Wednesday headlines: Banana wit
Foreign interference in this year's election is said to be far more sophisticated, and far more difficult to track. / The New York Times [+]
China is considering approving $1.4 trillion in extra debt to revive its economy. / Reuters
Related: If "Xi Jinping Thought" is not a vision for a genuine socialist movement driving toward a communist utopia, what is it? / China Books Review
An explainer for why forecasts continue to miss the pace and persistence of falling birth rates. / The Financial Times [+]
The United States' Nuclear Emergency Support Team (NEST) is a group of volunteers who have high-level security clearances. / NPR
Personal assistants for billionaires earn around $250,000 a year—and the job is a logistics nightmare. / The Cut
Related: "Private rail cars were, and still are, very much a high-end luxury." / Why is this interesting?
Regarding yesterday's news about the art market, Maurizio Cattelan's Comedian—a banana fixed to a wall with duct tape—is estimated to sell for $1.5 million. / Artsy
A brief video about the tumbleweed's 19th-century arrival in America. / YouTube
A short film about two brothers traveling alone from Boston to the 1967 World's Fair in Montreal by pony cart. / The New York Times [+]
Britain's cheese world suffers the loss of over £300,000 worth of clothbound Cheddar. / NPR
How do different species respond to death? "In ways that are learned rather than instinctive, not rigidly responsive to specific stimuli, and highly variable." / The New Yorker
European scientists develop an algorithm capable of interpreting pig sounds. / Reuters
Examples of people who cultivate "divine discontent." "The tendency to revise, in particular, seems especially common." / Personal Canon