In The News (13)

The Pandemic Is Showing Us How Capitalism Is Amazing, and Inadequate Why big business needs big government and vice versa.

What Democrats Are Up Against in Georgia The Senate contenders face not just Republicans but also the state’s political history, which shows that change doesn’t come easy.........  Georgia has almost 160 counties, second in number only to the state of Texas. The story goes that the legislature carved out small counties so that a farmer in a mule-drawn wagon could make it to the courthouse and back in a single day. The real consequence was that under Georgia’s county-unit system, the more rural counties there were, the more leverage they would have against urban interests in Atlanta. ........... The field general of the conservative culture wars of the 1990s was a Georgia Republican, Representative Newt Gingrich, who played a singular role in bringing forth the scorched-earth tactics of the modern Republican Party.  ...........  “One of the great problems we have in the Republican Party is that we don’t encourage you to be nasty,” Mr. Gingrich told the Georgia College Republicans in 1978 during his third, and ultimately successful, race for Congress. “We encourage you to be neat, obedient, and loyal and faithful and all those Boy Scout words, which would be great around the campfire, but are lousy in politics.”  ......... What Mr. Gingrich pioneered in culture-war politics Mr. Trump has escalated. Two days after Election Day, Donald Trump Jr. was in Georgia at a rally outside Republican Party campaign headquarters, castigating Republicans who did not defend his father’s specious claims of fraud. ............. Two Democratic victories would not only give Democrats control of the Senate but could also help turn the page on Donald Trump’s influence in American politics.

The Evolving Travel ‘Experience’: Virtual, Actual and In Between Socially distanced craft classes, virtual tango lessons, a city tour accompanied by an avatar guide: how experience companies — which now include Amazon — are adapting to the pandemic.

How to Have Better Family Meals 

Biden Can’t Be F.D.R. He Could Still Be L.B.J. He has the power to make transformational progress look like “C’mon Man” common sense. Will he use it? 

How the Polls Got the Election Wrong, According to One Pollster Who Got It Right

COVID-19 Is Out of Control. What Can We Do? We need a one-two punch to knock the virus down and then keep it down.

सहरभरि शंकास्पद संक्रमित उपत्यकाका मेयरहरुलाई गृहमन्त्रीले भने , ‘लकडाउन गर्ने योजना बनाउँदैछौं ।’

Japan’s New Leader Sets Ambitious Goal of Carbon Neutrality by 2050 The announcement, coming weeks after a similar pledge by China, will require a major overhaul of the infrastructure in Japan, which remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels.

A New Breakthrough Just Brought City-Wide Quantum Communication Into Reach

In The News (12)

Smart Concrete Could Pave the Way for High-Tech, Cost-Effective Roads  Of the 614,387 bridges in the US, for example, 39 percent are older than their designed lifetimes .......... The cost to repair and improve nationwide transportation infrastructure ranges from nearly US$190 billion to almost $1 trillion. ......... These new systems self-monitor the condition of roads and bridges quickly and accurately and can, sometimes, even repair themselves. ............. At an early stage of a crack, for example, self-healing pavement would activate super absorbent polymers to absorb water and produce concrete-like material that fills in the crack. Cracks as small as a few microns could be healed to prevent significant damage by preventing or delaying the later stages of the freeze-thaw cycle.  

You Can Buy This Electric Car for $7,999 in California

Why We Need a Collective Vision to Design the Future of Health

This Coronavirus Surge Does Not Have to Be So Horrific America is entering a difficult period. But the outcome is not foregone. ........... The nation is entering its third, and potentially most dreadful, coronavirus surge. Earlier this month, the daily nationwide case count reached 100,000 for the first time. On Thursday it passed the 160,000 mark. Hospitalizations are at their highest point yet. Unlike previous surges, there is no epicenter. The virus is spreading everywhere. ............ Death isn’t the only bad outcome of contracting the coronavirus. Debilitating symptoms can last for months, and some doctors worry they may lead to permanent disability. Also, lower death rates are contingent on a high standard of care, which will be difficult to maintain across the country as case counts grow. In any case, death tolls are a lagging indicator. ................. “It’s like we survived the Titanic............Now we’re looking at the tip of an iceberg and pretending that the tip is the whole thing.” ........... If Americans want to get the current surge under control through this long, dark winter, they need to skip indoor gatherings, including for the holidays. They need to avoid nonessential travel. They must wear face masks in all public places. They all need to practice social distancing. They need to quarantine when they think they’ve been exposed to the virus and isolate if they get a positive test result, even if no symptoms emerge.  

Here’s How Trump’s Stalling Risks Our National Security I’ve seen my share of presidential transitions. The administration hurts the country by not cooperating with President-elect Biden. ........... Tragically, but not surprisingly, Mr. Trump appears determined to take a final wrecking ball to our democracy and  national security on his inevitable way out the door.

China-Led Trade Pact Is Signed, in Challenge to U.S. The deal sealed on Sunday stands as a potent symbol of Beijing’s growing economic sway in Southeast Asia at a time of uncertainty over Washington’s economic ties with the region.

Before ‘I Have a Dream,’ Martin Luther King Almost Died. This Man Saved Him. The untold story of the patrolman who took charge when the civil rights leader was stabbed in Harlem.

Economic Demands Test Biden Even Before Inauguration With the recovery slowing and coronavirus cases surging, Democrats must decide whether quick action on federal aid is more important than its scale.

Newton’s Daunting Masterpiece Had a Surprisingly Wide Audience, Historians Find The discovery suggests that “Principia” had a stronger impact on Enlightenment science than previous research suggested............ It had a reputation for unreadability. ......... First editions of the Principia, the scholars say, today sell for between $300,000 and $3,000,000 on the black market and at auction houses such as Christie’s and Sotheby’s. They estimate that the book’s first edition consisted of some 600 and possibly as many as 750 copies — hundreds more than the 250 or so that historians had previously assumed.