Wittgenstein spiegò che per chi non crede è impossibile distinguere religione da superstizione. Ma c'è anche un altro aspetto interessante. Come distinguere tra Chiesa vera e propria e setta?

Money quote: "Less easy, though, is identifying why. Knee-jerk reactions make for poor sociology, and delineating what, exactly, makes a cult (as opposed to a ‘proper’ religious movement) often comes down to judgment calls based on perceived legitimacy. Prod that perception of legitimacy, however, and you find value judgments based on age, tradition or ‘respectability’ (that nice middle-class couple down the street, say, as opposed to Tom Cruise jumping up and down on a couch). At the same time, the markers of cultism as applied more theoretically – a single charismatic leader, an insular structure, seeming religious ecstasy, a financial burden on members – can also be applied to any number of new or burgeoning religious movements that we don’t call cults"

https://aeon.co/essays/theres-no-sharp-distinction-between-cult-and-regular-religion

ATTENZIONE

Questo link non è per tutti e potrebbe offendere la vostra sensibilità o crearvi problemi se aperto sul luogo di lavoro, in famiglia etc etc.

Il Guardian racconta di una fotografa che ha realizzato un libro con cento foto di altrettanti uomini nudi. Ma si vede solo all'altezza della vita, cioè con il pene esposto. "Me and my penis" si intitola. Le immagini sono decisamente esplicite. Il progetto dell'artista è molto serio e, se leggete l'articolo, anche piuttosto interessante.

Money quote: "Dodsworth has now photographed 100 men. In each photo, you see penis and testicles, belly, hands and thighs. The humanity lies in the relationship between these body parts. A few of the men look like self-satisfied alphas (we have to guess: we can’t see their faces), but most appear vulnerable in one way or the other, whether it’s their pose or the way they hold their hands"

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/may/27/me-and-my-penis-100-men-reveal-all

Una cronista del New York Times va a zig-zag in aereo attraverso gli Stati Uniti per una settimana. Lo scopo è documentare come si viaggia in aereo oggi. Il risultato mi mette solo l'ansia. È molto diverso dall'Italia e da buona parte dell'Europa (noi abbiamo una prevalenza di voli turistici low cost, loro un esercito di businessmen e rappresentanti che vaga per il continente nordamericano) ma i fondamentali non cambiano.

Money quote: "A thin curtain separates us from first class, but it feels impenetrable. A passenger attempts to use the first-class bathrooms but is ordered to the back of the plane. As the flight attendants dole out our sole free snack on this flight of six and a half hours — a lone Lotus Biscoff (“Europe’s Favorite Cookie With Coffee”) — the aroma of something delicious that may or may not be lasagna wafts in from the front."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/09/business/what-its-like-to-fly-for-a-week-straight.html

"They took our sovereignty and what have they done for Britain?" Patrick Stewart wants to be absolutely clear about the European Convention for Human Rights: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/video/2016/apr/25/patrick-stewart-sketch-what-has-the-echr-ever-done-for-us-video

Gli americani si interrogano su molte cose. E scoprono che la semplificazione della realtà non funziona. Ad esempio, in campo sanitario.

Money quote: “More women in this country are prescribed oral contraception for medical reasons than for pregnancy prevention. If the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress succeed in stripping funding from Planned Parenthood and giving employers carte blanche to deny women necessary medication under murky notions of moral disdain, all paths to health and wellness will disappear for a huge swath of Americans.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/09/opinion/lena-dunham-losing-birth-control-could-mean-a-life-of-pain.html

Nuovo MacBook, piccoli particolari che fanno grandi differenze - il mio articolo per Macity

https://www.macitynet.it/macbook-piccoli-particolari-fanno-grandi-differenze/

Industria 4.0 e Internet of Things in Italia - Il mio articolo per Nova24

http://nova.ilsole24ore.com/progetti/dini-industria-4-0/

Fantasmi del passato: il Mobot Mark II del 1961 e una (amara) considerazione sulle magnifiche e progressive sorti.

Money quote: "Nearly 60 years later, the DARPA Robotics Challenge showed that even the most sophisticated robots are still essentially Mobots, needing a human in the loop to help them with complex manipulation tasks."

http://spectrum.ieee.org/robotics/military-robots/the-1961-mobot-mark-ii-had-all-the-moves

Semplicemente geniale

Money quote: “Looking for small, irrational, incompetent, freeloader roommates with rage issues and separation anxiety? Have kids.”

https://thehairpin.com/kids-a12b2adf4b11

Effetti collaterali del vaccino per il morbillo.

Money quote:

"Back in the 1960s, the U.S. started vaccinating kids for measles. As expected, children stopped getting measles.

But something else happened.

Childhood deaths from all infectious diseases plummeted. Even deaths from diseases like pneumonia and diarrhea were cut by half."

http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/05/07/404963436/scientists-crack-a-50-year-old-mystery-about-the-measles-vaccine

Nella sua ultima rubrica il giornalista americano Walt Mossberg (una specie di istituzione nel settore del giornalismo tecnologico "new") apre la via a una riflessione che cerca di far capire in qualche direzione andrà la tecnologia nel futuro. Una direzione completamente diversa da quella degli ultimi anni, perché il computer sta scomparendo dalla nostra vista per diventare realmente pervasivo, con tutto quello che comporta in termini di interfacce e servizi.

Money quote: "But just because you’re not seeing amazing new consumer tech products on Amazon, in the app stores, or at the Apple Store or Best Buy, that doesn’t mean the tech revolution is stuck or stopped. In fact, it’s just pausing to conquer some major new territory. And, if it succeeds, the results could be as big or bigger than the first consumer PCs were in the 1970s, or even the web in the 1990s and smartphones in the first decade of this century"

https://www.recode.net/2017/5/25/15689094/mossberg-final-column

Il sospetto che si un deficiente sta diventando una certezza.

Money quote: "“Administration officials leak to the media hoping it will eventually become true and that coverage will sway Trump. White House officials sometimes don’t trust one another and spread rumors. They call other aides and advisers to see what he is saying about them. And officials are contradicted by other officials -- and even Trump, who tests different strategies aloud to different people. He sometimes agrees with whoever is in the room with him. He likes to please and can dial dozens of friends in a weekend"

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/01/playbook-josh-dawsey-donald-trump-decisions-239015

Lungo pippone sulle magnifiche e progressive sorti di Windows S. Non c'è emozione, solo calcolo utilitaristico. Non sono così ottimista sul futuro di questo approccio. Vince chi è più spietato, non basta la visione.

Money quote: "Windows 10 S will play an important role in Microsoft trying to reach that scale, Belfiore said. Because it's going into schools, which Microsoft sees as a growth market, it could get a lot of young, app-savvy customers using Windows. And because Windows 10 S only lets users download apps from the Windows Store, developers who want to reach those students might be convinced to start making apps for it."

http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-windows-cvp-joe-belfiore-google-apple-windows-store-2017-5?IR=T

Buffo fenomeno. Quello per cui i difensori della novità del nostro tempo (il lavoro da casa, spinto e abilitato dalla tecnologia informatica) devono difendersi da una montante ondata di persone che invece vogliono che il loro lavoro abbia un posto.

La domanda è se il lavoro sia anche un posto oppure no.

Money quote: "Edit: *Sigh*. People. People people people. “Work from home” does not mean “100% full time work from home and never in the office”. It can range from “emergency” WFH, to part time WFH, to full time. Companies should offer these options."

http://www.midnightdba.com/Jen/2017/05/employers-let-people-work-home/

Vita e vecchiaia del gangster Ralph DeMasi. Articolo spettacolare.

Money quote:

"His quiet life in Salisbury seemed to suit him. He had family living nearby. He had those three refrigerator shelves. And to help him remember all that he had done and seen, he had a framed newspaper article on his night stand: “Tips For Improving Your Memory.”

“Make lists. … Put frequently used items in the same place each time. … Repeat information. … Make associations. … Exercise your mind. …”

But some things cannot be forgotten."

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/05/31/us/a-mobster-a-family-and-the-crime-that-wont-let-them-go.html

Innovare vuol dire gentrificare?

Money quote: "The geographic focus was intentional. The area is stacked with university, medical, and corporate assets—including Penn, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), Drexel, and Comcast, to name a few. If you’ve spent any time in this part of Philly over the past several years, you’ve watched it grow into an entrepreneurial hotspot brimming with young professionals, researchers, and startup leaders who want to be where the action is. Dense with restaurants, retail, and transit, the area radiates energy, and Philadelphians are starting to feel its effects.

But in this innovation hub, as in many others around the country, there lurks a tension between the desire for economic growth and the suspicion that the rewards may only go to a well-heeled few. Indeed, it is the same tension that is pulling at the nation, creating what feels like a bottomless rift over what’s causing our economic disparities—including the role of technology and innovation—and what ought to be done to bridge the divides. This tension drives the gentrification question, every time."

https://www.citylab.com/equity/2017/06/does-innovation-equal-gentrification/529839/

Cinque uomini (per tacer del cameraman) che si sono fatti esplodere una bomba atomica sulle loro teste (ok, in quota, ma sempre sulle loro teste). Folli.

Money quote: "On July 19, 1957, five Air Force officers and one photographer stood together on a patch of ground about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. They'd marked the spot "Ground Zero. Population 5" on a hand-lettered sign hammered into the soft ground right next to them."

http://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2012/07/16/156851175/five-men-agree-to-stand-directly-under-an-exploding-nuclear-bomb

Unboxing iPad Pro 10,5”: Macity mette le mani sul nuovo mostro da 512GB più accessori, fotogalleria - il mio articolo su Macity

https://www.macitynet.it/unpacking-macity-del-ipad-pro-10-5/

E arriva anche l'unboxing dell'iPad Pro 10.5. Sto testando tutte le sue funzionalità per cercare di capire se davvero c'è una differenza sostanziale o è solo una modesta evoluzione del precedente iPad Pro 9.7

https://business.facebook.com/Macitynet.it/videos/1380109162026973/

Un gigantesco lemmario online del Greco classico. Io ho già dato, ma se serve...

https://dcthree.github.io/ancient-greek-lexica/