Uncommon Knowledge

This week in the future of funding

There are drastic changes under way in US government funding of foreign aid - and hopes that other funders will step up as a result. But can they? Experts doubt it.

Per the Associated Press, “private organizations and individuals would essentially need to double their gifts to make up for USAID cuts.”

This week in how to make friends

Americans are spending more and more time at home. The pandemic did not start the trend but accelerated it. Overall, data shows folks spent nearly 1.5 hours less outside their homes in 2023 than they did in 2003.

The impacts: people want larger homes, office and retail space demand has fallen, public transit ridership has dropped, and urban infrastructure is adapting to fewer commuters but more delivery traffic. That and, notably, more time spent alone, meaning more loneliness and associated health risks. But man, are we good at Minecraft.

Related, maybe: scientists are on to that last frontier, or what we thought was the last frontier: “e-taste” a device that can add flavor to VR experiences. They’ve not cracked spicy yet.

This week in boiling frogs

Researchers at Bristol and Cardiff ?have been taking a hard look at how climate “whiplash”, extreme swings between wet and dry weather – is affecting cities worldwide.

Affecting, it has: over the past 20 years, 95% of the 112 cities studied have trended wetter or drier, with some flipping completely. Cities like Madrid and Cairo are drying out, while Lucknow and Bogotá are seeing heavier rains.

These shifts threaten water access, infrastructure, and public health, especially in vulnerable cities like Karachi and Khartoum.

Overall, rising temperatures are making both floods and droughts worse. “Too little or too much water is the cause of 90% of climate disasters.”

Environmentally related: yay, the ozone layer is healing! MIT scientists pulled together the first quantitative research effort to confirm with 95% confidence that it is, indeed, healing, “as a direct result of global efforts to reduce ozone-depleting substances.”

This week in global supply chains

A food writer ventured to Ukraine to discover that sushi has become a staple all the way to the front lines.

This week in stop the presses

We like to extoll the virtues of reading books in these columns, the books we read, the books we want to read, and the books we know we’ll never read. We’re not the only ones: many people see books as the antidote to ignorance, short attention span, online life in general, and they are status symbols in their own rights.

But it wasn’t always the case. Novels used to be feared for their power to influence and corrupt young minds. In the 19th century, prominent poets, playwrights and novelists viewed their storytelling as a vampiric act, drawing in readers to capture their soul.

These days, we also understand how narratives shape identity and reinforce societal norms - you know, things like the patriarchy.

The bottom line is that reading is not just an intellectual or emotional exercise, it is a temporary act of submission to the author’s vision. Indeed, ?the best books should corrode your mind.

Not ready to be corroded? ?No worries—TV’s got you covered. There are still two episodes left in this year’s installment of?The Bachelor.

This week in awe

Louisville, Ky’s Marshall Allen, a saxophonist and icon of free jazz, is performing at Brooklyn’s Roulette in April.

Marshall Allen just put together a new band and released his first ever solo album!

Also, Marshall Allen is a WW2 veteran.

He was born in 1924.

He is about to turn 101.

We will be ok.

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