French Food, /Xam, Turkey, China, Libya, J.M. Keynes

The Michelin Woman

Brette Warshaw | Lucky Peach | 30th May 2015

Diary of three dinners in France — at Troisgros, Georges Blanc, and Paul Bocuse. "The salmon dropped from my fork and back onto the plate and sent an audible splatter of cream sauce all over the front of my dress. I yelled and blushed a deep purple and regained my composure and tried again. Hot damn! Humans, I thought to myself, are engineered to like something rich and creamy and bright and refined and sexy all at once" (2,090 words)

The Storyteller’s Map

Kevin Davie | Atavist | 1st June 2015

Travels through arid Karoo flatlands of South Africa's Northern Cape in the footsteps of Kabbo, a Xam Bushman and owner of the Bitterpits watering-hole who was arguably "the country's greatest storyteller". Kabbo died in 1876 aged about 70; the last Xam speakers died out in the early 20C. Kabbo's lion-filled tales — and his map of the Karoo — survive thanks to a German linguist who got him out of jail (6,300 words)

Can Turkey Survive Erdoğan?

Graham Fuller | 1st June 2015

If President Erdoğan’s AKP party wins a constitutional majority in Turkey's parliamentary elections, Erdoğan will have the legal right to do whatever he wants. He can legitimize the sweeping presidential powers that he already seeks to exercise, placing Turkey under one-man rule. Erdoğan used to inspire admiration; now he shows signs of "genuine paranoia". He is "arbitrary, corrupt, vengeful and out of touch" (1,100 words)

China’s New Silk Roads

Tyler Cowen | Marginal Revolution | 1st June 2015

Overview of the vast investments which China is making to secure international trade routes. Projects include a $42 billion naval base in Pakistan; a rail line from Zhengzhou to Hamburg via Russia; a road and railway to the Arabian Sea; power infrastructure across Central Asia; routes to the sea through Myanmar and Bangladesh. "Are these sustainable patterns of trade? Or are they slated to be proverbial white elephants?" (620 words)

Libya: Families, Friends, Feuds

Borzou Daragahi | Financial Times | 1st June 2015 | | Read with 1Pass

Libya's civil war is disrupting the global oil market and exacerbating the migrant crisis facing the EU and Mediterranean states. Many groups are involved, but the main struggle is between two coalitions — Dawn, based in Tripoli; and Dignity, affiliated with Libya's internationally-recognised government in Tubruq. UN-sponsored peace talks have stalled, and Islamic State is gaining ground in the east (1,900 words)

J.M. Keynes: Multiplied Living

Duncan Kelly | Times Literary Supplement | 27th May 2015

The "loved-up side" of Keynes’s life is "amply retold in refreshingly unsanctimonious style" by Richard Davenport-Hines in an "affectionate and occasionally delicious general biography", Universal Man. James Strachey called Keynes an “iron copulating machine”. Keynes was equally unflagging in public and intellectual life: "The thirty volumes of his works sitting in my room are exactly as long as my arm" (3,300 words)

Video of the day: The Archer's Paradox

What to expect: An archer explains the flight of an arrow, using slow-motion video (8'40")

Thought for the day

During a carnival men put cardboard faces over their masks
Xavier Forneret