Everything else could in theory be reversed. His effort on the law will be profound. America's judges are supposed to be above party politics and yet are often appointed by politicians and then asked to rule on disputes that can sway elections. On January 9th federal judges in North Caroline gave the state two weeks to redraw its congressional map. In a caustic ruling written by James Wynn, an a..
Modest concessions to Emmanuel Macron prettify an unambitious blueprint for coalition Anyone hoping exploratory coalition talks between Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), their Christian Social Union (CSU) alliance partners and the Social Democrats (SPD) would produce an ambitious governing project was always likely to be disappointed. In the election on September 24th all three obtained..
But they are also lonelier and more isolated At the gates of Santa Monica College, in Los Angeles, a young man with a skateboard is hanging out near a group of people who are smoking marijuana in view of the campus police. His head is clouded, too - but with worry, not weed. He frets about his student loans and the difficulty of finding a job, even fearing that he might end up homeless. "Not to ..
Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse ; variant spelling of his name comte "de La Pérouse" (23 August 1741- 1788?) was a French Naval officer and explorer whose expedition vanished in Oceania. Scientific expedition around the world ObjectivesLapérouse was appointed in 1785 by Louis XVI and by the Secretary of State of the Navy, the Marquis de Castries, to lead an expedition around the worl..
After ignoring everything but the tax bill, there is much to do and little time Blame it on the sand traps: President Donald Trump returned to work after seven straight days of golf enraged. Even by his own standards, his Twitter fury on January 2nd was extraordinary. The president boasted that he has a "much bigger" nuclear button than North Korea's despotic ruler, Kim Jong Un; announced a myst..
That's not really meant to happen in developed countries Just as Americans headed home for the year-end holidays, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued its annual report on mortality - which had no news to celebrate. According to the report, published on December 21st, life expectancy in America fell in 2016, for the second year in a row. An American baby born in 2016 can e..
Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueria, was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India (1497-1499) was the first to link Europe and Asia by an ocean route, connecting the Atlantic and the Indian oceans and therefore, the West and the Orient. Da Gama's discovery of the sea route to India was significant and opened the way for an age of global i..
Brain-computer interfaces may change what it means to be human Technologies are often billed as transformative. For William Kochevar, the term is justified. Mr Kochevar is paralyzed below the shoulders after a cycling accident, yet has managed to feed himself by his own hand. This remarkable feat is partly thanks to electrodes, implanted in his right arm, which stimulate muscles. But the real ma..
Captain James Cook was a British explorer, navigator. cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy. Cook made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand. Cook joined the British ..
A festive memo from one of America’s leading chief executives to his lieutenants Dear Team, I trust you are looking forward to your vacations and that the spirit of love and generosity infuses your family gatherings. I also hope that this spirit will be left next to the Christmas tree when you return to work at this incredible company on January 2nd. Because 2018 is going to be the year when Ame..
A sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use of a sextant is to measure the angle between an astronomical object and the horizon for the purposes of celestial navigation. The estimation of this angle, the altitude, is known as sighting or shooting the object, or taking a sight. The angle, and the time when ..
The octant, also called reflecting quadrant, is a measuring instrument used primarily in navigation. It is a type of reflecting instrument. Origin of the octantNewton's reflecting quadrant was invented around 1699. A detailed description of the instrument was given to Edmond Halley, but the description was not published until after Halley's death in 1742. It is not known why Halley did not publi..
Tech giants are investing billions in a transformative technology Commanding the plot lines of Hollywood films, covers of magazines and reams of newsprint, the contest between artificial intelligence (AI) and mankind draws much attention. Doomsayers warn that AI could eradicate jobs, break laws and start wars. But such predictions concern the distant future. The competition today is not between ..
Amazon's position today is earlier reminiscent of Walmart's circa 1999 A boa constrictor swallowing capitalism. A cyclone dragging the economy into its vortex. If you look back at how people described Walmart a decade ago, it is eerily similar to how Amazon is viewed now. The supermarket chain has "a scale of economic power we haven't encountered before", warned "The Walmart Effect", a best sell..
A campaign promise kept, a problem aggravated Even before Donald Trump issued his proclamation recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, stiff opposition was brewing. Pope Francis and the Supreme Leader of Iran denounced his plan to move America's embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. So did the UN Secretary-General, the prime minister of Italy and a global chorus of diplomats. If anything, ..