Humanity
Between Saudi Arabia and Ukraine: Saba Yamani on Faith, Gender, and LGBTQ+ Survival
Saba Yamani is a Kyiv-based dental professional who was born in Saudi Arabia to a Saudi father and Syrian mother. She first arrived in Ukraine at age three after her father married a Ukrainian woman, whom she considers her mother. Raised in Kyiv, Yamani was baptized in the Orthodox Church and later came out as LGBTQ+. During the full-scale invasion she sought protection from Ukraine’s State Migration Service after facing pressure to leave and risk of deportation. She currently works at a private dental clinic and is preparing for the Ukrainian citizenship exam in May.
By Scott Douglas Jacobsen2 days ago in Interview
Agi Bar-Sela, From Budapest to Tel Aviv: Early Israel, Language, and Resilience
Agi Bar-Sela, born in 1931 in Budapest, immigrated to Israel in 1949 with a Zionist youth group after her grandfather pressed her family to flee communist Hungary. Sent first to a kibbutz, she soon chose urban life, using Hungarian and fluent German to work among German Jewish “Jekkes,” then learning Hebrew and leaning on Yiddish for belonging. She married young, raised three sons, and endured early-state austerity: scarce food and crowded multigenerational flats. Her English later opened careers at El Al and travel agencies, while her Hungarian-Jewish cooking anchored home and community. She champions language study as the surest ladder.
By Scott Douglas Jacobsen4 days ago in Interview
Jimena’s Insight
It all started within my mother’s quick afternoon hangout session with me, unable to recall every particular detail, however, I can briefly say it was one sunny bright afternoon during the weekend, where she walked into my room as I held on to my little notepad, mostly used for random writing on occasion to occasion. She grabbed it from my hand and simply began sketching, so effortlessly like air she ran that pencil on the paper, personally having no clue what she’d draw, I starred, focused deeply towards her expression, she seemed, out of so long in time, to have awakened something inside of her in which she had been keeping hidden, almost abandoned, the look on her face, it lightened up.
By Jimena Favela5 days ago in Interview
Bounty on the Butcher. Content Warning. AI-Generated.
When I wrote “Price on His Head,” subtlety wasn’t on the menu. Politeness wasn’t even in the room. I was trying to capture the anger, frustration, and disbelief that millions of people around the world have felt for years watching the damage one man’s grip on power can do. The line between right and wrong is clear to me, and in this song, I make no apologies for choosing a side.
By Thorne Empire8 days ago in Interview
Matthew Scillitani on Measuring the Extreme Right Tail with a Supervised Timed High-Range Ability Test
Matthew Scillitani is a psychometrics practitioner at Neurolus Psychometrics focused on developing supervised, time-limited high-range ability examinations. He co-launched The Mental Inventor with Paul Cooijmans as an empirical testbed for a central measurement question: whether performances can be validly differentiated in the extreme right tail under proctored conditions. His approach emphasizes procedural integrity—identity verification, approved proctoring, and rule enforcement—alongside cautious claims about interpretation until reliability and validity evidence is established. He highlights emerging threats to unsupervised testing, including AI-assisted responding and large-scale collaboration, and advocates peer review before formal reclassification.
By Scott Douglas Jacobsen16 days ago in Interview
Anonymous Indian Medical Student in Ukraine: Kharkiv Survival, Germany Detour, and Faith Under Fire
In this interview, Scott Douglas Jacobsen speaks with Anonymous Indian in Ukraine, an Indian medical student who moved within Madhya Pradesh before leaving for Ukraine in 2020 due to high costs and intense competition for Indian medical seats. He describes Kharkiv’s diverse prewar life, then the shock of the February 24, 2022 invasion, shortages, and evacuation to Lviv amid overcrowded trains and failing infrastructure. He recounts moving through Poland to Germany with volunteer help, navigating refugee registration, language barriers, and work requirements. He later returned to Kharkiv for document renewal, enduring months of sirens, drones, and outages, while sustaining hope and study through faith.
By Scott Douglas Jacobsen17 days ago in Interview
Rabbi Sarah Hronsky, Interfaith Cooperation and Social Justice: Hunger, Homelessness, and Durable Partnership
Rabbi Sarah Hronsky is Senior Rabbi of Temple Beth Hillel, serving since July 2003 after ordination at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. She holds master’s degrees in Hebrew Letters and Jewish Communal Service and is a Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Rabbinic Leadership Initiative. She is the President of the Los Angeles Council of Religious Leaders and Immediate Past President of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California. Honored with the 2023 Los Angeles Pioneer Women Award, she focuses on interfaith dialogue and social justice, including homelessness, and serves on the North Hollywood Interfaith Food Pantry Board.
By Scott Douglas Jacobsen19 days ago in Interview
Summitfall: Andreas Szakacs Explores Leadership and Survival in a New Himalayan Drama
By andreasszakcsproductions Coming Soon Extreme environments have a way of exposing character. In the thin air of the Himalaya, decisions are made quickly, consequences arrive faster, and leadership is tested without mercy.
By Andreas Szakacs19 days ago in Interview
Fumfer Physics 40: Cosmic Ratios, Large Numbers, and the Information Structure of the Universe
In this exchange, Scott Douglas Jacobsen asks Rick Rosner about striking ratios in physics that appear across vastly different scales. Rosner points to large-number disparities, such as the enormous strength difference between electromagnetism and gravity at the particle level, and contrasts microscopic lengths with the scale of the observable universe. He cautions against misapplied figures, noting that some famous numbers belong to entirely different physical contexts. While no single cosmic object strikes him as anomalous, Rosner emphasizes unresolved questions about cosmic maturity, heavy-element origins, and the nature of time. He ultimately frames time as closely tied to information flow, arguing that our lack of a rigorous definition of information remains one of physics’ deepest gaps.
By Scott Douglas Jacobsen25 days ago in Interview
Smart buildings of glass
Whether you are arriving to or departing from Helsinki Airport, the first thing you notice is the glass around you and the characteristic Finnish design. If you pay attention, you will find yourself believing there are some forest elves watching you. The impressive structure features glass that playfully illuminates the wood present everywhere.
By Susan Fourtané 29 days ago in Interview
