Allison Anderson Films (November 15, 2023) – A three-week cruise aboard the Seabourn Venture from Greenland, through the Canadian Arctic to Nome, Alaska.
Video timeline: 00:00 Intro 00:28 What is the Northwest Passage? 01:17 Ilulissat, Greenland 02:16 Karrat Fjord, Greenland 03:00 The View of a Lifetime 03:45 What are Expedition Voyages? 04:20 Walruses 04:49 Polar Bears 06:32 Arctic History and Culture 07:13 Seasonal Changes 07:43 Life Onboard the Seabourn Venture 08:18 The Northern Lights and Nome, Alaska 09:07 My Thoughts on the Northwest Passage
For centuries the search for the Northwest Passage lured the most intrepid explorers, but it wasn’t until 1906 that Roald Amundsen finally completed the first sea voyage across the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
Nature Magazine – November 16, 2023: The latest issue cover features how echinoderms such as starfish and sea urchins have evolved five-fold symmetry, with five limbs radiating from a central mouth.
The Atlantic Magazine – December 2023 issue: For the first time since the publication of our first series of stories on Reconstruction, in 1901, The Atlantic is examining “the enduring consequences of Reconstruction’s tragic fall at a moment—yet another moment—when the cause of racial progress faces sustained pressure”…
The châteaux of the Loire Valley number over three hundred, including Chenonceau, Chissay and Chambord, that range from practical fortifiedcastles from the 10th century to splendid residences built half a millennium later. When the French kings began constructing their huge châteaux in the Loire Valley, the nobility, drawn to the seat of power, followed suit, attracting the finest architects and landscape designers.
The châteaux and their surrounding gardens are cultural monuments which embody the ideals of the Renaissance and Enlightenment. Many of the châteaux were built on hilltops, such as the Château d’Amboise, while the only one built in the riverbed is the Château de Montsoreau. Many had exquisite churches on the grounds or within the château.
Los Angeles Times (November 15, 2023) –A team of Los Angeles Times journalists travels along the Colorado River to examine how the Southwest is grappling with the water crisis. The Colorado River can no longer withstand the thirst of the arid West.
Water drawn from the river flows to millions of people in cities from Denver to Los Angeles and irrigates vast farmlands. For decades, sections of the river have been entirely used up, leaving dusty expanses of desert where water once flowed to the sea in Mexico. Now, chronic overuse and the effects of climate change are pushing the river system toward potential collapse, with depleted reservoirs near the lowest levels since they were filled.
A water reckoning is about to transform the landscape of the Southwest. Colorado River in Crisis follows Los Angeles Times journalists traveling throughout the river’s watershed, from the headwaters in the Rocky Mountains to the river’s dry delta. These stories reveal the stark toll of the river’s decline, responses that have yet to match the scale of the crisis, and voices that are urging a fundamental rethinking of how water is managed and used to adapt to the reality of an overtapped and dwindling river.
This documentary was filmed and produced by Albert Brave Tiger Lee, with reporting by Ian James and other L.A. Times journalists. Consulting producers included Maggie Beidelman, Robert Meeks and Erik Himmelsbach-Weinstein. (46 minutes)
Times Literary Supplement (November 17, 2023): The new issue #TheTLS features Revenge of the grown-ups – The downfall of Sam Bankman-Fried; 2023 Books of the Year; the elusive Shakespeare; Simone Weil; Philosophers and public affairs – and more…
The Globalist Podcast (November 15, 2023) – Will growing calls from foreign states force Israel into a ceasefire?
Plus: Xi Jinping visits the US for the first time since 2017, democratic elections are under threat in the UK and controversy strikes New Zealand’s Bird of the Century vote.
The operation at the main hospital complex in Gaza came after Israel released videos showing what it said were weapons inside a children’s hospital in the enclave.
A mission to rescue cancer-stricken children from the violence in Gaza has involved multiple countries and last-minute connections in the chaos of war.
Jewish Groups Rally for Israel on National Mall
The rally was a response to large protests across the United States and the world denouncing the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.
Freeway Closed? Just Take the 10 to the 110 to the 5, Angelenos Say.
Southern California residents are bracing for longer commutes over the next month, after a fire forced the closure of a central freeway segment. But they don’t seem to be panicking yet.
The Economist The World Ahead 2024 (November 14, 2023) – Future-gazing analysis, predictions and speculation including Ten trends to watch in 2024; 2024 will be stressful for those who care about liberal democracy; America will need a new vocabulary to discuss its presidential election; Europe needs to step up support for Ukraine; Don’t give up on peace in the Middle East, and more…
Life comes at you fast. Whether it’s the upsurge in armed conflict, the redrawing of the global energy-resources map or rapid progress in artificial intelligence (ai), the world is changing at mind-boggling speed. From the situation in the Middle East to the adoption of electric vehicles to the treatment of obesity, things look very different from the way they did just a year or two ago. Our aim is to help you keep your worldview up to date—and tell you what might be coming next. To kick things off, here are ten themes to watch in the coming year.
In theory it should be a triumphant year for democracy. In practice it will be the opposite
By Zanny Minton Beddoes
More than half the people on the planet live in countries that will hold nationwide elections in 2024, the first time this milestone has been reached. Based on recent patterns of voter turnout, close to 2bn people in more than 70 countries will head to the polls. Ballots will be cast from Britain to Bangladesh, from India to Indonesia. Yet what sounds like it should be a triumphant year for democracy will be the opposite.
The fragility of the Western coalition is a crucial weakness
By Patrick Foulis
As 2023 drew to a close, wars were raging in Africa, Israel and Gaza, and Ukraine. These crises are explosive in their own right. Combine them with a presidential race in America and 2024 promises to be a make-or-break year for the post-1945 world order.
The 2020s were destined to be dangerous. The West’s share of world gdp has fallen towards 50% for the first time since the 19th century. Countries such as India and Turkey believe the global institutions created after 1945 do not reflect their concerns. China and Russia want to go further and subvert this system.
Scientific American – November 2023: The issue features The New Nuclear Age – Inside America’s plan to remake its atomic arsenal; The Most Shocking Discovery in Astrophysics Is 25 Years Old – Scientists are still trying to figure out dark energy; Behind the Scenes at a U.S. Factory Building New Nuclear Bombs – The U.S. is ramping up construction of new “plutonium pits” for nuclear weapons….
One afternoon in early 1994 a couple of astronomers sitting in an air-conditioned computer room at an observatory headquarters in the coastal town of La Serena, Chile, got to talking. Nicholas Suntzeff, an associate astronomer at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, and Brian Schmidt, who had recently completed his doctoral thesis at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, were specialists in supernovae—exploding stars. Suntzeff and Schmidt decided that the time had finally come to use their expertise to tackle one of the fundamental questions in cosmology: What is the fate of the universe?
The point of the thing was to forever change our concept of power. When the U.S. military assembled a team of scientists, led by physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, to build a nuclear bomb during World War II with the hope of beating the Nazis to such a terrible creation, many of those involved saw their efforts as a strange kind of civic destiny. The Manhattan Project, wrote Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb, was “compelled from the beginning not by malice or hatred but by hope for a better world.” Oppenheimer himself once said, “The atomic bomb was the turn of the screw. It made the prospect of future war unendurable. It has led us up those last few steps to the mountain pass; and beyond there is a different country.”
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious
Harry Mateman
Los Angeles Times
Boomers Daily 