Is it possible to retain a liberal democracy* without an independent judiciary? That's the question behind huge protests in Israel over the last two weeks. Earlier this week, for example, an estimated 100,000 protestors took to the streets in Jerusalem to demonstrate against the government's plan to allow the legislature to void decisions of the country's supreme court. But for other Israelis, the judiciary is seen as subverting the will of the voters by overturning laws passed by the legislature. (*In political science, a "liberal" democracy is one that respects civil liberties, not one that espouses progressive values.) www.nytimes.com/2023/02/13/world/middleeast/israel-judicial-protests-netanyahu.html

Valentine's Day is a major chocolate-giving holiday. This site has an interesting collection of links related to the geography of chocolate: cocoarunners.com/the-geography-of-chocolate/

The Super Bowl attracts more gambling dollars than any other single event, and in 2023 more Americans than ever before had the opportunity to bet on the Super Bowl via online gaming sites. This map shows the legal status of of sports betting in the U.S. www.americangaming.org/research/state-gaming-map/

Would you want to know which day you were going to die? That's the premise of a new science fiction book The Measure in which people all over the world are delivered a box that contains information about how much longer they have left to live.  (Would you open the box?)  It's also the premise of the website www.death-clock.org.  (Will you click on that link?) Science is still not particularly good at making these estimates, which might give us some psychological wiggle room regardless of what Death Clock comes up with, but what will happen as medical estimates improve?  Do you want to know when you will die?  If you do, would you want the day or just a range?  How might the information change the way you live?

This map from Geographical (UK) is a reminder that the Eurasian plate, from Italy through Iran, is intensely seismically active: geographical.co.uk/science-environment/danger-zones-mapping-earthquakes-in-europe

The biogeography of Siberia is changing as melting permafrost in the tundra is exposing viruses previously unknown to science, some of which have been trapped in the ice for tens of thousands of years. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/12/02/zombie-virus-russia-permafrost-thaw/

Although some locations in the U.S. have gotten massive amounts of snow this winter -- 9.7 feet in Buffalo, New York, for example, and nearly 43 feet on Mammoth Mountain in California's Sierra Nevadas -- other traditionally snowy places like Boston and Chicago have received below-average snowfall. https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/02/03/us-snowfall-extremes-map

The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore has a series of free videos and downloadable activity packets to encourage children to make art, linked to the Walters' collection, at home: thewalters.org/experience/virtual/adventures/

Over the last two decades, China's economic influence in Africa has grown enormously, as a lender, as a buyer of raw materials, and, as this map shows, as a primary source of imported goods. www.statista.com/chart/26668/main-import-countries-sources-africa

Chicago is hoping to further its ambitions of becoming a tech hub by attracting tech workers laid off by firms in Silicon Valley and elsewhere to the Windy City.  Specifically, Chicago is trying to make itself a destination for holders of H-1B visas.  H-1B visas, which are reserved for in-demand occupations, require employer sponsorship; when holders of H-1B visas are laid off, they have only 60 days to find a new employer willing to sponsor their visa or they must leave the country. (Roughly 40% of software engineers working in the U.S. were born outside the country.) A consortium of Chicago employers and civic groups is trying to target laid off H-1B visa holders to fill job openings, keep tech talent in the U.S., and promote Chicago as a destination for top tech talent.  www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-25/chicago-seeks-to-lure-foreign-workers-laid-off-by-tech-giants

Of the estimated 458 wildlife encounters that prove fatal for Americans each year, 440 of them are with deer. This map, based on crash data from State Farm, shows where Americans are most likely to have a auto claim involving an animal, with drivers in West Virginia, Montana, and Michigan being the most likely to collide with an animal.  According to State Farm, about 70% of animal-related auto claims nationally are due to collisions with deer specifically. (Map from www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/01/20/deer-car-collisions/.)

As this map shows, thus far, the winter has proved warmer than usual in most of Europe, which has allowed natural gas and other energy prices to fall back to more normal levels. But a colder-than-usual winter in parts of Asia is creating natural gas shortages and heating problems in China, in particular.   (Map from www.nytimes.com/2023/01/25/business/china-natural-gas-shortages.html.)

Cursory. Misnomer. Squall. Abjure. Those are recent words featured as the New York Times Learning Network's word of the day.  During the school year, the site offers a new word each day (M-F) along with examples of the word's usage from The New York Times.  www.nytimes.com/spotlight/learning-quizzes-crosswords

Megacities are generally defined as metropolitan areas of at least 10 million people. There are currently 33-35 megacities, depending on who is counting and who is being counted. This map looks at cities expected to reach megacity status by 2050: bucket.mlcdn.com/a/2764/2764870/images/0d7ca37bc55b1c8101a1a5e77cb243aae75162b2.jpeg

As this article from Foreign Policy makes clear, FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried were not based in the Bahamas just because of the pleasant weather.  Instead, the Bahamas was chosen for its crypto-friendly regulatory framework, the most recent banking initiative of an island nation that has frequently found ways to take advantage of interstices in the global economy. foreignpolicy.com/2023/01/15/the-hidden-history-of-the-worlds-top-offshore-cryptocurrency-tourist-trap

This article from The Washington Post provides a fascinating look at cutting-edge techniques for exploring remote places -- including the use of diving robots and sensors on animals -- as well as the significance of the Denman Glacier in East Antarctica.  www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/01/18/climate-change-glacier-antarctica/

A new ban on high-capacity magazines and assault-style weapons came into effect in Illinois earlier this month, resulting in this map of states that have laws on the books for these: cdn.statcdn.com/Infographic/images/normal/18924.jpeg

When can a promise be changed in the face of altered circumstances? That is the crux of the issue behind major strikes in France this week over the government's proposal to raise the retirement age by 2 years, from 62 to 64, in 2030.  According to Stanford's Center for Longevity, half of today's 5-year-olds can expect to live to age 100 -- and, according to the Center for Longevity, we are not ready. Economic impacts are among the most obvious, from personal savings to growth-centric economic models to pension policies. For example, when the forerunner of France's pension system was established in the 1940s, life expectancy in France was less than 60; today French life expectancy is 82, and government spending on pensions comes to slightly more than 14% of GDP. But our attitudes towards aging, purpose, caregiving, the elderly, promise-keeping, even longevity itself may all be revisited in the years ahead.

January 25 is Robert Burns Night, a worldwide celebration of the Scottish poet. If you are looking to learn more about Robert Burns or Burns Night, check out https://www.scotland.org/events/burns-night. If you would like to find a local Burns Night celebration, Google "Burns Night event near me" -- you may be surprised how many options turn up.

This graphic from Statista, based on data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, shows the changing composition of undocumented migrants apprehended at the southern U.S. border over the last 20+ years, from largely Mexican citizens to largely people from countries other than Mexico. Over the last year, more than two-thirds of the non-Mexican migrants were NOT from Central America.  www.statista.com/chart/20326/mexicans-non-mexcians-apprehended-at-southern-us-border

Scientists continue to try to draw attention to Utah's Great Salt Lake, which is rapidly disappearing due to drought and water use policy. Without intervention, the Great Salt Lake may be entirely gone within 5 years! The issues are similar to Central Asia's Aral Sea: the diversion of water from the rivers that feed the lake leaving behind an expanse of toxic dust, threatening both wildlife and human health. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/01/06/great-salt-lake-utah-drying-up/

The ranges of three types of fungi that cause serious lung infections (histoplasmosis, coccidioidomycosis, and blastomycosis) are expanding in the U.S., as the series of maps based on Medicare data in this article show: www.sciencenews.org/article/fungi-cause-serious-lung-infections-found

This article explores the ethics of organ sales and invites readers to consider the extent to which humans are just sophisticated machines and, like other sophisticated machines -- say, your car -- occasionally require replacement parts that, perhaps, the marketplace should supply. Iran's organ-matching nonprofit is a case study.  www.wired.com/story/kidney-donor-compensation-market

The U.S. Department of State and Google Maps are now on board with Turkey's request to spell the name of the country "Türkiye." (To make the necessary ü in Word, use control-: and then the u.)

The University of Maryland is now accepting registrations for its summer Terp Young Scholars program for smart, motivated high school students. This is a three-week program for college credit, with options to participate in person (as a commuter student) or online. (Unfortunately, there is no residential option this year.) oes.umd.edu/pre-college-programs/terp-young-scholars