2:00PM Water Cooler 5/11/2023 | bare capitalism

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By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Hen Track of the Day

Little Nightjar, Santa Rosa de la Roca, Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Night time sounds, too.

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Politics

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

2024

I suppose it’s time for the Countdown Clock!

* * *

“Kaitlan Collins Interviews Former President Donald Trump in CNN’S Republican Presidential City Corridor” (transcript) [CNN]. Took endlessly to dig this out; the press appears to imagine I need to know what they are saying Trump stated, as an alternative of what Trump stated. Some snippets:

COLLINS: Would you like Ukraine to win this battle?

TRUMP: I don’t suppose by way of profitable and dropping. I feel by way of getting it settled, so cease killing all these folks and breaking down these (inaudible).

(APPLAUSE)

COLLINS: What are your — can I simply follow-up on that? You stated you don’t suppose by way of profitable or dropping.

TRUMP: One in all issues you must do is you must get the — you must get —

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: Mr. President, can I simply follow-up on that? As a result of that’s a extremely vital assertion that you simply simply made there.

TRUMP: Excuse me, let me simply comply with up.

COLLINS: Are you able to say in order for you Ukraine or Russia to win this battle?

TRUMP: I would like everyone to cease dying. They’re dying. Russians and Ukrainians, I would like them to cease dying.

(APPLAUSE)

And I’ll have that executed –I’ll have that executed in 24 hours. I’ll have it executed. You want the ability of the presidency to do it.

Collins appeared to suppose her query was an actual zinger. It wasn’t. Now, on condition that america just isn’t agreement-capable, 24 hours appears just a little optimistic. However no one can say that, not even Trump! Extra on Ukraine:

COLLINS: Do you imagine Putin is a battle prison? He’s answerable for the deaths of 1000’s of women and men and civilians.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Effectively, I feel this — I feel it’s one thing that it needs to be mentioned now, it needs to be mentioned later. As a result of proper now, now we have to get a battle — if you happen to say he’s a battle prison, it’s going to be so much harder to make a deal to get this factor cease. If he’s going to be a battle prison the place individuals are going to seize him and execute him, he’s going to combat so much more durable than he’s preventing underneath the opposite circumstance. That’s one thing to be mentioned at a later day.

COLLINS: Isn’t it vital to name it what it’s?

TRUMP: Proper now, we need to get that battle settled. And I’m not speaking in regards to the cash both, I’m speaking about all of the lives which might be being — the variety of folks being killed in that battle is much larger than you might be listening to.

Effectively, at the very least we all know that Trump is saner than Tony Blinken. In fact, that’s a low bar. Curiously, a ton of pearl-clutching in regards to the Presidential Information Act, nothing in any respect on Covid. Right here’s an alternate on The Financial system:

RIEGER: My query is relating to the economic system. Over the previous two years, now we have seen the costs for all the pieces skyrocket from meals to gasoline to utilities and insurance coverage prices. Many individuals’s payments are up a number of hundred {dollars} a month, together with mine. If elected president once more, what’s the very first thing you’ll do to assist carry down the price to make issues extra inexpensive?

TRUMP: Drill, child, drill.

[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]

TRUMP: We’re going to make it occur. Effectively, we had been power unbiased. We had been quickly going to be power dominant and no one had ever executed what I did.

We received oil all the way down to $1.87. Really, it fell decrease than that in some instances, we needed to save the oil firms the value was getting so — we had been doing extremely. We had the best economic system within the historical past of our nation, most likely the best economic system within the historical past of the world.

We had been power unbiased, quickly to be power dominant. We are going to get to be larger than Russia and Saudi Arabia put collectively occasions two.

We’ve extra liquid gold underneath our ft than every other nation, every other nation. And these silly fools ended it and power went from $1.87 and even decrease for gasoline for a automotive, they went from $1.87 to 5, six, seven, eight and even 9 {dollars}.

And your electrical energy payments went by the roof, your heating payments went by the roof. And that’s what began inflation and it hasn’t stopped as a result of individuals are paying now for bacon and for eggs two and 3 times what it was just a bit whereas in the past. We created the best economic system in historical past.

A giant a part of that economic system was what received you the largest tax cuts within the historical past of our nation, larger than the Reagan cuts, larger than any —

[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]

TRUMP: And likewise, Kaitlan, additionally, as you recognize, we received the largest regulation and regulatory cuts.

This place was rocking, after which we got a present from China and China paid a giant value. And let me let you know one thing, I took in lots of of billions of {dollars} in taxes from China. However previous to COVID coming in, after which I rebuilt the economic system once more a second time.

However we had previous to COVID coming in from China, from Wuhan, which I stated it got here from Wuhan. All people says, oh, you’re incorrect about that. You’re incorrect.

It got here from Wuhan. I stated it proper from day one.

So we had the best economic system on the earth. Here’s a story. They made power so excessive and power is all invasive. It’s huge as an business and as a value. It lifted all the pieces.

In the event you made donuts —

He by no means did get to complete the donut riff, sadly. Trump appears to be in high quality fettle, to me. DeSantis higher be careful….

“CNN’s Trump Discussion board Was a Bracing Preview of Political Protection to Come” [New York Times]. “Even Mr. Trump seemed stumped when Ms. Collins requested, succinctly, “Would you like Ukraine to win this battle?” (He wouldn’t give a straight reply.)” • Trump completely gave a straight reply (as you’ll be able to see above).

“Disgrace on CNN for That Bare, Cynical Play for Fox Viewers” [The New Republic]. • It’s nearly just like the PMC suppose that CNN is a element of the Democrat Get together, as an alternative of being a enterprise. What’s incorrect with attracting viewers?

“Tonight is the primary main of 2024” [Politico]. Effectively, no it’s not, as a result of in a main there are voters. Extra: “Relying on his efficiency, the occasion will present both the catalytic impact of an early state victory or function the destabilizing affect essential to dislodge him from frontrunner standing. For starters, we’ll uncover the boundaries of his newly professionalized marketing campaign. His political operation is best organized, and extra tactical and forward-thinking than his earlier two presidential bids. Is Trump a extra disciplined candidate who can function inside that construction?” • It might be fascinating to get some precise reporting. As far as I can inform, the press has its brains so damaged they will’t do this anymore.

Democrats en Déshabillé

Affected person readers, plainly individuals are truly studying the back-dated submit! However I’ve not up to date it, and there are various updates. So I must do this. –lambert

I’ve moved my standing remarks on the Democrat Get together (“the Democrat Get together is a rotting corpse that may’t bury itself”) to a separate, back-dated submit, to which I’ll periodically add materials, summarizing the addition right here in a “dwell” Water Cooler. (Hopefully, some Bourdieu.) It seems that defining the Democrat Get together is, in actual fact, a tough drawback. I do suppose the paragraph that follows is on level all the way in which again to 2016, if not earlier than:

The Democrat Get together is the political expression of the category energy of PMC, their base (lucidly defined by Thomas Frank in Pay attention, Liberal!). ; if the Democrat Get together didn’t exist, the PMC must invent it. . (“PMC” modulo “class expatriates,” in fact.) Second, all of the working elements of the Get together reinforce one another. Go away apart characterizing the relationships between components of the Get together (ka-ching, however not completely) these components comprise a community — a Flex Web? An iron octagon? — of funders, distributors, apparatchiks, electeds, NGOs, and miscellaneous mercenaries, with property within the press and the intelligence group.

Notice, in fact, that the category energy of the PMC each expresses and is restricted by different courses; oligarchs and American gentry (see ‘industrial mannequin’ of Ferguson, Jorgensen, and Jie) and the working class spring to thoughts. Suck up, kick down.

* * *

“Democratic donors hope to recruit NBA legends Grant Hill and Dwyane Wade to run for Senate in Florida” [NBC]. • We are able to’t ship, so let’s run a star.

“Manchin attacked EPA’s new guidelines. They may value him hundreds of thousands” [Politico]. “The West Virginia Democrat vowed to oppose President Joe Biden’s EPA nominees as a result of the company’s guidelines being proposed Thursday may push coal- and gas-fired energy vegetation ‘out of existence,’ he stated. The danger to at least one plant, particularly, may jeapordize a profitable supply of cash for Manchin. His household enterprise Enersystems Inc. delivers waste coal to the Grant City energy plant, a financially struggling coal facility close to Manchin’s hometown that he has spent a lot of his political profession defending…. Final 12 months, Manchin earned $537,000 from Enersystems, in accordance with monetary disclosure information he filed with the Senate. He has been paid greater than $5 million by the corporate since being elected to the Senate in 2010. The Grant City plant is the primary facility to obtain coal from Manchin’s household enterprise. Enersystems is now run by Manchin’s son, Joe Manchin IV.” • Can’t anyone simply purchase the dude to close him up?

#COVID19

“I’m in earnest — I can’t equivocate — I can’t excuse — I can’t retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison

Assets, United States (Nationwide): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; contains many counties); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, however nationwide information).

Lambert right here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. We at the moment are as much as 50/50 states (100%). That is actually nice! (It happens to me that there are makes use of to which this information is perhaps put, past serving to folks with “private threat assessments” acceptable to their state. For instance, pondering pessimistically, we’d keep the checklist and see which states go darkish and when. We’d additionally tabulate the properties of every website and search for variations and commonalities, for instance the usage of GIS (an train in Federalism). I don’t that CA stays just a little sketchy; it feels just a little odd that there’s no statewide website, however I’ve by no means been capable of finding one. Additionally, my working assumption was that every state would have one website. That’s turned out to not be true; see e.g. ID. Trivially, it means I have to punctuate this checklist correctly. Much less trivially, there could also be extra native websites that needs to be added. NY metropolis in NY state springs to thoughts, however I’m certain there are others. FL additionally springs to thoughts as a particular case, as a result of DeSantis will likely be a Presidental candidate, and IIRC there was some foofra about their state dashboard. Thanks once more!

Assets, United States (Native): AK (dashboard); AL (dashboard); AR (dashboard); AZ (dashboard); CA (dashboard; Marin); CO (dashboard; wastewater); CT (dashboard); DE (dashboard); FL (wastewater); GA (wastewater); HI (dashboard); IA (wastewater studies); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d’Alene; dashboard, Spokane County); IL (wastewater); IN (dashboard); KS (dashboard; wastewater, Lawrence); KY (dashboard, Louisville); LA (dashboard); MA (wastewater); MD (dashboard); ME (dashboard); MI (wastewater; wastewater); MN (dashboard); MO (wastewater); MS (dashboard); MT (dashboard); NC (dashboard); ND (dashboard; wastewater); NE (dashboard); NH (wastewater); NJ (dashboard); NM (dashboard); NV (dashboard; wastewater, Southern NV); NY (dashboard); OH (dashboard); OK (dashboard); OR (dashboard); PA (dashboard); RI (dashboard); SC (dashboard); SD (dashboard); TN (dashboard); TX (dashboard); UT (wastewater); VA (dashboard); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV (wastewater); WY (wastewater).

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

Assets, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usées); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).

Hat tricks to useful readers: Art_DogCT, B24S, CanCyn, ChiGal, Chuck L, Festoonic, FM, FreeMarketApologist (4), Gumbo, hop2it, JB, JEHR, JF, JL Joe, John, JM (9), JW, KatieBird, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (5), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, sq. coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Utah, Bob White (3).

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Search for the Helpers

“Covid-19 Sufferers Flung Out Hospital Home windows As Public Emergency Ends” [The Onion]. • The Onion, on level as typical (that’s the useful half).

Covid Is Airborne

Transportation air flow methods:

“Air Distribution — Followers, Private HEPA Filters, Plexiglass & Quick Vary Transmission” [Joey Fox, It’s Airborne]. “You possibly can provide clear air to an area, however that doesn’t essentially imply that folks can be respiratory it in. It’s attainable the air won’t ever make it into their respiratory zone. Air distribution offers with how properly that clear air is provided all through the area. It might additionally seek advice from problems with dead-spots — locations inside the zone the place the air just isn’t properly combined and the focus of pollution is greater. Whereas there are various kinds of air distribution programs, the overwhelming majority are mixing air flow programs and consequently, I can be coping with mixing air flow programs on this submit. The aim is for all of the clear air and pollution to be evenly distributed all through the area. If this doesn’t occur, the focus of pollution can be greater in some elements of the area and they’re going to pose an elevated threat to anybody situated there.” • This can be a nice weblog, and this submit is properly price a learn. What I want I had was a easy, easy guidelines of methods to assess the air distribution in a room. For instance, followers are good. Readers?

I don’t intention the “gasper” at my face; I intention it away from me, to blow air away. If anyone is coughing, I intention it at them. Can readers remark? (Buses have gaspers, too; I do the identical.)

Maskstravaganza

Masks victory #1, Stanford Lengthy Covid research:

And:

In fact, the Day by day Mail story (“Offended lengthy Covid sufferers abandon Stanford Medication research on an infection after employees cease sporting masks round them: ‘It’s frankly abhorrent, egocentric habits‘”) may need had one thing to do with it. (That is an unstated cause the PMC hates Twitter; the Mail story, and tales prefer it, would by no means occur with out Twitter.)

Masks victory #2, MGH:

We’re not the Day by day Mail, however we did submit on this three days in the past. MGH merely eliminated the ban on asking employees to masks. It might have been higher in the event that they affirmatively acknowledged that sufferers ought to make such a request. Additional, the requirement to put on an MGH “Dishevelled Blue” over your individual masks remains to be in place. Not solely may that break the seal by yourself masks, infecting you, it reveals that the MGH An infection Management Unit truly is aware of nothing no matter about masks:

So, if you happen to use a duckbill, you’ve received to crush it so MGH directors really feel good.

Do observe that it is a small victory. The actual aim needs to be to leverage the ADA to implement common masking. The Individuals’s CDC materials we revealed yesterday reveals how.

By no means give up!

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Nostril hack for dental appointments:


* * *

Trend:

Maybe. However the medical equipment look must be changed, or monkey-wrenched. (Masks, even non-woven masks, are cloth. Is there nothing that may be executed?)

* * *

Helpful analogies (1):

Helpful analogies (2):

Testing and Monitoring

“COVID cancels Thursday’s performances of Tina Turner musical” [Star Tribune]. • Movie star sightings is perhaps one of many few dependable metrics now we have left, if anyone’s aggregating the information.

“Breath evaluation by ultra-sensitive broadband laser spectroscopy detects SARS-CoV-2 an infection” [Journal of Breath Research]. “We investigated breath detection of SARS-CoV-2 an infection utilizing cavity-enhanced direct frequency comb spectroscopy (CE-DFCS), a state-of-the-art laser spectroscopic method able to a real-time huge assortment of broadband molecular absorption options at ro-vibrational quantum state decision and at parts-per-trillion quantity detection sensitivity. Utilizing a complete of 170 particular person breath samples (83 optimistic and 87 unfavourable with SARS-CoV-2 primarily based on reverse transcription polymerase chain response checks), we report glorious discrimination functionality for SARS-CoV-2 an infection with an space underneath the receiver-operating-characteristics curve of 0.849(4). Our outcomes help the event of CE-DFCS as a substitute, speedy, non-invasive check for COVID-19 and spotlight its outstanding potential for optical diagnoses of numerous organic situations and illness states.” • Or, ya know, you might use sniffer canine.

Transmission

“Excessive Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron An infection Regardless of Excessive Seroprevalence, Sweden, 2022” [Emerging Infectious Diseases, CDC]. The Summary: “We carried out 2 surveys throughout 2022 to estimate level prevalences of SARS-CoV-2 an infection in contrast with general viral seroprevalence in Sweden. Level prevalence was 1.4% in March and 1.5% in September. Estimated seroprevalence was >80%, together with amongst unvaccinated youngsters. Continued SARS-CoV-2 surveillance is critical for detecting rising, probably extra pathogenic variants.” • How’s that herd immunity workin’ out for ya?

An infection

“Omicron Spike confers enhanced infectivity and interferon resistance to SARS-CoV-2 in human nasal tissue” (preprint) [medRxiv]. “nlike earlier variants of SARS-CoV-2, Omicron enters nasal cells independently of serine transmembrane proteases and as an alternative depends upon matrix metalloproteinases to catalyze membrane fusion. This entry pathway unlocked by Omicron Spike permits evasion of interferon-induced components that limit SARS-CoV-2 entry following attachment. Due to this fact, the elevated transmissibility exhibited by Omicron in people could also be attributed not solely to its evasion of vaccine-elicited adaptive immunity, but additionally to its superior invasion of nasal epithelia and resistance to the cell-intrinsic obstacles current therein.” • Clearly, to maintain the pandemic rolling, we’ve received to suppress nasal vaccines, which the Biden administration is doing very efficiently. Within the meantime, work these nasal sprays, each preventive and “morning after”!

Sequelae

“EXCLUSIVE: Inside UK’s first Lengthy Covid clinic as 400,000 Brits left needing specialist care” [The Mirror (!!!!)]. The deck: “Figures present there are round two million folks struggling a variety of illnesses from extreme fatigue to mind fog, and lots of have stopped work.”

“Lengthy-Time period Penalties of Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 An infection: A Systematic Evaluation and Meta-Evaluation” [International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health]. Meta-analysis. From the Summary: “We searched observational cohort research that described the long-term well being results of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections…. 5 research involving a complete of 1643 instances, together with 597 instances of asymptomatic and 1043 instances of symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 an infection had been included on this meta-analysis…. Our outcomes steered that there have been long-term results of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 an infection, comparable to lack of style or odor, fatigue, cough and so forth. Nevertheless, the chance of growing long-term signs in asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 contaminated individuals was considerably decrease than these in symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 an infection instances.”

Elite Maleficence

“Methods to fortify the U.S. towards the following pandemic” [Amy Maxmen, WaPo] I can’t break the paywall on this, and its not within the Wayback machine, however one way or the other Google has the excessive factors:

And above all: No Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions!!!

* * *

Lambert right here: I’m getting the sensation that the “One thing Terrible” is perhaps a sawtooth sample — variant after variant — that averages out to a completely excessive plateau. A lot of exceptionally nasty sequelae, most definitely deriving from immune dysregulation (says this layperson).

Case Information

NOT UPDATED From BioBot wastewater information from Could 8:

Lambert right here: Except america is totally, er, distinctive, we needs to be seeing a rise right here quickly. UPDATE Certainly, a slight uptick. Nonetheless on the excessive plateau.

For now, I’m going to make use of this nationwide wastewater information as the most effective proxy for case information (ignoring the scientific case information portion of this chart, which for my part “goes unhealthy” after March 2022, for causes as but unexplained). No less than we are able to spot traits, and evaluate present ranges to equal previous ranges.

Variants

NOT UPDATED From CDC, Could 6, 2023. Right here we go once more:

Lambert right here: Appears to be like like XBB.1.16 is rolling proper alongside. Although XBB 1.9.1 is within the race as properly.

Covid Emergency Room Visits

NOT UPDATED From CDC NCIRD Surveillance, from Could 6:

NOTE “Charts and information supplied by CDC, updates Wednesday by 8am. For the previous 12 months, utilizing a rolling 52-week interval.” So not the complete pandemic, FFS (the implicit message right here being that Covid is “identical to the flu,” which is why the seasonal “rolling 52-week interval” is acceptable for eachMR SUBLIMINAL I hate these folks a lot. Discover additionally that this chart reveals, at the very least for its time interval, that Covid is not seasonal, although CDC is making an attempt to get us to imagine that it’s, presumably to allow them to piggyback on the prevailing institutional equipment for injections.

Positivity

NOT UPDATED From Walgreens, Could 8:

Lambert right here: Walgreens is again up (hat tip, alert reader ChrisRUEcon). Hoorary! (I assume this additionally means you’ll be able to nonetheless get check kits at Walgreens. It appears like you’ll be able to order free check kits till Could 11. What occurs after that’s not clear to me. Readers? UPDATE One thing’s occurring, as a result of the date stays 5/8, however the distinction share is now 5.4% (up).

Lambert right here: 4%. That’s so much. Although I don’t know the way whether or not they reported, or are interpolating, the information from April 11, the final day I recorded, till in the present day.

Deaths

Dying price (Our World in Information), from April 30:

Lambert right here: So this information feed, er, got here alive once more.

Complete: 1,162,662 – 1,162,471,162,403 = 188 (188 * 365 = 68,620 deaths per 12 months, in the present day’s YouGenicist™ quantity for “residing with” Covid (fairly a bit greater than the minimizers would really like, although they will speak themselves into something. If the YouGenicist™ metric retains chugging alongside like this, I could must determine that is what the powers-that-be think about “mission completed” for this specific tranche of demise and illness).

Extra Deaths

NOT UPDATED Extra deaths (The Economist), revealed Could 9:

Lambert right here: I don’t like sudden drops to zero a lot. The identical factor additionally occurred with the demise price information after WHO took over the feed.

Lambert right here: Primarily based on a machine-learning mannequin. (The CDC has an extra estimate too, however because it ran endlessly with a large typo within the Legend, I figured no one was actually taking a look at it, so I received rid it. )

• These two mortality websites appear to be telling very completely different tales, each from one another and from the Economist’s chart above. I’m not a mortality maven. Can readers make clear?

Mortality Watch (fjallstrom):

US Mortality (aleric):

Stats Watch

Employment State of affairs: “United States Preliminary Jobless Claims” [Trading Economics]. “The variety of People submitting for unemployment advantages rose by 22 thousand to 264 thousand on the week ending Could sixth, probably the most since October 2021, and properly above market expectations of 245 thousand. The outcome emphasised a batch of current information that factors to the softening of the US labor market, caving to a chronic collection of aggressive rate of interest hikes by the Federal Reserve.”

Inflation: “United States Producer Costs Remaining Demand Much less Meals and Power MoM” [Trading Economics]. “Core producer costs in america elevated by 0.2% over a month in April 2023, matching market estimates, after a revised flat studying within the prior month. On a yearly foundation, core client costs rose by 3.2% in April, the least since March 2021 and beneath market expectations of three.3%.”

* * *

Tech: “Axios End Line: Children use AI greater than their dad and mom” [Axios]. “Solely 30% of oldsters say they’ve used ChatGPT, in contrast with 58% of scholars between the ages of 12 and 18. Children are speaking in regards to the tech extra, too. Solely 30% of oldsters have heard so much about ChatGPT, in contrast with 54% of scholars. Children are additionally utilizing AI with out their dad and mom’ data, the survey discovered. 50% of scholars report utilizing ChatGPT for college, whereas simply 26% of oldsters say their children have used it for college.” • A pleasant mixture of gullibility and pragmatism.

Tech: “Thoughts-reading expertise has arrived” [Vox]. “With the assistance of AI, scientists from the College of Texas at Austin have developed a way that may translate folks’s mind exercise — just like the unstated ideas swirling by our minds — into precise speech, in accordance with a research revealed in Nature. Up to now, researchers have proven that they will decode unstated language by implanting electrodes within the mind after which utilizing an algorithm that reads the mind’s exercise and interprets it into textual content on a pc display. However that method could be very invasive, requiring surgical procedure. It appealed solely to a subset of sufferers, like these with paralysis, for whom the advantages had been definitely worth the prices. So researchers additionally developed strategies that didn’t contain surgical implants. They had been ok to decode primary mind states, like fatigue, or very quick phrases — however not rather more. Now we’ve received a non-invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) that may decode steady language from the mind, so anyone else can learn the overall gist of what we’re pondering even when we haven’t uttered a single phrase.” • Don’t inform the advertising division! Or the spooks!

* * *

In the present day’s Concern & Greed Index: 58 Greed (earlier shut: 60 Greed) [CNN]. One week in the past: 52 (Impartial). (0 is Excessive Concern; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Could 11 at 1:39 PM ET.

The 420

“What are the well being impacts of high-potency THC? Colorado researchers checked out 452 research to search out out” [The Colorado Sun]. “In an interview, [Dr. Jonathan] Samet stated he wasn’t precisely shocked that the assessment didn’t provide you with extra conclusive solutions. One of many issues was the research they needed to work with. The analysis group on the Colorado Faculty of Public Well being screened roughly 66,000 research and located 452 that had been related to their questions on high-potency THC. However what the group actually wished to look at was the consequences of the form of high-THC merchandise offered in the present day within the hashish market. The research wanting on the results of THC spanned some 5 many years, which means the merchandise in these research diverse enormously and had been typically fairly completely different from what’s offered in the present day. One other drawback: Research funded by the Nationwide Institutes of Well being had been constrained to utilizing hashish from the federal government’s official analysis pot farm on the College of Mississippi. Hashish from that facility is notoriously low high quality. ‘We discovered there was an unlimited variety of research, probably,’ Samet stated. ‘However that in actual fact there weren’t that many who immediately addressed the coverage questions we had been focused on.’ It’s additionally not significantly straightforward to review results when there are such a lot of different components that may go into the equation moreover efficiency. As an example, Samet stated the strategy of consumption may have an effect, as may the quantity consumed and the tolerance of the patron.” • Odd there are so few research of up to date marijuana. Now that marijuana has gone company, and all.

The Gallery

Dutch masters:

NOTE Elon’s API pricing is nuking the artbots. Such a loss.

“‘One Hundred Well-known Views of Edo’: Hiroshige’s Seminal Collection of Woodblock Prints Will get a Vibrant Reprint” [Colossal]. “A brand new reprint from Taschen pairs every of the artist’s outstanding prints with textual content by authors Lorenz Bichler and Melanie Trede, celebrating the surroundings, town’s historical past, and Hiroshige’s contribution to ukiyo-e. The authors spotlight how the colourful depictions of the nation helped outline the Western world’s visible interpretation of Japan, referencing the affect of Japonisme on European ornamental arts and painters like Vincent van Gogh, Edgar Degas, and James McNeill Whistler.” • Attempting to provide a miss to the cherry blossom specials:

Class Warfare

Stochastic eugenics:

Richard Evans is the writer of the magisterial Third Reich Trilogy, so it doesn’t shock me that Dying in Hamburg is great. It solely surprises me I solely simply now heard of it. Another damned ebook to learn!

Information of the Wired

“New speak: Studying DNS in 10 years” [Julia Evans]. “Methods I take advantage of to study laborious issues.” • Fascinating in itself, since DNS is a decades-old expertise that’s the basis of the Web, and fascinating for the the educational methods as properly. Very readable, and value studying.

Enjoyable. Additionally co-operative:

Effectively, possibly not on a blistering scorching day. However you see what I imply.

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Contact data for vegetation: Readers, be happy to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) learn the way to ship me a examine if you’re allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn the way to ship me photographs of vegetation. Greens are high quality! Fungi and coral are deemed to be honorary vegetation! If you’d like your deal with to seem as a credit score, please place it initially of your mail in parentheses: (thus). In any other case, I’ll anonymize by utilizing your initials. See the earlier Water Cooler (with plant) right here. From CM:

CM writes: “Crocuses doing their factor earlier than the tall grass wakes again up in South Ontario.”

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