In the latest New Yorker, there’s a cartoon depicting two large birds flying over a swath of open land. “Whatever you do,” one says to the other, “don’t look like a balloon.”
The only thing U.S. officials have yet confirmed about that recent spate of shooting down unknown flying objects is that the first of them was definitely a spy balloon from China. The others were probably private weather or hobby balloons.
But whatever they turn out to have been, they’ve either stopping drifting over North America or the U.S. military has stopped shooting them down. Either way, as the cartoon suggests, it’s perhaps best viewed as a laughing matter at this point.
Because now we have a much juicer topic regarding the origin of the Covid virus. (See first link below.)
Stories come and go across the never-ending global news cycle, appearing and evaporating in quick succession, only to be replaced by ever more strange and wonderful oddities. As well as fiendishly scary reports about the possibility of nuclear war or cataclysmic climate change.
It seems that as a species we just can’t help getting into fatal confrontations with each other; our largest empires facing off in Ukraine, Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia with local hotspots nearly everywhere else.
The war in Ukraine is the biggest, of course, and has generated much publicity as it reached its first anniversary a few days ago. The weakest of the bullies on the current global stage — Putin — rants and raves about his nuclear prowess while the U.S, and China negotiate what to do about him.
In the process, the world’s two biggest powers eye each other suspiciously, using spy balloons as well as any other available technology to try and gain an advantage. Meanwhile, as we humans play these endlessly destructive games, the other creatures on the planet just try to stay out of our gunsights as they go about their normal business, i.e., drifting in the wind.
LINKS:
Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, Energy Department Now Says — U.S. agency’s revised assessment is based on new intelligence (WSJ)
Ukraine is fighting for a way of life as much as for its territory (Financial Times)
War in Ukraine Has Changed Europe Forever (NYT)
Biden faces new pressures over U.S. support in Year 2 of war in Ukraine (WP)
US says China will face ‘real costs’ if it provides lethal aid to Russia for war in Ukraine (CNN)
Bipartisan Plans to Move Aggressively on China Face Political Hurdles in Congress (NYT)
For Chat-Based AI, We Are All Once Again Tech Companies’ Guinea Pigs (WSJ)
Why Do A.I. Chatbots Tell Lies and Act Weird? Look in the Mirror. (NYT)
Bing's chatbot apparently named me as one of its enemies and accused me of rejecting its love after I wrote an article about it (Business Insider)
'It's a nightmare': Indian workers receive brunt of US tech layoffs (CSM)
Conservative Legal Icon Gives Mike Pence A Stinging Reality Check On Subpoena Fight (HuffPost)
Nearly half of millennials, Gen Xers have more credit-card debt than savings (The Hill)
Millions of borrowers have had billions in student loan debt erased and there's more to come. Here's how (USA Today)
Alone and Exploited, Migrant Children Work Brutal Jobs Across the U.S. (NYT)
The CDC Warns of an Increase in Antibiotic-Resistant Stomach Infections (Mother Jones)
Big city restaurants and bars are missing office workers’ spending on Mondays and Fridays (CNBC)
Global firms are eyeing Asian alternatives to Chinese manufacturing (Economist)
Desperate for Babies, China Races to Undo an Era of Birth Limits. Is It Too Late? (NYT)
'Powder keg' for 9/11: 1993 trade center bombing remembered (AP)
Tom Stienstra’s tales of survival (SFC)
Haunting 'mermaid' mummy discovered in Japan is even weirder than scientists expected (LiveScience)
MLB’s Pitch Clock Makes a Speedy—and Dramatic—Debut (WSJ)
Twins Switched At Birth In Essentially Meaningless Mix-Up (The Onion)
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