Lumber prices have become the world’s most improbable geopolitical barometer—a softwood seismograph that twitches every time a Canadian beetle sneezes or a Swedish forest decides to unionize. From Jakarta’s plywood mills to Oslo’s cross-laminated timber towers, the cost of two-by-fours is now quoted with the same reverence once reserved for crude oil and palladium futures….
Baltimore’s Birds, Beijing’s Bargains, and the Global Currency of Orange Plumage By Our Feathered-Beat Correspondent, Somewhere between the Chesapeake and the Chang Jiang If you thought orioles were merely a mid-table MLB franchise whose biggest export is overpriced crab-cake sandwiches, kindly adjust your binoculars. The word “oriole” is currently flapping across borders faster than a…
Severe Thunderstorm Warning: The Planet’s Mood Ring Flashes Amber Again By Dave’s Locker International Desk PARIS—Somewhere in the bureaucratic hush of the World Meteorological Organization, a color-coded map the size of Monaco just turned a queasy shade of puce. That, dear reader, is the international signal for “severe thunderstorm warning,” a phrase now so routinely…
