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By Lambert Strether of Corrente
Fowl Tune of the Day
Home Sparrow, Texas, United States. “Early morning flock refrain,” plus barking canine. That is Sparrow week at Bare Capitalism.
“Sparrow ID Guides from Macaulay Library and Fowl Academy” [The Cornell Lab of Ornithology]. Free downloads. “Sparrows are a problem to birders of all talent ranges as a result of they’re usually skulky and laborious to see. At first they appear like uninteresting brown birds, however whenever you get an excellent look, they present stunning and complicated patterns on their feathers. As a result of many species are laborious to see, they’re wanted by avid listers and those that recognize the fantastic thing about birds. Whether or not you’re at house or out within the subject, these useful four-sheet sparrow reference guides have full-color images of jap, central, western and widespread sparrows.”
Politics
“However what’s authorities itself, however the biggest of all reflections on human nature?” –James Madison, Federalist 51
“That they had realized nothing, and forgotten nothing.” –Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
“When the going will get bizarre, the bizarre flip professional.” –Hunter Thompson
Biden Adminstration
“Largest-ever Medicare premium hikes: Biden simply handed an enormous “reward to McConnell” forward of midterms’ [Salon]. “The Biden administration quietly introduced final week that it’s going to depart in place one of many largest-ever Medicare premium hikes for the rest of 2022, regardless of federal well being officers’ determination to limit protection of the costly and probably ineffective Alzheimer’s drug that drove the rise…. In a five-page evaluation launched Friday, CMS insisted that finishing up a mid-year change to Medicare’s 2022 premiums can be “prohibitively complicated and extremely dangerous, requiring important sources and unproven technical options from the various entities which handle premium assortment and cost…. Lamenting the “authorized and operational hurdles” flagged by CMS, Becerra promised the administration will work to make sure that seniors see premium reduction subsequent yr—chilly consolation to these damage by larger prices in 2022.” • First we’ve heard from Becerra in a while. Refreshing!
“Biden not conscious of toddler system disaster till April” [The Hill]. “President Biden on Wednesday stated he was not personally conscious of the severity of the toddler system scarcity till early April, months into the shutdown of a producing plant operated by Abbott Vitamin and subsequent recall of its merchandise. ‘I turned conscious of this downside someday in early April, about how intense it was. We did every thing in our energy from that time on,’ Biden stated throughout a White Home roundtable with system producers. ‘I don’t assume anybody anticipated the impression of the shutdown of 1 facility,’ Biden added. Biden’s feedback stand in distinction to administration officers, who’ve stated repeatedly that the White Home has been working across the clock since February to handle the problem.” • Didn’t anyone temporary Biden? Or is Biden not briefable? Or each?
“Clarence Thomas calls out John Roberts as Supreme Court docket edges nearer to overturning Roe v. Wade” [CNN]. “Final week at a Dallas convention, Thomas took a shocking, public jab at Roberts. Thomas has lengthy touted the great relations contained in the court docket and prevented public criticism of colleagues. He may not all the time have embraced his colleagues, however he prevented letting any enmity slip. Thomas final week recalled the court docket ambiance earlier than 2005, when Roberts joined, and stated, ‘We really trusted one another. We could have been a dysfunctional household, however we have been a household, and we liked it.’ Thomas’ blunt remarks counsel new antagonism towards Roberts and added to the uncertainty concerning the last word ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Girls’s Well being Group, anticipated by the tip of June. Roberts, together with his institutionalist strategy, is positioned because the one justice who would possibly generate a compromise opinion that stops in need of fully overturning Roe v. Wade, at the least this yr. That will thwart an end result that Thomas has labored towards for many years.”
Throughout Satisfaction Month, good job:
INBOX: @FLOTUS will unveil a brand new Nancy Reagan stamp on Monday pic.twitter.com/f8d1szHN9K
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) June 1, 2022
Democrats en Déshabillé
I’ve moved my standing remarks on the Democrat Social gathering (“the Democrat Social gathering is a rotting corpse that may’t bury itself”) to a separate, back-dated put up, to which I’ll periodically add materials, summarizing the addition right here in a “dwell” Water Cooler. (Hopefully, some Bourdieu.) It seems that defining the Democrat Social gathering is, actually, a tough downside. I do assume the paragraph that follows is on level all the way in which again to 2016, if not earlier than:
The Democrat Social gathering is the political expression of the category energy of PMC, their base (lucidly defined by Thomas Frank in Hear, Liberal!). ; if the Democrat Social gathering didn’t exist, the PMC must invent it. . (“PMC” modulo “class expatriates,” after all.) Second, all of the working components of the Social gathering reinforce one another. Go away apart characterizing the relationships between parts of the Social gathering (ka-ching, however not totally) these parts comprise a community — a Flex Web? An iron octagon? — of funders, distributors, apparatchiks, electeds, NGOs, and miscellaneous mercenaries, with property within the press and the intelligence neighborhood.
Word, after all, that the category energy of the PMC each expresses and is proscribed by different courses; oligarchs and American gentry (see ‘industrial mannequin’ of Ferguson, Jorgensen, and Jie) and the working class spring to thoughts. Suck up, kick down.
* * * “Democrats Ought to ‘Do One thing’ the Means the GOP Does Issues” [Molly Jong-Fast, The Atlantic]. “Let’s see how they prefer it when blue states resolve to struggle again. Democrats would possibly really feel powerless, but it surely’s as a result of they’re counting on an outdated playbook. It’s time to be courageous, assume large, and ship for the American individuals.” • Expensive Lord. That is 2022.
“Progressives Name for Better Outreach by DNC as GOP Invests in Group Facilities” [Common Dreams]. “The Republican Nationwide Committee is investing appreciable cash and vitality in increasing its voter base by build up its presence in largely Black, Latino, and Native American communities, in accordance with new reporting by The American Prospect which led progressives on Wednesday to warn that Democrats have largely deserted such boots-on-the-ground efforts. As Alexander Sammon wrote on the outlet, the Republican Social gathering has opened at the least 21 neighborhood facilities in locations together with Robeson County, North Carolina—a former Democratic stronghold which former Republican President Donald Trump gained in 2016—and the Faculty Park part of Atlanta…. [T]he Republican Social gathering seems to be modeling its strategy on “the sustained organizing mannequin of the Bernie Sanders marketing campaign,” which spent months organizing in predominantly immigrant, working-class communities in Nevada earlier than stunning the Democratic institution by profitable the state’s major in February 2020.” • The Democrats have forgotten nothing, and realized nothing.
2022
* * * “Democratic Senate hopefuls take cautious tack on assault weapons ban” [The Hill]. Due to course. “Democratic Senate candidates within the yr’s best races are treading calmly on a problem that has the backing of the celebration’s prime officers: an assault weapons ban. From Pennsylvania to Arizona, solely a handful of Democratic Senate candidates have homed in on requires reinstating the long-expired federal ban on so-called assault weapons within the wake of the mass taking pictures at an Uvalde, Texas, elementary faculty that left 21 individuals — together with 19 youngsters — lifeless. Most candidates have walked a finer line, urging the Senate to take up different measures, like expanded background checks for gun purchases and crimson flag legal guidelines, which normally would permit regulation enforcement officers to quickly seize firearms from people who’re seen as a risk to themselves or others. The reluctance to brazenly advocate for a brand new ban on assault-style weapons illustrates how the problem has grow to be a political third rail for battleground-state Democrats in an already tough election yr for the celebration.” • The suburban voters liberal Democrats need like their weapons?
MI: “Mallory McMorrow, rising Democratic star, says it’s time to reply conservative tradition conflict assaults” [Yahoo News]. “Describing herself as ‘a straight, white, Christian, married, suburban mother,’ the 35-year-old New Jersey native and Notre Dame graduate positioned herself as exactly the type of suburban voter whom the GOP “grooming” assaults have been making an attempt to court docket…. In Virginia, suburban frustrations helped energy the Republican enterprise govt Glenn Youngkin to an upset victory over Democratic candidate and former governor Terry McAuliffe in that state’s gubernatorial race final fall. The suburbs hugging the Potomac — the identical ones that had voted for Biden solely months earlier than — supplied the essential distinction. ‘Suburban mothers who’ve left the Republican Social gathering in large numbers got here again,’ a jubilant Bob McDonnell — Virginia’s final Republican governor earlier than Youngkin — instructed the Washington Put up after the latter’s unlikely win over McAuliffe.” • Once more, I’m wondering what “suburban mothers” take into consideration weapons…..
OR: “Biden-backed Democrat defeated by progressive in Oregon major” [CNN]. “Jamie McLeod-Skinner will win the Democratic nomination in Oregon’s fifth Congressional District, CNN initiatives, ousting seven-term Rep. Kurt Schrader in a rebuke to nationwide Democrats, together with President Joe Biden. Schrader, a average who has crossed Democratic management repeatedly — however nonetheless nonetheless gained Biden’s first endorsement of the cycle, had been bolstered within the ultimate weeks of the race by a pair of outdoor teams that ended up spending almost $2 million on the race. However it was not sufficient to blunt fierce backlash from native celebration leaders and grassroots teams who endorsed McLeod-Skinner. … Schrader’s voting file and efforts with a small group of Home moderates to complicate the passage of Biden’s Construct Again Higher package deal final yr, which finally died within the Senate, triggered an uproar amongst native teams.” • Blue Canine or no matter their present identify are eminently beatable. After which Schumer or Pelosi herald a brand new crop. We’ve seen this repeatedly for the reason that days of Rahm Emanuel.
RussiaGate
“Scoop: Blockbuster witness for Jan. 6 hearings” [Axios]. “J. Michael Luttig, a former federal choose and lawyer who suggested former Vice President Mike Pence, is predicted to testify within the Jan. 6 choose committee’s public hearings this month, Axios has realized…. Luttig, who served on the U.S. Court docket of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, was a key behind-the-scenes determine within the lead as much as Jan. 6. He furnished Pence with the legal argument the vice chairman used to publicly reject Trump’s unconstitutional order to overturn President Biden’s victory. The upcoming public hearings, unfold throughout two weeks, will mark the primary time the committee has had a possibility to disclose the entire findings of its months-long investigation into the breach of the Capitol. Committee sources instructed Axios they need to inform a narrative of Jan. 6 in such a method that the American individuals perceive the gravity of what occurred — and the position former President Trump and his associates performed in ginning up the mob that attempted to interrupt the peaceable switch of energy.” • Attention-grabbing….
Realignment and Legitimacy
“Justices permit depositions of Texas lawmakers in Voting Rights Act lawsuit” [SCOTUSBlog]. “The Supreme Court docket on Tuesday morning rejected a request from three Texas lawmakers to place off their depositions in lawsuits looking for to dam redistricting laws in that state. There have been no dissents famous from the temporary order, which clears the way in which for the depositions to go ahead subsequent month…. The order got here in a dispute that arose after the Texas legislature’s October 2021 adoption of latest maps for congressional and state elections. Ten totally different lawsuits adopted, filed by particular person voters, civil rights teams, and the U.S. Division of Justice, alleging that the maps violated Part 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which bars racial discrimination in election insurance policies. As a part of their case earlier than a three-judge district court docket, the challengers need to depose Texas legislators concerning the course of that led to the brand new maps and the legislators’ motives in adopting them…. Three Republican members of the Texas Home of Representatives got here to the Supreme Court docket on Might 21, asking the justices to step in. They contended that permitting the depositions to go ahead would violate authorized doctrines that usually defend legislators from having to reply questions from different branches of presidency about their actions. If the lawmakers are deposed, they argued, the challengers can be allowed to probe “the very innerworkings of the legislative course of, analyzing the legislators’ ideas, impressions, and motivations for his or her authorized acts.” They instructed the justices that there are different methods to look at the legislature’s causes for enacting the redistricting maps – for instance, by trying on the historical past main as much as the choice and the occasions surrounding it. And there’s “no method to un-ring the bell as soon as they testify,” the lawmakers confused.
#COVID19
• No such factor as “widespread decency” below neoliberalism:
The failed response to the COVID-19 pandemic is greatest understood as an moral failure, not a scientific or technical one.
It’s rooted within the abdication of duty on the a part of these in authority, however of on a regular basis individuals as nicely. It’s a failure of widespread decency.
— Jon Parsons (@jwpnfld) May 30, 2022
And:
Actually, the technique for this “studying to dwell with it” part of the pandemic is exactly to permit individuals to consider they don’t seem to be accountable for the predictable penalties of their actions, encapsulated within the concepts of “private threat administration.”
— Jon Parsons (@jwpnfld) May 30, 2022
“If a baby, an untrained individual, an ignorant individual, or an insane individual incites bother, it’s the fault of authority for not predicting and stopping that bother.” –Frank Herbert, Dune. Not precisely a democratic perspective, although.
• Takedown of sociopathic Covid minimizer David Leonhardt on masks. Thread:
In yesterday’s @nytimes @DLeonhardt explores an obvious contradiction, saying masks work in opposition to #COVID19 however masks mandates don’t. The premise of this text is mistaken. The proof is evident that masks mandates work. Let’s have a look (1/14)https://t.co/t7QXGEqLSw
— Justin Lessler (@JustinLessler) June 1, 2022
In case you missed it, right here’s a put up on my queasiness with CDC numbers, particularly case depend, which I (nonetheless) contemplate most necessary, regardless of what Walensky’s psychos at CDC who invented “neighborhood ranges” assume. However these are the numbers we’ve.
Case depend by United States areas:
This appears like we’re catching up on the file protecting, to me. (I’m not drawing any traces on the chart as a result of it might be pointless.) Word, nonetheless, that comparable “fiddling and diddling” habits is seen at earlier peaks. So perhaps there’s a sign right here, and perhaps there isn’t.
Listed below are circumstances for the final 4 weeks:
As above.
• “‘We’re taking part in with fireplace’: US Covid circumstances could also be 30 instances larger than reported” [Guardian]. Interpretation of the preprint we printed yestereday. “However , an early survey of the surge in New York Metropolis signifies. ‘It could seem official case counts are under-estimating the true burden of an infection by about 30-fold, which is a large shock,’ stated Denis Nash, an writer of the examine and a distinguished professor of epidemiology on the Metropolis College of New York Faculty of Public Well being. About one in 5 – 22% – of grownup New Yorkers seemingly had Covid between 23 April and eight Might, in accordance with the preprint examine, which has not been peer-reviewed or printed. That will imply 1.5 million adults within the metropolis had Covid in a single two-week interval – far larger than official counts throughout that point. Whereas the examine centered on New York, these findings could also be true all through the remainder of the nation, Nash stated. Actually, .’ And: “There’s additionally a ‘enormous disincentive’ for many individuals to get examined for Covid, stated Lara Jirmanus, a household doctor and medical teacher at Harvard Medical Faculty. People have been instructed the virus is gentle and gained’t have an effect on their lives, she stated, but when they check optimistic, they should keep house from work and college. ‘It’s virtually as if we’ve created a nationwide ‘don’t ask, don’t inform’ Covid coverage – and that’s ,’ she stated – particularly regarding given as a lot as 60% of Covid transmission occurs from individuals who by no means have any signs.” • All the pieces’s going in accordance with plan.
• Yep:
Right this moment’s IDK who wants to listen to this:
It doesn’t matter what “knowledge” you see or what some say about this present surge being smaller than earlier ones, most households and communities in the actual world are experiencing extra circumstances than they ever have- the exams simply aren’t being reported.🤦🏽♂️
— Jerome Adams (@JeromeAdamsMD) June 1, 2022
• Gaming the case knowledge:
The CDC knowledge exhibits that Covid New circumstances have elevated by 92% over the past week in Okay. The #Oklahoma State Division of Well being exhibits that new Covid circumstances have elevated by 1.09% over the past week. This is because of a really unusual and restrictive OSDH definition of a brand new case. pic.twitter.com/3RfVg0vVYn
— George Monks, M.D. (@GeorgeMonks11) April 22, 2022
Go, Federalism!
From the Walgreen’s test positivity tracker:
I imagine that little notch is Memorial Day reporting; the 2021 data seems to begin after that year’s holiday. I’m leaving the corporate logo on as a slap to the goons at CDC.
MWRA wastewater data:
Still fiddling and diddling, with South a little up, and North a little down. We’ll see where the trend line ends up after summer school begins.
The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) service area includes 43 municipalities in and around Boston, including not only multiple school systems but several large universities. Since Boston is so very education-heavy, then, I think it could be a good leading indicator for Covid spread in schools generally.
Cases lag wastewater data.
From Biobot Analytics:
Still May 11 for the variants? Really? I want to know about BA.4 and BA.5 (dubbed “variants of concern” by The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)).
From CDC Community Profile Reports (PDFs), “Rapid Riser” counties:
California better, Southwest worse, Midwest, New York, New England, and Gulf Coast improving, Pennsylvania better (why).
The previous release:
Here is CDC’s interactive map by county set to community transmission. This is the map CDC wants only hospitals to look at, not you:
East coast, West Coast, and Midwest are all crimson. That little bit of Upstate New York remains to be yellow.
Hospitalization (CDC Group Profile):
Nonetheless very dynamic.
Dying fee (Our World in Knowledge):
Whole: 1,032,410 1,031,613. I’ve added an anti-triumphalist Fauci Line.
• “COVID demise tolls: scientists acknowledge errors in WHO estimates” [Nature]. • I can’t actually excerpt this; the problem appears to be dangerous knowledge, dangerous extratrapolations, and a tough downside.
Covid circumstances in prime us journey locations (Statista):
Extra bizarre fluctuations. (Word the standard of those numbers varies wildly. For instance, the UK is chopping again on testing knowledge.
Stats Watch
Employment Scenario: “United States ADP Employment Change” [Trading Economics]. “Personal companies in america employed 128K employees in Might of 2022, the least for the reason that job losses in 2020, and nicely under forecasts of 300K. The providers sector added 104K jobs, led by schooling and well being (46K), {and professional} and enterprise (23K) whereas the knowledge sector shed 2K jobs.”
Employment Scenario: “United States Preliminary Jobless Claims” [Trading Economics]. “The variety of People submitting new claims for unemployment advantages fell by 11 thousand to 200 thousand within the week ended Might twenty eighth, from the earlier week’s revised degree of 211 thousand and under market expectations of 210 thousand, signaling a decent labour market.”
Employment Scenario: “United States Challenger Job Cuts” [Trading Economics]. “US-based corporations introduced plans to chop 20,712 jobs from their payrolls in Might of 2022, the bottom studying in three months. It’s 15.8% decrease than the 24,586 cuts introduced in Might of 2021. Thus far this yr, employers introduced plans to chop 100,694 job cuts, the bottom on file for the primary 5 months of the yr. Nonetheless, 4 industries noticed extra job cuts introduced in Might than within the earlier 4 months of the yr mixed: expertise (4,044, the very best since December of 2020); fintech (2,059); development (817); and automotive (2,918).”
Manufacturing: “United States Manufacturing unit Orders” [Trading Economics]. “Manufacturing unit orders within the US went up 0.2% from a month earlier to $533.2 billion in April of 2022, after a downwardly revised 1.8% acquire in March and lacking market forecast of a 0.7% rise. Orders slowed in industries producing each durables (0.5% vs 0.7% in March) and nondurable items (0.2% vs 2.9%).”
Retail: “Why Nordstrom Steamed Forward as Outdated Navy Sank” [Wall Street Journal]. “A transparent sign from attire retailers reporting outcomes recently is that prospects are lastly beginning to costume like adults once more. However, simply as with the purchasers they appeal to, there are haves and have-nots: Manufacturers with larger worth tags are feeling a lot much less of a pinch from inflation than inexpensive ones. Amongst Hole’s portfolio of manufacturers, Banana Republic, which sells dressier, work-relevant garments, noticed gross sales within the quarter ended April 30 develop 24% in contrast with a yr earlier whereas gross sales for extra value-, comfort-focused Outdated Navy declined 19%, compounded by self-inflicted stock woes. Gross sales of girls’s suiting, clothes and skirts at Banana Republic grew 62%, whereas males’s go well with gross sales almost doubled. City Outfitters URBN -0.68% noticed its pricier manufacturers, Anthropologie and Free Folks, fare much better final quarter than its namesake model, which caters to youthful consumers. An identical dynamic performed out amongst department shops.”
The Bezzle: ML = Machine Studying (a extra trustworthy identify for AI). A thread:
3/ These Compute Wealthy corporations would be the new platform gatekeepers of the approaching decade. Similar to Apple or FB can expel corporations depending on their ecosystems right now (Epic Video games, Zynga), sooner or later, in case you lose entry to your language mannequin, your product will not operate.
— Russell Kaplan (@russelljkaplan) April 10, 2022
I hope someone passes this on to Stoller. (I file ML below “The Bezzle’ as a result of no person is aware of how ML methods work, they’re wildly depending on coaching units, which if not outright dangerous, are biased by definition, and once they crash, which they do, the one answer is to reboot them (“Have you ever tried turning your ML on and off?”)
Extra:
5/ That is additionally why most severe AI corporations at the moment are designing their very own coaching chips. You may both pay NVIDIA their 65% gross margins, or have every marginal greenback go ~3x as far in your inevitable billions in capex through the use of in-house coaching chips.
— Russell Kaplan (@russelljkaplan) April 10, 2022
The Bezzle: “Sheryl Sandberg, lengthy Fb’s No. 2 exec, steps down” [Associated Press]. “Sheryl Sandberg, the No. 2 govt at Fb proprietor Meta, who helped flip its enterprise from startup to digital promoting empire whereas additionally taking blame for a few of its largest missteps, is stepping down…. The writer of “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism,” Shoshana Zuboff, stated Sandberg is as accountable as anybody for what Zuboff considers one in every of Massive Tech’s most insidious invention: the gathering and group of knowledge on social media customers’ habits and preferences. For years Fb shared person knowledge not simply with advertisers but in addition with enterprise companions. Sandberg did this, wrote Zuboff, ‘by means of the clever manipulation of Fb’s tradition of intimacy and sharing.’” • Commentary:
I heard this can be coming. I’d be pretty sure it’s additionally an indication issues are about to get actual. On my brief record: a-NDCal simply denied switch of part 1 market rigging declare so FB is combating a probably felony allegation of market rigging based mostly on her signature. /1 pic.twitter.com/4hwP1L1P8F
— Jason Kint (@jason_kint) June 1, 2022
The Bezzle: “Quantum computing startup probed in report, securities go well with” [The Register]. “Quantum computing startup IonQ is going through a securities fraud lawsuit after a barrage of accusations got here to mild in a blistering report from Scorpion Capital, which claims the corporate lied concerning the maturity (and even existence of) its quantum machine along with a smattering of claimed monetary fictions.” • So, Schrödinger’s machine? Shocked this hasn’t occurred already.
Right this moment’s Concern & Greed Index: 27 Excessive Concern (earlier shut: 26 Excessive Concern) [CNN]. One week in the past: 13 (Excessive Concern). (0 is Excessive Concern; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Jun 2 at 1:32 PM EDT.
The 420
“How this 154-year-old firm turned one of many largest gamers in hashish” [CNN]. “Over the previous decade, [Scotts Miracle-Gro] has quietly entrenched itself within the younger and fast-growing business. Its Hawthorne Gardening Firm subsidiary has scooped up the most important gamers in hydroponics, lighting and different provides used for rising. Now, Scotts is ramping up its involvement by throwing its lobbying weight behind legalization efforts, and funneling cash into investments that finally might allow the corporate to promote hashish on to customers. ‘It’s our perception, and this isn’t a grand revelation by any stretch: Federal legalization is clearly going to occur; the query is when and the way,’ stated Chris Hagedorn, govt vice chairman of Scotts and division president of Hawthorne. ‘When it does, what are essentially the most worthwhile property going to be in a post-legalization world? I believe anyone who thinks about it for some time says consumer-facing manufacturers [that make and sell cannabis products] would be the most respected.’” • Since “consumer-facing” implies that Joe and Jane spliff may be rising weed in their very own soil for their very own use — versus ginormous firms promoting by means of what would possibly as nicely be package deal shops — I help Scott’s entry.
The Gallery
Circles (1):
Torcs, lunulae, hats, mugs, amulets and magical photo voltaic symbols from the age of Stonehenge,c2500-500BCE, now on present within the jaw-dropping World of Stonehenge present on the BM. pic.twitter.com/aiaezMr5mR
— William Dalrymple (@DalrympleWill) May 31, 2022
Circles (2):
Some animals are illiterate, 1973 #surrealism #ernst https://t.co/ftJp2MDnye pic.twitter.com/Rih6WYulkx
— Max Ernst (@artisternst) May 31, 2022
Zeitgeist Watch
Lots happening right here:
In Poland, there’s a LARP group that roleplays as modern People. Right here they’re doing “Ohio.” pic.twitter.com/ckZRIYZHzV
— ✨✨ (@PenBercifield) May 28, 2022
In fact, it’s all the time OK to trash white trash. However, Opioid Epidemic Re-enactment wasn’t on my Bingo Card for tender energy propagation.
“Why Had been Asylums and State Hospitals Constructed?: Deserted Asylums Half 1” (podcast) [Abandoned America]. “Of all of the American ruins, asylums are maybe essentially the most iconic – however how did so many come to be left to rot throughout the nation?” • I like Deserted America’s images challenge quite a bit:
nothing ever dies. 2007
A curved hallway on the now-demolished Taunton State Hospital. Elevated hallways connecting the wards have been a uncommon ornamental function that helped stop the unfold of fireplace between wings of the hospital. pic.twitter.com/0cve9AVydV
— Deserted America (@abandonedameric) June 1, 2022
Class Warfare
“One-Third of People Making $250,000 Stay Paycheck-to-Paycheck, Survey Finds” [Bloomberg]. “Greater than a 3rd of People incomes at the least $250,000 yearly say they’re residing paycheck to paycheck, underscoring how inflation is taking a much bigger chew out of People’ budgets in any respect ends of the pay spectrum…. Some 36% of households taking in almost 4 instances the median US wage commit almost all of their revenue to family bills, in accordance with a survey by business publication Pymnts.com and LendingClub Corp. It’s notably true amongst millennials, who at the moment are of their mid-20s to early 40s: Greater than half of prime earners in that era report having little left on the finish of the month.” • Carpe diem?
Information of the Wired
“Guardians of the mind: how a particular immune system protects our gray matter” [Nature]. “A big physique of proof now exhibits that the mind and the immune system are tightly intertwined. Scientists already knew that the mind had its personal resident immune cells, known as microglia; latest discoveries are portray more-detailed footage of their capabilities and revealing the traits of the opposite immune warriors housed within the areas across the mind. A few of these cells come from elsewhere within the physique; others are produced domestically, within the bone marrow of the cranium. By finding out these immune cells and mapping out how they work together with the mind, researchers are discovering that they play an necessary half in each wholesome and diseased or broken brains…. Now not do scientists contemplate the mind to be a particular, sealed-off zone.” Right here nonetheless is the primary sentence: “The mind is the physique’s sovereign, and receives safety in step with its excessive standing.” Hmm. Block that metaphor?
Contact data for vegetation: Readers, be at liberty to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) learn how to ship me a test if you’re allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn how to ship me pictures of vegetation. Greens are wonderful! Fungi and coral are deemed to be honorary vegetation! If you would like your deal with to look as a credit score, please place it firstly of your mail in parentheses: (thus). In any other case, I’ll anonymize through the use of your initials. See the earlier Water Cooler (with plant) right here. From SC:
SC writes:
It’s late Spring and evidently Ladybird beetle mating season has arrived. These are on Widespread Milkweed, which I’m utilizing as a sacrifice plant to feed the Monarchs and the Ladybug-attracting aphids. The Purple MW colony is smaller and extra worthwhile and I’m destroying aphids I discover on them, and transferring Monarch larvae to the Widespread patch. Sooner or later in future, when I’ve a number of robust Purple MW patches, I’ll take away the Widespread patch (or at the least attempt to suppress it; maybe elimination will not be a practical short-term objective) and let the plant/aphid/ladybird dynamic run unmolested on the Purple MW.
There are extra Ladybugs this yr than final, and whereas there are aphids right here and there on the Widespread MW, they appear to be below management and the vegetation don’t appear to be visibly affected by their presence. One small a part of a permaculture is in place, and getting stronger. It’s not a lot within the grand scheme of issues, however I derive a little bit of consolation from it.
An amazing challenge!
Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not coated by the lately concluded and — thanks! — profitable annual NC fundraiser. So in case you see a hyperlink you particularly like, or an merchandise you wouldn’t see wherever else, please don’t hesitate to precise your appreciation in tangible kind. Bear in mind, a tip jar is for tipping! Common optimistic suggestions each makes me really feel good and lets me know I’m heading in the right direction with protection. After I get no donations for 5 or ten days I get apprehensive. Extra tangibly, a continuing trickle of donations helps me with bills, and I consider that trickle when setting fundraising targets:
Right here is the display that can seem, which I’ve helpfully annotated:
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