A new issue of International Viewpoint is out. The secret ingredient: Liquor companies love to claim they use closely guarded, centuries-old recipes — usually it’s just marketing. From Conversations with History, an interview with Stuart Altman on the struggle to reform healthcare in the US (from March 2012). An interview with Gideon Lewis-Kraus on pilgrimage, authenticity and traveling in a world of infinite choices. How hard can it be to measure a wall? Julian Champkin on the wonderful ever-lengthening Great Wall of China. David Sessions on how kids are not the best thing in the real world. A review of Celebrity Inc.: How Famous People Make Money by Jo Piazza. Jonathan Krohn, CPAC's boy wonder, is bucking the received wisdom that people become more conservative as they get older, a shift he attributes partly to philosophy (and more). The Library of Congress says it will preserve everything from a tinny 1888 recording of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” to Prince’s incendiary album “Purple Rain” as part of its latest slate of entries to the National Recording Registry. From America, Adam D. Hincks on wonders of the universe: New scientific discoveries and old truths.
