Links 9/20/2026

Learn how to tie your shoes like a pro with a secret technique. [📹 girlyglamfiles] pic.twitter.com/t2gLvaDcWF — Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) September 19, 2026 Cognition and consciousness arise from analog computations, says new theory Technology.org Photos Show New Species of Wild Cat Discovered in Bolivia — The First in 100 Years National Geographic Is outer space the new Wild West? GZERO Astronomy’s Decades-Long Quest To Understand Cosmic Topology Universe Today COVID-19/Pandemics Should You Get the New COVID Vaccine? A Primary Care Doctor Shares What to Know NYP.org Climate/Environment EPA immediately sued over plans to repeal climate rules for power plants Ars Technica Drought-flood whiplash intensifies as climate warms Public Health Watch South of the Border Is US Tutelage Over Venezuela Moving Toward a Kind of Platt Amendment? Fair Observer Millions without power as Cuba hit by latest major blackout BBC Argentinian judge orders suspension of Falklands oil project Al Jazeera China? Shaolin kung fu training pic.twitter.com/kQqB88oHR6— Science girl (@sciencegirl) February 13, 2026 Chinese ship rams Philippines gov’t vessel in South China Sea: Coastguard Al JazeeraSaudi Arabia quits China-led cross-border currency platform Financial Times China turns to older chipmaking technology to make, smaller, faster 3nm chips Interesting Engineering Xi Jinping’s US visit will be a test of his power among China’s elite Radio Free Asia China’s Electric Aviation Advantage Is A Transport System, Not A Prototype Clean Technica India Tata Sons: India’s corporate crown braces for upheaval amid boardroom revolt BBC Blackstone Says India Shift Paid Off as Growth Nears a Tipping Point Briefs.co Africa Africa’s Green Revolution threatens traditional foods Al Jazeera Africa’s democracy stalls as conflict and coups drive new declines – Global Democracy Report Realnews 4 African Countries Where Expats Can Retire Comfortably and Affordably Investopedia European Disunion EU fuel prices hit records as ECB experts see diesel margins peak in October Euronews BREAKING: France is running out of fuel. 11% of France’s stations nationwide are now out of petrol or diesel, one in nine, with 16% of stations short in Grand Est, 15% in Pays de la Loire, 14% in Occitanie, and 13% in Centre-Val de Loire, per government figures published this morning. The official count only registers a station as short if it has no petrol at all or no diesel at all, so a station out of one grade but holding another is not counted, meaning the real shortage is much larger. French diesel averages €2.406 a litre, about $10.45 a gallon. Europe is facing its worst energy crisis in history. — The Hormuz Letter (@HormuzLetter) September 19, 2026 No agreement among 27 EU states on extending Russia sanctions: Report Andolu Agency Europe does not want to depend on foreign technology in the new digital order El Pais Old Blighty Jim Ratcliffe: UK is ‘on the slide’ from days when it had world’s ‘greatest empire’ The Guardian UK air traffic control outage caused by software defect, says operator Reuters Israel v. Gaza, Lebanon, Syria Biden’s envoy to combat global antisemitism @deborahlipstadt joked about these attacks at an Israeli-American event, saying, “Do you want a beeper?” She never apologized and is back at @EmoryUniversity, denying the Gaza genocide and accusing those who condemn it of antisemitism. — Dylan Williams (@dylanotes) September 18, 2026 Per CNN: CNN: “Israel’s favorability all negative — not just with Dems, the general electorate has turned against Israel… not just a left issue, an American issue… a 67 point shift against Israel…” Republicans are against Israel. Democrats are against Israel. Independents…— ThePatrioticBlonde™🇺🇸 (@ImBreckWorsham) September 18, 2026 We have created a section on our website that maps Zionist money & lobbying networks in 12 countires – pulled directly from government registers, court filings, and public tax disclosures, so you don’t have to dig through 20+ separate official sources yourself. It includes: 1,115 organizations 885+ Million USD tracked 12 countries, 39 datasets, 5,806+ records 2,431+ source citations, from primary government registers A dedicated tracker for US charities funding West Bank settlements Fully searchable index Downloadable in both CSV & JSON for researchers.It can be accessed here: https://t.co/x2qpWoxoAx Please reshare this post to help it break out of the algorithm prison. We’ll keep expanding this as more organizatoins/registers get added and verified in the coming weeks. Join our telegram: https://t.co/bvcis3b9GT Follow our backup accounts: @ZionismExposedx & @IsraelExposedAr— Israel Exposed (@xIsraelExposedx) September 18, 2026 Israel seeks ‘compensation’ from US following Saudi F-35 deal: Report Andolu Agency Shaheen holds up $2.8B arms sale to Israel Semafor Why Israel Isn’t Leaving Gaza Any Time Soon The National Interest Israeli army faces severe troop shortage, prepares to halt leave: Israeli media Middle East Monitor Israel is killing the people who could end its wars Al Jazeera Iran War. Note the Saudi-Ansar Allah conflict is under this header, even though Ansar Allah is an independent actor, because from the perspective of the US and the Gulf States, both campaigns dovetail to increase pressure on them. Iran’s terms to re-engage in talks conveyed to US: Rezaei Mehr News. Note: “The actions taken by the US and Israel could justify our withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). We have not yet decided to withdraw from the NPT; that depends on Washington’s behaviour” Explosive if it gets traction, whether true or not: syeed Abdul-Malik al-Houthi reveals the greatest threat facing Mecca and Medina: – Zionist companies have begun purchasing real estate in Mecca and Medina, and the way has been opened for them to do so. The Zionists are doing to Mecca and Medina what they did to Palestine. pic.twitter.com/mcVC8IvNL4 — مـرتضـى_Mortada (@AL_HASANi4) September 16, 2026 Inside the US ‘Kill Chain’ That Destroyed an Iranian School Bloomberg اقتحام يمني لأول مدينة سعودية من ثلاث جهات، مع اغتنام الأسلحة من معسكراتها واستسلام وأسر الجنود الموجودين فيها، والسيطرة على المدينة بالكامل خلال 3 ساعات فقط. 🇾🇪🔥 https://t.co/OIlsofeWKe — ابو يمن 🇾🇪 (@Dis545a) September 18, 2026 New Not-So-Cold War Moscow intercepts massive Ukrainian drone swarm during elections; civilian casualties reported Press TV Ukraine steps up measures to protect railways DW Ukraine war: US approves potential US$2.7 billion sale of air defence equipment SCMP Russia Signals Possible October Peace Talks With Ukraine and US Caspian News All Eyes Are On Belarus Ahead Of The US’ Reported European Military Drawdown Andrew Korybko Four North Korean Weapons Types Russia Could Seek to Import Urgently: How Each Could Shift the Balance in Ukraine Military Watch Big Brother Is Watching You Watch Paris Prosecutors Open Criminal Probe Into Smart Glasses-Related Harassment Cases Technology.org Court Upholds Suspicionless Cellphone Searches at the Border Reason Imperial Collapse Watch NYC homelessness reaches alarming 5-year high in damning indictment on lefty policies: report NY Post Trump 2.0 Rising Diesel Price Is Trump’s Hidden Tax for Iran War Informed Comment Trump Is Considering More Data Centers on Public Lands Than Previously Known The Washington Sun Greenland, Denmark say Trump deal won’t compromise sovereignty Reuters Trump’s battle to rename the Kennedy Center has put its future at risk The Guardian Musk Matters Why Tesla’s Robotaxi/Cybercab Bet Just Got Complicated. What It Means to Investors. The Motley Fool SpaceX Is Becoming An AI Giant Seeking Alpha Elon Musk’s Neuralink Brain Implant Helps Speech-Impaired Man Speak First Words NDTV Democrat Death Watch Lingering feuds threaten Democrats’ bid to reclaim US Congress Sacramento Bee Some Democrats Are Breaking With Their Party On Trans Rights Huffpost Immigration ‘Shadow surge’ pushes immigration arrests to highs as Trump administration shifts tactics PBS Appeals court rejects swift deportation of immigrants to third countries ABC News Our No Longer Free Press Journalists denied White House access after Trump banned some media outlets BBC Americans value press freedom but are wary of misinformation, security risks Fox News Mr. Market Is Moody Why people in the Northeast will be paying higher heating bills this winter The Hill Investors Borrowed $1.45 Trillion to Buy Stocks. Is the Market One Correction Away From a Margin-Call Avalanche? 24/7 Wall Street AI People in China earn between US$7 and US$15,000 by licensing faces to AI content producers SCMP Wake up, people. What we should actually fear, near term, is not so much rogue superintelligence as unleashed agentic AI causing hacking the internet at scale. Gary Marcus substack Anthropic Builds Physical Biology Lab to Target Neglected Diseases Technology.org The AI kill switch, explained: ‘It’s not too little, but it’s probably too late’ CNBC The Bezzle FBI: Fake cop and government impersonation scams cost victims $1.6B The Register German Court Holds Meta Liable for Fake Investment Ads Technology.org Guillotine Watch The Dragon’s Chair ($28 million) : It is the most expensive chair in the world at a whopping price of $28 million. It was designed in 1917 by Eileen Gray. The chair has a design resembling unfurling petal and it is made out of upholstered brown leather framed in sculptured… pic.twitter.com/H2O4iH9up3 — LeoDaVinciWave (@LeoDaVinciWave) September 6, 2025 Antidote du jour (via) See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here > Learn how to tie your shoes like a pro with a secret technique. When I was 5 my school’s music teacher could tie kids’ shoes one-handed in about 3 seconds per shoe. Still an awesome memory. No idea how she did it. Can anyone explain to me why this lady feels it’s necessary to explain that all of her co-workers “look at her crotch” while she shows them how she ties her shoes? Ick. Toxic feminism? Crotchety? Because that’s below where the ties to her pants are? She is an OR nurse, the comment was that the men in her department were amazed at her tying her scrubs…. not her shoes. She wasn’t tying her shoes, she was tying the knot at the front of her scrub pants. So to the casual observer a group of men were sorta looking at her crotch. Thanks! She was sitting down to demonstrate. I was looking for a new tie in Boston when my hands almost fell off due to retying my shoes in like 20 degree weather. I found a web site that documented the dozens upon dozens of ways that you can lace up and tie your shows. Oh, the Internet! I just picked a double notting, making a loop and pulling through both ways. Never had a problem again with shoes coming untied in Boston. Hands, saved. “Americans value press freedom but are wary of misinformation, security risks” Says the TV network that in reporting the murder of Muslims in a San Diego mosque, told viewers that it must have been Iran behind those murders. Re the dreadful Lipstadt–they even made a movie about her so who are we to question her moral judgment? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial_(2016_film) The movie is about fighting Holocaust denial by the woman now denying genocide in Gaza. But then selective outrage is so very much our modern media mode. Didn’t see the link to Professor Lipstadt. Her fight with David Irving was righteous. She has returned to Emory to lead something called EPICA, Emory Policy Institute on Countering Antisemitism. This new position for her probably has nothing to do with this. In any case, she will have plenty of material to work with close to home, even if the Standard Club is not as necessary as it once was. That somewhat overpriced chair has the look of a villain throne. One wonders what evil rumps have farted into it since 1917. Eileen Grey at the V&A.. Maybe not for everyone, I think her work is terrific. Right on. Thanks for the link! She’s indeed not my style, but I don’t eat salmon either while lots of people love it. The $28 million chair reminded me instantly of the villainous Glukkons from a 1990s video game called Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey. It looks like it would custom fit their weird tiny-legged zoot suit body shapes. My only other thought on that chair is that it is worth more than the combined wealth of all of the people I’ve ever met, which is ever so slightly incredibly stupid. I’m going with straight “incredibly stupid”, no chaser. Nothing spells “wealth inequality” like a $28mm chair. I wonder what it’s like to sit in. Such an excellent antidote pic! Thank you! File under Dems suck: Katie Halper interviews David Sirota. Rahm Emanuel DEMOLISHED By Journalist David Sirota https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL4Sdk2HtsM “Trump’s battle to rename the Kennedy Center has put its future at risk” Been following this story over the past few weeks and it is weird. Just a few hours ago I watched a video where he was basically telling the press that if they do not let him put his name on the Kennedy Center, then it stays shut and he will let it fall apart through zero maintenance. And he is the only one out of 335 million Americans which can fix that building. At this point he is taking it personal and maybe as a test on how far he can break laws and get away with it. Why he chose the Kennedy Center originally as a personal target I do not know unless, like this article suggests, that running it was going to be like a mafia bust out. At this point I think that he wants to see that building demolished so that he can award a rich buddy a contract to build a new one with only his name on it – in gold trim of course. Kind of illustrates the thesis of the book titled “Everything Trump touches dies”. My sense of a fitting outcome would be for the Kennedy name to be replaced with DJT’s name, and then for the institution to go bankrupt. Rabid Texas A&M fans experienced the “everything Trump touches” effect yesterday… at least in a Trump adjacent manner. Pete Hegseth showed up in Texas for the game against seemingly lowly Kentucky, and the Aggies were summarily defeated 31-21. Moscow intercepts massive Ukrainian drone swarm during elections; civilian casualties reported – This is part of what Z wrote in his X account: Man if you believe Russia will “choose peace” because this latest attack you are already sniffing too much of whatever you sniff. If you believe that you have any kind of escalation dominance, man, how delusional can you be? You say that “there are steps toward de-escalation” but then you are choosing exactly de opposite. Don’t you realise how contradictory are your actions and your statements? I’m beginning to think one of the reasons why our tech overlords and their western government enablers admire Tolkien’s work so much that they’re constantly stealing names from his books. Anduril. Palantir. Erandil. Waiting to see a tech bro named Aragorn step up with a new drone to enable more remote murder… But the point is in the limited fable setting Tolkien proposed, devoid of real politics or actual material concerns, there is no forgiveness. Orcs will always be orcs. Saruman could have had a hope to achieve redemption because he was never an orc. Theoden gets a second chance because he was possessed when he did those horrible things. But the Uruk Hai, and Mordor creatures, will never be redeemed. There will never be peace between them and the race of men. Which is exactly how these people who claim to be our masters view the Iranians, the Russians, and even the Chinese. We will hear endlessly from Zelensky about bombing our way to peace. Never anything about pursuing actual peace that supports mutual interests. To make this even more on-the-nose, in some online spaces where people like to watch video of Russians getting killed by Ukrainian drones Russians are called “orcs.” Reddit’s liberal spaces, US and EU, are awash in it, too. > Shaolin kung fu training Shaolin Tong Zi Gong 少林童子功 2 Article. Scroll. ‘@ImBreckWorsham ThePatrioticBlonde™🇺🇸 @ImBreckWorsham Per CNN: CNN: “Israel’s favorability all negative — not just with Dems, the general electorate has turned against Israel… not just a left issue, an American issue… a 67 point shift against Israel…”’ Israel won’t be worried what Americans think because they control both the Senate and the House so they will continue to receive billions of dollars each year along with a never ending stream of weaponry and diplomatic cover internationally. And if people get really more antsy, they will have their trained seals in Congress pass yet more laws equating criticism of Israel with antisemitism. So nothing will fundamentally change. I wouldn’t say nothing will change. Maybe only very small changes have been noticable, but I think a lot of the last year (at least even Re: US elections) would have been different if people weren’t increasingly aware of how morally corrupt and politically ubiquitous Zionism is. I’m not a sociologist, but I think change normally sets in fairly slowly. Even our current situation wouldn’t have been able to materialize if not for the slow, patient unfolding of regulations, subversion of expectations and sowing of divisions over the last century, basically. Not that the minimal change seen so far is enough, but that’s all the more reason to keep it going. Yeah the conclusion she reaches is the typical blame Trump for the system he’s just a product of. It’s not just Trump that supports Israel still. It’s the majority of our elected officials and the oligarchs who own the government. In the end, the voters fee fees don’t matter and never have. Yes, I’m waiting here with bated breath to hear how a D-controlled House (and possibly the Senate, as well) will support “”democracy” in Iran and Ukraine after November. What’s the over-under on AOC weasel-wording support for future war budgets? The Jewish intellectual community has failed to enforce the idea that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism (looking at you, NPR). Americans are going to be looking for someone to blame. Easy to see a strong comeback of the latter. I hope I’m wrong. It typically takes 4-6 years for the public to figure out that something has gone badly wrong, usually because the media coverage is ambiguous, the propaganda is highly effective among most audiences, and/or the lack of a visible cause-and-effect relationship from economic or political decisions, actions, and their results years later. Examples: Vietnam War, Bush II, Iraq War. Iran and Israel are running ahead of schedule in this respect. Just give it a little more time. Waiiittt hold up – so Anthropic, an AI tech company, is running a bio lab on US soil and that isn’t front page news?! Antifaxer: Waiiittt hold up – so Anthropic, an AI tech company, is running a bio lab on US soil and that isn’t front page news?! Not in the least. Every AI company, from Google DeepMind’s CEO Demis Hassabis winning a Nobel Prize in chemistry for the company’s AI research on protein structure folding on, is probably running one or more bio labs. Biogenetics with hard, curated datasets is arguably the thing that the current generation of AI does best (i.e. better than it does with mushy human semantic data). That said, just because AI companies run bio labs that doesn’t mean they do in-house DNA synthesis. Research‑grade, low‑volume oligos where IP is involved are usually supplied by European or US-based DNA synthesis houses, while bulk oligos and things like, say, RNA‑targeted therapeutics by Chinese DNA synthesis plants. https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/18/politics/us-military-ai-false-intelligence-china-ship A few days old but unsure if we’ve covered this yet. It just occurred to me that in a given conflict the military which does not use AI might have an advantage, whereas one which does won’t know fact from fiction. There was a link to this story in Links yesterday where this AI hallucinated this Chinese ship carrying parts for Iran’s nuclear program so the US military was about to storm and detain that ship. So what happens if an AI hallucinates Chinese or Russian missiles being launched to attack the US? Does the US counter launch? I wonder if this actual boarding incident from 2025 was also AI induced: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/us-forces-raided-ship-headed-iran-china-indian-ocean-wsj-says-2025-12-12/ And, finding nothing, they “destroyed the cargo” before letting the ship continue. ‘Iran War’ People criticize Trump here about this war but he will let you know that he has in fact won this war and said so repeatedly- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hDYVMJiqn9s VLCC tanker orders are way up for next year https://www.semafor.com/article/09/18/2026/new-tanker-orders-spike-as-iran-war-redraws-trade-routes From Mario Nawfal last night. BREAKING: IRAN MILITARY GOES ON HIGHEST ALERT, U.S BOMBER TAKES OFF https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdN_DJ9wpp4 Piers Morgan & the Cantonese-speaking AI bot: Thank Hof she switched to Chinese so I couldn‘t understand her AI-babble, the anodyne, personality-free vocabulary and expressions All AI-„actors“ should be forbidden to speak in audience‘s language just to spare them the pain. JFC what a horrible experience listening to her…. Is this the future of movies, interviews and anything with actors? Maybe people out there have a little bit or self-respect and stop watching movies. I’m waiting for hackers to get busy so that that when it is in the middle of an interview, it’s face will revert to one of the aliens from the film “They Live.” There’s no walking back that one. I like that idea. https://www.indiewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/M8DTHLI_EC020.jpg If I could get those glasses I wonder what Trump would look like. Counterproductive, I’d say. These faces match the AI-babble style so could empathize with such counter-parties. i have a hard time articulate what is so repugnant with the linguistic expressions. The closest I come is that it has the attitude of the offspring of the Epstein-paedophile power-couple Clintons and her “I am sorry you feel that way” brainfarth in New Zealand. This style of putting the guilt on you while she is the one familyblogging up. Some sort of von Oben, disconnected, off way. Human. In the movie, the skeletons are merely the leaders as the mass of them are quislings. Think of the British Raj with the British are in charge, but most of the work is done by the native leaders. The only plausible use case I can imagine is to add some simulated depth to interactions with NPCs in computer/console-based role-playing games. But I doubt the economics of that could work. So, no plausible use case that I can imagine. On getting that COVID shot: “If you don’t want to miss time from work or school, or you don’t want to get other people sick, particularly if you live with or spend time around high-risk people, getting the vaccine is a wise choice.” — Dr. Joseph T. Cooke Seems to imply that the shots prevent infection and transmission. Glad to know “the Science” is getting better… “leading health organizations … have issued independent, evidence-based recommendations” What: US medical cartels have decided to issue evidence-based recommendations? Why the radical change? Actually, no point asking – they’ll just take the Fifth. Internet search suggests that the CV vaccines can reduce transmission risk (but certainly do not eliminate it, as you note). The quote could be improved by including language about “reducing transmission risk”. But even without it, I think the quote is arguably valid (but I agree that a typical hearer would interpret “prevent transmission” rather than “reduce risk”) in that even if transmission is only reduced, the vaccine does have some protective effect toward others. Turning the calendar back a few years, at one time there was buzz about sterilizing mucosal immunity through intranasal administration. I haven’t seen that in the news for a couple of years. It seems that few care any more. I never see N95s unless I happen to look into a mirror, and even my primary care physician stopped wearing the blue paper procedure masks a while ago. “Is outer space the new Wild West?” Not really. More like the high arena for Cold War 2.0 where the US is using its technology to spread American corporations into space and the Moon to exploit it. That is the real purpose of the Artemis Accords – and why it was done privately and not through the UN like how the Outer Space Treaty was done. And of course you have the US Space Force whose commander said that it’s mission was to “dominate” space like something out of “Starship Troopers” whose uniforms coincidentally are being used to model the latest US Space Force uniforms. It’s going to be the battleground for the 21st century unless a Kessler syndrome saves us. I could live without satellites if it would mean no nukes orbiting the Earth. so, if the “establishment” democrats don’t want to “help” the new blood….. so what? The establishment democrats are the ones who lost to trump twice. They are the ones who can’t actually “fight” the republican corruption schemes….. until we give them some money…. to do so… So I’m told on these ads they run on youtube… . I think If anyone wants to run as a real candidate… they would do well to stay as far away from establishment democrats as possible. The only group that are as big a bunch of losers as the republicans are the democrats… I think a lot of americans are going to vote for someone who is NOT OK with the things that are happening. democrats and republicans…. A pox on both their houses. I think the problem is that the “not helping” part means “actively fighting or sabotaging candidates the Democratic Politburo doesn’t like”. You’ve seen the lengths they went to sabotage Bernie’s first run, and IMHO they haven’t backed off since. Unless you can do an organized write in campaign, it’s likely going to be hard to vote for someone who is not on the ballot. I don’t have a lot of confidence that contributions solicited for the ostensible purpose of fighting R corruption will not be used to suppress progressive and further left candidates in primaries. “the minister is heard instructing troops to “grab the babies in Gaza and smash their heads on the rock.” Psalm 137 (NRSVU) Hmm. It’s disturbing how a spiteful thought from the Bronze Age has been preserved and rears it ugly head once again in the 21st century. That is one seriously broken woman that. FWIW, the woman appears to be news correspondent reporting the incident, not actually calling for murder herself. I watched the clip. Some commander pulls out his phone and dials a Knesset minister for something he calls “Surprise Zionism.” He asks the minister to rally the troops (who I assume are going into Gaza?) by giving him 30 seconds to spout some Zionistic nonsense over speakerphone. The minister agrees and gives the Psalm quote that Henry Moon Pie references. It’s gross and disgusting, but it’s also sort comes off as staged? I mean, if you want to order your soldiers to kill babies, be craven enough to do it yourself. But hey, maybe having a Knesset member give the order really gives the soldiers purpose. What a society … My immediate thought also. I wonder to what extent the hearers “got” the allusion — my understanding of the secular/religious divide in Israel is that the people who want to spend all day studying the ancient texts generally don’t wind up on the front lines. CENTCOM reported the oil through Hormuz last teo month, USA : 1 billion barrel Iran: 0 Can we call him Hormuz Brad now? I was going to link the video, but, didn’t want to waste your time. Rhyd Wildermuth: Apocalypse Not. A good explainer, from the mysterious appearance of panicked Jacob Coxon to the general panic to the call for a slowdown. I tend to doubt that the biggies of simulated intelligence are going to get that “regulatory moat,” given that the U S of A hardly regulates industry at all anymore. Also, Wildermuth lives in Luxembourg, so he shows some good transatlantic distance from the panic in the Anglosphere. So we are still back at Matt Stoller’s idea of an elite crime wave with “reverse regulatory capture.” https://rhyd.substack.com/p/apocalypse-not Simulated intelligence works best with “hard” data sets (as Michaelmas notes above) and spreadsheets. It is advanced tabulation at high speed. The ability of simulated intelligence to generate documents and outlines quickly has nothing to do with intelligence. I’m so old I remember when even Jaron Lanier, who should have been more skeptical, was predicting that virtual reality would be the Next Big Thing. And it ended up as what? IMAX moviehouses? Some animated museum displays of events? I trust you all have your VR headpieces at the ready. Wow that sac bee (Reuters) article is amazing. Fact free. it’s just a ‘feud’ right? Not that 70% of dem party base is against Israel, while the leadership still is trying to crush anti AIPAC dems…etc…. This isn’t a new horror Russell may have read With no direct connection to today’s Links, but with a relevance to all local efforts at resilience and restoration, a Cleveland.com writer has produced an informative article about a local controversy about some small lakes dividing two Cleveland suburbs. The locale for this microcosm of humanity’s dilemma is Shaker Heights, OH, once a nationally known, early example of a planned, and very affluent suburb. Separating Shaker Heights from Cleveland Heights, are two man-made lakes surrounded by lovely parks, enhanced by some beautiful, traditional architecture. The lakes’ dams, however, pre-dated Shaker Heights. They were constructed by an early 19th century Shaker colony that used the resulting power for grain and lumber mills. Less than a decade ago, a sinkhole appeared near one of these dams, the lake was partially drained to enable further inspection, and, not surprisingly, the old dam and its sister were both classed as high-hazard dams with a substantial risk of failure in the event of a flash flood. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources ordered one of the lakes drained in 2019, but offered no further, permanent solution. The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, responsible for managing stormwater in the area, became involved as a potential funder of a permanent solution, and they devised a plan that would demolish one dam while repairing the other. Where the lake had been above the eliminated dam, the plan was to restore the original brook, a water way that extends all the way through the prettiest parts of Cleveland and on into Lake Erie. This would require the destruction of many trees, some of them mature, along with dredging and re-using the dredged material to remake the terrain. The situation involved resilience concerns about handling flash floods from torrential rains. The Sewer District design attempted to restore something originally modified more than a century ago. The community placed a high value on the status quo because it was such a lovely area with a vibrant new ecosystem adapted to the human-modified environment. The clash, now also in litigation at the federal level, reminds us that even when government officials are trying to do the right thing, there are trade-offs that can’t be avoided. Higher cost of heating in the USA northeast is more complicated than just filling heating oil tanks. Lots of us here in VT. heat with wood…I mean wood and not wood pellets. That’s another part of the story. Two years ago a cord of firewood was $200, this year I’m hearing $400. Much of the wood used for firewood is rejects from logging. Lots of folks will buy a log-load delivered and then buck and split it for firewood for themselves and family and some to sell, but I hear there’s problems finding logs this year. I can well imagine logging slowing down as diesel costs increase. Somewhat the same story for pellets. Pellets are a convenient way to heat. pour a bag of pellets in the hopper and a thermostat actuates a small auger cranks a quantity of pellets into the stove. However, this needs electricity. Here’s another factoid about pellets – they use heaps of them in the UK and guess who is the largest supplier. Yep. Us. So there’s some cascading consequences resulting from Trump’s wet-ware drying out as an increasing pace. A calculation that is on my mind is that at a heat content of home heating oil of 146 million joules (or about 41 kilowatt-hours) per gallon and a residential retail electricity cost of $0.15 per KWh, it is cheaper to heat with electricity than heating oil when the oil price is above about $6.10, which I think we have reached or will soon reach. That assumes that the demand for electricity for DIY electric home heating (space heaters in the basement to keep the pipes from freezing, for example) doesn’t spike the electricity price. The article on Covid vax does not mention the protein-based, more effective/less side effects Novavax vaccine. It usually arrives a few weeks after the mRNA vax.