2:00PM Water Cooler 4/18/2024 | bare capitalism

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Chook Music of the Day

Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Stewart Park, Tompkins, New York, United States. “Initially recorded on 35mm movie; tape velocity famous as 46 cm/s…. .” The Macauley Library is a library within the fullest sense of the phrase.

“After I Turned a Birder, Virtually All the pieces Else Fell Into Place” [Ed Yong, New York Times]. Readers will recall Yong as one of many few reliable mainstream journalists on Covid. The entire piece is value studying in full, and it’s so pretty I hate to extract something from it. However wants should: “Birding has tripled the time I spend outside. It has pushed me to discover Oakland in methods I by no means would have: Wonderful scorching spots lurk inside industrial areas, sewage remedy crops and random residential parks. It has proved extra meditative than meditation. Whereas birding, I appear impervious to warmth, chilly, starvation and thirst. My senses focus resolutely on the current, and the same old hubbub in my head turns into quiet. After I spot a species for the primary time — a lifer — I course with adrenaline whereas being completely serene. I additionally really feel a a lot deeper connection to the pure world, which I’ve lengthy written about however at all times remained barely distant from…. After I step out my door within the morning, I take an aural census of the neighborhood, tuning in to the chatter of creatures that have been at all times there and that I may need beforehand missed. The passing of the seasons feels extra granular, marked by the arrival and disappearance of specific species as an alternative of a lot slower adjustments in day size, temperature and greenery. I discover myself noticing small shifts within the climate and small variations in habitat. I take into consideration the tides.” • Do we now have any birders within the readership?

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Chook Music of the Day

Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Stewart Park, Tompkins, New York, United States. “Initially recorded on 35mm movie; tape velocity famous as 46 cm/s…. .” The Macauley Library is a library within the fullest sense of the phrase.

“After I Turned a Birder, Virtually All the pieces Else Fell Into Place” [Ed Yong, New York Times]. Readers will recall Yong as one of many few reliable mainstream journalists on Covid. The entire piece is value studying in full, and it’s so pretty I hate to extract something from it. However wants should: “Birding has tripled the time I spend outside. It has pushed me to discover Oakland in methods I by no means would have: Wonderful scorching spots lurk inside industrial areas, sewage remedy crops and random residential parks. It has proved extra meditative than meditation. Whereas birding, I appear impervious to warmth, chilly, starvation and thirst. My senses focus resolutely on the current, and the same old hubbub in my head turns into quiet. After I spot a species for the primary time — a lifer — I course with adrenaline whereas being completely serene. I additionally really feel a a lot deeper connection to the pure world, which I’ve lengthy written about however at all times remained barely distant from…. After I step out my door within the morning, I take an aural census of the neighborhood, tuning in to the chatter of creatures that have been at all times there and that I may need beforehand missed. The passing of the seasons feels extra granular, marked by the arrival and disappearance of specific species as an alternative of a lot slower adjustments in day size, temperature and greenery. I discover myself noticing small shifts within the climate and small variations in habitat. I take into consideration the tides.” • Do we now have any birders within the readership?

In Case You May Miss…

(1) Ed Yong on birding (beneath each “Search for the Helpers” and “Birdsong of the Day”).

(2) Doubling grid capability with higher cables.

(3) Feathers over the millenia.

Search for the Helpers

See Ed Yong on birding slightly below the Birdsong of the Day:

These are the ships that would have bulit that pier off Gaza:

USNS 2nd Lt John P Bobo Has Engine Fire and Aborts Gaza Mission | Status of Other Ships

1️⃣ USAV Besson delayed in Azores
2️⃣ USAV Wilson Wharf stuck in Tenerife
3️⃣ USNS #Bobo engine hearth and return to Jacksonville https://t.co/JV9IFcCess

— Sal Mercogliano (WGOW Delivery) 🚢⚓🐪🚒🏴‍☠️ (@mercoglianos) April 18, 2024

Little question there’s a Plan B, however nonetheless….

2024

Lower than a yr to go!

RCP Ballot Averages, April 5

Right here this Friday’s RCP ballot. Trump remains to be up in all of the Swing States (more here), leading with one exception: PA. I’ve highlighted it again, (1) because BIden is now up there, and (2) it’s an outlier, has been for weeks. Why isn’t Trump doing well there? (I’ll work out a better way to do this, but for now: Blue dot = move toward Biden; red dot = move toward Trump. No dot = no change (presumably because state polls are not that numerous so far from election day).

* * *

Trump (R): “Trump juror previously arrested for ripping down right-leaning political ads dismissed from trial” [FOX]. “[Juror #4] was excused from the jury in former President Trump’s criminal trial on Thursday after it was revealed the man was once arrested for tearing down right-leaning political advertisements…. Juror #2, a woman who lived on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and works as a nurse, returned to court Thursday morning and said that after further thought, she had concerns about being fair and balanced in the case. ‘I definitely have concerns,’ she said, noting that her family and friends questioned if she was serving on the jury [because news stories revealed her appearance]. ‘I don’t think I can be fair.’” • To the Prosecution’s credit, they participated in axing #4. More on the jury:

They include a lawyer, a hedge funder, an investment banker, a woman in publishing, a teacher turned stay-at-home mom, and a retired college administrator. And according to @nytimes, these usually are not the jurors Trump’s on the lookout for.https://t.co/hUvOC7PmRt

— Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) April 18, 2024

Stable PMC, seems to me.

Trump (R): “Second juror dropped from Trump’s hush cash trial: Dwell updates” [The Hill]. “5 jurors have up to now been picked, after two already-selected jurors have been dismissed earlier Thursday. There are 13 juror alternatives extra to go for a panel that may embody six alternates, whittled down from a whole bunch of New Yorkers referred to as to serve… ‘I nonetheless have a flip telephone,’ one potential juror famous as he indicated he doesn’t hearken to any podcasts. He additionally made clear he ‘solely’ will get his information from the New York Day by day Information and the New York Publish. Among the many potential jurors’ questions is the place they eat nearly all of their information.” • A juror after NC’s coronary heart! (Nonetheless feeling my manner on the sourcing right here; the reporting on this dwell weblog is healthier than FOX, and simpler to observe than the Twitter, so I could make The Hill my main supply. Readers?

Trump (R): Trump utilizing his telephone in courtroom:

OMG 😂 Trump’s ‘hush cash’ NYC trial dwell updates: Ex-prez kicks off ‘hush cash’ legal trial by taking telephone name inside courtroom in flagrant violation of the foundations 😂 https://t.co/MxZG0XxyvG

— Karli Bonne’ 🇺🇸 (@KarluskaP) April 18, 2024

Dude, sleeping is ok. However a telephone is an excessive amount of.

* * *

Trump (R): “‘Smiling his ass off’: How Trump used the New York bodega go to to return to kind” [Politico]. “Outdoors the Sanaa Handy Retailer, the Harlem bodega the place clerk Jose Alba fatally stabbed a buyer who was attacking him — and who was initially charged with homicide, earlier than the fees have been later dropped — Trump was again on acquainted floor….. On Tuesday, Trump stated he’ll ‘marketing campaign regionally‘ throughout the trial. And the bodega go to was possible simply the primary of many such appearances. His advisers have stated, even on some trial days, to count on in-person and digital occasions…. However as he spoke with reporters in New York, a bastion of Democratic politics, Trump’s learn of the information panorama — if not the political one — appeared spot on. Within the media capital of the world, Trump stated he suspected there was ‘extra press right here than there may be if I went out to some good[ha] location.’ ‘He’s proper,’ stated Dave Catalfamo, a Republican advisor in New York…. However regardless of the place viewers stood on Trump, they may no less than see in his look on Tuesday the form of joy-riding former president they acknowledged…. The go to, stated Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime Democratic strategist based mostly in New York, was a signature instance of Trump utilizing ‘nationwide tv protection as an promoting software with out having to pay for the gross score factors.’ ‘He’s very good,’ Sheinkopf stated. ‘Anyone who understates his capability to make use of PR versus normative political strategies is mistaken. He’s superb at it, and what it does … it wipes away the issues that persons are making an attempt to do to undercut his capacities.’” • Trump as grasp retail politician; who knew?

Trump (R): “A hanging distinction on Trump trial day” [Washington Examiner]. “The situation of a Democratic district legal professional, Manhattan’s Alvin Bragg, placing Trump on trial amid a presidential marketing campaign is hanging partially due to a brand new survey exhibiting a plurality of the general public believing the Trump presidency was higher for America than the presidency of Trump’s opponent, the sitting President Joe Biden. The information is deep inside a New York Instances-Siena ballot that discovered the Biden-Trump race total nearly precisely tied, with Trump main Biden by a single share level, 46% to 45%. Later within the ballot, the pollsters requested these two questions: ‘Do you usually keep in mind the years that Donald Trump was president as largely good years for America, largely dangerous years for America, or probably not good or dangerous?” and “Do you suppose the years that Joe Biden has been president have been largely good years for America, largely dangerous years for America, or probably not good or dangerous?’ Trump had a strong benefit in voters’ recollections, with 42% saying his presidential years have been largely good years for America, whereas simply 25% stated Biden’s presidential years have been largely good for America. Trump additionally had a strong benefit on the opposite aspect of the reply, with 33% saying his presidential years have been largely dangerous for America, whereas a a lot bigger 46% stated Biden’s presidential years have been largely dangerous for America. Trump’s benefit in voters’ recollections is sort of throughout the board.”

* * *

Biden (D): “Biden claims uncle vanished after crashing in space of New Guinea with cannibals; navy has completely different story” [FOX]. “Biden instructed the [Pittsburgh] steelworkers that after D-Day, his mom’s 4 brothers volunteered to affix the navy. A kind of uncles, he stated, was Ambrose Finnegan, who glided by the nickname Bozey. ‘He was a hell of an athlete, they inform me, when he was a child,’ Biden stated, including that he was within the Military air corps, which was in place earlier than the Air Drive got here alongside. ‘He flew these single-engine planes as reconnaissance over conflict zones, and he obtained shot down in New Guinea. They by no means discovered the physique as a result of there was, there have been a number of cannibals, for actual, in that a part of New Guinea.’ … The Protection POW/MIA Accounting Company has a distinct file of what occurred to Biden’s uncle. The positioning stated on Might 14, 1944, an airplane carrying a crew of three and one passenger, recognized as Finnegan, left Momote Airfield on Los Negros Island for a courier flight to New Guinea. ‘For unknown causes, this airplane was compelled to ditch within the ocean off the north coast of New Guinea,’ the report reads. ‘Each engines failed at low altitude, and the plane’s nostril hit the water arduous.’ The report additionally stated three males didn’t emerge from the sinking wreck and have been misplaced within the crash, whereas one crew member survived and was rescued by a barge. Finnegan has not been related to any of the stays recovered from the world after the conflict and remains to be not accounted for, in line with the report.” • Cannibalism within the zeitgeist, I swear. And floating round in Biden’s mind.

* * *

Kennedy (I): “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will get spot on Michigan’s poll as Pure Regulation Occasion nominee” [Detroit News]. “Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom some consultants view as a possible spoiler on this yr’s race for the White Home, would be the Pure Regulation Occasion’s nominee for president in Michigan. Kennedy’s marketing campaign introduced the information Thursday, a day after members of the Pure Regulation Occasion in Michigan held a conference the place they formally picked him…. The Pure Regulation Occasion’s web site touts plans to decrease taxes, to make educating ‘an honored career with commensurate compensation’ and to enact applications ‘to cut back stress within the particular person and all through society.” • The “web site” is the nationwide Pure Regulation Occasion’s web site, however the nationwide social gathering dissolved most of its state chapters in 2004, although Michigan remains to be lively. Be that as it could, the stress reducer touted on the nationwide social gathering’s web site is Transcendental Mediation™. So.

* * *

PA: “Trump’s struggle for Pennsylvania” [Unherd]. The outline of Trump’s speech in Lehigh County’s Schnecksville is tremendous, however that is the meat of the piece:

Each [Biden and Trump] can be preventing arduous for the overwhelmingly white, working-class vote within the state. Traditionally, Lehigh Valley was populated by the Pennsylvania Dutch, described by one native historian as ‘probably the most conservative individuals in America.’ However, in recent times, the make-up of the area has begun to vary. Over the past couple of a long time, the Valley has grow to be the East Coast’s ‘supply-chain empire’ for transporting one-click items on interstate highways. Given its proximity to New York and Philadelphia, the Lehigh Valley serves as a node for 100 million individuals residing on the jap seaboard to obtain their deliveries, bringing new jobs and income to the area. That has additionally brought on a inhabitants increase, a lot of it pushed by Latinos who moved to the world in quest of work. Allenstown is now a majority-Hispanic metropolis — a demographic that Trump has been actively making an attempt to courtroom. A current ballot discovered that the GOP contender now edges out Biden amongst Hispanic voters, with 46% supporting the previous president. A separate ballot reveals that 42% of Latinos now help a border wall — up 12 factors from December 2021. In a state the place Latino political energy is rising, this might pose a risk to Biden’s re-election prospects.

And of the rally-goers:

However it’s not his attraction to Latinos that makes Trump rallies so completely different from every other. It’s how he electrifies a phase of the inhabitants in a manner that no different politician can. These are individuals who weren’t fascinated by politics earlier than Trump and, troublingly, gained’t be fascinated by it after him. In some respect, it’s a revolt of the disenfranchised.

“A revolt of the disenfranchised….” you’d suppose anyone would do one thing about that…

Republican Funhouse

“Doing ‘the correct factor’ could value Johnson his speaker’s gavel” [CNN]. “It took lower than six months for Speaker Mike Johnson to succeed in his existential second. The Louisiana Republican has arrived at fateful however acquainted crossroads the place he should both select to honor a standard imaginative and prescient of US nationwide pursuits or aspect with the wrecking ball antics of his social gathering’s far-right bloc…. Now, as Johnson tries to go billions of {dollars} in support to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan — important to defending US allies from Russian, Iranian and Chinese language totalitarianism and preserving US energy and status – he’s having to place his personal job on the road to confront GOP extremists who accuse him of betraying the social gathering’s base. ‘While you do the correct factor, you let the chips fall the place they might,’ Johnson stated in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Wednesday forward of three vital days that would determine whether or not he can cling to his gavel.” • It’s extremely unlikely that billions for a shedding conflict in Ukraine and a genocide in Gaza will “protect” “US energy and status” (although maybe I’m not being cynical sufficient. A “wrecking ball” appears totally acceptable, although it could be my choice to see it swung by the left, have been there any such animal.

“Josh Hawley’s Labor Revolution” [Compact]. “As Batya Ungar-Sargon has written in these pages, at the moment’s GOP is a ‘working-class social gathering and not using a working-class agenda.’” Yeah, like possession and management of the technique of manufacturing. However I digress (besides not, actually). Extra: “However there are vital exceptions to this development, and few shine as brightly as Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) relating to standing up for wage-earners and forging alliances with organized labor. Over the previous few months, these efforts have earned Hawley justified reward—and donation {dollars}—from the Worldwide Brotherhood of Teamsters. Most lately, the Teamsters’ political motion committee supplied $5,000 towards Hawley’s re-election marketing campaign in recognition of his help for hanging auto staff, amongst different labor teams. It’s a uncommon feat for a Republican lawmaker at a second when partisanship continues to divide the GOP from organized labor, even because the social gathering beneath Donald Trump continues to consolidate its help amongst union households…. The Hawley-Teamster alliance demonstrates that it’s doable for Republicans to win labor’s help, supplied each camps are ready to take trust-building steps. For Republicans, it isn’t sufficient to merely make imprecise pro-worker noises that quantity to a lot culture-war vibes. . For unions, in the meantime, it likewise means a willingness to privilege bread-and-butter points over the progressive shibboleths that too usually lead the mainstream of the labor motion to behave as slavish adjuncts of the Democratic Occasion.” • And “preventing in opposition to” the “progressive shibboleths” with distractions like DEI. What this text is de facto arguing for is a pivot from the tradition wars, and about time, too.

Democrats en Déshabillé

“The very quick Mayorkas impeachment trial, defined” [Vox]. “On Tuesday, Home Republicans despatched two articles of impeachment in opposition to Mayorkas to the higher chamber, and on Wednesday, senators have been sworn in as jurors for a trial. The articles accuse Mayorkas of failing to implement immigration legal guidelines, making false statements to Congress, and obstructing oversight into DHS insurance policies, all prices he denies. On Wednesday, the Senate rejected each articles, voting 51-48 alongside social gathering traces to deem the primary ‘unconstitutional; and 51-49 to dismiss the second article and adjourn the trial earlier than it even actually started. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) voted current on the primary article… whereas the impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas was designed to forged damaging consideration on the Biden administration as Trump navigates numerous authorized scandals of his personal, Senate Democrats’ fast dismissal has dulled a lot of its impression.” • Efficient after they need to be….

“Moskowitz confronts Greene on Ukraine, Nazi remarks” [The Hill]. “Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) confronted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) in a Wednesday listening to about her false claims that Nazism was rampant in Ukraine — an argument steadily touted by Russian President Vladimir Putin to justify his nation’s invasion of Ukraine.” • The issue the place is that Nazism is rampant in Ukraine (see NC right here, in a publish that incorporates quite a few examples of Ukraine’s Azovs being referred to as Nazis within the US press, when it was permitted to take action). In the meantime, who Moskowitz?

Too dangerous to see The Hill taking in AIPAC’s laundry.

Pandemics

“I’m in earnest — I can’t equivocate — I can’t excuse — I can’t retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison

Covid Assets, United States (Nationwide): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; consists of many counties; Wastewater Scan, consists of drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, however nationwide knowledge). “An infection Management, Emergency Administration, Security, and Basic Ideas” (particularly on hospitalization by metropolis).

Lambert right here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To replace any entry, do be at liberty to contact me on the tackle given with the crops. Please put “COVID” within the topic line. Thanks!

Assets, United States (Native): AK (dashboard); AL (dashboard); AR (dashboard); AZ (dashboard); CA (dashboard; Marin, dashboard; Stanford, wastewater; Oakland, wastewater); CO (dashboard; wastewater); CT (dashboard); DE (dashboard); FL (wastewater); GA (wastewater); HI (dashboard); IA (wastewater studies); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d’Alene; dashboard, Spokane County); IL (wastewater); IN (dashboard); KS (dashboard; wastewater, Lawrence); KY (dashboard, Louisville); LA (dashboard); MA (wastewater); MD (dashboard); ME (dashboard); MI (wastewater; wastewater); MN (dashboard); MO (wastewater); MS (dashboard); MT (dashboard); NC (dashboard); ND (dashboard; wastewater); NE (dashboard); NH (wastewater); NJ (dashboard); NM (dashboard); NV (dashboard; wastewater, Southern NV); NY (dashboard); OH (dashboard); OK (dashboard); OR (dashboard); PA (dashboard); RI (dashboard); SC (dashboard); SD (dashboard); TN (dashboard); TX (dashboard); UT (wastewater); VA (dashboard); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV (wastewater); WY (wastewater).

Assets, Canada (Nationwide): Wastewater (Authorities of Canada).

Assets, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usées); BC (wastewater); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).

Hat tricks to useful readers: Alexis, anon (2), Art_DogCT, B24S, CanCyn, ChiGal, Chuck L, Festoonic, FM, FreeMarketApologist (4), Gumbo, hop2it, JB, JEHR, JF, JL Joe, John, JM (10), JustAnotherVolunteer, JW, KatieBird, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, sq. coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).

Keep secure on the market!

Maskstravaganza

“Is It OK for Internists to Put on Masks Eternally?” [Catherine Sarkisian, MD Sensible Medicine]. Sarkisian is a geriatrician at UCLA Well being. “I used to be pleased to see that the VA not requires employees or sufferers to put on masks. Sufferers who’re coughing are requested to put on masks, and employees who’re sick are instructed to remain house.” 4 years into the pandemic, and Physician Sarkisian stays resolutely ignorant that SARS-CoV-2 spreads each a- and pre-symptomatically. I pity her sufferers, coping with somebody so ignorant. Extra: “I used to be sad to see that almost all docs nonetheless put on masks. For the house-officers on my crew, this included carrying masks in our personal convention room. I labored with one house-officer for a whole week, and .” (Observe Sarkisians barely, er, masked want to assert her authority over the house-officer — “Let me see your smile!” — by making it extra possible she would find a way, if contaminated, to contaminate them.) This lie trope drives me up the wall. Masks — aside from industrial-strength Darth Vader masks, not at problem right here — cowl the mouth and nostril. They don’t cowl the eyes, that are — observe me intently, right here, Physician, since you appear to have forgotten the anatomy a part of your medical training — a part of the face and are (“the home windows of the soul”) able to expressing the complete vary of human emotion. Half the planet wears masks commonly, together with in hospital settings ffs. Extra: “Hiding your face out of your attending and colleagues is one factor, however the extra vital questions is: what impression does carrying a masks have on our skill to supply excellent affected person care? for our sufferers who’re sick and alone within the hospital to by no means see a human face?” • Man, that’s a toughie. Throughout Delta, it could have felt a hell of quite a bit higher to see HCWs carrying masks than coughing your lungs into bloody mush. And at the moment it feels quite a bit higher than neurological and vascalar harm, plus Lengthy Covid. There’s in all probability extra and worse, however I can’t go on. “I used to be pleased to see HCWs blithely infecting sufferers with an airborne pathogen, whereas smiling” [pounds head on desk].

Elite Maleficence

WHO really strolling again airborne transmission, after having admitted they have been mistaken to suppress it:

Two interviews with @JeremyFarrar.

Earlier than and after turning into @WHO‘s Chief Scientist.

Observe the distinction…

*Right this moment Jeremy Farrar can be internet hosting the brand new WHO report on the proposed terminology for pathogens that transmit by means of the air. Register right here: https://t.co/QaYcmEvPgV pic.twitter.com/VPylztrhEL

— Maarten De Cock (@mdc_martinus) April 18, 2024

The brand new WHO report, a thread:

It is out! The @WHO‘s new wordsmithing report on airborne transmission. I’ll do some dissection on the nice and the dangerous, who wins and who loses. 1/ https://t.co/QMaOKA76yH pic.twitter.com/7uKFu1ZtdS

— joseph.vipond@ucalgary.ca (@jvipondmd) April 18, 2024

Extra:

The great: An express acknowledgment that COVID is airborne. We have recognized this from the start, however solely within the final month has the WHO actually stopped hedging the language on this. No apology for the impression of the error although. That might have been good, if wholly sudden. 4/ pic.twitter.com/NrU0p1m87z

— joseph.vipond@ucalgary.ca (@jvipondmd) April 18, 2024

And extra:

extra dangerous: Multi-disciplinary engagement. wonderful to have airborne scientists right here. Nonetheless lacking some key disciplines: no engineers, no occupational hygienists (the true masks consultants). We want all brains engaged on depraved issues. 6/ pic.twitter.com/g5zPgJQEls

— joseph.vipond@ucalgary.ca (@jvipondmd) April 18, 2024

HICPAC can be pleased. I’ll need to learn the report myself within the close to future…

TABLE 1: Day by day Covid Charts

LEGEND

1) ★ for charts new at the moment; all others usually are not up to date.

2) For a full-size/full-resolution picture, Command-click (MacOS) or right-click (Home windows) on the chart thumbnail and “open picture in new tab.”

NOTES

[1] (Biobot) Our curve has now flattened out at a stage far above valleys beneath Trump. Not a fantastic victory. Observe additionally the world “beneath the curve,” apart from taking a look at peaks. That space is bigger beneath Biden than beneath Trump, and it appears to be rising steadily if erratically.

[2] (Biobot) No backward revisons….

[3] (CDC Variants) As of Might 11, genomic surveillance knowledge can be reported biweekly, based mostly on the supply of optimistic take a look at specimens.” “Biweeekly: 1. occurring each two weeks. 2. occurring twice every week; semiweekly.” Seems like CDC has chosen sense #1. In essence, they’re telling us variants are nothing to fret about. Time will inform.

[4] (ER) CDC appears to have killed this off, because the hyperlink is damaged, I feel in favor of this factor. I’ll attempt to affirm. UPDATE Sure, go away it to CDC to kill a web page, after which announce it was archived a day later. And heaven forfend CDC ought to clarify the place to go to get equal knowledge, if any. I appreciated the ER knowledge, as a result of it appeared actually arduous to sport.

[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Flattening out to a non-zero baseline. I suppose to a tame epidemiologist it seems like “endemicity,” however to me it seems like one other tranche of lethality.

[6] (Hospitalization: CDC) Nonetheless down. “Maps, charts, and knowledge supplied by CDC, updates weekly for the earlier MMWR week (Sunday-Saturday) on Thursdays (Deaths, Emergency Division Visits, Check Positivity) and weekly the next Mondays (Hospitalizations) by 8 pm ET†”.

[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.

[8] (Cleveland) Flattening.

[9] (Vacationers: Posivitity) Nonetheless down.

[10] (Vacationers: Variants) JN.1 dominates completely.

[11] Seems just like the Instances isn’t reporting loss of life knowledge any extra? Possibly I would like to return to The Economist….

Stats Watch

Employment State of affairs: “United States Preliminary Jobless Claims [Trading Economics]. “The variety of individuals claiming unemployment advantages within the US was unchanged from the prior week at 212,000 for the interval ending April 18th, beneath market expectations of 215,000. Moreover, persevering with claims have been loosely unchanged at 1,812,000 initially of the month, beneath market expectations of 1,818,000, to point out that the unemployed are discovering jobs at a wholesome tempo when in comparison with historic requirements.”

Manufacturing: “United States Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index” [Trading Economics]. “The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index within the US rose 12 factors to fifteen.5 in April 2024, effectively above market expectations of 1.5. It was the third consecutive optimistic studying and the very best since April 2022… The survey’s broad indicators for future exercise fell however remained optimistic, suggesting continued expectations for development over the following six months.”

Retail: “Inside Amazon’s Secret Operation to Collect Intel on Rivals” [Wall Street Journal]. “The operation, referred to as Huge River Providers Worldwide, sells round $1 million a yr of products by means of e-commerce marketplaces together with eBay, Shopify, Walmart and Amazo beneath model names akin to Fast Cascade and Svea Bliss. “We’re entrepreneurs, thinkers, entrepreneurs and creators,” Huge River says on its web site. ‘We’ve a ardour for patrons and aren’t afraid to experiment.’ What the web site doesn’t say is that Huge River is an arm of Amazon that surreptitiously gathers intelligence on the tech large’s opponents…. The story of Huge River affords new perception into Amazon’s elaborate efforts to remain forward of rivals. Crew members attended their rivals’ vendor conferences and met with opponents figuring out themselves solely as staff of Huge River Providers, as an alternative of exposing that they labored for Amazon. They got non-Amazon e mail addresses to make use of externally—in emails with individuals at Amazon, they used Amazon e mail addresses—and took different extraordinary measures to maintain the challenge secret. They disseminated their studies to Amazon executives utilizing printed, numbered copies relatively than e mail. Those that labored on the challenge weren’t even supposed to debate the connection internally with most groups at Amazon.” • Oh, “Huge River.” I get it. Musical interlude.

Tech: “A Not often Used Method Might Double U.S. Grid Capability” [Oilprice.com]. “Much of the grid infrastructure is outdated, built to rely on electricity supplies from a few major energy hubs. However, as more green energy projects crop up in atypical locations – such as rural regions and offshore sites – it is becoming increasingly difficult to ensure that energy will reach the grid for distribution. Many energy experts believe it will take a complete overhaul to prepare the grid for the rapid growth of the country’s renewable energy capacity. Yet, some believe it may be possible to roll out a rarely used technique to upgrade old power lines across the U.S. …. Two reports released this month suggest that replacing existing power lines with cables made from state-of-the-art materials could potentially double the capacity of the grid across many parts of the U.S., allowing more renewable energy projects to be connected. The technique, ‘advanced reconductoring’, would replace the traditional approach to transmission line construction. Most of the powerlines in the U.S. are made up of steel cores coated in strands of aluminium, as electricity companies continue to use the century-old, tried-and-tested design. However, some companies have developed innovative cables, which use smaller and lighter cores, such as carbon fibre, that have a greater energy transport capacity than aluminium. While the technology is available in the U.S., many major companies have been reluctant to make the switch due to their unfamiliarity with the materials, as well as the fear of regulatory and bureaucratic limitations. Most importantly, replacing old transmission lines can be done quickly and prevents the need for regulatory approval for new power infrastructure. The technique is also significantly cheaper than a total infrastructure overhaul, costing around half the price of constructing new lines. The reports suggested that if utilities started replacing the thousands of miles of power lines they could add four times as much transmission capacity by 2035 as they are currently on pace to do.”

“Why Feathers Are One of Evolution’s Cleverest Inventions” [Scientific American]. “Feathers kept [B6, a young Bar-tailed Godwit] warm overnight while it flew above the Pacific Ocean. Feathers repelled rain along the way. Feathers formed the flight surfaces of the wings that kept B6 aloft and drove the bird forward for nearly 250 hours without failing.” This is extremely nerdy: “[P]owered flight—that is, flapping flight rather than gliding flight—probably evolved multiple times in dinosaurs, with just one of those lineages surviving to the present in the form of birds. Yet only in birds did flight feathers attain the degree of shape-shifting we see today. That ability of feathers to twist in just the right way is what enabled slotting, which makes the wing much more efficient at low flight speeds. In essence, a slotted wing behaves as if it is longer and narrower than it is anatomically. Slotting also makes the wing tip very resistant to stall, whereby the airflow separates from the wing, causing a precipitous loss of the lift that keeps the bird in the air. It’s a vital adaptation that underpins an array of aerial acrobatics.”