Golf’s cruelest moments: The physics behind the “rip-out” phenomenon PhysOrg. Candidate for Ig Nobel Prize?
2.7-million-year-old tool reveals humanity’s first great innovation ScienceDaily (Kevin W)
Canterbury Cathedral: the idea of a sacred building remains important Hilary White (Michael T.)
“What kind of bug sucks it?” Brian Klaas (Michael T.)
Remove statistical significance. Lars P. Schill
#New Coronavirus Infection/Pandemic
Scientific researchers used notifiable disease surveillance data from the CDC to conduct a comprehensive statistical analysis of the indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on various infectious diseases occurring in the United States.
Details: https://t.co/pYyS9Xz3QV pic.twitter.com/lJeHf5BLRQ
— Science Magazine (@ScienceMagazine) November 5, 2025
The new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) is spreading again. How serious is it and what are the symptoms?Natural
Tom Hanks explains to Stephen Colbert why he wears a mask on the subway:
“I’m doing theater now so I don’t get sick…I’ve had enough coronavirus in my life. I don’t want to do that again. So I’m wearing this for health reasons.”
Thank you, Tom! Masks are an important part of public health. pic.twitter.com/DJhzaRbvPf
— Dr. Lucky Tran (@luckytran) November 4, 2025
Climate/Environment
6 fundamental ways to cool the earth
breaking news!
Code UFB!!!
The three-year average rate of increase in atmospheric CO2 has reached a record high, reaching 7.88 ppm per three years in October 2025. This broke the previous record of 7.83 ppm per three-year period since February 2019.
Net zero by 2050? pic.twitter.com/Bv1jf3b7r2
— Professor Elliot Jacobson (@EliotJacobson) November 1, 2025
Antarctic glaciers retreat fastest in modern history CNN
Empty River of Death Washington Post. We have a very wet and long rainy season here. And it became strangely cold.
The anomaly levels in the Northern Hemisphere are insane, exceeding the 2023/2024 anomalies and +1C in 1991/2020.
Pay special attention to anomalies from 30 degrees north latitude to 80 degrees north latitude. It’s brutal and doesn’t have the slightest bit of hype.
What is it? It’s madness.
Map praise: Tropicaltibit & Ryan Maue pic.twitter.com/iP1iRrHiHt
— Abnormal temperatures around the world (@extremetemps) November 3, 2025
Storm warning for Brazil and Paraguay: Gusty winds and hail could cause severe damage Global Vision
How global warming is increasing pregnancy risks Financial Times
toilet
Arid continents: a threat to our common future World Bank
India’s thirst for digitalization: Data centers are proliferating in water-scarce regions, and locals are paying the price
Iraq faces ‘worst drought period’ since country’s founding: new regional lawmaker
Monitoring agency warns Iran International that there are only 3-5 years left to save Gorgan Bay
China?
China deploys world’s first stealth fighter equipped for air defense suppression Military Watch
Why climate change now threatens China’s future The Economist
Indonesia’s China-backed bullet train derails due to rising debt Financial Times
South Korea
US issues new North Korea sanctions; Security Council pressured as well The Cradle (Kevin W)
Africa
Hundreds feared dead in days of protests after Tanzanian election dispute Sky
Hunger as a weapon of war: How Ethiopia caused famine in Tigray The Conversation
Or Canada
TMX opens Asia route due to lower Canadian crude oil prices; crude oil prices shrink (resilc)
discord in europe
Germany is armed to the teeth to change Europe again
FT: How Friedrich Merz is testing Germany’s patience International Affairs (Michael T.)
Paris’s futile efforts: Why is military-technical cooperation between France and its allies failing? NEO (Michael T)
old blighty
Anxious Aston residents prepare for Villa vs. Maccabi match Tel Aviv Guardian
Exclusive: Hundreds of Tel Aviv fans in Amsterdam can reveal the police assessment behind the ban on Maccabi found to be ‘linked to the IDF’.
Dutch police said they were “experienced fighters”, “highly organized” and “intended to cause serious violence”.
The full text is below pic.twitter.com/e7323vPR85
— Imran Mullah (@Imran_posts) November 4, 2025
israel vs resistance
Israeli forces launched raids and intensive shelling while carrying out sabotage operations in southern Gaza as the ceasefire continued.
🔴 Follow us live ⤵️ https://t.co/0HtlbtBAZX
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) November 5, 2025
The Gaza Ceasefire Illusion: The Art of Turning a Truce into a Tactical Pause 21st Century Wire
Money, mercenaries and mayhem: how Israel and the UAE are investing in regional turmoil Middle East Eye (resilc)
.
A new war that’s not so cold war
American Nazis in Kiev Events in Ukraine
Kiev Post Trump-era policymakers face revolt in Senate hearing, Pentagon acknowledges Russian threat
imperial collapse watch
New realities of war – Russian think tank Analysis Simplicius. It’s a must read. The implications extend far beyond the Ukraine conflict.
How many more cloud horrors does Europe need? Project Syndicate
Our $100,000 GMC is complete garbage YouTube (resilc)
Please try again with a better standard! These companies have some explaining to do. YouTube (resource)
Trump 2.0
Anarchist’s conviction signals a grim omen for President Trump’s war with the ‘left’ Wired (resilc)
Why on earth did J.D. Vance and Erica Kirk hug like that? new republic
Dick Cheney “Good Riddance”
Cheney, the architect of endless wars, helped destroy our trust in our leaders Responsible National Strategy (resilc)
Dick Cheney proves the old saying is true Larry Johnson
shutdown
Army Charities provides grants to soldiers who have fallen behind on their SNAP payments. mission and purpose. resilc: “When does fragmentation start?”
Democratic Party’s Death Wish
Zoran Mamdani wins in New York as Democrats’ US election sweep deal hurts Donald Trump Financial Times. lead story. There is no archive version yet. Mr. Trump has succeeded, at least for now, in rescuing the Democratic Party from his clutches. Given Trump’s penchant for violence to reassert his masculinity, this outcome almost guarantees more domestic violence and increases the likelihood of some action against Venezuela.
Democrat Dent Trump’s three-way electoral coalition wins over the Wall Street Journal. lead story. There is no archive version yet.
President Trump blames government shutdown for Republican election loss to Democrat Axios
Democratic establishment fraud: Corbin Trent masquerading as populism (resilc)
Bernie Sanders: “There’s not much of a Democratic Party” New York Times (resilc)
Democrats prepare for possible Nancy Pelosi retirement NBC
California voters approve new House map to boost Democrats in 2026 Associated Press (Kevin W) A rare and effective show of muscle.
Hakeem Jeffries says President Trump is running the New Republic “pedophile protection program.” resilc: “Let’s see how Hakeem sings when Billy Clinton is on the list…”
Mam Dani. The key is that he received 50.3% of the vote. It’s a slim majority, but it’s still a majority, so there’s no way he can be portrayed as not actually representing the will of New York City’s voters. And this was despite the billionaire and Zionist opponents and the Democratic Party not supporting him or opposing him. Be sure to check out today’s coffee break. I’m very confident that Nat will cover it, as he has almost single-handedly stressed the importance of the New York mayoral race before Mamdani became a full-fledged candidate.
Although Mamdani achieved a remarkable victory, real challenges lie ahead for the BBC. Reliance on New York state and federal funds could be used to throw Mamdani around.
Zoran Mamdani elected mayor of New York, defeats Andrew Cuomo in historic victory
Mamdani’s victory: How democratic socialists overthrew the imperial state apparatus Salon
Mamdani’s victory is a rebuke to Democratic Guardian’s failed strategy (Kevin W)
Our press is no longer free
Low-risk critical thinking exercises for online media Libre Solutions Network (Micael T)
The war party is running out of anti-war ideological ammunition (resilc). Learn more about the Zionists who hate Tucker
A journalist asked why Israel was not funding Gaza’s reconstruction. It cost him his job. intercept
Mr. Market is in a bad mood.
Tech and chip stocks fall across Asia as investors reconsider the AI boom Business Insider
Repo market liquidity pressures worsened with government shutdown, but Fed’s SRF did its job and went back to sleep Wolf Richter
Vulnerabilities in the Banking System: 2025 Update Liberty Street Economics
economy
Why the administration is happy without seeing the October employment report Menzi Chin
Mapping: US GDP growth by state (1990-2024) Visual Capitalist (resilc)
A.I.
How an AI Crash Happens in the Atlantic (Paul R)
‘Godfather of AI’ says tech giants won’t be able to profit from astronomical investments unless they replace human labor, Fortune (resilc)
New tools for police: AI-generated child pornography with machine translation Aftonblade (Micael T)
Amazon sues Perplexity over ‘Agent’ shopping tool Reuters
Coca-Cola’s new AI holiday ad is sloppy and distracting The Verge
basil
They survived the hurricane. Their insurance company didn’t. grist
Waymo to expand robotaxis service to Las Vegas, San Diego, Detroit next year Reuters
class war
The combined wealth of America’s top 10 billionaires increased by $698 billion last year – The Guardian (resilc) reports
Private equity firms are robbing mobile home parks and displacing residents who can’t afford to lose them.
Kraft Heinz says consumers are cutting staples from damaged areas of grocery carts. I previously posted about Kraft Heinz’s woes. Not only does it increase stress for consumers, it also increases stress for those who can afford to choose healthier options. But there’s another fact in this segment that shows how widespread belt-tightening is.
Antidote (via):
And bonus:
Older dogs are forced to do water aerobics to combat treadmills and a sedentary lifestyle.
— The Best (@Thebestfigen) October 8, 2025
Second bonus:
This man is bottle-feeding a baby fawn.pic.twitter.com/O85KAY6XPy
— Wolf of X (@tradingMaxiSL) November 4, 2025
And third:
Snow leopard captured on trail camera pic.twitter.com/XFAQbYsMqJ
— Nature is amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) November 3, 2025
See yesterday’s link and antidote here
