Overdose deaths far outpace COVID-19 deaths in San Francisco

Learn the Knowledge of London

How to cook a medieval feast: 11 recipes from the Middle Ages

A Car That Connects Father, Son and Land-Speed Racing History

Jay Leno on How Driving Changed in 2020—and How It Will Change Even More

Artisans clustered along a Naples street have been crafting Nativity scenes for more than a century. But coronavirus restrictions and a dearth of tourists are threatening their survival.

FT People of the Year: BioNTech’s Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci

I took FSFE to court. This is my story

Lockdowns may actually prevent a natural weakening of this disease

Leaving Hong Kong: As China cracks down, a family makes a wrenching decision

Coronavirus tracker: The FT has gathered and analysed data on excess mortality — the numbers of deaths over and above the historical average — across the globe, and has found that numbers of deaths in some countries are more than 50 per cent higher than usual. In many countries, these excess deaths exceed reported numbers of Covid-19 deaths by large margins.

God and the Pandemic

Why I’m Losing Trust in the Institutions

With Hacking, the United States Needs to Stop Playing the Victim

Facebook Managers Trash Their Own Ad Targeting.

Who and what will rise and fall in status?

Massachusetts General Hospital:

The researchers spent three years collecting data from multiple registries and databases in every country in Europe to estimate the number of babies being born with DS and the overall number of people with DS in the population. “People with DS were being counted sporadically, inconsistently, or not at all, depending on the country,” says Brian G. Skotko, MD, MPP, a medical geneticist at MGH and senior author. “But without an accurate estimate, it’s impossible for policymakers and advocacy organizations to determine how many resources and support services are needed for its Down syndrome population.” The researchers applied statistical modeling to create estimates in countries where there were gaps in data. “These data are as close to accurate as possible,” says Skotko. The data are laid out in both the study and an associated fact sheet.

Equally important, however, was for the study to establish a baseline of DS birth rates and pregnancy termination rates ahead of widespread adoption of new noninvasive prenatal screenings (NIPS). The new screening tests can detect the likelihood of a chromosomal condition in a fetus as early as nine weeks of gestation, after which an expectant couple can elect to pursue definitive genetic testing. As NIPS becomes widely available, fewer babies with DS are expected to be born.

Stephen Starr:

The Great American Rail-Trail is the most ambitious biking initiative the country has ever seen. Stretching an extraordinary 3,700 miles from the nation’s capital across 12 states to the Pacific Ocean, west of Seattle, it’s an idea that’s been ruminating for 50 years. The Rail-Trail will connect more than 125 existing multi-use paths, greenways, trails and towpaths. An official route was announced to the public in May 2019 by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC), the Washington DC-based non-profit leading the effort, when the trail was already more than half completed.

The Fraying of the US Global Currency Reserve System

Why the US Dollar Could Outlast the American Empire

Why software ends up complex

Undocumented immigrants far less likely to commit crimes in U.S. than citizens

Apple TV Was Making a Show About Gawker. Then Tim Cook Found Out.

Chrome is Bad

Americans’ Mental Health Ratings Sink to New Low

Challenging the ‘Great Reset’ theory of pandemics

I assume I’m below average

Someone I know has had some quite useful COVID-related posts removed from Medium, LinkedIn, and Nextdoor—they’ve been deemed “COVID misinformation”. (It’s not what the WHO endorses!)

Where Did the New Mad Left Come From?

Can you hear me now? No.

Our history is a battle against the microbes: we lost terribly before science, public health, and vaccines allowed us to protect ourselves

ESRI can’t be stopped.

The New Yorker publishes editor’s note invalidating award-winning feature on Japan

“It will take months for us to get through all of our health care workers.” 

Wisconsin will receive 49,725 doses of the Pfizer vaccine by the end of this week, officials said. 

1,010 WI healthcare workers had gotten their first shots Wednesday.

As some are reporting, it was an overnight success story 15 years in the making.

Rather, only people with covid-19 symptoms should get tested.”

“The phrase “following the science” would perhaps be better expressed as “following the scientists”. Or, maybe “following some scientists — particularly the ones whose views align with my own”.

The mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) are kind of brilliant at a science level. I’ve had a few people in my real non-Twitter life ask me to explain how it works so I’m going to try my best here in this thread while I’m waiting for a patient to show.s=12

A new way to travel across the US.

Your Credit Score Should Be Based on Your Web History, IMF Says

Information Management in Times of Crisis

Nicole Krauss’s Beautiful Letter to Van Gogh on Fear, Bravery, and How to Break the Loop of Our Destructive Patterns

New CRISPR-based COVID-19 test uses smartphone cameras to spot virus RNA

Per its FEC report yesterday, Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the election have cost his campaign about $8.8 million so far, including about $2.3 million on lawyers.

But they’ve helped him raise $207 million.

The Peak Oil Era Is Suddenly Upon Us

The economics of Christmas trees

You’re Only As Good As Your Worst Day (“Anyone can steer the ship when the sea is calm. ”—Publilius Syrus)

A cargo ship lost 1,816 containers during a November 30, 2020 Pacific storm.

The world’s first DNA ‘tricorder’ in your pocket

IKEA kills print catalog.

About 150 U.S. Cadillac Dealers to Exit Brand, Rather Than Sell Electric Cars

But what we have before us is a symbolic gesture, it appears to be style over substance, without any hint of enforcement, and I simply don’t believe it will do much good.

Jupiter and Saturn Will Soon Align in a Rare Astronomical Marvel, and You Can Start Watching Now

Your Old Radiator Is a Pandemic-Fighting Weapon

My Son Was Killed Because I’m a Federal Judge

Bathroom Reading: Too many still aren’t sitting comfortably

The Games People Play With Cash Flow

Toyota’s game-changing solid-state battery en route for 2021 debut

Cracks in the Great stagnation.

Amity Shlaes’ ‘Great Society:’ How Poverty Won America’s War on Poverty

My Phone Was Spying on Me, so I Tracked Down the Surveillants

Covid-19 as a Ramsey tax problem

23.6% of All US Dollars Were Created in the Last Year

CBP’s warrantless use of cell phone location data is under investigation

Pakistan being subjected to 5th-generation warfare in ‘massive way’ but we are aware of threats: DG ISPR

The humble, plastic Soviet-era cameras that summited Mount Everest.

Section 230 is good, actually

I saw this article when using the Financial Times app and thought you might be interested:

Ahdaf Soueif: ‘I have a lot of friends in prison’

Peter Thiel Says Covid Marks 21st Century’s True Start. SPAC Boom, Surging EV Stocks Are A Sign

Why Is Apple’s M1 Chip So Fast?

Report Points to Microwave ‘Attack’ as Likely Source of Mystery Illnesses That Hit Diplomats and Spies

Don’t Delay a Vaccine to Allay Fear