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Monthly Archives: June 2021
Mapped: Happiness Levels Around the World in 2021 – Visual Capitalist
Posted: June 28, 2021 at 9:55 pm
Are you happy? is a deceptively complex question to both ask and answer.
Its generally understood that having enough money to cover your needs and wants can help you live a relatively happy, comfortable lifeand recent research shows this relationship may increase linearly as income levels grow, as well.
However, theres much more to it than that. Happiness levels depend not just on financial security, but also broader perceptions of ones social support, personal freedom, and more.
This series of map pulls data from the World Happiness Report to uncover the average scores of 149 countries between 2018-2020, and which ones emerged the happiest or unhappiest. We also look at the most and least improved countries in every region.
First, lets look at the factors used to calculate world happiness levels. Some clear indicators are health and wealth, both metrics that have been steadily on the rise worldwide. The report takes these into account, weighting GDP per capita and life expectancy at birth into the scores.
The report also looks at more intangible aspects, collecting survey responses around:
This year, there was a natural focus on the negative affect measure of the COVID-19 pandemic on happiness levels, such as exacerbating mental health risks. In addition, such measurements varied depending on each countrys response to the crisis.
Worldwide happiness comes in at an average score of 5.5, a marginal improvement since our previous coverage of this report in 2019. Lets dive into regional outlooks for happiness levels.
Current Mood: Happy (6.1)
Canada retains its spot as the happiest country in North America, although its overall global ranking has dropped over the years. In 2019, it was ranked in ninth place globally, dropping to 11th in the 2020 edition, and declining further to 14th place in this years report.
Haiti continues to fare poorly as the unhappiest in the region, with an average annual GDP growth of only 1.3% over 20 years. Its weak economy and political instability have been worsened by the pandemicsetting back efforts to reduce poverty and widening inequality.
Current Mood: Content (5.9)
With the largest middle class in the Americas60% of its populationand a miniscule 0.1% extreme poverty rate, Uruguay is the happiest South American country. The nation has also achieved equitable access to basic services, from education to electricity.
The trio of Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela are experiencing different stages of progress in happiness levels, but their relationship is very much interdependent.
Venezuela and Ecuador face similar economic challenges and sharp declines in oil prices. Venezuela is additionally acutely affected by socio-political unrest, triggering a mass exodus of citizens to Ecuador and Colombia alike. The silver lining is that the influx of highly-educated Venezuelan migrants may provide a 2% boost to Ecuadors GDP.
Colombia, the most improved country, has halved its poverty rate in the last decade. In addition, it has welcomed almost 2 million Venezuelan migrants as of Dec 2020and plans to provide them up to 10 years of protective status.
Current Mood: Happy (6.4)
Finland remains at the top of the leaderboard as the worlds happiest country. This years ranking was also influenced by high levels of trust in the way the COVID-19 pandemic was handled.
Meanwhile, the shock of the COVID-19 crisis is expected to be short-lived in Croatia, which is the most improved country. This is partly due to its steady pre-pandemic economic gains, although risks remain.
In the unhappiest country of Ukraine, conflicts continue to cause stress on its politics, security, and economy. In particular, government corruption remains a big public issue.
Current Mood: Its Complicated (5.3)
Saudi Arabia is the most improved country in the region, as it continues to reduce its oil dependence, diversify its economy, and bolster its public services. It has also been making some progress towards gender equality.
The tourism and hospitality industries contribute nearly 20% of Jordans GDPand COVID-19 has caused a prolonged economic decline in the country along with the headwinds of these industries.
Although Afghanistan has seen improvements in access to basic services and its agricultural economy, challenges remain with prolonged conflict and violence. A post-pandemic recovery in the worlds unhappiest country might take several years.
Current Mood: Neutral (5.5)
Both New Zealand and Taiwan saw a successful COVID-19 response and recovery boosting their positions in the global happiness rankings. In fact, New Zealand was the only non-European country to make it into the top 10 on the global happiness list.
Note: As the report only covers 149 countries, Oceania only refers to Australia and New Zealand in this instance.
Although India remains the unhappiest country in the region, it also showed the most improvement overall, possibly due to its increased access to basic services. Notably though, the pandemic caused a sharp economic contraction in real GDP by 23.9% year-over-year in Q12021.
Current Mood: Unhappy (4.5)
In July 2020, the island nation of Mauritius joined Seychelles to become the second high-income country in Africa, helping cement its status as the happiest in the region.
Zambia, the most improved African country, has one of the worlds youngest populations by median agewhich presents long-term opportunities for labor force participation.
On the flip side, agriculturally-reliant Benin struggles with high poverty, with close to 40% of the population living below $1.90 per day.
Zimbabwe, the unhappiest country, has been through not just natural disasters but financial disasters too. It experienced hyperinflation of 786% in May 2020, accompanied by an equally sharp rise in food prices.
Although each country has been uniquely impacted by the pandemic, its clear that on the whole, happiness levels take into account so much more. How will future rankings look like in a post-pandemic world?
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Mapped: Happiness Levels Around the World in 2021 - Visual Capitalist
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Passing on the good beetle genes – Cosmos Magazine
Posted: at 9:55 pm
Turns out, males do have a purpose and yes, it is about sex.
According to a new study, published in Evolution Letters, the male seed beetle helps purge bad mutations and retain good genes through strict competition and sexual selection, increasing the long-term genetic health of a population.
The researchers, led by Karl Greishop of the University of Toronto, Canada, studied 16 genetic strains of the seed beetle (Callosobruchus maculatus) in an intensive breeding program to see how deleterious mutations ones that wont kill you, but might affect health and ability to reproduce affected both males and females.
They found that deleterious mutations affected males more than females, but that this actually increased the genetic population as a whole.
Our study shows that production of males, which may engage in intense competition for the chance to mate, enables faster purging of deleterious mutations from the population, which could thereby enable a healthier set of genes and higher reproductive capacity relative to asexual reproduction, says David Berger of Uppsala University, Sweden.
Read more: The long-term effects of sexual competition
In essence, male beetles with stronger genes outcompeted the males with bad mutations, which were unable to have as many babies and couldnt pass on bad beetle genes that well. The same effect wasnt seen in females, which had just as many babies and were able to pass on deleterious mutations.
This indicates that although these mutations do have a detrimental effect on females reproduction, they are more effectively removed from the population by selection acting on male carriers rather than female carriers, says Grieshop.
Previous research from our group and others has succeeded in showing this effect by artificially inducing mutations, but this is the first direct evidence that it ensues for naturally occurring variants of genes.
That meant that male beetles were responsible for purging bad genes from the mutations, purely because they couldnt pass them on, and the genetically stronger male beetles ended up impregnating more female on their behalf, without the population diminishing.
Read more: Water beetles mate to an evolutionary standstill
When deleterious mutations are purged from a population through rigorous selection in males, resulting in fewer males reproducing, the process can take place with little or no effect on population growth, says Greishop.
This is because relatively few males suffice to fertilise all the females in a population, hence whether those females are fertilised by few males or many males makes little or no difference to the number of offspring those females can produce, especially in species where the male doesnt look after its own offspring.
By contrast, such rigorous selection in females would result in fewer females reproducing, hence fewer offspring produced, which could lead to a massive population decline or even extinction.
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Passing on the good beetle genes - Cosmos Magazine
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Quantum computing to reduce operational costs for oil and gas companies – Oil Review Africa
Posted: at 9:54 pm
Quantum computing is a very specialised field requiring niche expertise, which is not readily available with oil and gas companies. (Image source: Adobe Stock)
Although classical computers are capable enough in delivering efficiency gains, quantum computers and their optimisation algorithms could deliver these gains in a much shorter time,
Quantum computers are machines that use the properties of quantum physics to store data and perform computations. Theoretically, these machines can complete a task in seconds that would take classical computers thousands of years. The company (or government) that owns the first at-scale quantum computer will be powerful indeed.
According to GlobalDatas latest report, Quantum Computing in Oil & Gas, full-fledged commercial computers are not expected to be ready for approximately another 20 years. However, intermediate versions would be available within the next five to seven years, offering a quantum advantage over classical computers in optimization applications across several sectors, including space warfare, logistics, drug discovery, and options trading.
Ravindra Puranik, oil and gas analyst at GlobalData, commented, Oil majors ExxonMobil, Total, Shell and BP are among the few industry participants to venture into quantum computing. Although these companies intend to use the technology to solve diverse business problems, quantum chemistry is emerging as the common focus area of research in the initial phase.
Puranik further added, These majors are seeking to develop advanced materials for carbon capture technologies. This could potentially lower the operational costs of carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, enabling companies to deploy them on a wider scale to curb operational emissions.
According to Puranik, IBM is at the forefront in providing quantum computing tools to a host of industries, including oil and gas. The company has brought on board leading oil and gas and chemical companies, such as ExxonMobil, BP, Woodside, Mitsubishi Chemical and JSR, to facilitate the advancement of quantum computing via cross-domain research. Besides IBM, oil and gas companies have also collaborated with other quantum computing experts, including D-Wave, Microsoft, and Atos.
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Quantum computing to reduce operational costs for oil and gas companies - Oil Review Africa
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Is False Positive a True Story? Is the Hulu Movie Based on Real Life? – The Cinemaholic
Posted: at 9:54 pm
False Positive is a psychological horror film that revolves around Lucia Lucy Martin (Ilana Glazer), a New York-based young woman who has been trying to have a child through natural methods for two years. When her husband Adrian (Justin Theroux) suggests that they should visit his former teacher Dr. John Hindle (Pierce Brosnan), one of the leading fertility doctors in the world, she reluctantly agrees. Shortly after she is artificially inseminated, Lucy discovers that she is pregnant. Meanwhile, she finds success in her work life and thinks that she can be one of those women who has everything.
However, around this time, Lucy starts having disturbing dreams and hallucinations and believes that Hindle is responsible for her strange situation. Amidst growing paranoia, self-doubt, and fear, she begins investigating what is happening to her. The film offers a detailed view of some of the malpractices that regularly go on in the mainstream healthcare sector. If that has made you wonder whether False Positive is inspired by true events, this is what you need to know.
No, False Positive is not based on a true story. The film has reportedly been described as a modern rendition of Roman Polanskis 1968 film Rosemarys Baby, which itself is an adaptation of the 1967 namesake novel by Ira Levin. Ilana Glazer, who essays the lead role of Lucy in False Positive, worked closely with director John Lee in developing the screenplay. During this modernization process, several elements from the original film were discarded, such as Satanism, and were replaced with in-depth explorations of themes like alienation and paranoia.
While False Positive is not an adaptation of real-life events, it faithfully depicts certain malpractices that happen to an alarming degree in the healthcare sector. In the films climactic scene, Hindle is revealed to have impregnated his patients with his own sperms. It may be hard to believe, but this has become dangerously common in the US and beyond. One such case involves Cecil Jacobson, who gained notoriety in the late 1980s and early 1990s after being accused of using his own sperms instead of an anonymous donor as promised to impregnate several of his patients.
Cecil Jacobson was also accused of telling his patients that they were pregnant when they werent. In March 1992, the then-fertility specialist was found guilty by a federal jury on 52 counts of fraud and perjury and received a 5-year prison sentence. Furthermore, his medical license was made invalid. According to DNA tests, Jacobson had fathered at least 15 children. The prosecutors charge sheet alleges that the number was even higher, 75.
The apparent similar indiscretions of another fertility specialist, Dr. Quincy Fortier, inspired the HBO documentary film Baby God. This heinous act has also been portrayed in other fictional projects besides False Positive. In Foxs short-lived drama series Almost Family, Timothy Hutton plays fertility doctor Leon Bechley, who fathered at least 100 children this way. Ultimately, False Positive is an inherently feminist film, and it deals with societal issues directly and unflinchingly. However, it is not inspired by any particular real-life incident.
Read More:Where Was False Positive Filmed?
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Is False Positive a True Story? Is the Hulu Movie Based on Real Life? - The Cinemaholic
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Loewe wants to rave, too, with its SS22 menswear collection – i-D
Posted: at 9:54 pm
All images courtesy of Loewe/ Photography byDavid Sims.
When fashion really captures the zeitgeist, often its completely coincidental. A couple of things happened this weekend that foreshadowed this writers experience of Loewes SS22 menswear collection. On Saturday, I went on a mid-morning run across Londons marshes, only to stumble upon a rave the size of a small festival. On Sunday, during a stroll across Piccadilly, I watched streets swell with thousands of pilled-up protesters raving in protest of the impact of social-distancing restrictions on the music and nightlife industries. Something is in the air (quite literally: wear a mask). Young people, however, want to go out again. They need to go out again, otherwise theyll go mad. Theres a dangerous time bomb of hedonism and euphoria ticking away.
Fashion which responded to last years fitness craze with athletic ease and this years pent-up sexual energy with exposed skin is also having a rave moment. First, there was Virgil Ablohs neon-hued Metalheadz-inspired Louis Vuitton collection. Now, Jonathan Andersons hedonistic release of a collection, inspired by the electrifying promise of intimacy and the feel of human touch.
Over the last year, during my twice-seasonal Zooms with Jonathan, he never once doubted the power of incredible clothes and his belief that people would wear them. Designing them, one gets the sense, is what keeps him constantly evolving and its why his collections over lockdown have been some of the best hes ever done. Fashion has a capability to change your mood, he explained during a preview of his Loewe collection. It really does something to people. I've been looking at the fantasy of going out, but not necessarily doing it. We are in this weird moment where we dont know if we can or we can't, and we're trying to dress up but we have no idea of where were going. In a weird way, going back to when I first went to university and was figuring out what I was going to wear, that's kind of where we're all at right now.
As per his lockdown tradition, the collection arrived in a box brimming with treasures. There is a book of the German-born, NYC-based artist Florian Krewer, known for turning found or personal photographs he has taken into saturated, chaotic paintings of characters in the public spaces. The paintings were direct inspiration for the Loewe collection. Another book, commissioned by Jonathan, features surreal, digitally-altered photos by David Sims of young men wearing the collection as a dialogue with Florians work. Theres also a dust bag containing three hundred glow-in-the-dark star stickers and a fluorescent yellow leather slap bracelet (one persons rave symbols are another persons way of calming children at bedtime).
The collection itself is also brilliantly chaotic, full of transparent layers of highlighter-neons and wildly trippy textures, like a pair of chartreuse shorts crafted from loops of tubes, or coats sprouting self-described Pringle-shaped metal plaques. It's a weird moment for fashion because it's a moment where we should be allowed to be schizophrenic, said Jonathan. It's about a moment of flushing things out. I needed this year and a half to play with anxiety and things I like and dislike so when I come out of it, I can start rebuilding a new silhouette or new archetype. Its like being at university and doing a dissertation and handing it in.
Anxiety and adolescence, and the giddy combination of both, are ostensibly the swirling undercurrents of the collection. For Jonathan, it goes back to his own coming-of-age (a key theme in his SS22 JW Anderson collection) and the idea of dressing up as a form of self-discovery. My whole thing with clothing and why I enjoy doing this is because I remember, growing up in Northern Ireland when I would buy discount clothing, I bought this orange jacket and tiger-printed trousers and I wore it to a high school thing and I was completely destroyed by this sea of navy and black and beige, he remembers. I never wore it again and went back to wearing a rugby jersey. Ultimately, everything I do, especially when it comes to men and gender and what that is, is an obscure fantasy of what I would love to get up in the morning and wear.
It seems fitting the collection arrives at the dusk of Pride month, at a time when many queer people reflect on their experiences of feeling different. Points of trauma can be transformed into something to be proud of. A pair of sequined zebra shorts, for example, command you to feel fabulous just as they command onlookers to take notice of you. A silver silk dress, knotted at the chest and waist to reveal flashes of skin, and a coat with a twisted chest cut-out that brazenly exposes bare nipples, are not just sexy because they show skin but because of the confidence it takes for the wearer to show it off. If you put one of these looks on the street, there is anxiety around it, added Jonathan. It would be like seeing an animal from the Amazon on the streets of London or Paris.
To go back to those two events over the weekend, it was surreal to see crowds of people sweating and gurning to the beat of electro music in the middle of London. If fashion has a way of serendipitously striking gold on a cultural moment, then Jonathan Anderson is its leading oracle, always glowing a light in the darkness like those little neon stars.
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Loewe wants to rave, too, with its SS22 menswear collection - i-D
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In Paris, Raving Out of Lockdown | Fashion Show Review, Opinion | BoF – The Business of Fashion
Posted: at 9:54 pm
Resist the blandness of the sleeping masses shouted a garishly dressed punk rock band before a pogoing crowd in Walter Van Beirendoncks Neon Shadow video, pretty much summing up the energy at the Paris mens fashion week that closed today: a wildly hedonistic, riotously liberated affair high on neon colours, crazy shapes, glimpses of skin and the long repressed desire for gatherings and trippy connections in out-of-the-ordinary clothing.
Rave was the byword, so much so that at times what one saw in largely digital form looked like a dizzying paragraph from Rainald Goetzs seminal novel by the same name. Although fiercely apart from mainstream fashion, Van Berendonck needs to be mentioned first because with his theatrical, colour-drenched, post-human world, he has always inhabited this territory, where definitions of masculinity are constantly twisted and blurred, notions of good and bad taste do not apply and fashion is wildly playful.
This season, Van Beirendoncks influence was apparent across the spectrum of fashion land. One could definitely feel it at Louis Vuitton, although it was not as literal as what we saw one year ago with the infamous teddy bear incident. Over the last couple of seasons, Vuittons mens creative director Virgil Abloh has found his own timbre and tone of voice the addition of stylist Ib Kamara to the team was a smart move and this resulted in Ablohs most accomplished and compelling collection to date. What stood out was the use of colour, the intersection of tailoring and tracksuits, the psychedelia of checkerboards and the skirts that looked solemn more than feminine.
Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2022. Courtesy.
All of it was mingled into one striking jumble that, as usual, Abloh served with a brainy rationale that sounded plausible more than pretentious. By referencing the sample culture of hip hop, Abloh put the whole debate on originality and copy into the right perspective, implicitly stating that the DJ mentality which creates meaning in the assemblage of already existing stuff is the one that dominates contemporary fashion, a place where styling, essentially DJing with clothing, has finally replaced design.
But there are still places where old-school design matters. Loewe is one, thanks to creative director Jonathan Anderson. There was a pagan, feisty brand of liberated energy to this seasons outing that was best captured in the kitschy, sequined disco ensembles, in the draped tops like giant deconstructed neckties and in the parkas, jumpers and tunics with large portholes showing glimpses of skin or underlayers of colour. This is the kind of wardrobe one imagines stuffed into the glittery suitcase of an Ibiza party-goer or in the closet of a Liquid Sky extra.
The format Anderson chose was another testament to an original mind at work. The perimeter of the collection, in fact, was contained between a book on painter Florian Krewer, whose hedonist and escapist nightscapes and personal photos sparked Andersons design process, and a volume containing the trippy, layered, palimpsestic pictures taken by David Sims to document the collection on a gang of street-cast guys of all shapes and ages. It was like seeing the beginning and the end of the whole creative path, with an added plus. With the ongoing dialogue between art and fashion generally translated solely into the souvenir-like mandatory print, it was refreshing not to see a single Krewer painting simply transferred onto the clothing. Here, the art reference was all about the mindset.
Equally feisty was Andersons latest outing at his eponymous label JW Anderson, where the goings took an exciting and derailed stay-at-home feel, conveying mind-warped altered states of domesticity complete with beaded curtain dresses and blend-with-the-wallpaper attitude.
Elsewhere, the hedonistic strain materialised mostly as bright colours and energetic hues. There were acidic pastels in shiny fabrics and loose shapes in Dries Van Notens captivating ode to Antwerp. By toying with the kitsch idea of the city souvenir, and by consciously opting for an all-encompassing jumble in place of a tight edit the collection featured a mix of everything, from menswear to womenswear, from generous outerwear to tailoring to sportswear Van Noten offered wearers an open invitation to this world, allowing everyone to find their own personal mix.
The bright pops of shine and the mix of sharply tailored items and sportswear was striking at Dunhill, where Mark Weston explored a bunch of archetypes, dissected them and put them back together in another order, never forgetting about elegance, one of the most neglected qualities in contemporary fashion.
Gmbh Spring/Summer 2022. Courtesy.
Apart from the longing to escape, playfulness and hedonism can also be unexpected conduits for deeper thoughts. It was the case for GmbHs terrific outing, conceived as a reversed safari tour of sorts. Taking their clue from the traditional custom, in western fashion, of basing entire collections on exotic trips, designers Serhat Isik and Benjamin Huseby took their own trip into tropes of whiteness, in particular posh elegance and country club snobbery, and deconstructed them into a punch of a collection that was as camp and fun as it was compelling, not least because all the deconstruction applied to a feminine wardrobe, which was reconfigured into a new vision of machismo.
At Rick Owens, abandon and thoughtfulness mixed in an eerily serene vision of hedonism complete with portable fog machines for the party goer on the run. In fact, there was also a darker streak to the seasons vitality. It came in the shadow plays and surrealistic applications over the slouchy forms and sea of black of Yohji Yamamoto, fashions everlasting punk poet, as well as in the tribalistic, ubermensch innuendo of Burberry, where creative director Riccardo Tisci managed to grasp back the cool factor of his Givenchy heyday. Of course, back then, it was all very original, while today it came with a formulaic feel that can look a bit forced for Burberry. But what it lacked in originality, it gained in straightforwardness. After missteps, Tisci has perhaps found his path with the revered British brand, and it will be interesting to witness where it leads.
Y/Project Spring/Summer 2022. Courtesy.
Amidst all this welcomed and welcoming chaos, straightforwardness affirmed its refreshing powers, too, taking forms as different as Hed Meyners abstract, voluminous take on functional pieces meant as wearable architecture, Nicolas di Felices streamlined minimalism with glimpses of the skin for Courrges and Homme Pliss Issey Miyakes poetic focus on modular clothing that frees the movements. Glenn Martens design approach at Y/Project is straightforward, too, albeit highly and inventively twisted. By allowing the wearer to interact with his garments and adapt them in multiple ways, Martens hit the pulsating nerve of the me generation and scored. This new outing was particularly spot on, streamlined and piercing, and featured a collaboration with Fila that was full of interesting pieces.
Clarity of design, which is just another expression of straightforwardness, looked particularly exciting at Herms, where Vronique Nichanian delivered a supremely airy, featherweight collection strong on natural colours, faint nautical hints and the supplest suede turned into shirts. It was a joy to behold: a vision of pure serenity. At Jil Sander, clarity got an electrifying bolt of freedom and boldness in a mix of codes work and leisure, day and night that felt fresh and invigorated the usually stern Jil Sander lexicon with a frisson of rebellion. Lucie and Luke Meier continue to expand the scope of the brand, and it is always interesting to see where their thought process goes.
Dior Spring/Summer 2022. Courtesy.
There was a certain solemnity and starkness to the elongated tailoring at Dior, where creative director Kim Jones actively involved superstar musician Travis Scott in a creative dialogue that basically transformed Scotts look into a Dior look, complete with one-of-a-kind George Condo shirts. It was an interesting experiment in both creative collaboration and fashion as entertainment, which nonetheless came with a certain coldness of expression. Jones is very passionate about his own passions, and his intuitions are always spot on. Its the translation into product and collection that feels somehow manufactured, losing authenticity along the way. That is one of the conundrums of contemporary fashion: where big groups are concerned, money-making comes before creativity, and in some way kills it.
This is why the extra long and extra slow but oh-so-entertaining movie that Thom Browne produced felt so relieving. Focusing on an athlete in training, and implicitly comparing physical discipline with creative discipline, the movie came across as a manifesto of sorts: a testament to stubborness and sheer dedication to creative ideas, no matter the prevailing trends.
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In Paris, Raving Out of Lockdown | Fashion Show Review, Opinion | BoF - The Business of Fashion
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Can you learn to be happy? – The Saxon
Posted: at 9:54 pm
In the Northern Hemisphere, the days of late spring and early summer are considered the happiest of the year. There is even talk of Yellow Day to refer to June 20.
On the contrary, the Blue Monday The third Monday in January, midwinter it is called the saddest of the year.
But the truth is that these days of happiness and sadness leave aside the most important components to quantify these states: the internal and subjective mechanisms of people.
It can help people increase their happiness? How could subjective well-being be promoted? Why do the findings suggest that mental training programs help improve psychological well-being?
In short, is happiness modulable and trainable?
An article published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology evaluated subjective well-being by analyzing the effectiveness of mental training to help develop new ways to nurture our own happiness.
The feeling of happiness has been conceptualized as the well-being experienced by people, both in thoughts and feelings.
Since the first studies, subjective well-being has been defined as the way in which individuals experience the quality of their life in three different mental aspects. Of course, interrelated.
These are: the infrequent negative affect, the frequent positive affect and the cognitive satisfaction assessments with life in various domains (physical health, relationships and work).
A growing body of research has been carried out with the aim of identifying the factors that affect happiness, operationalized as the subjective well-being.
Although the definition of happiness has a long history and dates back to philosophical arguments and the search for practical wisdom, in modern times it has been equated with hedonism.
Hedonism is based on the achievement of immediate pleasure, the absence of negative affect and a high degree of satisfaction with ones life.
However, experts now argue that authentic subjective well-being goes beyond this limited view and support an interpretation of happiness as a eudemic effort.
Today, several scholars argue that high levels of subjective well-being depend on a multidimensional perspective that encompasses both components hedonic as well as edemonic.
From this point of view, individuals seem to focus more on optimal psychological functioning, living deeply satisfying lives, and actualizing their own potential, personal growth, and sense of autonomy.
In psychology, this position is supported by the theory of Maslows human motivation.
The aforementioned program to train subjective well-being was, essentially, an informed and gentle training of the mind, and in particular of the emotions.
It was based on the principle that individual well-being is inextricably linked to development of virtues Y internal human strengths.
Like emotional balance, the inner self, conscience, an open and supportive attitude towards oneself and others.
All this endows the person with a mental clarity that can promote a deeper understanding of their own reality and that of others.
To date, the evidence suggests that happiness is, to some extent, modulable and trainable.
Therefore, the simple cognitive and behavioral strategies that individuals choose in their lives could improve happiness, more than the external and environmental conditions that Yellow day propose.
But why dont we ask ourselves the reverse? Why do we train day by day, without knowing it, not to be happy?
The exclusively hedonistic and external conception of happiness has permeated our overstimulated news brains.
Tips, news and an infinity of material available to be consumed. Without choosing it, without asking for it or without knowing why and for what.
With our brains abducted by the input of external information, we seek the zero negative affect.
It is an extremely difficult goal to achieve. Ultimately, to survive and adapt to human nature, there is a large volume of unpleasant emotions required that must be experienced. Negative affect is part of our day to day.
Another condition that we seek with too much intensity, duration and frequency is hedonism.
We ignore how habituation will decrease and the hedonic will change and how, to resist it, we will increase the enjoyable to such high levels that they will be incompatible with the other demands.
In short, to achieve a better subjective well-being (or happiness) we should not focus only on the external.
Knowing what to train to achieve a better internal state is getting closer and closer.
The results of research in psychology show that our brain will be able to adapt. But, Is it in the industrys interest for this to happen? And most importantly, do we want it to happen?
The benefits of contemplative mind training programs to improve our subjective state of happiness speak for themselves.
Of course, the general ignorance of the population about these programs and measures makes them look at with distrust and disbelief.
The dissemination of specific scientific articles on subjective well-being should be a central axis to break the barriers that society has on happiness.
Let us not forget that humanity is made up of people who do not stop, nor have they stopped, looking for it.
*Ftima Servin Franco is a general health psychologist and director of the RNCR and PDI Psychology Center at the International University of Valencia. This note originally appeared on The Conversation and is published here under a Creative Commons license.
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Highlights From the S/S22 Menswear Shows – AnOther Magazine
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June 28, 2021 Prada
The simple pleasure of a holiday was the starting point of Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons new collection, accompanied by a short film which saw models emerge onto a Sardinian beach from a lacquered red corridor, in surreal style. The silhouette was brief rolled-up romper suits, thigh-bearing skorts, low-cut tabard-vests capturing a recognisable desire to shed the skin of the last year. To expose yourself to nature, to go to the beach its freedom, they said.
How you see things, and from where you see them, has never been more important, said Silvia Venturini Fendi of her latest collection, which responded to a year of stasis by drawing inspiration from her immediate surroundings namely, the Fendi HQ in Rome. The soft, sun-soaked shades of the Palazzo della Civilt Italiana and its city-spanning views coloured a carefree collection, with midriff-bearing cropped blazers offering a playful take on warm-weather tailoring.
Jonathan Anderson transported the viewer into a teenagers inner sanctum, the bedroom, for his latest outing. Likening the collection to taking a hairbrush and singing into the mirror, going into your wardrobe and trying things on, the designer captured the joy of youthful experimentation with riffs on menswear staples oversized hoodies, skimpy running shorts in bold colours and playful prints, from flowers to strawberries. The glorification of being who you are or what you want to be, Anderson described.
Kim Jones is known for his high-profile collaborations; this weeks show saw his first with a musician, the American rapper Travis Scott. A conversation between two friends, two cultures, and two different eras, said Jones of the collection which melded Diors Parisian roots with the open plains of Scotts home state, Texas. Sinuous stand-collared tailoring in luminous shades of pink and green met roomy basketball shorts and Dior Jack-emblazoned T-shirts in the landmark collection, set to shift the designer-celebrity paradigm for seasons to come.
This season Grace Wales Bonner looked towards the tradition of West African studio portraiture notably, the photographs of Sanle Sory who worked in Burkina Faso (then Upper Volta) in the 1970s. Liberated from France in the 1960s, the portraits captured a culture in a golden age whereby new art forms, including volta jazz, energised the country. Flamboyance and majesty, was how the designer described the collection itself, which melded 70s-inspired shapes with the carefree ease of 90s minimalism.
A bold amalgam of inspirations and a promise from the designer to let his imagination run wild made this Virgil Ablohs best collection at the house yet. Titled Amen Break after a drum break by funk and soul group The Winstons which is now the most-used drum loop of all time, Abloh likened the collection to sampling hence a dense list of cultural touchpoints in the colourful collection, tracing a link from the early days of rave to martial arts and Wu-Tang Clan. People dont know that the drum pattern in their favorite song was from a very specific soul song, Abloh told US Vogue. Its a sampler that makes it possible.
Dries Van Noten said his latest collection emerged from his desire to get back to real life, to see people, to party again. Photographing the collection around his home city, from centuries-old squares to neon-lit dance floors, the clothing was an attempt to capture this hedonistic, going-out mood. Silhouettes were voluminous, perforated fabrics added strange surface interest, and blurred prints reminded of driving through a city fast at night.
A message of electrifying hope and optimism, said Anderson of his rave-tinged Spring/Summer 2022 outing for Loewe, presented in a series of images by David Sims. Like at his eponymous label, Anderson found inspiration this season in the sartorial experimentations of teenagers his own, he remembers, was an orange nylon jacket and velour trousers from TK Maxx that he wore to a school disco. The collection itself captured this sense of abandon with a pile-up of colour, print and shimmering details, marking perhaps Andersons freest collection at the house yet.
We wanted to explore what whiteness is, maybe because were tired of exploring what our brownness is, Serhat Isik and Benjamin Alexander Huseby told Vogue of their latest collection, which playfully riffed on the archetypes of WASP and country club dressing on an entirely BIPOC cast (ballroom categories were one point of inspiration). White denim jodhpurs, riding boots and prim, tied-up shirts and sweaters followed this rationale, reinterpreted in GmbHs sensual, nightclub-ready signature style.
You would be forgiven for thinking that the desert landscapes which backdropped Burberrys latest collection were in far-off climes, in reality, they were the Millennium Mills in east Londons Royal Victoria Docks. Riccardo Tisci mined this urban mood to push his conception of Burberry into a bold new direction one inspired by days raving in his twenties with sliced-sleeve trench coats, leather aprons and skirts, and a multitude of straps, some wrapping around models chests like rib cages.
A slimmed-down London Fashion Week was not without its impactful moments case in point, Ahluwalias Part of Me, a collection which celebrated Black and brown hair, the artistry, the politics, self-expression, as she explained. Presented in a film by Akinola Davies, the collections boldly-hued prints took their motifs from the photographs of hair and braids (a collaboration with Lagos-based artist Dennis McInnes), while hybrid tracksuits and denim continued to be Ahluwalia signatures, refreshed here with an upbeat, going-out mood.
Rick Owens returned to the shoreline of Venices Lido di Venezia for his latest collection, titled FOGACHINE. Wanting to capture a feeling of hedonism though not of the type which forgets the lessons of the pandemic so far, Owens assured models walked the beaches emitting clouds of fog from their pockets, each fitted with their own miniature fog machine. It gave proceedings an otherworldly air, echoed in the clothing wide-leg white trousers, flowing sheer shirts and sinuous spiderweb knits, demonstrating a softer side to Owens oeuvre.
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Ed Sheeran: Bad Habits review a certain smash thats ready for the Weeknd – The Guardian
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Spotify has chosen to promote Ed Sheerans new single by sitting it at the head of a playlist of his previous hits. The plays column of the latter makes for mind-boggling reading: the figures look less like streaming statistics and more like long-distance phone numbers. Every track is immediately recognisable you could have spent your every waking hour engaged in a dogged attempt to avoid the music of Ed Sheeran and youd still know exactly what they were and who they were by within seconds of them starting. Hes spent the last decade enjoying the kind of success that, in one sense at least, brooks no argument: even his loudest detractor couldnt argue against his ability to write one song after another that attains a weird kind of omnipresence, hits that evolve into inescapable facts of daily life.
This is not a state of affairs that Bad Habits looks likely to change. That Sheeran has trailed it as a surprise and mad tells you more about his innate populism than the song itself: its a well-written, extremely commercial pop song, cowritten by regular collaborators Fred Gibson and Snow Patrol guitarist Johnny McDaid, the latter of whom also had a hand in earlier Sheeran hits Shape of You, Photograph and Bloodstream.
His acoustic guitar is lower in the mix, the track is synth-heavy and propelled by a four-to-the-floor house beat, the lyrics have a stronger hint of the confessional about them than usual on the surface, it reads like a song in the vein of Sing or Shape of You, but the object of the narrators lust fairly clearly comes in a bottle or a wrap. However, anyone given to taking his pronouncements at face value should be warned that were not dealing with Trout Mask Replica here.
Its primary influence appears to be the Weeknds last album After Hours. The sound offers a similar glossy update of 80s dance-pop by way of Daft Punks take on house to that found on In Your Eyes or Save Your Tears; just as After Hourss biggest hit Blinding Lights gives every impression its about to turn into A-has 1985 chart-topper Take on Me, so the hook of Bad Habits has a distinct hint of Bronski Beats 1984 smash Smalltown Boy about it. You might also detect the Weeknds influence in its lyrical conflation of sex with wracked, compulsive hedonism.
But more than the Weeknd, what Bad Habits sounds like is an enormous, globe-swallowing hit, destined for a kind of ubiquity you might describe as Sheeran-esque.
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10 best hotels in Ibiza as its added to UKs green travel list – Evening Standard
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T
here is something truly magical about Ibizas impossibly crystalline waters and achingly cool bohemian vibe that just lures you back year after year. Well, at least it did in the days when we were allowed to travel freely.
And, really, Ibiza is the only antidote to your pandemic-induced burnout.
From the zen oases perfect for spiritual souls to the hedonistic party hotels, and most staggering sea views, heres where to flop on the island.
Atzar Agroturismo Hotel and Spa
Showing off its stellar A-list credentials, Atzar is where Fendi heiress Paola Fendi recently chose to throw her lavish wedding reception - and its not hard to see why. Set on 10 acres, the sprawling estate, surrounded by orange groves, gardens and pools, is an absolute must for wellness seekers. Get stuck into the spa, which features a 43-metre freshwater pool, yoga and Pilates pavillion, juice bar, hammam, sauna pod set in a botanical garden and an endless menu of treatments for poolside pampering. Each of the 24 rooms comes with giant four-poster beds and some also feature their own private plunge pools to cool off in after a day of beach hopping.
Price: room rates start from 230 per night for a double bedroom including breakfast (in low season).
Six Senses Ibiza
On the northern tip of the White Isle, the brand new Six Senses Ibiza, spread over 20 acres and boasting 134 rooms, is gearing up to open its doors. Sustainability is at the heart of this finca-style resort which features a 400-year-old olive press that will supply organic produce to the restaurants, caf and bars. Head here for the spiritual learning centre and spa offering specialist programmes and retreats, while fitness buffs will love the yoga deck and boxing ring on the roof. Thats not to say theres no fun to be had. Theres also an all-night DJ down at the beach caves and organic cocktails by the pool. Healthy hedonism at its best.
Price: rates start from 1,080 (approx. 920) per night based on two people sharing including breakfast.
Oku Ibiza
Oku Ibiza has just opened its doors having taken over the former Casa Cook Hotel and transformed it into a boho chic sanctuary with stylish Japanese influences. Situated on the edge of Cala Graci Bay, boasting no less than four tempting pools - including the islands largest - two restaurants overseen by Mark Vaessen, of Sushisamba fame, 184 rooms and suites, an intimate spa and rooftop for daily yoga, Oku is another of the islands hottest new openings. Feeling boujie? Book your gang into the four-bedroom villa which comes with its own private pool.
Price: Rates start from 360 (323) B&B based on two sharing.
Nobu Hotel, Ibiza Bay
Overlooking the shores of Talamanca Bay, on the southern side of the Balearic islands coast, Nobu Hotel, Ibiza Bay, is a five-star resort with immaculate decor. The whitewashed complex has 152 designer rooms and suites in a cool palette of whites, blues and golds, with marble surfaces and stone embellishments softened with rope features and bamboo accents. Rooms feature floor-to-ceiling windows and open terraces allowing you to lap up the sound of the waves, take in the scent of wild jasmine and watch the boats bobbing on the turquoise waters. Of course, sushis the biggest draw here, and it doesnt come much sexier than Nobu - though you can take your pick from the four onsite restaurants and pool deck bar.
Price: room rates start at 323 per night (644/night in high season).
ME Ibiza
ME Ibiza is a celebrity hotspot set in a secluded bay near Santa Eulalia on the east coast and neighbouring the famous Nikki Beach club. Offering 360-degree views of the white sandy beaches, minimalist Ibiza-inspired interiors and an adults-only pool surrounded by Bali beds with a DJ, this is a five-star retreat with all of the luxury trimmings. Indulge in some morning aerial yoga, take a trip in style to sister island Formentera on the ME motor boat and tuck into platefuls of Lebanese haute cuisine at Noura washed down with sumptuous cocktails on the Radio Rooftop Bar. Pure bliss.
Price: room rates start from 359 per night for a double.
Pikes Ibiza
The famous pool at Pikes
Come for the party, stay for the good vibes - nestled in the hills, Pikes is hands down Ibizas most iconic hotel, steeped in hedonistic history and famed for being the location of Whams Club Tropicana video, of course. Kitsch, colourful and home to its own nightclub, Freddies, and acid pink tennis court, the 26-bed boutique hotel offers guests a slice of authentic rocknroll Ibiza. Pikes restaurant, Room 39, draws the local foodie crowd and is renowned for its weekly Sunday roasts followed by pool party.
Price: Room rates start at 149 for a double in low season.
Cas Gasi
Nestled in the hills in the heart of Ibicencan countryside, surrounded by olive groves, pine forests, almond and fig trees, Cas Gasi is a private and discrete agroturismo hotel set around a converted finca on four acres. Wake to the sound of a rooster on the neighbouring farm before partaking in some gentle yoga on the decking and refuelling over a tasty organic brekkie. With Benirras and Salinas beaches both within a 15-minute drive and the charming village of Santa Gertrudis de Fruitera and its growing gourmet scene within 10 minutes, this is a wonderful place to use as a base to explore the bohemian side of the white isle - but be sure to squeeze in plenty of downtime by the pool.
Price: rates from 325 per night based on two adults sharing.
Bless Hotel, Ibiza
Tucked safely away from the party crowds in Cala Nova, situated on the north of the island, Bless Hotel oozes refined glamour, with its white poolside daybeds and Coco Chanel-inspired interiors. Think monochrome mixed with hints of rustic Ibiza charm, the result is trs French Riviera chic. Offering private access to the cove, where you can enjoy sundowners from beachside restaurants Aiyanna or Atzaro, you feel like youve stumbled across a real hidden gem. Its a foodie haven, too, with five gastronomic spaces headed up by Spains most Michelin-decorated chef, Martn Berasategui (12 stars and counting).
Price: rooms start from 325 a night on a B&B basis.
7 Pines Resort Ibiza
Perched on a cliff edge on the west coast of the island, 7 Pines is a sprawling five-star resort set over 13 acres with two pools, 186 suites and a huge spa complete with a thermal circuit (including steam bath, sauna, cold mists and water beds). The main sea-facing pool is adults-only and comes with semi-submerged loungers and a glass wall at one end through which you can see the sea. The Laguna Pool, meanwhile, is surrounded by the Laguna Suites, shallower and frequented by families. Arrive in style by booking a private pick-up with the Seven Pines limousine service.
Price: room rates vary depending on the season and occupancy, and start from around 430 per night.
Hotel MIM Es Vive
Just two miles - or a ten minute taxi ride - from Ibizas buzzing Old Town, Hotel MIM Es Vive, set in an iconic three-storey art-deco building, is another Ibiza institution. Towering palm trees line the entrance, framing the pool with crisp white sun loungers. Rooms are decadent and feature period furniture with plush silk and velvet fittings, while the rooftop Sky Bar offers king-sized beds perfect for posing on. Back in the day this was a party hotel, but these days wellness takes the focus. Order (wheat grass) shots from the detox juice and smoothie menu and sweat it out in the Virtue Spa, which boasts a sauna, steam room and jacuzzi.
Price: room rates vary, from 190 per night (high season).
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10 best hotels in Ibiza as its added to UKs green travel list - Evening Standard
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