Smiles

About four thousand years ago, somewhere in the Middle East — we don’t know where or when, exactly — a scribe drew a picture of an ox head. The picture was rather simple: just a face with two horns on top. It was used as part of an abjad, a set of characters that represent the consonants in a language. Over thousands of years, that ox-head icon gradually changed as it found its way into many different abjads and alphabets. It became more angular, then rotated to its side. Finally it turned upside down entirely, so that it was resting on its horns. Today it no longer represents an ox head or even a consonant. We know it as the capital letter A.

Michael Graziano

is a neuro-scientist, novelist and composer. He is Professor of Neuroscience at Princeton University in New Jersey. His latest book is Consciousness and the Social Brain (2013).

Voice of America political transcript of Tillerson appointment 

The above link is in Russian, a suitable translator may be necessary.

The former head of Exxon Mobil, Rex Tillerson, whose president, Donald Trump has put forward for the post of Secretary of State, on Monday - by a margin of just one vote - was approved by the Senate Committee on Foreign relations. It is expected that it will be approved for the position during the vote in the full Senate.