Friday, January 16, 2026

Good morning. As this newsletter goes out, I'm on an airplane flying somewhere uncomfortably close to Greenland. I'll wave to the brave European soldiers protecting the island from... er... this is awkward. Weird times. Speaking of air travel:

Item 1: a link

An urgent medical rescue from McMurdo Station (in Antarctica) is no picnic in the best of times. Winter is not the best of times:

Just two hours into a dangerous rescue mission to Antarctica, the crew on board the Royal New Zealand Defence Force Super Hercules hit their first snag.

They were told that Christchurch, the designated airport they would divert to if they had to turn around, was too risky for landing.

Freezing fog had already ruled out Invercargill and Dunedin, and now Christchurch. Next on the list was Wellington.

But Wellington’s runway was closed for maintenance.

Today The Detail hears how the sole job of one of the two co pilots on board was to keep watch on the ever-changing, unpredictable weather and find a new destination for the emergency turnaround.

Click through to listen to The Detail podcast episode all about this daring adventure. Or not. It's your life.

Item 2: a list

Letters of the Alphabet, Ranked:

1. O
2. A
3. S
4. L
5. C
6. I
7. T
8. M
9. W
10. B
11. F
12. V
13. D
14. X
15. Q
16. J
17. P
18. H
19. E
20. N
21. Z
22. K
23. Y
24. R
25. G
26. U

Item 3: a media recommendation

Item 4: word of the week

Abecedarium

I have a ritual when I'm trying out a new keyboard. I close my eyes and type out my favorite abecedarium: "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP". What can I say, I'm a traditionalist.

Item 5: an image

See ya!

Thank you for reading. Wish me bon voyage. See you next week.