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How America Can Regain Its Edge in Great-Power Competition - Foreign Affairs From the start of his term as U.S. president, Donald Trump rang the alarm about the return of great-power competition. His administration’s first National Security Strategy emphasized that adversaries of the United States were seeking to erode its position in the international order. This outlook was relatively novel at the time, but today, much of the broader U.S. foreign policy community shares Trump’s basic assessment. The competition has only intensified in the years since. The United States’ rivals and enemies—particularly China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea—are increasingly cooperating with one another and acting more aggressively. From Europe to the Middle East, they are creating policy dilemmas and raising risks for Washington.
If Trump returns to the White House, he will step into a more hazardous geopolitical arena than the one he left four years earlier. Simply resuming the foreign policy of his first term will not be sufficient to navigate a complex environment in which U.S. rivals are arming at a rapid pace and, in the case of Russia and Iran, are engaged in regional wars. This is no longer just a competition; today’s conflicts could be a prelude to a wider war.
Continued here
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WorkWorkTeeth as time capsules: Soviet secrets and my dentist grandmotherTeeth are our meeting place with the outside world, the point of attack. Crystalline and mineral in nature, teeth show us at our most mollusc-like. The fact that we can grow them, lose them and grow them again (if only once) seems to ally us with reptiles and the largest of the cartilaginous fish. Yet few things mark us more intimately as mammals than our teeth. The development of variable dentition is one of the great trump cards in the arsenal of mammalian evolution. At our very core, we are a tribe of nibblers, biters and grinders. The human dental formula – flat incisors, dainty canines, hard-working molars – is a classic omnivore’s compromise: aggression and carnivory in front, industrious vegetarianism in back.
WorkWhy the World's First Pet Cemetery Was RevolutionaryWhen a little Maltese named Cherry died of old age in 1881 at home in London, the dog’s owners were at a loss for what to do with the remains. At that time in the city, there were only a few options for disposing of a deceased pet’s body: throw it into the River Thames, toss it out with the rubbish or take it to a rendering plant to be turned into glue or fertilizer. Work
WorkForums Are Still Alive, Active, And A Treasure Trove Of Information - AftermathWhen I want information, like the real stuff, I go to forums. Over the years, forums did not really get smaller, so much as the rest of the internet just got bigger. Reddit, Discord and Facebook groups have filled a lot of that space, but there is just certain information that requires the dedication of adults who have specifically signed up to be in one kind of community. This blog is a salute to those forums that are either worth participating in or at least looking at in bewilderment. WorkDo U.S. Ports Need More Automation?On October 1st, 47,000 members of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), primarily dockworkers on East and Gulf Coast ports, went on strike after failing to agree contract terms with USMX, an alliance of port operators and employers. (West Coast ports, which are worked by a different union, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, remained open.) Along with higher pay, the main point of disagreement was automation; the ILA demanded a complete ban on introducing new port automation. The strike ended on October 3rd with a tentative agreement on wage increases, but negotiations over automation will continue until January 15th.
WorkAn unbroken nights sleep is a myth. Heres what good sleep looks likeAmy Reynolds receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Medical Research Future Fund, the Australian Research Council, the Lifetime Support Authority, and has received consulting and/or speaker fees from industry-funded sources including Compumedics, Teva Pharmaceuticals and Sydney Trains. WorkGoogle must crack open Android for third-party stores, rules Epic judgeToday, Judge James Donato issued his final ruling in Epic v. Google, ordering Google to effectively open up the Google Play app store to competition for three whole years. Google will have to distribute rival third-party app stores within Google Play, and it must give rival third-party app stores access to the full catalog of Google Play apps, unless developers opt out individually.
WorkDavid Gilmour: 'The rich and powerful have siphoned off the majority of music industry money'The Division Bell is my favourite Pink Floyd LP and the song High Hopes felt like a full stop for the band. At the time, was that ever a possibility, or did you think there was a future' bcdcdude I didn't think there wasn't. There was no particular reason why we should have stopped at that point, but things slowed down for a while. Other things got in the way, as they do in life, and we didn't get round to doing another album or tour. High Hopes is a lovely end to an album but not the end of a career necessarily. Work
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WorkWorkBoth Trump's and Harris's Economic Policies Will Add Billions to National Debt - Inc Spare a fond memory for the debt scolds, as economist and pundit Paul Krugman has called some politicians and fellow commentators. It appears that species of political deficit critic has gone the way of the dinosaur. At least thats one reading of a new study indicating that despite the myriad, clashing positions separating Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Democratic rival Kamala Harris, they both appear committed to increasing the nations ballooning $35.7 trillion debt.
WorkHow to Manage and Avoid Mental Fatigue - Harvard Business Review Brain imaging techniques now let us observe mental fatigue in real-time, revealing that the brain, like muscles, grows tired from sustained effort. Mental fatigue arises when your brain senses it will run out of resources if it continues working at the same intensity. One way this might happen is when brain cells use up resources faster than they are being replenished. Your brain tries to remedy the situation by disengaging its attention, and you might experience this as your mind wandering away from what you are trying to focus on and being drawn towards lighter work and easier decisions. If you find yourself getting mentally fatigued often, try taking breaks often, limiting the amount of intense work you do in a day, and when all else fails, use motivation to push through. Work WorkWorkWorkHas Bitcoins Elusive Creator Finally Been Unmasked? - The New Yorker A decade and a half ago, some unknown person or persons assumed the name Satoshi Nakamoto and cast Bitcoin loose upon the world. In the beginning, the idea was greeted with idle condescension: check out these grandiose Internet dorks and their digital Monopoly money. Soon enough, these fake coins found very real usesto purchase heroin, launder criminal profits, or solicit murder-for-hireand the sneering of outsiders turned to scorn. A few years went by and all of a sudden crypto speculators were rolling in Lambos, and normie reproach gave way to jealous ridicule: these were Ponzi schemes for vulgar tech bros. More recently, theyve become yet another asset class, an increasingly routine hypothecation in any diversified investment portfolio. In all of this, Satoshi Nakamotos original achievement has been obscured. Bitcoin presented a genuinely new mechanism for human cordination. For the first time, a community of far-flung strangers could maintain a collective record of its interactions without the supervision of a third party. WorkJack Smith's toughest challenge in prosecuting Donald TrumpStephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University, was reacting to prosecutors' release of evidence in Trump's election-fraud case. It is vital for Smith to present the Republican's actions as private after the Supreme Court ruled on July 1 that Trump has broad immunity from prosecution for presidential acts. WorkIs Your Company Unknowingly Repelling Younger Workers?It's hardly shocking to assert that the younger and older workers at your organization will be motivated differently. The problem is that many companies ignore these motivational differences, creating cultures that not only fail to attract younger workers but may also repel them. WorkEuropes privacy patrol is spoiling Big Techs AI partyThe regulatory flex is coming mainly from data protection authorities, which have the power to enforce the EUs General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Irelands Data Protection Commission (DPC) in particular has wielded its significant powers to block AI rollouts from the worlds biggest companies a sharp turn after years of criticism that its regulator was too slow to slap fines on Big Tech for privacy violations. WorkWorkWorkPeruvians are debating how to protect isolated tribes - The Economist Jerson del Aguila was working for a logging company in the Peruvian rainforest when he came across a family of naked tribespeople. It was the first of two occasions in 2021 on which he would meet people from the Mashco Piro, an isolated indigenous group. He and his co-workers turned back and told a manager. But when his brother, Gean Marcos, was working in the same timber concession a year later, things turned out differently. Gean Marcos was shot with two arrows and killed. WorkWorkWorkWorkHSBC exec says there's a lot of AI 'success theater' happening in financeOne area where Trustly is looking to improve customer experience with AI is subscriptions. The startup is working on an "intelligent charging mechanism" that would aim to figure out the best time for a bank to take payment from a subscription platform user, based on their historical financial activity. WorkWho died and left the US $7 billion?Billionaires are like black holes. We deduce their existence from the fundamental laws of capitalism, see their gravity pull politics into their orbit, even detect signals of their existence in the public markets. WorkThrough Hurricanes Helene and Milton, Amateur Radio Triumphs When All Else FailsThe morning after Hurricane Helene pummeled the eastern seaboard of the US, Thomas Witherspoon inspected the damage to his western North Carolina home. The night before, he listened to the wind whip down trees and snap power lines along the two-mile access road connecting his family to their few neighbors in Buncombe County. WorkDonald Trump is preparing an assault on Americas immigration system - The Economist PART OF BEING Donald Trump is saying outrageous things. Yet what was outrageous in 2011 (suggesting that Barack Obama was born in Kenya) seems almost quaint in 2024. His rhetoric has turned darker. Immigrants are no longer just criminals and rapists, they are poisoning the blood of our country. Chants of build the wall! have been replaced by send them back! In MAGA world, legal immigrants from Haiti are threatening to eat the pets of the good people of Springfield, Ohio. WorkHow Rwanda Is Containing a Deadly Marburg Virus Outbreak - Scientific American Rwanda is battling its first-ever outbreak of Marburg virus disease, a deadly illness related to Ebola. The disease does not have any approved vaccines or treatments. As of October 6, the outbreak had infected 56 people and killed 12 of them, according to Rwanda's Ministry of Health. With support from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and other partners, the Rwandan government is implementing rigorous testing, contact tracing and quarantine measures to contain the outbreak. A clinical trial of a vaccine candidate from Sabin Vaccine Institute will soon get underway following the delivery of about 700 doses on request by the Rwandan government.But challenges remain, including the disease symptoms similarity to those of malaria, the need for more rapid diagnostic tools and the fact that the majority of known infected people are healthcare workers. WorkWorkThe Supreme Court appears to have found a gun regulation it actually likesThe US presidential campaign is in its final weeks and were dedicated to helping you understand the stakes. In this election cycle, its more important than ever to provide context beyond the headlines. But in-depth reporting is costly, so to continue this vital work, we have an ambitious goal to add 5,000 new members. WorkInside the Battle for America's Most Consequential Battleground StatePart of Pennsylvania’s pivotal role is its sheer size: The state’s 19 electoral votes are the biggest prize of any battleground. Part of it is polling: The state has been virtually tied for months. And part of it is math: It is daunting for either Mr. Trump or, especially, Ms. Harris to reach the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win without it. WorkThey Flew 7,000 Miles to Fight Haiti's Gangs. The Gangs Are on Top.The patrol offered a glimpse into the enormous challenges the Kenyan force faces in trying to wrest control of Port-au-Prince from armed groups that have unraveled life in the country, killing indiscriminately, raping women, burning neighborhoods and leaving hundreds of thousands hungry and in makeshift shelters. WorkSome of the Web's Sketchiest Sites Share an Address in IcelandThe company — created in 2021 by Namecheap, one of the world’s largest providers of websites — has effectively shielded tens of thousands of sketchy internet sites. Even local authorities said they had tried and failed to reach the company’s representatives when problems had arisen. WorkWorkCVS says FTC should take Lina Khan and two commissioners off drug middlemen caseThe Biden administration and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have escalated pressure on PBMs, seeking to increase transparency into their business practices as many patients struggle to afford prescription drugs. Americans pay two to three times more than patients in other developed nations for prescription drugs on average, according to a fact sheet from the White House. WorkWhy Scientific American endorsed Kamala HarrisBe sure to sign up for the weekly “First Opinion Podcast” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And don’t forget to sign up for the First Opinion newsletter, delivered every Sunday. WorkRepublicans threaten to punish colleges that allow pro-Palestinian protestsDavid Cole, national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said the Republican vendetta against universities over pro-Palestinian protests was deeply disturbing. “That is viewpoint discrimination at its core. It’s an attack on academic freedom in its most basic form, and would raise serious constitutional concerns.” WorkGoogle facing US government attempt to break it up, court filing showsShe said: “This case is about a set of search distribution contracts. Rather than focus on that, the government seems to be pursuing a sweeping agenda that will impact numerous industries and products, with significant unintended consequences for consumers, businesses and American competitiveness.” WorkThe WordPress vs. WP Engine drama, explained | TechCrunchOn October 8, WordPress said that Mary Hubbard, who was TikTok US’s head of governance and experience, will be starting as executive director. This post was previously held by Josepha Haden Chomphosy, who was one of the 159 people leaving Automattic. A day prior to this, one of the engineers from WP Engine announced that he was joining Automattic. WorkAshton Kutcher, Effie Epstein, and Guy Oseary are coming to Disrupt 2024 | TechCrunchLoizos has been reporting on Silicon Valley since the late ’90s, when she joined the original Red Herring magazine. Previously the Silicon Valley Editor of TechCrunch, she was named Editor in Chief and General Manager of TechCrunch in September 2023. She’s also the founder of StrictlyVC, a daily e-newsletter and lecture series acquired by Yahoo in August 2023 and now operated as a sub brand of TechCrunch. WorkCourt to Weigh Protections for Immigrants Brought to U.S. as ChildrenArguments in the case are scheduled to be heard on Thursday in New Orleans by a panel of three judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The court, which covers Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi, is known as one of the most aggressively conservative in the country. It upheld a partial ban on the abortion drug mifepristone, a ruling that the Supreme Court reversed. WorkWorkMonths Before Ethiopian Crash, Boeing Turned Aside Carrier's QuestionsInstead, Boeing briefly summarized the document, which is dated Nov. 6, 2018, and is called an operations manual bulletin, according to email exchanges between the chief pilot and Boeing made public after The New York Times initiated legal action to unseal filings in a related criminal case. WorkWorkTrump Family Business Eyes Hotel Deals in IsraelThe company’s efforts in Israel highlight longstanding ethical concerns about the mingling of the former president’s financial and political fortunes — this time in a warring country at the contentious center of U.S. and global politics. |
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