Alexei Navalny was sent to one to die and American journalist Evan Gershkovich is being held in another. Our correspondent reports on the notorious brutality of Russia’s prisons. Without the right policies, undoing years of dependency on oil will take much longer than hoped (11:03). And a tribute to the Israeli luthier who restored violins from the Holocaust (18:53).
Proximity Labs Director Kendall Cole breaks down NEAR protocol's new chain signatures network that offers users multichain access from one account.
To get the show every day, follow the podcast here.
Kendall Cole, Director at Proximity Labs, joins "First Mover" to discuss NEAR protocol's new chain signatures network that offers users multichain access from their NEAR account. Plus, insights on how the technology enhances user experiences and provides new opportunities for developers in the DeFi space.
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Consensus is where experts convene to talk about the ideas shaping our digital future. Join developers, investors, founders, brands, policymakers and more in Austin, Texas from May 29-31. The tenth annual Consensus is curated by CoinDesk to feature the industry’s most sought-after speakers, unparalleled networking opportunities and unforgettable experiences. Register now at consensus.coindesk.com.
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This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie. “First Mover” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and Melissa Montañez and edited by Victor Chen.
The fascinating, untold story of how the Chinese language overcame unparalleled challenges and revolutionized the world of computing. A standard QWERTY keyboard has a few dozen keys. How can Chinese—a language with tens of thousands of characters and no alphabet—be input on such a device?
In The Chinese Computer: A Global History of the Information Age (MIT Press, 2024), Thomas Mullaney sets out to resolve this paradox, and in doing so, discovers that the key to this seemingly impossible riddle has given rise to a new epoch in the history of writing—a form of writing he calls “hypography.” Based on fifteen years of research, this pathbreaking history of the Chinese language charts the beginnings of electronic Chinese technology in the wake of World War II up through to its many iterations in the present day. Mullaney takes the reader back through the history and evolution of Chinese language computing technology, showing the development of electronic Chinese input methods—software programs that enable Chinese characters to be produced using alphanumeric symbols—and the profound impact they have had on the way Chinese is written. Along the way, Mullaney introduces a cast of brilliant and eccentric personalities drawn from the ranks of IBM, MIT, the CIA, the Pentagon, the Taiwanese military, and the highest rungs of mainland Chinese establishment, to name a few, and the unexpected roles they played in developing Chinese language computing. Finally, he shows how China and the non-Western world—because of the hypographic technologies they had to invent in order to join the personal computing revolution—“saved” the Western computer from its deep biases, enabling it to achieve a meaningful presence in markets outside of the Americas and Europe. An eminently engaging and artfully told history, The Chinese Computer is a must-read for anyone interested in how culture informs computing and how computing, in turn, shapes culture.
Thomas S. Mullaney is Professor of Chinese History at Stanford University and a Guggenheim Fellow.
When humans first managed to harness heavier-than-air flight, they did so by using piston engines and propellers.
Several decades later, a more efficient means of propulsion was developed. It could make planes travel faster and higher and could use less fuel over longer distances.
In addition to transforming civilian and military aviation, new modes of it still have the potential to revolutionize the world once again.
Learn more about jet propulsion, how it works, and how it was developed on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
The federal government announced on Thursday some upcoming changes to the next Census. The form will consolidate two existing questions about race and ethnicity into one question. There will also be a longer list of race categories for people to select from, along with the ability to choose more than one. The list will include, for the first time, the option to select “Middle Eastern or North African.”
This Sunday is International Transgender Day of Visibility. It comes amid a legislative, political and sociocultural assault on the lives of trans people. Sports journalist and athlete Karleigh Chardonnay Webb talks about one of those assaults: a recent lawsuit against the NCAA that seeks to roll back eligibility rules for trans college athletes.
And in headlines: A federal court says South Carolina can use a Congressional map ruled unconstitutional for the the 2024 election, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison, and House Speaker Mike Johnson said he’ll send impeachment articles against DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate on April 10.
Show Notes:
Outsports: “College female athletes file lawsuit to ban trans athletes from competing in the NCAA” – https://tinyurl.com/2dp4rxpa
Media Matters: “The New York Times failed to quote trans people in two-thirds of stories on anti-trans legislation in a one-year period” – https://tinyurl.com/244cbteu
We're talking about a storm on the West Coast that could cause flooding this holiday weekend. And one of the presidential candidates just held what's being called the most successful political fundraiser in American history (though that record could be broken soon).
Also, the man once known as the 'crypto king' found out how long he'll have to spend in prison for fraud.
Plus, for the first time in decades, the U.S. government changed the way it collects data on race, and a group of college students was able to pull off a heart-warming surprise for a beloved security guard.
Those stories and more news to know in about 10 minutes!
Historic numbers of animals across the globe have become endangered or pushed to extinction. But some of these species sit in limbo — not definitively extinct yet missing from the scientific record. Rediscovering a "lost" species is not easy. It can require trips to remote areas and canvassing a large area in search of only a handful of animals. But new technology and stronger partnerships with local communities have helped these hidden, "uncharismatic" creatures come to light.
Have other scientific gray areas you want us to cover in a future episode? Email us at shortwave@npr.org!
