All posts by Intellicurious

News, Views and Reviews for the Intellectually Curious

Culture & Politics: The Drift – February 28, 2023

The Drift Magazine – February 28, 2023 Issue – We called it heterosexual oppression. Like replacing a piece of your skull with a smartwatch.

Electric Bodies | Medical Technology Takes Over

Through a growing focus on healthcare monitoring in recent years, Apple has positioned its wearables as essential accessories for the technophile and the casual hypochondriac alike. 

Like so many other predictions of collapse, exaggerated.  Methylphenidate  for Miriam. Two executives showed up for a meeting dressed as Woody and Buzz Lightyear. A source of revolutionary Marxist critiques, an outright conservative, a peddler of flimsy conspiracy theories. Some days I am so filled with myself I can see nothing. I am not going to apologize for the empire, for our history. Bravissima! Stealth, he kept no socials. She had martini-glass tits. In this city every boy is an isotope. Enter among the truly civilized peoples. Cruising for difference. The body of a bear, the nose of an elephant, the paws of a tiger, the tail of an ox, and needle-like hairs. Wainscoting for an all-knowing liberalism. How can a narrow regional tabloid claim itself The World? The surrealist didn’t prescribe life-sized butter ears. Spend how you want the sixtyish years you have left of your life. 

Words Exchanged | Italophone Somalia, Then and Now

“Italian language teaching is back in Somalia!” the Italian embassy in Somalia tweeted in late September 2021, announcing a new program at the Somali National University that would reintroduce the language of the country’s former colonizer.

Travel And Photography: One-Week In Iceland (4K)

Tales of Justin (February 28, 2023) – Iceland, an island nation in the North Atlantic Ocean, lies between Europe and North America. The country is situated on a strategic location between North America and Europe, about 840 km north west of the United Kingdom and about 460 km south east of Greenland‘s coast. The closest bodies of land in Europe are the Faroe Islands (530 km).

The island lies just south of the Arctic Circle at the northern end of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR), where the tectonic plate of Eurasia meets the North American Plate, causing a lot of volcanic activity in the region. Iceland’s extraordinary landscape offers hot springs and geysers, icefields and volcanoes, glaciers and wild waterfalls.

Iceland has 30 active volcanic systems, of which 13 have erupted since the settlement of island in AD 874, only about 20 percent of the country is habitable.

News: France Seeks ‘New Era’ In Africa, Serbia And Kosovo Normalize Ties

March 1, 2023: Macron’s four-nation Africa tour: to what extent does this mark a “new era” for France’s relations with the continent? Plus: Serbia and Kosovo accept a provisional proposal to normalise ties, the latest business news and where are the world’s new cultural capitals?

Front Page: The New York Times – March 1, 2023

Image

Supreme Court Appears Skeptical of Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness Plan

The administration faced a conservative court that has insisted that government initiatives with major political and economic consequences be clearly authorized by Congress.

Scrounging for Tanks for Ukraine, Europe’s Armies Come Up Short

The struggle to deliver on promises to provide Leopard 2 tanks for use against Russian forces has exposed just how unprepared European militaries are.

Biden Is Betting on Government Aid to Change Corporate Behavior

The administration says the conditions it has attached to $40 billion in new subsidies will help U.S. semiconductor makers compete globally. Some economists disagree.

Tea and a Photo-Op Put King Charles in Cross Hairs

King Charles’s meeting with an E.U. leader on the day a Northern Ireland trade deal was announced drew angry recriminations from critics who viewed it as an improper foray into British politics.

Culture: Scallops, Ciders & Caramels In Normandy

With its chalk cliffs and its bright green meadows, the French region of Normandy offers stunning scenery but also iconic local produce. It’s in this unique landscape that cider producer Guillaume Capelle grows apples, the local fruit, to make the world-famous Calvados brandy.

Meanwhile, Pierre Marie is hoping for a good season for scallop fishing – another emblematic product of Normandy, along with Isigny butter and caramels. For the latter two to see the light of day, dairy farmer Pierre Aubril pampers his Normandy cows, who produce up to 1,200 litres of 100 percent organic milk every day.

Preview: Foreign Affairs Magazine – March 2023

March/April 2023

Foreign Affairs – March/April 2023 issue:

What Russia Got Wrong

Can Moscow Learn From Its Failures in Ukraine?

Pakistan’s Twin Crises

The Dangerous Convergence of a Collapsing Economy and Surging Terrorism

Israel’s Dangerous Shadow War With Iran

Why the Risk of Escalation Is Growing

Reviews: The Business Of Formula 1 Racing (2023)

Financial Times (February 27, 2023) – F1 is undergoing a kind of revolution, with new rules, new tech, new teams, and new fans – boosted by the Netflix show Drive to Survive. Ahead of the first race of the season in Bahrain, the FT goes behind the scenes at the McLaren Technology Centre, where the team is competing to get their cars back to the front of the grid.

News: UK-EU Strike Deal On Northern Ireland, China Hosts Belarus President

February 28, 2023: UK and EU leaders strike a deal on the Northern Ireland protocol. Plus: Belarus’s president, Alexander Lukashenko, arrives in Beijing for a three-day visit; China’s plans to build Asia’s largest observatory; and the latest transport news.

Front Page: The New York Times – February 28, 2023

Image

Biden’s Semiconductor Plan Flexes the Power of the Federal Government

In return for vast subsidies, the Biden administration is asking the chip industry to make promises about its workers and finances.

Biden Deploys High-Powered Aides, Plus More Aid, to Bolster Ukraine

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen traveled to Kyiv the day before Secretary of State Antony Blinken was to visit Central Asia in a show of American solidarity with Ukraine in its battle with Russia.

U.S. Commandos Advise Somalis in Fight Against Qaeda Branch

A campaign in the Horn of Africa is now the most active element in the “forever wars” the United States has waged since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Challenges to Student Loan Cancellation Reach Supreme Court

Justices will hear arguments Tuesday on President Biden’s plan to forgive an estimated $400 billion in debt. Conservative states have called it an abuse of his authority.

Opinion: How Ukraine War Is Won, New Biden Border Policy, Nigeria Scorpions

February 27, 2023: A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, how to win the war in Ukraine, Joe Biden’s sensible new border policies (11:15) and Nigeria’s scorpion trade (15:30).