No Wordle in Solidarity With Striking NYT Workers; the UC Strike Continues, Too–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Dec. 8, 2022

Indy Digest: Dec. 8, 2022

A year or so ago, I first learned about Wordle, an online game developed by Welsh software engineer Josh Wardle, and purchased earlier this year by The New York Times.

I instantly became hooked. I am sure many of you did, too.

If you’re unfamiliar, Wordle is wonderfully simple. There’s one game posted online each day. (Imitation apps and non-official online sites offer more frequent games, of course, but the only REAL Wordle is the O.G. Wordle.) You get six chances to guess the day’s five-letter word (which is the same for everyone). After you type in a word; any correct letters, in the correct place, turn green. Any letters that are in the word, but are not in the correct place, turn yellow. Any letters that aren’t in the word turn gray.

The vast, vast majority of people get the word correct within the allotted six guesses. However, most players also pride themselves on getting the correct word in as few guesses as possible; there’s also a great deal of pride in one’s win streak—the number of days in which a player has successfully completed the Wordle.

As of now, my win streak is somewhere in the 40s, as high as it has ever been. Several times, my streak was broken because I didn’t get the word in my allotted six guesses; more often, it was broken because life got in the way, and I didn’t do a day’s Wordle. But for the first time, my win streak will likely be broken on purpose—because I am choosing not to do today’s Wordle, in solidarity with the New York Times Guild, which is on a one-day strike over stalled contract negotiations.

There’s been an increase in newspaper unions in recent years. Some of these unions were newly former by newsroom workers (reporters, photographers, etc.) as a survival tactic. Take the The Desert Sun NewsGuild, for example. It was founded by newsroom workers because they were tired of constant cuts to the newspaper—and because they feared even more cuts were likely to come, because of a massive debt load and inept management by parent company Gannett. (Those fears have come true—but local NewsGuild members have so far been spared the ax, because it would be illegal to lay them off during contract negotiations.)

The New York Times’ case, however, is different: The NYT Guild is striking in part due to the exceedingly rare reason that the newspaper is doing so well. As The Washington Post explains:

The dispute comes as several media companies are laying off employees, citing a challenging economic environment. The Times, though, is widely considered one of the industry’s rare success stories. Executives said in their latest earnings call that they had grown the newsroom and projected a total adjusted operating profit of between $320 million and $330 million by the end of the year.

Some staffers argue that they should share more of the fruits of this recent success, after enduring stagnant wages and belt-tightening during leaner times for the company.

“That’s where it feels more than just a matter of disagreement on numbers, but really a slap in the face,” said film critic A.O. Scott. “We have devoted so much of our time, energy, work and love to this paper, which seems unwilling to recognize or to reward that contribution.”

Striking workers asked readers to support them by avoiding all things New York Times today … and since Wordle is a New York Times product, my streak will be ending, barring a last-minute agreement today. You will not see any links to The New York Times below, either.

I wish the striking workers success in their negotiations. And I hope a day comes when more and more newspaper unions are striking, like the NYT Guild members, due to a paper’s success—rather than forming in an effort to simply survive.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• Two phrases accurately describe the latest local wastewater testing results for SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory-illness-causing viruses. 1. They’re pretty bad. 2. While they may get worse … they’re stable-ish over the last several weeks. Here’s the city of Palm Springs results for testing done for SARS-CoV-2 on Nov. 28 and 29. The report’s takeaway: “The average number of copies/L recorded at the city’s wastewater treatment plant increased slightly. The average of 1,068,402 copies (per liter) from the previous week went up to an average of 1,084,851 copies/L for November 28 and 29, 2022.”

• Down in Indio, the Valley Sanitary District is testing for the flu virus, RSV and the virus that causes COVID-19. It appears SARS-CoV-2 is trending upward; the flu is holding steady at a high level; and RSV is maybe, just maybe, starting to trend downward.

• The FDA has OK’d updated COVID-19 booster shots for kids between the ages of 6 months and 5 years old. ABC News says: “The booster, available from both Pfizer and Moderna, was previously authorized for everyone 5 years and older in October. ‘More children now have the opportunity to update their protection against COVID-19 with a bivalent COVID-19 vaccine, and we encourage parents and caregivers of those eligible to consider doing so—especially as we head into the holidays and winter months where more time will be spent indoors,’ FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in a statement. … The updated booster targets BA.4 and BA.5, which are subvariants of the omicron variant. Children are eligible to receive the booster at least two months from the completion of their primary series or after receiving a separate booster dose.”

• In other strike news … the strike by academic workers across the University of California system is still going—and that’s an especially huge issue as the semester comes to an end. The Los Angeles Times says: “When 48,000 University of California academic workers went on strike in mid-November, Stacy Fahrenthold joined them on the picket line. The associate professor of history at UC Davis canceled lectures and will not read final papers or record grades until the walkout is settled. ‘We don’t have the grading labor to do it,’ said Fahrenthold, who would normally rely on a graduate student worker to score assignments. Such disruption has unfolded throughout the UC system’s 10 campuses. As the massive strike by teaching assistants, tutors, graduate student researchers and postdoctoral scholars drags into its fourth week, the walkout has reached a pivotal moment, exacting its harshest toll yet on students, faculty and picketers during the all-important finals week in California’s premier higher education system. … A tally from the Council of UC Faculty Assns. estimates faculty will withhold at least 34,000 grades across the system. Faculty have pared down final assessments, shortened length requirements for essays or are omitting material from exams that was not covered because of the strike.”

• In other COVID-19 news … a mask-mandate return remains a very real possibility in Los Angeles County—though it’s far from a certainty. The Los Angeles Times says: “Los Angeles County has again entered the high COVID-19 community level, further indication that the continuing spike in cases is starting to exert pressure on the region’s hospitals. Should hospitalization rates continue to rise this month, the county could be on track for a renewed universal mask order in indoor public settings. But it’s uncertain when such a rule might be handed down — or whether one will materialize at all. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer expressed some optimism Thursday that such a measure may be avoided. ‘I think it’s fair to say that I’m feeling more hopeful that our metrics might improve before they tank,’ she said. However, given recent increases in coronavirus transmission and hospital admission rates, Ferrer urged residents to voluntarily mask up in indoor public settings.”

• And finally … from the “eww gross” file comes this piece from The Conversation, written by an engineer and headlined “Toilets spew invisible aerosol plumes with every flush—here’s the proof, captured by high-powered lasers.” Want to know more? No? Too bad: “Every time you flush a toilet, it releases plumes of tiny water droplets into the air around you. These droplets, called aerosol plumes, can spread pathogens from human waste and expose people in public restrooms to contagious diseases. … Toilets are designed to efficiently empty the contents inside the bowl through a downward motion into the drain pipe. In the flush cycle, water comes into forceful contact with the contents inside the bowl and creates a fine spray of particles suspended in air. We found that a typical commercial toilet generates a strong upward jet of air with velocities exceeding 6.6 feet per second (2 meters per second), rapidly carrying these particles up to 5 feet (1.5 meters) above the bowl within eight seconds of the start of the flush. … Even though we expected to see these particles, we were still surprised by the strength of the jet ejecting the particles from the bowl.” Aaaand this is why Jimmy may never use a public bathroom ever again.

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