2:00PM Water Cooler 1/18/2024

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Readers, this Water Cooler will be a little short. I travelled late last night, and expect some calls when Water Cooler is done. More tomorrow! –lambert

Bird Song of the Day

Guadalupe Junco, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. “Territorial song of a male Guadalupe Junco, singing from a high perch…. Mourning doves (Zenaida macroura) heard in the background.”

* * *

Politics

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

The Constitutional Order

“Maine judge defers decision on keeping Trump on US state ballot until Supreme Court weighs in” [Anadolu Agency]. “Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy said Secretary of State Shenna Bellows should hold off on implementing her decision on Trump’s electoral eligibility until the top US court issues its ruling after agreeing to take up a similar case from Colorado earlier this month…. Bellows in late December disqualified Trump from appearing on the state’s 2024 Republican primary ballot in response to challenges brought to the ex-president’s nomination…. Trump appealed the ruling to the Maine Supreme Court, setting the stage for Wednesday’s ruling…. Murphy ruled that Maine’s decision should be delayed until after the Supreme Court weighs in on a similar case from Colorado, saying the remand is ‘in the public interest.'” •

2024

Less than a year to go!

* * *

“Judge threatens to boot Donald Trump from courtroom over loud talking as E. Jean Carroll testifies” [Associated Press]. “Donald Trump was threatened with expulsion from his Manhattan civil trial Wednesday after he repeatedly ignored a warning to keep quiet while writer E. Jean Carroll testified that he shattered her reputation after she accused him of sexual abuse. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan told the former president that his right to be present at the trial will be revoked if he remains disruptive. After an initial warning, Carroll’s lawyer said Trump could still be heard making remarks to his lawyers, including ‘it is a witch hunt’ and ‘it really is a con job.’ ‘Mr. Trump, I hope I don’t have to consider excluding you from the trial,’ Kaplan said in an exchange after the jury was excused for lunch, adding: ‘I understand you’re probably very eager for me to do that.’ ‘I would love it,” the Republican presidential front-runner shot back, shrugging as he sat between lawyers Alina Habba and Michael Madaio at the defense table.'” • (!!).

“Georgia Prosecutors Should Go, But That Won’t Necessarily End the Case Against Trump” [Jonathan Turley, The Messenger]. Trump is lucky in his enemies: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis “has seemingly imploded with an ethical scandal which, unlike Trump’s prior claims, appears perhaps to be more well-founded, as it appears in an official court filing. It involves reports of an intimate relationship with Nathan Wade, appointed by Willis as lead prosecutor in the Trump case. While a recusal or removal of Willis may delay the case, it will not end the legal threat for Trump. Willis is accused of having a romantic relationship with Wade when she appointed him in this historic prosecution of a former president. Wade has no experience in racketeering law, yet he reportedly was paid more than an expert on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) cases. Willis and Wade allegedly went on lavish vacations together, and the costs allegedly were covered by Wade, who has received nearly $654,000 in legal fees since January 2022 — approved, ultimately, by Willis…. If these allegations are true, Willis is not just outside of the ethical navigational beacons. She is off the map…. A less obvious question is how their recusal could impact the Trump prosecution. Some analysts suggest the scandal removes the threat to him in Fulton County. That, however, is not likely to be true. The remedy in this instance for any unethical conduct, if proven, may be the removal of the prosecutors, not the dismissal of an otherwise valid criminal case. While I have been critical of Willis’ case against Trump, her conduct does not change the underlying allegations against the former president. The removal of Willis and Wade could also prompt the transfer of the case to a different jurisdiction. Any of these changes could take time, of course, and the delay would play to Trump’s advantage. Yet, the case still would go on. The most intriguing question is whether a new prosecutor would continue to support this controversial RICO case.”

Jamie Dimon picking a winner?

BREAKING – EXPLOSIVE: JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon tells CNBC people are voting for Trump because he was right about the economy, immigration, and China, says people should be a bit more respectful of MAGA people. They know what they are doing. WATCH pic.twitter.com/fMHgLrZF0d

— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) January 17, 2024

* * *

He’s not wrong, is he:

Iowa’s over, and there’s still only one person who’s ever defeated Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/uE1tylKuGf

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) January 16, 2024

Of course, with a bench like the Democrats, there’s another slugger right behind Joe in the line-up:

What an incredibly inspiring message, delivered with such panache, passion and power: https://t.co/B4GFUpdVlY

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 17, 2024

Hair like one of Hillary Clinton’s experiments, and am I the only one who’s reminded of Pelosi’s eyes?

* * *

IA: “Honestly, what did Kim Reynolds expect?” [Bleeding Heartland]. “Governor Reynolds spent much of the last two months campaigning for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and starred in a tv ad on his behalf. Yet her backing didn’t move the needle; polls showed support for DeSantis between the mid-teens and low 20s in Iowa for the last six months. As expected, he finished about 30 points behind former President Donald Trump at the January 15 caucuses. DeSantis did eke out a second-place finish with 21.2 percent of the vote, about 2 points ahead of Nikki Haley. But that more likely stemmed from the Never Back Down super PAC’s extensive field operation, which was superior to what Americans for Prosperity Action delivered for Haley.” “Americans for Prosperity Action.” Is there an algo that generates PAC names? More: “Selzer & Co’s Iowa Polls for the Des Moines Register, NBC News, and Mediacom showed in October and again in December that most likely caucus-goers believed Trump could win the next general election. Even a majority of DeSantis supporters felt that way. And really, why would Iowa Republicans believe Trump can’t win in November? They don’t think he lost to Biden last time.” • Good point!

IA: “How Trump dominated Iowa — and held back DeSantis and Haley” [WaPo]. “People close to DeSantis described searching in vain for messages against Trump with focus groups — his comments about abortion, his failure to finish the border wall or overturn Obamacare. All the while, Trump trounced the campaign in news coverage, an advantage that DeSantis’s team tracked closely. Even when DeSantis did a televised town hall, ‘half of that event is still [Trump’s] because the questions are about him,’ a DeSantis adviser said.

‘The indictments crushed us,’ said one person who regularly talked to DeSantis. ‘We sort of joked that he needed to get a mug shot to compete with Trump.'” And as for Haley: “At nearly every point in the campaign, Haley had chosen to adopt a strategy diametrically opposed to what DeSantis was doing. Her team, at both SFA and the campaign, was led by a single crew of old friends and partners who operated as a whole, without leaks. Even the Iowa press spokespeople sought approval from Charleston headquarters before talking to national reporters. While DeSantis leaned heavily on policy, Haley focused on big themes of generational change and political style. As the Florida governor’s allies announced a $100 million ground game, Haley ran on a shoestring, flying commercial for months, sometimes with just a single adviser. The DeSantis operation rented and wrapped three different buses — two for the super PAC and one for the campaign — while she had none. But the charisma that drove her campaign was not without fault. It was a simple question that threw Haley off: What caused the Civil War? She rambled and did not mention slavery as a cause until the following day. People who knew her in South Carolina said she had always been cognizant to appeal to voters who might be skeptical of an Indian American woman. Republicans and Democrats alike panned the answer. Even Trump mocked her, calling it “three paragraphs” of hokum, though he used another more colorful word. With just a day to go before the Iowa caucuses, Iowans listen to Haley speak to a large crowd at Country Lane Lodge in Adel, Iowa, on Sunday. She also struggled to broaden her coalition beyond moderate, affluent and college-educated voters.” • Turns out the Republicans have a weak bench, too.

NH: “Ron DeSantis shifts campaign away from New Hampshire days before the primary, AP sources say” [Associated Press]. “Ron DeSantis has decided to shift his presidential campaign away from New Hampshire just six days before the state’s first-in-the-nation Republican primary while his leading super PAC executes another round of layoffs, moves that reflect the Florida governor’s rapidly shrinking path to the 2024 GOP nomination. DeSantis won’t ignore the state completely over the coming days, but he’s reallocating the majority of his staff to South Carolina, the home state of rival Nikki Haley, with its primary in just over a month. That’s according to senior campaign officials who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to share internal discussions. At the same time, the pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down has transferred several of its Iowa staffers to other early states, while laying off the rest.” • Makes no sense at all, unless a donor is dictating the move and/or DeSantis is desperate for cash.

* * *

Chief White House Correspondent at Today News Africa, but I think a one-man show. Nevertheless:

Always here for volatility stans!

Democrats en Déshabillé

“Senator Tammy Baldwin’s Chief to Long COVID Patients: Stop Annoying Me or Else” [The Gauntlet]. “Senator Tammy Baldwin, one of the two remaining HELP Commitee members who have not yet committed to attending the [Long Covid] hearing, expressed via her staff that the millions of patients desperate for treatment are quite the annoyance to her and her team. ‘I’m trying to be helpful,’ Chief of Staff Ken Reidy says with badly concealed irritation, going on to condescendingly explain to journalist and activist Joshua Pribanic, ‘I have about 600 emails in my inbox from your organization, from people from Scotland, from California, from Maryland. Um. Senator Baldwin represents Wisconsin. If I had every organization that just blasted my email inbox where I do my professional work, I would not be able to do my job.'” • Well, you’re certainly doing it now…. (Also, I have always had the sense that Senators have, and ought to have, a more national perspective than House members, who represent “the district.” That’s why Senators look in the mirror and see a President!)

“White House called Hutchinson to apologize for DNC remarks” [Politico]. Who? Anyhow: “White House chief of staff Jeff Zients called former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Wednesday morning to apologize after the Democratic National Committee released a snarky statement to mark the end of the Republican’s presidential bid. Hutchinson, who ran a campaign designed to take on and criticize Donald Trump, dropped out of the race after a sixth-place in the Iowa caucuses this week. The Democratic National Committee initially responded by calling his withdrawal ‘a shock to those of us who could’ve sworn he had already dropped out.’ The statement drew immediate backlash from people who said it was a gratuitous attempt to humiliate Hutchinson. Zients’ call to Hutchinson effectively marked a repudiation of the DNC — and a particularly swift clean-up job by the White House. The chief of staff’s damage-control effort reflects the central importance of anti-Trump Republicans in the 2024 campaign.” • Obviously, the Never Trumpers should simply be put under the DNC umbrella; that would put an end to these co-ordination difficulties.

“Eric Adams’s Legal Defense Trust Attorney Thanks Hell Gate for Bringing Questionable Donations to His Attention” [Hell Gate]. “The rules that govern these [legal defense] trusts, which were created by the City Council in 2019 to allow elected officials to raise money to address investigations that are unrelated to their official jobs, set clear boundaries for people who want to donate. The maximum contribution amount is $5,000, and the trust cannot accept money from the elected official’s subordinates, or people who have business dealings with the City—defined as people whose names are in the City’s Doing Business Database—as of the date of their contribution. For the latter group, their spouses are prohibited from donating as well. Donors must also submit a signed statement affirming they are complying with the law. But according to the documents filed by Mayor Adams’s legal defense trust on Tuesday, two $5,000 donations came from the spouses of people who are in the Doing Business Database. Trina Cayre and Sarah Cayre gave a total of $10,000 to the fund on December 19, 2023, according to the trust’s disclosures; Trina is married to Joseph Cayre, the billionaire behind the real estate company Midtown Equities, and Jack Cayre, Joseph’s son, is married to Sarah. Both Joseph and Jack Cayre’s names appear in the City’s Doing Business Database. The Cayres’ portfolio also includes Casa Cipriani, which is one of the mayor’s favorite private clubs.” • Whoops. I don’t know how the Democrats managed to waste a cop with a million-watt smile, but they seem to have done so.

#COVID19

“I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison

Resources, United States (National): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; includes many counties; Wastewater Scan, includes drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, but national data). “Infection Control, Emergency Management, Safety, and General Thoughts” (especially on hospitalization by city).

Lambert here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To update any entry, do feel free to contact me at the address given with the plants. Please put “COVID” in the subject line. Thank you!

Resources, United States (Local): AK (dashboard); AL (dashboard); AR (dashboard); AZ (dashboard); CA (dashboard; Marin, dashboard; Stanford, wastewater; Oakland, wastewater); CO (dashboard; wastewater); CT (dashboard); DE (dashboard); FL (wastewater); GA (wastewater); HI (dashboard); IA (wastewater reports); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d’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).

Resources, Canada (National): Wastewater (Government of Canada).

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

Hat tips to helpful readers: Alexis, anon (2), Art_DogCT, B24S, CanCyn, ChiGal, Chuck L, Festoonic, FM, FreeMarketApologist (4), Gumbo, hop2it, JB, JEHR, JF, JL Joe, John, JM (10), JustAnotherVolunteer, JW, KatieBird, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, square coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).

Stay safe out there!

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Covid is Airborne

Strep, like the flu and RSV, is airborne:

Strep A, Group A Streptococcusis (Streptococcus pyogenes), is airborne.

Has been known to be airborne since at least 1949, via Coburn and Young's seminal work contact tracing in the military during WWII.https://t.co/6AeZ90Op7ahttps://t.co/3h3p6FCAeW#STREPaISairborne. pic.twitter.com/fy9tpm5Ysw

— Lazarus Long (@LazarusLong13) January 17, 2024

Sequelae

“Can we cut road deaths to zero by 2050? Current trends say no. What’s going wrong?” [The Conversation]. Australia. “But while we were making good progress at reducing road trauma, this has stalled in recent years, with Australian road deaths rising to levels not seen in nearly a decade…. For the first time in decades, we’ve seen a sustained increase in road deaths in Australia and other countries such as the United States…. [T]he assumption that more people are dying because there are more cars is, at best, a partial explanation… The post-pandemic data shows several indicators of declining road user behaviour and attitudes. In New South Wales, for example, there has been a substantial increase in fines for minor speeding offences. Across Australia, the number of fatal crashes in 60–70 km/h zones has been rising, from 241 associated deaths in 2020 to 315 in 2022. Speeding is likely to play a role, but it’s unclear to what extent…. This could be due to a number of factors: speeding, risk-taking behaviours and others such as poorer infrastructure, lower levels of enforcement, collisions with wildlife, long-trips and driver fatigue.” • But infrastructure, enforcement, wild-life, trips, and driver fatigue are pretty much constants; certainly slow to change. It’s weird. It’s almost as if there were some population-wide factor that was increasing risk taking behavior.

“Blood transcriptomics reveal persistent SARS-CoV-2 RNA and candidate biomarkers in Long COVID patients” (preprint) [medRxiv]. From the Abstract: “With an estimated 65 million individuals suffering from Long COVID, validated therapeutic strategies as well as non-invasive biomarkers are direly needed to guide clinical management…. We demonstrate systemic SARS-CoV-2 persistence for more than 2 years after acute COVID-19 infection. A 2-gene biomarker, including SARS-CoV-2 antisense RNA, correctly classifies Long COVID with 93.8% sensitivity and 91.7% specificity.” • Interesting, since NIH blew a billion bucks on Long Covid and didn’t even look for a biomarker.

Science Is Popping

Oh good:

In this NIH autopsy study, 10 out 11 brains 🧠had SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA. This was then cultured in a BL3 lab, and the virus was shown to be replication competent. Listen to Daniel Chertow MD explain👇📺 pic.twitter.com/o8u62m1DNF

— Sue (@inkblue01) December 23, 2023

Origins Debate

I’m just laying this down as a marker, because an expert in sequencing I am not (nor is Leonardi, on-point as he has been for immune dysregulation):

This is a smoking gun and a slam dunk rolled into one.

SARS cov 2 has seemingly artificial sequences that would allow for assembly with a single protein out of many candidates.

That specific protein is on the grant proposals

Brace for impact as this is explained to lawmakers https://t.co/ZnHXnqcQna

— AJ Leonardi, MBBS, PhD (@fitterhappierAJ) January 18, 2024

Perhaps a Brain Trust member, or a sequencing expert in the readership can comment

Policy

A thread on the Long Covid hearing at Sanders’ HELP Committee:

Good morning! This is @betsyladyzhets, getting started with livetweeting today's hearing at the Senate HELP committee about #LongCovid. Follow along in this thread for updates throughout the event. pic.twitter.com/p3wPZWSi0S

— The Sick Times (@thesicktimes) January 18, 2024

People apparently keep taking off their masks to speak. Audience, however, is masked:

At the Senate hearing on long covid, chaired by @BernieSanders (recovering from his own recent covid bout).

Room is packed — overwhelmingly by people wearing masks — with a spillover crowd and advocates sharing handouts for https://t.co/l4JbKm9zMa. pic.twitter.com/xxMzQHDIL7

— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) January 18, 2024

Very encouraging to see the attendance!

“Addressing Long COVID: Advancing Research and Improving Patient Care” (video) [Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions]. • The full Committee hearing…

Elite Maleficence

Mandy re-appears, no mask, no explanation:

I joined @CDCGlobal‘s all staff meeting today to talk about protecting health as one team—at home and abroad! Through local partnerships, rapid response capacity building, data exchange & more, our teams around the world are working to protect our health. pic.twitter.com/JmBfJDbrfP

— Mandy K. Cohen, MD, MPH (@CDCDirector) January 17, 2024

Love the boots. Where’s the whip?

* * *

Case Data

NOT UPDATED From BioBot wastewater data, January 16:

Lambert here #3: Slight decrease in slope, due to the Northeast and the West (unless it’s a data issue). Personally, I wouldn’t call a peak, based entirely on the anecdotes I’m scrolling through, which are not encouraging, particularly with regard to the schools. Very unscientific, I agree! Let’s wait and see. Note that I don’t accept the PMC “homework” model, whose most famous exponent is Sociopath of the Day Bob Wachter, where you adjust your behavior according to multiple sources of (horrible, gappy, lagged) data about infection levels (ignoring “risk of ruin”). Just stick with your protocol day in and day out, my advice. K.I.S.S. However, tracking these trends, besides having intrinsic interest, is pragmatically useful for major decisions, like travel, cruises (surely not, readers), relocation, family events, communication with recalcitrant HCWs, etc.

Lambert #4: Looks like I was too pessimistic! (Of course, half the cases under the curve take place after the peak….)

Regional data:

Big decline in the Northeast!

Variants

NOT UPDATED From CDC, January 6:

Lambert here: JN.1 now dominates. That was fast.

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, January 13:

Lambert here: Consistent with Biobot data.

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. And of course, we’re not even getting into the quality of the wastewater sites that we have as a proxy for Covid infection overall.

Hospitalization

Bellwether New York City, data as of January 17:

Lambert here: Decrease for the state, decrease then increase for New York City. Hmm,

NOT UPDATED Here’s a different CDC visualization on hospitalization, nationwide, not by state, but with a date, at least. January 6:

Lambert here: “Maps, charts, and data provided by CDC, updates weekly for the previous MMWR week (Sunday-Saturday) on Thursdays (Deaths, Emergency Department Visits, Test Positivity) and weekly the following Mondays (Hospitalizations) by 8 pm ET†”. So where the heck is the update, CDC?

Positivity

NOT UPDATED From Walgreens, January 15:

-0.7%. (It would be interesting to survey this population generally; these are people who, despite a tsunami of official propaganda and enormous peer pressure, went and got tested anyhow.)

NOT UPDATED From Cleveland Clinic, January 13:

Lambert here: Percentage and absolute numbers down.

NOT UPDATED From CDC, traveler’s data, December 25:

Up, albeit in the rear view mirror. And here are the variants for travelers, December 25:

Note the chart has been revised to reflect that JN.1 is BA.2.86.1 (the numbers “roll over”).

Deaths

NOT UPDATED Here is the New York Times, based on CDC data, January 6:

Stats Watch

Employment Situation: “United States Initial Jobless Claims” [Trading Economics]. “The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell by 16,000 to 187,000 on the week ending January 18th, the least since September 2022, and well below market expectations of 207,000.”

Housing: “United States Housing Starts” [Trading Economics]. “Housing starts in the US declined 4.3% month-over-month to an annualized 1.46 million in December 2023, but above market forecasts of 1.426 million. It is the first decline in four months, following a downwardly revised 10.8% surge to 1.525 million in November.”

Manufacturing: “United States Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index” [Trading Economics]. “The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index in the US rose 2.2 points to -10.6 in January 2024 from -12.8 in the prior month but worse than market estimates of -7. This is the index’s 18th negative reading in the past 20 months. The indexes for current new orders and current shipments both also rose in January but remained negative.”

* * *

Shipping: “The drop in Panama Canal traffic due to a severe drought could cost up to $700 million” [Western Investor]. “A severe drought that began last year has forced authorities to slash ship crossings by 36% in the Panama Canal, one of the world’s most important trade routes. The new cuts announced Wednesday by authorities in Panama are set to deal an even greater economic blow than previously expected…. One of the most severe droughts to ever hit the Central American nation has stirred chaos in the 50-mile (80-kilometer) maritime route, causing a traffic jam of vessels, casting doubts on the canal’s reliability for international shipping and raising concerns about its affect on global trade. ‘It’s vital that the country sends a message that we’re going to take this on and find a solution to this water problem,’ [Panama Canal Administrator Ricaurte] Vásquez said. The disruption of the major trade route between Asia and the United States comes at a precarious time. Attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Houthi rebels have rerouted vessels away from the crucial corridor for consumer goods and energy supplies.” • “This water problem.”

Manufacturing:

People don't remember just how randomly reckless Trump was as President in routine decisions like this. https://t.co/ozXArFAEtT

— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) January 17, 2024

I would file this under 2024 if there were a news hook from Democrats, but naturally there isn’t.

Tech: “Google News Is Boosting Garbage AI-Generated Articles” [404 Media]. “Google News is boosting sites that rip-off other outlets by using AI to rapidly churn out content, 404 Media has found. Google told 404 Media that although it tries to address spam on Google News, the company ultimately does not focus on whether a news article was written by an AI or a human, opening the way for more AI-generated content making its way onto Google News. The presence of AI-generated content on Google News signals two things: first, the black box nature of Google News, with entry into Google News’ rankings in the first place an opaque, but apparently gameable, system. Second, is how Google may not be ready for moderating its News service in the age of consumer-access AI, where essentially anyone is able to churn out a mass of content with little to no regard for its quality or originality. ‘I want to read the original stories written by journalists who actually researched them and spoke to primary sources. Any news junkie would,’ Brian Penny, a ghostwriter who first flagged some of the seemingly AI-generated articles to 404 Media, said.”

Mr. Market: “If this is all the downside the bears can deliver, then the bull market may still be intact” [MarketWatch]. “The market ‘feels’ bearish, but the indicators are mixed.”

* * *

Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 62 Greed (previous close: 57 Greed) [CNN]. One week ago: 71 (Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Jan 18 at 12:32:10 PM ET

Zeitgeist Watch

“A CELEBRATION OF THE DELIGHTFULLY-TERRIBLE DAD JOKE” [National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse]. *.gov (!!). “What do you call a man with a rubber toe?” “Roberto.” Oh. But wait. There’s more! “What’s red and smells like paint?” “Red paint.” • Oh!

The Gallery

“After Dark, Dave Jordano Photographs the Idiosyncratic Personalities of American Towns” [Colossal]. “‘For me, it’s mostly about the quiet solitude, the empty streets, sometimes surreal nature of a city that looks and feels as if it’s frozen in time,’ Jordano tells Colossal. His photos invite us on a journey through American towns in the late hours when they are not often observed, devoid of people yet hinting at their presence through an illuminated kitchen windows or an open tavern door. He adds, ‘The pace of everything slows down, and time becomes irrelevant. Under this artificial light, the buildings often take on a theatrical look as if they’re performing for me, showing me their best side.'” • For example:

I looked over the gallery, with a view toward making the claim that Jordano’s photos could only have been taken in America. The above, certainly. His entire oeuvre? I’m not so sure.

News of the Wired

“Technology is stealing your time in ways you may not realise – here’s what you can do about it” [The Conversation]. “There is growing evidence that while digital technology may help us to save some time, we end up using that time to do more and more things. We recently interviewed 300 people across Europe to understand how they used digital devices in day-to-day life. This research showed that people want to avoid empty periods of time in their lives, so they fill those periods performing tasks, some of which wouldn’t be possible without technology. Whether it was waiting for a bus, waking in the morning, or lying in bed at night, our participants reported that time which would previously be “empty” was now filled with brain training apps, creating lists of things they should do or try based on their social media feed, and other life admin. It seems that quiet moments of people watching, imagining and daydreaming are now filled with tech-based tasks. The growth in digital tasks is happening, in part, because technology appears to be changing our perception of what free time is for. For many people, it is no longer enough to simply eat dinner, watch TV or maybe do an exercise class. Instead, in an attempt to avoid wasting time, these activities are performed while also browsing the web in search of the ingredients for a more perfect life and trying to develop a sense of achievement.” • Yves’ tax on time.

“7 Things A Happiness Scientist Taught Me About Finding More Joy” [Vogue]. “Happiness, in other words, isn’t something that just happens, or even purely circumstantial. It involves homework and awareness. Practice. So, let’s begin.” And: “joy is invariably found in its practice, rather than searching for perfection. Love is continuously vowing to show up. Love is the beauty in finding a way back to yourself, to someone, to some place or somewhere.” • Picking this up again because it’s worth thinking about twice,,,,

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Contact information for plants: Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) find out how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. From SD:

SD writes: “A variety of Norway maple, I think.” Looks kinda like my very ill-shapen Norway Maple before the biggest bough fell off, almost taking my service drop (?) with it, and I had to cut it down, to nobody’s regret. Readers? Is this a Norway maple?

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