Elusive De Winton’s Golden Mole Rediscovered in South Africa After 90 Years The Animal Rescue Site (Nippersmom).
After a slow start, sandhill crane raised in captivity released into the wild to join other birds AP
How are wildlife officials preparing Coloradans for wolf reintroduction? With a brochure. Colorado Sun
Climate
COP28: EU, IMF, Zambia call for more ambitious, widespread carbon pricing Anadolu Agency
COP28: Unanswered questions about loss and damage deal leave Asia’s environmental and indigenous groups wary Channel News Asia
COP28: The mirage that capitalism can solve its destruction MR Online
UAE planned to use COP28 climate talks to make oil deals BBC. What kind of deals:
The poor should control carbon emissions, but the rich must eliminate them Brookings
Biden Administration Unleashes Powerful Regulatory Tool Aimed at Climate NYT
New study offers cautious hope about the resilience of redwoods (press release) Northern Arizona University
Water
A single bitcoin transaction uses enough water to fill a swimming pool New Scientist
A California dry farmer’s juicy apples show how agriculture can be done with less water LA Times
Mycoplasma pneumonia Radiopaedia (DD). Includes radiographic information, but this jumped out at me: “It spreads via inhalation of aerosolized droplets containing the microorganisms.” CDC’s mycoplasma page is — and I know this will surprise you — solid droplet dogma. A cursory search doesn’t yield solid information either way. Just because the public health establishment got airborne transmission of Covid so catastrophically wrong doesn’t mean they’ll be wrong in the same way with a different organism. And of course Mycoplasma might already be in everything anyhow….
#COVID19
The Kids Are Not Okay. Stop Making Them Sick Jessica Wildfire, OK Doomer
Infectivity of exhaled SARS-CoV-2 aerosols is sufficient to transmit covid-19 within minutes Nature. From the Abstract: “Six aerosol samples from three individuals were culturable, of which five were successfully quantified using TCID50. The source strength of the three individuals was highest during singing, when they exhaled 4, 36, or 127 TCID50/s, respectively. Calculations with an indoor air transmission model showed that if an infected individual with this emission rate entered a room, a susceptible person would inhale an infectious dose within 6 to 37 min in a room with normal ventilation. Thus, our data show that exhaled aerosols from a single person can transmit covid-19 to others within minutes at normal indoor conditions.”
New route for COVID-19 into human cells found by scientists Nature. “Scientists have known for more than three years that the main entry point for the SARS-CoV-2 virus into the body is the ACE2 receptor. A team in Italy has now identified another receptor, called RAGE, present on the surface of certain human immune cells, which can bind to SARS-CoV-2 and allow it to enter cells, altering their function and leading to a worse prognosis.”
CDC Improves Its Covid-19 Reporting With A New Wastewater Dashboard Judy Stone, Forbes
‘It’s kind of a death sentence if we don’t’: Iowa veterinarian prescribes COVID-19 drug for mystery dog illness KCCI
China?
Hong Kong minister hits out at claims that city’s days as global financial hub are over South China Morning Post
Myanmar
Myanmar’s military is losing ground against coordinated nationwide attacks, buoying opposition hopes AP. Commentary:
Gangs, extortion in Bangladesh camps driving Rohingya sea exodus France24 (Furzy Mouse).
The Koreas
COVID-19 shrinks life expectancy in South Korea for first time since 1970 Channel News Asia
Syraqistan
Additional reporting reinforcing the 972 Link from yesterday:
Israel-Palestine war: How the AI ‘Habsora’ system masks random killing with maths Middle East Eye
‘The Gospel’: how Israel uses AI to select bombing targets in Gaza Guardian. “‘There is a danger,’ [Richard Moyes] added, ‘that as humans come to rely on these systems they become cogs in a mechanised process and lose the ability to consider the risk of civilian harm in a meaningful way.’” Hmm. Reminds me of something.
Israel plans for ‘long war’ and aims to kill top three Hamas leaders FT. Rather like the Tatmadaw, the IDF’s target is “thinning out” the civilian population. That is the war aim:
Netanyahu, according to the Israeli press, has instructed Ron Dermer, his Minister of Strategic Planning and a very close aide, to explore ways to “thin out” the Gaza population. Along with the renewed proposal to push them through the Rafah crossing into Egypt, the English… pic.twitter.com/MTIULDVy0N
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) December 1, 2023
For more “thinning out,” just tweak the algorithm….
In maps: Israel’s forced evacuations in Gaza FT:
“A map published on Friday by the IDF divides the besieged enclave into 620 separate blocks, ranging from the size of two football pitches to 25 square kilometres. The Israeli military told Gaza residents to “keep following the map carefully” and move to specific places when told “to protect their safety”. It is unclear how Gaza’s 2.3mn civilians, who have little access to reliable electricity or internet connections, are supposed to follow the instructions. Many have already been displaced from their homes.
Handy map:
U.S. Sends Israel 2,000-Pound Bunker Buster Bombs for Gaza War WSJ. A sideshow.
This Is the 9/11 Lesson That Israel Needs to Learn Thomas Friedman, NYT. “Israel’s stated aim is to get back all its remaining hostages — now more than 130 soldiers and civilians — while destroying Hamas and its infrastructure once and for all, while doing it in a way that doesn’t cause more Gazan civilian casualties than the Biden administration can defend, and without leaving Israel responsible for Gaza forever and having to pay its bills every day.” “Stated” is doing a lot of work, there.
UAW backs Israel-Hamas cease-fire, largest union to do so The Hill
Dear Old Blighty
Health crusaders prep legal challenge over NHS mega contract with Palantir The Register. On the NHS and Palantir, see NC here, here, and here.
New Not-So-Cold War
Spiders in Glass Jar: Ze Desperately Buys Time as Enemies Plot Simplicius the Thinker
The AP Interview: Ukraine’s Zelenskyy says the war with Russia is in a new phase as winter looms AP
Ukraine’s Zelensky Orders Construction of Defenses to Hold Back Russia WSJ
General to General (excerpt) Seymour Hersh. “The driving force of those talks has not been Washington or Moscow, or Biden or Putin, but instead the two high-ranking generals who run the war, Valery Gerasimov of Russia and Valery Zaluzhny of Ukraine.” Hmm.
Frost, mice and artillery duels. How winter affects combat operations Ukrainska Pravda
Putin signs decree boosting Russia’s troop numbers by 15 percent France24
How Russia Massively Expanded its Missile Stockpiles Ready for a Winter of War Military Watch
Putin’s Favorite “Project Managers” Could Become a Risk to the Regime Carnegie Institute for International Peace
Don’t stop now. US aid to Ukraine continues to be a wise investment. The Atlantic Council
South of the Border
Venezuela to hold referendum on seizing part of Guyana — and its oil FT
2024
Federal appeals court says Trump is not immune from civil lawsuits over Jan. 6 Capitol attack CBS
Were Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis lying during Fox News debate? Here’s what they said Sacramento Bee
A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending Robert Kagan, WaPo
The Bogus Historians Who Teach Evangelicals They Live in a Theocracy Politico
Crank profiles #4: Will Stancil’s “theory” of vibes Carl Beijer
The Supremes
Senate Judiciary Committee authorizes subpoenas of Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo in Supreme Court ethics probe NBC
Antitrust
Federal judge vows to investigate Google for intentionally destroying chats The Verge. Not Mehta, however.
Digital Watch
Amazon’s Q has ‘severe hallucinations’ and leaks confidential data in public preview, employees warn (excerpt) Platformer. The deck: “Some hallucinations could ‘potentially induce cardiac incidents in Legal,’ according to internal documents.”
Spook Country
60 Years of ‘The Spy Who Came in From the Cold’ CrimeReads
The Mystery Customer for Palmer Luckey’s Aircraft-Killing Drone Is U.S. Special Forces 404
Imperial Collapse Watch
America’s undying empire: why the decline of US power has been greatly exaggerated Guardian
Class Warfare
Auto Workers Direct Momentum Toward Organizing Plants Across the U.S. Labor Notes
The richer you are, the more money you need to be happy Axios
The New Quest to Control Evolution Quanta
In Praise of Darkness: Henry Beston on How the Beauty of Night Nourishes the Human Spirit Marginalian
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
