The theme of the week (month, year) has been surveillance and control, our masters, and the ultimate nature of the state.
The image above should serve as a friendly reminder that the state wants to know all about you, but by my newly-created Law of Equal and Opposite — a pathology in one direction is usually offset, in the same personality, by an equally strong pathology in the otherdirection — you get to know nothing about them. Sauce for that goose, nothing for anyone else.
Links for the week below. And music. Enjoy!
Links
Links for this week include news from China, lists of the very best people, and something for fun.
News Out of China
It’s hard these days to not stumble across magic from China — science and industry, architecture, mass dancing drones. Some is under (or never) reported in the West; some perhaps spurious; all of it lighting a path to our ends-with-a-whimper plunge into history’s bin.
• Reabsorbable bone glue (Instagram)
According to Global Times, a research team in Zhejiang province developed “Bone 2,” a glue that quickly and safely joins fractured bones, saving patients from lengthy surgeries and plaster treatments.
Dr. Lin Xianfeng, Associate Chief Orthopedic Surgeon at Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital and head of the research, said the idea came from sea shells, which stick strongly underwater.
Experts note that once applied, the glue naturally absorbs into the body, eliminating the need for further surgery. It has been tested on over 150 patients so far, proving as effective as steel plates while reducing the risk of infection.
I see nothing in the Western press about this. Grok is all over it though:
Yes, Chinese scientists have developed Bone-02, a bio-adhesive inspired by oysters that repairs fractures in 2-3 minutes via injection. It’s biodegradable and works in wet conditions like blood. Promising for orthopedics, per recent reports.
File under “Why aren’t we told about this?”
• Record-setting Chinese drone show (YouTube)
Not sure I’d want to meet these folks in battle, Pete Hegseth notwithstanding.
File under “Look pretty lights, ignore the implications.”
• Salt-based batteries (Twitter, Korea Times)
CATL, a Chinese battery manufacturer and technology company, is commercializing sodium-ion batteries — a move that poses an increasing threat to Korean battery firms, which still rely on sales of less price-competitive nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) batteries, experts and industry officials said Thursday.
The Chinese firm recently unveiled its second-generation Naxtra sodium-ion batteries for electric vehicles (EVs), and shared its plan to start its mass production in December this year.
Sodium-ion batteries offer several major advantages over nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, particularly in terms of cost and proven safety against fire risks. They also maintain strong energy density even in extremely low temperatures.
According to Twitterer Dagny Taggart:
The Chinese battery from the world’s leading battery manufacturer CATL is breaking the mold. While the West was fighting over lithium deposits, China launched the production of salt batteries (lithium-free) in June. CATL commissioned its first sodium-ion battery with the same capacity and size as the lithium version. This battery is 10 times cheaper, has a lifespan of 25 years, operates at temperatures as low as -30°C, and is highly safe. The Chinese company CATL has started producing sodium-ion batteries for heavy trucks. In December 2025, it will begin mass production for electric vehicles.
File under “There’s so much more of that where that came from.”
The Very Best People
In case you care (I do), the list of the 400 richest Americans just came out. Here are the first 15.
The Kochs come in at 16 and 17. Trump is at 201 (he didn’t break in till last year).
These are eye-popping numbers. To what use could these fortunes be put — buy a nation perhaps?
File under “Masters and muppets; which one are they?”
Not to be outdone by Forbes, Time has a list of the 100 most influential Americans. High on the list is our good friend Alex Karp.
As Palantir, the data-analytics giant that works closely with U.S. armed forces and intelligence agencies, has grown in value on the stock market, its chief executive, Alex Karp, has become the embodiment of a new kind of Silicon Valley billionaire: an unashamed techno-nationalist who evangelizes Western power. … “[T]he rise of the West was not made possible ‘by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion ... but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence,’” Karp wrote, quoting Huntington. “He continued: ‘Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.’”
Palantir’s revenue is up, along with its influence. Concerned? He’s big with the masters.
File under “Just so you know.”
Fun Stuff
• Oxford Comma (Elle Cordova, Tiktok)
This is for punctuation freaks. (Note: The preview’s not working right. If this embed fails, please click the link above.)
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If you love her work, there’s a lot more here.
File under “Commas, Oxford commas, and conjunctions, oh my!”
Music
We linked to an Elle Cordova video above. She’s also a singer. Here’s Elle and frequent-partner Toni Lindgren with a Shania Twain cover.
For a song that shows off Toni’s guitar skills, try this.
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The US will NEVER catch-up with China, that being the case, hell, why not: GO TO WAR AND DESTROY THEM AND THEIR PEOPLE! Only in America, or as it can be said: AMERICAN MADE (without the Union label)!