Could the Pope become Chief Rabbi (or vice versa)? | Notes and Queries

 Posted on May 10, 2024  |  3 minutes  |  564 words  |  Valentine Belue

ETHICAL CONUNDRUMSCould the Pope become Chief Rabbi (or vice versa)? A.Cameron, Newcastle uk · Given that I don't believe that the Pope's mother was Jewish, it would appear that the current incumbent fails the most basic of tests. I understand that there is a French cardinal who converted from Judaism to Roman Catholicism. However, assuming that he meets the other ancestral requirements, it is unlikely that as an apostate he would be accepted as Chief Rabbi. [Read More]

Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh sex, death and baking

 Posted on May 10, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  945 words  |  Kary Bruening

BooksReviewSet in postwar France, this sharp fable explores the power desire and envy exert over reality and memory Three books in, we can begin to say that there are traits in Sophie Mackintosh’s novels which are particularly Mackintoshian. The image of a woman with a man’s hand around her throat. The attendant sexual violence that image suggests. A veil thrown over questions of time and location that lends both prose and plot a gauzy, fever-dream quality. [Read More]

Do our brains have extraordinary untapped powers?

 Posted on May 10, 2024  |  6 minutes  |  1158 words  |  Chauncey Koziol

Brain scans show that most people with acquired savant syndrome have sustained damage towards the front of the left temporal lobe. Illustration: Sophie WolfsonBrain scans show that most people with acquired savant syndrome have sustained damage towards the front of the left temporal lobe. Illustration: Sophie WolfsonUse your headStudentsIn rare cases, brain damage has unlocked prodigious mental abilities in patients. Now researchers are exploring the hidden potential in all of us [Read More]

Does this painting by Walter Sickert reveal the identity of Jack the Ripper?

 Posted on May 10, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  921 words  |  Valentine Belue

Art This article is more than 22 years oldThis article is more than 22 years oldAuthor rips up canvas in attempt to prove artist was killerThe American crime novelist Patricia Cornwell was last night accused of "monstrous stupidity" for ripping up a canvas to prove that the Victorian painter Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper. Even in the context of the crackpot conspiracy theories, elaborate frauds and career-destroying obsessions that London's most grisly whodunnit has spawned, Cornwell's investigation is extreme. [Read More]

How to use a foam roller: a runner's guide | Running

 Posted on May 10, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  856 words  |  Aldo Pusey

The running blogRunningHow to use a foam roller: a runner's guideMany gyms have foam rollers these days – but how many people actually know what to do with them? Here's a simple guide to the muscles you need to targetMost runners will have at least heard of the foam roller, or encountered it in a gym. But many of us – myself included – are a little clueless when it comes to actually using it. [Read More]

Intimacy with strangers: Marina Abramovi puts the squeeze on

 Posted on May 10, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  926 words  |  Jenniffer Sheldon

Marina AbramovićThe artist’s Royal Academy retrospective revives her 1977 live work in which visitors pass through a naked couple in a doorway – and reveal something of themselves In 1977, in a gallery in Bologna, the artist Marina Abramović and her lover and collaborator, Ulay, stood naked in a narrow doorway, staring intently at one another, as the public squeezed between them. Last week Imponderabilia, as the piece is called, was resurrected with 37 “re-performers” for the artist’s blockbuster retrospective at the Royal Academy in London. [Read More]

Marcela Mora y Araujo | The Guardian

 Posted on May 10, 2024  |  1 minutes  |  45 words  |  Kary Bruening

Marcela specialises in South American and Argentinian football. Recent adventures include translating Diego Maradona's autobiography, El Diego, into English, and providing the expertise for the BBC World Cup Stories - Argentina programme, which won the RTS Sport Documentary of the year award for 2006

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NFL Black Monday: Smith and Rivera fired as speculation swirls over Belichick | NFL

 Posted on May 10, 2024  |  6 minutes  |  1095 words  |  Jenniffer Sheldon

NFLNFL Black Monday: Smith and Rivera fired as speculation swirls over BelichickFalcons fire head coach after latest losing seasonCommanders sack Ron Rivera and overhaul front officeNew England could move on from Belichick eraArthur Smith, who inherited a rebuilding project in his first NFL head coaching job and failed to lift Atlanta from their playoff drought hours after completing his third straight losing season with the Falcons. The Washington Commanders made the next move hours later, firing Ron Rivera. [Read More]

Ben Shelton: US Opens viral problem child takes call for mission impossible

 Posted on May 9, 2024  |  7 minutes  |  1281 words  |  Jenniffer Sheldon

US Open Tennis 2023Armed with a booming serve as prodigious as his sense of entitlement, the 20-year-old American upstart is out to buck the odds against Novak Djokovic in the US Open semi-finals A few months ago Ben Shelton appeared on a podcast called All on the Table, a session he held with Christopher Eubanks and Frances Tiafoe. For an hour, the three Americans chewed the fat about life on tour between big bites of steak. [Read More]

Chris O'Dowd: I was the funny friend of the girls I fancied. It was a comfort | Chris O'Dowd

 Posted on May 9, 2024  |  7 minutes  |  1429 words  |  Jenniffer Sheldon

The ObserverChris O'DowdInterviewChris O'Dowd: ‘I was the funny friend of the girls I fancied. It was a comfort’Stephanie RafanelliIt’s years since Chris O’Dowd played a lovable fool in the IT Crowd. He’s made it big in Hollywood, married, had two kids and – despite appearances – has his feet firmly on the ground. So why is he still everyone’s favourite slacker? Chris O’Dowd ambles into a Shoreditch café to meet me a week before he turns 39. [Read More]