Links

Read The Pandemic Heroes Who Gave us the Gift of Time and Gift of Information by Zeynep Tufekci (zeynep.substack.com)
As safe and effective vaccines make news, let's remember the heroism of China's scientists and medical workers
Some great early history from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. A great read about some of the early and unsung heros.
Read It Wasn’t Just Trump Who Got It Wrong by Zeynep Tufekci (The Atlantic)
America’s coronavirus response failed because we didn’t understand the complexity of the problem.
Nice piece about some of the complexity surrounding the pandemic that we’re all missing out on. Good to see some complexity theory being considered in the public sphere.
Bookmarked On the Media | Breaking News Consumer's Handbook | WNYC Studios (WNYC Studios)
Breaking news reporting often gets essential facts wrong. In fact, the rampant misreporting can be so common as to be predictable. And so, On the Media has developed formulas (with the help of experts) for how to spot spotty coverage. Rather than counting on news outlets to get it right, we're looking at the other end. We have some tips for how to sort good information from bad -- whether the breaking news is about a tragic mass shooting or a stock market crash, an epidemic or a rash of election polls. Below is our collection of Breaking News Consumer's Handbooks, and it's growing all the time. Each one comes with a printable PDF that you can tape to your wall the next time you encounter a big news event.
I’ve listened to many in this series over time, but there are a few I’ve missed and would like to revisit. 
Read George F Kennan by Gideon Rachman (ft.com)
John Lewis Gaddis’ biography of the US diplomat works brilliantly as a piece of intellectual history
George Kennan is a rare example of a diplomat who changed history through the power of his ideas and the clarity of his writing. In February 1946, Kennan, the number two at the US embassy in Moscow, sent a “long telegram” to his superiors in Washington DC. At a time when many Americans still regarded the Soviet Union as an ally, Kennan explained, in limpid prose, why there could never be a normal peacetime relationship with the USSR.
This looks like an interesting read.
Read China sends a message with Australian crackdown by Richard McGregor (ft.com)
Pressure by Beijing offers a glimpse of the road map for a more illiberal order
For a glimpse of the future in a world dominated by China, a good starting point is Australia. Beijing’s embassy in Canberra last week handed the local media a short document detailing 14 grievances that China says are the cause of its rapidly deteriorating relations with Australia.
Reposted a tweet by Julia Angwin
Read VCBrags did one last thing before deleting their account: a frame-up (savingjournalism.substack.com)
[Editor’s Note: It’s now November 10th, some two months after initial publication. I received substantial feedback about my presentation of the evidence here, and I believe a postmortem is warranted. I reached out to VCBrags on October 5th to see if they’d cooperate. I have yet to receive a reply. I expect to publish something this month either way, which I’ll link here at the top. All the other edit marks below are from the first 24 hours or so. The post hasn’t been touched since.]