How Italy’s Mafias Control Europe
Explainer on most famous gangs.
History
Why AA Batteries Still Suck
Because we do not like changes
Qianlong, letter to George III (1792)
How wrong they were “Hitherto, all European nations, including your own country’s barbarian merchants, have carried on their trade with our Celestial Empire at Canton. Such has been the procedure for many years, although our Celestial Empire possesses all things… Read More »Qianlong, letter to George III (1792)
Pompeii and Roman Life
One guys journey into the past.
Middle East Support
I love this Wired series.
Why countries trade with each other while fighting
This topic has always fascinated me. ““This mental image that everyone has, that we don’t trade with our enemies during war, is actually an artifact of the world without any neutral rights,” Grinberg says. “Once we develop neutral rights, all… Read More »Why countries trade with each other while fighting
“This telegram must be closely paraphrased before being communicated to anyone.” Why?
Simple as this. “Never repeat in the clear the identical text of a message once sent in cryptographic form, or repeat in cryptographic form the text of a message once sent in the clear. Anything which will enable an alert… Read More »“This telegram must be closely paraphrased before being communicated to anyone.” Why?
Xi Jinping is the main thing holding China back
Why having one strong leader is always bad in the end. “When you have a leader that strong, it creates a lot of big risks for a country — even one as large, productive, and technologically advanced as China. These… Read More »Xi Jinping is the main thing holding China back
Stumbling through history towards beer
History of beer is much more interesting than you think. “Whether the drink somehow made its way from the Mideast to northern Europe or was independently invented by the Gauls and/or the Germans is unclear. Some see a Babylonian influence… Read More »Stumbling through history towards beer
The end of the system of the world
How we got here after decades of stability. “Production workers in rich countries lost out big-time, but this was a price our country was willing to pay. America and our rich-world allies went from being the world’s workshop to being… Read More »The end of the system of the world