News that mattered last week.
Silent wars
Russia-Ukraine Water War? (Energy Intelligence group)
no idea why energy technology company is writing about this(I'm sure that they have their reasons) but it's a sound summary - I'm impressed with information density.
North_Crimean_Canal on map (By Berihert - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28434474)
'That Others May Live': The Pararescue Units Preparing for War on Top of the World
Just stay away from china
China Malware: Sorry, Techno Geeks, There Still is no Place to Hide (China Law Blog)
Security law: Taiwan must be wary, it could be the next target (Hong Kong free press)
The United States is treating Hong Kong as mainland China. Business is starting to do the same (CNN) - was nice while it lasted but now it's over and it won't come back.
China blows up dam on Yangtze river tributary to ease flooding (the guardian) or via archive.is
Concerns grow as China braces for more heavy rains and floods(South China Morning Post)
In pictures: Severe floods engulf eastern China(yahoo news)
Residents at China's giant lake unfazed as rainfall breaks records (Reuters)
Nothing to see here, move along
Exclusive: Secret Trump order gives CIA more powers to launch cyberattacks(Yahoo)
Judge Esther Salas Assigned to Epstein Deutsche Bank Case 4 Days Before Husband, Son Shot (Newsweek)
Judge Esther Salas’ son slain at their home; shooter in FedEx uniform kills himself, police say
Now kids run around and scream COVID!
‘Only those with plastic visors were infected’: Swiss government warns against face shields(The Local ch|Switzerland)
If it's the same as I see locally this may be because of who wears shields like that. I see 2 groups:
- Someone who works whole day in public - it's easier to cope if need it on the whole day
- Older/sicker people who "can't breathe" in normal mask
If that is the case and they don't test everyone but only people with symptoms that may just explain it.
Air conditioning breaking down up north:
As permafrost thaws under intense heat, Russia's Siberia burns — again (CBC|Canada)
Curiously when I clipped it to my notes on 13.07 this article had a opening paragraph that is now gone. I wonder why? To blunt and direct and we don't won't our readers to worry - that is my guess.
Missing paragraph:
It's hotter than ever in northern Russia and the implications for the earth's climate are significant. Currently, 1.77 million hectares of land are burning with expectations that the total fire area could eventually surpass the 17 million hectares that burned in 2019."
Global temperatures could exceed crucial 1.5 C target in the next five years (CNN) - the frustrating thing here (other than the fact that this is cnn) is no mention of what baseline temperature they are using.
Recently popular "baseline" temperature is something like 1850-1970 and that is nonsense, and screws with your perception if you don't notice it. Original Papers in which consensus was reached that 2C could be lethal were using 1850-1900 as true "pre-industrial baseline".
I heard that the difference between those baselines is about 0.3 C but I can't find any solid sources on that.
But if you believe that that means that we are uncomfortably close to "true" 2C.
Ref:Importance of the Pre-Industrial Baseline in Determining the Likelihood of Exceeding the Paris Limits(Peer reviewed paper)
Global Methane Emissions Reach a Record High (New York Times|USA)
Global emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, soared to a record high in 2017, the most recent year for which worldwide data are available, researchers said Tuesday.
2017!? WTF? Why this I the best data we can get/is published today? It's not like we should be paying attention or something...
This on is somewhat older than a week but it will fit right in.
CO2 in Earth's atmosphere nearing levels of 15m years ago (the guardian)
-There is one difference between then and now, changes in that we had in last 200 years then took tens of thousands of years if not more.
All work, no fun... ?
Steam is Coming to Chromebooks with Ubuntu-based “Borealis” Feature - Does anyone use chomebooks anyway?
Something bright:
(From "jezurkowo" hedgehog rescue center https://twitter.com/FundacjaPrimum - with permission)
