Tick time

The piece at reference 1 caught my eye this morning. All about ticks in the US, but also a puff for one Amanda Fairbanks of reference 2 and her upcoming book at reference 3.

It seems that global warming is bringing an up-tick in the tick population in places where, hitherto, they have only been a minor nuisance. Some of them carry unpleasant diseases, affecting both humans and other animals, for which see references 4 and 5.

According to her website 'Amanda M. Fairbanks is an award-winning journalist and author' who has now moved onto ticks. I enjoyed the bit about 'memoiristic lenses' in the snap above.

But I failed to compute the relationship between Zando and Penguin - although I dare say it is mixed up with layers of middle-men, all taking a cut. I was intrigued by the fact that one had a page count and a cover, while being many months away from publication. But I did not trouble Gemini with the matter.

In part, because I was more intrigued by the rather dodgy looking Tate brothers, presently in custody in the US, pending extradition to the UK. So I did ask Gemini where they got their money from and it seems that they started in porn, then moved into a social media fuelled pyramid scheme, then crypto, then gambling. They also boast about not paying tax. The wheels of justice are grinding both here in the UK and in Romania - from where, inter alia, they got a lot of their porn girls. Until recently at least, very chummy with the Maga crowd.

So while they do indeed look dodgy, they look to have made a lot of money at it. I associate to Epstein. Gemini explains that, unlike Musk who actually makes stuff, Epstein made most of his money out of advising very rich people on how to avoid paying tax. Clearly an operator; a clever man who took the wrong path. No doubt a psycho-analyst could explain how he came to be so obsessed with sex, money and networking with the rich and powerful.

References

Reference 1: The great tick explosion: a tiny threat tests America’s love of nature: Changes in climate and land use mean unfamiliar ticks turning up in unexpected places, bringing exotic new illnesses - Patti Waldmeir, Financial Times - 2026.

Reference 2: https://www.amandamfairbanks.com/about.

Reference 3: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/839022/tick-boom-by-amanda-m-fairbanks/.

Reference 4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick.

Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick-borne_disease.

Reference 6: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Wexner. The Wexner connection.