By Lambert Strether of Corrente.<\/p>\n
Bird Song of the Day<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Stewart Park, Tompkins, New York, United States. \u201cOriginally recorded on 35mm film; tape speed noted as 46 cm\/s\u2026. [M]ade between 5AM and 6AM on 18 May 1929.\u201d The Macauley Library is a library in the fullest sense of the word.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I Became a Birder, Almost Everything Else Fell Into Place\u201d [Ed Yong, New York Times]. Readers will recall Yong as one of the few trustworthy mainstream journalists on Covid. The whole piece is worth reading in full, and it\u2019s so lovely I hate to extract anything from it. But needs must: \u201cBirding has tripled the time I spend outdoors. It has pushed me to explore Oakland in ways I never would have: Amazing hot spots lurk within industrial areas, sewage treatment plants and random residential parks. It has proved more meditative than meditation. While birding, I seem impervious to heat, cold, hunger and thirst. My senses focus resolutely on the present, and the usual hubbub in my head becomes quiet. When I spot a species for the first time \u2014 a lifer \u2014 I course with adrenaline while being utterly serene. I also feel a much deeper connection to the natural world, which I have long written about but always remained slightly distant from\u2026. When I step out my door in the morning, I take an aural census of the neighborhood, tuning in to the chatter of creatures that were always there and that I might have previously overlooked. The passing of the seasons feels more granular, marked by the arrival and disappearance of particular species instead of much slower changes in day length, temperature and greenery. I find myself noticing small shifts in the weather and small differences in habitat. I think about the tides.\u201d \u2022 Do we have any birders in the readership?<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
By Lambert Strether of Corrente.<\/p>\n
Bird Song of the Day<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Stewart Park, Tompkins, New York, United States. \u201cOriginally recorded on 35mm film; tape speed noted as 46 cm\/s\u2026. [M]ade between 5AM and 6AM on 18 May 1929.\u201d The Macauley Library is a library in the fullest sense of the word.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I Became a Birder, Almost Everything Else Fell Into Place\u201d [Ed Yong, New York Times]. Readers will recall Yong as one of the few trustworthy mainstream journalists on Covid. The whole piece is worth reading in full, and it\u2019s so lovely I hate to extract anything from it. But needs must: \u201cBirding has tripled the time I spend outdoors. It has pushed me to explore Oakland in ways I never would have: Amazing hot spots lurk within industrial areas, sewage treatment plants and random residential parks. It has proved more meditative than meditation. While birding, I seem impervious to heat, cold, hunger and thirst. My senses focus resolutely on the present, and the usual hubbub in my head becomes quiet. When I spot a species for the first time \u2014 a lifer \u2014 I course with adrenaline while being utterly serene. I also feel a much deeper connection to the natural world, which I have long written about but always remained slightly distant from\u2026. When I step out my door in the morning, I take an aural census of the neighborhood, tuning in to the chatter of creatures that were always there and that I might have previously overlooked. The passing of the seasons feels more granular, marked by the arrival and disappearance of particular species instead of much slower changes in day length, temperature and greenery. I find myself noticing small shifts in the weather and small differences in habitat. I think about the tides.\u201d \u2022 Do we have any birders in the readership?<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/p>\n
(1) Ed Yong on birding (under both \u201cLook for the Helpers\u201d and \u201cBirdsong of the Day\u201d).<\/p>\n
(2) Doubling grid capacity with better cables.<\/p>\n
(3) Feathers over the millenia.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Look for the Helpers<\/p>\n
See Ed Yong on birding just under the Birdsong of the Day:<\/p>\n
Really grateful to Jenny for writing this great piece about the Spoonbill Club \u2013 our little venture to run birding trips for Bay Area folks with long COVID and other energy-limiting chronic illnesses. <\/p>\n
(And I hope someone fulfils Molly Adams’s wish of starting a NY chapter.)<\/p>\n
[image or embed]<\/p>\n
\u2014 Ed Yong (@edyong209.bsky.social) Apr 13, 2024 at 12:45 PM<\/p>\n
Neat idea, too.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
My email address is down by the plant; please send examples of \u201cHelpers\u201d there. In our increasingly desperate and fragile neoliberal society, everyday normal incidents and stories of \u201cthe communism of everyday life\u201d are what I am looking for (and not, say, the Red Cross in Hawaii, or even the UNWRA in Gaza). <\/p>\n
Politics<\/p>\n
\u201cSo many of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in fact a rational management of symbolic capital.\u201d \u2013Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Biden Administration<\/p>\n
These are the ships that would have bulit that pier off Gaza:<\/p>\n
USNS 2nd Lt John P Bobo Has Engine Fire and Aborts Gaza Mission | Status of Other Ships<\/p>\n
1\ufe0f\u20e3 USAV Besson delayed in Azores
2\ufe0f\u20e3 USAV Wilson Wharf stuck in Tenerife
3\ufe0f\u20e3 USNS #Bobo engine fire and return to Jacksonville <\/p>\n
\u2014 Sal Mercogliano (WGOW Shipping) \ud83d\udea2\u2693\ud83d\udc2a\ud83d\ude92\ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f (@mercoglianos) April 18, 2024<\/p>\n
No doubt there\u2019s a Plan B, but still\u2026. <\/p>\n
2024<\/p>\n
Less than a year to go!<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
RCP Poll Averages, April 5<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/rcp.png\")
<\/p>\n
Here this Friday\u2019s RCP poll. Trump is still up in all the Swing States (more here), leading with one exception: PA. I\u2019ve highlighted it again, (1) because BIden is now up there, and (2) it\u2019s an outlier, has been for weeks. Why isn\u2019t Trump doing well there? (I\u2019ll 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).<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Trump (R): \u201cTrump juror previously arrested for ripping down right-leaning political ads dismissed from trial\u201d [FOX]. \u201c[Juror #4] was excused from the jury in former President Trump\u2019s criminal trial on Thursday after it was revealed the man was once arrested for tearing down right-leaning political advertisements\u2026. Juror #2, a woman who lived on Manhattan\u2019s 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. \u2018I definitely have concerns,\u2019 she said, noting that her family and friends questioned if she was serving on the jury [because news stories revealed her appearance]. \u2018I don\u2019t think I can be fair.’\u201d \u2022 To the Prosecution\u2019s credit, they participated in axing #4. More on the jury:<\/p>\n
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 are not the jurors Trump\u2019s looking for.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) April 18, 2024<\/p>\n
Solid PMC, looks to me.<\/p>\n
Trump (R): \u201cSecond juror dropped from Trump\u2019s hush money trial: Live updates\u201d [The Hill]. \u201cFive jurors have so far been picked, after two already-selected jurors were dismissed earlier Thursday. There are 13 juror selections more to go for a panel that will include six alternates, whittled down from hundreds of New Yorkers called to serve\u2026 \u2018I still have a flip phone,\u2019 one prospective juror noted as he indicated he doesn\u2019t listen to any podcasts. He also made clear he \u2018only\u2019 gets his news from the New York Daily News and the New York Post. Among the prospective jurors\u2019 questions is where they consume the majority of their news.\u201d \u2022\u00a0A juror after NC\u2019s heart! (Still feeling my way on the sourcing here; the reporting on this live blog is better than FOX, and easier to follow than the Twitter, so I may make The Hill my primary source. Readers?<\/p>\n
Trump (R): Trump using his phone in court:<\/p>\n
OMG \ud83d\ude02 Trump\u2019s \u2018hush money\u2019 NYC trial live updates: Ex-prez kicks off \u2018hush money\u2019 criminal trial by taking phone call inside courtroom in flagrant violation of the rules \ud83d\ude02 <\/p>\n
\u2014 Karli Bonne\u2019 \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@KarluskaP) April 18, 2024<\/p>\n
Dude, sleeping is fine. But a phone is too much. <\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Trump (R): \u201c\u2018Smiling his ass off\u2019: How Trump used the New York bodega visit to return to form\u201d [Politico]. \u201cOutside the Sanaa Convenient Store, the Harlem bodega where clerk Jose Alba fatally stabbed a customer who was attacking him \u2014 and who was initially charged with murder, before the charges were later dropped \u2014 Trump was back on familiar ground\u2026.. On Tuesday, Trump said he will \u2018campaign locally\u2018 during the trial. And the bodega visit was likely just the first of many such appearances. His advisers have said, even on some trial days, to expect in-person and virtual events\u2026. But as he spoke with reporters in New York, a bastion of Democratic politics, Trump\u2019s read of the news landscape \u2014 if not the political one \u2014 seemed spot on. In the media capital of the world, Trump said he suspected there was \u2018more press here than there is if I went out to some nice[ha] location.\u2019 \u2018He\u2019s right,\u2019 said Dave Catalfamo, a Republican consultant in New York\u2026. But no matter where viewers stood on Trump, they could at least see in his appearance on Tuesday the kind of joy-riding former president they recognized\u2026. The visit, said Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime Democratic strategist based in New York, was a signature example of Trump using \u2018national television coverage as an advertising tool without having to pay for the gross rating points.\u2019 \u2018He\u2019s very smart,\u2019 Sheinkopf said. \u2018Anybody who understates his capacity to use PR as opposed to normative political techniques is wrong. He\u2019s very good at it, and what it does \u2026 it wipes away the things that people are trying to do to undercut his capacities.’\u201d \u2022 Trump as master retail politician; who knew?<\/p>\n
Trump (R): \u201cA striking contrast on Trump trial day\u201d [Washington Examiner]. \u201cThe scenario of a Democratic district attorney, Manhattan\u2019s Alvin Bragg, putting Trump on trial amid a presidential campaign is striking in part because of a new survey showing a plurality of the public believing the Trump presidency was better for America than the presidency of Trump\u2019s opponent, the sitting President Joe Biden. The news is deep inside a New York Times-Siena poll that found the Biden-Trump race overall almost exactly tied, with Trump leading Biden by a single percentage point, 46% to 45%. Later in the poll, the pollsters asked these two questions: \u2018Do you generally remember the years that Donald Trump was president as mostly good years for America, mostly bad years for America, or not really good or bad?\u201d and \u201cDo you think the years that Joe Biden has been president have been mostly good years for America, mostly bad years for America, or not really good or bad?\u2019 Trump had a solid advantage in voters\u2019 recollections, with 42% saying his presidential years were mostly good years for America, while just 25% said Biden\u2019s presidential years have been mostly good for America. Trump also had a solid advantage on the other side of the answer, with 33% saying his presidential years were mostly bad for America, while a much larger 46% said Biden\u2019s presidential years have been mostly bad for America. Trump\u2019s advantage in voters\u2019 memories is nearly across the board.\u201d <\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Biden (D): \u201cBiden claims uncle vanished after crashing in area of New Guinea with cannibals; military has different story\u201d [FOX]. \u201cBiden told the [Pittsburgh] steelworkers that after D-Day, his mother\u2019s four brothers volunteered to join the military. One of those uncles, he said, was Ambrose Finnegan, who went by the nickname Bozey. \u2018He was a hell of an athlete, they tell me, when he was a kid,\u2019 Biden said, adding that he was in the Army air corps, which was in place before the Air Force came along. \u2018He flew those single-engine planes as reconnaissance over war zones, and he got shot down in New Guinea. They never found the body because there used to be, there were a lot of cannibals, for real, in that part of New Guinea.\u2019 \u2026 The Defense POW\/MIA Accounting Agency has a different record of what happened to Biden\u2019s uncle. The site said on May 14, 1944, an airplane carrying a crew of three and one passenger, identified as Finnegan, left Momote Airfield on Los Negros Island for a courier flight to New Guinea. \u2018For unknown reasons, this plane was forced to ditch in the ocean off the north coast of New Guinea,\u2019 the report reads. \u2018Both engines failed at low altitude, and the aircraft\u2019s nose hit the water hard.\u2019 The report also said three men failed to emerge from the sinking wreck and were lost in the crash, while one crew member survived and was rescued by a barge. Finnegan has not been associated with any of the remains recovered from the area after the war and is still not accounted for, according to the report.\u201d \u2022 Cannibalism in the zeitgeist, I swear. And floating around in Biden\u2019s brain.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Kennedy (I): \u201cRobert F. Kennedy Jr. gets spot on Michigan\u2019s ballot as Natural Law Party nominee\u201d [Detroit News]. \u201cRobert F. Kennedy Jr., whom some experts view as a potential spoiler in this year\u2019s race for the White House, will be the Natural Law Party\u2019s nominee for president in Michigan. Kennedy\u2019s campaign announced the news Thursday, a day after members of the Natural Law Party in Michigan held a convention where they officially picked him\u2026. The Natural Law Party\u2019s website touts plans to lower taxes, to make teaching \u2018an honored profession with commensurate compensation\u2019 and to enact programs \u2018to reduce stress in the individual and throughout society.\u201d \u2022 The \u201cwebsite\u201d is the national Natural Law Party\u2019s website, but the national party dissolved most of its state chapters in 2004, though Michigan is still active. Be that as it may, the stress reducer touted on the national party\u2019s website is Transcendental Mediation\u2122. So.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
PA: \u201cTrump\u2019s fight for Pennsylvania\u201d [Unherd]. The description of Trump\u2019s speech in Lehigh County\u2019s Schnecksville is super, but this is the meat of the piece:<\/p>\n
Both [Biden and Trump] will be fighting hard for the overwhelmingly white, working-class vote in the state. Historically, Lehigh Valley was populated by the Pennsylvania Dutch, described by one local historian as \u2018the most conservative people in America.\u2019 But, in recent years, the make-up of the region has begun to change. Over the last couple of decades, the Valley has become the East Coast\u2019s \u2018supply-chain empire\u2019 for transporting one-click goods on interstate highways. Given its proximity to New York and Philadelphia, the Lehigh Valley serves as a node for 100 million people living on the eastern seaboard to receive their deliveries, bringing new jobs and revenue to the region. That has also caused a population boom, much of it driven by Latinos who moved to the area in search of work. Allenstown is now a majority-Hispanic city \u2014 a demographic that Trump has been actively trying to court. A recent poll found that the GOP contender now edges out Biden among Hispanic voters, with 46% supporting the former president. A separate poll shows that 42% of Latinos now support a border wall \u2014 up 12 points from December 2021. In a state where Latino political power is growing, this could pose a threat to Biden\u2019s re-election prospects.<\/p>\n
And of the rally-goers:<\/p>\n
But it is not his appeal to Latinos that makes Trump rallies so different from any other. It is how he electrifies a segment of the population in a way that no other politician can. These are people who weren\u2019t interested in politics before Trump and, troublingly, won\u2019t be interested in it after him. In some respect, it is a revolt of the disenfranchised.<\/p>\n
\u201cA revolt of the disenfranchised\u2026.\u201d you\u2019d think somebody would do something about that\u2026 <\/p>\n
Republican Funhouse<\/p>\n
\u201cDoing \u2018the right thing\u2019 may cost Johnson his speaker\u2019s gavel\u201d [CNN]. \u201cIt took less than six months for Speaker Mike Johnson to reach his existential moment. The Louisiana Republican has arrived at fateful but familiar crossroads where he must either choose to honor a conventional vision of US national interests or side with the wrecking ball antics of his party\u2019s far-right bloc\u2026. Now, as Johnson tries to pass billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan \u2014 vital to protecting US allies from Russian, Iranian and Chinese totalitarianism and preserving US power and prestige \u2013 he\u2019s having to put his own job on the line to confront GOP extremists who accuse him of betraying the party\u2019s base. \u2018When you do the right thing, you let the chips fall where they may,\u2019 Johnson said in an interview with CNN\u2019s Jake Tapper on Wednesday ahead of three critical days that could decide whether he can cling to his gavel.\u201d \u2022 It\u2019s highly unlikely that billions for a losing war in Ukraine and a genocide in Gaza will \u201cpreserve\u201d \u201cUS power and prestige\u201d (though perhaps I\u2019m not being cynical enough. A \u201cwrecking ball\u201d seems thoroughly appropriate, though it would be my preference to see it swung by the left, were there any such animal.<\/p>\n
\u201cJosh Hawley\u2019s Labor Revolution\u201d [Compact]. \u201cAs Batya Ungar-Sargon has written in these pages, today\u2019s GOP is a \u2018working-class party without a working-class agenda.’\u201d Yeah, like ownership and control of the means of production. But I digress (except not, really). More: \u201cBut there are important exceptions to this trend, and few shine as brightly as Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) when it comes to standing up for wage-earners and forging alliances with organized labor. Over the past few months, these efforts have earned Hawley justified praise\u2014and donation dollars\u2014from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Most recently, the Teamsters\u2019 political action committee offered $5,000 toward Hawley\u2019s re-election campaign in recognition of his support for striking auto workers, among other labor groups. It\u2019s a rare feat for a Republican lawmaker at a moment when partisanship continues to divide the GOP from organized labor, even as the party under Donald Trump continues to consolidate its support among union households\u2026. The Hawley-Teamster alliance demonstrates that it is possible for Republicans to win labor\u2019s support, provided both camps are prepared to take trust-building steps. For Republicans, it isn\u2019t enough to merely make vague pro-worker noises that amount to so much culture-war vibes. They have to stand with workers on material grounds, as Hawley admirably has. For unions, meanwhile, it likewise means a willingness to privilege bread-and-butter issues over the progressive shibboleths that too often lead the mainstream of the labor movement to act as slavish adjuncts of the Democratic Party.\u201d \u2022 And \u201cfighting against\u201d the \u201cprogressive shibboleths\u201d with distractions like DEI. What this article is really arguing for is a pivot from the culture wars, and about time, too.<\/p>\n
Democrats en D\u00e9shabill\u00e9<\/p>\n
\u201cThe very short Mayorkas impeachment trial, explained\u201d [Vox]. \u201cOn Tuesday, House Republicans sent two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas to the upper chamber, and on Wednesday, senators were sworn in as jurors for a trial. The articles accuse Mayorkas of failing to enforce immigration laws, making false statements to Congress, and obstructing oversight into DHS policies, all charges he denies. On Wednesday, the Senate rejected both articles, voting 51-48 along party lines to deem the first \u2018unconstitutional; and 51-49 to dismiss the second article and adjourn the trial before it even really began. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) voted present on the first article\u2026 while the impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas was designed to cast negative attention on the Biden administration as Trump navigates countless legal scandals of his own, Senate Democrats\u2019 quick dismissal has dulled much of its impact.\u201d \u2022\u00a0Effective when they want to be\u2026. <\/p>\n
\u201cMoskowitz confronts Greene on Ukraine, Nazi remarks\u201d [The Hill]. \u201cRep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) confronted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) in a Wednesday hearing about her false claims that Nazism was rampant in Ukraine \u2014 an argument frequently touted by Russian President Vladimir Putin to justify his country\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.\u201d \u2022 The difficulty where is that Nazism is rampant in Ukraine (see NC here, in a post that contains numerous examples of Ukraine\u2019s Azovs being called Nazis in the US press, when it was permitted to do so). Meanwhile, who Moskowitz?<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/moskowitz.png\")
<\/p>\n
Too bad to see The Hill taking in AIPAC\u2019s laundry.<\/p>\n
Pandemics<\/p>\n
\u201cI am in earnest \u2014 I will not equivocate \u2014 I will not excuse \u2014 I will not retreat a single inch \u2014 AND I WILL BE HEARD.\u201d \u2013William Lloyd Garrison<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Covid Resources, United States (National): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; includes many counties; Wastewater Scan, includes drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); \u201cIowa COVID-19 Tracker\u201d (in IA, but national data). \u201cInfection Control, Emergency Management, Safety, and General Thoughts\u201d (especially on hospitalization by city).<\/p>\n
Lambert here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To update any entry, do feel free to contact me at the address given with the plants. Please put \u201cCOVID\u201d in the subject line. Thank you!<\/p>\n
Resources, United States (Local): 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 reports); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d\u2019Alene; 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).<\/p>\n
Resources, Canada (National): Wastewater (Government of Canada).<\/p>\n
Resources, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux us\u00e9es); BC (wastewater); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).<\/p>\n
Hat tips to helpful 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, square coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3). <\/p>\n
Stay safe out there!<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Maskstravaganza<\/p>\n
\u201cIs It OK for Internists to Wear Masks Forever?\u201d [Catherine Sarkisian, MD Sensible Medicine]. Sarkisian is a geriatrician at UCLA Health. \u201cI was happy to see that the VA no longer requires staff or patients to wear masks. Patients who are coughing are asked to wear masks, and staff who are sick are told to stay home.\u201d Four years into the pandemic, and Doctor Sarkisian remains resolutely ignorant that SARS-CoV-2 spreads both a- and pre-symptomatically. I pity her patients, dealing with someone so ignorant. More: \u201cI was unhappy to see that most doctors still wear masks. For the house-officers on my team, this included wearing masks in our private conference room. I worked with one house-officer for an entire week, and I never once saw his face.\u201d (Note Sarkisians barely, er, masked wish to assert her authority over the house-officer \u2014 \u201cLet me see your smile!\u201d \u2014 by making it more likely she would be able, if infected, to infect them.) This lie trope drives me up the wall. Masks \u2014 except for industrial-strength Darth Vader masks, not at issue here \u2014 cover the mouth and nose. They do not cover the eyes, which are \u2014 follow me closely, here, Doctor, because you seem to have forgotten the anatomy part of your medical education \u2014 part of the face and are (\u201cthe windows of the soul\u201d) capable of expressing the full range of human emotion. Half the planet wears masks regularly, including in hospital settings ffs. More: \u201cHiding your face from your attending and colleagues is one thing, but the more important questions is: what impact does wearing a mask have on our ability to provide outstanding patient care? How does it feel for our patients who are sick and alone in the hospital to never see a human face?\u201d \u2022 Man, that\u2019s a toughie. During Delta, it would have felt a hell of a lot better to see HCWs wearing masks than coughing your lungs into bloody mush. And today it feels a lot better than neurological and vascalar damage, plus Long Covid. There\u2019s probably more and worse, but I can\u2019t go on. \u201cI was happy to see HCWs blithely infecting patients with an airborne pathogen, while smiling\u201d [pounds head on desk]. <\/p>\n
Elite Maleficence<\/p>\n
WHO actually walking back airborne transmission, after having admitted they were wrong to suppress it:<\/p>\n
Two interviews with @JeremyFarrar.<\/p>\n
Before and after becoming @WHO\u2018s Chief Scientist.<\/p>\n
Note the difference\u2026<\/p>\n
*Today Jeremy Farrar will be hosting the new WHO report on the proposed terminology for pathogens that transmit through the air. Register here: pic.twitter.com\/VPylztrhEL<\/p>\n
\u2014 Maarten De Cock (@mdc_martinus) April 18, 2024<\/p>\n
The new WHO report, a thread:<\/p>\n
It’s out! The @WHO’s new wordsmithing report on airborne transmission. I’m going to do a little dissection on the good and the bad, who wins and who loses. 1\/ pic.twitter.com\/7uKFu1ZtdS<\/p>\n
\u2014 \ud835\ude79\ud835\ude98\ud835\ude8e \ud835\ude85\ud835\ude92\ud835\ude99\ud835\ude98\ud835\ude97\ud835\ude8d joseph.vipond@ucalgary.ca (@jvipondmd) April 18, 2024<\/p>\n
More:<\/p>\n
The good: An explicit acknowledgment that COVID is airborne. We’ve known this from the beginning, but only in the last month has the WHO really stopped hedging the language on this. No apology for the impact of the error though. That would have been nice, if wholly unexpected. 4\/ pic.twitter.com\/NrU0p1m87z<\/p>\n
\u2014 \ud835\ude79\ud835\ude98\ud835\ude8e \ud835\ude85\ud835\ude92\ud835\ude99\ud835\ude98\ud835\ude97\ud835\ude8d joseph.vipond@ucalgary.ca (@jvipondmd) April 18, 2024<\/p>\n
And more:<\/p>\n
more bad: Multi-disciplinary engagement. excellent to have airborne scientists here. Still missing some key disciplines: no engineers, no occupational hygienists (the true mask experts). We need all brains engaged on wicked problems. 6\/ pic.twitter.com\/g5zPgJQEls<\/p>\n
\u2014 \ud835\ude79\ud835\ude98\ud835\ude8e \ud835\ude85\ud835\ude92\ud835\ude99\ud835\ude98\ud835\ude97\ud835\ude8d joseph.vipond@ucalgary.ca (@jvipondmd) April 18, 2024<\/p>\n
HICPAC will be happy. I\u2019ll have to read the report myself in the near future\u2026<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts<\/p>\n
LEGEND<\/p>\n
1) \u2605 for charts new today; all others are not updated.<\/p>\n
2) For a full-size\/full-resolution image, Command-click (MacOS) or right-click (Windows) on the chart thumbnail and \u201copen image in new tab.\u201d<\/p>\n
NOTES<\/p>\n
[1] (Biobot) Our curve has now flattened out at a level far above valleys under Trump. Not a great victory. Note also the area \u201cunder the curve,\u201d besides looking at peaks. That area is larger under Biden than under Trump, and it seems to be rising steadily if unevenly.<\/p>\n
[2] (Biobot) No backward revisons\u2026.<\/p>\n
[3] (CDC Variants) As of May 11, genomic surveillance data will be reported biweekly, based on the availability of positive test specimens.\u201d \u201cBiweeekly: 1. occurring every two weeks. 2. occurring twice a week; semiweekly.\u201d Looks like CDC has chosen sense #1. In essence, they\u2019re telling us variants are nothing to worry about. Time will tell.<\/p>\n
[4] (ER) CDC seems to have killed this off, since the link is broken, I think in favor of this thing. I will try to confirm. UPDATE Yes, leave it to CDC to kill a page, and then announce it was archived a day later. And heaven forfend CDC should explain where to go to get equivalent data, if any. I liked the ER data, because it seemed really hard to game.<\/p>\n
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Flattening out to a non-zero baseline. I suppose to a tame epidemiologist it looks like \u201cendemicity,\u201d but to me it looks like another tranche of lethality.<\/p>\n
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC) Still down. \u201cMaps, charts, and data provided by CDC, updates weekly for the previous MMWR week (Sunday-Saturday) on Thursdays (Deaths, Emergency Department Visits, Test Positivity) and weekly the following Mondays (Hospitalizations) by 8 pm ET\u2020\u201d. <\/p>\n
[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.<\/p>\n
[8] (Cleveland) Flattening.<\/p>\n
[9] (Travelers: Posivitity) Still down.<\/p>\n
[10] (Travelers: Variants) JN.1 dominates utterly.<\/p>\n
[11] Looks like the Times isn\u2019t reporting death data any more? Maybe I need to go back to The Economist\u2026. <\/p>\n
Stats Watch<\/p>\n
Employment Situation: \u201cUnited States Initial Jobless Claims [Trading Economics]. \u201cThe number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the US was unchanged from the prior week at 212,000 for the period ending April 18th, below market expectations of 215,000. Additionally, continuing claims were loosely unchanged at 1,812,000 at the start of the month, below market expectations of 1,818,000, to show that the unemployed are finding jobs at a healthy pace when compared to historical standards.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manufacturing: \u201cUnited States Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index\u201d [Trading Economics]. \u201cThe Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index in the US rose 12 points to 15.5 in April 2024, well above market expectations of 1.5. It was the third consecutive positive reading and the highest since April 2022\u2026 The survey\u2019s broad indicators for future activity fell but remained positive, suggesting continued expectations for growth over the next six months.\u201d<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Retail: \u201cInside Amazon\u2019s Secret Operation to Gather Intel on Rivals\u201d [Wall Street Journal]. \u201cThe operation, called Big River Services International, sells around $1 million a year of goods through e-commerce marketplaces including eBay, Shopify, Walmart and Amazo under brand names such as Rapid Cascade and Svea Bliss. \u201cWe are entrepreneurs, thinkers, marketers and creators,\u201d Big River says on its website. \u2018We have a passion for customers and aren\u2019t afraid to experiment.\u2019 What the website doesn\u2019t say is that Big River is an arm of Amazon that surreptitiously gathers intelligence on the tech giant\u2019s competitors\u2026. The story of Big River offers new insight into Amazon\u2019s elaborate efforts to stay ahead of rivals. Team members attended their rivals\u2019 seller conferences and met with competitors identifying themselves only as employees of Big River Services, instead of disclosing that they worked for Amazon. They were given non-Amazon email addresses to use externally\u2014in emails with people at Amazon, they used Amazon email addresses\u2014and took other extraordinary measures to keep the project secret. They disseminated their reports to Amazon executives using printed, numbered copies rather than email. Those who worked on the project weren\u2019t even supposed to discuss the relationship internally with most teams at Amazon.\u201d \u2022 Oh, \u201cBig River.\u201d I get it. Musical interlude.<\/p>\n
Tech: \u201cA Rarely Used Technique Could Double U.S. Grid Capacity\u201d [Oilprice.com]. \u201cMuch 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 \u2013 such as rural regions and offshore sites \u2013 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\u2019s 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. \u2026. 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, \u2018advanced reconductoring\u2019, 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 35 Fear (previous close: 34 Fear) [CNN]. One week ago: 46 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Apr 18 at 1:04:37 PM ET.<\/p>\n
News of the Wired<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy Feathers Are One of Evolution\u2019s Cleverest Inventions\u201d [Scientific American]. \u201cFeathers 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.\u201d This is extremely nerdy: \u201c[P]owered flight\u2014that is, flapping flight rather than gliding flight\u2014probably 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\u2019s a vital adaptation that underpins an array of aerial acrobatics.\u201d<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Contact information for plants: Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) find out how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. From Desert Dog:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/still_winter.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Desert Dog writes: \u201cGood morning!!\u201d It\u2019s still winter!<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not covered by the annual NC fundraiser. So if you see a link you especially like, or an item you wouldn\u2019t see anywhere else, please do not hesitate to express your appreciation in tangible form. Remember, a tip jar is for tipping! Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know I\u2019m on the right track with coverage. When I get no donations for three or four days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of donations helps me with expenses, and I factor in that trickle when setting fundraising goals:<\/p>\n
Here is the screen that will appear, which I have helpfully annotated:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/contribution.png\")
<\/p>\n
If you hate PayPal, you can email me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I will give you directions on how to send a check. Thank you!<\/p>\n
![\"Print](\"https:\/\/cdn.printfriendly.com\/buttons\/print-button-gray.png\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n