Domesticity

It seems to be a deceptively hard song to cover, but here’s a good one with a man, a woman and a ukulele on a living-room sofa, deceptively casual, deceptively perfect. Nobody’s done it better, not even Radiohead. And for something completely different: a great ‘Nobody Does it Better’ series montage by Rik Moran.

Good point, yes. If under Trump it’s between the symbol of a U.S. Embassy move to Jerusalem or the reality of continued building throughout the city—as it may well come down to—then the choice is clear, writes Nadav Shragai.

At last — birth control for rats! A Long Read in The Guardian.

Now that I’ve joined eyeem.com, I was attracted to this article on Instagram and art history. “Today, we look at Instagram feeds with the same level of scrutiny as the Renaissance merchants who converted their Madonnas into ducats.” He argues persuasively and enjoyably that we are being just like Amsterdam burghers.

“To be a wife is not to engage in ‘wifing.’” Excerpted in The Wall Street Journal, Alison Gopnik reminds us that as parents we should have no end beyond the means.

Possibly the world’s most important story at the moment? American middle-class impoverishment, or as the author—himself afflicted—calls it, financial impotence.

Max Edwards, a 16-year-old writing in The Guardian. What a dude. [Update 8 days later: the man is already gone.]

Thinkers remember Marvin Minsky at Edge.org.

So Bikram has lost the first of the many cases against him filed by women for various sexually-related offences. All I know is that his teachings are great and that he plays the guru, speaking in fanciful exaggerations, making mercurial observations. And it seems he was unable to switch off this character even in front of a jury.

Mark Leyner, regarding today, in The Paris Review: “The only reasonable response to this situation is to maintain an implacable antipathy toward everything. Denounce everyone. Make war against yourself. Guillotine all groveling intellectuals. That said, I think it’s important to maintain a cheery disposition.”

Lots of good thought and results in Vincent Kartheiser’s (Mad Men) tiny Hollywood home.

A Dwell slideshow of cabins.

A fearsomely refreshing list of what the author has learned in her 40s. Enjoyable if you’ve reached the age, and I wonder if edifying for those yet to.

Maybe open plan kitchens aren’t such a hot idea.

On the Grant Study, a longitudinal study of the happiness of the best and the brightest.

The squat, the perch—a reminder that we are not designed to defacate in seating position.

Hanna Rosin writes on the iPad and young children. The beginning could have appeared anywhere, the middle in any number of magazines, the end in only a small handful. And a rather relevant topic at the moment in this house, where Good Morning is spoken as “Where the iPad gone!”

Moving piece about the writer’s father, a sportswriter, who could not give up cigarettes.

Older parents like us are perhaps a severe problem.

The 20 Most Popular Homes in Dwell. Many of these homes are small so encourage ingeniousness and are in general encouraging.

Given that this is the second time I’ve ended up at this story, I can’t miss adding it to the Trail: The best houses of all time in L.A. by the LA Times.

7,500-year-old cheese discovered. “The most important ingredient for cheese-making is milk and only domesticates can be milked. Thus, it is unlikely that the origins of cheese-making predates the Neolithic,” says the researcher breezily.

Stand up for your work! Or as The New York Times puts it, “Taking a Stand for Office Ergonomics”.

Exhaustive and wonderful list of what Alli Magidsohn expects to miss upon leaving Israel after 7 years, published by the impressive David Horowitz’s new The Times of Israel. (Not so sure about “the ferocity of celebration here” though, at least among the non-religious.)

Excerpt from Nora Ephron’s frank and down-to-earth essay on aging.

The Ad Age blog on Mad Men is professional and enjoyable.

Scott Hanselman and wife introduce their boys to Star Wars.

Though I and the author, 42-year-old David Bainbridge, may be biased, middle-aged humans are the crowning achievement of evolution. [via aldaily.com]

Walking in America, or rather the lack thereof. A 4-part series in Slate, by Tom Vanderbilt (whom I met 1996). One thing to which he doesn’t correlate national walking statistics, and it seems to me the obvious thing, is the number of anti-depressants prescribed.

Buy or rent?

More vital than ever is the city, argues Edward Glaeser.

There’s a name for something I’ve always wanted to do and lacked the gumption and follow-through and doubted it: Radical Honesty. The FAQ.

Ambient Star Trek bridge sounds. For working geeks, via http://reedmaniac.com.

Julian Barnes visits Sibelius’s house.

David Brooks on Charlie Rose discusses the new political schism in America, the recent rise of narcissism in the culture, and some general trends in the thousands of life summaries he’s solicited from readers over 70.

We need to go back to nature in order to move forward. Amazing futuristic ways to be smart about energy in your own house by Philips at Dutch Design Week.

The loss of play time to adult-directed activities is making children anxious and depressed.

New book on being childless in Israel.

The reprap, a self-replicating 3d-printer. Most mind-boggling thing ever.

Born between 1965 and 1980, we are the divorce generation.

Environmentalism in microcosm in Why your dishwasher no longer works by Jonathan V. Last. The science more often than not isn’t science, the issue snowballs into a platform for political grandstanding, and nobody benefits from the massive waste.

If current fertility rates continue, Israel will have more 18-24-year-olds than either Iran or Turkey by 2085.

Bless the internets. Great explanatory essay on dishwashers on epinions.

O reason not the need — give us the Immersive Cocoon.