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2:00PM Water Cooler 4/24/2018

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By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Patient readers, I’ve been fighting some sort of sinus infection for a few days, but today the headache is eye-wateringly painful. So I am giving up the unequal struggle and going back to bed. If this doesn’t stop, I’m actually going to go to a doctor and get my sinuses flushed. Talk amongst yourselves! –lambert

* * *

Five Horsemen: “Apple is flat in morning trade as more iPhone suppliers report weak results” [Hat Tip, Jim Haygood].

Five Horsemen Apr 24 2018

NakedCap Mania-Panic Index: “The mania-panic index rose to 56 (complacency) as the volatility indicator VIX fell to 15.51, a positive for the index” [Hat Tip, Jim Haygood]. (The NakedCap mania-panic index is an equally-weighted average of seven technical indicators derived from stock indexes, volatility (VIX), Treasuries, junk bonds, equity options, and internal measures of new highs vs new lows and up volume vs down volume … each converted to a scale of 0 to 100 before averaging, using thirty years of history for five of the seven series.)

Mania panic index Apr 23 2018

* * *

Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, (c) how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal, and (d) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. Today’s plant (PhemFrog):

PhemFrog writes: “My favorite thing about spring in Texas is my perennial gerbera daisies! They were annuals where I used to live.”

* * *

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About Lambert Strether

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

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97 comments

    3. Edward E

      US 10 year got above 3%, Civil Defense sirens heard from the basement of the NY Federal Reserve, ESF team once again saves the world. Because of a lack of trumpet players Doomsday has been postponed for three months.

      Go see the doctor dad, errr Lambert

  4. diptherio

    American Democracy at its finest….

    White Judge Sentenced to Probation for Election Fraud in Same County Where Black Woman Received 5 Years ~The Root

    In a Donald Trump-like display of testicular boldness, the Republican Casey was so desperate to keep his job, which paid $125,911.76 a year, he filed a lawsuit to keep his fellow GOP challengers off the ballot, claiming that they didn’t have enough signatures.

    […]

    Mason lost her right to vote after she was convicted of filing fraudulent tax returns in 2011. Unaware of her felony disenfranchisement, Mason said that she was urged to vote by her mother and said that she would never have voted if she had known that doing so was illegal.

    Injustice for all, to quote some old rockers.

  5. Marco

    Take care Lambert. I am battling the same! Here is Kevin Drum warning that a JG will open a portal to hell and usher in the apocalypse.

    1. Chris

      I thought MoJo writers still believed in things like “the invisible hand” and “supply and demand”?
      Drum’s statements are worse than those horrible memes where someone is showing a first responder toiling away for substandard wages as an excuse to deny poor people a living wage.

      If, as Drum suggests, so many people would be better off with a jobs guarantee, even the fictional proposal that he puts forth, then…employers in the private sector would have to offer better incentives for them to jump ship, right? Wouldn’t that accomplish the wage growth we’ve been desperately seeking? Wouldn’t that bring inflation to sane levels? And aren’t both of those goals aligned with the supposed beliefs of MoJo’s audience?

      I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to see Drum mouthing Clintonian phrases as straw men for why we can’t have nice things. But to see it put so bluntly is shocking. I mean, he might as well have said wage increases for the lower and middle classes should be safe, legal, and rare…

      1. Miamijac

        So this MoJo writer nay-sayer offer no alternatives. How are your Hoovervilles growing with 4% unemployment. What do think American can look like? Tent cities and 4 year finance degree gets you a teller job? The Kansas experiment crashed. Clinton deregulation crashed. Greenspan’s idea of a virtuous bankers was deluded, greed shall be regulated.

      2. Elizabeth Burton

        Drum joined the Clinton Cult about midway through the primaries and has been regurgitating its propaganda ever since. Mary Jones is, I have no doubt, spinning very hard in her grave. Someone should have the ethics to change the magazine’s name.

        1. J-Mann

          It’s been stunning to see so many formerly-smart folks drink the HerJuice and flush their integrity and critical-thinking skills. All for tribal successes vs actual progressive goals and candidates. #Doomed

          Yes, MJ would be disgusted to see what is printed under her name today.

    3. djrichard

      I haven’t read Kevin Drum til seeing your link to his article. Is Kevin considered a liberal? I was looking at the wiki page for him, and I saw this:

      Drum supported the 2003 Iraq War in its early stages, but just before the United States launched its attack, he changed his mind. He said, “Before the war started I switched to opposition on practical grounds (i.e., that George W. Bush’s approach was incapable of accomplishing the goals it was meant to accomplish). Since then, I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that, in fact, I should have opposed it all along on philosophical grounds: namely that it was a fundamentally flawed concept and had no chance of working even if it had been competently executed.”

      One has to wonder what would corrections could have been made to bring Kevin back on board.

      3. Matt

        That’s still opposing it on practical grounds: “it has no chance of working…”

        Couldn’t bring himself to admit the war was a complete and horrendous atrocity?

  6. Mark Gisleson

    Sadly, I have not yet found the correct canibus strain for helping with sinus problems, but my research is ongoing.

    1. jo6pac

      Good, I just bought my six planets allowed by Calif. law and will be delivered after May 1 so I can help with this research also;-)

      Get well Lambert and we’ll be here when you return.

      1. Wukchumni

        Lemme guess…

        Uranus Smells Good
        Mars Waui
        Neptune OG
        Saturn Ailsya
        Jupiter Skunk
        Venus Kush Trap

      2. Chris

        If you’re purchasing planets, you’ve either got really good stuff, or maybe you should stop going on amazon while high :)

    2. WheresOurTeddy

      better to go edibles or (vaporized at the very least) to mitigate congestion otherwise it will linger

    3. freedeomny

      haha – here in NY we only have the medical variation available to us…..which is just so bizarre to me.

      1. sleepy

        And here in Iowa kids are still getting busted for a joint with judges reading them the riot act. Same as in many places I would guess.

        2. perpetualWAR

          And in Washington it’s LEGAL, but to obtain a job, you cannot consume legal products.

          1. freedeomny

            It’s really one of those things that I just don’t get. I went on medical marijuana in NY prior to major surgery – was completely upfront with my docs & surgeon – and yet I still left the hospital with a prescription for 90 oxycodone tablets. And I really didn’t need them.

            I just don’t understand why people are still getting arrested for something that is clearly not a danger….and in fact may well be one of nature’s greatest medicine’s….kind of like – willow bark/aspirin. I just don’t get it and don’t understand what the big deal is. Obv money must be involved….

  7. ArcadiaMommy

    Recently went through this myself – it got to the point where I could barely sit up because I would be in horrible pain and was dizzy.

    My mother had to come and drive me to the ER because I couldn’t take care of kids or drive and husband was traveling.

    Go to the doctor, self-care on this one might not be enough. Feel better.

    1. Lambert Strether Post author

      Somebody should ask both Booker and Sanders what they think about reparations; we at NC are more familiar with the JG that derives — starting I think with Bill Mitchell? — from the UMKC axis of MMTers. The JG that is currently getting traction derives from proposals by William Darity, Jr., and Darrick Hamilton, a different axis. Both Darity and Hamilton support reparations. (I don’t think reparations are a bad idea; but I think that reparations should be made for the rental of humans, in addition to their sale.)

  9. fresno dan

    PhemFrog writes: “My favorite thing about spring in Texas is my perennial gerbera daisies! They were annuals where I used to live.”

    That thing is so intense it almost looks fake.
    And it if a perennial in TX, it might be a perennial in Fresno (CA) too!

    1. sleepy

      I always loved the bluebonnets between Houston and San Antonio. So blue it made the fields look like lakes.

    2. Phemfrog

      My Galaxy S7 camera does have a bit of intense saturation, but it really looks like that in a bright cloudy day! No filters ?

  11. Andrew Watts

    Veterans of the NSA’s psychic wars – MuckRock

    The story about the US government’s mind control and psychic programs posted on links a few days ago didn’t have any links to specific official documents. Here’s one of my favorite stories from MuckRock. The best part of the document is where the NSA is concerned with the existence of super villains with evil powers and insists on strict guidelines to screen these nefarious individuals from their programs.

    The NSA also wanted to build a database of people with special gifts which is probably the only relevant issue at hand. Personally, I’ve always believed these ESP / mind control programs were cover stories for secret experiments involving torture and psychological warfare.

  12. Wukchumni

    Had a month-long cold after xmas, and if there was any demand for snot, I could’ve supplied a number of small countries with my largess, and it came back 10 days ago with the very same symptoms, and I feel certain now that the tissue manufacturers are behind it.

    1. ambrit

      Sorry, but the tissues are quite up front about it.
      Parenthetically, if I were some ‘evil Russkie’ out to subvert America and all it stands for, I’d infect the braceros who pick the lettuce in the Central Valley with a super sinus infection and let them loose to do their nefarious work. How to infect? Uh, follow standard protocol and include the virus in with some mandatory inoculation or other. “Sorry hombre, but you all have to take this shot to protect you against “Groundwater Salinization Syndrome.”‘

  13. mitzimuffin

    I hope you feel better soon. I agree that you should see a doctor. Sinus infections linger.

  14. Hana M

    Lambert, in all probability the suddenly fine weather has brought out the early tree blooms like Red Maple, which are extremely allergenic. Rx from this long time New England sufferer who works out of doors:

    1. Take a hot shower, being careful to wash your hair/beard and avoid scented products. If you spend much of the day outside, twice a day showers AM and PM this time of year make sense.

    2. Use a neti-pot with hypotonic saline solution once or twice a day to flush out your sinuses. (If you don’t have a neti pot try a small pitcher) Flushing your eyes with a preservative-free saline solution also helps (an eyecup or a Boston Red Sox jigger minus the alcohol is great for this).

    3. Change your pillowcases and sheets. Change to clean clothes the minute you come inside–keep the outdoor clothes in your entry or mudroom or whatever.

    3. If you are still suffering from headaches try hot compresses for the eyes and forehead.

    4. If that still doesn’t get the job done, add Nasacort spray for the nose and Zaditor eye drops.

    5. And as a last line of defense 10 mg certirzine orally 1x/d.

    Of course, it could also be the flu….:(

  15. Wukchumni

    I’ve never heard of someone described as a ‘day drunk’ (sheltered life) and it sounds like a fancy way of describing a full-on lush, for they must imbibe @ night as well.

    Maybe Ronny Jackson thought he was heading up Veteran Alcoholics?

  16. Steve from CT

    Glad you are going to see a doctor Lambert. I had a sinus infection a few years ago which I ignored but got so bad I had to have a surgical cleanout. I was put under for the op but then I had to get the nose bundles pulled out a few days later. No pain deadening help for that. It was excruciatingly painful. So (family blog) awful. Would never want to go through that again. Good luck and hope it clears up.

    1. Lambert Strether Post author

      Well, I said I’d go if this keeps up. Fortunately, things seem to me improving today. Which is good, because I don’t like pain, especially medical pain).

      1. Tangled up in Texas

        I have not tried a netti pot but the NeilMed nasal flush bottles are wonderful. Around $10-12 will get you the bottle and 50 dried saline packets.

    1. Andrew Watts

      Somebody who believes in something that just ain’t so. Fallows can be optimistic because he hasn’t lived in this country for years and experienced it’s decline. The article is meant to reassure bourgeois liberals that everything is going to be fine and our national nightmare will soon be over.

    2. HotFlash

      optometrist (n.) — a professional who believes that the glasses prescription is half-filled.

  18. Adam Eran

    Best sinus infection remedy: inverted poses. Shoulder stand or head stand.

    Sinuses have a relatively small blood supply. Inverted poses increase blood flow, flushing out the poisons.

    Try it…

    Well, that and antibiotics, if necessary.

    1. Lambert Strether Post author

      Amoxicillin seems to be doing the trick, thank heavens (along with big pills for pain and decongestion).

      Dunno about inverted poses… For one thing, I’ve never done yoga or anything similar. What if I tip over and injure a typing hand?

  19. wuzzy

    Hope you get better.

    Todays medi[s]care story:

    Went to doc due to reduced pee. We decided it was anti-histamines, but go get a PSA test since its been awhile.

    I go to hospital for test. The admission folk are learning a new computer system which has none of my personal data in it. ‘Medicare won’t pay for this test for this diagnosis. Take Doc this list of 75 diagnoses they will pay for.’

    Diagnosis was: Disurea
    One acceptable diagnosis: Unspecified Disurea.

    LOL.

    2. Lambert Strether Post author

      So our entire EHR system is riddled with miscoding, so that people can get treatment. Yay.

      Adding, always look for “fuzzy edged” buckets like “Unspecified.” IMNSHO, a good taxonomy will mimimize them. When you have a bucket called “Miscellaneous,” too often it’s not used as the absolute last resort.

  20. DonCoyote

    Remember when Stephen Colbert actually was progressive(-ish), and funny?

    Good times

    “If Mitt Romney really believes that corporations are people, then Mitt Romney is a serial killer.”

    1. Edward E

      Mitt can allus try another job app dinner uf frog legs ‘n swamp dipping sauce with the Fouke if he can’t win the gig. A gig is rather handy to have in the swamp.

  22. ewmayer

    Re. sinus infection: Lambert, suggest you try the easy-peasy home remedy I’ve been using for this for years: Mix 1 part water (tap or distilled doesn’t matter), 1 part 70% rubbing alcohol (or 2:1 if using 90% alcohol – i.e. you want to end up with 25-30% alcohol), add a pinch of table salt, alternate a couple snorts up each nostril several times a day as needed. It’ll burn a little, but that quickly subsides.

    Same mix also works wells as a topical eyewash, you just need to be careful to try a teeny bit first to gauge the needed dosage. Again 30 seconds of mild burn should be followed by relief.

  23. The Rev Kev

    Take care, Lambert. Take whatever down-time that you need. There is an old cure that you can try. Go to bed and slowly drink half a bottle of Scotch. After you have drunk it you will still be sick but by that stage you will no longer care!

    1. ewmayer

      Come to think of it, Scotch (with mix adjusted for proof) would also work in place of rubbing alcohol in my above recipe, just not sure how it ‘tastes’ with dissolved salt and snorted up one’s nose. Feel like trying it and letting us know? For science! :)

      1. ambrit

        Writing up ones’ after experiment report for that could be quite the chore.
        I wonder if that was one of the ‘benefits’ of using snuff back in the day.

  24. Elizabeth Burton

    In my ongoing research for natural pharmaceuticals, I discovered that elderberry has been shown to be quite effective in treating sinus conditions. I decided to try it, because I’ve suffered from a chronic infection for a long time. And it worked.

    Unfortunately, I ran out of the brand I was using that had been so effective…and so did the seller. So, while I didn’t slide all the way back, I’m needing to do another cycle of the high-powered elderberry sambucca with an echinacea compound that also contains it in hope of getting things cleared out once and for all.

    Which is a verbose way of suggesting that those with sinus issues consider keeping some elderberry in stock (the caps I use are 1575 mg. each). Mild cases might be dealt with using elderberry wine, but I can’t speak to that.

    Feel better, luv.

      1. kgw

        Late to the party, but I never let that stop me!

        Just in case, my friend… I would get absolutely killer sinus migraines for years, when ever the atmospheric pressure would flip-flop…had to lay down for a day or two sometimes. Just borrowed or begged serious painkiller from family and friends. Then, I went to see what passes for med care these days for an entirely unrelated (or so I thought) situation. They became attached to the fact that my blood pressure was too high, and insisted I take bp meds! I must admit that ever since I have been taking them, I no longer get the killer sinus migraines! Just a head up. May be entirely unrelated, but in case I can stop the pain in even one of my people…

  25. Wukchumni

    Hwy 99 (Pearl Harbor Survivors Memorial Highway) has hosted a B-17 named Preston’s Pride off the side of the road since it was flown into Tulare airport in 1958, and I always notice it, but never so much as our last drive, after it had been polished to a fine sheen, and how resplendent it is now, after a $90k renovation…

    http://www.fresnobee.com/latest-news/article209623189.html

    1. ambrit

      That is wild. I remember a few years ago, I walked through a restored flying B-17 that visited the local regional airport. Quite the experience. Watching the big machine take off for a ‘flying tour of the area for some local long term supporters of the group that restored and flew the aircraft was, best term that pops into my mind, intense. very loud and almost ‘majestic.’
      Also had the only known flying B-24 there as well. What was surprising about both aircraft was how really small they felt when you were inside them.
      The Collings Foundation. They also now have a flying B-25.

  26. John k

    My diagnosis… you’re working too hard. Take a week off, or two. We’ll survive … sob… somehow.

  27. cripes

    Humphrey Bogart starring in “Sirocco” on cable.

    “A gunrunner gets caught in the middle with a French Colonel’s mistress in 1925 Syria”

    Wow. Current events.

    1. Lambert Strether Post author

      The key graf:

      How, then, did they end up on her blog under her name? According to Reid, she was the victim of “hackers”: somehow, nefarious disinformation agents managed to hack not her blog (which is now deleted), but rather the Wayback Machine and its digital archive. They penetrated the Wayback Machine and then, according to Reid, added some anti-gay content.

      So they hacked the Wayback machine? Hard to believe. And see the UPDATE at the end.

      Of course, Reid consulted “security experts” and complained to the FBI…. Both creatures having proved themselves totally trustworthy truthtellers over the last year, and very much not in it for the money or the institutional power…

  29. Amfortas the Hippie

    Dude!
    https://www.walmart.com/ip/Arm-Hammer-Simply-Saline-Nasal-Relief-Nasal-Mist-3-0-fl-oz-Spout-Top-Can/17325136?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&adid=22222222227014874410&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=40754239232&wl4=pla-78606692672&wl5=9027529&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=online&wl12=17325136&wl13=&veh=sem

    (sorry about the giant URL,lol. Luddite!)

    as far as regular order: https://www.truthdig.com/articles/chaco-canyon-chaco-earth/

    Having a rather extensive background in what I conveniently lump into “Anthropology”, this resonates with what I’ve been feeling/thinking for a long time, now(see: Koyannosiqatsi(sp-2)).
    We’re in Toynbee’s “Dominant Elite” Phase, where the formerly “Creative Elite” have lost their Mojo, and are exhausted, and merely hanging on to power.
    Because it’s the only thing they can remember how to do.
    Who will become the New Creative Minority?
    What is our new Universal “Church”?(Toynbee used the word church in a secular manner).
    I reckon the time and conditions are more right, now than at any time in my lifetime for a fundamental…even grassroots…paradigm change.
    The problem is that the Machine(in it’s myriads) is aware of this, as well…and is throwing a bunch of noodles at the wall, attempting to steer things back into it’s rut.
    It is both a fascinating time to be alive, and aware, and so damned connected to it all…and a terrifying time(I have kids).
    I thank you all for thinking about it with me.

    and get better Lambert. I’m getting over one, too.Massive amoxicillin and overdosing on vitamin C(and the neti-pot in a can, above…seriously…try it(preferably outside; it’s rather messy))

    1. ewmayer

      “sorry about the giant URL”

      Easy rule even Luddites can manage – just delete everything beginning with and to the right of the first ‘?’. First do it in your browser’s URL field and hit ‘return’ to see if the result works as intended. In your case, the redacted tracking-spam-less link is

      https://www.walmart.com/ip/Arm-Hammer-Simply-Saline-Nasal-Relief-Nasal-Mist-3-0-fl-oz-Spout-Top-Can/17325136

      For an actual sinus *infection*, this is the more or less the same mix as I make myself, just sans the sterilizing alcohol, which could easily be added, if desired.

      1. Amfortas the Hippie

        Thanks for your patience. I remember you giving that same advice, before…but I couldn’t remember where the appropriate cutoff was.
        as for irrigating one’s sinus: my Doc says that incidence of brain eating amoebae are up, and that the water department is unable to filter the cysts. ergo, “don’t run tap water up yer nose”.
        distilled would be safe, I presume.
        and I don’t know from where he gets this scary info….but the neti in a can is cheap, so we err on the side of caution.
        my wife and youngest son have terrible allergies, and that stuff has been a godsend. (for my son, years of shots and then sub-lingual drops, have done wonders..since it is uneconomic, at this time, to kill off all the male “cedar” trees hereabouts)

  31. Harold

    I think alcohol could irritate or actually harm delicate nasal tissues and cause further problems. Saline solution seems safest — also seeing a doctor, and rest, and fluids. Alcohol taken in hot toddy might be a better go.

    Or Jeni’s famous Flu Sorbet which has a lot of fresh squeezed orange juice along with some “Maker’s Mark” bourbon. We made some one year from a recipe in her cookbook and it was fantastic . One of the ingredients is liquid pectin, which is a bit hard to find, and we ended up having send away for it. She has you freeze the ingredients in a large, flattened zip-lock bag, if I am not mistaken.

    This year when I had a lingering flu despite flu shots, I felt too sick to make it, and after I got better I didn’t want to anymore.
    http://healthland.time.com/2013/01/25/can-influenza-sorbet-relieve-your-flu-symptoms/

  32. drumlin woodchuckles

    Something unrelated . . . .

    Up to now I have used Yahoo Search engine ( ” AllTheWeb”) instead of Google because it was user-friendlier to my purely “reading the web” use. It especially handled “Images Of” relating to any nameable imagable subject better than Google does.

    But starting today, I am presented with the news that “Yahoo and AOL are merged into a new service called Oath, with part of Verizon too.” Their privacy policy is summarized in english fairly clearly to the lay reader. What their stated and described policy amounts to is . . . ” All your data are belong to us. And all your click too.” That’s what you accept if you sign up to the new “Oath” entity.

    So I didn’t sign up. Duck Duck Go is okay for searching word-nameable things, but it can not cope with “images” at all. If I type in ( ” whatever the subject images”) I get nothing useful or sensible. I won’t use newly Oathified Yahoo anymore. Google still remains somewhat inferior in its presentation of images and any way to find out where the images came from.

    The slight little bit of searching for a decent Search engine for Images-Of-Whatever shows me that Bing is close to as-good-as Yahoo. It presented a pretty similar bunch of images to what Yahoo presented for the several “Images-Of-Whatever” I keyboarded up. Finding the URL from which the image came is a little clunkier but can be done.

    Maybe none of this matters. But if any other purely amateur web-viewer finds this new “Oath” to be nasty and scary, perhaps they can try Bing for bunches of “Images-Of-Whatever” and get results close to as good as what the pre-Oath Yahoo delivered.

    1. Lambert Strether Post author

      I’ve got to get off Yahoo and onto Proton.

      I rejected the Oath signup the first time — presumably that was meaningful — but the second time something went horribly wrong with the screen, which I hope wasn’t a “dark pattern” that caused me to accidentally sign up.

      1. drumlin woodchuckles

        I am just an old analog refugee in this new digital world. So I try to create poetic and visionary ways for myself to understand this digital stuff. The way I understand all these “sign up” things is that signing up either on purpose or by accident injects digital HIV viruses into your digital bloodstream. The digital HIVs are kind of like little ” ET phone home” spychips circulating throughout your cyberspace blood stream.

        If you accidentally contacted Oath, its digital HIV spychips are now inside your Cyberspace bloodstream and immune system. The best you can do is manage it like a chronic disease.

        If that is a perfectly silly way of understanding all this, then I hope there is an analog way to explain that to the analog reader . . . but only if it doesn’t require any time sacrifice on your part.

        1. wilroncanada

          I was given the “notice” once, and hit “not right now”, but I’m sure it’s going to come back. I’m only delaying in order to get my address book off, and to notify all my contacts, including NC, of my new email. I have a gmail account which I haven’t been using, but I’m also looking at Bing. I might try Proton, Lambert. Too much else going on right now with M.I.L. having passed away, and having to make trips north on Van Isle a couple of times a week to support a totally unprepared S.I.L. in going through probate and cleaning out the house she is inheriting to put it on the market. But soon!
          My wife, on the other hand, uses a Mac with Safari. She wasn’t given a choice, but was “upgraded” to the new mail screen with the Oath oath attached. The new screen would not let her delete any emails, even spam. None of the icons at the top of the “new updated” system would work at all, presumably until one signed the new Oath oath. My daughter, a newspaper editor more familiar with Mac, was finally able to get her address book onto a gmail list, with a great deal of effort.

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