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436 lines
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<title>10 February, 2024</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Trying to Keep His Family Safe in Rafah</strong> - As Israel’s military campaign turns to what has become Gaza’s home for displaced civilians, a Palestinian aid worker describes his long journey to the city, and how he talks to his kids about air strikes. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/trying-to-keep-his-family-safe-in-rafah">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Is the Media Prepared for an Extinction-Level Event?</strong> - Ads are scarce, search and social traffic is dying, and readers are burned out. The future will require fundamentally rethinking the press’s relationship to its audience. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-weekend-essay/is-the-media-prepared-for-an-extinction-level-event">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Friendship Challenge</strong> - How envy destroyed the perfect connection between two teen-age girls. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/12/the-friendship-challenge">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Art World Before and After Thelma Golden, by Calvin Tomkins</strong> - When Golden was a young curator in the nineties, her shows, centering Black artists, were unprecedented. Today, those artists are the stars of the art market. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/12/the-art-world-before-and-after-thelma-golden">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Teen’s Fatal Plunge Into the London Underworld</strong> - After Zac Brettler mysteriously plummeted into the Thames, his grieving parents were shocked to learn that he’d been posing as an oligarch’s son. Would the police help them solve the puzzle of his death? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/12/a-teens-fatal-plunge-into-the-london-underworld">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Beware: A cheese crisis looms</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Mvg9KijwPcf0aNUeX4CGAWgSH0w=/0x0:8164x6123/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73128146/GettyImages_1353866746.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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A chunk of camembert melts off a spatula. | Jonathan Knowles/Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Gird your curds! Say a prayer for Camembert! A collapse in microbe diversity puts these French cheeses at risk.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1707504724.775279">
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Camembert, I’m sorry to report, is in trouble.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O1Kad4">
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The soft cheese, which smells a bit like feet, is on the “verge of extinction,” <a href="https://news.cnrs.fr/articles/french-cheese-under-threat">according to</a> the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). Other cheeses, including brie and various blues, are under threat, too, the group has warned.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kidQx4">
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This looming cheese crisis, this Camembert calamity, stems from a much bigger problem: a collapse in microbial diversity.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5StCCC">
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Each hunk of Camembert or smear of brie is an ecosystem, an assortment of fungi and bacteria that turn milk fats and proteins into hundreds of different compounds. Those compounds produce the flavors, smells, and textures we love.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sdTPd8">
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In recent decades, however, the genetic diversity of some of those microbes has caved. And today, some of the most famous French cheeses rely on just a single fragile strain of fungi that is at risk of dying out.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8VJzTw">
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This is bad news for France, bad news for bread, and bad news for lovers of fine cheese the world over. And it’s a reminder that biodiversity matters, even when you can’t see it. Life’s finer things, indeed, depend on it.
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</p>
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/VfoYPMIunQEhNENUSTztVW1TuZA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25276794/IMG_5769.jpeg"/> <cite>Benji Jones on assignment for Vox</cite>
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<figcaption>
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A wheel of Camembert that this author was forced to buy and taste for this story.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<h3 id="VQRIgL">
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Why Camembert as we know it could disappear
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kZvo4M">
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To make cheese, producers typically take fresh milk and mix in bacteria and often fungi, including both yeasts and molds (fungi that tend to be fuzzy). Different microbe melanges produce different varieties of cheese.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RvSTUQ">
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Historically, Camemberts and bries likely relied on mold strains from a species of fungi called Penicillium biforme, according to Jeanne Ropars, an evolutionary biologist who works at a lab affiliated with CNRS. Each strain was slightly different genetically, and so the resulting cheeses had slightly different colors, flavors, and smells.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Xx0f4U">
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Roughly a century ago, however, cheesemakers identified a particular strain of P. biforme that was fast-growing and albino; it produced a fluffy white mold that was, apparently, quite appetizing. This strain, known as Penicillium camemberti, was henceforth considered the gold standard for brie and Camembert (which differ from one another mainly in size). It quickly dominated the cheese industry, and the diverse group of other mold strains used to make Camembert and brie, and the colors they produced, vanished from disuse.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="USnwuK">
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Today, all Camembert and brie cheeses worldwide are inoculated with this one genetically identical albino strain of fungi, which is not found in the wild, Ropars said. That means that a brie from a grocery store in France and one from a bodega in New York City have identical (or nearly identical) Penicillium microbes.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CL7jsy">
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This is a good thing for those who value uniformity; for people who expect their brie to look a certain way, just as they might want their tomatoes to be perfectly round and their apples bright red.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="05TqJI">
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But uniformity comes at a cost.
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</p>
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt="A hand in a blue plastic glove holds a pile of small white cheese curds." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6sTU16TrRR_jlzvFLleYcc-Pz4I=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25275411/GettyImages_1247927412.jpg"/> <cite>Zoccolan/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
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<figcaption>
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A worker of the Farm Cite des Vents shows cheese curds, in Saint-Flour, central France, on February 28, 2023.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mGkLAX">
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For reasons that are not totally clear, the albino strain can’t reproduce sexually, like most molds can — meaning, it can’t “breed” with another individual to create new genetic diversity. So to create more of this fungi, cheesemakers have to clone it, not unlike how you propagate a plant using a cutting. Yet decades of replicating the same individual can introduce harmful errors into its genome, Ropars said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CzwkQh">
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That’s what’s happened with P. camemberti. In recent decades, the albino fungus picked up mutations that interfere with its ability to produce spores, and that makes it much harder to clone. Put simply: It’s now difficult for cheesemakers to grow the key fungus used to make brie and Camembert.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ar2pVs">
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“Camembert is not going to disappear tomorrow,” Ropars said, and it’s not clear how these challenges will impact cheese supply. “But it’s going to be more and more difficult to produce.”
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</p>
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<h3 id="ZvMEDT">
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Our foods, more broadly, are losing resilience
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="atsl6y">
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In the world of cheese, this problem is not unique to Camembert and brie. The diversity of fungi used to make blue cheeses, like Gorgonzola and Roquefort, has also shrunk dramatically in recent decades, Ropars said. Farmers have similarly selected certain strains that produce the right look, aroma, and flavor, narrowing the genetic pool. So far, these strains — which are considered “domesticated” microbes — can still reproduce, but some are <a href="https://news.cnrs.fr/articles/french-cheese-under-threat">nearly infertile</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ltd4Vn">
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This rapid caving of genetic diversity threatens other food industries, too, as the author Dan Saladino writes in his book <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/eating-to-extinction-the-world-s-rarest-foods-and-why-we-need-to-save-them/9780374605322"><em>Eating to Extinction: The World’s Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them</em></a>. Most bananas we eat, for example, are genetically similar. That means that if a pathogen evolves the right machinery to kill one, it can kill many — which is a very <a href="https://time.com/5730790/banana-panama-disease/">real threat</a>.
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</p>
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt="A stack of camembert cheeses in a shop." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wcTmK7bt2ibw8eQ9j8n-9URGTf0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25274939/GettyImages_907139116.jpg"/> <cite>Sean Gallup/Getty Images</cite>
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<figcaption>
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A cheese stand in Berlin, Germany.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yNrjN3">
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Uniformity is especially bad in a warming world. Different genetic varieties of plants, such as wheat, have different strengths and weaknesses; some might be more tolerant to, say, long periods of drought. Losing diversity means losing different strengths that may ensure the survival of a particular food.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IvMo7H">
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“When you lose diversity within a species, you lose adaptability,” said Tatiana Giraud, a colleague of Ropars who also works at CNRS.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jlkxQb">
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This diversity matters among communities of wild organisms, as well, Giraud said, whether or not you can see them. Fungal communities, though poorly studied, are invisible forces in the environment, operating in the background to ensure that ecosystems function properly. They can break down dead leaves and branches, help plants absorb nutrients, and clear toxins from the soil. Protecting the diversity of fungal species, <a href="https://apps.fs.usda.gov/r6_decaid/views/fungi.html">scientists say</a>, safeguards these critical services.
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</p>
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<h3 id="dUA1c0">
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Get comfortable with funkier cheeses
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="J7JK41">
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Ultimately, this doesn’t mean that we must bid farewell to brie, or that Camembert on toast is, let’s say, toast. There is a way to save these cheeses, though it requires some changes in our own taste and tolerance.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OQj7Vv">
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To make Camembert or brie, cheese producers could simply inoculate cow’s milk with other Penicillium biforme molds, which are naturally present in raw milk (these microbes would need to be manually added if the milk is pasteurized). As a group, Penicillium biforme has a lot of genetic diversity and these molds are able to produce sexually, Ropars said, which is key to maintaining genetic diversity.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eTVTMC">
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P. biforme is closely related to the albino strain, though it might give the cheeses a slightly different look and aroma. Perhaps your wheel of brie would be a bit more blue or gray, or slightly funkier. But this is something that consumers should embrace, Ropars said: a diverse mix of flavors, of smells, a resilient collection of bugs.
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>Taylor Swift, the NFL, and two routes to cultural dominance</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/o41J1plkXr1mocVredHue0ybNvI=/119x0:5452x4000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73128053/1970250659.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Super Bowl 2024 is a classic American story and these two are our main characters. | Patrick Smith/Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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An extra-super Super Bowl is in store.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QSOpe8">
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Sometime on Sunday, the white-hot center of the biggest spectator events of the past year will arrive in Las Vegas. Their every move will be tracked by relentless media and even more relentless fans.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2nHw0N">
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Also, a football game will be played.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yefg41">
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There will be no shortage of storylines at <a href="https://www.vox.com/super-bowl">Super Bowl</a> LVIII, which — I’ll save you the <a href="https://www.vox.com/google">Google</a> search — kicks off at 6:30 pm ET on February 11. Can Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes win their second-straight title? Will <a href="https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35674661/history-mr-irrelevant-nfl-draft-every-final-pick-1976">Mr. Irrelevant</a> — San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy — strike a blow for anyone who was ever picked last in gym class and take home the Lombardi trophy? Will Las Vegas sports books clean up on the <a href="https://www.americangaming.org/new/record-50-million-americans-to-wager-16b-on-super-bowl-lvii/">$16 billion</a> — more than the total GDP of Madagascar — Americans are projected to bet on the big game? (My predictions: yes, no, and absolutely.)
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tciiwf">
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What will make this Super Bowl so important, at least for many of the <a href="https://www.predicthq.com/blog/super-bowl-lviii-127-million-tuning-in-to-watch-the-chiefs-vs-49ers">more than 120 million Americans</a> who will probably tune in to watch the game, will be the expected presence of one Taylor Alison Swift. A brief recap for anyone who until recently took up residence under a rock: This past fall, Swift <a href="https://www.billboard.com/lists/taylor-swift-travis-kelce-relationship-timeline/september-24-the-big-game/">started dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce</a> and began showing up to his games. People — everyone, really, but <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/vivek-ramaswamy-shares-wild-speculation-on-super-bowl-amid-taylor-swift-and-travis-kelces-romance-101706617151700.html">especially guys like this</a> — went crazy.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OwurL6">
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For all their differences — Swift ruthlessly mines her emotions for her music; emotions can result in a 15-yard penalty in the NFL — what Swift and pro football have in common is sheer cultural weight.
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</p>
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<aside id="DBcaOj">
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<div>
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</div>
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</aside>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OL6vo3">
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Swift’s Eras Tour is <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/year-in-music-charts-2023-taylor-swift-1234936629/">the highest-grossing concert tour ever</a>, taking in more than the next two biggest 2023 tours combined. She broke the record for most global streams ever on <a href="https://www.vox.com/spotify">Spotify</a> at more than 26.1 billion in 2023 — or more than three streams for every human on Earth — and had four of the 10 most-consumed albums this year, all without actually releasing an album of new music. When she <a href="https://people.com/grammys-2024-taylor-swift-wins-album-of-the-year-makes-history-8553482">made history</a> with her fourth Album of the Year Grammy last week, it was just one more jewel in the tiara.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LxOJg9">
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On the other side, the NFL is to the rest of the entertainment industry what <a href="https://www.nfl.com/players/jordan-mailata/">6-foot-8, 365-pound Philadelphia Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata</a> would be to a peewee football player. Of the 100 most-watched broadcasts in 2023, NFL games <a href="https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/nfl-us-tv-most-watched-broadcasts-top-100-2023-super-bowl-viewership/#:~:text=The%20NFL's%20increased%20its%20annual,events%20as%20its%20dominance%20continues.&text=National%20Football%20League%20(NFL)%20games,last%20year's%20total%20of%2082.">accounted for 93<em> </em>of them</a>, up from <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/01/07/nfl-tv-ratings-live-events-viewership">82 in 2023 and 72 in 2020</a>. The NFL pulls in about as much revenue <a href="https://nesn.com/bets/2023/07/you-wont-believe-how-much-more-revenue-the-nfl-rakes-in-over-mlb-nba-and-nhl/#:~:text=The%20margin%20of%20difference%20between,a%20whopping%20%2425%20billion%20annually.">as the NBA and MLB combined</a>. Of the 50 most valuable sports franchises in the world, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2023/09/08/the-worlds-50-most-valuable-sports-teams-2023/?sh=51a5b2932b44">30 of them are NFL teams</a>. By just about every metric, the already dominant NFL is going <a href="https://svdictionary.com/words/up-and-to-the-right">up and to the right</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yar5Ui">
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Swift and the NFL are each bigger than big. But what’s really illustrative of American entertainment today is how different their paths to the top have been.
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</p>
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<h3 id="h3rIGc">
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No one player is bigger than the NFL
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xEeMuk">
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If you check out SportsPro’s ranking of the <a href="https://50mm.sportspromedia.com/athletes/">50 most marketable global athletes</a>, you have to go all the way down to 35 — past NBA stars, F1 drivers, and soccer players — to get to an NFL player: Travis Kelce. And with all due respect to Kelce’s Hall of Fame career, I have a feeling that has more to do with his girlfriend than his <a href="https://www.nfl.com/players/travis-kelce/stats/career">74 career touchdown receptions</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I5eZH7">
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In any other sport, the fact that the most successful team, the Chiefs, is based in the league’s <a href="https://247wallst.com/media/2022/01/20/the-nfl-teams-with-the-largest-tv-market-are-the-giants-and-jets/">25th-biggest media market</a> would be a problem. When the small-market Denver Nuggets won last year’s NBA finals, ratings notably <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/nba-finals-ratings-hampered-short-223340493.html">dipped</a>. But such things don’t matter in the NFL, where the Chiefs <a href="https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/36920001/super-bowl-lvii-was-most-watched-telecast-ever-according-updated-data">set ratings records</a> in last year’s Super Bowl and will likely do so again.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kpjOli">
|
||
Other sports are also dependent on individual players to generate interest: see <a href="https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/messi-mania-highlights-epic-year-mls-garber-says-2023-12-08/">Messi-mania in Major League Soccer</a>. When Michael Jordan finally retired, NBA viewership <a href="https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2023/06/nba-ratings-analysis-deep-dive-playoff-finals-viewership/">plunged for years</a> as the league struggled to find a new star around which to orbit. Contrast that to the NFL, which just spent its first season since 1999 without Tom Brady. Brady — as much as it pains everyone outside the greater Boston area to say, including me — is the NFL’s equivalent to Jordan, with one more ring. Yet when Brady left, ratings just kept going up and up.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AKImhS">
|
||
It wasn’t primarily Brady or Mahomes or Kelce that people were tuning in to see. It’s NFL football itself, and no player is bigger than the National Football League.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Sd7jpk">
|
||
But no one is bigger than Taylor Swift.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="L5qKqL">
|
||
A singular superstar
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x5obmp">
|
||
If the NFL has made itself into the biggest, most powerful, most watched institution in entertainment, Swift has risen to the pinnacle by disrupting every institution around her. Get into a dispute with your former record label over ownership of your original album masters? Just re-record and release the albums — and watch years-old songs zoom to the top of the charts. Want to make a concert film of your epic Eras Tour? Cut out the middlemen and <a href="https://time.com/6342992/taylor-swift-amc-eras-tour-movie-deal/">make a deal directly</a> with the theater chain AMC — and watch that movie become the <a href="https://variety.com/2024/film/news/taylor-swifts-the-eras-tour-highest-grossing-theatrical-concert-film-1235863956/#:~:text=Among%20concert%20films%2C%20%E2%80%9CThe%20Eras,at%20the%20global%20box%20office.">highest-grossing concert film ever</a>. As Swift <a href="https://time.com/6342992/taylor-swift-amc-eras-tour-movie-deal/">told Time magazine</a>, which made her its 2023 Person of the Year: “I bet on myself.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MimWFv">
|
||
Swift is able to do all this not just because she has talent and moxie, but because she has been able to forge an unusually strong relationship with her fans. That’s how you create so much enthusiasm that your concert fans <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/27/entertainment/taylor-swift-seismic-activity/index.html">generate the equivalent of a 2.3-magnitude earthquake</a> at a Seattle show (one twice as powerful as the seismic activity generated during a 2011 NFL playoff game in Seattle).
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ztqESX">
|
||
Attending an Eras show is not unlike attending, say, a Green Bay Packers game at Lambeau Field: The emotions are intense, the screaming never stops, and a lot of people are <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/kristenharris1/swifties-the-eras-tour-outfits">in</a> <a href="https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/sports/nfl/packers/fans/2019/10/18/packers-tailgating-scene-outside-lambeau-filled-crazy-characters-goofy-goodness/3898705002/">costume</a>. The difference is that everyone at an Eras show is there to see Taylor and Taylor alone — and she always wins.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YGlmt3">
|
||
So when Swift meets the NFL at Super Bowl LVIII, it won’t just be a collision of pop and jocks, women and men, glitter and grime. It’ll be the singular superstar contrasted with what might be America’s last, best collective industry.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6AtANK">
|
||
And should Travis Kelce get down on one knee before Swift after the game — something that, like everything else in the Super Bowl, <a href="https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/taylor-swift-super-bowl-bets-travis-kelce-1235898359/">you can place a bet on</a> — then through one prism, it’ll be a classic American story: the football captain and the homecoming queen living happily ever after.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PlWS4e">
|
||
Viewed another way, it’ll still be another kind of classic American story: a corporate mega-merger that ends up with the big getting bigger.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VCmOJL">
|
||
<em>This story appeared originally in </em><em>Today, Explained</em><em>, Vox’s flagship daily newsletter. </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/pages/today-explained-newsletter-signup"><em><strong>Sign up here for future editions</strong></em></a><em>.</em>
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>Why Ukraine’s new top general is known as the “butcher”</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zimDbMSSGxXczqvfqbv-fl9tPYI=/304x0:5168x3648/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73127422/1243219237.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a flag-hoisting ceremony in Izium after the Ukrainian forces took control of the city from the Russian forces in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on September 14, 2022. | Metin AktaÅ/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
A major military shake-up comes amid a fight in Congress over US funding for Ukraine.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GVVCT8">
|
||
<a href="https://www.vox.com/23819064/ukraine-war-counteroffensive-russia-mines-tanks">Ukraine’s military</a> underwent a major leadership shake-up this week, a decision that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/ukraine-ousts-top-general-in-reboot-of-war-effort-27b93cde">framed as a reset</a> for the country’s stalled war effort.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fgB1B4">
|
||
On Thursday, Zelenskyy announced that he’d be replacing General Valery Zaluzhny as the military’s leader after the two clashed over whether to back a new <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/31/zelensky-zaluzhny-ukraine-commander-ousted/">conscription push</a> as well as how to frame the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/04/world/europe/zelensky-rebuke-general-zaluzhny.html">war’s lack of progress</a> to the public. In his stead, Zelenskyy has named Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, the head of the military’s ground forces, as the country’s new commander-in-chief. Syrskyi is known for being a seasoned military leader who’s also been criticized for a willingness to put his troops at risk, so much so that some soldiers colloquially refer to him as the <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/zelensky-taps-oleksandr-syrskyi-dubbed-the-butcher-as-commander-in-chief">“butcher.”</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ucYq7L">
|
||
This change comes at a crucial time for Ukraine’s war with <a href="https://www.vox.com/russia">Russia</a>, which is nearly in its third year. While Ukraine had a string of early successes, including surprising the world by holding off an onslaught against Kyiv and retaking some territory in the summer of that year, its progress has slowed due to Russia’s entrenchment, dwindling funds, and limited manpower and weaponry. Currently, Ukraine is still waiting on the <a href="https://www.vox.com/congress">US Congress</a> to approve another $60 billion in military aid — a critical infusion of funding — and conservatives have balked at doing so.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v0TNBj">
|
||
All those issues mean replacing the country’s top general is unlikely to result in significant changes to Ukraine’s existing trajectory, and there may be elements of Syrskyi’s demonstrated style so far that worsen soldiers’ morale.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4V6Ui1">
|
||
Zelenskyy described the decision to switch commanders-in-chief at this point as fueled, in part, by a need for “<a href="https://t.me/V_Zelenskiy_official/9407">effective changes in the basis of our defense,</a>” so Ukraine can be successful moving forward. Beyond Zelenskyy’s strategic disagreements with Zaluzhny, <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/zelenskyy-fires-ukraines-top-general-zaluzhny/">some experts believe</a> the president saw the general, who was quite popular among Ukrainians, as a political threat.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E4t3Bg">
|
||
“During wartime, you want the president of the country and the top military chief to be working hand in glove and that did not seem to have been the case between the two of them,” Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Vox.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FfUDU7">
|
||
The shift to Syrskyi means Ukraine now has a military commander who is much more closely aligned with Zelenskyy, including any goals he has of launching <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/08/valery-zaluzhny-commander-ukraine-removed/">more high-profile assaults</a> this coming year.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="Oj3g2l">
|
||
Who is Syrskyi?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="M8F3k1">
|
||
Oleksandr Syrskyi is an experienced Ukrainian military leader who has led the country’s ground troops since 2019. In some ways, he’s seen by political experts as the logical Zaluzhny replacement given his extensive military expertise. He oversaw Ukraine’s success in Kyiv as well as a victory the country achieved in a 2022 counteroffensive in <a href="https://www.vox.com/c/world-politics/2023/5/10/23630754/russia-ukraine-war-kharkiv-city-transformed">Kharkiv</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eu0FCY">
|
||
At the same time, his pick has been controversial among soldiers because of how he handled a battle in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which lasted for more than nine months. That battle resulted in thousands of casualties and Russia ultimately taking the city. Syrskyi’s decision to stay in Bakhmut was scrutinized given how many people Ukraine lost and questions over whether the city was strategically important enough to justify those casualties.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bvjlcy">
|
||
Syrskyi <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/08/world/europe/ukraine-russia-war-oleksandr-syrsky.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-russia-ukraine&variant=show&region=BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT&block=storyline_flex_guide_recirc">reportedly argued that the losses were acceptable</a> because Ukraine killed far more Russians in the battle for Bakhmut than it lost. Many of his troops disagreed, however, and his strategy has since led some soldiers to give him some less-than-flattering nicknames.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pIbGzK">
|
||
“One hundred percent of [my subordinates] don’t respect him because they don’t think he counts soldiers’ lives,” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/08/valery-zaluzhny-commander-ukraine-removed/?_pml=1">one high-ranking Ukrainian official told the Washington Post</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JHdCNz">
|
||
If Zaluzhny was seen as disagreeing with Zelenskyy on strategic goals, Syrskyi is viewed as someone who is more closely aligned with him, in a way that some soldiers are wary of. As one major in Eastern Ukraine told the Post, Zelenskyy is known for wanting splashier wins, which could come at soldiers’ expense. Given Syrskyi’s record and alignment with Zelenskyy, that major feared he’d be less likely to try to fight the president on these ideas than his predecessor — a worry shared by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/09/world/europe/ukraine-oleksandr-syrsky-war-russia.html?unlocked_article_code=1.UE0.3x8v.ayf2LDQ5zn4m&smid=url-share">others in the military</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ln2n86">
|
||
Syrskyi seemed to try to acknowledge soldiers’ morale in his first statements. <a href="https://t.me/s/osirskiy">In a Telegram post</a> after his appointment, he said he is focused on ensuring that forces at the front lines will have a chance at “restoration” and that he is committed to investing in technologies like drones. “New tasks are on the agenda,” he wrote.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="8QbEPb">
|
||
Why is Zelenskyy shaking things up now?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7TYuPd">
|
||
Zaluzhny has been part of Ukraine’s military operation since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Nicknamed the “Iron General,” he’s widely respected in Ukrainian society.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cfzXco">
|
||
As Ukraine’s progress in the war has stalled, US military leadership has criticized Ukrainian tactics, with some indicating that the Ukrainians were too risk-averse and had failed to utilize complex approaches, according to the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/e83bd6fe-43b8-4adf-9bea-07609bc223d0">Financial Times</a>. Ukrainian officials and other experts have <a href="https://warontherocks.com/2023/09/perseverance-and-adaptation-ukraines-counteroffensive-at-three-months/">pushed back against that characterization</a>. For example, Michael Kofman, director of the Russia Studies Program at CNA, and Rob Lee, senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Eurasia Program, argued in a report for War on the Rocks that although <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2024/01/23/ukraine-ammunition-shortages-front-lines-pleitgen-pkg-ovn-hnk-vpx.cnn">insufficient tactical assistance</a> — notably airpower — is part of Ukraine’s problem, an insufficient Western understanding of the battlefield hasn’t helped either.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0fsVGC">
|
||
Ukraine had hoped to turn the tide of the war in a <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/9/7/23860308/ukraine-war-counteroffensive-united-states-debates">much-touted June offensive</a>. Instead, the battlefield returned to a state of attrition, with Ukraine “focused on reconstitution and digging in to defend against continued Russian attacks” amid diminishing Western reserves, <a href="https://warontherocks.com/2024/01/hold-build-and-strike-a-vision-for-rebuilding-ukraines-advantage-in-2024/">according to Kofman, Lee</a>, and Dara Massicot, senior fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="V9BL8J">
|
||
In <a href="https://www.understandingwar.org/ukraine-conflicts-updates-2023">December</a>, Russia and Ukraine traded drone attacks, with Russia targeting critical and civilian infrastructure as well as Ukraine’s defense industrial facilities in an attempt to degrade Ukraine’s ability to arm itself. Ukraine has tried to expand its defense industrial base amid wavering support from the international community, and especially its main military supporter, the US.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ces13z">
|
||
Those setbacks have left Ukraine with few options in an existential battle in which Russia is refusing to back down.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hxbUgi">
|
||
Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian politician and adviser to Zelenskyy’s office, <a href="https://t.me/M_Podolyak/228">wrote on his Telegram channel Thursday</a> that the personnel change was “due to the need to review the tactics of actions” in the June offensive, which “did not fully ensure the proper result.” Podolyak also pointed to “the need to prevent stagnation on the front line, which negatively affects public sentiment, to find new functional and high-tech solutions” on the battlefield.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1bUflE">
|
||
Beyond military issues, political concerns are also part of the shake-up. The rift between Zelenskyy and Zaluzhny is the most significant political conflict yet during the nearly two-year war. Overall, Ukraine’s political class and population have presented a united front in the face of Russia’s attacks, but some cracks are starting to show.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bkLTBo">
|
||
For example, 2024 presidential elections have been postponed due to the war; though “an overwhelming majority of Ukrainians understand that it doesn’t make sense to have elections right now,” Andrew D’Anieri, a resident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, said, not everyone agrees. There is <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-russia-war-zelenskyy-putin-afb3bc4714b1dca631bd4df6f931bd56">particular tension</a> about the delay between the president’s office and Ukraine’s mayors, particularly Vitali Klitschko of Kyiv.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="o2CUdQ">
|
||
The disagreement between Zelenskyy and the military leadership “is very frustrating for the government,” Simon Schlegel, senior Ukraine analyst at the International Crisis Group. “The main strength of [the Ukrainian] government has been its strong communication both with international partners, whose support is so important, but also with its own population. And losing a grip on that, I think that was one of the main drivers behind this decision.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WjOvAP">
|
||
Essentially, Zaluzhny’s departure is meant to ensure unity is maintained — not just between politicians and the populace but among the top levels of Zelenskyy’s administration.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="fyJavq">
|
||
Will Syrskyi turn things around?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ok0QoR">
|
||
Both Zaluzhny and Syrskyi are respected leaders and tacticians, but the new leadership is <a href="https://prospect.org/world/2024-02-05-make-or-break-year-ukraine/">unlikely to dramatically change battlefield dynamics</a> — and that may not even be the purpose of the shake-up.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0yo22A">
|
||
Amid the drone proliferation on the battlefield, Zaluzhny publicly <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukrainian-army-chief-sets-out-priorities-article-amid-uncertainty-over-his-2024-02-01/">called for more investment into advanced technology</a>, as well as for more aggressive legislation around mobilization that would have expanded conscription to offset Ukraine’s battlefield losses and Ukrainian troops’ overextension.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zyr9R2">
|
||
Zelenskyy has tried to maintain an optimistic outlook about the war, both for the sake of Ukrainians and to garner support from the international community, the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-zaluzhni-resigning-rumors-zelenskyy-2aec18dd5729334dc647557fb17da597">Associated Press</a> reported in late January, while Zaluzhny took a darker view of the conflict. The two also disagreed about mobilization tactics — and that disjunction, according to Schlegel, may not improve under Syrskyi’s leadership.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="m2LKLb">
|
||
“Zelenskyy has always underlined that he doesn’t want to sacrifice soldiers if he can save them, and I think that was one of the main sources of tension between Zelenskyy and Zaluzhny,” he told Vox. “It’s probably also going to be a source of tension between Zelenskyy and Syrskyi — that army leadership wants more resources and more human resources, and the government has only so much.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="44oDoh">
|
||
In 2024, Ukraine’s tactics will largely be defensive, Schlegel said. On the battlefield, this will consist of building fortified defensive positions — like underground bunkers and tunnels, as <a href="https://warontherocks.com/2024/01/hold-build-and-strike-a-vision-for-rebuilding-ukraines-advantage-in-2024/">Kofman, Lee, and Massicot write</a> — while building up tactical capacity to make the most of remaining Western weaponry, ensuring greater mobilization of troops, and improving and scaling up training programs with the support of Western forces.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LTexNM">
|
||
Significant wins will be difficult to accomplish without sustained Western support. The <a href="https://www.vox.com/european-union">European Union</a> recently approved a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-agrees-50-bln-euro-ukraine-aid-package-what-are-reactions-2024-02-01/">50 billion euro support package for Ukraine</a>, but that won’t be enough to make up the difference should Republicans in Congress continue to hold up military aid to Ukraine or refuse to supply it altogether.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Field Of Dreams, and Endurance catch the eye</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Spinners will play key role in upcoming T20 WC: Maharaj</strong> - South Africa’s Keshav Maharaj believes that the T20 format will help in the growth and development of cricket</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ind vs Eng Tests | Kohli out for remainder of series; pacer Akash Deep gets maiden call-up</strong> - The only new face in the 17-man squad is Bengal speedster Akash Deep, who has been rewarded for his consistent show in first-class cricket and in recent India A vs England Lions Test series.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Morning Digest | Bihar BJP MLAs shifted to Bodh Gaya ahead of floor test; five dead in violence after demolition of ‘illegal’ structures in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani, and more</strong> - Here is a select list of stories to start the day</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Wrestling trials for Olympic qualifiers and Asian wrestling championships postponed</strong> - The trials for men (freestyle and Greco-Roman) will be held at Sonepat, while Patiala will host the women’s trials</p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
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<ul>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Injured leopard dies in Tirupati Zoo</strong> -</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Parliamentary proceedings | Five years of 17th Lok Sabha was of reform, perform, transform: PM Modi</strong> - Modi said that during the last five years, game-changing reforms were made in which a strong foundation of a 21st century India can be seen</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>‘Anti-farmer’ Land Reforms Act, 2020, brought in by BJP will be amended, Siddaramaiah assures farmers</strong> - “Raitha Sangha leader Nanjundaswamy’s struggle is a political inspiration for me,” the Karnataka Chief Minister says</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Telangana Govt to order enquiry into construction of Secretariat and Martyrs Memorial</strong> -</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>South-bound private buses in Chennai can pick up and drop passengers from in and around Koyambedu CMBT: Madras High Court</strong> - The Court however has ordered that these garages could not be listed as official pick-up or drop-off points; she said this interim measure could continue until all issues pertaining to bus companies completely shifting to the new Kilambakkam terminus were ironed out</p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
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<ul>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Seven killed after Russia drone hits Kharkiv petrol station</strong> - Three children are among the dead after the strike caused a fire that engulfed homes.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Ukrainians ‘disappearing’ in Russia’s prisons</strong> - Finding Ukrainian civilians in Russian captivity is hard - and there is no formal way to secure their release.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>From Poland to Spain, farmers ramp up protests</strong> - Europe’s farmers block roads in several countries complaining about EU measures and rising prices.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Putin takes charge as Carlson gives free rein to Kremlin</strong> - The Russian leader was given the opportunity to expound familiar grievances unchallenged.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Spain’s LGBT matador: ‘More will come out because of me’</strong> - Mario Alcalde is said to be Spain’s first openly LGBT matador, after revealing he is pansexual.</p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
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<ul>
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||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Building durable basketball players from the ground up (way up)</strong> - Can new scientific insights help the newest crop of NBA stars stay healthy? - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2002458">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Fake grass, real injuries? Dissecting the NFL’s artificial turf debate</strong> - Artificial turf has its advantages, but the NFLPA wants it banished from the NFL. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2002220">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Canada declares Flipper Zero public enemy No. 1 in car-theft crackdown</strong> - How do you ban a device built with open source hardware and software anyway? - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2002579">link</a></p></li>
|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A sleuthing enthusiast says he found the US military’s X-37B spaceplane</strong> - Officials didn’t disclose details about the X-37B’s orbit after its December launch. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2002584">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Big Pharma spends billions more on executives and stockholders than on R&D</strong> - Senate report points to greed and “patent thickets” as key reasons for high prices. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2002556">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What’s the difference between a Nirvana concert and a pirate orgy?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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||
<div class="md">
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
Either you come as you are, or you ARRR as you cum
|
||
</p>
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||
</div>
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||
<!-- SC_ON -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Comfortably-Canuk"> /u/Comfortably-Canuk </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1an5h9z/whats_the_difference_between_a_nirvana_concert/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1an5h9z/whats_the_difference_between_a_nirvana_concert/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A chicken farmer went to a local bar, sat next to a woman and ordered a glass of champagne.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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||
<div class="md">
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The woman saw this and said, “How about that? I just ordered a glass of champagne, too!”
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||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
“What a coincidence!” the farmer said, “This is a special day for me, I am celebrating.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“This is a special day for me too, I am also celebrating,” said the woman.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
“What a coincidence!” said the farmer.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
As they clinked glasses, he asked, “What are you celebrating?”
|
||
</p>
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“My husband and I have been trying to have a child for years, and today my gynecologist told me that I am pregnant!” she said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
“What a coincidence!” said the man. “I’m a chicken farmer and for years all of my hens were infertile, but today they are all laying fertilized eggs.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“That’s great!” said the woman, “How did your hens become fertile?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“I used a different cock!” he replied.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
The woman smiled, clinked her glass against the farmer’s and said, “what a coincidence!”
|
||
</p>
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||
</div>
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||
<!-- SC_ON -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/JustOurKind"> /u/JustOurKind </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1amtua5/a_chicken_farmer_went_to_a_local_bar_sat_next_to/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1amtua5/a_chicken_farmer_went_to_a_local_bar_sat_next_to/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What do prostitutes get paid with?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
In come
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/yacozaragoza"> /u/yacozaragoza </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1an6fca/what_do_prostitutes_get_paid_with/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1an6fca/what_do_prostitutes_get_paid_with/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What’s the difference between a cow and the crucifixion?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
You can’t milk a cow for 2000 years
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/cosi_bloggs"> /u/cosi_bloggs </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1an85me/whats_the_difference_between_a_cow_and_the/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1an85me/whats_the_difference_between_a_cow_and_the/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How do you stop internal bleeding?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Go outside
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/OliverGunzitwuntz"> /u/OliverGunzitwuntz </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1and9xg/how_do_you_stop_internal_bleeding/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1and9xg/how_do_you_stop_internal_bleeding/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
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