Favorites October 24th 2021

Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg

Some fascinating insights here—including the political price of ENDING a war and how little of a (political) price three previous presidents paid to keep war going. That’s messed up.

Mike Memoli @mikememoli

“Even weeks later, voters still say ‘Afghanistan’ is the negative thing they have most recently heard about Mr. Biden. And since the withdrawal, a majority of voters have routinely said that the Biden administration is incompetent” https://t.co/nVBD21pOhW

Sometimes the American public is just absolutely unhinged.

Joel David Hamkins @JDHamkins

I once saw an incredible lecture in Berkeley by a historian of science, one of the best talks I have ever seen. He started his talk sitting on the desk amongst a huge pile of physics textbooks from history, each in its day "the best textbook of its time."

Great thread, love the final visual.

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

Everyone is doing this critique of Saudi Arabia, but it’s probably more noteworthy that the new center-left government of Norway also holds this position. https://t.co/HtXs5ytWLC

Assaad Razzouk @AssaadRazzouk

Climate Madness: Saudi Arabia pledges net zero by 2060 while excluding its world-leading oil & gas exports from the emissions measured - and making no mention of reducing investment in oil and gas Just about sums up the “net zero” twilight zone https://t.co/3PsDxQkYeB #COP26

Being cagey in their climate promises is hardly a surprising for Saudi Arabia, but Norway 😬

Noah Smith 🐇 @Noahpinion

The awesomest thing about the battery revolution is that the technology isn't even mature yet. A whole bunch of people are researching better TYPES of batteries at breakneck speed, even as manufacturing costs come down fast.

bloomberg.comBloomberg - Are you a robot?

Short article with some interesting angles that are being investigated, although I can't easily tell how close any are to commercial viability.

Jodi Kantor @jodikantor

Just published: The gravest problem with the way Amazon treats employees may be one you’ve never heard of. As the company hit record profits, it fired and underpaid employees who sought leaves for illness, new parenthood and life crises. (Thread.)

nyti.msInside Amazon’s Worst Human Resources ProblemA knot of problems with Amazon’s system for handling paid and unpaid leaves has led to devastating consequences for workers.

Seems bad...

June 2021, Downtown Mountain View