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British twins grow ‘monster’ pumpkin expected to weigh more than a rhino Telegraph
Investors raise bets on bumper half-point Fed rate cut FT
Climate
Scientists Will Engineer the Ocean to Absorb More Carbon Dioxide Scientifc American
Wildfires Threaten Nearly One Third of U.S Residents and Buildings Scientific American. From June, still germane.
650-foot tsunami in Greenland fjord made waves that lasted 9 days, scientists find NBC
Cave discovery in France may explain why Neanderthals disappeared, scientists say CNN
Old Easter Island genomes show no sign of a population collapse Ars Technica
Water
Is climate change making the Colorado Trail a thirst trap? It’s complicated. Colorado Sun
Syndemics
Inquiry into unexplained bird flu case in Missouri broadens to a close contact STAT
CDC FluView Update On Missouri H5 Case Adds An Important Detail Avian Flu Diary
* * * Woman convicted for fatally infecting neighbour with Covid The Telegraph. Austria.
COVID futures: Social imaginaries of post-pandemic lives in Australia Futures
* * * What We Know About Covid’s Impact on Your Brain Bloomberg. Commentary:
* * * Canada Needs a National COVID-19 Inquiry Now (preprint) SocRxiv. Meanwhile in the UK:
Transcript Dr B Jones
This was it…https://t.co/wDsvKaIZIM pic.twitter.com/MOTYY2ek3Z— Dr Evonne T Curran NursD 💙🇺🇦 (@EvonneTCurran) September 14, 2024
China?
President Xi Jinping tones down focus on China’s growth targets as headwinds mount South China Morning Post
China committed to ‘peacemaker’ role, including on Ukraine, Xiangshan defence forum hears South China Morning Post
U.S. Navy’s Top SEALs Special Forces Team Simulating Attacks on China in Taiwan Strait War: How Effective Are They? Military Watch
Super Typhoon Yagi exposes China’s cashless society flaws as people flock to charge phones. Watch Hindustan Times
The Spellbinding Life of Koji Kashin: Japan’s Legendary Wandering Magician Tokyo Weekender
The cursed stone resists return Pearls and Irritations
Labour unrest shuts down 100 factories in Bangladesh BNE Intellinews
Syraqistan
Netanyahu asks for criminal probe into himself to evade ICC warrant Al Mayadeen
How a Single Jordanian Tribesman Put the ‘Cold Peace’ with Israel at Risk Internationalist 360°
Massachusetts man shot in scuffle with pro-Israel crowd as video emerges of another who self-immolated Middle East Eye
Africa
The cocoa connection: How ‘brown gold’ is smuggled between Ivory Coast, Liberia and Guinea France24
Russia Is Riding an Anti-Colonial Wave Across Africa Foreign Policy
Rewind and Reconnoiter: Does America Need an Africa Strategy? With Sam Wilkins War on the Rocks
New Not-So-Cold War
White House responds to Putin’s threats, calling it dangerous rhetoric but not a new one and US will not change its policy on Ukraine striking deep into Russian territory yet – White House Ukrainska Pravda. Commentary:
Biden indicates shift in Ukraine’s deployment of Storm Shadow missiles FT
Vladimir Putin Does Not Make Empty Threats Moon of Alabama
Raising the Stakes in Ukraine Consortium News
* * * The State of the War in Ukraine NYT. The deck: “We explain using maps.”
Zelensky’s Last Hail Mary Gets Off to Rocky Start Simplicius the Thinker
* * * Shoigu makes a comeback Gilbert Doctorow
Ukraine has highest mortality rate and lowest birth rate in the world Ukrainska Pravda
European DIsunion
The Gravedigger New Left Review. Barnier.
German chancellor, Polish premier discuss land border control decision Anadolu Agency
South of the Border
The Venezuela Elections of 28 July 2024: What and Whom to Believe? Venezuelanalysis
In a historic move, Colombia bypasses patent to access HIV drug Al Jazeera
Elon’s Brazilian Corporate Law Surprise Credit Slips
2024
‘It just exploded’: Springfield woman claims she never meant to spark false rumors about Haitians NBC. The deck: “The woman behind an early Facebook post that helped spark baseless rumors about Haitians eating pets told NBC News that she feels for the immigrant community.”
The Simpsons, located in Springfield, have done it once again… pic.twitter.com/mUcrTlHipA
— greg (@greg16676935420) September 13, 2024
Donald Trump re-election bid being derailed by far-right influencers, allies fear FT
* * * Trump appears to leave door open for second debate with Harris: ‘Maybe if I got in the right mood’ FOX
* * * Ready your bets: Election gambling is going mainstream in the US Politico
Appeals court puts U.S. election bets on hold mere hours after a judge allowed it PBS
Democrats en Déshabillé
Staffer for NYC mayor fired amid extortion reports after NYPD commissioner resigns FOX
The Supremes
Loper Bright and the Ascendancy of the Cost-Benefit State (PDF) SSRN
What is Original Public Meaning? (PDF) University of San Diego School of Public Law
Digital Watch
We Spent $20 To Achieve RCE And Accidentally Became The Admins Of .MOBI watchTowr
Gunz
Keystone at Clearview football game canceled after threats to host school Cleveland.com
Health
Many mental-health conditions have bodily triggers The Economist
Groves of Academe
New University Rules Crack Down on Gaza Protests Mother Jones
Imperial Collapse Watch
US elections, China policy, Palestine-Israel and Russia-Ukraine: John Mearsheimer (video) ShanghaiEye, YouTube
Student Loans: Not Just About Attending College Conversable Economist
Class Warfare
Turning Peasants Into Pinions: At a Child’s Grave in Mousehold Heath, Near Norwich Literary Hub
The Gift of the Grange JSTOR
The Rise of Shot and Sail (excerpt) Big Serge Thought
Antidote du jour (Jérémie Silvestro):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
Hunter Thomson’s 2001 post- 9/11 column for ESPN. He wasn’t wrong about gen Z’s future… or ours.
When War Drums Roll
https://www.espn.com/page2/s/thompson/010918.html
Taibbi and Kirn
America This Week, September 13, 2024: “Goodbye, My Rights”
Remembering 9/11, the architects of the War on Terror, and the state of emergency just renewed this week.
https://www.racket.news/p/america-this-week-september-13-2024
“650-foot tsunami in Greenland fjord made waves that lasted 9 days, scientists find”
The Norwegians are familiar enough with this sort of thing happening that they made a disaster film about it back in 2015 called “The Wave”-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwP5zVP2bgU (3:06 mins)
The Norwegians are not given to overdramatic titles for thrillers or disaster films. For example, the Norwegian title for Jaws was Kjempetorsken, (The Large Cod), [according to Swedish folklore].
The only Norwegian “catastrophe” film I have seen, if I recall correctly, was titled “The Tunnel” and it is about a sudden snow blocking some in one of those many longish tunnels that provide access to the fjords. Of course with the typical background of the main characters having their own problems now compounding with the catastrophe. Not that bad for that kind of film as far as I can recall.
Vladimir Putin Does Not Make Empty Threats Moon of Alabama
It is apparently certain that Putin said “NATO” entering direct war with Russia and that would be incorrect if, for instance, the UK sends Storm Shadows into Russian territory. That would be UK’s trouble alone. I imagine that Putin knows this very well and when he says NATO he is trying to push the less belligerent members of the organization to help bringing the UK to its senses.
I’m a big fan of the fourth turning and events repeating themselves, and we are fast approaching the 80th anniversary of the only time nuclear weapons were used in war, and most of my 62 years on this good orb, I never really gave that much thought to us blowing ourselves up real good, though born in the white heat of the cold war, by the time I was almost a teenager, the players had signed agreements and a modicum of moderation was in place.
Joe is in an advantageous position of not really caring about anybody but himself and his family, he dredged up Beau once again the other day to defend his late son’s links to a transgender congressional candidate, of all things!
This shooting off of our rockets red glare into Russia from Ukraine will not stand…
We are really provoking nuclear war, for what?
Article 5 states that an attack on a NATO member allows for all other NATO members to join the fray. It would be stupid to accept that call to arms, but we live in the stupidest timeline.
I believe all NATO states are contributing to varying degrees to the obvious war on Russia. Makes them co-belligerents, at least. Putin works, as far as I can tell, on the basis of a system of laws, and I’m sure his counselors have parsed the body of the law of war to provide very rational justification for letting the Fokkers know that if they continue to FA, they will assuredly FO.
Not that this blunt statement of cause and effect will put an end, once for all, to the obscure, careerist, Rapture-seeking, slimy machinations of the death cult pipsqueaks that drive “policy” in the Fading West, and continually search for ways to sucker-punch Russia, China and any other polity that has the effrontery to say “NO!” instead of “Uncle!EEEEeeee…”
So the “bio-labs” continue working on “Slav-killing” pathogens and other “game-changers, https://sputnikglobe.com/20240507/after-positioning-military-biolabs-around-the-globe-us-officials-urge-biodefense-buildup-1118314833.html, the IT corps looks for the magic combination of code assaults, the Space Cadets doodle Death Star orbital assets, and the effing heirs of LeMay and Teller rip off more trillions of real wealth to “modernize” the nuclear weapons about which every sane person knows the truth that the only way to win is not to play the game.
Anyone doubt that there’s an AI Algorithm or whatever these can be called, toting up all the assets of death and dominion of the West, with the aiming point of being able to assure that FUKUS can release the Kraken of total war with the “assurance” that what’s left of the failed FUKUS hegemon will dominate the glowing ashes? https://thebulletin.org/2022/02/us-defense-to-its-workforce-nuclear-war-can-be-won/
Duck, duck, goose
A gourmet 3 course meal in Springfield where a group of Presidential aspirants sit in a circle, facing inward, while the junior partner player, who is “it”, walks around tapping or pointing to each eaten animal in turn, on X.
Antidote: the brute force needed to take that enormous body almost wholly outside the water must be huge. What a show!!!
Taibbi’s latest, public excerpt.
Beyond the Law
Twenty-three years ago, America’s leaders asserted the right to ignore the law. Now, they want voters to ratify their own disenfranchisement
https://www.racket.news/p/beyond-the-law
“Super Typhoon Yagi exposes China’s cashless society flaws as people flock to charge phones. Watch”
You saw this a coupla years ago how after a US hurricane some homes that had power generators were running out power-boards down to the street to let people recharge their mobiles so that they could get back in contact with friends and family. This article makes the point that-
‘The X account that posted the video explained that China’s bid for a cash-free society has meant that people don’t carry banknotes. Instead, all their money is in their mobile phones – and any disruption to power supply exposes huge flaws in this cashless society.’
Funny that. You never hear about this being a problem for the Swedes when the power for their cashless society goes down. I wonder why?
Flint Dibble recently had a Rapa Nui (aka Easter Island) archeologist on to discuss the current state of the scholarship ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMcg37d4UDc ). tl;dw, the Jared Diamond ecological collapse story is a myth. Turns out, it wasn’t the people who had lived on the island for centuries who wreaked havoc on the ecology, it was the Euros who showed up and did their typical European-abroad stuff (i.e. pillage the place).
Was just reading another article about that earlier today. The DNA evidence is pretty compelling and also confirms links with the South American mainland-
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/09/240911112147.htm
I recently listened to this engaging podcast on Easter Island.
Summary: On one of the world’s most isolated islands, hundreds of vast stone statues lie mouldering in the grass. In this episode, we take a look at one of archaeology’s most enduring puzzles: the mystery of Easter Island. Find out how this unique community grew up in complete isolation, severed from the rest of the world by a vast expanse of ocean. Discover the incredible story of how it survived for so many centuries, and examine the evidence about what happened to finally bring this society, and its statues, crashing down
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fall-of-civilizations-podcast/id1449884495?i=1000443157865
That will scare the Chinese.
Are they also being trained to write their biographies to blab to everybody what they did in Taiwan? Like after what happened after when Osama bin laden was killed?
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2024-09-14/China-s-super-microscope-expands-insights-of-mammal-cell-interactions-1wTdiXVO9Ow/p.html
September 14, 2024
China’s super microscope expands insights of mammal cell interactions
A team of Chinese scientists crafted a super intravital microscope that is capable of seeing clearly the entire three-dimensional (3D) interactions of a large-scale cell’s network at the mammalian organ level.
The instrument, developed by Tsinghua University, is designed to enhance innovative research in oncology, immunology and neuroscience, in order to provide a systemic understanding on how organs are organized and functioning at the single cell resolution.
This microscope called the RUSH3D system offers a centimeter-scale field of view and subcellular resolution. It is capable of high-speed 3D imaging at a rate of 20 frames per second, while also enabling continuous observation for dozens of hours with low toxicity, according to the study * published on Friday in the journal Cell.
In neuroscience, for instance, the intricate interactions among a large population of neurons are responsible for complex functions like intelligence and consciousness. Understanding the architecture and operational dynamics of neural circuits is crucial for deciphering the inner workings of the brain.
The research team utilized the system to achieve high-speed 3D observation covering layers of the cerebral cortex in live mice at single-cell resolution.
They captured the distinct response patterns of various cortical regions under multi-sensory stimulation and tracked large-scale neural responses with single-neuron precision across several consecutive days, according to the study.
“The traditional fluorescence microscopy allowed us to observe only part of an organ, such as a specific brain region in a mouse,” said Dai Qionghai, the paper’s corresponding author from Tsinghua University.
“The RUSH3D system, however, is akin to using 100 microscopes simultaneously, providing complete coverage of the mouse cortex and capturing the dynamic interactions of hundreds of thousands of neurons,” said Dai.
* https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(24)00917-6
Sports Desk:
It’s a brutal game at times, and Tua Tagovailoa running into Damar Hamlin of the Bills didn’t even seem like much at first glance, and Hamlin had suffered a cardiac arrest on the field in 2023, to add injury to injury.
This was Tua’s 3rd concussion in the past couple years and he about looked helpless for a spell, no doubt wanting to join an astronomy club, as he was seeing stars.
2-0 in the young season, fully cognizant that nope springs eternal for long suffering Bills fans.