Deeply entwined with its cultural heritage, the mountainous territory carries a historic tradition of craft metalwork – as a center for the production of hand-crafted ornaments, teapots and spiritual artefacts, destined for temples, and held in high regard by India’s king dynasties.
But the craft has entered a point of decline, continued by just a handful of artisanal metalworkers who fight for its preservation.…
We routinely test for chemicals that cause mutations. What about the dark matter of carcinogens—substances that don’t create cancer cells but rouse them from their slumber?
In the nineteen-seventies, Bruce Ames, a biochemist at Berkeley, devised a way to test whether a chemical might cause cancer. Various tenets of cancer biology were already well established. Cancer resulted from genetic mutations—changes in a cell’s DNA sequence that typically cause the cell to divide uncontrollably. These mutations could be inherited, induced by viruses, or generated by random copying errors in dividing cells. They could also be produced by physical or chemical agents: radiation, ultraviolet light, benzene. One day, Ames had found himself reading the list of ingredients on a package of potato chips, and wondering how safe the chemicals used as preservatives really were.
The law, passed in a frenzy after the First World War, is a disaster. Why is it still on the books?
In March, 1940, Edmund Carl Heine, a forty-nine-year-old American automobile executive, reached an understanding with a company then known as Volkswagenwerk GmbH. Heine, who immigrated to the United States from Germany as a young man, had spent years at Ford, first in Michigan and then in its international operations in South America and Europe, landing finally in Germany. In 1935, two years after the Nazi regime came to power, Ford fired him, for reasons that are unclear. Heine next signed on with Chrysler, in Spain, but the Spanish Civil War was tough on the car business. And so he was out of a job again.
This northeasterly nook of Catalonia’s Costa Brava, between the Pyrenees to the north and the Mediterranean to the south, was the landscape that Dalí called his “ongoing inspiration” and is a recurring motif throughout his work.
While the Casa Natal Dalí took me on a tour of Dalí’s life, its near neighbour, the gigantic Dalí Theatre-Museum (£15; salvador-dali.org), just five minutes’ walk away, was designed by the maestro himself. It opened in 1974 and showcases his style at its most eccentric, not to say egocentric.
With its pink façade and giant white eggs on its roof, like decorations on a cake, this is where you’ll find not only the Mae West “lips” sofa, but also numerous grandiose paintings and drawings, trompe l’oeils and painted ceilings — as well as Dalí’s tomb in the crypt.
Emilia-Romagna: Cycle through Italy’s ‘food valley’ for a taste of the country’s iconic produce
Tahiti: The French Polynesian island’s southeast offers coastal hiking and surfing fit for champions
Hampi: Long in ruins, the capital of the ancient Hindu kingdom beckons pilgrims to this day
New Zealand: For outdoor lovers, completing one of the country’s Great Walks is the feat of a lifetime
Manchester: Creativity and craftsmanship infuse all areas of life in this northwestern hub
Montreal: Canada’s second city merges European flair with North American innovation
County Wicklow: Foraging, fine arts and forest paths in an outdoorsy getaway to the ‘Garden of Ireland’
Bali: Local recipes and passionate chefs are the backbone of Indonesia’s food-loving island
Boston: In Massachusetts’ capital city, the best hotels are within easy reach of the culinary and cultural action
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (December 8, 2023):
How do you reinvent yourself after being a global superstar? The former R.E.M. frontman is still figuring that out.
By Jon Mooallem
When Michael Stipe was little, his parents called him Mr. Mouse. He was a scurrier. As soon as he could stand, he ran, and when he ran, he ran until he face-planted. His mother would deposit him in a baby walker, but if Stipe scrambled as fast as he could and hit the threshold of a doorway with a running start, he could topple the walker and eject himself onto the floor. Then he’d spring to his feet and run away.
When detained by the U.S. Coast Guard at sea, even children fleeing violence have no right to asylum — and often face an uncertain fate.
By Seth Freed Wessler
Tcherry’s mother could see that her 10-year-old son was not being taken care of. When he appeared on their video calls, his clothes were dirty. She asked who in the house was washing his shirts, the white Nike T-shirt and the yellow one with a handprint that he wore in rotation. He said nobody was, but he had tried his best to wash them by hand in the tub. His hair, which was buzzed short when he lived with his grandmother in Haiti, had now grown long and matted. He had already been thin, but by January, after three months in the smuggler’s house, he was beginning to look gaunt. Tcherry told his mother that there was not enough food. He said he felt “empty inside.”
We’ve become inured to his rhetoric, but his message has grown darker.
“We pledge to you that we will root out the Communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical-left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country, that lie and steal and cheat on elections,” Donald Trump said this past November, in a campaign speech that was ostensibly honoring Veterans Day. “The real threat is not from the radical right; the real threat is from the radical left … The threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous, and grave than the threat from within. Our threat is from within.”
How Trump could unwind generations of progress
In late 2020, even as the instigators of insurrection were marshaling their followers to travel to Washington, D.C., another kind of coup—a quieter one—was in the works. On December 21, in one of his departing acts as attorney general, Bill Barr submitted a proposed rule change to the White House. The change would eliminate the venerable standard used by the Justice Department to handle discrimination cases, known as “disparate impact.” The memo was quickly overshadowed by the events of January 6, and, in the chaotic final days of Donald Trump’s presidency, it was never implemented. But Barr’s proposal represented perhaps the most aggressive step the administration took in its effort to dismantle existing civil-rights law. Should Trump return to power, he would surely attempt to see the effort through.
His campaign is promising a more repressive and dangerous America.
In a second term, Trump would punish the cities and states that don’t support him.
Country Life Magazine – December 6, 2023: The latest issue features ‘George Harrison’s Garden’ – Friar Park rescued by the former Beatle; Folklore of the Rowan ‘Wizard’s’ tree; the best and worst gifts in classic literature and Travel – From the Caribbean to Concorde….
Charles Quest-Ritson visits Friar Park in Oxfordshire and marvels at the topiary garden rescued by former Beatle George Harrison
Kate Green meets the distinctive and much-loved Belted Galloway
Country Life advertisements in 1923 capture Britain’s evolution, as Melanie Bryan discovers
Harry Pearson takes to the high seas to chart the fascinating history of the figureheads that keep ships safe in stormy weather
The rowan tree is a symbol of safety across the world — Aeneas Dennison delves into the folklore of the wizard’s tree
Kate Green meets the distinctive and much-loved Belted Galloway
Country Life advertisements in 1923 capture Britain’s evolution, as Melanie Bryan discovers
Harry Pearson takes to the high seas to chart the fascinating history of the figureheads that keep ships safe in stormy weather
From cursed jewels to diamond-encrusted tortoises, Felicity Day reads up on the best and worst gifts in classic literature
Lady Glenconner’s Mustique memories and much more, plus Rosie Paterson uncovers the real Barbados and Pamela Goodman goes supersonic
The gallery curator loses herself in an expressive, exuberant work
Carla Carlisle reflects on the legacy of the Irish poet Seamus Heaney — ‘a truly good man’
Steven Brindle is full of praise for the refurbishment of Chartered Accountants’ Hall, an architectural jewel in the City of London
Ian Morton examines how Father Christmas was transformed from a sozzled figure riding a goat into the jolly fellow we know and love
Pheasants, leopards, parrots and reindeer are all welcome at Melanie Johnson’s festive table
Editor Mark Hedges picks his favourite luxuries of 2023
The capital’s Christmas lights dazzle Emma Love (page 83), Gilly Hopper shares her must-see seasonal suggestions (page 86), Carla Passino views London in a new light with Sir John Soane (page 92) and Emma Hughes hails the survivors of the restaurant scene (page 98)
From the Caribbean to Concorde
Ian Morton looks at the merits of ground elder and ground ivy, an unloved and misnamed duo
After the Civil War, Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy, was to be tried for treason. Does the debacle hold lessons for the trials awaiting Donald Trump?
By Jill Lepore
Jefferson Davis, the half-blind ex-President of the Confederate States of America, leaned on a cane as he hobbled into a federal courthouse in Richmond, Virginia. Only days before, a Chicago Tribune reporter, who’d met Davis on the boat ride to Richmond, had written that “his step is light and elastic.” But in court, facing trial for treason, Davis, fifty-eight, gave every appearance of being bent and broken. A reporter from Kentucky described him as “a gaunt and feeble-looking man,” wearing a soft black hat and a sober black suit, as if he were a corpse. He’d spent two years in a military prison. He wanted to be released. A good many Americans wanted him dead. “We’ll hang Jeff Davis from a sour-apple tree,” they sang to the tune of “John Brown’s Body.”
The companies had honed a protocol for releasing artificial intelligence ambitiously but safely. Then OpenAI’s board exploded all their carefully laid plans.
At around 11:30 a.m. on the Friday before Thanksgiving, Microsoft’s chief executive, Satya Nadella, was having his weekly meeting with senior leaders when a panicked colleague told him to pick up the phone. An executive from OpenAI, an artificial-intelligence startup into which Microsoft had invested a reported thirteen billion dollars, was calling to explain that within the next twenty minutes the company’s board would announce that it had fired Sam Altman, OpenAI’s C.E.O. and co-founder. It was the start of a five-day crisis that some people at Microsoft began calling the Turkey-Shoot Clusterfuck.
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (December 2, 2023): The latest issue features Sunday Night Lights – How America’s most spectacular TV show gets made; The Chicken Tycoons vs. the Antitrust Hawks – As part of a broader campaign against anticompetitive practices, the Biden administration has taken on the chicken industry…
Months of preparation, hundreds of staff, convoys of cutting-edge gear: inside the machine that crafts prime time’s most popular entertainment.
By Jody Rosen
Arrowhead Stadium, the home of the Kansas City Chiefs, the N.F.L.’s defending champions, is a very loud place. Players say that when the noise reaches top volume, they can feel vibrations in their bones. During a 2014 game, a sound meter captured a decibel reading equivalent to a jet’s taking off, earning a Guinness World Record for “Loudest crowd roar at a sports stadium.” Chiefs fans know how to weaponize noise, quieting to a churchlike hush when the team’s great quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, calls signals but then, when opponents have the ball, unleashing a howl that can even drown out the sound of the play call crackling through the speaker inside the rival quarterback’s helmet.
As part of a broader campaign against anticompetitive practices, the Biden administration has taken on the chicken industry. Why have the results been so paltry?
By H. Claire Brown
At Kentucky Fried Chicken, sales tend to peak at the same time every year: Mother’s Day. This has been the case since the 1960s, when the chain began to experiment with TV advertising. In a spot from that era, a man in an office answers a phone call from an anonymous male narrator who asks, “Sir, do you have any idea what your wife has to do to run your house?” Cut to a sped-up montage of an impeccably dressed 30-something as she dusts, irons, vacuums and balances the checkbook. Newly enlightened, the husband shows his appreciation by stopping at Kentucky Fried Chicken on his way home. Cut to a close-up of a happy wife biting into a drumstick. “Colonel Sanders fixes Sunday dinner seven days a week, and it’s finger-lickin’ good.”
France-Amérique Magazine – December 1, 2023 – The new issue features the foundations that are keeping the French-American friendship alive, from New Orleans to Washington D.C. to Paris, and pay a visit to the newly renovated Cartier Mansion – the Fifth Avenue palace where Pierre Cartier mingled with celebrities, titans of industry, and U.S. presidents. Also in this issue, read about the success of Rémy Martin in America as the iconic Cognac house is turning 300, and discover why, since the pandemic, so many Americans are putting up the “For Sale” sign and hopping on a plane to Paris, Lyon, or Marseille!
Is the Grass Greener on the Other Side of the Atlantic?
For ideological, financial, or health care reasons, more and more Americans are moving to France (12,200 first-time residence granted in 2022, up 9,214 on 2021). But la vie is not always en rose.
By Anthony Bulger
A French-American Heritage
Three hundred years after it was founded, the Cognac house renowned for its flagship Louis XIII sells half its bottles in America while continuing to uphold its tradition of excellence.
By Benoît Georges
From Washington D.C. to New York City and from New Orleans to Paris, many philanthropic organizations continue to nurture the bonds connecting France and the United States through history, politics, economics, language, and culture.
By Roland Flamini
In the early 20th century, the three grandsons of the founder of Cartier were busy building their family name. Louis was in Paris, Jacques in London, and Pierre in New York City. To sell his jewelry in the United States, the latter sibling mingled with celebrities, titans of industry, and presidents, and created a network of alliances.
By Diane de Vignemont
Boomers Daily 