By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Patient readers, I will fill out the Politics section shortly. –lambert
Bird Song of the Day

“Excited calls from flock.” A little mike noise but really net, especially toward the end.
* * *
#COVID19
At reader request, I’ve added this daily chart from 91-DIVOC. The data is the Johns Hopkins CSSE data. Here is the site. I feel I’m engaging in a macabre form of tape-watching….
We already start to an instant rebound from Labor Day, I assume because reporting is returning to normal. Nevertheless, Labor Day, as the end of summer, also signals life changes for Americans, so those changes will affect the numbers too. We shall see!
Vaccination by region:

Flat everywhere but the South. Anecdotes aside, we ought to be seeing some pop soon from measures taken after

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Bird Song of the Day

Amazing jungle chorus! “[L]ow frequency explosive single note in minutes: 2.36, 2.43, 2.51, 2.54 (soft), 2.59 (soft), 3.06 (soft) 3.12. 3.18 3.24 (muy tenue) 3.28.”
* * *
#COVID19
At reader request, I’ve added this daily chart from 91-DIVOC. The data is the Johns Hopkins CSSE data. Here is the site. I feel I’m engaging in a macabre form of tape-watching….
We already start to an instant rebound from Labor Day, I assume because reporting is returning to normal. Nevertheless, Labor Day, as the end of summer, also signals life changes for Americans, so those changes will affect the numbers too. We shall see!
Vaccination by region:

Flat everywhere but the South. Anecdotes aside, we ought to be seeing some pop soon from measures taken after

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Patient readers, I will have more on health care in a few minutes. There’s a lot. –lambert UPDATE All done!
Bird Song of the Day

* * *
#COVID19
At reader request, I’ve added this daily chart from 91-DIVOC. The data is the Johns Hopkins CSSE data. Here is the site. I feel I’m engaging in a macabre form of tape-watching….
We already start to an instant rebound from Labor Day, I assume because reporting is returning to normal. Nevertheless, Labor Day, as the end of summer, also signals life changes for Americans, so those changes will affect the numbers too. We shall see!
Vaccination by region:

Flat everywhere but the South.
54.6% of the US is fully vaccinated (mediocre by world standards, being just below Ecuador, and just above Switzerland and Malaysia).

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
I was introduced to Rick Beato by alert reader ProudWappie, who linked to episode 107 (!!) of his series “What makes this song great?”. Beato is quite the YouTuber; these episodes regularly garner a million views, which is encouraging about the state of the nation, since they’re very wonky. From the Introduction to an interview with Beato in Jazz Guitar Today:
What Makes This Song Great? Rick takes huge hits and dissects them with the original or rendered tracks pointing out the various qualities and features of the song – just incredible insights!
That’s a little dry. What I really like about the series — aside from the crazed look in Beato’s eyes when something musical he really, really likes is about to happen — is that he really does analyze the songs;

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Patient readers, more shortly. –lambert UPDATE All done!
Bird Song of the Day

* * *
#COVID19
At reader request, I’ve added this daily chart from 91-DIVOC. The data is the Johns Hopkins CSSE data. Here is the site. I feel I’m engaging in a macabre form of tape-watching….
We already start to an instant rebound from Labor Day, I assume because reporting is returning to normal. Nevertheless, Labor Day, as the end of summer, also signals life changes for Americans, so those changes will affect the numbers too. We shall see!
Vaccination by region:

Down again.
54.2% of the US is fully vaccinated (mediocre by world standards, being just below Ecuador, and just above Switzerland and Malaysia). We are back to the 0.1% stately rise per day. This is the number that

At 101, she’s still hauling lobsters with no plans to stop ABC
Why the Bezzle Matters to the Economy Michael Pettis, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. From August, still germane.
World Bank Ends Doing Business Report in a Landmark Victory for People and Planet Oakland Institute. Wilmer Hale’s report to the Board of Executive Directors.
The U.N.’s Own Humanitarian Crisis New York Magazine
The ozone hole over the South Pole is now bigger than Antarctica New Scientist
A Just Transition Needs a Job Guarantee Pavlina R. Tcherneva, Project Syndicate
#COVID19

Beyond ‘vaccinopia’: Rapid tests should play a larger role in Biden’s Covid-19 plan Daniel P. Oran and Eric J. Topol, STAT. I’ve heard that vaccinopia is especially virulent among younger medical professionals. Hence, perhaps,

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Patient readers, I’m still playing catch-up from my power failure, and I have a good deal both in Politics and Health to come. There’s plenty under Health to take about more, and there is more to come. –lambert
Bird Song of the Day

* * *
#COVID19
At reader request, I’ve added this daily chart from 91-DIVOC. The data is the Johns Hopkins CSSE data. Here is the site. I feel I’m engaging in a macabre form of tape-watching….
We already start to an instant rebound from Labor Day, I assume because reporting is returning to normal. Nevertheless, Labor Day, as the end of summer, also signals life changes for Americans, so those changes will affect the numbers too. We shall see!
Vaccination by region:

Down again.
54.1% of the US is fully vaccinated (mediocre by

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Bird Song of the Day

* * *
#COVID19
At reader request, I’ve added this daily chart from 91-DIVOC. The data is the Johns Hopkins CSSE data. Here is the site. I feel I’m engaging in a macabre form of tape-watching….
We already start to an instant rebound from Labor Day, I assume because reporting is returning to normal. Nevertheless, Labor Day, as the end of summer, also signals life changes for Americans, so those changes will affect the numbers too. We shall see!
Vaccination by region:

Interesting little blip. If it persists, credit to Biden. This is Tuesday. Looks like somebody came in Monday and got caught up from last week.
54% of the US is fully vaccinated (mediocre by world standards, being just below Ecuador, and just above Switzerland and

Lambert here: I think Biden rang the bell on this one, and now the bell can’t be unrung. Perhaps, in the fullness of time, messaging like “Stupid animals, shut up and get the jab!” will be seen as less than ideal. And of course we can always try to hold those who butchered the job accountable.
By S. Shyam Sundar, James P. Jimirro Professor of Media Effects & Co-Director, Media Effects Research Laboratory, Penn State. Originally published at The Conversation.
With the FDA approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the continued surge of the delta variant, governments across the world have renewed their push to increase the number of vaccinated individuals by persuading the holdouts. On Sept. 9, 2021, President Joe Biden announced sweeping vaccine mandates, expressing frustration at the

Paper wasp nests have a secret fluorescent glow Popular Science. Only after the second martini.
New company is trying to resurrect the woolly mammoth to combat climate change The Hill
Widespread lapses in climate risk reporting found in company accounts FT. “Sun Slated to Appear in East.”
KNP Complex of fires grows, crosses Highway 198 in Sequoia NP Wildfire Today
Digital Currencies Pave Way for Deeply Negative Interest Rates WSJ
For the Most Pronounced CBDC Enthusiasm, Look to the Underbanked Morning Consult
Senators demand cryptocurrency regulation guidance from SEC Chair Gary Gensler CNBC
#COVID19

U.S. judge blocks N.Y. vaccine mandate for healthcare workers Reuters
An underrated way to boost global vaccine supply Matt Yglesias, Slow Boring. “We need western regulators to cooperate

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
QUERY 1: At some point in the last month or two, a reader recommended — to the best of my hazy recollection — a free PDF book on soil. Naturally, I didn’t save the URL because I knew wehre to find it. However, because both our internal search function and Google are broken, I can’t find it. Can some kind person refresh my memory?
QUERY 2: A friend had their citrus grove flooded. Any way to save the trees? Or is it all up?
Patient readers, I still have a lot of catching up to do, so if I missed your favorite story, do feel free to add a link to it in comments. –lambert
Bird Song of the Day

From 1962. What an incredible catalog!
One of my favorite artbots:

pic.twitter.com/dWlOR9ylfo
— BoschBot (@boschbot) September 14, 2021

* * *
#COVID19
At reader

By Lambert Strether of Corrente
There are any number of 9/11 retrospectives right now using the “20 years on” locution (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and on and on and on). This is one more of them. For me, the event of 9/11 is only the spark that flashed along a long-laid fuse to the powder keg what was the Iraq War, an enormous strategic debacle, albeit very profitable to some[1], that is still playing out. I remember the day myself; for some reason, I turned on the television and there were the Twin Towers, burning. I was living in Philadelphia then, and later that day I handed my laptop bag over to security at Barnes and Noble in Rittenhouse Square, and when the guard returned it to me, it was bricked, and I lost a lot of work that was important to me. Great metaphor.
While

Killer whale attacks continue on ships in the waters of Cadiz EuroWeekly (Ignacio). Ignacio writes:

I think it was in september or october 2020 [2020-09-16 –lambert] that NC reported attacks by killer whales to ships in the coasts of Spain and Portugal. This year the attacks have been more frequent and geographically expanded from Gibraltar to Galicia. According to a friend of mine I was dining with yesterday 170 attacks have been reported so far this year. Killer whale pods develop cultural behaviours and it seems these can spread fast within populations in a large area.
They frequently attack and destroy the rudders. My friend told me that two large killer whales or orcas would usually sweem at each side of the ship while other smaller individuals attacked the rudder. An English sailor

By Chelsea Wald, an award-winning science and environmental journalist based in the Netherlands, author of “Pipe Dreams: The Urgent Global Quest to Transform the Toilet.” Originally published at Undark.
Call it the summer of sewage.
In July, Los Angeles’ Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant, the city’s largest municipal wastewater treatment facility, spilled 17 million gallons of raw sewage into Santa Monica Bay after an unexpected surge of debris overwhelmed the plant, resulting in beach closures during the height of beach season. Weeks later, The Los Angeles Times revealed that the still-damaged plant was continuing to release partially-treated wastewater into the Pacific Ocean.
Earlier in the month, England’s Southern Water, a privatized utility, was fined 90 million pounds (roughly $125

Ancient Greek ‘pop culture’ discovery rewrites history of poetry and song Phys.org (AL). “The poem, unparalleled so far in the classical world, consists of lines of 4 syllables, with a strong accent on the first and a weaker on the third. This allows it to slot into the rhythms of numerous pop and rock songs, such as Chuck Berry’s ‘Johnny B. Goode.’”
Inside the cult of crypto FT
Experts say Apple is ‘on very dangerous grounds’ for blocking employees from talking about wages on Slack while allowing topics like dogs and foosball Business Insider. Tim Cook’s Tenth Anniversary bonus: $750 million. Labor law implications.
9/11

Explainer | September 11’s biggest names: where are they now? South China Morning Post. An iconic photo:

US honours 9/11 dead on 20th anniversary of attacks

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Bird Song of the Day

* * *
#COVID19
At reader request, I’ve added this daily chart from 91-DIVOC. The data is the Johns Hopkins CSSE data. Here is the site. I feel I’m engaging in a macabre form of tape-watching….
We already start to an instant rebound from Labor Day, I assume because reporting is returning to normal. Nevertheless, Labor Day, as the end of summer, also signals life changes for Americans, so those changes will affect the numbers too. We shall see!
Vaccination by region:

53.4% of the US is fully vaccinated, a big moment, bursting through the psychological 53% barrier (mediocre by world standards, being just below Ecuador, and just above Switzerland and Malaysia). Every day, a tenth of a percentage point upward; this stately progress seems

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
A bit more in politics shortly. –lambert UPDATE All done!
Bird Song of the Day

Talkative and various.
* * *
#COVID19
At reader request, I’ve added this daily chart from 91-DIVOC. The data is the Johns Hopkins CSSE data. Here is the site. I feel I’m engaging in a macabre form of tape-watching….
We already start to an instant rebound from Labor Day, I assume because reporting is returning to normal. Nevertheless, Labor Day, as the end of summer, also signals life changes for Americans, so those changes will affect the numbers too. We shall see!
Vaccination by region:

53.3% of the US is fully vaccinated, a big moment, bursting through the psychological 53% barrier (mediocre by world standards, being just below Ecuador, and just above Switzerland and

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Bird Song of the Day

An extended aria!
* * *
#COVID19
At reader request, I’ve added this daily chart from 91-DIVOC. The data is the Johns Hopkins CSSE data. Here is the site. I feel I’m engaging in a macabre form of tape-watching….
We already start to an instant rebound from Labor Day, I assume because reporting is returning to normal. Nevertheless, Labor Day, as the end of summer, also signals life changes for Americans, so those changes will affect the numbers too. We shall see!
Vaccination by region:

53.2% of the US is fully vaccinated, a big moment, bursting through the psychological 53% barrier (mediocre by world standards, being just below Ecuador, and just above Switzerland and Malaysia). Every day, a tenth of a percentage point upward. However, as

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Patient readers, as is usual over the weekend, I accumulated too much. More soon. –lambert UPDATE All done!
Bird Song of the Day

What a varied little song! Sorry for the “LMS catalog” at start; the best clips often have this.
* * *
#COVID19
At reader request, I’ve added this daily chart from 91-DIVOC. The data is the Johns Hopkins CSSE data. Here is the site. I feel I’m engaging in a macabre form of tape-watching….
Holy moley, an enormous Labor Day reporting drop that shows up everywhere!
Vaccination by region:

53% of the US is fully vaccinated, a big moment, bursting through the psychological 53% barrier (mediocre by world standards, being just below Ecuador, and just above Switzerland and Malauysia). Every day, a tenth of a percentage point upward.

Elephant, Giraffe Populations Rebound as Kenya Fights Poachers Bloomberg
Monstera Mania: Why the Rare Houseplant Craze Isn’t Going Away Modern Farmer
Is Uranium About to Go Nuclear? Doomberg
Supply chain squeeze: first cars, now chairs and cupboards FT
Launching into space? Not so fast. Insurers balk at new coverage Reuters
Michael K. Williams, ‘The Wire’ Actor, Dies at 54 Hollywood Reporter
#COVID19

COVID-19 Projections for K12 Schools in Fall 2021: Significant Transmission without Interventions (preprint) medRxiv. Computer model. From Methods:
“An extended Susceptible-Infected-Recovered model was developed using R programming language to project infections over one semester (107 days) within a well-mixed student population (n=500) in which 0.5% of incoming students are infected and one

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Bird Song of the Day

Busy, busy!
* * *
#COVID19
At reader request, I’ve added this daily chart from 91-DIVOC. The data is the Johns Hopkins CSSE data. Here is the site. I feel I’m engaging in a macabre form of tape-watching….
Vaccination by region:

I guess it’s really not fair to say that the South is fiddling and diddling any more. There’s a mild upward trend.
52.7% of the US is fully vaccinated, a big moment, bursting through the psychological 52% barrier. Every day, a tenth of a percentage point upward. However, as readers point out, every day those vaccinated become less protected, especially the earliest. So we are trying to outrun the virus… (I have also not said, because it’s too obvious, that if by Bubba we mean The South, then Bubba has done

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Bird Song of the Day

Quite the symphony!
* * *
#COVID19
At reader request, I’ve added this daily chart from 91-DIVOC. The data is the Johns Hopkins CSSE data. Here is the site. I feel I’m engaging in a macabre form of tape-watching….
Vaccination by region:

I guess it’s really not fair to say that the South is fiddling and diddling any more. There’s a mild upward trend.
52.6% of the US is fully vaccinated, a big moment, bursting through the psychological 52% barrier. Every day, a tenth of a percentage point upward. However, as readers point out, every day those vaccinated become less protected, especially the earliest. So we are trying to outrun the virus… (I have also not said, because it’s too obvious, that if by Bubba we mean The South, then Bubba has

More skunks can do handstands than we thought Popular Science (Re Silc). This one, for example:

Top marks on degree of difficulty and artistic merit, so far as I’m concerned.
New York, New Jersey governors declare emergencies amid flooding from Tropical Storm Ida; 50M in Northeast under flood watch USA Today. In New York:

14th Street subway FLOODED & ON FIRE 🌧️🚨🔥#Flood from #Ida halting 1/2/3 service at 14th with the 3rd rail igniting earlier. INSANE video!! (from Keith S.)@JimCantore @Meteor_Mike @amandabossard @MTA #StormHour 🚇🌧️🤯 pic.twitter.com/hAtCd8xeIZ
— Allan Nosoff (@AWxNYC) September 2, 2021

And:

*MOST #NYC SUBWAY SERVICE SUSPENDED* 🚇🌧️🚨@MTA home page shows service practically suspended system-wide due to flooding. Clark St tunnel (2/3) under water, first time since #Sandy.

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Bird Song of the Day

Always so much going on in Amazonia!
* * *
#COVID19
At reader request, I’ve added this daily chart from 91-DIVOC. The data is the Johns Hopkins CSSE data. Here is the site. I feel I’m engaging in a macabre form of tape-watching….
Vaccination by region:

South still fiddling and diddling.
52.4% of the US is fully vaccinated, a big moment, bursting through the psychological 52% barrier. Every day, a tenth of a percentage point upward. However, as readers point out, every day those vaccinated become less protected, especially the earliest. So we are trying to outrun the virus… (I have also not said, because it’s too obvious, that if by Bubba we mean The South, then Bubba has done pretty well.)
Case count by United States regions:

Slowing

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Patient readers, I had some household matters to attend to, so I got a late start. More soon. –lambert UPDATE All done!
Bird Song of the Day

Although this is Venezuela, it sounds like a summer field in the Midwest to me.
* * *
#COVID19
At reader request, I’ve added this daily chart from 91-DIVOC. The data is the Johns Hopkins CSSE data. Here is the site. I feel I’m engaging in a macabre form of tape-watching….
Vaccination by region:

South still fiddling and diddling.
52.4% of the US is fully vaccinated, a big moment, bursting through the psychological 52% barrier. Every day, a tenth of a percentage point upward. However, as readers point out, every day those vaccinated become less protected, especially the earliest. So we are trying to outrun the virus…

The government is raising an army of parasitic wasps to fight invasive beetles Popular Science (Re Silc).
Yes, the IPCC report was bad. But we can still salvage a livable planet. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
New Orleans-area levees provided mix of good and bad responses to devastating Hurricane Ida Times-Picayune
The Great American Science Heist The Intercept
Russian cosmonauts find new cracks in ISS module Reuters
Want To Find Planet Nine? Here’s a Treasure Map. Syfy Wire
#COVID19

The Hard Covid-19 Questions We’re Not Asking Joseph G. Allen, Helen Jenkins NYT. “We think much of the confusion and disagreement among scientists and nonexperts alike comes down to undefined and sometimes conflicting goals in responding to the pandemic. What are we actually trying to achieve in the United

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Bird Song of the Day

* * *
#COVID19
At reader request, I’ve added this daily chart from 91-DIVOC. The data is the Johns Hopkins CSSE data. Here is the site. I feel I’m engaging in a macabre form of tape-watching….
Vaccination by region:

South still fiddling and diddling.
51.7% of the US is fully vaccinated, a big moment, breaking the psychological 51% barrier. Every day, a tenth of a percentage point upward. However, as readers point out, every day those vaccinated become less protected, especially the earliest. So we are trying to outrun the virus… (I have also not said, because it’s too obvious, that if by Bubba we mean The South, then Bubba has done pretty well.)
Case count by United States regions:

I would say we’ve moved off the vertical a bit, much

LED streetlights contribute to insect population declines: study Agence France Presse
Economists must grapple with climate tipping points before it’s too late Canary Media (gf). A must-read; lucid and calm. And no models!
Swiss Re Signed a $10 Million Carbon Capture Deal Bloomberg
Fed prepares for virtual Jackson Hole meeting under cloud of Delta FT
#COVID19

Safety of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine in a Nationwide Setting NEJM. Pfizer, Israel, using the Clalit Healthcare Services database. Vaccinated group: 1,736,832. Control group: 848,609 (Figure 1). From the Conclusion: “n this study in a nationwide mass vaccination setting, the BNT162b2 vaccine was not associated with an elevated risk of most of the adverse events examined. The vaccine was associated with an excess risk of

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Bird Song of the Day

* * *
#COVID19
At reader request, I’ve added this daily chart from 91-DIVOC. The data is the Johns Hopkins CSSE data. Here is the site. I feel I’m engaging in a macabre form of tape-watching….
Vaccination by region:

South still fiddling and diddling.
51.6% of the US is fully vaccinated, a big moment, breaking the psychological 51% barrier. Every day, a tenth of a percentage point upward. However, as readers point out, every day those vaccinated become less protected, especially the earliest. So we are trying to outrun the virus… (I have also not said, because it’s too obvious, that if by Bubba we mean The South, then Bubba has done pretty well.)
Case count by United States regions:
=
I would say we’ve moved off the vertical a bit,

Apes say hello and goodbye, just like people do, research shows CNN
Kim Stanley Robinson: a climate plan for a world in flames FT
Dissecting multi-stakeholder forums and how they shape forest governance Forests News
The Future of Wood in Electric Guitars Reverb. From 2020, still germane.
#COVID19

SARS-CoV-2 Infections and Hospitalizations Among Persons Aged ≥16 Years, by Vaccination Status — Los Angeles County, California, May 1–July 25, 2021 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, CDC. From the Abstract: “During May 1–July 25, 2021, among 43,127 SARS-CoV-2 infections in residents of Los Angeles County, California, 10,895 (25.3%) were in fully vaccinated persons, 1,431 (3.3%) were in partially vaccinated persons, and 30,801 (71.4%) were in unvaccinated persons. On July 25, infection and