The ‘Farmer’s Almanac’ says goodbye after 208 years Popular Science (resilc) :-(
Facing a spike in deadly bear attacks, Japan turns to the military and drones that bark CNN
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers STAT
The Remarkable Large-Scale Structure of Anti-Tail and Tail Jets from 3I/ATLAS Avi Loeb (Chuck L)
The Mysterious Math Behind the Brazilian Butt Lift Wired (Dr. Kevin)
FDA removes ‘black box’ warning label on hormone replacement therapy for menopause ABC. This has been a long-standing pet peeve. The studies with negative findings on HRT were on women well into their 60s or older, as in way past menopause, which is not even remotely the typical use case. And I was in Australia in the early 2000s when this finding was published, the reaction was very different than in the US. Doctors there were not impressed by the increase in cancer, that even though it sounded scary in relative terms, in absolute terms it was not all that consequential (that does not mean, BTW that practice in Australia didn’t eventually fall in line with US views, I don’t know either way). There are many small scale studies that show that long-term use of HRT (as in for a decade +) is correlated with lower all-factor mortality, due to the reduction in heart disease IF HRT is started w/in 2 years of menopause and/or before the age of 60.
#COVID-19/Pandemics
Canada loses its measles-free status, with US on track to follow BBC
I am receiving reports of a widespread respiratory outbreak in China. A confluence of pathogens Influenza H3N2, H1N1, RSV, and Rhinovirus is leading to a notable rise in hospitalizations. pic.twitter.com/aS0ZY9SZM9
— SARS‑CoV‑2 (COVID-19) (@COVID19_disease) November 10, 2025
Climate/Environment
Triple-whammy of hottest ever years risks ‘irreversible damage’, says UN Guardian
The Cops have failed: it’s time for a big dose of climate realism The Times
Chocolate, coffee and wine won’t survive climate change, study predicts Independent
Dangerous nighttime heat rising globally: New Study People’s Gazette
Cracks in Antarctic ‘Doomsday Glacier’ ice shelf trigger accelerated destabilization PhysOrg
Camels Replace Cows As Kenya Battles Drought Channels TV
Iraq postpones surplus wheat export amid water crisis New Region
” rel=”nofollow”>Amazon lakes hit ‘unbearable’ hot-tub temperatures amid mass die-offs of pink river dolphins – study Guardian
China?
China’s new green order Unherd
Reasons to be bearish about China’s rise Financial Times. Not yet archived.
‘Not in this economy’: Guangdong’s huge subsidy scheme falls flat with consumers South China Morning Post
Taiwan coastguard faces China’s might near frontline islands Agence France-Presse
Philippines’ corruption crisis sends peso to all-time low Nikkei
India
Rupee, bonds to rely on central bank to protect record low, key yield level Reuters
Pakistan
Another crisis brewing? Pakistan on brink of food supply collapse as flour shortage deepens; prices hit the roof Times of India
Afghanistan And Pakistan Talks Collapse As Border Tensions Rise Grand Pinnacle Tribune
Bangladesh
Bangladesh Police stages drill amid fears of unrest Daily Pioneer
An Exclusive RT Interview Shed More Light On The US’ Role In The Bangladeshi Coup Andrew Korybko
Africa
Inside Ghana’s Battle With Illegal Gold Mining Time (resilc)
Tanzania police arrest opposition party official after deadly election protests Guardian
African Union calls for international response as Mali security crisis deepens Turkiye Today
South of the Border
Invading Panama and deposing Noriega in 1989 was easy, right? Responsible Statecraft (resilc)
The President’s Murder Spree Continues Daniel Larison
European Disunion
We are reporting Amazon to the police for child pornography crimes Aftonbladet via machine translation (Micael T)
Greek Farmers Mobilize Nationwide for Major Demonstration Greek City Times
Old Blighty
England facing drastic measures due to extreme drought next year Guardian
British fascists ‘trained by American white supremacists’ Telegraph (resilc). A rare successful US export..
Israel v. The Resistance
Live: Israeli air raids hit Gaza City, southern Lebanon Aljazeera
Israeli Knesset approves 1st reading of bill on death penalty for Palestinian prisoners Anadolu Agency
Digging for annexation: How Israel uses archaeology to erase Palestine TRT World (Kevin W)
Israeli army short of 12,000 troops as threat of new Lebanon war looms: Report The Cradle (Kevin W)
New Not-So-Cold War
Pentagon chief likens current world situation with 1939, when World War II began Defend Democracy
Lavrov ‘ready’ to meet Rubio after reported breakdown in communication and rift with Putin Sky
Serbia’s Continued Arming Of Ukraine Risks Rupturing Relations With Russia Andrew Korybko
Ukraine – Zelenski Friend Accused In Energy Sector Corruption Case Moon of Alabama (Kevin W)
One Reason the Russian Military Advanced Slowly in 2023 and 2024 Larry Johnson
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
VPNs Keep the Lights On in a Darkening Web Reclaim the Net (Micael T)
Imperial Collapse Watch
America First? For DC swamp, it’s always ‘War First’ Responsible Statecraft (resilc)
Al-Qaeda in the Oval Office: A New Phase of the Global Disorder Simplicius
Trump 2.0
Trump booed at Commanders NFL game before calling plays from Fox broadcast booth Guardian (resilc)
Trump’s $2,000 Tariff Dividend Payments Would Explode the Deficit by Nearly $4 Trillion Over a Decade Dean Baker. The money quote:
That [after excluding top 10%] leaves over 300 million people getting Trump’s $2,000 checks. That comes to more than $600 billion. Trump’s tariffs are raising around $270 billion
. That means we will be paying out $330 billion more in Trump tariff dividend checks than he is raising in tariff revenue.
Trump pardons Rudy Giuliani and others who backed efforts to overturn 2020 election, official says PBS
Shutdown
Senate passes package to end record government shutdown Axios
Dems PATHETIC Surrender On Shutdown Breaking Points. John Kirakou and Ted Rall point out that Schumer didn’t whip this vote, which is highly unusual, and instead told Senators to “vote their conscience”. Gah.
Tariffs
These Pastas Could Vanish from U.S. Shelves If Trump Rolls Out 107% Tariffs Newsweek
Supremes
US Supreme Court rejects bid to overturn marriage equality 9News (Kevin W)
A Texas church’s online class trains Christians to run for office. Now it may go national Fort Worth Report (resilc)
Mamdani
Mamdani and the Class War: Part 2 Les Leopold
L/affaire Jeffrey Epstein
Whistleblower docs show Maxwell seeking commutation, receiving ‘concierge-style treatment’ in prison The Hill
Court Filing Exposes 9/11 Coverup Kit KLarenberg
Mr. Market is Moody
The Big Crash: Are we really heading for another 1929? Telegraph
Gold Edges Higher With Weakening US Economy Aiding Haven Demand Bloomberg
AI
Brussels knifes privacy to feed the AI boom Politico
Yes It’s an AI Bubble. Here’s Why Bloomberg. Albert Edwards was particularly good in the runup to the 2008 crisis.
How this tech bro could trigger world financial armageddon Daily Mail
Investor angst over Big Tech’s AI spending spills into bond market Financial Times. Not archived yet.
Class Warfare
The Death of Rural Healthcare—And the States Leading the Decline YouTube (resilc)
UnitedHealth Is Cashing In On The Open Enrollment Crisis The Lever
Antidote du jour (via):
And a bonus:
Mom cat is helped trying to save her kitten from flood. pic.twitter.com/lCq4ZftjWa
— Gabriele Corno (@Gabriele_Corno) November 9, 2025
A different sort of bonus:
Cars drive slowly, shielding a biker from being blown over by typhoon-force windspic.twitter.com/y1v0muQRWP
— Wolf of X (@tradingMaxiSL) November 10, 2025
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
Is Old Moore’s Almanac still going? I used to enjoy that as a wean, which rather annoyed my materialist atheist parents.
A quick search shows copies of the 2026 edition for sale on ebay.
“Chocolate, coffee and wine won’t survive climate change, study predicts”
A world without chocolate, coffee and wine is a world not worth living in.
My conviction precisely.
Future headlines,
Productivity Grinds to a Halt as Apathetic NYC Denizens Demand Coffee
Birth Rates in Advanced Nations Tumble to All-Time Lows
We’ll still have carob-dusted gummy bears, cocaine, and whiskey so we’ll do just fine.
Or the more traditional bacon, bullets and beer.
My worry is if those plants can’t make it what else won’t survive?
Bananas.
I can’t say for the first two, but unless we are expecting the end of all fruit plants, there will continue to be wine. Although honestly, I doubt even grapes specifically are at risk. They grow or are grown all over the planet, and people like them. May as well predict the end of chickens or cannabis…
Maybe you’ll be able to get Italian coffee.
Not to worry. The billionaires will build climate-controlled domes in which they can grow enough of those one-upon-a-time luxuries for their own “needs.” Human civilization soldiers on! And carried ever forward by all the right sort of people (Thiel, Andreesson, Gates, et al.). The elephants will teach their children how humans once numbered 8 billion and shake their mighty ears.
Financial Times: Reasons to be bearish about China’s rise
https://archive.ph/3t4FH
if the UK or US had China’s “problems”, it would be a miracle. The good news is that the UK, EU will hit the wall well before the US, lmao
Countries should be doing things because they fix the issues that need fixing and benefit the people, with all of their particular temperaments, living in that country. Shore up critical needs because it needs to be done.
They’d be surprised at how much could be accomplished without the “compete with” and “war on (fill in blank)” manipulations. So much could have nothing to do with the way China does things. And vice versa.
It would be wonderful if, for once, the power of human ingenuity and sociability were used to benefit not just all of humanity but all of our planet. But we keep getting stuck using that power to build pyramids for jerks. The problem is that today’s pyramids are so big, so consuming, they’re devouring not just us but the only place where we and our progeny will ever live. We’re now at the “bricks without straw” stage with no YHWH on the horizon.
“But curators, artists, performers, and journalists are all under fire too. China simply isn’t a place for the creative class to flourish.”
That is the pot calling the kettle black. And it seems to be a global condition that needs to be addressed that has to do with economic ideologies as well as governments.
While there’s some truth to this, there’s no evidence that these things are required for economic growth. And there have been plenty of places in history that combined censorship and repression with artistic greatness.
Generally what the creative class require to flourish are cheap rent, economic prosperity and plenty of places to perform/meet other artists.
Depends on whether one thinks there are things that pertinent to “growth’ other than economics and how much those things can ultimately affect other areas.
And for the USA, entertainment has been a significant export industry.
The arguments are essentially:
– China is not the mirror image of the west, and so will fail.
– China is no longer interesting to the west, and so will fail.
– Some other arguments cribbed from an Economist article from 25 years ago.
Also, Michael Pettis has been peddling these arguments about Chinese weakness for over 10 years at this point. He wrote a book in 2013 claiming that the days of rapid growth in China were over. A prediction which has aged like Walmart wine. Can we stop taking him seriously?
Glenn Luk on Twitter has been digging into Michael Pettis’s output for a while now. His conclusion is that Pettis used China numbers that are not directly comparable to Western numbers, failed to interrogate why his predictions based on those numbers fail, and rinse and repeat. Pettis is almost as much of a joke as Gordon Chang in certain circles.
https://x.com/GlennLuk/status/1978841340537344450
The first bonus video is AI-generated. Look at the hind legs of the large dog when it stands up.
Living off of viral video engagement is a cottage industry…..if a video *feels* off, good chance that it is.
enjoy the “uncanny valley” while it lasts, soon all fake video will be impossible to distinguish from the real thing
Seeing is no longer believing.
Most of us know or have known people utterly changed by their interactions with social media– not for the better.
It is bad enough that algos help to create individualized, self-affirming echo-chambers, but this AI revolution seems to offer something far worse…
Knowing where things originate becomes more important.
The rottie has 5 legs.
It’s a Silicon Uncanny Valley breed. Otherwise known as a Crispr Critter.
Thanks for that good laugh, ambrit.
And look at the third and fourth border lines of the carpet in front of and behind the bucket. (I mean, I’ve seen some junky carpets before, but really…)
The fur on both animals is far from realistic. Maybe this all plays well when viewed on a phone, but sitting at a good-sized desktop monitor, it looks terrible.
Not mentioned above but twitter/X feed is full of talk about a coup at the BBC over a cornucopia of “left wing bias” (somewhat amusing given how subsequent Tory governments have filled the board with right wingers, not to mention Owen Jones and dropsite being taken to court by the BBC over reporting on pro Israel bias) such as editing a Trump speech, being too “pro trans”, and pro Hamas. Here a short article covering it https://bylinetimes.com/2025/11/10/the-bbcs-attempts-to-appease-the-right-wing-coup-against-it-are-now-seeding-its-own-destruction/
Also the two animal antidote videos reek of AI
I don’t have time to check every animal video, so if you want me never to post a bonus antidote, this is the way to do it.
The first one with two dogs does have criticism in comments as AI, so I have removed it. The second one has almost none of that sort and one reports that Grok said it is not AI, FWIW.
I very much enjoy the bonus antidotes, thank you for taking the time to include them.
Same here. It stops the whole thing becoming an exercise in doom scrolling and gives a nice twist to the day.
To which I might add that the search for clues as to the “validity” of videos is now a New and Improved Where’s Waldo game.
The entire “is it “Real” or is it Memorex exercise is an example of the mental “weight training” program the Naked Capitalism Cognitive Improvement Cooperative provides for readers. Kudos! Anywhere else we would be charged for a “Mental Health Fitness Training Program.”
Stay safe, remain ever vigilant.
The first Waldo was gone before I got the chance to find him.
Hear Hear! (or is it There There!)
I’m certainly very appreciative of the antidotes, and have used them to sharpen my observational skills to detect new types of fakery, and it’s been educational seeing what people point out as the tells in a particular clip. The NYTimes recently had a ‘real or AI?’ quiz with some tough examples. It might be fun to have an occasional similar challenge here.
Here’s a few about the wet pussycat clip:
0:00 The whole setup is off. Cars are barely in the water, while the doors on the building are submerged up to the door handle. No ripples from the boat.
0:03 Meow sound without matching visuals, and it repeats.
0:04 The biggest giveaway, physics. Only the left hand is holding and lifting. The cat should just slip away.
Disagree about the video, which appears authentic to me. Point one assumes the ground beneath is level and flat. Point three, the cat is still supporting itself on its hind legs until both hands get her up.
Hard to tell on the audio with the schmaltzy music, but I can attest that a cat with something in its mouth can cry without visually appearing to do so. I’ve seen it countless times with my lot, past and present, calling to their mates with a freshly hunted rodent held in their jaws.
I agree about point 1 — the street itself might not be level. Not sure about point 3.
However, I have two issues:
a) The way the cat is holding on to the door handle. Somehow this does not look right.
b) The baby cat. I thought newborn cats were already wearing a fur, and this one appears to be “naked”. Somebody more knowledgeable with felines may want to chime in.
Point 2 — the schmalzy music with the cat meows — is also suspect.
I don’t have a problem with the AI videos as bonus antidotes. They serve the antidote purpose just fine, even when a dog has 5 legs; for me that just adds to the chuckles. And bonus: they allow us to sharpen our critical AI-dar skills.
Duly noted, find the anti AI policy here to be very worthy and antidotes to be cathartic, had no intention to be a buzz killer, will refrain in future.
However think Grok is steering you wrong there, cat one is almost certainly AI, cat is holding onto the door handle in a very human way cats wouldn’t naturally have so much purchase or grip, the framing is a tell, it’s too perfectly composed, every shot seems to be conforming to formal composition rules, real life footage just doesn’t do that unless it’s arranged and staged like a film, new born kittens are never hairless and pink, the cat is always looking into camera (cats generally don’t do this unless you make a noise they like or are holding a treat), the rescuer seems to have waited to get their phone out before recusing an animal in distress (which granted can happen IRL), but the biggest tell are the two hands extending out to the cat whilst the viewer is also managing to hold the phone perfectly still.
With apologies if above isn’t helping, perhaps it’s useful to point these things out perhaps not (artist here so I have some interest and skin in the matter, funnily enough I nearly never spot things like extra legs), won’t do so again.
Would hate to see bonus antidotes go though.
What a timeline, that people are creating fake animal videos rather than enjoying real ones!
I frequently forward Antidotes to my tradDem sis to seduce her to the NC content.
At first I was baffled about what people were talking about because the videos being discussed were already gone by the time I got here.
I would prefer that all of the antidotes stay up so we can enjoy the ones that are legit and critique the ones that are fake. I can’t be the only one that needs to learn how to spot AI fakes from people who can show me how it is done.
Looks like I am repeating what ambrit already said. So add my two cents I guess.
‘Gabriele Corno
@Gabriele_Corno
Mom cat is helped trying to save her kitten from flood.’
Sad that the mother cat could only save one kitten but at least both mother and kitten are safe now. And that mother cat did one helluva job and still keeping close watch on it as it is bottle fed.
Momma cat, bless her. Despite her heroic performance, that video has put me in a melancholy state.
Melancholy state is triggered by the sad violine soundtrack and meow sound effects. ;)
True that, and I had just read “”Triple-whammy of hottest ever years…”, lol.
The dems are not going to fix health insurance let alone the health system.
Just like they haven’t and won’t fix drug prices which by comparison is easy.
Biden/dems were in power during a 100 yr pandemic and nothing changed.
They can’t be changed. I’ve read a few articles about the dems waited until after the election to show their true intentions.
Speaking of healthcare, I came across a tweet showing two maps demonstrating the importance of healthcare in the US. I cannot verify the truth of those maps unfortunately but if they ring true, would explain why the healthcare lobby is so powerful-
https://xcancel.com/rossiadam/status/1980590538886881641#m
I can’t vouch for these maps, but they align with labour market trends.
Part of this, of course, is the aging population and the demand for elder care. But there’s also been a dramatic rise in hospital administration, insurance administration and various kinds of sales jobs. Health insurance is a huge employer in the US. And I’ve been alarmed to see how many friends kids have ended up in medical sales out of college.
One of the ironies of the US obsession with ‘efficiency’, is that it has created one of the least efficient and bureaucratic societies in the west. But those inefficiencies/bureaucracies are in the private sector, and so for whatever reason are ignored.
I often wonder if part of the problem is conflation between “control” and “efficiency.” If “I” run X and I control 25% of the output while throwing away 75%, it is seen to be more “efficient” than where I keep 10%, others 80%, and only 10% “thrown away.” So much bureaucracy gets created to direct output where “I” (“I” being whoever’s in control) want them to be.
No conclusion can be drawn from this map. The earlier map had only four categories, which did not include healthcare or professional services but does include public administration. The later map includes healthcare and prof. serve. But not pub. admin. It is entirely plausible that all of medical device and pharma manufacturing, possibly even R&D, has been recategorised from manufacturing in the first period to healthcare in the second. Plus public administration may have included healthcare (VA, state / uni run facilities) in the first period that is now healthcare in the second.
Nice catch on bonus antidote: the Rottweiler had three rear legs when he first stood up.
It is frightening to see how AI can be manipulated to create convincing but entirelly fictional “realities.” I guess the antidote could be seen as a gentle reminder of this.
Working link for “Lavrov ‘ready’ to meet Rubio after reported breakdown in communication and rift with Putin” article at-
https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war-latest-putin-kherson-retreat-war-live-12541713
What could Rubio possibly say to Lavrove? Rubio is the one that that does not want to bother with negotiations but to push Russia against the wall with a maximist position.
Re: Shutdown
I don’t know what is more pathetic, the spectacle of the ex-Al Qaeda Syria chief in the WH, or the Democrats claiming a victory in the shutdown battle because they got a moratorium on mass firings of Federal workers for a whopping two and one-half months:
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/10/shutdown-deal-tim-kaine-katie-britt-00646144
Dayen at American Prospect points out that Kane’s demand to end arbitrary firings of federal workers (a big constituency if you represent Virginia) could have been extended to a full halt to Trump’s abuse of his authority in taking over the budget powers constitutionally reserved for Congress. “Ensuring that legislative funding actually gets spent was something tied directly to the shutdown fight that Democrats had within their power to control. That’s what they fumbled, and that’s not forgivable.”
A moratorium on violating Article I of the Constitution that expires on January 31 … #winning!
It’s all pretty pathetic; I remember when Pelosi was first elected speaker, and impeachment was off the table. For lying the country into a war that ultimately cost hundreds and hundreds of billions, many American lives, and destabilized an entire region.
No impeachable offense there!
None of these people could comprehend statesmanship were it explained to them.
That would have gotten in the way of the insider trading. Priorities.
So Kaine only really wanted to protect rice bowls.
You vote for these people out of your own risk. They will sell you down the river cheaply.
Even as a clanker, I am offended by the slop that is passing for bonus antidote du jours.
OK, that is the end of the bonus antidote feature. It takes time I don’t have as it is and even regulars wind up submitting fakes.
Life has taught me that those who do the least very often feel free to criticize those who do the most. Family blog ’em, I say. Yves, I appreciate you, everything you do for NC, and just about all of the commentators, with the exception of those who fall into the aforementioned class. It is their slop that truly offends.
The antidotes are my main exposure to what AI hath wrought, and I’m grateful for it, and for commenters ‘splainin it all. Whiners don’t deserve empowerment.
Oh, no! please don’t abandon the antidotes, for they are much, and I’m sure widely, appreciated.
If an occasional AI piece should get included, so what? just congratulate yourself on spotting it, and scroll past.
I think perhaps your tribe here closing ranks took this more personally than you did.
The subtext of the unsuccessfully humorous snark was my premise (which I believed we all shared) that the Ailment du jour is AI, and that therefore the spirit of antidote cannot be found in AI.
For what it’s worth, it seems to me that both the cat-mom-flood and the cars-rescue-biker videos are also AI.
I appreciate you Yves.
You are continuing to lobby for me to stop doing bonus antidotes.
I hate AI more than you imagine. It is out to destoy my business and the quality of information generally.
But if readers are going to bitch and moan about an extra feature that it takes me time to put togehter, I will stop. This is what you are demanding.
Heard.
Have you read Naked Capitalism’s policies? They are required reading before you post. The admonition “don’t throw your drink in your host’s face” comes to my mind.
No one is forcing you to look at the bonus videos. Personally, I’d rather see them, AI slop or not, and as so many others here have already mentioned, they are valuable in teaching us how to recognize AI slop.
Thanks for the laugh, you put that rather well.
Is it OK to love (and share many with my spouse) the animal antidotes, and also love (and learn from) the comments of those who notice the AI manipulations in some of them and point them out? Am I a philistine? I went back to see the five-legged dog critter and was disappointed that it was gone. Please, please, don’t tell me that we will be deprived of the animal antidotes and also the AI exposés!
“Whistleblower docs show Maxwell seeking commutation, receiving ‘concierge-style treatment’ in prison”
Looks like Maxwell is back to living a lifestyle of luxury again. I guess that playing ball with the Trump regime helped here (‘Epstein files? Epstein files? I have no idea what you are talking about. There never were any Epstein files. I know nothing, I see nothing, I hear nothing.’)
Sooner or later Trump will commute her sentence to house arrest. Maybe then he can put her up in one of the Trump hotels.
Can she order designer clothes in Club Fed?
I know for a fact from an old acquaintance who spent a “vacation” at a Club Fed that the inmates there had greens privileges at a nearby golf course. I can well see an annexe of Mar A Lago being designated as a Satellite Club Fed facility just for poor aggrieved Ghislaine.
I dimly remember reading about Trump boasting about “grabbing them by the p—y.” He evidently did such in the vicinity of Epstein’s video feeds which led to someone having the POTUS “by his b—s.”
Will Johnson swear in that errant Arizonan newly elected legislator when the anti-shutdown bill reaches the House? She has promised to vote for releasing the Epstein Files, and since she was the threshold vote to pass that bill, things may get interesting on Capitol Hill very soon.
Here’s what will happen. New leglislator will vote for release, but a disposable (not up for re-election) Dem leglislator will change their vote against release, or be absent due to illness/whatever.
Result: Files not released, and DNC can claim that they fought for release, and will fight again.
I’m curious who exactly has initiated the command for her being treated to the most comfortable confinement possible and the motivation there of.
There is the “who” as you say, then there is the “why.”
I’m much more interested in the latter … it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to surmise that there is a quid pro quo going on here, and the “who” is getting consideration in exchange for letting Ghislaine enjoy a comfy confinement, including golf and the latest fashion items from Paris.
We will know they mean business when they introduce kamikaze drones.
Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald on lake Superior. I live near the great lakes so I remember it well. Many remember the song about it by Gordon Lightfoot. There are a few documentaries made for the anniversary. I watched this one which I thought was pretty good. Enjoy if you like this kind of stuff;
Gales of November: The Final Voyage of the Edmund Fitzgerald | Documentary | FOX6 Milwaukee
“James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers”
Whatever his gross flaws later on in life, it can never be forgotten that he and Francis Crick solved the puzzle of the double helix which let us understand how life replicates. It was like a huge puzzle which others in the field could not see the final shape of – but Crick and Watson did. Their names will never be forgot or cancelled.
There’s an argument that Rosalind Franklin should be credited for much of that discovery, which undermines the credit to Crick and Watson.
I base my beliefs on facts not speculation.
Not speculation:
How Rosalind Franklin was let down by DNA’s dysfunctional team
Watson was shown the diffraction pattern of a helix than Crick figured out. Later he was shown Photo 51 that Franklin and her assistant rather cleverly made. He made the connection, saw the importance and jumped on it. That got him the prize. I’d say making Photo 51 was a very big deal.
I think some of Watson’s supposed flaws will be eventually recognized as virtues.
In his stand against late-stage liberalism’s faith-based pseudo-scientific views on genetics, intelligence and behavior, Watson will be remembered much as Galileo is in the latter’s relation to the Roman Inquisition.
Francis Crick was also realistic about genetics in relation to human diversity, though he had the good fortune to die before liberal fundamentalism descended into its recent “trust our science” witch-hunting mania.
LOL! Your moniker gives you away! Shockley? Jensen? Do you see them as heroes? Also significant figures in the period to which my comment below refers.
Please don’t confuse a critique of “woke” extremism that denies or minimizes certain biological (or genetic) facts for political ends, with the type of pseudo-science supported by Watson that is discussed in this article. Like many NC readers, I’ve been criticizing “late-stage liberalism” a lot over the last decade or so. But that doesn’t erase decades of ideological mobilization and well-funded propaganda from the Right. At the moment it isn’t “liberals” who are carrying out our current Inquisition – though I admit they have done their part to create our current intellectual chaos.
Shockley often toured college campuses in my student days. He was another excellent example of the “genius syndrome” at work.
Hopefully he’ll be remembered as a guy who took credit for others achievements with the Double Helix, then squandered that reputation on racist pseudo-science.
There’s a reason that researchers in the field of genetics, albeit reluctantly, treated him as a crank.
True. But I did not read this article as an attempt to “cancel” Watson by some woke journalist. On the contrary, I thought this article was important for a number of reasons. First, Watson provides a prime example of the “genius” syndrome that is now so prevalent – and dangerously so – among our new billionaire tech lords. Convinced that he was smarter than anyone and oblivious to his own self-serving interpretations, he refused to consider evidence that challenged his preconceived beliefs. Second, and related, he added his still-influential voice to the pseudo-scientific racist arguments of Charles Murray, Richard Hernnstein, and others back in the 1990s as (neo) conservatism made its comeback and neoliberalism would aid in its reversals of the “Welfare State.” I remember well the debates over The Bell Curve. That book had been leaked by friendly right-wing reviewers before publication and shielded from actual peer review. Once it came out it was demolished by real experts, but not before it had become a best-selling piece of conservative propaganda masquerading as “science.” Though a non-“genius” myself, it was pretty easy to take apart Murray’s argument. Yet the “genius” Watson chose to give it his stamp of approval.
Another noted scientist mentioned in this piece is E.O. Wilson. The author mentions him for being on the receiving end of Watson’s nastiness. But Wilson, a major figure in what came to be known as “sociobiology,” was also caught up in the “nature-nurture” debates of the period and was sometimes also used (or misued) by right-wing ideologues to justify their various “genetic” arguments. I may be wrong, but unlike Watson, Wilson struck me as much more tolerant and willing to debate his arguments with those who might disagree – i.e. to engage in legitimate scholarly debate in order to advance knowledge of human behavior.
I say let’s continue to recognize the monumental achievement of Watson (and Crick). But let’s also use his story as a cautionary tale about what happens when “geniuses” become convinced of their own infallibility and oblivious to their own prejudices.
1964: Stefan Westmann: How it felt to kill a man | The Great War Interviews | BBC Archive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8log371ADA
Yves;
I enjoy the bonus videos, especially the animal ones
Thanks for all you do
Agreed. Like others here I enjoy both whatever sentiment is being expressed in the video, and also seeing if I can suss out any oddities. And of course they are such a relief from the doom scroll.
I apologize if any of the comments about them cause you grief! Certainly not what people here would want to do.
Couldn’t have put it better, Laughingsong.
I’m thankful that there are plenty of good NC folks here who stick up for our wonderful hosts.
judy2shoes’ “don’t throw your drink in your host’s face” comment was also excellent.
The news is already bad enough. Complainers are hereby encouraged to go elsewhere.
At an employer I know, a coworker has bacterial pneumonia for over a week now, young woman with kids. Totally normal! Had COVID at least twice as far as I’ve heard.
This timeline is going great!
Aiiee, there is a vaccine for that, normally recommended only for old people because they are the ones seen at risk.
How this tech bro could trigger world financial armageddon – Daily Mail
The article is subscription blocked, but not the comments. Interesting to hear the views of some of the UK population. First some have heard of Altman.
Investor angst over Big Tech’s AI spending spills into bond market (FT via archive.is)
working archive version
Pentagon chief likens current world situation with 1939, when World War II began – Defend Democracy
I still lean toward the belief that “WWII” started around 1914.
>>>I still lean toward the belief that “WWII” started around 1914.
“This is not a peace treaty, it is an armistice for twenty years.” Ferdinand Foch
There were plenty of Cassandras on the Treaty of Versailles, but like with much of today’s Cassandras, they were not believed.
One could make a case that the Old and New Cold Wars, which might lead to a Third World War, started with the Second World War, which started with the First World War, which was set up by the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.
“Every war carries within it the war which will answer it. Every war is answered by a new war, until everything, everything is smashed.” Kathe Kollwitz
Maybe, history is destiny, with ours chosen by wars that happened before our grandparents were born.
There were two kinds of Cassandras: those, like Keynes, who believed that Versailles was too punitive and destructive, and those, like Foch, who believed that it was too soft. I tend to think that both were right, in context. Germany should either have been completely destroyed and ground under heel, like Foch wanted, or it should have been rehabilitated and allowed to operate as a normal country, like Keynes suggested, with the risk that it would soon have become the dominant power in Europe again. Instead, you got a powerful Germany that was bound under “unequal treaties” that were mostly theoretical and depended on the Germans’ own willingness to comply for most part–not enough to actually weaken Germany, but provided plenty of reason for hostility. Of course, one might point out that, in 1918, the Entente powers were in no shape to impose the Foch solution on Germany without several more years’ war that they probably couldn’t afford anyways.
There are some eerie parallels to the end of the Cold War, incidentally. Modern day Foches want to say that Russia should have been ground to dust–forgetting it was not feasible. Integrating Russia as an equal partner into Europe was, ultimately, stridently resisted and it was instead subject to much petty “aggressions” that did nothing to weaken Russia, but earned much resentment and hostility.
We learn from history how to repeat old mistakes with new(ish) slogans.
A good observation on the opposing desires. The French hated the Germans and wanted revenge while others were more farsighted. And the German reparations, which boosted the French economy, but helped to destroy the Germany’s economy and enable the Nazis’ rise, were also desired by the French. It was a very expensive economic boost for the French.
Today’s “leaders” also want the wealth and status of their positions, which means enabling the Israeli and the Ukrainian oligarchs pillaging their neighbors for the political support, aside from any kompromat that they hold on each other.
Fear, greed, hatred, and stupidity.
One of the recent links at NC contained commentary that sees the SMO as the continuation (possibly the last act?) of the World War, but with certain key players having swapped sides (either UK and Britain to the Axis or the Axis to UK and Britain).
Where would the evidence be that UK ever did regard USSR more as a long-term ally than Germany?
So “swapping” I would argue would be meaningful merely in a cosmetic sense.
As far as a I know e.g. Stewart Menzies´s communication with German intelligence revolved always about bringing Germany back into the Western Allied bloc. Never was the USSR taken as anything but a nuissance.
While there was a future for Germany as a member of the civilized world, there never was one for the USSR. Either destroy them or a Cold War. The question answered itself with the successful Soviet nuclear program.
So, humbly, I do not see any swapping. 🙄
Even when in the late 40s and early 50s there was a short window for Europe to align itself as a true independent power bloc they shied away from that without really any doubt.
One funny thing, at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, was that the peace of Europe were essentially negotiated between two global powers with only limited interest in Europe–that it didn’t cause trouble for their global interests. The two powers, of course, were Britain and Russia. The story would repeat in 1945, with the US basically taking the place of Britain, with the outcome reversed–one could almost say that Prussia and Austria in 1815 sort of wanted Russia in and Britain out, with the Holy Alliance as a NATO analogue.
210 years later, things haven’t changed much, have they?
The Daily Mail piece on Altman is pay walled. Archive link:
https://archive.ph/9qinU
If you haven’t seen the Tucker Carlson interview where Altman does the counterpunch “are you accusing me of murder?” it is worth tracking it down.
Thanks. Speaking of Archive.ph, this sounds very ominous:
https://www.techbuzz.ai/articles/fbi-hunts-mystery-owner-of-archive-is-in-federal-probe
It seems as if we ought to enjoy the archive.ph|is services while we can. Whether they can survive a long-arm extra-jurisdictional attack by the Trump administration probably depends on a variety of factors, such as where their infrastructure is physically located, how careful they have been in hiding their true identities, and how nimble they can be in moving to alternate domain registrars, should their primary one get taken down.
I recall that at the beginning of the Russo-Ukraine war, the censors tried to take down Southfront but failed when the operators of that site moved from a dot org domain to a dot press one. So, there are still parts of the Internet that are immune to extra-judicial attacks from the West.
Oh, and as far as copyright infringement, I sure hope that the FBI is every bit as zealous in protecting copyright when they go after the Big Tech AI companies as they are going after little guys like Archive … not holding my breath.
!!!IMPORTANT!!!
FBI Seeks to Unmask Anonymous Web Archiving Service Owner
Launched in 2012, Archive.today functions similarly to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine…
Flagging to your attention because this is an often utilized and useful site which is now being threatened by the memory-hole’s gaping maw.
:-(
I somehow always assumed it’s affiliated with archive.org. Only few days ago and thanks to this FBI “probe”, I learned it’s probably work of one Russian guy.
Fuck the FBI
I´ve been fearing this would happen at some point.
Archive.today stopped working for me. All mirror sites (.fo .ph .vn .md .is .li) only show a spinning wheel. Those mirror sites react to ping commands though.
Me too.
Once more, fuck.
I have tons of important stuff there.
They can´t just wipe out collective memory.
Are these people insane?
Ok. Ignore the last question.
Obviously they are.
I know that by now.
It seems to be back for me, at least for now.
What a fun spat
‘Big Short’ investor Michael Burry accuses AI hyperscalers of artificially boosting earnings (CNBC)
Meanwhile Softbank sold its entire Nvidia stake.
I don’t care if the occasional AI slips in here as long at those antidotes at the end of this keep flowing. Please, please, let’s give the owners here a break. The work speaks for itself.
That said, I had to get on my union comrades about using stupid AI cartoon images on our website and it was ugly. I mean, if we’re not for supporting labor in the face of faceless machines (da, da tovaritch), what are we even doing? But that’s an entirely different story.
A MAGA Senator Promised Hope for a Dying Ohio Mill. Then Reality Set In. (NY Times via archive.ph)
After decades of mal-investment, this one is toast.
Oops
omfg the Trump appearance in the Fox NFL booth on Sunday, for the DET-WAS game is iconic. I was glued to my seat. I’m convinced that he doesn’t like to be near black people, no matter who they are. But that’s not all there is. A Freudian feast. So revealing.
https://youtu.be/NisNlD7DrRI?si=9yvk53pgO6473bkl
Enjoy.
To UK eyes, he came across as, well, normal. More so than in news clips.
What are you seeing in this segment that is so damning?
Some cinematic footage from foggy Pokrovsk:
https://xcancel.com/squatsons/status/1987999384651661714
Things are heating up again between India and Pakistan with back to back bombings at Red Fort and then Islamabad.
Delhi: Red Fort attack, terrorism haunts Kashmir, Asianet.
Explosion near court in Islamabad kills at least 12, injures 27, NHK World.
Far be it from me to connect some dots, but I wonder about a certain intelligence agency that might have a dog in that hunt, and the means to weaponize radicals for their own nefarious purposes. And an uppity Modi, who so far has kicked Trump in the nuts as far as playing ball with his trade war demands.
And then I think about the white-washed terrorist that just got the red carpet rolled out for him at the WH.
Veterans Day. Armistice Day. At the eleventh hour of the eleventh month the armistice was signed ending WWI.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice_of_11_November_1918
Painter John Singer Sargent’s most famous WWI painting.
“Gassed”
https://www.theworldwar.org/exhibitions/john-singer-sargent-gassed
And possibly the most famous poem of WWI.
“In Flanders Field”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Flanders_Fields
Lest we forget.
Correction: The armistice was signed at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918.
Thank you dear flora, it was signed on 11 November at 5 a.m. (local time), to take effect at 11 a.m. that day. The war to end all wars.
Collapse came slowly, then more quickly, then all at once. A crash timeline.
What if the Allies had taken Wilson’s 14 point plan (not perfect) to heart, as the German’s did.
I’m not an agnostic on the details.
I condemn the imperial/colonialiisl landscape, even the socialists acquiesced to start (with few critical exceptions).
Thank you Flora, I remembered. The war to end all wars, which we are still fighting.
The Palestinians know this all too well.
‘They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.’
The Ode of Remembrance, a poem that is commonly recited at Anzac Day services to commemorate wartime sacrifice.
We will remember them.
*pours one out for his dead homies*
Peace & Love to all my NC Veterans out there!
NO WAR
NO DEATH
LONG LIVE THE PEOPLE
Back at you Comrade Jonathan!
Blessings, tawal
Wilfred Owen’s Dulce et Decorum Est is my favourite WWI poem, and a fitting companion piece to John Singer Sargent’s “Gassed”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46560/dulce-et-decorum-est
Siegfried Sassoon’s Base Details is also a keeper
https://englishverse.com/poems/base_details
Does anyone know what is going on with YouTube videos quality Setting at 240p over the last 2 days?
I passed the threshold thirty years ago but I was oblivious, not being in touch with any personal medical advice or any sort of media connectivity. I just held forth.
The Supreme Court also likes starving people
SNAP: Trump admin gets longer Supreme Court pause on order it pay full food stamp benefits (CNBC)
Michigan has already issued full SNAP benefits. Penalties ensue?
The state of Michigan might send you a Form 1099 since these “unapproved” benefits might now be classified as “unearned income.”
Yet another reason to “pack” the Court? Though, traditionally, the US Supreme Court has acted as an enforcement arm of the American Oligarch Class.
Stay safe, warm, and fed.
Ahso, I’ll see the 1099 and I’ll raise the ante. My cards show three perhaps discreet overthrows (all dark, and largely done). I’ll take two cards and hope™ for one high card with a bight overthrow…
Meanwhile having won the Trump administration isn’t turning the things back on. Classy. No word on when flight disruptions abate lol
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/us/flights-canceled-shutdown.html
Just malice
The Izzies got the 3rd degree today, boy,
https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1x/k1xtfg3ku4
It’s the quadrennial review of the Jewish State’s conformity to the Convention Against Torture.
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/11/un-committee-against-torture-review-israel-
Wednesday, though, the Izzies get to make their despicable mealymouthed excuses, then NGOs put in clarifying questions to expose them as full of shit!
https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1b/k1b5b9um7z
re: Watergate
Since I never seriously studied the matter I only now learned of the forged “Canuck letter” which allegedly derailed the primary campaign of Dem. Senator Edmund Muskie in 1972 so he would lose to McGovern. Muskie however had been running mate of Humphrey and come close to defeating Nixon in 1968. So CREEP regarded him as a real threat would he win the nomination for 1972 election.
Any memory?
I seem to remember something about Muskie crying, and that being “unmanly”.
Rev Kev made the point previously that cynical Dems will see a victory in the shutdown capitulation, as it will give them something to be “fighting for” at election time.
This strategy is evil: do nothing to help people, and be willing to see the poorest and middle classes suffer greatly, just to be able to say “we are fighting against this” as they lose.
Lo and behold, the NYT carries exactly this story today:
What if Democrats’ Big Shutdown Loss Turns Out to Be a Win? (NYT via archive)
I hate this sportsball coverage. Who gives a family-blog which team “wins” if the outcome for citizens is bad?
How about asking if it’s a win or a loss for the actual family-blogging people?
A pox on all their houses.
The FBI Is Trying to Unmask the Registrar Behind Archive.Today (Gizmodo)
Classroom AI – https://youtube.com/shorts/6UuvomTstnw?si=6szibfZmHGTJv5o8
First time I’ve ever seen the northern lights in Cali with a naked eye, well actually 2 of them.
All over the internets, there are oh so many pretty pictures of an aurora here, and aurora there in places it really shouldn’t be, and so on.
It has the feel of the early part of a tsunami where the ocean recedes, and oh look at all the pretty shells!
Buckle up, the solar storm tonight will be mighty bigger, and who knows if the Carrington event makes a comeback~
How often do you get 24 hours notice of a possible game ender, a silent killer?
It’d be such an elegant solution to oh so many of us, all sustained by the Sun, until it turned on us one day.
We’d be at the worldwide population of 1900 in a relative jiffy.