By Lambert Strether of Corrente<\/p>\n
Bird Song of the Day<\/p>\n
Catbirds are in the Mimidae species (!), like mockingbird and thrashers. Readers have said they like the mimicry, so hopefully MacCaulay Library has enough recordings to keep us all satisfied, at least for a time.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Black Catbird, Planta de Tratamiento de Aguas Residuales de San Miguel, Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s too soon to tell\u201d.
\nDetective sought for Kamala mask video.
\nPandemics are mobility-borne.<\/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_2024-08-23.png\")
<\/p>\n
Good news for Trump in that last week\u2019s deterioration seems to have been slowed, although we shall have to see if Kamala gets a convention \u201cbounce.\u201d Remember, however, that all the fluctuations \u2014 in fact, all the leads \u2014 are within the margin of error. If you read most of the press, you\u2019d think Kamala has this race in the bag. It\u2019s not so. Do note, however, Trump\u2019s deterioration in North Carolina: +2.4 last week to +0.9 this week, when OG pollster Sabato moved it to \u201ctoss-up\u201d status from \u201clean Republican.\u201d No wonder Trump held a rally there this week. NOTE With Kennedy, it would seem, about to drop out, I started tracking the national percentage as \u201cTop Battlegrounds,\u201d where Trump\u2019s shrinking lead is +0.1 this week (as opposed to \u201c5-Way RCP Average, where Harris led by +1.1 last week).<\/p>\n
\u201cWho Is Favored To Win The 2024 Presidential Election?\u201d [FiveThirtyEight]. No longer Nate Silver, as reader have reminded me. \u201cn Friday, Aug. 23, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced he was suspending his campaign for president and endorsed former President Donald Trump. The endorsement from Kennedy, at 4 percent in the popular vote in our forecast, has the ability to give Trump a crucial boost in battleground states. Our model forecast a 4-in-10 chance that Kennedy\u2019s vote share in November would be larger than the margin for either Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris in at least one decisive state. Both candidates will likely welcome that probability going to zero. It is difficult, however, to provide a quick analysis of RFK\u2019s impact on the race. On the one hand, his impact on our polling average is small and Kennedy\u2019s voters mostly otherwise look like strong partisans. But it is not so easy for a forecasting model to react to such a sharp change in the race, mainly because it needs data (from the polls) to do so. Although you and I know that Kennedy endorsed Trump, which should in theory help him a little, the model does not have access to that information until it sees polling data showing such a shift. Programming the model a different way would require us to speculate, mostly with ad hoc rationalization, about the future trajectory of the race. We prefer to leave such forecasting to the model. Readers should expect our model to react to this news over the next week, if Kennedy\u2019s endorsement of Trump does in fact change the polls.\u201d \u2022 Hard to say \u201cIt\u2019s too soon to tell\u201d in a hundred- now seventy-day race, but it\u2019s too soon to tell. Absent another staggering event, I\u2019d say \u201cit\u2019s too soon to tell\u201d will persist all the way to the end of the race.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s too soon to tell:<\/p>\n
Checked in with sources in MI WI and PA today and all of them said the race is essentially tied \u2014 within the margin of error. <\/p>\n
\u2014 Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) August 26, 2024<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s wait a week, then see!<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Kamala (D): \u201cBlack Lives Matter Statement on Kamala Harris Securing Enough Delegates to Become Democratic Nominee\u201d [Black Lives Matter]: <\/p>\n
While Joe Biden wasn\u2019t our preferred candidate, we cannot ignore the troubling actions of the Democratic Party:<\/p>\n
The DNC refused to host debates during the primary, even though a vast majority of Democratic voters wanted them. This would have likely allowed America to see the decline of Joe Biden in 2023.
\nThe DNC changed the primary schedule and created rules that made it almost impossible for non-Biden candidates to appear on the ballot, effectively clearing the field of any challengers to the incumbent president.
\nFollowing the primary where millions of Black voters weighed in, after one poor debate performance, the DNC Party elites and billionaire donors bullied Joe Biden out of the race.<\/p>\n
Now, Democratic Party elites and billionaire donors are attempting to manipulate Black voters by anointing Kamala Harris and an unknown vice president as the new Democratic ticket without a primary vote by the public. This blatant disregard for democratic principles is unacceptable. While the potential outcome of a Harris presidency may be historic, the process to achieve it must align with true democratic values. We have no idea where Kamala Harris stands on the issues, now that she has assumed Joe Biden\u2019s place, and we have no idea of the record of her potential vice president because we don\u2019t even know who it is yet.<\/p>\n
They sound just like Kennedy. More:<\/p>\n
The DEI talking point is already out there (although as a Republican talking point.)<\/p>\n
Kamala (D): \u201c\u2018Simply put, they are out of their minds\u2019: Kamala Harris won\u2019t let Republicans hide their misogyny\u201d [Amanda Marcotte, Salon]. \u2022 I didn\u2019t know Marcotte was still typing.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Trump (R): \u201cThe Case for Staying Nervous in the Slog Ahead\u201d [The Bulwark]. \u201cBounces following conventions have thinned in recent cycles because rising polarization has yielded fewer swing voters. Hillary Clinton received an 8-point bounce after her convention and then lost to Trump. Trump is surely flailing, unable to command the attention he once could, and self-destructing because of it. The odds are that at the debate scheduled for September 10, the real Trump will show up, be an asshole, and lose.\u201d \u2022 That Trump is an asshole is already priced in. The question is when and how (I mean, was Trump an asshole when he said Biden \u201cbeat it to death\u201d on Medicare? Certainly. Did he win the debate and knock Biden out of the race? He did.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Kennedy (I): \u201cRFK Jr. says he\u2019s been tapped for Trump\u2019s transition team\u201d [Axios]. \u201cRobert F. Kennedy Jr. told Tucker Carlson during an interview that aired Monday that he was asked to join former President Trump\u2019s presidential transition team, and he\u2019s \u2018looking forward to that.’\u201d \u2022 In my hot take on Kennedy\u2019s enlistment in the Trump campaign, I emphasized the \u201cfuzziness\u201d of Kennedy\u2019s future position in the executive branch. Anybody who remembers what happened to the Sandernistas on the Biden transition team will look askance at this.<\/p>\n
Kennedy (I): \u201cWill RFK Jr.\u2019s endorsement swing the election to Trump?\u201d [The Hill]. \u201cMillions upon millions of Americans feel totally disenfranchised by a system seemingly rigged to benefit the elites. For a multitude of reasons, Kennedy may be the best person to grab their attention and convince a number to either cast their vote for Trump or switch their vote from Harris. Even a 1 percent swing in Trump\u2019s favor could make all the difference in states such as Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina. By attacking Kennedy, Biden-Harris, the Democratic powerbrokers and much of the mainstream media foolishly awakened a sleeping giant \u2014 one who, because of his own exceptional body of work and his still-revered family name, has tremendous rapport with and respect from minority communities; blue collar workers; rust belt workers; union workers; parents of children with chronic diseases; communities dealing with polluted lands and waterways; young voters; independent voters; and the disenfranchised.\u201d \u2022 Maybe. It\u2019s. Too. Soon. To. Tell.<\/p>\n
Realignment and Legitimacy<\/p>\n
\u201cSwing States Notch Major Victories For Election Integrity\u201d [Association of Mature American CItizens]. I won\u2019t be joining this one! \u201cElection integrity\u201d (\u201cNever eat at a place called Mom\u2019s\u201d) is a term to watch out for. But this is a good compendium of actions taken at the state level, including paper ballots.<\/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: H5N1<\/p>\n
\u201c\u201dPROPAGANDIZED?\u201d Media and Federal Avian Flu Responses Stress Covid-Era Trust Issues Amid mRNA Push\u201d [Beef News]. \u201c\u2018It\u2019s almost as if the public has been propagandized,\u2019 Thornsberry said during a phone interview with BeefNews. \u2018For whatever reason, the media and the USDA have really downplayed the impacts of this virus on dairy farms, while misleading the public on human risks.\u2019 Following the devastating Texas panhandle fires in early March, dairy farms in the Texas Panhandle began to notice a decrease in milk production in a few lactating cows. Initially, symptoms were thought to be connected to the fires, until some cows began discharging thick, yellow milk, about the consistency of Elmer\u2019s glue. Tests for mastitis came back negative as other symptoms began to present in a small percentage of the regional dairy herd. According to the presentation, about 20 percent of the Texas dairy herd Petersen oversaw began going off their feed and salivating excessively. A smaller percent of the herd (about 5 percent) exhibited significant symptoms\u2014such as high fevers between 105-107 degrees. As one of the first veterinarians on the front lines, Petersen ran every test she could think of, but they all came back negative. Casting a wider net, Petersen sent in samples to test for Avian Flu, which then came back as positive. While the virus itself winds down, the media narrative and federal regulations are ramping up\u2014neither of which appear to be helpful.\u201d \u2022 Good to see Peterson get a shout-out. I hadn\u2019t known the Texas Panhandle fire was a possible precursor. But as for \u201cthe virus itself winds down\u201d, how would we know that? (I suppose if State Fair season ends without a major outbreak, we can breathe a sigh of relief, but that method seems a little rough-and-ready.)<\/p>\n
Vaccines: Covid<\/p>\n
One hates to attribute motive, but the continuing FDA hold-up on Novavas doesn\u2019t explicable on either a health or public policy basis:<\/p>\n
When you have Redfield saying the obvious and more effective vaccine is from NOVAVAX\u2026..
Maybe @US_FDA and @CDCDirector should think about life being more important than Moderna and Pfizer\u2019s PROFITS and your future career moves <\/p>\n
\u2014 Evaluar (@bio_evaluar) August 18, 2024<\/p>\n
Transmission: Monkeypox<\/p>\n
Pandemics are mobility-borne:<\/p>\n
You have dozens if not hundreds of flights departing a hot zone hosting a novel Mpox clade with a current mortality rate of close to 4%. You just can\u2019t make this stuff up. pic.twitter.com\/10p5NjGqYS<\/p>\n
\u2014 Michael (@mrmickme2) August 27, 2024<\/p>\n
Norman, Bar-Yam, and Taleb got this exactly right in January 2020 (!): \u201cGlobal connectivity is at an all-time high\u2026 Fundamentally, viral contagion events depend on the interaction of agents in physical space\u2026 With increasing transportation we are close to a transition to conditions in which extinction becomes certain both because of rapid spread and because of the selective dominance of increasingly worse pathogens\u2026. [T]hese observations lead to the necessity of a precautionary approach to current and potential pandemic outbreaks that must include constraining mobility patterns in the early stages of an outbreak, especially when little is known about the true parameters of the pathogen\u2026. It will cost something to reduce mobility in the short term, but to fail do so will eventually cost everything\u2014if not from this event, then one in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elite Maleficence<\/p>\n
Although I had hoped to post on masking at the DNC, the clock ran out. Tomorrow, a big round-up. However, as soon as the DNC masking story got traction, this Tiktok video from a Harris-affilated site, in which Kamala is masked, started propagating on the Twitter. Are there any detectives in the readership? Here\u2019s the video:<\/p>\n
@2024voteharris \u201cI was waiting to talk to you\u201d \ud83e\udd79 #kamalaharris #harris2024 #trump #trump2024 #democrat #election #republican #unitedstates #usa \u266c original sound \u2013 HARRIS 2024 <\/p>\n
Reader detective, can you run down when and where this video was recorded? \u201cI was waiting to talk to you\u201d doesn\u2019t show up anywhere but in this video and derivatives (i.e., not in any reporting). So far as I can tell, Kamala was not scheduled to appear at any schools after the convention, so the video was recorded beforehand. But how much before? I\u2019m guessing when the Biden administration still recommended masking, but Lambert the Cautious would like to be sure. Thank you! (Stylish black masks, though. They weren\u2019t easy for a lot of people to get.)<\/p>\n
CDC and CMS move, one hopes, in response to pressure for good data:<\/p>\n
Thanks to everyone’s advocacy, CMS will be requiring hospitals to report key COVID, flu, and RSV data again, after the CDC ended this requirement earlier this year. <\/p>\n
\u2014 Dr. Lucky Tran (@luckytran) August 23, 2024<\/p>\n
Maybe if HICPAC can manage to get a quorum together for the next meeting, they\u2019ll do something equally sensible and require universal masking in hospital settings.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts<\/p>\n
Lambert here: Readers, I apologize for butchering the table formatting yesterday; I just spent some time reformating the HTML so it\u2019s not so fragile. Do feel free to bring formatting issues to my attention in comments.<\/p>\n
Wastewater<\/p>\n
This week[1] CDC August 20:<\/p>\n
Last Week[2] CDC (until next week):<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-2.png\")
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-1.png\")
<\/p>\n
Variants [3] CDC August 17<\/p>\n
\u2605 Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC August 17 <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/covid-cdc-variants-natl-2.png\")
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/covid-cdc-ed-natl.png\")
<\/p>\n
Hospitalization<\/p>\n
New York[5] New York State, data August 23:<\/p>\n
\u2605 National [6] CDC August 10:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/covid-ny-hospitalization-nyc-11.png\")
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/covid-cdc-hospitalization-natl-3.png\")
<\/p>\n
Positivity<\/p>\n
National[7] Walgreens August 20:<\/p>\n
Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic August 17:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/covid-walgreens-positivity-states-1.png\")
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/covid-cleveland-positivity-oh-2.png\")
<\/p>\n
Travelers Data<\/p>\n
Positivity[9] CDC July 29:
\n Variants[10] CDC July 29:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-2.png\")
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-2.png\")
<\/p>\n
Deaths<\/p>\n
Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11]CDC August 10:<\/p>\n
Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12]CDC August 10:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/covid-cdc-death-positivity-natl.png\")
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/covid-cdc-ed-natl-1.png\")
<\/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. XDV.1 flat.<\/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
Lambert here: Since things are bad out on the West Coast, I went looking for California hospitalization data to compare with New York\u2019s, and found this: \u201cDue to changes in reporting requirements for hospitals, CDPH is no longer including hospitalization data on the CDPH dashboard. CDPH remains committed to monitoring the severe outcomes of COVID-19 and influenza, including the impact on hospitals. CDC\u2019s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) will remain open to accept data, and CDC and CDPH strongly encourage all facilities to continue reporting.\u201d Thanks, Mandy!<\/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) The new variant in China, XDV.1, is 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
There are no official statistics of interest today.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Tech: \u201cThe Root Causes of Failure for Artificial Intelligence Projects and How They Can Succeed\u201d [RAND]. \u201cBy some estimates, more than 80 percent of AI projects fail \u2014 twice the rate of failure for information technology projects that do not involve AI. Thus, understanding how to translate AI\u2019s enormous potential into concrete results remains an urgent challenge. The findings and recommendations of this report should be of interest to the U.S. Department of Defense, which has been actively looking for ways to use AI, along with other leaders in government and the private sector who are considering using AI\/ML.\u201d \u2022 The \u201croot cause\u201d bullet points address neither AI bullshit (not \u201challucinations,\u201d bullshit) nor AI training set theft. Other than that, this page might have been machine-generated from some combination of pre-existing white paper slop.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 55 Neutral (previous close: 52 Neutral) [CNN]. One week ago: 46 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Aug 26 at 1:32:02 PM ET.<\/p>\n
Rapture Index: Closes unchanged [Rapture Ready]. Record High, October 10, 2016: 182. Current: 183. (Remember that bringing on the Rapture is good.) \u2022 Hard to believe the Rapture Index is going down. Where are there people getting their news?<\/p>\n
Gallery<\/p>\n
Pissaro paints the night sky better than I can photograph it:<\/p>\n
Boulevard Montmartre at Night by Camille Pissarro pic.twitter.com\/yNml5RUUH0<\/p>\n
\u2014 Impressions (@impression_ists) August 27, 2024<\/p>\n
I\u2019m a little suspicious of this account \u2014 it is AI? but the juxtapositions are still interesting. Thread:<\/p>\n
A thread on famous paintings that influenced some of cinema’s most iconic film scenes.. You’ll be surprised by some of these..!<\/p>\n
1. Alien 3, directed by David Fincher<\/p>\n
Reference to : Girl\u2019s Head beside a Skull by Rex Whistler pic.twitter.com\/wEbNHEIIc7<\/p>\n
\u2014 Wolf of X (@tradingMaxiSL) August 26, 2024<\/p>\n
News of the Wired<\/p>\n
\u201cEating the Birds of America: Audubon\u2019s Culinary Reviews of America\u2019s Birds\u201d [US Bird History]. \u201cWhether birds were large or small, familiar or obscure, palatable or nauseating, Audubon made sampling their meat a part of his extensive process of studying America\u2019s birds for his Ornithological Biography, or, An account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, a five-volume text that would accompany the 435 paintings that composed his Birds of America, for which he gained his fame. Alongside a description of each bird\u2019s appearance, diet, behavior, and breeding habits, Audubon frequently included a reflection on the taste of the bird\u2019s flesh.\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 IM:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/douglas_fir.jpeg\")
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IM writes: \u201cIt\u2019s that time of year. Is it a sunset photo or a plant photo? If you are on team plant, it is Doug Fir * 4 starting from the left, then a Gingko. If on team sunset, it is Aug 2 at about the 49th parallel.\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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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!\n<\/p>\n
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