Vienna, where worlds collided
Plus: Covid damage, trash balloons, and deforestation
Hello and happy fall/autumn!
It’s been a while and I used to feel bad about not being consistent in sending it out weekly. But I started this newsletter in 2016, in a much different place to where I am now. Sometimes life gets in the way, and I’m a perfectionist. I’d rather publish something great than do something uninteresting because I’m lacking the time.
So what have I been up to? I went to New York, then Montreal, then I stayed in a very fancy London hotel for a week. I started as a data and graphics editor at CNN, and since I started in that job, I’ve been going back and forth between London and Wales a lot. I’ve barely had time to take a breath!
Over the pond
How Has Gun Violence Changed In Your Neighborhood?
This is from earlier in the year but has made me realise how much safer *most* of Manhattan is—and Queens too—than Brooklyn. I thought my old neighbourhood would be very safe but nope! I felt safe there, though.
How much is needed to afford a home?
This is a nice map of the US with the income you need to be able to afford a home there. Perhaps unsurprisingly, California is the most expensive ($193K) and Iowa is the cheapest ($59K). I’m not sure I would willingly move to Iowa, though? Sorry.
Everywhere else
North Korea is Sending South Korea a Torrent of Trash
The Reuters graphics team did a great job of bringing such an unusual story to life. My only change would be that the ‘cold open’ (which I love) feels a bit long, and it takes a while to get to the story. But I really love the way they’ve approached this and it’s a story I’ve not seen anywhere else so I feel like I learned something totally new.
How Beef Demand Contributes to Deforestation in Australia
A really interesting story told through satellite imagery and data analysis, about how forests are being destroyed and the land used for raising cattle. I had no idea Australia was such a big producer of beef!
Odds and ends
I love these things that make you do a double-take at people who lived at the same time. For instance, in my head, Tolkien died at least a century ago, but nope! He was alive when Eminem was born. Also, this is quite mad:
For a brief period in the year preceding the First World War, the Austrian capital Vienna was simultaneously home to Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis; Adolf Hitler, the future dictator of Germany; Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary; Joseph Stalin, the future dictator of the Soviet Union; and Franz Joseph I, the penultimate emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
An Inside Look at Covid’s Lasting Damage to the Lungs
Fascinating piece about how Covid damages lungs. Actually quite shocking to see the impact. I got Covid for the first time a couple of months ago and it was easily the most physically sick I’ve been in a very long time. The toll of Covid was and is horrific and I bet we—even now—still don’t fully understand its impact on the body.
That’s everything I have for this week! Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed Fair Warning, please forward to friends and tell them how great it is. If you REALLY liked it, you can buy me a coffee. And as always, you can get in touch with me on X at @SophWarnes or by replying to this email. You’re also welcome to submit things to me, and while I can’t promise to feature them, I do promise I will take a look.