Underwater molecular barter (press release) NewsWise. “‘Eat or be eaten’ is not always the way things are in nature.”
Iowa skipper butterfly ‘canary in coal mine’: A warning sign of prairie loss consequences for farmers, wildlife alike Investigate Midwest
Venture capital funds are mostly just wasting their time and your money FT Alphaville. The deck: “Howling at the moonshots.”
Climate
Tropical Storm “”Hilary”” forecast to rapidly strengthen on its way toward Baja California and the United States The Watchers
‘Cold tongue’: what the Pacific Ocean cool patch mystery says about climate change The Week
Residents flee, airlifts begin as wildfire approaches capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories AP. Surge pricing during The Jackpot:
Hawaii is vowing to protect landowners on Maui from being pressured to sell after wildfires AP
Hawaii Electric, While Failing to Act on Fire Prevention, Had Cozy Ties to Regulators Lee Fang
Maui emergency chief abruptly resigns amid Hawai’i fires response Axios
How the Maui wildfire tragedy got politicized Politico
SoCalGas fought a key California climate solution for years. It cost customers millions Sacramento Bee
The most unusual Kīlauea eruption…maybe 1823? Volcano Watch, U.S. Geological Survey
Water
Calgary orders water restrictions as rivers hit historic lows The Weather Network
Italy built an $8B dam to save Venice SatPost by Trung Phan
#COVID19
Moderna Clinical Trial Data Confirm Its Updated Covid-19 Vaccine Generates Robust Immune Response in Humans Against Widely Circulating Variants (press release) Moderna. Might as well go straight to the source.
Covid-19 affects taste independent of taste–smell confusions: results from a combined chemosensory home test and online survey from a large global cohort Chemical Senses. From the Abstract: “Our study demonstrates that COVID-19-positive individuals report taste dysfunction when self-tested with stimuli that have little to none olfactory components. Assessing the smell and taste intensity of household items is a promising, cost-effective screening tool that complements self-reports and may help to disentangle taste loss from smell loss. However, it does not replace standardized validated psychophysical tests.”
China?
China Evergrande Seeks U.S. Court Approval for $19 Billion Debt Restructuring WSJ
See Inside a Ghost Town of Abandoned Mansions in China Architectural Digest
Xi chairs standing committee meeting; Is there a plan to deal with the growing debt mess?; Defending the RMB; Xizang Bill Bishop, Sinocism
China’s central bank steps up defence of renminbi FT
China Steps Up Efforts to Stabilize Markets as Confidence Slumps and China Sneezes, But Will the World Catch a Cold? Bloomberg. Commentary:
Good thread (and blog post) about global trade and capital flows: “”Economies and markets have structured themselves around these [capital] flows, so much so that it is impossible to change, lest we risk sovereign defaults and global conflict.”” https://t.co/Kg3MmNKx5e
— Michael Pettis (@michaelxpettis) August 18, 2023
World Insights: How world’s largest economy has catalyzed global economic turmoil Xinhua. Tu quoque!
Cost of gallium goes up after Chinese export restrictions land The Register
How to Kill Chinese Dynamism Project Syndicate
Myanmar
H&M to ‘phase out’ sourcing from Myanmar amid increasing reports of labour abuses in garment factories Channel News Asia
Africa
Biden administration searching for ways to keep US forces in Niger to continue anti-terror operations despite overthrowing of government CNN
Syraqistan
The problematic framing of Israel protests as a ‘fight for democracy’ The New Arab
European Disunion
Race to be EIB chief enters final furlong Politico. The deck: “Position is more prestigious than ever before because of European Investment Bank’s role in Ukraine.”
Fossil Media New Left Review. French media.
Dear Old Blighty
If you’re under 50, it’s time to jump ship – get out of Britain while you can Telegraph. Says the Torygraph, which did so much to create the very situation it now decries..
Anas Sarwar: ‘Everbody has lost’ since MSPs passed Scottish gender recognition reforms Holyrood
New Not-So-Cold War
The Hard Truth: Ukraine Has No Realistic Path To Victory Over Russia and The Hard Reality: Ukraine’s Last-Gasp Offensive Has Failed 1945
U.S. intelligence says Ukraine will fail to meet offensive’s key goal WaPo. Shocker!
Explosions rock Zaporizhzhia Ukrainska Pravda
New Video Confirms Ukraine’s Latest Bridge Attack Was Done With Kamikaze USV Naval News
Ukraine’s Azov brigade returns to front Ukrinform. As opposed to whacking refuseniks from the rear….
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Came to Power in Carefully Planned Operation Coordinated by Western Intelligence Services, Says Former U.S. Diplomat Covert Action Magazine
Summer of the Hawks (long excerpt) Seymour Hersh
Bill Kristol leads charge to make Republicans think ‘right’ on Ukraine Responsible Statecraft. Bill Kristol, fresh — or rather, stale — from his famous victory in Iraq, still making bank, good job.
Sanctions on Russian crude and diesel exports are failing Hellenic Shipping News
Russia Producing Iskander Ballistic Missiles at Several Times Pre-War Rate: Why That Matters Miitary Watch
Götterdämmerung in the East Big Serge. Defeat for the Nazis of 1943-45. Well worth a read. The sheer scale amazes.
South of the Border
After killing of Ecuador candidate Villavicencio, speculation and recrimination Reuters
Biden Adminstration
Biden’s fall Covid vaccine rollout for the uninsured won’t include pharmacies at first Politico
The Supremes
Justice Alito is Wrong: Congress Can and Does Regulate the Supreme Court Verdict
Spook Country
House Judiciary panel subpoenas FBI, DOJ over big tech collusion Anadalu Agency
Digital Watch
Major U.S. energy org targeted in QR code phishing attack Bleeping Computer. Remember the concept of Phishing equilibria: If fraud can happen, it will already have happened. So perhaps the first, but more likely the first that we know of.
The sceptical case on generative AI FT
Zornio: HOAs are too powerful. They should not be allowed to foreclose on Colorado homes. Colorado Sun
Class Warfare
Unionized Workers at the Art Institute of Chicago Have Ratified a ‘Landmark’ First Contract, Ending 15 Months of Negotiations and Workers at the Guggenheim Museum Have Ratified Their First Union Contract, Ensuring Them Historic Pay Increases ArtNet
‘The Narrative Here Is That Workers Fought and They Won’ FAIR. The Teamsters UPS Contract
Taxing the 1 per cent: Public Opinion vs Public Policy British Journal of Political Science. Our ruling class demonstrates immense operational capability in minimizing tax. Silver lining!
Thousands of scientists are cutting back on Twitter, seeding angst and uncertainty Nature. Since Twitter is the only universal address space (Mastondon does not have search beyond the instance), this démarche is a great loss for humanity. Infection control’s droplet paradigm would never have been overturned by aerosol scientists and engineers without Twitter. Another example of good science on the Intertubes:
LK-99 lessons:
The ArXiv worked as intended. The scientific community was alerted to the possibility of a room-temperature superconductor, investigated the report, and produced further evidence…
1/
— Prof. Michael S Fuhrer (@MichaelSFuhrer) August 10, 2023
Antidote du jour (via):
Bonus antidote:
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
