November 28, 2022 - What Makes Us Vote the Way We Do? - JSTOR Daily

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What Makes Us Vote the Way We Do? - JSTOR Daily According to some political scientists, it’s more about group identity than personal interests. It might seem to be common sense that the central role of media in a democracy is, as two keen observers of journalism once suggested, to provide citizens “with the information they need to be free and self-governing.” This logic emerges from the historical period generally known as the Enlightenment, which saw the concurrent rise of democracy as a system of governance, and science as the means of explaining the workings of the physical world. Those two—democracy and science—emerge hand-in-hand, with the epistemology of one shaping the practice of the other. Both rest on assumptions that humans are inherently rational beings, able, with the right training, to reason from evidence to conclusion, and willing to change minds (and behavior) accordingly. Continued here

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How Australia became the world's greatest lithium supplier Roughly a three-hour drive south of Perth, Western Australia, off the South Western Highway and behind the historic mining town of Greenbushes, the land beyond the town's primary school falls away to reveal a deep, grey scar. This is the site of an old tin mine known as the Cornwall Pit. At roughly 265m (870ft) deep, the terraced wall of the pit represents a century's worth of work that began in 1888 when a pound of tin was lifted out of a nearby creek. When the surface-metal was scoured from the landscape, methods changed eventually giving way to open-cut mining in the host pegmatite vein – an igneous rock with a coarse texture similar to granite. Continued here

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The case for buying less — and how to actually do it This holiday season could be a scary time for some: Between inflation (prices have risen 8.2 percent in a year) and economic uncertainty pointing to a potential recession, in addition to ongoing pandemic recovery, it might not be the ideal moment to think about buying a bunch of crap. A 2019 survey by Ladder and OnePoll revealed that Americans spend an average of $18,000 per year on nonessential items, including streaming services and lattes, impulse Amazon finds, and unnecessary clothes. Not only is this enough to buy a semester of in-state tuition for your soon-to-be-college kid, but it translates to lots of clutter you have to deal with as items become unnecessary with time. Household goods and services are responsible for 60 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, one study shows. It seems we are as aware as ever of this fact — since the pandemic, consumers want to reduce their unnecessary shopping behaviors. Continued here

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In 1882, a man wrongly drew a map. His mistake saved a forest of 300-year-old trees. This article was first published on Big Think in May 2021. It was updated in November 2022. The trees here tower a hundred feet above the forest floor — a ceiling as high as in prehistory and vanishingly rare today. That’s because no logger’s axe has ever touched these woods. Continued here

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What is jet lagand how do you get over it? Jet lag occurs when travelers have trouble adjusting to a time zone that is three or more hours different from home. Here, planes are captured through a tilt-shift lens at Teterboro airport, New Jersey. Skipping time zones can mess with your body’s internal clock. But with the right gear and planning, you can adjust in no time. Continued here S6 How to test if we're living in a computer simulation Physicists have long struggled to explain why the universe started out with conditions suitable for life to evolve. Why do the physical laws and constants take the very specific values that allow stars, planets and ultimately life to develop? The expansive force of the universe, dark energy, for example, is much weaker than theory suggests it should be – allowing matter to clump together rather than being ripped apart. A common answer is that we live in an infinite multiverse of universes, so we shouldn’t be surprised that at least one universe has turned out as ours. But another is that our universe is a computer simulation, with someone (perhaps an advanced alien species) fine-tuning the conditions. Continued here S26 Not believing is the second biggest "belief" in the U.S. This article was first published on Big Think in February 2022. It was updated in November 2022. It is widely thought that there are roughly 10,000 religions in the world, today. Most of us are familiar with the big ones — Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and so on — but hundreds of millions believe in folk, traditional, or tribal faiths, too. Continued here S25 The 171 Absolute Best Cyber Monday Deals Right Now The holiday shopping season reaches its peak when Cyber Monday deals roll around. Sales are often better than on Black Friday, but with every retailer promising the best Cyber Monday discounts, it can be tricky to work out what deals to snag and when to pass. Luckily, we have done the hard work for you. WIRED reviewers try countless gadgets, tools, and digital delights of all kinds every week, and we have developed smart shopping tips and tricks to weed out fake discounts and bring you the real deals. We can say with confidence that these are the absolute best Cyber Monday deals you're going to find. Keep this page bookmarked. You will find regular updates as products go out of stock and prices change, and we'll keep scouring to find more deals worth grabbing.  Continued here You Might Like � � � S9 What’s it Like To Live Together as an Unmarried Couple in India? Couples Tell Us. As I write this piece, I look up to my right to see my partner watching TV, the cats snuggled up beside him, and I can’t help but smile to myself. In the last four years, this is the little haven that we have created for ourselves as a live-in queer couple and, yet, we wake up each day – slightly more afraid – of it being entirely snatched away from us. The recent shocking news of the murder of Shraddha Walkar at the hands of her intimate partner Aftab Poonawala has opened up heated debates on Indian news outlets and the internet about the “dangers” of live-in relationships, and seemingly encouraged hate-mongering. So much so that young girls are writing and reciting poems at school assemblies that condemn couples living together without being legally married. But in the process of collectively demonising live-in arrangements, everyone forgot to ask live-in couples themselves how they feel about their living arrangements, as well as the positive and negative aspects of staying together without getting married in a society as conservative as India. Continued here S2 ‘Hypervigilance’ may just be the reason why you feel on edge all the time Constantly tense, on guard, and exceptionally aware of the emotions of others around you? Hypervigilance could be the reason.  Do you ever get the feeling that your friends are all talking about you behind your back? Or walked into a room and wondered whether every single person is secretly mad at you? Continued here � S31 Wei Ho Is Drawn to Algebra, Geometry and the Human Side of Math | Quanta Magazine Wei Ho in the Mathematics-Natural Sciences Library at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Like many people who would go on to become mathematicians, Wei Ho grew up competing in math contests. In eighth grade, she won the Mathcounts state competition in Wisconsin, and her team took third place at nationals. Continued here S19 The Best Kitchen and Home Deals for Cyber Monday Making a house a home takes time, and often … a lot of money. Luckily, with Cyber Monday, there are plenty of great deals on all your household needs for Cyber Monday. Whether you’re building up your kitchen appliances, syncing up all your smart home gadgets, or simply trying to clear the air, there’s something on sale for you. Here’s what we’ve found. We test products year-round and handpicked these deals. Products that are sold out or no longer discounted as of publishing will be crossed out. We'll update this guide throughout Cyber Monday. Continued here � S34 Now You See Me, Now I’m Gone Technology-enabled remote work and changing work norms are making it easier for people to change roles or employers without uprooting themselves.1 But technology may play another role in employee mobility by making their contributions more visible. Our research shows how increased performance visibility can impact turnover. Now that organizations are using digital collaboration tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, HubSpot, and Salesforce extensively, individual-level contributions and talents are gaining visibility. These tools don't just facilitate the work itself; they also capture who does what and how it's done, giving managers a clearer view of how teams work.2 They also make it easier for remote workers to connect with mentors and others in their organization who can help them grow and advance. Those recent developments intersect with another trend that's been around a bit longer: Through online conferences, courses, publications, and online platforms such as LinkedIn and Substack, people can widely share and promote their expertise in many formats — articles, podcasts, videos, newsletters, tutorials, live coaching sessions, virtual presentations, and so on. The content they generate serves as marketing for their employers, but it also builds their professional reputations. And that, too, enhances visibility and mobility — not just for superstars, but for a much larger cohort of workers. Continued here S27 Debate world champion explains how to argue If our ancestors could see modern society, odds are they would be impressed with our technology and horrified with how we use it — particularly when it comes to debate. Debate is crucial to a healthy society. After all, having productive debates is how people have learned, resolved conflicts, and generated new solutions for thousands of years. In ancient Greece and Rome, it was even considered a kind of civic duty to be able to persuasively argue your point about the various issues of the day. Continued here � S3 In classical Chinese philosophy, all actions are collective | Aeon Essays What if I told you that there's no such thing as an individual action? That every time you eat, walk up the stairs or read a book, you are not the sole agent behind what you are doing, but are engaged in a process of co-creation . as much acted-upon as acting? Continued here S30 In Response to Climate Protests, Italian Museums May Raise Ticket Prices In Italy’s museums, art enthusiasts can view iconic works like Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, Michelangelo’s David and Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Soon, that could become a little more expensive. Italy’s Ministry of Culture is considering increasing the cost of admission to its museums, according to a statement from Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano. The consideration is a response to climate protests that target fine art. Continued here � S13 Indian tech firms should think twice about layoffs Over the last few months, layoffs and a global investment crunch have rocked India’s startup ecosystem. Layoffs by giants like Twitter and Meta could make Indian tech companies jittery, and they may take cues and cut their headcounts in anticipation of harder macroeconomic conditions in the future. But Somdeep Deb, vice president for consulting services at Right Management, says Indian tech companies should think carefully before cutting jobs. If the move is not thought-through, it can have serious long-term implications on the company’s image and its ability to attract top talent in the future. Continued here S5 Turning YouTube Comments Into Art If written today, “In Search of Lost Time” might well be an Internet novel. The Web has become the first port of call in any search for what we’ve once seen or even felt. It’s our externalized memory—in the never-fading photographs on Instagram or Facebook, in the dangerously searchable chats, the indelible e-mails, or in our improbably granular Uber and Venmo histories. Our memory also lives, in part, on YouTube: every movie scene you’ve ever watched; every historical event you’ve ever (or never) witnessed; tours of every place you’ve ever visited; and recordings of every song you’ve ever listened to, or cried to, or loved to. But the thing about a shared memory is that it’s not just yours—though you may recall it on your own, so can anyone else. And they leave comments. Chiara Amisola, an artist from the Philippines, believes that the YouTube comments section is “one of the last sacred spaces of the internet.” In contrast to the hypercuration of the social-media profile, anything goes in the comments. Amisola is fascinated by the commenters who, as she puts it, “gush out stories (real or fake?) about falling in love, being saved, or just tripping madly to some low qual upload of a post-rock song,” she wrote in an Instagram post. Clicking on a song uploaded more than a decade ago, you end up falling down a rabbit hole—or hundreds of rabbit holes—if you take a look at the archive of feeling that unfurls beneath the video, like some mixture of bathroom-wall graffiti and Talmudic commentary. Continued here S7 How Great Leaders Communicate Transformational leaders are exceptional communicators. In this piece, the author outlines four communication strategies to help motivate and inspire your team: 1) Use short words to talk about hard things. 2) Choose sticky metaphors to reinforce key concepts. 3) Humanize data to create value. 4). Make mission your mantra to align teams. In the age of knowledge, ideas are the foundation of success in almost every field. You can have the greatest idea in the world, but if you can’t persuade anyone else to follow your vision, your influence and impact will be greatly diminished. And that’s why communication is no longer considered a “soft skill” among the world’s top business leaders. Leaders who reach the top do not simply pay lip service to the importance of effective communication. Instead, they study the art in all its forms — writing, speaking, presenting — and constantly strive to improve on those skills. Continued here S28 What is Mahāyāna Buddhism? A scholar of Buddhism explains Mahāyāna is the name of one of the two primary branches of Buddhism. The word is formulated from the Sanskrit “mahā,” meaning great or large, and “yāna,” meaning vehicle. Taken together, the term can be translated as the Great Vehicle.  As I explain in my book “Buddhish: A Guide to the 20 Most Important Buddhist Ideas for the Curious and Skeptical,” Mahāyāna is the most popular type of Buddhism in the world today.  Continued here S35 People Leaders Need Data-Driven Technology Too The pandemic permanently shifted traditional expectations of the workplace and prompted workers to begin rethinking the notion of job security and how work meaningfully fits into their lives. The resulting shifts in employee sentiment have left employers to navigate new expectations of flexibility, career choices and job roles, and purpose. In fact, employees are increasingly prioritizing a deeper range of factors at work, including a company’s ethics and alignment in values. In ADP Research Institute’s annual global study of more than 32,000 workers from 17 countries, “People at Work 2022: A Global Workforce View,” 76% of workers said they would consider looking for a new job if they discovered that their company had an unfair gender pay gap or no diversity and inclusion policy. These evolving expectations are occurring at a time when the stakes have never been higher for companies. In the current labor market, where there are more jobs than job seekers, recruitment and retention are among the most pressing business issues for employers. This is a critical moment for businesses to think holistically about their employer brands and build meaningful connections with their people. Continued here S12 Should we get rid of air miles for climate change? Flying is very far from being a green activity. A return flight from Lisbon to New York generates nearly the same level of CO2 as the average person in the EU does by heating their home all year round. Compared with land transport, a plane requires a lot more energy, says Agnes Jocher, a professor at the Technical University of Munich, whose research explores sustainable future mobility. The result is a disproportionate climate impact compared to alternatives (trains and ferries, to name a few). Continued here S10 Meet the Scammer Who Traveled the World by Swindling Her Closest Friends Sabrina Taylor was a starry-eyed American tourist in Japan, her frequent visits unfurling like cartoon fever dreams. Then her vacation squad started comparing notes—and discovered that Sabrina’s life back home was make-believe. Trudging around Tokyo Disneyland, Lauren Wells glared at her friend Sabrina, dressed in a Princess Tiana costume, flitting a few paces ahead. It was May. The park’s flower gardens were blooming. And Sabrina’s life—or at least the life she pretended to have—was crumbling. Lauren knew it. She suspected Sabrina did too. Continued here S21 6 Best Cyber Monday Sonos Deals on Soundbars and Speakers Sonos makes some of our favorite speakers because you can seamlessly connect several throughout your home, all without having to wrangle with pesky cables. It started its Cyber Monday sales early, but they're going strong. You'll find discounts on some of our favorite speakers, soundbars, and subwoofers. The sale runs through November 28. It’s a great opportunity to build a surround sound setup. We test products year-round and handpicked these deals. Products that are sold out or no longer discounted as of publishing will be crossed out or marked as expired. We'll update this guide through Cyber Monday. Continued here S16 The Best Cyber Monday Ebike and Electric Scooter Deals Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the time of year when you shop for big-ticket items for holiday presents, like sound systems or laptops. But if your home theater or kitchen is all set, let us make one more suggestion: Buy a bike or scooter. Almost one in four adults report that they do not get any physical activity outside of their jobs. Incorporating more active transportation methods in your life reduces climate emissions, creates more opportunities for small businesses in pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods, and most importantly, gets you up and moving.  Updated November 27: We've added a deal on the Specialized Turbo Levo Comp ebike, and updated prices and links throughout. Continued here S15 Building a Team to Lead in a Crisis: Four Key Steps In this Nano Tool for Leaders, Wharton Dean Erika James and Simmons University President Lynn Perry Wooten offer an action plan to successfully manage any crisis by leveraging the right team. Nano Tools for Leaders® — a collaboration between Wharton Executive Education and Wharton’s Center for Leadership and Change Management — are fast, effective tools that you can learn and start using in less than 15 minutes, with the potential to significantly impact your success. Continued here S33 65% of Americans are doing 'the exact opposite of what they're supposed to,' says investing expert—here's what to do instead If your favorite store was offering 13% off the merchandise, chances are you'd be filling up your shopping cart. But if you're like many Americans, you may find you're not quite as enthusiastic about a markdown when it comes to buying stocks. The S&P 500 — a common proxy for the broad U.S. stock market — is down 13% in 2022, but folks aren't buying more stock at cheaper prices. Just 1 in 4 Americans say it's a good time to invest in the stock market, according to a recent survey from Allianz Life, and 65% say they are keeping more money than they should out of the market out of fear of investment losses. Continued here S18 The Best Cyber Monday Deals on Headphones and Speakers I'm the anti-hero Taylor Swift sings about. I listen to the same song over and over and over again, scratching that part of my brain that just loves every moment of it. Luckily for me, this Cyber Monday, there are speaker deals from Sonos and Google that will sound good with every replay. Luckily for my husband, friends, and anyone else in my vicinity, there are also plenty of deals on headphones from our favorite brands, like Jabra, Apple, and Beats, to drown my tunes out. If you're looking to listen to whatever you want with the best sound possible, we've assembled all the best Cyber Monday headphone and speaker deals here. Updated November 27: We've added new deals on headphones from Bose and Bang & Olufsen. We've also updated prices and links throughout. Continued here S24 Our Fave Cyber Monday Deals on Amazon Devices Amazon is having an internal crisis over Alexa right now—its voice assistant is on pace to lose $10 billion this year—so it might not be the best idea to invest in the company's lineup of Alexa-powered devices right now. However, Amazon makes a ton of other hardware, from Kindles, which are some of the best ebook readers in the market, to Fire tablets and Fire TV sticks. Everything is heavily discounted right now for Cyber Monday, so now's one of the best times to buy.  Updated November 27: We've refreshed this guide for Cyber Monday with a new Luna cloud gaming deal, a note on Ring Doorbells, some navigation to better move around the page, and link and pricing tweaks throughout for accuracy. Continued here S17 The Best Cyber Monday Weekend Deals on Coffee Gear The holiday season always makes me extra thankful for coffee. Between year-end deadlines, juggling relatives, and scheduling all the get-togethers and zoom calls and events, I feel like I need a gallon just to get started some mornings. To help with that, we've pored over all the Cyber Monday weekend coffee deals that have come our way to pick out the best discounts on coffee makers, coffee beans, and espresso machines.  Updated November 27: We've added the VSSL Flask and Breville Barista espresso machine, and updated links and prices throughout. Continued here S14 How Premium Financial Market Services Drive Out Ordinary Investors Many investors are scared away when more sophisticated institutional investors gain access to trading advantages such as high-speed data. Pricing those services correctly is critical to preserving liquidity, according to new Wharton research. Stock exchanges and data providers find attractive revenue opportunities in selling exclusive colocation facilities and high-speed data services, respectively, but eventually they might end up killing the golden goose. If more and more investment traders buy those services, not only does the exclusivity they covet get diminished, but investors that do not buy them perceive financial markets as rigged and drop out. The upshot of that turn of events is reduced liquidity (or transaction volumes) in markets, and the smaller pie reduces opportunities for all participants. Continued here S20 The Best Cyber Monday Deals at Target There's just something about a Target trip that cures my cabin fever and all minor spats of anxiety. This time of year, all the cute Christmas decor and ornaments are out, which makes trips even more fun. Shopping on its website isn't as fun, sadly, but it's still packed full of holiday sales. Target's Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals have been live for almost every day of the month, but several discounts are even sweeter now. We test products year-round and handpicked these deals. Products that are sold out or no longer discounted as of publishing will be crossed out. We'll update this guide through Cyber Monday. Continued here S22 14 Best Cyber Monday Deals on Google Devices We Like Google started its Cyber Monday deals early, and the price cuts are strong. Pixel phones, Pixel Buds wireless earbuds, and smart home gadgets we like are seeing substantial discounts—even devices that launched barely a month ago.  Updated on November 27, 2022 at 10:30 pm. We've checked the prices and links on these deals. Continued here S11 This is where most of the world's soccer balls come from If you have a soccer ball in your house, there's a pretty good chance it came from Sialkot, a city in northeast Pakistan near the Kashmiri border. More than two-thirds of the world's soccer balls are made in one of the town's 1,000 factories. That includes the Adidas Al Rihla, the official ball of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, which kicks off this month. In Sialkot, about 60,000 people work in the soccer ball manufacturing business—or about 8% of the city's population. Often they work long hours and sew the balls' panels together by hand. Continued here S23 71 Best Buy Deals to Drool Over This Cyber Monday You can quit being patient. All those enticing gadgets that have been capturing your attention (and some WIRED Recommends awards) all year long have finally gone on sale for Cyber Monday. Whether you venture into the stores or shop from the comfort of your sofa as you grub down those leftover turkey-and-cranberry-sauce sandwiches, feast your eyes on the bounty that is these Best Buy Cyber Monday deals. Updated November 27 at 11 pm: We've added new deals on Nanoleaf smart home lighting and Dyson vacuums, as well as removed dead deals and updated pricing throughout. Continued here Subscribe to: Posts (Atom) Followers Blog Archive ►  2024 (51) ►  December (1) ►  October (2) ►  August (2) ►  July (4) ►  June (3) ►  May (5) ►  April (4) ►  March (2) ►  February (10) ►  January (18) ►  2023 (834) ►  December (20) ►  November (54) ►  October (44) ►  September (108) ►  August (91) ►  July (29) ►  June (68) ►  May (104) ►  April (33) ►  March (30) ►  February (99) ►  January (154) ▼  2022 (208) ►  December (117) ▼  November (6) November 28, 2022 - What Makes Us Vote the Way We ... November 21, 2022 - This Google-Backed Nonprofit P... November 18, 2022 - How to Make Your Matrix Orga... November 18, 2022 - Why Scientists Got the Fast Pa... 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