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A chaotic big-screen adventure for Mrs Brown
Why We View the Past as Better Than the Present
There’s a reason why no one ever talks about “the bad old days.” A nostalgic longing for bygone times—and a sense that the present doesn’t stack up well against the past—is a common sentiment.
It’s also nothing new. Writings dating back to the time of Homer reveal that such “decline narratives” have been with us for quite a long time.
“In many human societies, the past is mythologized,” says Ze Hong, a behavioral scientist at the University of Macau who has studied historical examples of decline narratives. “The present world is often viewed as the product of a gradual decline from this mythologized ‘golden age.’”
Hong says there are several explanations for these narratives. One of them is wrapped up with a form of cognitive bias known as “rosy retrospection,” which is our tendency to recall past events—even those that were unpleasant or challenging—with fondness or appreciation. “When we think about the past, we tend to play down the negatives,” Hong explains. “At the same time, people tend to focus on the negative side of things in the present. The combination of these two biases can give us this sense of gradual decline.”
Other research has found that nostalgia flourishes during periods of instability and change, perhaps because it helps people cope.
“Individuals and groups often turn to the past for psychological comfort during times of profound uncertainty.” That’s according to researchers at Claremont Graduate University in California, who led a 2025 study on the subject. They make the case that during the Covid pandemic and its accompanying upswells in social and political strife, nostalgia served as a “collective coping mechanism” that helped people connect to “a perceived simpler, more stable era.”
Some have referred to this as the Covid “nostalgia bump.” Researchers found evidence that it was strong enough to shift people’s music-listening tastes toward older tracks. It may also have contributed to the resurgent popularity of decades-old TV shows like Friends.
“Beyond offering psychological comfort, collective nostalgia reinforces group identity, fosters in-group cohesion, and heightens perceptions of external threats,” the Claremont team wrote in the study. Echoing some of Hong’s findings, they argue that politicians frequently weaponize nostalgia to foster feelings of shared dissatisfaction with the present and a unifying wish to return to an earlier, often over-idealized era of perceived prosperity.
But while nostalgia for “the good old days” and a sense of dissatisfaction with the present are often lumped together, some say these are distinct phenomena with contrasting characteristics and effects.
“People who are nostalgic are generally not people who think life is on a declining path,” says Tim Wildschut, a professor of social and personality psychology at the University of Southampton in the U.K.
Wildschut is the author of two recent papers that contrast nostalgia with what he terms “declinism.” Nostalgia, he says, is all about the recollection of personal memories. These memories promote feelings of affiliation and social connectedness. “Important people in our lives, including people who may no longer be around, are brought to life through nostalgic memory, and through these memories we feel closer to them,” he explains. By reconnecting us with our past experiences, nostalgia also provides a sense of continuity that fosters feelings of meaningfulness and optimism, he says.
Declinism, on the other hand, is an unrealistic glorification of the past coupled with the belief that things are steadily going downhill. It’s less about personal memory and more about feelings of dissatisfaction. “Declinism is more related to grievance and pessimism, not to social connectedness and growth,” he says. “It’s this belief that society is getting worse.”
Wildschut says it’s important to highlight these distinctions because they have implications for how people feel about themselves and what’s going on in their lives.
His research has found that while nostalgia is associated with improvements in social connectedness and favorable responses to questions about new innovations like AI, declinism has the opposite associations. “Nostalgia serves as a positive resource for stepping into the future, whereas declinism generates resistance to innovation,” he and his colleagues write.
At a time when the pace of AI-powered technological change is swift, political polarization is endemic, and climate-related uncertainty is rife, there are seemingly plenty of reasons for people to shake their heads at the modern world and long for a simpler time. But these sorts of feelings appear to be a natural and age-old response to periods of change and instability.
От текста к смыслу: Embeddings, GPT и многомерные векторы в конкурентном анализе мобильных приложений
Отзывы пользователей — один из самых ценных источников информации о продукте, при этом часто клиенты описывают одну и ту же тему или проблему десятками разных слов. Раньше работать с фидбэком было долго и ресурсоемко, но с появлением Embeddings и LLM это изменилось.
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Автоматизация — это на 90% подготовка. Четыре решения, которые принимаются до первой строчки кода
Про автоматизацию в бизнесе принято говорить как про технологию: какую модель взять, какой стек, сколько GPU. Причём в последние пару лет любой такой проект по умолчанию называют «внедрением ИИ» — хотя на деле под капотом обычно смесь: где-то нейросеть, где-то распознавание документов, где-то простые правила, а где-то ИИ вообще не нужен. Это нормально, и дальше я буду говорить «автоматизация», подразумевая весь этот спектр. Важно другое: за годы диагностик мы убедились, что технология — самая предсказуемая часть проекта. Она либо работает, либо нет, и это видно быстро. Проваливаются проекты на другом — на решениях, которые принимаются до внедрения и почти никогда не обсуждаются публично. Расскажу про четыре таких решения на одном сквозном кейсе.
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Farage told me he would quit politics after Brexit. Now, mired in scandal, he should do it and mean it | Simon Jenkins
His byelection stunt shows he is clearly rattled by a perilous position. Wildcards rarely endure: his future is behind him
Britain’s politics was never so weird. First, the people of Makerfield choose who should be the new prime minister. Now the people of Clacton are to confirm the man who is currently his most popular challenger. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK is still running ahead of all other parties, and he is ahead of all other current leaders. It would be foolish to underestimate him.
Farage is a cut above the normal populist upstart. His image as the amiable duffer in the golf club bar was once that of a traditional Tory backbencher. He took to Brexit not as an economic theoretician but as a flag-waving nationalist. He exploited race as a populist issue, coded as immigration, but had little interest in any wider political programme. Brexit to him was simply a mid-career adventure.
Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist
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[Перевод] Как собрать собственный dial-up-провайдер на Raspberry Pi
Что получится, если взять Raspberry Pi, USB-модем, имитатор телефонной линии и старый iBook G3 с AirPort? Локальный dial-up-провайдер, который подключает ретрокомпьютер к интернету через Wi-Fi на скорости 33,6 Кбит/с. В этой статье автор собирает такую схему дома, разбирается с mgetty, PPP и модемным рукопожатием — и заодно показывает, почему эксперименты со старым железом всё ещё помогают лучше понимать современные сети.
Разобрать проектOSDEV: Itanium часть 2: One-time Construction API и сигнлтоны Майерса
Приветствую!
В этой части мы рассмотрим что такое guard variables и как под капотом работают синглтоны Майерса.
И так, стандарт начиная с С++11 гарантирует нам что локальные статические переменные инициализируются потокобезопасно. Но кто и как это обеспечивает? Это делает ABI.
И все таки о чем же идет речь? Представьте себе что есть вот такая структура:
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Maine Democrats say Platner's campaign is trying to influence replacement process
The state Democratic Party accused Platner's campaign of trying to "put their thumb on the scale" of the process to replace him if he drops his bid for Senate. Platner's team has denied doing so.
(Image credit: Laura Brett)
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Почему рейтинг Путина падает?
Ruth Ellis, last woman hanged in UK, granted posthumous conditional pardon
Ellis, 28, was executed in 1955 after fatally shooting her abusive partner David Blakely
Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in the UK, has been granted a conditional pardon in light of evidence that she was a victim of domestic abuse and coercive and controlling behaviour.
Ellis was executed in 1955, aged 28, after she shot and killed her partner, David Blakely, whom she met two years earlier while working in the nightclub she managed.
Continue reading...Nato leaders agree not to mention World Cup to Donald Trump to avoid irritating him
As alliance gathers in Ankara, European leaders have an informal strategy to try to keep US president on side
Nato leaders have informally agreed not to mention the football World Cup to Donald Trump for fear of irritating the US president at a crucial time for the military alliance.
Officials said European leaders had discussed in the sidelines of the summit in Ankara how to keep Trump on side amid concerns he could further destabilise Nato with threats over defence spending.
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Continue reading...No league tables, no trophies: how Norway made sport fun for kids – and built a football team that beat Brazil
Country’s model prioritises joy while offering choice – and Erling Haaland’s World Cup exploits show that it works
At full time, the arithmetic felt wrong. A team from a country of 5.5 million people, back at a World Cup after 28 years away, had just beaten the five-time champions to reach a first quarter-final.
During Norway’s victory over Brazil on Sunday there was little between the fast feet of Vinícius Júnior and the raw power of Erling Haaland. But look at how that pair and others on the two teams were raised and a different story emerges. Neymar, Matheus Cunha and Vinícius grew up in a system that prioritises prodigies – spotting talent early and fast‑tracking it through academies built around a single sport. Haaland, Martin Ødegaard and Antonio Nusa grew up with something altogether different.
Continue reading...An Afghan girl calmly milks a giant yak: Daniel Malikyar’s best photograph
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My parents and grandparents migrated to the US from Afghanistan in 1979, just a few weeks before the Soviets invaded. I grew up in Los Angeles, but would visit my grandfather in Virginia once a year. He would always make photographs and film little interviews. It was his enthusiasm in capturing moments of our everyday lives that sparked my interest in documenting the world around me.
I was six when 9/11 happened. From that point on, the domestic and global perception of my motherland was always driven by the negative connotations drawn from the headlines – terrorism, war, images of sandstorms, guns and desperation. But at home in LA, I would see the beauty of our culture, the food, the handicrafts, the art we had on the walls, the music and poetry, and the stories, artifacts and photographs my parents had from their time in Afghanistan. Their photographs from the 60s and 70s showcased the country at a time when it flourished. One day, I told myself, I’m going to make a project that shows the world another side of this incomplete story.
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Дискуссия «Дивный новый SDLC: с какой реальностью мы столкнулись, «ускорив» разработку»
Год назад IT-индустрия начала массово внедрять AI-кодинг-ассистентов. За это время разработчики успели их полюбить, возненавидеть и сделать частью ежедневной рутины.
Но что изменилось на самом деле? Растет ли эффективность, нужно ли заставлять программистов пользоваться ИИ и кто теперь пишет код, а кто его только ревьюит?
Хайлайты с технической дискуссии Conversations в нашем материале! В главных ролях: ВТБ, Т-Банк, Dodo Engineering и S7 TechLab.
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IMF upgrades UK growth forecast as fears over impact of Iran war diminish
July update projects GDP growth of 1% this year, making UK the third fastest-growing economy in the G7
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has upgraded its growth forecast for the UK, while leaving those for other G7 countries weaker or unchanged, amid hopes the economic impact of the Iran war may be less severe than feared.
In a July update of its World Economic Outlook, which was finalised before the latest outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East, the Washington-based organisation projected UK gross domestic product to grow by 1% this year – up 0.2 percentage points from its April forecast.
Continue reading...Marine Le Pen launches France presidential campaign after ban reduced
Far-right leader plans to take part in 2027 race despite appeal court upholding her conviction for embezzlement
The French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has launched her presidential campaign after a decision by a court of appeal shortened her ban on running for office, allowing her to take part in the 2027 vote.
Le Pen said voters would decide her future. “I’m a citizen like anyone else, who is using their rights,” she said on Wednesday, attempting to brush aside legal woes that her political opponents said would plague her campaign for next spring’s presidential election.
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Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion: flip-flops are once again having a fashion moment. But please tread carefully
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The flip-flop is an essential text of summer style. The Dalai Lama wears flip-flops. Surfers wear flip-flops. They are a beach classic, a staple of campsite shower blocks, non-negotiable after a pedicure. Like a pair of blue jeans or a cloth tote bag, they have a utility that transcends fashion.
But when flip-flops step out of their lane – when they become a fashion shoe, a public-facing shoe – rather than a shoe you leave by the back door – they raise hackles. Every single time we get a heatwave, a lively debate about whether flip-flops are acceptable in the office follows, without ever being resolved. When Jennifer Lawrence wore flip-flops under her Dior gown on the Cannes red carpet in 2023, there was an outcry over the perceived flouting of the film festival’s “elegant footwear” policy.
Continue reading...Can AI equalize political campaign ads – or will it remain a tool for spreading lies?
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From the comfort of his bed, Jonathan Rinaldi, a political candidate for a city council seat in Queens, New York, tinkered away on his iPhone, prompting an artificial intelligence chatbot to mock up fake news hits and endorsements he had never received.
During the campaign last October, Rinaldi shared one of those stories, made to appear real with a CNN logo, on his Facebook and Instagram. It stated that Lynn Schulman, his opponent and an incumbent Democrat, had been “forced to drop out of the race due to a series of critical mistakes”. But Schulman had not quit her campaign, and in November, won by a landslide.
Continue reading...Marine Le Pen launches France presidential campaign after ban reduced
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Чего ждать от Unreal Engine 6: подробное превью
Технические специалисты из Epic Games снова готовятся менять правила игры. Пятая версия Unreal Engine уже вытолкнула индустрию в эпоху кинематографичных графических технологий, но шестая — это шаг куда более дерзкий. UE6 задуман не как очередное обновление движка, а как фундамент для огромной, постоянно живущей игровой экосистемы, где профессиональные студии и творческое сообщество Fortnite работают в одном пространстве.
Epic хочет, чтобы разработка больших проектов стала менее болезненной: меньше ручной возни с потоками, меньше хаоса в архитектуре, меньше устаревших систем, которые тянутся с прошлых поколений. Поэтому в UE6 переписывают базовые механизмы работы с CPU, вводят новый язык Verse, обновляют графический стек и пересобирают подход к открытым мирам.
В этой статье мы подробно разберем, какие архитектурные изменения ждут движок, как нейросети помогут в оптимизации и когда ожидать первые игры на новом технологическом поколении.
Читать далееMageia 10: 15 лет спустя форк Mandriva продолжает развиваться. Что нового?
Mageia появилась в 2010 году как независимый форк Mandriva после финансовых проблем компании, развивавшей оригинальный дистрибутив. Проект сохранил традиционный для Mandriva подход к организации системы, собственный набор инструментов администрирования и модель разработки силами сообщества.
С момента первого выпуска прошло более 15 лет. В конце июня 2026 года, почти через три года после предыдущего крупного релиза, разработчики представили Mageia 10. Новая версия получила обновленное ядро Linux, свежие версии графических окружений и системных компонентов, а также ряд изменений в инструментах установки и администрирования. Давайте оценим новинку.
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Закрываем крышку
Собранные нами детали приблизили нас к завершению изготовления камеры сгорания. Мы создали стенки блока цилиндров и подвижную нижнюю часть с поршнями. Осталось только закрыть её сверху, и здесь нам на помощь приходит головка блока цилиндров.
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Democrats accuse Graham Platner of trying to put ‘thumb on the scale’ of process to replace him
Frustration mounts that Maine nominee has not withdrawn over sexual assault claim as Trump says Platner ‘in a bind’
Graham Platner, the embattled Democratic nominee for US Senate in Maine, has been accused of trying to influence the process of picking his replacement as frustration mounts that he has not yet withdrawn from the race.
Platner has publicly said he is “taking the time to reflect on the best path forward” after an allegation of sexual assault, which he denied, was published on Monday.
Continue reading...Police urge man suspected of murdering wife and daughters near Bedford to hand himself in
Ndodana Mkhanyisi Tshuma, 45, is believed to have left UK for Zimbabwe before bodies of his family were discovered
A man suspected of murdering his wife and two daughters near Bedford has been urged by police to hand himself in after fleeing to Zimbabwe.
Nothabo Zandile Tshuma, 42, known as Zandile, and Natalie, 15, and Nala, five, were found dead in their £1.3m detached house in Carnoustie Drive, Great Denham. Police forced entry to the house on Monday after receiving reports the family had not been seen for days.
Continue reading...NSW silence Queensland and claim State of Origin shield with boilover for the ages
Blues defeat Maroons 12-30 in Game 3 to win series 2-1
Nathan Cleary secures legacy with Wally Lewis medal
Queensland will cry blue murder at a couple of contentious calls but history will speak only of New South Wales delivering one of the all-time great Origin boilovers on Wednesday night. Despite being outplayed in Sydney and smashed in Melbourne, the Blues did the unthinkable, silencing Suncorp Stadium with a 12-30 victory to seal the Origin shield.
Under siege for weeks, with their coach Laurie Daley pilloried in all sections of the media, NSW were magnificent, scoring five tries to emphatically silence the critics. The hero was Nathan Cleary, who scored two tries and kicked five goals from five to win the Wally Lewis Medal as Man of the series and finally “own” the Origin arena.
Continue reading...