20200302/vocabulary

#day-36

The 2020 GRAMMY Awards were a sight to behold on Sunday, Jan. 26, opening with a brilliant performance from Lizzo and Sasha Flute and closing out with multiple wins from 18-year-old pop wunderkind Billie Eilish.//blank_wunderkind

Relive the magic below with our roundup of 10 unmissable moments from the 2020 GRAMMY Awards.//blank_roundup

Half a dozen excavators roared and pawed at the rust-red ground.//blank_excavator

If you keep being stubborn, fail to repent and continue illegal activities, you will be brought to justice.//blank_repent

He was the doctor who tried to sound a warning that a troubling cluster of viral infections in a Chinese province could grow out of control — and was then summoned for a middle-of-the-night reprimand over his candor.//blank_reprimand

Another view is that, having established Congress’s inability to restrain him, because of the tribalism of Republicans such as Ms Collins, Mr Trump may feel even more emboldened to disregard any rule or convention that stands in the way of his interests.//blank_embolden

The shooting occurred in the 34th Precinct. //blank_precinct

The results followed a chaotic count marred by technical issues, and an official winner has not been declared.//blank_mar

Due to potential errors in the reported vote total, and due to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) suggesting a recanvass of the results, some major news organizations refused to declare a winner until a possible recanvassing though no campaign has requested one.//blank_recanvass

Social media posts claimed that the Buttigieg campaign paid for the creation of app, a theory which was debunked by the Associated Press.//blank_debunk

It's the first glimpse of what voters think of the candidates vying to serve as president of the U.S.//blank_vie-vying

Few people want to be thought of as just a number, let alone a fraction.//blank_fraction

... it was a stark reminder of the widening gap between tech's wealthiest outfits and the rest of the industry.//blank_outfit

A genealogical audit of the modern House of Windsor reveals that 42% of King George V’s great-great-grandchildren—who are mostly young adults today—work in the arts and entertainment businesses.//blank_genealogical, audit

Lieber, who is known for engineering new nanomaterials and developing their applications in medicine and biology, was arrested on 28 January. Two days later, a federal judge approved his release on cash bail of US$1 million.//blank_nanomaterials

In 2008, he was tipped by Thomson Reuters as a potential Nobel prizewinner.//blank_tip

Leo Tolstoy was an inveterate quitter.//blank_inveterate

#day-37

He bolted from university without a degree, left the army, renounced the privileges of aristocracy.//blank_bolt=flee

He rejected the Orthodox church and abjured fiction as a vanity.//blank_abjure

Strive as he might to repudiate fame, in 1910 the world’s media besieged the stationmaster’s house as he lay dying inside.//blank_repudiate

Tolstoy's ceaseless interrogation of Sofia’s feelings and his own helped make their relationship excruciating.//blank_interrogation

As he says, the genius of Tolstoy’s art lay in its combination of verisimilitude and depth.//verisimilitude

In a country where other forms of authority were discredited, writers had a special, oracular status.//blank_oracular

His creed rejected all kinds of violence and oppression, which, for him, included the strictures of lust as well as state power.//blank_stricture

A whopping 76 were presented in the pre-telecast portion of the show. The show's focus is very much on entertainment, not awards.//blank_whopping

The aim to diversify the movies looks like it's taking hold just as there are fewer middlebrow studio movies and streaming is becoming king.//blank_middlebrow

The vicissitudes of progress — all that change, all that changing back — can create an optics headache over at the Academy.//blank_vicissitude, optics

The show, starring Shakira and Jennifer Lopez, was intended to accomplish a number of things: to boost the National Football League's lagging Latino viewership, to nod to Miami's Latino cultural traditions and to provide a spectacle more engaging than last year's wholly generic performance by Maroon 5.//blank_viewership, generic

But one debate overshadowed the rest: whether Shakira and Lopez had dominated the stage — or been demeaned by a show that was undeniably sexy.//blank_overshadow

They were performing their way through a thorny set of norms.//blank_thorny

But Fox seemed determine to remove all mystery anyway, aiming cameras at their crotches so frequently that I actually lost count.//blank_crotch

If beauty standards aren't going to be dismantled in a day, might as well enjoy the women whose discipline at maintaining their physiques makes the men look like slackers by comparison.//blank_slacker

Lined up along the side of their boat, the fishermen hauled a huge, heavy net up from swelling waves.//blank_haul

The salmon catch is collapsing off Japan's northern coast, plummeting by about 70 percent in the past 15 years.//blank_plummet

This year, the catch one day was a meager six tons. //blank_meager

The lobster population off the Northeast coast in the United States is experiencing a similar disruption. //blank_disruption

The first leg of the journey was by boat to Lake Naivasha in Kenya. //blank_the first leg of a journey

"Freedom is not free" is a pithy phrase that usually refers to the sacrifices of our military against external threats.//blank_pithy

They advance U.S. interests every day — whether they are repatriating Americans vulnerable to a pandemic, reporting on civil unrest, negotiating military basing rights or helping a U.S. company navigate a foreign country.//blank_repatriate, pandemic

With each passing quarter, tech's wealthiest companies are building on their power, making it harder for smaller outfits to compete and for entrepreneurs to build the next Google or Facebook.//blank_build on

Last year's financial results could lend more weight to arguments that a handful of companies, with dominant market shares and outgunned competition, are unfairly cashing in on their control.//blank_cash in on

Apple recently earmarked billions of dollars to create shows and movies for its video subscription service in a challenge to Netflix.//blank_earmark

#day-38

Today's dominant companies have so much power across such a broad array of markets and continue to leverage that power to expand into new markets.//blank_leverage

Today's lot are better off—the modern economy has been kind to those well-endowed with property—and tend to be enmeshed in a celebrity circus of professional creatives and Instagram icons.//blank_enmeshed

Other aristos have been muses to Giorgio Armani, made crystal jewellery and daubed graffiti.//blank_daub

Despite the occasional splatter burn, nudists say their relationship to eating, at home or in restaurants, is better and healthier without all the clothing.//blank_splatter

In fact, when it comes to cooking and dining, many nudists are unequivocal: It's better naked.//blank_unequivocal

I was a very shy and nervous and introverted person.//blank_introvert

Since late Thursday, people from different backgrounds, including government officials, prominent business figures and ordinary online users, have posted numerous messages expressing their grief for the doctor, who contracted the new coronavirus, and their anger over his silencing by the police after he shared his knowledge about the virus.//blank_contract

Mr. Sanders fended off two moderate rivals, former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., and Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. //blank_fend off

But winning is winning and the moderate ledger of the Democratic primary is as fractured as ever — to Mr. Sanders's great advantage.//blank_fracture

Mr. Buttigieg's team hopes that wining begets more winning, citing the experience of Barack Obama in the 2008 primary race.//blank_beget

She rose in the polls in New Hampshire at the exact right time, parlaying the chaos out of Iowa and a strong performance in Friday night's debate into a third-place finish.//blank_parlay

Pope Francis has for now rejected a landmark proposal by bishops to allow the ordination of married men in remote areas underserved by priests, a potentially momentous change that conservatives had warned could set the Roman Catholic Church on a path toward lifting priestly celibacy and weakening church traditions.//blank_celibacy

The decision, in a papal letter made public on Wednesday, was welcomed by conservatives, but it was a major setback for many of the Catholics who see Francis as their best hope for bringing fundamental change to the church.//blank_papal

With the church facing a shortage of priests and increasing competition from evangelicals in many countries, the idea of opening up the priesthood to married men had held broad appeal for liberals worried about the church's future.//blank_evangelical

But the pope's refusal to allow married priests came as a relief to conservatives, many of whom have come to see Francis and his emphasis on a more pastoral and inclusive church as a grave threat to the rules, orthodoxy and traditions of the faith.//blank_orthodoxy

Mr. Sanders's challenges remain legion.//blank_legion

According to scientific projections, the oceans stand to rise by one to four feet by the end of the century, with projections of more ferocious storms and higher tides that could upend the lives of entire communities. //blank_upend

Desiree Alay-ay is in the thick of trade-offs. //blank_in the thick of

Because of a proliferation of fish ponds and the rapid extraction of groundwater, the ground has been subsiding.//blank_proliferation

A large part of Metropolitan Manila is facing more water-related impacts because of decades of myopic, cross-eyed land use planning.” //blank_myopic, cross-eyed

This is a levy on fossil fuels that is invested in natural climate solutions. //blank_levy

Bong Joon Ho on Why He Wanted Parasite to End With a ‘Surefire Kill’//blank_surefire

#day-39

But Americans have plenty of choice among firms offering to manage their wealth, from giants such as Fidelity and Vanguard, which offer their own funds, to brokerages and fintech upstarts.//blank_fintech

Even as regulators discuss new rules and activists fret about the right to privacy, the shares of the five biggest American tech firms have been on a jaw-dropping bull run over the past 12 months, rising by 52%.//blank_on a bull run

And the loss-making antics of flaky tech “unicorns”, such as Uber and WeWork, evoked the kind of speculative froth often seen at the tail end of a long boom.//blank_froth

This surge in tech giants' share prices raises two worries. One is whether investors have stoked a speculative bubble. //blank_stoke

Despite #MeToo, opinions on sexual harassment have barely budged.//blank_budge

This is a popular epithet in Hong Kong for people from across the border who go on shopping sprees in the territory, emptying shelves of goods.//blank_epithet, spree

Instead, he was marinated in an online world of racist fantasy and conspiracy theories.//blank_marinate

Germany's authorities, understandably committed to weeding out far-right violence geared towards traditional neo-Nazi groups, may not have all the tools needed to handle such amorphous threats. //blank_amorphous

Japan's bond market is remarkably docile despite the government's towering debt.//blank_docile

This history is now been deeply etched into the city's artscape.//blank_etch

Carbon capture technology could eventually sequester as much as 2 gigatons a year in the United States.//blank_gigaton

Already the effective winner of Syria's civil war, President Bashar al-Assad is closer than ever to retaking Syria's last rebel-held territory, Idlib Province in northwest Syria, a milestone that will clinch his victory even as it deepens his people's suffering.//blank_clinch

#day-40

Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced Hollywood producer whose alleged abusive behavior brought the #MeToo movement into the mainstream, was found guilty of two felony sex crimes yesterday at his trial in New York.//blank_felony

Harvard rescinded admissions offers to 10 prospective students who exchanged obscene memes in a private Facebook chat in 2017. //blank_rescind

She spoke during a group interview in the newsroom, a brightly lit, grungy space whose walls bear decades of quotes by staff members memorialized in (decidedly undigital) handwritten scrawls.//blank_grungy

The schtick of trying to be edgy just gets old after a while.//blank_schtick

He'd rather pepper his classes with activities requiring responses, including asking students to text. //blank_pepper

I didn't want to make hyperbolic images that fueled a general rage.//blank_hyperbolic

In “The Last Man” (1826), Shelley envisions a post-apocalyptic Earth ravaged by plague at the end of the 21st century. //blank_post-apocalyptic

With the coronavirus on everyone's minds, reading books about epidemics can either be a frightening turnoff or a fascinating “what if” thought experiment. //blank_turnoff

I read “Snow Crash” as a teen and also loved Richard Matheson's “I Am Legend” (the lone dude trying to survive against the band of mutants each night!).//blank_mutant

Women planning to propose apparently had to wear a red petticoat - a skirt under their skirt - to signal their intention.//blank_petticoat

Fear not - a get out clause is to say that you are already betrothed, although presumably you do then actually have to marry someone else at some point.//blank_betroth

After dithering for weeks as the coronavirus spread around the world, the Trump administration has now decided to pay for its belated response by cutting funding for heating assistance for low-income families.//blank_dither

But since the case was announced a year ago, far less has been heard from the children of those involved in the scandal, many of whom were on the cusp of going to college or were already enrolled. //blank_cusp

immitation:

The 2020 GRAMMY Awards were a sight to behold on Sunday, Jan. 26, opening with a brilliant performance from Lizzo and Sasha Flute and closing out with multiple wins from 18-year-old pop wunderkind Billie Eilish, who swept the major categories (Best New Artist, Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Album Of The Year, respectively). Though the night had an unexpected dark cloud overhead with the recent news of basketball legend Kobe Bryant's passing, host Alicia Keys and the night's many performers came through with both respectful tributes and still-celebratory vibes. Relive the magic below with our roundup of 10 unmissable moments from the 2020 GRAMMY Awards.

For reasons too dumb to get into, I've bought four different copies of “Inside Oscar,” Damien Bona and Mason Wiley's drinkably juicy, year-by-year history of the awards and the show.

The show, starring Shakira and Jennifer Lopez, was intended to accomplish a number of things: to boost the National Football League's lagging Latino viewership, to nod to Miami's Latino cultural traditions and to provide a spectacle more engaging than last year's wholly generic performance by Maroon 5.

But one debate overshadowed the rest: whether Shakira and Lopez had dominated the stage — or been demeaned by a show that was undeniably sexy.

If beauty standards aren't going to be dismantled in a day, might as well enjoy the women whose discipline at maintaining their physiques makes the men look like slackers by comparison.

Last year's financial results could lend more weight to arguments that a handful of companies, with dominant market shares and outgunned competition, are unfairly cashing in on their control.

The picture is darker the further down tech's food chain you go.

The large technology firms that dominate the public stock markets are at the extreme edge of a broader trend in American corporate life.

Why the creative arts should choose aristocrats takes a bit more explaining.

Mr. Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., finished in the top two in both Iowa and New Hampshire. Ms. Klobuchar surprised with a third-place showing in New Hampshire.

If winning is contagious, losing can be an even more infectious campaign disease. It erodes support, money and confidence in a sudden rush of voter and donor panic.

Many people face the risks right now. Two sprawling metropolitan areas offer a glimpse of the future.

Even as regulators discuss new rules and activists fret about the right to privacy, the shares of the five biggest American tech firms have been on a jaw-dropping bull run over the past 12 months, rising by 52%.

Ethnophobia triggered by the virus is sometimes subtle, and hard to separate from overblown fears of the pathogen itself.

Ms. Robinson is hardly unusual. For Gen Z, life does not happen if it is not recorded on social media. That is where students go to complain, empathize, poke fun, debate, procrastinate, give and seek support or get a laugh. And belong.

With the coronavirus on everyone's minds, reading books about epidemics can either be a frightening turnoff or a fascinating “what if” thought experiment.

[book recommendation]

The App Generation: How Today's Youth Navigate Identity, Intimacy and Imagination in a Digital World written by whoever