Links 7/6/2025

Scientists Unravel 2,000-Year-Old Roman Aqueduct Mystery SciTech Daily

Is It Cake? How Our Brain Deciphers Materials Nautilus

Kawasaki and Foxconn build robot nursing assistant to tackle hospital scutwork The Register

COVID-19/Pandemics

Singapore Is Training Asia’s Next Generation of Pandemic Trackers Bloomberg

Nasal COVID Vax Shows Promise in Phase 1 Clinical Trial PR Newswire

Climate/Environment

Earth’s Climate May Be More Fragile Than We Thought, New Study Warns SciTech Daily

The glaciers of Canada, the United States, and Switzerland lost 12% of their volume in just four years Noticias Ambientales

US environment agency employees say Trump administration undermining mission Reuters

China?

China pours money into brain chips that give paralysed people more control Nature

“This Bridge Shouldn’t Be Possible”: China Unveils World’s Highest Mega-Structure Now Ready to Open Above the Clouds Sustainability Times

How this long-lost Chinese typewriter from the 1940s changed modern computing

South of the Border

Mexico Is Showing the World How to Stand Up to Donald Trump The Jacobin

Trump Moves to Restore Hard-line Policies on Cuba Barrons

Travel Warning: Canada Issues Advisory For Peru Following State Of Emergency In Lima And Callao

Africa

EXPLAINER – South Africa’s coalition government is in crisis, but will it collapse? Andolu Agency

Cardinal says race to exploit Africa’s resources is the origin of armed conflict Crux

European Disunion

Austerity Linked to Over 1 Million Preventable Deaths in EU ScheerPost

From Welfare to Warfare Quillette

As Tariff Deadline Nears, No U.S.-EU Trade Deal in Sight Reuters

Old Blighty

UK police arrest protesters after ban on Palestine Action goes into effect Andolu Agency

UK arrests 83-year-old priest for backing Palestine Action and opposing Gaza genocide Middle East Eye

British father reveals he is leaving the UK with his family because the school system is ‘terrible’, ‘rising bills’ and it’s becoming too ‘unsafe’ Daily Mail

Israel v. The Resistance

‘Going hungry’: More than 700 Palestinians killed seeking aid in Gaza Al Jazeera

The IAEA’s MOSAIC Weapon: Predictive Espionage and the War on Iran ScheerPost

Iran and Its ‘Ring of Fire’ Vanessa Beeley

US/Israel Versus Iran – Round One William Schryver

New Not-So-Cold War

‘Dire’: Kyiv badly hit by relentless Russian attacks after abrupt US halt to Patriot defence support France 24

Ukraine war briefing: Power to Zaporizhzhia plant cut off as UN watchdog warns nuclear safety ‘extremely precarious’ The Guardian

BlackRock halted Ukraine recovery fund following Trump victory, France working on replacement, Bloomberg reports Kyiv Independent. Yves notes: “We’d called this an example for “the hall of hollow mandates”. BlackRock went along for all the face time opportunities with political leaders. But they had to know this was a non-starter.”

Big Brother Is Watching You Watch

The internet makes our privacy laws obsolete Washington Examiner

Hidden cameras in hotels and Airbnbs are more common than you think — 5 ways to protect your privacy Tom’s Hardware

Imperial Collapse Watch

A trip through the America destroyed by ‘inevitable progress’ The Hill

Mobile shower unit will serve the homeless Annandale Today

Homeless student counts in California are up. Some say that’s a good thing Stocktonia

New East Asian Attitude Between China, Japan & South Korea Karl Sanchez

Trump 2.0

Trump tariff letters going to a dozen countries Monday Axios

Shock poll shows Trump’s approval rating savaged by key group Daily Mail

Will Trump’s megabill help Democrats win the House? NPR

Donald Trump’s UFC stunt is more than a circus. It’s authoritarian theatre The Guardian

Musk Matters

Musk calls Bannon a ‘fat, drunken slob’ and says he should be arrested as their feud rages on The Independent

Elon Musk’s proposed new political party could focus on a few pivotal congressional seats The Guardian

Elon Musk floats strategy for new political party Axios

Air Force Halts Project With Musk’s SpaceX Daily Beast

Democrat Death Watch

Lucas: AOC and Zohran Mamdani are now the leaders of the Democratic Party Boston Herald

Most Christians say they would never vote for a Democrat, poll finds The Christian Post

Immigration

Trump ramps up deportation spectacle with new stunts and ICE funding Axios

Florida Democrats denied entry to ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ after Trump visit The Hill

Trump got $170 billion for immigration. Now he has to enact it Politico

Our No Longer Free Press

Trump is waging war against the media – and winning The Guardian

DOJ Joins Lawsuit Against Media-Tech Collusion Over Censorship Reclaim the Net

Mr. Market Is Moody

U.S. Trade Deficit Widens: Market Implications Ahead Tip Ranks

Is the U.S. Heading Toward a Real Estate Crash and Debt Bubble? Norada Real Estate Investments

Michigan’s Rising Unemployment Claims: A Canary in the Coal Mine for the U.S. Economy? MarketPulse

AI

Laid-off workers should use AI to manage their emotions, says Xbox exec The Verge

An AI Revolution in Military Affairs? RAND

Startling 97% of Gen Z students are using AI to write essays, do homework — and even get into college NY Post

The Bezzle

120,000 fake sites fuel Amazon Prime Day scams Fox News

Crypto Scam Victim Sues Banks for $20 Million Loss Coin World

‘The vehicle suddenly accelerated with our baby in it’: the terrifying truth about why Tesla’s cars keep crashing Guardian

Guillotine Watch

Antidote du jour (via)

And a bonus (Chuck L):

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88 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    “Ukraine war briefing: Power to Zaporizhzhia plant cut off as UN watchdog warns nuclear safety ‘extremely precarious’”

    ‘The Ukrainian energy minister blamed Russian shelling for severing the last power line to the plant and its six reactors. Ukraine’s power distribution operator said its technicians had taken action to restore it. Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant, which is not operating but still requires power to keep its nuclear fuel cool, switched during the outage to running on diesel generators, the IAEA said.’

    Pull the other one. It plays jingle Bells. Of course neither the Ukrainian energy minister nor the IAEA makes mention of whose diesel generators were used to supply power. But gosh darn it, Grossi and the IAEA still can’t work out who is shelling and bombing a nuclear power plant. ‘Tis a mystery.

    Reply
    1. AG

      re: Iran

      In case we didn´t have it in the links before

      The IAEA’s MOSAIC weapon: Predictive espionage and the war on Iran
      Backed by US funding and Palantir’s AI tools, the IAEA turned its Iran inspections into a surveillance regime that blurred the line between monitoring and military targeting.

      by Kit Klarenberg
      JULY 2, 2025
      https://thecradle.co/articles/the-iaeas-mosaic-weapon-predictive-espionage-and-the-war-on-iran

      last parts

      “(…)
      The timing of its rollout – two months prior to the Obama administration’s nuclear deal being agreed – could further indicate it was explicitly funded with Iran in mind. As then-IAEA director general Yukiya Amano revealed in March 2018, the association’s penetration of Tehran was unprecedented.

      At a press conference, Amano referred to the IAEA’s nuclear “verification regime” in Iran as “the world’s most robust.” The organization’s inspectors spent “3,000 calendar days per year on the ground” in the country, capturing “hundreds of thousands of images captured daily by our sophisticated surveillance cameras,” which was “about half of the total number of such images that we collect throughout the world.”

      In all, “over one million pieces of open source information” were collected by the IAEA monthly.

      The IAEA’s fixation on Iran, coupled with suspicions that it provided the names of nuclear scientists – later assassinated by Israel – raises the question: Was the 2015 deal always an industrial-scale espionage operation designed to prepare for war?

      A wave of assassinations of nuclear scientists and IRGC commanders in the early stages of Tel Aviv’s failed war on Iran appears to support that conclusion.

      Iranian officials not only suspended cooperation with the IAEA and ordered the dismantlement of inspection cameras, but also rejected Grossi’s request to visit bombed nuclear sites. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi branded the IAEA chief’s insistence on visiting under the pretext of safeguards “meaningless and possibly even malign in intent.”

      What is clear is that any state still cooperating with the IAEA must now reckon with the possibility that it is not being monitored – it is being mapped for war.
      (…)”

      Reply
  2. Trees&Trunks

    The doodle house looks like aestethic torture. No place where you can rest your eyes and mind.

    Reply
    1. vao

      It reminds me of the dazzle camouflage used to befuddle adversaries during WWI.

      I am not sure I could walk in that house without constantly stumbling on steps and stairs, knocking against doors and walls, and losing my bearings. Possibly a good deterrent against burglars.

      Reply
    2. mzza

      As a visual artist with a particular interest in social / political art and cultural politics, I can’t help but find the whole story disturbing.

      Artists have always required documentation of some kind to receive recognition / financial success, but the level of self-aware, social-media popularity that drives someone like this not only gives me anxiety just to think about it, but — not unlike ‘selfie culture’ — I can’t personally imagine what it would mean to be so self-conscious about every mark being made, and how that affects the process.

      And that doesn’t begin to cover the contradictory “college trained outsider artists,” audiences obsessed with the idea of mental illness and creativity, or the straight-up derivative nature of the work — not just Mr. Doodle but the numerous artists working in this ‘all-over’ high-contrast style, indistinguishable from each other (unless maybe you care to learn their individual preferred iconography). Living in Brooklyn there were multiple artists using this style and winning public-art / mural commissions.

      Someone wisely said to me “don’t ever harsh on another artist’s hustle,” which is good advice, since it’s a shit career if you don’t have either inherited or ‘partner’ family money. But damn, I don’t know where the satisfaction comes in with this hustle for the artists.

      At its core the work itself is entirely forgettable once the viewer gets past the ‘wow’ factor of x-space being covered by patterns.

      Reply
      1. AG

        Agree.
        In the above childishness though I would guess it really is merely an (art) performance only (any financial incentive known?), blending profession and private life into one for a limited period (is this his real and only home or is it truly just a performative art space?) – just like so-called star movie actors who cannot step outside of their homes any more – accepting however that a state of loss of privacy is guaranteeing their income. Quid pro quo.

        Reply
      2. Bugs

        It’s so very derivative of Keith Haring but without the soul and the radical left and gay politics. It makes me ill that this is what people want. Add the Ukrainian bride to the equation and I’m nearly ready to off myself, as an artist who put it somewhere aside in order to make a living as a lawyer (sigh).

        Reply
  3. vao

    The cat olympics video is generated by AI (as its title indicates).

    The $387M penthouse may be a real one, but it also looks as something that could be generated by AI. Or to put it in another way: architectural slop by real architects serves to train AI so that it can produce more architectural slop in turn.

    I am not sure I could even find aged Wagyu beef where I live, but that meat seems to me to be marbled with a real lot of fat? And one should pay over $7000 per kg for that? Something escapes me.

    Reply
    1. Annieb

      Viewing the cat olympics video is an experience similar to viewing a boring cartoon. Waste of time. Ugly slab of meat? Space age penthouse? Ooooosie. More waste of time. NC, do better.

      Reply
      1. Bsn

        It would be a benefit if sites could moderate and not post AI, especially videos. Imagine in a year or so it could be a true benefit to readership claiming that “no AI videos are posted on our site”, essentially, an “organic blog”. Bon courage NC.

        Reply
      2. ambrit

        In defense of the site; have you seen some of the real trash floating around the webs lately? Mr. Doodle is sane in comparison.

        Reply
        1. tegnost

          I was maybe going to suggest that reading the articles is more thought provoking than just driving by and looking at the pictures. Also it’s good to know whats out there, how to spot ai crap, what lengths rich morons will go to to justify or trumpet their untouchability, and the animal kingdom antidotes, well if you read the articles generally speaking, and this considering the sorry state of our little rock hurtling unspecified through space, you need the animal kingdom antidotes just to decompress a little.

          Reply
      3. GramSci

        It’s just a Sunday Supplement chronicle. It is interesting (and rather saddening) to compare the high-diving cats with the high-diving giraffes that I first discovered here on NC maybe 10 years ago?? My grandkids still ask to watch this.

        Reply
        1. fjallstrom

          I think the main difference is that the high-diving giraffe video tells a little story. It’s not a very advanced story, but it’s cute.

          AI has a very hard time telling stories because of the lack of object permanence and inability to take detailed instructions (because it’s just statistical generation). David Gerard covered it recently at Pivot-to-AI, with rather funny examples of what happens if you try to generate famous (serious) scenes.

          Reply
      4. Mo's Bike Shop

        Well I don’t mind the occasional ‘daily antitoxin’ post to keep me aware of what the scams literally looks like. This was definitely dreck. When the dive turns into that cartoon blur, it lost me completely. They couldn’t even make it up to the uncanny valley.

        Reply
    2. CanCyn

      Fatty beef ala prime rib roasts and rib eye steaks can be very delicious, the fat marbling is the key to good meat with those cuts. As for Waygu, like most luxury goods, it is not worth the upgrade. I’ve tasted Waygu (not at that kind of price), it is good but not so much better than prime rib that I would try it again. There is a farmer around here who uses Japanese methods to produce Waygu-like beef, people say it is delicious and while not as expensive as Japanese Waygu, it is pricey and I don’t see a reason to try it.

      Reply
      1. GramSci

        My mother grew up on a dairy farm. She would always trim the fat she served us as children. Then she would eat the trimmings herself. She lived to 99 and was never fat herself.

        Of course, back in the day, local livestock ate very little, if any lipophilic agricultural toxins …

        Reply
  4. AG

    re: Gaza / James Baldwin

    machine-translation from German daily JUNGE WELT

    Historical reflections
    James Baldwin recognized parallels between the situation of Black people in the USA and the situation of Palestinians in Israel

    By Jürgen Heiser
    https://archive.is/bxvOJ

    `For this reason, Baldwin largely dealt with the relations between Blacks and Jews in “The Harlem Ghetto,” criticizing not only their political but also their spiritual leaders. In religious terms, Baldwin argued, African Americans identified with the Hebrews of the Old Testament: “It is the Old Testament that is most often clung to and preached from. It provides the emotional fire and dissects the pain of slavery.” But for African Americans, this very identification with the ancient Hebrews became a source of bitterness. Jewish businessmen in Harlem were complicit in the white exploitation of Blacks. They were therefore “also identified with the oppression and hated for it.”
    (…)
    In contrast, Black people in the United States identified almost entirely with the fate of the Jews. The most devout among them felt like Jews themselves and waited for Moses to lead them out of Egypt: “As Israel was chosen, so they also consider themselves chosen. The images of the suffering Christ and the suffering Jew are combined with the image of the suffering slave, and they are one: The people who walked in darkness saw a brilliant light!”
    (…)
    In the controversial essay “Open Letter to the Born Again,” published in The Nation on September 29, 1979,² Baldwin concluded: “The State of Israel was not created to save the Jews, but to save Western interests. This is now becoming clear (I must say it was always clear to me). The Palestinians have been paying a high price for more than 30 years for the British colonial policy of ‘divide and rule’ and for Europe’s guilty Christian conscience.”
    Baldwin had been concerned with the Palestinian conflict since the early 1960s, but his views changed radically over time. In his earlier essays, he rarely mentioned the Palestinians. Later, however, Baldwin adopted an increasingly critical stance toward Israeli policies, and his solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle grew.
    In 2024, journalist Alexander Durie, writing in the US online magazine Literary Hub on the occasion of Baldwin’s 100th birthday, referred to the Palestinian scholar Nadia Alahmed.³ The activist works as an assistant professor of African and Middle Eastern Studies at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Durie pointed out to him that after Baldwin changed his mind about Israel, he consistently criticized Tel Aviv’s policies: “Baldwin was one of the first significant Black American voices to recognize the State of Israel for what it truly is.”´

    Reply
    1. CanCyn

      I’ll give Baldwin the nod to being very early to write about the reality of Israel and Palestine. But I think many people have long recognized the state of Israel for what it truly is and as is often said around here, their financial interests mean they must ignore that reality.

      Reply
    2. Mikel

      With reference to America, but applicable to beneficiaries of imperialism everywhere:

      “But for power truly to feel itself menaced, it must somehow sense itself in the presence of another power—or, more accurately, an energy—which it has not known how to define and therefore does not really know how to control. For a very long time, for example, America prospered—or seemed to prosper: this prosperity cost millions of people their lives. Now, not even the people who are the most spectacular recipients of the benefits of this prosperity are able to endure these benefits: they can neither understand them nor do without them, nor can they go beyond them. Above all, they cannot, or dare not, assess or imagine the price paid by their victims, or subjects, for this way of life, and so they cannot afford to know why the victims are revolting. They are forced, then, to the conclusion that the victims—the barbarians—are revolting against all established civilized values—which is both true and not true—and, in order to preserve these values, however stifling and joyless these values have caused their lives to be, the bulk of the people desperately seek out representatives who are prepared to make up in cruelty what both they and the people lack in conviction. This is a formula for a nation’s or a kingdom’s decline, for no kingdom can maintain itself by force alone.”
      ― James Baldwin, No Name in the Street (circa 1972)

      Reply
  5. ChrisFromGA

    More evidence of Trump’s bad character (vengefulness) courtesy of Steven A. Smith:
    (Not that we need any more, but the anecdote is telling, IMO)

    Big, beautiful bill dumped effort to tighten tax laws for NFL owners
    By
    Mike Florio

    Published July 5, 2025 01:58 PM
    When the big, beautiful bill left the House for the Senate, it contained a provision that would have created anything but a tax cut for the mega-wealthy. By the time the final bill was signed into law, the provision that would have harmed sports owners was not included.

    We’re told that the Senate’s version eliminated the wrinkle that would have removed the ability of sports-league owners to write off the entire value of “intangible assets” (like player contracts and media-rights deals) over 15 years, and that the House did not reinsert it.

    The change would have reduced the ability to write off intangible assets from 100 percent to 50 percent.

    As previously explained by the New York Times, the tax break can equate to “hundreds of millions of dollars,” because intangible assets “make up the bulk of a team’s worth.”

    The Times reported that some owners believe the change to the tax laws “feels punitive,” with President Trump seeking leverage over NFL owners.

    “The president is committed to ensuring that sports teams overcharging ticketholders do not receive favorable tax treatment,” White House spokesman Harrison Fields told the Times in a statement issued in late May. “His focus is on fairness for fans, not team ownership.”

    Why would the President want to stick it to NFL owners? Consider what Stephen A. Smith said last month on The Daily Show.

    “In 2014, he wanted to purchase the NFL’s Buffalo Bills,” Smith told Jon Stewart on June 9. “The price tag was $1.4 billion. . . . My sources tell me he had $1.1 [billion]. . . . He literally called me in 2014 and he said, ‘Stephen, I’m going to tell you this right now’ — and this is a quote — ‘if them (expletive deleted) get in my way, I’m gonna get them all back. I’m gonna run for president.’ Those are his exact words.”

    https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/big-beautiful-bill-dumped-effort-to-tighten-tax-laws-for-nfl-owners

    Reply
    1. griffen

      Trump’s dalliances with pro American football date back to the New Jersey Generals, his USFL franchise that featured Herschel Walker, Doug Flutie and coached by Jim Mora. I’ll have to fact check the player profiles and league dates but eventually it was Trump that insisted on challenging the NFL, 800 lb gorilla back then in court, circa the middle 80s. There were some hilarious high jinks from league players back then, rushing to cash their paycheck, that anecdote came from a different team in the league…

      The move into court just boded ill fated news for the fledgling spring football league, and a fatal blow to the USFL as a league. Back to the topic on tax laws, I’m sure no Senator or Congress rep would stoop so low as to do the bidding of influential billionaire class or team owners… meanwhile the poor must gladly enjoy taking their bowl of mush ala per Dickensian imagery.

      Reply
      1. ChrisFromGA

        As a Bills fan, I should probably say a prayer of thanks every day that Trump did not end up owning the Bills.

        The NFL owners are notoriously a tight-knit and snobby club, and probably correctly sensed that letting Trump into their circle would be an epically bad idea. Like allowing a street prostitute to hang out with them.

        Reply
        1. The Rev Kev

          Can you imagine? Trump would be firing Bills players and hiring others based on his extensive knowledge of the game, there would be shouting matches with the individual players wrecking team play, he would be getting into fights with other NFL owner while trying to poach their players with his money and his strategy would change on a day by day basis. Yeah, that was one big bullet dodge that.

          Reply
          1. ChrisFromGA

            Trump would surely not be a “Big, Beautiful Bill.” Here are some big, beautiful Bills:

            Josh Allen, Bruce Smith, and Dion Dawkins (6’4, 320 lbs.)

            Reply
          2. griffen

            Exhibit #1, Carolina Panthers team owner David Tepper
            Exhibit #2, New York Jets team owner Woody Johnson.

            Maybe with the coming fall, hope renews for these forlorn team fan bases; but even the hard core devotees really ought to question that investment of time.

            Being in the coterie of 30 or so wealthy team owners just might mean, that a select handful of these billionaires are comfortable at setting their own franchise investment into a roaring dumpster fire of roadside theater. Not on my list is the LV Raiders, whereby majority team owner Marc Davis is paying former employees after a consistent failure at hiring a head coach or related coaching staff…

            Reply
        2. ddt

          Counterpoint: if he’d been allowed to buy the Bills, maybe the rest of the world would’ve been spared from his political aspirations.

          Reply
        3. Henry Moon Pie

          It’s hard to imagine that Trump could be worse than the Haslams, e.g. Johnny Manziel and DeShaun Watson.

          The Hunts are a-hole billionaires always looking to grab taxpayer money, but they do stay out of running the team.

          Reply
    2. ilsm

      Caligula comes to mind.

      Even ordering expensive shick and awe against a site buried un a couple hundred meters of granite.

      Like going to war with Neptune.

      Reply
  6. The Rev Kev

    “Elon Musk floats strategy for new political party”

    I would imagine that his strategy is to try to build up a party to challenge Trump and the Republicans. And when the latter return all those subsidies for EVs such as Teslas to make him go away, he will dissolve that party and tell all the people that followed him to vote for Trump’s Republicans. Will people forget that this was the guy put in charge of taking a wrecking ball to the machinery of Federal government whose effects we are seeing in Texas right now?

    Reply
        1. ilsm

          Serial failures in AF orbital launch are from a number Boeing, General Dynamics, an entity called United Launch Associate (ULA)… the line of vendors is ample for “protected” competitions between incompetents.

          In 1972 a NCO told me “no one ever lost money selling to Uncle Sam”.

          I have observed no reason to dispute that claim.

          Another $150B for competitions of incompetence!

          Reply
    1. NotTimothyGeithner

      I imagine Musk has too many enemies to get anywhere.

      My memory is hazy, but did Trump do much for the 2022 cycle? This is where I can see pressure being brought. The Koch Brothers wielded power because they gave early and often, mostly early. With budget cuts, I can see the GOP elected getting antsy.

      Reply
  7. AG

    re: COVID

    THEORY & CONCEPT

    Int. J. Public Health, 30 May 2025

    Volume 70 – 2025 | https://doi.org/10.3389/ijph.2025.1607727

    What Lessons can Be Learned From the Management of the COVID-19 Pandemic?

    https://www.ssph-journal.org/journals/international-journal-of-public-health/articles/10.3389/ijph.2025.1607727/full

    During the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2023), governments around the world implemented an unprecedented array of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2. From early 2021, these were accompanied by major population-wide COVID-19 vaccination programmes–often using novel mRNA/DNA technology, although some countries used traditional vaccines. Both the NPIs and the vaccine programmes were apparently justified by highly concerning model projections of how the pandemic could progress in their absence. Efforts to reduce the spread of misinformation during the pandemic meant that differing scientific opinions on each of these aspects inevitably received unequal weighting. In this perspective review, based on an international multi-disciplinary collaboration, we identify major problems with many aspects of these COVID-19 policies as they were implemented. We show how this resulted in adverse impacts for public health, society, and scientific progress. Therefore, we propose seven recommendations to reduce such adverse consequences in the future.

    Reply
  8. Balan Aroxdale

    UK police arrest protesters after ban on Palestine Action goes into effect Andolu Agency

    UK arrests 83-year-old priest for backing Palestine Action and opposing Gaza genocide Middle East Eye

    The third-world-ization of the UK continues apace. Self-colonialism in this case.

    Reply
  9. AG

    re: CANNES film festival diary

    LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS

    What happens at Cannes
    by Daniella Shreir

    https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n12/daniella-shreir/diary

    “(…)
    I arrived​ in Cannes with a terrible line from Sélection officielle ringing in my head: ‘To paraphrase Woody Allen,’ Frémaux writes, ‘Cannes is like sex: even when it’s not good, it’s good.’ No one is immune to a degree of corniness when it comes to Cannes. David Lynch’s Cannes Diary, a ten-part series of short missives documenting his experience as jury president in 2002, is primarily a vehicle for him to indulge his love of café au lait, pain au chocolat, baguette avec fromage and vin rouge. He praises the French as ‘the greatest lovers of art and protectors of art in the world’ and looks on everything with childish wonder. That wonder extends to the theatres, where audiences clap and cheer at the tacky festival animation, in which the red staircase floats up into the sky. In Lynch’s words: ‘Everybody knows about carpet. And everybody knows the colour red. So you put those two things together and you get red carpet. But there’s nothing like the red carpet at Cannes.’

    Was this Cannes as good as bad sex? Bad sex is usually short. At Cannes, screenings run from 8.30 a.m. to past midnight. If you are a programmer or distributor, it’s typical to watch as many as six films a day. Members of the press rush off to file their reviews or record their podcast ‘takes’. Tickets are released at 7 a.m., four days before each screening, and disappear in seconds. It’s common for screenings to be illuminated by dots of light, as people try to book one film while watching another.
    (…)”

    Reply
  10. Henry Moon Pie

    Musk, Bannon, Trump feud–

    Remember billionaires wanting to seastead? It was a cross between Galt’s Gulch and Elysium. We should expel them and their hangers-on to such a place while confiscating their wealth for the use of the 99.99%. I give it 12 months before they all killed each other, and what a shame that would be.

    Reply
  11. oliverks

    I found the Chinese language video fascinating, particularly in how it highlights the influence of Western thinking on the development of the language. It is interesting how there is not wide spread agreement about words.

    It got me thinking about the limitations of traditional linguistic approaches. As I often joke, linguists could benefit from putting Noam Chomsky aside for a while and delving into the study of AI instead.

    Love it or hate it, AI has yielded some intriguing insights that warrant attention from linguists. For instance, Word2Vec – a foundational technique underlying GPT models – embeds words (and now tokens) into high-dimensional space, revealing fascinating structural patterns. The vector between two points in this space often conveys meaningful relationships, such as the equivalent direction and magnitude of the ‘dad’ to ‘son’ vector versus the ‘mom’ to ‘daughter’ vector.

    Moreover, the remarkable ability of these models to translate between vastly different languages with minimal training suggests that there may be more universal, underlying principles at play in language than we currently appreciate. In fact, some researchers are even using these tools to interpret animal languages, which raises compelling questions about the fundamental nature of communication and cognition.

    Perhaps it’s time for linguists to explore the intersection of AI and language more deeply, as it may hold the key to unlocking new insights into the intricacies of human language and its relationship to the natural world.

    Reply
    1. stefan

      Putting the shoe on the other foot, I have been reading essays by the Russian linguist Mikhail Bakhtin (1895-1975), and it is interesting to evaluate human experiences with LLMs through the lens of his ideas.

      Reply
  12. Revenant

    The sea otter clip has been on NC before and IIRC was previously under suspicion for being faked, either with AI or as a compilation of clips of different sea otter encounters. Sorry to be a downer….

    Where is the over-priced penthouse, though? At those prices. Monaco or Hong Kong but it looks like the third world from its surroundings….

    Reply
    1. anahuna

      I appreciate your nose for fakery, Revenant.

      Whether contrived or not, that clip is a cheap appeal to sentiment. Aren’t we humans wonderful, compassionate creatures, and look how animals appreciate us!

      Some of the animal videos are wonderful and even wondrous. Too bad that we have to pick our way so carefully to single them out.

      Reply
  13. Arby

    The Rs have about 36% of the electorate and D’s the same. Neither is a majority party. Both need to amass support from the 28% to achieve a majority. The not brand loyal offer a diverse set of issue and culture groups. A great chunk will simply stay home if there is nothing or no one on offer. If Musk puts money into State House and Senate races (500 carefully targeted State House races would cost as much as one high spend US Senate seat), the America Party could deliver a grassroots shock to both parties. Reform sells especially well at that level. And campaign funding is tough to come by.

    Reply
  14. Trees&Trunks

    The chatgtp and the gene-story reminds me of my days selling online poker. You would take a person having had luck and blow up the story as if there was a strategy all the time, disregarding the more or less random character of the card being dealt.
    I am not convinced that one diagnose makes a physician. But if this kind of diagnosis is just maths and sequence analyses maybe it could be used for proof-reading? Anybody knows more about such use-cases in medicine?

    Reply
    1. Lieaibolmmai

      ChatGTP is so misleading here it is frustrating. First the poster writes “Despite seemingly normal B12 levels”…wait…did he do a Methytmalonic Acid test or only serum B12? Because the path to making a functional B12 in humans is a long one. And did he even get his homocysteine levels checked? Because he might have a B6 deficiency that is causing the B12 deficiency by overstimulating that methylation cycle.

      This would mean that ChatGTP did not find a solution to his problem and the guy might just be experiencing a placebo effect.

      But worse yet, that MTHFR polymorphism is not directly associated with lower B12. There is a lot of slop on the internet from pseudo nutritional genomics scams that ChatGTP picked up that links A1298C to B12 deficiency but it is not true!

      See this study from last year…zero correlation:

      https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00277-024-05937-z

      We found a trend of higher ferritin value (p = 0.05) between patients carrying MTHFR C677T homozygous and heterozygous variants.

      Regarding MTHFR A1298C polymorphism, we found a statistical correlation between homozygous and heterozygous variants and lower hemoglobin values (p = 0.02).

      We found no statistical correlation between MTHFR polymorphisms and B12 and folate levels, LDH level, spleen size, neurological symptoms, and gastropathy.

      Did methylB12 help him? Maybe. Will it continue to? IMHO, no.

      BTW, I carry that same A1298C polymorphism (he calls it a mutation but it is not a mutation, there is a big difference) but I have Aspergers, neuropathies, and illness from a pathogenic SNP in the CBS enzyme and used to have very high homocystine. Only .0008% of people carry my CBS mutation while 10% carry the MTHFR A1298C polymorphism.

      Reply
  15. Carolinian

    Re Tesla’s terrible safety record–inquiring minds might wonder why Teslas haven’t experienced recalls and the truth is that they have been recalled.

    https://www.cnet.com/home/electric-vehicles/tesla-recalls-2-million-vehicles-over-autopilot-issue-heres-what-you-need-to-know/

    The recall affects these Autopilot-equipped models:

    2012-2023 Model S vehicles.
    2017-2023 Model 3 vehicles.
    2016-2023 Model X vehicles.
    2020-2023 Model Y vehicles.

    That’s nearly all the cars Tesla has sold in the US, according to The Washington Post. You can check whether your car is affected by plugging your vehicle identification number into the Tesla page or the NHTSA page.

    This so called recall was little more than a software update from Tesla via cell towers. But one might argue that it isn’t enough for Tesla to simply say “oopsie.” Most recalls only apply to individual parts of the car but the claimed self driving feature affects the entire vehicle and the safety of the public driving around it, not just that of the possibly irresponsible owner. Surely all such systems should meet rigorous safety standards and testing by the government itself.

    Time for a ban on full self drive and maybe those stupid disappearing door handles too? Trump is, after all, out to get Musk.

    Reply
  16. The Rev Kev

    “EU blocks China’s jet”

    It’s remarkable when you think about it. The Collective West, mostly under the direction of Washington, is trying to sabotage China’s development. Here it is passenger jetliners but you see it with communications equipment, satellites, computer chips, space exploration, etc. And yet with each attempt China just goes it’s own way and through their developments, may end up setting the standards for the 21st century. It will be a tough day for Boeing and Airbus when the Chinese have enough C919s for their own market and tell both those corporations that they are blocking planes from those corporations from their own skies on the grounds of “safety.”

    Reply
    1. thoughtfulperson

      With Boeing going there way is been going i doubt ” ” will be needed as one certainly wonders about the safety of Boeing planes. Heard anything about that last crash investigation? (I’ve not)

      Reply
      1. tegnost

        What will come of the air india crash investigation… youtube videos have raised some disturbing possibilities.

        Reply
    2. XXYY

      The collective West never seems to grasp the fact that sanctions, especially if left in place for long periods, usually achieve the opposite of what is desired. The result is typically that the targeted country finds alternatives to whatever it was that the West formerly did. It develops its own domestic industry, it finds alternative customers, and so on.

      The West ultimately finds itself permanently irrelevant to the targeted country (and perhaps the rest of the world) with respect to whatever was being sanctioned. The targeted country thus becomes stronger and more self-sufficient, not weaker.

      Reply
  17. The Rev Kev

    ““This Bridge Shouldn’t Be Possible”: China Unveils World’s Highest Mega-Structure Now Ready to Open Above the Clouds”

    ‘Towering 947 feet higher than France’s renowned Millau Viaduct, this bridge is not just a transportation marvel but an emblem of architectural innovation. Built over a span of three years at a cost of $283 million, the bridge’s construction involved cutting-edge technology and meticulous planning.’

    Only $283 million to build? While using cutting-edge technology? Can you imagine how much it would cost to build such a bridge in the west and how many years that it would take? Do the Chinese get to build it so cheap as there are not so many beaks being dipped?

    Reply
    1. ceco

      Although that bridge appears to be real (quick search shows corroborating articles at a number of websites), Sustainability Times is an AI slop farm. If I were interested enough to want to know more facts about it I’d probably start elsewhere…

      Reply
    2. Expat2uruguay

      @RevKev perhaps you’ve heard of the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge? The one that fell down in 1989 during the Loma Prieta earthquake and was judged to be cheaper to replace than to retrofit (originally estimated at $250M)? It was completed in 2013 for $6.5 billion. 24 years, 2.5 km long and 160 m tall.

      Frick says the current $6.5 billion total is a rough estimate, and that it doesn’t include interest or financing costs.

      With those costs included, some expect the total price to double yet again—to $13 billion

      https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-13/how-the-cost-of-remaking-the-san-francisco-bay-bridge-soared-to-6-5-billion

      Reply
  18. Expat2uruguay

    One of today’s linked articles point to a much larger issue than you would suspect from the headline: “Cardinal says race to exploit Africa’s resources is the origin of armed conflict”. The larger issue is the continued argument for an ecological conversion that started under Pope Francis.

    File under Climate/Environment:

    The bishops’ conferences and councils from Asia, Africa and Latin America (SECAM, CELAM and FABC) and the Pontifical Commission for Latin America publish a document calling for climate justice and ecological conversion in light of the UN climate change conference, COP30, which will take place in November in Brazil.

    https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2025-07/bishops-conferences-ecological-conversion-press-office-vatican.html

    The joint document presented by bishops of the global south titled, “A call for climate justice and the common home: ecological conversion, transformation and resistance to false solutions,” makes the case for “the Church’s commitment to climate justice and calls nations and governments to action,” as the world prepares for the COP30 in Brazil later this year.

    The document, shared with Pope Leo XVI, challenges the world’s powerful with ten “commitments and responsibilities” and presents ten specific demands coupled with calls to action, including the Church’s own efforts.

    The document itself can be found here through a linked PDF. https://www.sjesjesuits.global/2025/07/02/a-call-for-climate-justice-and-the-common-home/

    Unfortunately I wasn’t able to read the PDF since I am on a mobile phone, but I was particularly interested in this quote from another article:

    It calls for economic degrowth, reduction in the demand for materials and goods, and their reuse and recycling. For example, recycling e-waste can help extract critical minerals and reduce the need to mine. It urges the phasing out of fossil fuels, a halt to deforestation and calls for ending the financialization of nature through carbon credits that grant immunity to wealthy asset-owning polluters, who put pressure on resources and the lives of vulnerable groups.

    https://www.ucanews.com/news/global-south-churches-call-for-ecological-conversion-ahead-of-cop30/109513#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=17518086094890&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ucanews.com%2Fnews%2Fglobal-south-churches-call-for-ecological-conversion-ahead-of-cop30%2F109513

    saludos

    Reply
  19. Victor Sciamarelli

    The EU refuses to certify China’s C919 aircraft. Meanwhile, China’s C929 and C939 aircraft are just around the corner. These aircraft might prove to be both qualitative and price competitive with Boeing and Airbus, and they are nearly all made with Chinese ingredients. And airlines in Asia, South America, and Africa are more concerned about price than brand names.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqH4N1YlUz0
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynik56MdU-I

    Reply
    1. rowlf

      There may be some legal challenges before the C919 is sold outside of China, based on past history of plane makers.

      Highlights of the 17-year Airbus, Boeing trade war

      June 15 2021(Reuters) – The United States and the European Union on Wednesday announced a truce in their epic 17-year-old transatlantic battle over aircraft subsidies, hitting the pause button on the world’s largest corporate trade dispute.

      Canada illegally subsidized Bombardier: Embraer

      January 26, 2018 RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazilian planemaker Embraer said on Friday that the U.S. Department of Commerce has shown that the Canadian government “heavily and illegally subsidized” Bombardier and its C Series aircraft, allowing the company to survive and distorting the aviation industry.

      The statement came just after Bombardier won an unexpected trade victory against U.S. planemaker Boeing Co when a U.S. agency rejected imposing hefty duties on sales of Bombardier’s new CSeries jet to American carriers.

      Reply
  20. The Rev Kev

    “US/Israel Versus Iran – Round One”

    Everybody knows that the Israelis are going to go for another try as how dare Iran shoot back. So of course there is going to be a propaganda war to say that the US has to attack Iran again to protect democracy or freedom or mom’s apple pie. But there may be a major spanner appearing to make things harder-

    ‘Conservative American journalist Tucker Carlson has announced that he will air an interview with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, saying Americans deserve to hear directly from the leader of the country their military has recently fought.

    In a short video on X, Carlson said the conversation, which was conducted remotely through a translator, will be released “in a day or two.” He acknowledged that he will be criticized for the interview, saying: “Why did we do it anyway? Well, we did it because we were just at war with Iran 10 days ago and maybe again.”

    He argued that Americans have “the constitutional right and the God-given right to all the information they can gather about matters that affect them,” including hearing the views of adversaries.’

    https://www.rt.com/news/621062-carlson-teases-interview-iranian-president/

    So will Ted Cruz and Lindsay Graham demand that Tucker Carlson have his citizenship or his passport revoked for this piece of “treason?” maybe charged with aiding and abetting the enemy?

    Reply
    1. Martin Oline

      Thanks for the link Rev. Sometimes it seems as if Carlson is more flash than substance so it will be interesting to see what information comes from this interview.
      I for one was very afraid that there would be a false flag attack this past July 4th somewhere in America that would be blamed on Iran. It could be used to involve us in Iran. Fortunately it did not come to pass. It seems as though now the emphasis is on creating a proxy war using Azerbaijan and Armenia as foils. Larry Johnston has posted an analysis today on the situation there by David Davidian, an intelligence analyst who lives in Armenia. It is an area that I have little information about and I found it very helpful. It is called Armenia’s Prime Minister Is Trapped and has some needed information about the recent history of the region. It looks like a real problem for Iran and Russia.

      Reply
    2. ilsm

      So!

      The ugly Americans in company of similarly disposed Brits and Israelis want to send US stuff into Baku?

      Who knows what can happen?

      As to US and Israel repeating the recent exchange, how much damage can Haifa and Ashdod endure? How soon before Iran runs out of targets in little Israel?

      How many B-2s could be claimed to fly next thumping a mountain in Iran?

      Reply
  21. Clwydshire

    NC has followed the financialization, and corruption, of health care on several fronts. It looks like another Blue Cross/Blue Shield nonprofit, already being governed like a for profit company by the “right sort” of management, is going to finally be taken into the private sector, to seize the assets gained by its former nonprofit status. This is my interpretation of a complex story by LA Times reporter Laurence Darmiento: “Insurer Blue Shield of California’s new parent company alarms consumer advocates”
    Original story: https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2025-06-30/blue-shield-of-california-delaware-restructuring-charitable-obligations
    Archived story: https://archive.ph/0ZTTj

    I take an interest in this sort of thing because years ago, something called “Catholic Healthcare Initiatives” or “CHI” took over a bunch of midwestern Catholic hospitals, including the local one. It trashed the local “St. Elizabeth’s” to the point where people who worked there that we knew socially told us to use the other major hospital system. The care at St. E’s had been very superior to the care in the other hospital system (also ostensibly nonprofit) whose CEO of the time flew in from the Bahamas for his 3 day a week job. (Nonprofits run by “the right sort of people” support wealth over service.)

    The care at St. E’s had been so superior because of a mentoring program for nurses, and staffing levels above those in the other hospital system. We had additional insight into the “trashing” because our family doctor was someone we originally encountered as a hospitalist at St. E’s. He was so good that we followed him when he set up a practice of his own. He too told us to use the other hospital system henceforth.

    My point in telling this much of the story: At one time there was on-line a fair amount of information about the management of CHI (now renamed CommonSpirit Health), that indicated that it was a nonprofit being run by an interlocking family dynasty that was mining it for “for-profit” like incomes and side hustles. I cannot find anything on-line about that now. But “nonprofit” governance is, nowdays, often a sham.

    Reply
  22. hunkerdown

    I will vote for Democrats in 2026 if they ban religion and turn over every single Democratic strategist and neoliberal think tankie for the people to do with as they will. Otherwise they can all drop dead.

    Reply
  23. thoughtfulperson

    On the real estate article, “The number one reason most experts, myself included, don’t foresee a crash is simple: there just aren’t enough homes to go around. Mark Fleming, Chief Economist at First American, put it perfectly: “There’s just generally not enough supply. There are more people than housing inventory. It’s Econ 101.” And Lawrence Yun from NAR echoes this, stating, “…if there’s a shortage, prices simply cannot crash.”

    The author’s bias is selling real estate. While we may not be on the brink of Sept 2008, even with a shortage of properties available if the prices are beyond what can be paid, they won’t be. So maybe at the moment we are looking at stagnation. However, the author did not discuss the situation with insurance. The market softness in the SE and Western US could be related to the insurance issue. A little longer term (12 months even) and we might be looking at an economic contraction plus greater insurance pullback. Between less buyers than can afford to buy and fewer banks willing to loan (you’ll never see a bank put down a mortgage without insurance! ) we might see a contraction at least in the areas most impacted.

    Reply
    1. Jeremy Grimm

      Many of the old existing homes in the Northeast lie in the new flood zones. A Northward shift in the pattern of atmospheric river activity could devastate real estate in the Northeast. A quick look at parcel maps in several areas of the Northeast reveals a crazy quilt of parcels I would expect would be very difficult to develop and build new housing. Very long skinny parcels, long skinny triangular parcels, and random shape parcels predominate.

      Reply
  24. The Rev Kev

    “A trip through the America destroyed by ‘inevitable progress’’

    Sadly true this article. Recently I was doing some research on Newark in New Jersey. When I found an address, I would look it up on Google StreetView to see what is there now after a century. Sometimes the original building was still there which was of interest but all too often there would be a vacant lot or wilderness or some such and you knew that a century ago that this would have been part of a neighborhood where families were living. Now long gone.

    Reply
  25. ilsm

    RAND Paper AI a Revolution in Military Affairs got my attention as much as anything else revolutions in military affairs have a bad reputation.

    It does suggest that AI drive a vast spectrum of swarming cheap robots, drones and self driving vehicles. Selling SkyNet. Quantity has quality.

    The study recognizes AI can make information into knowledge but does not show how that is done better than the data automation evolutions already applied by militaries.

    Next goal of data services is knowledge to wisdom, which AI likely won’t provide.

    The report at least mentions “kill chain’, how to build SkyNet.

    Reply
  26. Screwball

    RE: Texas floods

    Couple of things; 1) Amusing to watch the blame game for this disaster. 2) Wonder about Amfortas the Hippie – haven’t heard from him for a while. I think he’s in Texas but don’t remember what part. Hope he’s doing OK.

    Reply
    1. Tvc15

      He’s in the TX hill country and would probably be in the area but not sure if his land is close to any rivers and specifically the Guadalupe.

      Reply
    2. IM Doc

      I am not amused by the commentary, especially coming from those who have taken a public oath to uphold the health of the citizens of this country…….no matter if they are MAGA, whatever creed, race, sex, whatever.

      https://x.com/Fynnderella1/status/1941567217155571958

      The Texas Medical Board should immediately delicense or sanction this MD. This is absolutely evil. I sat by silent for years, far too long, as one MD after the other taunted and humiliated the unvaccinated COVID patients, spewed misinformation and hate, and refused to see unvaccinated patients or patients who were not “following the narrative”. That silence is now over. I will likely join numerous colleagues across the country today who are preparing a complaint to the Texas Medical Board en masse.

      It is one thing to make statements like this as a citizen. It is entirely different as a licensed, sworn by oath member of our profession. Social media has taken the consequences away from stupidity. We should all be civil toward one another at times of crisis. ESPECIALLY PHYSICIANS!

      I am done with this. The reputation of the profession is in tatters in no small degree because of antics like this. Literally published while the hunt for bodies goes on. Her colleagues in her own practice have already scrubbed her from their website. It is like she never existed. That is simply no longer good enough.

      What has happened to my profession? What has happened to the pediatricians, historically the most compassionate and humorous of all the specialties?

      Reply
    3. Erstwhile

      I’m not amused by pols covering their asses on this one. People have died. Better, I think, to be pissed off big time, and try to better understand how american capitalism continues to kill and kill and kill.

      Reply
  27. Tom Stone

    Now that ICE has a bigger budget than the FBI,DEA,the Marshal’s service and the ATF combined the fibbies will need to increase their focus on potential Domestic Violent Extremists while ICE will be adding Potential threats to America’s National Security interests.
    There’s plenty of “Potential” here for budgets and AI is the right tool to use to fully exploit that potential!
    False positives are a plus both because of budgets and the way it encourages people to stop saying mean things about our betters.

    Reply

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