Wild Goffin’s cockatoos flexibly manufacture and use tool sets Cell
Cleaner fish recognize self in a mirror via self-face recognition like humans PNAS
Coyotes, Charlotte’s loudest newcomers, are here to stay Axios Charlotte
Climate
Sea-ice extent in the Antarctic headed for a record minimum Sea Ice Portal
Millions of satellite images reveal how beaches around the Pacific vanish or replenish in El Niño and La Niña years The Conversation
Those Balloons, or Whatever the Heck They Are
U.S. Military Shoots Down Fourth High-Altitude Object Over North America WSJ. Commentary:
[Meanwhile, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.)
“You’re *absolutely sure* that *everyone* can read the ‘Goodyear’ on the side of my blimp, right? Absolutely *100%* certain? From far away?”— Olivier Knox (@OKnox) February 12, 2023
Everything we know about the mysterious ‘objects’ shot down by US warplanes Independent. It would be really hilarious of they were Ekumen envoys. But probably not:
Anyone notice how UFOs seem to appear whenever America is in need of an enemy? For example, the first surge in popularity was from 1947 to around 1960, coinciding with the rise of post-WW2 Cold War paranoia. The Soviet Union soon emerged as America’s chief rival. pic.twitter.com/UImv81CqXJ
— Robert Skvarla (@RobertSkvarla) February 11, 2023
New unidentified ‘cylindrical’ object shot down over Canada WaPo. From two days ago, but important for this passage:
The incursions in the past week have changed how analysts receive and interpret information from radars and sensors, a U.S. official said Saturday, partly addressing a key question of why so many objects have recently surfaced.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that sensory equipment absorbs a lot of raw data, and filters are used so humans and machines can make sense of what is collected. But that process always runs the risk of leaving out something important, the official said.
“We basically opened the filters,” the official added, much like a car buyer unchecking boxes on a website to broaden the parameters of what can be searched. That change does not yet fully answer what is going on, the official cautioned, and whether stepping back to look at more data is yielding more hits — or if these latest incursions are part of a more deliberate action by an unknown country or adversary.
Not paywalled, at least for me, so I guess this is what they really want us to pay attention to.
Adversary Drones Are Spying On The U.S. And The Pentagon Acts Like They’re UFOs The Drive. From 2021, possibly germane.
China?
China and America are locked in destructive codependence FT
U.S.-China Trade Grows as Spy Balloon Raises Tensions WSJ
What does coronavirus have in store for China after massive wave of infection following end of zero-Covid strategy? South China Morning Post
What Do Louis Vuitton’s Record-Breaking Sales In Hefei Reveal About China’s Luxury Rebound? Jing Daily
China tightens requirements on classifying banks’ asset risks Reuters
Myanmar
Commentary: Drones are changing the state of play for Myanmar resistance forces Channel News Asia
Singapore commuters keep masks on despite discarded COVID-19 public transport rule Channel News Asia
Japan’s next central bank chief may rue promotion Reuters
India
Adani slashes growth targets amid rout sparked by Hindenburg Reuters
India’s Caste Obsession Is Hindering Socio-Economic Progress: Here’s Why Madras Courier
Syraqistan
Pakistan on the Brink: What the Collapse of the Nuclear-Armed Regional Power Could Mean for the World The Intercept
European Disunion
France braces for standstill on March 7 over pension reform protests The Connexion. Commentary:
Every single French union (including the CFDT and the other more conservative federations) signed this statement promising to “bring France to a halt” in all sectors on March 7th if the government doesn’t abandon its pension reform bill pic.twitter.com/yUdCSnduHp
— Jonah Birch (@jmb650) February 12, 2023
At least 250,000 protestors take to streets of Madrid over state of public healthcare Andalou Agency
Wage negotiations break down at Deutsche Post WSWS
German Deindustrialization Is Still Looming Project Syndicate
New Not-So-Cold War
The adult in the room, frighteningly:
You’re smart enough not to swallow media & other propaganda bs.
Starlink is the communication backbone of Ukraine, especially at the front lines, where almost all other Internet connectivity has been destroyed.
But we will not enable escalation of conflict that may lead to WW3.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 12, 2023
Why Ukraine should end war by political or physical assassination of Putin – political scientist New Voice of Ukraine
The Minsk Agreements Tried to Create Peace Between Ukraine and Russia. Zelensky Said He Never Planned to Honor Them. Pedro Gonzalez, Contra
It is time to cut Russia out of the global financial system FT. Let me know how that works out.
Ukraine war: Russians slowly take ground around Bakhmut BBC
‘Like Verdun’: bloody fight for Ukraine’s Bakhmut compared to infamous WWI battle South China Morning Post
JP Morgan reaches agreement with Ukraine’s Zelensky on rebuilding infrastructure NY Post. Jamie Dimon, large as life, still on the street!
Are U.S. Sanctions on Russia Working? Foreign Policy
Ukrainian Women’s Looks Are None of Your Business Foreign Policy. Somehow, I don’t think FP meant this woman, prominent in Ukrainian propaganda:
Because being trained by Nazis is a bad “look” indeed (though not to everyone, I grant).
Ukraine tells EU leaders to avoid ‘negative’ accession messaging FT. “Tells”?
South of the Border
Peru crisis deepens as agreement on early polls eludes lawmakers FT
Canada’s regime props up Peru’s and helps Canadian mining companies exploit crisis The Canada Files
Brazil Moves to Oust Miners from Indigenous Lands, Shore Up Support for Amazon Protection Yale Environment360
In Mexico, US complaints help union organizing efforts AP
Supply Chain
Welcome to the dark side: The rise of tanker shipping’s ‘shadow fleet’ Freight Waves
The Bezzle
Big Pharma’s Patent Monopolies and Corruption Are Costing Americans Big Dollars Dean Baker, DC Report
The Next Generation Of Large Language Models Forbes. “1) Models that can generate their own training data to improve themselves.” For some definition of “improve.”
Our Famously Free Press
Radio War Nerd EP #366 — Seymour Hersh on US Bombing Nord Stream Pipelines (postcast; unlocked) Radio War Nerd. Nice get! Commentary:
Pretty strongly suggests that Hersh in fact has multiple sources for this story (and others), but given the extreme sensitivity of what’s being reported, he’s keeping mum about that. Something to consider in the discourse around this piece.
— Branko Marcetic (@BMarchetich) February 12, 2023
Well worth a listen. Hersh is quite a character!
Sports Desk
Super Bowl MVP Mahomes rallies Chiefs to win on hurt ankle AP. At half-time, kill them with fire:
Data from New Jersey is a warning sign for young sports bettors The Conversation (Re Silc).
Imperial Collapse Watch
Army sees safety, not ‘wokeness,’ as top recruiting obstacle LA Times
Class Warfare
Eight States Have Joined Forces to Raise Taxes on America’s Wealthiest Stephanie Kelton, The Lens
What Can Be the Impact on Shipping From Fallout in the US West Coast Labour Talks? Hellenic Shipping News
Tech job bonfire rages on as Microsoft, GitLab and others join in The Register
At This Jersey Factory, Pension-Backed Private Equity Takes On Union Workers The Lever
American Dream For Rent: Investors elbow out individual home buyers Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Yale Professor Suggested Mass Suicide for Old People in Japan. What Did He Mean? NYT. What Andrew “Ratface Andy” actually did?
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
