East Vs. West: Who’s Better at Fly Fishing? Field and Stream. Readers?
Maine lobsterman catches 5-foot military rocket ABC
Video: Drunken “Idiots” Decide to Touch a Moose. See What Happens FIeld and Stream
How Bears Hibernate without Getting Blood Clots Scientific American
Climate
An Edible Rechargeable Battery Advanced Materials. “Edible electronics is a growing field that aims to produce digestible devices using only food ingredients and additives, thus addressing many of the shortcomings of ingestible electronic devices.” So if your EV fails in the wilderness, you won’t starve!
#COVID19
Pandemic Preparedness and Response: Lessons from COVID-19 (accepted manuscript) Anthony S. Fauci and Gregory K. Folkers., Journal of Infectious Diseases. Handy table:
I don’t want to dunk too much on a player as slow-footed and over-the-hill as Fauci — though readers may disagree, in which case have at it! Obvious question: Why the complete erasure of non-pharmaceutical interventions?
Mucosal vaccines for SARS-CoV-2: scientific gaps and opportunities—workshop report Nature. Paragraph one lists the
usual suspectsworkshop hosts, who are who you would expect:The lack of validated correlates of protection for respiratory mucosal protection has implications for clinical research, as well as regulatory and policy considerations. As discussed during the Regulatory and Policy Considerations workshop session, next-generation COVID-19 vaccines can be approved by comparing systemic neutralizing IgG levels to those induced by approved vaccines, a process known as “immunobridging,” if similar platforms are used22. However, because there are no validated correlates of protection for respiratory mucosal protection, if a vaccine has a unique mode of action that elicits an effective mucosal response but does not induce the same systemic immune markers as current vaccines, it will need to undergo large and expensive Phase 3 trials to show clinical efficacy23. Furthermore, to generate evidence to support a policy recommendation for preferred use as a transmission-blocking vaccine, developers may have to include an infection or transmission endpoint and/or conduct large Phase 4 studies.
Despite these challenges, the growing body of work on SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination in both animal models and humans is rapidly expanding our knowledge of the sites where a mucosal immune response is induced, elucidating components of this response that are important for protection.
I am not a vaccine maven at all. Perhaps somebody who remembers the mRNA development and approval process can tell readers whether slow-walking and double standards are at play here. The workshop recommendations:
Notably absent is any mention of Bharat’s iNCOVACC nasal vaccine, already being distributed in India (RCT; link at NC here), which licenses technology developed at Washington University in St Louis. I would expect those developers to be present, but if there’s a list of participants in the workshop, I’m missing it. NIH = Not Invented Here?
Major health systems dropping mask mandates in ‘momentous’ shift of pandemic policy MiBiz. “Patients with COVID-19 now account for less than 3 percent of the people presently hospitalized at Corewell’s hospitals, and about half of those patients are there for different reasons, [Dr. Darryl Elmouchi, president of Corewell Health] said…. ‘It’s hard to take care of people when you can’t see them smile.’” BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!!! More:
It’s rare to see a hospital actually organize a superspreading event….
I say yes, and high time, too:
China?
How China changed the game for countries in default FT
China wants to start using moon soil to build lunar bases as soon as this decade Reuters
The Koreas
South Korea to pay US$490 to encourage reclusive youths to leave their homes; growing issue across East Asia Channel News Asia
Syraqistan
Houthi official says Yemen peace talks made progress, further rounds planned Reuters
The Strategic Consequences of a Kılıçdaroğlu Victory Over Erdoğan Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
11 more US troops diagnosed with traumatic brain injury after attacks in Syria last month CNN. Remind me why we are there?
European Disunion
Hundreds of thousands protest ahead of ruling on constitutionality of French pension reform France24
Spain’s air traffic controllers continue strike in 16 airports Anadolu Agency
Dear Old Blighty
Live news: UK rail union weighs revised offer as hopes rise for end to strikes FT
New Not-So-Cold War
Why Blockading Rather Than Retaking Crimea Might Be Kyiv’s Best Option RAND Corporation. So you’re saying there’s hope?
Ukraine forces pull back as Russia mounts ‘re-energised’ Bakhmut assault, UK says Reuters
Putin cancels Victory Day parades as Ukraine invasion continues to unravel The Atlantic Council
Ukraine’s foreign minister calls for integration of air defense systems with those of NATO allies Anadolu Agency
Vessel inspections resumed in Istanbul within the framework of Grain Initiative Urainska Pravda
Remarks by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo at the U.S.-Ukraine Partnership Forum U.S. Department of Commerce. Raimondo: “To reiterate what President Biden said, we will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. We also want to make ‘as long as it takes’ be as short as realistically possible.” Oh.
South of the Border
Brazil’s Lula in Shanghai on visit to boost ties with China AP
U.S. courts Ecuador president even as Latin American country’s democracy deteriorates LA Times
Biden Administration
The Biden Administration Tells Agencies to Scale Back Telework Government Executive
TDs and Senators asked to take Covid-19 antigen test if attending Joe Biden’s Oireachtas address Independent.ie. Wow, that’s odd. I thought Covid was over?
Dairy farm explosion injures 1 person, kills 18,000 cattle AP. Texas. This does seem to be one of many incidents.
The Supremes
Billionaire Harlan Crow Bought Property From Clarence Thomas. The Justice Didn’t Disclose the Deal. ProPublica
The Intelligence Community
Accused document leaker Jack Teixeira comes from a military family WaPo. I used the headline at View Source. The headline as displayed is different: “He’s from a patriotic family — and allegedly leaked U.S. secrets.” And here is the original headline, from the URL: jack-teixeira-discord-document-leak. And the deck: “Online, the suspect in the breach of dozens of classified documents took on a persona seemingly at odds with his military career.”
Jack Teixeira: How did someone so young have access to such sensitive files? Sky News. “The day’s events were very fast moving and began not, as might have been expected, with breakthroughs by the authorities investigating the leak, but instead from a series of investigations by the media.” IOW, the press are spooks (at least the Beltway press). Never talk to the press, for the same reason you Don’t Talk to the Police (video).
U.S. intel agencies may change how they monitor social media, chatrooms after missing leaked U.S. documents for weeks NBC. Why, it’s almost as if that was the object of the exercise!
The Crackdown Cometh Matt Taibbi, Racket News. “‘More spooks than straight guys and all pretending they’ve got a secret. Want more?’ ‘How long do you give it?’ ‘A week. Ten years.’” -John LeCarré, The Honorable Schoolboy.
What is Discord, the chatting app tied to classified leaks? AP
Meet the cranky uncle ‘vaccinating’ people against conspiracies Sydney Morning Herald. With a complete absence of transparency and accountability in a putatively democratic yet not notably rational political economy, it’s natural that non-elites would engage in their own sense-making.
Our Famously Free Press
NPR becomes first major news organization to leave Twitter The Verge. The deck: “The decision comes as Elon Musk’s relationship with the press deteriorates at an astonishing rate.” By “the press” is meant the stenographers and spooks of the Acela Corridor. So good. Great!
Twitter to let users offer content subscriptions in monetization push Reuters
The Bezzle
The U.S. Cracked a $3.4 Billion Crypto Heist—and Bitcoin’s Anonymity WSJ
Tech
I haven’t seen a PR push like the PR push for AI since…. well, since the last PR push.
‘Hey, I Am a Human.’ In Sales, the People Are Battling the Chatbots. WSJ
AI is flooding the workplace, and workers love it Vox. That’s because wages are sticky. Not for long. Holy Lord, in the lead: “Brainstorming and planning are prime examples of tasks that can be easily handled by generative AI tools like ChatGPT.” So we could fire the whole administrative layer in the university, awesome. But first they came for the administrators….
Arizona mother describes AI phone scam faking daughter’s kidnapping: ‘It was completely her voice’ FOX
We must slow down the race to God-like AI FT. The deck: “I’ve invested in more than 50 artificial intelligence start-ups. What I’ve seen worries me.” You don’t say.
Supply Chain
G7 environmental ministers to adopt plan on key mineral procurement – Yomiuri Reuters
Healthcare
The red lights are flashing in our health care system Politico
Disability Denied: Unable to Work, COVID Long Haulers Face Barriers to Benefits Capital and Main
Colorado, other states confront medical debt that’s bankrupting millions Colorado Sun. Wait. What about ObamaCare?
Realignment and Legitimacy
The Wonderful Death of a State The Baffler. On Murray Rothbard.
Class Warfare
Opinion: Uber’s “black box” keeps drivers in the dark about their share of the fare Colorado Sun
NASA unveils ‘Mars’ habitat for year-long experiments on Earth Straits Times
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
