top of the heap to third world status in one generation

[Gry]

Lab-Made? SARS-CoV-2 Genealogy Through the Lens of Gain-of-Function Research

https://medium.com/@yurideigin/lab-...ens-of-gain-of-function-research-f96dd7413748
About an hours worth of reading that feels like time well spent.

 

[Gry]

The Deadliest Flu: The Complete Story of the Discovery and Reconstruction of the 1918 Pandemic Virus

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/reconstruction-1918-virus.html

 

[Gry]

The Whiners Who Earn $200,000 and Complain They’re Broke

Many wealthy Americans insist they aren’t rich, and that has profound implications in electoral politics as well as economic policy.

https://newrepublic.com/article/158...omplain-theyre-broke?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[Gry]

Exclusive: How Carlos Ghosn Escaped Japan, According to the Ex-Green Beret Who Snuck Him Out

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/07/how-carlos-ghosn-escaped-japan?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[Zeez]

The Whiners Who Earn $200,000 and Complain They’re Broke

Many wealthy Americans insist they aren’t rich, and that has profound implications in electoral politics as well as economic policy.

https://newrepublic.com/article/158...omplain-theyre-broke?utm_source=pocket-newtab

This article addresses income. Unfortunately it does not address assets. There are many people in this country with high incomes but their 'how much a month' lifestyle paired with their 'I can afford it' attitude leave them in a hand to mouth mode that they can never escape. They effectively blow it faster than they make it.

There are people with less income who live within their means and are much wealthier. This is really an American thing. In Europe most people only borrow for their houses. Their cars are paid for with savings and credit cards are paid off every month. In fact, in many European countries, if you do not have the money to pay a credit card bill then you must consult your bank for a loan.

The important fact that this article ignores if the fact that there are many Americans with wealth that creates more wealth than they can spend. They can buy as many houses, cars, yachts, jets etc as they want and the fortune still keeps growing. I think you only have to be a quarter billionaire to be in this category. The worst part of this is these people have armies of tax accountants and lawyers creating financial structures that make sure they pay little or no tax.

 

[Gry]

Where Will Everyone Go?

ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine, with support from the Pulitzer Center, have for the first time modeled how climate refugees might move across international borders. This is what we found.

https://features.propublica.org/cli...e-across-continents/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[Gry]

62 of the World's Most Beautiful Libraries

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/51788/62-worlds-most-beautiful-libraries

 

[Gry]

Our World Outsmarts Us

Social problems are fantastically complex, while human minds are severely under-engineered.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/our-world-outsmarts-us?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[nepalnt21]

that one at the top reminds me of the under-the-desert library in avatar the last airbender.

which i only watched as an adult... what of it?

 

[Gry]

Outfoxed and Outgunned: How China Routed the U.S. in a U.N. Agency

The race for the top job at an obscure U.N. agency tested great-power influence on the world stage—and Beijing coasted into a victory over Washington.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...-u-s-in-a-u-n-agency?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[Gry]

The Forgotten Drink That Caffeinated North America for Centuries

Yaupon tea, a botanical cousin to yerba maté, is now almost unknown.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...merica-for-centuries?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[Gry]

Voluntary taxation: a lesson from the Ancient Greeks

https://aeon.co/ideas/voluntary-taxation-a-lesson-from-the-ancient-greeks

 

[Gry]

How Slaveholders in the Caribbean Maintained Control

The whip was not the only tool in their arsenal: slaveholders were masters of manipulation too.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...n-maintained-control?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[Gry]

Steve Vai speaking about his audition for Zappa.
Short clip,(2:19) but it is neat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx1RguHA4XE

 

[Gry]

Interesting to watch the presidents handler and life line at work yesterday.

 

[Gry]

Eight Go Mad in Arizona: How a Lockdown Experiment Went Horribly Wrong

In the 1990s, a troupe of hippies spent two years sealed inside a dome called Biosphere 2. They ended up starving and gasping for breath. As a new documentary Spaceship Earth tells their story, we meet the ‘biospherians.’

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...-went-horribly-wrong?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[Gry]

https://ncov2019.live/data

 

[Gry]

The Mind-Boggling Artistry of China’s Ivory Puzzle Balls

This traditional art from Guangzhou can never be produced legally again.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...s-ivory-puzzle-balls?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[armedoldhippy]

The Mind-Boggling Artistry of China’s Ivory Puzzle Balls

This traditional art from Guangzhou can never be produced legally again.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...s-ivory-puzzle-balls?utm_source=pocket-newtab

sure they can. it is just illegal to use ivory. has been for years...

 

[Gry]

Real gross domestic product (GDP) decreased at an annual rate of 32.9 percent in the second quarter of 2020

https://www.bea.gov/