2:00PM Water Cooler 12/26/2024

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

In Case You Might Miss…

1. What happens if the House fails to elect a new Speaker quickly?
2. Justice Department is conflicted on Mangione prosecution.
3. A “silent” Covid surge?
4. Making your garden safe for robins in the winter.

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Politics

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

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Trump Assassination Attempts (Plural)

“Trial of man accused in Trump assassination attempt in Florida pushed back to September” [Associated Press]. “Ryan Routh’s trial will begin Sept. 8 instead of the previously scheduled Feb. 10, 2025 start date, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon said in an order released on Monday…. Routh’s attorneys had asked the judge to delay the trial until no earlier than next December, saying they needed more time to review the evidence against him and decide whether to mount an insanity defense. Routh owned 17 cellphones and numerous other electronic devices, and there are hundreds of hours of police body camera and surveillance videos that have been provided to the defense, Routh’s attorneys argued during a hearing two weeks ago in Fort Pierce, Florida. In her order, Cannon said she wanted to err on the side of providing more time given the seriousness of the allegations, but that starting the trial no earlier than December would be an excessive amount. A September trial date didn’t amount to an ‘unreasonable delay,’ she said…. The judge said that any insanity defense or any request related to Routh’s mental competency must be made by early February. Any visit to the scene of the assassination attempt must be made by the end of February.”

Biden Administration

“A Reflective Biden Harbors Some Regrets as His Term Winds Down” [New York Times]. “Despite being described by his allies as in a pensive, sometimes angry, mood as the end of his term approaches, the president has not made himself available to answer many questions about his recent actions.” How often is “sometimes”? More: “Aside from joking about his wealth, Mr. Biden has openly stewed over one of Mr. Trump’s flashier — and apparently effective — stunts as president. During the same speech at Brookings, Mr. Biden said he had been “stupid” not to sign his name to Covid stimulus checks that were distributed to Americans early in his term. Mr. Trump emblazoned his signature on checks distributed after a relief bill was passed in the spring of 2020. Mr. Biden and his advisers learned a little something from Mr. Trump’s tendency to scrawl his name on things. By 2023, signs touting infrastructure projects “funded by President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law” began popping up around the country. But those had little political impact compared with a signed check.” • Bush the Younger signed his checks in the 2000s. Obama, in his miserably inadequate stimulus package, put up no signs, which gave rise to comment. Trump signed his checks. And only in 2023 does Biden’s name go up on signs. Slow learners, or what?

Trump Transition

“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Failing to Elect a House Speaker Quickly” [Chad Pergram, Thread Reader]. Original. Sounds like a pretty big deal: “This is the breakdown when the Congress starts: 219 Republicans to 214 Democrats…. The Speaker of the House must win an outright majority of all Members casting ballots for someone by name. In other words, the person with the most votes does not win… So let’s crunch the math for Mike Johnson. If there are 219 Republicans and four vote for someone besides him – and all Democrats cast ballots for Jeffries, the tally is 215-214. But there’s no Speaker. No one attained an outright majority of all Members casting ballots for someone by name. 218 is the magic number if all 434 Members vote. By rule, this paralyzes the House. The House absolutely, unequivocally, cannot do anything until it elects a Speaker. Period. The House can’t swear-in Members. Technically, they’re still Representatives-elect. Only after the House chooses its Speaker does he or she in turn swear-in the membership. The House certainly can’t pass legislation. It can’t form committees. It’s frozen in a parliamentary paralysis until it elects a Speaker…. This also means that the House cannot certify the results of the Electoral College, making President-elect Trump the 47th President of the United States on January 6. The failure to elect a Speaker compels the House to vote over and over….” Much more on possible scenarios in the complete thread. Chuck Grassley, Senate President Tempore, is fourth in line for the Presidency: “If the House is still frittering away time, trying to elect a Speaker on January 20, Grassley likely becomes ‘Acting President.'” • Could be entertaining! And today’s House has not had a good record picking Speakers in a timely and non-acrimonious mannner. Maybe the people floating Elon Musk for Speaker had these scenarios gamed out?

“Congress has the power to block Trump from taking office, but lawmakers must act now” [The Hill]. • Still on Section Three.

“4D Chess: Democrats Admit Trump Actually Won In 2020 And Is Now Unable To Serve Third Term” [Babylon Bee]. “In a shrewd move, Democratic Party leaders finally disclosed that Trump had, in fact, won the 2020 election against Joe Biden and has been the rightful president this whole time, rendering him term-limited and unable to take office in January…. At publishing time, Nancy Pelosi announced that she had retroactively filed articles of impeachment against Trump for the second term he should have been serving the last four years.” • You know they would.

2026

Oh noes. Already?

“Could 2024 Trump’s Victory Counter a 2026 ‘Midterm Curse’?” [RealClearPolitics]. “Donald Trump’s popular vote victory has eroded some of the demographic gains Democrats have been working on for years, giving Republicans hope they can break the historic trend of the president’s party losing seats in the first midterm election after winning the White House. Two years from now some 14 Democratic House members will be defending districts Trump won, compared to just three Republicans in districts carried by Vice President Kamala Harris. It’s a significantly better outlook than the GOP faced after Trump’s 2016 victory, which he eked out on the basis of an Electoral College win in the key swing states.” And: “With a more even playing field, the Democrats’ chances of taking advantage of the famed “midterm curse” in 2026 will depend in large part on whether Trump’s popularity recedes over the next two years, a variable impossible to predict. While the national politics play out, Democrats and Republicans will continue focusing on what they can control – continuing their redistricting court battles as far as they can take them.”

2024 Post Mortem

“Will the U.S. Ever Be Ready for a Female President?” [New York Times]. “For Democrats still scarred by Hillary Clinton’s loss to Donald J. Trump in 2016, Vice President Kamala Harris’s defeat at the hands of the same man in November has only deepened anxieties over gender bias and prompted a fresh round of debate over the electability of women to the nation’s highest office.” • Perhaps these “scarred” Democrats could give consideration to the idea that — hear me out — the quality of the candidates has something to do with electoral outcomes? For example–

The Teamsters. Who needs ’em?

“Democrats need to heal their fractures or find a new candidate from Hope” [Mark Halperin, FOX]. “For decades, United States voters have shuttled back and forth between the extant two major parties, rewarding them alternatively with victories and punishing them with defeats, carefully crafting a corrective balance of pragmatism, philosophy and harmony that has seen the parties sharing and exchanging power…. For both the Democrats and Republicans, therefore, sustaining long-term strength and clout has not been dependent on maintaining a permanent grip on power, but on a disciplined self-examination after electoral failure…. Obama’s “shellacking,” George W. Bush’s 2006 midterm ‘thumping,’ Richard Nixon’s narrow but decisive 1960 loss to JFK. These have been classic wake-up calls from the U.S. citizenry to chastened leaders.” But: “For the Democratic Party in 2024, this elemental process of recovery won’t be so simple. First off, many Democrats remain in the grips of Trump Derangement Syndrome, which makes introspection and accommodation impossible…. Second, the Democratic Party has spent years in denial [of Biden’s severe loss of acuity], which is a hard habit to break…. Furthermore, refusing to acknowledge that Vice President Kamala Harris was not a strong presidential candidate also has impeded the Democratic Party’s recovery process.” • It wasn’t just “denial” about Biden; it was outright lying, top to bottom, by people who met with him extensively and maintained he was “sharp as a tack.”

Our Famously Free Press

“Conspiracy theory is the new normal: 2024 was the year QAnon went mainstream” [Amanda Marcotte, Salon]. I keep forgetting Marcotte is still typing. “Another option, however, is to listen to what swing voters who backed Trump said about their decision. That would seem the wisest choice, but to be fair to people who don’t want to go there, hearing these people out is a truly miserable experience. What quickly becomes evident about the median voters in an American focus group is how profoundly opposed they are to even the most basic factual information. On the contrary, it’s a community with a pathological aversion to reality, where people compulsively react to anything truth-shaped with hostility, running as hard as they can toward disinformation. They are addicted to BS. Of course they voted for Trump, the country’s most reliable dealer of their favorite drug. This may sound ungenerous to these voters, but only if you’ve been sparing yourself the torture of engaging their actual opinions. If you hold your nose and dive in, it’s startling how much the typical swing voter is allergic to facts. It’s not just ignorance, but overt hostility to anything that smacks of veracity.” • Like, ya know, saying out loud that Biden’s brain was turning to mush?

“Most Americans are avoiding politics news: poll” [Axios]. “About two-thirds of Americans have recently felt the need to limit their political news consumption, according to a recent poll. The reluctance to consume political news is reflected in TV ratings. Americans of all parties, and Democrats in particular, are tuning out politics. People don’t feel the same need to avoid news about overseas conflicts, the economy or climate change, per an AP-NORC survey conducted in early December. The poll also found that Americans want public figures to talk less about politics. About 7 in 10 Democrats said they’re stepping back from political news. About 6 in 10 Republicans and independents say the same.” • TV and cable. But not, say, TikTok?

Democrats en déshabillé

“What Does It Mean When Your Party Brand Collapses?” [The Liberal Patriot]. “How exactly is a Democratic Party split along these lines—centrists versus progressives with a heaping portion of disengaged and uninterested members—going to repair its brand anytime soon? Without some factional co-mingling under the strong leadership of a charismatic new party figure that everyone accepts temporarily (think Barack Obama), the only way this gets resolved is if one of the two sides wins majority control of the party institutions and sets it on a course more in line with their approach. This seems unlikely since neither faction is particularly interested in coherent and cohesive party building outside of their strongholds. Centrists are a diffuse bunch mostly concentrated in districts and states that are highly competitive where politicians must downplay their connections to the party or run against it to attract more moderate to conservative voters. Progressives are concentrated in deep blue areas of the country where increasingly left-wing economic and cultural views rule the day among party faithful and where swing-voters either don’t exist or aren’t determinative. Given the current geographical limitations of the Democratic coalition, if you had to pick one side of this intra-party debate over the other, you would favor the centrist model purely for political expediency in trying to win more House and Senate seats and Electoral College votes in battleground states. The math is brutal otherwise. As is usually the case with Democrats, however, stasis is the more likely winner of the upcoming battle meaning nothing really will change….” • Alrighty then. (The article goes on to recommend “fusionism” a la Reagan’s successful rebranding of the Republican party based on “freedom, free markets, and traditional values.”)

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“Marianne Williamson launches bid for DNC chair” [The Hill]. “Former presidential candidate Marianne Williamson on Thursday launched a bid for chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), jumping into a crowded field of candidates vying to rebuild the party after its general election losses last month…. Among the other declared contenders are New York state Sen. James Skoufis (D), Minnesota Democratic Party Chair Ken Martin, Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and former Homeland Security official Nate Snyder.” • Could Williamson be worse?

“New Hampshire lawmaker reflects on retiring from Congress: ‘I’m trying to set a better example'” [Boston Globe]. “[Representative Annie M. Kuster], 68, said her decision to retire was based on many factors, including Donald Trump’s approaching return to the presidency, but she hopes it will also encourage Democrats to make room for younger generations in the halls of power. ‘I’m trying to set a better example,’ Kuster told the Globe. ‘I think there are colleagues — and some of whom are still very successful and very productive — but others who just stay forever.'”

“‘I Probably Could Have Flipped Over a Few More Tables'” (interview) [Cori Bush, Politico]. “AIPAC spent at least $8 million to defeat you. Do you wish Democratic leaders had done more to keep the group out of primaries this year or lend you more support? [BUSH:] Absolutely. At this point, yes, and looking forward, Democratic leadership has to do something. Democratic leadership must make the decision that this corporate money should not be able to be used in Democratic primaries. Because that was the deciding factor in this race. Democrats have to ban corporate PAC donations, and specifically have to speak up and push to ban the super PAC spending in our Democratic primaries. That is the only way that this does not happen again, because I wasn’t unseated because I didn’t take care of my community. We brought over $2 billion to our district in four years. We helped thousands of constituents who reached out to our office to help them navigate federal agencies, whether it was housing or PPP loans, whatever their need was. Let me also add the eviction moratorium. It saved people in our district and around the country. That work was for 11 million people around this country to stay housed during the deadly global pandemic. And I still hear today from people around the country who say, ‘You were the reason why I was able to stay housed.'”

Republican Funhouse

So the personal isn’t political?

Realignment and Legitimacy

That’s the stuff to give the troops:

Re-reading Huey Long's "Share Our Wealth" speech from 1934 sure is something. pic.twitter.com/MmwWyMx1sF

— Elliot Haspel (@ehaspel) December 24, 2024

No wonder “they” shot him.

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“Luigi Mangione’s sweater sells out at Nordstrom one day after court appearance” [The Independent]. “Mangione was wearing a white-collared shirt underneath the sweater in addition to light grey slacks and orange shoes at the courthouse. While fans first thought his sweater was a $1,000 Maison Margiela sweater, it was later determined that Mangione was wearing the “washable Merino crewneck sweater” from Nordstrom. The sweater was previously available for $89.50 according to the Nordstrom website, but it is currently on sale for $62.65 with 30 percent off. The sweater comes in six other colors aside from the burgundy one, which is no longer available.” • The aghastitude of the press seems to be having little effect, out there in the biomass. Give it time, I suppose. I wonder how many of the burgundy sweaters were Christmas gifts?

“Health Insurance Leaders Pressured DOJ To Charge Luigi Mangione” [Dan Boguslaw (!), Deeper State]. “According to reporting by Joe Marino, Ben Kochman and Matt Troutman last week, health insurance leaders pressured the DOJ to make an example of Luigi Mangione by bringing federal charges against him in a surprise announcement that caught his lawyers off guard. If tried in federal court, Mangione could be sentenced to death, silencing any further criticism of the American healthcare system he decried in his manifesto. According to the Post’s[1] report, ‘federal charges came amid pressure from health insurance industry leaders to make an example out of Mangione.’ The Post also writes that the decision to unveil federal charges ‘came from the top of the DOJ in Washington D.C.’ How and when healthcare industry leaders tried to strong-arm the department of justice remains unclear. But the top three DOJ officials under Attorney General Merrick Garland have all represented massive healthcare companies during their respective stints in private practice before joining the DOJ…. At O’Melveny & Myers, [Lisa Monaco, the Deputy U.S. Attorney General] represented Humana–the fifth largest U.S. health insurance company… Notably, O’Melveny & Myers also successfully defended United Health in a suit brought by United Health group insured patients earlier this year…. The number three at DOJ, Acting Associate AG Benjamin Mizer, also represented healthcare and pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis, among others firms…. The number three at DOJ, Acting Associate AG Benjamin Mizer, also represented healthcare and pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis, among others firms. Finally, #4 at DOJ, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prolegar, reported Lumos Pharma, Syneos Health, and Amgen, as former clients on her disclosure.” • Sigh. NOTE [1] The New York Post. BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!!

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Not so sure of the source, and definitely sure about some of the responses, but doesn’t the signage speaks for itself?

🇮🇱🇺🇲 "Capitol Hill is Israeli occupied territory."

— Pat Buchanan pic.twitter.com/WG5SAgNmyr

— Keith Woods (@KeithWoodsYT) December 23, 2024

Syndemics

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

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

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

Resources, United States (Local): AK (dashboard); AL (dashboard); AR (dashboard); AZ (dashboard); CA (dashboard; Marin, dashboard; Stanford, wastewater; Oakland, wastewater); CO (dashboard; wastewater); CT (dashboard); DE (dashboard); FL (wastewater); GA (wastewater); HI (dashboard); IA (wastewater reports); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d’Alene; dashboard, Spokane County); IL (wastewater); IN (dashboard); KS (dashboard; wastewater, Lawrence); KY (dashboard, Louisville); LA (dashboard); MA (wastewater); MD (dashboard); ME (dashboard); MI (wastewater; wastewater); MN (dashboard); MO (wastewater); MS (dashboard); MT (dashboard); NC (dashboard); ND (dashboard; wastewater); NE (dashboard); NH (wastewater); NJ (dashboard); NM (dashboard); NV (dashboard; wastewater, Southern NV); NY (dashboard); OH (dashboard); OK (dashboard); OR (dashboard); PA (dashboard); RI (dashboard); SC (dashboard); SD (dashboard); TN (dashboard); TX (dashboard); UT (wastewater); VA (wastewater); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV (wastewater); WY (wastewater).

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

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

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

Stay safe out there!

Transmission: Covid

“A ‘silent’ COVID surge may hit the US over the holidays, experts warn — here’s what that means” [Today]. “They’re calling it ‘silent’ because this winter wave follows a long period of unusually low COVID activity this fall, so many people are unaware that COVID levels have risen sharply over the past two weeks, the most recent wastewater data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show. As a result, people may not know their risk of infection is increasing and not test if they have only mild symptoms, which can cause the virus to spread at holiday gatherings, during travel and more. As of Dec. 14, wastewater viral activity of SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — is ‘high’ or ‘very high’ in 21 states, according to CDC data.” IMNSHO, states don’t matter nearly so much as cities, because people are concentrated in cities. The CDC’s wastewater map shows very little red (especially compared to past surges). More: ” ‘There’s a good chance that a lot of people are going to get sick in the next couple of weeks and be unaware of it. Most people are not tracking CDC data, and so their only way of knowing whether we’re in a wave is if they’ve gotten sick,’ Michael Hoerger, Ph.D., associate professor at Tulane University School of Medicine and public health expert on tracking COVID-19 trends, tells TODAY.com.” • For a critique of Hoerger’s model, see here. I think the whole “silent surge” talking point is misplaced. (1) The “surge” in absolute terms will be low. I don’t want anybody to get Covid, but let’s maintain a sense of realism. (2) I reject the entire paradigrm of adjusting behavior to Hoerger’s projections, or anyone else’s (and this includes hospital infection control programs). The data lags, in the case of CDC’s Green Map, by two weeks. This means that in the case of a variant undergoing exponential growth, the surge could be massive before any alarm bells ring. Therefore, IMNSHO, the only sensible course of action is to be consistent in your protocol at all times, and then a “surge,” of whatever dimensions, will never catch you by surprise.

Transmission: H5N1

“Biden’s USDA Let H5N1 Spread. Now Bird Flu is a Loaded Gun in Trump’s Hands” [The Gauntlet]. “H5N1 need not be circulating in dairy cows. It could and should have been eliminated months ago. It still might be with aggressive action. Unfortunately, the Biden administration hasn’t made any serious attempt to halt the virus, nor does it look likely to take the kind of bold action needed now. But that will hardly surprise anyone who has paid attention to the unprecedented illness normalization and public health vilification that has occurred since 2020…. H5N1 need not be circulating in dairy cows. It could and should have been eliminated months ago. It still might be with aggressive action. Unfortunately, the Biden administration hasn’t made any serious attempt to halt the virus, nor does it look likely to take the kind of bold action needed now. But that will hardly surprise anyone who has paid attention to the unprecedented illness normalization and public health vilification that has occurred since 2020.” • Yep. It’s not possible to reverse engineer the likelihood of a pandemic from the institutional response to its possibility, but it were, buckle up.

Vaccines

It would be amusing if we couldn’t develop vaccines against bird flu… because of bird flu:

Just a reminder, we need eggs for Flu vaccines. We are still in the Phase 1 Trial for the mRNA Vaccine for #H5N1. To make vaccines for the U.S. population, we will need 900,000 eggs daily from hens for 9 months. This is assuming that the chickens don't get infected with #BirdFlu https://t.co/bVDyv8l4yF

— Danielle Beckman (@DaniBeckman) December 23, 2024

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Lambert here: The State of New York and Walgreens still chugging along faithfully.

TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts

Wastewater
This week[1] CDC December 16	Last week[2] CDC (until next week):
Variants [3] CDC December 21	Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC December 14
Hospitalization
★New York[5] New York State, data December 24:	National [6] CDC December 19:
Positivity
★ National[7] Walgreens December 23:	Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic December 14:
Travelers Data
Positivity[9] CDC December 2:	Variants[10] CDC December 2::
Deaths
Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] CDC November 20:	Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] CDC November 20:

LEGEND

1) ★ for charts new today; all others are not updated.

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

NOTES

[1] (CDC) Seeing more red and more orange, but nothing new at major hubs.

[2] (CDC) Last week’s wastewater map.

[3] (CDC Variants) XEC takes over. That WHO label, “Ommicron,” has done a great job normalizing successive waves of infection.

[4] (ED) A little uptick.

[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Leveled out.

[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). Leveling out.

[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.

[8] (Cleveland) Continued upward trend since, well, Thanksgiving.

[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Leveling out.

[10] (Travelers: Variants). Positivity is new, but variants have not yet been released.

[11] Deaths low, positivity leveling out.

[12] Deaths low, ED leveling out.

Stats Watch

Employment Situation: “United States Initial Jobless Claims” [Trading Economics]. “Initial jobless claims in the US eased by 1,000 from the previous week to 219,000 in the second week of December, contrasting with market expectations that they would have risen to 224,000.”

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Manufacturing: “Court ruling on Boeing sends Florida an important message about diversity efforts” [Tampa Bay Times]. “Recently, a federal judge rejected a plea deal for Boeing aimed at resolving the company’s safety issues that have led to deadly disasters and other incidents involving its aircraft…. Judge Reed O’Connor expressed concerns that the court would not have adequate supervision of necessary changes at the company under the agreement. However, he spent most of his 12-page ruling focusing on a provision in the company’s plea deal with the Department of Justice that said an independent monitor would be hired ‘in keeping with the Department’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.’ … ‘In a case of this magnitude, it is in the utmost interest of justice that the public is confident this monitor selection is made based solely on competency. The parties’ DEI efforts only undermine this confidence in the Government and Boeing’s ethics and anti-fraud efforts. Accordingly, the diversity-and-inclusion provision renders the plea agreement against the public interest.'” • With some interesting comments on Boeing’s culture of “secrecy and intimidation.”

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Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 37 Fear (previous close: 34 Fear) [CNN]. One week ago: 21 (Extreme Fear). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Dec 26 at 1:22:08 PM ET.

Rapture Index: Closes unchanged [Rapture Ready]. Record High, October 10, 2016: 189. Current: 181. (Remember that bringing on the Rapture is good.) • Hard to believe the Rapture Index isn’t at an all-time high. Doesn’t the collapse of Syria bring the Third Temple closer? Do these people know something we don’t?

The Conservatory

“The Power Of A Single Note: The Poetic Imagination Of Yunchan Lim” [3 Quarks Daily]. Lim: “‘[W]hen I press the G-sharp key, if it strikes my heart, then I move on to the next one. . .If my heart doesn’t feel it when moving to the A-sharp key, I keep doing it. . . . if the A-sharp key strikes my heart, then I practice connecting the first and second notes, and if that connection strikes my heart, then I move on to the third note.” • Readers?

Gallery

Nice quote:

Fairfield Porter's painting was sketched early on the morning of 25 December 1961: ' I remembered what Bonnard said Renoir told him 'make everything more beautiful. This partly means that a painting should contain a mystery but not for mystery's sake: a mystery that is essential… pic.twitter.com/ZfBj5FmtvB

— Richard Morris (@ahistoryinart) December 25, 2024

Zeitgeist Watch

Good call by Yglesias:

https://t.co/3DldBz3PDK pic.twitter.com/3rOPt4bG3m

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) December 25, 2024

There was an amazing dogpile over this woman’s thesis — granted, written in current academic jargon — and it turns out (“sensory branding”) she got it right, as did Yglesias (“even a blind pig finds a truffle every so often”).

News of the Wired

“Make your garden a safe haven for robins this winter with these expert tips” [Euronews]. “During a cold winter, up to half of garden birds can be lost to cold and hunger. In the UK, the Red List of endangered bird species has more than doubled in the last 25 years. Robins – the country’s national bird – are particularly vulnerable as they stay loyal to their gardens whatever the weather. A robin can use up to 10 per cent of its body weight to keep warm on a single winter night. Unless it can replenish its reserves every day, a cold spell can prove fatal. With hedgerows declining, there is a lack of natural food, and without supplementary bird feeding in gardens, many robins die of cold and starvation.” For Robins: “According to [Sean McMenemy], the best foods for robins are mealworms and calci worms, fatty foods like suet pellets, meaty kitchen scraps, mild cheese, cake and biscuit crumbs, dried fruit and crushed peanuts. Robins prefer to forage and feed off the ground. Place a small tray close to a shrub, tree or perch, and you may soon find them gaining enough confidence to feed from your hand.” And in general: “Ensuring your garden isn’t too pristine or tidy can also help. Wild undergrowth encourages the proliferation of insects and helps robins to find food. Dead leaves, log piles and twigs also help insects to thrive.” • I was taught long ago that “Birds love a mess.” It’s true!

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

SC writes up his current autumn garden project:

In the interest of smoothing out the seasonality of my plants starting hobby, I’ve been trying to start certain perennials earlier than usual (typical time for indoor starts for me has previously been mid-Winter, in early February) and harden them off outdoors in late Winter or early Spring when it is still way too cold to move annuals outdoors. This year, I’m pushing the schedule even earlier, to see if it can work to start cold-hardy perennials in late Summer/early Autumn, grow them to a respectable size and then plant them before the ground freezes. The test case is Purple Coneflower, which, in my past experience of growing it from seed on the conventional “sow in February” schedule, does not bloom vigorously until the 2nd year. The attached photo is of a shelf of coneflowers started in mid-September, a week before the Solstice. The seeds are about 2 years old (purchased early 2023 from Prairie Moon Nursery) but still highly viable; 136 of 144 seeds produced strong seedlings. This photo was taken October 20, about 5 weeks after sowing. About half have since been moved outside, and 36 of those are already distributed and planted by the recipient. It remains to be seen whether these will bloom nicely in Spring 2025. If they do, this schedule will cut nearly in half the time from “seed to handsome bloom display” (and, more importantly from my perspective, will free up time and rack space during the busy period in mid-late Winter).

In followup to an inquiry to the commentariat I made some months ago, re: deterring squirrel depredations, peppermint essential oil seems to be highly effective. I use 1 mL of oil per half-Liter of water, with some liquid dish soap to help emulsify the oil. At $10 per 120 mL oil, it costs a few pennies per tray per application. It probably needs to be reapplied after rain. Squirrels have been tearing up my trays and pots, evidently looking for food (it has been dry all Summer and there may be a food shortage for them) but the trays treated with peppermint oil have been left alone.

Of possible interest to fellow amateur propagators, the pictured grow arrangement is a Home Depot HDX 18x48x72″ steel rack with “Monios-L” 48″ LED grow lights, 3 strips per shelf. This combination is much cheaper than the custom-built illuminated grow racks sold by online gardening supply retailers.

I myself am an amateur propagator, though perhaps not to vigorously now as in the past.

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Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not covered by the annual NC fundraiser. Material here is Lambert’s, and does not express the views of the Naked Capitalism site. If you see a link you especially like, or an item you wouldn’t see anywhere else, please do not hesitate to express your appreciation in tangible form. Remember, a tip jar is for tipping! Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know I’m on the right track with coverage. When I get no donations for three or four days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of donations helps me with expenses, and I factor in that trickle when setting fundraising goals:

Here is the screen that will appear, which I have helpfully annotated:

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