Favorites August 24th 2021

Austin Valle @austinvalle

Public comment at the Orlando city council meeting in support of new housing — Zooming in between the baby’s bedtime routine tonight. Here’s some: “Inclusivity is not about a bumper sticker on a car, or a sign in a yard. Inclusivity starts with letting people live here.”

This is one of the best YIMBY public comments I've ever heard. If you live in California, let that be motivation to call in favor of SB9!

Matthew Zeitlin @MattZeitlin

compare the coverage of the drone war or trump's escalation of airstrikes with the three who died falling off a plane, not that the latter isn't an important story, but the attention paid to one certainly says something about the perspective of (especially broadcast) media

Murtaza Hussain @MazMHussain

Shocking investigation by @JackMurphyRGR into the U.S. drone war in Helmand province, including leaked drone footage. Unarmed were deemed legitimate targets to be killed if they were even seen touching a radio: https://t.co/I4MwmlWkcS

Using guns and bombs for humanitarian missions is not a good way to do things. The military can do an ok job if you ask them to handle relief efforts after a disaster, but if you’re asking them to do shooting, you’ve moved on to other things.

Mark Gongloff @markgongloff

70,000 evacuated in 10 days sounds somewhat less than chaotic

Olivier Knox @OKnox

Based on the figures given by the White House, from 3 AM eastern yesterday to 3 PM eastern today 33,600 people were evacuated from Kabul (21,600 3am-3am, 12,000 3am-3 pm). Out of a total since August 14 of 70,700. If I'm doing the math correctly.

Also, pretty good at evacuating people quickly as it turns out. Compares quite favorably to only 7000 evacuated after the fall of saigon, so they’re getting better at it too.

The Verge @verge

Waymo starts offering autonomous rides in San Francisco theverge.com/2021/8/24/2263…

Cool to see this finally happening.

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

It’s time for @ATabarrok to bring back his “defund the fire department” take.

Laura J. Nelson 🦅 @laura_nelson

Furious over new vaccine requirements for paramedics, a LAFD captain said he and other firefighters have retained a "shark" attorney. "This is about freedom of choice," he said. The fire union, he said, is in "lockstep with total tyranny." @dakotacdsmith https://t.co/kYgbUHua6F

Not a joke, Tabarrock makes a good argument for spending less on fire departments.

Alex Tabarrok @ATabarrok

@mattyglesias For those wondering here it is

marginalrevolution.comFirefighters Don’t Fight Fires - Marginal REVOLUTIONOver the past 35 years, the number of fires in the United States has fallen by more than 40% while the number of career firefighters has increased by more than 40% (data). (N.B. Volunteer firefighters were mostly pushed out of the big cities in the late 19th century but there are a surprising number…

The expansion of strange extra duties for Fire Departments was particularly interesting. Always take Marginal Revolution with a grain of salt, but this is at least worth thinking about.

Noah Smith 🐇 @Noahpinion

YESSSSSSSSS, get those fabs over here

Matthew Kanterman, CFA @theKantoarbot

TSMC preparing to charter its own container ship to move equipment to the US for expansion @tracyalloway @TheStalwart https://t.co/zEuumfe1Dp

There are costs and benefits to US manufacturing.

Noah Smith 🐇 @Noahpinion

My grandfather loved Applebee's til the day he died, but my dad is disgusted by it and won't eat it. Always makes me think of this video:

youtube.comChinese People Try Panda Express For The First Time(Not) Made in China.Check out more awesome videos at BuzzFeedVideo!http://bit.ly/YTbuzzfeedvideoMUSICChina On The MoveLicensed via Warner Chappell Production...

Was just talking about this video, it's fun.

Noah Smith 🐇 @Noahpinion

Methane emissions are the most important climate thing that almost no one talks about, and we're finally going after them.

e360.yale.eduIn Push to Find Methane Leaks, Satellites Gear Up for the HuntStemming the methane leaks from landfills, oil fields, natural gas pipelines and more is one of the most powerful levers we have to quickly slow global warming. New satellites are bolstering this urgent mission by pinpointing emitters of this potent greenhouse gas from space.

This is good, but if they find emissions in China, what are they going to do? Or like, people illegally farming in the Amazon.

Jorge A. Caballero, MD @DataDrivenMD

⚠️ Just so we’re all on the same page: data for 5 to 11 year-olds has not been submitted b/c the FDA moved the goalposts. The FDA recently “asked” (read: required) Pfizer & Moderna to double the size of the clinical trials; it also wants 6 mos. of follow-up data instead of 2 mos. https://t.co/YbDiGz2U9s

Fernando Pizarro @FPizarro_DC

Approval for COVID vaccine for kids 5-11 years-old unlikely before end of 2021, @NIHDirector Francis Collins tells @NPRinskeep on @MorningEdition. Data for it still not submitted to @US_FDA

Pretty unfortunate considering what's the Academy of Pediatricians has said about the need to hurry.

Jordan Weissmann 🗽 @JHWeissmann

Absolutely bonkers stuff here. Berkeley sought to increase student enrollment. NIMBYs sued under California’s environmental law and won.

Berkeleyside @berkeleyside

Judge freezes UC Berkeley’s student enrollment at 2020-21 levels https://t.co/o4vXOJqC1I

Not a great outcome. CEQA once again being abused.

Picchetti Ranch, May 2021