Post from Iran Tasnim about major undersea Internet cables in the Strait of Hormuz:

NEW ANALYSIS: My new article in @natenergy.nature.com argues Europe keeps responding to energy crises by changing supplier.

95% of EU oil and 88% of gas was imported in 2024.

The structural fix: reduce fossil fuel demand through electrification and efficiency.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Is social media dying? How much did Twitter change as it became X? Which party now dominates the conversation?

Using nationally representative ANES data from 2020 & 2024, I map how the U.S. social media landscape has changed

Here are the key take-aways 🧵

Full paper out now in in JQD:DM!

As WindWaterSolar continues to displace fossils on CA's main grid, what is clear is that fossils are a temporary convenience, not a necessity.

Fossil gas down 60% in 2026 v 2023.

19 straight and 85 out of 109 (78%) days in 2026 with WWS meeting >100% of demand for part of the day.

Ah, Peptides. Where to Begin?

Like most drug discovery researchers, I’ve been watching the “peptides for everything” craze with a mixture of amusement and alarm:

Gonna spend the next two years spamming every elected Dem about the concept of "damnatio memoriae." Chisel his name off every inscription. Build over the various Trump Towers like they're Nero's Golden House. Remove him from physical memory, not to forget but as a sign of disrespect to the man.

Most human monsters aren’t sociopaths or psychopaths.

Bird nests made from anti-bird spikes?! 🤯

Hi, I'm a nest researcher 👋 and new here on BlueSky, sharing the craziest #bird nests I've ever found. 👀 Today, I’m sharing my discovery of rebellious birds that build nests out of anti-bird spikes. And honestly, it's like telling a joke...

A thread. 🧵

one of the biggest technological revolutions in history and it has nothing to do with crypto, AI, metaverse or any of the things the media relentlessly hypes

Semafor graphic of China's wind industry dominance

All those red lines in the graph?

#China 's 2025 wind farm installs by manufacturer

#Egypt is a big beneficiary of this growth, as one of the countries most vulnerable to natural gas price spikes from the #Iran war, @timmcdonnell.bsky.social reports at @semafor.com, www.semafor.com/article/04/1...

Hmmmm. This is about the time my wife and I lost interest in The Simpsons.

We should figure out what our vital interests are and focus entirely on them. If we ever get the Strait of Hormuz back open, we should try to disentangle ourselves from the ME as quickly as possible. Yes, that includes Israel. It has forfeited its claim to our unquestioned support.

Seems like Ontario becoming the North American EV hub (using Chinese know-how rather than working with Ford/GM) would be a great way for Canada to stake out a middle-powers path.

Subsidizing a massive conversion to EVs would be a boon. The Canadian grid is only 20% carbon-based, so in-country emissions go down even if exported emissions go up.

I know the ICE auto industry is big in Ontario, but do you think there’s a way to run JVs with Chinese EV makers?

The New Twin Fossil Shock | Ember How the energy crises of the 2020s speed up the electric age

"In power, solar plus storage now costs below $60 per megawatt hour (MWh) at a global level. The variable cost of LNG-fired power in Asia, at $20 per million British thermal units (MMBtu), exceeds $160 per MWh – nearly three times the cost of never needing fuel again."

Any questions?

According to this data (alas, can’t find the original report), charging an EV in coal-powered West Virginia creates fewer emissions than burning gasoline.

www.driderescooters.com/blogs/news/s...

I’d be happier posting the primary source for this report, but I’m time constrained.

www.driderescooters.com/blogs/news/s...

On Friday, I wrote a story about whether developers should be worried about violence atter a shooting in Indiana targeted a city councilman who had voted in favor of a local data center. Almost at the same time the story published, news broke that an attacker had attempted to firebomb OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's house. On Monday, the Justice Department filed charges against a 20-year-old from Texas for allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail at the AI executive's house. The Houston Chronicle reported that the individual charged had a Substack where they posted several anti-AI screeds; while I have reviewed the blog and can verify it exists, I cannot confirm the author's connection to the individual charged. As if that wasn't enough, just days after the alleged firebombing, two people shot at Altman's house.

The last week has been a maelstrom of evidence we’re going to see AI data center violence around the world

@realfollowers.bsky.social I’ll bite

It’s worse than that.

Genuinely good news on the newspaper front.

More than half of men ages 18-49 (52%) now say they have an active sports betting account with an online sportsbook like DraftKings, Caesars, FanDuel, or BetMGM.

sri.siena.edu/2026/04/13/m...

But the COVID coverage spike is +4 SDs! And it persists over time and diminishes very slowly. +4 SDs is a 1/30,000 event. In other work, I showed that this was also how WP and USA Today responded. The level of media coverage was legitimately novel.

Donald Trump truth social tweets can swing markets but they don't sweep mines

Yeah, I think the youngest Boomers and the oldest Gen X (like, um, me) have enough in common politically to be a cohort.

I call it Generation Douchebag, but other derogatory names are fine.

Maybe it’s just: People can afford everything except what they want.

I genuinely believe that people don't appreciate just how much of all the bad vibes right now are still largely a COVID hangover. It was a profoundly traumatizing event for American society, on the order of the civil war or the great depression and we've largely decided to just pretend

Interesting note: everyone in the Swiss Guard (pictured here armoring up in their armory) is a member of the regular Swiss Army.

In addition to the Halberd, Flamberge Greatsword, Rapier, and Small Sword, their standard arms includesthe SIG SG550-series rifle, the HK MP7 PDW, & the Sig P220 pistol.

Key facts about Sunday's election in Hungary and possible outcomes Hungarians vote in a landmark parliamentary election on Sunday that is being closely watched in the European Union, the United States, Russia and beyond.

According to this report the next parliament should be called within 30 days.

www.reuters.com/world/key-fa...

But if the incoming government has enough votes to overhaul the constitution, which is my understanding (but perhaps that is mistaken), I don’t know how any actions taken by Orban and his allies can persist. Seems like it could all be swept aside.