Links 9/2/2020
Dear patient readers,
We will have a heavy dose of CalPERS through and including next week. I hope you don’t mind given that this is a slow general news period.
Scientists Film Hummingbirds Flying Through Waterfalls, And It’s Beautiful And Genius Science Alert (Chuck L)
A Parliament of Owls New York Review of Books (Chris M)
Stonehenge enhanced acoustics for people inside the monument Science News (Dr. Kevin)
NuScale’s Small Nuclear Reactor Gets US Safety Approval ars technica
Researchers predict location of novel candidate for mysterious dark energy PhysOrg (Robert M)
Pilot Landing At LAX Reports ‘Guy In a Jetpack’ Flying Alongside Them The Drive
New Electronic Skin Can React to Pain Like Human Skin – For Better Prosthetics and Smarter Robots SciTechDaily (Kevin W). Aaw, movie fail in anticipating science. The Terminator didn’t have sensitive skin, recall the scene in T2 where he cuts the skin off his forearm to show he’s an android.
The Hidden World of Legacy IT IEEE Spectrum (Chuck L). A favorite topic!
How SUVs conquered America and the world to become a chief climate offender Guardian (resilc)
#COVID-19
Coronavirus: Tango competitors take to the living room floor BBC (resilc)
Science/Medicine
A Supercomputer Analyzed Covid-19 — and an Interesting New Theory Has Emerged Medium (David L). Important.
Common pollutant linked to 11% higher virus death rate E&E News (JTM)
National Institutes of Health disses FDA on plasma as COVID treatment ars technica. How the hell were the tests conducted in New York which stated in April not conducted to a standard that the officialdom would know something by now? See: Plasma treatment being tested in New York may be coronavirus ‘game changer’ NBC
US won’t join global coronavirus vaccine initiative The Hill
Trump administration announces nationwide eviction moratorium through end of the year USA Today
US
Asia
Inside view of Vietnam’s Covid second wave Asia Times (resilc)
Finance/Economy
Small-Business Failures Loom as Federal Aid Dries Up New York Times. As we predicted quite a while ago.
Thousands of small-business loans may have been fraudulent, U.S. House panel finds Reuters. Resilc: “But most of the big ones?”
Retail Eviction Proceedings Pick Up as Economy Restarts Wall Street Journal
Worries about being laid off, having hours cut jump: Gallup The Hill
COVID-19 Is Putting Essential Indigenous Casino Revenue At Risk Vice
China?
US seeks formal alliance similar to Nato with India, Japan and Australia, State Department official says Defend Democracy
Coalition countering Huawei faces hurdles Asia Times (Kevin W)
Elon Musk’s SpaceX NASA contracts threatened over Tesla China ties Washington Examiner
Why Britain is more geographically unequal than any other rich country https://t.co/qgEpDOozDe
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) September 2, 2020
Syraqistan
What The UAE-Israel Deal Really Means For The Middle East OilPrice (resilc)
A Saudi Prince’s Attempt To Silence Critics On Twitter Wired
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Replication: Why We Still Can’t Browse in Peace: On the Uniqueness and Reidentifiability of Web Browsing Histories Usenix (Chuck L)
Trump Transition
Trump denies ‘mini-strokes’ sent him to Walter Reed The Hill
Now in Government Food Aid Boxes: A Letter From Donald Trump ProPublica (UserFriendly)
Disgraced NY Assembly Leader Silver Begins 6.5 Year Sentence in Coronavirus Infected Prison JewishPress
2020
Markey defeats Kennedy in Massachusetts The Hill
Pelosi helped a Kennedy lose in Massachusetts for the first time ever. LMAO https://t.co/mbbQs9R9gG
— Krystal Ball (@krystalball) September 2, 2020
Pelosi is eating that entire fridge of ice cream rn
— Joe Kennedy’s New Career Coach (@katewillett) September 2, 2020
2020 Election Forecast FiveThirtyEight
If Trump refuses to accept defeat in November, the republic will survive intact, as it has 5 out of 6 times in the past The Conversation
The Way to Prevent a Recount Disaster Is Sitting Right in Front of Us Vice (resilc)
Take to the Streets CounterPunch
As 2020 election looms, Russian trolls are targeting Americans again, Facebook says CNN (furzy)
[Exclusive] Trump Signs Historical OTC Hearing Device Bill, Slashing Hearing Device Prices By 90%! Aidion. Resilc: “Geezer votes matter.”
One theory I heard is that absolutely no one at the New York Times has the slightest clue what progressive means. #masenate pic.twitter.com/GVh6bzssXb
— UserFrIENDlyyy (@UserFrIENDlyyy) September 2, 2020
America Divided
McDonald’s Sued by Black Ex-Franchise Owners for Racial Discrimination Wall Street Journal
Joe Biden should do more than just speak out against violence Washington Post
When a graphic video can quell unrest but still do harm MPRNews
What Happens When Ex-Navy SEALS Go Full QAnon? Daily Beast (resilc)
It passed! 🥳🎊🥂
Tomorrow, Gavin Newsom will sign this into law, and end a small part of American slavery that is still with us in *checks calendar* 2020. https://t.co/gcijHNFCaR
— Mekka *My Mask Protects You* Okereke (@mekkaokereke) September 2, 2020
Activists sour on Oatly vegan milk after stake sold to Trump-linked Blackstone Guardian
Band kicked out of park says SF musicians need support: ‘This is why SF is losing its artists’ SFGate (CC)
Guillotine Watch
How the Sacklers Shifted $10.8 Billion of an Opioid Fortune Built on OxyContin Bloomberg (resilc)
Class Warfare
Only a shift in labour’s bargaining power can light up US inflation Financial Times (John C). If you can’t access the piece, it argues for more inflation as a good thing, hence more labor bargaining power is a good thing. Erm, how about rampant inequality is bad for social stability, groaf, and even the health of the rich? Although the author did wind up getting to those issues:
Yet Mr Powell is going all-in on failed policies. He has admitted that inflation has never returned to 2 per cent on a sustained basis and productivity is on the decline. These outcomes are not in spite of Fed policy but because of it.
Zombie companies — those that do not earn enough to cover their interest payments — are nearly one-fifth of all listed businesses in America, according to Deutsche Bank, from virtually zero at the turn of the millennium. Meanwhile, the top 10 per cent of the population owns 87 per cent of the stocks, so the rising market perpetuates inequality, leaving the other 90 per cent with bank accounts that earn nothing.
Rather than trying to take credit for a “Great Moderation,” the Fed should be recognised for achieving a great polarisation — social and economic, and consequently, political.
Amazon Removes Job Listings For Intelligence Analyst To Track ‘Labor Organizing Threats’ Vice
Amazon Drivers Are Hanging Smartphones in Trees to Get More Work Bloomberg (BC)
Two cognitive tendencies help explain why low-income voters often oppose the redistribution of wealth PsyPost (Chuck L)
Antidote du jour. Michael F:
My daughter sent this to me recently: newly-acquired hamsters existing peacefully with her rescue kitty. The cat is fascinated by the hamsters, but makes no effort to get at them. Likewise, the hamsters are more skittish round humans…
And a bonus:
His Majesty pic.twitter.com/lFmdPLzNxb
— Life on Earth (@planetpng) September 2, 2020
And a second bonus courtesy Kevin W, a rescue off Wales:
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
