Tag Archives: Slate

Games, Love & Relationships, Memories & History, Pleasures, Science & Health

Brain development: The myth the brain “matures” when you’re 25 | Slate

A powerful idea about human development stormed pop culture and changed how we see one another. It’s mostly bunk.

By Jane C. Hu, November 27, 20227:00 PM

Illustrations by Rey Velasquez Sagcal

When Leonardo DiCaprio’s relationship with model/actress Camila Morrone ended three months after she celebrated her 25th birthday, the lifestyle site YourTango turned to neuroscience.

DiCaprio has a well-documented history of dating women under 25. (His current flame, who is 27, is a rare exception.) “Given that DiCaprio’s cut-off point is exactly around the time that neuroscientists say our brains are finished developing, there is certainly a case to be made that a desire to date younger partners comes from a desire to have control,” the article said. It quotes a couples therapist, who says that at 25, people’s “brains are fully formed and that presents a more elevated and conscious level of connection”—the type of connection, YourTango suggests, that DiCaprio wants to avoid.

Editor’s Note: Read more, see link below for original item...

Source: Brain development: The myth the brain “matures” when you’re 25.

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Current Affairs, Libraries, Politics, Science & Health, Times They Are A-Changing

How libraries became refuges for people with mental illness.

By Anthony Aycock, Sept 22, 20225:50 AM

Photo illustration by Natalie Matthews-Ramo/Slate. Photo by Chanvre Québec on Unsplash and Pawel_B/iStock/Getty Images Plus.

Welcome to State of Mind, a new section from Slate and Arizona State University dedicated to exploring mental health. Follow us on Twitter.

The Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges is often credited with saying that “Paradise is a library.” He must not have meant a downtown public library, circa 8 p.m. Such places, like most communal spheres, can be a challenge to oversee.

Some people treat them like a sort of roomless hotel, sleeping in chairs and bathing in restrooms. I used to watch a man who looked like the famous woodcut of Blackbeard the Pirate ride the escalator of my three-story library up, down, up, down. For hours. Carrying a duffel bag. He never bothered anyone, so our security officers left him alone. (Can’t say the same for the lady of the evening who was meeting clients in the stairwell.)

Then there are the questions from believers in Qanon. Election deniers. Sovereign citizens. The woman who ranted about the “news” that the World Health Organization was going to “force a vote to allow them to take over the U.S. and force a lockdown like China.” (If WHO had that kind of power, why bother with a vote?)

The man who asked me how he and a few of his buddies could get into the governor’s office to “remove him” over pandemic closures. (Would that all insurrectionists did such thorough research!) Declinism is the feeling that everything is getting harder, scarier, and weirder, and a lot of people seem to have it.

Work in a library, I want to tell them, and you’ll learn what weird is.

Source: https://slate.com/technology/2022/09/libraries-mental-health-support.html

Current Affairs, Politics

Jan. 6 hearings: Trump’s summer of bad news is about to get much worse | Slate

By Dennis Aftergut, June 06, 20226:00 AM

Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

May was a bad month for former President Donald Trump.

And there are darkening clouds on his horizon. On June 9, the Jan. 6 House select committee will hold public hearings as part of its ongoing investigation into the storming of the Capitol last year.

In short order, the set of six scheduled televised sessions this month are likely to build momentum toward making the case that the president was directly involved in attempts to undermine the peaceful transition of power. And as the steady dropping of shocking findings from the committee over the course of the past months suggests, the sessions will likely have many viewers on the edge of their seats.

June’s hearings follow a series of escalations in Trump’s ongoing legal battles stemming from his attempts to undermine the 2020 election. May’s legal developments and the looming hearings suggest increasing pressures and prospects that Trump will face criminal charges.

Editor’s Note: First hearing Thursday, prime time (except Fox News)…

Source: Jan. 6 hearings: Trump’s summer of bad news is about to get much worse.

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Libraries, Podcasts, Science & Health, Web & Technology

Librarian Jessamyn West on teaching computer skills in rural Vermont | Slate

“In my dream world, library school would partly be help desk school.”

Podcast production by Cameron Drews, May 29, 20227:00 AM

https://dcs.megaphone.fm/SLT7794022753.mp3

Screenshot…

This week, host June Thomas talks to Jessamyn West, a librarian in rural Vermont who’s working to improve computer literacy and access to library services in her community.

In the interview, Jessamyn explains her process for helping people to learn basic computer skills, like building a resume, setting up an online dating profile, or learning how to use a mouse.

She also talks about her broader mission to make sure technology is intuitive and accessible to everyone who needs it.

After the interview, June and co-host Isaac Butler discuss mantras and understanding your strengths and weaknesses.

Note: View transcript…

Source: Librarian Jessamyn West on teaching computer skills in rural Vermont

Current Affairs, Politics, Times They Are A-Changing

The Census shows that vast stretches of America are Shrinking. Almost all of them voted for Donald Trump | slate

Ninety percent of counties that lost population in the last decade backed the ex-president.

By Jordan Weissmann, Aug 14, 20215:40 AM

A barn for Trump. Scott Olson/Getty Images

Donald Trump and the Republican Party he shaped represent the fading face of the United States, winning over an older, more rural, and overwhelmingly caucasian bloc of voters that reflected the country’s past more than its more urban and diverse future.

The latest data from the 2020 Census, which the government released on Thursday to kick off the congressional redistricting process, illustrate that fact in incredibly stark terms.

It shows that the white population fell for the first time in history during the last decade, and that Americans continued to cluster in growing cities and suburbs, whether in Texas, Georgia, Virginia, or New York.

Source: The Census shows that vast stretches of America are Shrinking. Almost all of them voted for Donald Trump.

Current Affairs, Memories & History, Pleasures, Travel

Billions of dollars aren’t enough to fix America’s train problem | SLATE

By Henry Grabar, Aug 09, 202111:34 AM

Amtrak celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2021. Olivier Douliery/Getty Images

As part of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill that is edging ever closer to passage, Congress is set to give Amtrak $30 billion for the Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston, part of a $66 billion grant for the network nationwide.

To some, this may seem like a good step toward realizing a future of American train travel that’s more in line with the high-speed, low(er)-cost systems in countries like Japan and France. Alon Levy, a mathematician who works on the Transit Costs Project at New York University, estimates that somewhere between $15 billion and $20 billion would be needed to implement a high-speed, fairly affordable, and frequently running train system between Boston and Washington.

But Amtrak seems to have less ambitious plans for the “greatest investment in Amtrak’s 50-year history.” Rather than using the funds to build an efficient, high-speed rail in the Northeast, Amtrak has allotted $30 billion for one single project: Gateway. Gateway would restore the aging tracks that bring commuters from New Jersey to New York City, rebuild an existing tunnel, construct a second tunnel, and expand Penn Station.

Source: Billions of dollars aren’t enough to fix America’s train problem.