By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Bird Song of the Day
Sedge Warbler, Parque Ambiental de Vilamoura, Loulé, Faro, Portugal. “Fotos e vocalizações a adicionar.Aves a vocalizar ao mesmo tempo em sítios diferentes.” A child’s bicycle horn in there, somewhere?
In Case You Might Miss…
(1) Hunter Biden — dear Hunter! — convicted on gun charges.
(2) Luntz focus group on Trump conviction
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
2024
Less than a half a year to go!
No discernible effect from Trump’s conviction yet (though Democrats have only just begun to exploit it). Swing States (more here) still Brownian-motioning around. Of course, it goes without saying that these are all state polls, therefore bad, and most of the results are within the margin of error. If will be interesting to see whether the verdict in Judge Merchan’s court affects the polling, and if so, how.
* * * Trump (R): “‘Antihero’ or ‘Felon’: 11 Undecided Voters Struggle With How to See Trump Post-Verdict” [New York Times]. “”How the heck can you be undecided at this point?” Four hours after the conviction of Donald Trump, the focus group moderator Frank Luntz posed that question to 11 voters who said they were still torn – even post-verdict – between whether to support Mr. Trump or President Biden (and, for some, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.) in November…. All 11 participants in our Times Opinion focus group were swing voters: They had supported or been open to Hillary Clinton or Mr. Biden at least once in 2016, 2020 or 2024, and backed or considered Mr. Trump at least once in those years as well. … Inflation, the economy, immigration and abortion were the things that they said would ultimately determine their votes.” That’s the Times intro. I highly recommend you read the entire article, whose body consists of free-form Q&A with the focus group, which Luntz is very good at. I can’t summarize, but this exchange caught my eye:
Jonathan, 37, Florida, Black, operations manager
Trump is not a moral compass to a lot of his supporters. He’s the bad guy that’ll do things on our behalf. He’s the Tony Soprano or the Walter White —
Ben, 42, Texas, white, college adviser
Don’t bring my “Sopranos” into this.
Jonathan, 37, Florida, Black, operations manager
He’s an antihero.
Ben, 42, Texas, white, college adviser
Come on, man.
Moderator, Frank Luntz
OK, hold on. Hold on. Hilary, you’re grimacing right now. Explain why.
Hilary, 55, California, white, social worker
Jonathan, when you brought up “The Sopranos,” I got it. He’s the antihero. And that’s why I cast a vote in 2016 for him, though I did expect at the time that a lot of the shtick was just shtick and that once elected, if elected, no grown 71-year-old man would comport himself in the way he did. What does that portend, though, for a democracy if we have nothing but antiheroes, going forward? That these people, these complicated, murky, ambiguous, morally ambiguous people, are the models? And maybe that’s putting it mildly and gently. What does that portend for our system of government?
Again, I highly recommend that you read the whole thing. (Adding, (1) fascinating to see the “college advisor” try to dominate, and Luntz reining him in; (2) Jonathan has really good taste in TV; both the Sopranos and Breaking Bad are very good shows.
Trump (R): “Trump Sexual Misconduct Allegations: What We Know” [Teen Vogue]. “As he runs for president again, The 19th is pulling together allegations of sexual assault and harassment against him in his campaigns or in his time in the White House. Some resigned only to be later welcomed back into the fold; some have stayed connected to Trump.” • Quite a list.
* * * Trump (R) (People vs. Trump): “What potential grounds does Donald Trump have to appeal his hush money conviction” [ABC]. Various: “While the crime of falsifying business records — which Trump was charged with — is a misdemeanor, prosecutors charged Trump with a felony, arguing he falsified records with an intent to conceal another crime. ‘I think the statute is at risk of being declared unconstitutional because the statute that charged the former president with the felony does not say what that other crime is that elevates the misdemeanor to a felony,’ Randy Zelin, a Cornell University Law professor, told ABC News.” And: “In U.S. criminal law, a jury needs to unanimously find a defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. But, one expert argues the judge’s jury instructions were not clear and could be grounds for appeal…. ‘It is equally a bedrock principle of our system of justice, that a defendant’s guilt must be proven beyond reasonable doubt by a unanimous jury, and for the judge to essentially permit the jurors to disagree over what this other crime was … [and] still convict the defendant — that flies in the face of everything that this country was built on,’ Zelin said.” And: “Other experts say a similar Sixth Amendment argument Trump’s attorneys could make is that they didn’t have notice of the three different theories of the unlawful means Trump intended to commit in violation of New York election law, which prosecutors told the jury in closing arguments.” And: “Trump could potentially also argue the charges were unconstitutionally ‘vague’ based on the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.” Finally: “While experts said Trump could move for an expedited timeline of appeal due to the upcoming election, it is unclear if the appeal could be concluded before November. [Brian Buckmire, an ABC News legal contributor] said it could still take a year before the appeal is concluded.’” • I am sure readers are familiar with all these points already, but here they are at ABC!
Trump (R) (People vs. Trump): “Donald Trump completes mandatory presentencing interview after less than 30 minutes of questioning” [Associated Press]. ” Donald Trump completed his mandatory presentencing interview Monday after less than 30 minutes of routine, uneventful questions and answers, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and did so on condition of anonymity. The former president was quizzed by a New York City probation officer for a report, required by law, that trial judge Juan M. Merchan can use to help determine Trump’s punishment when he is sentenced July 11 in his hush money criminal case. Monday’s interview was conducted privately by video conferencing. Under state law, the resulting report — which may also include information about Trump’s conviction, his social, family and employment history, and his education and economic status — will remain confidential unless the judge authorizes its public release…. After Blanche balked about Trump being made to answer questions alone, Merchan granted the defense lawyer permission to sit in on Trump’s interview.”
* * * Biden (D): “Ruth Bader Biden” [The Atlantic]. “There is a broader thematic reality for the president: Bad vibes have been the persistent feature of his campaign. No matter the obstacles Trump creates for himself, Biden remains a comprehensively weak incumbent, weighed down by the same liabilities that burdened him from the start, beginning with the largest, and completely unfixable, one: At 81, he is much too old to run for president. Durable supermajorities of voters still do not want any part of Biden at this age. His bullheaded insistence on doing something no one has ever done (Ronald Reagan, then the oldest president in American history, was 77 when he retired), along with the unwillingness or inability of Democrats to stop him, remains an existentially risky, potentially disastrous, proposition. The stakes remain appallingly high. If Biden loses in November, that’s all anyone will remember him for…. It is too late for Democrats to do anything about their predicament now, barring some 11th-hour event that triggers an extremely unlikely swap-out of nominees at the Democratic National Convention.” • The stakes for the upcoming debate are pretty high.
* * * Biden (D): “Hunter Biden convicted on all 3 charges at federal gun trial” [CNN]. “A federal jury has convicted Hunter Biden on all three federal felony gun charges he faced, concluding that he violated laws meant to prevent drug addicts from owning firearms. The conviction marks the first time a president’s immediate family member has been found guilty of a crime during their father’s term in office, though his crimes predate Joe Biden’s tenure as president. The jury, which deliberated for just under three hours, returned guilty verdicts on all three charges, which stemmed from a revolver Hunter Biden bought in October 2018 at a Delaware gun shop. The first two counts were for lying about his drug use on a federal background check form, and the third count was for possessing a gun while addicted to, or using, illegal drugs. Hunter Biden could face up to 25 years in prison and a fine of up to $750,000 at sentencing, though he likely will receive far less than the maximum as a first-time offender. Before dismissing the parties, the judge told them sentencing is usually set for 120 days following a verdict, which means it is likely to happen before Election Day.”
Biden (D): “What son’s conviction means for President Biden” [BBC]. • It means that there’s nothing in court about Dear Hunter’s business dealings, which is all to the good (for Biden).
Biden (D): “Hunter Biden trial shows the first family’s agony — and its bond” [Financial Times]. “Unsavoury as the trial’s revelations have been, though, some believe it might also remind voters of Biden’s virtues as a father, particularly at a time when so many American families are dealing with drug addiction. That is the view of Chris Whipple, who chronicled the family in his book The Fight Of His Life: Inside Joe Biden’s White House. ‘For, me, the trial confirms what we’ve always known about Joe Biden,’ Whipple said. ‘It’s just hard to overstate how strong the bond is between him and Hunter. How close they are.’ Even if his political career demanded it, Whipple is convinced the president would never cast Hunter aside. “Family is everything to Biden,” he observed.” • I left out all the Beau Biden stuff. Give it a rest. I wonder if Biden’s dogs started biting people only after Beau died, or whether they’ve always done it. My money’s on the latter.
* * * Biden (D): “Laptop deniers conspired to make Hunter Biden news disappear. They can’t now” [FOX]. “Watching the coverage this week out of Delaware was like finding oneself in a parallel universe. There were ABC, NBC, CBS, the Washington Post and other news outlets reporting matter-of-factly that the Hunter Biden laptop showed no evidence of tampering and was both real and authentic. These are the same outlets, and some of the same reporters, who eagerly spread the false claims that the laptop was ‘Russian disinformation.’… Yet, what followed the testimony of FBI agent Erika Jensen was absolute crickets. There was no effort to track down the signatories of the now-debunked letter from former intelligence officials just before the election. In the letter, figures such as Leon Panetta, former CIA director in the Obama administration, claimed that the letter had all the markings of a Russian disinformation effort by intelligence services. (Panetta continued to make the assertion even in late 2023 in pushing what the federal government is now calling a ‘conspiracy theory.’) There was no attempt by the media to confront associates of the Biden campaign (including now Secretary of State Antony Blinken) who pushed a long effort to get former intelligence officials to sign a letter. ” • But surely that was “election interference”?
* * * Kennedy (I): “RFK Jr. sues Nevada’s top election official over ballot access as he scrambles to join debate stage” [Orlando Sentinel]. “Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign filed a lawsuit Friday against Nevada’s top election official, alleging a requirement that independent candidates must name their running mate by the time they start gathering signatures for ballot access is unconstitutional. The filing in the U.S. District Court of Nevada comes just over two months after Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar’s office clarified guidance that would likely nullify signatures that Kennedy Jr’s campaign collected for November’s ballot due to the petition not listing a running mate. Kennedy Jr’s campaign said in the lawsuit that they received approval in January from Aguilar’s office allowing them to collect the required 10,095 signatures for a petition that did not list his vice presidential selection. The requirement to name a running mate on the petition, the campaign alleges, violates the 1st Amendment and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.”
* * * “First Presidential Debate 2024: Everything You Need to Know” [Teen Vogue]. “Pretty much everything about the 2024 debates is unusual. For starters, they’re happening much earlier in the election cycle than they usually do, and the first debate will not have a live audience…. It’s unlikely that independents Robert Kennedy Jr., Cornel West, or any other Republican candidates will qualify to join.” • Plenty of details on time, dates, venue, etc.
Realignment and Legitimacy
“Canada’s Big Worry: A US Civil War” [Politico]. “In a spring report titled “Disruptions on the Horizon,” a quiet office known as Policy Horizons Canada proposed American civil war as a scenario that Ottawa should consider preparing for. This hypothetical was tucked into the middle of the 37-page document, which sketched the possibility in 15 spare words: ‘U.S. ideological divisions, democratic erosion, and domestic unrest escalate, plunging the country into civil war.’ It’s an unsettling thing to find out your immediate neighbor is getting nervous about the possibility of gruesome violence in your home.” • Hmm.
* * * “Tony Evans Says He Is ‘Stepping Away’ from Leading Dallas Megachurch Due To ‘Sin’” [The Roys Report]. Evans: “‘While I have committed no crime, I did not use righteous judgment in my actions,’ he said. ‘In light of this, I am stepping away from my pastoral duties and am submitting to a healing and restoration process established by the elders.’” • Hmm.
“‘Jesus was the best affiliate marketer in the world’: How a ‘Reverend CEO’ allegedly stole $1 billion in a crypto scam” [MarketWatch]. • Indeed!
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 (dashboard); 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, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, square coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).
Stay safe out there!
Airborne Transmission: H5N1
“CDC Reports A(H5N1) Ferret Study Results” [Influenza (Flu), CDC]. “The A(H5N1) virus from the human case in Texas spread efficiently between ferrets in direct contact but did not spread efficiently between ferrets via respiratory droplets.” So, “transmission through the air,” I take it, and we don’t know whether aerosols or tiny loogies. More: “In terms of spread, the CDC ferret study found that the A/Texas/37/2024 virus spread easily among ferrets (3 of 3 ferrets, or 100%) in direct contact with infected ferrets (placed in the same enclosure). However, the virus was less capable of spreading by respiratory droplets, which was tested by placing infected ferrets in enclosures next to healthy ferrets (with shared air but without direct contact).” • So the presumption is that ferrets in the same cage infect each other only by direct contact? Do I have that right? If so, why? Commentary:
Does this study assume particle inhalation did not occur among ferrets in the same enclosure?
Did ferrets in the separate enclosure have a reduced risk of infection b/c they were *distanced* from the infectious ferret & thus exposed to less airborne particles? Was this measured? https://t.co/ishdCBma5R
— Kristen K. Coleman (@drkristenkc) June 8, 2024
1 in 3 is still pretty infectious:
Does this study assume particle inhalation did not occur among ferrets in the same enclosure?
Did ferrets in the separate enclosure have a reduced risk of infection b/c they were *distanced* from the infectious ferret & thus exposed to less airborne particles? Was this measured? https://t.co/ishdCBma5R
— Kristen K. Coleman (@drkristenkc) June 8, 2024
And then there’s the airflow:
These f**king CDC idiots
🙄“by contrast, CDC uses a top-to-bottom airflow approach.”
NEWSFLASH: Exhaled bioaerosols float upwards
If you want to test for airborne transmission test bottom-to-top airflow
If you want to hide airborne transmission test the CDC way
— Barry Hunt – #DavosSafe #WHOknew (@BarryHunt008) June 8, 2024
(Note that WHO’s “technical report” on airborne tranmission terminology was rendered obsolete within weeks of its release because they got their model wrong for the same reason (hot air rises). In short, the CDC seems to be working a little too hard to be able to say “H5N1 is not airborne,” but even their own data says that it is.
Maskstravaganza
“NC is on the brink of changing its mask laws. Here’s what the bill would do.” [Raleigh News and Observer]. “Instead of broader language that currently allows any kind of mask to be worn to ensure ‘the physical health or safety of the wearer or others,’ the exception would be changed to narrower language that only permits ‘medical and surgical grade’ masks to be worn for the purpose of ‘preventing the spread of contagious disease.’” Does that mean N95s are OK? How about elastomerics, which are higher than surgical grade? More: “Existing law already stated that anyone wearing a mask in public for health and safety reasons would have to remove their mask if asked by a law enforcement officer, either during a traffic stop or at a checkpoint or roadblock, or if the officer had ‘reasonable suspicion or probable cause during a criminal investigation.’ The bill as rewritten would remove the conditions of either a traffic stop, checkpoint, or roadblock, or if an officer has reasonable suspicion or probable cause, and simply states that anyone masking in public to prevent the spread of contagious disease shall ‘remove the mask upon request by a law enforcement officer.’ .’ That provision is new.” • This isn’t a “compromise.” It’s worse.
Masking as an ADA accommodation:
Important life-saving info: if you have a condition on the CDC’s list of risk factors for COVID-19 you can get universal masking as an ADA accommodation.
Here’s some helpful info on how this applies to healthcare from @PeoplesCDC : https://t.co/4Y0tPrUng1
— Anna (@Annatated) May 9, 2023
Morbidity and Mortality
“Excess mortality across countries in the Western World since the COVID-19 pandemic: ‘Our World in Data’ estimates of January 2020 to December 2022” [BMJ]. From the Abstract: “Excess mortality has remained high in the Western World for three consecutive years, despite the implementation of containment measures and COVID-19 vaccines. This raises serious concerns. Government leaders and policymakers need to thoroughly investigate underlying causes of persistent excess mortality.” • Commentary from a long thread worth reading in full:
Perhaps we have some actuaries in the readership who would like to comment?
Celebrity Watch
“When Athletes, Entertainers, & Other Notable People Get Long Haul COVID+” [Long Covid Foundation]. “The Long COVID Foundation has taken over the list of athletes, entertainers, & other notable people who get Long Haul COVID. There are currently 206 on the Long COVID list, with details and sources.” • Here is the list. See NC here for celebrities who got Covid, and here for the economics of Covid and insurance in the music business.
Elite Maleficence
As I keep saying, they know:
“COVID IS OVER”—➡️not true for people who know.
“No need for testing”—➡️not true for people who know.
“No need for masks”—➡️not true for people who know.
“No need for HEPA grade filtration”—➡️not true for people who know.
💡Always watch what leaders actually do privately. https://t.co/3TT5QvJR8S pic.twitter.com/87fbuCmqot
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) June 9, 2024
But they don’t want you to know.
Lambert here: Patient readers, I finally gave up the unequal struggle and went with CDC’s wastewater maps; they will at least give us some at-a-glance sense of how cases are changing in time and space.
TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts
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) This week’s wastewater map, with hot spots annotated.
[2] (CDC) This week’s wastewater map, not annotated. Next week I will move the map at [1] to [2], and update [1].
[3] (CDC Variants) FWIW, given that last week KP.2 was all over everything like kudzu, and now it’s KP.3. If the “Nowcast” can’t even forecast two weeks out, why are we doing it at all?
[4] (ER) This is the best I can do for now. At least data for the entire pandemic is presented.
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Slight leveling out? (The New York city area has form; in 2020, as the home of two international airports (JFK and EWR) it was an important entry point for the virus into the country (and from thence up the Hudson River valley, as the rich sought to escape, and then around the country through air travel.)
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). This is the best I can do for now. Note the assumption that Covid is seasonal is built into the presentation. At least data for the entire pandemic is presented.
[7] (Walgreens) 4.3%; big jump. (Because there is data in “current view” tab, I think white states here have experienced “no change,” as opposed to have no data.)
[8] (Cleveland) Going up.
[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Up. Those sh*theads at CDC have changed the chart so that it doesn’t even run back to 1/21/23, as it used to, but now starts 1/1/24. There’s also no way to adjust the time rasnge. CDC really doesn’t want you to be able to take a historical view of the pandemic, or compare one surge to another. In an any case, that’s why the shape of the curve has changed.
[10] (Travelers: Variants) Same deal. Those sh*theads:
[11] Deaths low, but positivity up.
[12] Deaths low, ED up.
Stats Watch
Business Optimism: “United States NFIB Business Optimism Index” [Trading Economics]. “The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index in the US rose to 90.5 in May 2024, the highest in five months, from 89.7 in April and above forecasts of 89.8. 22% of owners reported that inflation was their single most important problem in operating their business, unchanged from April and the top business problem among owners.”
Tech: “The iPhone Is Now an AI Trojan Horse” [The Atlantic]. I hope I can turn it off. “Apple reportedly has been in talks with both Google and OpenAI to integrate each company’s generative-AI products into the iPhone. As today’s event revealed, Apple made a deal with OpenAI first, and its ChatGPT model will be available to supplement Apple Intelligence features later this year. (Apple said it plans to incorporate models from other AI developers in the future.) It’s likely a lucrative contract for OpenAI, but the start-up is arguably getting something even more valuable out of the agreement: access to millions of normal people…. Apple is betting that its AI offering will be greater than the sum of its parts. Adding up iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs, Macs, and AirPods, billions of the company’s devices are used by people all over the world, perfect delivery vehicles for AI. The Apple announcement is the clearest sign that generative AI, foisted onto an enormous web of mainstream devices, will be essentially inescapable. But the plan isn’t guaranteed to work. AI, although popular, is far from widely adopted—Apple is now taking a chance to see what happens when all the mundane tasks in our lives come with a little pop-up widget that asks if we’d like a bot to rewrite that email with a slightly more “professional” tone. Already last month, Google began forcing AI-written responses upon 1 billion users of its search engine. The results, including medical misinformation, conspiracy theories, and plain nonsense, were so embarrassing that the company quickly appeared to roll back the function, at least temporarily.”
Tech: “First Came ‘Spam.’ Now, With A.I., We’ve Got ‘Slop’” [New York Times]. “The use of slop as a descriptor for low-grade A.I. material seemingly came about in reaction to the release of A.I. art generators in 2022. Some have identified Simon Willison, a developer, as an early adopter of the term — but Mr. Willison, who has pushed for the phrase’s adoption, said it was in use long before he found it. ‘I think I might actually have been quite late to the party!’ he said in an email. The term has sprung up in 4chan, Hacker News and YouTube comments, where anonymous posters sometimes project their proficiency in complex subject matter by using in-group language.” • Hmm. #slop not prevalent on the Twitter.
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 44 Fear (previous close: 47 Neutral) [CNN]. One week ago: 39 (Fear). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Jun 11 at 1:45:09 PM ET.
Rapture Index: Closes unchanged [Rapture Ready]. Record High, October 10, 2016: 189. Current: 188. (Remember that bringing on the Rapture is good.) • Bird flu not a concern, apparently. Still flirting with the 189 ceiling….
The Gallery
More Midwest modern:
Cobbs Barns and Distant Houses, 1930 https://t.co/tOQyuhwku7 pic.twitter.com/e1v6Y9uJ1A
— Edward Hopper (@artisthopper) June 11, 2024
The Conservatory
Not typical Beato content, but interesting::
It all goes back to Clinton?!
Guillotine Watch
“Can money conquer death? How wealthy people are trying to live forever” [Los Angeles Times]. “[L]ongevity influencers and enthusiasts [are] experimenting, especially those with the money and time needed to immerse themselves in the booming market of treatments, superfoods, pills and powders, concierge doctors and med spas, IV nutrition drips, biometric screenings and strict regimens that they believe will extend their lifespans and, crucially, their healthspans…. A separate analysis by Deloitte found that the top 50 longevity-focused companies raised more than $1 billion in venture funding as of 2020 and noted that “we are at the cusp of a new multibillion-dollar longevity industry…. Twice a year, [Peter Diamandis] leads a ‘Platinum Longevity Trip’ that links 40 ultra-high-net-worth individuals with top scientists, chief executives, startup founders and laboratories in the age-reversal field. For $70,000, promotional materials promise, participants will ‘gain unparalleled access’ to the latest treatments and clinical trials and learn about research into tissue and organ regeneration, epigenetic reprogramming, neurocognitive regeneration and AI drug discovery. The ‘five-day, five-star longevity deep-dive; includes private air travel and resort lodging; upcoming trips this fall in San Francisco and San Diego are already more than half full…. Other groups catering to the uber-wealthy are assembling their own anti-aging programs. Last year R360, an exclusive organization for centimillionaires, led a longevity trip to the Harvard laboratory of David Sinclair, a genetics professor and leading researcher on reversing the aging process at a cellular level. This July members will visit the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato. ‘If you’ve been fortunate enough to make $100 million or more, you want to do whatever you can to live forever,’ said Michael Cole, managing director of R360…. While Diamandis likes to say that 8 billion people all face the same disease of aging, what he’s selling is a luxury currently out of reach for most people. He insists costs will come down as AI, biotech and imaging technologies improve. ‘When technologies don’t work well, they’re paid for by the rich, who experiment,’ [Diamant] says. ‘When they finally work really well, they’re in mass production and available to everybody.’” • Lol, no.
News of the Wired
“Vintage Photographs of People Using the Card Catalog at the Library in the 1970s” [Vintage Everyday]. “Back before computers were invented, librarians put information about their books on cards and filed those cards in cabinets called card catalogs. Multiple copies of the card for a particular book were printed, and particular bits of information–such as the title, the author’s name, or a subject the book was about–would be added at the top of different cards. The cards were then filed in alphabetical order in the card catalog so people who wanted to find a book (patrons) could search and find the book they wanted. The people who decided what to put on the cards were called catalogers. The information on the cards is human created metadata.” • I remember when the Boston Public Library made the transition from a card catalog to search. Search was lousy. In fact, it still is. I think the transition was for library adminisrators, not librarians let alone patrons (prove wrong). An image from that time:
A card catalog will still work after the data centers go up in flames, too.
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