Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Going Troppo on Australia Day: If You Read Only One Book This Year, Read Cold River

The Iron Curtain was a political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its satellite states from open contact with the West and its allied states. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were the countries that were connected to or influenced by the Soviet Union, while on the west side were the countries that were NATO members or nominally neutral. Separate international economic and military alliances were developed on each side of the Iron Curtain. It later became a term for the 7,000-kilometre-long (4,300 mi) physical barrier of fences, walls, minefields, and watchtowers that divided the "east" and "west". The Berlin Wall was also part of this physical barrier.





If You Read Only One Book This Year, Read Cold River


Hana Horka wanted to prove recovery from Covid so she could obtain a health pass



Jean-Jacques Savin: French adventurer dies crossing Atlantic Ocean BBC


Esc-APE artist! Police warn public not to approach lab MONKEY that got away in Pennsylvania truck crash as they hunt it down and ‘shoot dead’ three other escapees Daily Mail


Charting an Omicron Infection - The New York Times: “In less than two months, the Omicron variant of the coronavirus has spread around the globeand caused a staggering number of new infections. Omicron now accounts for more than 99.5 percent of new infections in the United States, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The nation reported as many as 800,000 new cases a day in mid-January, more than three times as many as at any previous point in the pandemic. Scientists have been working overtime to study Omicron. Many questions remain unanswered, but here’s what they’ve learned so far…”

See also The New York Times – In Sewage, Clues to Omicron’s Surge: “Tracking the virus in wastewater is helping some cities and hospitals respond to the most recent wave of the coronavirus, but a more coordinated national effort is needed, experts say..”


The hidden origin of the escalating Ukraine-Russia conflict Canadian Dimension


The Role of Emotions in Military Strategy Texas National Security Revew


How cognitive empathy could have prevented the Ukraine crisis Nonzero