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The English language is yet to come up with a word to describe the specific sense of injustice that comes with looking at your phone after a long walk home only to find that it has granted you a measly 1,400 steps towards your daily total in recognition of your exhausting efforts.
A huge new umbrella review has your back in this battle against technology, having amassed the evidence on the accuracy of the fitness devices that have become a ubiquitous accessory for the “quantified human being” such as myself. And lo and behold, the standards for testing these devices are all over the place. They aren’t bad at some measurements, like heart rate, but the overall findings should have us all questioning how reliable our vital measurements are — and perhaps if they’re therefore all that vital to our existence.
We’ve seen some reassuring data on the health benefits of coffee this week, too. In moderation, it could help protect us from liver disease, diabetes and even neurogenerative diseases.
Kamala Harris is now officially the Democratic party’s candidate in the 2024 US presidential race, having formally and joyfully accepted the nomination at a congress in Chicago that looked like a pretty fun place to be.
A big part of what made the atmosphere so intoxicating was the quality of the speeches being made. As historian Richard Toye notes, what we were witnessing was a display of good old fashioned ancient Greek rhetoric. Harris’s running mate, Tim Walz, brought the ethos, Pete Buttigieg sprinkled in the pathos and former president Bill Clinton’s quips were a perfect display of logos.
Also this week, Gaelic rap, the women who didn’t want the vote and India’s alternative fact finders.
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