Golf’s cruelest moment: The physics behind the ‘lip out’ phenomenon PhysOrg. An IgNobel prize contender?
2.7-million-year-old tools reveal humanity’s first great innovation ScienceDaily (Kevin W)
Canterbury Cathedral: the idea of a sacred building still matters Hilary White (Micael T)
“Good Heavens what insect can suck it?” Brian Klaas (Micael T)
Retire statistical significance! Lars P. Syll
#COVID-19/Pandemics
Using surveillance data from the CDC for notifiable infectious diseases, researchers in Science have made a comprehensive statistical analysis of the indirect impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on a range of infections occurring in the U.S.
Learn more: https://t.co/pYyS9Xz3QV pic.twitter.com/lJeHf5BLRQ
— Science Magazine (@ScienceMagazine) November 5, 2025
COVID-19 is spreading again — how serious is it and what are the symptoms? Nature
Tom Hanks explains to Stephen Colbert why he masks on the subway:
"I'm doing a play right now so I cannot get sick… I've had COVID enough in my life, I don't need to do that again. So I'm wearing this for health reasons."
Thank you Tom! Masks are a key part of public health. pic.twitter.com/DJhzaRbvPf
— Dr. Lucky Tran (@luckytran) November 4, 2025
Climate/Environment
Six radical ways to cool the planet The Times
Breaking News!
Code UFB!!!The 3-year mean rate of atmospheric CO2 growth just hit a new record high, reaching a growth rate of 7.88 ppm per 3 years for October, 2025. This breaks the previous record high of 7.83 ppm per 3 years, from February, 2019.
Net-Zero by 2050? pic.twitter.com/Bv1jf3b7r2
— Prof. Eliot Jacobson (@EliotJacobson) November 1, 2025
Antarctic Glacier Saw the Fastest Retreat In Modern History CNN
Deadly Rivers in the Sky Washington Post. We’ve had a very wet and long rainy season here. And it’s been weirdly cool.
The level of anomalies in the Northern Hemisphere is insane, we are past the 2023/2024 anomalies and the +1C vs 1991/2020
Note specially the anomalies from 30N to 80N: It's brutal and there is not a bit of hype here.
It is what it is: insaneMaps kudos:Tropicaltibit & Ryan Maue pic.twitter.com/iP1iRrHiHt
— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) November 3, 2025
Storm warning in Brazil and Paraguay: gusts of wind and hail cause massive damage Global Vision
How a warmer world is making pregnancy riskier Financial Times
Water
Continental Drying: A Threat to Our Common Future World Bank
India’s digital thirst: Data centres are rising in water-scarce regions — and locals are paying the price Down to Earth
Iraq facing ‘worst drought season’ since its establishment: MP New Region
Only three to five years left to save Gorgan Gulf, watchdog warns Iran International
China?
China Fields World’s First Stealth Fighters Equipped For Air Defence Suppression Military Watch
Why climate change now threatens China’s future Economist
Indonesia’s China-backed bullet train derailed by mounting debt Financial Times
Koreas
US issues new North Korea sanctions, pressures UNSC to follow suit The Cradle (Kevin W)
Africa
Hundreds feared dead in days of protests after disputed Tanzanian elections Sky
Starvation as a weapon of war: how Ethiopia created a famine in Tigray The Conversation
O Canada
TMX Opens Asia Route As Canadian Crude Discounts Narrow OilPrice (resilc)
European Disunion
Germany is arming itself to the teeth to transform Europe again Telegraph
FT: How Friedrich Merz is testing Germany’s patience International Affairs (Micael T)
Paris’s futile efforts: why is French military-technical cooperation with its allies failing? NEO (Micael T)
Old Blighty
Anxious Aston residents prepare for Villa’s match against Maccabi Tel Aviv Guardian
EXCLUSIVE: We can reveal the police assessment behind the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans found hundreds of them in Amsterdam were "linked to the IDF".
Dutch police said they were "experienced fighters", "highly organised" and "intent on causing serious violence".
Full story below pic.twitter.com/e7323vPR85
— Imran Mulla (@Imran_posts) November 4, 2025
Israel v. The Resistance
The Israeli army has launched raids and intensive artillery shelling while carrying out demolitions in southern Gaza amid the ongoing ceasefire.
🔴 Follow our LIVE coverage ⤵️ https://t.co/0HtlbtBAZX
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) November 5, 2025
Gaza Ceasefire Illusion: The Art of Turning Truces into Tactical Pauses 21st Century Wire
Money, mercenaries and mayhem: How Israel and UAE are investing in regional chaos Middle East Eye (resilc)
.
New Not-So-Cold War
American nazis in Kyiv Events in Ukraine
Pentagon Concedes Russian Threat as Trump-Era Policy Shop Faces Revolt in Senate Hearing Kyiv Post
Imperial Collapse Watch
The New Reality of War – Russian Think Tank Analysis Simplicius. A must read. Implications way beyond the Ukraine conflict.
How Many More Cloud Scares Does Europe Need? Project Syndicate
Our $100,000 GMC is Total Garbage YouTube (resilc)
Running it back with better standards! These companies have some explaining to do! YouTube (resilc)
Trump 2.0
An Anarchist’s Conviction Offers a Grim Foreshadowing of Trump’s War on the ‘Left’ Wired (resilc)
Why the Hell Did JD Vance and Erika Kirk Hug Like That? New Republic
Dick Cheney, Good Riddance
Cheney, architect of endless war, helped kill our faith in leaders Responsible Statecraft (resilc)
Dick Cheney Proves Old Proverb is True Larry Johnson
Shutdown
Army charity offers grants to soldiers missing SNAP payments Task & Purpose. resilc: “When does the fragging start?”
Democrat Death Wish
Zohran Mamdani wins New York as Democratic US electoral sweep deals blow to Donald Trump Financial Times. Lead story. No archived version yet. Trump is managing to rescue the Democrats from themselves, at least so far. Given Trump’s propensity to violence to reassert his manhood, this result pretty much guarantees more domestic thuggery and increases the odds of some sort of action versus Venezuela.
Democrats Dent Trump’s Coalition With Three Big Election Wins Wall Street Journal. Lead story. No archived version yet.
Trump blames shutdown for Republicans’ election losses to Democrats Axios
The Democratic Establishment’s Scam: Pretend Populism Corbin Trent (resilc)
Bernie Sanders: ‘There Ain’t Much of a Democratic Party’ New York Times (resilc)
Democrats brace for Nancy Pelosi’s possible retirement NBC
California voters approve new US House map to boost Democrats in 2026 Associated Press (Kevin W). A rare and effective show of muscle.
Hakeem Jeffries Says Trump Is Running “Pedophile Protection Program” New Republic. resilc: “we will see how Hakeem sings when Billy Clinton is on the list…..”
Mamdani. Key is that he got 50.3% of the vote. Even though a bare majority, it is a majority, so he can’t be depicted as not really representing the will of NYC voters. And this despite billionaire and Zionist opposition and the Democrats ranging from not supporting him to opposing him. Please be sure to check out today’s Coffee Break, since I am highly confident that Nat will cover it, having been just about alone in highlighting the importance of the NYC mayor’s race before Mamdani became a serious contender.
Mamdani seals remarkable victory – but real challenges await BBC. Dependence on New York State and Federal funding, which can be used to jerk Mamdani around, is one:
Zohran Mamdani is elected NYC mayor, defeating Andrew Cuomo in historic win Gothamist
Mamdani wins: How a democratic socialist toppled the Empire State machine Salon
Mamdani’s victory is a rebuke to the failed strategies of the Democratic party Guardian (Kevin W)
Our No Longer Free Press
A low-stakes critical thinking exercise for online media Libre Solutions Network (Micael T)
The War Party Is Out of Ideological Ammunition Antiwar (resilc). More on the Zionists hating on Tucker
A Journalist Asked Why Israel Isn’t Paying to Rebuild Gaza. It Cost Him His Job. Intercept
Mr. Market is Moody
Tech and chip stocks tumble across Asia as investors rethink the AI boom Business Insider
Banking System Vulnerability: 2025 Update Liberty Street Economics
Economy
Why the Administration Is Happy Not to See the October Employment Numbers Menzie Chinn
Mapped: GDP Growth by U.S. State (1990-2024) Visual Capitalist (resilc)
AI
Here’s How the AI Crash Happens The Atlantic (Paul R)
‘Godfather of AI’ says tech giants can’t profit from their astronomical investments unless human labor is replaced Fortune (resilc)
The police’s new tool: AI-generated child porn Aftonbladet via machine translation (Micael T)
The Bezzle
They survived the hurricane. Their insurance company didn’t. Grist
Waymo To Expand Robotaxi Service To Las Vegas, San Diego and Detroit Next Year Reuters
Class Warfare
Top 10 US billionaires’ collective wealth grew by $698bn in past year – report Guardian (resilc)
Private equity firms are snapping up mobile home parks − and driving out the residents who can least afford to lose them The Conversation
Kraft Heinz Says Consumers CUTTING Staples From Grocery Cart Breaking Points. We posted on Kraft Heinz’s woes before. It’s not just rising consumer stress but also those who have the budget room choosing healthier options. But this segment has other factoids that demonstrate how widespread belt-tightening is.
Antidote du jour (via):
And a bonus:
The elderly dog is forced to do water aerobics and is fighting a sedentary lifestyle against the treadmill.
— The Best (@Thebestfigen) October 8, 2025
A second bonus:
This man is bottle-feeding baby deer fawnspic.twitter.com/O85KAY6XPy
— Wolf of X (@tradingMaxiSL) November 4, 2025
And a third:
This Snow Leopard caught on a trail cam pic.twitter.com/XFAQbYsMqJ
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) November 3, 2025
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here
That feeding fawns video reminded me of an encounter around the turn of the century on a backpack trip from Jerkey Meadow in the Golden Trout Wilderness to Crescent Meadow in Sequoia NP.
We had come over Farewell Gap into Mineral King, and being the border of Sequoia NP, it’s tantamount to ‘Animal Switzerland’, whereas hunting is allowed at certain times on the other side of Farewell Gap in the GTW, it’s strictly forbidden on the SNP side, and the animals seemed to know, as they were much more plentiful in the Canton.
I’m a few hundred feet ahead of my long time backpacking partner when I come around a corner on the descent, and a baby fawn maybe half the size of the ones in the video and much more spotted was just off the trail and backed itself in a thicket-and it started crying out sounding very much like a human baby, i’ll never forget it.
I wanted my buddy to experience it, so I kind of made sure the fawn couldn’t escape until he showed up and in the meantime-deer a few hundred feet away had formed a skirmish line of sorts, no doubt put on high alert by the baby’s wailing.
“…the animals seemed to know…”
They might well do. I recall a conversation with a professional wolf watcher who contended that in wolf country elk and deer will tend to favor territorial boundary areas between wolf packs, where the wolves themselves tend not to go to avoid inter-pack conflict, which can be fatal.
“Why the Hell Did JD Vance and Erika Kirk Hug Like That”
Haven’t really been following this story but Charlie Kirk’s widow has picked up a lot of criticism for wearing inappropriate outfits and acting like a Merry Widow. This public hug is just the latest of what she has been doing. Not the behaviour that you would expect from someone who violently lost her husband not long ago. Nothing about Charlie Kirk’s murder is simple and clear cut it seems.
“Canterbury Cathedral: the idea of a sacred building still matters”
I have no idea those church authorities thought that they were doing. Those inner-city-style “graffiti” are ugly and wildly out of place in such a setting. A church should be a place of rest and meditation but having these in your face exhibits is not going to do it. I doubt that people want to see graffiti plastered in that church when they can see it on any building outside. This is just pander politics.
The progressive embrace of avant-garde art has gotten ridiculous (see Obama’s concrete butt plug a/k/a his presidential library). Trump has a point when he says public buildings should generally be in the neo-classical style. Of course, Trump’s architecture comments can’t be seen as apolitical, and stirs up the waters…
Ironically, the “progressive” mindset 130 years ago had an aspirational bent—that, as public spaces, public buildings should be aesthetically calming, pleasing, aspirational to elevate the hoi-polloi.
Now the intelligentsia might as well be saying, Give me Boston City Hall or give me death—-lmao
Now, now…
One man’s concrete butt plug is another man’s flak tower~
Rev Kev:
Hilary White on the doings at Canterbury Cathedral is tart but not on the mark.
I wouldn’t trust anyone whose biog states “the Renaissance is Bad.” Given that the Renaissance in Italy started somewhere around 1300 with Cimabue and Giotto, and given that Dante was the last hurrah of medieval Italy and a forerunner of the Renaissance, I tend to doubt her judgment. The Renaissance went on in Italy for another two hundred fifty years till around the death of Michelangelo in 1564.
Meanwhile, as she admits in the piece, Henry VIII looted Canterbury Cathedral. The Reformation in England and the Netherlands included looting the churches.
Which was in bad taste, that’s for sure. Just as the current show that she is complaining about is in bad taste.
[And, meanwhile, the Franciscans were busy creating the sacred mountain of Varallo here in the Undisclosed Region — a masterpiece of high&low pop/sacred Catholic art.]
And there’s this driveby observation: “In the Latin Church, the use of church buildings for concerts, art exhibitions, public meetings, performative charitable events, shows us that the entire concept of a space and building set apart exclusively for the liturgical worship of God and prayer has been hollowed out.”
Well, no. Many of the concerts that I attend here include both sacred and secular music. Many are in churches. On the other hand, I attended a glorious performance of Puccini’s Messa di Gloria at the RAI Auditorium. With so much art in so many churches in Italy, they open regularly as “art galleries” — in fact, they want you to look at the art and leave during mass if you’re not a regular. And I won’t mention the many churches that contain burials — bishops in the walls, knights and their ladies in the floor.
I understand her misgivings, but I don’t understand her puritanism. Exclusive? Well, maybe. Papa Francesco kept stressing that the Catholic Church is for everyone. And I’m such a bad Catholic and bad Buddhist.
PS: J.D. Vance and Catholicism. J.D. Vance, when he speaks about religion, is speaking about power. I will wait for him to start quoting the Fioretti of Saint Francis — you know, kissing lepers, levitating, praying all night, wearing sackcloth and a rope, sleeping with a rock for a pillow. Otherwise, he’s part of the Francisco Franco fan club for Jesus.
Newsflash!
Dick Cheney is still dead, according to a reliable source.
“Many of the concerts that I attend here include both sacred and secular music.”
On of my peak experiences during a too brief sojourn in Italy was listening to a Russian violinist play Bach in Dante’s chapel. We learned of the event by way of a leafleteer in the street.
Water treadmills are primarily used for rehab work.
If a dog can’t support their own weight the water is used at different heights to create more or less weight on the ground. IE less weight on a bad joint or other injury or recovery from an injury which allows for range of motion work and strengthening exercises without damaging anything.
Very cool tech
I’ve long thought that mobile home parks should be nationalized. The residents can own their homes and rent the land from the government, in a parallel to social housing. If they need to relocate they can sell them to the government which can either rent them or resell them.
It’s remarkable how few reports on Mamdani’s say anything about his army of enthusiastic volunteers (latest estimates 100,000) and their (our) impact on voter choice through patient, months-long, in-person persuasion. I guess horse-race politics has more glitter than the drudgery of organizing. Also notoriously absent–mention of the key role of DSA and its monster electoral apparatus or the important contribution of Jewish Voice for Peace, The videos were very cool, sure, but the Dems who think they can win by just imitating them are dreaming.
Tireless organizing by enthusiastic volunteers who actually believe in the candidate and his policies triumphs over entrenched power and money. Sounds familiar. Reminds me of some other recent campaigns: by AOC and Bernie – not to mention one Barack H. Obama. Here’s hoping the results are better this time. The problem is that after voters and campaign workers go home the entrenched power and money remains in place to either co-opt or sabotage the newbie. Good luck Zohran!
At the same time, Abigail Spanberger won on Virginia, and she describes herself as a “moderate”. The Democratic party may just be able to do well by waiting out for Trump to keep underperforming.
Separately, I feel like there was some sort of scandal with Spanberger a few years ago, does anyone remember what it was?
Anyone else caught the wave of AI-Mearsheimer vids on youtube? He’s presented as a talking head perfectly synched to a stream of his views on US foreign policy, interrupted occasionally by the utterance of “wibble!”, or other brief gobbledygook. Apart from those blips, the only indicators of the fabrication are the relentlessness of the delivery and the odd repetition of points.
I have noticed this too, and my thought is that this is a way to cut viewership for the original content creator, Now that’s not going to bother Mearsheimer much because he’s a tenured prof at U. of Chicago, but it’s being done to interview shows like Nima’s and Napolitano.
Let’s see: Dick Cheney shuffles off this mortal coil, which he made even worse. Let’s hope that they deny his mourners their pierogi at the funeral luncheon (de rigueur in Chicago).
Now I read that Nancy Pelosi, age 85, may not run again. The many anonymous quotes are a mix of blather, bloviation, and fan-club boohoohooing.
I don’t gamble. But my sainted mother always said that these things come in threes. Cheney out of commission, Pelosi decommissioned. Who is the third?
How are Biden’s last couple of synapses holding up?
Gotta wonder what kind of air filtration and other protections on Colbert. I’d never come across anything on Twitter where a stage employee tells-all about the kinds of protections that are afforded to those on shows or movies. Are there any, anymore? What about at elite events, like the Met?
I’m personally of the opinion that many of the elite are content with repeat COVID infections happening to themselves as well. Would be curious to learn if this is otherwise, and it really is a Pandemic of dull normals only.
– ‘Cheney, architect of endless war, helped kill our faith in leaders’ – Responsible Statecraft (resilc)
This is a pretty decent obit, given that it appears in a mainstream-adjacent foreign policy source. As it points out, Cheney’s contribution to Global Evil didn’t start with 9/11. He was there at the creation; that is, at the beginning of the neocon take-over of the Republican party (and eventually both parties) during the Ford administration. He continued to work toward that end ever after. We usually ignore the brief tenure of Ford, but a hell of a lot happened during those years. Cheney (along with his mentor Rumsfeld) was in the middle of it.
Johnson’s anecdote on Cheney’s beginnings is also interesting, in that it shows how arbitrary history can be in placing apparently unremarkable people in just the “right” place at just the right time. Hindsight is 20/20, but if only…
Our $100,000 GMC is Total Garbage YouTube (resilc)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I follow a few of the mechanic influencer types, who have decades of experience working on all types of cars-and their opinions of given makes and models, and it seems all newer American made cars are pretty crappy, one of them has such disdain for any Ford with an Eco-Boost engine-amazing.
This is of course reflected in the price of used Toyotas being so high-being so reliable.