2:00PM Water Cooler 1/15/2025

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Bird Song of the Day

Brown Thrasher, Parc de la Survivance, Les Maskoutains, Quebec, Canada.

* * *

In Case You Might Miss…

1. Warren v. Hegseth, Ernst v. Hegseth.
2. Biden-installed roadblocks to Schedule F.
3. Democrat leadership crisis.
4. RedNote’s cat tax.

* * *

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

* * *

Trump Transition

Warren v. Hegseth (1):

One of the few useful questions asked at the Pete Hegseth hearing. Despite advocating that Generals be barred from working in the defense industry for 10 years after they retire, Hegseth, upon questioning from Sen. Warren, refuses to commit to the same standard for himself! pic.twitter.com/mQQD8xgljp

— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) January 14, 2025

Warren v. Hegseth (2):

JUST IN: Audience starts cracking up after Pete Hegseth stumps Elizabeth "Pocahontas" Warren.

Warren: "You are quite sure every General who serves should not go directly into the defense industry for 10 years, but you're not willing to make that same pledge?

Hegseth: "I'm not a… pic.twitter.com/ELmpwlNyxF

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 14, 2025

Lambert here: I award this round to Tracey. Not that I accept the revolving door metaphor (FlexNets are where it’s at), but whether one wears a suit or a uniform while walking through one shouldn’t matter.

“Senate Democrats Fail To Rattle Hegseth” [RealClearPolitics]. “Unlike many of his predecessors, Hegseth is not a retired general or seasoned government official and he has comparatively limited executive experience. He is a combat veteran and television anchor with ivy league degrees. But the former Army major’s main qualification in the eyes of the incoming administration is a rejection of political correctness in the military. In Tuesday’s committee hearing, he did not blink or abandon the views he has expressed for years in print and on air. He delivered a full-throated condemnation of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies that were hallmarks of the Biden Pentagon. ‘This is not a time for equity,’ the nominee said, arguing instead for ‘equality’ among the ranks that emphasizes meritocracy in pursuit of a common purpose, not prescribed outcomes and quotas based on immutable characteristics like race, gender, or sexual orientation…. Republicans loved that they were hearing from a nominee who said many of the same things Trump said to get elected. Begrudgingly impressed, Democrats were, all the same, appalled. Hegseth does not need their votes. When allegations of professional and sexual misconduct surfaced, which he denies, the nominee focused instead on maintaining support among the GOP majority. Democrats on the committee complained repeatedly that Hegseth didn’t even bother to meet with them privately prior to the hearing. Hegseth did moderate on at least one front. ‘Women will have access to ground combat roles,’ he said, walking back past statements but before qualifying that standards must ‘remain high, and we will have a review to ensure the standards have not been eroded.'” • A dude with a jawline like Hegseth’s clearly ought to be in charge of something. It will be interesting to find out who his “deputies” are…..

“GOP Sen. Joni Ernst officially backs Pete Hegseth for DOD after initial uncertainty” [FOX]. “Ernst, a survivor of sexual assault herself, said, ‘A priority of mine has been combating sexual assault in the military and making sure that all of our service members are treated with dignity and respect. This has been so important. Senator Gillibrand and I have worked on this, and we were able to get changes made to the uniform code of military justice to make sure that we have improvements, and on how we address the tragic and life altering, issues of rape, sexual assault. It will demand time and attention from the Pentagon under your watch, if you are confirmed. So, as secretary of Defense, will you appoint a senior level official dedicated to sexual assault prevention and response?’ she asked Hegseth. Trump’s DOD choice told the senator that he would agree to do so.” • Hegseth, if he’s smart, will take this opportunity to rehabilitate his reputation.

“The Greatest DEI Disaster Ever” [Jennifer Rubin, The Contrarian]. Rubin’s first shot after leaving WaPo. “Watching Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth demonstrate his appalling lack of credentials, knowledge, and character for the job for which he was nominated I am compelled to ask: Is the Trump administration running a DEI program for incompetent, unqualified, and/or ethically compromised Whites?” And: “Amy McGrath, a former Marine fighter pilot whom I interviewed yesterday, told me that Republican claims that the military has lowered standards to accommodate women is a ‘lie.'” • Amy McGrath, Amy McGrath… Oh yeah. The fighter pilot, reporting for duty kinda like John Kerry, who, awash in out-of-state money, defeated Black progressive Charles Booker and then went on to outraise Mitch McConnell by $30 million — Democrats were s-o-o-o-o excited — and then lost the race by twenty points. How surprising that McGrath is still in Rubin’s Rolodex.

“By Targeting Hegseth, Democrats Open a Path for Gabbard” [Politico]. “[I]ntimidated by threats hurled by Trump’s allies, Republican lawmakers have in recent weeks rallied to Hegseth and many of them have made clear that, absent new and more damaging revelations, they will likely support his nomination. At the same time, Trump has made clear he won’t yank Hegseth’s nomination. Surprisingly, though, this GOP show of support has not prompted Senate Democrats to pivot toward confronting Gabbard. That has surprised, and even disappointed, their Republican counterparts, some of whom told me that they would be more willing to make common cause to stop the former Democrat from Hawaii, who holds isolationist and libertarian national security views outside the Senate GOP mainstream. Why wouldn’t Democrats shift toward a softer target, especially knowing that few of their Republican colleagues want to cast one, if that many, votes against a Trump nominee? Yes, this is a commentary on the bargain pre-Trump Republicans have made. They may malign the press and Democrats, but they’d sure like the media to dig up damaging stories on Gabbard so that Democrats can amplify them, which in turn would prompt Trump to grow irritated at the skeptical coverage and abandon her. A version of the Matt Gaetz appointment, in other words. That’s much easier than publicly opposing Gabbard, to say nothing of voting her down on the Senate floor.” • Hmm.

* * *

“Biden’s ‘sneaky’ and ‘dirty’ plot to slow down Trump on Day One… despite promising a ‘smooth’ transition” [Daily Mail]. “President Joe Biden enacted a series of roadblocks to slow down Donald Trump’s agenda during the president-elect first days in the White House, despite his steadfast promises to cooperate with the incoming administration…. ‘I think he’s going to have a problem,’ the president said. ‘Trump’s going to have a hard time undoing a lot, I think.’ Politics ain’t beanbag. This, however, is important: “During the final weeks of his first term in 2020, Trump issued an executive order creating a new class of federal workers known as Schedule F. These staffers would be exempt from the country’s traditional merit-based civil service program. And opponents argued it was an attempt to hire and fire people based on their political loyalty. Biden, when he came into office in January 2021, rescinded that order. He then took it one step further last spring, when he issued a new rule that strengthens existing rights for career federal workers by making it clear that civil service protections cannot be taken away from employees unless they give them up voluntarily. In other words, it makes it nearly impossible for Trump to classify current federal employees under a Schedule F type order. A senior Biden administration official told CNN that the rule could not easily be rolled back in a second Trump term. Trump has repeatedly promised he would reinstate Schedule F executive order on day one. ‘An executive order would not have impact with this regulation in place,’ the senior Biden official said. ‘A future administration would have to go through a new regulatory process, which would also entail like explaining specifically through that rulemaking process why a different rule is better than the existing regulations that OPM (the Office of Personnel Management) finalized and are announced … and how that new approach was consistent with the law.'” • I dunno. The Trump operation has been pretty feral so far, so I’m not sure what effect a new rulemaking process would have.

* * *

“Poke The Bear” [Brian Beutler, Off-Message]. “Donald Trump is a lame duck. He’s weak in the ways every lame-duck president is, and, to an under-appreciated extent, his efforts to menace and extort concessions out of domestic and international rivals is a form of rebellion against his own expiration date, his looming irrelevance…. But a good way to resolve the debate might be to establish an informal rule: responding to Trump’s provocations is always acceptable if the effect is to belittle him; to make him look like a boob or a chump or a phony. Not ‘ahhh! this is dangerous!’ but ‘whatever, clown!’ Not ‘what about our norms!’ but ‘try me.’ Etc, etc. When Trump said he’d rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, U.S. liberals mostly resolved to ignore it, but Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum pointed to an old map of what is now the southwestern U.S. and said, “¿Por qué no le llamamos ‘América mexicana’? Suena bien, ¿verdad?”— “Why don’t we call this Mexican America? Sounds good, no?”… I would like to applaud this approach, and encourage more of it from more western leaders, ideally in collaboration. Maybe they can start trying to one-up each other. Instead of simply saying Greenland isn’t for sale, the prime minister of Denmark might ask Trump whether the United States can really afford a tariff on Ozempic given our epidemic of obesity, embodied by Trump himself.” • Dunno. It would be hard to out-troll Trump. And I’m not sure that Sheinbaum’s punch landed anywhere that matters. Then again–

“Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a potential 2028 candidate, wants to find common ground with Trump” [Associated Press]. ” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer wants a fresh start with President-elect Donald Trump but also warns that she won’t back down over tariffs that she believes would hurt the auto industry in her state… ‘I don’t want to pretend we’re always going to agree, but I will always seek collaboration first,’ Whitmer said Wednesday about the Republican president-elect. ‘I won’t go looking for fights. I won’t back down from them, either.'” • It’s gonna be hard to kidnap Big Gretch twice, so I’m not sure what her options in 2028 will be.

* * *

Pledging fealty like the neo-feudalist robber barons they are:

“Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg to attend Trump’s inauguration” [WaPo]. “Tech moguls Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are planning to attend President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, underscoring the deepening ties between prominent tech leaders and the incoming administration after years of acrimony. The billionaire trio is expected to sit together on the dais, a prominent location alongside former presidents, Trump’s family, Cabinet picks and lawmakers, according to a Trump official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the unannounced plans.”

“Scoop: Trump’s $500 million post-election windfall” [Axios]. “President-elect Trump is being inundated with so much money from corporations and wealthy donors that his team expects to raise about $500 million by summer — even though he can’t run again, sources in his operation tell Axios. By stockpiling so much cash, Trump is signaling he doesn’t want to be seen as a lame duck [see above] in his second term, and is ready to help political allies, punish opponents and help Republicans keep full control of Congress in 2026.” And: “‘The crypto guys are just blowing it out,’ the Trump adviser said. ‘It used to be $1 million was a big number. Now we’re looking at some folks giving like $10 [million] or $20 million.’ ‘If the tech guys are giving big, it makes everyone give,’ another Trump adviser added.” • As they would. Lots of Californians up on that dias….

Lawfare

Lambert here: I hate to file these suits under lawfare, because to my recollection both have merit. But a little late, no?

“SEC sues Elon Musk, alleging failure to properly disclose Twitter ownership” [CNBC].

“CFPB sues Capital One for ‘cheating’ customers out of over $2 billion in interest” [CNBC].

* * *

“Despite Trump’s Felony Conviction, Prosecutorial Liberalism Has Failed” [Jeet Heer, The Nation]. “The problems with prosecutorial liberalism are twofold. First, it is a strategy that tries to use the legal system to do the work of politics. Of course, if figures like Trump commit crimes, they should fall under the purview of the law. But the law in and of itself is ill-equipped to settle the matter of a corrupt politician’s status with voters. There is a long history of voters rewarding politicians who run afoul of the law or have been entangled in scandal, beloved miscreants such as onetime Washington Mayor Marion Barry and onetime Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards.” • In a way, we might say that the famous slogan used by the Edwards camp (“Vote for the crook! It’s important!”) — Edwards then running against KKKer David Duke — applied equally well to Trump. Which isn’t so such a stretch if genocide and a proxy war with a nuclear power are top of mind for you.

2024 Post Mortem

“Kamala Harris eyeing post-loss life in NYC as second gentleman tours $20K-a-month luxury space” [Page Six, New York Post]. • Rats leaving a sinking ship?

“Harris declines to invite Vance for courtesy visit to vice president’s residence before inauguration” [CBS]. • Mind-bogglingly petty.

Democrats en déshabillé

“The Democratic Party’s leadership crisis: ‘Don’t know’ and ‘Nobody’ outpoll pols” [USA Today]. “When asked to name the leader of the Democratic Party, nearly half of all registered voters nationally in our Suffolk University/USA TODAY couldn’t name a person or volunteered ‘Nobody.'”… Let’s start with the 19% of voters who responded ‘nobody.’ As for the “nobody” retort, as you might expect, more Republicans (22%) gave this response, but 26% of independents did too.”

Realignment and Legitimacy

“Luigi Mangione’s Account Renamed on Stack Overflow” [Michael Tsai]. “Mangione has not actually been convicted of anything yet. Reddit, Facebook, and Instagram have deleted his accounts, but the only one that chose to both erase him and keep the content, is Stack Exchange. It’s not clear whether that’s legal.” • Mangione is now “user4616250.” Numerologists make of that what you will.

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

* * *

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!

Maskstravaganza

Bonnie Henry territory (1):

🚨 BC Ministry of Health Communique

Masks now required in BC healthcare facilities.

It was apparently issued to Health Authorities on Mon, Jan 6, 2025, but still has not been seen by many individuals working in BC Healthcare.

9 pages long, so buckle up.

1/9 pic.twitter.com/DCmwH7nq2b

— Inspired Aquariums (@InspiredAquaCA) January 12, 2025

Bonnie Henry territory (2):

🚨 Monday's H5N1 memo to VCH staff

Constrains diagnosis to people with "exposure to sick or dead poultry or other sick animals, particularly in areas with known outbreaks".
Despite BC's case of H5N1 having no such contact.

Also leans heavily on Droplet and Contact precautions. pic.twitter.com/7Co6kzogki

— Inspired Aquariums (@InspiredAquaCA) January 14, 2025

Vaccines

“It won’t end with COVID: Countering the next phase of American antivaccine activism 2025–29” [Peter Hotez, PLOS]. “Peter Hotez is a co-inventor on non-revenue generating patents for neglected tropical diseases owned by Baylor College of Medicine (BCM). He is also a co-inventor of a COVID-19 recombinant protein vaccine technology owned by BCM that was recently licensed by Baylor Ventures non-exclusively and with no patent restrictions to several companies committed to advance vaccines for low- and middle-income countries.” The lead: “Antivaccine sentiments have been expressed throughout American history. However, in this century, the antivaccine movement gained momentum around false claims that vaccines cause autism in the 2000s, followed by ‘health freedom’ protests versus childhood immunization mandates in schools in the 2010s [1]. Starting in 2020 with the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines, health freedom extended to adult immunizations and became a signature feature of political activism on the far-right. This politically charged movement organized and convinced countless Americans to shun COVID-19 immunizations in 2021–22 resulting in an estimated 200,000 deaths from COVID-19 among the unvaccinated U.S. population. Antivaccine activism became a major lethal force in America.” • Not seeing a note to that 200,000 figure.

Social Norming

“A Nation of Homebodies” [New York Times]. From October, 2024. Here is the deck: “A recent study shows Americans are spending notably more time at home, a trend that started long before the pandemic.” • Handy chart:

“Why the jump?” If you were one of those Brownnose Institute fellas, you’d say it was our (pissant, poruous, short-lived) lockdowns, and not — work with me here — millions of illnesses and deaths. But suppose they’re right? “Why the persistence?” One obvious answer is the desire to avoid infection. A second answer is Long Covid. It will be interesting to see what the numbers for 2023 and 2024 are. (Note that the article follows the deck in attempting to make an obvious state change into a smooth progression, rather like that study where people can be brow-beaten by putative peers into saying two lines are the same length when they are very obviously not.)

* * *

TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts

Wastewater
This week[1] CDC January 10	Last week[2] CDC (until next week):
Variants [3] CDC December 21	Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC January 4
Hospitalization
★ New York[5] New York State, data January 14:	National [6] CDC Janurary 9:
Positivity
National[7] Walgreens January 13:	Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic January 4:
Travelers Data
Positivity[9] CDC December 23:	Variants[10] CDC December 23
Deaths
Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] CDC January 4:	Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] CDC January 4:

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) Definitely jumped.

[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

Inflation: “United States Core Inflation Rate” [Trading Economics]. “The annual core consumer price inflation rate in the United States, which excludes items such as food and energy, eased to 3.2% in December 2024, down from 3.3% in the previous three months and slightly below market expectations of 3.3%. The shelter index, accounting for over two thirds of the total 12-month increase rose 4.6% over the past year, marking the smallest annual gain since January 2022.”

Inflation: “United States Consumer Price Index (CPI)” [Trading Economics]. “Consumer Price Index CPI in the United States increased to 315.61 points in December from 315.49 points in November of 2024. The annual inflation rate in the US rose for a 3rd consecutive month to 2.9% in December from 2.7% in November, in line with market expectations.”

Manufacturing: “United States NY Empire State Manufacturing Index” [Trading Economics]. “The NY Empire State Manufacturing Index tumbled to -12.6 in January 2025 from 2.1 in December, missing forecasts of 3 and marking a return to contraction for New York state’s manufacturing activity at the steepest rate since May 2024.”

* * *

Manufacturing: “Trump Transportation Dept nominee says he will work to restore global confidence in Boeing” [Reuters]. “‘I will work with Congress and the FAA to restore global confidence in Boeing and to ensure our skies are safe,” said Sean Duffy, a former U.S. House lawmaker, according to written testimony seen by Reuters. The Federal Aviation Administration is maintaining tougher oversight of Boeing indefinitely, a year after a door panel missing four bolts flew off a new Alaska Airlines (ALK.N), opens new tab Boeing 737 MAX 9 in mid-air. It has also barred Boeing from expanding production beyond 38 MAX planes per month. Boeing did not immediately comment. FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker plans to step down on Jan. 20, while Deputy FAA Administrator Katie Thomson left the agency last week. Trump has not yet named a new nominee to head the department. On Saturday, Trump said he was nominating Steve Bradbury, a former DOT general counsel, to serve as deputy DOT secretary. Duffy will face a number of aviation issues including a persistent shortage of air traffic controllers, aging FAA facilities and a series of dangerous near-miss incidents.”

Manufacturing: “Crisis-hit Boeing delivered less than half as many jets as Airbus in 2024” [Seattle Times]. “Boeing must begin to turn its fortunes around this year to avoid falling further behind because Airbus plans a relentless production increase as it fixes its supply chain. Airbus now operates eight A320 jet family assembly lines — two in Toulouse, France; four in Hamburg, Germany; one in Tianjin, China; and one in Mobile, Ala. — all now equipped to build the larger A321 model. Scherer reiterated that Airbus plans to increase production of the A320 family from 50 per month in 2024 to 75 per month in 2027. To implement that ramp-up, Airbus plans to add another A320 assembly line in Mobile and another in Asia by 2026.” • Eight. That’s a lot.

Manufacturing: “Boeing CEO in India in his first overseas visit” [The Hindu]. “On [Ortberg’s agenda are business meetings with Boeing’s customers in the country, which include a meeting with Tata Trusts Chairman Noel Tata, according to industry sources. There are also meetings with key government stakeholders as well as employees. Though the visit has been kept under wraps, it is learnt that visits to some of Boeing’s facilities in Hyderabad and Bengaluru are also on his itinerary. He is in India for nearly three days. Boeing and Tata have a joint venture in Tata Boeing Aerospace Limited for manufacturing aerostructures and collaboration on integrated systems development opportunities in India, both for its military and civil aircraft that includes a production facility in Hyderabad for co-producing Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopter fuselages, among other aerostructures. The Tata Advanced systems Limited (TASL) also manufactures composite assemblies for Boeing’s 737 MAX, 777X, and 787 Dreamliner.”

* * *

Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 29 Fear (previous close: 26 Fear) [CNN]. One week ago: 30 (Fear). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Jan 15 at 1:56:49 PM ET.

Musical Interlude

Play everything but the root and everywhere but on the beat:

Zeitgeist Watch

Readers, have at it:

We need a new word. One that means a combination of an oligarchy, a kleptocracy, and a kakistocracy, because that's what we're going to be living under. I can't think of a word that's adequate.

— Khashoggi’s Ghost 🇺🇦🌻 (@UROCKlive1) January 14, 2025

I quarrel with “going to be.” Nevertheless, we do need that word!

News you can use:

Been collecting data on traditional methods of black magic across cultures. Here's a map of the materials sorcerers obtain from enemies to curse them via sympathetic magic across 77 societies. It is widely believed you can curse a person if you have some of their hair especially. pic.twitter.com/AiZMi8dwe8

— Will (@Evolving_Moloch) January 15, 2025

News of the Wired

“Did we all know this already?” [Kottke.org]. “Chip is a nickname for a guy named after his dad. Skip is a nickname for a guy named after his grandfather. Trip is a nickname for a guy named after his dad AND grandfather.” • Readers?

This is awesome, actually. More insight into the new craze all the kids are into, RedNote (“Xiaohongshu”), the Chinese TikTok replacement:

posted a picture of my cat on Xiaohongshu and someone replied with this 😭they gave my ass a receipt pic.twitter.com/p2DAf8oRkI

— drea (@okaybrb) January 14, 2025

* * *

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 Desert Dog:

Desert Dog writes: “On the hike up to my daughters house in the four corners area of Colorado I pass this Bald Eagle roost where they can scan the valley below.”

* * *

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