Kansas biologists discover ‘ultra-rare’ endangered species in hungry toad’s mouth KSNT (RK).
11 Rare Sharks That Live in the Deep Sea ZME Science
How private equity trapped banks in a web of debt FT. Explanation: Private equity creates debt everywhere Matt Levine, Bloomberg.
Private equity gets creative to buy time for more profits; clients demand “pay now” Bloomberg
climate
Risk of rising wet bulb globe temperature Arctic News
Syndemics
Paris 2024 Olympics hit by early COVID-19 cases, but organizers don’t seem worried about risk of outbreak CBS. Commentary:
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Four and a half years into this pandemic, the only precaution recommended at the Olympics, which are already suffering from the coronavirus pandemic, is hand sanitizer.
Hand sanitizers do not protect against airborne viruses. https://t.co/8TWKi6bHkG— Trisha Greenhalgh (@trishgreenhalgh) July 24, 2024
Further explanation:
Officials are considering merging the Olympic and Paralympic Games by repeatedly infecting all athletes with the coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/oyBuu7MkXy
— The Vertlartnic (@TheVertlartnic) July 24, 2024
China?
China seeks to strengthen energy cooperation with Russia despite U.S. sanctions calls South China Morning Post
We were sold a false dream: Inside China’s disastrous housing development China Spotlight
Why is Bangladesh on the boil? Free Press Journal
Commentary: Bangladesh students revolt, but wider movement against government unlikely Channel News Asia
Myanmar
Myanmar is running out of gas. What happens next? Diplomat
Remembering Stirling anarchist and friend of Myanmar, James C. Scott Frontier Myanmar
Espionage and Sabotage: The Truth About Ninjas Nippon.com
Great Game
U.S. military representative appointed as adviser to Armenian Ministry of Defense JAM News
Shiraksta
Highlights: Netanyahu speaks to parliament (Video) Politico. Commentary:
🧵 Thread – Standing ovation tracker for PM Bibi Netanyahu’s parliamentary speech:
One
— Andy Powlas (@andypowlas) July 24, 2024
Total: 58.
Netanyahu appeals for unity, sparking fierce debate inside and outside the parliament The Hill. Description:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech on the House of Representatives floor today was the worst speech ever given by a foreign dignitary invited and given the honor of speaking to the U.S. Congress.
Many of us who love Israel have spent time listening to Israeli music today…
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) July 24, 2024
Further commentary:
To be clear, Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost so many supporters that he is only addressing a small fraction of parliament.
When this happens, they do what they do at awards ceremonies, filling the seats with non-members to make it look like everyone is there and supporting them. https://t.co/CIboKUrkBq
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 24, 2024
Watergate Hotel disinfected after maggots released in protest against Netanyahu’s stay The Hill. Commentary (2020):
🇮🇱🇺🇸 Did you know that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu actually brings along a suitcase full of his dirty laundry for government officials to wash?
I guess that’s one way to assert your superiority… pic.twitter.com/6IU5dTZnNg
— Censored Men (@CensoredMen) July 23, 2024
* * * Israel is shrinking Gaza’s ‘safe zone’ Al Jazeera
“Soldiers! Soldiers! Soldiers!” Flutist
Gaza as a hazy, empty world in Israeli reservist paintings Haaretz
* * * The untold history of Joe Biden’s support for Israel Branko Marcetic: In These Times
A new cold war
Ukraine War: “Russia is advancing, but it’s a matter of infantry advances, not a war of movement” Le Monde
Ukraine war map shows two battalions at risk of encirclement: ‘Alarming situation’ Newsweek
SITREP 7/24/24: General Shirsky shocks with news of Russian armored vehicles and military buildup Simplicius the Thinker
* * * Fitch downgrades Ukraine’s rating to ‘C’ Anadolu Agency
EU discusses indefinite freeze on Russian assets to secure G7 loans for Ukraine Ukrainska Pravda
Ukrainians remove Tesla batteries to keep lights on FT
* * * Ukraine War: Can China Use Its Influence to Mediate Peace Talks? Deutsche Welle
Talk in a Moscow square about the deterioration of relations between Russia and the West BBC
Winds of change: Ukrainian politics react to US election drama Wilson Center
* * * Rheinmetall officially receives order from Ukraine to build ammunition plant Ukrainska Pravda
* * * NATO enters new long-term war against Putin Foreign Policy
The NATO Declaration and the Deadly Strategy of Neoconservatism Jeffrey Sachs “Common Dreams”
Biden Administration
FAA launches audit of Southwest Airlines after narrowly escalating crisis The Wall Street Journal
2024
Joe Biden says he’s ‘passing the baton’ to save US democracy FT
Biden avoids hard truths in first speech since backing away from race issue BBC
Biden’s Wreckage Patrick Lawrence, Consortium News
Renowned free press
When the mainstream media swallows consultants’ garbage Terry’s Substack
Digital Watches
CrowdStrike debacle highlights growing technological independence from China and Russia Registry
* * * AI models break down when trained on recursively generated data Nature. From the abstract: “We find that indiscriminate use of model-generated content in training irreversibly imperfects the resulting models, causing the tails of the original content distribution to disappear. We call this effect “model collapse” and show that it can occur not only in LLMs but also in variational autoencoders (VAEs) and Gaussian mixture models (GMMs). We develop the theoretical intuition behind this phenomenon and depict its universal presence in all learned generative models. We demonstrate that it must be taken seriously if we want the benefits of training from large-scale data harvested from the web to persist. “As I’ve been saying since the beginning of the AI bubble, it’s self-eating.
OpenAI’s training and inference costs could reach $7 billion in 2024, AI startups set to lose $5 billion – report Data Center Dynamics
VCs are still pouring billions into generative AI startups TechCrunch
Boeing
Boeing receives flood of orders at international air show The Wall Street Journal
Boeing resumes deliveries in China, executives visit but weather still not improving South China Morning Post
US submits details of Boeing plea deal over plane crashes, now in judge’s hands AP
The final frontier
NASA spacecraft discovers 10-mile-thick diamond layer on Mercury Space.com
supply chain
Two Swiss lawyers criticise flag of convenience in new book Splash 247
Academy Forest
What is the value of college? (Excerpt) Doomberg
Empire Collapse Watch
Loss of Empire, Loss of Clarity Pearls and Stimuli
Fafafafa Fashion
Amazon’s move into ultra-fast fashion will bring big changes to e-commerce Fashion United
Class struggle
Americans are falling behind on their auto loan payments Fox
39% of Americans are worried about not being able to pay their bills CNN
About money: Action trumps intelligence (Transcript)The Big Picture
US markets suffer worst day since 2022 as Tesla and AI stocks fall FT
Today’s antidote (Viscutella):
See yesterday’s link and the Antidote du Jour here.
