What we’re reading (10/29)
“COVID-19 Origins: Investigating A “Complex And Grave Situation” Inside A Wuhan Lab” (ProPublica). “The Wuhan lab at the center of suspicions about the pandemic’s onset was far more troubled than known, documents unearthed by a Senate team reveal. Tracing the evidence, Vanity Fair and ProPublica give the clearest view yet of a biocomplex in crisis…On Nov. 12, 2019, a dispatch by party branch members at the BSL-4 laboratory appeared to reference a biosecurity breach: ‘These viruses come without a shadow and leave without a trace.’”
“Pfizer, Uber And Starbucks Highlight Another Busy Earnings Week” (Wall Street Journal). “The wide range of industry leaders reporting results in the days ahead will show investors how companies are responding to shifting consumer behaviors, decades-high inflation, the run-up in the U.S. dollar and lingering supply-chain disruptions. Last week, many of the world’s biggest tech companies, from Intel Corp. to Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc., issued largely gloomy outlooks as businesses pull back on spending and costs rise.”
“Where Do Restaurant ‘Service Fees” Really Go?” (Vox). “Service charges have become commonplace for things like online delivery and concert tickets, but they’re increasingly showing up in unexpected places — namely restaurants. While there’s no formal data yet on how many restaurants are implementing service charges, industry experts say those fees are definitely on the rise, and they expect to see even more of them soon. On the surface, service fees can be well-intentioned. They’re born out of a desire to fix what’s long been considered a broken American tradition of paying servers in tips. Increasingly, they’re also a means for restaurants to survive what’s seemed like one onslaught after another.”
“There’s A Biased, Distorted Book About Ray Dalio Coming Out And We Can’t Wait” (Dealbreaker). “As you can imagine from the title, Dalio himself is not going to like this piece of controversial literature. Actually, you don’t have to imagine it: Copeland, who’s been on the Bridgewater beat at The Wall Street Journal for years, has already made the guru-philosopher king angry on a number of occasions. Reporting on some of the arguably cult-like aspects of the Dalio regime, the plan to build an algorithmic robo-Ray and making it sound weird, the apparent flexibility of his seemingly ironclad commitment to honesty when it comes to the People’s Republic of China, his inability to loosen his control over Bridgewater, and the strange tendency of senior women at the firm to make less than their male counterparts has already earned him a place in the deepest circle of Dalio’s hell, that reserved for vindictive liars. (Just wait until Copeland’s fellow yellow journalists at The New York Times announce their volume of Dalioana.)”
“Bill Nye’s Experimental Spacecraft That Sails On Sunlight Declares Mission success” (CNN Business). “About 450 miles above Earth, a small satellite is drifting deeper into the cosmos — powered not by rocket fuel, thrusters or other contraptions. This satellite, called LightSail 2, is sailing on a sunbeam. The prototype spacecraft is the work of the Planetary Society, an international nonprofit headed by famed science communicator Bill Nye. Its mission was declared a success on Wednesday, marking the culmination of a years-long effort to prove a satellite can surf through space using sunlight as an endless fuel supply.”