Rewilding plan aims to bring majestic white storks to London Guardian
The brain makes a lot of waste. Now scientists think they know where it goes NPR
July 4 Post-Game Analysis
Fireworks (1):
Fireworks (2):
On July 4, 2012 in San Diego, California, thousands of people gathered for the ‘Big Bay Boom,’ attending what they thought would be a 17 minute show.
Instead, 7,000 fireworks accidentally went off all at same time.
The fireworks were triggered from a computer however a glitch… pic.twitter.com/9CsA9Cq3hw
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 4, 2024
Fireworks (3):
Climate
Market forces are not enough to halt climate change FT
The risks of leaving long-duration energy storage short of money S&P Global
Datacenter demand driven by AI… but constrained by power shortages The Register. The deck: “Not content with drinking up all our water, now we’ll compete with DCs for power.”
Satellites burning up in the atmosphere may deplete Earth’s ozone layer Physics World
Syndemics
Vaccines and social distancing saved 800,000 American lives from COVID, according to a new study by a CU professor Colorado Sun
The ‘Ruby Princess’ case and the future of COVID litigation Peter Vogel, Case notes and legal musings. Australia.
Trends in Sudden Cardiac Death in Pilots: A Post COVID-19 Challenging Crisis of Global Perspectives (2011-2023) (preprint) medRxiv. From the Abstract: “Recent studies suggest a potential increase in SCD incidence among pilots following the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Infective SARS-CoV-2 in Skull Sawdust at Autopsy, Finland Emerging Infectious Diseases, CDC
‘Visionary’ study finds inflammation, evidence of Covid virus years after infection STAT
COVID’s Hidden Toll: Full-Body Scans Reveal Long-Term Immune Effects Science Alert
Cold, Flu Virus Can Trigger Long COVID Relapse MedScape
China?
China’s Communist Party on track for 100 million members by year’s end South China Morning Post
Xu Gao on housing sector’s centrality to China’s economy and how to save it The East is Read
Controversial clause on ‘hurting the feelings of the Chinese nation’ dropped from China’s proposed security law Channel News Asia
A Rare Cross-Section Illustration Reveals the Infamous Happenings of Kowloon Walled City Colossal. For example:
Philippines president orders de-escalation in South China Sea, military chief says Reuters. More:
The Great Game
Xi Jinping tells leaders at Central Asia summit to ‘resist external interference’ Channel News Asia
Georgian NGOs: The threat of freezing the EU accession process is real JAM News
Bloggers in the Crosshairs: The Complex Reality of Media Freedom in Uzbekistan The Diplomat
Notes on Tajikistan Matt Lakeman
Syraqistan
Mossad chief likely to lead Israel’s negotiating team to Gaza cease-fire talks Anadolu Agency
Africa
Junta-leaders in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to hold first joint summit France24
Dear Old Blighty
For Labour Now, It’s the Gilts Market, Stupid John Authers, Bloomberg. The deck: “Like Thatcher and Blair before him, Keir Starmer surges to power in a mandate dictated more by brutal finances than voters.”
He’s derided as dull, but Keir Starmer becomes UK prime minister with a sensational victory AP
Keir Starmer, the steely incoming Labour prime minister FT
While much of Europe embraces hard-right parties, the UK has swung wildly to the left. Here’s why CNBC. Commentary:
This is telling. Labour has not won. The Tories lost and the SNP have lost, whilst Reform and the Greens have won, and the LibDems have been exceedingly organised. But Labour has not won hearts and minds. Not in the slightest. pic.twitter.com/fg0W5vmGA4
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) July 5, 2024
And:
Votes received by Keir Starmer in Holborn & St Pancras:
2015: 29,062
2017: 41,343
2019: 36,641
2024: 18,884Pretty astonishing drop in number of votes – both caused by lower turnout and big decline in the Labour vote.
— Chris Jarvis (@chrisjarvisdiy) July 5, 2024
But:
Jeremy Corbyn won 5,236 more votes as an independent than Keir Starmer won as Labour leader in a safe seat.
— Alex Nunns (@alexnunns) July 5, 2024
George Galloway loses Rochdale seat to Labour months after recent by-election win Independent. Commentary:
Photos: The dogs of UK election day Al Jazeera. Commentary:
And now, the end is near
The Tories face the final curtain
The exit poll made it clear
Conservative defeat is now certain
They’ve pinched a bucket-full
Left holes on each and every highway
And less, much less than this
They made their lies payGood days, they’ve had so few
But…— Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) July 4, 2024
New Not-So-Cold War
Putin ‘is prepared to SHARE Crimea with Ukraine according to new peace plan that has been presented by Russia to the US’ Daily Mail
‘Istanbul deal’ could be used for future talks with Kiev – Putin Russia Today. We have always been at war with Eastasia:
This week the NY Times just casually dropped that the official U.S. intelligence assessment has always been that Putin didn’t want to expand the Ukraine conflict beyond Ukraine. But in public, Biden and other U.S officials have been pushing a domino theory that if we negotiated… pic.twitter.com/ccX5tbLYkk
— Marcus Stanley (@MarcusMStanley) July 4, 2024
Hungary’s Orban urges ceasefire on Kyiv visit BBC
Zelenskyy comments on Orbán’s ceasefire proposal Ukrainska Pravda
Putin dismisses ceasefire in Ukraine, says Kiev could arm itself anew Deutschen Presse-Agentur
Ukraine’s army retreats from positions as Russia gets closer to seizing strategically important town AP
Ukrainian President’s Office denies Zelenskyy interview with Tucker Carlson Ukrainska Pravda
Moscow Responds to Hillary Clinton’s Ukraine ‘Chat’ With Russian Pranksters Newsweekd
As an American in Kyiv, I’m proud of how much we helped Ukraine and scared we may let it down Kyiv Independent
Biden Administration
Students at fake university in Michigan created by ICE can sue US, court rules Detroit Free Press
2024
What if Biden spoke these words? (not paywalled) Editorial Board, WaPo
Biden tells Democratic governors he needs more sleep and plans to stop scheduling events after 8 p.m. Edward-Isaac Dovere, CNN
The Supremes
Roberts court hands major wins to Trump, conservative movement in 2023-24 term SCOTUSblog
The Assassination Hypothetical Isn’t Even the Scariest Part of the Supreme Court Immunity Ruling Slate
Digital Watch
AI has all the answers. Even the wrong ones FT
This Week in AI: With Chevron’s demise, AI regulation seems dead in the water TechCrunch
Sports Desk
Joey Chestnut shows no rust as he downs 57 hot dogs in competition at Fort Bliss FOX
The Final Frontier
We could terraform Mars with desert moss — but does that mean we should? Space.com
Russian space agency head says Moscow has proof America really DID go to the moon BNE Intellinews
Zeitgeist Watch
The Nibelung’s Ring: Prelude Ecosophia. Commentary:
[embedded content]
Class Warfare
07/04/2024: More Starbucks Nonsense Matt Bruenig, NRLB Edge
Warren Buffett pledges $100 billion for nothing in particular Axios
The Journal of Scientific Integrity Bits of DNA. See KLG here and here. Commentary:
Right now it’s not. But it is, apparently, ok to always present “perfect” data and regressions where all the points lie exactly on a line. Srinivasan is still presenting r^2=0.99. This talk is from just a few years ago at the #ICRA18 plenary. https://t.co/rImnL3imDB 23/
— Lior Pachter (@lpachter) July 2, 2024
Antidote du jour (Lip Kee):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here
