China Is Disintegrating: Steel Demand, Property Sales, Traffic All Approaching Zero

In our ongoing attempts to glean some objective insight into what is actually happening "on the ground" in the notoriously opaque China, whose economy has been hammered by the Coronavirus epidemic, yesterday we showed several "alternative" economic indicators such as real-time measurements of air pollution (a proxy for industrial output), daily coal consumption (a proxy for electricity usage and manufacturing) and traffic congestion levels (a proxy for commerce and mobility), before concluding that China's economy appears to have ground to a halt.

https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/china-disintegrating-steel-demand-property-sales-traffic-all-approaching-zero

James Brown died in 2006. Now an Atlanta prosecutor is looking into it

An Atlanta prosecutor will examine singer James Brown's death after meeting Wednesday with a woman who said she has evidence that Brown was murdered.

Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard Jr. told CNN his investigators would conduct interviews and weigh potential evidence before deciding whether to launch a full-scale death investigation.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/13/us/atlanta-prosecutor-looking-into-james-brown-death/index.html

Ghost' DNA In West Africans Complicates Story Of Human Origins

About 50,000 years ago, ancient humans in what is now West Africa apparently procreated with another group of ancient humans that scientists didn't know existed.

There aren't any bones or ancient DNA to prove it, but researchers say the evidence is in the genes of modern West Africans. They analyzed genetic material from hundreds of people from Nigeria and Sierra Leone and found signals of what they call "ghost" DNA from an unknown ancestor.

https://www.npr.org/2020/02/12/805237120/ghost-dna-in-west-africans-complicates-story-of-human-origins

Federal workforce too reliant on degrees, says White House

While it cites a workforce that's older than the private sector, it doesn't see that as a negative. But it does express frustration in its ability to hire college graduates with needed skills. It also points out that a large number of federal employees – relative to the private sector – have advanced degrees, which it suggests might be a consequence of unnecessary job requirements.

"Over-reliance on degrees can be a barrier to entry" to federal jobs, the White House argued. Indeed, some high-profile private sector firms, such as Google and Apple, are moving away from strict college degree requirements.

https://searchhrsoftware.techtarget.com/news/252478497/Federal-workforce-too-reliant-on-degrees-says-White-House

Sen. Marsha Blackburn

@MarshaBlackburn

·

2m

Low taxes and a business-friendly environment have companies flocking to our state. @SpiritAirlines

will be moving its operations control center to Tennessee, bringing 345 jobs to Williamson County.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/williamson/2020/02/13/spirit-airlines-williamson-county-company-moving-operations-center-345-jobs/4753435002/

The Silent Threat Of The Coronavirus: America’s Dependence On Chinese Pharmaceuticals

Today, about 80% of pharmaceuticals sold in the U.S. are produced in China. This number, while concerning, hides an even greater problem: China is the largest and sometimes only global supplier for the active ingredient of some vital medications. The active ingredients for medicines that treat breast cancer and lung cancer and the antibiotic Vancomycin, which is a last resort antibiotic for some types of antimicrobial resistant infections, are made almost exclusively in China. Additionally, China controls such a large market portion of heparin, a blood thinner used in open-heart surgery, kidney dialysis and blood transfusions that the U.S. government was left with no choice but to continue buying from China even after a contamination scandal in 2007.

>>8154154

https://www.ibtimes.com/silent-threat-coronavirus-americas-dependence-chinese-pharmaceuticals-2921323

Data Protection Authority Investigates Avast for Selling Users’ Browsing History

On Tuesday, the Czech data protection authority announced an investigation into antivirus company Avast, which was harvesting the browsing history of over 100 million users and then selling products based on that data to a slew of different companies including Google, Microsoft, and Home Depot. The move comes after a joint Motherboard and PCMag investigation uncovered details of the data collection through a series of leaked documents.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3a8vjk/czech-data-protection-authority-investigation-avast-jumpshot