By Lambert Strether of Corrente<\/p>\n
Bird Song of the Day<\/p>\n
I looked for another species of songbird that mimics, and came up with the Thrasher. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Brown Thrasher, Langford Creek Road, Tompkins, New York, United States.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/p>\n
Kamala campaign\u2019s tendency to lie
\nTrump\u2019s suit.
\nCovid and the schools; nothing has been learned.
\nEnormous Social Security hack.<\/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 one hundred days to go!<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s RCP Poll Averages:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/rcp_2024-08-09-1.png\")
<\/p>\n
More Blue on the map. Trump still leads nationally, but some swing states moving toward Kamala. In particular, I\u2019m no insider, but if I were on Team Trump, Georgia\u2019s drop from +3.6 to this week\u2019s +0.6 might cause me to chew my hands. Georgia? Really? Atlanta burbs no longer sitting it out? Can any readers from Georgia clarify?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Fight To Redefine the 2024 Race for President\u201d [Amy Walter, The Cook Political Report]. \u201cA new Cook Political Report Swing State Project Survey conducted by BSG and GS Strategy Group shows Vice President Kamala Harris leading or tied with former President Donald Trump in all but one of the seven battleground states. Overall, she holds a narrow lead of 48% to 47% in those states in the head-to-head. Harris has closed the gap with Trump since the last Swing State Project survey in May, when Trump led President Joe Biden by three points overall, and was ahead or tied in every one of the seven swing states.\u201d Handy chart:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/cook_political.png\")
<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure directionally Cook Political Report is correct. But that 4-8% swing in Pennsylvania? I\u2019m dubious (because I\u2019ve seen no anecdotes to support it, though readers may supply some).<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
The Campaign Trail:<\/p>\n
Kamala:<\/p>\n
\u201cHarris campaign\u2019s Google ads rewrite news headlines\u201d [Axios]. \u201cThe Harris campaign has been editing news headlines and descriptions within Google search ads that make it appear as if the Guardian, Reuters, CBS News and other major publishers are on her side, Axios has found. It\u2019s a common practice in the commercial advertising world that doesn\u2019t violate Google\u2019s policies, but the ads mimic real news results from Search closely enough that they have news outlets caught off guard\u2026. The mainstream media industry is already fighting assertions of bias. These ads, even though they comply with Google\u2019s rules, could leave media outlets further vulnerable to charges of partisanship.\u201d \u2022\u00a0It\u2019s unclear to me whether Axios broke the story, but here are some examples:<\/p>\n
We researched and found many examples of the Harris campaign using this misleading tactic of rewriting headlines in Google search results to falsely imply support for her campaign. <\/p>\n
We found no evidence of the Trump or Kennedy teams using similar tactics. pic.twitter.com\/8VSqKd7aMG<\/p>\n
\u2014 AllSides (@AllSidesNow) August 14, 2024<\/p>\n
Back to Axios:<\/p>\n
I was shocked yesterday when I saw Axios publish an investigation reflecting negatively on Kamala’s campaign.<\/p>\n
But soon as the reporter, @sarafischer, was attacked for doing it, she immediately denigrated her own scoop, saying it was no big deal and Kamala did nothing wrong. pic.twitter.com\/DQS03k2rpJ<\/p>\n
\u2014 Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 14, 2024<\/p>\n
Colletive self-censorship by the PMC, exactly as with Biden\u2019s cognitive decline. (As for the Harris campaign, exactly as with the Vance couch, if you believe the \u201cjoy\u201d\/\u201dhoneymoon\u201d narrative, they don\u2019t have to do this. But they do it anyhow.)<\/p>\n
Trump:<\/p>\n
Derek Guy is one of my guilty pleasures:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/derek-guy_trump.png\")
<\/p>\n
Kennedy: <\/p>\n
Kennedy (I): \u201cNew York State Trial Court Removes Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., From the Ballot\u201d [Balllot Access News]. The decision. \u201cOn August 12, a New York state trial court judge in Albany removed Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., from the ballot, on the grounds that his address on his declaration of candidacy was not accurate. Cartwright v Kennedy, 906349-24, Albany Co. Supreme Court\u2026. The judge had refused to let Kennedy make arguments about the constitutionality of the law. He will appeal. The decision does not mention Trump v Anderson, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that said Article Two implicitly bars letting states reject presidential candidates from the ballot, thus creating a \u201cpatchwork.\u201d Nor does the decision deal with the point that the true candidates in a presidential election in November are the candidates for presidential elector. This is only the second time in U.S. history that a presidential candidate has been removed from a general election ballot on the basis that a residence address on an election document is not accurate.\u201d By contrast, OR and WV just approved Kennedy\u2019s signatures. \u201cOur Democracy\u201d!<\/p>\n
Kennedy (I): \u201cWA Democratic Party pushing to keep Robert Kennedy Jr. off the ballot\u201d [Washington State Standard]. \u201cThe state Democratic Party wants presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. kept off ballots in Washington this November. It contends the 4,181 signatures submitted by We the People in support of Kennedy\u2019s nomination were not collected at a party convention as required by state law, making him ineligible to be one of voters\u2019 choices. Kennedy\u2019s campaign website listed various events and locations, like the Olympia Farmers Market, where registered voters could sign nomination petitions but that doesn\u2019t comport with the law\u2019s requirement, Democratic Party lawyers argued in an Aug. 9 letter to Secretary of State Steve Hobbs\u2026. \u2018Simply gathering signatures does not constitute a convention,\u2019 they wrote.\u201d \u2022 Ballot Access News comments: \u201cThe procedure that Kennedy used has been normal in Washington state for over 30 years. Although the state law talks about attendees at a nominating convention, that has long been interpreted to mean an outdoor meeting, with passersby signing, is permitted.\u201d<\/p>\n
<– Spook Country\n<\/p>\n
\u2013><\/p>\n
Realignment and Legitimacy<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Neoliberal capitalism\u2019 has contributed to the rise of fascism, says Nobel laureate\u201d [ABC Australia]. About Joseph Stiglitz\u2019s new book, \u201cThe Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society.\u201d More: \u201cHe spends a lot of time talking about the economic freedoms that are required for the majority of people to flourish. He talks about the importance of someone\u2019s \u2018opportunity set\u2018 \u2014 the set of options available to someone during their life, given the resources at their disposal \u2014 and how it determines their freedom to act, and what can be gained by good economic and social systems that provide someone with the freedom to live up to their potential. \u2018People who are barely surviving have extremely limited freedom,\u2019 he writes. \u2018All their time and energy go into earning enough money to pay for groceries, shelter, and transportation to jobs \u2026 a good society would do something about the deprivations, or reductions in freedom, for people with low incomes. It is not surprising that people who live in the poorest countries emphasise economic rights, the right to medical care, housing, education, and freedom from hunger. They are concerned about the loss of freedom not just from an oppressive government but also from economic, social, and political systems that have left large portions of the population destitute.\u201d \u201c\u2018When you understand economic freedom as freedom to act, it immediately reframes many of the central issues surrounding economic policy and freedom,\u2019 he says.\u201d<\/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, KF, 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: Covid<\/p>\n
\u201cCOVID transmission on the rise as students head back to class\u201d [ABC30]. \u201c\u2018Right now, we are seeing high levels of COVID circulating in our community, so we want parents to take precautions for their children as they start the school year,\u2019 said Dr. Trinidad Solis, Fresno County\u2019s Deputy Public Health Officer. Dr. Solis says those precautions include getting the flu and COVID vaccines when they come out this fall and also practicing good hygiene. \u2018It\u2019s important to teach our kids to wash their hands regularly and practice good respiratory hygiene, meaning that if they\u2019re coughing or sneezing, they can do so in their sleeve instead of their hands,\u2019 said Dr. Solis.\u201d \u2022 [pounds head on desk]. After four years. What a catastrophic failure of public health (if failure it be). Could be a bumpy ride, given that levels are already high\u2026 <\/p>\n
\u201cAs students head back to class, are schools ready to handle COVID-19?\u201d [ABC7]. \u201c[Kim Baumann, the lead nurse in Gwinnett County] said one of the ways officials are preparing for the new school year is to send reminders through schools\u2019 newsletters, websites and other media about best practices to stay safe, including \u2018Good hand washing, (and) using respiratory hygiene, as far as covering your coughs and sneezes.\u2019 Baumann also said there is a team of custodians who make sure schools, particularly in high-touch areas, are cleaned and sanitized throughout the day, especially during peak season of respiratory viruses.\u201d \u2022 [sigh]. Not a word on ventilation:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/adams_schools.png\")
<\/p>\n
One would think the \u201cschool closures were the end of Western Civilization\u201d-crowd would be pushing for ventilation and masking with equal vehemence, but n-o-o-o-o-o\u2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cMid-South elementary school shuts down due to COVID cases\u201d [FOX13] \u201cHUMBOLDT, Tenn. \u2013 Just days into the new school year, one Mid-South elementary school has already had to shut down due to an uptick in COVID cases. Students at Stigall Primary School in Humboldt, Tenn., about 90 miles northeast of Memphis, started school on August 1. Parents told FOX13 that they got a letter on Monday night from the district telling them that students needed to stay home Tuesday as the district works to sanitize the building. \u2018Everyone\u2019s like, \u2018COVID is back, COVID is back,\u2019 Jessica Williamson, a parent of a first grader at Stigall Primary, said. \u2018I just feel like it didn\u2019t really go anywhere.’\u201d You feel that way because it is that way. More: \u201cIt\u2019s the second full week of school for Stigall Primary School students, but instead of math class and recess, Williamson\u2019s daughter and her classmates are at home. \u2018Those are little kids. They\u2019re the most prone to put things in their mouths, to touch each other, to just share germs,\u2019 Willamson said.\u201d Fomite transmission is not a thing. More: \u201cYesterday, after all the students left the school, there was a deep clean done, disinfecting every surface,\u2019 Ginger Carver, the communications director for the school district, said. \u2018This way, the school is dormant today with no one in it.’\u201d \u2022 Fomites are not a thing, so deep cleaning is useless. Four years in, and we don\u2019t understand transmission. We haven\u2019t even made the effort to understand transmission, even to protect our children\u2026. What a mess.<\/p>\n
Sequelae: Covid<\/p>\n
\u201cLong COVID is a $1 trillion problem with no cure. Experts plead for governments to wake up\u201d [Fortune]. \u201c\u2018I think they (government agencies) are itching to pretend that COVID is over and that long COVID does not exist,\u2019 says Ziyad Al-Aly, director of the Clinical Epidemiology Center at Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System and lead author of the review. \u2018It is much more pleasant to pretend as if emergency department visits and hospitalizations haven\u2019t been rising sharply this summer.\u2019\u2026 In a Nature Medicine review this week, Al-Aly and several other top researchers lay out a difficult truth: Long COVID has already affected an estimated 400 million people worldwide, a number the authors say is likely conservative, at an economic cost of about $1 trillion annually\u2014equivalent to 1% of the global economy. Moreover, the risk of a person being hit with long COVID rises with repeated infections of the virus itself, and recent COVID activity has experts watching closely. As review co-author Eric Topol noted in a recent blog post, the current COVID incursion is ramping up quickly, with one modeler estimating 900,000 new infections per day in the U.S. alone.\u201d \u2022 A million per day? That\u2019s a lot. And \u201cincursion\u201d is a new word. I rather like it. At least it implies an enemy to be fought; one doesn\u2019t \u201clive with\u201d incursions.<\/p>\n
Elite Maleficence<\/p>\n
CDC\u2019s bogus wastewater map:<\/p>\n
CDC Wastewater Map pic.twitter.com\/kGk46t5GjA<\/p>\n
\u2014 PACO (@PacoOnPause) August 13, 2024<\/p>\n
Give whoever made this decision a big bonus, because it\u2019s a fine example of stochastic eugencism (the colors are going to lead X number of people to conclude Covid is no problem \u2014 \u201cIt\u2019s blue!\u201d \u2014 and X percent of those people will take no precautions, infect themselves or others, and X percent of them will sicken or die, adding another tranche to America\u2019s quasi-geological layering of mortality. I hope the yoga on the lawn makes up for it all:<\/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
Upcoming HICPAC meeting:<\/p>\n
CDC’s committee meets on Aug 22 to discuss foundational guidelines on airborne infection control in nursing homes, hospitals & other health facilities. Will it update w\/new science?<\/p>\n
Many fear it won’t, allowing employers to put profits before protection. <\/p>\n
\u2014 Amy Maxmen, PhD (@amymaxmen) August 13, 2024<\/p>\n
WHO still pushing \u201cBaggy Blues.\u201d After four years:<\/p>\n
Going home from work? <\/p>\n
Take care and #WearAMask when in crowded transportation. Help keep yourself and everyone safe from COVID-19, flu and other respiratory illnesses. #StaySafe pic.twitter.com\/SCCeKvVI37<\/p>\n
\u2014 World Health Organization (WHO) Western Pacific (@WHOWPRO) August 14, 2024<\/p>\n
Couldn\u2019t they at least signal one respirator by using white?<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts<\/p>\n
Lambert here: Worth noting that national Emergency Room admissions are as high as they were in the first wave, in 2020.<\/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. Keeps spreading.<\/p>\n
[2] (CDC) Last week\u2019s wastewater map.<\/p>\n
[3] (CDC Variants) KP.* very popular.<\/p>\n
[4] (ER) Worth noting Emergency Department use is now on a par with the first wave, in 2020.<\/p>\n
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Going down. Doesn\u2019t need to be a permanent thing, of course. (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). The visualization suppresses what is, in percentage terms, a significant increase.<\/p>\n
[7] (Walgreens) Fiddling and diddling.<\/p>\n
[8] (Cleveland) Jumping.<\/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 range. 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) It\u2019s rumored that there\u2019s a new variant in China, XDV.1, but it\u2019s not showing up here.<\/p>\n
[11] Deaths low, but positivity up.<\/p>\n
[12] Deaths low, ED up.<\/p>\n
Stats Watch<\/p>\n
Inflation: \u201cUnited States Consumer Price Index (CPII)\u201d [Trading Economics]. \u201cConsumer Price Index CPI in the United States increased to 314.54 points in July from 314.18 points in June of 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inflation: \u201cUnited States Core Inflation Rate\u201d [Trading Economics]. \u201cConsumer Price Index CPI in the United States increased to 314.54 points in July from 314.18 points in June of 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Retail: \u201cApartments, hockey rinks and Amazon warehouses: Macy\u2019s closures will set off a wave of change at shopping malls\u201d [CNBC]. \u201cMacy\u2019s decision to close nearly a third of its stores will spark change in malls and communities across the U.S. Some of those transformations may catch shoppers by surprise. The retailer said in late February that it plans to close about 150 of its namesake locations by early 2027. Macy\u2019s has not yet revealed which stores it will shutter\u2026. Yet the closures will be the latest catalyst that pressures malls to evolve to changing consumer tastes. Macy\u2019s is shuttering stores as the growth of online shopping and demographic shifts mean some small towns or regions can no longer support a bustling shopping center. Macy\u2019s closures will ultimately be a good thing for many malls and customers, said Chris Wimmer, senior director at Fitch Ratings who tracks real estate investment trusts. The department store\u2019s exit will accelerate the inevitable demise of \u2018low quality malls that really don\u2019t need to exist anymore,\u2019 Wimmer said. The closures will give the owners of healthier malls a chance to breathe new life and relevance into a shopping center.\u201d<\/p>\n
Retail: \u201cBig Lots is closing hundreds of stores after warning it could go out of business\u201d [CNN]. \u201cBig Lots is closing more than 300 locations across the United States, or roughly a quarter of its stores, following an earlier warning that its future was in \u2018substantial doubt\u2019 amid ongoing financial troubles. The discount retailer previously said it planned to close as many as 40 stores during its most recent earnings report in June, when it recorded a 10% decrease in sales and a $205 million loss for the quarter because customers are cutting back on spending. In a recent regulatory filing, Big Lots said it would increase the number of closures to 315 stores, part of an updated loan agreement to secure its finances.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tech: \u201cHackers may have stolen the Social Security numbers of every American. Here\u2019s how to protect yourself\u201d [Los Angeles Times]. \u201cAccording to a class-action lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the hacking group USDoD claimed in April to have stolen personal records of 2.9 billion people from National Public Data, which offers personal information to employers, private investigators, staffing agencies and others doing background checks. The group offered in a forum for hackers to sell the data, which included records from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, for $3.5 million, a cybersecurity expert said in a post on X\u2026. The information consists of about 2.7 billion records, each of which includes a person\u2019s full name, address, date of birth, Social Security number and phone number, along with alternate names and birth dates, Felice claimed.\u201d And this: \u201cOddly enough, [new] accounts are especially vulnerable to identity thieves if you haven\u2019t signed up for online access to them, Murray said \u2014 that\u2019s because it\u2019s easier for thieves to create a login and password while pretending to be you than it is for them to crack your existing login and password.\u201d \u2022 Onward to digital currency!<\/p>\n
Tech: \u201cEntangled Photons Maintained under New York Streets\u201d [Physics]. \u201cLarge-scale networks that distribute information among quantum processors or that use quantum encryption for the security of a large number of systems will require many pairs of quantum mechanically entangled photons per second. Sending these photons reliably through existing commercial fiber-optic communication lines is a challenge, given the fragility of entanglement. Now researchers have sent 20,000 such photons per second down a 34-km-long section of a New York fiber-optic network with a fidelity of 99% [1]. They sent these photons continuously for two weeks without the frequent recalibrations needed in previous systems with lower photon rates. The researchers say that their results are an important step toward the commercialization of quantum networks\u2026. A team led by Mehdi Namazi, cofounder of New York-based start-up Qunnect, set out to produce a high-throughput, high-fidelity system using polarization entanglement. Qunnect\u2019s GothamQ test bed is a 34-km loop of leased commercial fiber buried beneath the streets of New York City. Like any commercial fiber-optic network, GothamQ had sources of stress on the fibers that were impossible to identify, let alone isolate and mitigate. So the researchers had to devise a way to compensate for them.\u201d \u2022\u00a0New York because New York is a financial center? \u201cPhoton arbitrage\u201d?<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 24 Exreme Fear (previous close: 23 Extreme Fear) [CNN]. One week ago: 23 (Extreme Fear). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Aug 13 at 1:21:45 PM ET.<\/p>\n
News of the Wired<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Curse of Knowledge\u201d [Ness Labs]. \u201cIt\u2019s a cognitive bias that occurs when someone incorrectly assumes that others have enough background to understand\u2026. One of the most famous illustrations of the curse of knowledge is a 1990 experiment which was conducted at Stanford by a graduate student named Elizabeth Newton. In this study, she asked a group of participants to \u2018tap out\u2019 famous songs with their fingers, while another group tried to name the melodies. When the \u2018tappers\u2019 were asked to predict how many of the songs would be recognised by the listeners, they would always overestimate. The \u2018tappers\u2019 were so familiar with what they were tapping, they assumed listeners would easily recognize the melody. These findings have interesting implications. For example, research suggests that sales people who are better informed about their product may be at a disadvantage compared to less-informed sales people. This is because the better-informed sales people fail to adjust their pitch to the level of knowledge of their prospects. Since the knowledge gap is smaller, lesser-informed sales people also find it easier to align on a pricing that both parties deem acceptable.\u201d \u2022 Hmm.<\/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 Alpha Blob:<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Alpha Blob writes: \u201cPitcher plant from Maine.\u201d<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not covered by the annual NC fundraiser. Material here is Lambert\u2019s, and does not express the views of the Naked Capitalism site. 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
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