Looks warm.

The kid aged well.

Ok, what is that? I thought I knew the area around USC.

Kim Lane Scheppele on Hungary Democracy wins big

This interview with Kim Scheppele is an absolutely fascinating explanation of what just happened in Hungary and what they face moving forward. I found it 100% worth the time. paulkrugman.substack.com/p/kim-lane-s...

Uh, which hotel? Asking for a friend who spends a lot of time in Melbourne...

I feel sorry for her for many reasons. But most of all, because she's so stupid.

A very fair point.

COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination and 4-Year All-Cause Mortality Among Adults in France This cohort study uses the data from all adults aged 18 to 59 years living in France on November 1, 2021, to evaluate whether there is an association of receipt of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine with long-t...

Having taken the mRNA COVID vaccine reduces COVID mortality in adults aged 18-59 by 75% and total mortality by 25%.

The creepy Trump-as-Jesus picture Trump posted to Truth Social on 12 April 2026.

"Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous—whether it's ultraviolet or just very powerful light....Supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way....And then I see the disinfectant...by injection inside or almost a cleaning."

This might be my favorite "we rate dogs."

"Had to do red cross." To my dying day I will never understand how anyone could vote for this addled moron.

Given that Hungary has been the poster-child of 21st century populist, right-wing authoritarianism, this analysis of what did just happened there and what could be in store next is worth reading.

Given what Vance did in Hungary, I'm starting to feel optimistic about the midterms.

My Spring to do list
by JD Vance

1. Prevent Iran war
2. Negotiate end to Iran war
3. Reelect Viktor Orbán

I’m a Nobel Prize-winning immigrant. I can no longer recognize this country. Attacks on science and immigrants are destroying America.

Nobel Laureate Jack Szostak “This country has given me endless opportunities…: The America we inhabit today bears almost no resemblance to the country I chose all those years ago” newsletter.ofthebrave.org/p/im-a-nobel...

A pic taken from the surface of Mars, featuring its irregularly shaped moon Phobos silhouetted over the Sun. The caption: "humiliating, looks like shit. Yet another massive W for earth, the best planet in the universe."

I admit, I'm still laughing over this one.

I went and saw Project Hail Mary.
A guy came in with his service dog and the dog sat there the whole time just concentrating on the movie.
Afterwards I told the guy I was amazed your dog watched the movie like that.
He replied, me too especially because he hated the book.

"Earthset" photo taken by the Artemis 2 astronauts showing a cratered lunar surface starting to overtake the crescent of Earth as it begins to set behind the lunar surface. Overlaid on the top of the image is text stating '"I have two Microsoft Outlooks, and neither of those are working" - Cmdr Reid Wiseman - Artemis II mission'

I imagine it really does put things into perspective.

He later wrote that he was standing in an ants nest at the time.

Selected Negative Teaching Evaluations of Jesus Christ Our 4th most-read article of 2022. CALENDAR 2027 3/31/24 4/13/25 4/5/26

Some thoughts to share this Easter with my fellow teachers.

Surprisingly, it appears that Hallmark has not yet responded to this important market niche.

actual nytimes headline FEMA Official Says He Teleported to Waffle House. Experts Are Dubious.

you, a naive fool: i do believe there are some things the nytimes won’t both sides

the nytimes:

A well-played homage, sir, to John Carpenter's 1974 cult classic Dark Star, in which the storage area containing the ship's entire supply of toilet paper self-destructed.

Having suffered through the near-year-long process of publishing something in Nature Biotechnology last month, I have since announced that I am officially too old to put up with that kind of bullshit ever again. From here on out, my goal is to raise the impact factors of society journals.

Add to that the impossibility of getting to know your fellow reviewers over lunch/dinner/hallway chats, and thus starting to figure out who's an expert in what, who has what biases, etc, etc.

And yet, quality suffers. In person (once a year) was great-I have no trouble staying deeply engaged in the review of all proposals when it's in person. I am simply unable to pay attention nearly as well when on line for 10 h straight.

To my dying day I will always consider it a travesty that Gamow didn't win the Nobel for that. He didn't die until 4 years after its discovery. Coincidentally, we'll be discussing all of this in my astrobiology class tomorrow.

In my Astrobiology book (Astrobiology, an Introduction, ICYWC), we used Moon, Solar System, Galaxy, etc, to distinguish when we were speaking specifically about OUR moon, solar system, galaxy, etc. It's a useful element of style.

It pains me to to say so, but it's difficult for me to disagree with this point below.