By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Fowl Music of the Day
Northern Mockingbird, New Windfall Island; Lyford Cay, New Windfall, Bahamas.
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In Case You May Miss…
Lina Khan out.
Arnade on McDonald’s: Trump and The Adjuster
Kamala’s flawless marketing campaign, lol.
Fowl flu carried by mud on the wind.
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Politics
“So lots of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are actually a rational administration of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles
Musk GLP
Nothing would do extra to enhance the well being, lifespan and high quality of life for People than making GLP inhibitors tremendous low value to the general public.
Nothing else is even shut. https://t.co/SNGcxzkcqE
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 11, 2024
‘We don’t even know who’s working the nation’: South Korea’s ruling occasion stalls for time amid management disaster Channel Information Asia
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Trump Transition
“‘A Reward to the Oligarchs’: Trump Choose to Substitute Lina Khan Vowed to Finish ‘Warfare on Mergers’” [Common Dreams]. “President-elect Donald Trump’s decide to steer the Federal Commerce Fee vowed in his job pitch to finish present chair Lina Khan’s ‘conflict on mergers,’ a sign to an keen company America that the incoming administration intends to be way more lax on antitrust enforcement. Andrew Ferguson was initially nominated by President Joe Biden to function a Republican commissioner on the bipartisan FTC, and his elevation to chair of the fee is not going to require Senate affirmation. In a one-page doc obtained by Punchbowl, Ferguson—who beforehand labored as chief counsel to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)—pitched himself to Trump’s group because the ‘pro-innovation alternative’ with ‘impeccable authorized credentials’ and ‘confirmed loyalty’ to the president-elect. Ferguson’s prime agenda precedence, in keeping with the doc, is to ‘reverse Lina Khan’s anti-business agenda’ by rolling again ‘burdensome rules,’ stopping her ‘conflict on mergers,’ halting the company’s ‘try to grow to be an AI regulator,’ and ditching ‘novel and legally doubtful client safety instances.’ Trump introduced Ferguson because the incoming administration’s FTC chair as judges in Oregon and Washington state blocked the proposed merger of Kroger and Albertsons, choices that one antitrust advocate known as a ‘improbable end result of the FTC’s work to guard shoppers and employees.’” • Dang…
“Trump Goals to Remake Federal Commerce Fee With Two Picks” [Wall Street Journal]. “Trump on Tuesday additionally stated he would nominate the Republican antitrust lawyer Mark Meador as a commissioner. Meador is a former aide to Sen. Mike Lee (R., Utah), who led the introduction of laws to interrupt up Google. His affirmation would give the GOP a majority on the fee. Whereas Meador would require Senate approval, Ferguson gained’t. He was already confirmed for his commissioner seat in March and can be capable of make the transition to the function of chair.”
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“Crypto Doesn’t Deserve a Tax Exemption” [Tyler Cowen, Bloomberg]. “The obvious argument in opposition to the proposal is just that uniform taxation is best than selective tax exemptions. If a decrease capital beneficial properties tax fee is preferable, then the purpose needs to be to make a smaller minimize that applies to all property. Exempting a single sort of asset is more likely to result in abuses. You would possibly assume that boosting crypto is essential now, however which sector or asset will likely be chosen subsequent for particular remedy? It might be one you don’t assume deserves it.” And: “Most of the main supporters of Trump’s marketing campaign had been crypto-connected corporations. You don’t should assume this tax proposal is a few sort of payback to comprehend that this creates issues of notion. Subsequent time round, corporations will supply campaigns monetary assist within the expectation of extra favorable tax and regulatory remedy.” • I nonetheless battle to know the case for crypto, until or not it’s that Silicon Valley desires to get into finance, and to compete with Wall Avenue they want a particular competence, which seems to be fraud (wonderful, I do know).
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“Prime Republicans cut up over technique to maneuver Trump’s 2025 agenda” [NBC]. “The brand new Congress will give Trump and Republicans the chance to go main laws with out the necessity for any Democratic assist underneath a course of known as ‘reconciliation’ However whether or not the GOP will attempt to hyperlink all of its prime priorities collectively in a single bundle early subsequent yr or cut up main points throughout two, smaller payments is a significant topic of debate amongst prime Republican leaders. The Home’s prime tax author, Methods and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith, R-Mo., is warning fellow Republicans in opposition to breaking the agenda up into two payments, through which border safety and power coverage would come within the first and an extension of Trump’s 2017 tax minimize regulation may come within the second. Delaying the tax laws dangers jeopardizing it, Smith and his allies warn, so they need one sweeping bundle.”
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“The Weird Normalcy of Trump 2.0” [Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic]. So Chait bought a promotion to the Atlantic (for some definition of “promotion”). “A really unusual disjuncture has opened up in Washington between the serene temper and the alarming developments which can be underneath manner. The floor is calm as a result of the Republican presidential candidate gained the election, and Democrats, the one one of many two main events dedicated on precept to upholding the legitimacy of election outcomes, conceded defeat and are cooperating within the peaceable transition of energy. No matter power the chastened Democrats can muster for the time being is aimed inward, at factional struggles over their future course. In the meantime, what is definitely taking place within the capital is, by any rational customary, disturbing. Donald Trump is filling his administration with ‘loyalists,’ a prerogative that his opponents have grudgingly accepted as his due. But he’s defining loyalist in maximal phrases, together with the idea that Trump legitimately gained the 2020 election and was justified in his try to seize energy. The winners are rewriting the historical past of the revolt, and their model of historical past is about to accumulate the pressure of regulation.” And: “On Saturday, The New York Instances reported that the Trump transition group is asking candidates for high-level positions within the Protection Division and intelligence companies three questions: which candidate they supported prior to now three elections, what they considered January 6, and whether or not they believed the 2020 election was stolen. Among the many ‘fallacious’ solutions, candidates say, are conceding that Trump misplaced the election or that his supporters shouldn’t have tried to overturn the outcome.” • As for the 2020 election, see instantly beneath. (I feel all of the huffing-and-puffing about Trump choosing “loyalists” is absurd. In any case, what’s he speculated to do? Choose backstabbers? That stated, a style for Kool-Support shouldn’t be the operational definition of loyalty. Or the power to deceive get forward, though that is Washington, D.C…..
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“Trump attorneys and aide hit with 10 extra felony costs in Wisconsin over 2020 pretend electors” [Associated Press]. “The state costs in opposition to the Trump attorneys and aide are the one ones in Wisconsin. Not one of the electors have been charged. The ten Wisconsin electors, Chesebro and Troupis all settled a lawsuit that was introduced in opposition to them in 2023. There are pending costs associated to the pretend electors scheme in state and federal courts in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Georgia. Federal prosecutors, investigating Trump’s conduct associated to the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, stated the pretend electors scheme originated in Wisconsin. Electors are individuals appointed to signify voters in presidential elections. The winner of the favored vote in every state determines which occasion’s electors are despatched to the Electoral Faculty, which meets in December after the election to certify the result. Two states, Maine and Nebraska, enable their electoral votes to be cut up between candidates. The Wisconsin grievance particulars how Troupis, Chesebro and Roman created a doc that falsely stated Trump had gained Wisconsin’s 10 Electoral Faculty votes after which tried to ship to to then-Vice President Mike Pence. Within the amended grievance filed Tuesday, prosecutors stated nearly all of the ten electors informed investigators that they had been wanted to signal the elector certificates indicating that Trump had gained solely to protect his authorized choices if a court docket modified the result of the election in Wisconsin. A majority of the electors informed investigators that they didn’t imagine their signatures on the elector certificates can be submitted to Congress with no court docket ruling, the grievance stated. Moreover, a majority of the electors stated that they didn’t consent to having their signatures introduced as if Trump had gained with out such a court docket ruling, the grievance stated.” • I’ve at all times stated that the “contingent electors” instances had been the essential, real instances within the Democrat lawfare over 2020 — don’t let the door hit you on the way in which out, Fani — as a result of the Trump marketing campaign put civilians within the line of fireplace, as right here. So I’m glad to see this case transferring ahead.
2024 Submit Mortem
“No, Kamala Harris Staffers Did Not Run a “Flawless” Marketing campaign” [Jeet Heer, The Nation]. “For anybody who adopted the presidential election of 2024 and regards the victory of Donald Trump as an unlimited tragedy for the US and the world, the good foe of serenity is listening to interviews with Democratic Social gathering strategists. This can be a group that has displayed a mind-boggling unwillingness to just accept any accountability for shedding—for the second time in eight years—to Trump.” Heer appears shocked, as if this had been new habits. Extra: “Stephanie Cutter informed Pod Save America that “the conference demonstrated numerous enthusiasm for Kamala Harris, numerous freshness, future oriented, bringing a wide range of coalitions collectively. We had independents, Republicans, Democrats, enterprise leaders, sports activities figures, all people coming collectively round a brand new manner ahead and at last turning the web page.” It’s extremely revealing that Cutter thinks a profitable Democratic coalition consists of “independents, Republicans, Democrats, enterprise leaders, sports activities figures” moderately than being a multiracial coalition of union members, the broader working class, younger individuals, civil rights activists, feminists environmentalists, and anti-war activists. Hers is a profoundly depoliticized view of the Democratic Social gathering as a automobile of the bipartisan institution moderately than a coalition combating to alter America. This depoliticized ideology permeated the Harris marketing campaign—and doomed it to failure.” • Driving the knife house…
“The which means of, and in, McDonald’s” [Chris Arnade, Chris Arnade Walks the World]. “Trump’s McDonald’s picture op, which whereas it has been adjudicated to demise, continues to be an amazing illustration of what many elites nonetheless miss about his enchantment. Trump’s superpower has lengthy been signaling to working stiffs that he’s ‘identical to you’ regardless of being on the floor something like them. His love of McDonald’s, which I imagine is as real as any politician can ever have, is a kind of indicators, and perhaps his only, as a result of it makes his critics go hyperbolic in a manner that indicators that they aren’t ‘identical to you.’ McDonald’s is wildly fashionable with each group of People, uniting each demographic within the US — it crosses financial class, race, gender, city versus rural — with the only exception of the extremely educated, particularly lecturers. They alone as a gaggle have ethical points with it, and whereas they could use it, they accomplish that grudgingly, normally to appease crying children or for a relaxation cease on a protracted journey. So Trump’s embrace of McDonald’s turns into a political twofer. He’s considered one of you, he’s a a back-row man at coronary heart, and whereas he needs to be a member of the front-row, given his training and wealth, he’s not as a result of they despise him for lots of the similar causes they give the impression of being down on you — for what he eats, how he talks, and for what he believes in, and the way he arrives at these beliefs, which isn’t by spending years studying by means of accepted syllabi (techne), however having gone out into the world and discovered from it, one mistake after the subsequent (metis).” • Properly price studying in full, like every part Arnade writes (for a evaluate of his guide Dignity, see NC right here). And on The Adjuster, arrested in a McDonald’s, see beneath.
Democrats en déshabillé
“Newsom’s Huge Alternative: Single Payer Or His Insurance coverage Donors?” [The Lever]. From 2022. “The present push for single-payer could also be doomed to the identical destiny as its predecessors. Even when the invoice manages to go the meeting earlier than the tip of the day Monday and passes the state senate, there isn’t any assure Newsom will signal it into regulation. Regardless of his marketing campaign promise, the California governor has lengthy been allied with insurance coverage corporations opposing the reform…. UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest well being insurer, can also be opposing the single-payer invoice, and has been urgent its staff to foyer California lawmakers in opposition to passing the laws. The insurance coverage big has contributed $130,000 to Newsom’s campaigns since 2011, and $513,000 to the state Democratic occasion since 2007. In 2019, UnitedHealth Group and considered one of its subsidiaries donated $100,000 to Newsom’s inaugural fund. Now, whether or not Newsom’s relationship with Blue Protect, Anthem, and UnitedHealth will influence his decision-making on CalCare is an open query, says Courtroom at Client Watchdog.” • Social homicide has many accomplices….
Syndemics
“I’m in earnest — I cannot equivocate — I cannot excuse — I cannot retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison
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Covid Sources, United States (Nationwide): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; contains many counties; Wastewater Scan, contains drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, however nationwide knowledge). “An infection Management, Emergency Administration, Security, and Basic Ideas” (particularly on hospitalization by metropolis).
Lambert right here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To replace any entry, do be happy to contact me on the deal with given with the vegetation. Please put “COVID” within the topic line. Thanks!
Sources, United States (Native): AK (dashboard); AL (dashboard); AR (dashboard); AZ (dashboard); CA (dashboard; Marin, dashboard; Stanford, wastewater; Oakland, wastewater); CO (dashboard; wastewater); CT (dashboard); DE (dashboard); FL (wastewater); GA (wastewater); HI (dashboard); IA (wastewater experiences); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d’Alene; dashboard, Spokane County); IL (wastewater); IN (dashboard); KS (dashboard; wastewater, Lawrence); KY (dashboard, Louisville); LA (dashboard); MA (wastewater); MD (dashboard); ME (dashboard); MI (wastewater; wastewater); MN (dashboard); MO (wastewater); MS (dashboard); MT (dashboard); NC (dashboard); ND (dashboard; wastewater); NE (dashboard); NH (wastewater); NJ (dashboard); NM (dashboard); NV (dashboard; wastewater, Southern NV); NY (dashboard); OH (dashboard); OK (dashboard); OR (dashboard); PA (dashboard); RI (dashboard); SC (dashboard); SD (dashboard); TN (dashboard); TX (dashboard); UT (wastewater); VA (wastewater); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV (wastewater); WY (wastewater).
Sources, Canada (Nationwide): Wastewater (Authorities of Canada).
Sources, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usées); BC (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, KF, KidDoc, 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 protected on the market!
Transmission: H5N1
“Central Valley is floor zero for hen flu outbreak” [Sun-Gazette]. “The Central Valley is the epicenter for the hen flu epidemic drastically decreasing the state’s poultry provide and barely dropping its milk provide…. The 2 farm animal companies are a number of the state’s most essential ag industries, clustered within the Central Valley, usually simply down the highway from one another. The names of the affected services are usually not made public. However when greater than half of the state’s dairies are quarantined because of the virus and a few 8 million chickens within the state needed to be destroyed – together with over 5 million egg layers representing about half of the egg laying flock within the Golden State – Californians will little doubt really feel the shortages on the grocery retailer…. Whereas the state just isn’t releasing the placement of the dairies, all 32 of the state’s confirmed instances of hen flu in people had been within the Central Valley, California’s nation’s prime dairy producing area…. Each industries are on an analogous viral an infection timeline which additionally coincides with the annual wild hen migration, which many consultants agree is the unique supply for the illness.” And eighteen paragraphs down, the buried lead: “Now there may be concern the speedy rise in infections at each confined animal services could also be linked, with one affecting the opposite. Analysis exhibits that the virus can journey on mud particles carried by wind, says the trade publication EggNews.” • Oh.
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TABLE 1: Each day Covid Charts
Lambert: CDC’s wastewater web page loaded. No Thanksgiving surge that I can see.
Wastewater
This week[1] CDC December 2
Final week[2] CDC (till subsequent week):
Variants [3] CDC December 7
Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC November 30
Hospitalization
★ New York[5] New York State, knowledge December 10:
Nationwide [6] CDC December 5:
Positivity
Nationwide[7] Walgreens December 9:
Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic November 23:
Vacationers Knowledge
Positivity[9] CDC November 19:
Variants[10] CDC November 4:
Deaths
Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] CDC November 20:
Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] CDC November 20:
LEGEND
1) ★ for charts new right this moment; all others are usually not 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] (CDC) Excellent news!
[2] (CDC) Final week’s wastewater map.
[3] (CDC Variants) XEC takes over. That WHO label, “Ommicron,” has completed an amazing job normalizing successive waves of an infection.
[4] (ED) Down.
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Leveled out.
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). Truly improved; it’s now one of many few charts to indicate all the course of the pandemic to the current day.
[7] (Walgreens) Down.
[8] (Cleveland) Down.
[9] (Vacationers: Positivity) Leveling out.
[10] (Vacationers: Variants). Positivity is new, however variants haven’t but been launched.
[11] Deaths low, positivity leveling out.
[12] Deaths low, ED leveling out.
Stats Watch
Inflation: “United States Client Value Index (CPI)” [Trading Economics]. “Client Value Index CPI in the US decreased to 315.49 factors in November from 315.66 factors in October of 2024. The annual inflation fee within the US rose to 2.7% in November, from 2.6% in October and matching markets expectations. On a month-to-month foundation, the CPI elevated by 0.3%, probably the most since April,
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Manufacturing: “Boeing wins $450.5M contract for Japan’s F-15 Tremendous Interceptor upgrades” [Aerotime]. “Boeing has been awarded a $450.5 million contract by the US Air Drive (USAF) to assist the F-15 Japan Tremendous Interceptor Program. Beneath this contract, facilitated by means of the International Army Gross sales (FMS) program, Boeing will purchase the methods wanted to improve the Japan Air Self-Protection Drive (JASDF) F-15J fleet.” • Industrial coverage….
Manufacturing: “Boeing Inventory Is Taking Off. Right here’s Why.” [Barron’s]. In the event you play the ponies…. “Wall Avenue expects Boeing to achieve 360 deliveries for all of 2024, in keeping with FactSet. That isn’t sufficient to earn money. Initially of 2024, earlier than the door plug incident, Wall Avenue projected 2024 deliveries of about 700 jets and internet earnings of about $3.5 billion. The Avenue has since revised that estimate to a lack of $8.9 billion. Tuesday’s beneficial properties go away Boeing shares down about 37% for the yr and about 34% for the reason that Alaska Air incident. Shares had been up about 1% from simply earlier than the strike, when 737 MAX manufacturing was paused.”
Manufacturing: “Is China able to tackle Airbus and Boeing? Not simply but” [Business Times]. “Certainly one of its promoting factors [of the COMAC C919] is that it’s extra environmently pleasant than its European and American counterparts. Comac designed its C919 with environmental sustainability as an goal – the jet made its first business flight on sustainable aviation gas (SAF) in September. The biofuel might be produced from algae or agricultural, forestry, meals and even municipal waste. It’s claimed to chop carbon emissions by as much as 80 per cent in contrast with petroleum-based jet gas. It has been reported that GallopAir, a Brunei-based startup airline, has positioned an order for the C919. Vietnam Airways, Indonesia’s TransNusa, Air Asia and Brazil’s Whole Linhas Aereas have expressed curiosity.” • “919” jogs my memory of “707,” however 9 is an auspicious quantity in China.
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At this time’s Concern & Greed Index: 51 Impartial (earlier shut: 48 Impartial) [CNN]. One week in the past: 56 (Greed). (0 is Excessive Concern; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Dec 11 at 1:27:47 PM ET.
Healthcare
“The which means of, and in, McDonald’s” [Chris Arnade, Chris Arnade Walks the World]. Splitting in two what Arnade conceptualized, appropriately, as a unity: “I’ve seen two questions raised. The primary is, why would somebody ‘so cautious’ as Luigi go right into a McDonald’s? The second is, how on the earth was he observed?, provided that it’s a soulless franchise the place you need to be capable of simply mix in, since every is similar, bland, and closely trafficked area. But, after over a decade buying a casual PhD in McDonald’s research, with a minor in psychological sickness, I may have scripted this newest occasion all the way down to the outline of the regulars who first observed him. I’m going to exit on a limb right here, regardless of it being too early to take action, and counsel that Luigi is affected by paranoid schizophrenia. I’ve met numerous these in McDonald’s, as a result of apart from offering them with all of the issues each different prospects desires, additionally it is a ‘actuality protected area.’ It’s considered one of, it not the one, place within the ‘actual world’ they will go, seize a cup out of the rubbish can, and sit at their nook desk and slot in, at the very least for an hour or two, with out encountering too many risks. It turns into, for a lot of deeply troubled individuals, their solely life line to regular society. It’s a task McDonald’s, to its credit score, has accepted. I’ve witnessed many episodes the place the workers and morning regulars exit of their manner to assist those that are available which can be struggling the worst. From free meals, to requires assist, to having their husband come and restore their broken-down automotive, freed from cost. Which is why the second query, how on the earth was he observed, isn’t stunning in any respect. Every McDonald’s is a neighborhood, and regardless of being a franchise constructed for the rapid and transactional, they’ve grow to be long-term and social. I’m scripting this from the McDonald’s in my city, the place I do most of my writing when at house, and I ‘know’ virtually all the 2 dozen or so oddballs that are available, like me, and sit in a nook, both starring on the wall, ranting right into a cup, or engaged on their beat up laptop computer. The morning regulars, the evolving group of 5 or so guys who’re on the door when it opens (5:30 a.m.), in addition to the afternoon regulars, and all the workers all ‘know’ these oddballs and may a brand new one are available, sit in a nook, and begin performing a bit off, they’ll discover. That nearly at all times meaning finally providing to assist, or on this uncommon case, noticing and calling the police.” • For the “McDonalds as a Group” half, I feel Arnade is spot on. For the “Luigi as paranoid schizophrenic” I feel each Arnade and the regulars could also be performing on their priors. The Mighty Wurlitzer is, in any case, at this very second cranking as much as the very best doable the message that “The Claims Adjuster” was loopy, as a result of — Soviet psychiatry involves thoughts, right here — he had, because the cops put it, “in poor health will towards company America.” (Arnade’s footnote 4 is a solution to this, however I feel it proves an excessive amount of. It could be doable, for instance, to argue that each one Marxists “are remarkably logical, however ranging from absurd premises,” therefore “Excessive IQ paranoid schizophrenics.” The cops would love this, after all. As would many conservatives. I imply “Frankly, these parasites merely had it coming.” Insane?
Clarifying:
‘Regardless of how ruthlessly’. That ought to work each methods then. pic.twitter.com/VFLO253yFy
— Priyamvada Gopal © (@PriyamvadaGopal) December 10, 2024
Talking of “ranging from absurd premises”….
“Luigi Mangione’s Full Story Isn’t On-line” [New York Magazine]. “[W]hat’s most placing about Mangione’s intensive on-line file is that, had it been compiled earlier than the taking pictures passed off, it wouldn’t have raised a lot alarm. You’ll be able to spend hours studying these posts, sifting by means of his follows, and searching for clues about what Kind of Man he’s, however the supportable theories are fairly skinny: Mangione had a web-based profile consonant together with his id and context. He shared and posted and adopted like a 20-something striver with a foot within the tech trade, listened to Rogan, and regarded himself a rationalist or at the very least unusually rational.
Class Warfare
“SF tech CEO’s billboards are ‘dystopian.’ That’s how he desires it” [SFGATE]. “Thursday afternoon in San Francisco: On one aspect of Mission Avenue, resort employees chanted and banged on a drum outdoors the Marriott Marquis, a part of a monthslong strike for larger wages and extra jobs. On the opposite, a tech firm’s billboard proclaimed, ‘Cease hiring people.’ Numerous variations of the provocative commercials are emblazoned throughout town on rotating display shows on bus shelters and on basic vinyl billboards on poles and buildings, plugging the San Francisco startup Artisan. SFGATE spoke with Artisan’s CEO concerning the marketing campaign. The corporate has simply 30 staff and is lower than 2 years previous; its solely present product is a man-made intelligence ‘gross sales agent’ known as Artisan, constructed to automate the work of discovering and messaging potential prospects. It’s a basic AI-age concept, considered one of many such instruments flooding the tech world. However the billboards in San Francisco are much less routine. Bleak is likely to be a greater phrase, or mean-spirited. And in a metropolis laden with jargony commercials, these are straightforward to know. Most characteristic a dark-haired, purple-eyed persona and some rows of textual content. Some critique people and distant work: ‘Artisans gained’t complain about work-life steadiness’ and ‘Artisan’s Zoom cameras won’t ever ‘not be working’ right this moment.’ Others are extra direct: ‘Rent Artisans, not people.’ A number of embody the road, ‘The period of AI staff is right here.’ The gist is crystal clear: Artisan is promoting automation to employers. In a video spot concerning the ‘gross sales agent’ instrument on-line, Artisan says it really works with ‘no human enter’ and ‘prices 96% lower than hiring somebody to do her job..’” “Artisan.” Of all of the names to decide on.
Information of the Wired
“That Therapeutic Sound” [Nautilus]. “Music boosts the immune system, specifically immunoglobulin IgA, a substance that travels to the positioning of mucosal infections by decreasing cortisol. Whenever you’re harassed, cortisol shuts down the immune system, as a result of cortisol normally spikes in response to an express proximal menace, like a lion working towards you. Over 1000’s of years of evolution, the cortisol system discovered that for those who’re going to should battle a lion, you’ve bought to protect all of your assets to battle or to flee…. So, what does preserving your assets imply at a physiological and metabolic stage? It means shutting down your digestive system. That may wait until later. Shutting down your libido, since you don’t have time for that now. Shutting down your immune system. That’s why individuals with power stress have compromised immune methods. And for those who can scale back psychological and bodily stress, you’re enabling your physique’s immune system to do what it’s meant to do. Music can promote IgA ranges. They’ll promote cytokine manufacturing, the manufacturing of pure killer cells, T cells, plus, they will improve serotonin, which boosts your temper, which in flip, can create this cascade of neurochemical exercise.” • Hmm. To not go all woo woo, however Lengthy Covid?
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KW writes: “Yahara River Flowage, Madison, Wisconsin A marsh seed pod of some type, framed in duckweed. A foot from the shore. Dredged a long time in the past when the neighborhood’s homes had been constructed, lately the marsh is being inspired to take over.”
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This entry was posted in Water Cooler on December 11, 2024.
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