shekinahcancook

shekinahcancook, 8 days ago to art

Has the Mystery of the ‘Mona Lisa’ Background Been Solved?

Ann Pizzorusso, a geologist and art historian, says she’s identified the location in the background of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting.
Sarah Kuta - Daily Correspondent - May 20, 2024

"...Past theories about the background have focused primarily on the bridge and the road in the painting...

However, Pizzorusso says these theories ignore the rock formations in Leonardo’s artwork.

“The arched bridge was ubiquitous throughout Italy and Europe, and many looked very similar,” she tells the Observer’s Dalya Alberge. “It is impossible to identify an exact location from a bridge alone. They all talk about the bridge, and nobody talks about the geology...”

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/mona-lisa-background-mystery-180984377/

#Art #MonaLisa #ArtHistory #DaVinci #Geology #Geography

shekinahcancook, 8 days ago to linguistics

How the Brain Processes Different Components of Language - Moving beyond neural localization of language. Posted May 28, 2024

"...This is in line with recent ideas about a "cortical mosaic" architecture for linguistic structure within overlapping portions of posterior temporal and inferior frontal cortices for processing demands that bias syntactic and semantic computations, whereby, for example, effects of composition can be found within a narrow strip of tissue within the broader lexicality-sensitive cortical sites (a spatial mosaic), or where different demands of sentence-level inferential semantics can be detected over closely overlapping temporal windows within a small area of cortex (a spatiotemporal mosaic)..."

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/language-and-its-place-in-nature/202405/how-the-brain-processes-different-components-of

Your brain is a big interconnected mosaic, not a nice neat clearly labeled filing cabinet, lol.

#Language #Linguistics #Brain #Psychology #Learning #Education

shekinahcancook, 8 days ago to Sociology

May 23, 2024 Editors' notes
Study suggests less conformity leads to more innovation by Complexity Science Hub

"..."When different people come together, given they have no bad intentions, new ideas emerge, which can foster innovation and contribute to economic prosperity," explains Dirk Helbing, who is an external faculty member at the Complexity Science Hub and a professor at ETH Zurich. Therefore, maintaining or even promoting socio-diversity plays a significant role. But how can this be achieved?

In a study recently published in the Journal of the Royal Society Open Science, Helbing and his colleague found evidence that socio-diversity is lower in centralized social networks, where a few key figures are connected with a lot of people..."

https://phys.org/news/2024-05-conformity.html

Go outside the box. The grass is way greener there.

#Sociology #Diversity #Workplace #NewtorkTheory #SocialMedia #DynamicSystems #DEI

shekinahcancook, 8 days ago to retirement

New IRS fact sheet: Disaster relief impacts to retirement plans and IRAs

The IRS released a new Fact Sheet on the impact of SECURE 2.0 provision that provides ongoing disaster relief for certain loans and distributions in federally declared major disasters. Before SECURE 2.0, there was no disaster relief that allowed these loans and distributions for all major disasters.

The FAQs help individuals, employers, retirement plan and Individual Retirement Arrangement service providers with general tax information and details about:

• Taxation and reporting of qualified disaster recovery distributions
• Repayment of qualified distributions taken for the purpose of purchasing or constructing a principal residence in a qualified disaster area
• Loans from certain qualified plans

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/disaster-relief-frequent-asked-questions-retirement-plans-and-iras-under-the-secure-20-act-of-2022

#IRS #Taxes #IRA #Retirement #Disasters

shekinahcancook, 8 days ago to Astronomy

Solar Storms Create Wondrous Auroras—But Dangerous Power Surges - The next potential space voltage could be on the horizon very soon, by Meg St-Esprit May 28, 2024

"...We are far from a time where we can predict solar weather with the accuracy of terrestrial weather, says Mike Bettwy, but it’s improving every day. “That’s why it’s really, really critical to have constant monitoring and imaging,” he says. “Now, if we see in a satellite image of a solar flare, we can actually run a model to try to predict how it is going to interact with the Earth’s atmosphere.” That wasn’t possible in the past, which meant solar storms were potentially much more dangerous before..."

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/solar-storm-power-surges

#Astronomy #Aurora #SolarStorms #Resilience #Tech #Science #Electronics #DisasterPrep

shekinahcancook, 8 days ago to food

School Lunch Around the World - Not every country has the same recipe for brain food, by Andrew Coletti May 27, 2024

"...“School lunch is gross” is a longstanding cliche in American pop culture, and it seems just as relevant now as it was when I was a kid. In 2022, an anonymous New York City high schooler went viral for their Instagram documentations of school lunches that seemed baffling, nutritionally deficient, or just plain bad. One featured mozzarella sticks, two pieces of cauliflower, and a clementine, beside the word HELP scrawled in marinara sauce...."

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/school-lunch-around-the-world

And of course republicans begrudge the little bit of nutritionally useless junk American schools feed kids and would like to make kids go hungry all day.

#Nutrition #School #Education #HealthyEating

serge, 8 days ago to Canada

My biggest gripe, as someone who is living in Canada and paying taxes in Canada, is seeing how incredibly biased the #CBC is.

I've watched or listened to CBC news since the 90s. I've seen their coverage of Israel for decades, and now inside Canada I've seen their coverage of the war in Gaza, and I've seen their lack of coverage of #antisemitism .

They simply bury the issue of antisemitism, not covering stories of antisemitic attacks or policies, or they use scary air quotes when discussing it, such as "Jewish groups claim" or they couch antisemitism in terms of Israel's actions- which is itself an antisemitic trope.

Unlike even the Canadian postal service, Canada Post, the CBC is a direct arm of the Canadian government as a Crown Corporation, and yet it continues to directly and indirectly propagate antisemitism through biased reporting and or deliberate omissions in coverage.

It's one of the things I find most shameful about how my tax dollars are used here in #Canada.

vees, 8 days ago to random

I'm convinced that people will be posting 20-year-old CRT monitors for $50 on marketplace groups until the heat death of the universe. Paper-thin 90" retina displays will be available at convenience stores for $7 and people will still think their 30 lb lead-lined e-Waste is worth paying for.

chevrahachachamot, 8 days ago to Judaism

Vancouver comics festival bans Jewish artist Miriam Libicki over past IDF service By Andrew Lapin May 30, 2024

"...In her own statement, Libicki, who explores Jewish identity in her work, called the ban “illegal” and said it was “bad for all artists of all political orientations and backgrounds.” She added, “I have consistently, publicly been pro-peace” and supportive of the establishment of a Palestinian state.

“Because of the vulnerable populations I work with, I prefer not to discuss my specific political views in public,” she wrote in a statement shared...by Jesse Brown, a Canadian Jewish publisher and journalist. “I believe all policing of artists’ personal identities and nationalities is wrong.”

But after the CJN article was published on Wednesday, the festival deleted its “Accountability Statement.” It has not responded to a JTA request for comment..."

https://www.jta.org/2024/05/30/culture/vancouver-comics-festival-bans-jewish-artist-miriam-libicki-over-past-idf-service

#Mazeldon #Jewniverse #JFedi #JewishWomen #JewishAuthors #JeiwshArts #Judaism #Jewish #Antisemitism

JVNardulli, 8 days ago to Bloomscrolling

Our chives are flowering.

#bloomscrolling #chives

Purple chive flowers with green foliage in the background.
Flowering purple chives.

Malleus, 8 days ago to random

Super Friend Friday!
Erudite and Wonderful people to meet on mastodon!

@B_Whitewind
@SpiritBearDreaming
@Cat_LeFey
@gallowswitch
@GeekSusie
@witchpunkboi
@Julian_Invictus
@KentuckyConjurer
@shekinahcancook
@Mage_of_Aquarius
@Aphelion
@siin
@schratze
@teledyn
@Uddelhexe
@Urbanhedgelady
@murmurations
@adalbertsen

hauntedhideaway, 8 days ago to random

I made a 10 oz coffee with four pumps of sugar-free syrup. That's how my day is going. What about you?

kotaro, 8 days ago to random

It's no surprise that Trump is guilty of everything, but the question is, can the courts throw him in jail for it?

WePlanetAus, 9 days ago to nuclear

"I want my daughter to live with energy security and stability. I want her to enjoy the technology centric life we live. To do this we need to consider nuclear as a clean, reliable and stable energy source. Otherwise we will need to cut our energy use significantly… forever."

Jaz Diab – Engineer, Artist, Mum

Get the facts on nuclear energy: https://www.weplanetaustralia.org/rethinknuclearaus

#NuclearEnergy #nuclear #Repeal140a

shekinahcancook, 9 days ago to random

Well, that's the end of that. My now ex-friend and I had a huge falling out this morning. It's been a while coming. Somehow it's my fault that everything she was supposed to be doing for the last year didn't get done. She just stops in the middle of things and gets all bent out of shape when you call her on her unfulfilled promises. So we're done. I don't need that kind of crap right now.

shekinahcancook, 9 days ago to random

Unmasking Christian Nationalism

A timely discussion about the importance of church-state separation in the battle against Christian Nationalism. Even if you can’t attend the webinar live, you can still RSVP to receive a recording of the discussion.

This discussion will feature a stellar panel, including:

— Rachel Laser, President and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State
— Dr. Samuel L. Perry, associate professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Oklahoma at Norman.
— Rev. Dr. Lori Walke, AU Faith Advisory Council member and senior minister at Mayflower Congregational UCC Church in Oklahoma City.

This free event is open to the public and co-hosted by the Mayflower Congregational United Church of Christ and Americans United for Separation of Church and State. After the panel, there will be a short Q&A with the presenters.

Register Here: https://www.mobilize.us/au/event/627769/

#Mazeldon #ChristianNationalism #ChristoFascism #ReligiousFreedom #CivilRights

shekinahcancook, 9 days ago to Cats

Apparently cats have been our overlords longer than we thought.

Were Egyptians Really the First to Domesticate Cats? Try Cave Men - A map shows the spread of felines by Egyptians, Romans, Vikings—and prehistoric ancestors. by Frank Jacobs, Big Think May 24, 2024

"...major advances in paleogenetic analysis have helped illuminate the deep past of one of mankind’s favorite pets. In the last 2 decades, it has been established that the Near Eastern wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica) is the common ancestor of all domesticated cats, and that they were first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent about 10,000 years ago.

It also could be said that cats domesticated themselves; they were attracted to the rodents that feasted off the harvests of the earliest farmers. They chose us, not the other way around. In turn, those early farmers appreciated this welcome form of pest control. ...They arrived as a “ready-made” symbiotic species, so to speak..."

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/first-house-cat

#Cats #Archaeology #history

shekinahcancook, 9 days ago to spiders

I didn't really want to know this. Yes, spiders are good neighbors and helpful and all that. But...I don't want them landing on me. Just saying.

Baby Spiders Are ‘Addicted’ to Flying With Mini Balloons - From Himalayan jumping spiders to brown widows, arachnids love to float over your head. by Cara Giaimo May 24, 2024

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/wild-life-excerpt-spider-balloons

#Spiders #Arachnids

hauntedhideaway, 9 days ago to random

I have a certain amount of time blindness with ADHD, so I'm super conservative when I figure out when to leave for things. If it's 7 minutes away, I leave 15 minutes ahead of time. I'd rather sit in my car for a few minutes than be late. Being late drives me NUTS. My husband also has time blindness but does nothing to compensate. He always leaves five minutes before an event that takes seven minutes to get to. This does not account for the time it takes to walk across the parking lot and get in the building, either. Like, I guess if that's all I have to complain about, we are doing ok. But still, man. Leave early! It's not tough!