First Paragraph

 On 2 August 216 BC the Carthaginian General Hannibal won one of the most complete battlefield victories in history. Outnumbered nearly two to one, his heterogenous army of Africans, Spaniards and Celts not merely defeated, but virtually destroyed the Roman army opposing them. By the end of the day, nearly 50,000 Roman and Allied soldiers lay dead or were dying in an area of a few square kilometres, whilst between ten and twenty thousand more were prisoners. Less than 20% of one of the largest armies ever fielded by the Roman State survived to reform over the next few weeks. Cannae became the yardstick by which the Romans measured later catastrophes, but only one or two defeats in their history were ever judged to have been as bad. The scale of the losses at Cannae was unrivalled until the industrialized slaughter of the First World War.

- From Cannae: Hannibal's Greatest Victory by Adrian Goldsworthy

Virtually Zero Chance

 NPR

@NPR

·

Apr 23, 2020

Virus researchers — who are familiar with lab accidents and how research on coronaviruses is conducted — say there is virtually zero chance that the novel coronavirus was released as result of a lab accident, despite misinformation being circulated. https://trib.al/BqdOxwm

Hmm

The first names of the authors of Amazon's "First Read" books for July:

Anna, Lindsay, Katie, Leslie, Carissa, Callie, Elba, Kristin, Faith, Lucinda, Melinda, and Brittney.

There is a bonus "short read" by Peter.

Why I Live in a Desert

 

One to Study

 

At an incoherent company, employees stop believing that what they joined to do is possible. As that belief erodes, cynicism takes root. Passion drains away, replaced by quiet quitting and mediocre work. The best talent leaves for companies whose values they can believe it, while those who stay stop caring about the customers they serve or the products they build. The "values" become a residue of past aspirations, orphaned on the walls. Those cynical comments over dinner? They're not just venting but symptoms of an organization eating itself alive.

- From Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad...and How Great Companies Stay Great by Eric Ries

Justifiable European Bashing

 

First Paragraph

 During the last days of the Western Roman Empire and throughout the Middle Ages, Western Europe was threatened, and often invaded, by outsiders. First came the Huns, then the Arabs, then the Magyars, then the Vikings, then the Mongols, and then the Turks. Each in turn, they were described as ferocious warriors none could withstand. Each in turn, their hordes inflicted immense bloodshed, destruction, and suffering on a continent rendered almost defenseless by the prevailing socio-economic--political structures and the internecine struggles to which it led.

- From Pussycats: Why the Rest Keep Beating the West and What Can Be Done About It by Martin Van Creveld

The Great Feminization

 

Content Creation Major

Arizona State University now permits students to major in Content Creation; i.e. becoming an influencer.

I look forward to following the story.

In the Stack