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2:00PM Water Cooler 6/23/2021

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By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Paitient readers, I am on the road and about to enter an enormous WiFi deadspot. So talk amongst yourselves!

I’m a little light on conversation starters just now, so here’s a rarity:

* * *

Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, (c) how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal, and (d) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi 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. Today’s plant (KS):

KS writes: “Clematis montana climbing a Douglas Fir in the yard. Late, but fragrant this year.”

* * *

Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not covered by the recently concluded and — thank you! — successful annual NC fundraiser. So if you see a link you especially like, or an item you wouldn’t 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’m on the right track with coverage. When I get no donations for five or ten 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:




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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!2:00PM Water Cooler 6/8/2021

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About Lambert Strether

Readers, I have had a correspondent characterize my views as realistic cynical. Let me briefly explain them. I believe in universal programs that provide concrete material benefits, especially to the working class. Medicare for All is the prime example, but tuition-free college and a Post Office Bank also fall under this heading. So do a Jobs Guarantee and a Debt Jubilee. Clearly, neither liberal Democrats nor conservative Republicans can deliver on such programs, because the two are different flavors of neoliberalism (“Because markets”). I don’t much care about the “ism” that delivers the benefits, although whichever one does have to put common humanity first, as opposed to markets. Could be a second FDR saving capitalism, democratic socialism leashing and collaring it, or communism razing it. I don’t much care, as long as the benefits are delivered. To me, the key issue — and this is why Medicare for All is always first with me — is the tens of thousands of excess “deaths from despair,” as described by the Case-Deaton study, and other recent studies. That enormous body count makes Medicare for All, at the very least, a moral and strategic imperative. And that level of suffering and organic damage makes the concerns of identity politics — even the worthy fight to help the refugees Bush, Obama, and Clinton’s wars created — bright shiny objects by comparison. Hence my frustration with the news flow — currently in my view the swirling intersection of two, separate Shock Doctrine campaigns, one by the Administration, and the other by out-of-power liberals and their allies in the State and in the press — a news flow that constantly forces me to focus on matters that I regard as of secondary importance to the excess deaths. What kind of political economy is it that halts or even reverses the increases in life expectancy that civilized societies have achieved? I am also very hopeful that the continuing destruction of both party establishments will open the space for voices supporting programs similar to those I have listed; let’s call such voices “the left.” Volatility creates opportunity, especially if the Democrat establishment, which puts markets first and opposes all such programs, isn’t allowed to get back into the saddle. Eyes on the prize! I love the tactical level, and secretly love even the horse race, since I’ve been blogging about it daily for fourteen years, but everything I write has this perspective at the back of it.

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104 comments

        1. dcblogger

          A pedestrian bridge East of the Anacostia River. It might as well have happened in Honduras as far as Capitol Hill is concerned.

    2. Bill Smith

      A dump truck was too tall and hit the bridge. The bill did just go up, but the bridge didn’t just fall down….

      1. Alfred

        “Bridge 66 was inspected in February 2021 resulting in a May 25th inspection report giving the bridge a rating of poor condition.” He stressed that investigators’ findings were preliminary.”

  3. diptherio

    Tactics for a Cooperative Digital Commons w/ Evan Henshaw-Plath

    Evan Henshaw-Plath was one of the key organizers of the Indymedia network, employee #1 at Twitter, and started two worker co-ops and a bunch of other companies. He has worked at Fortune 500 monoliths and in anarchist collectives. In this episode, we discuss how software is a commons, what the cooperative movement can learn from Silicon Valley, and how cooperative tech projects can scale up.

  4. QuicksilverMessenger

    Dylan live, even with the Band, is always a crap shoot. You never know what you’re going to get. But ‘Just Like Tom Thumbs Blues’ from 1965, one of his greats. Is there a better rock and roll record than ‘Highway 61 Revisited’?

    1. Pelham

      No, there isn’t. And I think we’re past the era when one could possibly be produced.

    3. Nikkikat

      I saw him many times. Bob had a tenancy to not pay much attention to his band. He would go into the studio and just grab anyone around. Charley Daniels being one that happened be playing a session gig and was asked if he could fill in down the hall. It was one of Charlie’s favorite stories to tell. I saw him on one tour with Tom Petty and band was the played for Bob as well as his opening act. It proved to be excellent. GE Smith and his band also toured with Bob as his band, Smith played some really excellent guitar and the shows were some of his best. Thanks to NC for the Bob song. Always makes my day.
      By the way Quicksilver, Quicksilver Messenger Service was one of my faves back in the day.
      Music is magic.

    4. curlydan

      I don’t hear much Garth Hudson in that track, but man, Richard Manuel comes through beautifully!!

    1. Arizona Slim

      Whenever I hear some tech titan say that this-or-that will hurt innovation, I say, “Full speed ahead! Do it!”

      Innovation will do just fine. It’s a tough little [family blogger] and knows how to rise to a challenge.

      1. fresno dan

        Arizona Slim
        June 23, 2021 at 2:50 pm
        Innovation. Like the most annoying thing ever – you press your car window and it goes all the way down before you can stop it. Than you press up to get it up part ways, and to goes all the way up to the top?
        Or maybe all those phone trees that gives you all the choices like adding more services instead of dealing with an error the company caused?
        Or soylent green.
        My view is that 99.99 percent of “innovation” is making things worse…

        1. Nikkikat

          I noticed the same thing with regard to so called innovation, it always over complicates the most basic things. I also hate when they improve something. It almost never works well for me again. I agree about the windows in the car. Drives me crazy.

        3. hunkerdown

          I agree that “innovation” is mostly useless property creation rather than value creation, but try using a lighter touch on that switch and you may find the normal down position that stops when released as you expect.

          That said, I prefer invention, myself.

          1. RMO

            hunkerdown: Every car I’ve driven that has the one touch fully raise or fully lower the window has had a distinct “halfway” notch in the switch travel both down and up. Push or pull to that halfway position and they only raise or lower as long as you hold the switch deflected to that point, push or pull to the switch’s full travel and they go up or down all the way even if you release the switch immediately afterwards. I really don’t find it all that useful but a lot of people do which is why it has become almost universal. I’ve also never before heard of anyone having difficulty with using it.

        4. Objective Ace

          Making things worse, but being counted as a “quality of life improvement” so inflation is undercounted.

          Those hedonic adjustments don’t get as much attention as they deserve

      2. Chris

        We’re long overdue for a massive burst of Schumpterian ‘creative destruction’. Effective policing of antitrust could well be the trigger that kicks it off.

    2. lyman alpha blob

      Heh.

      Pelosi reportedly pushed back against Cook’s concerns, asking him to identify a specific policy objection.

      The article doesn’t say what Cook’s “alleged” reply to Pelosi’s “reported” pushback was, but here’s a hypothetical –

      “Nothing specific – but how does no further campaign contributions from Apple or any of the other tech companies we collude with sound, Ms. Creamsicle?”

      1. Dr. John Carpenter

        I’d like to know who is reporting that Pelosi pushed back. That would tell us a lot. This issue seems to be what the Dems want to look like they’re championing but I think we all know they’re much better at “fighting for” rather than doing.

        1. christofay

          I think the push back will be more re-election contributions and hiring of DNC hacks who should return to the provinces hired as lobbyists (hacks). Google, Facebook, Twitter, themselves have gone out of their way to aid the DnC with the censorship, propaganda, and generally being on the side of the security agencies/DNC/mass media axis.

    4. John

      Apple might “innovate” this. You can ‘archive’ a message but there is no archive folder. I spent about one-half hour noodling to find where the heck a message disappeared to. I looked all over the place and discovered nooks and crannies and stuff and nonsense that I did not know existed. I would be happy with the phone, text, and camera … even just phone and text, I prefer a dedicated camera. I suppose there are people who speedily and happily navigate through the maze. I would like simplicity.

    1. Lee

      Something the CDC is not even looking at:

      “As of May 1, 2021, CDC transitioned from monitoring all reported vaccine breakthrough cases to focus on identifying and investigating only hospitalized or fatal cases due to any cause. This shift will help maximize the quality of the data collected on cases of greatest clinical and public health importance.”

      Frankly, I expect better from by far the most expensive healthcare system in the world. Particularly given that according to my ME/CFS specialist, now treating long Covid patients, that this post-viral malady is striking who get infected but have mild or no symptoms. He also noted that he has had patients so ill they were on ventilators that arise from there sick beds free of long Covid symptoms. This sh*t just gets curiouser and curiouser.

      1. drumlin woodchuckles

        If you want to be able to say ” there is no data” in the future, you carefully prevent the gathering of data in the present.

        If you want to be able to say ” there is no evidence” in the future, you carefully sabotage and obstruct the gathering of evidence in the present.

        That is what CDC is doing here, and that is why they are doing it.

  7. Arakawa

    The CDC meeting on myocarditis in vaccinated children (let’s do nothing, just keep an eye on it for 6 months) is currently in its public comment phase and the public comments are almost a wall-to-wall roasting of the bureaucrats. I wonder if they did a fair lottery to pick speakers, or if they didn’t and were unable to find enough supportive commenters. Doesn’t look like CDC is doing its job successfully (whether you think that job is to stop the vaccine based on the data, or whether it’s just to maintain the public’s confidence in whatever they do).

    1. Laura in So Cal

      Lemmy Caution posted links to the CDC Decks at 11:16am in the comments to 6/23/2021 Links. The data is startling. They kept emphasizing that the kids “recovered.” Based on what I’ve read before and also on IM Doc’s comments, myocarditis can cause life long issues so even though their immediate symptoms have resolved, they may not be “recovered.”

      2. IM Doc

        Myocardial cells are one of the types of cells in our bodies that are not readily reproducible. Other examples of this are brain and nerve cells. They just simply do not turn over.

        There are organs that are made up of cells that are able to turn over but just do it when they absolutely need to – examples here would be the liver and all the endocrine glands.

        Then there are parts of the body that turn over for a living daily and do so intensely – examples would be the skin and the lining of the GI system.

        Because the myocardium does not reproduce itself, the amount of the initial damage from myocarditis is critical. FYI, the same thing happens in an acute MI – the dead part is just dead – and will forever be dead. The remaining undamaged tissue has the ability to “remodel” and take up some of the slack but the person will never have the same heart.

        To sum it up – with these cases of myocarditis – it is unlike an MI in that the damage is not confined to one area. The damage tends to be global throughout the heart all at once. Recovery is absolutely dependent on how bad that damage is. If recognized and treated early – it is possible to mitigate the damage somewhat depending on what all is involved. Some patients recover reasonably well because the damage was just not that severe. However, many times in my life, I have seen these patients struggle with heart failure symptoms from the moment it happens. We can help this with meds to some degree – and the rhythm problems can be helped with meds and defibrillators – but the patients will never be the same.

        I have been staggered by the reports I am reading from all over about these COVID vaccine young people – and the startling number of them that are having to be transplanted.

        The very concerning thing – there are now hospitals all over America where there are more admissions to the hospital from this COVID vaccine related myocarditis than ever were with the whole 18 months of COVID. I am referring only to the 12-17 age group. NOT THE WHOLE POPULATION. Unfortunately, this now includes my hospital – with zero 12-17 aged COVID admissions this whole time – and we have now had our very first teen admitted critically ill with myocarditis 3 days after the 2nd shot.

        I was on a Zoom conference yesterday about this issue – a very “elder statesman” ethics professor ended the discussion of this myocarditis issue and I almost started tearing up – our standards have fallen so far – he simply stated – the medical ethical principles of beneficience and non-harm are overwhelming in this case. If the CDC/FDA fails to act to protect these young people – let the word go forth – this profession has lost its way, it is corrupt to the core – and is now being run only in the interests of the corporations and not the patients.

        I am not “in the know” – I do not have any access to any deliberations or information that the public itself does not know.

        But I have to say – I could not agree with this gentleman more. We are hearing a lot today that this age group is going to be the new reservoir of the variants and unless vaccinated will be the downfall of us all – all I can say is EVIDENCE PLEASE –

        3. Verifyfirst

          I don’t know anything about medical ethics, but are the rules different during a pandemic? Should they be? As uncomfortable as the rushed (and rigged–not testing, but relying only on self-reported symptoms of illness to derive efficacy numbers) rollout has been, can one really say we should have waited for full/robust results?

          Would we be better off today if no one had yet been vaccinated? I know the conversation here is about 12 to 17, but it is the same conversation regardless of the group in question. Here an article about a possible age 13 death, and the contervailing numbers of under age 19 cases and deaths, in Michigan.

          141,865 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in youth 19 years and younger since the start of the pandemic, and at least 16 residents in that age range have died from their illness.

          https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2021/06/michigan-teens-death-days-after-covid-19-vaccination-being-investigated.html

          1. IM Doc

            When I read reports in the media the past few days about this issue – and on comments on social media – there is quite a bit of conflating of data. We compare the vaccine side effects in this age group vs the incidence of COVID and COVID deaths NOT JUST in that age group but the entire population. That is just one example.

            The further confounding issue is in this age group – basically teenagers – the case numbers are likely very very high – indeed – I would not be surprised if upwards of 2/3 of them are “case numbers” and not deaths or hospitalizations – because they so vanishingly rarely ever get sick with COVID and certainly not ending up dying. But yet have been positive and therefore a case number. Making vaccination even more questionable. I would say your 141 thousand case number is too small by orders of magnitude.

            I know this because all year – I have had family clusters and school clusters pre and post vaccine – and almost invariably the teenagers and kids were postiive and completely asymptomatic. It is very likely that the vast majority of them were positive and never came to attention. They just simply do not get sick or just minimally so.

            With regard to the death counts. My state has less than 10 teens dying of COVID for the entire past year. When the state medical examiner actually did a deep dive on these cases – only 2 were ever determined to actually have died FROM COVID – all the others were suicides, traumas, etc that died WITH COVID. The 2 who actually did die were both kids with severe issues – across the country cystic fibrosis, sickle cell, and other immunocompetence disorders have been the mainstay of this group. In general, under age 20 just do not die or get hospitalized with this problem – it is very very very unusual – and they almost universally have some kind of severe co-morbidity.

            The incidence of admission and morbidity with these vaccines with relation to this myocarditis is actually higher than the COVID issues. Anyone who tries to “statistics” their way out of that fact is LYING to you. The CDC readily admits that their myocarditis numbers are very likely way undercounted. And still their numbers are indicating a rise in myocarditis from baseline between 25-200 times higher in this age group. In many people with any kind of myocarditis – they may never know about it because their cardiac reserve is so excellent at their younger age. As these people age and lose that reserve, we may be looking at this problem to be with us for some time.

            In general – the rules and tenets of medical ethics are universal and not dependent on the times. There are very specific tenets that do take into account community and population issues vs individual issues like we deal with in pandemics. I could not even begin to go into it here – but the numbers are simply not there for these kids to be taking the risk for the benefit of society – they just simply are not. The risk/benefit to them and the benefit to society just do not match up. If this was a much more deadly disease – or other issues that were different – that may change the calculus.

            One thing that would change the calculus that is being trumpeted to the heavens today as I have pointed out – is if there was evidence that leaving them unvaccinated would cause them to be a reservoir. The fact that these vaccines appear to be NON STERILIZING ( not stopping transmission) in the real world makes that point completely mute. But it is getting real mileage out there today.

            That is why I asked for EVIDENCE PLEASE of that assertion.

            I hate to say this – but say it I must. I have sat and watched the Pharma industry lie, manipulate, pretty up and just make up statistical numbers for 30 years of my life. In every conceivable way. I have sat through hours of journal clubs and gatherings to discuss this with colleagues. Medical statistics and epidemiology – are very very difficult to learn and apply (lots of confounding) – but because of the presence of certain statistical methods are very easy for marketing firms to really manipulate. THEY ARE DOING THIS NOW IN SPADES. This time, it is not just for an audience of doctors – it is for the whole country. Certainly, people in the media know this – and know exactly what Pharma is doing – but the marketing and manipulation just keeps flowing out to the public.

            I have just about given up.

            1. CuriosityConcern

              I certainly hope you don’t give up, practicing or posting. Your posts are illuminating.
              It is hard for me as layman to be of two minds when it comes to vaccination(good for older, worse for younger), but I will be keeping my eyes on the different information sources at my disposal and try to come to a measured decision when my own children are vaccine eligible.

            2. Acacia

              Yes, I’d also like to say how much I appreciate you sharing your insights, experience, and wisdom with us, IM Doc. Like a number of others here, probably, I have a child in this age group (12-17), and have been trying to understand the pros/cons of vaccination. In this era of reading between the lines of “official” discourse, your insights on the unfolding situation have really helped for understanding the issues and coming to a more informed decision.

            3. CoryP

              Regarding the FROM COVID / WITH COVID distinction…

              I’m really unhappy to hear that.
              It’s a huge talking point for the more conspiracy minded and I always rolled my eyes when I heard that argument.

              Hopefully it varies by jurisdiction and the numbers aren’t bogus everywhere. In Ontario where I am the deaths are SUPPOSED to be counted after taking into consideration cause of death…

              Thanks for everything you do.

            4. Yves Smith

              I agree that the teens are not at risk of Covid mortality and not much re morbidity.

              However, the big regularly surveys of 100,000 people by Imperial College found that elementary school kids were 2x as likely as adults to bring Covid into a household as adults, and older children, 7x as likely. So those child/adolescent asymptomatic cases are still major transmission vectors.

              The problem is no one is willing to advocate for strict use of NPIs in homes. Here, I wear a mask except when eating or drinking, air out the house whenever possible, use my trusty povidone iodine gargle/nose spray 2x a day, wear a KN95 when I go out, and don’t socialize.

              The officialdom isn’t willing to pump for adequate alternatives to vaccines because they are hard or involve meds that are being trashed.

          2. Arakawa

            Judging by that Alzheimer’s drug approval the other week and the discussion of upcoming booster shots at the end of today’s meeting, lobbyists have been working overtime to make sure the ‘relaxed’ standards due to pandemic are turned into a precedent for ‘relaxed’ standards indefinitely into the future, pandemic related or otherwise.

        4. Milton

          Hello IM Doc – Is this the same issue as happens with rheumatic fever patients? My granfather suffered from this at an early age and had always made it known that he would be lucky to live past 60. He died at 61.

          2. IM Doc

            What we are talking about with relation to these COVID vaccines is a bit different – but along the same lines. A better analog to this vaccine problem would be post-viral myocarditis. However, there is much that we do not know about this whole situation. There is some debate about what is even causing it and why it seems to get much more common the younger the patient is.

            Rheumatic fever – something which we rarely see anymore after the advent of antibiotics – is a reaction to certain strep. Both the actual organism and the immune system play a role.

            The kidneys and other organs can also be heavily involved. The patients often had an infection in youth – which damaged their heart and would later have big problems. In the case of rheumatic fever – yes there is some myocarditis – but this is mainly a problem with the heart valves. The pericardium could also be involved.

            Took care of many of these people as they got older. Lots of valve replacements, lots of rhythm problems, and lots of heart failure. They had mostly all died before the age of 65,

            Thankfully, we do not see it in the Western world very often at all now.

            1. Milton

              Thank you for all the informative answers and just plain “view from the ground” perspective. It’s nice to have a resident MD on board here.

            2. The Rev Kev

              Rheumatic fever is no joke in kids. My wife’s first husband died in his forties. He and his siblings had rheumatic fever when they were kids and as they reached their forties, they started dying off one after the other. His death certificate listed congestive cardiac failure, acute renal failure & aortic incompetence as causes and his systems were just shutting down.

              I sometimes think that for young kids, unless they have other serious pre-conditions, that it would be worth having covid parties to let them get through it naturally with what appears to be far less risk of reactions than to these shots. Just like the old measles parties. What an age we live in when such a question has to be asked.

      3. Nikkikat

        Interesting that they forced Johnson and Johnson to “pause” for two weeks for 6 cases of blood clots. But nothing to see here….move along.

          1. The Rev Kev

            Leaving only the Pfizer and Moderna to be the only available vaccines – and both of them mRNA based. Wonderful.

          2. eg

            Here in Canada my immune system is being used as a carnival ride — AZ first dose, Moderna second.

            Wondering what the boosters will be?

    2. chris

      Relative to discussion further down in the comments, Michael Burry is tweeting about this issue today.

      Interesting comments from a modern day Cassandra.

    3. drumlin woodchuckles

      If part of CDC’s secret mission is to create more slow-rolling death in the future while making it look like an accident, as part of the Global Overclass agenda to exterminate 7 or so billion people over the next hundred years, then CDC is doing its job very well.

      We just need to know what CDC’s real (secret) job (really) is.

    1. fresno dan

      Avast ye landlubbers
      I’m not sure what a lubber is. Come to think of it, I don’t know what avast means either
      But I think it does need a parrot…

      1. fresno dan

        and I watched the video and the flag isn’t a skull and crossbones. Its orange and yellow. your not gonna git any booty with an orange and yellow flag…

        1. ambrit

          Wellie, it is Canada after all!
          “We are Ye Polite Pyrates! Give us all of your shrubberies! Or be prepared to arbitrate!”
          Me, I would have been prepared for some “The Red & the Black” action.
          Some old fashioned “Hard Rock.”
          BOC prepares to board: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeOMHRkz14U

    2. The Rev Kev

      Look like that he wants to be part of the new economy – but on the right side, aarrghhhh!

  9. Temporarily Sane

    El País reports computer programmer John McAfee was found dead after committing suicide in a Barcelona jail while awaiting extradition to the US.

    Hmm…I bet it won’t take long for ‘alternative’ explanations for his death to begin making the rounds.

    2. ambrit

      Well, the man was a real ‘threat’ to the Deep State’s anti-encryption programs.
      And, a Barcelona jail???

      1. jo6pac

        Spain grabed him at the airport and was going send back to Amerika to stand trial for tax envasion. Strange person but as pointed out a threat to deep state.

      2. urdsama

        Was he?

        I’ve seen nothing to indicate he kept up with the tech in this area. While he may have been an expert decades ago, that means little today.

  10. Lemmy Caution

    At today’s meeting the tip of the iceberg looked like this:

    The CDC COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force tracked a group of 18-24 year old males for 7 days after they received their second mRNA vaccine shot. They expected to see 1-8 myocarditis/pericarditis cases*; however they observed 219 myocarditis cases — I believe that’s about a 27 times higher case count than expected.

    See slides 25-28 of this CDC presentation to see more comparisons between the number of myocarditis cases you would expect to see in various groups and the number of cases that are being observed.

    *Based on Gubernot et al. U.S. Population-Based background incidence rates of medical conditions for use in safety assessment of COVID-19 vaccines.

    1. The Rev Kev

      That’s the one where the Chinese suggested that the virus may have been introduced into Wuhan – by members of the US team.

    1. ambrit

      Just in case “something happens.”
      Just as military units have historians to sing their deeds like the bards and skalds of old, so too do ‘Official’ Adventurers have their own bards, also known as “media stenographers.”

    2. The Rev Kev

      Can you imagine what would happen if a Russian warship sailed 12 miles off Naval Station San Diego and the Captain was saying that he was only seeking safe passage through an internationally recognised shipping lane? Congress would be baying for blood.

      1. Duck1

        Locked and loaded for their innocent passage. Ukrainian waters after all, can’t rearrange boarders as has been done in the Balkans, Kosovo for example, Sudan, the Soviet breakup, etc.

        1. The Rev Kev

          If you look at an image of that BBC reporter, you will note that he is wearing anti-flash gear-

          https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-57580962

          That is the gear they issue sailors so that in case of fires, it protects the sailor’s faces and hands from bad burns. The fact that this reporter was given them showed that they knew what they were having that destroyer do was extremely risky – but did it anyway.

  15. The S

    Relating to the Guardian story “the evolution of rap, one verse at a time” from the 6/21 Water Cooler, there is now a veritable plethora of rap acts outside the mainstream which are talented and viable. There are so many entertaining artists with a small youtube channeI if one is willing to do a little digging. An artist can release songs and videos, and it’s become commonplace to supplement one’s social media with reaction videos, lectures & talks, even endorsements if one garners enough numbers.

    Pete & Bas is a UK rap duo that might pique the interest of the NC crowd. They’re a couple of OLD MEN in their 70’s who started doing drill-style UK rap about three years ago and have quickly evolved into one of the scene’s most talented rap groups. They have over a dozen good songs. They’re lingo includes both modern slang and old UK/cockney slang. Here they are on the Youtube show ‘Plugged in with Fumez,’ where rap groups are invited into Fumez the Engineer’s studio to record a song and video right there:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlcGxjtcr3s

    These old men used their appearance on Plugged in with Fumez to declare themselves full drill artists and not just a novelty act. Pete opens with a standard UK drill verse. Bas follows with a standard New York drill verse. Then Pete does and advanced UK drill verse. Bas then does a VERY advanced New York drill verse. Then they do a wicked back and forth with ridiculous wordplay and punchlines. They end by disrespecting a few UK artists who refused to collaborate or acknowledge Pete and Bas as a genuine rap group. It is, frankly, an incredible performance.

    Fumez also interviewed Pete and Bas if anyone is interested in hearing them describe how they got into modern UK drill rap and what it’s like being 70 in a scene of younguns:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvCs2r7p4y0

    A few slang definitions for the yanks who don’t follow UK drill:

    Mash- a gun, or mashed potatoes
    Pinkies- 50-pound notes
    Leaky- unsatisfactory, lame
    Boat- face
    Nank- knife
    Sovereign- A ring made with a gold coin face, popular with UK mobsters from back in the day
    Shooter- gun
    Spoons- short for Weatherspoons, a greasy food pub chain
    Bunda- Brazilian term for derriere
    Wavy- awesome
    Tit-for-tat- cockney term for a hat (usually shortened to tit-for)
    Dotty- shotgun
    Band- a thousand Pounds held together with a rubber band
    Tiocfaidh ár lá- motto of IRA republicanism, means ‘our day will come’

  16. WaltD

    In light of Michael Burry’s tweet storm, I’d like to know from the Water Cooler Crew how they see the American economy playing out over the next 12-18-36 months.

    1. petal

      A relative is a banking exec. A couple months ago they told me to be patient and give the housing market about another year and then it’s going to crater in epic fashion, same with stock market, but they’ll be a few months apart. I can’t remember which one they said would go first, though, sorry. This person does a lot of modeling, so I tend to give what they say some weight. They said it’ll be worse than 2008. This person isn’t prone to exaggeration or excitement. Take it how you like.

    2. Acacia

      I thought(?) Burry deleted his Twitter account. A link to the tweet storm would be nice.

  17. Lee

    I don’t know what will happen, but a market crash will vindicate my decision to keep my precious retirement savings in safer, low yield instruments. I will be absolutely aglow with schadenfreude.

  18. Lee

    As I peruse the news today, I find myself wondering if Myanmar’s anti-coup resistance will join forces with the Rohingya.

  20. dcblogger

    In 2002, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos issued a memo that has entered tech industry canon. The memo, known as the “API Mandate”, is generally perceived as being a statement about technology at Amazon, and is therefore widely admired by technologists and wholly ignored by executives. This is unfortunate, because it’s no exaggeration to say that the API Mandate completely transformed Amazon as a business and laid the foundation for its success. Better still, unlike many things that global technology titans do, it is something that can be replicated and put to use by almost any business.

    In this post, we’ll talk about the memo, and how it created the systems and incentives for radical organisational transformation.

    https://chrislaing.net/blog/the-memo/

  23. tegnost

    From the NWS seattle region forecast discussion…

    ” A strong upper ridge will build through
    the end of the week with the high center right over southwest
    British Columbia–naturally the air mass will warm through Saturday
    and our spell of hot weather will begin. Daily high temp records
    will be easily exceeded and all time highs for the month of June
    will also be set     as the warmest locations rise to near 100 degrees
    Saturday afternoon. It is unusual to have a summer high develop so
    close to our area rather than gradually build up from the four
    corners and yet temps aloft will warm to readings as warm as we
    ever see–even in mid summer. The 850mb temp is a good reference
    for meteorologists and that warms from around 14c through Thursday to
    around 25c late Saturday afternoon (and around 30c down around
    Medford)”

    https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=SEW&issuedby=SEW&product=AFD&format=CI&version=1&glossary=1

  26. a fax machine

    Societal collapse watch: Today, I had the pleasure of accidentally driving to Google’s headquarters. This is because the adjacent road only has onramps going northbound and not southbound, so I had to drive through Googleville in order to get to a southbound onramp.

    One moment I’m driving down a modestly kept business park, then I take a turn and suddenly there’s 10, 20, 30, almost 40 RVs all lined up on the road. All homeless people right between the Google buildings. We see it all the time in urban zones, but for a supposedly gentrified suburban zone this is something new. Even East Palo Alto (Facebook HQ) only allows the RVs on a back road (where a salvage lot and substation are).

    Horrifyingly, by the looks of it some where actual Google employees. Not just contractors like custodians but actual employees of the company. Lots of cheap uber rides because that’s where they all get their side money. Very, very worrying!!

    I recommend a visit if you happen to be in the area. It’s up there with the tents and street defecation in front of the Transamerica and BoA buildings.

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