Hooray, Hooray for Badger Day!! JStor Daily
Quantum computing and the financial system: opportunities and risks Bank of International Settlements
Climate
…MILTON STRENGTHENING OVER THE SOUTHERN GULF OF MEXICO… …STORM SURGE AND HURRICANE WATCHES ISSUED FOR PORTIONS OF FLORIDA… and HURRICANE MILTON National Hurricane Center. Commentary:
⚠️ #Milton is now forecast to become a Category 3 Major Hurricane before striking the west coast of the Florida Peninsula on Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/Mqu1VwODmO
— Zoom Earth (@zoom_earth) October 5, 2024
With Milton, Evacuation Is The Better Part Of Valor Avian Flu Diary
…KIRK ALMOST AN EXTRATROPICAL CYCLONE… …STILL CAUSING LARGE SWELLS AND RIP CURRENT RISK ALONG THE U.S. EAST COAST… National Hurricane Center. Commentary:
I’ve never seen a National Hurricane Center cone extend into Germany and Denmark. #Kirk pic.twitter.com/56xxMpjzqi
— Collin Gross (@CollinGrossWx) October 6, 2024
* * * America Is Lying to Itself About the Cost of Disasters The Atlantic
Safety Guidelines: Reentering Your Flooded Home CDC
* * * The Salmon Canneries of the Lower Eel River and the Death of a Fishery Lost Coast Outpost
What Is the Cost of Sustainability? JSTOR Daily
Water
All the buckets, real or imagined: How Colorado plans to store water is a big dam question. Colorado Sun
Syndemics
Doctor issues warning XEC Covid variant may bring back masks and social distancing Chronicle
‘More serious than we had hoped’: Bird flu deaths mount among California dairy cows LA Times
Mosquito-borne virus spreads at ‘unprecedented’ levels in L.A. Climate change may make things worse LA Times
Some of Our Top Schools Are Embarrassing Themselves Over Covid Gregg Gonsalves, The Nation
China?
The Rise of the ‘Community With a Shared Future’: China’s Foreign Policy Hierarchy The Diplomat
Young Chinese pessimistic about prospects as new graduates flood grim job market South China Morning Post
Government Wiretaps in U.S. Internet Providers Infiltrated by Chinese Hackers Matt Johansen, Vulnu
In Mongolia’s countryside, the underrated joy of a bucket-list experience without phone reception Channel News Asia
India
India government says criminalising marital rape ‘excessively harsh’ BBC
The Koreas
South Korea, Philippines agree to forge ‘strategic partnership,’ upgrade ties Anadolu Agency
Criminal networks in Southeast Asia flourish in Telegram’s ‘underground markets’, UN says Channel News Asia
Syraqistan
American Plan For War With Iran Outlined in This Influential Think Tank Paper Military Watch. Commentary:
The similarities btw the current Western dominant narrative and the late communist narrative are absolutely striking: In both cases, words have lost all relation to reality.
— Branko Milanovic (@BrankoMilan) October 6, 2024
The Case for Destroying Iran’s Nuclear Program Now Foreign Policy.
To Build a Nuclear Bomb, Iran Would Need Much More Than Weeks NYT. Commentary:
I mean I'm not a seismologist but that graph on the right looks like a test to me. https://t.co/ohSoY4Vhme pic.twitter.com/P0ubXI9iNf
— Armchair Warlord (@ArmchairW) October 6, 2024
Readers?
Iran resumes flights after brief suspension due to ‘operational restrictions’ Anadolu Agency
* * * ‘Outrageous’ of Israel to threaten peacekeepers in Lebanon, President Michael D Higgins says Irish Times. Commentary:
I’ve mapped out in green the area where #Ireland deploys its battalion in South #Lebanon, which refused to move or follow IDF evacuation orders. I’ve also overlaid IDF evacuation areas in red, showing where Ireland’s peacekeepers continue to hold their position. https://t.co/BG50dv6WKF pic.twitter.com/eWyMXXetzr
— A. Baydoun (@weatherwar) October 6, 2024
* * * What did Al Jazeera’s investigation into Israeli war crimes in Gaza reveal? Al Jazeera. More on “The Ghost Unit”:
2/19 “Refaim,” a Hebrew name for “the Ghosts,” refers to the Ghost Unit, a sniper team composed of soldiers from:
3 US (NY, Virgnia & Illinois)
2 France (Paris & Lyon)
1 Belgium (Brussel)
1 Germany (Munich)
1 South African (Johannesburg)
1 Italy
1 Ethiopia
1 Azerbaijan (Baku) pic.twitter.com/oVKz2jTn8S— Younis Tirawi | يونس (@ytirawi) October 4, 2024
Israel turned prisons into ‘hell’ with torture Anadolu Agency
* * * Gaza Strip in maps: How a year of war has drastically changed life in the territory BBC
US to give Israel ‘compensation’ if it hits acceptable targets in Iran – report Jerusalem Post
European Disunion
Spain to propose mini-coalitions to break EU capital markets stalemate FT
Dear Old Blighty
Starmer’s new climate policy is unforgivable Funding the Future
The Canary has a leaked copy of the second NHS eLearning module on ME/CFS. It’s not good. Canary
New Not-So-Cold War
Zelenskyy sends Ukraine’s Chief of General Staff and Deputy Prime Minister to US to discuss Victory Plan Ukrainska Pravda
How Ukraine got a chance to join NATO and what Rutte’s visit has to do with it European Pravda
After Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk, Kyiv assumes role of occupying army (excerpt) Le Monde
ISW assesses whether financial encouragement could affect Russia’s mobilisation rates Ukrainska Pravda
South of the Border
Bolsonaro’s right-wing party makes significant gains in Brazil’s municipal elections France24
Biden Administration
The Toxic Loophole Behind A Chemical Plant Disaster The Lever
2024
Harris won’t say whether the U.S. has “a real close ally” in Netanyahu Axios
The Supremes
Supreme Court declines to block EPA methane, mercury rules SCOTUSblog
Antitrust
Monopoly Round-Up: The Fed Took $3k From You and Gave it to Jamie Dimon Matt Stoller, BIG
Digital Watch
GEICO is Terminating Insurance Coverage of Tesla Cybertrucks, Says “This Type of Vehicle Doesn’t Meet Our Underwriting Guidelines” Torque News. Commentary:
The Stanford band's halftime show has some girl dressed up in a cardboard Cybertruck that keeps losing control and running into things.
— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) October 5, 2024
Do We Think and Feel Alike? Field Evidence on Developing a Shared Reality When Dealing with Service Robots (press release) Journal of Business Researchd
Substack wants to do more than just newsletters Semafor
The moral panic over social media and teen depression Mathew Ingram, The Torment Nexus
Heathcare
World-first therapy using donor cells sends autoimmune diseases into remission Nature. N = 3. “One woman and two men with severe autoimmune conditions have gone into remission after being treated with bioengineered and CRISPR-modified immune cells1. The three individuals from China are the first people with autoimmune disorders to be treated with engineered immune cells created from donor cells, rather than ones collected from their own bodies. This advance is the first step towards mass production of such therapies.”
Zietgeist Watch
News you can use:
Next time you're in Wal-Mart, walk the front end. Right next to the AED, they have a box containing multiple Stop The Bleed kits.
You may need to know this in the event of an active shooter. In a full collapse, the looters won't touch these and you need them. #Awareness
— Tactical Wisdom (@DolioJ) October 6, 2024
Class Warfare
‘This Scenario Is a Bit Unusual’ Railway Age’
A Means to Live The Nation. The deck: “The past and future of debt resistance.”
Adapt or Die, Or…? Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds
If you’re excited by that $1.5B Michigan nuke plant revival, bear in mind it’s definitely a fixer-upper The Register
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
OCTOBER 7TH AGAIN
(melody borrowed from Higher Love by Steve Winwood and Will Jennings)
The Israelis—wield an Iron Glove
Ironclad our commitment in support of
Without us—they can’t do their crimes
Every bomb they drop is yours or it’s mine
Gaza’s gone past repair
Fat and happy we don’t care
Humankind far across the sea?
They’re not our kind!—Don’t bother me!
Our hand is in their glove
Our hand is in their glove, (oh)
Our hand is in their glove
Our hand in their glove, and we’re spilling blood!
Wars are burning, they will keep dragging on
Rich racketeers are counting profits back home
Discerning—to the nth degree—
Starting the next one most profitably!
Wars mean cash for billionaires
This must be that laissez faire!
Pockets lined—profits guaranteed
Money produced from misery!
Our hand is in their glove
Our hand is in their glove, (oh)
Our hand is in their glove
Our hand in their glove, and we’re spilling blood!
Proxy states won’t quit—they call for cash and shit
Saracens are simply wrong
Just like the Viet Cong
(musical interlude)
We say might is right and profits could be higher
Step across those red lines as you require
Sharpened steel, a glove, a snickersnee
Make them squeal—there’s no referee!
(Ohhhh) Our hand is in their glove
Our hand is in their glove (oh)
Our hand is in their glove
Our hand is in their glove
Our hand is in their glove
Our hand is in their glove
Our hand is in their glove
Our hand is in their glove
Our hand is in their glove
Our hand is in their glove
Our hand is in their glove
Our hand is in their glove
Our hand is in their glove
$17.9 Billion so far.
But wait, it gets better. So Lindsey Graham – the senior Senator from South Carolina – was on Fox news a day or so ago. He started to say that he had been all over South Carolina and hadn’t got much sleep when he suddenly went off tangent and started talking about what was going on in Israel who was surrounded by people that want to kill them in a second holocaust and how they are running out of ammo and how we have to fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here. Pretty sure that if Hezbollah came to South Carolina, they would take one look at the situation, put away their guns and start to organize food kitchens instead-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w77X-hY73T0 (3:27 mins)
“US to give Israel ‘compensation’ if it hits acceptable targets in Iran – report”
‘The package would include a total guarantee of comprehensive diplomatic protection as well as a weapons package and was offered directly in return for holding off on striking certain targets in Iran.’
I don’t understand this article. Israel is already getting all of that package already and they don’t have to do anything. I can understand why it was offered. The Democrats are scared that Israel will try to get them into a regional war before the November elections and nobody is going to thank the Democrats for that. So maybe this offer is an effort by the Democrats to be seen to be “doing” something.
Plus the US does not do diplomacy and does not even have any diplomats.
Wait! They have Antony Blinken! Oh, never mind.
“Israeli officials responded saying, ‘We consider the United States and listen to them. But we will do anything and everything we can to protect the citizens and the security of the State of Israel.'”
The second half of that disjunction invalidates the first. “I’ve considered your advice but am rejecting and ignoring it.”
Pretty sure that the survivors of the USS Liberty can tell you how much Israelis value American lives.
Since Hollywood won’t touch this story, wouldn’t it be hilarious if China made a grand epic film about the USS Liberty? It wouldn’t cost that much money but can you imagine the reaction and the wailing in Washington and Tel Aviv as they sought to ban this film around the world? Washington is already going nuts about a doco called “Russians at War”-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IJ5Qaj2GMQ (2:22 mins)
I would certainly pay to see that. My dad was fascinated by the NSA, and was not a fan of dispensationalism, so I heard about the Liberty from him.
Of course, even less coverage is given to the UN peacekeepers that Israel killed in the Six Day War. At least one was run over by an Israeli tank. All but one were from India, which is why it’s sad to see Modi’s government and supporters side with Israel.
The foreign snipers legion in Gaza. It proves again that Ritter’s statement that mercenaries are the scum of the earth is correct. Some of them also seem to want to push the linit of stupid a bit further. Specifically the ethiopian guy. Is he aware of the ingrained racism towards blacks in Israel? They wouldn’t respect him even if he was a Jew, he would still be despised. So this genius goes to Israel to kill children for a state that despises him? Where is the limit of stupid now: somewhere between Mars and Jupiter?
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0306396811433110?journalCode=racb
On ‘compensation’ to Israel if it hits acceptable targets in Iran, the headline says: ” US to give Israel ‘compensation’ if it HITS acceptable targets in Iran – report”
But the article itself contains sentences like . . . ” The US has reportedly offered Israel a “compensation package” if it reFRAINS FROM attacking certain targets in Iran, according to a report in Kan11 on Sunday.”
(caps added by me for emphasis). That seems almost opposite in meaning to what the headline says.
The headline seems to say America will pay Israel TO hit certain targets in Iran. The article seems to say America will pay Israel to NOT hit certain targets in Iran.
Well? Which is it?
Biden doesn’t want Israel to hit Iran’s oil infrastructure as that would cause the price of oil – and thus gas – to skyrocket but which would totally sink the Democrat’s chances of getting re-elected.
When the government(s) give the media outlets their orders and what to write, broadcast, say, I wonder if they include the headlines too?
12 repetitions…
Young Chinese pessimistic about prospects as new graduates flood grim job market.
This guy though quit his well paid product manager job at Bytedance (Tiktok) to become a farmer, and he’s making plenty of money selling fruits online. What’s even better is that he is now helping his fellow older farmers to do the same thing, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3k4ADImzqU. I expect more and more people will eventually follow his footsteps and return to the countryside to try and make their fortune.
I just had a quick look – there does seem to be quite a trend among young Chinese for back to the farm/nature videos. Quite a change from 2 decades ago when my gf at the time, a typical Beijinger of the new generation, visibly shuddered at the very idea of going to the countryside. I think a lot of it has to do with the souring of the whole idea of office life. With rising youth unemployment, if you aren’t very highly qualified or otherwise ‘connected’, the working life can be pretty brutal. You can see the same thing in Japan, ROK and Taiwan (its the theme for more than one Studio Ghibli movie). But in reality, only a very small number I think will voluntarily do it.
That said, I’m always a bit leery of those video’s especially the ones seemingly designed to bypass the Great Firewall. A friend was a fan of the genre and was very disappointed to find out that the majority turned out in the end to be marketing creations of one form or another. She was a big fan of one in particular (I can’t recall the name, but it had many millions of views for every video), but it turned out that the woman who was supposedly living the trad life with her grandmother somewhere in Sichuan was a model based in Shanghai – the whole thing turned out to be a marketing campaign for some bamboo furniture brand.
“Safety Guidelines: Reentering Your Flooded Home”
A reader gave a wise piece of advice a day or so ago. They said that if you are going to throw out old, spoiled food, don’t do so near your house as it may attract bears.
R: Iran resumes flights
I thought there would be an Israeli attack on Iran overnight. Maybe someone blinked?
Closing airspace reduces the chance of accidentally shooting down a civilian airliner.
“Andrea Mitchell says Kamala Harris has a ‘big problem’ connecting with men, who don’t take her seriously ”
I have a big problem with anyone who takes her seriously.
I believe she is with Alan Greenspan. If she can walk that line, she knows whereof she speaks in being able to connect with men?
https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1843162840892617099
Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand
This is a huge deal: about 5-8% of the global population are affected by auto-immune diseases (like lupus and multiple sclerosis) and China just developed the “world’s first therapy using donor cells that sends autoimmune diseases into remission”.
https://nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03209-4
It’s a big deal because for CAR T-cell therapy in autoimmune diseases (which is probably the most promising therapy) to date we had to use the patient’s own cells, which means that it wasn’t scalable and immensely expensive. But if you use donor cells, it opens the possibility of scaling up production. As the Nature article states: “Instead of making one treatment for one person, therapies for more than a hundred people could be made from one donor’s cells”.
It’s also a big deal because it proves once more that we all collectively benefit, as humans, from international scientific collaboration: scientists in Shanghai, such as here, can come up with revolutionary treatments for diseases that may affect anyone around the world. And if we build bridges instead of walls, we create synergies that ultimately bring life-changing treatments to millions faster.
World-first therapy using donor cells sends autoimmune diseases into remission
1:34 AM · Oct 7, 2024
RE: “The Canary has a leaked copy of the second NHS eLearning module on ME/CFS. It’s not good.”
I have the honor(?) of being the son to one of the earliest woman to be “diagnosed” with ME/CFS by the Mayo Clinic in the 1980’s. In high school I would come home to her laying on the couch and crying.
So sad this is only how far we have come. I am sure I have a variation of it that they labeled “Depression”.
Medicine has become slow and stupid.
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2024-10-06/First-therapy-using-donor-cells-puts-autoimmune-disorders-in-remission-1xtWIzxngUU/p.html
October 6, 2024
First therapy using donor cells puts autoimmune disorders in remission
After receiving treatment using bioengineered and CRISPR-modified immune cells, two men and one woman with severe autoimmune diseases have gone into remission. The three Chinese patients are the first to receive treatment for autoimmune illnesses using modified immune cells made from donor cells as opposed to autologous cells. This development marks the beginning of the mass manufacturing of these treatments.
Mr. Gong, a 57-year-old Shanghai resident, is one of the recipients. He suffers from systemic sclerosis, a disease that damages connective tissue and can cause organ damage and hardening of the skin. He claims that three days after starting the therapy, he could once again move his fingers and open his mouth and felt his skin relax. He went back to work at his office two weeks later. He states, more than a year after the treatment, “I feel very good.”
Half a dozen products containing engineered immune cells, known as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells, are approved in the U.S. These cells have shown great promise in treating blood cancers and may also be used to treat autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis and lupus, where rogue immune cells release autoantibodies that attack the body’s own tissue. However, because the therapy is personalized and usually depends on an individual’s immune cells, it is costly and time-consuming.
The experiment is the first to publish findings for autoimmune disorders, and it is being headed by Xu Huji, a rheumatologist at Shanghai’s Naval Medical University. Last month, the results * were published in Cell. The patients stayed in remission for almost six months following treatment. According to Xu, another two dozen people have had the donor-derived treatment along with a slightly altered product. He claims that most of the outcomes have been favorable.
“The clinical outcomes are phenomenal,” says Lin Xin, an immunologist at Tsinghua University who is leading a separate trial using donor-derived CAR-T cells to treat lupus….
* https://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(24)00701-3
The Israelis have just parked a Merkeva tank outside the wall of the UN compound. Ireland has suffered more casualties (48) in that region than any other country under the UN mandate. Nearly all were killed in attacks by pro-Israel militias, plus a few ‘accidental’ shelling incidents by Israel.
US to give Israel ‘compensation’ if it hits acceptable targets in Iran – report
I made the mistake of reading the one comment and the sub comments in that Jerusalem Post article. The delusion and sense of entitlement are staggering. It pains me that my tax dollars are going to these a$$holes.
re: Iranian nuclear detonation tests
I wonder if someone has given Iran some nukes. It would be a very smart thing to do to at this point, would deter Israel, would prevent WW3.
And Iran, on taking delivery, would want to test one of them to ensure the goods are real. And the successful test is also a formal announcement.