Day of the Goose
Small towns around Europe host goose-pulling days—contests to snap the necks of birds at high speed. In the name of sport and pride, a tradition from the Middle Ages prospers, criticism notwithstanding.
Archive
A collection of 14232 issues
March 20, 2014
* Kiev will withdraw Ukrainian troops from Crimea and appeal to the UN to declare Crimea a de-militarised zone. * AP adapts its Crimean datelines, handing sovereignty neither to Ukraine nor Russia. * China has tripled its arms exports in the past five years and imports 11% of its weapons from Ukraine.
March 19, 2014
* Tensions over Crimea may not cause a new Cold War, but instead a long period of confrontation. * Ukraine may be able write off $5 billion in debt to Russia. * Reported death of the "Russian bin Laden" cannot yet be confirmed. * Experiment shows fewer people performed tasks they didn&
What Doesn’t Kill You Doesn’t Kill You
A visit to a bear sanctuary could cure you of your bear phobia. Or it could turn your fear into a full-blown obsession.
March 18, 2014
* Ripples in space further corroborate that the universe expanded tremendously after the Big Bang, a theory known as inflation. * Russia has the same surface area of Pluto, and 16 other non-Crimea-related facts about the nation. * Murder of an indefatigable Ugandan MP fits a pattern of corruption and intricate
March 17, 2014
* Identical studies of the "five-second rule" reach opposite conclusions—both agree moist foods are more bacteria-prone. * Skin-tight astronaut suits mimic the effect of gravity and could prevent the brutal spinal damage caused by weightlessness. * More than 80 large passenger aircrafts have disappeared since 1948. * New
Life at an Incredible Height
In Mumbai, paltry regulation means hundreds of new skyscrapers bring more lows than highs. Photographs of new construction, with titles named after the buildings’ advertising slogans.
March 14, 2014
* When asked what would happen on the eve of Russia's intervention in Ukraine, most international relations scholars got it wrong. * If Russia annexed Crimea, Ukraine would be stronger and Russia would be poor. * Novelist writing book set in Crimea looks on despairingly as current events spoil his plot.
March 13, 2014
* Pentagon spent around $300,000 to study Putin's body movements for clues to his intentions. * The Kremlin has proved that it has the means, and the media, to gin up support for Putin’s folly—but that won’t last indefinitely. * Richard Branson is the mirror image of
The Illuminated
A family that relies on the satisfactions of the logical—calculus, physics, chemistry—finds itself haunted by ghosts.