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PICKS are stories from many sources, selected by our editors or recommended by our readers because they are important, surprising, troubling, enlightening, inspiring, or amusing. They appear on our site and in our daily newsletter. Please send suggested articles, videos, podcasts, etc. to picks@whowhatwhy.org.
Chip War: Japan and Netherlands Expected to Join US in Ban on Tech Exports to China (Maria)
The author writes, “A Washington official has made the most direct comments by a US authority to date acknowledging the existence of a deal with Japan and the Netherlands for those countries to impose new restrictions on exports of chipmaking tools to China. ‘We can’t talk about the deal right now,’ said Don Graves, deputy commerce department secretary, on the sidelines of an event in Washington. ‘But you can certainly talk to our friends in Japan and the Netherlands.’ Bloomberg reported on Friday an agreement had been finalized and two people familiar with the matter later confirmed the news to Reuters.”
Wall Street’s Crystal Ball Is Broken (Sean)
From Insider: “Around the time everyone starts listening to Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You,’ Wall Street’s phalanx of analysts and economists participate in their own annual tradition: rolling out long jargon-packed reports predicting what’s to come in the year ahead. These forecasts are supposed to make everyone involved — the analysts, the firms, the clients — look and feel as if they have some grasp on the future. They help create a veneer of stability: ‘. … And when the world is actually stable, some of these predictions may hold up for a quarter or more. Some analysts may even get a call or two totally correct. But 2023, like the past few pandemic-afflicted years, is already proving to be not a normal, stable year, and some of finance’s biggest predictions are souring as quickly as a carton of milk.”
Wisconsin Legislature Has First Socialist Caucus in 90 Years (Al)
From Urban Milwaukee: “There was a time when socialism helped build Milwaukee — literally. Socialist politicians found ways to fund its parks and public universities, not to mention the sewers that lay beneath the city’s paved streets. They raised Milwaukee’s minimum wage and helped shape workers’ compensation laws. Their influence rippled out to Madison and Washington D.C. It’s been decades since the glory days of socialism in Milwaukee, but if two new state legislators from the city have their way, the legacy of the ‘sewer socialists’ may see a revival.”
On This Flooded Island of Homeless People, Climate Change Has Never Been More Real (Laura)
The authors write, “The raft to Bannon Island does not inspire confidence. But Dyrone Woods climbed aboard the piece of crumbling Styrofoam secured to the remains of a wood pallet anyway. An atmospheric river was headed straight for California’s capital, prompting dire warnings about potentially deadly flooding and damaging high winds. Yet the raft, about the size of a refrigerator door, was his only way back to the tent where he has lived for five years, to his pit bull Bra Bra and his meager possessions.”
Death During Sex: Not Just an Old Man Thing (Mili)
The author writes, “Comprehensive autopsies showed that sex rarely triggered sudden cardiac death (SCD), though more women than expected were affected. Mortalities occurred during or within 1 hour after sexual intercourse in just 0.2% of 6,847 SCD cases reviewed in England, and rates of post-sex death remained low across cases of SCD by cause of death. … Notably, the 17 people who died from SCD after sex averaged just age 38, and two-thirds were men.”
Viewpoints: 50 Years After His Death, LBJ’s Legacy Grows (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “In 1970, Garry Wills wrote that Johnson ‘was ending his reign in confessed failure’ and 20 years later, in his review of Robert Caro’s scathing LBJ biography, Wills increased his denunciation: ‘Lyndon Johnson was clearly a monster of ambition, greed, and cruelty. What’s not to loathe?’ … The ultra-liberal historian Arthur Pearl dismissed LBJ’s record as ‘one term and then, sad obscurity.’ Fortunately for Johnson’s family and friends, there’s a lot more to the story than that. Like the man himself, Johnson’s presidency was complex. Therefore, perhaps another look at his political and policy legacy is in order.”
The Sauce That Survived Italy’s War on Pasta (Gerry)
From Atlas Obscura: “In 1932, Italian culinary magazine La Cucina Italiana awarded their Best Pasta Sauce prize to one chef’s Sugo Marinetti, or Marinetti sauce. Said sauce stood out not only for its unique combination of chopped pistachios and artichokes sauteed in butter, but also for its ironic title: the firebrand poet Filippo Marinetti, for whom the pasta sauce was named, was at that very moment fighting to banish pasta from Italy.”
