Today we talk about California’s huge role in influencing gun control laws in the U.S. and about the backlashes. We discuss the state’s historic 1989 ban on assault weapons and why a federal judge issued an order to overturn that ban. And we talk to the mayor of San Jose, who wants his city to be the first in the United States to require gun owners to buy liability insurance.
A long-awaited inquiry into lockdown gatherings on Boris Johnson’s watch reveals lurid details of brash bashes. Yet the prime minister will be able, once again, to brush off the controversy. We ask why Switzerland is such a powerhouse in business and finance despite its modest resources. And how Russia’s war propaganda is winning over plenty of Twitter users. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer
George Georgallides is originally from a small island in Europe called Cypress. He grew up there, joined the army, and competed in Track & Field and Triatholons. He came to Los Angeles in 2005 for his studies, and has been stateside ever since. He is a passionate polymath, speaking quite a few languages, and regularly takes on new challenges. In learning these languages, he finds that he is able to breakdown barriers in connecting with people.
George has been in the health tech space for some time. When he started working on a pace maker, he interviewed surgeons who were working on patient with metabolic illnesses. Seeing these illnesses, which are lifestyle driven, was very formative for his mission to automate a healthy lifestyle.
Bay Curious listener Will Kardas heard once that it was a magical combination of spit and manure that allowed early San Franciscans to tame the sand dunes that became Golden Gate Park. We've got the true story behind the myth and more on the early history of this urban gem.
This is the first in a six-part series that explores the history behind some of our favorite features in the park. We kick off the series in our podcast feed on May 26, with new episodes appearing daily from May 30 to June 3.
Reported by Katrina Schwartz and Olivia Allen-Price. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz, Sebastian Miño-Bucheli and Brendan Willard. Additional support from Kyana Moghadam, Jessica Placzek, Carly Severn, Amanda Font, Ethan Lindsey, Vinnee Tong and Jenny Pritchett.
In which a surprisingly broad spectrum of conspiracists discovers a secret set of rules for outsmarting the U.S. government, and Ken wishes some of his enemies could be flogged more. Certificate #29113.
Abercrombie just had its worst day ever, but here was the real surprise: It’s best customers aren’t teens, they’re nostalgic Millennials. Amazon is pulling a move from Airbnb: Rent out the extra warehouse. And mining giant Glencore just pled guilty to having official “bribe rooms” at its offices. Bribe Rooms. Like rooms, but full of cash (and duffle bags).
$ANF $GLNCY $AMZN $ABNB
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Birds do it. Bees do it. Why the hell can't we do it? Called "The Sleep Whisperer," neurologist and sleep specialist Dr. W. Chris Winter joins for an updated encore of the thrilling 2-parter about why we need sleep, the ideal amount of it, what sleep does to the brain, insomnia, sleep stages, ideal bedtime conditions, and even the historical lore around sleep paralysis. Next week, we'll answer listener questions about everything from sleeping pills to brain performance to insomnia cures to apnea to sleepwalking to parenthood and shift work. Think of it as a free seminar to fix your life. Maybe. And I am currently spending time with my family after my dad’s emergency brain surgery a few weeks back, but put a few extra notes and updates on how we’re doing. Thanks for all the thoughts, friends.
Walt Whitman knew a great deal about democracy that we don’t. Most of that knowledge is concentrated in one stunning poem, Song of Myself.
In Song of Ourselves: Walt Whitman and the Fight for Democracy (Harvard UP, 2021), esteemed cultural and literary thinker Mark Edmundson offers a bold reading of the 1855 poem, included here in its entirety. He finds in the poem the genesis and development of a democratic spirit, for the individual and the nation. Whitman broke from past literature that he saw as “feudal”: obsessed with the noble and great. He wanted instead to celebrate the common and everyday. Song of Myself does this, setting the terms for democratic identity and culture in America. The work captures the drama of becoming an egalitarian individual, as the poet ascends to knowledge and happiness by confronting and overcoming the major obstacles to democratic selfhood. In the course of his journey, the poet addresses God and Jesus, body and soul, the love of kings, the fear of the poor, and the fear of death. The poet’s consciousness enlarges; he can see more, comprehend more, and he has more to teach.
In Edmundson’s account, Whitman’s great poem does not end with its last line. Seven years after the poem was published, Whitman went to work in hospitals, where he attended to the Civil War’s wounded, sick, and dying. He thus became in life the democratic individual he had prophesied in art. Even now, that prophecy gives us words, thoughts, and feelings to feed the democratic spirit of self
Jonathan Najarian is Lecturer of Rhetoric in the College of General Studies at Boston University. He is the editor of Comics and Modernism: History, Form, Culture, a collection of essays exploring the connections between avant-garde art and comics. He is also at work on a biography of the visual artist Lynd Ward, titled The Many Lives of Lynd Ward. He can be reached at joncn@bu.edu.