On patrol with Thailand’s ‘Anti-Monkey Unit’ battling to keep primates at bay in Lopburi ABC Australia (Kevin W)
What explains the variations in sexual sensation between us? aeon (Chuck L)
What becomes of the broken-hearted? Scientists investigate New Scientist (Micael T)
Smashing idea: how East Germany invented ‘unbreakable’ drinking glasses Guardian (Kevin W)
World’s largest 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas Reuters (Kevin W)
Bite-sized Threats of Ticks Your Local Epidemiologist (Dr. Kevin)
#COVID-19
BREAKING! Parts of China witnessing a COVID-19 resurgence driven by a new recombinant Delta and Omicron variant. XDV.1 Thailand Medical News (IM Doc)
Climate/Environment
Zhidan County in Shaanxi, China, has been hit by flash flooding. Heavy rain, which broke historical records with up to 179.1 mm of rainfall, occurred from the evening of August 8 to the morning of August 9 👀pic.twitter.com/XHCglntuM3
— Volcaholic 🌋 (@volcaholic1) August 9, 2024
‘Cruisezilla’ passenger ships have doubled in size since 2000, environmental group warns CNN (Kevin W)
The new EU initiative to Solve Plastic Waste is stupid, will do nothing, may be counter-productive and loads of people think it’s totally cool anyway eugyppius (Micael T)
Avocado goldrush links US companies with Mexico’s deforestation disaster Reuters (Robin K)
In 2023 the world’s forests stopped acting as a carbon sink REDD Monitor (Micael T)
China?
This is a good read by a former GM executive, analysing the extraordinarily fast rise of China’s domestic car makers and the resulting drop in the sales of foreign car brands: https://t.co/ltSqhu2xqo
The key driver was of course the rise of EVs: “The EV share of total car sales…
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) August 7, 2024
Numerous airlines are once again canceling flights to China The Street
TSMC Arizona struggles to overcome vast differences between Taiwanese and US work culture Tom’s Hardware. Micael T: “So all this American Talwan vs. China nonsense iis really about importing new management practices to the US?” Moi: Some of you may remember that Toyota went into a joint venture with GM to take over GM’s worst plant, which feature regular absenteeism and drunkenness in its workforce, and of course high defect rates. Toyota got the plant performance to above average for Toyota plants, which was much higher than GM levels.
Bangladesh
Regime change in Dhaka a morality play M.K. Bhadrakumar, Deccan Herald (Chuck L)
Bangladesh as color revolution on India’s doorstep Asia Times (Kevin W)
Gaza
‘Operation al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 307: At least 56 Palestinians killed across Gaza as Israel bombs two more schools in latest massacres Mondoweiss (guurst)
🚨While the world reads the news as mere headlines, many fail to grasp the full impact of Israeli war, including hunger, displacement, poverty, disease, and fear faced by these children in #Gaza ! pic.twitter.com/aZF6hcByAG
— Nour Naim| نُور (@NourNaim88) August 9, 2024
Besides the military support, the co-management of the “humanitarian” conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Gaza Palestinians as a group. Gaza has been starved and left without the necessary medical aid (leading to excess deaths) for 10 months. https://t.co/FS5qt8CvGR
— Nicola Perugini (@PeruginiNic) August 8, 2024
State-funded Chief Rabbis of Tampa Florida’s sister city Ashdod (Israel’s 6th-largest city, pop. 225,000) rule that females above the age of 9 may not ride scooters and their voices may not be heard when they ride city buses, where they are already forced to sit in the back seats https://t.co/Z700qMof8H
— David Sheen (@davidsheen) August 8, 2024
Alaskan F-22 Fighters Forward Deployed to Support Israel Against Iran: Qatari Airbase Plays Host Military Watch
U.S. Approves Massive Arms Sales to Israel, Waives Leahy Sanctions Against Abusive Israeli Military Unit Amid Ongoing Atrocities DAWN
Cost rising for US as it fights off Houthi drones Politico
Airlines suspend flights as Middle East tensions rise Reuters
US accuses Israeli far-right minister of ‘misleading’ Gaza ceasefire comments Financial Times. ZOMG, the US thinks sending the zero credibility yapping dog spokescritter John Kirby against Smotrich, or any Israel official, is going to make an iota of difference? In fact, it will be correctly recognized as yet another admission of weakness.
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine SitRep: Kursk Campaign Designed To Keep War Going Moon of Alabama (Kevin W). Alexander Mercouris has an interesting theory as to why the Russias were caught flat-footed. He assumes that Russia did see forces massing in Sumy region, but assumed they were for defensive purposes, that no one would be so dumb as to throw some of their best remaining units into (at best) a Hail Mary pass.
While the AFU’s Kursk raid does not look like a major operational or strategic threat, it’s still a bad, bad sign of things to come. One of the most gruesome scenarios would be if the Ukrainians have accepted and internalized that the frontline is fucked for them, and decide to… https://t.co/DsQ1KUCqP2
— Russians With Attitude (@RWApodcast) August 8, 2024
Russia has begun evacuating people from parts of its western region of Lipetsk, after a “massive attack” by Ukrainian drones, regional governor, Igor Artamonov, said. Reuters
Ukraine to unleash robot dogs on its front lines Agence France-Presse (Li)
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Comment from the TSA on Tulsi Gabbard and the “Quiet Skies” Program Matt Taibbi
Russia’s Biometric Boom Faces Rising Data Security Fears Reclaim the Net. Micael T: “It seems as if Russia too is aboard on the WEF dystopia.”
10 years after Michael Brown’s death, police body camera effectiveness still elusive Axios
DHS Prioritizes Investigating FAM Whistleblowers Over Quiet Skies Surveillance Abuses UncoverDC (furzy)
Trump
The Post-liberal Catholics Find Their Man in J. D. Vance Atlantic (furzy)
Trump calls Tim Walz ‘freakish,’ stepping up attacks on Dem ticket Politico. Trump still of his marks.
Kamala
Kamala was too nervous to go to dinner and needed training.
This is a woman in her late 50s.
Amazing.
She couldn’t handle a dinner party. No wonder they won’t let her do interviews.https://t.co/xoRsyrH3Y7 pic.twitter.com/reB7wrAaKq
— Coddled affluent professional (@feelsdesperate) August 8, 2024
‘Uncommitted’ leaders demand Harris back Israel weapons embargo to get endorsement Detroit News (ma)
From Aaron Bushnell To “I’m Speaking” In Five Months Caitlin Johnstone (Kevin W)
Our No Longer Free Press
More on Scott Ritter, Ukraine and Israel and My Conversation with an Iranian Professor Larry Johnson (furzy). Linked for the discussion of Ritter but the other parts have merit too.
20 months in prison for a Facebook post is insane. The UK has fallen. pic.twitter.com/duT8y8oVQn
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) August 9, 2024
Mr. Market Has a Sad
Global financial markets settle into ‘yo-yo pattern’ after Monday’s meltdown City A.M.
US consumer spending slowdown weighs on travel and leisure groups Financial Times
Do the math. Recession risks add up. Washington Post
Another recession signal: Credit card spending is slowing significantly. FXStreet
Abortion
Judge to rule whether Alabama can prosecute people who aid out-of-state abortions The Hill
Antitrust
The Google antitrust remedy should extinguish surveillance, not democratize it Pluralistic (Chuck L)
Elon Musk’s X sues advertisers over alleged ‘massive advertiser boycott’ after Twitter takeover ABC (furzy). f they colluded, which having a brand named org coordinating suggests, it’s a restraint of trade and Musk, despite his warts, would have a case
Advertisers axe corporate responsibility scheme after lawsuit from Musk’s X Guardian (furzy). A guilty look. A more pointed account X and Rumble’s Lawsuit Topples Alleged Censorship Cartel Reclaim the Net (Micael T)
AI
Google DeepMind develops a ‘solidly amateur’ table tennis robot TechCrunch (Dr. Kevin)
The Bezzle
How Intel, the weak link in the chip strategy of Bidenomics, is resorting to financial engineering to raise billions for fabs. Adam Tooze (Paul R)
Apple’s new charging cords have ruined my life. Welcome to Charging Cord Hell. Business Insider (Kevin W)
USPS Text Scammers Duped His Wife, So He Hacked Their Operation Wired
ATM Software Flaws Left Piles of Cash for Anyone Who Knew to Look Wired (Kevin W)
Class Warfare
State Behemoths Are Devouring the Global Economy Bloomberg
Germany could partially nationalize key weapons maker – media RT (Kevin W)
Antidote du jour. Tracie H:
The owner of this exceedingly mild mannered little ladies’ man that my husband and I encountered at a local coffee shop was telling us how everywhere they go the little fellow is adored by all the waitresses and baristas.
And a bonus (Chuck L):
This made my day! pic.twitter.com/uhY4CQhmar
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) August 7, 2024
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
