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CURIOUSMINDS
A weekly serving of great articles we curate, and original content we produce. So, all you have to do is pick, read, watch and listen. |
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Issue #208 - December 2025
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Stories from Around the World that Affect Us |
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Thailand-Cambodia border clashes
500,000 flee fighting
Fighting between Thailand and Cambodia has continued into December 2025, with cross-border shelling and air raids forcing more than half a million civilians to flee their homes and seek shelter, according to authorities. Officials from the two Southeast Asian neighbours accused each other of restarting the conflict that has killed at least 13 soldiers and civilians so far in December 2025 and led more than 500,000 people from both sides of the border to evacuate for safety.
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 US seizies oil tanker off Venezuela
BBC(War/Politics)
Sanctions have also been placed on some of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's relatives and businesses associated with what Washington calls his illegitimate regime. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters the seized vessel, called the Skipper, had been involved in "illicit oil shipping" and would be taken to an American port. Caracas has described it as an act of "international piracy".
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 Flood misery for Gazans
BBC (War/Politics)
The heavy rain has already deluged camps, and led several buildings to collapse. A steady stream of water trickles through openings in the tent Ghadir al-Adham shares with her husband and six children in Gaza City. Her family is still displaced after the war, and waiting for reconstruction to begin. "Here we are, living a life of humiliation," she told the BBC. "We want caravans. We want our homes rebuilt. We long for concrete to keep us warm. Every day I sit and cry for my children." |
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Famous chefs fighting PFAS bans
Health
California nearly triggered a seismic shift in American kitchens this fall. A bill phasing out the sale of nonstick pans with polytetrafluoroethylene—a type of PFAS “forever chemical”—cleared the state legislature in September with overwhelming support. Given the well-documented health risks associated with production of PTFE, commonly known as Teflon, advocates fully expected Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign SB 682 into law. But then the celebrity chefs showed up. Days before Newsom was set to rule on the bill, a wave of similarly worded letters to the California State Legislature appeared. Celebrity chefs Rachael Ray, David Chang, Thomas Keller, and Marcus Samuelsson all insisted that Teflon was safe when used correctly. Their letters warned that the bill was alarmist, unnecessary, and unfair to home cooks and professional chefs alike. Their message was polished, unified, and amplified across national media.
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People are More Irrational than Economists Believe Yascha Mounk Philosophy/Politics |
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In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Richard Thaler explore to what extent humans behave rationally, how nudge theory works, and whether we should outsource questions about life to ChatGPT. Image by Leonardo |
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Quote of The Week
Time
must be an illusion, because joy and happiness shorten it, whereas sadness and
suffering lengthen it.
- James King -
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Top Stories from our favourite publications to stimulate your curious mind, |
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Al Gore's case for optimism
This year’s United Nations climate summit in Belém, Brazil had everything: A literal flood, a literal fire, a record-breaking 1,600+ fossil fuel lobbyists, and delegates from oil-producing nations working overtime to strip the final text of anything resembling a concrete commitment to stop lighting the planet on fire for profit. So naturally, when I spoke to Al Gore on the final day of the summit, he was optimistic. “[The fossil fuel industry] believes they are the global hegemon dictating policy for everyone else,” he said from his home office in Tennessee. “But I don’t think they are.”
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Most Touching Deathbed Love Letter Ever Written
THE MARGINALIAN (Literature/Philosophy)
one that requires a taxonomy of friendship types — what happens when the platonic and the romantic begin to blur? In an exquisite love letter, Sartre spoke of “turning abruptly from friendship to love.” And yet what if friendship and love weren’t opposite points between which to pivot but loci that overlap in varying degrees? Under the Romantic ideal of love, we have come to expect that every great romance should also contain within itself, in addition to erotic passion, a robust friendship. |
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John Updike Wrote It All Down
THE NEW REPUBLIC (Literature)
As a producer of sentences, paragraphs, and pages worth reading, John Updike was voluminous. Over the course of his life he steadily, industriously, and almost magically produced several dozen big (and even when small, dense with imagery and intelligence) volumes—novels, collections of short stories and poetry, several large blocky compendia of his book reviews and occasional pieces (most of which originally appeared in his literary home from home, The New Yorker), two books of art criticism, a surprisingly diffident and unlikable memoir, and even a few books for children. |
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Skytube
A world in chaos. A fanciful dream. Split allegiance could lead to disaster. When the World’s banking system collapses, everyone is hurting. The headless chicken doesn’t know which way to turn, while the wily fox sees the opportunity. Alfie's outrageous dream of a futuristic transportation system is the spark that ignites his fuse, and he acts. As he leads his team through desperate times, he streamlines the company by slashing overheads and retrenching staff. In three short months he turns it round. But little does he know the challenge that faces him in Thailand is much greater. And he may not make it with his sanity intact.
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Israel—It's Complicated
I recently returned from four weeks in Israel, a reporting trip for a book I’m writing. Two weeks in Tel Aviv, a week in the south, a week in Jerusalem. Some thirty interviews, and many informal conversations, with fellow alumni of the progressive Zionist youth movement in which I came of age, Americans who immigrated in the 1980s. Not a representative group of Israelis, but a deeply informed one, including the leader of the country’s environmental movement (who is also a former member of Knesset); the host of the most prominent English-language podcast on Israeli politics (who is also a historian and Tel Aviv city councilor); the opinion editor of The Times of Israel; the president of a major university; the head, past or present, of several leading human rights organizations; activists for feminism, religious pluralism, intergroup dialogue, and Palestinian-Israeli coexistence; educators; health professionals; and business people. Politically, they ranged from the center to the far left; religiously, from Orthodox to secular.
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The mysterious murder of Dian Fossey
Dian Fossey was not the most obvious choice to lead the largest and most detailed study to date of mountain gorillas. For a start, she was not a trained zoologist but an occupational therapist. She also suffered from the lung disease emphysema and had a fear of heights, neither of which were ideal for working in thin air on remote mountain slopes. But what she lacked in expertise, she made up for in determination and a deep love of animals. When she moved in 1967, aged 35, from the US to the mountains of Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park, she set up the Karisoke Research Centre. It did not take long for her to realise the gorillas there were in serious danger.
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UPGRADE to PAID
CURIOUSMINDS content and opinions contain important information curated from reliable sources. We rely on reader support to keep it FREE. We want it to reach as many people as possible. If you value what we do and would like to help us sustain it, please consider a small monthly or annual contribution. Contributing subscribers get full access to all James King Publications including archives of CURIOUSMINDS, and a valuable BONUS: FREE ebook versions of all James King’s published books.Click - View them at Amazon · Donate via the - Choose a subscription plan - page. If you are not a subscriber already - Go to the Welcome page |
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James King Blog offers valuable resources for students of Arts and Humanities. Particularly those interested in Environments, Literature, Performing Arts, Visual Art, Philosophy, Travel, and Human Rights. The articles provide insights into complex interactions between humans and their environments, and the ethical and moral dimensions of environmental issues. The Blog is relevant to students of all ages and those who are just fascinated by the Arts and Humanities. |
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 What is the Importance of Human Rights to Development
The Importance of human rights to development is intertwined. Human rights and development play a crucial role in the pursuit of improved global well-being. At their core, human rights ensure every individual is guaranteed freedom, dignity, and equal opportunities, ensuring societies can grow and prosper. |
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FREE BOOKS89 Mystery, Thriller, & Suspense FreebiesThis Promo Closes 31 December Thriller authors join forces in joint promotion campaigns to introduce themselves to readers. You can download as many books as you like.
I hope you find plenty to entertain you. CLICK THE BANNER BELOW TO VIEW THE PROMO - AND GRAB AS MANY BOOKS AS YOU WANT |
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ALFIE GOES TO THAILAND - SERIES
If you like thought-provoking drama, romantic tragedies, and damaged characters, then you’ll love the tropical sauna and wry humour of POST- IT NOTES and the other books in this Psychological Thriller series. The Series is a story of human challenge, manipulation, rejection, abuse, and a search for peace. |
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THE KENRIGHT CHRONICLES - SERIES
The Kenright Chronicles is a psychological thriller series. Jack Kenright, a young investment banker gets involved in an international art swindle. which cripples his business and threatens his life and his family. He ends up a recluse, working for the FBI undercover and exposes massive corruption in the gambling world. |
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Year of the TigerBy Jack Higgins
A Cold War–era British spy infiltrates Chinese-occupied Tibet to rescue a scientist in this historical thriller by a New York Times–bestselling author.
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Winter ThiefBy Jenny White
"A deftly plotted and clever tale of intrigue, duplicity, and violence."—Booklist, starred review January 1888. Vera Arti carries The Communist Manifesto in Armenian through Istanbul's streets, unaware of the men following her. The police discover a shipload of guns, and the Imperial Ottoman Bank is blown up. Suspicion falls on a socialist commune that Arti's friends organized in the eastern mountains. Investigating, Special Prosecutor Kamil Pasha encounters a ruthless adversary in the secret police who has convinced the Sultan that the commune is leading an Armenian secessionist movement and should be destroyed, along with the surrounding villages. Kamil must stop the massacre, but he finds himself on the wrong side of the law, framed for murder and accused of treason, his family and the woman he loves threatened.The Winter Thief explores the dark obsessions of the most powerful and dangerous men of the dying Ottoman Empire, as well as the era's mad idealism.
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Substack - Creative Xellence -
Join us at Creative Xellence where we are building a home for James King's Poetry, Short Stories and serialised Novels. Subscribe for Free and you will be notified of new content and recieve the Newsletter.
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Medium
At Medium we curate high value informative articles related to A&H from major publishers and authoratative sources. And we publish a smattering of selected articles from James King Blog and articles written by James King for Medium Publications.
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