Favorites October 13th 2021

guan 🐰🐕🇪🇺 @guan

Why low levels of air pollution actually cause the most harm smartairfilters.com/en/blog/low-le…

I found the linked article fascinating, but it's no more complicated than the graph shown here. PM2.5 harm isn't linear and that’s sorta bad.

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

White House brokers deal for expanded operations at the Port of LA

latimes.comBiden will announce expanded operations at Port of Los Angeles as supply chain crunch continuesThe Port of Los Angeles will operate around the clock as supply chain problems threaten holiday shopping season.

Kai Ryssdal says: "Honestly, was kind of surprised to learn the Port of LA wasn’t already 24/7"

Timothy B. Lee @binarybits

I was consistently hawkish about covid for the first year but I'm reaching my limit on this kind of thing. COVID is endemic and will be for the foreseeable future. We can't have our kids wearing masks for their entire childhoods.

theatlantic.comMasks Are Changing How Kids InteractSome kids are struggling to recognize each other through masks—but schools and parents can teach them other skills to compensate.

Timothy B. Lee @binarybits

Waiting for vaccines to be available to kids isn't a crazy idea, but the FDA is taking its sweet time approving the vaccine. Pfizer asked for emergency authorization last week, and the FDA isn't even holding a meeting on the request for another two weeks.

npr.orgPfizer officially asks the FDA to authorize its COVID vaccine for kids aged 5-11“With new cases in children in the U.S. continuing to be at a high level, this submission is an important step in our ongoing effort against #COVID19,” the pharmaceutical giant said.

Timothy B. Lee @binarybits

Plus the next round of approvals is only for ages five and up. I'll be furious if my three-year-old is forced to wear a mask for another 18 months.

I'm really hoping it's sooner than 18 months.

Alexander Berger @albrgr

I've been waiting for someone to write this paper: (new econ Nobel!) David Card, @rothstein_jesse and Moises Yi use admin data to better estimate big productivity gains from moving to higher-wage metros. But housing costs more than offset average gains :( www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2021/CE…

Wild that once you have a way to measure it, you can clearly see how "property restrictions let landowners extract all the productivity gains as literal rent."

Next door in Silicon Valley @nextdoorsv

This diagram explains the REAL flow of 💰 in the Silicon Valley Economy, and what he REAL power plays are! Don't be fooled! It's not who you think! Please do me a favor and retweet widely so that everyone understands this!

For those who understand things more clearly as a political cartoon.

Daniel Swain @Weather_West

California, on statewide basis, is now experiencing its worst drought in observational record going back to late 1800s--narrowly beating out peak of last drought in 2014-15 (as measured by PDSI, a metric that takes into account both precip & temperature). #CAwx #CAfire #CAwater

We're going to need desalination systems, and more solar panels to run them. An excellent use of off-peak energy.

Vaughan Canada, 2019