If you're wondering how the blockade is landing, this has been making its way around the naval nerds today

is that jared isaacman

The Builders A creature whose footprints produce and protect life.

Some incredible beaver facts from the latest episode of Radiolab/Terrestrials:

* Can hold their breath for 15 minutes
* Willingly share their huts with mice, snakes, muskrats
* Their dams create "refugia" for plants and animals where they can survive forest fires

radiolab.org/podcast/the-...

NASA's next Artemis mission pits SpaceX against Blue Origin in a race to the moon In 2027’s Artemis III mission, the space agency aims to test two challengers, SpaceX or Blue Origin, for a lunar landing mission

Now on @sciam.bsky.social: After the spectacular success of NASA's Artemis II moon mission, Artemis III's destination & purpose may surprise you: Earth orbit, to test the mettle of crewed lunar landers from SpaceX & Blue Origin. By @danvergano.bsky.social.

www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa...

one suspects that is Blue Origin's sales pitch

feel like you need to spin this out into a YA novel

Musk’s Grok AI chatbot is still making sexual deepfakes, despite X’s promise to stop it An NBC News review found dozens of AI-generated sexualized images of real women posted to X over the past month.

NEW: Elon Musk’s Grok AI chatbot is still making sexual deepfakes, despite X’s promise to stop it www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...

Max Hodak’s Science Corp. is preparing to place its first sensor in a human brain | TechCrunch The device could help address multiple neurological conditions if it proves successful. One early use could be delivering gentle electrical stimulation to damaged brain or spinal cord cells to encoura...

The former president of Neuralink's new company, Science Corp., is preparing for the first US trials of its brain-computer interface technology with Yale's neurosurgery department:

techcrunch.com/2026/04/14/m...

NASA science faces 'very serious threat' from new White House budget, experts say "This is the least transparent NASA budget request I've ever seen — and I've literally looked through every single one since 1960."

"This is the least transparent #NASA budget request I've ever seen — and I've literally looked through every single one since 1960." -- @caseydreier.bsky.social

Love that slush fund line for "Mars Technologies" underwriting more Elon promises he can't keep.

#space

www.space.com/astronomy/na...

Hey! The financial newsletter I edit (Vested Interest) for my employer (Wealthfront) is seeking to hire a writer/editor/content omni-genius for a temporary role that could become permanent. Check it out here: jobs.lever.co/wealthfront/...

Senior Editor, Bloomberg Weekend

Are you in London? Come work with me on the best team at Bloomberg bloomberg.avature.net/careers/JobD...

Badger’s Park When you learn the landscape, something as subtle as a dip in the road can yield a story. This view looks east down E. 10th Street, in near-East Oakland. The territory is what I call the Clinton te…

Yer hyperlocal history from that oakland geology guy

our submerged constitutional crisis continues apace

can't believe this is still going on

interesting exercise by the analysts at Morgan Stanley, who put together a list of 60 publicly-traded companies with major space sector exposure

This interaction between White House election security official Kurt Olsen and Paul Brown, the head of the FBI’s Atlanta field office, is eye-popping. Brown was pressured to retire for not going along with the plan to seize 2020 ballots from Fulton County. www.propublica.org/article/trum...

NAR Existing-Home Sales Report Shows 3.6% Decrease in March

a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.98 million.

1.0% decrease in sales year-over-year.

The Internet's Most Powerful Archiving Tool Is in Peril As major news outlets cut off the Wayback Machine, journalists and advocacy groups are rallying to protect the Internet Archive’s vast collection of web pages.

Journalists know that losing the Wayback Machine would be a nightmare: www.wired.com/story/the-in...

I saw Cherki dummy that corner and knew there would be a Cox story about this

Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 9 October 1774 Phyladelphia Octr. 9, 1774 My Dear 1am wearied to Death with the Life I lead. The Business of the Congress is tedious, beyond Expression. This Assembly is like no other that ever existed. Every Man in it is a great Man-an orator, a Critick, a statesman, and therefore every Man upon every Question must shew his oratory, his Criticism and his Political Abilities. The Consequence of this is, that Business is drawn and spun out to an immeasurable Length. I believe if it was moved and seconded that We should come to a Resolution that Three and two make five We should be entertained with Logick and Rhetorick, Law, History, Politicks and Mathematicks, concerning the Subject for two whole Days, and then We should pass the Resolution unanimously in the Affirmative. The perpetual Round of feasting too, which we are obliged to submit to, make the Pilgrimage more tedious to me. This Day I went to Dr. Allisons Meeting in the Forenoon and heard the Dra good Discourse upon the Lords Supper. This is a Presbyterian Meeting. I confess I am not fond of the Presbyterian Meetings in this Town. I had rather go to Church. We have better Sermons, better Prayers, better Speakers, softer, sweeter Musick, and gentecler Company. And I must confess, that the Episcopal Church is quite as agreable to my Taste as the Presbyterian. They are both Slaves to the Domination of the Priesthood. I like the Congregational Way best-next to that the Independant. This afternoon, led by Curiosity and good Company I strolled away to -#egHb¥e} Mother Church, or rather Grandmother Church, I mean the Romish Chappell. Heard a good, short, moral Essay upon the Duty of Parents to their Children, founded in justice and Charity, to take care of their Interests temporal and spiritual. This Afternoons Entertainment was to me, most awfull and affecting. The poor Wretches, fingering their Beads, chanting Latin, not a Word of which they understood, their Pater Nosters and Ave Maria's. Their holy Water-their Crossing themselves perpetually-their Bowing to the Name of Jesus, their wherever they hear it-their Bowings, and Kneelings, and Genuflections before the Altar. The Dress of the Priest was rich with Lace-his Pulpit was Velvet and Gold. The Altar Piece was very rich- little Images and Crucifixes about-Wax Candles lighted up. But how shall I describe the Picture of our Saviour in a Frame of ‘Marble over the Altar at full Length upon the Cross, in the Agonies, and the Blood dropping and streaming from his Wounds. The Musick consisting of an organ, and a Choir of singers, went all the Afternoon, excepting sermon Time, and the Assembly chanted-most sweetly and exquisitely. Here is every Thing which can lay hold of the Sight Eye, Ear, and Imagination. Every Thing which can charm and bewitch the simple and ignorant. I wonder how Luther ever broke the spell. Adieu. John Adams

presidents and their relationship to the pope, or Catholic church.

1. A letter from John Adams to his wife Abigail, after a day in which George Washington insisted Adams join him at a Catholic Mass in Philadelphia

(so much of why i love john adams can be seen in this one letter)

Elon Musk, Who Owns X, Appears to Post on TikTok

Elon Musk has railed against TikTok and Instagram, calling both addictive. He deleted his personal IG in 2018 and banned people from promoting their IG accounts on Twitter shortly after buying it in 2022.

So why does it appear he has verified TikTok and IG accounts?
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/12/t...

a chart of ice out dates for lake winnipesaukee amended to flag april 12 as the 2026 date

its ice-out for lake winnipesaukee today; I came in second in the family pool.

early in the distribution:

Congrats to Andreessen Horowitz's newest hire for its 'American Dynamism' investment division, Viktor Orban

premiere league became easy to watch on TV in the US right at the start of the Poch/kane era

In Bruges scene where Colin Farrell is pointing a gun at his head and Brendon Gleeson is also pointing a gun at Colin Farrell's head

Current status of the Strait of Hormuz dispute

The JCPOA and working Obama agreement managed this by capping amounts of material and enrichment to ensure Iran was always 1 year away from being able to go nuclear. Not perfect but better than war or unconstrained enrichment. Trump claimed he would/could do better. He can not.

Can't believe the president's son-in-law, one of his golf buddies and the author of "Hillbilly Elegy" were unable either to correctly pronounce the word "Iran" or to resolve a decades-long dispute in 21 hours.

From Early Nirvana To Phish, A Chicago Fan's Secret Recordings Of 10,000 Shows Are Now Online Aadam Jacobs has secretly recorded over 10,000 local concerts since 1989. Now, they are cleaned up and ready to listen to for free online.

blockclubchicago.org/2026/04/10/f...

I went through the same process--cool adaptation, intriguing cast--but @rilaws.bsky.social put that to rest...

‘Dog Day Afternoon’ Theater Review: Jon Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach Lead a Disastrous Adaptation of a Cinema Classic John Ortiz and Jessica Hecht also star in director Rupert Goold’s misguided Broadway production based on the 1975 Sidney Lumet film.

...and terrible reviews

www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/ar...