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Links 4/20/2025

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Solving the Trolley Problem: Towards Moral Abundance 3 Quarks Daily

Does TED Still Make Sense? Quillette

Brand-new colour created by tricking human eyes with laser Nature

COVID-19/Pandemics

White House reveals COVID lab leak theory as ‘true origins’ of pandemic in flashy new website that blasts Biden, Fauci and Cuomo NY Post

UN rights chief hails draft pandemic accord as milestone for equitable global health Andolu Agency

Measles outbreaks now declared in 8 states, including Michigan’s first in 5 years Fox News

Climate/Environment

Small ocean swirls may have an outsized effect on climate, NASA satellite shows The Register

Climate change is redrawing the global wine map. Here’s what it means for your future vintages Euro News

Climate change will make rice toxic, say researchers Ars Technica

China?

China unveils world’s fastest hard drive SCMP

China launches 6 classified experimental satellites with Long March 6A Space News

China pits humanoid robots against humans in half-marathon Reuters

South of the Border

El Salvador’s president, Trump’s new deportation partner, is a pro-Israel Palestinian The Times of Israel

Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum woos Donald Trump with security shake-up FT

Brazil’s Indigenous leader Raoni says he is against drilling for oil in Amazon region Reuters

European Disunion

Labour costs across Europe: Where are they highest and lowest? Euro News

‘Careful dance between ideology and realpolitik: Meloni walking a tightrope between Europe and US’ France 24

Does Europe need new defence institutions? FT

Old Blighty

Fears that UK military bases may be leaking toxic ‘forever chemicals’ into drinking water The Guardian

What the UK ruling on the definition of ‘woman’ means for same-sex spaces, culture wars and more CNN

Drug Enforcement Leads To Increases In Violence, Report Published By UK Government Concludes Marijuana Moment

Israel v. The Resistance

‘It’s really hard to have any hope’: Gaza doctor describes daily struggle BBC

Gaza had educational justice. Now the genocide has wiped that out, too Al Jazeera

‘We smelled the stench of burning human flesh’: Israel burns 8 children to death in Gaza ‘safe zone’ Mondoweiss

Iran, US task experts with framework for a nuclear deal after ‘progress’ in talks Reuters

US Inching Towards a Deal With Iran Larry Johnson

New Not-So-Cold War

Russia’s Putin announces a one-day Easter ceasefire in Ukraine France 24

Ceasefire countdown: Will London talks finally stop the Russia-Ukraine war? Mint

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Declassified Biden-Era Domestic Terror Strategy Reveals Broad Surveillance, Tech Partnerships, and Global Speech Regulation Agenda Reclaim the Net

Oracle hopes talk of cloud data theft dies off. CISA just resurrected it for Easter The Register

UI student files privacy lawsuit, boycotts class until school improves online security Iows City Press Citizen

Imperial Collapse Watch

The dollar’s sell-off raises concerns that investors are losing trust in the U.S. CBS New

America’s Looming Food Bank Crisis Newsweek

Trump 2.0

Medical Journals Get Letters From DOJ Medpage Today

Larry Summers on Harvard’s Showdown With Trump Yascha Mounk substack

Inside Trump’s tariff brain Axios

Nobel Winner Joseph Stiglitz on Columbia’s Capitulation to Trump 3 Quarks Daily

DOGE

Elon Musk’s 25-year-old DOGE minion screamed at federal employees during 36-hour firing spree Daily Mail

House Democrats: DOGE is building a ‘master database’ of Americans’ sensitive information The Verge

Newsom to sue DOGE over AmeriCorps cuts: ‘Middle finger to volunteers’ The Hill

Democrat Death Watch

Democrats want Joe Biden to stay away The Hill

The Remarkable Rags-to-Riches Story Of Stacey Abrams Zero Hedge

Immigration

US Supreme Court halts deportation of detained Venezuelans BBC

We Are US Citizens. My Children Are Still Terrified of Being Deported. Politico

Farmers, seasonal businesses worry as immigration crackdown ramps up The Maine Monitor

Our No Longer Free Press

Saving the free press — before it’s too late Editor & Publisher

Opinion: Political journalism … without the journalist The Review

Mr. Market Is Moody

Why everyone is suddenly so interested in US bond markets BBC

Ditching Powell = $1 Trillion Meltdown? FX Leaders

The stock market may not have fully priced in a recession: Chart of the Week Yahoo Finance

AI

Microsoft Broadens Always-Watching AI-Powered Recall Tool That Logs and Indexes User Activity Reclaim the Net

Sam’s Club phasing out checkouts, betting big on AI shopping Fox News

‘Don’t ask what AI can do for us, ask what it is doing to us’: are ChatGPT and co harming human intelligence? The Guardian

The Bezzle

Fake job seekers are flooding the market, thanks to AI CBS News

An Art Fraud Case That Is Bonkers Even by Florida Standards Vanity Fair

Mastermind of ‘one-stop shop’ fraud website with one million victims jailed BBC News

Guillotine Watch

Antidote du jour (via)

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46 comments

    2. Ben Panga

      Happy Easter and/or festival of the egg-laying chocolate rabbit to those that celebrate.

      Reading through the genocide links (and others), I pray for some for rebirth. Though I’m no Christian, the christ = love bit has always resonated. My heart shines powerfully yet the mind thinks “whither love?”

      Love to all the other shining hearts here,

      BP

      Reply ↓
  2. The Rev Kev

    “White House reveals COVID lab leak theory as ‘true origins’ of pandemic in flashy new website that blasts Biden, Fauci and Cuomo”

    Just a coincidence that this website has appeared in the middle of Trump’s trade war with China. I can see the next step already. Trump will next demand compensation from China for all the deaths and economic damage done to America – or else. Thing is, there may be a problem calculating the “damage.” They may want to include the cost of all those American suffering from Long Covid but that would mean actually acknowledging that they actually exist which means that they would have to help those people. Does the Trump regime really want to go there? Either way US courts would play ball with him. It was a US court that found Iran guilty of 9/11 and demanded billions in compensation for the survivors. I’m sure that a US court would find China guilty of Covid as well.

    Reply ↓
    1. Sam Adams

      Of course the US courts will find China guilty, they serve the powerful and for all the minor deportation sideshow there will be a lot of money to be made in pursuing compensation for all the victims of the Chinese virus. The old is new again…

      Reply ↓
      1. ambrit

        The Chinese have a “poison pill” strategy available. To wit, the ‘research’ was financed and run by Americans. Counter-sue for the Chinese damages.
        This will get ugly very quickly.

        Reply ↓
        1. Wukchumni

          For Chinese nationals in the USA increasingly worried about the emperors new rhetoric, there is always the Samsonite Option.

          Reply ↓
        2. GramSci

          And Trump’s lab leak webpage has already conceded that Peter Daszak and Ecohealth Health Sciences was running the research…while Trump was president. This can also get very funny very quickly, in a very sick way…

          Reply ↓
    2. Terry Flynn

      Just a link for newbies by Yves from a few years ago where gain-of-function research was discounted (and there’s been associated discussion that the USA funded it to avoid laws on doing it on their own soil).

      However, as you say, we’re in la-la land these days so logic doesn’t apply.

      Reply ↓
  3. Alan Sutton

    Yes, Happy Easter everyone.

    That freerunner stuff is pretty amazing but I don’t think my ankles could stand it.

    Reply ↓
    1. Wukchumni

      There’s a certain admiration for doing really out there stuff, nobody’s gonna watch videos of Di Tommaso running down the stairs from the roof and cross the street and sprint up the stairs to the roof of the next building over. we’d ask for our 4 minutes back.

      That said, doing daring stuff is dangerous. I never leave the snow for all intents and purposes when skiing, and one time I was riding a chair in Mammoth and small talk ensued as I asked the fellow next to me where he was from, and he said ‘right here in Mammoth’, and asked what he did, and he related that he was a surgeon, and I inquired what his specialty was?

      He smiled and said ‘terrain parks’ which is where predominantly young snowboarders reside around monkey bars on the down low and jumps and whatnot. The ratio of boarder to skier in a terrain park on the slopes must be around 30-1, not our gig.

      Reply ↓
      1. Terry Flynn

        Yeah re danger. Most speed running videos I encounter online are of Darwin Award candidates where the runner decided alcohol was much more important than skill or judgment…..

        Reply ↓
        1. Wukchumni

          I hang out with H3* types, who claim to be a drinking club with a running problem. not that there is anything wrong with that.

          * Hash House Harriers

          Reply ↓
        1. Randall Flagg

          At least that guy knows what he’s doing and I’m sure puts the thought into it beforehand.
          Too many say:” Hold my beer! Or, Hey yall, watch this!”

          Reply ↓
      3. Wukchumni

        p.s.

        My leaps* have all been into water-a softer landing than asphalt, with 30 feet up being my max. I eyed the 50 foot drop into the Research Pools on the Kaweah River @ Ash(alpulco) Mountain near the visitors center in Sequoia NP with oodles of trepidation, what’s another 20 feet beyond what i’ve ever leaped in the scheme of things looming large in my mind-a no go.

        * we trained on large piles of sand next to 2 story homes being built all over my childhood haunts once upon a time

        Reply ↓
  4. Deschain

    Ugghhhh please not Grummz. He is a well-known misogynist in the gaming community, as well as a big-time con artist.

    Reply ↓
  5. The Rev Kev

    ‘Prakash
    @Prakash20202021
    Sky Cruise — a wild concept of a nuclear-powered flying hotel ☁️✈️
    Designed to carry 5,000+ guests in the sky with 20 electric engines and almost nonstop flight, this airborne city blends aviation with luxury.’

    Errr, I only have two questions to ask about this atomic plane. One, will it be built by Boeing? Two, will it be flying anywhere near the Red Sea? You know of course that the wealthy that will be potentially flying on it will never front up with the cash to build this monstrosity so they will lumber the development costs on taxpayers across different countries. Sorta like they did with Concorde where British and French taxpayers paid for the development of this plane but for a long time could never actually afford to fly on it. But maybe the developers here saw the 2013 movie “Elysium” and want to create something similar where there will be poverty on the ground but above the wealthy will cruise in luxury with the best of care-

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elysium_(film)

    Reply ↓
    1. ambrit

      Very reminiscent of the Edgar Allen Poe story, “Melonta Tuata” (1849.) The story is about people who live aboard balloon cities in the sky. In it, some aircologies do “crash and burn,” but that’s the price of progress, right?
      Wasn’t it Barnum who said; “No one ever went bankrupt underestimating the intelligence of the public.”
      Stay safe. Keep your parachute handy.

      Reply ↓
    2. Es s Ce Tera

      Why have so many smaller jet engines and not 4 extra big ones? Each of those smaller jet engines is contributing to drag, each needs a nacelle, each has more wiring and mechanical parts, more points of failure, and more of anything adds to mechanical complexity, which increases odds of anything going wrong. Many engines will have more fuel/energy draw than fewer. I’m not an engineer but I suspect this concept hasn’t gone anywhere near an engineer? Probably because they would ask questions like that, I suppose.

      That shape reminds me of a certain 1970’s Fisher-Price toy plane.

      Reply ↓
      1. timo maas

        I am an engineer. This is not a concept of a real vehicle, but more of a 3D rendering of a toy (as you have noticed). Out-of-proportion things look cute, and toys for small kids are intentionally make like that.

        As far as many engines are concerned, they are present in ekranoplans but all of them are needed only at takeoff.

        Reply ↓
    3. timo maas

      This monstrosity has the potential to become a ride in Disneyland at best. Moving along the rails slowly, so it does not break apart. It looks like a product of AI trained on child’s drawings.

      The first ones to offer a ride on an atomic powered aircraft will be Russians. The wealthy will have a chance to take a sit on the Burevestnik, and hold on tight.

      Reply ↓
  6. timbers

    “House Democrats: DOGE is building a ‘master database’ of Americans’ sensitive informationWired reports the database could combine IRS, SSA, and voting records for surveillance targeting undocumented migrants.”

    Good thinking adding at the end “targeting undocumented migrants” because that practically guarantees 50-ish percent support from the MAGA and Republicans for accessing “Americans sensitive data” by DOGE plus puts a culture war spin on it, and Dems will win landslides raking in the transgender Micro Aggression 13 different sexual orientations crowd.

    Reply ↓
  7. Alan Sutton

    The Sky Cruise: there seems to be a huge gap between what these advertisers/marketers can imagine and what the real economy can provide. Where will that thing be built? It must be a scam trying to hoover up some loose change among the venture capitalist crowd.

    Astonishing level of disconnect with real life. An AI hoax?

    Reply ↓
    1. timo maas

      It’s not about economy, but science ‘n technology. This thing is as real as Noah’s Ark. It is capable of flying as much as Noah’s Ark replica is of sailing.

      Reply ↓
  8. The Rev Kev

    “Measles outbreaks now declared in 8 states, including Michigan’s first in 5 years”

    Still waiting for Fox News to come out and say ‘It’s just the measles, bro.’

    Reply ↓
  9. DJG, Reality Czar

    Does TED still make sense? Quillette (which doesn’t always make sense either).

    I bumped into TED talks years ago, and even in its early stages, it was obvious that the TED talks are one more bourgeois affectation. Note the current price: 12 Grand USD.

    A bargain for all of that bourgeois affirmation.

    This sentence, not far into the [embargoed] article, is pure TED: Dave told me that he’s put together an international network of corporate leaders who meet regularly at “bespoke” retreats in “epic” locations such as Bali and Botswana.

    Especially “bespoke,’ for that alluring air of English knowitallism and strong hint that one is dealing with a pretentious American.

    Short answer: TED never made sense.

    Short answer with hint of redemption: The height may have been this talk by Hans Rosling on how a simple invention (well, not so simple, but humble) changed the world. From twelve years ago.
    https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_the_magic_washing_machine

    Reply ↓
    1. Terry Flynn

      re TED monetisation, I confess I was a little suspicious that the entire series of public lectures hosted by my old university employer in Sydney were pulled from YouTube a few years back. Are they on some platform now where you must pay? They were all TED-type talks intended to explore interesting topics for the lay audience.

      Thankfully I’d downloaded mine and so far nobody has complained about me hosting it as it is fair use educational…..and it is me FFS!

      Reply ↓
    2. Trees&Trunks

      I stopped listening to the TED-talls a long time ago. They became very quickly formalized and fossilized in terms of intonation, structure and form. They all sound like they understand a problem theoretically but can’t give flying… practically, whether it is about poverty, illness or death I never heard anger, fury or sadness at the time. I see them most as performative and CV/LinkedIn-profile building activities.
      Maybe it got better over time.

      Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev

        A coupla decades from now, TED talks will be in the same category as pole sitting and dance marathons.

        Reply ↓
  10. DJG, Reality Czar

    Maine Monitor: Maine businesses and seasonal workers holding special visa.

    The article reminded me of how many employers in the U S of A keep insisting that their businesses have to be based on thorough exploitation of the work force. This has been the argument of governments of the Southern states for years: right-to-work (so-called) laws, exploitation, and low wages. This has been the argument of the food-service sector for years and years: separate salary regulations, low minimum wage, and tips (so that customers can solve the business’s wage & hour policies for the owners — talk about hospitality!).

    The argument that people don’t want summer jobs, don’t want to work in a restaurant, and don’t want to work on a farm just doesn’t seem to hold water, in my not-so-humble opinion.

    Rather strangely, it is rightwingers (read to the end) who want to end this system of seasonal labor. Hmmmm. Now they will have to turn their sites back to Silicon Valley and its tales of entrepreneurial derring-do and all of those imported Indians (which has to do with the employers, not the Indians, please, who are collateral damage).

    Strange indeed. But then, I grew up in a union family, back when the U S of A still had labor unions.

    Reply ↓
    1. Wukchumni

      Those 30 or so men I saw a month ago doing everything except being cashier at the Wal*Mart in Frisco. Co. with the most interesting name tags and accents to match, were all migrant immigrants on a work visa from Mauritania.

      Wal*Mart never does things on a 1-off basis, I wonder how many more Mauritanians are toiling for the Sam the man?

      Reply ↓
  11. Henry Moon Pie

    The Trolley Problem–

    So Ezra Klein’s Eco-Modernist Abundance proposal makes its appearance at NC. Here’s a taste of the foolishness:

    Consider climate change. Abundance not only recommends choosing among existing tech like moving from coal to solar, but also explores near-future examples like cultured (aka lab-grown) meat. This tech does exist, but it’s niche, nascent, and expensive. It’s also unsettling and popular for politicians to oppose it. But Abundance, correctly, holds up cultured meat as a worthy goal because in addition to helping address climate change (agriculture is a major contributor), it would also allow us to effectively end the moral stain that is factory farming.

    Yes, let’s consider this great solution to the climate catastrophe. Here’s what UC Davis scientists report about the energy requirements of lab grown “meat:”

    The scientists defined the global warming potential as the carbon dioxide equivalents emitted for each kilogram of meat produced. The study found that the global warming potential of lab-based meat using these purified media is four to 25 times greater than the average for retail beef.

    That’s certainly an abundance of added CO2. Is that the abundance they’re talking about? Maybe just quit eating meat? Maybe use naturally grown meat substitutes like soy for your protein? No way, say Klein and his Abundateers. They much prefer a process with high capital and energy requirements because it will all be protected by a nice, monopoly-granting patent.

    These people will do and say anything to avoid leveling with the public about a number of things including the trajectory of climate change, resource limits and the energy and resource requirements of their high-tech, corporate-based solutions. It’s just more PMC BS to forestall real solutions to the polycrisis that would interfere with their power and pampered lifestyles.

    Remember the Trolley Problem is roughly this: a trolley with a driver and 4 passengers is headed for disaster unless a switch is thrown to divert it to another track. But diverting it will kill an innocent pedestrian on the alternate track. It’s a test of how deep your utilitarianism goes. Klein has changed the problem. Now we have a trolley with a few very self-satisfied but well-connected people, and diverting the trolley will kill dozens of deplorables. Easy choice for Ezra, especially since he’s on the trolley.

    Reply ↓
  12. Es s Ce Tera

    re: Wow, this watch is thinner than a credit card

    Anyone else notice this watch is visibly NOT thinner than a credit card? What kind of person says things that contradict their own eyes and also shows a video contradicting their own claim, even while making the claim? Weird.

    Reply ↓
  13. Red Snapper

    Labour costs across Europe: Where are they highest and lowest? Euro News

    By pure coincidence, it also resembles the order they will be thrown against the Russian wall.

    Reply ↓
  14. Steve H.

    > Collections: Why Celebrimbor Fell but Boromir Conquered: the Moral Universe of Tolkien [Bret Devereaux

    >> In short, the historian tries to, in a way, inhabit the worldview of people long gone and to communicate those values and assumptions to a modern audience. One of the ways we do that is reading the things those past people wrote carefully for exactly that: values, morals, assumptions about the world, mentalités as the Annales school would phrase it or Weltanschauung (‘worldview’) as German would express it.

    >> So we’re going to do a bit of that with Tolkien, looking at the way his legendarium treats sin and redemption, through the lens of two ambiguous characters: Celebrimbor and Boromir.

    acoup.blog/2025/04/18/collections-why-celebrimbor-fell-and-boromir-conquered-the-moral-universe-of-tolkien/

    Reply ↓

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