Author: Fernando Ortiz Jr.

This week: The princess myth / Cyborg jellyfish / Weekend loneliness / The United States of Mac ‘n’ Cheese / The history of quarantines

Most of these great items come from my social media networks. Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, LinkedIn, and Facebook for more fascinating videos, photos, articles, essays, and criticism. Learn more about my academic background here.

1. Meghan Markle and the Myth of Happily Ever After
By Rhonda Garelick | The Cut :: New York Magazine | February 2020
There’s a reason fairy tales always end at the wedding.”

2. Why are pop songs getting sadder than they used to be?
By Alberto Acerbi | Aeon | February 2020
“All these hypotheses could be tested using the data described here as a starting point. Realising that there’s more work to be done to better understand the pattern is always a good sign in science. It leaves room for fine-tuning theories, improving analysis methods, or sometimes going back to the drawing board to ask different questions.”

3. As ‘On the Media’ drifts from original focus, some listeners take note
By Joey Peters | Current | January 2020
“In its place, OTM’s focus has shifted to dissecting narratives, or, as Garfield put it, ‘the stories we tell ourselves based largely on what we heard for our whole lives, often through the media.'”

4. Cyborg Jellyfish Could One Day Explore the Ocean
By Sophie Bushwick | Scientific American | February 2020
“An electronic device increases their speed, and later versions could control their direction as well”

5. Dust to Dust
By Christian Wallace | Boomtown :: Texas Monthly | December 2019
“A devastating bust transforms the Permian from the promised land into a wasteland.”

6. The agony of weekend loneliness: ‘I won’t speak to another human until Monday’
By Paula Cocozza | The Guardian | January 2020
“For growing numbers of people the weekend is an emotional wilderness where interaction is minimal and social life non-existent. What can be done to break this toxic cycle?”

7. World Without End
By Martha Park | Guernica | January 2020
“Lately, I’ve found the language of apocalypse creeping up in my own life for the first time, and with increasing frequency.”

8. How mac ’n’ cheese was baked into American culture
By Josie Delap | 1843 :: The Economist | February / March 2020
“Macaroni cheese is now an American staple. But it probably arrived there via France — and Thomas Jefferson”

9. Does the naked body belong on Facebook? It’s complicated
By Barbara Ortutay| Associated Press | January 2020
“Artists can be suddenly left without their audience, businesses without access to their customers and vulnerable people without a support network. And it means that a company in Silicon Valley, whose online platforms have become not only our town squares but diaries, magazines, art galleries and protest platforms, gets final say on matters of free speech and self-expression.”

10. A History Of Quarantines, From Bubonic Plague To Typhoid Mary
By Eleanor Klibanoff | Goats and Soda :: NPR | January 2020
“The idea of putting a possibly sick person in quarantine goes back to the ancient texts. The book of Leviticus tells how to quarantine people with leprosy. Hippocrates covered the issue in a three-volume set on epidemics, though he came from a time in ancient Greece when disease was thought to spread from “miasmas,” or foul-smelling gas that came out of the ground.”

This week: The Founding Fathers and Trump / The rise of the ‘virtual girlfriend’ / The first known drag queen / Explaining paint color names / The designer who dresses ‘Mrs. Maisel’

Most of these great items come from my social media networks. Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, LinkedIn, and Facebook for more fascinating videos, photos, articles, essays, and criticism. Learn more about my academic background here.

1. Even the Founding Fathers Couldn’t Envision a President Like Trump
By Liesel Schillinger | LitHub | February 2020
“The ideals of the 1780s and the 1830s are still current, still vital, in 2020, even if they’re couched in antiquated language that we must strain to enfold in our contemporary idiom.”

2. Someone Used Neural Networks To Upscale An 1895 Film To 4K 60 FPS
Digg | February 2020
“YouTuber Denis Shiryaev wanted to update the look of the clip, so — with the help of several neural networks — he upscaled the clip to 4K resolution and 60 FPS.”

3. No One Can Explain Why Planes Stay in the Air
By Ed Regis | Scientific American | February 2020
“Do recent explanations solve the mysteries of aerodynamic lift?”

4. Cam girl reality: an enticing illusion leaves many models poor and defeated
By Sofia Barrett-Ibarria | The Guardian | January 2020
“The rise of the ‘virtual girlfriend’ is changing the porn industry — but the many downsides for performers may threaten its staying power.”

5. Inside the Massive, Elaborate Care Packages Filipinos Send Home
By Joy Shan | The California Sunday Magazine | Janaury 2020
“An extensive shipping network allows millions to stay connected to the friends, relatives, and children they rarely see.”

6. The First Drag Queen Was a Former Slave
By Channing Gerard Joseph | The Nation | January 2020
“Who fought for queer freedom a century before Stonewall.”

7. The Rise of the Permian
By Christian Wallace | Boomtown :: Texas Monthly | December 2019
“The Santa Rita oil well, named after the patron saint of impossible dreams, launched the first Permian Basin boom and has been fueling the dreams of West Texas wildcatters ever since.”

8. Calamine pink, or Dead Salmon? What’s behind paint names
By Kim Cook | Associated Press | January 2020
“If you’re shopping for pink, say, you’ll find dozens of shades referencing roses, bubblegum and shells. There are some extra-evocative names like Calamine and Dead Salmon. And what about a pink called Harajuku Morning? Modern Love?”

9. Meet The Designer Who Makes ‘Mrs. Maisel’ Look So Marvelous
By Jeff Lunden | NPR | January 2020
“Mrs. Maisel’s world is a romanticized fantasy of color, and color comes naturally to Zakowska, who initially trained as a painter and a dancer.”

10. Isabel dos Santos: president’s daughter who became Africa’s richest woman
By Jason Burke and Juliette Garside | The Guardian | January 2020
“From her first investment in a beach bar, Dos Santos has built a $2bn empire. But her wealth is the subject of mounting scrutiny”

This week: Women in midlife / 78 new emotions to deal with / Matt Drudge turns on Trump / Cookies baked in space / Clinton and Nixon impeachments, in retrospect

Most of these great items come from my social media networks. Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, LinkedIn, and Facebook for more fascinating videos, photos, articles, essays, and criticism. Learn more about my academic background here.

1. Fighting Words: Journalism Under Assault in Central and Eastern Europe
By Meera Selva | Reuters Institute | January 2020
“This report focused very much on the experience of working journalists and the threats that they directly identify. The journalists questioned spoke of coming under attack from politicians who discredit individual journalists and media outlets, launch vexatious lawsuits, and weaponise government advertising revenue to harm critical media and financially boost friendly outlets.”

2. Liegasm, Jealoushy, and Feminamity
The Cut :: New York Magazine | February 2020
“Introducing 78 new emotions.”

3. The Wounded Presidency
By Timothy Naftali | Foreign Affairs | January 2020
The untold stories of U.S. foreign policy during the Nixon and Clinton impeachment crises, in two parts.

4. This is what midlife looks like for women
By Ann Neumann and Elinor Carucci | The Guardian | January 2020
“Guts, blood, hair, sex and love — it’s time to reclaim menopause as a time for self-discovery”

5. Why did Matt Drudge turn on Donald Trump?
By Bob Norman | Columbia Journalism Review | January 2020
“He didn’t sound angry; much of the call was oddly pleasant. But he became defensive when I asked him if he felt he was in danger from fans or stalkers. ”

6. This Sculpture Holds a Decades-Old C.I.A. Mystery. And Now, Another Clue.
By John Schwartz and Jonathan Corum | The New York Times | January 2020
“Kryptos, a sculpture in a courtyard at the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Va., holds an encrypted message that has not fully yielded to attempts to crack it. It’s been nearly 30 years since its tall scroll of copper with thousands of punched-through letters was set in place.”

7. Highway to Hell
By Christian Wallace | Boomtown :: Texas Monthly | December 2019
“In the first episode of our new podcast series, host Christian Wallace takes us back to his hometown in the Permian Basin, which is nearly unrecognizable to him today. We meet a few of the people whose lives have been upended by the biggest oil boom in U.S. history.”

8. First space-baked cookies took 2 hours in experimental oven
By Marcia Dunn | Associated Press | January 2020
“And how do they taste? No one knows. Still sealed in individual baking pouches and packed in their spaceflight container, the cookies remain frozen in a Houston-area lab after splashing down two weeks ago in a SpaceX capsule. They were the first food baked in space from raw ingredients.”

9. The best Apple iPad apps of all time: Media players, graphics tools and more
By Alison DeNisco Rayome | CNET | January 2020
“On the iPad’s 10th birthday, we look back at the apps that have made Apple’s tablet a hit with people of all ages.”

10. What Is Postpartum Depression? Recognizing The Signs And Getting Help
By Rhitu Chatterjee | Life Kit :: NPR | January 2020
“Left untreated, depression during this time can have serious consequences on the health of the mother, the baby and the entire family.”

This week: J. Lo’s halftime show still resonates / When another woman supports you / Another, bigger spy for the Soviets / Advancements in football gear / Ideas for a new NYC subway mascot

Most of these great items come from my social media networks. Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, LinkedIn, and Facebook for more fascinating videos, photos, articles, essays, and criticism. Learn more about my academic background here.

1. The J.Lo Super Bowl Discourse Is All About the Invisibility of Middle-Aged Women
By Tracy Clary-Flory | Jezebel | February 2020
“In that halftime show, as with her existence on any stage or screen, J. Lo demonstrates the possibility of being a 50-year-old sex symbol, an older woman on display. There is cognitive dissonance here, because women of her age are so infrequently seen in this way: sexy, vivacious, and worthy of the camera’s zoomed-in gaze.”
Also see: I Feel Personally Judged by J. Lo’s Body

2. That Feeling When Another Woman Hypes You Up
By Jenny Tinghui Zhang | The Cut :: New York Magazine | February 2020
“You’re waiting for the toilet, washing your hands, or fixing your hair. Another woman, a little tipsy, maybe topsy-turvy drunk, accosts you with her sweet, eyes-half-shut warbling. She tells you you’re both doing great. She tells you you look beautiful. She tells you she loves you.”

3. For women, running is still an act of defiance
By Rachel Hewitt | 1843 :: The Economist | June / July 2019
“Female runners have long fought for the recognition and status of male ones. Rachel Hewitt asks why running doesn’t offer women the freedom it should”

4. The NYC Subway Needs Its Own Mascot. We Have 12 Contenders
By Ben Yakas | Gothamist | January 2020
“Some of them are animals, and some of them are superheroes; some of them are based on already-existing characters, and some of them are clearly attempts to grab the zeitgeist. All of them are beautiful freaks.”

5. NFL At 100: From head to toe, players equipment has evolved
By Dennis Waszak Jr. | Associated Press | January 2020
“From the crude, oblong leather helmets to the sparsely padded brown and blue vertical-striped uniforms of the Chicago Bears, it’s easy to see how equipment has drastically evolved in the NFL since the days of The Galloping Ghost in the 1920s and ’30s.”

6. Buc-ee’s: The Path to World Domination
By Erik Benson | Texas Monthly | February 2019
“Beaver Aplin built the quirky convenience chain into a Texas empire. Will his tactics translate outside the state?”

7. Fourth Spy at Los Alamos Knew A-Bomb’s Inner Secrets
By William J. Broad | The New York Times | January 2020
“Historians recently uncovered another Soviet spy in the U.S. atomic bomb program. Fresh disclosures show he worked on the device’s explosive trigger.”

8. This courageous historian fought to make Black History Month possible
By Erin Blakemore | National Geographic | January 2020
“Determined to counter racist stereotypes, Carter G. Woodson worked tirelessly to promote the accomplishments of African Americans.”

9. Tracing The Expanding Definition Of Fatherhood
By Cameron Pollack | The Picture Show :: NPR | June 2019
“It was important to Anschütz to show the personal relationships between the fathers and sons. As a result, he decided to only use first names. He intended for the project to be more art than journalism.”

10. Designer destination: architects’ favorite hotels
By Sarah Miller | The Guardian | January 2020
“From a rocket tower and a pasha’s palace to a beachside bungalow and a geometric masterpiece”

This week: The world’s greatest and mysterious lost cities / When your ex has a new partner / New understanding of the UT Tower shooting / Wolf puppies clarify how humans domesticated dogs / A new leader rises in the Mideast

Most of these great items come from my social media networks. Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, LinkedIn, and Facebook for more fascinating videos, photos, articles, essays, and criticism. Learn more about my academic background here.

1. The most powerful — and mysterious — abandoned cities the world forgot
By Paula Froelich | The New York Post | January 2020
“Tourists clamor to see Petra in Jordan, Angkor Wat in Cambodia and Machu Picchu in Peru — onetime megacities that now capture our imagination and fuel legends. But they’re not the only mythic spots. Here are some of the most mysterious abandoned locales in the world.”

2. The Mysterious Lawyer X
By Evan Ratliff | California Sunday Magazine | January 2020
“Nicola Gobbo defended Melbourne’s most notorious criminals at the height of a gangland war. They didn’t know she had a secret.”

3. Scientists get goosebumps after undomesticated wolf puppies play fetch
By Nick Lavars | New Atlas | January 2020
“The observation reshapes our understanding of how these wild creatures interpret cues from humans, and also sheds light on how the early stages of dog domestication may have played out.”

4. How To Cope When You Find Out Your Ex Has A New Partner
By Kelsey Borresen | HuffPost | January 2020
“It doesn’t matter how long it’s been since the breakup: Discovering your ex has moved on with a new boyfriend or girlfriend can feel like a punch in the gut.”

5. Women repulsed by lice and fleas less likely to find beards attractive: study
By Nicola Davis | The Guardian | January 2020
“Whether facial hair boosts men’s pulling power or is a turnoff has long been a matter of contention”

6. Mohammed bin Zayed’s Dark Vision of the Middle East’s Future
By Robert F. Worth | The New York Times Magazine | January 2020
“The enigmatic leader of the U.A.E. may soon emerge as the region’s most powerful figure. What does he really want?”

7. The Death and Life of Frankie Madrid
By Valeria Fernández | California Sunday Magazine | August 2019
“The U.S. had been his home since he was 6 months old. When he was deported to Mexico 26 years later, it was more than he could bear. ”

8. Death of the calorie
By Peter Wilson | 1843 :: The Economist | April / May 2019
“For more than a century we’ve counted on calories to tell us what will make us fat. Peter Wilson says it’s time to bury the world’s most misleading measure.”

9. Are Americans Falling Out of Love With Their Landmarks?
By M. Scott Mahaskey and Peter Canellos | Politico Magazine | July 2019
“Attendance at historical sites suggests it might be time for a new way to tell the national story.”

10. Behind the Tower: New Histories of the UT Tower Shooting
By Joan Neuberger | Not Even Past :: UT Austin Department of History | August 2018
“Fifty years ago, on August 1, 1966, twenty-five year old student Charles Whitman killed 16 people and wounded at least 32 more at UT Austin.”