‘No Mow May’ encourages homeowners to help bees by letting their lawns grow NBC. Let’s do it all year round!
Call combinations and compositional processing in wild chimpanzees Nature. See also.
PwC rushes to contain Australia tax leak scandal FT
Climate
Waller says Fed shouldn’t let climate concerns distract from global stability risks WSJ. Eyes on the prize, in this case, make sure these sun loungers are arranged correctly.
Water
Colorado’s legislative action on water this year was mostly about what lawmakers failed to do Colorado Sun
#COVID19
Massachusetts Sources on MGH’s Dumb and Deadly Partially Canceled* Mask Policy:
I’m afraid to go to hospitals without a mask Commonwealth Magazine
Advocates worry that lifting the universal mask mandate leaves the most vulnerable at risk Sun Quincy
NOTE * The stupidity of requiring double masking remains. (You have the choice of using one of MGH’s “Baggy Blues” or putting one on your own mask, which may break the seal. This is really just a compliance measure to show the patient that hospital infection control is the boss, as is “Let me see your smile!”)
* * * Hollywood’s Covid protocols, which end today, cost hundreds of millions of dollars Deadline
Sick and Tired: Cast a Long Shadow (PDF) Parliament of Australia. Report on Long Covid:
7.14 The Committee recommends that the Australian Government establish and fund a multi-disciplinary advisory body made up of ventilation experts, architects, aerosol specialists, industrialists, building code regulators and public health experts to :
• Oversee an assessment of the impact of poor indoor air quality and ventilation on the economy, with particular attention to high-risk environments such as hospitals, aged care facilities, day care centers and educational institutions. • Lead the development of national indoor air quality standards for use. in Australia.
Cell-specific mechanisms at the heart of COVID-19 patients Traffic research.
From the abstract: “This review aims to provide an overview of the current understanding of the cardiac pathophysiology of COVID-19.” Excerpt from the Cardiac Vasculature section: “In its healthy and naive state, the vascular endothelium expresses membrane proteins which inhibit coagulation, maintain the integrity of the vascular endothelium and exert an anti-inflammatory action. With SARS-CoV-2 infection, procoagulant factors like VWF (Von Willibrand factor) are upregulated and anticoagulant factors like thrombomodulin are downregulated, creating a procoagulant milieu. From the Myocardium section: “The overall impact of long COVID and subclinical cardiac dysfunction from COVID-19 may not be fully appreciated for a few years. This becomes an urgent call to increase and intensify the application of single-cell analyzes and other new high-resolution molecular technologies to produce more hypothesis-driven mechanistic studies of acute and long-lasting COVID.
“Imminent tsunami” is not the kind of expression one often encounters in literature.
The end of the COVID emergency leaves a black hole of health data Axios. Return to Reviews of Yankee candlesI guess.
US Covid state of emergency ends as authorities plan ‘new phase of management’ of virus Guardian. I’m sure everything will be fine.
China?
How the US is trying to block China’s control over ports around the world WSJ
Reported Joint Chiefs pick boon for China Hawks Responsible mindset
Unproven liver drug for COVID prevention in high demand in China Center for Disease Research and Policy. Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA). The link is from 2022, but the request seems to be there today:
Increase in Italian exports to China
1. Last week we reported a strong increase in Italian exports to China. Here is the story. Without Western vaccines, Chinese consumers are buying a generic liver drug made in Italy that is rumored to prevent COVID. A big thank you to @bancaditalia And @p_ceretti… pic.twitter.com/mlHnJXF6tL— Robin Brooks (@RobinBrooksIIF) May 9, 2023
And:
7. Conclusion: the surge in exports from Italy to China is not linked to a possible circumvention of Western restrictions on exports to Russia. It’s about China’s policy on Western COVID vaccines and a rush among Chinese citizens to get the next best thing. Thanks again to @bancaditalia And @p_ceretti.
— Robin Brooks (@RobinBrooksIIF) May 9, 2023
Next China: catching spies Bloomberg. Perform due diligence in China.
Burma
ASEAN cannot go back to ‘business as usual’ with Myanmar (PM Lee) CNN. Then, ASEAN should recognize the NUG.
Syrian
Peace in Yemen ‘serious’, but next steps unclear, says Saudi envoy France Media Agency
Dear old Blighty
“Britons are dying by the tens of thousands – and we don’t really know why” Mirror. It’s a mystery !
New not so cold war
About this counteroffensive:
SitRep Ukraine: Delayed Counteroffensive, Russian Defense Lines, Weapon Effectiveness Alabama Moon
Zelensky, citing equipment shortcomings, says it’s too early for a counteroffensive NYT. The game: “The Ukrainian president played down the possibility of an imminent military move, but the claim was met with some skepticism.” How does a proven liar actually cheat on someone….
Wagner Group leader says Ukrainian counter-offensive ‘in full swing’ Anadolu Agency
* * * Britain’s long-range cruise missile shipment to Ukraine radically changes conflict Gilbert Doctorow
How Long-Range Storm Shadow Missiles Could Help Ukraine Destroy the Crimean Bridge The telegraph
* * * Victory Parade in Red Square President of Russia. Includes a short but pointed speech by Putin.
Prigozhin’s strange attack on Russian leadership Stephen Bryen, Weapons and Strategy
The fall of the USSR, a disaster for the West? Intellinews
Merchants of death? New Left Review
South of the border
Mexico to send more National Guard troops to southern border Mexico Daily News
The number of displaced people worldwide hit a record high in 2022 Thread
Biden Administration
The storm that is brewing around title 42 Policy
Top Biden official tells Chinese diplomat US wants to ‘go beyond’ spy balloon PA. Without a doubt!
Washington’s angst progressive wins over conservatives and baffles former allies Policy. From April, still relevant. Spoiler: It’s Stoller!
The Supremes
Court overturns conviction of ex-Cuomo aide SCOTUSblog
2024
Trump is appealing the jury’s verdict in the trial of E. John Carroll Axios
* * * Trump’s commitment to peace in Ukraine has been met with doubt and derision The hill
Trump Blast Radius Axios. The volume and intensity of the Liberal Democrats’ reaction to Trump’s Town Hall on CNN would have been identical regardless of the transcript’s reading.
* * * RFK Jr. Says He’ll “Make The Border Waterproof” If Elected As Title 42 Is About To Expire FOX
* * * John Brennan’s closed hearing ‘confirmed’ Hunter’s laptop letter was ‘entirely political’: Jim Jordan And Walls are closing in on Biden family corruption FOX (press release on the latter (TomW)). Not as sloppy as the Benghazi yarn charts, but still needs to be tightened up and focused. It may be that for the two Republicans And Democrats, the fogging of agents charged with making the case to the public is such that they can no longer say what the public needs to hear. “Explain to me like I’m five” isn’t such a bad trope. For example, if I understood correctly, it is quite surprising that the Biden children (minors?) received bank transfers from a corrupt Hungarian dude, as the bank statements show, but the dude needs a name (hopefully memorable) and what role Biden played needs to be explained in two or three words. Democrats don’t do it well, as the headline ironically shows: How Many Times Have We Heard ‘The Walls Are Closing In’ on Trump? Well, if the Republican wants to avoid the same ever-further horizon with Biden, he needs to up his already somewhat improved game. (And don’t tell me to watch videos where everything is explained.)
ghost country
Report on the censorship-industry complex: the 50 most important organizations to know Racket News (Rev Kev)x. Eight reporters, so Racket News must be doing just fine. Must read, have a cup of coffee and keep it away from your screen. Handy chart (click for actual size):
digital watch
GitHub, Microsoft and OpenAI fail to evade Copilot copyright lawsuit The register
The surprising synergy between acupuncture and AI Cable. The “synergy”, I’m not kidding, is that we don’t know how either type of woo woo really works.
End of billable hour? Law firms are getting into artificial intelligence WSJ
Health care
Drug shortages have worsened and may only increase in the future, experts say Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy
Gunz
The collapse of social trust is at the root of American gun violence FT
Children and young people are almost twice as likely to die in the South as in New England CEPR
Class struggle
Workers are happier than they have been in decades WSJ
Students urge their schools to get rid of Starbucks coffee after union cafes close Bloomberg. Cornell, naturally, called the cops:
Cornell called police about students selling coffee outside the lunch hall to raise money for striking Starbucks workers.
Workers and students are protesting the company’s decision to close all of its Ithaca stores, which are all unionized. pic.twitter.com/pPozdhJxyz
– More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) May 11, 2023
And:
Cornell students occupy administrative offices demanding that the university stop selling Starbucks coffee on campus after the company announced it was closing ALL union stores in Ithaca. Solidarity! Keep up the pressure! @SBWorkersUnited https://t.co/PKKOWp6zRB
— Labor notes (@labornotes) May 11, 2023
It is difficult to imagine administrative offices that should not be busy, at this point, regardless of the establishment.
Google insiders are $9 billion richer after AI-fueled stock market rally Forbes
A number system invented by Inuit schoolchildren will debut in Silicon Valley American scientist. Neat!
Antidote of the day (via):
See Yesterday’s Links and Today’s Antidote here.
