Humpday recommendations 1/31/2024

Watch:“Masters of the Air” Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg can’t stop producing WWII content, and I’m not mad about it. If you’re a history nerd like me and enjoyed “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific,” I would highly recommend checking out this new show on Apple TV. It focuses on the brutal air battles of WWII, offering an intense glimpse into Allied efforts to take the fight to the Nazis from above. – John

Listen: Twilight of the Aesir, Part II”: On the banks of the river Volga in the year 921, Ahmad ibn Fadlan, an ambassador from the Caliph in Baghdad encountered “the filthiest of all Allah’s creatures”: the Rus. Burly, tattooed slavers worshiping violent, jealous gods from the frozen north in ibn Fadlan’s day, within a few generations these fearsome “Eastern Vikings” had taken Slavic names and went to war under the Christian cross. In the second installment of Dan Carlin’s epic narrative about how Odin’s berserkers became brides of Christ, the veteran podcaster turns his eye to the much-understudied east, and the blood-soaked process that turned the Rus into Russians. (Skip the bit about their cleaning rituals — truly stomach-churning) – Matt

WatchBlue Eye Samurai”: This 2023 Netflix animated series deserves all the hype and more. Action-packed with a strong storyline, this show, set in the Edo period, centers around Mizu, a half-white half-Japanese outcasted samurai, out to seek revenge from the four white men who invaded Japan to bring in Western influence. The show has flawed yet well-developed characters, tons of blood, history, wholesome sidekicks, and a focused aim. It’s one of the best-animated shows I’ve seen and makes for a perfect Saturday binge! - Suhani

Read: “The Trials of Madame Restell” by Nicolas L. Syrett. For forty years, out of her home office at 148 Greenwich Street, Madame Restell gave an array of gynecological and abortions in nineteenth-century New York, when abortion was illegal but de facto tolerated. The book follows how Madame Restell built a gynecological empire by embracing that “there’s no bad press” as well as the shifts in medicine, morality, and law that shaped it.Riley

More from GZERO Media

Victorville joined the nationwide Amazon workers strike as employees there demand higher wages, better benefits and safer working conditions.
Reuters

7: Thousands of members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters went on strike at seven Amazon facilities in the US on Thursday, demanding better working conditions.

Representatives on Capitol Hill spent all day Thursday scrambling to cobble together a deal to keep the government open, after pressure from President-elect Donald Trump sank must-pass legislation on Wednesday.

REUTERS/Leah Millis

Representatives on Capitol Hill spent all day Thursday scrambling to cobble together a deal to keep the government open, after pressure from President-elect Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk sank must-pass legislation on Wednesday.

A French courtsentencedDominique Pelicot, 72, to 20 years in prison on Thursday for drugging and orchestrating the mass rape of his ex-wife, Gisèle Pelicot.

REUTERS/Manon Cruz TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

A French courtsentencedDominique Pelicot, 72, to 20 years in prison on Thursday for drugging and orchestrating the mass rape of his ex-wife, Gisèle Pelicot.

Chen Jinping sits with attorney Susan Kellan after two New York residents were arrested for allegedly operating a Chinese "secret police station" in Manhattan's Chinatown, part of a crackdown on Beijing's alleged targeting of U.S.-based dissidents, during a hearing at a Brooklyn courthouse in New York, U.S., April 17, 2023 in this courtroom sketch.
REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg

In 2023, the United States became the first country to lay charges against individuals accused of running extraterritorial Chinese police stations. Now, they appear to be getting their first conviction.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with journalist Pavel Zarubin after his annual televised year-end press conference and phone-in held in Moscow, Russia December 19, 2024. Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool
via REUTERS
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks after signing an infrastructure agreement in Montreal, December 16, 2016.
REUTERS/Christinne Muschi

This is Justin Trudeau’s darkest hour.

--FILE--Chinese workers check tungsten ore at a factory
Oriental Image via Reuters Connect

Most Americans are likely unaware that the Department of Defense has morphed into a major mining investor but it is becoming a significant backer of Canada’s critical minerals sector.