The surprisingly complicated physics of why cats always land on their feet ars technica (David L)
Giant Set of Dinosaur Tracks in Alaska Is So Big It’s Called ‘The Coliseum’ ScienceAlert (furzy)
NASA telescope spots cosmic question mark in deep space CNN (ma)
Complexity Theory’s 50-Year Journey to the Limits of Knowledge Quanta (David L)
The Rise And Fall Of The Would-Be Superconductor That Transfixed The Internet Forbes (Kevin W)
Polymer nanoparticles deliver mRNA to the lung for mucosal vaccination Science (ma)
Gesture is a uniquely powerful tool. Here’s how to make the most of it New Scientist (Dr. Kevin)
Examining how breast size affects women’s attitudes to exercise MedicalXPress (Dr. Kevin)
WHO Aspartame Safety Panel Linked To Alleged Coca-Cola Front Group Guardian
Neuroscientists successfully test theory that forgetting is actually a form of learning Trinity College Dublin (Dr. Kevin)
#COVID-19
New Covid variant BA.2.86 with more than 30 mutations detected in London causing concern among scientist Guardian (Dr. Kevin)
Health officials warn of new, highly mutated COVID strain BA.2.86 Seattle Times (furzy)
1/ The Model State Indoor Air Quality Act #MSIAQA has been released today. Developed by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security @JHSPH_CHS, with advice from an extensive group of experts, led by @polsiewski et al.https://t.co/Bhq3Oknq7m
— Prof. Jose-Luis Jimenez (@jljcolorado) August 17, 2023
Climate/Environment
Tracing the destruction from Maui’s deadly fires ABC Australia. Kevin W: “Check out the before/After images.”
President Joe Biden hasn’t launched a Maui fire investigation. Here’s why. Politico
China?
Global Stock Managers on Guard as China Pain Set to Spread Bloomberg
China’s Fertility Rate Drops To Record Low Reuters
Degrowing China—By Collapse, Redistribution, or Planning? Monthly Review (Anthony L). Important.
Biden to sign strategic partnership deal with Vietnam in latest bid to counter China in the region Politico
“Beijing’s top diplomat made a direct appeal to Vietnam’s shared ideology with China as he urged Hanoi to prepare for a summit and prevent “interference” by external forces.” A classic example of China’s wedge strategy towards the Vietnam-US partnership. https://t.co/1Gm4zsarKX
— Khang Vu (@KhangXVu) August 18, 2023
Niger
West African bloc says day set for possible military intervention in Niger Anadolu Agency
Niger: West African military force ‘ready to go’ DW. Lead story.
Bank of Ireland unsure when services will be restored Irish Examiner (BC). From a few days ago, but noteworthy that it happened.
New Not-So-Cold War
🇺🇦Ukraine to once again pass laws prohibiting peace talks.
The Verkhovna Rada proposed to legally prohibit the cession of land in resolving the conflict with Russia.
The deputies also pointed out the need for a complete withdrawal of Russian troops “from the entire territory… pic.twitter.com/yRaqjCZjyh
— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) August 19, 2023
Netherlands says US has approved delivery of F-16s to Ukraine Aljazeera (Li)
Lukashenko; 250K reserves, Russia south, Poland west. WaPo, grim UKR results. Blinken Pakistan. Alex Christaforu, YouTube. Note the opening section, where Christaforu discusses an interview with Lukashenko at some length.
1/8 In interview with Ukrainian journalist, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko: “We (he & Putin) touched on the situation again the last time we met. We conversed for a long time and he would say: ‘It’s bad that we, the two peoples, clashed… We are Slavic peoples’.
— M. K. Bhadrakumar (@BhadraPunchline) August 18, 2023
Ukraine war: US allows transfer of Danish and Dutch F-16 war planes to Kyiv BBC. Kevin W: “And to replace them, the danish and the Dutch will have to purchase much more expensive F-35s.”
Major Russian OFFENSIVE on Strategic KUPYANSK HistoryLegends, YouTube. From a couple of days ago, but entertaining and informative on tactics and Russian options as its campaign in Kharkiv progresses.
EU hits gas storage target before November deadline Financial Times
We will also examine this question:
Who gave Bill Kristol $2 million for a new fraudulent “Republicans for Ukraine” group designed to run ads during the Fox GOP debate to convince Republicans to cease turning against Biden’s war policies in Ukraine? https://t.co/h1DqDqMf4J
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 18, 2023
It is like a concentration camp’: The forgotten crisis on Europe’s doorstep Defend Democracy. Nagorno-Karabakh.
Syraqistan
Afghans fled for a better future but 2 years later, it’s a dream for most Aljazeera (ma)
Here’s that full U.K. government statement on the imprisonment of Imran Khan pic.twitter.com/3zbMu190Ke
— Mark Curtis (@markcurtis30) August 19, 2023
U.S. Sanctions Syrian ‘Moderate Rebels’ It Had Previously Armed Moon of Alabama (Kevin W). “To be America’s friend is fatal.”
Imperial Collapse Watch
California’s Weapons of Math Destruction Wall Street Journal. BC: “This is insanity.”
I can’t imagine living in a country like that… pic.twitter.com/oI4TMxHmzX
— Alan MacLeod (@AlanRMacLeod) August 18, 2023
The Decline of America’s Military Reflects the Overall Decline of America Itself Brian Berletic, YouTube
The Horrors of Ukraine and Maui Made Possible by Government incompetence Larry Johnson (Anthony L)
Trump
Georgia Indicts Millions Of Voters For Conspiring To Elect Trump Babylon Bee (Li)
Trump’s indictments and the perils of ‘dual sovereignty’ Financial Times (BC)
Biden
Joe Rogan claims Democrats are leaking scandals about Joe Biden on PURPOSE to try to get rid of 80 year-old president before 2024 election Daily Mail (Li). Readers have been speculating along these lines for a while…
Midwestern cities become transgender health sanctuaries amid GOP legislative threats The Hill
Our No Longer Free Press
YouTube, Censorship, and the American Way of Life Scott Ritter (Micael T)
AI
AI-Generated Art Lacks Copyright Protection, D.C. Court Says Bloomberg (David L)
The sceptical case on generative AI Financial Times (David L)
The dark secret behind those cute AI-generated animal images MIT Technology Review (furzy)
Microsoft pulls AI-written article telling tourists to visit the Ottawa Food Bank The Verge (Dr. Kevin)
Inflation
Consumers’ Perspectives on the Recent Movements in Inflation Liberty Street Economics. UserFriendly: “I love how expectations are so important for consumers’ magical ability to control inflation but widespread publicity of greedflation couldn’t have played a role in CEO’s dialing it down.”
No, the Federal Reserve Hasn’t Brought Inflation Down Jacobin
A Big Health Insurer Is Ripping Up the Playbook on Drug Pricing Wall Street Journal. At best, Godzilla v. Mothra. Article hides the ball by implying that Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug Company will fill scrips, when Cost Plus has only generic drugs, and then far from all (I take hardly any meds and one of my generics is not available there). So this will be largely an Amazon venture.
Pension funds in their best shape since just before the last two stock-market crashes MarketWatch (ma). Somehow the implication of the headline seems lost on the writers…
Loading the DICE Against Pensions CarbonTracker (Micael T)
The Bezzle
‘Don’t You Remember Me?’ The Crypto Hell on the Other Side of a Spam Text Bloomberg
I’m beginning to seriously doubt Musk’s sanity. https://t.co/ZmRsTZ4Lf5
— Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett) August 18, 2023
Class Warfare
Meta threatens to fire workers for return-to-office infractions in leaked memo SFGate (Kevin W)
All-out propaganda blitz by Teamsters bureaucrats in final days of UPS vote WSWS
Antidote du jour (Duncan H):
And a bonus:
Mission impossible.. 😅 pic.twitter.com/UvW9ssPBZY
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) August 19, 2023
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
