Where Did the Term Blue Moon Come From, and How Rare Is the ‘Super Blue Moon’ Later This Month? Smithsonian
Oklahoma Family Completes Epic Quest to Noodle Catfish in Every Legal State Field & Stream
Private equity firms hand over distressed companies to rivals FT
Climate
Burning Man 2023: Hilary Rains Cause Chaos on the Playa, Delays Build The San Francisco Standard
How a mix of natural and human-caused factors cooked up Tropical Storm Hilary’s soggy mess AP
Meteorologist Is Naming Heatwaves After Big Polluting Oil Companies Kottke
As the Gulf of Maine warms, where are the mussels? Boston Globe
Uncovering Death by Fire Wildfire Today
#COVID19
US reports another BA.2.86 COVID-19 sequence Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy
Why a highly mutated coronavirus variant has scientists on alert Nature. Fortunately, our sophisticated test-and-track system…. Oh, what’s the use….
Long Covid symptoms create a greater burden of disability than heart disease or cancer, new study shows CNN
6.5% Covid patients died within a year of hospital discharge: study Indian Express. That seems like rather a lot.
China?
Xi Jinping hails ‘golden era’ in China-South Africa relations amid Brics summit South China Morning Post
Unpaid workers, silent sites: China’s property woes hit Country Garden Channel News Asia
US, Japan working to negotiate and finalize new deal to develop hypersonic missile interceptor Defense Scoop
The Koreas
Korean Wave (Hallyu): Arduous journey of K-pop idols Anadolu Agency
India
Historic First: Indian Navy Submarine Deploys To Australia Naval News
Africa
Costly Propositions New Left Review. Kenya.
As Senegal organizes troops to invade Niger, violence mars ‘constitutional order’ within its own borders Peoples Dispatch
European Disunion
French health minister urges mask wearing in case of small symptom of COVID-19 Anadolu Agency. The deck: “France records slight increase in COVID-19 cases recently, mandatory use of face mask is not yet in sight, says Aurelien Roussea.” The mandate, naturally, will only come too late.
Spain’s king nominates Popular Party candidate to form government Anadolu Agency
New Not-So-Cold War
Russia’s General Surovikin dismissed as head of aerospace forces: Reports Al Jazeera and Russia fires ‘General Armageddon’ in Wagner crackdown FT
Zelensky holds court with Ukraine’s most notorious neo-Nazi The Grayzone. Round up the usual fascists….
As Ukraine’s Counteroffensive Grinds On, Russia Seeks to Advance in the North WSJ
Western defense officials urge Ukraine to focus counteroffensive resources on southern push — even if it means heavy troop and equipment losses Insider
Russia’s Illegal Bridges Have Ukrainian Crosshairs on Them Foreign Policy
Ukrainian strikes reportedly hit bases in Russia housing supersonic warplanes CNN
US says it does not support Ukrainian strikes inside Russia Reuters. Yet somehow it keeps happening. ‘Tis a mystery!
STOLYPIN: The limits of Russian mobilisation BNE Intellinews
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s Article for South Africa’s Ubuntu Magazine, August 21, 2023 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation
Was the Collapse of US-Russia Relations Inevitable? The Nation
What are they saying about the war in Italy this August? Gilbert Doctorow
Digital Watch
If AI becomes conscious, how will we know? Science. I don’t know. Are we conscious?
Europe spent €600 million to recreate the human brain in a computer. How did it go? Nature. Evolution spent a lot more than that…
A study on “”honesty pledges”” became famous. Its data was fake The Big Think. I wonder how many AI training sets need to be corrected. And how many will be.
The Bezzle
Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried complains to court that vegan prison diet of ‘bread, water and peanut butter’ is ‘outrageous’ – and says he ‘can’t prepare for trial’ without access to computers and medication Daily Mail
Healthcare
New bacterial ‘dark matter’ offers hope for a drug-resistant world FT
A Systematic Background Check of TRICARE Provider Names (preprint) medRxiv. From the Abstract: “TRICARE’s provider directories are only 80% accurate. Although the DHA’s 9.6 million beneficiaries need expanded access to care, they also require protection from misleading information, medical fraud, patient abuse, and identity theft. Since 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General has excluded 17,706 physicians from federal health programs due to misconduct. Patients who receive care from excluded providers experience worse medical outcomes. To determine if any excluded provider names were found on TRICARE’s website, we performed background checks on TRICARE West’s healthcare provider directory between January 1 and March 2023. Out of 39,463 provider names sampled from 22 states, there were 2,398 matches (6.08%) with individuals and businesses found in the OIG List of Excluded Individuals and Entities (OIG-LEIE), the GSA-SAM, the HHS HIPAA Breach Report, the International Trade Administration’s Consolidated Screening List, the OIG-HHS Fugitive List, the FBI’s January 6th Capitol Violence List of Charged Defendants, State Medicaid Exclusion Lists, and FDA Debarment Lists.”
Our Famously Free Press
Dangerous threats to local press freedom Columbia Journalism Review
After Kansas newspaper raid, lawmaker proposes taking warrant power away from magistrates Kansas Reflector
The Conservatory
Hip Hop Is Saving Teen Lives in Minnesota The 74
Realignment and Legitimacy
US Careening Towards the Abyss of Fascistic Violence and Civil War as Election 2024 Approaches The Wire
Is America Headed Towards A Second Civil War? 1945
US businessman is wannabe ‘warlord’ of secretive far-right men’s network Guardian. Elevator pitch: “Airplane, but in warlord’s bunker.”
Survey: Prosperity Gospel Beliefs on the Rise Among Churchgoers The Roys Report. “Churchgoers,” as opposed to “Christians,” shows a deft touch.
Ecology Councils: Grassroots Climate Strategies from Mesopotamia Grassroots Economic Organizing
Imperial Collapse Watch
The Navy Was Freaked Out: How A Submarine Sunk A Nuclear Aircraft Carrier ‘Undetected’ In A Drill 1945. Will Admiral Van Riper please pick up the white courtesy phone?
Class Warfar
Unionized UPS workers approve contract leaders agreed to in late July AP
Evening Wrap News from The States. Worker shortages.
Is Workplace Violence in Retail Establishments Covered by OSHA? Confined Space
Humanity is going to shrink (excerpt) Noah Smith, Noahpinion. Everything’s going according to plan.
Dead by 30: DNA reveals the hard life of a shepherding family 3,800 years ago El Pais. “Back to the land” has a downside.
Antidote du jour (via):
That was Manul. Here is Manu:
[embedded content]
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/08/links-8-20-2023.html“>here.
