August 27, 2023 – Monocle’s editorial director, Tyler Brûlé, is joined by Emma Nelson, Eemeli Isoaho and Chandra Kurt to discuss the weekend’s hottest topics.
Plus: check-ins with our friends and correspondents in London, Ljubljana and Berlin.
All posts by boomersdaily
The New York Times — Sunday, August 27, 2023
Covid Closed the Nation’s Schools. Cleaner Air Can Keep Them Open.
Scientists and educators are searching for ways to improve air quality in the nation’s often dilapidated school buildings.
Ukraine Is Still Grappling With the Battlefield Prigozhin Left Behind
He shored up Russian forces at their most vulnerable and drew Ukraine into a costly fight for Bakhmut, giving Moscow time to build defenses that are slowing Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
In Push to Modernize Cairo, Cultural Gems and Green Spaces Razed
The Egyptian government has demolished historic tombs, cultural centers, artisan workshops and gardens in pursuit of large-scale urban renewal.
Bob Barker, Longtime Host of ‘The Price Is Right,’ Dies at 99
The winner of numerous Emmy Awards, he was almost as well known for his advocacy of animal rights as he was for his half a century as a daytime television fixture.
Travel: Tour Of Carlsbad Caverns In New Mexico
Carlsbad Caverns National Park is in the Chihuahuan Desert of southern New Mexico. The Natural Entrance is a path into the namesake Carlsbad Cavern. Stalactites cling to the roof of the Big Room, a huge underground chamber in the cavern. Walnut Canyon Desert Loop is a drive with desert views. Rattlesnake Springs, a desert wetland, attracts reptiles and hundreds of bird species.
World Economic Forum: Top Stories- Aug 26, 2023
0:15 Scientists develop concrete battery – It could one day be built into the foundations of homes or incorporated into a roadway so electric cars can charge contactlessly as they drive. MIT researchers discovered a new ‘supercapacitor’ by combining cement with carbon black. A sooty residue left over when things burn, and mixing them both with water.
1:48 3 farmers tell how heat is affecting their crops – Experts rank the food supply crisis as one of the world’s top 5 currently manifesting risks. This German farmer has started planting lavender. It’s best suited to the sandy soils and sunshine of the Mediterranean but climate change is bringing these conditions to southern Germany. The lavender is used in cosmetics and perfumes. Matthias Tafelmeier planted his first lavender crop in 2019 after what he says was a decade of declining soil quality. Farmers in the region are also trying other crops more suited to warmer climates such as chickpeas and kidney beans.
3:25 Smartwatch detects Parkinson’s 7 years early – By keeping track of our movement, they can help doctors spot who is vulnerable, years before visible symptoms show up. Cardiff University scientists looked at data from 100,000 smartwatch wearers. Tracking their speed of movement over a single week between 2013 and 2016. Using AI, the team could distinguish those who went on to develop Parkinson’s from those who didn’t and detect early signs up to 7 years in advance.
5:04 Cleaning your house can help tidy your mind – “Cleaning is a great practice, which reminds you of the connection with the ground and the Earth and the universe.” To Buddhists, cleaning is not just cleaning. In Zen Buddhism, it’s known as samu, or work practice and it offers the chance to meditate and be present in the midst of daily tasks.
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The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. The Forum engages the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. We believe that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to make positive change.
National Geographic Traveller – October 2023
Africa Views: Yaoundé, Capital Of Cameroon
Saturday Morning: News And Stories From London
Monocle on Saturday, August 26, 2023: The week’s news and culture with Vincent McAviney. Terry Stiastny looks through the morning’s papers and Monocle’s Madrid correspondent, Liam Aldous, asks why female artists in Spain are going topless on stage.
Finance Preview: Barron’s Magazine – August 28, 2023
BARRON’S MAGAZINE – AUGUST 28, 2023 ISSUE:
Weather Is Wreaking Havoc With Insurance. These Companies Can Handle the Storm.
Backed by nearly $1 trillion in capital and rising premiums, insurers might actually profit off the coming wave of catastrophic weather.
Floods, Wildfires, and Droughts: People Still Moving to Hotspots
Why millions of Americans continue to move to areas exposed to high climate risks.
How to Get Extra Yield on Your Cash
Bonds are close to becoming more attractive than stocks.
This Invesco Pro Is High on China, ETFs, Today’s Markets—and the Future
Marty Flanagan spent 18 years as Invesco’s CEO. During that time, he transformed the assets manager by expanding operations in Asia and acquiring the PowerShares ETF brand.Long read
SharkNinja Reinvented the Ice Cream Maker. Its Stock Is a Buy.
The company has been a consistent and successful innovator in small appliances, an industry that has been marked by slow growth and few exciting new products.4 min
The New York Times — Saturday, August 26, 2023
A Crisis of Confidence Is Gripping China’s Economy
China’s economy, which once seemed unstoppable, is plagued by a series of problems, and a growing lack of faith in the future is verging on despair.
With Prigozhin’s Death, Putin Projects a Message of Power
The Kremlin appears to be sending the signal that no degree of effectiveness can protect someone from punishment for disloyalty.
Among the 388 Listed as Missing in Maui: Survivors Lost in the Paperwork
Hawaii officials released their first list of missing people, prompting friends — and even some of those named — to come forward with their whereabouts.
Judge Allows Missouri’s Ban on Youth Gender Medicine to Take Effect
A state judge in Missouri on Friday denied a request to temporarily block a state law passed this year that restricts gender-related medical treatments for minors. The ruling was issued by Missouri Circuit Court Judge Steven Ohmer, three days before the ban is set to go into effect. A legal challenge to the ban brought by civil rights groups is ongoing.
The New York Times Book Review – August 27, 2023
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW (August 27, 2023) The new issue features: James McBride’s Latest Is a Murder Mystery Inside a Great American Novel; The First Chinese American Movie Star and the Cost of Glittering Fame, and more…
James McBride’s Latest Is a Murder Mystery Inside a Great American Novel
“The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store” opens with the discovery of a skeleton in a well, and then flashes back to explore its connection to a town’s Black, Jewish and immigrant history.
By Danez Smith
A few weeks ago, around the same time I was working on this review, I visited the Guggenheim with my fiancé. The exhibition on display as we trekked up the museum’s famous spiral was “Measuring Infinity,” a marvelous retrospective on the work of the great Venezuelan artist Gego. A German Jew who fled Nazi persecution in Europe, Gego arrived in Venezuela in 1939 and went on to become one of the most important artists to emerge from Latin America in the 20th century. Her work speaks to a deep curiosity about the interrelation of shapes, things and the dimensions created by those relationships.
The First Chinese American Movie Star and the Cost of Glittering Fame
A new biography of Anna May Wong, “Daughter of the Dragon,” is intended as a form of reclamation and subversion.
It was, according to the film historian Kevin Brownlow, “one of the most racist films ever made in America.” “Old San Francisco” (1927) featured a white actor playing a Chinese villain passing as a white man (got that?) who plans to sell an innocent white girl into white slavery until he is conveniently crushed by an earthquake. Before his grisly end he is aided in his nefarious scheme by an Asian character identified only as “a flower of the Orient,” played by an ingénue named Anna May Wong.
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