In Princeton, New Jersey, a brief stroll from the college you might have heard of, there lies somewhat campus house to the Institute for Superior Examine. It was based in 1930 to not confer levels nor—God forbid!—to earn cash, nor even to conduct analysis towards any finish specifically. The institute proclaims that its goal is “the pursuit of information for its personal sake.”
Founder Abraham Flexner reckoned that good minds, as soon as freed to pursue “ineffective satisfactions,” would come upon discoveries of “undreamed-of utility,” as he wrote in {a magazine} just a few years into the institute’s work. It appears to have labored for Albert Einstein, who had an workplace there. J. Robert Oppenheimer, too.
Take pleasure in this week’s ineffective satisfactions. I look ahead to your idea of every part the week after.
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Tuesday, January 20, 2025
- Whereas Swedish establishments choose the winner of each different Nobel Prize, the award for peace is conferred by a committee from what nation?
— From Anne Applebaum’s evaluation of Donald Trump’s threatening Greenland letter - What 1986 sports activities film follows the boys of tiny Milan Excessive College to their state-championship victory over Muncie Central?
— From Keith O’Brien’s article on the tip of the underdog - The Barbz are—or have been—the fan base of what “Anaconda” rapper, who lately alienated lots of them when she appeared at a Turning Level USA occasion alongside Charlie Kirk’s widow?
— From Spencer Kornhaber’s essay on Trump’s ever-stalled effort to win the tradition conflict
And by the way in which, do you know that all through the historical past of the Nobel Prizes, there have been years so turbulent that the Peace Prize committee decided to not confer an award, at the same time as different classes went on?
This occurred in just a few of the interwar years as Nazi Germany rearmed, Italy invaded Ethiopia, and peace usually disintegrated. It was additionally the case for the years of World Conflict I, excluding 1917, when the committee acknowledged the Pink Cross for its humanitarian support. (All the Nobel Prizes have been suspended in the course of the early years of World Conflict II.)
The circumstances have been a bit completely different in 1948, when the committee dominated that “there was no appropriate residing candidate.” The clear message was that the award—which by rule can’t be given posthumously—ought to have gone to Mahatma Gandhi, assassinated earlier that 12 months.
Solutions:
- Norway. Neither of these nations, you’ll word, is Denmark, the Scandinavian state that Greenland is part of. Nonetheless, Anne writes, in a letter to Norway’s prime minister, Trump threatened invasion of the territory as a consequence of his not receiving a Nobel Peace Prize—by no means thoughts that Norway’s authorities doesn’t decide the winner, both. Learn extra.
- Hoosiers. The true-life miracle that immortalized Milan, Indiana, is maybe the underdog story in sports activities. The College of Indiana’s win on Monday in faculty soccer’s nationwide championship is, likewise, an amazing story, O’Brien writes—however irrespective of what number of Hoosier comparisons commentators make, the victory isn’t the story of an underdog. That storyline, a minimum of in faculty soccer, is kaput. Learn extra.
- Nicki Minaj. Minaj’s look at AmericaFest was definitely a “plot twist,” Spencer writes, but it surely’s additionally in step with conservatives’ try to so disorient America that they will graft “a brand new zeitgeist” onto the tradition. Alas—ask a Barb—tradition remains to be too stunning and messy to regulate. Learn extra.
How did you do? Come again tomorrow for extra questions, and should you assume up an amazing query after studying an Atlantic story—or just wish to share a reality—ship it my method at [email protected].
