Favorites April 21st 2022

I ran a bit long, there was tons of news today.

San Francisco, November 2021

Marc Goldwein @MarcGoldwein

It really feels like this Administration has been actively trying to hold back Moderna relative to Pfizer — at the expense of much slower vaccine availability. It’s hard for me to understand why.

politico.comWaiting for a Covid vaccine for your under-5 kid? It may take a bit longer.Public health protocols are being relaxed around the country. But the one segment of the population for which the vaccine isn’t authorized is going to have to wait longer.

This was some of the bigger news today, everyone had comments, CA politicians, folks threatening to become the joker, complaints about health bureaucrats playing politician again. Parents feeling left behind, or like the government thinks we're idiots. Maybe they think vaccines for kids under 6 are unnecessary, but jurisdictions have vaccine mandates that don't care. With all these complaints, why is no one moving to reform the mandate of the FDA to include cost benefit analysis. If everyone in the chain ignores cost benefit, we will end up with dumb decisions.

Alec Stapp @AlecStapp

nytimes.comOpinion | We Have the Technology to Stop Superspreading Without MasksBuildings need to disinfect the air.

Short article outlining the advantages of using germicidal UV light, GUV, in situations where ventilation is more difficult. The type of UV light they use doesn't damage the skin, and it seems like it's pretty unobtrusive, the only issue is that installation requires specialtists.

📈 Len Kiefer 📊 @lenkiefer

result of double digit percent changes in house prices and nearly two percentage point increases in mortgage rate average monthly payment is up 42% from a year ago

This graph was a bit confusing at first, but the upshot is that average home prices are up at the same time as interest rates being up. Here's a more standard graph. Sorta looks like we needed higher interest rates back in January.

Matthew C. Klein @M_C_Klein

New at THE OVERSHOOT: The Sanctions Are Already Working theovershoot.co/p/the-sanction… <-- The immediate goal is to prevent the Russian army from resupplying its forces. The sharp drop in exports to Russia from major manufacturing centers tells us what we need to know.

Plus, their oil production *has* started to fall.

President Biden @POTUS

We’ve already welcomed tens of thousands of Ukrainians to the United States. And today, I’m announcing “Uniting for Ukraine,” a new program to enable Ukrainians seeking refuge to come directly from Europe to the United States.

This is amazing! No notes!

Jonathan Allen @jonallendc

The only discussion I would have with [Trump] is that I think [impeachment] will pass and it would be my recommendation you should resign.” Kevin McCarthy told House Republicans in audio played on @maddow just now that backs up @jmartNYT and @alexburnsNYT

Just absolutely caught red handed, he previously flatly denied having said this. If this ends his dream of becoming speaker of the house, that would be fitting.. Among other things, McCarthy also said he wants more Republicans banned from twitter becaus they're so bad for publicity. Probably more evidence that Trump being off of Twitter is good for Republicans.

Astrid Wilde ☼ @astridwilde1

@mattparlmer Been seeing a more than incidental number of pictures of food dumped on the side of the road in China. Baidu congestion data has also been spooky this month. Seeing a lot of people on Chinese social media talking about not having enough food, even in Shenzhen.

There's a lot of strange stuff going on with China's Agriculture, it's hard to be sure, but the level of changes in trucking and reports from rural areas. In big cities, mass starvation could happen pretty fast, but Xi's administration really want zero covid to succeed.

Beth Osborne @BethOsborneT4A

US safety analysis goes like this: Q1: who messed up? Q2: if no one then what's wrong with the vehicle? Q3: if nothing, isn't this a horrible accident? We never get to design, even though it is the one thing fully in our control. Great column by @fmanjoo.

nytimes.comOpinion | Riding a Bike in America Should Not Be This DangerousBicyclists and pedestrians are dying at alarming rates. Do we have the courage to remake our car-centric streets?

Mountain View is in the NYTimes, the details are gruesome, and we need to up our design game to stop this from happening if we're serious about cycling being safe in this city.

Brendan Nyhan @BrendanNyhan

Key findings sites.dartmouth.edu/nyhan/files/20… -Viewership of potentially harmful alternative & extremist YouTube channels heavily concentrated among subscribers -Viewers frequently come from off-platform sources -Algorithmic recs from normal content rare -"Rabbit hole" patterns very rare

Brendan Nyhan @BrendanNyhan

Our new research on how people come to view potentially harmful YouTube channels - new research with @annie_y_chen, @JasonReifler, @RERobertson, & @bowlinearl https://t.co/VfcOUkSZ9t Featured in today's NYT On Tech newsletter by @ShiraOvide https://t.co/EOex8qXd6Y https://t.co/QIIL7GTkln

It took a long time to get this info, but it's good to hear that the 'rabbit hole' phenomenon basically doesn't happen. Here's a NYTimes write-up.

Threads

• A long thread summarizing Obama's speech today about disinformation in social media. Apparently he has an unusually nuanced take, with a few concrete policy recommendations.

• Thread about how Russia's logistics network never had to take seriously manpower shortages, but since at least the 90s, they no longer have the unlimited labor pool. Old strategies aren’t working. The US has always had a labor shortage, and has built logistics networks with that in mind since the beginning.