Operation Beluga — or how a Soviet ice breaker played music to thousands of ice-trapped whales to save them from starving ZMEScience (Dr. Kevin)
Solid knitting: a different spin on 3D printing that can make furniture out of yarn ZMEScience (Dr. Kevin)
Antimicrobial Resistance On The Rise Due To Wars In Ukraine And Gaza Forbes (Paul R)
#COVID-19
The Indomitable Covid Virus Eric Topol (Paul R)
Climate/Environment
Global Climate Change Impact on Crops Expected Within 10 Years, NASA Study Finds NASA. Paul R: “Potentially 24% less corn and 17% more wheat by 2030. Ouch.”
Greenland fossil discovery reveals increased risk of sea-level catastrophe ScienceDaily (Kevin W)
The Adriatic is becoming tropical’: Italian fishers struggle to adapt to warm sea Guardian (Kevin W)
China?
US expected to propose barring Chinese software in autonomous vehicles Reuters
A good summary of the situation around US control of GPUs, but a lot of confusion remains about this story. A short thread. 🧵 https://t.co/839lBnk7qf
— Paul Triolo (@pstAsiatech) August 5, 2024
Koreas
North Korea’s Kim sends 250 new tactical ballistic missile launchers to border Japan Times
Disguised ships and front companies: how North Korea has evaded sanctions to grow a global weapons industry The Conversation (Kevin W)
Bangladesh
Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s ‘Iron Lady’, was the longest-serving female head of government in the world. Then she fled on a chopper ABC Australia (Kevin W)
Bangladesh Army to Install New Government After PM Flees Country Bloomberg
Bangladesh protesters won’t accept army-led government after PM Sheikh Hasina’s exit BBC
Africa
Sudan famine: Zamzam camp starvation is ‘man-made and 100% preventable’, experts say. Sky
Deadlier strain of mpox spreads to multiple African countries Science
Old Blighty
Starmer pledges ‘standing army’ of specialist officers to deal with violent disorder BBC
Rioters throw petrol bombs at police in Belfast in night of disruption Anadolu Agency
Is Britain heading for civil war? Unherd
UK pensioners left on ‘financial cliff edge’ by cuts to winter fuel payments Guardian
Britain’s universities are in financial danger New European
Gaza
Gaza live: Israel bombs Jenin, Gaza and Lebanon in fresh air strikes Middle East Eye
Alastair Crooke: Willful Western Blindness Over Israel Judge Napolitano, YouTube. 17:15: “The West wants war.” Earlier in the interview, Crooke conveys a report from a friend who was in the Iran guest house with Hamiyeh and survived (!!!) and confirms the attack was made by a projectile, and not a bomb. Also mentions that Russia electronic suppression systems, with a range of up to 5000 km (no typo) have been delivered to Iran and are apparently being put to work. Other sites have reported on the transfer of this system. Per Crooke, GPS is “not operating properly in Israel.”
“Something came from the outside”: An Eyewitness Account of the Aftermath of Ismail Haniyeh’s Assassination Jeremy Scahill (Robin K)
Benjamin Netanyahu clashes with security chiefs on Hamas deal Financial Times. Completely bizarre. Was this story posted ten days late? There is no hope for a ceasefire now. Misleading mention of the fact that Israel assassinated a, perhaps the chief, Hamas negotiator (his assassination is mentioned well into the piece and his role downplayed). So what disinfo purpose does this serve? To amplify the nutty Blinken talk of needing a ceasefire right after Hamiyeh was killed?
Resistance Axis: a calculated, simultaneous strike on Israel The Cradle
10,000 Israeli Soldiers Killed or Wounded – Report Exposes Crisis among Israeli Soldiers in Gaza Palestine Chronicle (Kevin W)
UN reports over 300% increase in malnutrition cases among children in Gaza Anadolu Agency
WELCOME TO HELL: The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps B’Tselem
The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (guurst)Pay attention to that "but world won't let us" bit at the end. Never let anyone tell you that your efforts to oppose Israeli atrocities make no difference. If westerners weren't creating pressure on western governments about this, Israel would be acting SO much worse than it is. https://t.co/KULgcMpkJs
— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) August 5, 2024
#BREAKING: #Turkish FM: #Turkiye will submit its application to join #SouthAfrica’s genocide case against #Israel at ICJ on Wednesday in The Hague https://t.co/IflBrUjlhs pic.twitter.com/7rOTL4yTd7
— Arab News (@arabnews) August 5, 2024
Yemen’s Houthis claim first attack on container ship in two weeks Aljazeera
Syraqistan
‘Several’ US personnel injured in rocket attack on Iraq base CNN (Kevin W)
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine war latest: F-16s are being used by Ukrainian Air Force, Zelensky says Kyiv Independent
Ukrainian forces will have to get out of the remaining pocket in the coming days if not hours.
That move to New York from the south with another dare tunnel operation forced Ukrainian forces to hand over the last 2014 heavily enttenchrd front lines in that sector without a fight.… pic.twitter.com/A3hJNMkdDp— — GEROMAN — time will tell – 👀 — (@GeromanAT) August 6, 2024
Who Caused the Ukraine War? John Mearsheimer
Canadian submarine fleet poses new threat to Russia Vzglyad (Micael T)
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Illinois Governor Approves Business-Friendly Overhaul of Biometric Privacy Law Reuters
Imperial Collapse Watch
The CIA & the 9/11 Plea Deals Consortium News (Robin K)
Preparing NZ for a post-American world Newsroom (mgl)
Kamala
Bill and Hillary’s daughter Chelsea could be angling for a spot in the Harris administration Independent. Paul R: “Can someone call an exorcist?”
War and recession fears test Harris campaign’s momentum Axios
Market sell-off puts Democrats on edge Politico
In Face the Nation interview, UAW President Fain stumps for Kamala Harris’ election campaign WSWS
2024
This obscure crypto super PAC has raised more money in the 2024 election cycle than any other — including MAGA Inc. MarketWatch (ma)
Our No Longer Free Press
Former Kansas police chief to face criminal charge after newspaper raid, prosecutors say Kansas City Star
Judge who authorized Kansas newspaper raid escapes discipline with secret conflicting explanation Kansas Reflector
Mr. Market Has a Sad
Japanese stocks rebound 9% after global rout Financial Times. I said privately last night this decline seemed more like some overdue volatility after too long a period of good times, ex if you were so unfortunate as to hold the wrong tech stocks. Of course if we have a war, that’s massively disruptive on its own and to commerce. But headlines yesterday were all weirdly not giving that risk anywhere near the prominence it deserved, so I don’t see Mr. Market yet adequately pricing that in. But that could change very quickly!
Greg Ip for many many years was the WSJ Fed whisperer:
There are telltale signs of recession, but while the risk has risen, the U.S. isn’t in one now. That means it isn’t too late to head off a downturn, writes Greg Ip. https://t.co/xrhLd1bJ9Q
— Real Time Economics (@WSJecon) August 6, 2024
The American wedding is shrinking Washington Post
Antitrust
BOOM: Judge Rules Google Is a Monopolist Matt Stoller. This is a huge win. We might see a less terrible search experience in a few years. But this story has been crowded out a bit by the Middle East war prospects and the market upheaval.
AI
Video Game Actors Are Officially On Strike Over AI The Verge
Nvidia Allegedly Scraped YouTube, Netflix Videos for AI Training Data 404Media
Silicon Valley Parents Are Sending Kindergarten Kids To AI-Focused Summer Camps SF Standard
The battle over who makes the rules for US companies Financial Times (BC). Important
The Bezzle
Thailand may tell us a great deal about the future of money Financial Times. *Sigh* The Thai government has been trying for years to reduce cash use. There was a marked fall in 2022, but cash still accounts for 50% of all point of sale transactions. On top of that, even though Thais are VERY wired and regularly use phones to make funds transfers, including to each other, performance is so erratic that users are too often forced back into cash. I went to a meeting last week. There was much lamenting by customers of several different major banks. They would attempt to make a transfer, the bank would insist on the customer sending a fresh selfie to verify identify, and the image would be rejected. Marching into the branch would not necessarily solve the problem. No one in the room had any remedies save carrying a lot of currency. “Cash is king” particularly when you can pay utilities at a 7-11 (pervasive here)….but only in cash.
Class Warfare
‘I Feel Dismissed’: People Experiencing Colorism Say Health System Fails Them KFF Health News
Antidote du jour. David E” “Dog, Friday market, Souillac, France.”
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
THE SINKING OF MIAMI
(melody borrowed from The Rose Of Alabamy by Jack Dorsey, as performed by AmericanZeus)
Built upon an ancient swamp
Where ‘gators used to chase and chomp
A town that loves panache and pomp
The sinking of Miami
Nights are hotter it’s soggy and it’s clammy
There’s too much salty water with the sinking of Miami
‘Twas once a roasty place to be
Till the invention of AC
Don’t turn off our ‘lectricity
The sinking of Miami
Nights are hotter it’s soggy and it’s clammy
There’s too much salty water with the sinking of Miami
Each month they catch another gale
A Rain Bomb floods things off the scale
Huge hurricanes make people wail
The sinking of Miami
Nights are hotter it’s soggy and it’s clammy
There’s too much salty water with the sinking of Miami
Your penthouse condo can’t be sold
For many shekels cash or gold
Within the walls there’s too much mold
The sinking of Miami
Nights are hotter it’s soggy and it’s clammy
There’s too much salty water with the sinking of Miami
You build more houses all in vain
You cannot sell what you can’t drain
You’re stuck with them so don’t complain
The sinking of Miami
Nights are hotter it’s soggy and it’s clammy
There’s too much salty water with the sinking of Miami
DeSantis won’t fix anything
He caters to the right-right wing
Your Governor’s a ding-a-ling
The sinking of Miami
Nights are hotter it’s soggy and it’s clammy
There’s too much salty water with the sinking of Miami
Correct link for the Greenland fossil discovery:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/08/240805164411.htm
Fixing, thanks!
Re: Silicon Valley parents sending their kids to AI camps
I guess coding camps are “out.” Maybe this should be cross-filed under “Guillotine Watch” or perhaps “The Bezzle?”
Indoctrinating malleable minds into the cult of linear algebra anthropomorphism certainly won’t have any negative consequences in the future.
Yeah…until they don’t.
At one time didn’t Silicon Valley parents hype tech in the classroom, only for it later to be revealed they weren’t as keen on tablet teachers for their kids?
I’m leaning toward this as being something more about marketing.
“Operation Beluga — or how a Soviet ice breaker played music to thousands of ice-trapped whales to save them from starving”
This certainly overshadows a joint US-USSR operation a few years later called “Operation Breakthrough which sought to free three whales. One of the two Russian ice-breakers used in this operation was the ‘Moskva’, the same ship which freed those 2,000 whales-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Breakthrough
Obligatory shittalking Rooskies has become comical, considering the state of the “free-world” at the moment of writing:
On the other hand, talking down “savage Indians” is just sad:
Communities that practice subsistence hunting have culture of killing only what they need. Only “civilized” people have interest in slaughtering into extinction.
Agree that the FT piece on Corporate Law in DE is important. I am plugged into the D&O insurance underwriting world and I definitely plan to reach out and hear their thinking. I do know one thing, which is insurers hate uncertainty and a mass change of corporate domicile is probably not something they relish. We’ll see what they say.
The Clinton family business…yes please someone make it stop. Good grief, and sadly as well not at all shocking to read or believe is a possible outcome.
re: Clinton nepo biz — I won’t vote for Trump, but tempted…
Working link for the Greenland fossil story;
Crooke says to Judge Nap “This means the West wants war.” This being the recent bombings/assassinations in Beirut and Tehran. Here in comments many of us have been guessing that this is how Israel starts the war that the USA is forced to join.
I suppose the technical difference between these would lie in information and approval. But does it make a difference, except in a legalistic way? The West knows what Israel is and therefore the decision to not stop them amounts to the same thing. The only lever the West has is preventing war and if it wanted that it would have done it by now.
I can’t believe I never noticed this before:
When you list the source and the time, it looks a lot like citing scripture.
“Everything was going Kamala Harris’ way. Then came the market sell-off.”
Got that right but it is more than that. Everybody is waiting for Iran to hit back at Israel for those assassinations which may leading to a wider war. Not only will Israel want to hit back, they are already talking about a pre-emptive strike on Iran to put them in their place. Having set this all in motion, Netanyahu and his cronies are now hiding in a bunker to protect their valuable lives. Point is, what is this going to do to the price of oil but more to the point, what will it do to the price of gas in the US? If gas prices sky-rocket, then people will – rightly – blame the Democrats for giving Israel a blank check and non-stop standing ovations instead of putting them on a leash.
Random questions that intrude into my consciousness:
1. Has anyone seen “Freeze Frame” Mitch, lately? Could he possibly be gone from this world?
2. Is Trump tanking? It’s not exactly 3rd semester calculus to put a campaign together when 64% of the country thinks we’re on the wrong track. Ukraine is looking like a scene from a “John Wick” movie where Putin is John Wick, and there’s an honest-to-God Genocide ongoing that is being sponsored by the incumbent administration.
Just keep talking about the lies, the economy, the inflation, and the endless wars that we lose, Orangeman.
I think it is premature to say anything re Trump. It is bloody August. Everyone but news and political junkies wants to be tuning out.
Having said that, I think the impact of the shooting on him has been underestimated. This would be psychologically destabilizing for anyone. And then he has the second problem that this is very likely to happen again, as in the Secret Service can’t or won’t tighten up operations enough to protect him adequately. He has loved big rallies and the SS has said they can’t protect him if he holds them.
So Lambert points out Trump has probably lost three weeks due to being off his marks, even before getting to the Kamala boomlet.
I think we need to see hard fundraising #s to calibrate better.
Ya, no need to panic, and reshaping “events” look like they may be coming at us fast and furious.
I’ve taken to Nate Silver’s latest projections to gauge how national polling is shaping up. Harris has pulled ahead nationally, and even in swing states one observes a decided shift upward since Biden left or stepped down ( okay probably shoved by his pals ).
I suppose the need to host his campaign events exclusively indoors is a harsh reminder. Can’t give another lone actor a second opportunity.
Is Trump tanking?
Am also wondering this. One possible explaination – loyal Dem voters will swallow almost anything but Trump. That stopped working when Biden’s dementia become too obvious to hide. But not (yet) Kamala. To them, Harris is way better than Trump, and minus the Biden fatal flaw of dementia and “Genocide Joe”. After all, they rallied around Biden less than 4 years ago and frankly Harris might at superficial glance appear much better than Biden 4 years ago. Also many voters don’t know or care about the lesser known details about Harris, that are huge negatives. She does not have the exposure (yet) that a Hillary Clinton had at a similar point in time, and in Hillary’s case the more you saw of her the less likely you liked her. It’s entirely possible Harris will never get to HC level negatives especially w/MSM at her back. That may be true of Harris but it’s too early to know for sure.
Shorter version: the issues many of us see in Kamala are less widely known to many voters. This is her strength against Trump. Will it last and for how long?
Kamala unlike Hillary is likable. She’s also sharper than some of us give her credit for. Trump may have badly mis-underestimated her, to quote the great American President G.W. Bush.
However, one weakness is that she can still be tied to Biden and his policies. Plus by not stepping down immediately, Genocide Joe has left the Dem party vulnerable to accusation of putting us aboard a rudderless ship.
It has been pointed out that Trump should tie Kamala to Biden at every opportunity and as Biden has not resigned, he can rightfully talk about a Kamala-Biden admin. Let Biden be the demented albatross around Kamala’s neck and talk about how Kamala is still keeping Biden propped up to stay as President. Take some of the glitz away from Kamala.
Hold up. Kamala is all the sudden “likable”??? Geez. The mighty Wurlitzer doing its thing.
I’m grading on a curve … I’d rather hang out with Kammie than Angry Joe, or Hillary, or Pelosi (although I could use the stock trading tips.)
Ugh. Is Josh Shapiro invited? If I have to pick a drinking buddy out of this current lot it’s gotta be Hunter.
Seriously, the press minting of a whole new “fun” Kamala has not been subtle.Less seriously but still to the point, If we’re going for drinks, is she buying?
Regarding debates and Trump’s style – I’m thinking in debate settings Trump could be too overbearing towards Harris to the point of generating African American sympathy towards her.
Hillary was different. She was perceived by some as a capital “B” establishment insider known for “I’m in this for myself” offending people and stepping on toes. She was not liked.
Trump overbearing directed at Hillary probably generates a different reaction from observers that would overbearing directed at Harris.
Then there’s Arnaud Bertrand’s view expressed in a tweext the other day regarding one of KH’s word salad disquisitions: “They’re replacing someone who lost his brain with someone who never had one.”
https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1819844366711607651
dem cultists are the worst. They would rally around kamala even if she chose Netanyahu as her VP. 99 Hitlers is way better than 100 Hitlers, or something.
Anecdote in support of my above:
I have an African American tenant. He has never once texted me regarding politics, until it became clear Biden was out (and logically Kamala Harris in). I overheard a snippet of conversation btwn him and his girlfriend -“…that’s only because people feel sorry for him because he was shot…”.
This is an purely anecdote example that may suggest the traditional huge black support Dems have enjoyed will swing behind Harris.
I replied to his text with quotes from Biden and Putin to the affect “nothing fundamental will change” so what difference does it make? And recommended he read Naked Capitalism and listen to The Critical Hour at Sputnik which is hosted by 2 black dudes I respect.
Hello I’m your tenant please lower my rent you are killing me over here
timbers; This is an purely anecdote example that may suggest the traditional huge black support Dems have enjoyed will swing behind Harris.
Not in the SF Bay Area, among those African-Americans there who actually recall her record as deputy DA in Alameda county, assistant DA and then DA in SF, and finally California AG.
That will not make much difference to what happens in the rest of the country, true. Most people are tribal and most people are sheep.
It has always been easy to win an election in the USA: plausibly offer what voters want. Politicians don’t do that because donors. In the last 10 years there were three interesting populist insurgencies. Sanders was two of those, successfully defeated by Party. Trump 2016 was a proper outsider insurgency. We observed Trump develop his “platform” by trial and error in the primary campaign in front of many real audiences and talking to people. That gave him a huge advantage over those who only talk to political and marcom experts. As soon as he got elected he immediately and dramatically reverted to form.
Trump 2024 is very different. (1) He’s not as plausible like in 2016 since we saw what happened in his first term, i.e. in 2016 it maybe made sense to take a chance on the unknown joker but now we have much more information. (2) He’s much more integrated into the party and DC now so his room to say what voters what to hear is much smaller.
Re: the American wedding shrinking: although WaPo reports wedding costs that have gone up an average of about 25% since 2020, young marrieds report in the story spending three times their original budgets. Uhm, that’s a whole lot more than a 25% increase, yet there’s no explanation or comment on the difference in the story.
Goooood Moooooorning Fiatnam!
The decision came from on high, Operation Loanbacker would bond the country back into the stone age, when money was what you made of it. The idea was to so pollute normal channels of commerce with seemingly free money, as to make a mockery of the economy as we knew it.
Imagine yourself a VC (Verified Crony) warrior hidden below the green felt jungle canopy, used to the chatter of a Huey dumping a few million over the skids, when above you, a B-52 opens it’s doors and lets loose with largess the likes of which you’ve never seen before?
Earlier problems with the chopper crew not taking the time to take off the bands holding each bundle intact were now a thing of the past, as the crew of the pressurized goliath was much more professional in their approach, which emphasized flutter tactics combined with release from 30,000 feet.
“Bond the country back into the stone age” I see what you did there, ha!
Is Powell working on a FAFB (Father of all Fiat Bombs)? Could it possibly be stronger than the 3000 pounder that Congress dropped on us during the pandemic? (I’m still thinking I can find a $600 check in the bushes somewhere, if I look hard enough)
PS -meant as a reply to Wukchumni
Speaking of man made famines, Meryl Nass article.
INDUCING FAMINE: Agricultural officials raise concerns over big banks’ ESG & climate agendas/CFACT
From February–but important to know that some of the states are waking up to the scam of induced food shortages and planned hunger in the US and overseas
https://merylnass.substack.com/p/inducing-famine-agricultural-officials
‘US expected to propose barring Chinese software in autonomous vehicles”
I guess that Washington woke up to the fact that even with a 100% tariff, that Chinese cars were still much cheaper than locally-made cars. So now they are going after Chinese cars that use Chinese software – which is all of them. It would not matter if China commissioned US-written software to be uploaded into those cars, Washington would just come up with some other excuse to stop Chinese cars competing with locally made cars. Elon Musk must be very relieved at this. But since the US is meeting with representatives of Australia, Canada, the European Union, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea, Spain, and the United Kingdom, that this is part of an effort to ban advanced Chinese cars from western countries meaning that we will have to pay far higher prices for probably inferior cars.
So, recent news stories have Kamala’s VP prospects down to a choice between Josh Shapiro and Tim Walz.
She’s either asking for my vote, or signaling approval for WWIII.
I’m surprised at such a stark choice being laid out for all to see at this point.
Just breaking it reported the choice to be is Walz. From CNBC reports.
My gut is the process went like this:
-Shapiro was picked early
-they had to go through motions
-Shapiro seems like a jersey who probably rubbed Harris the wrong way
-Holder gave his “okay.”
-Leaks were made to build excitement
-People went hey did you even do an internet search on this guy
-panic
-Harris picked the person she probably likes the most personally as Holder almost certainly did no vetting.. They both are kind of goofy without descending to Tim Kaine in the membrane.
Remember Marion anyone? It took a year, but it looks like former Marion Police Chief Cody is taking the fall.
Fallout from the raid
As negative attention exploded in the days after the raid, Cody tried to defend his actions. He told Marion County Attorney Joel Ensey that the Kansas Bureau of Investigation was “100% behind me.”
A KBI investigator said “he had to live in fantasy land to get that picture.” She went on to describe Cody as “a rabid squirrel in a cage.”
Marion County Sheriff Jeff Soyez reportedly told Ensey, “You’re getting ready to get a big, old, nasty, hairy case dropped in your lap. I would suggest you hire a special prosecutor and just stay away from this entire case.”
Interesting, there’s a lot of “distancing” goin on here. I don’t recall Ensey pushing back much at the time. The KBI, to their credit or not, was very tight lipped during the investigation, at least from what we were able to glean from the newspaper reports at the time. Sheriff Soyez seems to be avoiding any kind of implication even though he had the optics of being involved.
Never the less, if Cody is indeed brought up on charges, and if any of those charges stick, it will pave the way for litigation and further discovery.
I am happy to see that freedom of the press is still an important enough concept that this whole business wasn’t entirely swept under the carpet.
re: Judge who authorized Kansas newspaper raid escapes discipline with secret conflicting explanation — Kansas Reflector
Thanks for the link. This para is interesting:
“The panel members who dismissed the complaint against Viar were Grant County District Judge Bradley Ambrosier; Kansas City, Kansas, attorney Tonda Jones Hill; Rosemary Kolich, of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth; Kansas Court of Appeals Judge Thomas Malone; and Johnson County Judge Thomas Kelly Ryan.”
Tonda Hill is currently running as a Dem for the DA office in another Kansas county.
Good eye. I’m confident that Viar hasn’t seen the last of the fallout from her participation. Small towns are intimate settings. Everyone knows everyone. Although there might not be any official sanctions, she will feel the weight of her actions. As for Tonda Hill, she seems a star ascending! heh heh heh
Tossing this across the climate office transom. Record emissions from wildfires across the Americas in 2024, Wildfire Today. These are some sobering graphs, and again bring to mind the scale of our folly.
“North Korea’s Kim sends 250 new tactical ballistic missile launchers to border”
I wonder if these were the same type that they sent to the Russians to be used in the war in the Ukraine. The article does not mention the type. The Russians were very impressed with the “Bulsae-4” system and so decided to use it which lets the North Koreans see how it would fare in an actual war. So far the results seem to be good which must be a bit of a worry for the South Koreans-
https://defencesecurityasia.com/en/russia-deploys-north-korean-made-bulsae-4-anti-tank-missiles-in-ukraine/
Chelsea in the Harris Administration? If she shows up as often as she did for her MSDNC gig, she will double the number of days she has worked on day 1.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1946/08/31/hiroshima
August 31, 1946
Hiroshima
By JOHN HERSEY
I—A NOISELESS FLASH
At exactly fifteen minutes past eight in the morning, on August 6, 1945, Japanese time, at the moment when the atomic bomb flashed above Hiroshima, Miss Toshiko Sasaki, a clerk in the personnel department of the East Asia Tin Works, had just sat down at her place in the plant office and was turning her head to speak to the girl at the next desk. At that same moment, Dr. Masakazu Fujii was settling down cross-legged to read the Osaka Asahi on the porch of his private hospital, overhanging one of the seven deltaic rivers which divide Hiroshima; Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura, a tailor’s widow, stood by the window of her kitchen, watching a neighbor tearing down his house because it lay in the path of an air-raid-defense fire lane; Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, a German priest of the Society of Jesus, reclined in his underwear on a cot on the top floor of his order’s three-story mission house, reading a Jesuit magazine, Stimmen der Zeit; Dr. Terufumi Sasaki, a young member of the surgical staff of the city’s large, modern Red Cross Hospital, walked along one of the hospital corridors with a blood specimen for a Wassermann test in his hand; and the Reverend Mr. Kiyoshi Tanimoto, pastor of the Hiroshima Methodist Church, paused at the door of a rich man’s house in Koi, the city’s western suburb, and prepared to unload a handcart full of things he had evacuated from town in fear of the massive B-29 raid which everyone expected Hiroshima to suffer. A hundred thousand people were killed by the atomic bomb, and these six were among the survivors. They still wonder why they lived when so many others died. Each of them counts many small items of chance or volition—a step taken in time, a decision to go indoors, catching one streetcar instead of the next—that spared him. And now each knows that in the act of survival he lived a dozen lives and saw more death than he ever thought he would see. At the time, none of them knew anything…
in the next weeks we might get a glimpse of what 80 years of progress did to the technology. The human experiment is winding down quickly.
It is being reported that harris has chosen tim walz.