Links 10/27/2022 | naked capitalism
Cats respond to the baby talk of their owners, but not strangers Smithsonian Institution. Cats: “Masters? Owners?!
Cats are just as good as dogs at helping us deal with stress. Sky News. Cats: “Not worse? Just as good as?!
Value has a price, but first you need to see it John Outers, Bloomberg
Credit Suisse launches $4 billion fundraiser backed by Saudi Arabia FT
Climate
Lancet Countdown 2022 Health and Climate Change Report: Health at the mercy of fossil fuels Lancet
Eucatastrophe: Tolkien’s word for “anti-end of the world” BBC (Fluffy Mouse).
Meat habit in Europe and the global food crisis Project Syndicate
#COVID-19
About visors: Willful ignorance never ends well Dr. Jo Wypond, speech to Alberta United Nurses. Resisting the recognition that COVID-19 is spread by airborne droplets has led to “the most egregious public health error in modern history.”
Fever in cruise ship guest cabin after possible breach of Covid lockdown Things. New Zealand. Everyone hates tourists.
We may only have a few months to prevent the next pandemic. Craig Spencer, New York Times. Not a word about air purification…
* * * Air disinfection with far ultraviolet light Nature. “But companies don’t wait for peer-reviewed research. Far UV lamps are already on the market and are being installed around the world.” I’m skeptical because the incentives (“convenience”) are so obvious. I would think twice before exposing myself or others.
* * * Genetic Diversity and Evolutionary Convergence of Enigmatic SARS-CoV-2 Lineages Detected by Sewage Sequencing PLOS One. From the Abstract:[S]All of the mysterious New York bloodlines appear to have descended from a common ancestor that most likely diverged in early 2020. Although the source of these enigmatic lineages has not been established, it seems increasingly likely that they are descended from . Our results indicate that the genetic diversity of SARS-COV-2 is greater than what is typically observed in routine SARS-CoV-2 surveillance. Wastewater sampling may more fully reflect the genetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 than patient sampling and may identify new VOCs before they appear in the wider human population.”
Acquired immunity against random food allergens may protect some lucky ones from Covid-19 Boundary Science News (original). Big if true.
* * * What Covid has taught the world about ethics Ezekiel J. Emanuel, Ross E. G. Upshur, and Maxwell J. Smith. NEZHM. “Institutions responsible for responding to public health emergencies should have trained ethicists on staff who are regularly involved in scenario planning and counseling.” PMCs should be PMCs.
China?
Cautious US and EU reaction to China’s party convention signals a widening chasm with the West South China Morning Post
China’s Gradual Reform Dilemma Diplomat
From infection to infection of people takes only 24 hours! The current round of epidemic strains in Guangzhou is more contagious What is China reading? B.A.5.2. But China is no more #CovidIsAirborne than we are:
Unanimous is a pretty high bar country, and every explorer is a monolith. But it’s hard to argue that China is accepting air travel when every measure we take treats it like a drop. N/K95 are recommended for MO only, air quality is not discussed.
— Naomi Wu 添加妖姬 (@RealSexyCyborg) October 26, 2022
Are you afraid of needles? China Uses Inhaled COVID-19 Vaccine AP “The inhalation vaccine was developed by the Chinese biopharmaceutical company CanSino Biologics Inc. as an aerosolized version of the company’s one-time adenovirus vaccine that uses a relatively harmless cold virus.” Used as an amplifier.
The real corporate cost of decoupling becomes clear FT and End of the world system Noah Smith, Bloomberg. More “decoupling”.
Myanmar
How have ethnic conflicts changed in Myanmar since the coup? Al Jazeera
in Syracuse
How my family came face to face with settler violence on the road to Nablus 972
European disconnect
Awkward lunch: Macron insults Scholz in Paris Political Dec: “Aides from France and Germany say the meeting went well. The absence of a joint appearance in the press says otherwise.”
European Council and Gomorrah (French media about the risk of an imminent collapse of the European Union) (translation) Aftershock (original). Summarizing and summarizing materials from the Macron/Scholz meeting.
Finland is ready to deploy NATO nuclear weapons on the border with Russia Antiwar.com (Reverend Kev). Reverend Kev: “If the balloon rises, you won’t be able to see the lights of the Northern Lights because of the glow of Finland.”
Dear old Blighty
The markets have not abandoned the farm. The Bank of England did. Narayana Kocherlakota, Bloomberg. Comment:
Are you telling me that a sovereign government tried to chart a new course for the domestic economy, and then faced immediate backlash from the IMF, the White House, the central bank, and major financial interests, and then a month later, a Goldman and Stanford graduate was put in charge?
— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) October 26, 2022
Ignore the hysteria in the media – Britain is not a problem Isabella Kaminska, Nestado
NHS faces harshest mid-winter yet BMJ
Northern Ireland prepares for new elections due to deadlock after Brexit International Business Times
Complaints of employer intimidation quadrupled ahead of Brazil’s 2022 elections – Poll: Lula leads from 52% to 46% payday report
New not-so-cold war
Another “progressive” fuse from those in Ukraine?
🇺🇸🇺🇦☢️🇬🇧US Senator Elizabeth Warren had an unpleasant meeting with voters and listened to a slightly unpleasant truth: “Senator, you must stop funding the Ukrainian regime, infested with nakhts, you are leading us to the brink of nuclear war. ” pic.twitter.com/kGP5pL4HSY
— AZ 🛰🌏🌍🌎 (@AZgeopolitics) October 27, 2022
I would like to know more about where the sound came from; However – pay attention to the background in the photo here – The meeting place was definitely the Dorchester branch of the Boston Public Library on October 25th. Readers?
“The most exciting thing about the war in Ukraine is the huge number of leading strategists who have been warning for years that it will come if we continue on the same path.” Arnaud Bertrand, ThreadReader (DD).
Putin is watching us Thomas Friedman, New York Times
The President of Ukraine signed a law allowing the Central Bank to issue CBDC Koindesk. As of 2021, still German. Comment:
Ukrainians have one digital government app that brings all their government IDs together in one convenient place. It also allows them to contribute to the war effort and receive social benefits. It’s not quite a CBDC yet, but it’s still way ahead of it. https://t.co/GlLGTC5no6
— Isabella Kaminska (@izakaminska) October 26, 2022
Our fascism incubator is already producing good results!
Ghosts and ghosts of Russian local history postsocialism
How the DRC Became the Battleground of a Proxy War for Precious Resources FT
Supreme
Historian’s case against the theory of the legislative assembly of an independent state (PDF) Boston College Law Review (TW). Moore vs. Harper.
Diversity by Diktat: A Little-Known 1977 OMB Memorandum Forms the Basis for Today’s Affirmative Action Programs SCOTUSblog. “David E. Bernstein holds the chair of the university professor at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law.” Nonetheless:
In the pursuit of diversity, colleges across the board rely on racial classifications derived from Statistical Directive No. 1977 of the Office of Management and Budget. 15. These classifications were never meant to show diversity in education, but rather to create uniform classifications to make the collection of public data needed for civil rights and other issues more consistent and coherent. The OMB warned that “the classifications should not be interpreted as scientific or anthropological in nature” and warned that they should not be “considered as determinants of eligibility for any federal program” such as affirmative action programs.
However, classifications have become the standard used to measure diversity in higher education.
Classification fight…
Coordination and experience contribute to legal textualism PNAS “The transition from reverence to authority to autonomous thinking is an important milestone in moral development. In this light, it is interesting how citizens and especially lawyers often follow the letter of the law to the detriment of their moral principles when making judicial decisions.
Bezl
Exclusive: Tesla faces US criminal investigation over self-driving claims Reuters
Andreessen Horowitz went all-in on crypto at the most inopportune moment WSJ
Boeing
Boeing Adds 737 MAX 7 At Risk With MAX 10 For Cancellation Due To FAA Certification Leaham News and Analysis
Imperial crumbling clock
PAPER: Prologue: Global Vulnerability Act, April 2022 Black agenda report. If you’ve noticed the recent surge in the terms “diversity, inclusion, and fairness” for imperial businesses (“But they women fascists”). The “pivot” in this law can be the driver. Energy is a big NGO.
class war
Based:
You literally flew out of the room in our midst reading you the Respect and Dignity contract offer, so now we’re playing Mario Party and having lunch while waiting for you to return to our table.
Kill me I think https://t.co/ttHdIc9N9w pic.twitter.com/BJXgC5Yjsr
— Tyler — Starbucks Workers United (@UnionTyler) October 25, 2022
* * * Mike Davis (1946–2022): enemy of the state Verso Comment:
RIP Mike Davis pic.twitter.com/wreriJFgJC
— Hannah Proctor (@hhnnccnnll) October 26, 2022
Mike Davis, ‘prophet of doom’ from California, on activism in a dying world: ‘Despair is futile’ Guardian
petrobourgeoisie CouchFish. Deca: “Some Thoughts on Flying, Carbon and Touring Boards.”
The structure of the adult brain is not constant: scientists have found that treating depression increases brain connectivity SciTech (Fluffy Mouse).
In Arizona, a woman was arrested for feeding the homeless. Now she is suing the city. USA Today (DCBlogger). DCBlogger: “criminalizing kindness”.
Antidote for the daypath):
See yesterday’s links and Antidote du Jour here.