Hummingbird Migration Takes an Incredible Journey Birds & Blooms
Newham Parks Service is going wild for nature! Newham London. A seven-mile pollinator trail. What a great idea!
FX swaps, shadow banks and the global dollar footprint Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space. “Despite its partial success in reducing instability due to cross-border financial imbalances, the Fed’s uneven and hierarchical lender of last resort approach cannot sufficiently stabilise global finance to underpin a new era of macrofinancial stability.” Way above my paygrade. Readers?
How a magician-mathematician revealed a casino loophole BBC
Climate
An Introduction Phenomal World. To the “polycrisis.”
Tuna Granta
Water
Meanwhile, in Texas: Drought Revealed Previously Unseen Dinosaur Tracks Texas Monthly. See NC here on “drought reveals.”
#COVID19
Shot:
Respiratory viruses are on the rise across the United States. Take preventive actions to stop the spread of viruses like flu, RSV, and #COVID19:
🩹Get an updated COVID-19 vaccine & get your annual flu vaccine
🏠Stay home if you are sick
🧼Practice good hand hygiene— Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH (@CDCDirector) October 21, 2022
Notice anything missing?
Chaser:
CDC’s Dr. Walensky tests positive for COVID-19 https://t.co/eKqoFxys9c pic.twitter.com/69T53X7MXX
— FOX 2 Detroit (@FOX2News) October 23, 2022
[Slams the glass down on the bar]:
Walensky’s handwashing teambuilding session 4 days ago.
Now she’s Covid positive. pic.twitter.com/g65buAI0GY
— Pandemic News (@mildanalyst) October 22, 2022
I love the one guy holding his mask. Notice how he’s the only one not smiling broadly? Removing one’s mask for photo ops is one of the more insidiously destructive of elite norms. Anyhow, I’m sure they can all avail themselves of the best America has to offer in contact tracing. Oh, wait….
* * * In Cleveland and beyond researchers begin to unravel the mystery of long COVID-19 Cleveland.com. Well worth a read.
Remote work opened some doors to workers with disabilities. But others remain shut NPR. The headline conceals this gem of a data point:
Researchers collected online responses from supervisors working in companies with at least 15 employees from May 11 through June 25….. Among nearly 3,800 supervisors surveyed, 16.9% said they had a disability, said Andrew Houtenville, a professor at the University of New Hampshire and the report’s lead author. .
That’s a lot. Implications:
If I were Sun Tzu, I would keep my population free from infectious disease at all costs to gain advantage.
— Barry Hunt #COVIDisAirborne 🌬 😷🪟 (@BarryHunt008) October 22, 2022
* * * Effectiveness of Monovalent mRNA Vaccines Against COVID-19–Associated Hospitalization Among Immunocompetent Adults During BA.1/BA.2 and BA.4/BA.5 Predominant Periods of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant in the United States — IVY Network, 18 States, December 26, 2021–August 31, 2022 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, CDC. “Three-dose monovalent mRNA VE estimates against COVID-19–associated hospitalization decreased with time since vaccination. Three-dose VE during the BA.1/BA.2 and BA.4/BA.5 periods was 79% and 60%, respectively, during the initial 120 days after the third dose and decreased to 41% and 29%, respectively, after 120 days from vaccination.”
ACT-A: “The international architecture did not work for us” The Lancet. “Consisting of ten UN agencies and global health organisations, The World Bank, Wellcome, and the Gates Foundation, ACT-A aimed to develop health products for COVID-19 and to ensure their equitable distribution, while helping health systems with delivery…. ACT-A afforded too much influence to donors and corporate partners, global targets were not met, and low and middle-income countries (LMICs)—the purported beneficiaries of the scheme—were excluded from conceptualisation. It documents particular dissatisfaction with ACT-A in Africa and Latin America.”
China?
Economic and finance shake-up on China’s Central Committee heralds new era in face of global uncertainty South China Morning Post. Drama:
China’s former president Hu Jintao has been unexpectedly escorted out of the closing ceremony of the ruling Communist Party.
He seemed confused and appeared to resist leaving, turning back to his seat at one point.
Watch the moment 👇
Latest: https://t.co/MTHPwwJJ3f pic.twitter.com/b5f03S7Ani
— Sky News (@SkyNews) October 22, 2022
The Seven Men Who Will Lead China Into Xi’s Third Term Bloomberg
What Does the 20th Party Congress Tell Us About the Future of China? Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
Caixin Explains: How Severe Are Chinese Local Governments’ Budgetary Troubles? Caixin Global
Myanmar
Big if true:
🧵Yesterday morning, the KTLA, KNLA and affiliated resistance fighters stormed the city of Kawkareik in Southern Myanmar. The offensive on the city of 100,000 people is the first attempt by resistance fighters to capture and clear junta-held urban territory in a major way.
/1 pic.twitter.com/VP2dGQgBju— Nathan Ruser (@Nrg8000) October 21, 2022
Achieving the Best Outcome in Myanmar’s Civil War War on the Rocks
Sanctioned Myanmar Tycoons Find Shelter in Singapore Bloomberg
Myanmar villagers say army beheaded high school teacher AP. No doubt an NGO connected the villager witness with a cellphone to the AP. Nevertheless, Myanmar’s army has form, and this is it.
India
The Wire Retracts Its Meta Stories The Wire
Raising the drawbridge: why are so many Australians creating their own countries? Guardian
Syraqistan
Why the Turkish-Libyan MOU has enraged Libyans and regional countries Middle East Monitor
Receivers for Elon Musk’s Starlink Internet Are Being Smuggled Into Iran Time
Mossad’s agents used chalet in Malaysia to interrogate abducted Palestinian: Report Straits Times (Re SIlc).
Dear Old Blighty
Rishi Sunak poised to enter Tory leadership race as Boris Johnson seeks support FT
‘Chief Mouser’ Larry The Cat Has Now Outlasted 4 UK Prime Ministers HuffPo. Splendid photo of Larry, who looks tough as hell.
The Party is Over Craig Murray
Why can’t I give blood? Commentary via Private Eye:
European Disunion
France sends gas to Germany, another step towards energy solidarity Deutsche Welle (Furzy Mouse).
‘People will burn anything’: energy poverty and pollution hit eastern Europe FT
Germany: Fire destroys Ukrainian refugee home Deutsche Welle
New Not-So-Cold War
Russia’s homage to Nord Stream pipelines Indian Punchline
To Defend Ukraine, It Is Time To Strike Iran 1945 (Rev Kev). “[A]n unusual opportunity for the U.S. Washington can take meaningful action simultaneously on two fronts – in the indirect defense of Ukraine, and in support of Iranian protesters.” Now I’m even more dubious the Iran protest videos we are seeing are organic.
Berlusconi, Putin invented SMO. NYT, six weeks to take Kherson. US army ready to enter Ukraine. Alex Christoforou, YouTube. The close reading of the Times story at 28:10 is interesting.
Ukraine plane engine builder head held on treason charges, media report Reuters (Re Silc).
Will Putin Fall Like Khrushchev and Gorbachev? Peggy Noonan. “If we’re facing Armageddon, that should be taking up all the president’s time. JFK wasn’t at fundraisers in October 1962, and when he spoke it was in a studied, careful way, and to the entire nation.” Read all the way to the end; I’m not sure the United States is, to coin a phase, gravitas-capable.
Realignment and Legitimacy
Why Neoliberalism Needs Neofascists Boston Review
Afropessimism, or Black Studies as a Class Project Adolph Reed, Non-site.org
2022
Democracy in peril argument fizzles as midterm issue The Hill. Unsurprising, since as any Sanders voter knows, Democrats have no standing to make it.
Opinion In Nevada, election deniers prepare to sabotage the midterms WaPo
Five investigations House Republicans are plotting if they win majority The Hill
Healthcare
Some People Who Appear to Be in a Coma May Actually Be Conscious Scientific American
Shortages
Helium shortage: Doctors are worried that running out of the element could threaten MRIs NBC
Boeing
U.S. judge: Passengers in fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes are ‘crime victims’ Reuters (Re Silc).
Imperial Collapse Watch
More Proof That This Really Is the End of History Francis Fukuyama, The Atlantic
The Plank in Frank Fukuyama’s Eye The American Conservative (AL).
The Calamities of Others Polybius, Lapham’s Quarterly
Class Warfare
US companies rework bonus plans to protect executive pay FT
A Psychological Theory of the Culture War Richard Hanania
What Did Mary Know? Philosophy Now
Antidote du jour (via):
Bonus Antidote:
American Kestrels have super head stabilization skills, making it look locked in one position in the air. This video shows the natural ability this bird has to stabilize its head
[📹 Talons and Teeth: https://t.co/5OUdd8iLAT]pic.twitter.com/bLUR9NjyPd
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) October 22, 2022
I wish I could stabilize my head like that!
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
