‘Editor’s Picks’ Podcast (October 16, 2023) – A selection of three articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, will Israel’s agony and retribution end in chaos or stability? Also, the backlash against green policies (09:58) and a disastrous workplace experiment (16:15).
Monthly Archives: October 2023
Culture/Politics: Harper’s Magazine – November 2023
The Machine Breaker – Inside the mind of an “ecoterrorist”
In the summer of 2016, a fifty-seven-year-old Texan named Stephen McRae drove east out of the rainforests of Oregon and into the vast expanse of the Great Basin. His plan was to commit sabotage. First up was a coal-burning power plant near Carlin, Nevada, a 242-megawatt facility owned by the Newmont Corporation that existed to service two nearby gold mines, also owned by Newmont.
Forbidden Fruit
The anti-avocado militias of Michoacán
Phone service was down—a fuse had blown in the cell tower during a recent storm—and even though my arrival had been cleared with the government of Cherán in advance, the armed guard manning the highway checkpoint, decked out in full fatigues, the wrong shade to pass for Mexican military, refused to wave me through. My guide, Uli Escamilla, assured him that we had an appointment, and that we could prove it if only we could call or text our envoy. The officer gripped his rifle with both hands and peered into the windows of our rental car.
Travel: Village Of Baveno On Lake Maggiore, Italy
The Romans left evidence in the way of necropoli, domestic wares, funerary items and coins. The town was along a crossroads between Ossola and the Alps, and later between Genova and Venzia, making it stragetically important with a once-flourishing commercial port.
Ecosystems: The ‘Sea Of Hope’ In Chilean Patagonia
Abundant and diverse life forms find their home in the world’s longest continuous kelp forest, just off the coast, in a region home to hundreds of fjords and more than 40,000 islands and islets. Join our co-founder Andy Mann as he embarks with the exploration team on an adventure to discover the treasures of Chilean Patagonia and evaluate the health of this productive and wild ecosystem. Discover the natural neon colors, the huge stems of kelp, some of the marine characters that inhabit the area, and the impressive carbon capture abilities of the underwater forests!
Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – Oct 23, 2023
Beyond the Myth of Rural America
Its inhabitants are as much creatures of state power and industrial capitalism as their city-dwelling counterparts.
Demanding that your friend pull the car over so you can examine an unusual architectural detail is not, I’m told, endearing. But some of us can’t help ourselves. For the painter Grant Wood, it was an incongruous Gothic window on an otherwise modest frame house in Eldon, Iowa, that required stopping. It looked as if a cottage were impersonating a cathedral. Wood tried to imagine who “would fit into such a home.” He recruited his sister and his dentist as models and costumed them in old-fashioned attire. The result, “American Gothic,” as he titled the painting from 1930, is probably the most famous art work ever produced in the United States.
When Foster Parents Don’t Want to Give Back the Baby
In many states, lawyers are pushing a new legal strategy that forces biological parents to compete for custody of their children.
American Chronicles – Beyond the Myth of Rural America
Its inhabitants are as much creatures of state power and industrial capitalism as their city-dwelling counterparts.
What Happened to San Francisco, Really?
It depends on which tech bro, city official, billionaire investor, grassroots activist, or Michelin-starred restaurateur you ask.By Nathan Heller
The Great Cash-for-Carbon Hustle
Offsetting has been hailed as a fix for runaway emissions and climate change—but the market’s largest firm sold millions of credits for carbon reductions that weren’t real.
News: Poland’s Centrist Parties Prevail, Australia Indigenous Vote Failure
The New York Times — Monday, October 16, 2023
As Israeli Invasion Looms, Diplomats Seek to Meet Gaza’s Dire Human Needs
The U.S., Egypt and other countries are urging the delivery of food, water and fuel to counter the desperate shortages facing Gaza’s two million residents.
Gaza’s Hospitals Face ‘Impossible’ Choices With Israel Evacuation Order
As a widely anticipated ground invasion looms, hospitals in Gaza City said they had no way to evacuate thousands of sick and injured patients.
Slaughter at a Festival of Peace and Love Leaves Israel Transformed
In this massacre of its youth, Israel’s 75-year-old quest for some carefree normalcy met the murderous fury of those long-oppressed Palestinians who deny the state’s right to exist.
Inside Trump’s Backroom Effort to Lock Up the Nomination
As the former president dodges debates, it can seem as if he’s bypassing the primary. But he and his team have been working quietly to twist the delegate rules in their favor.
Fall Foliage: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Western North Carolina
Videographer: Charles Schultz. @NationalParkService
Culture: In The Footsteps Of Poets In Ronda, Spain
“I have searched everywhere for the city of dreams,” he wrote after wandering far from Paris to overcome writers’ block, “and found it here, in Ronda.”
German poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1913)
Teetering at the edge of the Tajo river gorge, Ronda, 90 minutes’ drive west from Malaga, remains the most spectacular urban setting in Europe. Its cat’s cradle of white streets is haunted by the ghosts of Moorish princes, soundtracked by the strum of guitars and the tinkle of fountains.
If you’re in the mood for romance, nowhere in Spain comes close, Ernest Hemingway reckoned. He’s still right, so long as you’re happy to share your precious moment with massed day-trippers from the Costa del Sol. Expect visitor numbers to grow again when a £1.1 million suspended gorge walk, the Camino del Desfiladero del Tajo designed by the architect behind Malaga’s Caminito del Rey, opens later this year.
Even so, what everyone is really coming to Ronda for – to inland Andalusia – is Old Spain. You won’t find it written on signposts but, like the crackle of duende during a flamenco concert, you’ll know it when you experience it. It’s the country of pueblos blancos and half-remembered battles and scenery of savage beauty; the one that attracted Grand Tour visitors such as Disraeli and Irving long before anyone had thought of the Costa del Sol.
Sunday Morning: Stories And News From London, Ljubljana, Turin & Zurich
October 15, 2023 – From London, Emma Nelson, Latika Bourke and Yossi Mekelberg on the weekend’s big talking points. We also speak to Monocle’s editorial director, Tyler Brûlé, as well as our friends and correspondents in Ljubljana, Turin, and Zurich.
Boomers Daily 