Can the Olympics Take the Heat?Maybe every athlete went into the Tokyo Olympics secretly worried that they hadn’t prepared sufficiently for the challenge. I know I did. Would my performance be affected by the 13-hour time difference? Could I handle the long hours in front of a… Aug 06 21August 06, 2021Article at New York Times
Measuring the Cost of Racial Abuse in SoccerLike many soccer fans around the world, Paolo Falco, a labor economist at the University of Copenhagen, was delighted by the outcome of the European Championship final last Sunday, which saw Italy defeat England in a climactic penalty shootout. And… Jul 16 21July 16, 2021Article at New York Times
Summer Is a Scam. Here’s How to Fix It.Summer in the Northern Hemisphere officially began on June 20, the day of the year with the most hours of sunlight, when Earth’s axis is at its maximum tilt — 23.5 degrees — toward our local star. And yet already it feels as if it’s slipping away.… Jun 25 21June 25, 2021Article at New York Times
On the Pointlessness of Pointy ShoesAs millions of Americans begin the long trudge from work-from-home back to work-at-actual-workplace, they confront a familiar, sometimes uncomfortable dilemma: What to wear on their feet. High heels, wingtips, work boots, all manner of confining and… Jun 18 21June 18, 2021Article at New York Times
Where the Grass is Greener, Except When It’s ‘Nonfunctional Turf’If you’re looking for a sign of the End Times, here’s one: Las Vegas, the city where seemingly anything and everything is condoned, has made grass — the ornamental kind — illegal. Much of the West is experiencing the worst drought in decades, a… Jun 11 21June 11, 2021Article at New York Times
Why A.I. Should Be Afraid of UsArtificial intelligence is gradually catching up to ours. A.I. algorithms can now consistently beat us at chess, poker and multiplayer video games, generate images of human faces indistinguishable from real ones, write news articles (not this one!)… Jun 05 21June 05, 2021Article at New York Times
Reading Dan Frank, Book Editor and ‘Champion of the Unexampled’Summer is basically here, and now is the moment to find a book to fall into. I encourage you to begin with almost any book published by Dan Frank, the editor at Pantheon and Knopf who died earlier this week at age 67. Dan’s range of authors was wide,… May 28 21May 28, 2021Article at New York Times
So You Want to End the Conversation?With vaccination spreading across the United States, social life has begun to bend toward a semblance of normalcy: dinner parties, restaurants, spontaneous encounters with strangers, friends and colleagues on the street or in the office. It’s… May 23 21May 23, 2021Article at New York Times
You Can Run From Archaeology, but You Can’t HideAm I languishing? Am I flourishing? Who can say. What I do know is that, in the year since the pandemic began, I have cleaned and reorganized my basement at least three times and yet neither it nor I seem to be any better for it. Cleaning the… May 07 21May 07, 2021Article at New York Times
