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Ig Nobel prizes 2024: The unexpected science that won this year New Scientist (Micael T)
Gorillas self-medicate with plants. We could soon use them for our own medicine ZMEScience (Dr. Kevin)
How the world’s smelliest fruit is making coffee more expensive BBC (Robin K). Durian is supposed to be delish. You see huge piles of them in outdoor markets. so they have to sell well.
Skyscraper Tsunami Unleashed by Seismic Anomaly Never Seen Before Science Alert (Chuck L)
Why You Can Never Tune a Piano Open Culture (Micael T)
Why Are Bands Mysteriously Disappearing? YouTube (Micael T)
Cancer, the Master of Hijacking Eric Topol (Robin K)
Climate/Environment
London saw a surprising benefit to fining high-polluting cars: More active kids Grist
It took 50,000 gallons of water to put out Tesla Semi fire in California, US agency says Associated Press (Kevin W)
As feared, Storm Boris is wreaking havoc across parts of Central Europe with major flooding becoming widespread throughout the region. Here’s a 50-hour visible satellite and radar loop courtesy of @zoom_earth pic.twitter.com/F9KRA2SKeO
— Nahel Belgherze (@WxNB_) September 15, 2024
Heavy flooding in central Europe has countries seek EU aid, funds Euractiv
This is a follow-up to the analysis I shared last week on the profitability of the Chinese NEV sector.
This time I focused on EV sector profitability in the U.S. pic.twitter.com/ALRKBrUTiS
— Glenn (@GlennLuk) September 15, 2024
AI ‘accelerating’ climate crisis, uses 30 times more energy than search engine: analyst South China Morning Post
Climate protesters block Dutch highway while police strike Reuters
China?
China needs ‘bazooka stimulus’ to hit growth target as economy slows across the board Fortune
China’s Fading Hunger for Grain Spells Trouble for World Farmers Bloomberg
Down Under
Albanese has a second chance with AUKUS Pearls and Irritations (Kevin W)
Africa
Sudanese city pounded as analysts report ‘unprecedented’ combat New Arab
Briton and Americans among 37 given death sentence over DRC coup attempt Guardian
South of the Border
In Honduras, Libertarians and Legal Claims Threaten to Bankrupt a Nation Inside Climate News
European Disunion
German Border Checks Take Effect as Tensions Over Migration Rise Bloomberg
Dresden bridge collapse symbolises German decay Unherd
Truly extraordinarily powerful interview of Dominique de Villepin, former Prime Minister of France, on Gaza.
I can’t stress enough how rare it is to hear a former French PM speak like this.
He says France “no longer has a voice on the international scene”, because (among other… pic.twitter.com/JFr7ZBCcHf
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) September 13, 2024
Old Blighty
Starmer under pressure to distance UK from Italy’s hard-right immigration plans Guardian (Kevin W)
‘Our winter fuel payment goes into the holiday kitty’ BBC (Kevin W)
Gaza
⚡️ ⭕️ #Lebanon, Hezbollah: Summary of 12 operations against the positions and deployment of the #Israeli enemy army on the Lebanese-Palestinian border on Sunday 09-15-2024, according to the following:
1- Targeting the headquarters of the armored battalions of the 188th Brigade… pic.twitter.com/lq7cvfNMyr
— Middle East Observer (@ME_Observer_) September 15, 2024
New release @NRC_Norway and 14 aid orgs: “83% of required food aid does not make it into Gaza, up from 34% in 2023. This reduction means people in Gaza have gone from having an average of two meals a day to just one meal every other day.” The intensification of starvation pic.twitter.com/4G6vjDXsYp
— Nicola Perugini (@PeruginiNic) September 17, 2024
The tents of displaced families along the beach of central Gaza are being swallowed by rising waves, while the world drowns in its own silence, indifferent to their suffering. pic.twitter.com/fEpKX6s3BP
— Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) September 15, 2024
Hamas official says despite war losses, terror group has recruited ‘new generations Times of Israel
New Not-So-Cold War
Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians abroad reportedly want to renounce their citizenship Overton via machine translation (Micael T)
US Provoked the 1979 Russian Invasion of Afghanistan: Parallel to the Ukraine War? Antiwar.com (Kevin W)
Imperial Collapse Watch
Canadian military admits new sleeping bags are not suited to Canadian winters Guardian (Kevin W). Overly aggressive global warming estimates?
Bloomberg assessed likelihood of civil unrest in 20 largest economies in world… The US ranks third MSN
The Crumbling Nuclear Order Foreign Affairs
BREAKING: A massive pipeline fire shooting a towering pillar of flame over suburban Houston, Texas
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) September 16, 2024
Second Trump Assassination Attempt
Would-be Trump assassin exploited security hole that Secret Service has known about for years — and the pictures prove it New York Post
BREAKING: Meta has already scrubbed the Facebook page of the would be Trump Assassin Ryan Routh.
Watch it disappear in real time: pic.twitter.com/nIhlsvJjMt
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) September 15, 2024
Kamala
CNN’s Harry Enten Warns Harris Currently In Polling ‘Danger Zone’ pic.twitter.com/PmJrdZORV7
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 16, 2024
Kamala Harris helped shut down Backpage.com. Sex workers are still feeling the fallout. Politico
2024
Inflation has slowed, but the economy remains a big issue for voters in picking a president Kansas Reflector (Robin K)
Pennsylvania court rejects Cornel West’s bid to get on ballot and clears way for mail voting Associated Press
Police State Watch
This Is What Happens When We Flood the Subway System With Police Intercept
Our No Longer Free Press
Some Truth Bombs At the UN Craig Murray
Lawsuit Takes on Federal Campaign to Silence Vaccine Injury Claims Reclaim the Net (Micael T)
Elon’s Brazilian Corporate Law Surprise Adam Levitin, Credit Slips
Mr. Market Gets What He Wants
It’s a big week for central banks around the world, with a slew of rate moves on the table CNBC
AI
Chat GPT’s new O1 model escaped its environment to complete “impossible” hacking task — should we be concerned? ZMEScience (Dr. Kevin)
Nvidia CEO: “We can’t do computer graphics anymore without artificial intelligence” TechSpot (Kevin W)
Class Warfare
Security guard at Boeing draws a gun in altercation with picket Seattle Times
Radhika Desai’s Marxist lens illuminates the path to a post-capitalist future Morning Star (Robin K)
Antidote du jour. Tracie H: “The San Diego Botanic Gardens in Encinitas California has a lovely little pond that attracts these beauties.”
And a bonus (Robin K):
Still wondering how this species survive in the wild.. 😅 pic.twitter.com/aaTaqZNHE1
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) September 15, 2024
A second bonus (Chuck L):
Lynx and a hummingbird.. 😊 pic.twitter.com/pzDpuVD9Vf
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) September 16, 2024
