iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

“Leaders in California have denounced Donald Trump as “reckless” and “deranged” after the US president suggested Iran could “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego – two liberal cities in the blue state that has been a frequent target of his administration. “ www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

theguardian.com

Trump suggests he would let Iran ‘take out’ Los Angeles or San Diego

Gavin Newsom calls comments ‘deranged and dangerous’ after president tells Nebraska rally: ‘They can take out a city’

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 20h

The debate an controversy shall go on ; I say , let Shakespeare rest in peace ; just enjoy the marvelous trove of stories and excellent writing.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 21h

“The evidence in favor of Shakespeare’s authorship is quantitatively slight. It rests positively, in the main, on the explicit statements in the First Folio of 1623”—the collection of Shakespeare’s plays, which turns 400 this year—”and on continuous tradition; “ lithub.com/doubting-sha...

lithub.com

Doubting Shakespeare’s Identity Isn’t a Conspiracy Theory

The Shakespeare authorship question—the theory that William Shakespeare might not have written the works published under his name—is the most horrible, vexed, unspeakable subject in the history of …

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 21h

“the WPA was the first target of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), and Roosevelt’s people did little to defend it; by 1943, the WPA, and with it the Federal Writers’ Project, were dead, the remaining money diverted to the war effort. “ www.publicbooks.org/long-distanc...

publicbooks.org

Long-Distance Talkers: The Great Depression Speaks - Public Books

During the Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration conducted thousands of interviews among American workers. Anne Trubek's “American Made” gives them new voice.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 21h

“She will both employ failed pieces to make new pieces, cutting up old canvases or sketches of her own, and include fragments of her husband’s artworks, reimagining them, giving them curved or floral forms, so that they speak to her own fantasies. “ hyperallergic.com/the-mets-kra...

hyperallergic.com

The Met’s Krasner and Pollock Show Is a Breathtaking Upending

If you’re looking for bias or reparations, these volatile contents are all on the surface, quietly and neatly presented.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

“This includes recognising abuse, putting together a safe plan for leaving, and custody of children. “I said all the wrong things to Nicole: ‘You’ve got to leave him. You’ve got to get out of this situation. What are you doing? “ www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

theguardian.com

My sister Nicole married OJ Simpson. This is what I wish I had known

Since Nicole Brown Simpson’s murder in 1994, Denise Brown has devoted herself to ending domestic violence. She talks about her beloved sister, the trauma she witnessed in the couple’s marriage and how...

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

“Brown’s centrality to constitutional discourse has warped constitutional law. The decision (mis)shapes general understandings of the Supreme Court, court’s power of judicial review, and the nature of the political,public outcry that may be directed at the court.” lareviewofbooks.org/article/supr...

lareviewofbooks.org

Who Is Supreme, the People or the Court? | Los Angeles Review of Books

Nikolas Bowie and Daphna Renan’s new book challenges the supremacy of judicial review over democracy itself.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

“But the German dictator’s potential involvement in the mysterious death of his half-sister’s daughter, with whom he shared an oddly close relationship, has remained much more ambiguous for nearly a century.” www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/h...

smithsonianmag.com

Hitler Had an Intense, Mysterious Relationship With His Half-Niece. New Research Suggests His Alibi for Her Murder Might Not Hold Up

Recently uncovered documents about the timing of Geli Raubal’s death cast new doubt on the Nazi leader’s alibi, which had been considered reasonably sound for nearly a century

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

“twins are a phenomenon that has held cultural cachet throughout human history. Twins are seen as endlessly compelling — though they’re not always viewed in a positive light. “ hyperallergic.com/twinkind-wha...

hyperallergic.com

What Makes Twins So Fascinating?

The secret life of doubles is rich fodder for storytelling, as Twinkind thoroughly demonstrates.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Your analysis is spot on , Tulip , the indifference to facts and critical analysis has virtually disappeared; a laissez-faire attitude is ubiquitous, especially from the Gen Z crowd, who live in a bubble of digital detritus.?

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

“There was a Dionysian cult in which participants known as maenads – mad women – would take part in wine-fuelled rites in which they would experience ‘enthusiasm’, literally to be filled with the god, and ‘ecstasy’, to stand outside oneself.” engelsbergideas.com/reviews/how-...

engelsbergideas.com

How wine conquered the globe

From the crude liquids of the ancient world to the refined commercial product of the 21st century, the story of wine has been intimately bound with that of human civilisation.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

“In 2004, almost 30 percent of Americans read for pleasure; by 2023, that figure had fallen to just 16 percent. Books are getting shorter, comprehension of long words is in decline, and many young people now source their politics from TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. “ jacobin.com/2026/09/revi...

jacobin.com

Literacy Is Another Casualty of the Decline of Democracy

A new book by the journalist James Marriott purports to explain the decline of literacy. Instead, it offers a narrow defense of elite culture that that pays next to no attention to the role these elit...

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

“I’m not surprised that Don Quixote is hilarious and deranged. I’ve often found that the dusty classics that are supposed to be dreary chores to read are, in fact, far funnier and stranger than their reputations would suggest.” countercraft.substack.com/p/the-roots-...

countercraft.substack.com

The Roots of the Novel Are Parody, Pastiche, and Play

On reading Don Quixote in 2026

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

“Gertrude Stein haunts the annals of literary history with a still more inscrutable piece of wordplay: “A rose is a rose is a rose.” Or rather, in its original phrasing—for she would tweak it over the years—“Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.” lithub.com/what-gertrud...

lithub.com

What Gertrude Stein, T. S. Eliot and Joan Didion Really Meant With Their Most Famous Aphorisms

Phrased & Confused, in which Eli Burnstein digs into the meaning of some of the famous literary aphorisms of all time, is available now from Abrams. “A rose is a rose is a rose.” –Gertru…

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

“Ginsburg played a critical role before the Court that came to define her crusade for gender equality and secured greater scrutiny of laws that drew upon gender as a legal distinction. “ www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2026/09/how-...

saturdayeveningpost.com

How Ruth Bader Ginsburg Fought Gender Discrimination — For Both Men and Women | The Saturday Evening Post

The most fascinating aspect of Ginsburg’s work is not her fight for women’s equality, but that her cases just as frequently argued for the equal rights of men.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

National media is broken, much of it avoiding Trump’s wrath to gain access ; the outspoken are only whispering.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

“We say we do not want this.We say we will slow down,we’ll set limits, we’ll cut back,we’ll get the situation under control.This far but no further. This is the drinker’s oath.This is smoker’s oath,sincere but powerless against our oldest and most durable of fantasies.” arcmag.org/we-want-ai-t...

arcmag.org

We Want AI to Kill Us All | ARC: Religion, Politics, Et Cetera

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat before the gathered multitudes. His disciples came to him, and he began to align them: Blessed are the poor in spirit … Blessed are ...

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

“The book remains an entertaining polemic, blending attacks on religion with biology, cosmology and waspish turns of phrase: ‘We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.” engelsbergideas.com/notebook/los...

engelsbergideas.com

Losing faith in New Atheism: ‘The God Delusion’ 20 years on

Richard Dawkins’s bestseller defined New Atheism, an intellectual fashion whose conclusions look increasingly irrelevant.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

“the second branch of originalism is its use by judges as a well-developed set of rhetorical tropes by which conservative judges justify their decisions, particularly those that overturn established precedent or further anti-democratic goal “ washingtonmonthly.com/2024/08/25/t...

washingtonmonthly.com

The Origin of Specious

Originalism, the school of constitutional interpretation currently modish among conservative lawyers and judges, is not so much an idea as a legal-industrial complex divided into three parts—the acade...

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

“he is continuing to score victories in another arena: Supreme Court’s so-called “shadow docket.” On Tuesday,the Court issued an emergency order allowing Trump to resume deporting people to “third countries” other than their own, temporarily lifting a lower court’s block.” time.com/article/2026...

time.com

How Trump Has Benefited From the Supreme Court's ‘Shadow Docket’

Trump has made significantly more emergency requests to the high court than any other President in recent history. Most of the responses have been favorable.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

“Ukraine’s strategic strike campaign is accelerating and exerting increasing pressure on Russia’s air defence, military industry and oil production. Zelensky’s diplomatic efforts have been aided, too, by Kyiv’s air defence support to Middle East nations. “ engelsbergideas.com/essays/ukrai...

engelsbergideas.com

Ukraine is mastering 21st-century warfare

With Ukraine adapting faster than its invader, several early indicators suggest that the war's trajectory is shifting in Kyiv's favour.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

“Known for her intimate portraits from the 1920s to the 1980s, Neel painted subjects ranging from Andy Warhol, whom she depicted with his surgical scars on full display, to a pair of young girls in 1950s Spanish Harlem.” hyperallergic.com/alice-neels-...

hyperallergic.com

Alice Neel’s McCarthy-Era Trial Drawings Go to Auction

The Communist painter depicted the 1949–51 Foley Square trials while on assignment for a Marxist magazine.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

“When Coluccio Salutati invented the parenthesis, nearly 200 years before Sidney perfected it, he rendered visible an age-old rhetorical practice of inserting a particle of a sentence into a greater whole. “ publicdomainreview.org/essay/philip...

publicdomainreview.org

Philip Sidney and the Extreme (Dis)graces of the Parenthesis

Erasmus called them “little moons” and George Puttenham praised them as “figures of tolerable disorder” (if used not too often “nor too thick”). For Philip Sidney, they were simply indispensable. Flor...

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

“The problem had begun some six years earlier. He once claimed that it came upon him suddenly after he threw himself to the floor in a rage during a row with a troublesome tenor. ‘When I arose I found myself deaf’”he said. www.historytoday.com/archive/hist...

historytoday.com

Beethoven’s Heiligenstadt Testament

On 6 October 1802 Ludwig van Beethoven confessed his despair at the loss of his hearing in the Heiligenstadt Testament.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

“More than 270 Catholic clerics sexually abused nearly 1,000 children across three Massachusetts dioceses over several decades, according to a report released by the state’s attorney general’s office on Wednesday.” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

theguardian.com

Catholic clergy sexually abused nearly 1,000 Massachusetts children over decades, report finds

No new indictments from eight-year investigation as state attorney general says church knew about abuse

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

‘Americans can “receive accurate answers” to all sorts of questions, providing answers that he will not want to hear. It stands ready to debunk his false claims on all sorts of things, including election fraud, inflation and the impact of wind turbines on whales.‘ www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

theguardian.com

Trump’s AI chatbot turns on its master

The famously fact-averse president rolled out a new AI tool – but its answers don’t conform to his version of reality

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

“In her dextrous handling, Pharr’s many mediums yield an array of textures, patterns, and opacities: velvety, patchy, and leaflike, or gauzy and distorted, like the stretchy image on an ultrasound. “ hyperallergic.com/a-vision-of-...

hyperallergic.com

A Vision of Rebirth, Raw and Sumptuous

Derriann Pharr, an artist-in-residence at the Studio Museum, draws from girlhood and womanhood in works that metamorphose before our eyes.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

😂😂 , likely the incels dominate this group .

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

“for many, the finding entails little to no threat to length or quality of life, except through the ill effects of treatments. However, patients labelled with the ‘C-word’ face substantial clinical, psychological, social and economic consequences.” aeon.co/essays/we-ne...

aeon.co

We need a better way to describe what is often called ‘cancer’ | Aeon Essays

A cancer diagnosis carries with it fear and upheaval. For many patients the cellular changes do not warrant the label

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

“For those I spoke to, however, reading romance is more than just entertainment. It offers a kind of liberation, allowing them to feel deeply, imagine being desired, and accept parts of themselves that conventional masculinity has little room for.” www.theguardian.com/books/2026/s...

theguardian.com

The secret lives of men who read romance books: ‘My life is full of love, so I’m drawn to them’

It’s often assumed straight men are not interested in romantic fiction – but many are sharing their passion in forums online

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

“The upper part of the work draws from ancient fresco, with illusionistic architecture, including thin columns with elaborate capitals and Dionysian symbols that hold up platforms on two levels like an ancient stage” hyperallergic.com/the-breathta...

hyperallergic.com

The Breathtaking Sight of Ancient Rome's Largest Surviving Wall Mosaic

Beneath the ruins of the Baths of Trajan, a giant mosaic and unusual fresco remind us of the continual discovery of the wondrous: Rome’s ongoing lesson.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

“It probably should not be too much of a surprise that Stoicism, one of the most deviant and uncharacteristic branches of ancient philosophy (the Cynics notwithstanding), should attract the attention of late 20th-century intelligentsia. “ www.thecollector.com/post-modern-...

thecollector.com

Post-Modern Stoics? The Revival of Stoicism in the Late 20th Century | TheCollector

The unexpected revival of Stoicism, from Foucault to Deleuze, as a modern tool for self-care, political resistance, and an authentic life.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

“What’s amazing about the era is not the hope,cherished by so many Americans,that war might be avoided. It’s that the nation eventually rose up and dedicated the full force of its industrial,ideological,spiritual, and military might to banishing Fascism from earth.” www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

newyorker.com

How America Became Antifascist

Franklin D. Roosevelt was slow to confront the threat of Fascism. A new history explores how he—and the country—finally came around.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

“Harkness’s work, which comprises series of narrative paintings that blend history, humor, fantasy, and a kind of funhouse erotics and gender play with rich literary and art historical references, are very much something you want to spend time sitting with” hyperallergic.com/hilary-harkn...

hyperallergic.com

Where Funhouse Erotics Meet Art History

A new volume of Hilary Harkness’s paintings enfolds us into surreal worlds of gender-bending militaries, feminine revenge, and alternative histories.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

“Astra fell short of the company’s standards in alignment tests, which assess whether a system follows human intent The model showed more deception than its predecessor, including at times failing to accurately disclose actions it had or had not taken.” www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

theguardian.com

OpenAI scraps release of new model over safety concerns in internal testing

GPT-6.1 Astra showed deceptive behaviour and tried to use external tools despite knowing it would be unsafe

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Delusion ramps up as the despicable dotard lies in machine gun fervor , his twisted mind beyond any repair, drowning in his own impieties and chimerical drama. The MAGA tribe , broken numbskulls , gaping mouths , can only drop their soiled heads in ignorant repose.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

“she had been with the USDA for almost two decades and explained that their goal was to make each illustration “a perfect reproduction in form and color of what is before us. Every tint of fruit and leaf and twig must be exact to a tone.” www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2026/09/wome...

saturdayeveningpost.com

Women’s Work: The Women Who Painted America’s Fruit | The Saturday Evening Post

Before photography, the only way to visually document items was through illustration, and women like Deborah Griscom Passmore helped the USDA by creating thousands of paintings of apples and other fru...

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

“the first successful vending operation in America was started in 1888 by Thomas Adams. Through the Adams Gum Company, the inventor installed gum vending machines on New York City railway platforms.” www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2026/09/from...

saturdayeveningpost.com

From Holy Water to Frozen Meals: The Evolution of Vending Machines | The Saturday Evening Post

For more than 2,000 years, vending machines have made purchasing goods more convenient.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

“The Supreme Court’s decision decimating Section 2 of the VRA—which had required racial minorities have an equal opportunity to meaningfully participate in elections—threatens to return the country to pre-1965 America,when white supremacy was the law of the land “ www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

motherjones.com

Jim Crow was on the ash heap of history. Then came the Roberts court.

The disaster the justices have unleashed has its roots in one of the darkest periods of our past.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

“What distinguishes, for him, the great artist from the average is not principally subject matter. Rather, it is the imposition upon the world of a form peculiar to a single consciousness. Proust understands Vermeer’s interiors to be fragments of one such world. “ engelsbergideas.com/notebook/pro...

engelsbergideas.com

Proust's quarrel with 'accessible' art

For Proust, serious art assumes its audience can acquire capacities it does not yet possess.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

“Undergirding the action is one of the most well-known, yet enigmatic myths in Western tradition, namely the legend of the Fisher King, which contains elements of your standard heroic quest, the restoration of the land, and cyclical fertility rites.” daily.jstor.org/t-s-eliot-an...

daily.jstor.org

T. S. Eliot and the Holy Grail - JSTOR Daily

The Nobel Laureate drew on a centuries-old legend when he put the Fisher King in The Waste Land.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

“As we know well from the large-scale changes of plan during the construction period, through to the later blocking of some gates at milecastles and forts, the Wall did not have a singular purpose or meaning, perhaps even not for Hadrian himself,” daily.jstor.org/ancient-rome...

daily.jstor.org

Ancient Rome’s Complicated Border - JSTOR Daily

What did Hadrian’s Wall actually do? Its history challenges the idea that walls simply separate one side from another.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

“The booksellers visited homes and businesses with sample books, took orders, and then later delivered the books and collected payment. “ daily.jstor.org/the-women-wh...

daily.jstor.org

The Women Who Sold Books Door to Door - JSTOR Daily

Three nineteenth-century memoirs reveal the risks and rewards of life on the road as a traveling bookseller.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

“These kinds of overcharges – inside convenience stores and outside at their fuel pumps – put added stress on family budgets already burdened by years of high inflation. “ www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

theguardian.com

Amid soaring living costs, America’s biggest convenience-store chains quietly overcharge consumers

Guardian investigation: 7-Eleven and Circle K stores often fail to honor advertised prices – charging more at pump and register for gas, snacks, and other items

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

“Benton was deeply concerned with the hardships of poor and working-class Americans and dedicated his practice to depicting their lives and country. The artist developed an accessible style that focused on the real American experience.” hyperallergic.com/thomas-hart-...

hyperallergic.com

Thomas Hart Benton's Sanitized American Idyll

His ambition to capture the full experience of living in the United States had its limits.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

“Zee says the effectiveness of pink noise is all in the timing. “The effect here,at least for memory,is quite related to the ability of the sound stimulus to enhance slow-wave sleep,” she says. “That’s very much tied to what part of the slow wave the stimulus is hitting on.” time.com/collections/...

time.com

The Sound of 'Pink Noise' Improves Sleep and Memory

When researchers synched up soothing pink noise with deep-sleep brain waves, they saw big improvements in next-day memory.

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Ken @bludrone.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

“Perhaps due to his poor eyesight, Gaudí disliked drawing and rejected the traditional idea of sketching his architectural creations. Instead, he created three-dimensional models from chains and weighted strings, suspending them over large mirrors.” www.thecollector.com/antoni-gaudi...

thecollector.com

10 Facts About Antoni Gaudí, “God’s Architect” | TheCollector

Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí came a long way—from a struggling university student to a master architect on the path to sainthood.

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