Saturday, October 25, 2025

Quelle Surprise: Covid Cases Surge in Europe’s Tourism Hot Spots, Just One Month After Grand Reopening

It turns out that a massive increase in cross-border travel — particularly by air — is a great way of spreading an airborne virus.

Financial Times: “Things Could Fall Apart for Biden”

Even Biden loyalists are getting nervous.

Reconstructing US-China Relations

Can the US and China be friends, or at least not so hostile? Jeffrey Sachs has some ideas.

A Round-Up of Anti-Covid Nasal Spray Research

Nasal sprays for vaccination, treatment, and prophylaxis (the last with two over-the-counter products not delivering drugs).

2:00PM Water Cooler 7/22/2021

~ Today’s Water Cooler ~

DOE Quietly Backs Plan for Carbon Capture Network Larger Than Entire Oil Pipeline System

Obama Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and major labor group AFL-CIO are behind the “blueprint” for a multi-billion dollar system to transport captured CO2 — and offer a lifeline to fossil fuel plants.

Links 7/22/2021

Quelle Surprise! New Study Confirms that Public Pension Funds Use Flattering Benchmarks to Hide Failure to Beat Simple Indexing; CalPERS Is a Case Study

Documenting yet another way public pensions funds lie to themselves and their many constituencies about their performance.

The Delta Variant Thrives in a State of Political and Public Health Discord

More worries about Delta.

2:00PM Water Cooler 7/21/2021

~ Today’s Water Cooler ~

UNESCO Strips Liverpool of World Heritage Status

Liverpool now seeks to have UNESCO’s decision deferred or overturned at a meeting scheduled to occur in July.

Links 7/21/2021

Federal Judge Upholds Indiana University’s COVID-19 Vaccine Requirement

Trump district court appointee hands down first ruling upholding public university COVID-19 vaccine mandates on public health grounds.

Are We Prepared for Pandora’s Box of Climate Catastrophes?

There’s still time to avoid the climate catastrophe we have set in motion, but it’s going to take drastic behaviour change and huge grassroots pressure on governments.

World’s Coral Scientists Warn Action is Needed Now to Save Even a Few Reefs from Climate Change

Coral reefs are the canary in the coal mine. The collapse of these ecosystems is the first unequivocally tied to climate change.