2:00PM Water Cooler 11/23/2023 | bare capitalism

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Affected person readers, I’m touring. If you happen to can learn this, I’ve skilled a conntectivity debacle. –lambert

Hen Tune of the Day

Nepal Home-Martin, Trongsa, Trongsa, Bhutan. “Gave two sorts of calls; flight name & one other as they’re swarmed close to the nests which had been situated on a rock face above the highway; people had been see.”

Politics

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

The Constitutional Order

“Enchantment Pursuant to § 1-1-130(3) C.R.S. District Courtroom, Metropolis and County of Denver, Case No. 2023CB032577, Honorable Sarah B. Wallace, Decide [The Supreme Court of the State of Colorado]. Part Three of the Fourteenth Modification Enchantment. Key level, although mentioned in a number of alternative ways all through the temporary:

The declare (summarizing) is that any one who holds an “workplace” is actually an “officer of the US,” since every other building results in absurd outcomes. (To me, this begs the query, because it assumes that an elected President is of like form to an appointee. Right here as soon as once more is the wording of Part Three of the Fourteenth Modification:

No particular person shall be a Senator or Consultant in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or maintain any workplace, civil or navy, underneath the US, or underneath any State, who, having beforehand taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the US, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an govt or judicial officer of any State, to help the Structure of the US, shall have engaged in rebellion or revolt in opposition to the identical, or given help or consolation to the enemies thereof. However Congress could by a vote of two-thirds of every Home, take away such incapacity.

If Part Three utilized to an elected President, why not simply say so, and enumerate the title? If absurd outcomes are to be sought, certainly we’d not need to forestall Lincoln from operating for a second time period as a result of his intitial suspension of habeas corpus was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Courtroom? Additional, for an additional absurd consequence, suppose — the Part Three being “self-executing” — that Lincoln’s title was stripped from the poll by a number of states, and that the election ended up being thrown into the Home, regardless that Lincoln received the favored vote. Would the Home (and the Senate) then decide the election winner by voting to “take away such incapacity” from Lincoln? Or not? To me, your entire mishegoss comes from attempting to substitute the judgement of the Judicial and Legislative branches for the judgement of voters (who’re certainly the very best judges of what an “rebellion” is in any case, even when putatively instigated by a President). Fiercely defending my priors right here, I do know!

Capitol Seizure

When he’s proper, he’s proper:

TUCKER: “The quantity of mendacity round January sixth, and it was apparent within the tapes that I confirmed, is actually distressing and anybody who’s protecting for these lies must be ashamed of themself and that would come with virtually your entire American media, together with Fox Information”… pic.twitter.com/ZLEF2u9HFw

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) November 18, 2023

They need to let Buffalo Headress Dude off with a stern warning; in spite of everything, the movies present that he was let into the Senate Chamber by the Capitol Hill police. Vladimir Ilyich Ulanov he was not!

“In breakthrough, Congress obtains footage of undercover cops conducting surveillance on Jan. 6” [Just the News]. “The footage reviewed by Simply the Information ranges from the mundane — equivalent to chronicling moments when Capitol Cops are impacted by tear gasoline fired into the group – to extra provocative scenes that seem to indicate plainclothes [Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD)] officers exhorting rioters to climb scaffolding close to the Capitol or speaking about being undercover with liberal fascist protesters in a crowd. ‘Properly, we go undercover as Antifa within the crowd,’ one officer that congressional investigators consider is a member of the MPD digital surveillance unit is captured on video saying.” • Liberal fascists? Anitfa? What sort of sense does it make to go “undercover” as antifa at a Trump afterparty?

“Time for Fact and Accountability J6 Committee” [Declassified with Julie Kelly]. “After months of promising to take action, Home Republicans lastly launched the primary tranche of surveillance footage captured by safety cameras on January 6…. Thousands and thousands of People will now see video of cops standing by as protesters walked within the constructing, some exchanging handshakes and fist bumps…. However maybe most necessary is listening to from the victims of this reckless, vengeful prosecution. In actual fact, Johnson could be effectively served to launch the committee with a public listening to that includes J6 defendants and their households—notably those that misplaced a beloved one to suicide—who can clarify to the American individuals the torment they’ve endured by the hands of line prosecutors, FBI brokers, and federal judges. Home Republicans have America’s consideration on January 6. The dam is breaking on the official narrative—time to bust it huge open.”

Biden Administration

“No Exit From Gaza” (free) [Foreign Affairs]. The deck: “Why Israel—and the US—Has Solely Dangerous Choices for the Day After.” •Properly value a learn. If one views Israel’s technique as just like the Tatmadaw’s “4 Cuts,” they’re looking for to asphyxiate the fish (Hamas) by draining the water (the Gazan inhabitants). Then they get to take the land and hand it over to a different tranche of goat-sacrificing “settlers.” (The tunnels, and many others., would then be a distraction; not strategic within the slightest). So how precisely do you inform a nuclear powier “no”? (Considering like a state, it’s attention-grabbing to see nuclear weapons as a bid for immortality, as a result of easy methods to do away with them?)

2024

Lower than a yr to go!

* * *

“Trump ballot lead expands with Biden shedding black, Hispanic help” [New York Post]. “The newest ballot by Emerson School, launched Wednesday, finds Trump main 47% to 43% — with Biden’s edge amongst traditionally Democrat-supporting minority teams dropping considerably in only one yr. The 81-year-old incumbent’s lead amongst Hispanic voters narrowed to three%, down from 14% in an Emerson ballot final November — an 11 percentage-point shift. Biden’s lead amongst African People was a still-substantial 47%, however down 15 share factors from this time final yr…. It’s unclear what’s behind the dramatic swing in help amongst minorities, although polls have constantly proven that financial considerations — together with inflation and excessive rates of interest — are the main challenge for voters.” • The Trump Adminisration CARES Act “spur[ed] a file drop in poverty.” Then the Democrats removed it. Perhaps that? Plus, Joe Biden owes me 600 bucks.

“Univision CEO defends Trump interview after uproar, says community received’t be ‘deterred by partisan pursuits’” [FOX]. “Journalist Enrique Acevedo sat down with Trump for a wide-ranging interview from Mar-a-Lago earlier this month, and a few liberals have expressed outrage that the Spanish-language community supplied a platform to the previous president. Others have insisted liberal anchor Jorge Ramos ought to have carried out the interview as a result of he would have pushed again tougher on Trump’s remarks.” • Properly, they might, wouldn’t they? Trump’s operating for workplace. After all he must be interviewed. Liberal Democrats ought to cease the pearl-clutching about “platforming” and beat Trump on the deserves. Certainly that shouldn’t be onerous? (And whether it is, why is that?) After all, to try this — versus the present technique of “SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP” and “LA LA LA I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” — they’d should pop their embubblement, and who needs that?

* * *

“Stormy Daniels’s battle grievance in opposition to Trump hush cash lawyer tossed” [The Hill]. “A New York lawyer grievance committee on Tuesday dismissed a grievance filed by grownup movie performer Stormy Daniels alleging considered one of former President Trump’s legal professionals in his hush cash case has a battle of curiosity…. Trump’s trial within the case is presently scheduled to start March 25. It’s considered one of 4 felony instances the previous president faces as he seems to return to the White Home. He has mounted varied pre-trial makes an attempt to toss the costs, and the choose is about to think about these motions throughout a Feb. 15 listening to. The choose at that listening to may additionally change the trial schedule.”

“Donald Trump has worst day but in NY civil fraud trial as underling’s scribbled observe ties him to conspiracy” [Business Insider]. “The witness was Jeffrey McConney, who was the comptroller and spreadsheet czar on the Trump Org…. McConney was handed Folks’s Exhibit 3054, a draft of Trump’s net-worth assertion for 2014. He was requested to have a look at a observe scribbled in skinny blue ink on the draft’s first web page, ‘DJT TO GET FINAL REVIEW,’ which he mentioned he’d written… Trump has denied involvement in making ready a decade’s value of those annual net-worth statements, which New York’s lawyer common, Letitia James, has alleged — and the trial choose has agreed — had been every year riddled with billions of {dollars} of exaggerations…. McConney’s blue-ink handwriting is all around the net-worth assertion drafts, exhibiting he revised language and even added cautionary notes that had been then handed alongside for Trump’s “last overview,” as McConney mentioned in his personal description of the drafting course of.”

* * *

“Dana White storms coaching facility, eradicates Peloton stock in response to RFK risk — ‘Pelo-gone’ (Video)” [MMA Mania]. “UFC CEO, Dana White, promised to rid the premises of all Peloton train gear after the health firm, which beforehand sponsored Theo Von’s “This Previous Weekend” podcast, threatened the controversial comic for internet hosting an episode with political visitor, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The deed is completed.” • Not my world in any respect; I don’t know what to make of this. Readers?

* * *

“Senate hopeful Hill Harper says he was supplied $20M to run in opposition to Rashida Tlaib as an alternative” [Detroit News]. “U.S. Senate hopeful Hill Harper mentioned Wednesday he was supplied a sizeable marketing campaign donation from a Metro Detroit businessman if he dropped out of Michigan’s Senate race and as an alternative ran in opposition to Democratic U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Detroit… ‘I mentioned no. I received’t be bossed, bullied, or purchased,’ Harper mentioned on X. ‘Sure, telling the reality right here will put a goal on my again. But when we ALL come collectively we will win.’: And: [Marshall Wittman, a spokesperson for AIPAC] pressured that AIPAC was ‘completely not concerned in any means on this matter.” I suppose meaning they had been? And the lot thickens: “Harper later mentioned the supply was proof of a damaged political system tilted towards the rich and proof that ‘institution donors’ don’t consider Harper’s Senate Democratic major opponent, U.S. Rep Elissa Slotkin of Holly, can defeat him.” • Slotkin is, after all, a CIA Democrat. Two birds with one stone?

Democrats en Déshabillé

Affected person readers, evidently individuals are really studying the back-dated submit! However I’ve not up to date it, and there are lots of updates. So I should do this. –lambert

I’ve moved my standing remarks on the Democrat Social gathering (“the Democrat Social gathering 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 “reside” Water Cooler. (Hopefully, some Bourdieu.) It seems that defining the Democrat Social gathering is, actually, a tough downside. I do assume the paragraph that follows is on level all the way in which again to 2016, if not earlier than:

The Democrat Social gathering is the political expression of the category energy of PMC, their base (lucidly defined by Thomas Frank in Hear, Liberal!). ; if the Democrat Social gathering didn’t exist, the PMC must invent it. . (“PMC” modulo “class expatriates,” after all.) Second, all of the working components of the Social gathering reinforce one another. Depart apart characterizing the relationships between components of the Social gathering (ka-ching, however not solely) these components comprise a community — a Flex Internet? An iron octagon? — of funders, distributors, apparatchiks, electeds, NGOs, and miscellaneous mercenaries, with belongings within the press and the intelligence neighborhood.

Notice, after all, 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.

* * *

“Conservative Group By accident Reveals Its Secret Donors. A few of Them Are Liberal Orgs” [Daily Beast]. “A conservative nonprofit tied to a controversial ‘White Home-in-waiting’ for a second Donald Trump presidency has apparently unintentionally revealed its prime donors—and two of them are foundations famously related to liberal causes. The nonprofit, referred to as American Compass, included the names of 5 donor organizations on a schedule in its 2022 tax assertion…. Of the 5 teams, two stand out for his or her outstanding histories of supporting liberal causes—the William and Flora Hewlett Basis and the Omidyar Community Basis…. In keeping with the tax assertion, the Omidyar Community has contributed a complete of $400,000 to American Compass since 2020…. The Hewlett Basis—a longtime supporter of Nationwide Public Radio—has accounted for greater than one-third of American Compass’ whole public help, giving a mixed $1,486,000 over the identical interval, with an additional $475,000 dose this January.” And now the kicker: “The donations are hanging as a result of American Compass is a associate group in Mission 2025, a controversial right-wing assume tank that has been constructing the coverage and personnel firmament for a second Trump administration.” • Wait, what? I believed Mission 2025 was one thing goodthinking liberal Democrats had been alleged to be hysterical about?

“Home Democrat apologizes after saying Trump ‘needs to be eradicated’” [The Hill]. “Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.) apologized Monday for his “poor selection of phrases” when he mentioned former President Trump should be ‘eradicated’ to guard democracy…. ‘It’s simply unquestionable at this level that that man can not see public workplace once more. He isn’t solely unfit, he’s harmful to our democracy, and he needs to be, he needs to be eradicated,’ Goldman mentioned Sunday on MSNBC’s ‘Inside with Jen Psaki.’” • Goldman is amongst the wealthiest members of Congress.

“Trump ‘extra harmful’ than Hitler, Mussolini: McCaskill” [The Hill]. “McCaskill mentioned Trump is a novel sort of authoritarian determine, noting he ‘just isn’t attempting to beat a neighboring nation like [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is in Ukraine. He isn’t going for a grandiose scheme of worldwide dominance.’ ‘All he needs … is to look within the mirror and see a man who’s president,’ she mentioned. ‘All he cares about is egocentric self-promotion. That’s the one philosophy he has. Which makes him much more harmful.’” • “Each senator seems within the mirror and sees a president.” –Richard Cohen. So (former Senator) McCaskill is saying Trump is harmful as a result of he’s like a Senator?

Realignment and Legitimacy

“Brothels that serviced politicians and navy officers raked in tens of millions: ‘File retaining was impeccable’” [New York Post]. The lead is on the finish: “The US Lawyer’s Workplace for the District of Massachusetts mentioned on the time of their arrests that the ‘business intercourse consumers allegedly included elected officers, excessive tech and pharmaceutical executives, docs, navy officers, authorities contractors that possess safety clearances, professors, attorneys, scientists, and accountants, amongst others.’ ‘The investigation into the involvement of intercourse consumers is lively and ongoing,’ the Massachusetts US Lawyer’s Workplace famous on the time.” And I’m certain received’t be politicized in any means! Extra: “No details about the identities of the prostitution ring’s alleged purchasers has been made public.” • Weighing the agency and its service suppliers vs. the purchasers within the stability, which inhabitants, within the combination, has performed extra hurt? I’d say the populatoin with the pharma executives and authorities contractors, for starters. Cf. Dan 5:26-27.

#COVID19

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

Sources, United States (Nationwide): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; consists of many counties; Wastewater Scan, consists of drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, however nationwide information). “An infection Management, Emergency Administration, Security, and Normal Ideas” (particularly on hospitalization by metropolis).

Lambert right here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To replace any entry, do be happy to contact me on the handle given with the vegetation. Please put “COVID” within the topic line. Thanks!

Sources, United States (Native): 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 experiences); 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).

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

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

Hat tricks to useful readers: 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, sq. coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Utah, Bob White (3).

Keep protected on the market!

Covid is Airborne

“ Ventilate Your Residence For Thanksgiving to Assist Cut back COVID Dangers” [KQED]. Price studying in full. Concerning opening home windows, this appears helpful: “Attempt to seat your company as shut as potential to the contemporary air coming in — and don’t park all of them by the window the place airflow goes out. As a result of if COVID-19 particles are in that airflow, that “air out” space can be heavy. How are you aware which is the ‘air in’ window and which is the ‘air out’ one?…. The only is to face in entrance of the open window and maintain up a small piece of string, ribbon, or something related in entrance of it, letting it dangle down. This fashion, ‘you possibly can form of see which means the stream strikes after which perceive if the air is coming in or going out.’ You would additionally use a candle for this.” • May be helpful to have candles at desk, too.

Sequelae

“How Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Sleep High quality?” [MedScape]. “[A}n ICOSS substudy conducted in 2311 patients with COVID‑19 revealed that individuals with a history of insomnia before the pandemic were at greater risk for long COVID, compared with those without a history of insomnia. Also, patients with long COVID seem to be at greater risk of insomnia, compared with those who quickly recovered from COVID‑19. The data will be published soon in Sleep Medicine….. In the case of sleep disorders related to postacute sequelae of SARS‑CoV‑2 infection, ongoing research is analyzing the effects of behavioral therapy and strategies that modify the circadian rhythm. One group of participants is taking melatonin and the other is taking a placebo.”

“Something Awful”

Lambert here: I’m getting the feeling that the “Something Awful” might be a sawtooth pattern — variant after variant — that averages out to a permanently high plateau. Lots of exceptionally nasty sequelae, most likely deriving from immune dysregulation (says this layperson). To which we might add brain damage, including personality changes therefrom.

* * *

Lambert here: Lots of new results yesterday, most up, starting with wastewater. (The one I worry about the most is ER visits, since I think that data is hard to game, and who wants to go to the ER, anyhow?) I think it’s time to send the relatives those clippings you saved on brain damage (also, of course, the 2022 clippings: here, here. And the 2020 one). And break out the Corsi-Rosenthal boxes at the family gathering!

Case Data

NOT UPDATED From BioBot wastewater data, November 20:

Lambert here: Cases up, just in time for Thanksgiving (and tinfoil hat time: This is the, er, inflection point CDC was trying to conceal when they gave the contract to Verily and didn’t ensure a seamless transition).

Regional data:

Everywhere!

Variants

NOT UPDATED From CDC, November 11:

Lambert here: Top of the leaderboard: HV.1, EG.5 a strong second, with FL.1.15.1 and XBB.1.1.16.6 trailing. No BA.2.86 (although that has showed up in CDC’s airport testing). Still a Bouillabaisse…

From CDC, October 28:

Lambert here: I sure hope the volunteers doing Pangolin, on which this chart depends, don’t all move on the green fields and pastures new (or have their access to facilities cut by administrators of ill intent).

CDC: “As of May 11, genomic surveillance data will be reported biweekly, based on the availability of positive test specimens.” “Biweeekly: 1. occurring every two weeks. 2. occurring twice a week; semiweekly.” Looks like CDC has chosen sense #1. In essence, they’re telling us variants are nothing to worry about. Time will tell.

Covid Emergency Room Visits

NOT UPDATED From CDC NCIRD Surveillance, November 18:

Lambert here: Slight increases in some age groups, conforming to wastewater data. Only a week’s lag, so this may be our best current nationwide, current indicator until Verily gets its house in order (and working class-centric, since I would doubt the upper crust goes to the ER).

NOTE “Charts and data provided by CDC, updates Wednesday by 8am. For the past year, using a rolling 52-week period.” So not the entire pandemic, FFS (the implicit message here being that Covid is “just like the flu,” which is why the seasonal “rolling 52-week period” is appropriate for both_{MR SUBLIMINAL I hate these people so much}. Notice also that this chart shows, at least for its time period, that Covid is not seasonal, even though CDC is trying to get us to believe that it is, presumably so they can piggyback on the existing institutional apparatus for injections.

Hospitalization

Bellwether New York City, data as of November 23:

Definitely up. New York state as a whole looks more like a spike. (I hate this metric because the lag makes it deceptive, although the hospital-centric public health establishment loves it, hospitalization and deaths being the only metrics that matter [snort]).

NOT UPDATED Right here’s a distinct CDC visualization on hospitalization, nationwide, not by state, however with a date, at the least. November 11:

Lambert right here: “Maps, charts, and information offered by CDC, updates weekly for the earlier MMWR week (Sunday-Saturday) on Thursdays (Deaths, Emergency Division Visits, Check Positivity) and weekly the next Mondays (Hospitalizations) by 8 pm ET†”. So the place the heck is the replace, CDC?

Positivity

NOT UPDATED From Walgreens, November 20:

0.5%. Decline arrested. (It will be attention-grabbing to survey this inhabitants typically; these are individuals who, regardless of a tsunami of official propaganda and large peer strain, went and obtained examined anyhow.)

NOT UPDATED From Cleveland Clinic, November 11:

Lambert right here: Improve (with backward revision; guess they thought it was over). I do know that is simply Ohio, however the Cleveland Clinic is nice*, and we’re starved for information, so…. NOTE * Even when hospital an infection management is attempting to kill sufferers by eliminating common masking with N95s.

NOT UPDATED From CDC, traveler’s information, October 30:

Down, albeit within the rear view mirror. And listed below are the variants for vacationers, October 30:

Deaths

Complete: 1,183,227 – 1,182,999 – 1,182,945 = 228 (228 * 365 = 83,220 deaths per yr, in the present day’s YouGenicist™ quantity for “dwelling with” Covid (fairly a bit larger than the minimizers would really like, although they will speak themselves into something. If the YouGenicist™ metric retains chugging alongside like this, I could should resolve that is what the powers-that-be think about “mission completed” for this explicit tranche of demise and illness). 

Extra Deaths

NOT UPDATED The Economist, November 18:

Lambert right here: Based mostly on a machine-learning mannequin.

Stats Watch

There are not any officals statistics of curiosity in the present day.

Tech: “Democrats can’t give up Elon Musk’s X” [Politico]. “Politicians are discovering they simply don’t have a competitor for X’s free, real-time potential to achieve voters and journalists. X remains to be the closest factor to a digital city sq. for the Washington dialog.” • Perhaps simply settle for that each billionarire is a coverage failure, not simply Musk? (And heck, why not simply nationalize Twitter? That’s what a Democrat’s Democrat would do.) Additionally: Twitter stays the primary supply for Covid materials, actually pandemic materials typically. After all, given Biden’s file, I can see why Democrats would need such a supply to go away.

Manufacturing: Tern is a little bit of a doomer. Nonetheless:

I’m wondering what number of different industries that is true for?

At the moment’s Concern & Greed Index: 67 Greed (earlier shut: 66 Greed) [CNN]. One week in the past: 56 (Greed). (0 is Excessive Concern; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Nov 22 at 8:59:44 PM ET.

The Conservatory

“The Rolling Stones are hitting the highway subsequent yr on a tour sponsored by AARP” [CNN]. • Ooof. From an earlier, much less harmless time:

I say “much less harmless” as a result of, actually, the Stones are fairly innocent at this level, no?

Feral Hog Watch

“A inhabitants of hard-to-eradicate ‘tremendous pigs’ in Canada is threatening to invade the US” [Associated Press]. “In Canada, the wild pigs roaming Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba pose a brand new risk. They’re usually crossbreeds that mix the survival abilities of untamed Eurasian boar with the scale and excessive fertility of home swine to create a ‘tremendous pig’ that’s spreading uncontrolled. Ryan Brook, a professor on the College of Saskatchewan and considered one of Canada’s main authorities on the issue, calls feral swine, ‘essentially the most invasive animal on the planet” and ‘an ecological practice wreck.’ Pigs aren’t native to North America. Whereas they’ve roamed components of the continent for hundreds of years, Canada’s downside dates again solely to the Nineteen Eighties when it inspired farmers to lift wild boar, Brook mentioned. The market collapsed after peaking in 2001 and a few pissed off farmers merely reduce their fences, setting the animals free.” • The Menace From The North! (And extra invasive than people? Actually?)

The Gallery

Usually I don’t like constructs like this a lot. However I like this one:

Information of the Wired

“The Secret Language of Ships” [Hakai]. “Tugboat crews routinely encounter what few of us will ever see. They simply learn a vessel’s dimension, form, operate, and options, whereas deciphering at a look the mysterious numbers, letters, and symbols on a ship’s hull. To non-mariners, the markings appear to be hieroglyphs. For these within the know, they communicate volumes a few explicit ship and in addition concerning the transport business…. To the left of the draft strains are completely different variations of the bulbous bow and bow thruster symbols. BT|FP tells you the place of the bow thruster: between the ballast tank (BT) and the forepeak (FP), the forwardmost a part of the ship. It’s necessary for a tugboat operator to know the situation of the bow thruster, because it creates turbulence that the tug would reasonably keep away from.” • Neat stuff!

Contact info for vegetation: Readers, be happy to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) learn how to ship me a test in case you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn how to ship me photos of vegetation. Greens are tremendous! Fungi and coral are deemed to be honorary vegetation! If you need your deal with to look as a credit score, please place it in the beginning of your mail in parentheses: (thus). In any other case, I’ll anonymize through the use of your initials. See the earlier Water Cooler (with plant) right here. From jsn:

jsn writes: “Dave grew this as a visible garnish for his Datil Pepper backyard.”

Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not coated by the annual NC fundraiser. So when you see a hyperlink you particularly like, or an merchandise you wouldn’t see anyplace else, please don’t hesitate to specific your appreciation in tangible type. Bear in mind, a tip jar is for tipping! Common optimistic suggestions each makes me really feel good and lets me know I’m heading in the right direction with protection. Once I get no donations for 5 or ten days I get anxious. Extra tangibly, a continuing trickle of donations helps me with bills, and I think about that trickle when setting fundraising targets: