Afternoon Tea 11.8.21 - Categorical Rhythm

An assassination attempt on the Iraqi PM was made by drone, strikes are happening everywhere from Columbia University & the NY Times to the Deere factories, a DC police union might have sold whiskey illegally, Brexit losses outpace gains by a factor of 178, and Pablo Escobar’s cocaine hippos were legally recognized as people. It’s Monday, November 8th 2021, and this is your Tea. And daylight saving is because capitalism, not farmers. In honor of this, today’s interstitial pictures will be of an escaped pig breaking ankles from this tweet. Your rainy, burbling vibe of the day comes from Strife II, the impresario of orchestral liquid drum & bass:

Iraqi PM safe after drone attack on residence, military says (Reuters) The worst thing about this attack wasn’t that drone assassination attempts are happening, but that it looks like it was designed to send a message that it was possible at any time.

1.8TB of Police Helicopter Surveillance Footage Leaks Online (Wired) Remember your conspiracy theory friends telling you about how Cop Copters were flying above protests? They were absolutely right, which brings to mind the below Simpsons quote.

The Second-Largest Strike in the US Is Happening in New York City (Intelligencer) & Work Saturdays, Huh? How UPS Drivers Resisted by Complying (LaborNotes) Columbia’s endowment is hovering around $14.3 billion, but they are asking their grad students to go into the couch cushions. More generally, there are a lot of workers on strike. Like, a lot of them. More are organizing and threatening to walk out on Black Friday. The Labor Notes story is a great demonstration of what radical compliance can be as direct action.

A DC Police Union May Have Sold Whiskey Illegally (InsideHook) DC’s Fraternal Order of Police shipped liquor across state lines without even a hint of the requisite permits. Bootleggers and illegal hooch smugglers feet from our nation’s capital must be stopped.

UK’s Brexit losses more than 178x bigger than trade deal gains (Independent) It’s almost as if thousands of people called this, for years at at time. And like Boris Johnson’s hair every single day, this national tragedy was entirely preventable.

Grid Management: China’s Latest Institutional Tool of Social Control (China Leadership Monitor) & An Unexpected Victory: Container Stacking at the Port of Long Beach (Don’t Worry About the Vase) Grid management feels like a feature of SimCity 12,000, but when you’re dealing with a population in the billions, you come up with something better. At the other end of the logistical spectrum, a minor miracle at the Port of Long Beach: Quick, efficient regulatory updates.

Pablo Escobar’s Cocaine Hippos Are Legally People, Court Rules (Gizmodo) Pitched legal battles involving the hippos transplanted to Colombia by Escobar, continue to rage.

Alleged Jan. 6th Rioter Tries to Sell Home on Zillow, Inadvertently Reveals Cache of Explosives: FBI (Daily Beast) Pro-Tip: If you’re going to try to sell your home on the internet, maybe don’t post photos of your armamentarium.

‘Moral molecules’ - a new theory of what goodness is made of (Psyche) & Are you sure you know what emotions are? (Psyche) This idea of valenced emotions, connecting feelings like molecules is quite interesting, if a bit far afield.

This singing lemur is the first known nonhuman mammal with “categorical rhythm” (BigThink) The lemur knows not to clap on 1 & 3. Everyone messing this up during the electric slide, have yourselves a think.

Poem of the Tea: Can you dig?

Dig and be dug.

Yours,