'Felt alienated by the men's game': how the culture of women's sport has driven record Matildas viewership

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'Felt alienated by the men's game': how the culture of women's sport has driven record Matildas viewership     Wednesday night saw the end of the Matildas’ nation-gripping FIFA Women’s World Cup pursuit, losing 3-1 to England in the semi-final in Sydney.While it was an emotional finish to Australia’s exciting run, the match only further highlighted the record-breaking audiences experiencing the fan culture of women’s football. Continued here

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Terror, Tenderness, and the Paradoxes of Human Nature: How a Marmoset Saved Leonard and Virginia Woolf's Lives from the Nazis     Each month, I spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars keeping The Marginalian going. For seventeen years, it has remained free and ad-free and alive thanks to patronage from readers. I have no staff, no interns, not even an assistant — a thoroughly one-woman labor of love that is also my life and my livelihood. If this labor has made your own life more livable in the past year (or the past decade), please consider aiding its sustenance with a one-time or loyal donation. Your support makes all the difference.The most discomposing thing about people capable of monstrous acts is that they too enjoy art, they too read to their children, they too can be moved to tears by music. The dissident poet Joseph Brodsky captured this as he contemplated the greatest antidote to evil, observing that “no matter how evil your enemy is, the crucial thing is that he is human.” Little Prince author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry experienced it first-hand when a smile and a cigarette exchanged with an enemy saved his life while captive as a prisoner of war.In the spring of 1935, traveling through Nazi-occupied Europe, Virginia Woolf and her Jewish husband Leonard came face to face with this haunting paradox of human nature — an experience both sinister and strangely hopeful. Continued here

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Generative AI Will Change Your Business. Here's How to Adapt.     Generative AI can “generate” text, speech, images, music, video, and especially, code. When that capability is joined with a feed of someone’s own information, used to tailor the when, what, and how of an interaction, then the ease by which someone can get things done, and the broadening accessibility of software, goes up dramatically. The simple input question box that stands at the center of Google and now, of most Generative AI systems, such as in ChatGPT and Dall-e, will power more systems. Continued here

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How Generative AI Could Disrupt Creative Work     In the face of technological change, creativity is often held up as a uniquely human quality, less vulnerable to the forces of technological disruption and critical for the future. Today however, generative AI applications such as ChatGPT and Midjourney are threatening to upend this special status and significantly alter creative work, both independent and salaried. The authors explore three non-exclusive scenarios for this disruption of content creation: 1) people use AI to augment their work, leading to greater productivity, 2) generative AI creates a flood of cheap content that drives out human creatives, and 3) human-made creative work demands a premium. Continued here

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What rockets a brand into cult following status?     Director Greta Gerwig’s Barbie film has surpassed the $1bn (£790bn) mark at the global box office. Yet fans aren’t just lining up for tickets, they’re also clamouring for “Barbiecore” fashion, air travel bearing the Barbie logo and even Barbie-themed coffins.That’s just a fraction of the pink-hued consumption happening across market sectors. Consumers were always loyal to the Barbie brand, but Gerwig’s film has seemingly kicked the extreme fandom into a higher gear – even six decades after the toy’s inception. Continued here

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A foodie pilgrimage around Auckland, with internationally acclaimed chef Peter Gordon     New Zealand's most populous city sprawls across an isthmus between two harbours, its downtown commercial district perched on the waterfront of the Waitematā, a spiky cluster of skyscrapers and sails. Auckland is home to the largest Polynesian population – and one of the most culturally diverse populations – in the world, and its refreshingly unique food culture is heavily inspired by this multiculturalism, along with the region's fertile volcanic soils and its bounty of seafood.As founding chef of a number of Auckland restaurants over the past few decades, including The Sugar Club, which remains at the top of the city's Sky Tower, internationally acclaimed chef Peter Gordon has long been associated with the cutting edge of the city's culinary scene. And after more than 30 years based in London, his restaurants building his reputation as the "godfather of fusion cooking", Gordon returned to Auckland in 2020 to create something he'd long yearned for: a "food embassy for Aotearoa [New Zealand] and the Pacific". Continued here

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Fleur de courgette: The simple dish beloved in the South of France     No one knows for sure when or how locals in the South of France started eating fleurs de courgette (courgette flowers), but their simple philosophy endures: when life gives you courgettes, make stuffed courgette blossoms. Once an affordable, rural dish due to an abundance of produce, the trumpet-like bright yellow flowers have found their way onto tables at Michelin-star restaurants.Alain Llorca, chef and owner of his eponymous one-star restaurant, about 18km from Nice in La Colle-sur-Loup, is fond of the dish, which has become one of his signatures (see recipe below). Often stuffed with creamy ewe's milk cheese aged for months before being blended with ingredients like locally grown aubergine, basil and olives, he says that his stuffed courgette flowers "highlight other flavours from the South of France". Continued here

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Blue Beetle is a 'last gasp' for superhero films     Over the past year, Warner Bros' DC superhero films seem to have suffered a severe case of Kryptonite poisoning. Black Adam, Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash all crashed and burned at the box office, and it's not likely that their new offering, Blue Beetle, is going to save the day. It was always a long shot, mind you. Compared to Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, Blue Beetle is a lesser known, fuzzily defined character: his main claim to fame is that he inspired Nite Owl in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' classic graphic novel, Watchmen. But if the Blue Beetle film had had enough fresh ideas, its protagonist's obscurity might not have been an issue. Unfortunately, the average beetle has more fresh ideas than this one.The story begins as Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña) returns to his hometown, the futuristic, fictional, and horribly fake-looking Palmera City, having studied for a pre-law degree in Gotham. He doesn't say whether he met Bruce Wayne while he was at university, but things didn't go well for his family in the meantime. His dad (Damián Alcázar) is recovering from a heart attack, and the family is about to be kicked out of its cosy barrio house by developers from the evil Kord corporation. Nonetheless, Jaime apparently has no qualms about getting a job as a cleaner for the corporation's villainous CEO, Victoria (Susan Sarandon), or about flirting with Victoria's non-villainous niece, Jenny (Bruna Marquezine). For reasons that aren't clear, Victoria is obsessed with creating cyborg Robocops with the help of a small extra-terrestrial device called The Scarab. But, much to her annoyance, this shiny metal bug chooses Jaime as its host. After it attaches itself to his spine, he is wrapped in an ugly exoskeleton that allows him to fly, blast people with energy beams, and do various other generic super things. Continued here

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Eight of the world's most stunning floating homes     There is something rebellious and individualistic about swapping a life lived within bricks and mortar for a simpler, less conventional existence on a houseboat. Boat-dwellers feel a sense of adventure and, if based in a remote, rural spot, are totally at one with nature.The cover of a new book, Making Waves: Floating Homes and Life on the Water by Portland Mitchell, captures the freedom many associate with water-borne homes. Viewed through a porthole, two swans glide by on a glassy lake. In the foreground is a less distinct glimpse of a houseboat interior. Boat-dwelling isn't always plain sailing, however. After all, houseboats are often buffeted by the elements, while truly remote ones can be completely off-grid, which can take getting used to. Continued here

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Despite domestic political turmoil, Pakistan is well placed to boost regional integration     Pakistan is showing clear signs of economic and political crisis. Inflation was recently almost 38%, and the country faces a debt crunch as it tries to manage its trade deficit with the rest of the world. Talks with the IMF over emergency loans have dragged on for months. On the political side, elections are being delayed in the aftermath of the controversial arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan, which led to widespread protests. Continued here

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Hawaii's climate future: Dry regions get drier with global warming, increasing fire risk - while wet areas get wetter     The islands of Hawaii are world renowned for their generally pleasant and tranquil weather. However, the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfire tragedy on Maui was a stark reminder that Hawaii also can experience drought and hot, dry, windy weather, providing the conditions for destructive fires. Hawaii has seen a generally rising trend in the amount of land that burns each year as the local climate warms. Climate change was one of several contributors to Maui’s wildfire catastrophe, and rising temperatures and associated rainfall changes are expected to increase the islands’ fire risk. These changing weather patterns will also affect Hawaii’s ecosystems and freshwater resources. Continued here

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Michigan pipeline standoff could affect water protection and Indigenous rights across the US     Should states and Indigenous nations be able to influence energy projects they view as harmful or contrary to their laws and values? This question lies at the center of a heated debate over Enbridge Energy’s Line 5 pipeline, which carries oil and natural gas across Wisconsin and Michigan. Courts, regulatory agencies and political leaders are deciding whether Enbridge should be allowed to keep its pipeline in place for another 99 years, with upgrades. The state of Michigan and the Bad River Tribe in Wisconsin want to close the pipeline down immediately. Continued here

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War in Ukraine is a warning to China of the risks in attacking Taiwan     U.S. defense strategists warn that China may use the distraction of the war in Ukraine to launch military action against Taiwan. They believe Chinese President Xi Jinping is determined to gain control over the breakaway province – which has been beyond Beijing’s control since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 – before he leaves office.In response to these concerns, in July 2023, the U.S. announced a US$345 million military aid package for Taiwan. For the first time, arms are being delivered to Taiwan from U.S. stockpiles under presidential drawdown authority, which does not require congressional approval. Continued here

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Prospect of Kenyan troops in Haiti has sparked concerns - but may also prompt soul-searching across the Americas over lack of action     Interim Director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, Boston University Jorge Heine is a founder and sits on the board of Diplomats Without Borders and is a member of Chile's Party for Democracy, the International Political Science Association, the International Studies Association and of the Foro Permanente de Política Exterior, a Chilean foreign policy think. Continued here

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Oppenheimer often used Sanskrit verses, and the Bhagavad Gita was special for him - but not in the way Christopher Nolan's film depicts it     A scene in the film “Oppenheimer,” in which the physicist is quoting a Bhagavad Gita verse while making love, has upset some Hindus. The information commissioner of the Indian government, Uday Mahurkar, said in an open letter the scene was a “direct assault on religious beliefs of a billion tolerant Hindus” and alleged that it amounted to “waging a war on the Hindu community.” He also said that it almost appeared to be “part of a larger conspiracy by anti-Hindu forces.” It is hard to say how many Hindus were offended by the Gita quote in a sexually charged scene, but there were those who disagreed with the views expressed in the tweet. Pavan K. Varma, a former diplomat, wrote that the controversy was a “misplaced outrage.” Continued here

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As the mental health crisis in children and teens worsens, the dire shortage of mental health providers is preventing young people from getting the help they need     Steven Berkowitz is affiliated with Sensye, inc. I am a consultant to Senseye, Inc. a startup developing a device to make objective psychiatric diagnosesThe hospital where I practice recently admitted a 14-year-old girl with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, to our outpatient program. She was referred to us six months earlier, in October 2022, but at the time we were at capacity. Although we tried to refer her to several other hospitals, they too were full. During that six-month wait, she attempted suicide. Continued here

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Understanding why burning the Qur'an isn't illegal in Sweden means looking at the country's long-held commitment to freedom of expression     Mårten Schultz is affiliated with The Swedish Law and Internet Institute, a non-profit, non-political organization that works with freedom of speech issues on the Internet. He has several assignments for Government agencies, including The National Media Council (Statens Medieråd), The Crime Victim Authority (Brottsoffermyndigheten) and The Equality Ombudsman (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen). To people outside Sweden it may seem surprising that police have, on several recent occasions, granted people express permission to burn copies of the Qur’an in public. The incidents have caused upset and triggered a significant debate about the far right co-opting the right to free speech to spread hate for political gain. Continued here

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Why moths might be more efficient pollinators than bees and butterflies     Max Anderson works for Butterfly Conservation, a charity that has the conservation of butterflies, moths and the environment as its core aim and the publication of this article may help to achieve that aim in terms of increasing awareness. However, there is unlikely to be any financial benefit to the charity from the publication of the article.During peak summer in the UK, when we carried out our experiment, the night is only around one-third of the entire day cycle. During this time, moths are almost the only insects that visit flowers. Even though 83% of all flower visits in our study happened during the day, pollination rates were higher at night time. This suggests moths are more efficient pollinators than species that are active during the day. Continued here

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More than half of life on Earth is found in soil - here's why that's important     A recent study has found that soil is home to 59% of all life on Earth, from an insect feeding on the soil surface to a tiny microbe nestled in a soil pore. This discovery crowns soil as the most biodiverse habitat on the planet.The paper estimates that around 2 million species of arthropod (think insects and spiders) inhabit the soil – some 30% of all known arthropod species. There are far fewer species of soil specialists such as enchytraeidae (resembling mini earthworms) and oligochaeta (worms), with only 770 and 6,000 species respectively. That might not seem like a lot, but it still represents around 98% and 63% of these animal groups. Continued here