This week in the news | 09 Aug 24
News from the past week, and a few other things.
👋 Hello Reader, I hope you had a great week.
Below you’ll find the “quick shot”—a supercharged summary of summaries, followed by the “slow brew”—longer summaries with select graphics, and comments from me.
THE QUICK SHOT 🚀
A supercharged summary of summaries
A lock icon (🔒) indicates articles behind a paywall, and a chart icon (📊) indicates an informative chart/graphic in “Slow Brew.”
World
The rise of multipolarity in global politics requires the U.S. to shift from asserting primacy to building coalitions to maintain international stability (AEI). Germany and the Philippines agreed to expand their military cooperation, focusing on mutual understanding and information exchange amid rising tensions with China (SCMP) 📊.
North America
Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin revoked plea deals with three 9/11 suspects, taking over control of the pre-trial agreements process (Reuters). A Pakistani man with ties to Iran was charged with plotting to assassinate former President Trump and other politicians in New York, this is separate from the previous assassination attempt (WSJ 🔒). The U.S. and Mexico implemented stricter border controls, leading to a significant decline in illegal crossings and a reduction in the number of asylum seekers reaching the U.S. (WSJ 🔒) 📊. The Hispanic population accounted for 91% of U.S. population growth from 2020 to mid-2023, while the White population declined, driven by lower birth rates and an aging population (Bloomberg 🔒) 📊.
Europe
Russia is repelling its largest incursion by Ukrainian troops since the invasion, as President Putin ordered a defensive response in the Kursk region (Bloomberg 🔒) 📊. Amid ongoing far-right riots, the U.K.'s top prosecutor is considering terrorism charges and extradition for social media influencers inciting violence (CBS News) 📊.
Middle East
President Biden held security talks as tensions rise in the Middle East, with U.S. and Jordan discussing strategies to prevent regional escalation and support Israel (VOA). The U.S. is deploying more F-22 Raptors and missile defense assets to the Middle East to counter potential Iranian threats to Israel (Air & Space Forces Magazine). Several U.S. troops were injured in a rocket attack on an Iraqi air base, attributed to Iran-backed militias, intensifying regional tensions (NYT 🔒).
Africa
The U.S. closed its last drone base in Niger, marking a significant shift in its counterterrorism strategy in Africa, especially in the Sahel region (Air & Space Forces Magazine). Lesotho has the highest suicide rate globally, with 87.5 suicides per 100,000 people, a figure more than double the next country on the list, Guyana (BBC).
East Asia
The number of Chinese couples getting married hit a 12-year low in the first half of 2024, reflecting young people's hesitation amid economic pressures and rising living costs (Reuters) 📊.
South Asia
Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country following violent student protests, leading to a political crisis with the formation of an interim government (WSJ 🔒). Bangladesh’s president dissolved parliament, setting the stage for new elections, and released opposition leader Khaleda Zia from house arrest (AP). Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus took charge as interim leader of Bangladesh, with a mandate to restore peace and prepare for new elections following weeks of unrest (WP 🔒). Myanmar rebels achieved a significant victory by overrunning a regional military base near China’s border, signaling a major advance in their resistance against the junta (NYT 🔒).
Southeast Asia
Thailand’s Constitutional Court dissolved the popular Move Forward Party and banned its leaders from politics for 10 years, citing violations related to lèse-majesté laws, which ban criticism of the royal family (Semafor).
Space
Two American astronauts have been stranded in space since June, facing an uncertain return date, as NASA explores options for bringing them back (BBC). China launched the first batch of its internet satellites, aiming to create a global network to rival SpaceX’s Starlink by 2025 (CNBC). As China advances in satellite technology, global competition in space is intensifying, with significant military and economic implications (AEI) 📊. The Perseid meteor shower is expected to peak on August 11, offering a spectacular display of shooting stars, best viewed under dark skies (NPR). Terraforming Mars might be more feasible than previously thought, with research suggesting that injecting particles into the atmosphere could warm the planet enough to sustain liquid water (Science).
Government
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was selected by Vice President Kamala Harris as her running mate for the 2024 presidential election (AP). The 2024 Harris-Trump election marks the first time since 1976 that a Bush, Clinton, or Biden is absent from the presidential ballot (Axios) 📊.
Economy
Wall Street saw a recovery after its biggest downturn in nearly two years, with the S&P 500 and other major indexes bouncing back (VOA). The U.S. added 114,000 jobs in July, but the unemployment rate rose to 4.3%, reflecting a slowdown in job growth and ongoing challenges in the housing market (Realtor.com) 📊. Investors are scrambling to unwind the yen carry trade, disrupting one of the most popular global investment strategies in recent years (WSJ 🔒) 📊.
Business
Small businesses are grappling with rising insurance costs, with many facing increases of 10% or more, driven by higher labor costs and the demand for new drugs, among other factors (WSJ 🔒). Chevron announced its decision to move its headquarters from California to Texas, citing the increasingly challenging regulatory environment in its home state (WSJ 🔒). Nvidia is facing mounting antitrust scrutiny from multiple governments, including the U.S., EU, and China, due to its dominant position in the AI chip market (NYT 🔒). Topgolf is exploring a potential spinoff as visitor numbers decline, challenging the parent company Callaway’s growth strategy (Sherwood) 📊. Disney stock hit a nine-month low as the company warned of weaker consumer demand at its theme parks (Forbes) 📊.
Energy
China is rapidly expanding its nuclear power capacity, with 30 reactors under construction, positioning itself to surpass France and the U.S. as the world’s leading nuclear power producer by 2030 (Bloomberg 🔒) 📊.
Real Estate
Mortgage rates in the U.S. dropped to their lowest level in over a year, potentially increasing homebuyers' purchasing power and encouraging refinancing (Freddie Mac) 📊. Apartment loans are showing signs of distress, with over $80 billion at risk due to falling occupancy rates and tight income margins, highlighting the broader challenges facing commercial real estate (WSJ 🔒) 📊. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are set to impose stricter lending rules for commercial properties, as regulators crack down on fraud in the real estate market (WSJ 🔒).
Technology
DeepMind’s new AI-powered robot has achieved a significant milestone by competing at an amateur level in table tennis, demonstrating the potential for machines to master complex physical tasks (Ars Technica).
Cyber
Google lost a major antitrust case as a federal judge ruled that the company engaged in illegal practices to maintain its search engine monopoly (WSJ 🔒). Google's autocomplete tool was found to have omitted information about a recent assassination attempt on former President Trump, leading to controversy and subsequent fixes to the tool (National Review). A newly discovered vulnerability in the Chrome, Safari, and Firefox browsers has left the browsers susceptible to a loophole that hackers have exploited for nearly two decades, leading to concerns about network security (Forbes).
Life
The rise of "marriage deserts" in certain communities, where low marriage rates prevail, is contributing to social challenges (AEI). 📊 Confidence in higher education has plummeted, with only 36% of Americans expressing trust in the system, reflecting growing concerns about its value and cost (AP). Mental health may be worsening due to overdiagnosis and an increased focus on mental health issues, according to a new review exploring the paradox of treatment prevalence (The FP). Concerns about Gen Z’s mental health are reshaping the workplace, as younger employees report higher rates of burnout and dissatisfaction, prompting calls for a shift in expectations (AEI). China is tightening regulations on chemicals used to produce illicit fentanyl, marking a significant step in U.S.-China counter-narcotics cooperation (Reuters). 📊
Food & Drink
The fast food industry is experiencing a shift, with some of the biggest chains like McDonald's seeing declines in same-store sales—though the golden arches remains a dominant force in American culture (Sherwood) 📊. Auntie Anne's has launched a new perfume that captures the nostalgic scent of buttery pretzels, evoking memories of mall visits and the iconic bakery chain (NY Post) 📊.
Nature
Research has revealed that microwave ovens host their own microbiomes, with bacteria from human skin and food-borne pathogens thriving in these environments, especially in shared appliances (Nature). The world's largest iceberg, A23a, has been stuck in a Taylor Column near Antarctica, spinning in place due to a rotating water cylinder, and it may remain trapped for years (BBC) 📊. Scientists have extracted the deepest-ever samples of Earth's mantle from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, providing new insights into the planet's interior composition (Nature) 📊.
Travel
Airlines are facing a shortage of flight numbers as the industry recovers from the pandemic and flight operations expand(View From the Wing). The difference between Farm to Market (FM) roads and Ranch to Market (RM) roads in Texas is largely historical, with FM roads originally serving agricultural areas and RM roads serving ranching regions, though the distinctions have blurred over time (Texas Monthly) 📊.
Entertainment
Taylor Swift’s concerts in Vienna were canceled after two suspects were arrested for plotting an ISIS-inspired terror attack, with authorities detailing plans involving a bomb-filled car (ABC News). Going to the movies in America is changing, with fewer young audiences returning post-COVID, and a shift towards blockbuster films on IMAX-scale screens driving ticket sales (WSJ 🔒). The phenomenon of "Zombie Bands" continues, with some groups touring without any original members (Rolling Stone) 📊.
Sports
Noah Lyles won the closest-ever Olympic 100m final by five thousandths of a second, securing gold for the United States for the first time in 20 years (Reuters). The Chicago White Sox extended their losing streak to 20 games, making it the longest in MLB since 1988, as they continue to struggle this season (NYT 🔒). U.S. sports leagues, led by the NFL, generated $49.3 billion in revenue between 2022 and 2023, with TV deals, sponsorships, and merchandise sales driving their income (Visual Capitalist) 📊.
For Fun
Hobbyhorse riding is gaining popularity as a competitive sport in the U.S., with participants clearing hurdles on stick horses, blending athleticism with a quirky twist (WSJ). 📊
THE SLOW BREW ☕
A more relaxed approach to the summaries.
World
Managing multipolarity: coalition building in a fragmented world (AEI) 📊
The world emerging today is more fragmented and multipolar than at any time in living memory. This system has attributes of unipolarity, bipolarity, and multipolarity simultaneously. Leaders in the US have decades of experience with bipolarity during the Cold War and unipolarity in its immediate aftermath. But they have no recent experience with managing multipolarity.US leaders will not be able to reassert worldwide primacy nor create a global democratic alliance capable on its own of maintaining the existing order. The better alternative is to embrace multipolarity and unearth the art of coalition building.
Germany, Philippines agree to broaden defence cooperation deal (SCMP)
The Philippines and Germany have agreed to deepen military cooperation, their defence ministers said on Sunday, as Manila pushes back after a series of confrontations with China. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and his Philippine counterpart Gilberto Teodoro met in Manila and pledged to sign a defence cooperation agreement by the end of the year. Teodoro said the agreement would focus on “mutual understanding regarding capabilities, training [and] exchange of information”.
North America
Pentagon chief revokes plea deals with three Sept. 11 suspects (Reuters)
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday revoked plea deals agreed to earlier this week with the man accused of masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and two accomplices, who are held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Pentagon said on Wednesday the plea deals had been entered into but did not elaborate on details. A U.S. official said they almost certainly involved guilty pleas in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table. However on Friday, Austin relieved Susan Escallier, who oversees the Pentagon's Guantanamo war court, of her authority to enter into pre-trial agreements in the case and took on the responsibility himself. "Effective immediately, in the exercise of my authority, I hereby withdraw from the three pre-trial agreements...," Austin wrote in a memo.
U.S. charges man with ties to Iran with plot to assassinate Trump, other politicians (WSJ🔒)
A Pakistani man with ties to Iran has been charged with plotting assassinations of former President Donald Trump and other politicians, law-enforcement officials said Tuesday. Asif Merchant traveled to New York in April to recruit hit men to carry out his scheme but was foiled when one of the people approached reported him to the FBI and became an informant, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said. The indictment doesn’t mention Trump by name, but it was unsealed weeks after U.S. officials said a threat against Trump from Iran prompted them to bolster security for the former president.
How the U.S. and Mexico drove border crossings down in an election year (WSJ🔒) 📊
When illegal migration surged across the U.S.-Mexico border last fall, Phoenix’s largest migrant shelter was so busy that cots filled the cafeteria and lined the hallways. Today the shelter, housed in a converted elementary school, is empty. The U.S. has experienced a stark decline in illegal border crossings in the past six months, thanks to a newly sprung security gantlet migrants encounter traveling to the U.S. border through Mexico. On the Mexican side, security checkpoints dot highways. Mexico’s National Guard patrols the southern banks of the Rio Grande, aiming to prevent mass concentrations of migrants. Thousands of asylum seekers caught heading north have been put on buses and sent back to southern Mexico near Guatemala. Aid organizations liken the busing strategy to the board game Chutes and Ladders, as migrants are moved around the country. The policy aims to discourage them from heading north. Many decide to return to South America, migrants say. The Americans also have a new tool. An order issued by President Biden in June disqualifies migrants from winning asylum if they enter the U.S. illegally. As a result, many more of them can be deported quickly, and far fewer have been released into the U.S.
Most of US population growth post-COVID is from Hispanic people (Bloomberg🔒) 📊
The Hispanic population in the US grew by 3.2 million from the beginning of the pandemic to mid-2023, making up 91% of the country’s overall gain, according to an analysis of Census Bureau data. Overall, the US population increased by 3.4 million over the period, Frey’s analysis showed. At the same time, the White population declined by 2.1 million, and the shrinking group of White youth drove a 1.6 million drop in the number of Americans under the age of 18. The smaller White population is mostly the result of more deaths than births. Due to an aging population, there are proportionately fewer White women who are of childbearing age and fertility rates are lower compared to other groups. Both natural increase — measured as births minus deaths — and immigration contributed to the recent gains of all other groups.
Europe
Russia fights largest incursion by Ukraine troops since invasion (Bloomberg🔒) 📊
President Vladimir Putin summoned his top defense and security officials to brief him on efforts to repel Ukraine’s biggest assault on Russian territory since he ordered the 2022 invasion of the neighboring country. As many as 1,000 Ukrainian troops had crossed the border with the goal of seizing part of the Kursk region, army chief Valery Gerasimov told Putin in a televised meeting Wednesday. Russia had deployed troops, air strikes and artillery to prevent an “advance deep into the territory” and fighting was continuing to try to end the offensive, he said.
Top U.K. prosecutor considers terrorism charges over ongoing riots and disorder (CBS News) 📊
Amid ongoing far-right riots and demonstrations fueled by misinformation online, England and Wales' Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson said his teams would consider seeking extradition for social media influencers who are accused of stoking the violence from abroad and charging some suspects with terrorism offences, CBS News partner network BBC News reported. Rioters have attacked mosques and hotels that house asylum-seekers, looting shops and burning cars. On Tuesday, lawyers in the U.K. called on lawmakers to address their safety concerns after a list of dozens of immigration advice centers was circulated on social media with a message suggesting they be targets of unrest on Wednesday, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported.
Middle East
Biden holding security talks as tensions heighten in Middle East (VOA)
U.S. President Joe Biden is set to discuss tensions in the Middle East with his national security team Monday, and to meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, while Israeli leaders warn they will exact a “heavy price” if attacked, amid concerns about potential actions launched by Iran or its proxies in the region. The U.S.-Jordan talks come a day after Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi traveled to Iran where he urged an end to escalation and for the region to live in “peace, security and stability.” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke Sunday with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant, reiterating “ironclad U.S. support for Israel’s security and right to self-defense against threats from Iran” and Iranian proxies such as the Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Yemen-based Houthis. The United States is moving an aircraft carrier group and more air assets to the region, in a move the Pentagon announced Friday.
US deploying F-22s to Middle East as Iran seeks revenge on Israel (Air & Space Forces)
More U.S. military aircraft, warships, and other assets are deploying to the Middle East the Pentagon announced Aug. 2. A U.S. Air Force fighter squadron consisting of stealthy F-22 Raptors is being dispatched to the region, a person familiar with the deployment told Air & Space Forces Magazine. The Pentagon is also sending more ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers, and may bolster land-based surface-to-air capabilities. The moves are intended to fend off or deter an attack from Iran on Israel and enhance U.S. forces in the region following the death by explosion of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. “The Department of Defense continues to take steps to mitigate the possibility of regional escalation by Iran or Iran’s partners and proxies,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said in statement Aug. 2. “To that end, Secretary Austin has ordered adjustments to U.S. military posture designed to improve U.S. force protection, to increase support for the defense of Israel, and to ensure the United States is prepared to respond to various contingencies.” The F-22 squadron will add to the U.S. Air Force’s three existing combat aircraft squadrons in the Middle East. F-15E Strike Eagles and F-16 Fighting Falcons fighters are already deployed to U.S. Central Command. So are A-10 Thunderbolt II attack planes.
U.S. troops in Iraq are wounded in rocket attack on air base (NYT🔒)
A rocket attack targeting U.S. personnel housed at a base in Iraq’s western desert injured several American troops late on Monday, according to U.S. defense officials. The attack on Ain al Asad Air Base resembled previous ones carried out by Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups, which have targeted the base repeatedly over the past several years but intensified their attacks after Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza began in October. The latest attack involved at least two rockets that hit inside the base’s perimeter, according to a U.S. official and Iraqi witnesses near the site of the attack. The base had been targeted at least twice in the past three weeks, and there was also an attack late last month on a small U.S. base in eastern Syria where U.S. special operation forces work with Syrian Kurdish troops to tamp down the Islamic State.
Africa
US closes last drone base in Niger, with uncertain future for counterterrorism fight (Air & Space Forces)
The U.S. has shut down its last base in Niger, leaving a vacuum in America’s fight against terrorism in Africa, the Pentagon announced Aug. 5. For years, Niger and its air bases served as a critical hub for missions targeting extremist groups in the Sahel region. The Pentagon announced the withdrawal of U.S. forces and assets from Air Base 201 in Agadez, in the central part of the country, in a joint statement with Niger’s defense ministry. The U.S. withdrew from its other base in Niger, Air Base 101, near the capital of Niamey last month. Roughly two dozen troops still remain in Niger at the U.S. Embassy, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said Aug. 5. U.S. and Nigerian cooperation helped Air Base 101 and Air Base 201 become an intelligence hub where troops used drones such as MQ-9 Reapers to track militant groups, including al-Qaeda and affiliates of the Islamic State group. The U.S. was officially in the country to to train, advise, and assist Niger’s military, and the U.S. conducted joint operations with its military too.
The small African country with the world's highest suicide rate (BBC)
According to the World Health Organization, 87.5 people per 100,000 of the population take their own life every year in Lesotho. By contrast that is more than double the next country on the list, Guyana in South America, where the figure is just over 40. It is also almost 10 times the global average, which stands at nine suicides per 100,000 people.
East Asia
Number of Chinese couples getting married falls to 12-year low, data shows (Reuters) 📊
The number of Chinese couples who got married in the first half of this year fell to its lowest level since 2013, official data showed, as more young people deferred nuptials amid a slowing economy and a rise in living costs. The number of marriages in China is closely tied to the number of births, and the decline is likely to upset policymakers trying hard to boost the population which has been shrinking for years. A total of to 3.43 million couples tied the knot in the first six months of the year, a drop of 498,000 from the same year-ago period, the data on marriage registrations showed.
South Asia
Bangladesh Prime Minister resigns after weeks of protests (WSJ🔒)
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country on Monday after a government crackdown on violent student protests sparked a revolt against her rule. Army Chief Gen. Waker-Uz-Zaman announced the resignation at a press conference, and said an interim government will be formed soon. The 76-year-old has ruled the South Asian nation continuously for more than 15 years, but she faced increasing calls to resign after her government sought to quash demonstrations that erupted last month. At least 300 people have been killed, and hundreds more injured. Hasina flew out of the country on Monday, and landed in India, according to a person familiar with the matter. Political experts and rights groups say her rule has been marked by increasing repression of political opponents, including through the tribunal. The resignation throws Bangladesh into further disarray after weeks of turmoil that began with students demonstrating against a quota system that earmarked 30% of government jobs for the families of veterans of the independence struggle. The protests reflected deep frustration among young people, who are grappling with inflation and an unemployment rate that has hovered around 16% for years, according to government data. Many saw the quota system as favoring Hasina’s ruling Awami League party and its followers. Many Bangladeshis are also disillusioned with the government’s lack of commitment to democracy. The election that returned Hasina to a fourth consecutive term as prime minister in January was boycotted by main opposition parties.
Bangladesh’s president dissolves parliament, clearing the way for elections to replace ousted leader (AP)
Bangladesh’s president dissolved parliament Tuesday, clearing the way for new elections to replace the longtime prime minister who resigned and fled the country following weeks of demonstrations against her rule that descended into violent unrest. President Mohammed Shahabuddin also ordered opposition leader Khaleda Zia released from house arrest. Zia, a longtime rival of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was convicted on corruption charges by Hasina’s government in 2018. The streets of Dhaka appeared calmer Tuesday, with no reports of new violence as jubilant protesters thronged the ousted leader’s residence. Some posed for selfies with soldiers guarding the building where a day earlier angry protesters had looted furniture, paintings, flower pots and chickens. As the country waited for a new government to emerge, a key student leader said protesters wanted Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus to head an interim government.
Interim leader Muhammad Yunus takes the helm in Bangladesh, to seek peace and prepare elections (WP🔒)
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus took the oath of office as head of Bangladesh’s interim government Thursday after an uprising prompted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to step down and flee to India. The key tasks for Yunus now are restoring peace in Bangladesh and preparing for new elections following weeks of violence in which student activists led an uprising against what was considered Hasina’s increasingly autocratic 15-year rule. Bangladesh’s figurehead President Mohammed Shahabuddin administered the oath to Yunus for his role as chief advisor, which is the equivalent to a prime minister, in presence of foreign diplomats, civil society members, top businessmen and members of the former opposition party at the presidential palace in Dhaka. No representatives of Hasina’s party were present.
Myanmar rebels claim regional military base in major victory (NYT🔒)
A rebel army in Myanmar announced this weekend that it had overrun a regional military base near the border with China in what is likely to be the most significant victory yet for a patchwork of resistance groups that have challenged the country’s junta. On Monday, Myanmar’s military rulers signaled that the insurgents had, in fact, made a major advance, saying the junta had lost contact with the base, the northeastern command in the city of Lashio in Shan State.
Southeast Asia
Thai court takes aim at progressive politics despite global scrutiny (Semafor)
Thailand’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday voted unanimously to dissolve the popular progressive Move Forward Party and banned some of its leaders from politics for 10 years. In its ruling, the country’s highest court said the party violated the constitution by campaigning to change Thailand’s controversial lèse-majesté laws, which ban criticism of the royal family. The Move Forward Party won the most votes in Thailand’s elections last year, but was prevented from forming a government. The verdict was expected — the court is considered a bastion of the monarchy’s conservative interests and it has similarly dismantled 34 other political parties in the past two decades.
Space
They went to space for eight days - and could be stuck until 2025 (BBC)
When two American astronauts blasted off on a test mission to the International Space Station on 5 June, they were expecting to be back home in a matter of days. But things didn't quite go to plan. In fact, Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams are still there, floating high above the Earth nearly two months later. The pair - who are stuck indefinitely - now face the sudden prospect of missing the summer entirely and even spending Christmas and New Year in space. Mr Wilmore, 61, and Ms Williams, 58, flew a Boeing Starliner spacecraft to the station. It was the first flight of its kind with people on board and was a test designed to see how the new spacecraft performs before it is used more regularly. At a news briefing on Wednesday, Nasa officials said no firm decisions had been made when it comes to next steps. "Our prime option is to return Butch and Suni on Starliner," Steve Stich, manager of Nasa's Commercial Crew Program, said. "However, we have done the requisite planning to make sure we have other options open.”
NOTE: Yep, they’re still there. Very embarrassing for Boeing.
China launches its rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink internet satellites (CNBC)
China on Tuesday launched its first batch of internet satellites that will form part of a constellation it hopes will rival SpaceX’s Starlink. The constellation, known as “Thousand Sails,” is a low-Earth orbit set of more than 15,000 satellites that China has said will create global internet coverage. By 2025, China is aiming to deploy 648 satellites in the first phase of the constellation’s build-out to create an internet network with global coverage, according to state media CCTV.
It’s not a space race, it’s the space Olympics (AEI) 📊
As China prepares to launch thousands of internet satellites, AEI’s Todd Harrison explains that the global competition for space will have major military and economic implications. While the United States currently leads in operational military and commercial satellites, China is rapidly closing the gap. Harrison emphasizes that winning the race to build the most commercial and military satellites is crucial for economic and military dominance. In military satellites, the US currently leads other nations, with 282 operational satellites; China is not far behind, with 192. Maintaining the technological edge in military satellites is key for nations that want to distinguish themselves as global powers, rather than regional ones. In commercial satellites, the US dominates the competition, with over 6,000 satellites constituting 81% of all commercial satellites in operation today.
The highly anticipated Perseid meteor shower is about to peak. Here's how to watch (NPR)
The annual Perseid meteor shower — the most popular one of the year — has already begun, with the most shooting stars expected to fall around Aug. 11 as the shower reaches its peak. The Perseids occur each year when the Earth plows through a stream of space rubble left behind by a large comet called Swift-Tuttle. Bits of debris going over 100,000 miles per hour strike the planet’s atmosphere, creating quick streaks of light and sometimes even dramatic fireballs. This time around, the greatest activity is expected to occur on the night of Aug. 11 and into the early morning hours of Aug. 12, says Hunter Miller, a public observing educator at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, who notes that viewing is best under dark skies, away from artificial light and the bright moon. He recommends looking northward and giving your eyes at least 30 minutes to adjust to the darkness — and warns that looking at the bright screen of a phone “will basically mess up all of the time that you spent trying to let your eyes get dark-adjusted.”
Terraforming Mars could be easier than scientists thought (Science)
One of the classic tropes of science fiction is terraforming Mars: warming up our cold neighbor so it could support human civilization. The idea might not be so far-fetched, research published today in Science Advances suggests. Injecting tiny particles into Mars’s atmosphere could warm the planet by more than 10°C in a matter of months, researchers find—enough to sustain liquid water. Although the scheme would require about 2 million tons of particles per year, they could be manufactured from readily available ingredients found in martian dust. Although water is thought to have flowed on Mars billions of years ago, what little remains today is frozen in polar ice caps and under the soil. With a thin atmosphere and a weak Sun, average temperatures are about –62ºC [-80ºF], colder than most places on Earth ever get. Making the Red Planet suitable for crops, liquid water, and our own bodies requires a significant boost in temperature.
Government
Five things to know about Tim Walz (AP)
Vice President Kamala Harris has decided on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate in her bid for the White House. The 60-year-old Democrat and military veteran rose to the forefront with a series of plain-spoken television appearances in the days after President Joe Biden decided not to seek a second term. He has made his state a bastion of liberal policy and, this year, one of the few states to protect fans buying tickets online for Taylor Swift concerts and other live events. [Here are] Some things to know about Walz.
Harris-Trump race is first since 1976 without a Bush, Clinton or Biden (Axios) 📊
Vice President Kamala Harris' move to the top of the Democratic ticket and her choice of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for VP have brought fresh names onto the presidential ballot. For nearly 50 years, the ballot had included at least one member of three American political families: Bush, Clinton or Biden. Five presidential or vice presidential candidates from 1980 to 2020 came from those three families. Three entire generations — Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z — have only voted in presidential elections with a Bush, Clinton or Biden on the ticket.
Opinion | Why you should feel good about liberalism (Persuasion)
I have made a couple of claims here: that liberalism delivers spectacular results; and that its would-be systemic competitors have not and cannot. Both claims require some defining and defending.
NOTE: Fair warning, it’s a long read, but it’s well written. While I don’t agree with all of the points the author makes, I do find his definitions and explanations of government terms useful…and he does give you much to ponder and makes cogent arguments. Some poignant passages:
“If it is true, as F. Scott Fitzgerald said, that only a first-rate intelligence can function while holding two opposed ideas in mind at the same time, then only a genius can assess the future of liberalism—such is the paradox that confronts liberals right now.
I have made a couple of claims here: that liberalism delivers spectacular results; and that its would-be systemic competitors have not and cannot. Both claims require some defining and defending.
Begin, then, with a basic question: what do we (or at least I) mean by liberalism?
Not progressivism or moderate leftism, as the term came to mean in postwar U.S. discourse. Rather, liberalism in the tradition of Locke, Kant, and the Founders. It is not one idea but a family of ideas with many variants. Its central philosophy is that all persons are born free and equal. Its operational principles include the rule of law, pluralism, toleration, minority rights, distributed authority, limited government, and (subject to the other requirements) democratic decision-making. Its distinctive method of social organization is to rely on impersonal rules and open-ended, decentralized processes to make collective decisions.
Embodying those notions are three interlinked social systems: liberal democracy to make political choices; market capitalism to make economic choices; and science and other forms of open critical exchange to make epistemic choices (that is, decisions about truth and knowledge). By transcending tribe, renouncing authoritarianism, substituting rules for rulers, and treating persons as interchangeable, liberalism achieves what no other social system can offer, at least on a large scale: coordination without control.
Moreover, the American project and its foreign cousins do not merely allow civil society to construct meaning and provide connection and purpose; they depend upon it to do so. John Adams said: “Liberty can no more exist without virtue and independence than the body can live and move without a soul.” James Madison echoed: “To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people is a chimerical idea.” A liberal republic, they warned, requires virtue but does not necessarily furnish its own supply. The Founders told anyone who would listen that our constitutional system can—up to a point—protect us from our worst selves, but it cannot make us our best selves. Our families, schools, churches, communities, and culture must form us as citizens and fill our souls.
On that reckoning, the current crisis—and the crisis observed by Tocqueville and Nietzsche and Carter and Clinton—is not so much a failure of liberalism as it is a failure of the institutions around liberalism. For all kinds of reasons beyond the scope of this article, society’s meaning-making institutions have not stepped up. In particular, the secularization and politicization of American Protestantism—perhaps still, despite its travails, America’s spiritual taproot—has proved catastrophic. (That’s the subject of my next book, so I won’t elaborate here.) But more generally, if churches preach politics, if schools neglect citizenship, if businesses are mercenary, if politics becomes performative, if voters become cynical, if media becomes propagandistic, if communities crumble, and if families fragment—well, in that case, liberalism will not save us.”
Economy
Wall Street bounces back from its biggest wipeout in almost 2 years (VOA)
Stocks closed higher on Wall Street as calm returned to the market a day after its biggest pullback in almost two years. The S&P 500 rose 1% Tuesday, breaking a brutal three-day losing streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite added 1%. Strong profit reports from Uber and other companies helped support the market. Most stocks climbed in a mirror opposite of the day before, when the unraveling of some popular trades and worries about the U.S. economy wracked markets. Treasury yields climbed, clawing back some of their sharp drops since April. Stronger-than-expected profit reports from several big U.S. companies helped drive the market. Kenvue, the company behind Tylenol and Band-Aids, jumped 14.5% after reporting a stronger profit than expected thanks in part to higher prices for its products. Uber rolled 11.2% higher after easily topping profit forecasts for the latest quarter.
U.S. added 114,000 jobs in July; unemployment rate rises to 4.3% (Realtor) 📊
The July jobs report showed a significant slowdown in payroll growth with 114,000 job additions, well below the previous 12-months’ average gain of 215,000 jobs, and below June’s downwardly revised rate of 179,000 job additions. The unemployment rate grew for the fourth month in a row, reaching 4.3% in July, up 0.2 percentage points from June’s level and 0.8 percentage points from July 2023. What does today’s data mean for homebuyers, sellers, and the housing market? Both buyers and sellers continue to weigh whether to get into the housing market as sticky home prices and high mortgage rates persist. As a result, the housing market eased in July, with stable prices, building inventory, and homes spending longer on the market than last year. However, the recent decline in mortgage rates may stoke market activity. Mortgage rates dropped to their lowest level in nearly six months this week. More significant mortgage rate progress will likely be necessary to see more dramatic shifts in the housing market as 86% of outstanding mortgage debt has a rate below 6%. Put differently, would-be buyers and sellers who currently hold a mortgage likely have a rate below today’s rate, and therefore may stay on the sidelines until mortgage rates fall further. Despite affordability challenges, the still-strong labor market means that workers are in a good position to make housing decisions.
Why the yen carry trade unwind has further to go (WSJ🔒) 📊
Investors are rushing to close out one of the most popular investment strategies of recent years: making investments with borrowed Japanese yen. Many investors have been participating in the so-called carry trade. Here’s how that works: an investor borrows the currency of a place where interest rates are low, like Japan or China, and uses it to invest in a currency where interest rates are higher, like Mexico. The trade depends on the borrowing currency remaining cheap, and market volatility remaining low. Both of those factors have turned against investors in recent weeks as the yen surged, forcing them to close out out their positions.
NOTE: Here are two opposing opinion pieces on the economy:
Niall Ferguson: Welcome to Pandemonium (The FP)
“What the hell just happened?” is a question many people are asking as they try to make sense of global financial markets in turmoil. It is the right question. With the emphasis on “hell.”As I watched the global stock markets tumble, I thought of a trip I took earlier this year to the Louvre with my younger sons. Bored by the throng of people inanely taking identical bad photographs of the Mona Lisa, we stumbled upon a largely forgotten masterpiece, the representation of Milton’s Pandemonium by the Victorian artist John Martin. “Take a good look, lads,” I said. “That’s where we’re headed.”
The U.S. economy is not crashing (Noahpinion)
Here are Noah Smith’s Three Rules for Writing About the Stock Market: 1) Nobody really knows why stocks go up or down, even though everyone pretends to know. 2) By the time you write about a stock price movement, whatever happened is already fully priced in. So stocks are just as likely to bounce back as they are to keep moving in the same direction. 3)Stocks go up and down a lot, so you should zoom out to get perspective on how important a stock price movement really is. So let’s apply these rules to the big drop in stock prices that happened over the past couple of days.
Business
Small businesses make hard choices as insurance costs surge (WSJ🔒) 📊
Roughly half of small-business owners said health-insurance costs increased by 10% or more this year, according to a survey of about 800 entrepreneurs conducted in June for The Wall Street Journal. Nearly one in 10 reported increases of 25% or higher. And more than 30% of small-business owners said they had seen increases of 10% or more for commercial auto, liability, or property and casualty coverage, according to the survey by Vistage Worldwide, a business-coaching and peer-advisory firm. Health-insurance costs are rising at the steepest rates in years, driven by higher labor costs and heavy demand for new and expensive diabetes and obesity drugs, among other factors. Other types of insurance have grown more expensive for a variety of reasons, including the increased frequency of extreme weather events and the higher cost of repairing cars and trucks with more sophisticated features.
Chevron to leave California for Texas, as regulations mount in Golden State (WSJ🔒)
Chevron is relocating to Texas, deserting California, its home state for more than 140 years, where the business climate has soured for oil companies. The second-largest U.S. oil company said Friday it plans to move its global headquarters to Houston, the U.S. energy industry capital. Chevron has built a stronghold of about 7,000 employees there, partly from a matriculation of executives and white-collar workers decamping from California. The relocation plans come weeks after billionaire Elon Musk said X and SpaceX would move their headquarters to Austin, out of California. Musk had moved Tesla’s headquarters to Texas a few years ago. Several other large U.S. companies, including Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Oracle, have moved from blue states such as California to red states such as Texas. Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said the company wants to move its employees to one central hub. He also acknowledged the company has been vocal about its differences of opinion with California on energy policy.
As regulators close in, Nvidia scrambles for a response (NYT🔒)
Nvidia rocketed to the top of the tech industry by providing the computer chips essential to building artificial intelligence. By the end of last year, it had more than a 90 percent share of those chips sold around the world. That success has quickly brought government scrutiny. Authorities with the European Union, Britain and China asked the company for information about its sales of those important chips, allocation of supplies and investments in other companies, according to Nvidia’s financial filings. The Justice Department has also started investigating Nvidia’s sales practices and will review one of the company’s most recent acquisitions, said three people familiar with the inquiries, who asked for anonymity because it is early in the process. Nvidia wasn’t ready for the attention, and is now racing to build the staffs and offices needed to respond. Just last year, Nvidia started searching for an office in Washington and hired four public policy employees. This year, it added its first in-house competition attorney to work alongside a legal team that has been addressing antitrust questions over the past decade. And it has begun developing a strategy to respond to government interest.
Callaway is weighing up what to do with Topgolf, as visitor numbers fade (Sherwood News) 📊
Topgolf — the driving range chain where families, friends, and colleagues can whack a few balls onto greens littered with interactive targets — isn’t getting the footfall it used to, leading parent co. Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp. to explore a potential spinoff. Golf ball, bag, and club-making giant Callaway acquired Topgolf in a 2021 deal that valued the make-golf-fun-again brand at more than $2 billion, keen to get in on the less stuffy off-course craze that Topgolf has capitalized on since it was founded 24 years ago. In its latest report, however, the company bemoaned “softer than expected” traffic at the ranges, despite CEO Chip Brewer claiming last year that more people would be visiting a Topgolf in 2024 than “playing traditional golf”.
Disney stock limps to 9-month low as yearslong rut continues (Forbes) 📊
Disney stock slid Wednesday after the company warned about softness in its cash cow parks division during its morning quarterly earnings update, sending shares to a new 2024 nadir as the entertainment conglomerate grapples with an extended slump on Wall Street. The decline, which came amid milder index-level losses, followed Disney management’s warnings about a weakening consumer, flashing red to a market already on edge about concerns of a global economic slowdown. In its earnings release, Disney warned about U.S. “demand moderation” for its Experiences unit, which covers theme parks and accounted for about 52% of Disney’s global operating profit last quarter, and Disney CEO Bob Iger warned analysts they’ve seen evidence “the lower income consumer is feeling a little bit of stress,” alluding to tighter discretionary spending.
Energy
China is rapidly building nuclear power plants as the rest of the world stalls (Bloomberg🔒) 📊
The scale and speed of Beijing’s crusade is hard to overstate. China approved its first nuclear power station in 1981. BloombergNEF now expects the country to leapfrog France and the US by 2030. In an age when few new reactors are built at all, China has 30 under construction. Beijing has spent billions on research and experiments such as Linglong One, operated by China National Nuclear Power Co. and the only small modular reactor approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency to date. It’s due to be completed by the end of next year. On key hoped-for advances like fusion—combining rather than breaking apart atoms—Beijing far outspends the US on research and development. There’s no great industrial secret to what China is doing. It’s largely a matter of vast scale, state support and relatively simple, replicable construction.
Real Estate
Mortgage rates decrease to lowest level in over a year (Freddie Mac) 📊
Mortgage rates plunged this week to their lowest level in over a year following the likely overreaction to a less than favorable employment report and financial market turbulence for an economy that remains on solid footing. The decline in mortgage rates does increase prospective homebuyers’ purchasing power and should begin to pique their interest in making a move. Additionally, this drop in rates is already providing some existing homeowners the opportunity to refinance, with the refinance share of market mortgage applications reaching nearly 42 percent, the highest since March 2022.
Office loans are toxic, but apartment loans are in bad shape too (WSJ🔒) 📊
“Survive until 25” has become a mantra for landlords who are hanging onto buildings by their fingernails and praying for rate cuts soon. While it is well understood that many offices are a lost cause, apartment loans are in surprisingly bad shape, too. More than $40 billion of office loans were in distress at the end of the second quarter based on data from MSCI, which is around three times the value of distressed apartment loans. But the pool of apartment mortgages that could get into difficulty in the future is larger—$80.95 billion are at risk of distress, compared with $66.87 billion for offices. These loans are flashing amber because occupancy rates are falling or the income generated by the buildings is barely enough to meet interest payments, says Alexis Maltin, a vice president at MSCI Research.
Fannie, Freddie are poised to tighten real-estate lending rules (WSJ🔒)
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are preparing to impose stricter rules for commercial-property lenders and brokers, following a budding regulatory crackdown on fraud in the multitrillion-dollar market. Lenders would have to independently verify financial information related to borrowers for apartment complexes and other multifamily properties, according to people familiar with the preliminary plans. Additionally, lenders could face tougher requirements for confirming whether a property borrower has adequate cash and verifying their source of funds. The new rules might also require lenders to complete due diligence on the appraised value of a property, by evaluating its financial performance, for example, these people said.
Technology
Man vs. machine: DeepMind’s new robot serves up a table tennis triumph (Ars Technica)
On Wednesday, researchers at Google DeepMind revealed the first AI-powered robotic table tennis player capable of competing at an amateur human level. The system combines an industrial robot arm called the ABB IRB 1100 and custom AI software from DeepMind. While an expert human player can still defeat the bot, the system demonstrates the potential for machines to master complex physical tasks that require split-second decision-making and adaptability.
Cyber
Google loses antitrust case over search-engine dominance (WSJ🔒)
A federal judge ruled that Google engaged in illegal practices to preserve its search engine monopoly, delivering a major antitrust victory to the Justice Department in its effort to rein in Silicon Valley technology giants. Google, which performs about 90% of the world’s internet searches, exploited its market dominance to stomp out competitors, U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta in Washington, D.C. said in the long-awaited ruling. “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Mehta wrote in his 276-page decision released Monday, in which he also faulted the company for destroying internal messages that could have been useful in the case. Mehta agreed with the central argument made by the Justice Department and 38 states and territories that Google suppressed competition by paying billions of dollars to operators of web browsers and phone manufacturers to be their default search engine.
Google admits to omitting Trump assassination attempt from search autocomplete feature (National Review)
An attorney for Google’s parent company admitted that the autocomplete tool for its search function did not include the assassination attempt against former president Donald Trump. The admission came after the apparent search issues drew controversy online. Alphabet Inc.’s counsel informed the House Judiciary Committee that bugs in Google’s autocomplete tool prevented it from predicting searches about the attempt on Trump’s life. The built-in protections that Google installed for searches related to political violence were “out of date,” the attorney said, and prevented the search autocomplete feature from generating results on the assassination attempt against Trump three weeks ago. Google’s autocomplete feature experienced similar issues when users searched for “President Donald” and related search terms. The attorney said the bugs were fixed after they were brought to Google’s attention. Google also claimed that an algorithmic error was responsible for broadcasting news stories about Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s 2024 rival, when users searched Trump’s name.
Hackers have exploited an 18-year-old ‘0.0.0.0-day’ loophole in Safari, Chrome and Firefox (Forbes)
For the last 18 years, some of the world’s biggest browsers have left a path open for hackers to breach the private networks of homes and businesses, according to research released Wednesday. Apple, Google and Mozilla are working on ways to close off the loophole, which is caused by the way browsers handle queries to a 0.0.0.0 IP address. The Chrome, Safari and Firefox browsers all accept queries to 0.0.0.0 by sending them to other IP addresses, including “localhost,” a server on a network or computer that is typically private and is often used to test in-development code. Researchers from Israeli cybersecurity startup Oligo said that hackers exploited this weakness by sending malicious requests to their target’s 0.0.0.0 IP address, which enabled them to grab data that should have been private. They dubbed it a “0.0.0.0-day” attack.
Artificial Intelligence
NOTE: Ted Gioia recently posted an article titled “How to Know If You're Living in a Doom Loop.” In it, he discusses the degradation and deterioration of things, leading to a doom loop. His words: “In this doom loop, anything exciting or fresh or different is punished—or sometimes eliminated completely. You aren’t even allowed to consider it as an option. In a cultural doom loop, newness is too risky. It’s too unproven. It can’t be relied on. So you must be protected from it.”
He references a number of different things that suffer this doom loop phenomena, but I thought a particular one on AI was interesting—and I’m finding it to be true:
This very thing has been my observation recently as I continue to notice more and more internet content that is obviously generated by AI—you may know what I’m talking about—they’re those articles that you click on to answer a simple question, only for the page to go on and on describing everything but the very thing you were looking for the answer to.
Also, I use ChatGPT fairly regularly to do very basic tasks, like putting data into tables, crafting information, answering questions, etc. What I notice is that the clearer I am with my instructions, the better the answer. But this isn’t always true, and the more I use ChatGPT to complete the same task over and over, the more it tends to “wander”. The answers start growing and get farther away from the original format and instructions.
A bigger concern is that we’ve run out information to teach these Large Learning Models (LLMs). They’ve used the entire internet to get this far…and we don’t have any other “internets” of information. Thus, we’re turning to AI models to produce more content for LLMs to learn from. This then highlights the problem displayed in the image above--if we use “the internet” as a source for LLMs, and then that output is used by LLMs to develop more content from, then doesn’t it all just become a muddled goop? In essence, the content becomes averages of averages of averages.
The report referenced above in Nature explains it this way:
“We show that, over time, models start losing information about the true distribution, which first starts with tails disappearing, and learned behaviours converge over the generations to a point estimate with very small variance.”
“Model collapse is a degenerative process affecting generations of learned generative models, in which the data they generate end up polluting the training set of the next generation. Being trained on polluted data, they then mis-perceive reality.”
There’s a tool to catch students cheating with ChatGPT. OpenAI hasn’t released it. (WSJ🔒)
OpenAI has a method to reliably detect when someone uses ChatGPT to write an essay or research paper. The company hasn’t released it despite widespread concerns about students using artificial intelligence to cheat. The project has been mired in internal debate at OpenAI for roughly two years and has been ready to be released for about a year, according to people familiar with the matter and internal documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal. “It’s just a matter of pressing a button,” one of the people said. In trying to decide what to do, OpenAI employees have wavered between the startup’s stated commitment to transparency and their desire to attract and retain users. One survey the company conducted of loyal ChatGPT users found nearly a third would be turned off by the anticheating technology. ChatGPT is powered by an AI system that predicts what word or word fragment, known as a token, should come next in a sentence. The anticheating tool under discussion at OpenAI would slightly change how the tokens are selected. Those changes would leave a pattern called a watermark. The watermarks would be unnoticeable to the human eye but could be found with OpenAI’s detection technology. The detector provides a score of how likely the entire document or a portion of it was written by ChatGPT. The watermarks are 99.9% effective when enough new text is created by ChatGPT, according to the internal documents. Still, staffers have raised concerns the watermarks could be erased through simple techniques like having Google translate the text into another language and then back, or having ChatGPT add emojis to the text and then manually deleting them, an OpenAI employee familiar with the matter said.
Life
OpEd | The rise of “marriage deserts” and what we can do about them (AEI) 📊
What happens when entire communities consist of single-parent households? In recent years, Chris Bullivant and AEI’s Brad Wilcox have observed an increase in neighborhoods with persistently low marriage rates, which they call “marriage deserts.”
For example, in Laurelhurst, a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, nearly 90% of families are headed by two parents, while South Park, a neighborhood a few miles south, has predominantly single-parent families. This trend is not confined to Seattle: Pew Research Center finds the share of children living with an unmarried parent rose from 13% in 1968 to 32% by 2017. Relationship Role Models: Bullivant and Wilcox explain that children growing up in stable, two-parent households better understand what it takes to sustain a marriage. In contrast, those without such examples, including whole communities, find marriage much more challenging to achieve and maintain. Thankfully, Bullivant and Wilcox identify several ways to provide other role models for people living in marriage deserts.
Education
Is college worth it? Poll finds only 36% of Americans have confidence in higher education (AP)
Americans are increasingly skeptical about the value and cost of college, with most saying they feel the U.S. higher education system is headed in the “wrong direction,” according to a new poll. Overall, only 36% of adults say they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education, according to the report released Monday by Gallup and the Lumina Foundation. That confidence level has declined steadily from 57% in 2015. Some of the same opinions have been reflected in declining enrollment as colleges contend with the effects of the student debt crisis, concerns about the high cost of tuition and political debates over how they teach about race and other topics. The dimming view of whether college is worth the time and money cuts across all demographics — including gender, age, political affiliation.
Health
Are we thinking ourselves sick? (The FP)
My experience, which I predict many young people can relate to, is investigated in Thank You for Sharing, a new indie documentary by Canadian filmmakers Sonia Zawitkowski and Jenna Taylor, which premieres August 8 at the Greenpoint Festival in Brooklyn. It proposes that our collective focus on our mental health is making our mental health way worse. In addition to pointing out that mental health metrics have only gotten worse—43 percent of American adults reported feeling more anxious than they had the previous year, up from 37 percent in 2023, and 42 percent of Gen Z has a diagnosed mental health condition—the film explores mental health care in early nineteenth-century asylums. As more asylums were built and filled, the number of mentally ill increased as a percentage of the population. This was an early example of what the narrator of the film calls the treatment-prevalence paradox: “A sort of social iatrogenesis where attempts to solve mental health problems coincide with an increase in them.” Iatrogenesis is a term for adverse effects caused by medical interventions, such as incorrect diagnosis or errors in treatment. The idea that overdiagnosing mental health disorders has deleterious effects is catching on quickly. “I think it’s only a matter of time before it reaches a saturation level and people start to question a little bit,” Zawitkowski, the filmmaker, told me. Abigail Shrier, in her new, best-selling book Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up, argues that mental health professionals are pathologizing normal childhood behavior. Shyness has become social anxiety, sadness replaced by depression. “Obtaining a diagnosis for your kid is not a neutral act,” writes Shrier. “It’s not nothing for a kid to grow up believing there’s something wrong with his brain.”
Perspective: How Gen Z’s mental health concerns are turning the workplace inside out (AEI)
Sigmund Freud observed that the goal of psychoanalysis is the transformation of misery into normal unhappiness. Recent findings from the American Psychological Association on American workers suggest that this process may also work in the opposite direction — focusing too much on personal unhappiness can lead to misery. The APA survey, conducted in early 2024, sampled more than 2,000 workers aged 18 and up. The topline findings were quite positive: 93% of respondents are proud of their work and more than 80% are satisfied with their coworker relationships.However, 59% of workers believe their employer overestimates workplace health, and 39% worry that reporting mental health issues could have negative consequences. Two-thirds of respondents reported symptoms of “burnout” in the past month, despite the fact that only 36% said they work more than 40 hours a week. Clay Routledge, director of the Human Flourishing Lab at the Archbridge Institute, says that today’s younger workers may have it backwards. Significance, he says, comes from focusing outside of oneself. If work is an inherently social activity, then encouraging younger workers to adopt a more outer-directed perspective on work and life may be a key step toward strengthening the work-based social connections that help support mental health and happiness. In a world where so many traditional sources of meaning — family, religion and civic participation — are fading, many have turned to their jobs for purpose. It’s a delicate balance; work cannot provide all the meaning required for human beings to flourish. Expecting work to fill all the gaps left by a withdrawal from family, faith and community can turn the workplace into a source of chronic disappointment, bitterness and conflict. We need more than one venue for “making meaning” in our lives. Work is not a cure for unhappiness, but by approaching it mainly as an act of service to colleagues and customers, it can play an important part in a happy and healthy life.
China to beef up regulations on fentanyl chemicals, White House says (Reuters) 📊
China said it would begin adding controls and regulation to the production of three chemicals used to make illicit fentanyl, the White House said on Tuesday, calling the move "a valuable step forward". It is the third significant such action since the United States and China resumed bilateral counter-narcotics cooperation in November 2023, acting National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said in a statement.
Food & Drink
Fast food is in flux, but America’s still lovin’ it (Sherwood News) 📊
The fast food industry is in a state of flux, with consumers balking at higher prices on the menus of some of the biggest names in the game. Yesterday, Pizza Hut and KFC both reported that same-store sales had fallen. That followed industry giant McDonald’s, which hasn't had the smoothest start to the year so far, last week reporting that same-store sales had dropped 0.7% too — the first decline since 2020. But, even with huge shifts in consumer behavior, when it comes to McDonald’s, America just can’t help lovin’ it. Indeed, in Monday’s QSR 50 report, a comprehensive annual ranking of US fast food chains, McDonald’s held onto the top spot thanks to its 13,457 outlets pulling in total sales of more than $53 billion last year.
New Auntie Anne’s perfume is childhood nostalgia in a bottle: ‘Spray me down BAD’ (NY Post)
Sometimes a little bit of nostalgia is all you knead. Fond memories of eating soft, buttery pretzels while roaming the mall have been bottled into a new perfume by Auntie Anne’s, the beloved bakery chain ubiquitous among shopping centers and transportation hubs across the US. Knead, an “Eau de Pretzel” fragrance, has notes of buttery dough, salt and a hint of sweetness — and the aroma is sure to illicit memories of walking past an Auntie Anne’s.
Nature
Your microwave oven has its own microbiome (Nature)
‘Extremophiles’ are organisms that can survive, and even thrive, in the harshest of environments, including inside scorching hydrothermal vents, sub-zero Antarctic ice and the crushing pressures of Earth’s crust. Now, they’ve been discovered in a more pedestrian setting: microwave ovens. “We’ve all been taught, from like the 1980s, that if you use a microwave oven, it heats everything up — it kills everything,” says Jason Tetro, a freelance microbiologist, known as ‘The Germ Guy’, in Edmonton, Canada. This study is “important”, he says, because it shines a spotlight on potential pathogens in these appliances, especially shared ones. Alba Iglesias, a microbiologist at the University of Valencia in Spain, and her colleagues swabbed 30 microwave ovens — including some in households; some shared in large spaces, such as offices; and some used in laboratories to heat specimens and chemical solutions. The team then cultured its samples in Petri dishes and determined the genera of the microbes that grew. They also sequenced the DNA in the material swabbed from the microwave ovens to get a sense of the bacterial diversity inside the appliances. A total of 101 bacterial strains grew in the cultures. The dominant ones belonged to the Bacillus, Micrococcus and Staphylococcus genera, which commonly live on human skin and surfaces that people frequently touch. Human-skin bacteria were present in all three types of microwave oven, but were more abundant in the household and shared-use appliances. A few bacteria types associated with food-borne illnesses, including Klebsiella and Brevundimonas, also grew in some of the cultures from household microwaves.
NOTE: Great. Just great. I only ask that they don’t run experiments on the microwave in the office break room…who knows how many bacteria live in there.
World's biggest iceberg spins in ocean trap (BBC) 📊
Something remarkable has happened to A23a, the world's biggest iceberg. For months now it has been spinning on the spot just north of Antarctica when really it should be racing along with Earth's most powerful ocean current. Scientists say the frozen block, which is more than twice the size of Greater London, has been captured on top of a huge rotating cylinder of water. It's a phenomenon oceanographers call a Taylor Column - and it's possible A23a might not escape its jailer for years. The berg's longevity is well documented. It broke free from the Antarctic coastline way back in 1986, but then almost immediately got stuck in the bottom-muds of the Weddell Sea. For three decades it was a static "ice island". It didn't budge. It wasn't until 2020 that it re-floated and started to drift again, slowly at first, before then charging north towards warmer air and waters.
Deepest-ever samples of rock from Earth’s mantle unveiled (Nature) 📊
A record-breaking expedition to drill into rocks at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean has given scientists their best glimpse yet of what the Earth might look like underneath its crust. Researchers extracted an almost uninterrupted 1,268-metre long sample of green-marble-like rock from a region where Earth’s mantle — the thick, interior layer that makes up more than 80% of the planet’s bulk — has pushed up through the sea floor (see ‘Deep-sea drilling’).
Travel
Airlines are running out of flight numbers, and they don’t know what to do about it (View From The Wing)
Airlines use up to four digits for flight numbers. That means they can have up to 9,999 flights (since there’s no flight zero), and no one comes close. American Airlines operates around 6,700 daily flights including its American Eagle regional services. So they should have plenty of room to grow! Except they don’t. American Airlines, Delta, and United are running out of flight numbers, and nobody knows what to do about it.
The Texanist: What’s the difference between a farm to market road and a ranch to market road? (Texas Monthly) 📊
And what’s the difference between an FM and an RM road, anyway?
NOTE: My wife and I recently realized we didn’t know the difference between the many road definitions in Texas—namely, ranch-to-market (RM), farm-to-market (FM), and state highway (SH). I was already familiar with the difference between a freeway and a highway; the former have no traffic signals, the latter do; but both are designed for higher speeds and multiple lanes. The article above, and this article explain the RM, FM, SH definitions.
And, here’s a map of RMs (yellow) and FMs (green) in Texas:
RMs and FMs are only part of the confusing road designations. Austin is especially confusing because it has a few “loops” that aren’t really loops around the city (for example, Loop 360 really only goes around a quarter of the city, then connects with 290, then 71, 183 toll, then 183 non-toll, to make a quasi-loop.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_State_Highway_Loop_360
MoPac, named after the Missouri Pacific Railroad which it parallels, is also called Loop 1…which is also not really a loop at all, but a near straight line.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_State_Highway_Loop_1
I won’t even talk about the nightmare that is I-35, which runs through the heart of the city. State Highway 130, which runs parallel to I-35, but outside of town, was supposed to relieve congestion through Austin offering an alternative for through-traffic. At 85 mph, it boasts the highest allowed speed in America…but I’m not really sure if it’s getting the traffic due to the toll. According to this website, using SH130 to by-pass Austin/Round Rock/Georgetown would cost an extra $18 in tolls and fuel.
All of this makes me grateful for the well-designed San Antonio road system consisting of concentric loops and a spider-web design. You can read about that evolution here.
Entertainment
Taylor Swift shows in Vienna canceled after 2 arrested for planning ISIS-inspired terror plot (ABC News)
Taylor Swift's three concerts in Vienna this week have been canceled after two suspects were arrested for allegedly plotting a terror attack, authorities said. The cancellation comes hours after authorities announced a 19-year-old Austrian citizen was arrested Wednesday morning and a second suspect was arrested in the afternoon. The suspects allegedly radicalized themselves online, Franz Ruf, director-general for public safety in the Ministry of the Interior, said at a press conference. The 19-year-old suspect allegedly pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State at the beginning of July, Ruf said.
How going to the movies is changing, in charts (WSJ🔒) 📊
America’s box office is fighting for a comeback. A Hollywood ending still seems far off. Young audiences haven’t returned to the movies in earnest since Covid, the number of screens in the U.S. is waning and it takes smash hits on IMAX-scale screens to sell tickets. Plus, Americans are evermore comfortable watching movies at home.
Zombie bands attack! These touring groups don’t have a single original member (Rolling Stone)
As Trey Anastasio told us recently, keeping a rock band together is an extraordinarily difficult task. “Picture who your best friends were when you were 18,” he said. “And imagine you got trapped in a van with them for 40 years…. It just builds up, and personalities clash. I’m talking real loathing, like, ‘Don’t put a gun in the room.’ It’s really crazy.” Anastasio’s band Phish is one of the few acts in rock history to keep their classic lineup together decade after decade. Most groups have at least one major absence due to some combination of retirement, illness, death, personality conflicts, or prolonged legal battles. Even the once unbreakable U2 recently wrapped up their Las Vegas run at Sphere with a replacement drummer because Larry Mullen Jr. has been sidelined with a back injury. They still have 3/4 of their lineup standing strong. The Rolling Stones are at 3/5 (or 2/5 if Ronnie Wood is still the new guy to you), Journey are at 2/5, the Who at 2/4, the Eagles at 3/5 (or 1/5 if we’re just counting OGs), and so on and so on. But what happens when the last legit band member shuffles off? Some groups simply cease to exist, but many others carry on with newbies and pretend they are something more than sanctioned tribute groups. The most recent example is the Four Tops after the loss of Abdul “Duke” Fakir, but they aren’t alone. Here’s our rundown of bands that continue to tour without a single classic-era member. (And while there’s no singular definition of “classic era,” we chose to consider members who were active while the band was still scoring hits.)
NOTE: This creates an interesting thought experiment—if the band members of Argo are all replaced, is it still the same band? And what if the original band members all reunite later and replace the replacement band members for reunion tour—then is it Argo?
Philosophers have been debating this topic for over 200 years.
Sports
Noah Lyles wins 100m gold by five thousandths of a second (Reuters) 📊
After all the talk and all the hype, Noah Lyles duly delivered when it mattered most by winning the closest-ever Olympic 100 metres final by five thousandths of a second on Sunday to give the United States the title for the first time in 20 years. If the race had been 99 metres, Thompson would have been celebrating a fourth Jamaican men's 100m win in five Olympics, but fast-finishing Lyles kept his form superbly and timed his dip expertly to add Olympic gold to his world title.
Chicago White Sox reach new level of futility, extend losing streak to 20 games (NYT🔒)
The Chicago White Sox unlocked a new level of futility with Sunday’s 13-7 loss to the Minnesota Twins, making them only the seventh team in modern baseball history (since 1901) ever to own a 20-game losing streak. It is the longest losing streak in MLB since the Baltimore Orioles dropped 21 in a row to begin the 1988 season.
NOTE: Since this article came out, the White Sox lost another game—leading to 21 straight losses--then they turned around and won Tuesday night, snapping the losing streak. They were two losses shy of tying MLB’s all-time losing streak of 23, set by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1961.
Visualized: How U.S. sports leagues make money (Visual Capitalist) 📊
Between 2022 and 2023, the five major U.S. sports leagues collectively earned $49.3 billion. The NFL generated the highest revenue, at $18.7 billion, significantly outpacing both the NBA and MLB, which each brought in $10.9 billion. Although the main sources of league revenues have largely remained unchanged over the last four decades, there are distinct variations in the revenue breakdown of each sport. This graphic breaks down U.S. sports leagues by revenue stream, based on data from Sportico.
For Fun
Coming to America: Competitive hobbyhorse riding (WSJ🔒) 📊
While it might sound like a scene from a Monty Python movie, excelling at competitive hobbyhorse riding requires athleticism and some contenders pay for training. Riders are expected to clear poles as tall as the ones that men’s hurdlers leap over in the Olympics—3½ feet—all the while holding their stick horses. The hobbyhorse world record, set in 2019, is 4 feet 6 inches, per the Finnish Hobbyhorse Association.
NOTE: I’m at a loss for words here….so, I’ll let this video do the talking:
Have a great weekend!
The Curator
Two resources to help you be a more discerning reader:
AllSides - https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news
Media Bias Chart - https://www.adfontesmedia.com/
Caveat: Even these resources/charts are biased. Who says that the system they use to describe news sources is accurate? Still, hopefully you find them useful as a basic guide or for comparison.