- Even in his darkest time, Van Gogh was able to capture, with eerie accuracy, one of nature’s most complex and confusing concepts a century before scientists had the technology to do so. – via my dad
- The Los Angeles Rams will hold a minicamp in Maui this June; players will also help build four Habitat for Humanity homes in Lahaina, a historic town destroyed by wildfires in 2023.
- Self-styled prophets are claiming they have “awakened” chatbots and accessed the secrets of the universe through ChatGPT.
- And now: The Nations of the World, brought to you by Yakko Warner!
- The Death of the Screenplay Industrial Complex – via The Dailies
- People with the lowest LDL levels are less likely to develop dementia. – via Arnold’s Pump Club
Good News for People Who Like Bad News:
- Trillion-dollar Pentagon budget proposal cuts competitors out of NASA budget and could add billions to SpaceX defense contracts.
- The new president of the University of Florida is slated to make up to $3M/year, more than any other public university president in the country and more than twice what he made at the University of Michigan, and all he has to do is be a boot-licking sycophant. I am terribly disappointed in my alma mater and fearful of what this portends.
- Senate Democrats chose not to use the leverage they had to deal with the latest POTUS crypto scam, effectively allowing politicians to speculate personally in perhaps the most fraud-riddled financial market in human history. Pathetic.
- ICE efforts in Washington, D.C. thwarted by solidarity.
- God help us all, but I <gasp> agree with Laura Loomer, regarding the POTUS nomination of Casey Means – who has no government experience and dropped out of her surgical residency program: “[W]e can’t have a pro-COVID vaccine nepo appointee who is currently embroiled in a medical malpractice case and who didn’t go to medical school in the US,” as the surgeon general.
- I cannot believe this has happened three times now: More Troops Injured as U.S. Planes Keep Plunging into Red Sea
Posts tagged “Navy”
- The AARP strikes again, this time with a quick and easy form you can use to urge your representatives to protect Social Security.
- A few weeks ago I was behind a woman in a bright blue Jeep Wrangler with one of those custom spare tire covers on the back. It was emblazoned with “Life Is Better in Flip-Flops” in cursive. Now, I cannot stand flip-flops. I hate them with the burning intensity of a million suns. I think they’re annoying and slovenly and uncomfortable and I detested every time either of my beloved grandmothers bought me a pair for the beach. (Even though they hardly knew each other and were separated by 1200 miles, they somehow both bought me and my siblings multiple pairs over the years.) Wearing flip-flops gave me blisters every time and they always broke or got snagged on something. I hate flip-flops. But, and I mean this so hard, that crazy woman in her Jeep does not hurt me at all by loving flip-flops. This is America. If it doesn’t hurt you (or anyone else), let people love what they love. [This is not about flip-flops.]
- Tina Fey Sparks Debate After Calling Out Rich Celebrities Who Have A ‘Side Hustle’… on an episode of the Amy Poehler side hustle podcast Good Hang.
- The Hubble Space Telescope explores the universe 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That means it has observed some fascinating cosmic wonder every day of the year, including on your birthday. – via kottke
- It’s too bad there’s no trustworthy way to add third-party custom Apple Watch faces, because I would love making mine look like the Fallout 4 Pip-Boy.
- One more thing? It just feels wrong to watch The Handmaid’s Tale on Disney+.
Garbage World:
- Here’s a depressing (but important) crowdsourced Google Doc detailing all the resignations, layoffs, terminations, and general bad news from the US Department of Health and Human Services – via YLE
- POTUS pardoned a company sentenced to $100 million in fines for breaking money laundering laws, because he clearly thinks money laundering is what makes America great.
- The national security of the United States is in the hands of incompetent miscreants who don’t understand anything about technology or security.
- The U.S. Naval Academy has removed nearly 400 books from its library after being told by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to review and get rid of ones that promote diversity, equity and inclusion.
- The current administration is actually dedicating federal resources to investigate the feasibility of invading Greenland.
- The administration has fired staff who were working on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration bird flu response as part of its mass layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Buying Good Books
In which I buy too many books. Again.