The Weekly Flail — February 9, 2024

Winnowing the Media

Growing wars, the Gaza genocide, and American dysfunction dominate, while a new dating system shows climate warming older and already past 1.5 degrees C. New hope for reversing aging with CAR T Cells. China is now the world’s sole production superpower, and AI is starting to translate chicken’s language.

Weekly Note: The average age of Ukraine’s infantry is 40. They are running out of people and ammunition to continue the battle. But the confusion and dysfunctionality in Washington, DC, is getting worse. Israel’s genocide in Gaza held the world’s attention since October 2023, but that is also fading, although the horrors of that genocide, with starvation, epidemics, and IDF brutality, are unbelievable.

The science and technology that remains our only source of species pride continue to stun, from anti-aging to First Person Drones replacing expensive artillery. AI may finally allow us to understand animal language, at least for chickens. Is that enough?

However, a new biological way to measure planetary temperatures not limited by the history of thermometers and the human start of sea temperature records confirms the mid-1860s as the start of warming, just as expected. It also shows we already passed +1.5 degrees C, which was to be our limit. We actually averaged that, anyway, in 2023.