WSJ: “Enter bircher muesli. The formula for this stunner of a summer breakfast was invented around 1900 by one of the original nutrition influencers, Swiss doctor Maximilian Bircher-Benner. Still, this version’s virtuousness is more than matched by its deliciousness. Yes, it’s gluten-free. And thanks to a base of toasted coconut, nuts, seeds and shredded pears, the fiber content is off the charts. But the magic is not in the macros. It’s in this overnight recipe’s easy adaptability and the luxurious alchemy of texture and flavor that occurs while you’re doing nothing more than sleeping. Mixed with yogurt and honey and studded with dates, the muesli relaxes into velvety softness—resulting in a bowl that’s less sad overnight oats and more like a cool cousin to rice pudding. Still hellbent on leveling up? A few jewel-like berries or slices of plum do the trick.”
FT: ” In total [in India], there are over 50mn pending cases — up 50 per cent over the past decade. The vast majority involve property disputes…Namita Wahi, an expert on land rights and disputes with the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, thinks that India has such a high caseload of land disputes because land is “the most important resource as well as most connected intrinsically to community identity, history and culture.” In India, the world’s most populous country, nearly 60 per cent of people still depend on land for their livelihood via agriculture. It is the source for housing, livelihood, food, sustenance, water and forests. Wahi classifies land disputes in three categories: People vs people (like the argument that involves my apartment block); people vs state, such as when the government tries to take someone’s land for a development project; and state plus people.”
Noah Smith reviews “Breakneck” by Dan Wang: “If they’re so culturally similar, why, then, are China and the U.S. so different in so many real and tangible ways? Why is China gobbling up global market share in every manufactured product under the sun, while America’s industrial base withers away? Why did China manage to build the world’s biggest high-speed rail network in just a few years, while California has yet to build a single mile of operational train track despite almost two decades of trying? Why does China have a glut of unused apartment buildings, while America struggles to build enough housing for its people? Why is China building over a thousand ships a year, while America builds almost zero? Dan offers a simple explanation: The difference comes down to who runs the country. The U.S. has traditionally been run by lawyers, while the Chinese Communist Party tends to be run by engineers. The engineers want to build more stuff, while lawyers want to find a reason to not build more stuff.” More from Jonathan Sine.
