Dear patient readers, I had a glitch in my triple redundant connection system. In the interest of speed, I didn’t archive the links like I have been doing recently. Sorry! –lambert
Missouri officials say the bald eagle they thought was injured was actually just “too fat to fly.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Baby boom sparks calls to boost wild beaver population BBC
‘Extremely greedy’ oil executives jailed in Switzerland for involvement in 1MDB fraud FT
climate
The effects of heat on the mind American Psychological Association
Yes, corn does sweat, which may explain why hot, humid Midwest summers are so common. PBS. Useful maps:
Urban heat islands can’t compete
Cornfield dew points will soar into the low 80s Fahrenheit and heat indices will reach 120 F 📈
Yesterday in Iowa, the weather was literally steaming with corn sweat 🌽 pic.twitter.com/rsWpeMsgcH
— Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) August 27, 2024
Living in an area surrounded by trees may reduce your risk of heart disease, study finds NBC
Lightning and Thunderstorms – World Map Blitzortung.org. Animated, near real time.
water
Water on the brain: irrigation then and now 3 quarks daily
Syndemics
Disappointing international reaction to mpox FT
Fibrin promotes thromboinflammation and neuropathology in COVID-19 From the Nature discussion: “While coagulation complications in COVID-19 have previously been attributed primarily to systemic inflammation,14 our findings suggest that coagulopathy in COVID-19 is not simply a consequence of inflammation, but rather serves as a final driver of infection-induced thromboinflammation and neuropathology. Our data reveal a causal immunomodulatory role for fibrinogen in COVID-19 thromboinflammation and neuropathology.”
Japan warns against panic buying amid rice shortage Channel News Asia
China?
International use of China’s yuan surges to record high FT
Chinese local governments adopt ‘sell everything to bail out’ policy to reduce debt Caixin Global. Commentary:
4/9
Because the only sustainable way to increase the role of consumption in the economy requires households to maintain a larger share of GDP, which means other sectors will get smaller shares. And as it turns out, the least bad “other sector” is local government.— Michael Pettis (@michaelxpettis) August 29, 2024
China protests growing amid economic downturn and housing crisis: report Business Standard
China’s urban-rural gap poses a threat to growth. Is the gap too big to fix? South China Morning Post
‘Fewer people want to have children’: More Chinese young people choose pets over kids Channel News Asia
Could China’s vast bamboo forests be the answer to everlasting fossil plastics? South China Morning Post
How to manage rising tensions with nuclear powers like China land
A popular uprising against a dictatorial state Anarchist Library. Bangladesh.
Africa
Shiraksta
Israeli forces launch largest military operation in 20 years in northern West Bank Anadolu Agency
Israel launches major attack on the West Bank. Why now? Al Jazeera
Gaza Breakdown: 20 Times Israel May Have Used US Weapons to Commit War Crimes Responsible national governance
European Separation
When French citrus colonized Algeria JSTOR Daily
A new cold war
Russia warns US of risk of World War III Reuters
Did Ukraine see through Putin’s nuclear bluff? Vox
False promises of full-scale attack on Russia in Ukraine Foreign Affairs
Ukraine successfully tests first ballistic missile Politico. Presentation: “Ukrainian president gives no details about test, says it was ‘positive’.”
Ukraine to present ‘victory plan’ to US – Zelensky BBC
* * * Pentagon limits Russian attacks on Ukraine Ukrainska Pravda
Russia says Ukrainian drone attack causes oil depot fire, disrupts air traffic Anadolu Agency
* * * The Ambiguous Meaning of Ukraine’s Kursk Offensive Foreign Policy
* * * How does the Russian government view the end of the war? Foreign Policy
Biden Administration
Study finds nearly half of FDA-approved AI medical devices aren’t trained on real patient data Medical Express
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory ‘will fail’ without management reforms, according to whistleblower report The world of physics
2024
atmosphere:
How it started. How is it progressing?
Ten years later, it still looks as good as ever! https://t.co/NKXRGNgJPv pic.twitter.com/KeI1gn7HSg
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 28, 2024
Harris and Waltz give first public campaign interviews on CNN Al Jazeera
Why the Harris campaign is fighting to have debate microphones unmuted BBC
U.S. Senator and Vice President: Can J.D. Vance Serve Both Offices Simultaneously? SSRN
Spook Country
Durov was formally indicted and released on €5 million bail. BNE Intellectual News
Pavel Durov and the abuse of the law Craig Murray
Telegram’s most vocal defenders: The global cryptocurrency industry The New York Times
Hmm:
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Donald Trump told him this week that former CIA director Mike Pompeo “begged” him not to release the JFK files.
The remarks were made during RFK’s interview with Tucker Carlson, in which he called Pompeo a “criminal.”
“I’m surprised Trump didn’t declassify it…” pic.twitter.com/0LjbuasYTL
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 27, 2024
Digital Watch
Imagine intelligent machines Communications of the ACM. “Current advances in AI are based on ideas invented decades ago, and are powered by vast amounts of data and computation. I believe these statistical methods have their limits. Without new ideas, eventually everyone will start doing the same thing, and the results will be increasingly incremental.” Commentary:
If you have enough money, you can bubble sort anything.
— Phil Libin (@plibin) August 27, 2024
The world’s call center capitals are gripped by AI fever and fear Bloomberg
Why AI can’t spell “strawberry” TechCrunch
* * * Can tech executives be held accountable for what happens on their platforms? The New York Times
US court rules TikTok must face lawsuit over 10-year-old girl’s death Reuters
* * * Roblox is already the biggest game in the world, so why can’t it make a profit (and how can it make a profit)? Matthew Ball
Negativity on the Internet: Thinking about online violence and how to solve it Nippon.com
The Final Frontier
The Local Bubble: How our solar system became embroiled in a cosmic crime scene Space.com
Zeitgeist Watch
The best novel about male loneliness in the 21st century was written in 1989 Literary Center
Class struggle
Controlling Kroger warehouse bosses and forcing them to submit through open negotiations Labor Notes
The free/open source surplus is slowly disappearing Baldur Bjarnason
The shrewd business logic of immigrant chefs JSTOR Daily
Workers’ Liquidation: What We Can Learn from the Cold War History of the AFL-CIO Workday Magazine
Chaos and Cause ion
Today’s antidote (Keta Design):
See yesterday’s link and the Antidote du Jour here.
