Sunday, August 24
When your job is ‘nose’
Eric Feferberg/AFP via Getty Images
Becoming a professional perfumer, or “nose,” is like pursuing an arthouse version of medicine—it can take a decade of scientific training, and you also want the French to like you.
Competition is fierce to be one of the hundreds of people in the world who can not only distinguish between the scents of different orange varieties but also splice smells into luxury fragrances like a chef creating a new recipe:A lucky few were born into the perfume families of Grasse, France, which is known as the fragrance capital of the world. (Chanel’s current nose—the son of its previous nose—hails from Grasse. As does the jasmine it uses in No. 5.)
The conventional perfumery route usually requires a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, a master’s from one of France’s three main perfume schools, and a multiyear program at a major fragrance manufacturer like Givaudan, where trainee acceptance rates can be less than 1%.
Still, some perfumers manage to pave their own way. Barnabé Fillion, Aesop’s in-house perfumer for 10 years, worked with a mentor instead of getting formal training. Self-taught sniffers are trying to leapfrog the traditional process altogether by launching their own indie perfume brands.
Common denominator: Fillion and many other perfumers—including Hermès’s *checks notes* Director of Olfactive Creation Christine Nagel—experience synesthesia, a condition that makes it possible for some people to see, hear, and feel a scent. That comes in handy when the Aesop creative brief asks you to evoke a combination of soul music, Chinese poetry, and the color green.
The sign of a good nose: avoiding obvious choices. Nagel opted for rhubarb over citrus for the notes of freshness in her first Hermès fragrance nearly 10 years ago.—ML
Robert Reich
Friends,
As a child, I was bullied and harassed for being short. I remember feeling powerless and vulnerable. I also recall my shame. I directed much of my anger at myself.
A large portion of America has felt bullied and harassed for decades. They’ve worked their asses off but haven’t gotten anywhere. Employers have fired them without cause or notice, made them into contract workers without any security or rights, spied on them during working hours, and otherwise treated them like children.
They’ve been bullied by landlords who keep hiking their rent. By banks that keep adding large fees to whatever they owe. By health insurers and hospitals that charge them an arm and a leg. By corporate grocery monopolies that push up food prices.
At A Glance
Henry Ford's 1941 plastic car was made from soybeans.
"Buy one, get one free" is a way to drive more spending.
Watermelons were once neither red nor sweet.
Geography was key to making Moscow Europe's biggest city.
How helpful is it to take vitamins as supplements?
Following the wild salmon supply chain, from Alaska to your plate.
Stem cells can reboot the ability of cells to repair themselves.
Visualizing the changes to Mac's control panel between 1984 and 2004.
How brutalist concrete transformed building design.
When it's good to let your food stick in the pan.
How the Discovery Channel popularized educational TV.
The Harlem Hellfighters, WWI's longest-serving US regiment.
Where do you fall on the sports misery index?
The world's top 10 hedge funds.
Assessing the respiratory risks of too much air conditioning.
In The NEWS
Federal Reserve may soon cut interest rates.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled possible interest rate cuts in a speech yesterday at the central bank's annual meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Powell cited a recent slowdown in monthly job growth as a reason for potential rate cuts. The Federal Reserve will meet next in September; it has kept rates unchanged for five consecutive meetings since December. US stock markets closed higher (S&P 500 +1.5%, Dow +1.9%, Nasdaq +1.9%).
Intel to give US government nearly 10% stake.
Approximately $8.9B in federal grants awarded but not yet paid to Intel under the 2022 CHIPS Act and the Pentagons's Secure Enclave program will be converted to equity. Under the deal, the government will become Intel's largest shareholder but will not take a board seat or have decision-making rights. The government could get another 5% stake if Intel's ownership of its contract manufacturing business drops below 51%. The chipmaker's shares closed up 5.5% on the news.
DOJ releases recent Ghislaine Maxwell interviews.
The Justice Department yesterday released interviews conducted last month between Maxwell—convicted of aiding Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation—and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. Maxwell said she never saw President Donald Trump engage in inappropriate behavior, former President Bill Clinton never visited Epstein's private island, and she did not believe Epstein died by suicide, among other claims. See developing takeaways from the 329-page transcript here.
Little League World Series enters homestretch.
The final four teams compete in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, today for a spot in tomorrow's championship game (3 pm ET, ABC). Nevada and Connecticut face off in the US bracket final at 3:30 pm ET today after Chinese Taipei takes on Aruba in the international bracket final at 12:30 pm ET. All players are between the ages of 10 and 12, and the games typically have six innings, as opposed to Major League Baseball's nine. Learn more about the league's rules here.
Canada to drop retaliatory tariffs on many US goods.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced yesterday Canada will remove 25% counter-tariffs on US products covered under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement by Sept. 1. The move matches American policy, which exempts Canada's USMCA-compliant goods from US tariffs, and came after the nation's leaders spoke by phone Thursday. Canada's 25% levies on US autos, steel, and aluminum will hold.
UN-backed body confirms famine in Gaza.
After 22 months of war, over half a million people in the Gaza City region are experiencing famine, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification. The global authority on hunger yesterday raised its food insecurity assessment in the area to its highest level. The initiative expects famine to hit the southern Gaza Strip within weeks if Israel does not end restrictions on humanitarian aid deliveries.
Judge orders wind-down of Alligator Alcatraz.
A US district judge ordered Florida and the federal government to stop sending immigrants to a detention center in the Everglades, known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” and to dismantle much of the center within 60 days (read previous write-up). The judge sided with environmentalists and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, who argued the facility was built without proper environmental reviews. Florida filed notice of its intent to appeal.
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Why Vote???
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Many of us don't think about politics until it is time to vote and then, we are influenced by what the media says because we have not been following what's been happening. We vote and believe that our vote was worthwhile.
Some of us don't vote at all because we perceive that our vote means nothing because the outcomes are fixed ahead of time and to a certain extent that is true with the ELECTORAL COLLEGE.
The dirty tricks of the Nixon administration (Republican) have been recently overshadowed by the outright lies, and law breaking of the Obama and Biden administrations (Democrat).
For almost a DECADE, the Democrats along with the Mainstream Media, District Attorneys, and Judges have tried to destroy Trump, his businesses, and his family. During Trump's second term as President, we are discovering how deceitful and what liars the Democrats really are, and most of the legal judgements against Trump during the Biden administration have been overturned by higher courts.
While the Democrat Party is in disarray and losing members by the hundreds each month, I am still unsure if there is any point of voting in the next election.
The Mainstream Media blames the President when things don't go as expected but the real change THAT IS NOT TAKING PLACE is because of our CONGRESS, comprised of both Democrats and Republicans. They have DONE NOTHING CONSTRUCTIVE since 1966 when I graduated from high school.
The same problems that we had in 1966, we still have today, such as:
- RACIAL ISSUES
- WEALTH-POVERTY ISSUES
- HEALTHCARE ISSUES
- EDUCATION ISSUES
- PORK BARREL ISSUES
- INEFFICIENCY-EFFECTIVENESS ISSUES
- DEBT ISSUES
- BALANCING THE BUDGET ISSUES
- INFRASTRUCTURE ISSUES
US nuclear waste could be recycled to create rare hydrogen fuel for reactors
Scientists in the United States are developing a method to recycle nuclear waste to make tritium – a rare version of hydrogen which serves as one of the main fuels in nuclear fusion.
Nuclear fusion is a process that fuses two atoms together to release heat which can turn generators. The generators will ensure a supply of large amounts of electricity that is almost emission-free. Therefore, in theory, it is thought to be one of the cleanest forms of energy.
Nuclear power plants operating today rely on nuclear fission, which results in energy generation, but there is also a lot of nuclear waste generated that remains radioactive for years. The nuclear fusion process, which provides power to the stars in the universe, on the other hand, would result in very little radioactive waste being produced at the end.
The process would require the fusion of deuterium and tritium. While the former is readily available, the US currently has a shortage of tritium.
Saturday, August 23
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