How Rats Took Over North America Scientfic American. Gearing?
I’m driving 6 hours through New York’s Adirondacks to see the 2024 total solar eclipse from Potsdam. Here’s why. Space.com
The Solar Eclipse Record from Santa Elena Poco Uinic Maya Decipherment
Climate
Geoengineering Test Quietly Launches Salt Crystals into Atmosphere Scientific American
California emits more of this little-known greenhouse gas than all other US states combined The Hill. Sulfuryl fluoride.
The Carbon Divide: The Material Basis of Polarisation Green European Journal
The Ecological Crisis of Capitalism and Human Survival Monthly Review
Why the death of the honeybee was greatly exaggerated VOX
Pandemics
Whooping cough’s back — and it’s Covid’s fault Politico. Not immune dysregulation but “vaccine hesitancy.”
China?
US, China need ‘tough’ conversations, Yellen tells Chinese Premier Li Channel News Asia. The deck: “The US Treasury Secretary has made the threat of China’s excess production of electric vehicles and other clean energy products a focus of her second visit to China in nine months.” Excess with respect to what? Thread:
Some think China’s car production capacity is about 2x Chinese domestic demand. In other sectors — like batteries – Chinese capacity is more like 4x domestic demand.
11/ pic.twitter.com/c8qIBlJGck
— Brad Setser (@Brad_Setser) April 6, 2024
More on “overcapacity”:
Back to my post yesterday on how China’s “industrial overcapacity” actually is a buzzword for competitiveness.
This 👇 is part of the equation: Chinese manufacturing is an order of magnitude more robotized than elsewhere, which means much higher productivity and lower prices.… https://t.co/JgM7rdN4FD
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) April 7, 2024
US and China agree to start new talks on ‘balanced’ economic growth France24
Yellen warns China of ‘significant consequences’ if its companies support Russia’s war in Ukraine FT
Aukus weighs expanding security pact to deter China in Indo-Pacific FT
China’s maternity services put on notice as the country faces an ‘obstetrics winter’ South China Morning Post
Myanmar
Myanmar military loses border town in another big defeat BBC
Syraqistan
Pelosi joins US Democrats call for Biden to halt arms transfer to Israel Al Jazeera
House Armed Services ranking member: Israel’s strategy is ‘not working to their advantage’ Politico
* * *
US braces for possible retaliatory attack from Iran: Report. Commentary:
Iran backs Hamas.Iran backs Hezbollah.Iran backs the Houthis.Iran is helping Putin in Ukraine.
It all comes back to Iran.
— AIPAC (@AIPAC) April 4, 2024
AIPAC to US: “Let’s you and him fight.”
Elon Musk’s X pushed a fake headline about Iran attacking Israel. X’s AI chatbot Grok made it up. Mashable
* * *
200,000 worshippers perform Tarawih prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque despite Israeli restrictions Anadolu Agency
Concerns UK’s UNRWA defunding decision based on ‘claims made through torture’ The New Arab
Tracking The Urbicide in Gaza ArcGis. Interactive map.
Class destroyed: The rise and ruin of Gaza’s revered universities (photo essay) NBC (Furzy Mouse).
Dear Old Blighty
‘Brilliant’ professor and father-of-two died aged just 43 after doctors botched treatment for a rare condition on which he was a national expert, his GP widow tells inquest Daily Mail
New Not-So-Cold-War
Russia-Ukraine war: Ukraine’s top general says Russian forces carrying out offensive operations day and night – as it happened Guardian
Military briefing: Russian ‘glide bombs’ pound Ukrainian troops and towns FT
OPINION: The Unseen Crisis: Russian Soldiers’ Desperation on Ukrainian Front Lines Kyiv Post
* * *
Edward Luttwak: Time to Send NATO Troops Simplicius the Thinker(s)
NATO Wants to Show Support for Ukraine, but Only So Much NYT
* * *
Zelenskyy aims to convene Peace Summit with up to 100 countries participating Ukrainska Pravda
Russia presses for answers from West over Nord Stream blasts Reuters
Peter Pellegrini: Russia-friendly populist elected Slovak president BBC
South of the Border
Storming of Mexican embassy in Quito ‘an invasion’, Ecuador’s ex-president Correa tells FRANCE 24 France24. Commentary:
U.S. support for Ecuador’s security:
☑️Facilitated delivery of 20,000+ bullet proof vests☑️Donating $1+ million of critical security & emergency response equipment☑️@FBI personnel to support Ecuador’s National Police & Attorney General’s Office
More ➡️ https://t.co/MmmqYqAajY
— Brian A. Nichols (@WHAAsstSecty) January 23, 2024
O Canada
Leaked documents show Alberta to dismantle health provider, may sell off care homes CYV News. Meanwhile in Edmonton’s Winspear Centre concert hall:
So, I don’t remember a designated “coughing room” existing at performance halls in prepandemic times
H/T to my local Still Coviding FB Group for this find.https://t.co/zEz5cK2g7Q pic.twitter.com/AlvP4TLSjI
— Amanda Hu (@amandalhu) April 7, 2024
2024
Trump campaign raises more than $50 million at Florida fundraiser: ‘historic’ haul FOX. Let’s wait for real numbers.
Donald Trump’s Insatiable Bloodlust MoDo, NYT (Furzy Mouse).
Baltimore bridge salvage: ‘This is a game of Jenga you don’t want to lose’ BBC
Noisy Law: Scaling Without A Modulus (PDF) Cass Sunstein, SSRN
B-a-a-d Banks
A bank failure shattered trust in this Kansas town. Only honest talk will heal it. Kansas Reflector
Digital Watch
Tough luck, bosses, AI is coming for your job, too The Register. I’ve never understood why this use case wasn’t top of mind…
* * *
What we know about the xz Utils backdoor that almost infected the world Ars Technica. From last week, still a good roundup.
Everything I Know About the XZ Backdoor Evan Boehs
What can be done to protect open source devs from next xz backdoor drama? The Register
Groves of Academe
The US is experiencing a boom in microschools. What are they? The Hill. Presumably easier to ventilate. But also yet another assault on public education (and the very notion of a “public”).
Zeitgeist Watch
Disney Day Drinkers Club (Yes, That Exists) Feuds With Epcot Over Trashy Mascot WSJ. From January, but how could I have missed this?
How Raw Milk Went from a Whole Foods Staple to a Conservative Signal Politico
Imperial Collapse Watch
Liberal Blindspots Phenomemal World
Class Warfare
What’s Wrong With the Economy? It’s You, Not the Data WSJ
Nail technicians join forces to raise prices BBC
A store owner caught well-dressed women shoplifting—then posted the videos to TikTok The San Francisco Standard
The Reckoning: From the Second Slavery to Abolition, 1776-1888 – book review Counterfire
The New Science on What Ultra-Processed Food Does to Your Brain WSJ
Evidence, rationality, and ignorance: Agnotological issues in COVID-19 science Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical. From 2020, still germane.
Antidote du jour (Henry D):
And:
Henry D writes:
This is Ophelia. As a puppy she was rescued from a rescuer after she apparently destroyed a nice rug and sofa from inside her crate one afternoon and they gave up. To say she was hyperactive, high anxiety would be putting it mildly. I found that if I ran her ~ 10 miles daily she would calm down enough to be around others, though she still remained terrified of loud noises. In Atlanta we would get summer thunderstorms rolling through in the afternoon. She would panic jumping the fence to seek shelter and I would often get calls such as she was in an unknown neighbor’s car and they couldn’t get her out or hiding in a store such as Kroger a few miles from my home. Fortunately, she was not aggressive at all, but no one with any sense was going to pull on a frightened German Shepherd. One afternoon she was at my girlfriend’s house during a thunderstorm and jumped the 6 ft fence, somehow got on the other side of I-285 and on the way back managed to cross 4 lanes of rush hour traffic, but got trapped against the median and subsequently hit by a car. An amazing Vet tech saw her, pulled over in the rain in rush hour traffic and rescued her. Anyone who has driven I – 285 in Atlanta during rush hour knows what a crazy heroic act this was. She had lost her tags by this point so it took a week to track her down, by which point they had done surgery to repair the damage and wouldn’t allow us to pay because we hadn’t had a chance to approve it. After that I got permission to bring her to work teaching with me and she grew into an amazing dog. Her life “ended” when my neighbor, a police officer, was practicing shooting and she panicked, got out of the fence and headed to friends house down the road. Apparently at the same time a cougar and her cub were also spotted crossing my neighbors yard and she was never seen again. Mysteriously 6 months later a white German Shepherd was found in the woods several miles from my home. It turns out she was less than a year old, but had been surviving on her own in the woods and at that point looked and acted very much like my lost 14 yr old dog. Because she was so straggly and misbehaved they weren’t able to find anyone to adopt her so the saga began anew.
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
