Rapid Travel Chai

Dateline: Helsinki, Finland.

News:

• An ancient human discovery and a tight squeeze (CBC As It Happens) and 3 famous discoveries from the Cradle of Humankind (News24). Good stop on a JNB layover.
• Assassinating Chiang Kai-shek (Foreign Policy). Down in Taiwan, up in the Mainland.
• China confirms prisoner amnesty for WWII anniversary (Shanghai Daily). Sign of desperation when regimes do this.
• Is The Power Lunch Officially Dead? (GQ). See Four Seasons now before it is gone. I have never been.
• Amazon Prime Just Got Much More Valuable! (Pizza In Motion). Some videos now for download, could not find any from my list before I left town.
• Instagram adds portraits and landscape: That’s a betrayal of what makes Instagram special. (Slate). Think of all the publications like Conde Naste Traveller that have redesigned themselves to look like sponsored Instragram feeds.
• Chagos Islands: Long journey home (FT). Hard-core travelers keep on eye on this for the potential that if the long-suffering of the Chagos islanders is resolved, they may build tourism and make BIOT accessible.
• How T-Mobile Changed the Wireless Industry — and Our Lives — Forever (David Pogue, Yahoo! Tech). Happy customer here in Helsinki!
• General Mills fruit snacks will drop artificial flavors and colors (Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal). Elicits memories of Fruit Roll-Ups.
• The Art of the Out-of-Office Reply (The New York Times). I do not use one. I check enough to not annoy people with them. My favorite are the ones from people on business trips who think that is an excuse to not do their job.
• Russia Using Scarecrow As Sentry Guard At Chinese Border (chinaSMACK). I’ve been on the border in the dead of winter, I would do the same.

Travel:

• Move over, Stonehenge: Scientists just found a ‘superhenge’ next door (The Washington Post). I thought Americans were the ones to supersize everything.
• What tips for traveling have changed since medieval times? Surprisingly few. (The Washington Post). Sage advice.
• The 3 Best VPNs For Frequent Travelers (foXnoMad). Everyone’s list is different, I never know which to pick though am increasingly unhappy with WiTopia.
• Soho House Is Taking Over the World (GQ). Only time I heard of this was when one credit card blogger touted it a few years ago.
• This Couple Quit Their Jobs To Travel And Now Scrub Toilets To Get By (BuzzFeed). Behind the social media curtain.
• My new attitude to travel is to skip the iconic – and I thank my father for that (The Guardian). Especially in Europe I give most of the major sites and their huge crowds and lines a skip, returning a night for a quiet stroll.
• New App Alert: Mercez Helps You Pick the Right Card to Use Abroad (Out and Out). I wonder how they get the data on what rates the banks use?

And…How to End a Conversation Like a Man (The Art of Manliness).