…Review of John Jeremiah Sullivan's 2004 memoir about his sportswriter father: here because it is not food or local, nor quite places along the way but does relate to work I have done and a significant part of my life that I strangely and perhaps illogically avoid (Welsh Notes and next generation horse/pony pictures excepted).
Sullivan's British publisher, Random House, clearly took note and has now released his first book, Blood Horses: Notes of a Sportswriter's Son, which came out in the States in 2004. It takes just one subject,...Writing a successful book about horses is no easy feat, as Sullivan points out on a couple of occasions. "Beasts do not make good protagonists," he notes early on, "for the simple reason that unless you are younger than 10 or have money riding on their success or failure, it is hard to identify with them fully." Sullivan follows the example of others and weaves in stories of "human beings whose fates run more or less parallel to the track". In his case, it is most prominently his father, Mike Sullivan....Blood Horses also details the journey of thoroughbreds from the Middle East to the west.
Blood Horses by John Jeremiah Sullivan – review | Books | The Observer
A coming wave of robots could redefine our jobs. Will that redefine us? By Jeffrey R. Young
Baxter is a new type of worker, who is having no trouble getting a job these days, even in a tight economy. He's a little slow, but he's easy to train. And companies don't hire him, they buy him—he even comes with a warranty.
Baxter is a robot'
....
Still, the question of whether robots are helping or hurting the work force has become a serious policy issue. Georgia Tech's Christensen, the keynote speaker at the trade show and a leading pro-robot spokesman, has argued to the Obama administration that new robot workers can help bring back manufacturing jobs to the United States that have moved overseas.... But he said they "got convinced," and he pointed to a recent move by Apple to move more production of its computers to the United States because automation made it cheap enough. The professor recently helped update a white paper sponsored by the National Science Foundation laying out a "National Robotics Roadmap" for the country
....
Bledstein said he may write something more about automation and how it has changed the middle class, and he mentioned that he would continue to teach and do research as long as he can. He wants to keep working. He thinks every professional does, as long as the work is meaningful. "People I know who have really retired, they have really deteriorated quickly," he said. "Work is far more than just a practical category. It's fundamental. We need work."
…trumps loneliness as early death indicator in old age, according to a new study. Unless being active and connected on social media networks counts to counter physical isolation, I'm toast. Truly screwed, thank you very much.
Social isolation in old age significantly increases the risk of an early death and outstrips loneliness as a factor associated with mortality, a UK study has found.
The new findings, published in the journal PNAS, are based on a study of 6,500 men and women aged 52 and older enrolled in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing in 2004, and assessed the participants’ risk of death through to March 2012.
The study assessed social isolation based on marital status, frequency of contact with family and friends, and participation in community organisations.
Read the rest of Social isolation trumps loneliness as early death indicator in old age
