Favorites February 1st 2022

Feb 02, 2022

Vaccination divides Republicans and “normalcy” divides Democrats, but in brute political terms the normalcy wedge is what’s cutting voters right now.

The trick is to get the conversation to be about the thing that divides the other side, and the mRNA vaccines are amazing, even if they aren't quite as good as the measles vaccines.

Kyle Vogt @kvogt

1) I’m proud to announce that @Cruise is ready to welcome members of the public into our fully driverless vehicles. Our first few riders certainly had a good time, and we hope you do too.

Well look at that, kinda wild that Cruise managed to offer rides to the public in California before Waymo.

Jennifer Ouellette @JenLucPiquant

NASA’s Asteroid Detector Was Upgraded to Scan the Entire Sky Every Day

gizmodo.comNASA’s Asteroid Detector Was Upgraded to Scan the Entire Sky Every DayWith the addition of two southern hemisphere telescopes, the ATLAS system can do full sky searches.

And in case you're wondering, it detects comets too.

Noah Smith 🌐+🧦=🐇 @Noahpinion

We talk a lot about Georgism online, but politically it is going to be a very tough sell.

Bloomberg CityLab @CityLab

Spiraling home prices have magnified inequities as residents face shocking property tax bills. It's a reality forcing some longtime city residents into debt or to consider moving away. Eric Adams, the new mayor, has vowed to prioritize the issue https://t.co/fz5pdswAqe

I'm really afraid to look at opinion polling on georgism, also, quotes from people who are just *so close* to understanding land value taxes.

Sawyer Hackett @SawyerHackett

Greg Abbott, just two months ago: "I can guarantee the lights will stay on.” Greg Abbott today, as Texas freezes: “No one can guarantee there won’t be power outages.”

Really opportune moment for "how it started / how it's going" memes.

Anosognosiogenesis @pookleblinky

66.7% of long-covid subjects had reactivated EBV, versus 10% of controls. Similar elevated levels of EBV were found *during* acute covid infection. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/artic…

I could really go for that mRNA EBV vaccine asap

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

My favorite land use fact is that historic preservation is so bad, the German bombing of London had net economic benefits for the UK.

Matt Grossmann @MattGrossmann

more heavily bombed areas in the Blitz in London exhibit taller buildings today. Without it, a simulation suggests the reduction in agglomeration economies arising from the loss of higher-density redevelopment would lead London’s GDP to drop by some 10% https://t.co/jH4smPKHN4

What's even more wild is that California's land use policies are probably worse!

Josh Marshall @joshtpm

Really looking more and more like Russia made demands, issued ultimatums but was basically bluffing. Rejected again and again, Putin is now trying to deescalate.

nytimes.comPutin Signals Openness to Diplomacy While Blaming U.S. for CrisisThe Russian president seemed to be trying to ratchet down tensions in the standoff over Ukraine, while claiming the United States was seeking to goad Moscow into an invasion.

Hey! That's some good news right there!

Ryan Mac 🙃 @RMac18

wait WHAT

Aaron 🥑🚈🚰🏀 @aceckhouse

my proposal: your neighborhood must be zoned for either apartments or jaguars, and you can choose

I feel like this would have downsides, but I'd really have to think through it.

Tugboat for Today

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