker]

Ancient wild bees found at Blenheim Palace

(tags:bees )

The Feynman Technique: The Best Way to Learn Anything

(tags:advice learning teaching )

Portugal makes it illegal for your boss to text you after work

(tags:portugal work working_hours )

Walmart is using fully driverless trucks to ramp up its online grocery business

(tags:automation driving transport usa )

Disney Plus is upgrading Marvel movies to IMAX aspect ratio

(tags:marvel movies Disney )

Do you think Boris Johnson just likes killing people?

(tags:BorisJohnson murder Pandemic hospital OhForFucksSake )

The Popularity of E-Bikes Isn’t Slowing Down

(tags:bicycles )

What if Xi Jinping just isn't that competent?

(tags:China viaDanielDWilliam )

Alan Cumming Answers Every Question We Have About The Best Bond Movie

(tags:movies JamesBond history )

‘I’m Overdue for a Discussion About My Role in Inspiring ‘Edgelord’ Shit’: A Conversation with Steve Albini

(tags:history society USA offensive music ViaDrCross )

When is the revolution in architecture coming?

(tags:architecture )

Why did ancient Egypt spend 3000 years playing a game nobody else liked?

(tags:games history archeology Egypt )

Comments

The revolution in architecture

[anna_wing]

Perhaps he was just not looking in the right place. Though China has now reportedly banned "weird" buildings.


https://duckduckgo.com/?q=spectacular+modern+chinese+architecture&atb=v225-1&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=spectacular+modern+japanese+architecture&atb=v225-1&iax=images&ia=images

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=spectacular+modern+singapore+architecture&atb=v225-1&iax=images&ia=images

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=spectacular+modern+korean+architecture&atb=v225-1&iax=images&ia=images

Re: The revolution in architecture

[andrewducker]

Oooh, shiny!

[dewline]

2. I know of Richard Feynman, and that method of learning a new thing strikes me as...well, entertaining. Maybe even helpful.

3. Good!

4. And I suppose that's one way around the driver-training bottleneck. Funny thing, though: I just applied for a job with a company making driver-training software. I guess this will make such companies obsolete if what Wal-Mart's trying takes hold at enough other companies?

6. Maybe he does. I have that suspicion about others in his circles of advisors and cabinet ministers.

7. I don't think Xi is all that competent. Aside from his fascist-style cult-building, that is.

[andrewducker]

2) I learnt a huge amount about computers when an old friend asked me to teach her about them.

[dewline]

Maybe this is something my family and I both need.

[ingreatwaters]

I'm just not that keen on baroque, modern or otherwise - most of the first set of buildings kind of horrify me!

Wild bees at Blenheim

[anef]

How completely fascinating. It's things like this that give one hope for nature.

Re: Wild bees at Blenheim

[andrewducker]

Fingers crossed that there are more bits of nature hiding in out of the way places!

[jducoeur]

What if Xi Jinping just isn't that competent?

Far as I can tell, he's competent, but no -- not as competent as he thinks. But the bigger problem seems to be an epic example of The Snafu Principle.

He's succeeded at his ruthless culling of his enemies, and done pretty well at his less-malign project of weeding out the more egregious bits of corruption. Now, he is completely in control. Some people adore him; others are terrified of him; almost nobody is willing to speak out against him.

Where does that go? At this point, everybody is feeding his ego, and everybody needs to publicly agree with him. That means that there is no resistance when he does something right, but also very little when he screws up -- and he will screw up, because he's still human.

Assume he doesn't make any mistakes that are so disastrous as to end the world (a frighteningly non-zero possibility), I suspect that historians will have a field day dissecting his mistakes, and will show him to be above-average as leaders go, but likely not much better than that.

Why did ancient Egypt spend 3000 years playing a game nobody else liked?

This headline gets a bit of a headdesk from me: while the article isn't quite as naive as the title, it feels like it is making a lot of assumptions about how games work and how they travel in general, that don't feel very well-justified to me historically. I get the sense that he's making a mountain out of a molehill...