Sometimes, it’s hard to tell. On her best days, she can manage whole sentences, though occasionally they’ll be in Arabic, her first language. Other times her words are mangled between what remains of her mind and her lips — or they’re lost altogether.
Our mother used to talk: Fast and loud, with a distinctive clipped cadence. She summoned so many words: Tender and withering and funny and angry and illuminating and painful and comforting. Our mother was fierce, a woman of unnatural will who withstood decades that should have broken her.
Her body has a mind of its own, separate and apart from the one ravaged by Alzheimer’s. It is defiant, unbowed after bearing six children and raising them alone, after countless beatings, after years on her feet working in factories and bars, after lying awake each night worrying about whether we had enough and who we’d become. Even at 84, her body continues its relentless march forward. Her brain hurtles in the opposite direction, the regressions cascading.
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A mother and daughter held hands recently during a visit. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
They say that in art, constraints lead to creativity. The same seems to be true of the universe. By placing limits on nature, the laws of physics squeeze out reality’s most fantastical creations. Limit light’s speed, and suddenly space can shrink, time can slow. Limit the ability to divide energy into infinitely small units, and the full weirdness of quantum mechanics blossoms. “Declaring something impossible leads to more things being possible,” writes the physicist Chiara Marletto. “Bizarre as it may seem, it is commonplace in quantum physics.”
Marletto grew up in Turin, in northern Italy, and studied physical engineering and theoretical physics before completing her doctorate at the University of Oxford, where she became interested in quantum information and theoretical biology. But her life changed when she attended a talk by David Deutsch, another Oxford physicist and a pioneer in the field of quantum computation. It was about what he claimed was a radical new theory of explanations. It was called constructor theory, and according to Deutsch, it would serve as a kind of meta-theory more fundamental than even our most foundational physics — deeper than general relativity, subtler than quantum mechanics. To call it ambitious would be a massive understatement.
Marletto, then 22, was hooked. In 2011, she joined forces with Deutsch, and together they have spent the last decade transforming constructor theory into a full-fledged research program.
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Philipp Ammon for Quanta Magazine
Constructor theory grew out of work in quantum information theory. It aims to be broad enough to cover areas that can’t be described in the traditional ways of thinking, such as the physics of life and the physics of information.
Bojnice Castle is a medieval castle in Bojnice, Slovakia. It is a Romanesque castle with some original Gothic and Renaissance elements built in the 12th century. Bojnice Castle is one of the most visited castles in Slovakia, receiving hundreds of thousands of visitors every year and also being a popular filming stage for fantasy and fairy-tale movies.
Bojnice Castle was first mentioned in written records in 1113, in a document held at the Zobor Abbey. Originally built as a wooden fort, it was gradually replaced by stone, with the outer walls being shaped according to the uneven rocky terrain. Its first owner was Matthew III Csák, who received it in 1302 from the King Ladislaus V of Hungary. Later, in the 15th century, it was owned by King Matthias Corvinus, who gave it to his illegitimate son John Corvinus in 1489. Matthias liked to visit Bojnice and it was here that he worked on his royal decrees. He used to dictate them under a linden tree, which is now known as the “Linden tree of King Matthias”. After his death, the castle became the property of the Zápolya family (see John Zápolya). The Thurzós, the richest family in the northern Kingdom of Hungary, acquired the castle in 1528 and undertook its major reconstruction. The former fortress was turned into a Renaissance castle. From 1646 on, the castle’s owners were the Pálffys, who continued to rebuild the castle. Wikipedia
It’s about a habit that Bezos calls “super-important,” and that he has advised over and over. In fact, he explicitly encouraged parents to “preach” it to their kids. And, as a father of four, he says it’s the advice he’s tried to give his own children.
Granted, I’m sometimes hesitant to repeat child-raising advice from so-called icons of entrepreneurship. There’s too much opportunity to mistake correlation for causation.
But, in this case, the advice that Bezos gives aligns almost exactly with the research of Carol Dweck, a psychology professor at Stanford University.
If you don’t know Dweck’s work, she’s conducted some highly compelling studies on teaching children to adopt a “growth mindset,” as opposed to a “fixed mindset,” and why parents should appreciate the difference.
Not only does this tell you about the person you’re meeting with, Lares notes, it also gives you a potential way to build rapport. Do you see that they have a degree from the same college you went to? Is there are a beautiful piece of art you can compliment? On your end, choosing the right background for a video call or conference is key. “A clean background is good, but bare walls can be viewed as a negative thing, as it gives the other party nothing to connect with.” Basically, try to strike a balance between empty and cluttered when setting up your own background.
If you bike down a street on the edge of Los Angeles’s Echo Park neighborhood, you’ll see a sudden change in the pavement on one block, where the black asphalt shifts to white. A little over a year ago, the city covered the street with a special coating—light in color, so it reflects the sun—as part of a plan to help cool L.A. as the world keeps getting hotter.
Like most cities, L.A. is facing more frequent and extreme heatwaves. One new study that mapped out rising heat across the country found that if greenhouse gas emissions continue on their current path, the average number of days in a year across the U.S. that feel hotter than 100 degrees will more than double by the middle of the century. Some cities will have it worst: In Miami, by the end of the century, 153 days each year could feel that hot. Globally, cities that were relatively cool in the past are beginning to grapple with buildings that weren’t built for heat (like Berlin, where the average high in June is 72 degrees but climbed to 101 degrees one day last month, the hottest on record for the planet). Cities also suffer from the urban heat island effect: Hot temperatures get even hotter as pavement and buildings soak up and release radiation from the sun.
“Mommy, I wish I was never born,” my 4-year-old said to me last week. Crushed, I tried to keep from grimacing as I asked him why. “Because then, I would never die,” he replied.
My son often blurts out these types of thoughtful yet pessimistic musings. On Friday, I offered to take him to see his first movie at the cinema, and his initial reaction was concern that it might be too loud. Before a hike last weekend, he warned my husband and me that we’d better not forget to check everyone for ticks afterward. He’s a delightful kid who loves to let loose and have fun, but he sure knows how to worry.
Apparently, my son isn’t alone. Over the past few months, I’ve stumbled across a handful of articles and blog posts claiming that there is an epidemic of anxiety among youth today. Kids are stressed and worried about oh so many things, I’ve read, because they are over-tested, under-recessed, helicopter-parented, and spending too much time online. It seems 2016 is giving every American kid an anxiety disorder.
Pune, known as Poona until 1978 is the second-largest metropolitan city in the Indian state of Maharashtra and the eighth-most populous city in India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million as of 2020. It has been ranked as “the most livable city in India” several times. Along with the municipal corporation limits of PCMC and the three cantonment towns of Camp, Khadki, and Dehu Road, Pune forms the urban core of the eponymous Pune Metropolitan Region (PMR). According to the 2011 census the urban area had a combined population of 5.05 million whilst the population of the metropolitan region was estimated at 7.4 million. Situated 560 meters (1,837 feet) above sea level on the Deccan plateau on the right bank of the Mutha river, Pune is also the administrative headquarters of its namesake district.
In the 18th century, the city was the seat of the Peshwas, the prime ministers of the Maratha Empire, and one of the most important political centers on the Indian subcontinent. The city was also ruled by the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, the Mughals, and the Adil Shahi dynasty. Historical landmarks include Lal Mahal, the Kasba Ganapati temple, and Shaniwar Wada. Major historical events involving the city include the Mughal–Maratha Wars and the Anglo-Maratha Wars. Wikipedia
Manuel and Geiszel Godoy are military veterans, and they believe deeply in social justice. But above all, they are entrepreneurs who saw an underdeveloped sector in their industry and dove in.
“We have to show that we can pull a Tyler Perry as a community,” Manuel Godoy, president of Black Sands Entertainment, says in a recent video interview. “The idea is that the bigger the company gets, the better the IP does, the more everybody wins, and we can fund our projects ourselves because we have the experience, the expertise to do it.”
The Godoys’ niche is a growing one: indie comics by Black artists, written for Black families about Black people, with a focus on tales of Africa before slavery. Among their projects are an upcoming animated series and the Black Sands Publishing app, which will offer free access to 26 original comic books when it launches May 1, Free Comic Book Day. ’
“If we get this done,” Godoy says, “we’ve proven that you no longer have to walk through the gate they built in order to get to the main stage.”
Black Sands isn’t the first through the gate. It joins a growing hive of Black creators who’ve carved space in a format that for decades was steeped in racism and exclusion.
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John Jennings is a comic book illustrator and professor of media and cultural studies at UC Riverside.
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
A mother and daughter held hands recently during a visit. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
James' World 2 