Links 1/13/2024 | naked capitalism

Mystery of why “the greatest primate to ever inhabit the Earth” went extinct is finally solved, scientists say CBS (Kevin W)

The Hidden World of Undersea Cables Brian Klaas (Chuck L)

NASA Unveils Revolutionary X-59 ‘Quiet’ Supersonic Aircraft Space

E-Nose Sniffs Out Coffee Varieties Nearly Perfectly Like Shazam but for java, the tech can help quantify coffee signatures Spectrum IEEE

What a trip to the farmers’ market says about our biological differences Globe and Mail (Dr. Kevin). I DESPISE articles like this. Friggin’ aggressive gender role enforcement.

Breakthrough Alzheimer’s Discovery Reveals Five Distinct Variants ScienceAlert (Chuck L)

Maybe, just maybe, psychedelics are the “master key” for unlocking everything from blindness to stroke to anorexia Vox

Your pacemaker should be running open source software The Register (Chuck L)

Amazing Glove Is Life Changing For Those With Parkinson’s ScienceAlert (Chuck L)

Precarious manhood beliefs linked to erectile dysfunction, study finds PsyPost. Chuck L: “Who knew there was an International Index of Erectile Function?”

#COVID-19

Ongoing COVID-19 surge heralds another winter of death WSWS (guurst)

Why long COVID can cause exhaustion, or post-exertional malaise, after exercise NPR (David L)

Shit is getting real—Johns Hopkins Hospital medical system has now instituted mandatory mask wearing for all visitors, patients, faculty & staff statewide at @JohnsHopkins clinics. Bandanas, gaiters and masks with exhalation valves are not permitted. #CovidIsNotOver #MaskUp https://t.co/j0f5jbLqo9

— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) January 11, 2024

El colapso de las funerarias por las muertes por gripe y covid: “Los familiares esperan cuatro días para enterrar a una persona” 5TeleCinco. Machine translation: The collapse of funeral homes due to deaths from flu and covid: “Family members wait four days to bury a person” (GM)

Climate/Environment

Arctic blast: Record-breaking cold weather forecast for many states BBC (Kevin W)

What Is Bitcoin’s True Environmental Impact? Spectrum IEEE (David L)

China?

William Lai set to be Taiwan’s next president after opposition concedes BBC

US-China chip war may extend to legacy chips Asia Times (Kevin W)

India

India gets a rude awakening in West Asia Indian Punchline (Kevin W)

Ecuador

‘The World I Knew Before Is Gone’: Ecuador Reels After Days of Unrest New York Times

European Disunion

With Finkan AB, this can make you really rich aftonbladet Micael T:

Finkan = slang for prison. “Sweden will become one of the countries in Europe with the highest percentage of prisoners. Together with Turkey, we will have the most people locked up in detention centers and prisons per capita.” JFC!

Tusk warns of ‘other ways’ to pursue Polish central bank chief Financial Times

Gaza

‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 98: Israel claims ‘self defense’ at ICJ, as U.S. and U.K. launch air strikes on Yemen Mondoweiss

Connections Podcast Episode 85 – South Africa Charges Israel with Genocide at the ICJ with Norman Finkelstein, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 Jadaliyya (furnace). Part 4 is to come. This series consists of a discussion before the South Africa oral argument, based on its filing, then an analysis of the South African oral argument and the Israel oral argument after each happened.

As predicted, the Grayzone team is saddling up:

In defending Israel at the ICJ, Malcolm Shaw opens with a patently false statement by EU’s Ursula von der Leyen claiming Hamas butchered many babies on Oct 7

Yet only one baby was killed on Oct 7: Mila Cohen, shot by accident in Beeri

There’s also no evidence Hamas militants… pic.twitter.com/71Ix4mDUP1

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) January 12, 2024

UN human rights official warns Security Council of ‘very real’ risk of atrocities in Gaza Arab News

🇵🇸🇮🇱🚨‼️ BREAKING: Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, has no fuel and no electricity. https://t.co/vEAwxMqBe8 pic.twitter.com/Urm75Yk18R

— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) January 12, 2024

“Israel as abomination.” Cara MariAnna, The Floutist (Chuck L)

* * *

US Launches Strikes on Yemen, and Other Updates Simplicius the Thinker

US strikes on Yemen won’t solve anything Responsible Statecraft

Huge rally in Yemen capital after US and UK strike Houthi targets BBC

Yemenis singing a war chant

“We don’t care, we don’t care, we don’t care! Turn it into a major world war! My heart longs for the rifle! By god this life is forbidden for me. On God’s path bitterness tasted sweet..welcome o’ death, o’ our wish!”

pic.twitter.com/AoccLY6ujj

— deeeeeee (@revolutionaryem) January 12, 2024

Erdogan accuses US, Britain of trying to turn Red Sea into ‘sea of blood’ TASS

* * *

Israel barred from ice hockey championships RT (Kevin W)

Biden Secretly Giving Targeting Support to Israel Amid Genocide Case Ken Klipperstein (Chuck L)

Among Democrats, support for Israel has cratered Kevin Drum (Kevin W)

New Not-So-Cold War

Brussels prepares concessions to Viktor Orbán over Ukraine aid Financial Times

EU parliament launches ‘historic’ push to sanction Hungary RT (Kevin W)

Russia’s Medvedev says deployment of British troops in Ukraine will mean ‘declaration of war’ Anadolu Agency

Interview with Colonel Vladimir Trukhan Black Mountain Analysis (Li)

GONZALO LIRA, QUE LE VAYA BIEN Larry Johnson

Gonzalo Lira is reported dead in Ukrainian prison from prolonged, untreated illness.

This isn’t “infotainment.” This is real. Standing up to the worst people on Earth has consequences.

It was Gonzalo Lira today, it can be any one of us tomorrow. https://t.co/SzWykn4ofC

— Brian Berletic (@BrianJBerletic) January 12, 2024

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Attack of the week: Airdrop tracing CryptographyEngineering (Paul R)

Are Fingerprints Unique? Not Really, AI-Based Study Finds CNN

Imperial Collapse Watch

Russia and China are Melding Dmitry Orlov, Dialogue Works (Li)

Old Wars vs New Wars: Is there any difference? Kesida (BC)

US judge gives go-ahead to execution by new method RT (Kevin W)

Trump

Federal judge dumps pyramid scheme lawsuit against Trump Courthouse News Service (furzy)

Budget Brinksmanship

Democrats reject Johnson’s border demands as part of Ukraine aid package The Hill

Our No Longer Free Press

Poison Spiders at the Center of the Web James Howard Kunstler (Kevin W)

US Tech Innovation Dreams Soured By Changed R&D Tax Laws The Register

Boeing Planes Falling Apart

How Boeing Bought Washington Lever News (Chuck L)

US Regulator Considers Stripping Boeing’s Right To Self-Inspect Planes Financial Times. Jason P also flags a non-paywalled writeup on Slashdot.

Why Trump’s Pentagon chief is embroiled in Boeing’s safety fiasco Politico

Guillotine Watch

The Billionaires Spending a Fortune To Lure Scientists Away From Universities New York Times

Antidote du jour. Tracie H: “Rhodesian Ridgeback enjoying a stroll at a Farmers Market.”

And a bonus (Chuck L):

Friendly cheetah wants pets from a wildlife photographer pic.twitter.com/ezNfG1p9zn

— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) January 12, 2024

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here