MBW - 4/4/2022
Good morning friends. New month, new week. Let’s get to the news.
News Briefing
•Two or three weeks into the war the Russian invaders ran out of momentum. On the street in Bucha you can see why. It looks as if Russians, as they prepared to pull out of Bucha, had no such pity. At least 20 dead men were lying in the street as Ukrainian troops entered the town. Some of them had their hands tied behind their backs. The mayor said they had buried 280 people in mass graves.
Our latest report from Hostomel and Bucha, towns NW of Kyiv, after the Russians left. Shot and edited by @leedurant prod @ProducerKathy•A Russian M-28 helicopter was shot down by a British Starstreak SAM. This is Britain’s most advanced portable missile system. More on this here.
•Here are Ukrainian soldiers removing landmines from the road:
•Remember last week when Ukrainian helicopters attacked oil depots inside Russia? Apparently, it was a heavy operation.
•Here’s the Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia giving comfort to a wounded soldier.
Deputy Minister of Defense wishes Russian soldier who just lost his leg to 'get on his feet again'. #UkraineRussiaWar•Seems like after a lot of intense brainstorming, the EU Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, found the cure to Putinizm.
•In other news, at least six people have been killed and 12 injured in a shooting in the centre of Sacramento. People fled through the streets after rapid gunfire rang out in an area packed with restaurants and bars in the early hours of Sunday. More on this here.
The Origin of Covid-19 (part 1): EcoHealth Alliance
The dispute over COVID-19’s origins has become increasingly acrimonious. Natural-origin proponents argue that the virus, like so many before it, emerged from the well-known phenomenon of natural spillover, jumping from a bat host to an intermediate species before going on to infect humans. Those suspecting a lab-related incident point to an array of possible scenarios, from inadvertent exposure of a scientist during field research to the accidental release of a natural or manipulated strain during laboratory work.
Let’s take a closer look at the main players and then try to form an informed opinion on what really happened. The main character in the Covid-19 seems to be EcoHealth Alliance.
EcoHealth Alliance is an American nongovernmental organization dedicated to predicting and helping to prevent the next pandemic by identifying viruses that could leap from wildlife to humans. Peter Daszak is the president of EcoHealth Alliance.
For years, Peter Daszak sat at the helm of a struggling nonprofit with a mission to save manatees, promote responsible pet ownership, and celebrate threatened species. The organization, which operated under the name Wildlife Trust until 2010, was constantly on the hunt for ways to close its budget shortfalls. Balding and usually clad in hiking gear, Daszak was one part salesman, one part visionary. He saw clearly that human incursions into the natural world could lead to the emergence of animal pathogens, with bats a particularly potent reservoir.
Daszak’s office on Manhattan’s Far West Side didn’t have a laboratory. But he cultivated an affiliation with Shi Zhengli, a Chinese scientist who would rise to become the director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases. Shi became known in China as “bat woman” for her fearless exploration of their habitats. Dazsak’s alliance with her would open China’s bat caves to him.
By 2009, bats had turned into big money. That year USAID awarded a $75 million grant called PREDICT to four organizations, including Daszak’s. The $18 million over five years awarded to what was then Wildlife Trust was a “game-changer,” Daszak told his staff in an ecstatic email sharing the news.The money transformed the ragged nonprofit. It began a long-deferred rebranding to EcoHealth Alliance. Over the course of the grant, it allocated $1.1 million to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. (to be continued) Source: VanityFair.com
On The EU Giving Up (part 1)
A few years ago there was a panel on AI (machine learning) at a conference hosted by the European Commission. Nine people on the panel. Everyone agreed that the USA was 100 miles ahead of EU in machine learning and China was 99 miles ahead except for those who believed that China was 100 miles ahead of the EU and the USA 99 miles. In any case, everyone agreed that in the most important technology of the 21st century, the EU was not on the map. The last person on the panel was an entrepreneur. He noted that the EU had as many AI startups as Israel (a country 1/50th the size) and, btw, two thirds of those were in London that was heading out the door due to Brexit. So basically the EU had 1/3 the AI startups of Israel.
So the panel discussion turned to "What should the EU do?" And the more or less unanimous conclusion (except for the entrepreneur) was "We are going to build on the success of GDPR and aim to be the REGULATORY LEADER of machine learning". Being the "Regulatory Leader" is NOT A REAL THING. Imagine it is the early 20th century and imagine that cars were invented and that the USA and China were producing a lot of cars. The EU of today would say "Building cars looks hard, but we will be the leader in STOP SIGNs". This is defeatism, this is surrender, this is deciding to be a vassal state of the United States and China in the 21st century. The EU is already a vassal to the US tech companies (none of its own, so it has to try to limit their power) and it is a form of defeatism whose implications are just starting to show.
If the EU decided that it would not make cars in the early 20th century, the loss would not only be "no car manufacturers". It would be loss of all types of industrial and manufacturing expertise. There would be no Airbus, there would be no BMW, there would no German companies selling high precision equipment to Chinese manufacturers. The fact that people can sit in a hip cafe in Barcelona and not break our backs in the fields like their ancestors is because over the last 150 years, Europe industrialized and, in many areas, was the world leader. German car manufacturing for example was, in many ways, a leader for a long time. Industrial capacity is dual use. If you can make cars, you can make tanks. If you can make self-driving cars, you can make self-flying drones. And while maybe in the future we will have peace in our times, today the world is still a rough place. (to be continued) Credit to: Punk6529
Taco Bell & The Liberty Bell
Taco Bell is a fast food chain offering attractively-priced Mexican food. It was founded by Glen Bell in Downey, California in 1962. By 1996, it had thousands of locations around the world. The organic growth was great, but the team had bigger ambitions.
After planning in secret for several months, they prepared to make a big, splashy announcement. On April 1, 1996, they were finally ready. Taco Bell ran a full page ad in six major U.S. newspapers announcing a transformative acquisition. “Taco Bell Buys The Liberty Bell” The ad explained: In an effort to help lower the national debt, Taco Bell had acquired the Liberty Bell. It would be renamed The Taco Liberty Bell, but remain available for public viewing. The news caused an immediate uproar.
Thousands of calls poured in to Taco Bell, the National Park Service, and the Liberty Bell Center. A National Park Service employee was quoted as saying, “We were shocked. We had no idea this was happening.” Aides for two U.S. Senators placed calls to understand the news. While the news of the acquisition was fake—it was April Fools’ Day, after all!—the viral marketing engine it ignited was very real. 1,000+ media outlets covered the story, including The Today Show and Good Morning America. It reached over 70 million Americans! In the end, the April Fools’ Day prank cost Taco Bell $300K, but was estimated to have generated over $25 million in free publicity. Sales at the chain spiked in the weeks that followed. The Liberty Bell was safe and sound. (Credit to: Sahil Bloom)
Pics, vids & memes
Al Pacino on the phone:
One more:
Little Diomede Island, Alaska
Legend
Poor guy
A little dime-size whole drilled on Mars by NASA’s Curiosity Rover
Here’s an incredible drone video through the recently opened Tesla Gigafactory in Berlin, Germany. Damn this drone operator is talented.
Damn, first time I hear about this.
Indeed.
That was it for today folks. Have a great rest of the day. Peace.