How 2 engineers quietly built a $1B California cannabis behemoth "We essentially become this utility company."

Greetings and happy #420 from California! 🥬

I love a feel-good story about tech entrepreneurs using their power for good.

“We just saw all these people wanted to buy weed, all these people wanted to sell weed, and it wasn’t working,” Lee said. “None of it worked.”

www.sfgate.com/cannabis/art...

A black and white photo of a woman's head and shoulders in 3/4 profile. She is leaning forward to our left and rests her head in her right hand, as if she's resting her right elbow on a counter (which we can't see) while an IRS agent gives her some bad news. She's dressed quite nicely, there's a bit of netting attached to her hat and what we can see of her coat is fur though it might just be the collar. Eisenstaedt took these candid photos from about 40 feet away.

(Un)Happy #TaxDay in America!
In 1944, LIFE Magazine's Alfred Eisenstaedt took pictures of stressed American taxpayers at an IRS information center in New York. The image below looks like a still from a movie about a woman who tried to beat Bette Davis at something.
www.life.com/history/unha...

Are those chickens looking for the link, do they want to be models?

So many chickens!
Malevolent, whimsical, surrealist, abstract, anthropomorphic, nightmare fuel...go on, click that chicken link.

I kinda want to know what happens…

I got in trouble on Mastodon for posting a photograph of a frog without a CW. Apparently there are many frog-phobic users on Mastodon.

After the mods from one instance defederated another instance over a mild disagreement between two users, I left.

The secrets of black holes and the Higgs mass could be hidden in a 7-dimensional geometry One of the greatest mysteries of modern physics, the "black hole information paradox," might have finally found an elegant solution, and the answer could also reveal the origins of the mass of fundame...

"...it invites us to embrace a deeper, 7-dimensional understanding of the very fabric of our reality."

This feels like a good time to re-read The Doors of Perception.
phys.org/news/2026-04...

Rancho Gordo is a trademark bully, they are sending cease and desist letters to people who combine the generic words "bean" and "club".
Acquiring trademarks for basic words has become abusive. They aren't THE bean club, they are a bean club.
Story at quoted 🎁 link below.

Is there a reason you chose to frame your first post about Walnut Creek as "upper middle class bedroom community refused to give a permit" without mentioning there was already an event planned downtown on March 28?

It was awesome, there were multiple organizations involved and some sponsored and peopled multiple blocks.
Space is also an issue downtown, there were ~7,000 people at one No Kings protest in Walnut Creek last year and it was hard to move.

For the record, I'm not an organizer, but saying that there are people randomly on the sidewalks because an upper middle class bedroom community refused the grant a permit creates an impression inconsistent with the logistics of today's event and of past & future events.

The 5 mile span was not in response to the scheduling conflict in downtown Walnut Creek, it has been in the works for some time. There were block-by-block sign-ups from downtown Walnut Creek to Sun Valley Mall. The rallies in Concord and Pleasant Hill were brief and were not the main event.

So was I, it was a massive crowd outside Pleasant Hill City Hall! Once I claimed a spot on the sidewalk near Monument, there were so many people I couldn't get a sense of how far it stretched along the street.

The City of Walnut Creek has accommodated multuple anti-Trump protests (I know because I've participated in them), and today's No Kings protest was planned as a 5-mile "solidarity span" between Concord and Walnut Creek.

a man stands in front of a crowd with the words are you not entertained ALT: a man stands in front of a crowd with the words are you not entertained

Gladiator deserved that Oscar and I will not be taking any questions.

a man in a hooded robe stands next to a woman in a white dress ALT: a man in a hooded robe stands next to a woman in a white dress

The 1960s gave us the PCU (Plantagenet Cinematic Universe) with Becket and The Lion in Winter.

a woman stands in a field with her arms outstretched in front of mountains ALT: a woman stands in a field with her arms outstretched in front of mountains

$$$$

a black and white photo of a man standing in front of a window in a room . ALT: a black and white photo of a man standing in front of a window in a room .

And To Kill a Mockingbird! The 1960s were a cinematic embarrassment of riches, and the early 1970s were no slouch.

Here’s a fun riff on the desert island actor game. Here’s your dilemma:

If you only have a 5-year stretch of films starting with 41-45, then 46-50, and on to now (ending with 2021-2025), which clump would you pick?

My final 3 would be 86-90, 96-2000, and 2011-15

But I’m going 2011-15.

1966 - 1970.
The Lion in Winter
Cool Hand Luke
Rosemary's Baby
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
The Graduate
2001: A Space Odyssey
Midnight Cowboy
Bonnie and Clyde
Easy Rider
The Wild Bunch
The Italian Job
Planet of the Apes
Bullitt
True Grit
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Little Big Man
etc...

In my leafy SF Bay Area suburb, they've planned a 2-hour 5-mile long stationary span of protesters.
I'm bringing a chair.

Congratulations on the new hip! Can you put your old hip under your pillow at night and wake up with a treat from the Hip Fairy?

The site of the tomb of St Cuthbert who died #otd 687 in #Durham cathedral

Closeup of Jeremy Irons as England's King Henry IV in the BBC Hollow Crown series of Shakespeare's history plays. Hot dog, he was good. In this image, we can see the upper edge of his throne behind his head, he's wearing his crown and looking suspiciously at someone, most likely his son & heir Harry or a member of the Percy family.

March 20, 1413: King Henry IV dies in Westminster Abbey's Jerusalem Chamber.

"It hath been prophesied to me many years,
I should not die but in Jerusalem;
Which vainly I supposed the Holy Land:
But bear me to that chamber; there I'll lie;
In that Jerusalem shall Harry die."
2 Henry IV 4,5

Stamford Bridge is open for transit, English king Harold Godwinson said. “The only thing prohibiting transit across the bridge right now is a huge Norwegian berserker hacking people to pieces with an axe,” he said. “It is open for transit should the beserker not do that.”

A closeup of Eleanor of Aquitaine's effigy showing her head and torso, her hands rest on her chest holding an open book. A barbette passes under her chin and up to the top of her head under a loose white head covering topped with her crown. Some pigment remains.

Eleanor of Aquitaine's effigy in the church at Fontevraud Abbey. She's wearing her crown and a barbette and it looks like she fell asleep reading a book.

Katharine Hepburn in profile as Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine in "The Lion in Winter." She's wearing a crown and her hair is exposed in the front. Based on the way the fabric headdress is draped, I think she is wearing a white barbette under her chin and up to the top of her head and a white wimple loosely around her neck and up the back of her head where everything --crown, wimple, and barbette-- is pinned together and to her hair.

Women are standing in long lines to buy fashion accessories popularized by people who died before they were born? I want to play!
No, not CBK. I want to rock a barbette, the strip of cloth under the chin popularized by Eleanor of Aquitaine. I don't have a crown, so I'll pin it to a fillet. 👑

I once knowingly gambled on a mortgage with a 10-year interest-only option to get a low monthly payment because I was confident that I would be able to refinance in the near future.

What the blazes was I thinking. My gamble paid off, but it was at least as much about luck as my good credit.

Nocturnal ants use lunar compass and sophisticated calculations to travel at night It's well known that many animals, including migratory birds, butterflies, and even fish, use the sun for navigational purposes. Nocturnal animals are dealt a more difficult hand, however, as the moon...

"Some diurnal insects, like certain ants and bees, use time-compensated sun compasses that adjust for the sun's daily movement."

Thank goodness ants are small. Last week I got lost in broad daylight in the city where I've lived for 19 years. 🐜
phys.org/news/2026-03...