Giraffe Edition 5
Sixty-Nine Days: The Ordeal of The Chilean Miners
Hector Tobar | New Yorker | 30th June 2014
How 33 Chilean miners survived for two months, a mile below ground, after their mine collapsed around them. Their rations: One can of salmon, one can of peaches, one can of peas, eighteen cans of tuna, twenty-four litres of milk (eight of which turned out to be spoiled), ninety-three packages of cookies, and ten litres of bottled water. "In exchange for good wages, the men accepted the possibility of death" (13,600 words)
The Continuing Mysteries Of The Aleppo Codex
Matti Friedman | Tablet | 30th June 2014
More on the fantastic story of the Aleppo Codex, the oldest known copy of the complete Bible, compiled at Tiberias in Galilee in 930CE, taken to Jerusalem, stolen by Crusaders in 1099, ransomed by the Jews of Cairo, stored for six centuries in Aleppo, lost in a riot in 1947 — and found ten years later "in mysterious circumstances in the new state of Israel"; but with 200 pages — The Torah — missing. Now read on (4,900 words)
Why Are All The Cartoon Mothers Dead?
Sarah Boxer | Atlantic | 25th June 2014
"Bambi’s mother, shot. Nemo’s mother, eaten by a barracuda. Lilo’s mother, killed in a car crash. Koda’s mother in Brother Bear, speared. Po’s mother in Kung Fu Panda 2, done in by a power-crazed peacock." It's getting hard to find a mother in an animated film who survives until the closing credits. In fairy tales of old, the mother-substitute was the wicked stepmother. For Disney and Dreamworks, it is the super-dad (4,100 words)
The Sheer Unlikeliness Of CB Fry
Jon Hotten | The Dabbler | 26th June 2014
Fry was one of the greatest cricketers ever. But cricket was "a sidebar to the rest of his life". He equalled the world long jump record; played soccer in the 1902 FA Cup Final; played rugby for the Barbarians; stood as an MP; and was probably offered the throne of Albania. He was considered the handsomest man in England. "His party trick was to jump backwards on to a mantelpiece from a standing position" (720 words)
Smartwatches Make Google Glass Obsolete
Ron Amadeo | Ars Technica | 29th June 2014
"Google Glass is obsolete. Android Wear on a smartwatch does nearly everything Glass can do and then some, and it comes in a package that is significantly more ergonomic, convenient, cheap, and socially acceptable. Android Wear has almost all the positives of Google Glass and none of the negatives. You aren't pointing a camera at people 24/7. You can normally go about your day while wearing a smartwatch" (1,790 words)
Video of the day: The Hockey-Stick Of Human Prosperity
What to expect: First part of an economics course
Thought for the day
"Why does God make me suffer so much? Is it because I don’t believe in Him?"
— Sidney Morgenbesser