> [...] there are zero specialized jobs in Pontevedra. Either you are a public state worker, for which you need to pass an exam to lock a lifelong job with no possibility of being fired regardless of how incompetent you are, or you work in hospitality.
Alas, this is basically how it works in most of southern Europe, including my home country Italy. I don't know how much a small-town mayor can do to reverse years of bad political choices at the national level.
I'm not saying the mayor should change what is not under his radar. I'm saying the mayor should attract private companies for locals that don't want to be public state workers.
They are not discounting the possibility that sociocultural factors play a role:
> What explains the GAP? While evolutionary frameworks have traditionally been the dominant lens through which the GAP has been viewed— assuming its existence without direct empirical evidence—these theories focus exclusively on opposite-sex attraction, mate selection, and reproductive success. Within these theoretical boundaries, explaining the variation in same-sex ratings and the cultural differences in the GAP becomes challenging, suggesting that factors beyond biological predispositions also play a role. Given these limitations, sociocultural factors and norms merit further consideration. As noted earlier, female beauty is idealized in many cultures and reinforced by media, advertising, and societal expectations. Internalized beauty standards may foster unconscious biases, leading to, or amplifying, the observed difference.
But the study is mainly concerned with verifying the existence of the gap.
Btw, a lot of animal hierarchies are also male-dominated.
I was initially puzzled by the title of this article because a "sycophant" in my native language (Italian) is a "snitch" or a "slanderer", usually one paid to be so. I am just finding out that the English meaning is different, interesting!
Depends on what you are doing. Betting on C++ was a good idea for me 20 years ago - but I work in embedded systems where Java wouldn't work because I sometimes need to access hardware. Embedded also means I don't even have a web server, so I have no need for a web framework which the person you replied to seems to find important. I don't know their situation, but there is a large need for people to write web code and so for many people betting on a web framework is a good idea.
I have done enough web to know I'd bet on python over PHP, but only because I know there are several popular web frameworks in python to chose from.
that's pretty simple.. nobody wants to provoke them into using their nukes. It's also still likely a hard sell to the populations of various countries.
Almost any form of media can be addicting. Kids these days might watch TikTok, but my worst addiction since young age has been reading online news.
Once I got diagnosed with ADHD and tried stimulant medicine, I noticed that the time I spend reading news, social media and playing games dropped dramatically. So, effectively all these activities have been nothing more than drugs for my dysfunctional brain. When my brain isn't deficient in dopamine, I seem to automatically spend most of my time on something more useful. Probably wouldn't be writing this if my meds weren't wearing off at this time of day.
It is perhaps a narrow view, but not an incorrect one.
You mention state funded projects, but the funding has to come from somewhere else. What the author is saying is this: it takes money to run a gallery (or a museum, for that matter), therefore even if it is not the primary objective, we should strive to keep the money flowing so that we can make have better galleries/museums.
Galleries are necessarily behind the curve because they're businesses and have to stay afloat. You typically don't go to a gallery to see something new, but to see the works of an already established artist.
Meanwhile interesting, innovative art happens outside of galleries, but you have to look for it, as there's an oversupply of aspiring artists.
Bottom line is you can't base the whole art scene on the opinions of art galleries, as they play it safe and art is strictly about the opposite.
Actually the money doesn’t have to come from anywhere, that’s my point. If we cut all state funding - I’m sure artists would continue making art, as they did for millenia. We encourage art with state funding because we consider it beneficial to the society[1].
The “keep the money flowing” approach distracts from making art and leads to making art that sells well. Do we really want that to dominate galleries/museums?
[1]: “American taxpayers concur, with 55% supporting increasing federal investment in the arts, 57% supporting state government funding for the arts and 58% supporting local government funding for the arts” https://www.delawareartsalliance.org/government-funding-arts...
If you include enough opinion pieces on highly controversial subjects and always from the same perspective your readers will start noticing. Just because they are opinions it doesn't mean that people can't deem them ridiculous.
Alas, this is basically how it works in most of southern Europe, including my home country Italy. I don't know how much a small-town mayor can do to reverse years of bad political choices at the national level.