Rapid Travel Chai

Dateline: Jersey City, NJ (I so wanted it to be Pago Pago earlier this week, though days of sun and evenings of lapping waves rendered me unproductive.)

News:

• US embassy cables: A wedding feast, the Caucasus way (The Guardian). A classic.
• An Island Refuge, Surrounded by Bloody Civil War, in South Sudan (NYT). For my recent trip to South Sudan, this region was the most appealing, and sadly not in a state to visit.
• Jing’an, Zhabei merge to create ‘engine’ for Shanghai’s growth (Shanghai Daily). Think of Bronx rebranding as Manhattan.
• The Bulgarian Duo Leading an Indoor Rock Climbing Revolution (Bloomberg Businessweek). Fun profile.
• Chinese Cash Floods U.S. Real Estate Market (NYT). A bigger wave than Japan in the ’80s.
• Democrat Wins Mississippi House Race After Drawing Straw (NYT). Democracy in action.
• Ancient Rome – What a Strange Lot (The Economist) and Review: In ‘SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome,’ Mary Beard Tackles Myths and More (NYT). On my library request list.
• In a Seoul coffee shop, onetime North Koreans enter the 21st century (The Washington Post). How to bring refugees into a new world.
• Mennonite Farmers Prepare to Leave Mexico, and Competition for Water (NYT). Mennonite communities and their relations with neighboring communities are a fascinating story across the Americas.
• China to Build Naval Hub in Djibouti (WSJ). Big news. The US/EU thought they had the country sewn up.
• The Truth Behind the Sell-By Date (WSJ). Such a confusing, misleading non-system in the US.
• Will New Zealand Choose a New Flag? (The Atlantic). I like the new contender.
• Ousted Founder of Men’s Wearhouse Watches His Old Company Struggle (NYT). A lion sidelined.
• Argentina Presidential Feud Turns Handover Ceremony Into a Farce (Bloomberg Business). With the Kirchner’s it truly isn’t over until it is over.
• A Carved Stone Block Upends Assumptions About Ancient Judaism (NYT). Beautiful object.
• Knockout Jab (The Economist). A vaccine success story.
• The Horn of Africa – The Business of Politics (The Economist). Sad context for places I recently visited and saw resilience among the daunting suffering.

Comment:

• And That’s My Opinion! (NYT). Joe Nocera is a voice to follow and deserves credit for his op-ed page hounding of the gun industry and the NCAA, among other causes.
• Is War About to Break Out in the Balkans? (Foreign Policy). Trouble in Srpska.
• Review: Christopher Hitchens Expounds in ‘And Yet …’ (NYT). One of his causes among many: statehood for the Kurds, inching towards possibility.
• With New Ownership, Can an Influential Hong Kong Daily Keep Its Soul? (Foreign Policy). The SCMP has been water-downed in recent years, now will it be weakened to irrelevance or roar back?
• Is Putin contemplating using nuclear weapons? (The Washington Post). Scary.
• Anyone but Ted Cruz (NYT). I thought his base didn’t go for Ivy League-ers.

Travel:

• I am going to travel to Iran with Yomadic in October 2016. Want to come along? (TravelBloggerBuzz). Good for him to go.
• Doing Flexible Work so I Can Travel the World (Caroline Lupini). Hustling to make travel work.
• Lonely Planet Magazine Launches in US (Michael W Travels). I have flipped through this magazine in airports and will test out the upcoming US edition.
• Welcome to Liberland, the tiny patch of woodland claiming to be the world’s newest country (Telegraph), shared by Aaron M at FTU Newport Beach.
• Towering, Teeming Hong Kong — Where the Buffalo Roam (NYT). The New Territories and Outlying Islands hold delights of nature as counterpart to the intense urban experience of Hong Kong’s business areas.
• How Much Do You Try To Dress Like a Local When You Travel? (Tagging Miles). I try to look at least like an expat, with my local shopping bag and newspaper.
• Solomon Airlines to commence direct Honiara-Nadi service (SPTO). A new option to reach one of my favorites: Guadalcanal.
• A Cautionary Tale About Booking Through Expedia (View from the Wing). I skip OTAs when possible, regardless of possible extra bonuses on credit cards and portals.
• CCTV hands out helpful hints on how to survive an airpocalypse and LOOK: Chinese netizen has found a nifty way of showing how Beijing landmarks look with and without smog (both Shanghaiist). It was rough when I lived in Beijing, this is getting nutty.
• Hope for Nefertiti’s Tomb, and Egypt’s Economy (NYT). Tantalizing.
• Flying Boats – Enter, The Dragon (The Economist). Water boats comeback.

Tech:

• Google Photos (The Mossberg Review – Re/code). Finally ditching Google+.
• Google Maps Adds Offline Directions & Why That Matters for the Modern Traveler (Miles to Memories). I just tried this for American Samoa and Samoa. Massive file download sizes that I couldn’t swing when in the destinations.
• Your GPS Is Lying to You About Distance (Outside). Not as long as you think.
• The Best Sounding (and also Noise Cancelling) Headphones, Ever (The Travel Insider). I have an earlier model that I enjoy. I never have had Bose.