Links for you. Science:
Covid isn’t as bad this winter. Flu is worse. Here’s why.
What is a ‘sting jet’? Explaining a rare and destructive meteorological feature.
The intriguing phenomenon helping planes slingshot across the Atlantic at 800 mph
Distinct pro-inflammatory/pro-angiogenetic signatures distinguish children with Long COVID from controls
The dodo bird is extinct. This scientist says she can bring it back. The company she works for is betting millions it can realize a once-far-fetched idea of “de-extinction.” (puff piece, but still some interesting things in it)
Under Trump, we could be flying blind when it comes to bird flu, other infectious diseases
Other:
Trump Doesn’t Get to Decide What the Constitution Means
Why RFK Jr. Is Dangerous to Public Health (after platforming a bunch of the Great Barrington Declaration assholes though…)
New Poll Recommends Eating the Billionaires
The Essential Incoherence of the End of the Biden Presidency. One reason the president goes out with low approval ratings is that his agenda was internally contradictory.
Asking and Telling
Mouthbreathing Machiavellis Dream of a Silicon Reich (note the publication date)
TikTok Says It’s Not Censoring ‘Free Palestine’ Comments. Users See Something Different
The Needs of the Many
Mr. Grift Goes to Washington
Swallow the Money (Brooke Harrington’s Offshore: Stealth Wealth and the New Colonialism is very good)
‘I am terrified’: Workers describe the dark mood inside federal agencies
Meta’s Free-Speech Shift Made It Clear to Advertisers: ‘Brand Safety’ Is Out of Vogue
Turn Off and Tune Out
Elon Musk Is Giving Europeans a Headache
Elon: Italy’s famous cultural homogeneity must be upheld at all costs
The AI guys were lying the whole time
Murkowski and Chemnitz: Greenland “Ally, not an Asset”
The cod-Marxism of personalized pricing
If You’re A Star
The first days of Boss Politics Antitrust
These Fucking People
Musk tells Germans to “move beyond” the Holocaust at neo-Nazi rally
I Guess, As Usual, You Didn’t Think About This One For Five Seconds
Did a Private Equity Fire Truck Roll-Up Worsen the L.A. Fires?
Why Did We Stop Talking About Medicare For All?
Letters from an American: January 20, 2025
mikethemadbiologist
We were in to MGH yesterday for spouse checkup. As is our wont we were of course masked parking garage to parking garage and both surprised at how few were masked; direct interaction (aides) masked up after noticing we were masked, and the only one who came in the room masked was the doctor.
Generally, across complex, I would say a minority if not substantial minority were masked …