2:00PM Water Cooler 4/4/2024 | bare capitalism

Not merely due to their masks:

My e mail handle is down by the plant; please ship examples of “Helpers” there. In our more and more determined and fragile neoliberal society, on a regular basis regular incidents and tales of “the communism of on a regular basis life” are what I’m searching for (and never, say, the Pink Cross in Hawaii, and even the UNWRA in Gaza).

Politics

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

2024

Lower than a yr to go!

RCP Ballot Averages, March 29

I believe I’ll depart this up till this coming Friday, so I can a minimum of mumble one thing about traits. Nationally, Trump is up 2.4% within the 5-Manner, similar as final week, give or take. Trump continues to be up in all of the Swing States (extra right here). I’ve highlighted PA, (1) as a result of Trump is definitely down there, and (2) it’s an outlier, has been for weeks. Why isn’t Trump doing effectively there?

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Trump (R): “Why have Trump’s bond paperwork been rejected – and what does this imply for his authorized troubles?” [Independent]. “Paperwork for Donald Trump’s $175m bond in his New York civil fraud case have been rejected and ‘returned for correction’ to the previous president attributable to lacking monetary info. A docket appeared on the New York County Supreme Court docket web site on Wednesday, detailing {that a} ‘Bond/Enterprise’ had been ‘returned for correction.’ The courtroom mentioned that the explanation for the rejection was that a few of the documentation filed on behalf of the Republican presidential candidate failed to incorporate a present monetary assertion, energy of lawyer or record an attorney-in-fact… Mr Trump will now have a possibility to resubmit the paperwork with the correct info to ensure that his bond to be accepted. This implies the previous president being compelled to share his latest monetary information.” And on the calendar: “What the $175m bond actually buys the candidate is time – a number of months in reality, as his attraction in opposition to the fraud judgement won’t happen till September on the earliest, when the courtroom’s autumn time period commences. That, nonetheless, does carry the matter uncomfortably near Election Day on 5 November – a interval when lots of the candidate’s different authorized entanglements likewise threaten to come back to a head.” • Accident? Or for a goal larger than trolling?

Trump (R): “As normal election heats up, Trump camp prepares to be frozen in courtroom” [Semafor]. “One of many problems the marketing campaign must kind by is scheduling. Up till now, Trump has solely been seated in courtroom for just a few days at a time — and oftentimes, it’s been of his personal volition, with the marketing campaign seeing his presence as a technique to merge the authorized and marketing campaign battles whereas heightening Trump’s claims of political persecution for Republican major voters. Now, although, workforce Trump is readying for his or her candidate to be required in courtroom a number of days per week, for weeks at a time, which is able to make organizing constant marketing campaign occasions that a lot tougher. ‘That is simply the development of the place the marketing campaign season is headed into,’ one aide mentioned. ‘Actually, he’ll need to be in courtroom fairly just a few days out of the week, and that’s by no means a really perfect factor. We’d by no means want to be in that place, after all.’ However his workforce nonetheless believes there’s ‘ample alternative’ to work round these limitations: Primarily based on the choose’s public schedule, they consider Trump, who’s more likely to camp out at Trump Tower throughout trial days, can have Wednesdays off, which means the previous president may take part in campaign-related occasions that day or on Tuesday evenings. The marketing campaign additionally famous that they’ll have weekends to work with — and left open the opportunity of doing mini-trips to neighboring states on courtroom days, too.” • Trump may conduct a “entrance porch marketing campaign” from the steps for Trump Tower!

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Biden (D): “Joe Biden can’t get out of the outlet he’s already dug for himself” [New York Post]. “However you’d a lot moderately be the place Trump is within the polls proper now than the place Biden is. Trump was by no means on this robust a place at any level within the 2016 or 2020 elections. At this stage in 2020, Biden was up 4 factors in Michigan, 3 in Wisconsin and North Carolina and a couple of in Pennsylvania. At this level in 2016, Hillary Clinton was up 10 in Michigan and Wisconsin, 9 in Pennsylvania and a couple of in North Carolina — and he or she misplaced all 4 states.” And: “But Biden refuses to vary course or change his message: The financial system is nice, Trump is a menace to democracy, and abortion, abortion, abortion. These marketing campaign ways helped Democrats keep away from what ought to have been a a lot worse loss in 2022, however they nonetheless misplaced the nationwide standard vote in Home races [they did] — and a repeat of that displaying would imply President Trump: The Sequel. However don’t anticipate an previous canine to study new tips.” • Simply as long as he doesn’t chunk anyone!

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Kennedy (I): “How Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Might Doom Joe Biden” [Politico]. “However his marketing campaign and an allied tremendous PAC, American Values 2024, introduced within the final month they’ve collected greater than sufficient signatures to make the poll within the essential Southwestern battlegrounds of Arizona and Nevada, the place roughly one in 5 voters are Latino. These signatures are nonetheless topic to problem, but when Kennedy does seem on the poll, it may create dire problems for the Biden marketing campaign. Latino Democrats at the moment are taking the specter of Kennedy’s marketing campaign lethal severely after nationwide and state leaders have been briefed on a beforehand unreported ballot in mid-February by Democratic group Equis Analysis, which confirmed Kennedy performing surprisingly effectively amongst Latino voters in a dozen battleground states, successfully splintering Biden’s Hispanic coalition from 2020, when he garnered 59 p.c Hispanic help. Kennedy’s recognition seems to be a operate of title recognition and a normal lack of enthusiasm for President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, to not point out voters brushing their views onto the considerably empty canvas of his candidacy. The ballot of two,010 registered Latino voters discovered Kennedy profitable one in 5 younger Latino voters, and in addition reported him capturing a large 17 p.c Latino help in Arizona and an much more sturdy 21 p.c in Nevada— the very best quantity among the many battleground states polled. The drag on Biden’s Latino help was so nice within the survey that Trump was profitable amongst Hispanics general in 12 battleground states, 41 p.c to Biden’s 34 p.c.” • Yikes!

Kennedy (I): “Column: Trump’s vice presidential present and Kennedy’s kamikaze mission” [Los Angeles Times]. On Kennedy’s probabilities of profitable: “I might say slim to none — however slim was final seen paddling as far and quick as doable away from the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Mass. (A lot of Kennedy’s household fervently oppose his bid and help Biden’s reelection.) So I might enterprise to say there’s completely no probability.” Who good points and who loses with Kennedy operating: “That’s unclear. His platform — a farrago of liberal and conservative views mashed up with a mess of conspiracy-laden pottage, isn’t simply categorized. He may attraction to each disaffected Democrats and Republicans.” • Within the “change vs. extra of the identical” framework, nonetheless, Kennedy is certainly in “change,” as is Trump. And Biden is in “extra of the identical” (“essentially nothing would change“).

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Kennedy (I): “The ‘Conventional Organizing’ Election?” [Campaigns & Elections]. “Sdd one other voice to the “subject will probably be essential in 2024″ dialogue: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. The unbiased presidential candidate instructed CNN this week that his marketing campaign has deployed some 200,000 volunteers to assist him achieve poll entry in all 50 states. ‘We’ve got a really, superb volunteer military on the market,’ he mentioned. ‘We have already got the most important subject operation of any marketing campaign. We’re going to don’t have any drawback getting on the poll in each state.’” Perhaps. Extra: “At the moment, the candidate is barely confirmed to be on the poll in Utah, and whereas his marketing campaign claims to have the wanted signatures for poll entry in North Carolina (and a handful of different states) poll entry for Kennedy stays a really uphill battle. Whereas Kennedy was speaking up the energy of his personal operation, consultants have additionally been calling for funding in subject organizing, and speaking up how vital it will likely be for campaigns to spice up spending on organizing packages this cycle…. ‘It’s 67,000 votes,’ [Jeff Roe, founder of Axiom Strategies, recently told C&E] mentioned, referencing the distinction between Hillary Clinton and President Trump’s vote totals in deciding states in 2016. ‘The funding in these six, possibly seven states on the bottom motivating individuals to vote for his or her get together desire goes to be the entire recreation.’ A part of the explanation why that funding is so essential is due to how exhausting it’s to string the needle to achieve the suitable individuals with an efficient TV advert. ‘,’ he mentioned. ‘After which you’ve got streaming, which simply handed linear TV final yr — and half of that’s not advert supported.’” • That statistic on video and TV watching is essentially the most encouraging quantity I’ve seen in a while.

Kennedy (I): “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is not only a ‘spoiler candidate’” [The Berkshire Edge]. Letter to the Editor from Kennedy’s Berkshire County marketing campaign coordinator. “Workforce Kennedy has over 12,000 volunteers and supporters already registered in Massachusetts. And the hassle to get the ten,000-plus signatures to get RFK Jr. on the poll—in order that Individuals have their democratically protected decisions—will probably be starting shortly. Anybody fascinated about volunteering or simply studying extra in regards to the insurance policies and platform of the Kennedy-Shanahan Ticket can go to kennedy24.com.” • Good staffwork. Right here is the poll entry web page for Kennedy’s web site; I clicked on “Massachusetts” to double-check the ten,000 determine:

Appears to be like informative {and professional}. Additionally, July 30 may be very far-off if Kennedy has the cash and catches hearth with volunteers; very shut if he doesn’t.

NC: Kennedy (I): “RFK Jr. is formally becoming a member of the NC poll” [CarolinaCoastOnline]. “The newly fashioned We The Individuals political get together gathered greater than 23,000 signatures, far above the requirement to achieve poll entry, with over a month to spare and a 60% buffer to guard in opposition to invalid signatures. .” • And I’m certain there’s a military of attorneys defending “our democracy” by disputing these signatures at the same time as we communicate. (Additionally, the 60% margin appears honest, which means that the ten,000 determine for MA is absolutely 16,000.)

NC: Kennedy (I): “How North Carolina’s presidential election adjustments if RFK Jr. is on the poll” [Charlotte Observer]. “Nonetheless, Kennedy’s presence on the poll may have a significant impression on the end result of the election, particularly in a swing state like North Carolina. Whereas Trump carried North Carolina within the 2020 election, it was his lowest margin of victory in any state. He received it by solely a 1.34% margin, and it was the one state during which he received with lower than 50% of the vote.

Anticipating one more shut race in 2024, each the Biden and Trump campaigns are making North Carolina a precedence. It wouldn’t take a lot to seal the end result in both candidate’s favor — and a third-party candidate who may collect even simply 2% of the vote may affect whether or not North Carolina is blue or crimson in November.” And: “Most polls presently present Trump with a lead over Biden in North Carolina, and that lead grows when third-party candidates like Kennedy are included on the poll, ballot averages present. A brand new Wall Avenue Journal ballot revealed this week confirmed Trump with a six-point lead in North Carolina on a take a look at poll that features third-party and unbiased candidates.”

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Kennedy (I): “Terrified Mother and father, New Age Well being Nuts, MAGA Exiles. Meet the R.F.Ok. Jr. Trustworthy.” [Michelle Goldberg, New York Times]. “[O]n the bottom, I haven’t met many Kennedy-curious voters for whom Biden is a second alternative. As a substitute, Kennedy attracts lots of the similar type of alienated political eccentrics who previously have gravitated to Trump. ‘They maintain saying that he’s pulling from Biden, however most of our individuals are truly coming from the suitable,’ mentioned Leigh Merinoff, volunteer chair of the finance committee of American Values. Anecdotes aren’t the identical factor as information, and individuals who go to rallies and volunteer for campaigns aren’t essentially consultant of the citizens, which is stuffed with people who find themselves far more disengaged. Nonetheless, there’s a spot between each Democratic and Republican assumptions about Kennedy’s attraction and the character of his real-life motion. He’s far more of a wild card than left-wing third-party candidates like Stein and Cornel West. There’s one thing distinctly Trumpy in his marketing campaign’s mixture of New Age individualism, social media-fueled paranoia and intense, aching nostalgia for the optimistic America of the early Sixties, when Kennedy’s uncle John F. Kennedy was president and his father, Robert F. Kennedy, served as lawyer normal. It’s not stunning that some in any other case Trump-leaning voters are choosing up on it.” • So, Kennedy voters are deplorables too?! (As for as

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Kennedy (I): “Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s operating mate and the vaccine wars” [Glenn Kessler, WaPo]. 4 Pinocchios: “Shanahan doesn’t fairly say that vaccines trigger autism, however she implies it, demanding a examine that’s not possible as a result of it might be unethical. She cites numbers that declare that autism has spiked, with out acknowledging the principle motive is as a result of the definition of autism has been drastically expanded. That is textbook anti-vaccine rhetoric. The general impact is to forged doubt on the security of vaccines. She earns 4 Pinocchios.” • I so, so don’t wish to become involved in that discourse; there appears to be a definite lack of fine religion contributors, and don’t @ me.

Kennedy (I): That’s the stuff to offer the troops:

Mothers are the unsung heroes of our society. They juggle all of it with out fanfare or accolades. They do it for the love of their kids — a love larger than every other.

Waking as much as the realities of the persistent well being epidemic is painful as a result of it’s exhausting to fathom that our… pic.twitter.com/4EWTSqVqnm
— Nicole Shanahan (@NicoleShanahan) April 3, 2024

If Mothers are for us, who might be in opposition to us?

Kennedy (I): Shanahan on coverage:

My operating mate Nicole Shanahan explains how the Kennedy/Shanahan ticket will finish the persistent illness epidemic:

“Whereas Bobby is targeted on ending the company seize of our regulatory businesses, I’m going to assemble the very best technologists and scientists on the earth and we… pic.twitter.com/v9kqLJKEFb
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) March 30, 2024

Sounds good “at a excessive degree,” as we are saying, however there are two issues past the Silicon Valley triumphalism: (1) We don’t actually have well being information databases; we now have databases categorizing putative well being remedies in medical services for cost functions, contaminated by upcoding, and (2) AI = BS (although I grant some sample recognition functions aren’t as pernicious because the ChatGPT department of the sector).

Kennedy (I): “How Nicole Shanahan, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s VP Choose, Obtained So Wealthy” [Forbes]. “Shanahan’s wealth comes from her earlier marriage to Sergey Brin, the Google cofounder whose internet price Forbes estimates at greater than $120 billion—sufficient to rank him because the tenth richest particular person on the earth.” And: “Divorce information aren’t clear on how a lot Shanahan walked away with, and neither she nor Brin responded to requests for remark, however Brin’s filings with the Securities and Trade Fee provide revealing info. The paperwork present a lower in his Class B shares of Alphabet (Google’s guardian firm) totaling some 2.6 million shares someday between Might and December 2023. Throughout that interval, he didn’t report any share gross sales or presents, which might usually be required for Brin, an Alphabet director who owns greater than 5% of the corporate’s shares. In all chance, these shares, price about $390 million at present costs, went to Shanahan: Transfers attributable to divorce don’t should be disclosed instantly in insider transaction filings, in line with 4 specialists contacted by Forbes.” And however: “Assuming that Brin’s SEC filings present a switch to Shanahan, she didn’t get near $1 billion in Class B shares. Nonetheless, Brin has traditionally executed parallel transactions for his Alphabet Class C shares—which don’t seem in annual possession filings as a result of they don’t have voting rights—promoting or gifting comparable numbers of Class B and Class C shares at comparable instances. If he adopted his typical sample and in addition transferred roughly 2.6 million Class C shares to Shanahan, then taken collectively, these 5.2 million shares can be price just below $800 million immediately. Add in every other property she might have gotten within the cut up, like houses they lived in collectively or some money from Brin’s $900 million in Alphabet shares he bought throughout their marriage, and that would put her nearer to the $1 billion she needed. However even when Shanahan solely acquired the Class B shares, a fortune of round $400 million would nonetheless make her the wealthiest vice presidential choose in many years—seemingly since Nelson Rockefeller, Gerald Ford’s VP. .” • The important level.

Kennedy (I): “Tulsi Gabbard turned down RFK Jr.’s provide to be his operating mate, she says” [ABC]. “Former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who left the Democratic Social gathering in 2022, declined a proposal to be Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s operating mate in his unbiased presidential bid, she tells ABC Information. ‘I met with Kennedy a number of instances, and we now have turn out to be good associates,’ she mentioned in a press release. ‘He requested if I might be his operating mate. After cautious consideration, I respectfully declined.’”

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PA: “F&M Ballot: Pennsylvania Transferring in Extra Optimistic Path” [Politics PA]. “The excellent news for President Joe Biden comes within the type of a two-horse race in opposition to former President Donald Trump. After touchdown inside the margin of error in opposition to the forty fifth president in February, the forty sixth president has greater than doubled the 4.0% margin of error (MOE) on this survey with a 48-38% p.c benefit.” Nonetheless: “When two different choices have been introduced to the respondents within the type of Jill Stein (Inexperienced) and Robert Kennedy Jr. (Unbiased), the race moved inside the MOE with Biden at 42% and Trump at 40%. Kennedy (9%) and Stein (3%) appeared to take extra help from Biden, who was at 42-37% with the identical query in February.”

#COVID19

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

Assets, United States (Nationwide): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; 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 Common Ideas” (particularly on hospitalization by metropolis).

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

Assets, 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 reviews); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d’Alene; dashboard, Spokane County); IL (wastewater); IN (dashboard); KS (dashboard; wastewater, Lawrence); KY (dashboard, Louisville); LA (dashboard); MA (wastewater); MD (dashboard); ME (dashboard); MI (wastewater; wastewater); MN (dashboard); MO (wastewater); MS (dashboard); MT (dashboard); NC (dashboard); ND (dashboard; wastewater); NE (dashboard); NH (wastewater); NJ (dashboard); NM (dashboard); NV (dashboard; wastewater, Southern NV); NY (dashboard); OH (dashboard); OK (dashboard); OR (dashboard); PA (dashboard); RI (dashboard); SC (dashboard); SD (dashboard); TN (dashboard); TX (dashboard); UT (wastewater); VA (dashboard); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV (wastewater); WY (wastewater).

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

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

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

Keep secure on the market!

TABLE 1: Day by day Covid Charts

LEGEND

1) ★ for charts new immediately; all others aren’t up to date.

2) For a full-size/full-resolution picture, Command-click (MacOS) or right-click (Home windows) on the chart thumbnail and “open picture in new tab.”

NOTES

[1] (Biobot) Our curve has now flattened out on the degree of earlier Trump peaks. Not a fantastic victory. Be aware additionally the world “below the curve,” in addition to taking a look at peaks. That space is bigger below Biden than below Trump, and it appears to be rising steadily if erratically.

[2] (Biobot) Backward revisions, I hate them.

[3] (CDC Variants) As of Might 11, genomic surveillance information will probably be reported biweekly, primarily based on the supply of constructive take a look at specimens.” “Biweeekly: 1. occurring each two weeks. 2. occurring twice per week; semiweekly.” Appears to be like like CDC has chosen sense #1. In essence, they’re telling us variants are nothing to fret about. Time will inform.

[4] (ER) CDC appears to have killed this off, because the hyperlink is damaged, I believe in favor of this factor. I’ll attempt to affirm. UPDATE Sure, depart it to CDC to kill a web page, after which announce it was archived a day later. And heaven forfend CDC ought to clarify the place to go to get equal information, if any. I appreciated the ER information, as a result of it appeared actually exhausting to recreation…

[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Appears to be like like a really gradual leveling off to a non-zero baseline, to me.

[6] (Hospitalization: CDC) Nonetheless down. “Maps, charts, and information supplied by CDC, updates weekly for the earlier MMWR week (Sunday-Saturday) on Thursdays (Deaths, Emergency Division Visits, Take a look at Positivity) and weekly the next Mondays (Hospitalizations) by 8 pm ET†”.

[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.

[8] (Cleveland) Flattening.

[9] (Vacationers: Posivitity) Now up, albeit within the rear view mirror.

[10] (Vacationers: Variants) JN.1 dominates completely.

Stats Watch

Employment State of affairs: “United States Preliminary Jobless Claims” [Trading Economics]. “The variety of individuals claiming unemployment advantages within the US surged by 11,000 from the earlier week’s upwardly revised worth to 221,000 on the interval ending March thirtieth, essentially the most in two months, and effectively above market expectations of 214,000. The outcome steered a departure from an prolonged interval of low preliminary declare counts and contrasted in opposition to different robust labor reviews launched this week, suggesting that tightness within the US labor market could also be absorbing the delayed impression of elevated rates of interest.”

Manufacturing: “Sen. Tammy Duckworth requires FAA assessment of Boeing’s failure to reveal 737 Max flight deck options to pilots” [CBS]. “Senator Tammy Duckworth is urging the Federal Aviation Administration to take a better take a look at the way it responds to what she says is a sample by Boeing of failing to reveal flight deck options of the 737 Max to pilots, in line with a letter to be despatched Thursday and obtained solely by CBS Information. Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois and chair of the Senate’s Aviation Security, Operations and Innovation Subcommittee, is looking on FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker to analyze why Alaska Airways pilots have been unaware the airplane’s cockpit door was designed to mechanically open throughout a speedy depressurization — which is strictly what occurred on flight AS1282 when a door panel on a Boeing 737 Max 9 blew out mid-flight in early January. ‘Boeing’s failure to reveal this characteristic is chilling given its historical past of concealing 737 MAX info from pilots,’ Duckworth writes. Nationwide Transportation Security Board Chair Jennifer Homendy instructed reporters following a Senate Commerce Committee listening to on January 17 that the flight crew ought to have been instructed in regards to the characteristic. ‘No person knew about it. So it was a whole shock. And the flight crew must know,’ she mentioned, including, ‘figuring out this might happen is fairly key to security.’” • In the meantime, the common blackout of John Barnett’s assassination continues. How lengthy does it take to write down up a police report? Or will we ever get one?

Right this moment’s Worry & Greed Index: 67 Greed (earlier shut: 61 Greed) [CNN]. One week in the past: 71 (Greed). (0 is Excessive Worry; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Apr 4 at 1:57:59 PM ET.

Information of the Wired

“1,2,3,4,5” [The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences“] “‘God made the integers; all else is the work of man.’ This well-known citation is a translation of ‘Die ganzen Zahlen hat der liebe Gott gemacht, alles andere ist Menschenwerk,’ spoken by Leopold Kronecker in a lecture on the Berliner Naturforscher-Versammlung in 1886. Probably the primary publication of the assertion is in Heinrich Weber’s ‘Leopold Kronecker,’ Jahresberichte D.M.V. 2 (1893) 5-31.” • I’m amazed that there’s such a factor. It actually passes the random opening take a look at!

“Our instruments form our selves” [Aeon]. “In response to [French philosopher Bernard Stiegler], technics – the making and use of expertise, within the broadest sense – is what makes us human. Our distinctive method of current on the earth, as distinct from different species, is outlined by the experiences and data our instruments make doable, whether or not that could be a state-of-the-art brain-computer interface corresponding to Neuralink, or a prehistoric flint axe used to clear a forest. However don’t be mistaken: ‘technics’ is just not merely one other phrase for ‘expertise’. As Martin Heidegger wrote in his essay ‘The Query Regarding Know-how’ (1954), which used the German time period Technik as an alternative of Technologie within the unique title: the ‘essence of expertise is not at all something technological.’ This aligns with the historical past of the phrase: the etymology of ‘technics’ leads us again to one thing like the traditional Greek time period for artwork – technē. The essence of expertise, then, is just not present in a tool, such because the one you’re utilizing to learn this essay. It’s an open-ended inventive course of, a relationship with our instruments and the world. That is Stiegler’s legacy. All through his life, he took this concept of technics, first explored whereas he was imprisoned for armed theft [whoa!], additional than anybody else.” And: “Within the late twentieth century, Stiegler started making use of this concept to new media applied sciences, corresponding to tv, which led to the event of an idea he known as pharmacology – an concept that means we don’t merely ‘use’ our digital instruments. As a substitute, they enter and pharmacologically change us, like medicinal medicine.” • Hmm.

Contact info for crops: Readers, be at liberty to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) learn the way to ship me a verify if you’re allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn the way to ship me pictures of crops. Greens are fantastic! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary crops! If you’d like your deal with to look as a credit score, please place it at 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 SR:

SR writes: “Extra bark.”

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