Science This! Some Ancient Theories on Eclipses SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
To Ancient Maya, Solar Eclipses Signified Clashing Gods Scientific American
Hyper-sexual “zombie cicadas” that are infected with sexually transmitted fungus expected to emerge this year CBS
Climate
Ocean heat content in 2023 Nature. “With the ocean’s large thermal inertia, deep ocean warming is expected to continue for at least hundreds of years. Thus, the consequences of ocean warming are expected to become even more severe.”
Show me the money! Associations between tree canopy and hospital costs in cities for cardiovascular disease events in a longitudinal cohort study of 110,134 participants Environmental International
INTERVIEW: Building a credible carbon market takes time; ‘bear with us’, says ICVCM S&P Global
Pandemics
Every Time Dr. Jay Bhattacharya Talks About COVID, He Proves He Was Totally Wrong About COVID Science-Based Medicine
Embracing Viruses Anthony J. Leonardi, Easy Chair. The deck: “Societal Todestrieb.”
Emerging Threats: Is Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) in Dairy Herds a Prelude to a New Pandemic? (letter) Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease. “A coordinated “One Health” approach that integrates animal, human, and environmental health MR SUBLIMINAL and profits is essential for effective monitoring.” “One Health” is in what APHIS’s mission statement. However, I can’t help but think Mr. Sublimimal is onto something. Of course, we think of markets as “healing”, for example, so the rhetorical ground is already prepared.
Recent Changes in Patterns of Mammal Infection with Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Virus Worldwide Emerging Infectious Diseases, CDC. “Close contact,” yadda yadda yadda, but “continuous surveillance is essential to mitigate the risk for a global pandemic.”
China?
China Confronts the Middle-Income Trap Project Syndicate
China Holiday Spending Rise Shows Consumption Recovery on Track Bloomberg
China conducts ‘combat patrols’ as US holds drills with allies in disputed waters Channel News Asia
‘Invest in China’ roundtable meeting held in Munich, Germany China Daily. Commentary:
Remarkable post by Michael Schumann, who chairs @BWA_Vorstand (the main German federal association to promote economic development and foreign trade).
He explains that Germany is essentially becoming what the West accuses China of:
– “While China is opening up to foreign… pic.twitter.com/hcmfaThPUs— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) April 7, 2024
Meanwhile, our EV charging station standards come into effect at some point next year:
We head off, it was actually on the way and 5 min later we arrive at a lot with two containers on it. Inside each container is a battery swapping station. We wait in line and the taxi in front gets lifted, its battery underneath automatically removed. pic.twitter.com/kw2w00zS0Q
— JR Urbane Network (@JRUrbaneNetwork) April 7, 2024
U.S. Seeking to Dominate Chain of Pacific Islands in Preparation for Potential War with China Internationalist 360°
Is Japan finally becoming a ‘normal’ economy? FT
Myanmar
Myanmar’s army massacred Rohingyas. Now it wants their help BBC
Dear Old Blighty
Thames Water is bust: our politicians need to deal with it Funding the Future
New Not-So-Cold War
Donald Trump’s plan to end war is to force Ukraine to give up territory – WP Ukrainska Pravda
Trump cries ‘fake news’ at report about plan to end Ukraine war by asking ally to give Russia territory NY Post
Drones attack the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant ABC
Media: Ukrainian military intelligence denies involvement in drone explosion at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant Kyiv Independent [nods vigrously].
Ukraine strikes at Russian oil as battlefield desperation mounts The Hill
Nobody Actually Knows What Russia Does Next Stephen Walt, Foreign Policy
“It’s Time To Slowly Bleed Russia’s Economy Dry” Der Spiegel
Black Sea feeder delivers first containers to Ukraine in two years Seatrade Maritime. To Odessa.
Do we need Russian peacekeepers? Debates spark in Azerbaijan JAM News
Kyiv’s recurring grief The New Statesman
Syraqistan
Israel pulls troops out of Khan Younis to ‘prepare’ for Rafah mission France24
Kirby calls Israeli troop movement in southern Gaza ‘rest and refit,’ not withdrawal The Hill
Google Won’t Say Anything About Israel Using Its Photo Software To Create Gaza “Hit List” The Intercept
South of the Border
In Ecuador, gov’t sees mining as the future. But communities are divided Al Jazeera
Global Elections
How Indian democracy developed east Asian characteristics FT
In Heavily Militarised Kashmir, The Upcoming India Elections Do Not Inspire Hope Madras Courier
Biden Administration
TSMC boosts Biden’s AI chip ambitions with US production deal FT
Lawmakers unveil sprawling plan to expand online privacy protections WaPo
2024
Biden: ‘Israel Has An Obligation Not To Harm My Reelection Chances’ The Onion
Antitrust
Monopoly Round-Up: A Judge Can Break Up Google Right Now. Will He? Lee Hepner, BIG
Digital Watch
How Tech Giants Cut Corners to Harvest Data for A.I. NYT (Furzy Mouse). “Cut corners” + “harvest” = “steal.”
How AI risks creating a ‘black box’ at the heart of US legal system The Hill. “Code is Law.” See NC 2012, and 2012.
Generative AI as Shakespearean tragedy Marcus on AI
Artificial Intelligence–Generated Draft Replies to Patient Inbox Messages JAMA. It does seem that one of the attractions of AI is the possibility that clients or customers will never be able to interact with an actual human, no matter at how many removes.
Blind internet users struggle with error-prone AI aids FT
Startups Weekly: Let’s see what those Y Combinator kids have been up to this time TechCrunch. Must we?
Boeing
Southwest Boeing loses engine cover. Here’s what to know Reuters. Commentary:
Now seems like an appropriate time to point out that Boeing Quality Manager-turned-whistleblower John Barnett most likely didn’t kill himself. pic.twitter.com/469GGa1slJ
— Chester Tam (@islantstudio) April 7, 2024
Boeing Boss Gets $33 Million in Pay for 2023, but No Bonus WSJ. I’ll bet that stings.
Baltimore Key Bridge Collapse
Dali post mortem from a Chief Marine Engineer:
[embedded content]
Spook Country
Anonymous users are dominating right-wing discussions online. They also spread false information AP. No doubt; they certainly infest my timeline. However, my sticking point with this line of thought is that named, official users have spread far more false information, with far worse consequences, than any trolls, right-wing or not. That goes for Ukraine, Israel, and Covid. And of course RussiaGate and the Iraq War. And that’s before we get to mainstream macro.
Zeitgeist Watch
The Dunning-Kruger Effect Shows that People Don’t Know What They Don’t Know Scientific American
Crying Myself to Sleep tn the Biggest Cruise Ship Ever The Atlantic. If I were trapped in a Petri dish, I’d be crying too.
The new science of death: ‘There’s something happening in the brain that makes no sense’ Guardian (Furzy Mouse). Well worth a read; death is, after all, like sleep, love, and the immune system, an important subject we do not remotely begin to understand.
Imperial Collapse Watch
Multipolarity in practice:
New world goes up by GDP PPP
The World Bank published a new ranking of GDP by PPP; Russia has closely approached Japan, while Indonesia has overtaken Germany.
China has further pulled ahead of the USA. France, Italy, and the UK have dropped down a few places. Mexico and Turkey… pic.twitter.com/QopOYuKyij
— BenAris (@bneeditor) April 7, 2024
Class Warfare
Here’s Who Should Pay for Everyone’s Ozempic Slate. Big Food -> Big Medicine -> Big Pharma. And wait ’til Big Food figures out the additives to get round Ozempic:
I’d been paid again, and my debt had increased by eight dollars. I’d tormented myself by wondering where the money went, but I knew. I came off shift dehydrated, as they wanted me to be. I got a squirt of Popsie from the fountain by punching my combination — twenty-five cents checked off my payroll. The squirt wasn’t quite enough so I had another — fifty cents. Dinner was drab as usual; I couldn’t face more than a bite or two of Chicken Little. Later I was hungry and there was the canteen where I got Crunchies on easy credit. The Crunchies kicked off withdrawal symptoms that could be quelled only by another two squirts of Popsie from the fountain. And Popsie kicked off withdrawal symptoms that could only be quelled by smoking Starr Cigarettes, which made you hungry for Crunchies . . . Had Fowler Schocken thought of it in these terms when he organized Starrzelius Verily, the first spherical trust? Popsie to Crunchies to Starrs to Popsie?
–Frederick Pohl and Cyril Kornbluth, The Space Merchants (1952).
The Great Medicaid Purge was even worse than expected Catherline Rampell, WaPo
Something Is Starting to Smell Fishy About the Global Seafood Supply Chain Maritime Executive
Antidote du jour (via):
Bonus antidote:
Don’t try this at home!
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
