LINKS - August 24th, 2022
Welcome to LINKS — my attempt to provide Rhapsody readers with five interesting stories that tell us something about what it means to be human. LINKS is published every Wednesday. Have a link you want to share? Drop it in the comments.
When Your Boss Is Crying, but You’re the One Being Laid Off
By Emma Goldberg, The New York Times
“Nancy Rothbard, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania who has studied emotions in the workplace, said her research pointed to a growing expectation that people bring their ‘full selves’ to work, prompted by technologies that blur the lines between work and life. Surveys indicate that people tend to prefer segmenting their professional and personal lives instead of integrating them. But often they don’t feel they have the option."
To save their home, an Indigenous community turns to the skies
By Regine Cabato & Martin San Diego, Washington Post
“The Dumagat also fear that their way of life may be endangered. The government is building a new highway through the Dumagat’s domain, threatening to disrupt their traditional communities with unregulated tourism, soaring real estate prices and ecological degradation.
“But the eagles could be their salvation. The Indigenous population’s last hope may be to document the presence of the Philippine eagle and hawk eagle, and lobby for the area to be declared a protected critical habitat."
Chewing can increase your body's energy use by up to 15 per cent
By Jason Arunn Murugesu, New Scientist
“The researchers found that chewing the soft gum elevated energy expenditure by about 10 per cent, while chewing the stiffer gum increased this expenditure by around 15 per cent. Van Casteren says it’s interesting that a small change in the properties of the gum had such a notable effect on energy expenditure."
Viral AI rapper dropped from major record label for racist content
By Andrew Paul, Popular Science
“FN Meka isn’t ‘real,’ in so much that he is a sentient person He’s an AI-generated rap avatar created by Anthony Martini and Brandon Le back in 2019 that relies on proprietary music technology from an industry development company called Vydia to generate beats, melodies, and even lyrics ‘created using thousands of data points compiled from video games and social media’ that are subsequently rapped by anonymous human for actual songs. Singles like ‘Moonwalkin’’ and ‘Florida Water,’ the latter of which even has a music video featuring guest spots from actual, human rappers, have garnered millions of listens.”
Peeling Back the Myth of a “White” Midwest
By Britt Halvorson & Josh Reno, Sapiens
“The popular image of the U.S. heartland as only a place of rural, hardworking white farmers has always been a larger-than-life myth. In a new book, Imagining the Heartland, two anthropologists show how these seemingly banal portrayals of the Midwest perpetuate white supremacy.”