Horrors of Xinjiang Camps; Material-Laden Deep Waters; and More

 #Peter Hessler, "Year of the Bunny Hill," The New Yorker, June 21, 2021. - "Currently, there are about thirty American correspondents left in China -- the government expelled many last year, as part of a tit-for-tat exchange with the Trump Administration."

"In China, where very few people know somebody who has been infected, the government pandemic strategy has enjoyed broad popular support, and, in a repressive political climate, it's particularly unlikely that citizens will question what's going on in Xinjiang." But [Peter Hessler] "can also recognize these same qualities -- dedication, meticulousness, attention to detail -- applied to horrifying effect in eyewitness accounts of the Xinjiang camps. The strategy is zero tolerance: essentially, the government has approached Ulghurs and other Muslim people as if they could be stamped out with relentless vigilance." 

#Elizabeth Kolbert, "The Deep," The New Yorker, June 21, 2021. - "Under international law, countries control the waters within two hundred miles of their shores. Beyond that, the oceans and all they contain are considered 'the common heritage of mankind.' This realm, which encompasses nearly a hundred million square miles of seafloor, is referred to in I.S.A.-speak as the Area." 

"It has been estimated that, collectively, the nodules on the bottom of the ocean contain six times as much cobalt, and three times as much nickel, [as on land]." "The 'sunlight zone' extends down about seven hundred feet, the 'twilight zone,' another twenty-six hundred feet. Below that -- in the 'midnight zone,' the 'abyssal zone,' and the 'hadal zone '-- there's only blackness, and the light created by life itself." "All marine photosynthesis takes place in the sunlight zone. Beneath that, food is in such short supply that the occasional dead whale that falls to the ocean floor represents a major source of nutrients." 

#Amy Davidson Sorkin, "Viral Theories," The New Yorker, June 21, 2021. - "The market and the institute have at times served as shorthand for the broad sets of possible answers about the origin of the virus: that it was 'zoonic,' meaning that it traveled directly from animals, or that it was transmitted by an accidental 'lab leak' from a place such as the Wuhan Institute." 

"According to official figures, COVID-19 has killed almost four million people; however, a study by 'The Economist' concludes that the true number may be close to thirteen million. Partisanship, in whatever form, can't be the guide here." 

ADDENDUMS:

*Letter writer Allen Frances, The New Yorker, June 21, 2021. "But one must consider the fact that the history of psychiatry is filled with fad diagnoses  that lead to fake epidemics: while human nature is remarkably stable, the ways of labeling emotional diseases are changeable and subject to fashion."

*Lindsey Botts, "Open Season on Wolves," Sierra, Summer 2021. - "Wisconsin set a target quota of 119 wolves outside of tribal lands, but issued almost 2,400 hunting tags -- more than twice the estimated number of wolves in the state." "State legislatures are resurrecting barbaric old laws designed to increase hunting, reduce wolf populations and stymie any hope of further recovery."

*Kate Gordon, "Ocean's Eleven Zillion," Sierra, Summer 2021. - "Herring numbers have been trending down, but climate is not the only reason. Overfishing could be a factor. Habitat destruction is almost certainly another -- the eelgrass that herring lay eggs on has gotten trashed by waterfront development, chain ;dragged by moored or anchored boats, and the 'Cosco Busan' oil spill."