Why do you assume Rudolph is a male reindeer? BBC (Dr. Kevin)
Drinking Tea and Coffee Linked To Lower Risk of Head and Neck Cancer in Study Guardian
Young mammoth remains found nearly intact in Siberian permafrost Reuters (Robin K)
Engineers Achieve Quantum Teleportation Over Active Internet Cables TechSpot
Commercial Tea Bags Release Millions of Microplastics, Entering Human Intestinal Cells MedicalXpress
Climate/Environment
Tribunal says Mexico violated trade agreement in banning GM corn The New Lede
China?
The ‘Invisible Wall’ Amplifying China’s Population Doom Loop Wall Street Journal
European Disunion
EU burns through gas storage at fastest rate since energy crisis Financial Times
François Bayrou’s failed gamble Le Monde
New Not-So-Cold War
Large frontline summary 17-23 December 2024 Marat Khairullin
India’s Share of Russian Arms Exports Surges Since May: Further Major Deals Expected Military Watch
EU candidate’s president eyeing attack on Russian peacekeepers – Moscow RT
Syraqistan
The “king-makers” pull the rug from Syria, yet again… A “Greek tragedy” begins Alastair Crooke
Greece rejects proposed Turkey-Syria maritime deal as illegitimate ekathimerini. Lead story.
Turkey advances Syria engagement with energy plans and refugee return BNE
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
FBI, DEA deployment of AI raises privacy, civil rights concerns Biometric Update
Health Care Giant Ascension Says 5.6 Million Patients Affected In Cyberattack ars technica
Imperial Collapse Watch
South Pacific nation to declare independence – media RT (Robin K)
Biggest Banks Sue the Federal Reserve Over Annual Stress Tests CNBC
Trump 2.0
Donald Trump’s Ridiculous Remarks Regarding the Panama Canal Larry Johnson
Trump Backs Down From Strong Sweeping Deportation Promise Michael Shedlock. Not news if you had been paying attention to Homan.
Woke Watch
The Supreme Court Case Over Trans Youth Could Also Decimate Women’s Equality Politico
AI
Encyclopedia Britannica Is Now an AI Company Gizmodo
The Bezzle
Defaults on leveraged loans soar to highest in 4 years Financial Times
Guillotine Watch
When I met Luigi Mangione Unherd. While a very helpful window into Mangione as a person, I object to his depiction of Brian Thompson as a “tiny cog in a a vast and unfair system” and depicting him as subordinate to actuaries.
McKinsey Agrees to Pay Another $650 Million to Avoid Trial Over U.S. Opioid Crisis CocotteMinute (Micael T). And they managed to get this story held to the dead Christmas-New Years period.
Class Warfare
Walmart Sued Over Illegally Opening Bank Accounts For Delivery Drivers The Verge
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
I’m seeing the links for tomorrow already posted. Is this like when you open Christmas presents the night before on Christmas eve?
It’s already Christmas in Thailand!
I know I got drunk last night, but seeing tomorrow’s links today really threw me a curve– it’s been a while since I lost a whole day…
Merry Christmas Yves, Lambert, Conor and the Mod Squad. Thanks for providing an intellectual sanctuary in this darkest of timelines. Thanks for giving me a rooftop from which to shout. Thanks for the Lexicon. Thanks for all the lovely minds I would never else have met. And thanks for the early Links! Peace
Unherd also errs on UH’s profitability as I think Matt Stoller laid out in detail. UH has so many profit points along its product line in the healthcare continuum that a simple % of total revenue is meaningless.
That essay, the author’s seeming confidence in his every opinion and conception of the world as an unassailable neoliberal lock in, and the chorus of similar views in the comments section, fill me with despair for the future. There must be a lot more of that out there that I’m not reading.
How dreadful.
Wow, imagine stating this so matter-of-factly…
“Brian Thompson was a normal, flawed guy trying to keep costs low both for his company and his policyholders, while keeping his duty to shareholders whose investment his company depended on. “
The image of CEOs as these powerless, unassuming, diligent workers is bizarre. The man was under litigation for a massive insider trading scandal.
The West and Eastern Europe
3 important older links which I found in the Martyanov commentariat:
THE GUARDIAN, 2004
The Ukraine street protests have followed a pattern of western orchestration set in the 80s. I know – I was a cold war bagman
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/dec/07/ukraine.comment
CIA document on regime change operations in Eastern Europe, signed by Reagan, 1982
http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/nsdd/nsdd-54.pdf
UNICEF documents sexual exploitation of children at German-Czech border, 2003
https://web.archive.org/web/20230303062316/https://news.un.org/en/story/2003/10/83922
Not even going to think about why Christmas is earlier than usual.
My Links opened directly to the TechSpot post where the first sentence is a doozy.
WooWoo.
But Merry Christmas to everyone and much thanks for our hosts efforts this past year helping everyone sort through it.
Defaults on leveraged loans soar to highest in 4 years Financial Times
“Many of these defaults have involved so-called distressed loan exchanges. In such deals, loan terms are changed and maturities extended as a way of enabling a borrower to avoid bankruptcy, but investors are paid back less.”
Ain’t these loans fer stock buy backs and, or, looting purposes where the borrower is a company under the direction of a financial genius who is leveraging tangible assets into cash that can be bagged up and distributed. And these loan terms – they sure should have an interest rate to compensate for the risk and should the lenders/investors take a loss – well that’s where it should be taken but, no – it’s not the benefactor of these loans that takes the hit … because the benefactor of these loans/investments is not the company but,rather, the financial geniuses who are bagging the cash at the expense of the fall-company.
A good ole con that needs saving – as the Finacial Times seems to be the eternal cheerleader of this old persistent con business model – why not – it’s what is deemed good business .
“A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining and wants it back the minute it begins to rain” Attributed to Twain on the Almighty Dollar – The Wit & Wisdom of Mark Twain edited by Aaron John Loeb
via Perplexity.ai …
Prompt:
Considering that male reindeer shed their antlers in the fall, while female reindeer retain their antlers throughout the year, if male reindeer were castrated, would they retain their antlers year round?
Response:
Yes, castrated male reindeer would retain their antlers year-round, similar to female reindeer. When a male reindeer is castrated, it no longer sheds its antlers and loses its aggressive tendencies. This is because antler shedding in male reindeer is linked to testosterone levels. Castration leads to a drop in testosterone, which prevents the normal antler shedding cycle.
Effects of Castration on Reindeer Antlers
Antler Retention: Castrated males keep their antlers throughout the year, unlike intact males who shed them in late autumn after the breeding season38.
Behavior Changes: Castration reduces aggression in male reindeer, making them easier to handle for commercial purposes or as pets.
Climate Adaptation: Retaining antlers can help castrated reindeer cope with climate change by allowing them to break through ice to access food in warming Arctic regions.
This practice of castrating male reindeer is somewhat common, particularly for reindeer used in commercial settings or as pets3. It’s worth noting that Santa’s reindeer, if male, would likely be castrated to explain their depiction with antlers during the Christmas season.
The ghost of Christmas future links! :)
Thank you for a great year of insightful coverage and discussion. Best wishes to the entire NC crew :)
Re: Rudolph
The reason most English speakers think Rudolph is male: the Xmas jingle lyrics use the personal pronoun “him”.
(I’m awaiting Santa’s sleigh this very moment!!!)
While Robert Lewis May might not have known that, only neutered males are used for hauling. They’re big but calm, though require some retraining every winter. You can only semi-domesticate them reindeer, anyway.
And they also make a splendid part of the hors d’oeuvre of the Christmas dinner in the Socialist household.
Regarding Luigi Mangione, this is going to make people smile. From the Times of India, “Real reason why Luigi Mangione got a shave in jail: ‘Barbershop head went to him’. The short of it is The Adjuster is getting serious respect from the prison population. Quote, “It was bizarre to guards and prison staff how he had become a hero in the inside and outside,’ the source added.
Amen