On Fridays I suggest worthwhile weekend reading that’s guaranteed to improve your posture, your online dating prospects, and make you an all around better person. Read a dozen articles, lose five pounds.
First though, our weekly photo quiz. Here are two photos. Can you name the country? The city?
The answer is down at the end of this post.
Please consider a subscription to Common Sense and Whiskey. Subscriptions start at free, and now through June all new subscribers (free subscribers too) get 50% off the pre-shipping price on every order from Earthphotos.com.
Now, on to your weekend reading:
A photo Beijing released on March 6th of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s foreign minister Wang Yi delivered a seismic shock in Washington. There he stood between the secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, and the Saudi National Security Adviser, shaking hands on an agreement to reestablish mutual diplomatic ties. China Hangs Washington Out to Dry in the Middle East
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A language embodies a worldview and, like a civilization, changes and grows in layers. Great Andamanese, it turns out, is exceptional among the world's languages in its anthropocentrism. This Ancient Language Has the Only Grammar Based Entirely on the Human Body
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The last photo of Douglas Mawson's Far Eastern Party, taken when they left the Australasian Antarctic Party's base camp on November 10, 1912. By January 10, 1913, two of the three men would be dead, and Mawson would find himself 160 miles from the nearest human being. The Most Terrible Polar Exploration Ever: Douglas Mawson’s Antarctic Journey
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We live in a time when almost anything can be bought and sold. Markets have come to govern our lives as never before. But are there some things that money should not be able to buy? Most people would say yes. Michael J. Sandel on How Markets Crowd Out Morals
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We’ll talk more about this article and what it means for Russia tomorrow. Russia opening Vladivostok port to China after 163 years
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This is fascinating. Read down this very long, updated list for a flavor of what’s happening in Russian occupied Ukraine. Behind the Lines Tracker from CEPA
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“Defense guarantees are not the only source of U.S. influence, and a grand strategy that better reflects this fact is a good way both to invite the cooperation the United States wants from other states and, if not to reduce, then at least not to exacerbate, dangerous military dynamics both in Europe and in Asia.” A warning to be careful with all this military preparedness. The Biden Administration’s Dangerous Grand Strategy
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Peter Kaestner has traveled the world on an adventure-filled quest to become the first birder to hit 10,000. What It Takes to See 10,000 Bird Species
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Design Sagas: What enabled the paper clip was the development, in 1855, of low-cost, industrially produced steel, which has the right balance of strength and flexibility to make tracks, pipes, wire, and nearly every other piece of 20th-century metal infrastructure. The Perfection of the Paper Clip
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Remember, Sweden was first out of the gate three years ago with a health official suggesting, let Covid burn through the population and it will be over sooner. Aeon says, all countries must balance the freedom of individuals with the demands of the community and Sweden’s solution is unique. The Swedish theory of love
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Because of their respective histories, and Finland’s border with Russia, during the Cold War the two countries approached NATO differently, with Finland being far more distant than Sweden in its relationship with the alliance. What happens now? A very long look at what will change — and what will not change — as they join the alliance. Sweden, Finland, and the Meaning of Alliance Membership
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It’s a travel story: How I came to feel at home in what some call the last wilderness on Earth—Antarctica. My Life with the Penguins
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The answer to this week’s photo quiz? It’s the city of Wroclaw, on the Oder River in Poland.
There are more photos in the Poland Gallery at EarthPhotos.com.
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Tomorrow we’ll take a look at the week just past, and I’ll ask ChatGPT and Google’s Bard a personal question. See you then.
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