The beautiful, ominous death of the Dead Sea

Plus, gift-giving advice. [View this email online]( [Best of NPR]( Dec. 16, 2022 --------------------------------------------------------------- Support This Newsletter You keep the facts flowing. You bring more stories to more ears. You make a real difference with a year-end contribution to independent, trustworthy media and this newsletter. [Donate today](. --------------------------------------------------------------- Scott’s weekly weigh-in Terry Fincher/Express/Getty Images A good weekend to you. I have been enjoying A Private Spy: The Letters of John le Carré, edited by Tim Cornwell, the late novelist’s son. Le Carré worked only briefly for British intelligence but was a writer (The Spy Who Came in From the Cold and other classics) for decades. Yet he was always called a former spy. “Dickens briefly worked at a boot polish factory,” he used to point out. “But do critics call him a boot polish worker-turned novelist?” Ambitions, infidelities, and anxieties are shared in this lifetime of letters. But I was especially struck by the tenderness of his reply to a 10-year-old boy, Nicholas Greaves, who wrote in 1988 to ask le Carre how to become a spy. “To be a spy,” he told Nicholas, “you need first to know what you think about the world, whom you would like to help, who to frustrate. This, I am afraid, takes time. Also, you have to decide how much you are prepared to do by very dishonest means. You are very young to decide to be dishonest. My guess is, you want excitement and a great cause. But I do think and hope that if you ever find the great cause, the excitement will come naturally from the pleasure of serving it, & then you won’t need to deceive anybody, you will have found what you are looking for. You will be more than a spy then. You will be a good, happy man.” [My essay on our show]( this week remembers Chicago's enigmatic [Walking Man](. David Miliband of the International Rescue Committee speaks on [where the world needs to pay attention](. And Art Spiegelman (Maus) on a [reissued album]( of his most compelling comic experiments. And oh — [Allez les Blues]( [Scott Simon]( Scott Simon is one of NPR's most renowned news anchors. He is the host of [Weekend Edition Saturday]( and one of the hosts of the morning news podcast Up First. Be sure to listen to him every Saturday on your local NPR station, and follow him [on Twitter](. --------------------------------------------------------------- Newsletter continues after sponsor message --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- Stories you may have missed Ofir Berman for NPR The Dead Sea is dying, and these beautiful, ominous photos show the impact. Its water level is dropping, its banks are collapsing, and big sinkholes are swallowing up whole tracts of land around it. Here is why a [disaster is unfolding]( at the Middle East's iconic salt lake. You can order free COVID tests [by mail again]( — which is good, because people are gathering for the holidays, and authorities are [urging indoor masking]( in major cities as a "tripledemic" rages. ☣️ Meanwhile, China is likely facing the world's largest COVID surge, with [800 million people]( at risk of infection. The official timekeeper of the United States is guarded at a government lab in Colorado — with a system so sophisticated it counts the time to within one quadrillionth of a second. But the scientists there say time [doesn't work the way we think it does](. NPR Music has released its annual guide to the essential songs and albums of the year. Our [Best Music 2022]( package includes lists of the 100 best songs and 50 best albums of the year — plus the best of rock, hip-hop, R&B and more — from over 50 writers from NPR Music and our partner stations. Such abundance makes for a spectacular party. --------------------------------------------------------------- It all comes down to you Your financial support is the NPR Network's greatest strength. You keep the facts flowing. You bring more stories to more ears. You make a real difference when you contribute to independent, trustworthy media. [Please donate today](. --------------------------------------------------------------- Calling on student with stories to tell LA Johnson/NPR Hey teachers, parents and students: NPR's [Student Podcast Challenge is back](. This year's challenge will open for entries on Jan. 6, 2023 and close on April 28, in two categories: grades five through eight and grades nine through 12. We have tips, advice and even a newsletter to help you get started. Students, we can't wait to hear your stories, so on your mark, get set, record! --------------------------------------------------------------- Before you go John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images - An enormous cylindrical aquarium in a Berlin hotel burst — and all of the [roughly 1,500 fish]( it had contained are dead, officials say. - Terrible at buying Christmas presents? Peek at our guide for [clever gift-giving ideas](. - In her first public statement since being freed from Russia, basketball star Brittney Griner says she'll play in the [upcoming WNBA season]( which starts in May. - Hollywood's famous, aging mountain lion was captured by authorities after [showing signs of distress](. P-22 has lived in Griffith Park for a decade, earning fans and nicknames like "the Brad Pitt of mountain lions." - A 6-year-old girl asked LA County if she could keep a unicorn in her backyard. The county, delighted, [gave her a license](. --------------------------------------------------------------- Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. [Listen Live]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [Twitter]( Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! [They can sign up here.]( Looking for more great content? [Check out all of our newsletter offerings]( — including Daily News, Politics, Health and more! 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