2:00PM Water Cooler 5/20/2024 | bare capitalism

Date:


By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Affected person readers, it is a little truncated, for now, as a result of I allowed my iPad, which can be my alarm clock, to expire of energy, so I didn’t get up on time. However, there may be already materials of curiosity…. Extra quickly! –lambert.

Chicken Music of the Day

Japanese Meadowlark (Japanese), Rio Hondo; Laguna Atascosa Nationwide Wildlife Refuge. “Courtship, show, or copulation.”

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In Case You Would possibly Miss…

(1) New Biobot, we hardly knew ye.

(2) New Cohen stole $30,000 from Trump.

(3) Kennedy voters interviewed.

(4) Small beer.

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Politics

“So most of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in reality a rational administration of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles

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2024

Lower than a half a yr to go!

RCP Ballot Averages, Could 10:

Nationwide outcomes static, however a lot of the Swing States (extra right here) are incrementally, however steadily, shifting Trump’s approach. Pennsylvania leans extra Trump this week than final. In fact, it goes with out saying that these are all state polls, due to this fact dangerous, and a lot of the outcomes are throughout the margin of error. Now, if both candidate begins breaking away in factors, as a substitute of tenths of some extent…. NOTE I modified the notation: Up and down arrows for will increase or decreases over final week, circles for no change. Crimson = Trump. Blue could be Biden if he had been main anyplace, however he isn’t.

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Trump (R) (Bragg/Merchan): “Michael Cohen Cops to Stealing $30,000 From Trump” [Daily Beast]. “The testimony from the Manhattan district lawyer’s lead witness towards Donald Trump took a dive Monday morning, when the ex-president’s former consigliere obtained cornered throughout cross-examination and compelled to acknowledge that he overbilled the Trump Group by $30,000. In a heated change, protection lawyer Todd Blanche flipped a change and went again to his days as a federal prosecutor—grilling Cohen on the way in which he’d gotten away with a criminal offense. ‘And also you advised a number of prosecutors within the district lawyer’s workplace that story, proper?’ Blanche requested. ‘Sure, sir,’ Cohen responded. ‘Did you ever need to plead responsible to larceny?’ Blanche continued. ‘No, sir.’ ‘Did you ever pay again the Trump Group for the cash you stole from them?’ ‘No, sir.’ In only a few minutes, Trump’s lead protection lawyer managed to point out jurors {that a} trial about Trump’s alleged enterprise fraud depends on the truthful testimony of a person who was engaged in fraud of his personal.” • A convoluted story involving reimbursement (!) to an IT agency known as Crimson Finch….

Trump (R) (Bragg/Merchan): “The Newest | Trump’s prison trial set to enter ultimate stretch as cross-examination of Cohen resumes” [Associated Press]. “The choose in Donald Trump’s hush cash trial declined Monday to broaden the scope of testimony that the protection can elicit from a possible knowledgeable witness, Bradley A. Smith, a former Invoice Clinton-appointed Republican Federal Election Fee member. Choose Juan M. Merchan echoed his pretrial ruling that, if known as, Smith can provide common background on the FEC — its function, background and the legal guidelines it enforces — and the definitions of such phrases as ‘marketing campaign contribution.’ Merchan rejected the protection’s renewed efforts to have Smith outline three phrases in federal election legislation, saying it could breach guidelines stopping knowledgeable witnesses from deciphering the legislation. Nor can Smith opine on whether or not the previous president’s alleged actions violate these legal guidelines, Merchan stated. If Smith had been to testify about these points, Merchan stated, the prosecution would then be permitted to name an knowledgeable of its personal. That may lead to a ‘battle of the consultants,’ the choose stated, ‘which might solely serve to confuse and never help the jury.’” • Since a marketing campaign finance violation could possibly be the as-yet-unrevealed object offense that converts Trump’s alleged enterprise information violations into felonies, I feel Smith’s testimony must be slender, not broad. If I needed to assert bias by Merchan, that is IMNSHO the strongest instance.

Trump (R) (Bragg/Merchan): “Opinion: I modified my thoughts concerning the power of the prosecution’s case towards Donald Trump. Right here’s why” [CNN]. “What the prosecution ignored of its case, nevertheless, is a second key witness to ascertain that Trump supposed to falsify his enterprise information to cowl up one other crime. Cohen’s testimony up to now served to show the weather of the alleged “different crime” [object offense] that the hush cash funds resulted from a conspiracy to commit [a] marketing campaign interference or to make an [b] unlawful marketing campaign contribution.” As readers know, I don’t purchase [a] as a result of no one ever cites to a statute that distinguishes marketing campaign interference from mere campaigning (see McCarthy instantly under), and [b] is regulated by Federal legislation, so I don’t assume a state must be concerned. Making the protection lawyer creator’s perspective on the primary crime, the enterprise information crime, all of the extra fascinating: “However the DA additionally should show the precise enterprise information crime, for which Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying enterprise information within the first diploma. (He pleaded not responsible). How I see it, Cohen’s testimony solely glad half the equation past an inexpensive doubt. In accordance with Cohen’s testimony, there have been three folks within the room on the Trump Tower assembly after the 2016 election to debate his anticipated reimbursement for Daniels’ cost: Cohen, Trump and Allen Weisselberg, then-chief monetary officer of the Trump Group. Given Cohen’s credibility issues, it could make a stronger case for the DA’s workplace to name a second witness to again up his claims….. Weisselberg could possibly be the linchpin to validate Cohen’s claims about Trump agreeing to reimburse him by way of Trump Group, as a enterprise expense…. However the prosecutors have an issue. Weisselberg additionally has credibility points… [T]he most secure factor for [the prosecution] to do is just not name Weisselberg in any respect. It leaves a gap within the prosecution’s case, and that additionally might depart room for cheap doubt…. It’s unlikely we’ll ever see Trump take the stand to clarify his model. … Whereas Cohen did an environment friendly job testifying concerning the first half of the scheme, to affect the election by shopping for Daniels’ story and holding it quiet, he doesn’t know what occurred when the enterprise information which can be the topic of the 34-count indictment had been created. He wasn’t working for the Trump Group in 2017 when the reimbursements started. He was a lawyer and never a bookkeeper. If one juror has uncertainty about whether or not Trump was concerned with how Cohen’s payback was recorded on the information and by whom, there will likely be a hung jury and Trump will stroll free. Madeleine Westerhout, Trump’s private secretary within the Oval Workplace, gave the protection staff its largest present: She testified that Trump typically multitasked and that she had seen him signal a bunch of checks whereas on the telephone or partaking in different actions. The protection can simply argue that Trump was working the presidency in DC and not micromanaging what was occurring in New York on the Trump Group. If he signed checks put in entrance of him, they may have simply been a part of a busy work pile to be FedExed again to the corporate with Trump barely paying consideration. If that’s the case, there would have been no intent to falsify the enterprise information.”

Trump (R) (Bragg/Merchan): “Alvin Bragg’s Outrageous Conspiracy Concept” [Andrew McCarthy, National Review]. “Alvin Bragg, Manhattan’s elected progressive Democratic district lawyer, is making an attempt to hoodwink the jury into believing that (a) it’s a crime for a candidate for public workplace to conspire with others to suppress politically damaging data, and (b) that Donald Trump was charged with such a conspiracy within the indictment that has resulted within the ongoing trial. Actually, there isn’t any such information-suppression conspiracy crime within the legislation and the indictment towards Trump doesn’t cost a conspiracy — it prices 34 counts of falsifying enterprise information with fraudulent intent to commit or conceal one other crime.” • Value a learn, as a result of it’s all nonetheless true, even after a month of trial.

Trump (R) (Bragg/Merchan): “A Trump Conviction Relies on Proving Extra Than a Hush-Cash Coverup” [Wall Street Journal]. “Manhattan prosecutors have framed their case towards Donald Trump as a easy story concerning the prison coverup of a intercourse scandal. However to win a conviction, they must persuade jurors that Trump orchestrated the coverup with the intent of concealing one other crime. Jury deliberations within the first prison trial of a former U.S. president might start as early as this week. Closing arguments would be the prosecution’s final likelihood to spell out the alleged second crime [which was not done in the indictment, note well] and persuade jurors that Trump supposed to commit it.” And: ” Falsifying enterprise information is a felony in New York solely whether it is executed to hide or commit one other crime. Bragg’s indictment didn’t say what that different crime was. And prosecutors nonetheless haven’t recognized the precise offense to jurors.” Fifth Modification: “No particular person shall be held to reply for a capital, or in any other case notorious crime, .” I simply don’t see how a misdemeanor might be transformed right into a felony by presenting the article offense that does so in closing arguments. That ought to have been within the indictment. Extra: “A conviction requires proof of Trump’s prison intent. That might imply proving that when Trump was within the White Home and signing checks made out to Cohen, he was desiring to defraud the voting public. And it additionally means proving that Trump knew Cohen’s association with [Stormy] Daniels violated marketing campaign finance guidelines however authorized it anyway. Some authorized observers following the case have stated the proof of Trump’s intent is skinny. ‘I’m actually having an issue getting round who was supposed to be defrauded by inner information that weren’t getting used to anybody’s benefit or drawback,’ stated [Michael Scotto, a New York-area defense lawyer and former longtime prosecutor. More: “Prosecutors say that payment—from Cohen’s own pocket and approved by the former president—amounted to an illegal campaign contribution to Trump that violated federal election law because it was well over what was then the $2,700 limit on individual donations to a presidential candidate. And that, in turn, constituted a conspiracy under state election law.” Which would explain why the Feds never charged him. Oh, wait… More: “Whether federal campaign finance rules apply to the hush money Cohen paid is a contested area of law.” • Grounds for appeal?

Trump (R) (Bragg/Merchan): “Will Trump Run as a Felon? A Big 2024 Question Will Soon Be Answered” [New York Times]. “In Trumpian shorthand, primarily based on his earlier statements, it is going to be a “whole exoneration” if not responsible and “election interference” if convicted.” The place’s the lie? Extra: “However the Trump marketing campaign, with a aptitude for the dramatic — and a restricted journey schedule, owing to the trial — has scheduled a big rally within the Bronx on Thursday, the identical day it’s attainable a jury might ship a verdict, which might create a flamable state of affairs for a rustic the place violence has grow to be an unsightly a part of the political panorama.” • Be careful for agent provocateurs. Frankly, I hope they put Trump in jail. He’d achieve ten factors.

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Trump (R): “Donald Trump slams teleprompter blunder in Minnesota speech tormented by points” [Daily Express]. “Donald Trump brutally mocked Joe Biden after a technical error in the beginning of his speech in Minnesota. The previous President put his time off from his hush cash trial to good use, attending son Barron’s excessive highschool commencement in Florida earlier than attending a Republican fundraiser. Trump headlined the state GOP’s annual Lincoln Reagan dinner in St. Paul, which coincides with the celebration’s state conference, within the historically Democratic state. After getting up on stage in Minnesota at 9pm EST, Trump confessed that there was a behind-the-scenes subject that would have brought on chaos. ‘Earlier than I obtained up the teleprompter fell down,’ he said, earlier than joking: ‘Nicely executed fellas. Then they wanna knw why I don’t pay the invoice.’ Trump then used the chance to mock Biden, who he’ll debate one-on-one subsequent month, after his rival was led off stage on the White Home on Monday after making ‘temporary, incoherent marks’ following a speech on Monday. He continued: “Suppose that occurred to Biden. He’d go like this – ‘bye’. He’d depart. ‘l’ll stick with you for an hour, we’ll have some enjoyable.’… In a while, Trump identified that the stage saved tilting to the left, then shouted: ‘This place is falling aside. What a c—-y contractor.’ ‘This sucker is de facto tenuous. I’ve by no means had this earlier than, {that a} podium is falling down.’” • Hmm. Anti-union subtext? (However, laborious to think about one other candidate riffing like that.) The “led off stage” half appears to be from Sky Information; right here’s the video, FWIW (I don’t assume a lot).

Trump (R): “Trump agrees to 3rd debate as NBC scrambles to meet up with rivals” [Semafor]. “However on Friday, the previous president introduced on Fact Social that he had agreed to take part in a further debate, this one hosted by NBC Information and Spanish-language community Telemundo. The third proposed debate caught the Biden marketing campaign abruptly, and was the results of behind-the-scenes discussions between the Trump marketing campaign and NBC Information with out the Biden staff’s participation.” • The League of Ladies Voters ought to give the Trump marketing campaign a name. Trump might settle for and put Biden within the place of turning them down!

Trump (R): “Donald Trump’s 7 Debate Calls for Revealed” [Babylon Bee]. “1. Benny Hill music have to be performed each time Biden wanders across the stage.”

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Biden (D): “Biden Says He Was Nonetheless VP Throughout COVID and Obama Despatched Him to ‘Repair It’” [Daily Beast]. “President Joe Biden erroneously claimed on Sunday he was nonetheless serving as vp throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Talking at a dinner for the NAACP in Detroit, Michigan, Biden went on a tangent proclaiming he was on the bottom within the state to assist out because the virus raged on, on the request of former President Barack Obama. ‘And after I was vp, issues had been type of dangerous throughout the pandemic,’ Biden stated. ‘And what occurred was, Barack stated to me, ‘Go to Detroit, and assist repair it.’ Nicely the poor mayor, he spent extra time with me than he thought he was ever going to need to. God love you.’” • Wowers. Biden erases Omicron (though you’d by no means comprehend it from CDC’s charts, see under).

Biden (D): “Biden Journeys on Stage at Fallen Officer’s Occasion” [Newsweek]. “President Joe Biden appeared to journey on stage on Wednesday whereas attending an occasion in Washington, D.C., to honor fallen officers. The video, taken from a distance, exhibits the president heading to the stage on the occasion commemorating Nationwide Peace Officers Memorial Day, which honors legislation enforcement officers who died within the line of obligation, and barely stumbling as he walks up one of many stairs. {A photograph} taken near the stage as Biden walked up the steps in entrance of the U.S. Capitol constructing appeared to point out the stumble, as effectively.”

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Biden (D): “OK, Now What?” [Brian Beutler, Off Message]. “However then [Biden’s] progress [after the successful State of the Union speech] stalled. In most averages, he nonetheless trails, to say nothing of having fun with a two- or three-point lead with favorables trending in the correct route…. I do assume it is going to quickly be time to revive the alternate-ticket dialog in some kind…. There’s clearly a degree of underperformance that will make resolute Biden supporters admit he’s not the perfect candidate. What if Democrats mount a brand new offensive, attempt a bunch of various issues to upend the race, and so they all fail? What if Trump opens up a 3 level lead? 5 factors? If Biden had been down by an unbeatable margin on the eve of the conference, would all of his ride-or-die supporters actually have full confidence that he ought to stay the nominee?… I’d make it somebody’s job, each on the marketing campaign and within the White Home, to maintain a daily-updated menu of free-media concepts that I and my surrogates might execute rapidly, in order that the overwhelming majority of knowledge folks had been listening to about me wasn’t coming from Donald Trump and his military of propagandists.” • Somewhat a humid squib.

Biden (D): “Clyburn looking for to bolster Biden help amongst Black voters with swing-state tour” [The Hill]. • Yeah, that ought to do it.

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Kennedy (I):

Intelligent, provided that there’s overlap between Trump’s base and Kennedy’s on each anti-vax and “non-compliance” typically (which appears to be conservative-speak for refusing non-pharmaceutical interventions like masking and quarantines. “Infect thy neighbor as thyself,” as Jesus stated). Kennedy has discovered a wedge subject, in that Trump’s Operation Warp Velocity (OWS) produced the vaccines that Biden primarily based his Covid coverage on (whereas by no means crediting Trump). It is going to be fascinating to see how Kennedy continues to take advantage of this subject, and the way Trump and Biden reply. (Personally, I regard OWS as one of many few unequivocally good deeds Trump has ever executed in his life, and a seperate subject from the mandates, which Trump ought to by no means have imposed.)

Kennedy (I): “RFK Jr.’s struggle for presidential debate seat exhibits the two-party system ‘is just not working’” [FOX]. “In an interview with Maria Bartiromo on ‘Sunday Morning Futures,’ RFK went on to say that he predicts he’ll qualify for the 270 electoral votes’ threshold to get onto the 2024 presidential election poll.” • Could possibly be, with luck. RFK’s poll effort has been surprisingly canny and efficient up to now. Commentary:

Kennedy (I): “RFK Jr. supporters: from Trump deserters to ex-Democrats, they’re hungry for change” [Reuters]. “Republicans paint impartial presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr as a radical liberal, and Democrats say he’s being financed and manipulated by right-wing donors to harm U.S. President Joe Biden’s reelection bid. However interviews with Kennedy supporters present they aren’t occupied with labels, particularly these prescribed by the main political events they’ve left behind. Kennedy is drawing supporters from either side of the political divide. Some voted for Republican candidate Donald Trump within the final two elections however are actually backing Kennedy. Others are disillusioned progressives able to forged apart Biden, the incumbent. Most see Kennedy, a scion of the famed Democratic household, a lot as he portrays himself – a uncommon truth-teller dedicated to tackling corruption and highly effective lobbying teams in Washington.” Interviews with Kennedy supporters (good!). Former Trump supporter: “RFK Jr is a greater Trump with out all of the chaos that comes with it. He doesn’t must go on social media crying all day. (Trump has) satisfaction, narcissism, pettiness, infighting with good, sturdy conservatives. Once I noticed Ron DeSantis and RFK Jr, I stated, ‘In an ideal world, these two will likely be a staff collectively.’ I nonetheless would have voted for RFK Jr even when he had a ‘D’ (Democrat) to his title, as a result of I don’t care concerning the titles.” Former Biden supporter: “He factors to this corrupt system that we now have the place the pharmaceutical business runs the regulatory companies which can be presupposed to be regulating them…. The (Democratic Nationwide Committee) has grow to be a celebration of pro-war, pro-censorship, elitism. It’s extra occupied with defending the curiosity of companies and company donors.” • Very fascinating and effectively price a learn.

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

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

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

Sources, 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 reviews); 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).

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

Sources, 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 protected on the market!

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Maskstravaganza

WHO promotes dishevelled blues [bangs head on desk]:

Testing and Monitoring

“From Uncooked Information to Actionable Insights: Biobot’s Evolution of Public Information Sharing” [Biobot Analytics]. “With the abundance of publicly obtainable wastewater information and our shift to contextualized respiratory threat reviews, we’re sunsetting our public information visualization platform (www.biobot.io/information). This evolution represents Biobot’s dedication to maximizing the worth of wastewater information. We consider that by including context and knowledgeable evaluation, we are able to empower people, communities, and public well being officers to take proactive steps in direction of a more healthy future.” • I perceive the enterprise choice, given CDC’s selection of Alphabet’s Verily as a most well-liked vendor, however it nonetheless hurts. Most unlucky:

Biobot information was the solely supply of constant information for your entire pandemic. Now we don’t have a baseline anymore (not less than that’s what I’ll be in search of the in two alternate options under). Their chart was additionally quite simple to make use of and straightforward to grasp, not like Verily’s abomination. Good work, CDC. The baseline:

Various visualizations (1):

Various visualizations (2):

Right here is CDC’s miserably insufficient visualization:

Observe that “All Outcomes” start in 2022, conveniently erasing Biden’s Omicron spike. Once more, we now have no baseline.

And CDC’s miserably insufficient map:

“Excessive” ranges in comparison with what? Once more, we now have no baseline, so it’s not possible to say. Additionally, Biobot had information all the way down to the wasterwater plant (county) degree, which was truly helpful to folks. If CDC does, this ain’t it.

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Lambert right here: Affected person readers, I’m going to need to rethink this superbly formatted desk. Biobot information is gone, CDC variant information capabilities, ER visits are useless, New York hospitalization appears to be useless since 5/1 [No, it’s alive!], when CDC stopped obligatory hospital information assortment, Walgreens capabilities, Cleveland Clinic capabilities, CDC traveler’s information capabilities, New York Occasions demise information has stopped. (Observe that the 2 metrics the hospital-centric CDC cared about, hospitalization and deaths, have each gone down). Ideally I might change hospitalization and demise information, however I’m unsure how. I may additionally broaden the wastewater part to incorporate (yech) Verily information, H5N1 if I can get it. Strategies and sources welcome.

TABLE 1: Day by day Covid Charts

LEGEND

1) for charts new at present; all others are usually 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) One other one bites the mud.

[2] (Biobot) Ditto.

[3] (CDC Variants) FWIW, provided that the mannequin fully missed KP.2.

[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 verify. UPDATE Sure, depart 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 information, if any. I appreciated the ER information, as a result of it appeared actually laborious to sport.

[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Flat. The information is now updating once more. I suppose to a tame epidemiologist it appears to be like like “endemicity,” however to me it appears to be like like one other tranche of lethality.

[6] (Hospitalization: CDC) Nonetheless down. “Maps, charts, and information 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) Slight uptick.

[8] (Cleveland) Leveling out.

[9] (Vacationers: Posivitity) Up and down.

[10] (Vacationers: Variants) KP.2 enters the chat, as does B.1.1.529 (with backward revision).

[11] Appears just like the Occasions isn’t reporting demise information any extra? Perhaps I want to return to The Economist….

Stats Watch

There are not any official statistics of curiosity at present.

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The Bezzle: “Craig Wright Lied About Creating Bitcoin And Faked Proof, Choose Guidelines” [Wired]. “A choose within the UK Excessive Court docket has dominated that pc scientist Craig Wright lied ‘extensively and repeatedly,’ and dedicated forgery ‘on a grand scale’ in help of a years-long quest to show he’s Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin. In a written judgment printed on Could 20, Justice James Mellor dominated that Wright cast reams of paperwork in service of his charade. ‘It’s clear that Dr Wright engaged within the deliberate manufacturing of false paperwork to help false claims and use the Courts as a car for fraud,’ he wrote. ‘I’m solely glad that Dr Wright lied to the Court docket extensively and repeatedly. All his lies and cast paperwork had been in help of his largest lie: his declare to be Satoshi Nakamoto.’ ‘Dr Wright presents himself as an especially intelligent particular person,’ Mellor added. ‘Nevertheless, in my judgment, he’s not almost as intelligent as he thinks he’s.’ The judgment—the fruits of a six-week trial held earlier within the yr—marks the top of a civil lawsuit launched by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), a nonprofit consortium of crypto firms, towards Wright. The group requested the courtroom to declare that Wright is just not the creator of Bitcoin, to stop him from carrying ahead a number of separate lawsuits towards Bitcoin builders and different events based on the declare.” •

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At the moment’s Worry & Greed Index: 64 Greed (earlier shut: 64 Greed) [CNN]. One week in the past: 49 (Impartial). (0 is Excessive Worry; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Could 20 at 1:49:52 PM ET

Rapture Index: Closes unchanged [Rapture Ready]. File Excessive, October 10, 2016: 189. Present: 188. (Keep in mind that bringing on the Rapture is nice.) • Chicken flu not a priority, apparently. And I hate even to go right here, however the “Tribulation Temple” class is a mere 3. If Tribulation Temple = Third Temple = no matter temple it’s that the Crimson Heifer loons wish to construct, then the Rapture Index made the correct name, amazingly sufficient. It stated: “Don’t fear concerning the Crimson Heifers.”

The Gallery

Not, I feel, the standard Rousseau:

Guillotine Watch

“$400 for one pineapple: The rise of luxurious fruit” [CNN]. “The Rubyglow pineapple –— bred for its distinctive pink exterior and its sweetness — prices $395.99 at Melissa’s Produce, a California-based vendor of specialty fruit and veggies. It took Del Monte, a wholesaler which sells a wide range of produce however focuses on pineapple, a decade and a half to develop the red-hued fruit. A restricted crop was first obtainable in China early this yr. Not too long ago, Del Monte determined to see how the merchandise would fare in the USA, and Melissa’s beginning promoting it on the astronomical worth… The pitch has had restricted success. Melissa’s began with 50 pineapples, in line with Robert Schueller, director of public relations at Melissa’s Produce. To this point, it has bought about half that quantity over the course of a month, together with to eating places in Las Vegas and Southern California, which he stated are utilizing the fruit in shows…. ‘I feel charcuterie boards this Christmas, Thanksgiving — you’re going to see this Rubyglow as a centerpiece, particularly in an prosperous home,’ he stated. In different phrases, folks could not spend for the style of the pineapple, however simply to point out off that they’ve it.”

Information of the Wired

“The parable of Medieval Small Beer” [Ian Visits]. “There’s a story repeated so usually that it has grow to be a fact — that medieval people drank weak beer to keep away from the perils of consuming water — however it’s a fable. A fable that I additionally for a few years repeated unthinkingly, till I obtained pondering, about how correct it’s. The proof is in reality, usually in plain sight, however ignored. The people in olden instances who might afford it could pay for good clear water. For instance, the development of the Nice Conduit in 1237 carried spring water from Tyburn to the town, and on a bigger scale, so did the New River, opened in 1613. Inside the metropolis, a waterwheel was as soon as hooked up to London Bridge to pump Thames water across the metropolis. So medieval people not solely drank water, however put in place the substantial infrastructure to provide it to the populace. There have been additionally ‘masters of the conduits’ who sorted the pipes, and extra importantly ensured those that used the water paid for what they took. The wealthy might have their very own pipes, whereas most individuals purchased buckets of water equipped by water carriers (cobs). Why will we consider folks consuming small beer? Energy and hydration pure and easy. … In case you are residing at a time when most labour was handbook and intensive, you wanted to eat a whole lot of energy. A typical male working the fields in the summertime months was burning a median of three,000 energy per day. You additionally wanted to replenish misplaced fluids from sweating. Because it occurs, small beer is de facto fairly efficient at delivering each energy and fluids. Small beer was additionally low cost, usually being created from the third runnings of the mash from brewing ales, with the sturdy and customary ales first, then the small beer final…. Folks didn’t drink small beer to remain wholesome — they drank small beer to offer them vitality. So far as medieval man was involved, there wasn’t something fallacious with plain water — small beer was, put merely, the Crimson Bull of its time.”

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Contact data for vegetation: Readers, be happy 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 photos of vegetation. Greens are effective! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary vegetation! In order for you your deal with to seem as a credit score, please place it in the beginning 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 TH:

TH writes: “I really like the symmetry of this enormous agave and the way it jogs my memory of an octopus. It’s one other picture taken within the desert part of the Sherman Library and Gardens.”

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Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not coated by the annual NC fundraiser. So should you see a hyperlink you particularly like, or an merchandise you wouldn’t see anyplace else, please don’t hesitate to specific 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. Once I get no donations for 3 or 4 days I get frightened. Extra tangibly, a continuing trickle of donations helps me with bills, and I think about that trickle when setting fundraising objectives:

Right here is the display that may seem, which I’ve helpfully annotated:

Should you hate PayPal, you may e mail me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I gives you instructions on find out how to ship a test. Thanks!

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