Favorite Rejects 2022-05-07

Yishan @yishan

The NYT reporter (and friends) have taken to claiming that I have misrepresented them:

kate conger @kateconger

@yishan This isn’t true, and I hope you correct it. You misrepresented my interview request and the reason we didn’t proceed. As I told your team, you’re welcome to write under your own byline, but you can’t write under mine. Here’s the story I wrote. https://t.co/EqeS2tpaBI https://t.co/zco9cEw1yg

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

I don't understand how China is authoritarian enough to do these repeat draconian lockdowns but somehow can't vaccine old people.

washingtonpost.comChina’s unvaccinated elderly prevent an end to covid lockdownsChina’s vaccination strategy initially prioritized the young, and now the elderly are the most unvaccinated segment of society, jeopardizing any effort to relax restrictions.

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

I would simply not roam the globe collecting deadly viruses, stashing them in various labs, and hoping for the best.

vox.comCan we stop the next pandemic by seeking out deadly viruses in the wild?The dubious track record — and potential risks — of virus hunting, explained.

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

The vast majority of countries ban financial compensation for plasma donors, but they don’t ban importation of plasma from countries that do compensate so 90% of global plasma supply comes from five countries. adamsmith.org/research/blood…

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

If you end up losing in court you lose in court, but I would try as hard as possible to maximize deployment and minimize cost of zero-carbon energy.

washingtonpost.comWhite House alarmed that Commerce probe is ‘smothering’ solar industryDispute over solar panels illustrates the challenges of moving away from Chinese products

Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇦 @Noahpinion

Ackshually it was more complicated. The oil embargo meant Japan could only continue its conquest of China by seizing oil supplies, either from the USSR or from Indonesia (then owned by Netherlands)...

Gonzalo Lira @GonzaloLira1968

Do you know why Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941? Because the US imposed a total trade embargo. And then an oil embargo. With the explicit aim of crushing Japan's economy. And ever after always claimed: “The Japanese attacked us for no reason whatsoever!”

Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇦 @Noahpinion

God I love the new labor movement. For 40 years America has been creating a new downtrodden working class that works in local services like Starbucks, whom we give shit pay and treat like losers in our culture. And they're finally organizing and rebelling. Hell yeah.

Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner

https://t.co/phBWPhWSn8

Zoë Schiffer @ZoeSchiffer

Ian Goodfellow, Apple’s director of machine learning, is leaving the company due to its return to work policy. In a note to staff, he said “I believe strongly that more flexibility would have been the best policy for my team.” He was likely the company’s most cited ML expert.

Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇦 @Noahpinion

Over the years, through all of the social and technological changes we've undergone, Wired magazine has retained its staunch dedication to the principle of writing while on hallucinogens

wired.comWith the Clock Running Out, Humans Need to Rethink Time ItselfTime is political by nature—governing everything from election cycles to environmental policies. Could reconfiguring the hours restore humanity’s hope for the future?

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

We should prepare for a world where at least some states make efforts to enforce anti-abortion law that are much more draconian than any actual pre-Roe practice, since today we have a much more institutionalized anti-abortion movement and competitive politics around it.

David Frum @davidfrum

We may be on the way to state surveillance and policing of reproductive-age women on a scale and intimacy never before imagined, never mind attempted. Listen too to the discussion about possible restrictions on travel out of state by reproductive-age women. https://t.co/F5GHWacPwa

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

Something that would really cause a lot of inflation is half the earth's population vanishing for five years and then suddenly reappearing.

Merlin Mann @hotdogsladies

Mmmm…productive.