Read it, then travel back in time one week and really liven up your watercooler conversation
My latest briefing for The Week got held just a bit past its prime, but in case you're still interested, here's everything there is to know about Kazakhstan. Or at least everything that I know. And, yes, I was asked to write this one because of my history on this beat.
By the way, my editors here are always looking for good briefing topics. The idea behind the briefings is to provide background information on something in the news or culture. Typically news articles mention, say, the Geneva Conventions, the Amish, or the morning-after pill, without explaining exactly what those things are and where they come from. Week briefings answer the questions newspapers and TV don't have time or space (or wit) for.
So if there's anything in the news you've been wanting the backstory on, let me know and I'll see if it's briefing material. We're all about serving our non-paying occasional readers.
Comments
Some ideas:
-Mormonism (Mitt Romney's presidential aspirations make this an issue)
-Jehovah's Witnesses (Mormonism made me think of it)
-North Korea
-IVF! (You've taught us, your occasional readers, a lot, but how much does America know?)
all I can think of at the moment.
Posted by: Jessica | November 28, 2006 8:16 AM
I would like to know more about the history of plagiarism in Ivy League graduate theses -- how often is an accusation leveled, how is it investigated, what are the consequences. (I know of one egregious case of a Harvard PhD -- systematically submitted piece by piece her brother's entire Princeton oeuvre. Appalling! Never exposed -- and I ain't telling!)
Posted by: J.D. | November 30, 2006 8:29 AM