Lambert and I, and many readers, agree that Ukraine has prompted the worst informational environment ever. We hope readers will collaborate in mitigating the fog of war — both real fog and stage fog — in comments. None of us need more cheerleading and link-free repetition of memes; there are platforms for that. Low-value, link-free pom pom-wavers will be summarily whacked.
And for those who are new here, this is not a mere polite request. We have written site Policies and those who comment have accepted those terms. To prevent having to resort to the nuclear option of shutting comments down entirely until more sanity prevails, as we did during the 2015 Greek bailout negotiations and shortly after the 2020 election, we are going to be ruthless about moderating and blacklisting offenders.
–Yves
P.S. Also, before further stressing our already stressed moderators, read our site policies:
Please do not write us to ask why a comment has not appeared. We do not have the bandwidth to investigate and reply. Using the comments section to complain about moderation decisions/tripwires earns that commenter troll points. Please don’t do it. Those comments will also be removed if we encounter them.
Clash of the Titans Science. Neutrino experiments.
The Expected Financial Crash Is Finally Here Moon of Alabama (KW).
Credit Suisse and the hunt for the weakest link in global finance The Economist vs. No, Credit Suisse Isn’t on the Brink Bloomberg
Andrew Smithers: Lookout! Bad Models Equal Bad Outcomes McAlvany Weekly Commentary. From September, still germane.
Why ethereum’s big ‘merge’ is causing big headaches Agence France-Presse
Landlords of the Internet: Big Data and Big Real Estate (preprint) Daniel Greene (paywalled at Social Studies of Science). Well worth a read:
If the internet is a ‘network of networks’ then those networks must have physical points of interconnection. These points must be housed, guarded, and maintained, lest traffic be disrupted and the global economy stall. Essentially, someone—Markley, Equinix, 60 Hudson Street Owner LLC—is collecting rent for operating highly specialized buildings, with state-of-the art climate, security, and power systems, in which tenants make their networks available for interconnection, create private connections with strategic partners, and store digital assets. The speed of streaming and the ease of the cloud only exists because of these place-based economic relations. I call firms like Equinix and Digital Realty internet landlords. At the core of the new economy is one of the oldest: real estate.
Climate
Colorado’s state fish swims back from brink of extinction CNN
Pacific Surfliner, Metrolink facing 60-day service outage to Oceanside, San Diego official says Trains. “Concerns about erosion along a portion of the coastal rail line.”
UC researchers finally may have solved how to recycle plastic bags into something useful Local News Matter (DL).
Water
The gift of water (KW):
Water may be the strangest thing in the universe (a fascinating video) pic.twitter.com/qeueqAq993
— Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) September 24, 2022
#COVID19
Excess Death Rates for Republicans and Democrats During the Covid-19 Pandemic (PDF) Jacob Wallace, Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, and Jason L. Schwartz NBER. “The gap in excess death rates between Republicans and Democrats is concentrated in counties with low vaccination rates and only materializes after vaccines became widely available.”
Norwegian Cruise Line drops all COVID-19 mask, vaccine and testing rules USA Today (KW).
NIH gives more bat coronavirus funding to Wuhan lab-linked EcoHealth Washington Examiner (MA).
China?
China’s property crash: ‘a slow-motion financial crisis’ FT
The US-China Competition: Who’s Winning? (video) Chas Freeman, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. From June. Bracing stuff.
Myanmar
The NUG’s Economic War on Myanmar’s Military The Stimson Center
The Koreas
North Korea sends missile soaring over Japan in escalation AP
Squid Game, Blackpink, kimchi pancakes … How did South Korea become such a world power Guardian
Dear Old Blighty
Analysis: UK bond market crash takes shine off Big Bang plans for London Reuters
Tory MPs plot to avert welfare squeeze after humiliating U-turns Guardian (KW).
How Palantir will steal the NHS Cory Doctorow, Pluralistic
European Disunion
Poland demands €1.3 trillion in WWII reparations from Germany Deutsche Welle
Warning over winter halts to German energy exports FT
One of Northern Europe’s largest vegetable brands HAK to shut down entire production for six weeks EuroWeekly (KW).
A tradition ends: Paris says goodbye to iconic paper Metro tickets France24
New Not-So-Cold War
In bid for new long-range rockets, Ukraine offers US targeting oversight CNN
Military briefing: Which nuclear weapons could Putin use against Ukraine? FT
Sweden sends diving vessel to probe leaking Nord Stream pipelines Reuters (KW).
Frustration with Ukraine war spills out on Russian state TV AP
Kharkov and Mobilization Jacques Baud, The Postil
Mercenaries may have helped ancient Greeks turn the tide of war Science
Biden Administratation
Competition Authority Gives FTC New Tool on Gig Worker Policies Bloomberg
Justices To Examine Property Damage Claims Tied To Strikes Law360
Supreme Court declines to hear case on DOJ ‘filter teams’ used in Trump search The Hill
On The Money — The looming threats to Biden’s student loan wipeout The Hill
Currency-Using Governor Seeks Financial Aid from the Currency-Issuer Stephanie Kelton, The Lens (ctlieee).
US Military Massive Public Relations Machine Unable To Dig Navy out of the Red Hill Jet Fuel Contamination Hole Antiwar.com (Re Silc).
2022
OPEC+ production cut threatens gas price spike ahead of midterms The Hill
2024
Trump Sues CNN for $475 Million in Defamation Lawsuit Jonathan Turley
Groves of Academe
At N.Y.U., Students Were Failing Organic Chemistry. Who Was to Blame? NYT (KLG).
Intelligence Community
Police State Watch
The Onion and the Supreme Court. Not a parody AP. From the The Onion’s filing:
Black Injustice Tipping Point
The first of many; read the thread (ctlieee):
Inventions that would not exist without Black Women. pic.twitter.com/OIABdEaqas
— Africa Archives ™ (@Africa_Archives) October 3, 2022
Class Warfare
Doomsday bunkers, Mars and ‘The Mindset’: the tech bros trying to outsmart the end of the world The Conversation
Tech Billionaires are Actually Dumber Than You Think Counterpunch (Re Silc).
The Macabre Art of Baking ‘People Pot Pies’ Atlas Obscura (KS).
What if Elon Musk loses the Twitter case but defies the Delaware court? Philadelphia Inquirer
‘A fluke’: The world’s oldest webcam is still watching over San Franciscon SFGate
Antidote du Jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
