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By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Completely satisfied Valentine’s Day to all! If you happen to miss the business stuff, the expectations, and the rituals, it’s a reasonably good thought! –lambert
Chicken Track of the Day
In honor of the tool-using Cockatoo:
Blue-eyed Cockatoo, Cape Orford; Taintop Village, East New Britain, Papua New Guinea. This one feels like an alarm!
“However what’s authorities itself, however the best of all reflections on human nature?” –James Madison, Federalist 51
“Right here’s meals for thought, had Ahab time to assume; however Ahab by no means thinks; he solely feels, feels, feels.” –Herman Melville, Moby Dick
“So most of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in truth a rational administration of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles
Biden Administration
“Ron Klain Appears Again on Biden’s First Two Years as President” [The New Yorker]. “Klain, at sixty-one, whirs with a low-key depth. A couple of of his friends within the White Home advised me that he had a helpfully ‘paranoid’ political radar, a catastrophic creativeness for second- and third-order penalties which may appear as distant as a world pandemic as soon as did.” Like 700,000 deaths from Covid on Biden’s watch? Or is that fourth order? Klain says precisely two issues about Covid, and the squishy tender New Yorker doesn’t press. First:
Clearly, my work on the covid response was extremely impacted by my work on the Ebola response, type of understanding how these businesses work.
Second:
We paid for lots of covid therapies, together with Paxlovid—and that’s the reason, while you take a look at covid proper now, instances go up and down, however deaths keep like this [traces a horizontal line in the air]. That actually was the rock for lots of what we did that adopted.
That’s it. That’s the mindset. (I’d want a examine on Paxlovid, and “deaths keep like this” = “the excessive plateau” I hold speaking about.
“Playbook: Plan B talks on debt restrict go underground” [Politico]. “MODS’ DEBT LIMIT DILEMMA — The largest subplot of the slowest-moving story in Washington — the partisan standoff over the federal debt ceiling — has to date centered on whether or not, absent a deal between President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy, reasonable Home Republicans may someway band along with Home Democrats to keep away from a catastrophic default. The hypothesis has gone far sufficient to immediate a number of explainers about the way it all may work — whether or not by means of a discharge petition or different obscure Home procedures that might enable a bipartisan coalition to skirt conservatives’ spending-cut calls for. It’s gone to date, we’re advised, that McCarthy has in latest days despatched a message from on excessive to centrists who’ve brazenly toyed with the thought: You’re killing my leverage with Biden. ‘Don’t speak about a discharge petition as a result of we completely weaken our hand and gained’t get concessions in case you do,’ mentioned one individual acquainted with the interior conversations, summarizing the management message. On the similar time, centrists are getting assurances that McCarthy & Co. haven’t any intention of sparking a default, ‘however why don’t we get some concessions out of it?’ The message has been heard loud and clear. A few of those that had beforehand instructed they may be open to a discharge petition or different workaround, resembling Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), have publicly backed away. One particularly prime goal for Democrats, Rep. DON BACON (R-Neb.), mentioned the notion of sidelining McCarthy was ‘DOA.’ However whereas these conversations might need gone underground, we are able to report that they’re very a lot nonetheless alive. A number of folks concerned advised us final evening {that a} core group of bipartisan lawmakers have been texting, emailing and assembly a couple of potential backup plan ought to the McCarthy-Biden debt talks falter. It’s far too early to say what that might seem like, however the strains of communication are very a lot open.”
2024
Petey speaks:
I proceed to be involved in regards to the impacts of the Feb 3 prepare derailment close to East Palestine, OH, and the results on households within the ten days since their lives had been upended by means of no fault of their very own. It’s essential that households have entry to helpful & correct info:
— Secretary Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete) February 14, 2023
Solely eleven days. That’s not so unhealthy. In the meantime, let’s end the job, as Biden says:
OK that is genuinely insane: the US had 35 derailments per 1000 miles of monitor in 2021https://t.co/oIOdPaI7Us
That very same yr, Sweden had… 0.6.https://t.co/mFjujwhrnm
— Carl Beijer (@CarlBeijer) February 14, 2023
Possibly announce an initiative? Go for a motorcycle experience on the tracks? One thing?
“May VP Kamala Harris get replaced in 2024? Democratic strategists weigh in” [FOX]. I do know that is FOX, however that video of Harris. If I’ve to hearken to that voice for 4 years…. “Harris will ‘play a crucial function in rallying key constituencies inside the Democratic Celebration and Independents forward of 2024,’ Democratic strategist and Fox Information contributor, Kevin Walling mentioned. Jonathan Kott, a Democratic strategist and former aide to Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Chris Coons, D-Del., additionally got here to the protection of the vp telling Fox Information Digital that Harris has ‘been a key participant in probably the most profitable first two years of any presidency in my lifetime.’” • No, and no.
* * * “The Actual Purpose Trump Is Calling DeSantis ‘Meatball Ron’” [Daily Beast]. Nicely, DeSantis is kinda roly-poly. “One principle argued that our consideration spans are getting shorter and shorter, and Trump understood the way to succinctly seize probably the most damaging framing of an individual’s elementary nature…. The excellent news for DeSantis is that this particular approach is just not presently getting used on him (keep tuned for ‘Groomin’ Ron’). However what does ‘meatball’ even imply? The New York Occasions calls it ‘an obvious dig at [DeSantis’s] look,’ which I take to recommend a shorter, pudgier body—whereas hinting at a lock of social grace. However ‘meatball’ can also be a slur towards Italian-People (all eight of DeSantis’ great-grandparents got here right here from Italy). Someplace, Don Rickles have to be pondering that if he had been born 30 years later, he might need been president. It’s not like DeSantis can complain or cry foul about this. It’s onerous to think about the present governor of Florida attempting to curry sympathy from a Republican voters that couldn’t get sufficient of it when Trump referred to as Elizabeth Warren ‘Pocohontas.’” • Which Warren totally, totally earned. I’m undecided how severe “Meatball” is as a slur; for instance, within the actuality TV present “Jersey Shore,” “meatball” was “a approach of describing a girl who was quick, cumbersome and liked to get together.” So I’m not gonna clutch my pearls over this. Meatball additionally has one other that means, although it’s onerous to think about Trump poring over WikiPedia to seek out it: “A baseball time period for a simple pitch to hit — down the center of the plate.” So, DeSantis = Son of Jebbie?“Ron DeSantis Backs Down From A Combat” [Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine]. “Biden might be going to run — his efficiency was energetic sufficient to a minimum of barely alleviate doubts about his age — and his marketing campaign is prone to concentrate on a protection of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Safety…. This dynamic clicked into place for me once I noticed two items of reporting about Ron DeSantis, the conservative Institution’s choice to exchange Donald Trump because the presidential nominee. First, Josh Barro famous that, as a member of the Home in 2013 and 2014, DeSantis not solely voted for Paul Ryan’s plan to show Medicare into vouchers but additionally supported an much more radical plan that ‘would have raised the retirement ages for each Social Safety and Medicare to 70…. The subsequent day, Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck reported for CNN that DeSantis had endorsed privatizing each Medicare and Social Safety. ‘I’d embrace proposals like [Rep.] Paul Ryan supplied… What is maybe much more telling is the response from DeSantis: nothing. DeSantis has constructed an id as a fearless pugilist. Certainly one of his advertisements actually boasts that DeSantis will ‘by no means, ever again down from a struggle.’ And but, even after the media reported these damaging tales, and even after Biden traveled to Florida to provide a speech attacking him for denying well being protection to one million Floridians by boycotting Medicaid growth, DeSantis didn’t reply.” • I’m certain DeSantis understands the Streisand Impact, and he’s beneath no obligation to deign to answer the puling of liberal Democrat home organs, whether or not what they are saying be proper or flawed. That mentioned, I believe Chait recognized a helpful dynamic to observe for. What occurs when an actual brawler throws a punch? How does DeSantis reply?
“Nikki Haley takes on Donald Trump for 2024 U.S. Republican nomination” [Reuters]. • Weighing in at 3.9%:
“Choose to launch components of Georgia particular grand jury report” [Associated Press]. “— A Georgia decide on Monday ordered the partial launch later this week of a report by a particular grand jury that investigated efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn his 2020 election loss…. There was ‘very restricted due course of’ for folks for whom the grand jurors advisable expenses, [Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney] wrote. Some could not have had the chance to look earlier than the panel, and people who did seem didn’t have the correct to have their attorneys current or to supply any rebuttal. For that purpose, the decide concluded, it isn’t acceptable to launch the complete report right now.” • Lol.
Republican Funhouse
“Mike Gallagher: A New Chilly Warrior” [RealClearPolitics]. “The West is unprepared for the whole lot …. Nicely, a minimum of that’s what Rep. Mike Gallagher together with a group of lecturers and generals needed to think about after they poured over what regarded like probably the most sophisticated “Danger” board ever assembled. It was solely a battle recreation, an train hosted final Might by the Heart for a New American Safety…. If the U.S. and China go to battle, the Wisconsin Republican mentioned in a ‘Meet the Press’ interview, ‘lots of people are going to lose their lives.’ The lesson: ‘We would like deterrence to truly work.’ That can also be the mission assertion, in so many phrases, of the Home Choose Committee on China which Gallagher now chairs, a mammoth endeavor to look at not simply the navy danger but additionally the ideological and financial threats introduced by the Chinese language Communist Celebration. It’s severe enterprise. And Gallagher, a 38-year-old former U.S. Marine, is a severe man. Everybody says so. There’s a feeling in Congress that the hassle may simply rise above the conventional self-importance of Capitol Hill. ‘The phrase ‘severe’ has been tossed round about this committee as a result of that’s the need,’ mentioned Rep. Mikie Sherrill. Confronting an existential menace, the New Jersey Democrat advised RealClearPolitics, shouldn’t be one thing members ‘do for private edification or partisan means.’ And that’s what had Gallagher ‘fearful’ when he pulled her apart. The 2 have served on committees collectively, they usually teamed up within the CNAS battle recreation. A U.S. Navy pilot earlier than getting into politics, Sherrill mentioned throughout that train she appreciated the Marine’s ‘data of floor operations.’ His query on the Home ground, between votes earlier this yr, didn’t must do with ways or grand technique. Who would the Democrats seat on his committee?” • Sherrill is, after all, a CIA Democrat. “Know your enemy and know your self.” Can anyone within the nationwide safety establisment meet these two standards? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?
Democrats en Déshabillé
Affected person readers, evidently individuals are really studying the back-dated put up! However I’ve not up to date it, and there are a lot of updates. So I must try this. –lambert
I’ve moved my standing remarks on the Democrat Celebration (“the Democrat Celebration 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 “stay” Water Cooler. (Hopefully, some Bourdieu.) It seems that defining the Democrat Celebration is, in truth, 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 Celebration is the political expression of the category energy of PMC, their base (lucidly defined by Thomas Frank in Hear, Liberal!). ; if the Democrat Celebration didn’t exist, the PMC must invent it. . (“PMC” modulo “class expatriates,” after all.) Second, all of the working components of the Celebration reinforce one another. Go away apart characterizing the relationships between parts of the Celebration (ka-ching, however not totally) these parts comprise a community — a Flex Internet? An iron octagon? — of funders, distributors, apparatchiks, electeds, NGOs, and miscellaneous mercenaries, with belongings within the press and the intelligence group.
Be aware, after all, that the category energy of the PMC each expresses and is restricted by different lessons; oligarchs and American gentry (see ‘industrial mannequin’ of Ferguson, Jorgensen, and Jie) and the working class spring to thoughts. Suck up, kick down.
* * *
Realignment and Legitimacy
“The Sudden Dominance of the Range Industrial Complicated” [Real Clear Investigations]. “Seemingly in unison, and with virtually no debate, almost each main American establishment – together with federal, state, and native governments, universities and public colleges, hospitals, insurance coverage, media and expertise corporations and main retail manufacturers – has agreed that the DEI infrastructure is important to the nation’s correct functioning. From Amazon to Walmart, most main firms have created and staffed DEI places of work inside their human sources forms. So have sanitation departments, police departments, physics departments, and the departments of agriculture, commerce, protection, schooling and vitality. Organizations that when argued towards DEI now really feel compelled to institute DEI coaching and rent DEI officers. So have organizations which are already richly numerous, such because the Nationwide Basketball Affiliation and the Nationwide Soccer League. Many of those places of work in flip work with a sprawling community of DEI consulting corporations, coaching outfits, commerce organizations and accrediting associations that assist their efforts. ‘5 years in the past, in case you mentioned ‘DEI,’ folks would’ve thought you had been speaking in regards to the Digital Training Initiative,’ Robert Sellers, College of Michigan’s first chief variety officer, mentioned in 2020. ‘5 years in the past, in case you mentioned DEI was a core worth of this establishment, you’ll have an argument.’” • Hmm. 5 years in the past. That’s 2022 – 5 = 2017, one yr after Trump gained and the PMC misplaced their minds and declared the State of Exception beneath which we stay at present. Coincidence? You be the decide.
#COVID19
Appears like “leveling off to a excessive plateau” throughout the board. (I nonetheless assume “One thing Terrible” is coming, nevertheless. I imply, in addition to what we already find out about.) Keep secure on the market!
Lambert right here: Final Friday, I reconfigured Covid protection (a minimum of quickly; we might have to regulate to a different surge). I’ve at all times considered this part as offering readers with not solely development knowledge, however early warning about areas (to the county stage) notably in journey season. However now the information is just too sluggish and too unhealthy, unsurprisingly, since “Covid is over.” So I’ll revert to 3 charts solely: nationwide Case Information (Biobot), state Positivity (Walgreens), and nationwide Deaths (Our World in Information). I additionally really feel that the highest of the #COVID19 part has not been sufficiently structured, and I’m going to create some buckets, like “Indoor Air,” or “Masks” (and “Variants,” if I encounter a superb hyperlink). This reconfiguration is just not a “step again,” as Dima would say; however I do assume I can use the freed-up time to beef up different sections, like Politics and particularly Stats. Reader remark welcome!
Sources (Nationwide): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC); Variants (CDC; Walgreens).
Sources (Native): NC (Dashboard).
• For the reason that nationwide knowledge methods are being vandalized, let’s begin gathering hyperlinks state knowledge, too. If readers would ship me hyperlinks (see Plant beneath) to their favourite State and native dashboards/wastewater websites, that might be nice. Or depart a hyperlink in Feedback. Hat tip to JB for the NC dashboard.
Right here is the knowledge that alert reader Bob promised to ship on Corsi-Rosenthal (CR) Field stands:
Hooked up 6 pictures of Corsi-Rosenthal packing containers and PVC stands each angled and upright. Additionally hooked up is listing of PVC components I purchased the third time to make and modify the workplace PVC stand so that there’s an angle. Right here is hyperlink to position the place I bought the furnishings grade PVC. I might have used Dwelling Depot PVC however I opted to keep away from the full industrial look the place there may be blue lettering on the HD PVC and that PVC is uninteresting matte wanting.
https://www.pvcfittingsonline.com/
I discovered the place straightforward to work with as they had been extremely good on the telephone coping with my admittedly novice questions. Transport was quick however then I stay in CT and they’re in NJ. I went with white as the coloured PVC was dearer and neither my spouse nor I care in regards to the body shade as principally you don’t actually ever discover it.
The way in which you make an angle for the CR field is clear while you take a look at both PVC body beneath. The “entrance” has a raised bar. You management the angle by having totally different size PVC up-right items – two are wanted one for either side. To vary the angle you narrow longer or shorter items with a hacksaw and utilizing a rubber mallet knock aside that part of the PVC body. Insert two new size items and bang again collectively. Immediate unique approach.
Be aware that the angled frames have two further cross items. Two causes. First the two further cross items strengthens your complete body. Second the again of the CR field then rests between the 2 cross items. With out that cross piece the CR field will slowly however certainly migrate down after which fall off the body if the CR field is angled. Little bit of added resistance then prevents the migration. The whole fan and field will fall off the body in case you depart this cross piece out to avoid wasting a greenback thirty 5. Takes about 5 days for it to lastly fall off – often in the course of the evening to scare the hell of you. INTRUDERS!
I didn’t glue any joints because the CR packing containers are so gentle and the fan principally provides no actual weight. Zip vibration. And I get to experiment with totally different lengths.
And right here is the components listing:
Bob was very sort to doc his mission and ship in photos. Please be happy to observe his instance. Possibly a CR field embellished for Valentine’ day? Additionally, what do cats consider CR packing containers?
“Covid Meetups” [COVID MEETUPS (JM)]. “A free service to seek out people, households and native companies/providers who take COVID precautions in your space.” • I performed round with it some. It appears to be Fb-driven, sadly, however you need to use the Listing with out logging in. I get rational hits from the U.S., however not from London, UK, FWIW.
Covid Is Airborne
“The historical past and science behind airborne infections and using ultraviolet irradiation for disinfecting indoor air Half One [WSWS]. Half two. That is super-interesting; kudos to WSWS for placing it collectively. It is a good entry level to the “Far UV” dialogue. A tiny excerpt: “[W]e’re utilizing Far UV—some folks don’t just like the time period—to refer particularly to 222-nanometer (nm) or 206 nm wavelengths. Whereas what was used a 100 years in the past, after all, was all UVC, however at 254 nm, which was the pure output of mercury lamps.” • Clearly, I’ve sturdy priors on filters. In an ideal world, Far UV and filters like HEPA and CR Containers would work collectively. There are two boundaries to this. One is that the “Far UV” and “Filters/Aerosols” verticals are institutionally separated; Colorado’s J.J. Gonzales, for instance, is simply now reviewing Far UV. It is a downside that may be solved with good will; neither vertical is, in spite of everything, hegemonic. (The collection is an excellent instance of people doing science; I extremely advocate it.) My extra severe objection is that that is the stupidest timeline. I can simply envision a future the place folks stick a blue gentle in a socket and name it accomplished, vitiating alll air flow efforts.
No surprise Listerine is nice towards Covid (hat tip alert reader Blitzkreig for initiating the dialogue):
Lister invented disinfectant to cease an infection of wounds (surgical procedure) from the organisms FLOATING IN THE AIR. pic.twitter.com/vLMsAnGd1p
— Jonathan Mesiano-Crookston 🌬️🔅#COVIDisAirborne (@jmcrookston) February 14, 2023
“Air Filters, Air pollution, and Scholar Achievement” (summary solely) [The Journal of Human Resources]. Attention-grabbing pure experiment: “This paper identifies the impression of putting in air filters in school rooms for the primary time. To take action, I leverage a singular setting arising from the biggest gasoline leak in U.S. historical past, whereby the offending gasoline firm put in air filters in each classroom inside 5 miles of the leak (however not past). Utilizing a spatial regression discontinuity design, I discover substantial enhancements in pupil efficiency: air filters raised take a look at scores by 0.1-0.2σ. Pure gasoline was not detected inside colleges, implying that the filters improved air high quality by eradicating widespread pollution and so these outcomes ought to lengthen to different settings.”
Science Is Popping
“Botanical inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 viral entry: a phylogenetic perspective” [Nature]. The Summary: “All through the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, using botanical dietary dietary supplements in the USA has elevated, but their security and efficacy towards COVID-19 stays underexplored. The Quave Pure Product Library is a phylogenetically numerous assortment of botanical and fungal pure product extracts together with widespread complement substances. Analysis of 1867 extracts and 18 compounds for virus spike protein binding to host cell ACE2 receptors in a SARS-CoV-2 pseudotyped virus system recognized 310 extracts derived from 188 species throughout 76 households (3 fungi, 73 crops) that exhibited ≥ 50% viral entry inhibition exercise at 20 µg/mL. Extracts exhibiting mammalian cytotoxicity > 15% and people containing cardiotoxic cardiac glycosides had been eradicated. Three extracts had been chosen for additional testing towards 4 pseudotyped variants and infectious SARS-CoV-2 and had been then additional chemically characterised, revealing the potent (EC50 < 5 µg/mL) antiviral exercise of Solidago altissima L. (Asteraceae) flowers and Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn (Dennstaedtiaceae) rhizomes.” • Attention-grabbing! Don’t go attempting your individual tinctures, although; the concentrations are large.
Elite Malfeasance
“Interregnum – on the lockdown ‘sceptics’” (podcast) [Politics Theory Other]. From the UK. “Richard Seymour discusses his latest blogpost on the so-called lockdown sceptics, and specifically the work of Toby Inexperienced and his guide ‘The Covid Consensus: The International Assault on Democracy and the Poor—A Critique from the Left’. We talked in regards to the straw man arguments, factual inaccuracies and conspiratorial pondering that characterise the guide and the lockdown sceptic literature extra typically. We additionally talked about why components of the left have been receptive to a few of this work and likewise what to make of the alliance between some self-styled anti-woke leftists and spiritual conservatives.” • Seymour will get fairly cranky towards the top; justifiably so. Lockdowns as scapegoating by, properly, the enemies of human freedom:
It’s the proper scapegoat though it wasn’t lengthy and was years in the past. Folks liked the lockdown because it gave them time to expertise life outdoors of company management. They need you to really feel responsible for it and to get that concept of freedom out of your head.
— anordinarygirl (@anordinarygirl) February 12, 2023
I haven’t heard this viewpoint expressed. May imply it’s legitimate!
Simply ask youself: What would Weyland-Yutani do?
We have to study to stay with the aliens. pic.twitter.com/wyOLi1YT9q
— tern (@1goodtern) November 30, 2022
And:
At this level I actually welcome Aliens pic.twitter.com/Ge66zMU8DI
— Drained (@EndemicPrepared) February 13, 2023
Affected person readers: I can’t with this garbage Cochrane review; I’ll have a takedown within the close to future.
NOT UPDATED BioBot wastewater knowledge from February 13:
For now, I’m going to make use of this nationwide wastewater knowledge as the very best proxy for case knowledge (ignoring the scientific case knowledge portion of this chart, which in my opinion “goes unhealthy” after March 2022, for causes as but unexplained). At the least we are able to spot developments, and evaluate present ranges to equal previous ranges.
• This chart doesn’t look notably seasonal. Leaving it up for a bit to make the purpose:
So Covid is just not like “the flu,” making the plan to combine flu and Covid photographs much more surrealistic than it already is.
Positivity
From the Walgreen’s take a look at positivity tracker, printed February 14:
0.3%. Nonetheless on the excessive plateau, equal to earlier peaks.
Deaths
Dying charge (Our World in Information):
Whole: 1,140,209 – 1,140,017 = 192 (192 * 365 = 70,080 deaths per yr, at present’s YouGenicist™ quantity for “residing with” Covid (fairly a bit greater than the minimizers would love, although they will discuss themselves into something. If the YouGenicist™ metric retains chugging alongside like this, I could must resolve that is what the powers-that-be take into account “mission achieved” for this explicit tranche of demise and illness).
It’s good that for deaths I’ve a easy, every day chart that simply retains chugging alongside, in contrast to the whole lot else CDC and the White Home are screwing up or letting go darkish, good job. (Although CDC could also be jiggering the numbers quickly. Decrease, naturally.)
Chicken Flu (H5N1)
Nail within the coffin on the putative Houston case:
Try Tifftastic75🦋’s video! #TikTok https://t.co/lvdlvh5Irn
I’m sorry. It didn’t confirm. I’ll by no means put up unverified information once more, interval. I’m glad it didnt confirm. I solely wished to warn folks. I made many errors tho. My apology is unconditional.— Tiffany Najberg DO, FACEP (@Tifftastic75) February 13, 2023
Oopsie. Right here is the response from FluTrackers (“Thanks to Dr. Tiffany for the hassle”). One of many positives of the episode is that I discovered abot FluTrackers, which is a very nice website.
Stats Watch
Inflation: “United States Client Worth Index (CPI)” [Trading Economics]. “The annual inflation charge within the US slowed solely barely to six.4% in January of 2023 from 6.5% in December, lower than market forecasts of 6.2%. Nonetheless, it’s the lowest studying since October of 2021, with vitality costs rising 8.7% whereas meals value went up 10.1%. ”
Enterprise Optimism: “United States NFIB Enterprise Optimism Index” [Trading Economics]. “The NFIB Small Enterprise Optimism Index in the USA went as much as 90.3 in January of 2023 from a six-month low of 89.9 in December however nonetheless remained beneath its 49-year common of 98. The proportion of homeowners anticipating higher enterprise circumstances over the subsequent six months elevated (up 6 factors to -45%). Nonetheless, 26% of homeowners see inflation as their single most essential downside (down 6 factors) and about 42% of homeowners raised common promoting costs (down 1 level). Additionally, 45% % of homeowners mentioned job openings had been onerous to fill (up 4 factors) and the expectations for actual gross sales to be greater worsened by 4 factors to -14%. ‘Whereas inflation is beginning to ease for small companies, homeowners stay cynical about future enterprise circumstances’.” • “Cynical”?
Healthcare
“Extra Clues into ME/CFS Found in Intestine Microbiome” [NIH Director’s Blog]. “As a result of ME/CFS has many attainable causes, it doesn’t have an effect on everyone in the identical approach. That’s made finding out the illness particularly difficult. However NIH is now supporting specialised analysis facilities on ME/CFS within the hope that better collaboration amongst scientists will reduce by means of the organic complexity and reveal solutions for folks with ME/CFS and their households. So, I’m happy to share some progress on this analysis entrance from two NIH-funded ME/CFS Collaborative Analysis Facilities. The findings, printed in two papers from the most recent concern of the journal Cell Host & Microbe, add additional proof connecting ME/CFS to distinctive disruptions within the trillions of microbes that naturally stay in our gastrointestinal tracts, referred to as the intestine microbiome [1,2]. Proper now, the proof establishes an affiliation, not direct causation, that means extra work is required to nail down this lead. But it surely’s a stable lead, suggesting that imbalances in sure bacterial species inhabiting the intestine could possibly be used as measurable biomarkers to help within the correct and well timed analysis of ME/CFS. It additionally factors to a attainable therapeutic goal to discover.” • I had hoped to pair this with a paper on the neurological results of Covid, suggesting that the mind and the intestine may not be the impartial standalone methods we predict they’re, however sadly the neurological paper is gone the place the woodbine twineth.
Zeitgeist Watch
Is there some type of catch?
Excellent.pic.twitter.com/hxwCjiLPIi
— The Figen (@TheFigen_) February 12, 2023
Our Famously Free Press
From numerous liberal sources, I hold listening to that the issue with the Norfolk Southern prepare that derailed in East Palestine was brakes. However none of them cite to a supply. In contrast, the union guys say it’s a sizzling field, and there’s proof for that:
No, it skilled a mechanical failure. There may be video of an overheated axle from a railside plant in Salem, and the crew acquired a warning from a “sizzling field detector” which they apparently responded to by braking.https://t.co/mZbgRmIb0l
— NewThinq (@NewThinq) February 13, 2023
The brakes factor feels non-organic, and from members of my group, or folks I’d like to contemplate adjoining to my group. So what’s up with that?
Class Warfare
“Odd People are counting the price of thriving” [Financial Times]. “In 1985, an American man working the standard full-time job might assist a household of 4 on 40 weeks of revenue, and be capable to afford a variety of nutritious meals, a three-bedroom home, a complete medical insurance plan, a household automobile, even saving to place each youngsters by means of the state college. In 2022, paying for all that might require 62 weeks of his revenue, which is an issue, there being solely 52 weeks in a yr. These figures come from the Value-of-Thriving Index (Coti), which compares the speed at which wages are rising to the speed of value will increase for middle-class staples. They present starkly the impact on family budgets of a decades-long stretch during which housing costs [rents], medical insurance premiums [rents], faculty tuition [rents], and extra [rents] skyrocketed a lot quicker than wages.”
Information of the Wired
“Aphrodisiacs of the Aztec and Inca” [JSTOR Daily]. “Aztecs attributed aphrodisiac properties to many plant-based meals, together with the chocolate beverage atextli. … Different Aztec aphrodisiacs had been medicines with psychoactive properties, together with the morning glory and sure mushrooms. One type of mushroom, teonanácatl (now often known as pajarito in Spanish) was related to prostitutes, although it’s unclear whether or not they or their purchasers consumed it, or what the particular desired results had been. A plant often known as cutiriqui was used not only for whetting sexual appetites however for rekindling the love of a married couple. Nevertheless, [ethnobotanist Jan G. R. Elferink] writes, probably the most potent aphrodisiacs for the Aztecs appear to have come from animals. Part of the mazacoatl, or deersnake, was thought-about extraordinarily potent, to the purpose of hazard. The Florentine Codex, written by Spanish Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún within the sixteenth century, warned {that a} man who drank an excessive amount of of a tincture comprised of mazacoatl ‘frequently erects his virile member and continuously ejects his semen, and dies of lasciviousness.’ Additionally harmful was the temolin, a big beetle, which can have contained cantharidin, the identical toxin discovered within the infamous “Spanish fly.’” • Information you need to use!
SD writes: “Wall of orchids, Longwood Gardens, PA.”
Right here is the display screen that may seem, which I’ve helpfully annotated:
If you happen to hate PayPal, you’ll be able to e mail me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I gives you instructions on the way to ship a verify. Thanks!
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