Links for you. Science:
A Course in Organic Chemistry Doesn’t Need to Be a Living Hell
Whales are dying. Ropes from lobster traps are partly to blame. That’s put lobsters — and the people who catch them — in the crosshairs of conservation groups.
The marked contrast in pandemic outcomes between Japan and the United States
Study suggests an immunological benefit of combining previous natural infection with vaccination against COVID-19 using a combination of different vaccine platforms
Four years after launch, NASA scientist Allison Youngblood talks about the discoveries of TESS
Hand-washing and mask-wearing: Covid rules we would be wise to keep
Other:
System Fail
Herschel Walker, Donald Trump, and the Christian right’s long, slow self-destruction. The Christian right were always a bunch of hypocrites, going back to Bill Clinton. They can’t hide from it anymore
Ye Olde Freak Show
The Doctor Is In — And Wants You To Vote: How Physicians Are Saving Democrats After Roe
Manufacturing Nostalgia
The Disappearing Art Of Maintenance
3 Ohio judicial candidates accused of breaking ethics code, told PAC abortion isn’t Constitutional right
It’s time to redouble and refocus our efforts to fight covid, not retreat
A 50/50 Custody Arrangement Could Save Your Marriage
Lifting Up the Rock on the Gutter Right
Will a jury finally convict white insurrectionists? The government’s case is strong. But history is against it.
Putin’s Shadow Recruits
A Pennsylvania Prison Gets a Scandinavian-Style Makeover – and Shows How the US Penal System Could Become More Humane
Canada’s main covid legacy? Right-wing populism.
Election denialists unleash an array of strategies aimed at undermining democracy itself
We Had to Force the Constitution to Accommodate Democracy, and It Shows
The Problem With Herschel Walker and His Republican Enablers Is Not Their Hypocrisy
Everyone’s Health Is in Your Hands: Biden Admin Blames You. We’re all trying to find the guy who did this.
Not A Nice Person
Arizona GOP candidate says Google won’t let you search his campaign website. He turned off search
Professional Bears Certify Equipment As Bearproof
Sounds Bad
The GIF Is on Its Deathbed
On Pennsylvania’s campaign trail, the doctor will see you now
mikethemadbiologist
For the record, on the ground here, the Japanese response doesn’t look/seem/feel as good as that article makes it out to be. Up until Jan. 2022, except for the stupidity of not cancelling the Olympics (one news item had it that minor variants previously unique to Japan were detected in 60 other countries), Japan was doing OK. Nowhere near as well as New Zealand, but OK. But they completely gave up on doing anything about Covid, and over 300 people were dying a day (in a country with 2/5 the population of the US) at the worst of the last peak. Now Japan is reopening to tourism, just before the fall/winter peaks of the new, more immune evasive, variants that are expected to be coming. Serious stupidity.
As I’ve said before, Japan’s success has been due to the population (there are almost no insane idiots here (everyone is still wearing masks), as opposed to the 1/3 of the US population that are) and local governments busting their butts.