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The Art of the Catch BioGraphic
In search of lost department stores Parisian Fields
Our Future Might Be Darker—and That’s a Good Thing Inside Climate News
“There is Nothing but Immortality!”: Walt Whitman and The Book of Heavenly Death (1905) Public Domain Review
Climate/Environment
Beyond Clean-Ups: Joy, Discomfort, and Ecopedagogy in Wasted-Edgelands Brief Ecology
In Colorado, the Majestic Ponderosa Pines Are Dying Capital & Main
Crete Hit by Flooding, Landslides and Water Shortages Tovima
Coral reefs are bleaching in extreme heat. Could underwater umbrellas save them? Euronews
Private Equity Firms Double Down on Fossil Fuels OilPrice
Pandemics
Researcher at Russian plague laboratory dies of ‘unknown’ infection CNN
I obviously have no idea what’s happening with plague in Russia beyond the public broad brushstrokes, but here are a few thoughts:
1. Plague is a bacterial infection caused by Yersinia pestis. It’s endemic in some parts of the world and comes in three varieties: bubonic, that’s thought to be spread from rodents to humans by infected insect vectors (eg fleas) or contact with sick or dead animals, septicaemic (plague in blood, can overlap with pneumonic or bubonic), and pneumonic, which can transmit person to person via aerosols (as usual WHO says droplets)
— David Fisman (@DFisman) October 4, 2026
Important addition:
The Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute’s own research summary appears to describe deliberate virulence enhancement by serial passage.
In its Brucella program, the institute says repeated passage through guinea pigs was used to increase bacterial virulence. https://t.co/KaoWbY7vbG
— Outbreak Updates (@outbreakupdates) October 4, 2026
Justice Alito: COVID Was A Stress Test Of Our Commitment To Constitutional Rights–A Lot Of People Failed RealClearPolitics
How are we supposed to juggle it all? M (is) Living with Long Covid
Can air cleaning technologies help eliminate COVID? Perhaps, if we think more about the population scale than individual spaces. Matters of Perspective
Water
El Niño, oil shocks and broken utilities turn the Philippines into Asia’s water crisis test case Intellinews
The Koreas
Trump tells South Korea to sign on to Alaska LNG deal or ‘I’ll just charge them more’ CNBC
China?
FBI arrests California woman accused of surveilling Taiwan President’s son for China Firstpost
China’s Starlink Response China Talk
China’s Scenario-based Innovation Sinocities
India
70,000 Indian workers for Russia, more exports for India: What is behind the economic push Firstpost
Syraqistan
Four Palestinians killed, 19 wounded by Israeli fire in Gaza Anadolu Agency
WHO warns of ‘devastating consequences’ due to delayed aid entry into Gaza Al Jazeera
Israel assassinates director of Turkish aid group in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah The Cradle
Source: Netanyahu plotted false-flag aircraft hijacking to drag Trump into new war against Iran Press TV
Iran set to work on increasing its missiles’ range: Army spox Al Mayadeen
Iran Resilience vs. US Decay Oliver Boyd-Barrett
US Backs Major Saudi-Led Offensive as Yemen Slides Back Toward All-Out War Common Dreams
Yemeni forces seize Dhubab, strategic sites near Bab el-Mandeb, army says Anadolu Agency
Yemen’s Houthis have claimed an attack on the Aramco refinery, a major oil facility in Saudi Arabia.
The claim came after flames were seen rising from the refinery on Saturday, and firefighters tackled the blaze.
🔴 LIVE updates: https://t.co/K2o8zvY8Hh https://t.co/hkzhDEOKTn
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) October 4, 2026
Old Blighty
Did the Foreign Office tip off Counter-Terrorist Police to arrest me? Ian Proud
US withdraws bombers from UK airbase after suspected terror plot DPA International
Britain’s Palantir contracts have hit £1bn. Labour blocked a debate about it Citizens Reunited
European Disunion
Spanish PM Sanchez calls snap election as pressure mounts over housing crisis France24
Europe’s Diesel Woes Just Got Even Worse OilPrice
Euro hits 17-month low as political uncertainty in Spain and France rattles markets CNBC
France May Close Up to 500 Schools Amid Student Protests TeleSur
Latvia’s PM on track to lead pro-Ukraine coalition after parliamentary election victory France24
Europe wants more reservists, but Commission staff face HR hurdles Rapporteur
The Russians are coming LRB
New Not-So-Cold War
The Russian Ministry of Defence has issued a statement with political commentary — which is quite rare for them, usually it’s very dry “so-and-so many drones were shot down” stuff.
They say that they have “taken note” of Zelensky’s threat to attack more Russian oil refineries and will further “intensify” strikes on Kiev and other parts of Ukraine in response to this threat, and that Zelensky “bears full personal and political responsibility” for what’s coming.
“The people of Ukraine should blame only the head of the Kiev regime for this”
— Russians With Attitude (@RWApodcast) October 4, 2026
Putin Finally Takes Gloves Off? De-Bridgification of Kiev in Progress as North Bridge Now Hit by Drone Simplicius
US may delay new Russia sanctions, Energy Secretary says Al Mayadeen
Ukraine war latest: Germany supplies Kyiv with interceptors, air defense missiles in $1.5 billion aid package Kyiv Independent
FT: Estonia moving troops closer to Russia in ‘active defense’ push ERR
South of the Border
What Caused Lula’s Electoral Setback & How He Could Still Win the Runoff Payday Report
after yesterday’s first round vote, flavio bolsonaro almost certainly brazil’s next president.
the swing to the right is now felt across all of south america’s major economies…and with a significant reorientation of brazil’s relations (esp security, critical minerals, and tech) towards trump and the united states.
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) October 5, 2026
Crossing the picket line of the MAS general strike, taking DOD funds, keeping the ‘Major Non-Nato Ally Status’, playing second fiddle to US invasion of Haiti, and denouncing Venezuelan elections, wasn’t enough. As I write here, one lesson for Lula and Petro, is that no attempt to find middle ground with the US—at the expense of solidarity with your neighbors—will protect you from election interference. The State Department is dissatisfied with anything except full capitulation.
— Camila Lourdes Galarza (@sovietwithsazon) October 5, 2026
Nicaragua Moves to Quit Central American Parliament Rio Times
L’affaire Epstein
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor launches legal action against police over Epstein raids The Guardian
Trump 2.0
Trump Doxxes GOP Senator in Daylight Saving Feud So He Can ‘Play More Than 14 Holes of Golf’ International Business Times
‘Elon is my prophet’: how Musk’s Doge team took a wrecking ball to Washington The Guardian
Pentagon increases combat pay as war with Iran continues Task and Purpose
Midterms 2026
Trump funnels millions from massive war chest into key House, Senate races: Here’s where The Hill
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
Federal judge calls Flock ‘indiscriminate mass surveillance’ TechCrunch
The Accelerationists
I went to the ‘existential hope’ gala and left hungry Oakland Review of Books
Healthcare?
How the Government Forces Doctors to Defraud Our Seniors Matt Bivens, M.D.
Agriculture
Monopoly Round-Up: How Seed and Pesticide Makers Act Like the Mafia Matt Stoller
Chokepoints
The oil routes around Hormuz face their own chokepoints The Cradle
“VLCC rates have reached unprecedented levels and are now at $1.3 million per day (43 times the January number). This is equivalent to almost $33/barrel, or 27% of the delivered cost of crude oil.” https://t.co/xO7YjKVYja
— Ed Finley–Richardson (@ed_fin) October 3, 2026
Economy
A Gut Punch In Ohio: Nearly 1,400 Laid Off At Truck Factory Just Days Before Trump Rally AP
‘A lot of sticker shock’: Home heating costs soar for millions amid oil crisis Yahoo! Finance
Imperial Collapse Watch
BRICS and the Chronicle of a Multipolarity Foretold Nel Bonilla, Worldlines. Well worth a read.
Sunset on the Quality of Western Propaganda: Arrival of the Dr Strangelove Moment Propaganda in Focus
AI
Can ‘super intelligence’ and a non-binding safety pact solve AI’s image problem? TechCrunch
For the AI buildout to pay off, Americans will eventually have to spend about 9% of GDP a year on AI services. Sit with that number.
That is roughly what the entire country spends on food.
A Columbia paper presented at Brookings estimates AI revenue would need to hit $3.5 trillion by 2032, about 8.8% of GDP, to justify what is being committed today. That is bigger than any investment boom in US history, and 7 times what Americans spend on phone, streaming, and internet combined.
Now look at computers. Prices fell for 50 straight years, but business spending on them as a share of GDP plateaued in the 1980s and never climbed again. Cheaper and better did not mean an ever-larger slice of the economy.
AI will almost certainly raise productivity. Whether it delivers the revenue investors are pricing is another matter. That gap is what the buildout is underpricing.
— Kurt S. Altrichter, CRPS® (@kurtsaltrichter) October 3, 2026
AI costs are rising for organizations, reports warn Semafor
Amazon Warns Local Communities to Stop Defying Its Massive AI Data Centers Futurism
Sam Altman to Decoded: ‘The world should accept some bad things happening’ for the benefits of AI Politico
What AI debates have to do with alchemy Programmable Mutter
Class Warfare
The Abolition of Rent Black Lodges
WHAT CLEVELAND’S FIGHT REVEALS ABOUT CHALLENGING EXTRACTIVE OWNERSHIP SHelterforce
NRC Wants to Bulldoze Workplace Radiation Protections Confined Space
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
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