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New Research Decodes the Sea Cow’s Hidden Language Scientific American
Global dealmaking falls to lowest level since start of pandemic FT
Climate
Temporary nature-based carbon removal can lower peak warming in a well-below 2 °C scenario Nature
A thread on “primary energy,” so-called (dk):
I find that quoting 'primary energy' is a useful heuristic for misinformation, which this piece absolutely is. Here's why: (short 🧵) https://t.co/1PKzSMP34l
— Dustin Benton (@dustin_benton) March 28, 2022
#COVID19
“This Shouldn’t Happen”: Inside the Virus-Hunting Nonprofit at the Center of the Lab-Leak Controversy Vanity Fair. Commentary:
I’d like to provide additional context to @KatherineEban’s article (https://t.co/CCuBMmpgoI), which reports on meeting w NIH prior to posting of my pre-print on Wuhan #SARSCoV2 sequences deleted from NIH’s SRA. Meeting also in recent FOIAs: https://t.co/URvAH43n84 (1/n)
— Bloom Lab (@jbloom_lab) March 31, 2022
One thing seems clear: Our grant-making machinery is utterly hosed.
* * * Vermont to schools: Ignore CDC guidance on masking Valley News
Schools left ‘scrambling’ after Missouri treasurer tied bond deals to AG’s COVID demands Missouri Independent
* * * Which Comorbidities Increase the Risk of a COVID-19 Breakthrough Infection? Epic Research. Handy chart, which I have highlighted:
COVID vaccines: head-to-head comparison reveals how they stack up Nature
Exclusive: The pushback against WHO’s imminent COVID-19 excess deaths estimate Devex
* * * Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in domestic cats imposes a narrow bottleneck (PDF) PLOS Pathogens. From the Abstract: “. Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in cats involved a narrow bottleneck, with new infections founded by fewer than ten viruses. In RNA virus evolution, stochastic processes like narrow transmission bottlenecks and genetic drift typically act to constrain the overall pace of adaptive evolution. Our data suggest that here, positive selection in index cats followed by a narrow transmission bottleneck may have instead accelerated the fixation of S H655Y, a potentially beneficial SARS-CoV-2 variant. Overall, our study suggests species- and context-specific adaptations are likely to continue to emerge. This underscores the importance of continued genomic surveillance for new SARS-CoV-2 variants as well as heightened scrutiny for signatures of SARS-CoV-2 positive selection in humans and mammalian model systems.”
China?
Shanghai Hospital Harbors Unreported Covid-19 Outbreak, Deaths WSJ
As Shanghai Locks Down, Netizens Are Equating Vegetables to Luxury Jing Daily
Solomon Islands says won’t allow Chinese military base and knows ‘ramification’ Channel News Asia
How Japan survived covid-19 British Medical Journal
Japan Won’t Exit Joint Oil Project With Russia, PM Kishida Says Bloomberg
India
Central Trade Unions begin two-day nationwide strike National Herald
COVID-19: India Is the Only Country To Approve Corbevax. But Where’s the Data? The Scroll. I so want Corbevax to be a feel-good story:
As of this AM > 16 million schoolchildren 12-14 yo in India have received Corbevax, the patent-free, vegan, low-cost vaccine technology developed at our @TexasChildrens vaccine center produced by @biological_e distributed by India Govt https://t.co/cIedgrzOWc
— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@PeterHotez) March 31, 2022
But:
Terrible precedent. Corbevax has been approved in India for children by the government sidestepping expert advisory committees, without any public data whatsoever and without even pediatric trials being completed. Surely, poorer countries deserve no less than we do for approvals. https://t.co/UXIx7aHpt0
— zeynep tufekci (@zeynep) March 30, 2022
New Not-So-Cold War
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, March 31 Institute for the Study of War
Ukraine strikes fuel depot in Russia’s Belgorod: Regional governor Al Arabiya. Cheeky! Maybe somebody wants the peace talks to fail?
The Ukraine War Is Over But the Biden Administration Hasn’t Noticed William Arkin, Newsweek
Winners and Losers in Putin’s War Richard Haass, Council on Foreign Relations
* * * Is a peace treaty to end the Russia-Ukraine war in sight? Gilbert Doctorow
Mariupol’s fate is the key to a Ukraine deal Asia Times
Avoiding the Dangers of a Protracted Conflict in Ukraine Quincy Institute
Biden, Putin and the danger of Versailles Edward Luce, FT
* * * Putin signs order on new ruble payment mechanism to come into force April 1 S&P Global. Commentary:
Von Der Leyen Left On Hold For 6 Hours Trying To Open Russian Bank Account So EU Can Make Ruble Transfers pic.twitter.com/NKFHWwD2xn
— Le Chou (@LeChouNews) March 31, 2022
* * * Ukrainian Journalist Finds Charred Remains Where Alleged War Crime Was Filmed The Intercept
Zelenskyy is Not a Jewish Hero Times of Israel
Ukraine says Russia is seeking to form ‘occupation administrations’ FT
Ukraine war: Russian forces leave Chernobyl after radiation exposure South China Morning Post
Nuclear War with Russia? ‘A Wall of Fire that Encompasses Everything Around Us at the Temperature of the Center of the Sun.’ Scheer Post (AC).
UK/EU
Did Sweden beat the pandemic by refusing to lock down? No, its record is disastrous Michael Hiltzik, LA Times
P&O Ferries has ‘got away with it’, say unions as Shapps backtracks on action Guardian
Supply Chain
Overflowing Inventories and the Supply Chain Crisis Dean Baker, Counterpunch (Re Silc).
Supply chain crises force corporate America into a ‘what if’ mindset Gillian Tett, FT
Long-term ocean freight rates up almost 100% year-on-year Hellenic Shipping Newsxxx
Global schedule reliability records largest improvement in the last two years Container News
Seafood biz braces for losses of jobs, fish due to sanctions AP
General Average declared on Ever Forward as second refloat attempt fails Seatrade Maritime News
Our Famously Free Press
The news flow:
This is a masterpiece pic.twitter.com/hXSiwKcqjV
— Kevin Dalton (@KevinForBOS) March 31, 2022
Wartime Propaganda Classics:
It's worth reminding youngsters that when SEAL Team 6 finally caught up with him he was living in the Pakistan equivalent of a McMansion, next door to the Pakistan Military Academy in suburban Abbotabad. https://t.co/sD3oj38yIM
— Charlie Stross (@cstross) March 31, 2022
Zeitgeist Watch
As Part of His NFT Debut, Jeff Koons Will Launch Sculptures Into Space and Place Them Permanently on the Moon Artnet. Can’t we launch Koons instead?
Black Injustice Tipping Point
White Anxiety, Redefined African-American Policy Forum. A bit more intellectually disciplined than Robin DiAngelo….
America’s Retirement Crisis Is a Financial Crisis Too Bloomberg. Maybe we could turn to Andy Cuomo for a final solution?
Class Warfare
Amazon union has strong lead in NY vote count; losing in Alabama Reuters
Seeking the killers with humility at work Axios. Maybe a little too on-the-nose?
Ban Secret Deals Boondoggle. NDAs for economic development deals. What could go wrong?
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
119 comments
Comments are closed.
That Tora Bora cave home graphic launched, or sank, a thousand bore holes for bugout apocalypse
sanctuariescrypts in Texas, New Zealand and elsewhere. And what’s worse, inflated costs, too. /sWhen I saw that graphic, I thought that they had repurposed a diagram of Jet Jackson’s (aka Captain Midnight) lofty mountain retreat – but without the runway & the ‘Silver Dart.’
Yes. It reminded me of one of those “How It Works” cutaway drawings from the old Boy’s Own and Girl’s Own weekly ‘comicbooks.’ [Granddad used to ship me three month’s worth of Eagle Lion, Hotspur, etc at a time, Third Rate, Sea Post.] I also wondered where the “secret” atomic lab was located inside Tora Bora.
I think that I found the inspiration for that diagram. Not sure if Bin Laden installed a basketball court or not-
https://duchessofdisneyland.com/tips-trivia/matterhorn-basketball-court/
RK
It most reminded me of the ship Belafonte in the movie The Life Aquatic
https://www.reddit.com/r/ThingsCutInHalfPorn/comments/5m21s0/the_ship_belafonte_from_the_life_aquatic_with/
The lack of a hot tub at the Bin Laden lair indicated to me that our intelligence agencies did not in fact have good penitration of Al queda’s most intimate inner circle…
Earliest parallel I know is on the maginot line from ww1 science magazines for kids. Many repetitions over the years.
As a child of the 80’s, it always reminded me of the Cobra Lair in GI JOE cartoons.
And the Bush Administration’s dumbed down rhetoric of “good guys versus bad guys” and the terrorists “hating us for our freedom” pretty much cemented the reference in my brain. After that I couldn’t really shake the nagging suspicion that our leaders and the American people going along with them were going to f___ everything up, badly.
I guess that was the first “crack in the facade” for me.
A lot of cracks since then! The “facade” is more crack than facade now.
Fellow 80s child here. There was a great article by a former US officer, I believe the Marines, about how critical that 80s GI JOE cartoon was critical for him and so many he knew joining up. A jaundiced look back, I am pretty sure was in the American Conservative.
“Real American Heroes — GI JOE!!!”
loved that show!
Pretty sure they had “Whack-A-Mole” on the brain.
And then the “Authorities” went and hired The Ambiguously Gay Duo to hunt bin Laden down.
NSFW????: Not Safe Foe Woke.
Colbert has fallen. He was Ace.
When Colbert can be kept off Trump and Putin, he can still be good.
Those two subjects turn him dumb, however.
And every “righthinking” American MSM consumer ‘knows’ that Trump and Putin are gay lovers! There is a connection! Colbert is “in the closet!!!” Poor man. Having to hide his ‘proclivities’ in this day and age. [I would blame the flinty hearted managers of The Cartoon Network, or wherever it is he broadcasts from.]
“Oh, the Humanity!”
All tales about “The Legend of Bin Laden and His Death” I throw into the waste-basket labeled “Jessica Lynch”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Lynch
Stepping back a few meteres, I notice that this story is very close to the legend of Barbarossa, sleeping under the mountain until his people need him to return to “save the day.” I am surprised that some Jihadi Popularizers haven’t taken up such a meme.
that graphic so reminds me of some illustrated encyclopedias my parents had. In particular a cutaway of a urban area showing the infrastructure.
Or maybe one of them glass displays with living ants inside (i fail to recall the proper term for some reason).
Also, seeing this being posted by Charlie Stross brings to mind that old chestnut about not meeting your heroes. Having perused the blogs of various scifi authors in recent years have soured me on their mental faculties.
Every time I see it, it reminds me of a series of kids books I read as a youngster. Can’t remember the series, but they always impressed younger me. Of course those books were actually based in reality.
Oh and ant farm is the work you’re looking for. :)
First thing I thought of was it being the Marmot Cong’s hideout (the big sleep that started in September ends this month) in Mineral King, only I didn’t see any bitten into radiator hoses in the cutaway drawing.
The Cong are all about procuring antifreeze and is it mere coincidence that it shares the same first 5 letters as Antifa, I think not.
Maybe a silly question but why can’t they make a sleeve that snaps over radiator hoses that has lots of sharp needles to persuade the Marmot Cong to go back to the Dirty Muddy Zone instead?
Seems like a lot of work, and it would definitely bite into tarp sales, and the one you want is a 10 x 20 foot variety.
Lay it down on the ground of the parking spot and drive on top of it, and then using parachute cord, secure the underside from the under menschionables. I can do it in under 5 minutes flat, but sometimes get lazy and go with plan B, opening the hood and propping it up for the duration of your hike, with the thinking being the Marmot Cong like it dark and will feast on the 10-20% of cars in the parking lot with no protection, like so many sitting ducks.
Final score last summer 3 cars disabled by the Cong, and I was sitting on the deck of the Silver City Resort one day when a late model van showed up with a marmot in the engine compartment who had gotten on board in MK Valley.
They spent about an hour trying to extract it, and you know how tight the engine compartments are these days, and nothing they could do would dislodge it, they even rode the van up on ramps and tried to hose it out with a water stream, but no dice.
It passed on somewhere en route to San Diego, sadly.
I was told it cost a few hundred bucks to dismantle the engine enough to access retrieval.
https://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/marmots.htm
I’ve been to Mineral King numerous times, but I purposely avoid going there April through June because of the havoc Marmot Kong wreak on motor vehicles. I wonder if leaving out bowls of anti-freeze will satisfy the Kong. Or bowls of salt water.
Anti-freeze is poisonous, and NOT approved.
I remember this graphic from 2001! Encountered it reading Newsweek in my dorm common room in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
That it was utter bull—- seems symbolic of the last two decades.
As Part of His NFT Debut, Jeff Koons Will Launch Sculptures Into Space and Place Them Permanently on the Moon Artnet. Can’t we launch Koons instead?
Lest we forget: ‘The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.’- Aristotle
I hope he selects the one of Michael Jackson with his pet monkey. Can you imagine an alien race at some date in the future trying to figure out what kind of race lived on the ruined planet that the moon is circling?
NFT seems totally on brand for Koons.
Had a teacher in art school who told us, “There are two ways to succeed as an artist. One is to do one thing and do it bigger than anyone has ever done it. The other is to do one thing more than anyone else has ever done it.”
This lead to a heated discussion about ideas and creativity, beauty and craft, and he stood firm saying, “all those things are nice but don’t matter to your career. Most people don’t understand or care about art. If you want to be successful you need people to talk about you. It’s all PR.”
This has haunted me ever since.
‘We all sing for our supper – in one way or another.’
It’s now de rigueur for artists to hire publicists. Universities have promoted art as a fun career for children of money. So they produce artists who have a ‘practice’, like surgeons or attorneys. Critic Dave Hickey lamented the loss of the underclass of undesirables where art used to come from, at least those who didn’t matriculate in ivy league programs. I wonder if the current MFAs were already PMCs or are aspirants.
Recalling Hickey on Taos vs. Las Vegas, he could have an interesting take on the PMC in general.
Hunter Biden’s recent prominence as an “artist” has led me to wonder how much of the art world – at least payment to living artists – is nothing more than an elegant money laundering and bribery mechanism. Seems a lot easier to run than small time money laundering operations like restaurants where you have to fake receipts for supplies, etc. The artist can show, say, $50 for paint and canvas, and $500K in sales as entirely “legit.”
if you back out PR and criminality . . . what’s left?
Actually, one can be certain such money laundering and bribery is indeed occurring due to the idea of a “phishing equilibrium” in economics:
https://assets.press.princeton.edu/chapters/i10534.pdf
If, in a system, there is an opportunity for extra gain through exploitation of a human psychological weakness or of a loophole in the rules, then that opportunity will be exploited up to the point where a counterbalancing amount of pushback neutralizes further extraordinary gain, yielding a state of equilibrium…
Crass Struggle, the 2011 book by R T Naylor, outlined the corruption of just about everything from art to collectibles, to animal parts, minerals, and a lot more, as hedges of wealth by the already wealthy.
I heard there’s talk of canceling Jeff’s last name, so he’s making a limited edition NFT of it, available for purchase.
Another article fit for Class Warfare: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/stanford-student-hiring-personal-assistant-17049668.php
“Student living close to campus seeks support in her personal life and with house management,” the listing begins innocently enough. The dream candidate must be “kind, compassionate and patient, with his or her own sense of authority.” You must also “anticipate and tackle issues without explicit direction.” (It should be noted that the $50 per hour pay rate is a $5 per hour increase from when the posting first went viral Wednesday.)
You also must possess “previous experience assisting a high-net-worth individual” — so no one who primarily interacts with middle- or working class people should apply. And you need to be this person’s therapist, or at the very least “naturally provide emotional support.” You’re also on-call.
…so no one who primarily interacts with middle- or working class people should apply.
This is so dead-on true. The elites go to great lengths to protect themselves from even the presence of the unwashed. Need to ride with some brothers from 81 to crash the Hamptons this June, just for giggles and kicks!
Why would anyone who does not primarily act with the unwashed, need to apply for any kind of money paying job?
House don’t mix with field.
So true. Having worked – house – at country clubs in a prior life, I can testify to that.
I had to hard to make sure this all was NOT dated 4/1. It is not.
They want a butler. They’ve been watching Downton Abbey. Or had “help” when a child and want to maintain the lifestyle.
Gooooooooood Mooooooooorning Fiatnam!
The order came from on high, draw down the strategic petroleum reserve currency for the next 6 months, de facto capitulation and fiatnamization of the economy, panem et circuits.
The Unit had been decorated for action in WW2, but Bretton Woods was 4 generations ago when the USA was by far the largest oil producer, the largest manufacturer, the largest creditor, held the majority of above ground all that glitters, and was untouched by the war largely,
Apparently the “Strategic” in the SPR now refers not to wars or disasters but to keeping Biden’s approval up.
Like with the CV public health response, the most important agenda is to protect ‘the economy’ (or, maybe, the top line number, GDP).
At some point they’ll notice that when the workers are sick and dying younger, and hoarding cash against expected medical bills, that does have an effect on the top line.
–
Paul Jay with Vijay Prashad (pt 1)
https://theanalysis.news/ukraine-a-pawn-in-a-larger-struggle-vijay-prashad-pt-1/
An overview not written of much elsewhere, as I know of things.
Interesting, thank you!
“P&O Ferries has ‘got away with it’, say unions as Shapps backtracks on action”
For the bean-counters that decided that this would be a good idea, they forgot one thing – that the ocean gets a vote too and it can play rough. With P&O ferries manned by these cheap, dodgy crews you have all the makings of another MTS Oceanos. Which ship was that? Har, me maties, pull up a seat and I will give you a tale. The MTS Oceanos was a French-built and Greek-crewed cruise liner that in 1991 ran into a storm off South Africa and started to take on water which caused an explosion cutting power to the ship. There was no alarm or announcement so some passengers went to the bridge to find out why and discovered it abandoned. The captain & crew had already left the ship. It was the ship’s British entertainers that called a Mayday and organized the successful evacuation of that ship saving all lives. In the middle of all this the Captain contacted them from shore to ask how things were going. So if you are on a P&O ferry in the channel and it gets into rough seas or an emergency, reflect that the crew will be even less-trained and less capable than that of the MTS Oceanos-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTS_Oceanos
TBF, on a clear day you can see Britain from France and vice-versa, in rough weather, the ferries get cancelled or anchor offshore and wait for the storm to pass. As it is P&O are not even anchoring offshore as the government is not going to kick up a storm and only a passenger boycott will have any effect.
I was on a ferry once from Dover to Calais and I think that the trip took about two hours and the sea was rough but at least it was not a storm. Back in 2013 one ferry took 16 hours to do the same trip due to a severe storm. The ocean plays rough.
The Herald of Free Enterprise managed to capsize 4 minutes out of Zeebrugge harbour. The width of the Channel is plenty of space for a fatal accident.
With a name like that the ship was obviously doomed from the start. It was indeed the herald of free enterprise.
from the Axios thing on seeking out sharks:
the “to do list” (won’t call it article) also refers to “purging Bad People from your life”, a previous to-do list apparently.
i want to know how one can reliably determine Bad People and Good People on sight, just from a limited view of their work behaviors and presentation. it would save me so much time.
/s if it’s not apparent.
my guess is that this is weeding out people who don’t conduct themselves in socially appropriate ways to the Axios standards, which likely means social and economic mores.
translation: we need to find a legitimate form of discrimination and apply it, and then ostracize. since i doubt seriously that they are discussing truly bad people, who tend to rape, rob, expoit and abuse those around them in various ways. the more subtle forms of abuse can take years to understand and deflect, much less heal from while the more obvious are police and court matters which are usually obvious to employers beforehand.
my hint to Axios-kind: look in the mirror, remove plank.
Bingo.
It also softens up Axios’ readers (who, anyone correct me if I’m wrong, skew toward the Democratic “ascendant”) for better performance in the next swarming attack. No getting distracted by Black celebrity slap fights next time — stay in formation! Incidentally, all that makes me wonder about bee Twitter, and how much they know about what they do.
Update on story shared last week about Applebee’s mid-level manager:
Best part is what some employees in Lawrence, Kan., led by their manager, did after news of the email broke:
https://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article259989825.html
So is this still Applebee’s policy and they’re just picking out a scapegoat for saying the quiet part via email or what? The article didn’t specify.
Kudos to the Kansas staff though. That the manager was leading that parade is a very interesting detail.
Managers of chain outlets are often paid at rates only $1-$2 more than crews they supervise. One needs several promotions up the corporate ladder to reach an income north of the median. Advancement is open only to those who adapt to and adopt corporate’s policies, outlook, and attitudes – applied above all to those beneath them in the hierarchy. And a willingness to work unpaid hours. You have to show you’re really worth being made salaried.
Signs on McDonalds here in the CVBB often offer these wages per hour:
$15 counter staff
$16 cooks
$17 manager
In my experience, make someone a “key” and all of a sudden they are identifying with the higher ups though they’re still just a peon but with more responsibilities. I’ve found it rare for managers at McJobs to have any solidarity with their crews because that’s not the way you advance. The system depends on this dynamic to work. If managers are starting to side with the workers, that’s going to be a bigger problem for the Applebees of the world than being forced to approach a living wage.
Food service is the modern-day apprenticeship. As an institution it serves the same purpose of instilling work discipline. There is also a tacit class formation aspect as you describe. In at least one franchise I remember, managers are explicitly forbidden to fraternize with employees off the clock, said to mitigate losses from such as favoritism or shrink.
It’s not clear whether Applebee’s, the interstate franchising group, or the unit has such a policy or monitors and enforces it, but this environment of national belligerence might offer customer service businesses an opportunity to reinforce organizational discipline with minimal public pushback.
what you report is exactly what a relative found out 30 years ago working for a pizza chain.
she kept being offered management and said “why would i want to do that? then i’d have to work another 20 hours without making any more money, and be blamed for everything that goes on there”. she mentioned nothing about forcing the underlings to heed the lash, but then again she wouldn’t have found that odious—very much a “people are just big dogs and need similar training” kind.
there’s a reason some of us stay below management. well, many reasons.
“NATO ‘has been DEFEATED’ by Putin calling the alliance’s bluff and should be replaced with a smaller coalition of nations prepared to be more offensive, says Britain’s former army commander”
I am actually in full agreement with this. So how about getting countries like Poland and the Baltic states into an alliance to go after Russia instead of them constantly demanding troops, armour and air from countries from as far away from Spain instead? But I would ignore that General and listen to what his political masters are saying instead. And what they are saying is that they hope that the war in the Ukraine will go on until the Ukrainians can win a victory to be in a stronger negotiating position. ‘London believes there must not be an “easy off-ramp” for Moscow, and urges that the sanctions be intensified “until all Russian forces have left Ukraine, including Crimea.” ‘ If London refuses to give up Scotland, why would they think that Russia would give up Crimea?
https://www.rt.com/russia/553093-uk-urged-kiev-fight/
Is the former commander admitting NATO is a defensive alliance in name only and largely a preplaced logistic network for the US and it’s poodles to launch wars? I don’t see Russian troops in NATO countries.
Re: “The Ukraine War Is Over But the Biden Administration Hasn’t Noticed” by William Arkin, Newsweek.
Did anyone else read that? I read about half-way through and couldn’t stomach any more. It seemed like pure unapologetic propaganda to me. Did I miss anything redeeming?
Forget it, Jake. It’s Newsweek town.
I read it carefully, because it was by William Arkin, whose Newsweek article last week directly challenged the dominant mainstream narrative that Russia was on the ropes. My interpretation is that this represents the narrative that the “realists” in the Pentagon are going to use to try to get the neocon/neolib idiots in the White House, State Department, and Congress to allow a negotiated end. Namely, talk about how “exhausted” and “stalemated” the Russians are, how their plans to conquer Kiev and other cities were thwarted, blah blah blah, but state that this now provides an opportunity to end the war if only the administration would ease their rhetoric and take it.
Arkin is well-connected to Pentagon and intelligence sources. They all know what’s going on. Last week’s article was widely discussed as an attempt by the “adults in the room” to insert a little realism into the media hysteria. I think this article provides the cover story for how to turn the Russian offensive into a glorious Ukrainian victory rather than the exposure of NATO that it actually is.
Sorry for the late reply, I just got off work. I didn’t know anything about Arkin’s background — maybe I’ll give it another read with what you say in mind. Thanks!
My mom despite living in SoCal for 60 years is really afraid of earthquakes, terrified by them.
So one April Fools Day about 50 years ago. her progeny came up with a plan and 4 of us would simultaneously shake the bed posts as much as we could while she was sleeping. She told me a few years ago she was sure it was ‘the big one’, around an 8 or 9.
…any good Aprils Fools Day jokes perpetuated by the commentariat?
Why yes, wuk… Himself and I got married on this day back in 2011. Since we had already been together for donkey’s years we thought we should choose a date that we would easily remember.
I have always been lousy at perpetuating the jokes, and worse, am usually the one most highly susceptible to them in the family. I was even had by one today after spending all morning warning my family not to trust any stories (more than usual) that the see on the internet.
This one got me until the very last line today: https://www.discoverwildlife.com/news/scientists-discover-blue-whale-song-is-beethovens-ninth/
We served pancakes this morning to my two younger grandchildren, except we put hamburger/hot dog fixin’s on the table for them to “garnish” their pancakes with.
But my all-time favourite is still the great “invasion of sans serif” years ago in one of the British newspapers.
Primary energy.
Sure wish people got their data correct. Combined cycle gas turbines are about 64% efficient.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_cycle_power_plant
As to solar at 100%. True if all the following are true: air mass-1, watts per meter sq-1000 perpendicular to the cells, cell temperature 25°C, about 75°f. Any one of those being different means less or more production. The biggest one people don’t know is that heat for all crystalline panels reduces wattage output. A 75°f day will have the black cells at 20-30° degrees hotter reducing volts, which reduces watts. In this case roughly 5-10%. Hotter weather = bigger reduction.
Night time = 0% efficiency.
As to the car part.
Here is a view of the mileage of said mustang.
https://www.edmunds.com/ford/mustang/2021/mpg/
338 mpT town, 464 mpT highway. (Miles per tank)Assuming 16 gallon tank vs that 300 mile ev range, which wildly varies with temperature, terrain, wind, speed and how you drive. I have a 2017 Nissan Leaf, purposely bought used, small battery, works great to get to town and to the bike parks. All that I said above I see when I drive it.
And as to the ecological aspects of ev vs ice. Here is the best study I’ve seen.
https://www.volvocars.com/images/v/-/media/market-assets/intl/applications/dotcom/pdf/c40/volvo-c40-recharge-lca-report.pdf
I can’t help but mention the new hummer ev with a 2900# battery. Weights More than many cars.
And gets to the point made here and elsewhere that cars driven less and smaller lighter high mileage ice cars might be the most important environmentally way to go.
hey SJ
re the above–agreed we need to make better, more informed, decisions.
When i ran into this:
https://www.marketplace.org/2022/03/25/crypto-miners-use-natural-gas-stranded-in-wells-to-power-energy-hungry-rigs/
I somehow thought of you(and grumpy engineer also–nothing implied : } )–not because of the choice to do bit coin, but because of the applied practicality and implications–say generation into compression into ICEs or something.
I mean, they called it Fugitive or Stranded, and either let it go or flared it before.
Where are the calls for Biden’s impeachment?
These sanctions were decided upon by the White House without any consultation with any other part of the US Government including Congress.
These sanctions are historically unprecedented, a violation of international law and an act of war.
So…where’s “The Squad”?
Where are all the “Law and Order” Republicans?
Aren’t our Congress critters aware that if they become too obviously irrelevant that the bribes will dry up?
Today is the final snow survey of the year, and it’s particularly bad in the far north which is typically the most bountiful versus the central & southern Sierra in accumulation, but not this winter. It’s at 30% of typical average while the other sections are around 40% of average.
The bad part is the northern section usually fills the big dams @ Shasta & Oroville which are both about 1/3rd full.
To give you an idea of how bad things have gotten in the Cali drought, Governor Newsom signed a bill today mandating recovery of H20 from expectant mothers when their water breaks
I’ll say it so that you don’t have to. It’s the 2022 “When the Dam Bursts Act.”
Surely when the fat lady springs?
À propos:
California drought: Sierra snowpack falls to one of lowest levels in 70 years
https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/04/01/california-drought-sierra-snowpack-falls-to-one-of-lowest-levels-in-50-years/
Ukrainian R&R goes a bit wrong:
In Odessa, the commander of the defense was caught… ..in the underground brothel of the Odessa region of Arcadia, Colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Andrey Kislovsky, a deputy of the Odessa City Council from the Trust in Affairs party, one of the leaders of the local territorial defense, was spotted…
Yes, there is a video (found on Telegram, see Intelslava) from the vice raid, and when surprised cop shouts “F**k! Look at that hose!” he isn’t referring to the Col.’s…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LND1PypBnrU
I think i may have gone hoarse from laughing…
{slips on Reynolds Wrap toque and peers in the mirror, mirror on the wall…}
The USA is going to swing heavily in the other direction from worshiping wealthy people & their trappings, to what exactly? he wonders…backing away from the mirror, slowly.
When I was an aspiring juvenile delinquent, Evel Knievel replaced astronauts as all that was good, despite a much shorter orbit in space.
Just saw a Tweet that Jen Psaki is leaving as press secretary in May to join MSNBC as a host. Not shocking at all.
Screwball
I guess she can’t join CNN because she is not a lying former CIA employee…
Ain’t that the truth.
She is an experienced paid liar, which makes me wonder; what kind of person is willing to spend every single day making shit up and lying right into the camera and people’s faces? That is literally her job and she knows that going in.
Money? Fame? Power? What exactly?
She is now being rewarded by MSNBC for being such a good liar. Of course they are the mouth organ for the administration so maybe it’s really a lateral move.
I will never watch a minute of that crap (or CNN, FOX, etc) and will be better off for it.
I think you answered your own question. MSNBC seems like a pretty kush gig and the pay is nice. You can parlay that into being an author, public speaker, etc. and never have to work a day again in your life!
Those kinds of people who read Plato’s Republic in HS and had all that sunshine about leadership blown up their adolescent derrieres by the academia-industrial complex. The DeVry billboard in the second row gets down to business immediately: “Degrees of Separation.”
I wouldn’t say she’s being rewarded by MSNBC, so much as rotating herself to the rear where Matt Lee has no voice and she won’t be challenged on her deranged pronouncements.
>”Money? Fame? Power? What exactly?”
Just my armchair psychological analysis here, but I really think it’s about power—that is, power over people, not necessarily political power. I think that pathological liars delight in duping people and that is their primary motivation, which is why their lying seems so senseless to the average person.*
I presume the thinking of the pathological liar is as follows: See how smart I am, I can lie and you, an idiot, believe me. Therefore I am better than you, I am exercising my power over you.
*We have a pathological liar in our family. He lies for no reason, and with a little investigation his lies can easily be uncovered. So why? The only point to it that I can see is that it is a perverse form of power over other people.
Jen Psaki is just doing what she is paid to do: give Biden Administration perspective. However far that is from the truth. She will do the same at MSNBC.
Information travels too fast these days to comprehend the facts and respond rapidly, so storytelling prevails.
Wikipedia reports “Jennifer also has Polish ancestry”. In my experience, it’s not hard for people to align their family allegiance and unshakable belief system with high-paying opportunity. It’s easy for her to believe that whatever makes her money is God’s Truth.
Two things to give some context to the whole “Russia lost the war” narrative (hashtag NewsweekIsGoodJournalism).
One – DNR press office regularly (weekly, I think) publishes its own casualty reports, separately from the irregularly published ones for Russia’s MoD. Here is the one they put out today:
March 25 to March 31:
Military = 758 wounded, 186 killed
Civilians = 360 wounded, 82 killed
January 1 to March 31:
Military = 3609 wounded, 780 killed [their total strength is estimated at ~35k, so we’re talking pretty heavy casualties on a percentage basis]
Civilians = 843 wounded, 192 killed
Mind, that’s just DNR, LNR I think reports their casualties separately. But whether you believe these figures or not is beside the point. It’s the fact that they continue to report significant civilian casualties, even now, and these are the stories that are “flooding the zone” in the Russian media space (which is what most Russians are kind of limited to). So imagine how a regular Ivan and Olga are going to react if they keep being told that “this week Ukrainian forces killed X civilians in the Donbass”, and that’s what the war is really about.
With that, here is Putin’s monthly approval rating from Levada (https://www.levada.ru/indikatory/odobrenie-organov-vlasti/ – it’s the first chart from the top). Note that Levada has been positioning itself as the “liberal” and “not-pro-government” polling firm (whereas VCIOM is the “pro-government” pollster).
Jan 2022 = 69%
Feb 2022 = 71%
Mar 2022 = 83%
VCIOM (https://wciom.ru/ratings/doverie-politikam/ – Putin’s rating is the purple line at the top of the chart) gets more granular:
Feb 20 = 67.2%
Feb 27 = 73.0%
Mar 6 = 77.4%
Mar 13 = 79.6%
Mar 20 = 80.6%
Mar 27 = 81.0%
Which kind of matches Levada’s figures. The point is that in the interim, you haven’t really had many military victories or defeats to talk about propaganda-wise (in Russia, I mean). Instead, a lot of their propaganda seems to come down to a) evil Westerners are trying to strangle us with sanctions (the ones against cats got a LOT of play, by the way), and b) evil Ukrainians are murdering innocent people in the Donbass (see the LDNR casualty reports above). And you know what? For now, it seems to be working.
And what this also might mean is that the government kind of has painted itself into a corner – it cannot really cut a “losing” deal with Ukraine, it cannot stop the war (even if it wanted to) – it needs to come back and say, the sanctions were worth it, and the guys killing civilians are dead. I mean, of course it CAN do anything it wants to, but if you are trying to manage public opinion, which they usually are, you don’t have all that many options left now.
This is why Newsweek’s framing may work on the American audience, but it’s completely tone-deaf in terms of how this war has been framed for the Russians, and how the Russian public has responded, per the polls above. Anecdotally, the biggest fear you see on Russian social media is that “the job will not be finished” – references to the Hasavurt Accords that ended the First Chechen War – which kind of tells you that people can live with casualties and military reverses, so long as there is a “Mission Accomplished” moment of some kind at the end of it. Which at this point might well include outright annexation of a large chunk of Ukrainian territory (LDNR plans to hold referenda on this subject shortly – ditto South Ossetia, by the way, so there is another potential flashpoint), to say nothing of whatever other concessions they will want to impose on Kiev.
I think those official LNR stats are accurate. Because the fact is that they continue to fight and advance. They are still a coherent army. The outlandish numbers given in western media don’t make sense in that context.
https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2022/03/31/in-hearing-on-sussmann-case-durhams-team-reveals-a-little-of-their-plan-for-prosecution-n459320
One of the questions that has been raised is whether Joffe and Sussmann knew the data they were supplying to the FBI was bogus from the start, i.e. maybe the goal was just to launch an investigation to harm Trump to offset the one into Hillary’s emails. That came up during today’s hearing as well.
…the prosecutor alluded to what appears to be the operating theory of Durham’s investigation: that someone cooked the data to generate a meritless FBI investigation in a bid to do political damage to Trump.
“That’s a much more complicated issue: whether the data was in whole or in part real, manipulated, or cherry-picked or any of the above,” DeFilippis replied.
The prosecutor seemed to indicate that Durham’s team doesn’t plan to argue at trial that the data was fabricated or torqued, but wants the right to do so if Sussmann’s team tries to argue to the jury that he was simply passing on information that he had every reason to believe was accurate.
==========================================
Well, I think the data being manipulated is far more important than wheather Sussmann lied to the FBI about who he was working for. One could argue that Sussmann protecting the identity of a client was just normal campaign tactics. But making up evidence to give to the FBI means there was a conspiracy in place, and that such a conspiracy had an instigator.
“Ukrainian Journalist Finds Charred Remains Where Alleged War Crime Was Filmed”
Nice switch by the Intercept by showing a Ukrainian war crime and then saying ‘Look, Russian war crimes.’ I have seen other stuff that Ukrainian troops have been up to. Like mocking wounded Russian soldiers, grabbing the mobiles off dead soldiers to call their mothers and wives to tell them that they are dead and then threaten them, using software to take images of dead Russian soldiers to try to identify them on social media and then to call their parents with the news, leaving strings of mines on highways that civilian cars use, cutting off the index fingers of POWs and recording them on film, calling the girlfriend of a captured pilot and threatening to castrate him. But hey, western values for the freedom-loving Ukrainians, amiright?
> using software to take images of dead Russian soldiers to try to identify them on social media
Two can play at that game. It makes yarn diagrams a lot more interesting, especially when not-Zs are spotted posing for selfies at 1/6 with Viking Guy.
The Intercept made sure to include a tweet of an alleged Russian war crime involving a kindergarten which they followed up with the following objective analysis:
“A list of just some of the many transgressions of the laws of war by Russian soldiers includes killing hundreds of civilians in the widespread indiscriminate shelling of apartment buildings, schools, hospitals, opera houses, and theaters; forcibly deporting tens of thousands of residents of the besieged city of Mariupol to Russia; using cluster munitions and banned anti-personnel mines; and opening fire on peaceful protesters. Russian soldiers have also been accused recently of having raped a 15-year-old girl and filmed the crime.”
A long but grudging admission of probable wrongdoing followed by a specious list of imaginary crimes presented as factual news. Sounds like The Intercept to me!
Ikr!!!!
Beginning: RUSSIA WAR CRIMES
Middle: Ukraine haz War Crimes???
End: Ummm…a list of debunked Russian War Crimes
Dam has the intercept really nosedived…
It was set up by a billionaire – Pierre Omidyar – and the first people like Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras left when they realized that it was just a walled garden. When they sold out Reality Winner, it was a sign on whose side they were on.
So, Snowden material is disappeared by a gig called The Intercept. I feel like we shoulda seen that coming.
@Keith in Modesto, 9:23 am
Hi other Keith! There are several of us Keith’s here on NC.
I too read that article as well as most of the others on the topic. They all include the obligatory “Putin’s unprovoked attack”, “the Russians are losing”, deliberate targeting of civilians, etc., despite all this being obviously untrue. I especially enjoy the one about Russia being unable to take the large cities, something they never said they wanted to do. Nonetheless there is more truth in these articles than in the press where I live (Eastern Canada: Globe and Mail, CTV news, Le Droit).
I think it is important to look for messages in these articles that the US should come to an understanding with Russia to end the war. In the end that’s what matters.These are mainstream sources. If their story is the Russians were fought to a standstill by the brave and unbowed Ukrainians and now are looking for a way out so let’s just give them the consolation prize of a neutral demilitarised Ukraine, no NATO, the Donbass, Crimea, and big parts of southern Ukraine, well OK, if that ends the war. Naturally they won’t point out that these are what Russia actually stated they wanted at the beginning. It’s true the Russians did not achieve denazification of the entire country however the “Azov battalion” has been destroyed.
On that score I found the Quincy Institute story very interesting. It’s rather long so I read it selectively. With respect to Nazis the authors give the obligatory statement that Putin exaggerates their importance for propaganda purposes but then proceed to describe how prevalent and entrenched the extremist elements actually are. I have followed this issue to a fair extent for several years and found more evidence cited in this article than I have seen anywhere else.
I continue to read in publication after publication that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was “unprovoked,” viz. The Intercept’s report in today’s Links. I also read and hear of NATO’s continuing movement eastward toward the Russian frontier during the 30+ years since the collapse of the USSR.
One needn’t approve or discount the horrific impact and yet-to-be-fully-realized consequences of Russia’s invasion to believe that such prolonged, continuing advances constitute provocations.
I hope that those who embrace the notion that the Russian invasion was unprovoked will explain their view.
I can confirm the supply chain cost increases – a friend of mine who is in the coffee business told me that his cost to get a shipping container from central America to the Seattle area went from $1000 to $3000 in the past year.
I heard some Car Go Cults in the USA have built both mock gas stations and ‘mockfineries’ to lure go-juice back.
Some are quite elaborate with one Exaco station offering faux S & H greenstamps with every fill-up.
Good News
https://www.yahoo.com/news/psaki-leaving-white-house-for-msnbc-151447427.html
So she can continue spreading the BS
From this White House they say you are leaving
We will miss your bright eyes and sweet smile
For you take with you all the sunshine
That has brightened our pathways a while
Then come sit by my side when you get on tv
Do not hasten to lie to me, there too
Just remember the red ginger validated it
And thus her words must be true
For a long time, my darlin’, I’ve waited
For the final words you never would say
Now at last all my fond hopes have vanished
For they say that you’re going after MSNBC pay
Then come sit by my side when you get on tv
Do not hasten to lie to me, there too
Just remember the red ginger validated it
And thus her words must be true
Red River Valley, by Marty Robbins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ev8ozXHU34
Oh my, Red River Valley, we’re really digging deep into nostalgia land today! My favorite rendition is by Mitch Miller and the Gang. Though I never understood which Red River the song referred to: Dakota or Texas.
“It’s official‼️Amazon Labor Union is the first Amazon union in US HISTORY‼️POWER TO THE PEOPLE! #UnionStrong #ALUfortheWin”
https://twitter.com/amazonlabor/status/1509934286727749675
That VF article on the possible lab leak for Covid is an actual example of journalism. So rare these days.
– ‘Winners and Losers in Putin’s War’ – Richard Haass, Council on Foreign Relations
For those who are pressed for time, here is a quick summation of the contents:
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
Literally every sentence of this article can be interpreted this way. Given the author and the institution, this is not surprising. But it still startles me to see it so blatantly represented. Here’s the opening paragraph:
“It is one month into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine. Actually, there are two wars: A Russian war waged mainly against Ukraine’s cities and civilian population, and a war fought by Ukraine’s armed forces against Russian troops. Russia is winning the former; Ukraine is winning the latter.”
It’s downhill from there.
In thinking about folks like Haass, perhaps Putin could have done things a bit differently. If he had said “we think that Ukraine has weapons of mass destruction”, surely most of the “free” world would have saluted him. I imagine that Russia has a Colin Powell type who could have gone to the UN with grainy photos of biolabs and strange looking equipment.
Ukraine strikes oil depot in Russia.
Reported depot strike at Belgorod looks odd. The released footage shows what looks like two lots of 4 rockets and we see two fast moving helicopters. The first question that comes to mind is how they evaded anti aircraft measures. The next question is what type of helicopters and rockets or missiles were they.
It is known Ukraine has MI-24P helicopters which were used in th Ivorian crisis in 2010. Ukraine also has upgraded MI-24V helicopters. Generally speaking the MI-24 Helicopters use guided 9M114 Kokon missiles which would not really be launched from low altitude. There are reports that the rocket remains found in Belgorod are S-8 80mm rocket remnants.
What we do know is that the Russians have adapted Ka-52 Hokum-B and Mi-28 Havoc helicopters using what are believed to be unguided 80mm rockets. These are designed to get around the Ukraine air defence systems.
It is reported that a few of the Russian Helicopters have been captured although with some damage. I guess Turkish made Ka-50-2 “Erdogan” Helicopters could be adapted to work the same way.
Some are suggesting it is a false flag attack, but it looks more like outside parties might have assisted here. There may be another story here that we are missing.
https://theaviationist.com/2022/03/31/new-video-ballistic-rocket-launching-tactic/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2022/04/01/ukrainian-attack-helicopters-just-slipped-into-russia-and-blew-up-a-fuel-depot/?sh=7770cb96738e
https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/02/attack-on-europe-documenting-equipment.html
Hopefully, the Russians will stay “responsible” and not counter strike a NATO facility. I’ll bet that this is the intended outcome for the perpetuators of the Belgorod strike. If it becomes ‘obvious’ that “outside experts” were involved, I would deem that conclusive evidence that this was a ‘provocation action’ by the West in general.
Secondarily though, since the combatants here are two adjoining countries, each striking into the other would be pretty much a given. War is war, and enemy supplies are fair game, wherever they are located. So, this could just be a Ukrainian ‘stunt’ to build up morale on the home front.
Nothing is simple.
Supply Chain
RISK OF COLLATERAL DAMAGE IN THE NORTH WESTERN, WESTERN, AND SOUTHWEST BLACK SEA
“Iowa sees its 10th bird flu outbreak. It’s Buena Vista County’s fourth”
https://www.press-citizen.com/story/money/agriculture/2022/03/30/iowa-bird-flu-2022-hits-buena-vista-county-turkey-farm/7224214001/
Had lunch yesterday @ my favorite Mexican place in Woodlake, and the owner was doing some paperwork on one of the tables and I struck up a conversation asking how things were going, supply chain issues and all that?
She told me she’d raised prices 10% with the new year and was holding the line, and then related something that seemed so odd to me…
Her egg order from Sysco couldn’t be filled on 2 occasions in the past week, we’re talking none.
Germans regretting their slow down in renewables investment, but still impressive.
https://www.deutschland.de/en/news/almost-25-percent-more-renewables
Europe is not really interested in the sanctions and will pay whatever.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/1/russia-not-turning-off-gas-taps-buyers-have-weeks-for-rouble-pay
Europe is not keen on blackmail though.
https://www.deutschland.de/en/news/habeck-significantly-reduce-dependence
While the wealthy worry about oil prices the poor are starving through grain shortages. Funny how charity and priorities get channelled.
https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/putin-s-african-victims-russia-s-invasion-of-ukraine-is-driving-up-grain-prices-a-ff246f0e-af39-484e-a1bd-ec6a506a13f1
Price of oil can cause starvation as well.
https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/national/article/2001441924/spat-between-state-and-oil-firms-over-arrears-causes-fuel-shortage
Heard about problems with Ford Germany manufacturing through components manufactured in Ukraine not available, waiting lists for new cars coming to you soon.
https://www.helsinkitimes.fi/business/21281-shortage-of-materials-in-germany-worsens-following-the-attack-on-ukraine-ifo-institute.html
Who could have guessed UK Politicians seen as being for sale.
https://www.helsinkitimes.fi/world-int/21280-why-is-london-money-laundering-capital-of-the-world.html
Lets not forget war can be pretty bad for ordinary people.
https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/liberated-from-the-russians-a-visit-to-trostyanets-after-the-end-of-the-occupation-a-c088be53-5f6c-4059-8d46-68803276e473
https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/ukraine-a-visit-to-the-children-s-hospital-of-zaporizhzhia-a-c4a20486-35a7-47f7-8ad0-0b397b1a6968
Sitrep Denmark: life back to 2019 norms, minus the 25% increase in petrol/diesel prices. But covid, gone from the hive mind. That said, cases & hospitalisations still at least 2x as likely in vaccinated vs. Unvaccinated population, i.e. 90%+ of both are in the vaccinated. So seeing that Nature article regarding how well the shot does…monty python spitting in your eye level of absurd.
Same in the official UK data: https://nakedemperor.substack.com/p/pandemic-of-the-vaccinated
Syraqistan
Analyst Trita Parsi on the possible consequences of another Biden negotiation failure Without the Iran nuclear deal, war is on the horizon US and Iranian officials appear fixated on the costs of JCPOA re-entry, but they’ll pay a far higher price if they fail to get an agreement.
Exclusive: The pushback against WHO’s imminent COVID-19 excess deaths estimate Devex
********
On the ABOUT page for Devex:
“Subscribers to Devex Pro, our premium news subscription, include:
[Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation] [House of Commons] [Global Fund] [World Economic Forum] [World Food Programme] [United Nations] [World Vision] …
We give members of Parliament, Congress, development agencies, philanthropists, researchers, multilateral banks, and NGOs the news they need to do their job.”
Looks like more Industrial Non-Profit Penetrating of Governments.