Links 10/29/2022 | naked capitalism

Whale’s majestic move brings dramatic end to marine rescue off Canada BBC (furzy). I watched 2x.

Engineer creates crazy squirrel Olympics obstacle course in his backyard Boing Boing (resilc)

Cat got your tongue: Cats distinguish between speech directed at them and humans EurekAlert (Anthony L)

Watch Polar Bears in Action Polar Bears International (Chuck L). Bear cams!

Photographer Captures the Neon Beauty of Kyoto at Night PetaPixel (David L)

Phenomenal. Bar-tailed Godwit has broken its own record: a first-year bird (five months old!) has flown 13,560 km—just shy of the direct flight limit of a Boeing 787—from Alaska to Tasmania, seemingly non-stop, in just 11 days (avg. speed: c.51 km/hr). https://t.co/Q3vemnrKaF pic.twitter.com/op1ZYeKVFN
— Alex Berryman (@AlexJB497) October 25, 2022

How To Get the Most Candy on Halloween (Without Resorting to Extortion) ScienceTech (Chuck L)

Ancient 15,000-Year-Old Viruses Found in Melting Tibetan Glaciers ScienceAlert (resilc)

Even nuns watch porn, Pope says, warning of risks BBC

A middlebrow cult Times Literary Supplement (Anthony L). On Terry Pratchett.

Do We All See the Man Holding an iPhone in This 1937 Painting? Vice (resilc)

So far, this flu season is more severe than it has been in 13 years Washington Post (Kevin W)

#COVID-19

we are letting babies die of COVID so we can have office holiday parties and get our nails done
— 🐝🍯 (@DisabledBeing) October 29, 2022

Masks as a moral symbol: Masks reduce wearers’ deviant behavior in China during COVID-19 PNAS

Science/Medicine

Pandemic exceeds top causes of death far and widely PandemIC
There’s been a surge of about 900,000 people with disabilities in the U.S. workforce since 2020, likely because of the increase in Americans with long COVID, according to new research 💔
H/t ⁦@ejustin46⁩ https://t.co/UYEvTS4HTI
— Jess (@MeetJess) October 29, 2022

Asia

Wishful thinking is remarkable. Xi’s actions have made very clear what his priorities are:
Most disappointing was the bet that Xi wld announce the end of zero-Covid at the Party Congress. The misbegotten bull case assumed an economic rebound wld be Xi’s main goal now. It fundamentally missed that Xi measures success by how well Covid is contained not how fast GDP rises pic.twitter.com/KDLdaGAwQ2
— Shehzad Qazi (@shehzadhqazi) October 28, 2022

Climate/Environment

Goats and Sheep Are Brawling in the Rockies. Blame Glacial Melt Wired (David L)
Turkey’s Honey Apocalypse Is a Warning to the World Atlantic (resilc)
Beyond Catastrophe: A New Climate Reality Is Coming Into View New York Times (David L)
Over half of known human pathogenic diseases can be aggravated by climate change Nature (resilc)
As seas rise, Bangladesh farmers revive floating farms Reuters

China?

Does China Really Need That Much More Coal-Fired Electricity? Sixth Tone (resilc)

Exxon strikes oil again in Guyana with two new discoveries Reuters (resilc)

Old Blighty

Enter Sunak, the fifth Brexit Prime Minister Chris Grey (guurst)
Thousands too ashamed to go to work because they can’t afford soap and deodorant Sky News

Poland lists demands for WWII reparations from Germany RT (Kevin W)

New Not-So-Cold War

Russian timber bypasses U.S. sanctions through Vietnam and China Washington Post (resilc)
U.S. speeds up plans to store upgraded nukes in Europe Politico
US should bring back their nuclear weapons from abroad, Antonov Al Mayadeen
In the grips of war, Ukraine faces bleak demographic future Al Jazeera (resilc)
Russia’s central bank warns Putin’s military draft will push up inflation Financial Times. *Sigh* The direct quote from the central bank says “might stat to have a pro-inflationary impact”.
U.S. LNG Cannot Replace The Russian Natural Gas That Europe Has Lost OilPrice. Your humble blogger and many others said this from the outset, but it’s another thing for this to be acknowledged in more mainstream venues.
Scholz and Macron threaten trade retaliation against Biden Politico

Syraqistan

Iran withholding bodies of slain protesters from families, says UN rights office France24 (furzy)
Mass demonstrations in Iran against UK/US/EU-linked terror attacks and media regime change conspiracies. Wonder why they’re not reported in NATO countries where TV channels are shut down and freedom of expression is illegal? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/VoHFl7eQ7Y
— Afshin Rattansi (@afshinrattansi) October 28, 2022

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Information commissioner warns firms over ‘emotional analysis’ technologies Guardian
Iran’s Secret Manual for Controlling Protesters’ Mobile Phones Intercept (resilc)

Imperial Collapse Watch

US Considers Stepping Up Drone Strikes in Somalia Antiwar (resilc)
NATO in the Amazon: Petro Plays with Fire CounterPunch (resilc)

Biden

Hunter Biden associate texts hint at push to ‘get Joe involved,’ make it look like ‘truly family business’ Fox News
Republicans Investigate Biden’s “Misuse” Of SPR To Control Prices At The Pump OilPrice

2022

A Third of 2022 Midterm Voters May Use Mailed Out-Ballots CounterPunch
Federal Judge Allows Activists to Stake Out Ballot Boxes in Arizona New York Times (furzy)

Congress Can’t Even Do This One Thing Atlantic (resilc)

Democrats en déshabillé

Elise Stefanik Believes She Can Turn New York Into a Republican State New York Times (resilc)

Our No Longer Free Press

The Consortium Imposing the Growing Censorship Regime — and Our New Live, Prime-Time Rumble Program Glenn Greenwald

The Bezzle

Bitcoin miner Core Scientific issues bankruptcy warning and the stock is down 97% for the year CNBC. Kevin W: “‘That’s a damn shame.’”
The Tesla Cyberquad for kids has been recalled for not meeting safety standards The Verge (resilc)

Guillotine Watch

Elon Musk’s Fortune Falls by $110 Billion in Less Than a Year Business Insider (resilc)
By Buying Twitter, Elon Musk Has Created His Own Hilarious Nightmare Intercept (furzy). The big problem with this deal is that Musk paid way way way too much. There’s no way to fix that. Anything else is secondary.
GM temporarily suspends advertising on Twitter following Musk takeover CNBC
EU Commissioner to Elon Musk: Twitter will play by our rules Politico. Um, what happens when Starlink is available to European consumers? I suppose the EU can try to block payment, but I believe they’ve been too friendly to crypto to choke that off.
Can Mark Zuckerberg Go Broke? Heisenberger Report (resilc)

Personal excess savings from Covid stimulus are all gone…
Meanwhile consumer loans are increasing at a very steep angle…
This will end well… 🔥 pic.twitter.com/DcoQhvQpAM
— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) October 29, 2022

Class Warfare