MemorySeekers (April 16, 2023) – Bergen is a historic city in Norway. We start our trip with a walk around the Bryggen full of colourful wooden buildings dating back hundreds of years. The Bergen to Oslo train ride on the Bergenline is a world-famous train ride and we hitch a ride on an amazing 7-hour train ride across Norway to the Capital, Oslo.
With just a few short hours in Oslo, we’ll see a few of the city highlights. Join us for one of the most amazing train rides in the world, from Bergen to Oslo.
I recently returned to the Metropolitan Opera to see The Hours, based on Michael Cunningham’s novel. It was wonderful to be back in the glittering hall, after three long pandemic years, listening to Renee Fleming, Joyce DiDonato, and Kelli O’Hara bring Virginia Woolf and Cunningham’s other characters to life. That experience sent me looking for novels about music, and I was thrilled to see that Brendan Slocumb has a new one coming out only a year after his bestselling debut,
In the fourth annual Indie Issue, we let the books speak for themselves in these excerpts from a trio of starred Indieland picks: a memoir by two sisters who survived the Holocaust; another memoir about a teen’s coming-of-age on a sailing-school ship; and a collection of short stories from a renowned Bengali author.
In Daniel Seymour’s From Auschwitz With Love, sisters Manci Grunberger Beran and Ruth Grunberger Mermelstein describe their arrival at the concentration camp:
Father realized that we didn’t have much time together. So, he said to us, “No matter what happens, I want you to remember three things.”
April 16, 2023: Monocle’s editorial director, Tyler Brûlé chats with Fabienne Kinzelmann and Eemeli Isoaha about the weekend’s biggest talking points. We also speak to our friends and correspondents in Lisbon, Ljubljana and London.
Walk n Explore (Uploaded April 16, 2023) – Saint-Rémy-de-Provence is a beautiful village in the Alpilles region of Provence, Southern France. It has a rich historical and cultural heritage, with ancient Roman monuments, museums, art galleries and festivals.
Saint-Rémy-de-Provence has a strong connection with Vincent Van Gogh, the famous Dutch painter who spent a year in the town from May 1889 to May 1890. He voluntarily admitted himself to the Saint-Paul de Mausole psychiatric hospital, where he was treated by Dr Théophile Peyron.
During his stay, he painted some of his most well-known works, such as The Starry Night, Irises, Self-Portrait and Almond Blossoms. He was inspired by the landscapes, colours and light of Provence, and often depicted the olive groves, cypresses, wheat fields and mountains of the Alpilles region. He also painted scenes from the hospital and its gardens, such as The Garden of Saint-Paul Hospital and The Courtyard of the Hospital at Arles.
Some in Ukraine even welcomed the disclosures as confirming what they have been saying for months — that its forces desperately need more weapons and munitions.
One of Africa’s largest countries is spinning out of control, as weeks of mounting tensions between two military leaders erupted in battles in the capital, Khartoum, and in other cities.
Defeated on same-sex marriage, the religious right went searching for an issue that would re-energize supporters and donors. The campaign that followed has stunned political leaders across the spectrum.
Smithsonian Channel (April 15, 2023) – From Lionfish to Peacock Mantis Shrimp, here’s a look at some of the reef’s fiercest predators from ‘Castro’s Secret Reef,’ Deadly Australians: Oceans and Beaches,’ ‘Great Blue Wild: Indonesia,’ and ‘David Attenborough’s Great Barrier Reef.’
Timelab Pro (April 15, 2023) – Our trip to Franz Josef Land was an unforgettable experience, and we were fortunate enough to be on board the mighty famous ship Mikhail Somov for a scientific mission to study the Narwhals in the Arctic.
Franz Josef Land is the northernmost territory of Russia, and one of the least filmed territory in the world. Our shots are truly unique, capturing the beauty of the Arctic landscape and the majestic Narwhals in their natural habitat. As we took our drone to the skies, we searched for days to find these elusive creatures, and finally, we were lucky enough to spot them.
Did you know that Narwhals are the only known species of whale to have a single tusk? And that this tusk, which is actually a protruding tooth, can grow up to 3 meters long? The scientists on board the Mikhail Somov were conducting an important research expedition to prove that Narwhals dwell in the Russian Arctic.
They also took biopsies from the Narwhals to better understand the impact of global climatic changes on these amazing creatures. Our diesel-electric ship, the Mikhail Somov, is a historical ship with a rich history of Arctic exploration. In 1985 the Mikhail Somov became trapped in the ice for 133 days, but the crew was able to survive and eventually free the ship. Despite its modern upgrades, the ship still maintains the charm and spirit of its earlier expeditions.
World Economic Forum (April 15, 2023) – This week’s top stories of the week include:
0:15 China build’s the world’s largest container ship – Mediterranean Tessa is nearly 400 metres long. Her deck area is the size of 4 football pitches. She can carry up to 240,000 tonnes of cargo or more than 24,000 standard containers. The ship is fitted with an air lubrication system. It blows tiny bubbles along the hull to reduce its resistance in the water.This reduces the ship’s CO2 emissions by up to 4% saving around 6,000 tonnes of CO2 a year.
1:36 The first cellphone call was made 50 years ago – On 3 April 1973, Motorola engineer Martin Cooper stood on a Manhattan street and called the landline of a rival who was racing to develop the cellphone, too. This was the world’s first mobile phone call. “I’m calling you on a cellphone,” Cooper said. ‘‘A personal, handheld, portable cellphone” the race was over. Cooper’s prototype became the first commercially available mobile phone. Motorola released the DynaTAC 8000x a decade later, in 1984. It was about the size of a shoebox and cost $11,500 in today’s money. Since then, mobile technology has transformed our lives. Watch to learn more about the first mobile phone call in the world.
3:40 South Korea to pay its citizens to have children – South Korea has the world’s lowest fertility rate. The average South Korean woman will have 0.78 babies in her lifetime. While the average fertility rate in OECD countries is 1.59. South Korea’s population is shrinking as a result. More people die each year than are born. Left unchecked, the country’s working-age population will almost halve by 2070. Globally, the fertility rate is declining it stands at 2.3 today. In 2000 it was 2.7. The UN predicts the global population will peak at 10.4 billion by 2080, but a recent study suggests the peak could be much lower and could arrive much sooner.
5:01 Why sleeper trains are being revived across Europe – The EU has provisionally agreed to call 2021 the European Year of Rail. It says boosting rail travel could help the bloc reach carbon neutrality by 2050.
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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.
April 15, 2023: An aerial journey through some of Slovenia’s most scenic locations, including the majestic Julian Alps, the picturesque Lake Bled, and the emerald green Soča River. You will witness the stunning beauty of the Slovenian countryside from a unique perspective, as my drone soars high above the mountains, forests, and lakes.
Monocle on Saturday,April /15, 2023: Georgina Godwin and the weekend’s biggest discussion topics. Yossi Mekelberg goes through the newspapers and Isabella Jewell marks the centenary of the gory Norwegian tradition of Påskekrim.
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious
