This week: When a nation doesn’t have a functioning president / Returning a tribal item / Sade remains the queen of chill / The life of George Floyd / Coronavirus and pregnancy
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1. Lip service
By Geoff Edgers | The Washington Post | October 2020
“Sarah Cooper became famous mocking Trump. She’ll be just fine if he loses.”
2. What happens to national security and foreign relations if the president is incapacitated?
By Gordon Adams | The Conversation | October 2020
“[A]t a time when many senior officials – including most of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – are quarantining, the country is not completely rudderless. That’s true even in a situation where the vice president has not become acting president, or if there are political or legal battles over the succession process.”
3. How a Scrap of Papyrus Launched a Reconsideration of Early Christianity
By Ariel Sabar | LitHub | October 2020
“But in the late 1800s, fragments of papyrus bearing traces of these lost scriptures began turning up at archaeological sites and antiquities shops across Egypt. The story they told about the earliest centuries of Christianity would force historians to reexamine almost everything they thought they knew about the world’s predominant faith.”
4. How to Return a Tribal Item
By Malia Wollan | Tip :: The New York Times Magazine | October 2019
“You will be asked to describe it, and often to submit a photo.”
5. George Floyd’s America: Born with two strikes
By Toluse Olorunnipa and Griff Witte | The Washington Post | October 2020
“How systemic racism shaped Floyd’s life and hobbled his ambition”
6. The peril and the promise
By Henry Curr | The Economist | October 2020
“The covid-19 pandemic will accelerate change in the world economy. That brings both opportunity and danger.”
7. Why singer Sade is the queen of quarantine and chill
By Chuck Arnold | The New York Post | October 2020
“Clearly, she likes to take her sweet time, and if anyone is allowed to move at her own chill pace amidst all the stresses of the world, it’s Sade.”
8. Why you should read this out loud
By Sophie Hardach | BBC Future | September 2020
“Most adults retreat into a personal, quiet world inside their heads when they are reading, but we may be missing out on some vital benefits when we do this.”
9. The eight secrets to a (fairly) fulfilled life
By Oliver Burkeman | The Guardian | September 2020
“What follows isn’t intended as an exhaustive summary. But these are the principles that surfaced again and again, and that now seem to me most useful for navigating times as baffling and stress-inducing as ours.”
10. Can a pregnant woman spread the coronavirus to her fetus?
Viral Questions :: Associated Press | July 2020
“It’s possible, but it seems to be relatively rare and scientists think they know why that is.”
Tell your friends!
stillness of heart 
Always find something of particular interest to me in each post. Stay well and informed.