{"id":4313,"date":"2026-01-13T00:42:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T00:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uang69.id\/?p=4313"},"modified":"2026-01-13T00:42:55","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T00:42:55","slug":"200pm-water-cooler-6-13-2024-naked-capitalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uang69.id\/?p=4313","title":{"rendered":"2:00PM Water Cooler 6\/13\/2024 | naked capitalism"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.<\/p>\n

Bird Song of the Day<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Sedge Warbler, Uitkerkse polder, Vlaamse Gewest, Belgium. \u201cElevation (m): 4. Habitat: reed in meadows . Confidence in ID: 100%. ID determined by: seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/p>\n

(1) Electoral college moves toward Trump (slightly).<\/p>\n

(2) Hillary Clinton, still servicing AIPAC.<\/p>\n

(3) CDC publishes tweet with upside down mask.<\/p>\n

(4) Mushrooms and citizen science.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/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

2024<\/p>\n

Less than a half a year to go!<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

RCP Poll Averages, May 24:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

No discernible effect from Trump\u2019s conviction yet (though Democrats have only just begun to exploit it). Swing States (more here) still Brownian-motioning around. Of course, it goes without saying that these are all state polls, therefore bad, and most of the results are within the margin of error. If will be interesting to see whether the verdict in Judge Merchan\u2019s court affects the polling, and if so, how.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

\u201cElectoral College Rating Changes: Half-Dozen Moves Toward Republicans in What Remains a Toss-up Race\u201d [Sabato\u2019s Crystal Ball]. \u201cWe are making six Electoral College rating changes this week, all in favor of Republicans. However, we don\u2019t really see a clear favorite in a presidential race with many confounding factors. We consider Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to all be must-wins for the Democrats. While one can hypothetically come up with paths to 270 electoral votes for Democrats without them, we don\u2019t find those paths to be compelling.\u201d And: \u201c[W]e also recognize the clear big-picture trends. Trump has been polling better than he typically polled in both 2016 and 2020, and that has been the case for many months. Biden\u2019s approval rating is in a dangerous zone\u2014the high 30s\u2014and he has been in that weak place consistently since November, according to the FiveThirtyEight average. Biden is not going to be at net-positive approval by Election Day\u2014fortunately for him, he does not need to be, but one would probably expect to see some level of improvement if he is going to win reelection. The danger for Biden is that voters may just be done with him: There is some nostalgia in polls for the pre-2020, pre-Covid, and pre-inflation period that coincided with Trump\u2019s presidency. That doesn\u2019t necessarily mean the public is clamoring for Trump, who remains unpopular; it\u2019s just that they may prefer him to Biden, or may just be thinking more about what they don\u2019t like about Biden (the incumbent) than Trump (the challenger). One thing that Biden has going for him is that Trump does not seem to have trimmed the sails on his own rhetoric at all\u2014Trump continues to laud the Jan. 6, 2021 rioters who tried to disrupt the 2020 electoral vote count as persecuted patriots, for instance, a position we just can\u2019t imagine helps him with the middle of the electorate trying to decide between two flawed major party candidates.\u201d \u2022 Here is a table of the changes:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And here is a map of the electoral college:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy 270 is the most dangerous number\u201d [Nate Silver, Silver Bulletin]. I like it when Silver uses the numbers as part of a narrative, like grizzled veterans Charles Cook or Larry Sabato, instead of pretending he\u2019s a data scientists. This, on Biden\u2019s \u201cnarrow path\u201d to victory (not unlike Trump\u2019s path in 2016) is very good. He starts with a (for Democrats) nightmare scenario: \u201cIt\u2019s 7 p.m. on Monday, November 11. Six long nights have passed since Election Day. The last ballots have finally been fully counted in Pennsylvania.1 And Joe Biden has just been declared the winner of the Keystone State by 3,000 votes out of nearly 7 million cast \u2014 and therefore the winner of the Electoral College\u2026.. Pennsylvania and the other two original Blue Wall states \u2014 Michigan and Wisconsin \u2014 just barely held for Biden, producing this electoral map: a win for Biden by the slimmest possible margin, 270-268\u2026. It will take only one faithless elector to deny Biden his 270-vote majority, sending the nation into a constitutional crisis.\u201d \u2022 Of course, Trump didn\u2019t get his one member of a hung jury, either. (Again, you can bet the \u201celection integrity\u201d goons are gaming this out, just as in 2020.)<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Trump (R) (Smith\/Cannon): \u201cSearching for the Truth About the Raid at Mar-a-Lago\u201d [RealClearPolitics]. \u201cIn another oddity, the FBI disclosed that a prosecutor for the U.S. attorney\u2019s office in southern Florida was present during the search; prosecutors generally do not participate in raids, as they instead handle charging decisions after evidence is collected as a result of a search. Further, the prosecutor would lose immunity if the search was declared unlawful. That appears to be a possibility. The warrant allowed agents to search Trump\u2019s office as well as \u2018all storage rooms, and all other rooms or areas within the premises used or available to be used by FPOTUS and his staff and in which boxes or documents could be stored.\u2019 Trump\u2019s lawyers argue that FBI agents exceeded the scope of the warrant by searching the private rooms of Melania and Barron Trump. But Trump\u2019s lawyers argue that FBI agents exceeded the scope of the warrant by searching the private suite of former first lady Melania Trump and the couple\u2019s son, Barron, who was 16 at the time. An FBI photo log demonstrates agents entered and took photographs of items inside both bedrooms.\u201d \u2022 Sounds to me like the FBI has the right of it, but the raid also sounds like a mess.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Trump (R): \u201cTrump\u2019s Project 2025 plot would take \u2018wrecking ball\u2019 to US institutions, key Democrat warns\u201d [Guardian]. \u2022 You say \u201ctake [a] \u2018wrecking ball\u2019 to US institutions\u201d like that\u2019s a bad thing. (Of course, I\u2019m being flippant. And I do have to take a serious look at Project 2025. It\u2019s too big to take an exhaustive view, but it might be useful to see what Heritage has to say about the spooks. <\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

BIden (D): \u201cThe White House isn\u2019t ruling out a potential commutation for Hunter Biden after his conviction\u201d [Associated Press]. \u201d The White House is not ruling out a potential commutation for Hunter Biden, the president\u2019s son who was convicted on three federal gun crimes and is set to be sentenced by a judge in the coming months. \u2018As we all know, the sentencing hasn\u2019t even been scheduled yet,\u2019 White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday on Air Force One as President Joe Biden traveled to the Group of Seven summit in Italy. She said she has not spoken to the president about the issue since the verdict was delivered Tuesday. Biden definitively ruled out pardoning his son during an ABC News interview last week. \u2018He was very clear, very upfront, obviously very definitive,\u2019 Jean-Pierre said of the president\u2019s remarks about a potential pardon. But on a commutation, \u2018I just don\u2019t have anything beyond that.’\u201d \u2022 Oh.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy Senate Democrats Are Outperforming Biden in Key States\u201d [New York Times]. \u201c\u2018I\u2019ll show up in deep-red counties, and they\u2019ll be like, \u2018I can\u2019t remember the last time we\u2019ve seen a sitting U.S. senator here, especially not a Democrat,\u201d said Ms. Baldwin, an hour into her unassuming work of handing out plastic silverware at an annual dairy breakfast, and five months before Wisconsin voters will decide whether to give her a third term. \u2018I think that begins to break through.\u2019 Wisconsin is one of seven states that will determine the presidency this November, but it will also help determine which party controls the Senate. President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump are running neck-and-neck in the state, which Mr. Trump narrowly won in 2016 and Mr. Biden took back in 2020. Ms. Baldwin, by contrast, is running well ahead of the president and her presumed Republican opponent, the wealthy banker Eric Hovde. Polls released early last month by The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Siena College found Ms. Baldwin holding a lead of 49 percent to 40 percent over Mr. Hovde. In late May, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report put the spread even wider, 12 percentage points. That down-ballot Democratic strength is not isolated to Wisconsin. Senate Democratic candidates also hold leads in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania. A Marist Poll released Tuesday said Mr. Trump led Mr. Biden in Ohio by seven percentage points, but Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, leads his challenger, Bernie Moreno, by five percentage points, a 12-point swing.\u201d <\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

\u201cTen rules for understanding the 2024 elections\u201d [Walter Shapiro, Roll Call]. \u201cWe have reached that point in the 2024 election cycle when it is too late to be early and too early to be late. With summer approaching and the first debate ever between an incumbent president and a convicted felon looming, this seems like the ideal moment to propose 10 rules for following the campaigns.\u201d Here are two: \u201c3) Be cautious about electoral models, since it is impossible to replicate the idiosyncratic factors that are shaping the race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.\u201d And: \u201c8) Remember there has never been a June presidential debate. Be skeptical about any glib after-action assessments of who won and what it ultimately means. In Denver in early October 2012, Obama had probably the worst debate of any candidate in history, including Richard Nixon in 1960. A month later, Obama easily won reelection.\u201d \u2022 Worth a read. Horse races are fun, but not necessarily, along the way, informative.<\/p>\n

Democrats en D\u00e9shabill\u00e9<\/p>\n

\u201cHillary Clinton stuns Democrats by endorsing George Latimer for Jamaal Bowman\u2019s congressional seat\u201d [Daily Mail]. \u2022\u00a0Democrats are easy to stun. Latimer:<\/p>\n

George Latimer is an AIPAC pet. #RejectAIPAC pic.twitter.com\/UZuaCQbVfn<\/p>\n

\u2014 AIPAC Tracker (@TrackAIPAC) June 12, 2024<\/p>\n

Clinton:<\/p>\n

According to @TrackAIPAC, Hillary Clinton has received more than $4 million from pro-Israel interest groups. pic.twitter.com\/9zMdW8z4bh<\/p>\n

\u2014 Leah McElrath (@leahmcelrath) May 9, 2024<\/p>\n

Bowman:<\/p>\n

Bowman receives pro-Israel money, but since he doesn’t accept corporate money, he’s good according to @trackaipac. pic.twitter.com\/WR8wbk55DX<\/p>\n

\u2014 SZH (@StopZionistHate) May 16, 2024<\/p>\n

Normally, I\u2019m not quite this mechanistic, but this seems a lot like Ferguson\u2019s \u201cindustrial model.\u201d Except artisanal.<\/p>\n

Realignment and Legitimacy<\/p>\n

Textualism, except for sovereign citizens:<\/p>\n

One phrase often used by sovereigns today is “cestui que trust;” sovereigns believe everybody has one and you can claim it and get magical powers (see example below from a ruling on a bankruptcy filing). So let’s grab a time machine and go hunting. pic.twitter.com\/LQ2IMrKytT<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mark Pitcavage (@egavactip) June 12, 2024<\/p>\n

Fascinating how these talismanic phrases root themselves in people\u2019s minds (and doubtless mutate, like Nigerian 419 letters do). Reminds me of mainstream macro. <\/p>\n

Syndemics<\/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

Transmission: H5N1<\/p>\n

\u201cBird flu poses unanswered questions in leap to dairy cows\u201d [Cedar Rapid Gazette (RK)]. \u201cThe U.S. Department of Agriculture has sent a \u201cstrike team\u201d to Iowa to assist it with testing after the highly contagious bird flu usually associated with poultry flocks now has been discovered in three dairy cow herds in the state\u2026. The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship will begin testing dairy farms within 20 kilometers \u2014 or over 12 miles [not, apparently, six feet] \u2014 of any poultry farm where the virus is detected, said department spokesperson Don McDowell\u2026. Federal and state officials are studying the infected herds across the country to determine how the cows may have contracted the virus. In a statement, Mc-Dowell said wild birds are frequent carriers of the virus. \u2018We need to learn more about how the virus is introduced to new flocks\/herds and how it is spreading,\u2019 he said. \u2018We are always looking for epidemiological clues and ties and that\u2019s why we are making our requests of USDA to assist with research.’\u201d Remember that one of the things public health told us was that Covid was a surprise to them, unlike avian flu, for which they had been preparing for years. And now here it is, and we don\u2019t know a thing. More: \u201cThe disease also appears to be spreading between cows, rather than just from birds to cows, making interstate transportation a likely culprit for the spread, said Iowa State University Dairy Extension Veterinarian Phillip Jardon.\u201d Here we are taking notice of cattle transmission, how many months in? [pounds head on desk]. And finally: \u201cThe Iowa Department of Agriculture said last week it is considering additional requirements for livestock exhibitions at the Iowa State Fair, which begins Aug. 8.\u201d \u2022 Well, there\u2019s your worse case scenario right there: State fairs as superspreading events, except for H5N1. And see the link immediately below<\/p>\n

Airborne Transmission: H5N1<\/p>\n

\u201cModelling the Wind-Borne Spread of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus between Farms\u201d [PLOS One]. From 2012, still [family-blogging] germane. From the Abstract: \u201cA quantitative understanding of the spread of contaminated farm dust between locations is a prerequisite for obtaining much-needed insight into one of the possible mechanisms of disease spread between farms. Here, we develop a model to calculate the quantity of contaminated farm-dust particles deposited at various locations downwind of a source farm and apply the model to assess the possible contribution of the wind-borne route to the transmission of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza virus (HPAI) during the 2003 epidemic in the Netherlands. The model is obtained from a Gaussian Plume Model by incorporating the dust deposition process, pathogen decay, and a model for the infection process on exposed farms. Using poultry- and avian influenza-specific parameter values we calculate the distance-dependent probability of between-farm transmission by this route. A comparison between the transmission risk pattern predicted by the model and the pattern observed during the 2003 epidemic reveals that the wind-borne route alone is insufficient to explain the observations although it could contribute substantially to the spread over short distance ranges, for example, explaining 24% of the transmission over distances up to 25 km.\u201d \u2022 Other factors being: Movement of cattle, movement of workers, possibly animal transmission. I can\u2019t prove this, but the 12 mile testing radius above kinda correlates to the 25 km = 15.5 miles in this study. Quite possibly somebody in Iowa is reading the literature, unlike CDC and FDA.<\/p>\n

Celebrity Watch<\/p>\n

\u201cThe COVID-19 infection you caught at a Taylor Swift concert is not a gift from \u2018Mother’\u201d [Business Insider]. \u2022 Say no to death cults!<\/p>\n

Elite Maleficence<\/p>\n

Think material before thinking psychological:<\/p>\n

I have a friend of a friend at the CDC. They don’t have good things to say. It’s along the lines of “people can’t speak up or they’ll lose their pensions.” I wish I was kidding. I am not. They are not doing the right thing because it will cost them their job.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Weird Soup. Creds: PMHCNS-BC, RN (@Cosmicpixle) June 12, 2024<\/p>\n

(\u201c[T]he identity of revenues and sources of revenue\u201d \u2013Capital, Volume III, Chapter 52, \u201cclasses.\u201d) CDC seems like a horrid place to work. So no wonder Mandy had CDC\u2019s propaganda department emit this:<\/p>\n

Morning yoga on the lawn at CDC\u2019s Atlanta campus! \ud83e\uddd8\ud83d\udcaa pic.twitter.com\/LvwWQMB2Ze<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mandy K. Cohen, MD, MPH (@CDCDirector) June 5, 2024<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

How many things can you find that are wrong with this picture:<\/p>\n

#LongCOVID is a serious public health concern that affects millions of people across the U.S. @NASEM_Health released a new report helping to further define Long COVID as a chronic condition.<\/p>\n

Read more about Long COVID and the new report: pic.twitter.com\/qhRwzrPYtc<\/p>\n

\u2014 CDC (@CDCgov) June 12, 2024<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a list:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

NOTES<\/p>\n

Sorry for the repetitions of the original tweet (but then again, perhaps it can\u2019t be retweeted enough).<\/p>\n

[1]<\/p>\n

A little more checking on the photo. It’s a stock photo from a photo series. But, there’s plenty with masks on. The CDC image has a Photoshopped mask. pic.twitter.com\/LC17xAgCYc<\/p>\n

\u2014 Peter Ginsburg (@pwginsburg) June 13, 2024<\/p>\n

[2]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

[3]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

[4]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Not to mention the racial angle\u2026 <\/p>\n

[5] <\/p>\n

A lot of people are talking about the lack of mask.<\/p>\n

But I’m seeing boredom, tiredness, disdain, soon to be followed by a combination of patronising, gaslighting, and dismissing. pic.twitter.com\/nF5pVXS6m8<\/p>\n

\u2014 tern (@1goodtern) June 13, 2024<\/p>\n

This image must have gone through eighteen different layers of management before being posted on The Twitter. How on earth did they all sign off on an image with an upside down mask. Ignorance? Malevolence? A perverse sense of fun? Brain damage? And a final meme:<\/p>\n

One can always hope pic.twitter.com\/Qq0QhzJao8<\/p>\n

\u2014 D. ZeroCovidNow (@dstuf) June 13, 2024<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Lambert here: Patient readers, I finally gave up the unequal struggle and went with CDC\u2019s wastewater maps; they will at least give us some at-a-glance sense of how cases are changing in time and space. <\/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] (CDC) This week\u2019s wastewater map, with hot spots annotated.<\/p>\n

[2] (CDC) This week\u2019s wastewater map, not annotated. Next week I will move the map at [1] to [2], and update [1].<\/p>\n

[3] (CDC Variants) FWIW, given that last week KP.2 was all over everything like kudzu, and now it\u2019s KP.3. If the \u201cNowcast\u201d can\u2019t even forecast two weeks out, why are we doing it at all?<\/p>\n

[4] (ER) This is the best I can do for now. At least data for the entire pandemic is presented.<\/p>\n

[5] (Hospitalization: NY) A slight decrease followed by a return to a slight increase. (The New York city area has form; in 2020, as the home of two international airports (JFK and EWR) it was an important entry point for the virus into the country (and from thence up the Hudson River valley, as the rich sought to escape, and then around the country through air travel.)<\/p>\n

[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). This is the best I can do for now. Note the assumption that Covid is seasonal is built into the presentation. At least data for the entire pandemic is presented.<\/p>\n

[7] (Walgreens) 4.3%; big jump. (Because there is data in \u201ccurrent view\u201d tab, I think white states here have experienced \u201cno change,\u201d as opposed to have no data.)<\/p>\n

[8] (Cleveland) Going up.<\/p>\n

[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Up. Those sh*theads at CDC have changed the chart so that it doesn\u2019t even run back to 1\/21\/23, as it used to, but now starts 1\/1\/24. There\u2019s also no way to adjust the time rasnge. CDC really doesn\u2019t want you to be able to take a historical view of the pandemic, or compare one surge to another. In an any case, that\u2019s why the shape of the curve has changed.<\/p>\n

[10] (Travelers: Variants) Same deal. Those sh*theads:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

[11] Deaths low, but positivity up.<\/p>\n

[12] Deaths low, ED up.<\/p>\n

Stats Watch<\/p>\n

Employment Situation: \u201cUnited States Initial Jobless Claims\u201d [Trading Economics]. \u201cThe number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the US jumped by 13,000 to 242,000 on the week ending June 8th, well above market expectations of 225,000, to record the highest reading since August 2023. In the meantime, outstanding claims rose more than expected to 1,820,000 in the earlier week, the highest in nearly five months. The results were further evidence of a softening US labor market, strengthening the case for the Federal Reserve to deliver multiple rate cuts this year should inflation progress in converging to its target.\u201d \u2022 Except they\u2019re not going to. Or so they say.<\/p>\n

Inflation: \u201cUnited States Producer Price Inflation MoM\u201d [Trading Economics]. \u201cFactory gate prices in the US went down 0.2% mom in May 2024, compared with market expectations of a 0.1% increase and after a 0.5% rise in April.\u201d<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Tech: <\/p>\n

Love it. pic.twitter.com\/kT509QDLau<\/p>\n

\u2014 Jon Barron (@jon_barron) June 12, 2024<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 43 Fear (previous close: 46 Neutral) [CNN]. One week ago: 44 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Jun 13 at 1:35:27 PM ET.<\/p>\n

The Gallery<\/p>\n

Seems appropriate, somehow:<\/p>\n

The triumphant march, 1947 pic.twitter.com\/LJ09n9jkob<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ren\u00e9 Magritte (@artistmagritte) June 10, 2024<\/p>\n

News of the Wired<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mushroom Hunters Can\u2019t Stop Finding Mysterious Fungi\u201d [New York Times]. \u201cOnce collectors receive a match for their sequence, they can enter the information on iNaturalist, a website where hobbyists can share observations of the natural world. Meanwhile, organizations like the Ohio Mushroom DNA Lab and Mycota Lab, founded by Stephen Russell, a biochemist at the University of Michigan, enter the sequences into scientific databases accessible to the research community. This way, the information generated by dispersed networks of foragers can be funneled directly to scientists and conservation organizations.\u201d \u2022 Citizen science! Too bad we can\u2019t do wastewater testing that way\u2026. <\/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 timotheus:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Timontheus writes: \u201cIsham Park @ Seaman Avenue, northern Manhattan.\u201d<\/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

\"\"<\/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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n