Things that surprised me

1. Britain's carbon emissions are now back down to 1890 levels.

2. "At Fruitlands, a utopian community [Louisa May Alcott’s father] co-founded in the 1840s, root vegetables were initially outlawed because they grew in the direction of hell."

3. "Jesus talked more about money than about anything else."

4. "Donald J. Trump State Park is a 436-acre (1.8 km2) undeveloped state park located within the towns of Yorktown and Putnam Valley in Westchester County and Putnam County, New York. The park consists of property that was donated to New York State in 2006 by the now-President of the United States Donald Trump, and is named after him. Maintenance of the park was halted in 2010 due to budget constraints, and the park remains largely undeveloped as of 2015."

5. The monastery is being reinvented. Sort of. 

6. 4D chess is easier than 2D chess. Easier if you are trying not to lose, that is. 

7. Ross Douthat wrote a column comparing the political structure of the modern world to the Harry Potter novels and it is not altogether unconvincing.