Guest Thinkers — December 21, 2010

Thursday Papers

I made the mistake of listening to bin Laden’s newest tape, which comes with English sub-titles and both an Arabic text and an English translation, before my coffee this morning. The Washington Post has a bit more on the tape, which focuses on Somalia.

Al-Quds al-Arabi leads with the news about the 12 wanted suspects in Yemen. Khalid al-Hammadi then follows this up with a very good report of his own. Faysal Mukrim at al-Hayat has the same story with less details.

And finally, the BBC has a story with this headline: “South Koreans Urged to Flee Yemen.”

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature's most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

▸

7 min

—

with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it's a JWST image or any other observatory.

Up Next

Guest Thinkers

Jabal Dukhan

News Yemen helps to explain the strategic importance of Jabal Dukhan and gives a bit more information, which is helpful since the mountain is not in my mu’ajim al-buldan.