* Humanitarian adventure journalist David Oliver Relin, co-author of Three Cups of Tea, dies at 49. * Paul Ford on how the contemporary Authentocracy is ruling your happiness. * On unfinished novels: "The fatal flaw in all them was my abysmal plot-developing skills." * Two years ago, an LA man
* Britain and France to protest Israel's decision to approve new homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. * Q&A with Guy Delisle on his fantastic travel comic Jerusalem: Chronicles From the Holy City. * Homeless man, famous for receiving boots from New York cop, is shoeless again
* China extends stop-and-board rights to most of the South China Sea—far from the mainland, the waters are already claimed by other nations. * Sandy evacuees housed in NYC hotels prepare to transfer to more permanent temporary arrangements. * The overall U.S. birth rate decreased by 8% between 2007-
* UN votes to recognize Palestine as a "non-member observer state," same as the Vatican. * John Kerry receives unqualified support for Secretary of State job, though from Republicans, not his own partymates. * Seal for the State Dept.'s Policy Planning Staff includes slogan, "Avoid Trivia."
* Today Syria disconnected from the internet. * Another hardship for coastal residents in New York and New Jersey: mandatory flood insurance. * Climate change in the kitchen. * Tumblr of the day: Eating Carefully. * They're convinced that it just so happens that their self-interest coincides perfectly with the collective interest.
* On Monday, New York City passed a day without a single report of a person being subject to violent crime. * Time-lapse movie of leaves changing color in Central Park. * Mitt Romney to eat lunch at the White House today. * Slightly awkward WikiHow guide to filling awkward silences. * Moscow court
* By the numbers: Hurricane Katrina versus post-tropical cyclone Sandy. * Sea levels rising faster than earlier projections. * Mapmakers delete an island that never existed and whose origins date to 1875. * If every U.S. state declared war against the others, which would win? * Painful memories surface while raising an Irgun
* Obama launches PR campaign to avoid the fiscal cliff, escalating an already tense negotiating atmosphere. * Anti-semitism of senior Hungarian politician viewed as "old school" compared to more contemporary hatred of Islam and immigrants. * Tales from the contemporary American West, where extreme weather is a killer. * Dog-sledding
(One clue to get you started: The map doesn’t represent gross national anything.) {image-7} [Answer]
* Despite national losses, Republicans won supermajorities in statehouses across the South and Great Plains. * Don't believe Call of Duty: There won't be a cold war between China and the U.S. over rare earth minerals. * China's Communist Party newspaper congratulates Kim Jong-un on
