THE WANDERING MIND: What Medieval Monks Tell Us About Distraction, by Jamie Kreiner

Among the resources that have been plundered by modern technology, the ruins of our attention have commanded a lot of attention. We can’t focus anymore. Getting any “deep work” done requires formidable willpower or a broken modem. Reading has degenerated into skimming and scrolling. The only real way out is to adopt a meditation practice and cultivate a monkish existence.

But in actual historical fact, a lif…….

WASHINGTON ― The Pentagon has awarded L3Harris Technologies a $40 million order to send Ukraine “Vampire” counter-drone systems by mid-year, the company announced Monday.

L3Harris said it will install 14 kits onto vehicles the U.S. government provides Ukraine. Vampire, which stands for Vehicle Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment, consists of a laser-guided-missile launcher that can quickly be installed in a civilian truck bed.

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When an interviewer said in 1959 that he’d heard that TS Eliot composed on the typewriter, he received a qualified reply. “Partly on the typewriter,” Eliot responded, and offered an insight into his recent play, The Elder Statesman, saying that it was initially produced in pencil on paper, before he transferred it to the machine. “In typing myself I make alterations,” he said, “very considerable ones.”

The early poems of the Prufrock years were mostly begun in manuscript and occasionally transferred to typescript (Conrad Aiken possessed a sheet produced by Eliot in sple…….

Researchers say they have discovered what they call a “proto-writing system” embedded in 20,000-year-old cave paintings, making it the earliest form of some sort of writing we’ve ever found.

Hunters from the Upper Palaeolithic era would have used the symbols daubed on the walls to pass on essential survival information: The researchers suggest they show a record of animal mating seasons, organized by the lunar months.

It’s a significant finding because it pushes back the earliest form of Homo sapiens writing by around 14,000 years.

Although we’re not looking at letters an…….

The Free Poker Network Chasin’ Bracelets National Championship has come to an end and Joel Smith has claimed the FPN bracelet and a $11,500 Main Event prize package. This is Smith’s second FPN National Championship after he first claimed victory in 2015.

Smith outlasted a field of 225 qualifiers to emerge victorious after he defeated Greg Larson in heads-up play. He caps off a brilliant weekend that saw a deep run to fourth place in the Tag Team Championship with his wife, Nikki.

Larson and the rest of the top-20 finishers took home $1,500. Brett Zimmerman finished in thi…….

Thomas Evans Zanot, a Las Vegas poker player, now has a much larger bankroll after hitting a $6.4 million Pai Gow jackpot at Flamingo Saturday night.

Although it’s only January, the hit will likely be one of the largest jackpots Las Vegas will see all year. In October, a gambler hit a $3.5 million Pai Gow Poker jackpot at nearby Harrah’s, a Caesars Entertainment property like Flamingo.

Play Pai Gow Online: Practice Pai Gow and Win Your Games!

To win the top progressive jackpot in Pai gow, a popular table game played at most casinos, the player must first plac…….

Polygon readers, welcome to the alarmingly futuristic-sounding year of 2023. There are a ton of great sci-fi movies in the months ahead, like the mysterious time-travel action thriller 65 starring Adam Driver, Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two, not to mention the debut of Gerard Johnstone’s M3GAN this week. If you’re looking for some brave new worlds to watch right now, though, from the comfort of your own home, relax — we’ve got you covered.

We’ve combed through Netflix’s library this month to bring our t…….

When Tracey Emin’s cat Docket went missing in 2002, the “Lost Cat” posters she pasted around her east London neighbourhood were pilfered and valued at £500. Her gallery, White Cube, argued that they didn’t count as works, though some art historians said otherwise. Whomever you believe, they still occasionally turn up on eBay.

It is Emin’s self-portrait with Docket that I love the most, however. (That and her handmade cat photo book, Because I Love Him, a dream art purchase should I ever make it rich.) In the photograph, Docket faces t…….

Art was caught in the crossfire yesterday as supporters of Brazil’s former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro ransacked Congress, the Supreme Court, and a presidential palace in Brasília a week after the inauguration of left-wing president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, also known as “Lula”. Reports suggest rioters smashed windows and glass cabinets and vandalized a number of important rooms. 

As Mulatas, a painting by the celebrated Brazilian modernist Emiliano di Cavalcanti that hangs in the Planalto Palace, was punctured multiple times, according to a report by the …….