Here's my list of things making it worse: cities designed for cars, no third spaces, poorly designed public space, hostile architecture, no social safety net, replacing social relationships with parasocial relationships, filling every moment of idle time with glacing at your phone, smaller families/smaller extended families, low access to nature, needing a second job (or low free time), too much screentime.
The author mentions this exact topic. "Contrary to popular belief, people didn't look better because they were slimmer. We see many corpulent men in the past who dressed better than the average man today. It's not true you can look good in anything if you have an athletic body."
"The Limiting Factor" had an interesting take: Elon Musk's ability to deploy resources gives Grok a competitive advantage. YT vid goes over the challenges in getting Colossus up (200k GPU) and their deployment of Colossus 2, a 3-gigawatt facility with one million GPUs.
Marketing seems way off. Its a personal trainer, not an Ai-Powered-fitness-coach (people are sick of hearing the letters A-I). Your value-prop is to replace $70/session personal trainers and give people ideas of workouts they wouldn't ordinarly think of (get them out of the same routine / rut). I'm reminded of FitDeck from SharkTank -- this guy made bodyweight exercise cards you shuffle to change up your workout each time.
The two major acheiropoieta are the Shroud of Turin and the Tilma of Juan Diego. They both have a lot of interesting characteristics.
The Shroud
Scientific and Forensic Evidence
Photographic Anomalies: The first photograph of the Shroud, taken in 1898, revealed that the negative image on the cloth was a positive image, a concept that would have been impossible for a medieval forger to create [01:51].
Microscopic Details:
Image Formation: According to an optical engineer, the image is formed by tiny fibers one-tenth the size of a human hair and is randomly distributed like dots in a newspaper. Creating this would require technology that does not exist today, such as an "incredibly accurate Atomic laser" [02:47].
No Paint: There is no trace of paint pigment or brush strokes on the Shroud. Some marks only appear under ultraviolet light, which a medieval forger would not have been able to see [02:35].
Blood and Anatomy:
Blood Analysis: Medical experts found human blood of type AB on the Shroud, which contained high levels of bilirubin. This bile pigment would only be present if a deceased man had been severely beaten [03:15].
Flows and Marks: The blood flows on the Shroud are consistent with a man who was crucified, and the wounds match a Roman scourging device called a flagrum and the tip of a Roman spear called a lancea [08:18].
Anatomical Accuracy: The video highlights that the figure on the Shroud shows anatomically correct details, such as the thumb being folded into the palm after a nail pierces the median nerve in the wrist, and that the legs are not broken, consistent with the biblical account [08:50].
Pollen, Dirt, and Other Discoveries
Pollen and Cotton:
A Swiss criminologist found 58 types of pollen on the Shroud, with only 17 native to Europe. The remaining pollen came from Palestine and Southern Turkey, indicating the Shroud's historical path [04:16].
Microscopic cotton fibers found in the linen have about eight twists per centimeter, which is consistent with cotton from the Middle East, not Europe [05:07].
Dirt and Flowers: Dirt on the footprint area of the cloth was identified as coming specifically from Jerusalem's Damascus Gate. Images of 28 specific flowers found on the Shroud are all known to grow in or within 12 miles of Jerusalem [06:11].
3D Information: The Shroud contains three-dimensional information, which can be seen with a special machine called a VP-8 analyzer. This is something an artist could not have included in a two-dimensional painting or photograph [06:21].
Coins over the Eyes: The video claims that a Jewish custom of placing coins over the eyes of the deceased is evident on the Shroud. A coin-like image over the right eye has 24 coincidences with a lepton coin minted by Pontius Pilate between 29 and 36 A.D. [06:46].
Lack of Underdrawing: Infrared photography has shown that there is no under-sketching on the image, which is considered inconceivable for a 16th-century artist to create such a detailed portrait without one [00:46].
Durability: The tilma is made of a rough cactus fiber that typically disintegrates in 15 to 30 years. However, the image has remained for over 481 years without any fading or cracking, even after being exposed to candle smoke [01:34].
Chemical and Physical Resilience:
In 1778, a significant amount of nitric acid was spilled on the image, but it only caused slight stains that are still visible in the upper right corner [03:14].
In 1921, a bomb hidden in flowers exploded beneath the image, damaging a crucifix but leaving the glass protecting the image completely unharmed [03:42].
Astronomical and Geographical Correspondence:
The stars on the mantle of the image correspond precisely to the constellations in the winter sky on December 12, 1531, as if viewed from outside the heavens [04:19].
The flowers on the tunic align with the locations of volcanoes in Mexico [04:45].
Additionally, the constellations Corona Borealis, Virgo, and Leo would appear on the image as a crown, over her heart, and over her womb, respectively, if her tunic had been filled with stars [05:50].
The Eyes: The eyes of the Virgin's image contain microscopic reflections of a bearded man, which experts believe is Juan Diego. These reflections follow the Perkinje-Sanson law, which governs how reflections appear in a human eye [08:06]. A computer engineer also discovered what appear to be multiple figures, including a whole room of individuals, within the eyes [11:00].
Changing Appearance: The video mentions that the Virgin's face appears to be Native American from one distance and of lighter, European descent from another, symbolizing the unity of the two peoples [13:10]. This effect is described as being similar to the coloration found on butterfly scales or beetle wings [14:06].
Constant Temperature: The image consistently maintains a temperature of 36.5°C (98.6°F), which is normal human body temperature, regardless of the surrounding environment [14:44].
I can relate, not sure what to do about it besides move to a hacker house in Thailand or such.
NPR's show 1A had a program on loneliness. There were a couple of interesting things: these days university cafeterias are quiet because everybody eats alone while looking at their phone. A Gen-Zer complained they 2 jobs and no time to socialize. On top of that, our third places are being ruined with hostile architecture (parks), or uncomfortable seating (Starbucks) because they want you to just do a mobile order and get out. Seems like the Internet should at least be a good third space, its called cyberspace after all, but at least idk how to get invited to the right discords or tiny social spaces where there's community.
Starbucks actually does not want you to just do a mobile order, it's often cited as a reason for their lowered sales. This is a rather long podcast interview with Howard Schultz so search for the line "Ben: Of course. All right. While we’re in technology land, I think today 33% of Starbucks orders are done with mobile order and pay." and you'll see where that conversation about mobile ordering ruining third places exists.
They literally removed all tables and chairs inside my local starbucks. There's a standing bench only. It's a huge Starbucks, lots of empty floor space right now. Nowhere to sit. They seem to want you to order and gtfo.
If they want people to come in and sit down why have they removed all tables and chairs?
The following isn't my local Starbucks at all but the link has pictures of what many Starbucks look like inside right now. I don't live in a high crime or high homelessness area at all (not near any big city) and they removed all seating from multiple local Starbucks in the past few months (they are clearly leaning into doing this more not away from it).
> Kyle Trainer, a barista at the location, said he believed Starbucks eliminated seating due to homeless individuals and people with mental illnesses around the neighborhood. He added that Starbucks does not adequately train team members to manage stressful situations and that the chain would rather “remove the seating, close the bathroom and not deal with it.”
Being in SF versus other cities and suburbs very likely has something to do with it, I'm not sure where you live but they're apparently bring back more furniture as cited in a link in my other comments. But who knows, maybe they're prioritizing bringing back furniture based on many factors.
Your link is broken. I do know that Mr. Schultz has given lip-service to the fact that Starbucks is no longer a third place, but in the other column I present the fact that there are no longer any comfortable chairs at my nearest Starbucks and the next one by distance is Drive-Thru only.
Updated my comment with the original source. What kinds of chairs are those? Maybe it's me but I found my Starbucks pretty bustling, people gathering, the chairs fairly comfortable for even long periods of time working on a laptop for example. Hell, we even have several single seater couches and that's been fairly standard since I can remember.
When I was in a suburb we still had that sort of seating, and I recently went back and I see those couches still. Maybe they don't put them in new stores, I'm not sure, but I don't think they remove them if they're already there. These are the kinds I'm talking about and seeing [0].
Another source on couches returning [1], maybe in the suburbs too.
Restaurants are about increasing transaction volume above all else, especially at smaller dollar amounts. Second order might include things like average cost of servicing each transaction.
