“The effort to put climate change in the foreground of Roman history is motivated both by troves of new data and a heightened sensitivity to the importance of the physical environment. The empire-builders benefitted from impeccable timing: the characteristic warm, wet and stable weather was conducive to economic productivity in an agrarian society. The benefits of economic growth supported the political and social bargains by which the Roman empire controlled its vast territory. The favourable climate, in ways subtle and profound, was baked into the empire’s innermost structure. The end of this lucky climate regime did not immediately, or in any simple deterministic sense, spell the doom of Rome.”
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Scientists: Limitations On Our Brain’s Capacity To Store Visual Images
“How many pieces of furniture do you think you could rearrange in your mind? Is there a limit to how much we can imagine at once, or is our imagination truly unlimited?”
Read Widely? That’s Really Bad Advice
“At its most obnoxious, the command to “read widely” reflects the more-is-more ethos that courses, like an energy drink, through our literary culture. My Twitter feed is full of writers and critics who relentlessly strive to be up on their field, logging every literary debut like librarians, returning from writing conferences with shareable jpegs of their book-engorged tote bags, or lighting out for yet another reading, the stacks on the book table like some mountain range, the promise of a horizon. Some real talk: most writing isn’t worth consuming. That includes cereal boxes and New York Times wedding announcements. More real talk: most people urging you to read widely probably have a hard time ranging outside their comfort zones.”
Study: Bigger Cities Aren’t Always Better For Residents
Urbanization has historically been thought of as a necessary feature of economic development and growth, but this study finds the connection is not so simple. While advanced nations benefit from having larger cities, developing nations do not.
Why Smart Academics Become Such Hideous Writers
“You learned the secret handshakes and shibboleths without questioning, or even noticing, the changes taking place in your language. You hid behind the third person, used the passive voice when you could, and shied away from making blunt assertions and bold arguments. You wrote nothing you couldn’t back up with a zillion footnotes. You began to pad your ideas with throat-clearing statements and ready-made phrases, taking 25 pages to say what what could have been plainly expressed in 10.”
Why MoviePass Is An Extreme Threat To Movie Theatres
The company is going through a boom period: MoviePass saw 150,000 new signups in just two days when it dropped its price back in August. But if it does go under, those subscribers will have to return to paying between $10 to $15 for a single ticket. After three months with the service, I don’t think I could do that. MoviePass changes almost everything about the theater experience, when the cost of entry is virtually zero.
The Met’s Complicity In Ignoring James Levine’s Abuse Points To Big Problems In The Classical Music World
“Now, Levine will become a convenient scapegoat, and institutions will race to condemn him with prurient finger-wagging, piling on almost gleefully in their eagerness to aver that they will never, ever, not ever work with him again. Meanwhile, orchestras and opera houses and conservatories and choruses all across the country continue to harbor and protect leaders who egregiously abuse their power, who harass musicians who can’t speak up, who assault and rape in the self-satisfied knowledge that they can get away with it.”
How To Get A Celeb Autograph: Bring The Correct Marker, And A Lot Of Cash
Back in the day, things were … easier. Now you need a case with the correct – and very rare – blue Vis markers, Post-It notes on the items, and a lot of cash (Mark Hamill – Luke Skywalker, obviously – charges $295, for instance). Or you can buy them from Disney itself. “Yet there is something about the ‘quality, authentic experience’ that is lost when you can order an autograph online or pick one up from a Disney World gift shop.”
‘Youthquake’ Is Oxford Dictionaries’ 2017 Word Of The Year
The term isn’t actually new – Diana Vreeland coined it for Vogue in the 1960s – but use of it quintupled over the previous year. Other (newer) words in this year’s shortlist included “antifa”, “kompromat”, and “broflake”.
Celebrity Book Clubs Are Hokum Writ Large On Instagram
Or they’re both useful AND ridiculous: “I follow the Instagram accounts of all of the book clubs listed … for reading recommendations—and, of course, for their ‘bookish mood posts.’ It’s a colorful and easy way to keep a following; as users browse Instagram on the subway, we’ll scroll across a picture of Witherspoon reading next to the window, in perfect lighting. She just looks like she has a Nature Box subscription and separate moisturizers for morning and evening. Doesn’t that sound lovely?”