What makes a good bookstore? Culture Dump (Michael T)
Why All Great Stories Follow the Same Ancient Pattern Classical Wisdom (Michael T.)
Surprising fossil discovery raises questions about the origin of animal life Science Daily (Kevin W)
The first real-time brain-controlled hearing device
Engagement in arts and culture ‘linked to slower rates of biological aging’ Guardian
Is it bad for young people? Lyman Stone (Michael T.). Trust me, this is a really good piece.
Shame them, shun them, ban them, defeat them! History of Experiments (Micael T). important.
hantavirus
CBS reported that WHO officials have warned that there could be more hantavirus cases in the coming weeks. After the horse reached the next county, I tried to close the barn door.
A woman diagnosed with hantavirus after boarding a cruise ship is now in the “final stages of supportive care” on an artificial lung, doctors say. This may seem fear-mongering and clickbait, but as we said during the coronavirus outbreak (we called it a pandemic in January, when it wasn’t officially announced until March), the precautionary principle, especially for diseases with high mortality rates, calls for hypervigilance until we can better assess the risks. Our prioritization of commerce over public health has instead created a strong message to allow people to continue as normal. If the United States hadn’t completely demonized mask-wearing, it would be a cheap and easy alternative in potentially at-risk communities.
It’s depressing that someone has to make such obvious statements about masking.
Physical measures to prevent COVID-19, such as masks, air purifiers, and UV sterilizers, can also protect against hantavirus. This is different from biological defenses such as vaccines. Therefore, the most effective way to deal with new problems is…
— Adam Wong (@Engineer_Wong) May 12, 2026
New coronavirus infection/pandemic
It is perhaps worth noting that the NOIDS causative agent data shows a nearly 50% increase in coronavirus detections in England in the last week, and that the data is not complete.
— Turn (@1goodtern) May 12, 2026
A ‘highly contagious’ parvovirus is swirling throughout Northern California SF Gate (Paul R). Although the symptoms are mild, it can be dangerous for pregnant women. I couldn’t find any mention of a weakened immune system.
Climate/Environment
Thousands of trout are stocked into Stockholm’s rivers here at Mitti, via machine translation (Micael T)
New spark plumes in May show El Niño is rapidly intensifying, with eight out of 10 models indicating a super event and four predicting the strongest on record.
The average temperature for all 693 ensemble members reached +2.8 °C, coinciding with the strongest El Niño on record. pic.twitter.com/9pDxNxAkXz
— Ben Noll (@BenNollWeather) May 10, 2026
Global fires hit record high as ‘unprecedented’ heat wave approaches, scientists say Reuters
Wildfires are climbing Europe’s mountains as the Earth’s heat dries out forests
unusual heat wave
Weeks of frightening heat and thousands of single records from various African countries.
Nothing like this has ever happened before.
‼ ️Today’s temperature in Algeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Chad, Mauritania, Chad and Sudan is 47 degrees
In May, 44.9℃ was recorded again at Wahigouya🇧🇫. pic.twitter.com/vHebe76meU
— Abnormal temperatures around the world (@extremetemps) May 11, 2026
‘Not normal’: On one day in April, the top 50 hottest cities on earth were all in a single country CNN
Australia’s rainfall deficit deepens in eastern states E+E Leader
For global ocean temperature only, @noaance According to the report, April 2026 was the second warmest April on record, after 2024. Ocean temperatures were 0.95°C warmer than the 20th century average and about 1.13°C warmer than the 1880-1920 average.
What’s weird is that this is happening in… pic.twitter.com/OfSPPIxDVp
— Global Warmer 🔥🌏 🔥 (@TheGlobalWarmer) May 11, 2026
Wild blueberry farms across Maine are in trouble as climate change reverses the growing season Inside Climate News 🙁
China?
President Trump’s visit to China attracts attention in the US as a sign of stability – and a concrete victory South China Morning Post
President Trump flies to Beijing – but who is actually in despair? Thinking about BRICS
Elon Musk and CEO Tim Cook will also accompany President Trump on his China visit BBC. Some readers expressed doubts that Trump would be able to round up his inner circle.
Washington has imposed new sanctions on Chinese and Iranian oil networks ahead of President Trump’s visit to Beijing. I don’t see how China can give the US anything in light of these insults right before the summit. This is meant to humiliate, and China is very sensitive to that.
Trump-Xi Summit: Trump asks Xi to “open up” China’s DW. Stupid question, but it would work in the US.
Trump-Xi summit shows everything is now being leveraged Asia Times (Kevin W)
China once again opposes US arms sales to Taiwan’s Xinhua News Agency
Africa
How Nigerians are coping with heat wave amid devastating power outages Global Voices Coming soon to more countries
south of the border
President Trump shares image depicting Venezuela as ’51st country’ after remarks about possible annexation of Anadolu
CIA escalates secret war with cartels with deadly operation inside Mexico CNN
discord in europe
Did this European take bribes from Team Trump to destroy Airbus sales?
A senior European official suggested today that the West could thwart plans by Western companies to sell to China.
“Europe could cancel more than half of China’s commercial programs by withholding software updates for China’s Airbus planes,” said Mark Leonard, director of Europe. pic.twitter.com/RccGoKQyKj
— Nury Vittachi (@NuryVittachi) May 11, 2026
European energy ministers avoid crisis meeting Euractiv
EU to ban imports of Brazilian meat from September Euronews
France’s unemployment rate exceeds 8% for first time since 2021 Bloomberg
old blighty
Prime Minister Jess Phillips resigned as minister, telling Mr Starmer that “actions matter, not words” after he said he would not quit the BBC. It took a while, but it seems like the fuse has finally been lit.
Starmer faces endgame as Wes Streeting launches ‘coup’ to defeat rival for top job Middle East Eye
israel vs resistance
Israeli forces are planting explosives and blowing up life-support infrastructure in southern Lebanon in an effort to escalate the mass expulsion. https://t.co/L1novNrUR0
— Nicola Perugini (@PeraginiNic) May 12, 2026
Eurovision Politico splits over disagreements over Israel. I don’t want to reveal how narrow-minded I am, but I don’t understand why anyone cares about Eurovision. That said, delegitimizing Israel is a worthwhile undertaking.
Chinese oil tanker tests safe navigation in the Strait of Hormuz Oil prices. Note: “…if allowed to pass, it would be the third tanker to pass through Hormuz carrying oil from the Persian Gulf to China since the start of the war.”
US intelligence indicates Iran maintains significant missile capabilities, New York Times. We will discuss this in detail in our Iranian daily posts.
A new war that’s not so cold war
Russia dispatches Pacific Fleet to East China Sea to protect ships from U.S. military takeover Military Monitor
Foreign Minister Lavrov accuses Western countries of pressuring them not to buy Russian crude oil TASS
Looking Back at a Day Scott Ritter (Michael T.)
big brother is watching over you
They’re attacking online anonymity, and other notes Caitlin Johnston (Michael T.)
imperial collapse watch
What would happen if Americans realized how miserable they are?Paul Krugman. Good review, but I wish Krugman had included inequality. An unequal society is an unhappy society.
Federalism for Antifascists Chris Armitage
Trump 2.0
Three Republican members of Congress thrown into furnace for not bowing down to Trump statue Babylon Bee
Australia’s $1.5 billion Trump Tower deal on Gold Coast scrapped. Developer says brand is ‘toxic’ ABC Australia
McConnell slams Hegseth over Pentagon funding plan, alienating allies
How President Trump’s $500 million UAE cryptocurrency deal trades family interests for U.S. national security Center for American Progress
John Helmer: Iran did the unthinkable – China’s response to Trump will change everything Dialogue works. Helmer details President Trump’s severe cognitive limitations.
President Trump suffered his worst mental health episode yet last night, posting more than 55 times in three hours. Here is the list:
10:15 PM – Accuses Obama of attempting a coup in 2016
10:15 PM – President Obama says he worked with the CIA to overthrow Trump.
10:15 p.m. – President Obama reposts a tweet that says…
— Harry Sisson (@harryjsisson) May 12, 2026
supremes
The Supreme Court’s Dying Kitchen WA Lawrence
Our press is no longer free
Israeli intelligence apparently got wind of Nick Kristof’s upcoming NYT report, which included first-hand accounts and extensive documentation of Israel’s systematic rape of Palestinian detainees, and leveraged its assets to deflect a PR blow with a hoax article in the Daily Mail the next day https://t.co/sgNJe4KTGm
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) May 12, 2026
economy
Worst spring drought on record puts U.S. crops at risk
Tomato CPI +15.1% YoY
Ground beef CPI increased by 14.5% year-on-year
Chili pepper dishes are going to be expensive this summer! pic.twitter.com/oznLq1A8Qd
—Tracy Alloway (@tracyalloway) May 12, 2026
Mr. Market is off his rocker
Bunker fuel supplies are tight due to Iran war, shipping industry is concerned about fuel shortages Associated Press. Important and discussed in the Iranian post
The price is incorrect Arthur Berman
The North Sea spot market today saw oil trading at a **discount** to Brent dated benchmarks for the first time since the start of the war, as the paper oil market rose.
The irony of the oil market: when abundance (days later) and scarcity (weeks later) coexist.
— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) May 12, 2026
A.I.
Where are the data centers located?Ed Zitron
‘
basil
Waymo issues recall to address flooding issues Techcrunch (Kevin W)
Marc Andreessen leaked the system prompts he uses to make all LLMs 10x smarter.
It’s called Anti-Glaze System Prompt.
There is one paste. The AI will stop kissing you ass and start telling you the truth.
Here’s how it actually works:
→ Kill “great questions” forever
→Kill… pic.twitter.com/f153qbxj8u
— Guri Shin (@heygurisingh) May 12, 2026
class war
General manager cuts hundreds of salaried IT employees through cost-cutting and needs assessment CNBC
There’s a fire sale going on at the MBA Wall Street Journal. Not yet an archived or syndicated version.
An immediate antidote. Tracy H: “This is for Mother’s Day”:
And a bonus. Could this be a result of the dog getting up with an elderly human caregiver who does manual labor?
As the owner struggled to lift the loaded wheelbarrow, the dog spotted him and immediately ran to his rescue. ❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/fmB4lzShZZ
— The Best (@Thebestfigen) May 12, 2026
Click here for yesterday’s link and Antidote du Jour.
