By: Lambert Strether, Corrente

Dear Reader,

As you know, I hate talking about money – for those who can’t bear to see me dancing around the topic, I’m aiming for 350 donors this year, and You can click here for the tip jar; Dig deep! — So I thought I’d kick off this year’s fundraiser by mentioning some of the water cooler features we’ve introduced and improved to smooth out a very tough few years.

First, we have birdsong today. In fact, at the suggestion of readers, this is Naked Capitalism’s Northern Bobwhite Week, hereby:

I really enjoyed starting a new water cooler post by searching for birdsong. I hope you enjoy starting your reading by listening to birdsong!

Second, I put a lot of effort into curating artworks, especially paintings. E.g:

I subscribe to one a lot of Art robots, because I consider them to be “timeline cleaners”; just as a contemplative stroll through a quiet museum can relieve a stressful day, so viewing these works can relieve the problems of pervasive error and disinformation, pervasive hysteria, Emotional manipulation, lying about officialdom and — in short — news flow as it usually is. I hope what worked for me will work for you.

Third, we have pictures of everyday plants (and gardening projects) that people send out on a regular basis. Today’s plants are from JB:

JB wrote: “It’s that time of year when our oaks have fallen leaves and spring growth is underway. So beautiful! Not ‘showy’, but beautiful in its own right.”

Michael Pollan on the idea that plants nurture us as much as we do, and the message I’m receiving — what might they be sending? – Earth is more diverse, more beautiful and more promising possibilities than we can imagine. Even if the plants eventually took over from us!

Now that you understand what water coolers do, let me quote some of what you guys have said about water coolers over the past year:

Thank you for doing what you do. The water dispenser brings me joy. (and depending on the content of the article, sadness, anger… the whole range of human emotions :)) – me

Thanks for running the water cooler – I’m really starting to rely on it for perspective to stay safe! -kilometer

A lot of what you write and post makes me mad, but I realize I need to keep reading. –JM

Thanks for the water cooler and your other thoughtful writing! –RSN

Thank you. The water dispenser showed up at 6am (I’m in NSW) and I decided to read it over my coffee. Your work means a lot to me. I find Lambertianism creeping into my conversations. . . keep great! -advertise

I have to say that you are astute about almost any topic you turn to and I salute you except for the wonderful content – what a style! I just wish I could contribute more. –BT

Thank you for all you do to inform, illuminate and keep my sanity during these wild times. –GS

Thanks for the water cooler! -SF

Hey Lambert! Nothing to say, hehe. -HC

thank you all.what Yves wrote in 2017 is a better description of a water cooler than anything I can think of:

In addition to providing general business news, Water Cooler documents all scams, frauds and phishing under the heading “The Bezzle”, provides a contextual view of official statistics, keeps tabs on key indices, and features shipping and supply chain news as non-entry Global financial window. On the political front, Water Cooler provides detailed, gritty reporting on important races, sausage-making on policy, especially health care, and tracks the ongoing legitimacy crisis across the political class, especially in the “overpass states.” Additionally, water coolers are dispatched from the front lines of class warfare. Lots of material and crap to cover every day!

I should also mention that I am rubbing my hands happily Getting ready to cover characters in the upcoming mid-terms, I hope it’s not just “Gritty” and clarified in multiple ways.

I should also pat myself on the back for watching the Covid stats (IM Doc calls my work “meticulous”). Although the state of the data is dire, I think I’ve called the turns correctly so far and, just as importantly, haven’t called the turns that never happened. I’ve always thought of this work—numbing or irritating if I allow it—as a reader service, and I hope it helps you make decisions about precautions, travel decisions, family gatherings, and more. We need to look at these numbers more closely today, given the dominant – and clearly false – narrative that “Covid is over”.

The 2021 water cooler fundraiser is going well and we hope 2022 will go well as well. Our goal is 350 donors, up 25 from last year. Please do your best.

Readers, I couldn’t have written “Water Cooler” without your independent funding — it depends on me staring down at my iPad and watching the news stream at every spare moment. There’s no mainstream market to shout crap — let alone help people keep their balance through bird song, artwork, and plants!

The same is true for this year as Ive wrote in 2017:

It’s not right to say rudely that Lambert’s work on a water cooler is well below a living wage. We need you to live up to one of the values ??we want the critics to hold universally, which is that people deserve to be paid fairly for their work, especially work that has been done! That means digging your wallet, be it small or large, and raising money for water coolers.

if you can dig deep, please consider doing so. Not only is this quarter tax time for me, but I have real-world responsibilities as well. further, You’ll pay me for the work I’ve done – unlike the Naked Capitalism fundraiser, which sets a budget for the next year – so after playing the fiddle, I’m now over my cap, which I hope will soon drop due to your contribution. Please click the donate button below and do your best.

Again, we are targeting 350 donors and we hope to resume our regularly scheduled program as soon as possible. I really enjoyed writing about water coolers and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Thanks!

To clarify the business relationship, Yves writes:

The Water Cooler is a separate storefront in Naked Capitalism for a fee [Lambert’s] In addition to all the work he already does on the site, he puts in a fair amount of effort… yes, Lambert also gets paid from the annual fundraiser, but that’s because he does it outside of Water Cooler A lot of work, like DJing on the site, helping manage the comments section, managing many technical issues, and helping with other “running the business of the business” issues.

readeryou can donate here: