London Hospitals Christmas in the Year 1880
The patients in the various hospitals of the metropolis were as usual regaled, during the recent festive season, with many extra visible tokens of the goodwill and kindness with which…
Evidence of a Christmas spirit network in the brain: functional MRI study
Significant clusters of increased BOLD activation in the sensory motor cortex, the premotor and primary motor cortex, and the parietal lobule (inferior and superior) were found in scans of people…
How the Big Bad Petroleum Industry Saved Christmas
The Hollywood blockbuster of fall 1942 was Holiday Inn, starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. Released in August, it became a nationwide hit, with its standout number, “White Christmas” by…
Tom Cruise gets top US Navy honour
The navy said Cruise had “increased public awareness and appreciation for our highly trained personnel and the sacrifices they make while in uniform.” Tom Cruise has been awarded the US…
Apple accused of using conflict minerals in Congo (DRC)
Lawyers representing the Congolese government who filed the complaints in France and Belgium, argued that Apple is complicit in crimes committed by armed groups controlling some of the mines in…
Butter prices have increased by 65% in the Russian Arkhangelsk region
The price of a 180g pack of butter in Russia rose by 24% in October 2024 compared to October 2023. The most significant growth – 65% – was recorded in…
Russian crowd control
A very common tactic used by Russian authorities during mass protests today is to fence off the location in advance with portable metal barriers, block all approaches with heavy machinery,…
When I Was a Hostage in Syria: How Terrorism Thrives In War
The American journalist Theo Padnos was captured in 2012 by Syria’s new rulers, the Islamist militia Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (then known as Jabhat al-Nusra). His captivity lasted two years. Given…
How politics destroyed contemporary art
We are fortunate to live, here in the West, in a peculiar age devoid of common sense. As fact becomes stranger than fiction, we should embrace the surreal and stretch…
China adopting battlefield lessons from Ukraine
The Ukraine conflict is more than a distant spectacle to China’s People’s Liberation Army; it offers a real-time battlefield laboratory to study for its own strategic needs. From drone swarms…
Gen Z getting hired and then fired
A survey of nearly 1,000 hiring managers, found that one in six employers were reluctant to hire Gen Z workers mainly due to their reputation for being entitled and easily…
The best stars to wish upon
The brightest star in the sky, Sirius, is a main sequence star only 8.6 light years away. Epsilon Eridani is approximately ten light years away. It’s similar to our Sun…
When the men in black suits wake you up in the morning
I have this recurring fantasy in which all those people who say they will leave the country if Trump wins, being woken up one morning by guys dressed in Men…
Trump meets TikTok CEO
President-elect said the two countries can work together when pressed about his invitation to the Chinese leader to attend inauguration
The Police State Is America’s New Crime Boss
Thirty years after then-President Bill Clinton signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act into law, its enduring legacy of mass incarceration, police militarization, and over-criminalization continues to cast…
How Germany Destroyed Its Economy
Germany made its first big mistake in 2012, when its leaders accepted the left-wing diagnosis of the European debt crisis, which blamed all problems on nonexistent austerity. Germany embraced inflationism…
Cattle Rustling: A Lifeline For Boko Haram Terrorists
In Africa, transnational cattle rustling – the forceful theft of livestock for illicit commercial gain – is increasingly linked to organised criminal and terrorist groups. It is a source of…
Sudan tops the Emergency Watchlist for the second year in a row
Sudan tops the Emergency Watchlist for the second year in a row, as the country’s collapse accelerates amid a devastating Muslim on Muslim civil war fueled by external powers. The…
A brief history of the House of Chanel
If you somehow aren’t clued up on the fascinating lore of what has made Chanel, the eponymous house first founded by Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel over 100 years ago, the ultimate…
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau loses two top cabinet ministers
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is facing significant turmoil following the resignation of two key cabinet ministers, including Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who was preparing to deliver a critical economic…