June 13, 2017
Your Tuesday conversation starter: The world’s largest collection of whale bones lives in the Smithsonian’s museum support center, in Suitland, Maryland. / YouTube
Trump is said to be mulling firing Mueller while the GOP strategically starts to besmirch the former FBI chief. / The New York Times
In case you missed Trump’s cabinet bowing down to their king yesterday: a flattery ranking of all 23 encomiums. / CNN
“I’ve always blamed my inability to ride a bike on my lack of balance. But it turns out that with the right method... excitement overtook that fear of falling pretty quickly.” Linda Poon explains how she’s learning to ride a bicycle at the age of 26. See also: “Want to Stop Feeling Like a Kook?” / Citylab
Seven years in the making, my new novel, The Last Kid Left, just hit stores, and I’m really excited to share the news with TMN readers. / rosecransbaldwin.com
When cancer charity events are held at Trump golf courses, donations are secretly rerouted to pay for tee times. / Forbes
Noir perfection in a German artist’s photographs of Japanese cigarette machines at night. / Benedikt Partenheimer
“It seems that you cannot write anything meaningful today unless you first address ‘populism’ and the crisis of ‘liberal democracy.’” A brief essay on the history of liberal democracy, which has always been in crisis mode, “fighting for its mere survival, buffeted domestically by strikes, wage demands, RAF and Brigate Rosse.” / Global Inequality
On August 21, the US will get a coast-to-coast solar eclipse for the first time in 100 years. / Adventure Journal
Your Tuesday art fix: New story-driven paintings by Chinese artist Mandy Cao / Mandy Cao
“The most serious sections are usually described with a word of dude-speak: ‘sketchy.’ Honnold had to climb steep sheets of glassy rock, on holds that would appear nonexistent to the untrained eye.” Alex Honnold’s recent solo climb up El Capitan—ropeless, protection-less—staggers the mind, especially with this blow-by-blow account. Fun fact: Honnold, roped in, fell off the climb’s trickest section only two days earlier. / The New Yorker