All posts by Intellicurious

News, Views and Reviews for the Intellectually Curious

Reviews: Can California Finish Its High-Speed Rail?

CNBC (May 16, 2023) – In 2008, California voted yes on a $9 billion bond authorization to build the nation’s first high-speed railway. The plan is to build an electric train that will connect Los Angeles with the Central Valley and then San Francisco in two hours and forty minutes.

Chapters: 1:35 Intro 1:41 The Vision 4:48 Progress 8:17 Setbacks and challenges

At the time, it was estimated the project would be complete by 2020 and cost $33 billion. But 15 years later, there is not a single mile of track laid, and there isn’t enough money to finish the project. The latest estimates show it will cost $88 billion to $128 billion to complete the entire system from LA to San Francisco. Inflation and higher construction costs have contributed to the high price tag. Despite the funding challenges, progress has been made on the project.

119 miles are under construction in California’s Central Valley. The project recently celebrated its 10,000th worker on the job. The infrastructure design work is complete, and 422 out of 500 miles have been environmentally cleared. CNBC visited California’s Central Valley, where construction is underway, to find out what it will take to complete what would be the nation’s largest infrastructure project.

Food: The History Of Los Angeles Sushi Restaurants

Los Angeles Times Food (May 16, 2023) – Times writer Daniel Miller spent nearly eight years researching the origins of sushi in Los Angeles. In 2022, Daniel met with Gil Asakawa, an author and journalist who writes specifically on the Japanese-American experience, to find the location of L.A.’s first sushi bar. Along the way, the two stop by several restaurants and locations in Little Tokyo to look into the evolution of sushi.

Australia Architecture: A Tour Of Montfort House

The Local Project (May 16, 2023) – Drawn to the coastline of Montfort Beach, Chris McKimm, Founding Director of InForm and home owner, wanted to infuse this surf lovers dream house with an abundance of natural light, sweeping views and open spaces.

Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction to The Ultimate Surf Lovers Dream House 00:39 – The Beachside Location 00:57 – The History of InForm 01:26 – The Unknown Surf Break of Montfort Beach 02:03 – A Desire for a Home that Blended with the Environment 02:24 – Hitting the Brief 03:02 – The Design of the House and a Walkthrough 03:58 – Create Spaces Safe from the Wind 04:13 – Designing the Garden for Privacy 04:40 – Overcoming the Neighbourhood Challenges 05:22 – A Reflective Material Palette 06:02 – The Most Enjoyable Space in the Home

Positioned on top of a sand dune 600 metres from the ocean, Montfort House is one of seven homes built on the site. Due to a deep knowledge of the terrain and the overall development, Chris delivered a difficult brief to the architects, where he requested a dream home that blends into its environment. Within the brief, there was a necessary request of harnessing the views to the south and allowing the surf lovers dream house to embrace the winter sun that came from that direction.

With a need for the home to be designed with Chris and his family in mind, the architects had to keep in mind that they would predominantly live on site, while their children and grandchildren would regularly visit. To cater to this need, Montfort House has been deliberately zoned to cater to the different aspects of living in a surf lovers dream house. As one begins the house tour, the design starts with stairs that lead up to the front door, which has been complemented with a deliberately large window to the side that offers a glimpse to the southern views.

Travel: A Tour Of Dublin City Centre, Ireland (4K)

Walking With Peter Films (May 15, 2023) – A cinematic walking tour of Dublin City Centre in Ireland on Saturday Afternoon, 13th May 2023. The tour begins in Rathmines in Dublin 6 and includes Camden Street, Harcourt Street, St. Stephen’s Green and more.

The centre of Dublin has a very organic feel to it, with its winding, narrow streets and low buildings. There is only one grand avenue in the centre and that is O’Connell Street. The rest of the streets is much more human in scale. Few buildings in the city centre are more than four stories high and an appealing mix of 18th century Georgian and 19th century Victorian styles dominates most streets in the centre. Life in Dublin’s city centre is charming, slightly chaotic and fairly laid back.

Culture/Politics: Harper’s Magazine — June 2023 Issue

June 2023

Harper’s Magazine – June 2023 issue:

Why Are We in Ukraine?

On the dangers of American hubris by Benjamin Schwarz, Christopher Layne

From Murmansk in the Arctic to Varna on the Black Sea, the armed camps of NATO and the Russian Federation menace each other across a new Iron Curtain. Unlike the long twilight struggle that characterized the Cold War, the current confrontation is running decidedly hot. As former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and former secretary of defense Robert Gates acknowledge approvingly, the United States is fighting a proxy war with Russia. 

Seeing Through Maps

by Madeline ffitch

I was splitting wood at sunset when the cat jumped up on the chopping block in front of me, arched her back, and took a long piss. My axe hung in the sky. The cat stared at me, tail up. I put my axe down and squatted before her. I hitched my gown to my waist. 

News: China ‘Peace Envoy’ In Ukraine, South Africa Ships Weapons To Russia

The Globalist, May 16, 2023: A Chinese ‘peace’ envoy arrives in Ukraine as Volodomyr Zelensky pushes for military supplies abroad, South Africa sticks to its controversial stance on Russia and the EU plans to build internet cables under the Black Sea.

Plus: we check in with film critic Karen Krizanovich as the Cannes Film Festival begins, and Monocle’s Fiona Wilson talks food diplomacy, as carbonara pancakes are on the menu in Hiroshima ahead of the G7 summit.

Front Page: The New York Times —- May 16, 2023

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Erdogan’s Grip on Power Is Loosened but Not Broken, Vote Shows

Huge posters featuring President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey hang from buildings in Istanbul on Monday.

Despite a struggling economy, the disastrous earthquakes in February and Turkey’s drift toward one-man rule, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was in the lead ahead of a runoff.

How to Raise $89 Million in Small Donations, and Make It Disappear

A group of conservative operatives using sophisticated robocalls raised millions of dollars from donors using pro-police and pro-veteran messages. But instead of using the money to promote issues and candidates, an analysis by The New York Times shows, nearly all the money went to pay the firms making the calls and the operatives themselves.

No Degree? No Problem. Biden Tries to Bridge the ‘Diploma Divide.’

President Biden is trying to appeal to working-class voters by emphasizing his plans to create well-paid jobs that do not require a college degree.

Durham Finds Fault With F.B.I. Over Russia Inquiry

The special counsel’s final report nevertheless did not produce blockbuster revelations of politically motivated misconduct, as Donald J. Trump and his allies had suggested it would.

Inside Tour: Gilder Center At The American Museum Of Natural History In NYC

PBS NewsHour (May 15, 2023) -At a time when the public teaching of science is again being fought over, the largest museum of natural history in the U.S. just extended its reach. Jeffrey Brown got a look inside the American Museum of Natural History’s stunning new expansion in New York for our arts and culture series, CANVAS.

Special Report: ‘Digital Finance’ – The Economist

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The Economist – Special Reports (May 20, 2023): The fight over payments systems is hotting up around the world. There may be surprising winners, says Arjun Ramani.

As payments systems go digital, they are changing global finance

The fight over payments systems is hotting up around the world. There may be surprising winners, says Arjun Ramani

Payment is one of the most fundamental economic activities. To buy anything, you need something the seller wants. One option is barter, but that is beset by friction (what are the chances of having something your counterparty wants at any exact moment?). Early forms of money, from cowrie shells to beads to metal coins, offered a solution: they were always in demand to settle transactions.

TV: Inside The Hollywood Film And TV Writer’s Strike

Wall Street Journal (May 15, 2023) – The Hollywood writers’ strike has more than 11,000 movie and television writers in the Writers Guild of America on strike for the first time in 15 years.

Video timeline: 0:00 Writers’ strike has brought productions to a halt 0:50 How streaming has transformed the industry 4:20 The 2007-2008 writers’ strike 4:59 The writers’ demands 7:13 The strike’s impact on the entertainment industry

WSJ sat down for exclusive interviews with the showrunners of “Abbott Elementary” and “The Handmaid’s Tale” to understand the key sticking points that led to the writers’ strike and what’s next for the entertainment industry.