How Brexit Snuck Up On Everyone

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The Old West’s Muslim Tamale King

How a South Asian immigrant became a Wyoming fast-food legend and received American citizenship—twice. By Kathryn Schulz.
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Seeking paradise: The image and reality of truck art

Raindrops fall from the sky on bare winter trees, their branches spread in the manner of a person wailing with arms spread out. The golden beams of a sun filtering through clouds turn these droplets into prisms that throw up curious combinations of emerald, green and turquoise. Another array of raindrops gleams like small mirrors, suspended to bare boughs running from one end to the other.
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It's unfashionable to call someone a "genius" – but William Empson was one

Father than denying the contradictoriness of being human, Empson revelled in it, as "The Face of Buddha" reveals.
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The only good nation is imagination.

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How the mafia is causing cancer

When doctors in rural Italy began to see a surge in cancer cases, they were baffled. Then they made the link with industrial waste being dumped by local crime syndicates. Ian Birrell learns about the tragic consequences. A few days before I visited the rather scruffy Hospital of Saint Anna and Saint Sebastian in Caserta, a boy aged 11 arrived complaining of headaches. Doctors feared the worst – and sure enough, the case was rapidly diagnosed as another child with brain cancer.
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Cecil the lion's legacy: death brings new hope for his grandcubs

The tiny lion cubs bounce down the dusty track alive with curiosity about their new world from their inquisitive faces to the tips of their tails. This new life is a symbol of the surprising good that has stemmed from the tragic death of their grandfather, Cecil. Cecil, killed by US dentist Walter Palmer one year ago, has 13 surviving sons and daughters and 15 known grandcubs so far. They, like Cecil before he died, have survived brushes with death. But the researchers who...
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Hell Sucks

There is a map of Vietnam on the wall of my apartment in Saigon, and some nights, coming back late to the city, I'll lie out on my bed and look at it, too tired to do anything more than just get my boots off. The map is a marvel, especially absorbing because it is not real. For one thing, it is very old. It was left here years ago by a previous tenant, probably a Frenchman since the map was made in Paris.
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Ohio's deadliest tornado hit Lorain, Sandusky 92 years ago on June 28

Ninety-two years ago a tornado ripped through downtown Lorain and Sandusky, killing 85 people and causing tens of millions dollars damage, more than a billion dollars in today's dollars. It is the deadliest tornado in Ohio history,
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The Reaction to Brexit Is the Reason Brexit Happened

If you believe there's such a thing as "too much democracy," you probably don't believe in democracy at all. By Matt Taibbi. [Disable adblocker]
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China might be trying to militarize space

A new space junk collector could be used as anti-satellite weapon, experts say.
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10 Months, 45 National Parks, 11 Rules

Drive the speed limit, use paper maps, avoid interstates, and other rules for doing road trips right.
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“Cities, like cats, will reveal themselves at night”

Extract from ‘Nightwalking: A Nocturnal History of London’ by Matthew Beaumont. (Apr. 2016)
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Climbing the Eiffel Tower + Drone

Visiting the Eiffel Tower just got a new meaning. Extreme drone and POV footage from climbing the world's most famous tower. It's almost impossible to get to the tower illegally (do not try to repeat this) especially in view of recent political developments and the ongoing European Football Championship. Police and national guard are always on duty on the premises of the tower. The shoot was carried out in the rainy season. The level of Seine river broke the 30-year-old record and the wind speed reached up to 6m/s. The poor drone operator not only crashed the drone but also received a pretty big fine.
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Edmund de Waal on a revolutionary teapot

Russian artist Kazimir Malevich broke the whole idea of a teapot apart, whitewashed it, and put it back together in a new way. He took a tea cup and cut it in half. The result is a bugle-cry of revolution. It’s combatant porcelain – a manifesto.
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How Ex-London Mayor Boris Johnson Suddenly Became the Most Powerful Man in Britain

For now, anyway. It’s not going well.
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Trains in Space: The Great Train Robbery

James Meek reviews “The Railways: Nation, Network and People” by Simon Bradley. (May, 2016)
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Whose water is it anyway? The Squabble Over Access to Great Lakes Basin

The recent decision by eight U.S. governors to grant a small Wisconsin town access to the Great Lakes water basin has sparked concerns about the precedent this may set for other thirsty towns and cities.
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Why Fruits and Veggies Are So Crazy Cheap in Chinatown

Last week, while shopping at a tiny produce market on Mott Street, Giselle Isaac found a crazy bargain: fresh ginger for 50 cents a pound. She promptly stuffed a plastic bag to bursting with the pungent root. “I’m West Indian and we make a lot of ginger beer,” she explained. “This is the cheapest I’ve seen ginger in years.”
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John Oliver’s amazing Brexit rant: No one has torn apart the disastrous vote better than this

"Two idiots named Nigel and Boris quoted President Bill Pullman," John Oliver said
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To Brexit or Regrexit? A dis-United Kingdom ponders turmoil of EU divorce

To leave, or not to leave: that is the question. Still. After Britain's historic vote to leave the European Union, there is no indication that a so-called Brexit will happen soon. It maybe never will.
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2016 Olympics: What Rio doesn’t want the world to see

Rio is hiding poor people.
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The Aftertaste of Empire: Food and Decolonization

The process by which curry became one of the most popular dishes in modern Britain is a complicated one of imperial appropriation, invention, and transformation. In the same way that writing history is an act of interpretation, so too is the art of cooking an act of historical interpretation. Whether it’s preparing a family meal or competing on a national baking show, issues of assimilation and national identity are all up for contestation and negotiation in the culinary arena.
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California's Deadly Erskine Fire in Pictures

A deceased dog at a burned down residence after the Erskine Fire burned through South Lake.
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The Year Britain Bought Up All The Tea In The World

No one example captures how deeply tea drinking was embedded in the fabric of British everyday life than the decision of the government in 1942 to buy up every available pound of tea from every country in the world except Japan. One estimate is that the largest government purchases in 1942 were, in order of weight, bullets, tea, artillery shells, bombs and explosives.
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The Mysterious Origins of a Food That's Always Been Funny: The Sausage

Across civilizations and cultures, encased meat has been a human staple.
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The owners of these defiant 'nail houses' in China refuse to give in to developers

In China, buildings that are left standing as development progresses around them are called “nail houses.”
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How Whales Are Deliberately Hunted by 'Accident'

Days before the Whale Festival in Ulsan, South Korea, last month, authorities raided a cold storage unit and found more than 27 tons—about 40 whales’ worth—of whale meat worth $3.4 million. The meat belonged to minke whales, which can grow to 35 feet long and swim as fast as 20 miles an hour. While Japan, Norway, and Iceland get most of the heat for whaling, conservationists say South Korea engages in controversial whaling practices too. South Korean fishermen are known to take advantage of a loophole that allows them to legally sell whale meat from animals that are accidentally caught in fishing nets.
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Petition calling for reconsideration of Brexit referendum has an ironic origin

As the petition to reconsider the recent Brexit vote compiles signature, its creator is protesting that it's been "hijacked."
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Beijing has fallen: China's capital sinking by 11cm a year, satellite study warns

Pumping of groundwater blamed for causing soil to collapse as development roars ahead above, with railways among infrastructure at risk, say scientists
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After oil, Norway looks to startups for economic growth

With oil prices plummeting, countries blessed with natural resources are feeling the heat and Norway is no exception. Politicians responding to the oil troubles are heeding calls for a new way forward, centered around startups. And the efforts to foster a new approach are led by an ambitious ex-business exec, the Crown Prince of Norway and a handful of contrarian entrepreneurs. Norway has seen the value of its state-owned oil and gas fields fall by more than $50 billion...
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Roll Britannia: the early history of machinery in tea making

Britannia – apart from being a grandiose term for the United Kingdom, as in Britannia Rules the Waves – is a trade name for the line of machinery created in the 1870s by William Jackson, a young inventor. His rolling machines were the primary innovation that directly transformed every aspect of tea making in Assam. It shifted the global market in terms of production and consumption from China green to India black tea.
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Scottish Birds Continue Stealing Large Amounts of Underwear

For two years now, a pair of red kites have routinely stolen undergarments from a popular Angus skinny-dipping spot.
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Taking care of a grand old lady, the Angel Oak

Located on Johns Island and owned by the city of Charleston, the Angel Oak is one of the most celebrated trees in the Lowcountry. Foresters estimate its age to be about 400 to 500 years old. That means it germinated before the United States was united.
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Who Is to Blame for Brexit’s Appeal? British Newspapers

"Led by Boris Johnson, British news media have been smearing the European Union for decades," Martin Fletcher writes in The New York Times Opinion Section.
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Brexit shock - France 'overtakes UK as world’s fifth largest economy' after pound plunges

FRANCE has overtaken the UK as the world’s fifth largest economy after the pound plunged to a 31-year low, with the vote to leave the EU reverberating across the world's financial markets.
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The ‘Inevitable War’ Between the U.S. and China

Roughly 15 years ago, a Chinese fighter jet pilot was killed when he collided with an American spy plane over the South China Sea. The episode marked the start of tensions between Beijing and Washington over China’s claim to the strategic waterway. So in May, when two Chinese warplanes nearly crashed into an American spy plane over the same area, many in China felt a familiar sense of nationalist outrage. “Most Chinese people hope China’s fighter jets will shoot down the next spy plane,” wrote the Global Times, China’s official nationalist mouthpiece.
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Australia's mass shootings dropped to zero after gun reforms

A new study offers a detailed timeline of gun violence before and after Australia's gun law reforms. After any mass shooting, whether it's the recent Orlando massacre or the terror at a Charleston church or the killings in Newtown, Connecticut, one statistic is often cited: Australia has had zero mass shootings in two decades, while America faces frequent bloodshed. Indeed, Australia has long been referenced in the ongoing debate over how to stop mass shootings in the United States.
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Henry Rollins - Critical Conversations

Henry Rollins speaks at Soka University of America about the importance of being a global citizen.
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TV funding rule changes could see local news get boost

The CRTC has announced it will change funding rules for Canadian programming, which could help struggling local TV newsrooms. The news comes after a round of CRTC hearings into the future of TV in Canada.
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Japan’s Hardcore Minimalists Live in Virtually Empty Homes

The minimalist lifestyle trend has been gaining popularity in the Western world for a while now, but we're still far from the hardcore minimalism Zen-loving Japanese.
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Is Middle America Due For a Huge Earthquake?

In the early 19th century, a series of massive quakes rocked Missouri. Some experts predict that the state could be in for another round of violent shaking, while others warn that a big quake could strike elsewhere in the center of the continent.
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Chinese manager allegedly spanks employees for not working hard enough

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Why there’s no exit poll after the Brexit vote

It'll be breakfast time in Britain before any reliable results come in.
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What is the effect of street art on real estate prices?

Street art and real estate, at first considered as a sign of decay that lowers the property values, as soon as people started considering ‘gritty’ and ‘edgy’ cool, street art began generating interest to a piece of real estate.
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Is Hate Conquered by Love? | Hardcore Zen

After the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, it seemed like every Buddhist organization with any kind of on line presence was posting a quotation attributed to the Buddha that went, “Hate is not conquered by hate. Hate is conquered by love. This law is eternal.”
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Which cruise ship library is right for you?

A few decades ago, a nicely appointed library was one of a cruise ship’s star attractions. But then came climbing walls, ice-skating rinks, hand-carved carousels, 4-D theaters, zip lines and surfing simulators. Plus e-readers, tablets and smartphones. That spacious mahogany library stuffed with thousands of volumes suddenly had lots of competition. Some lines, such as Disney, which launched in the late 1990s, decided to forego libraries altogether. Others, including Carnival and Seabourn, dressed them up with wine bars and coffee stations. And a few, such as Cunard and Oceania, have stayed with tradition.
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Don’t Appease Putin

A weakening of sanctions on Russia might please European populists, and a growing number of business leaders favor a softer approach as well. But when the EU's current sanctions regime expires next month, it should be tightened, not loosened.
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Yung Lean’s Second Chance

Yung Lean approached American rap as an outsider, became infamous, and then tragedy struck. A year later, he has the opportunity to do better.
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It Came From Up North! A Beginner's Guide to Canadian Monster Movies

As you’ll see in this primer, David Cronenberg is not the only Canadian filmmaker who’s contributed to the country’s sick and twisted genre fare over the years. In fact, from giant brains to heavy metal demon slayers, Canada has a rich tradition of weird, wild and often woefully underappreciated monster movies that are worth looking out for.
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