Key Lime Pie Fans Whipped Up Over Dessert Snub Wall Street Journal (David L)
Three Bear Cubs Have A Blast On A Backyard Hammock Animmal Rescue (David L)
Call for hippos to join list of world’s most endangered animals Guardian. Resilc: “Everything on this planet is endangered, hippos get in line.”
Hotter summers mean Florida’s turtles are mostly born female Reuters (ma0
How Those “Rice Paddy Art” Farmers Nail the Perspective Core77
Fascinating drone footage looking down into a volcanic eruption from above.
Credit: Bjorn Steinbekkpic.twitter.com/u6MGtONNax
— Wonder of Science (@wonderofscience) August 1, 2022
US nuclear regulator greenlights its first small modular reactor New Atlas (David L)
How should we evaluate progress in AI? MetaRationality (David L)
The mathematics of burger flipping ScienceDirect (Dr. Kevin)
Polio: Virus found in wastewater of New York City suburb BBC (David L)
#COVID-19
Science/Medicine
Further SARS-CoV-2 variants, and intermittent epidemics may become the ‘new normal’ News-medical.net (Kevin W)
US
Long COVID is sidelining millions of workers from their jobs NPR (resilc)
Biden’s COVID Is Back. Is Paxlovid to Blame? Atlantic (resilc). Department of “duh”.
Monkeypox
The pain sounds absolutely excruciating. https://t.co/k58q5Ya6ra
— Laura Miers (@LauraMiers) July 30, 2022
Climate/Environment
Scientists say it’s time to prepare for human extinction SWNS (ma)
Heat waves and flooding: Why U.S. infrastructure can’t withstand extreme weather Axios
This is so good.
Man wakes up and it is 250 years later.pic.twitter.com/Gmn9B49ByA
— Ben Phillips (@benphillips76) July 30, 2022
China?
From earlier in the week, still germane:
How China Avoided Soviet-Style Collapse NOMEA
Alibaba stock slides in Hong Kong after US delisting threat CNN (Kevin W)
Pelosi Aftermath
Nancy Pelosi Assures China Taiwan Visit Part Of Bachelorette Party She Didn’t Plan The Onion
Live: China hits back over Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan BBC. China basically said there were much better retaliation routes than blocking her visit. Scroll to: Drills have potential to become full-scale crisis:
The announcement of six large exclusion zones around Taiwan starting on Thursday, and lasting for four days, has the potential to turn this into a full-scale crisis….
This time three of the six zones intrude into Taiwan’s 12-mile limit. That is unprecedented.
Taiwan’s defence ministry has already called the move a breach of UN conventions, and said it amounts to an air and sea blockade against the island.
If China were to move ships or aircraft into those areas, it would amount and invasion of Taiwan territory. This makes the stakes much higher as Taiwan may feel compelled to defend its own territorial waters.
Pelosi’s Taiwan Trip Is Only the Start of US Headaches Bloomberg (furzy)
OK, Let’s Cut The Crap… Andrei Martyanov. Important. Recall that Martyanov, in addition to having written three very well received books on US military decline, also has, as he puts it, an advanced degree in sinking the US Navy. Note that China basically set themselves up to lose in this encounter. Martyanov also suggests that China may feel it has to escalate.
As Pelosi Taiwan visit looms, Menendez bill would ‘gut’ One China policy Responsible Statecraft (resilc)
China’s countermeasures against Pelosi’s Taiwan visit won’t be one-off: Global Times editorial Global Times
China’s CATL delays American plant as Pelosi visits Taiwan Bloomberg. Tesla and Ford batteries.
Old Blighty
Alien vs Predator versus Sunak vs Truss: can you spot the quotes? Daily Mash
Liz Truss’s plans to cut public sector pay leave Tory mayor ‘speechless’ Guardian (resilc)
Jacob Rees-Mogg: I was wrong to say Brexit would not cause Dover delays Guardian
In Latin America, synthetic drugs becoming more popular than cocaine and marijuana DW (resilc)
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine war is losing its sparkle. Where’s the Lady with the Lamp? Indian Punchline (Kevin W)
The Russian Foreign Ministry announced the end of the era of constructive cooperation with the West International Affairs (via machine translation)
Ukraine – Mines, Missiles, Warcrimes And A Warning To Zelenski Moon of Alabama
Scholz visits Nord Stream turbine serviced in Canada, says nothing preventing it from being shipped to Russia -reports Interfax. This is surreal. It comes off as if Scholz made a special trip to visit a high value prisoner.
The Hidden Truth about the War in Ukraine Jacques Baud, The Postil (guurst). I hate when I learn I do not know critical parts of the backstory:
On 20 January 1991, before the independence of Ukraine, the Crimeans were invited to choose by referendum between two options: to remain with Kiev or to return to the pre-1954 situation and be administered by Moscow…. 93.6% of Crimeans agreed to be attached to Moscow….
On February 26, 1992, the Crimean parliament proclaimed the “Republic of Crimea” with the agreement of the Ukrainian government, which granted it the status of a self-governing republic. On 5 May 1992, Crimea declared its independence and adopted a Constitution….
….on 17 March 1995, it [Ukraine] forcibly abolished the Crimean Constitution. It sent its special forces to overthrow Yuri Mechkov, President of Crimea, and de facto annexed the Republic of Crimea, thus triggering popular demonstrations for the attachment of Crimea to Russia. An event hardly reported by the Western media.
Russia Gas Stop Would Trigger 2009-Style Slump, Commerzbank Says Bloomberg
BREAKING: Germany 1-year forward baseload electricity surges >€400 per MWh for the first time ever.
We are truly into crunching territory for the country’s energy-intensive manufacturing industry.
The current price is ~1,000% higher than the €41.1 per MWh 2010-2020 average.
— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) August 2, 2022
US slaps sanctions on Russian businessmen, heads of freed Ukrainian regions TASS. Continuing to scrape the bottom of the barrel.
Syraqistan
Hezbollah’s drones: No more safe skies for Israel The Cradle (spud)
Spiritual union: why Gulf migrants are turning to evangelical Christianity Guardian
Is the ice beginning to thaw between US and Taliban? Responsible Statecraft (resilc)
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Meta is being sued for giving US hospitals a data-tracking tool that allegedly ended up disclosing patient information to Facebook Business Insider
Ring Gives Videos to Police without a Warrant or User Consent Bruce Schneier (David L)
Imperial Collapse Watch
Zoltan Pozsar: ‘Welcome To The War Economy’ Heisenberger Report (resilc)
Henry Kissinger: A Warmonger’s Lying Continues Counterpunch
Reviving the Petroleum Administration for War: A Case for Government-Industry Partnership War on the Rocks (resilc). MBA thinking
Rashida Tlaib wins Michigan primary despite pro-Israel spending Al Jazeera (resilc)
Abortion
The Kansas Abortion Shocker Atlantic (furzy)
Kansas Votes to Preserve Abortion Rights Protections in Its Constitution New York Times (Kevin W)
Georgians can claim an embryo as a dependent on tax returns The Hill (resilc)
Religious leaders sue over Florida abortion law signed by Ron DeSantis Washington Post (furzy)
Sandy Hook parents testify about the ‘hell’ Alex Jones inflicted on them through lies about the shooting CNN (furzy). How did Jones wind up on the wrong end of a default judgement?
Supply Chain/Inflation
Port of New York and New Jersey adds fees for ocean carriers as shipping containers pile up CNBC (Kevin W)
As inflation surges, more Americans are living paycheck to paycheck CNBC (resilc)
British household energy bills to be at ‘devastating’ levels until ‘at least 2024’ Financial Times
Four dead in South Africa protests over high power costs Al Jazeera (resilc)
U.S. factories grow at slowest pace in two years, ISM finds. New orders fall again in bad omen MarketWatch (spud). This is what happens when you task the Fed to whack inflation that results pretty much 100% from things the Fed can’t influence.
Stephen King Says That “Consolidation Is Bad For Competition” In Testimony At Penguin Random House-Simon & Schuster Antitrust Trial Deadspin (furzy)
Class Warfare
Coming wave of opioid overdoses ‘will be worse than ever been before’ ScienceBlog (Dr. Kevin)
Hate, But Don’t Look: Reporting On The Other Side Matt Taibbi (EM). From end of last week, we may have missed it….
Antidote du jour (Chet G):
And a bonus (guurst):
So squeaky! pic.twitter.com/cDRgCOqwaX
— In Otter News…. (@In_Otter_News2) August 1, 2022
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
