Dickens’s Multitudes New York Review of Books Taking a chance in Afghanistan: A Bengali traveller goes to Kabul in the 1920s Scroll Robert Darnton and Zhang Chi: a conversation Voltaire Foundation ‘The Truffle Hunters’ review: A rich and poignant portrait of the quest for culinary gold Scroll Big cats likely sick with COVID-19 at National Zoo […]

By Wolf Richter, editor of Wolf Street. Originally published at Wolf Street. Foreign investors piled into the property sector over the years, buying hundreds of billions of dollars in bonds, including dollar bonds issued by China’s property developers. They bought those bonds because they liked those yields, in some cases over 10%, thinking that the […]

By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans. A study published in the journal OneEarth on Friday describes the drastic decline in the health of the world’s coral reefs since the 1950s, Global decline in capacity of coral reefs to […]

Bruce Is a Parrot With a Broken Beak. So He Invented a Tool. NYT From Reviled to Adored bioGraphic. From February, still germane. ROCK OF AGES: WHAT GRAHAM GREENE CAN TEACH THE MODERN NOVELIST Crime Reads Signs Point to Sears Closing Brooklyn Store, Its Last Outpost in New York City The City Flocculent and Feculent […]

By Christina Philippou, Principal Lecturer, Accounting and Financial Management, University of Portsmouth. Originally published at The Conversation. In May 2021, Fifa began exploring the idea of holding a men’s football World Cup every two years instead of four. Further plans have since been unveiled, and the proposal, which originally came from Saudi Arabia, has received support […]

Scientists find evidence of humans making clothes 120,000 years ago Guardian (The Rev Kev) Can Flight Attendants Tell If You Don’t Put Your Phone Into Airplane Mode? Conde Nast Traveler Italy’s Book Doctor Craftsmanship Quarterly New York Times essay complains it’s ‘sexist’ for Elizabeth Holmes to be held accountable for Theranos disaster Fox (The Rev […]

By Rory Horner, Senior Lecturer, Global Development Institute, University of Manchester. Originally published at The Conversation. The latest supply forecast for Covax – the programme for sharing COVID-19 vaccines around the world – suggests that accelerating vaccination in low-income countries looks unlikely. Covax estimates it will have distributed 1.425 billion vaccine doses by the end of […]

By Brett Wilkins. Originally published at Common Dreams Following a rare Pentagon admission Friday that a remote-controlled airstrike which killed 10 Afghan civilians in the closing days of the war in Afghanistan was a “horrible mistake,” anti-war and human rights advocates asserted that “war crimes are not oopsies,” while calling on the U.S. to end […]

By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans. The 2021-2022 ushers in a new era for college athletes: they may now strike commercial endorsement deals and benefit from the use or their names, images, and likenesses (NIL). Before this season, […]

Saudi Arabia camel carvings dated to prehistoric era BBC Animal House: Ferrets, Guinea Pigs, Lizards Accompany Students to Campus WSJ The world’s most expensive animals BBC Outcry over killing of almost 1,500 dolphins on Faroe Islands The Guardian (David L) No escape: Prince Andrew is seen with Fergie at Balmoral hideout after High Court agreed […]

By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans. The state of New York this week passed a law that bans the sale of fossil fuel powered vehicles after 2034. This deadline applies to all new passenger vehicles, making New York […]

By Wolf Richter, editor of Wolf Street. Originally published at Wolf Street. Even as American leisure travelers have been out in force, for US hotels, the all-important and lucrative business travel revenues – corporate, group, government, and other commercial travel – are expected to be down by $59 billion in 2021 from 2019, according to […]

By Lauren Weber, Midwest correspondent, Kaiser Health News, and Anna Maria Barry-Jester. Originally published at Kaiser Health News. Republican legislators in more than half of U.S. states, spurred on by voters angry about lockdowns and mask mandates, are taking away the powers state and local officials use to protect the public against infectious diseases. A […]

By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans. Eighteen international vaccine experts published a review in The Lancet yesterday, Considerations in boosting COVID-19 vaccine immune responses, saying current evidence does not support a need for boosters for the fully vaccinated […]

Michelangelo’s Hidden Drawings Atlas Obscura (chuck l) Barack Obama, the Hollow Icon Jacobin Photographs from the edge The Architects Newspaper The young Vietnamese helping tackle the illegal wildlife trade Al Jazeera A horrifying new AI app swaps women into porn videos with a click MIT Technology Review Salvador Allende Was Overthrown Because His Government Showed […]

By Jake Johnson, staff writer at Common Dreams. Originally published at Common Dreams Up to half of the estimated $14 trillion that the Pentagon has spent in the two decades since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan has gone to private military contractors, with corporate behemoths such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, and General Dynamics hoovering […]

By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans. Biden’s’s  Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)  yesterday took steps to block the proposed open-pit Pebble Mine, an on-again, off-again project, on Alaska’s Bristol Bay, southwest of Anchorage and close to the world’s largest […]

Why the world still loves 1970s detective show Columbo BBC Art, terror and erections show VR potential at Venice France 24 ‘A Loveable Anarchist’: The Oral History of Mr Blobby Vice Wingwalker to the Rescue Air & Space NO LAUGHING MATTER? WHAT THE ROMANS FOUND FUNNY Antigone The unlikely protector against Bangladesh’s rising seas BBC […]

By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans. I’ve long taken a jaundiced view of the influence business has on politics and public policy – a perspective I first developed by studies with Tom Ferguson at MIT in the early […]

By Thomas Neuburger. Originally published at God’s Spies Charts showing Covid daily cases and Covid daily death through September 1. Note the difference in the ratio of new cases to deaths in the left third of the charts (source: CDC)  An uncomfortable fact. We have two problems with Covid in the U.S., not just one. […]

By Lynn Parramore, Senior Research Analyst at the Institute for New Economic Thinking. Originally published at the Institute for New Economic Thinking website It was a bad week for freedom in America. With Texas banning most abortions and empowering self-appointed vigilantes to stop women from exercising their right to reproductive healthcare, and the Supreme Court letting […]

By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans. One silver lining to being more or less voluntarily confined to home during the latest phase of the pandemic is the chance it’s provided for reacquainting myself with Brooklyn’s outdoor greenmarkets (double-masked.) […]

Space station astronaut captures breathtaking view of the edge of the Earth CNET Prince Andrew has avoided NY sex accuser’s attempts to serve him legal papers NY Post Research on gecko tails presents unique movement applicable to robotics The Daily Californian Gecko stowaway travels 2,500 miles in Altrincham family’s suitcase BBC Jean-Paul Belmondo: the beaten-up […]

By Joan Fitzgerald, Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, Northeastern University and Julian Agyeman, Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, Tufts University. Originally published at The Conversation. The US$1.2 trillion infrastructure bill now moving through Congress will bring money to cities for much-needed investments in roads, bridges, public transit networks, water infrastructure, electric power […]

By Kenny Stancil, staff writer at Common Dreams. Originally published at Common Dreams More than 38.2 million Americans struggled with food insecurity at some point last year, a roughly 9% surge in hunger compared with the 2019 level of 35.2 million, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA’s new […]

By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released two reports last month, Persistent Chemical Contaminants and Plastic Contamination, documenting the presence of PFAS and plastics contamination in compost. According to the EPA’s website: Per- and […]

You bloody fool’: Australian talking duck proves birds can imitate speech Guardian MCILVANNEY AND ME: IAN RANKIN REMEMBERS THE MAN WHO CREATED TARTAN NOIR Crime Reads Turbulent Music, Turbulent Life New York Review of Books Ida-Deluged NYC Drainage System All But Forgotten in Climate Battle The City Bengal: 24 Tea Garden Workers Critically Injured in […]

By Sonali Kolhatkar, the founder, host and executive producer of “Rising Up With Sonali,” a television and radio show that airs on Free Speech TV and Pacifica stations. Produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall off the coast of Louisiana, triggering a […]

By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans. A major biodiversity conference  kicked off in Marseille last week with the release of the latest Red List of Threatened Species. The first such list dates to 1964, in the latest, The […]

Happy Labor Day! This Labor Day, We Remember Our Essential Workers Capital & Main Heron becomes NYC icon after being pictured devouring rat for breakfast in Central Park Independent Theology’s Invisible Hand Commonweal The Publishing Ecosystem in the Digital Era: On John B. Thompson’s “Book Wars” LA Review of Books HOW THE FRENCH CONNECTION REINVENTED […]

By Janet Bednarek, Professor of History, University of Dayton. Originally published at The Conversation. During the mid-1990s I traveled between Dayton, Ohio, and Washington, D.C., twice a month during the school year as half of a commuting couple. I could leave Dayton by 5:15 p.m., drive nearly 80 miles to the Columbus airport during rush […]

By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans. The following ABC news report caught my eye –  an unintentional parody of the lack of urgency governments are collectively devoting to prevent drowning ourselves in plastics waste, Countries take steps toward […]

By Anis Chowdhury, Adjunct Professor at Western Sydney University and University of New South Wales (Australia), who held senior United Nations positions in New York and Bangkok and Jomo Kwame Sundaram, a former economics professor, who was United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, and received the Wassily Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of […]

Will it Be Enough? Sidecar The mysterious disappearance of the world’s longest shrubbery BBC Future How Ida dodged NYC’s flood defenses MIT Technology Review Satellite Images Find ‘Substantial’ Oil Spill in Gulf After Ida NYT (Dan K) Let Your Fridge Go Off for an Hour to Save Our Power Grids NYT. RM: “$70/hr. to turn […]

By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans. With all that’s been happening in the world, I missed that the UK enacted new right to repair rules, effective for products purchased from 1 July onwards. This is part of a […]

Ratty comes home: water voles thrive again on Hertfordshire riverbank Guardian How the Cuttlefish’s Robust Memory System Defies Old Age Wired Ten Observations on Lullabies The Honest Broker 5 Commonly Used Idioms in the Tech Industry gitconnected Back from the wilderness Times Literary Supplement. The Turning Point review – how Charles Dickens built Bleak House Guardian […]

By Charlotte Smith, PhD Candidate in Environmental Science, Lancaster University, Erika Berenguer, Senior Research Associate in Tropical Forest Ecology, University of Oxford, and Jos Barlow, Professor of Conservation Science, Lancaster University. Originally published at The Conversation. Driven largely by the expansion of farm land to meet increasing global demand for products such as soya bean, over 810,000 km²of […]

By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans. It’s been a while since I’ve posted about fashion – an industry that creates excess waste, thereby contributing to global warming and which is also notorious for exploiting its workforce, especially so […]

The Arc of History Bends Toward Emotional Support Peacocks Year Zero IN THESE COZY MYSTERIES, FURRY SIDEKICKS ARE THE REAL STARS Crime Reads America’s Most Flamboyant Private Eye and the 8,000-Mile Manhunt Narratively (Anthony L) Are the English exceptionally gullible? The Spectator (Anthony L) ‘No one comes here any more’: the human cost as Covid […]

By Brett Wilkins. Originally published at Common Dreams As Florida’s Republican-led Board of Education warned school districts they would face fines for not complying with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ban on mask mandates, leaders in the state’s fourth-largest city issued a plea that vividly illustrated the consequences of the governor’s refusal to follow public health guidance. […]

By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans. This isn’t a good time to plan a Florida vacation. My godparents – Aunt Stel and Uncle Joe – moved to Bradenton, near Tampa, after Joe retired as chief of the New […]

Nagasaki marks atomic bomb anniversary with sombre ceremony France24 Blinded by the Light: Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the Age of Normalized Violence  Counterpunch The three-or-four-hours rule for getting creative work done Oliver Burkeman The Silver Age of Essays The Paris Review Napoleon Bonaparte, gardener? Yes, says a new book, the dictator found solace in […]

By Cecelia Heffron, the media coordinator at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. Originally published at CommonDreams In August 2021, an alliance of African faith leaders delivered a powerful message to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: Stop promoting failing and harmful high-input Green Revolution programs, such as the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa […]

By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans. While eating my breakfast this morning, I watched bees buzz around my back garden. They’re particularly fond of a large unkempt rose of Sharon, which overhangs our outdoor dining table. The shrub […]

WHAT DO YOU READ WHEN THE WORLD IS FALLING APART? SPY FICTION, OF COURSE. Crime Reads In the midst of millenarian chaos, the charismatic presence of Akbar – the perfect ruler Scroll America needs to listen to the anguished operators of our flying death robots | Will Bunch Philadelphia Inquirer Researchers announce the smallest exoplanet […]

By Beverly Law, Professor Emeritus of Global Change Biology and Terrestrial Systems Science, Oregon State UniversityOriginally published at The Conversation. Ask people to find the world’s rainforests on a globe, and most will probably point to South America. But North America has rainforests too – and like their tropical counterparts, these temperate rainforests are ecological […]

By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans. The worldwide pandemic has made for some depressing times. Especially for those of us who believe governments must play a key role in safeguarding public health. First up – a point I’ll […]

By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans. Gurbir Grewal, the new director of enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), takes up his post today. Let’s hope his tenure is longer than that of his predecessor, Alex Oh, […]

Couple’s anniversary dinner on river interrupted by cruise of nudists Metro UK The return of Britain’s meat-eating plants BBC Tokyo Olympics: Japanese 13-year-old Momiji Nishiya wins gold in skateboarding street final South China Morning Post Horrifying robot plays basketball at Olympics NY Post Trucks Move Past Cars on the Road to Autonomy Wired Review: Why […]

By Wolf Richter, editor of Wolf Street. Originally published at Wolf Street. So there are few hiccups in the US economy right now. James Foote, the chief executive of CSX, one of the largest railroads in the US, put it this way during the earnings call yesterday (transcript by Seeking Alpha): “I’ve never seen any […]