Mexico Surprise

Scottish Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon said that since 2000, 15.7 million trees have been felled on land managed by Forestry and Land Scotland to make way for wind farms. She said that represents about 7,858 hectares (19,417 acres) of trees. The government is looking to more than double the amount of electricity generated by wind in Scotland, and it is looking at legislation that would further weaken protection for wild lands and allow larger wind turbines of up to 850 feet tall.

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In the 1980s, Fabio Lanzoni started to model for romance novel covers. Lanzoni has since appeared on at least 460 romance novels, with some believing the actual total is closer to 1,000.

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…we estimate the odds that Asian American applicants were admitted to at least one of the schools we consider were 28% lower than the odds for white students with similar test scores, grade-point averages, and extracurricular activities. The gap was particularly pronounced for students of South Asian descent (49% lower odds). We trace this pattern in part to two factors. First, many selective colleges openly give preference to the children of alumni, and we find that white applicants were substantially more likely to have such legacy status than Asian applicants, especially South Asian applicants. Second, after adjusting for observed student characteristics, the institutions we consider appear less likely to admit students from geographic regions with relatively high shares of applicants who are Asian.--NBER paper

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WOD

Vulcan

MEANING:

noun: 1. A blacksmith or a metalworker.
2. A miner.
3. A person whose leg is broken or deformed.
4. A cuckold: a man whose wife is unfaithful.
5. One who is extremely logical and lacks emotions, humor, etc.
adj.: Extremely logical, unemotional, etc.

ETYMOLOGY:
For noun 1-4: After Vulcan, the god of fire and metalworking in Roman mythology. Vulcan’s mother Juno wanted a beautiful child and hurled the plain-looking baby Vulcan off Mount Olympus. His leg broke when he hit the water. Vulcan may have been ugly but he married Venus. On the other hand, Venus was unfaithful to him. Earliest documented use: c. 450 CE.

For noun 5 & adj.: After Vulcans, a humanoid species from the planet Vulcan in the Star Trek TV series and movies. Vulcans are extremely logical and show little emotion. Earliest documented use: 1966.

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Mexico Surprise

The peso is the top-performing major currency this year, according to Bloomberg, and has more than recovered from its coronavirus pandemic weakness. This year, it has risen 8.5 percent to trade above 18 to the dollar…

Foreign direct investment in Mexico hit $35.3bn last year, the highest level since 2015, according to economy ministry data. Transport manufacturing accounted for 12 percent of that.

Another source of foreign income has been resilient remittances from Mexican migrants in the US. The transfers from abroad now make up 4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. Even after growing to record levels last year, in January remittances were 12.5 percent higher than the same month a year earlier, according to Bank of Mexico figures.