The highest-res 3D map of the universe is complete. The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) at Kitt Peak Natl Observatory in Tucson, has mapped more than 47 million galaxies in its 5 years of operation, detailing the impact of dark energy over 11 billion years arstechnica.com/science/2026...
If you haven’t seen
The Gods Must Be Crazy
it’s one of my favorite movies. And just arrived on Kanopy, the public library free streaming service.
Highly recommended.
My essential Mac tools:
• TypeIt4Me: text expander
• TextSniper: screenshot->OCR
• Dropbox: coauthor draft sharing
• Unclutter: “remembers” multiple cut/copies
• Default Folder X: simplifies opening/saving
• CleanShot X: screen capture w/ annotation & scrolling
• Miro.com: Essential for remote teams
What's your tax rate? 10%? 12%? 22%? more? Pretty sure it's one of those.
Warren Buffett? true tax rate of 0.1 percent
Jeff Bezos? 0.98 percent
Michael Bloomberg? 1.3 percent.
This needs to change.
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/o...
Or watch the interview:
www.nytimes.com/video/opinio...
Bob Galen, who has an amazing email newsletter on caregiving (he's caregiving for his wife) and shares what he's learning as a caregiver, here looks into the frightening prospect of diminishing caregivers. bgalen.substack.com/p/goodbye-im...
Before you book with Vrbo, Booking.com or Airbnb, you should probably read Consumers' Checkbook's investigation, www.checkbook.org/san-francisc... (And it might make you want to subscribe!) (Not every metro, but both of ours: we subscribe to both SF and Seattle editions.)
Those of you who are street cyclists (and those of you who care for/about street cyclists)...
Michael Lopp cites the challenges, a rear-radar device he's adopted, and an interesting run-in with a car...
randsinrepose.com/archives/hit...
word cloud created from the wisdom in the Rules of Thumb and Nuggets of Wisdom section of the book, Managing the Unmanageable: Rules, Tools, and Insights for Managing Software People and Teams
Word Cloud:
the Rules of Thumb section of Managing the Unmanageable: Rules, Tools, and Insights for Managing Software People and Teams - the book’s "soft, creamy center” (--reviewer)
(Of the 300, my core rule of thumb?
“Software development is a team sport.”)
www.managingtheunmanageable.net
Two recent all-too-rare sets of insights for engineering leaders…
Kevin Goldsmith demystifies board meetings, and eng leaders at those meetings. www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-r...
Rich Mironov’s new book Money Stories targets PdMs, but applies equally to VPEs & CTOs. www.amazon.com/Money-Storie...
Ron Lichty teaching...
I like teaching agile to teams - helping sw teams be both more effective and happier. I counted up the number of agile trainings I've delivered. I was surprised. More than twice what I'd guessed - almost 200 - first 11 years mostly in person, last 6 years all virtual (but to similar rave reviews!).
A tariff “refund” mostly goes to whoever wrote the tariff check: the importer of record. That’s not the same person who paid more at the register. So refunds -- if they're offered -- might sound like consumer relief, but in reality, they're corporate windfalls.
Karen has no criminal record. She is a grandmother who spent eight years working as an admin assistant at a primary school before her retirement. “I don’t even have parking tickets in the background anywhere,” she says. “I am not a dangerous criminal. I didn’t enter the country illegally and I had everything I needed to be there.” So why did ICE detain her, and keep her locked up for so long? A possible answer began to emerge over the weeks she was incarcerated. As Karen got to know the guards at the Northwest ICE Processing Center where she was held, she kept hearing the same thing from them: that ICE officers are paid a bonus every time they detain someone. “Individual ICE agents get money per head that they detain – the guards told me that,” Karen says.
Border Patrol is operating as bounty hunters.
Agents are apparently getting paid for each person they put in detention. Even if those people are grandmothers traveling on valid tourist visas.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Why domain expertise is not the #1 criteria for great product managers and great product management.
agilealliance.org/the-expertis...
(Reminded me of Rich Mironov's post www.mironov.com/pm-hiring/
"The sad news of Reverend Jackson’s death brought back memories of his presidential campaign of 1987-88, the most exhilarating, inspiring, and illuminating of all the campaigns I’ve worked on." The Jesse Jacson Iowa campaign story. www.bleedingheartland.com/2026/02/18/j...
If your standup meetings never result in change, they’re probably just status meetings. ronlichty.blogspot.com/2019/12/bett...
Making the case to CEOs: Using up 100% capacity prevents responsiveness. You must protect 20% headroom, margin, slack - it’s not waste - it’s the capacity to seize opportunity when it counts the most. mrjoe.uk/the-importan... —Joe Leech
Bluebird day yesterday at Bear Valley cross country with friends Dave and Steve Milne (can just see them disappearing over herringbone hill behind me, on the Equipe trail) - fast skate skiers, they. I'm on classic skis at 7,000 feet these days. (Still willing to skate at 3,000 feet in the Cascades!)
It’s never been the speed of your developers. Never.
Traditional scaling creates the very problems it's meant to solve!
@jamesshore.bsky.social James Shore shares why the common wisdom of carefully aligning teams and responsibilities eventually breaks down, and how #FASTAgile offers a fundamentally different approach.
youtu.be/2w7of-65Cts
We are dealing with such corruption in every aspect of our government, I don't know how we undo the damage.
The best CEOs don’t run at 100%. They protect headroom — time, energy, capital — so they can act fast when opportunity strikes.
Loved C. But loved Pascal more. (Course I loved assembly, too.)
Sunset Dunes art exhibition: Love that the artists are all local; mostly hyperlocal.
www.instagram.com/reel/DQ-V2gd...
WOW! AN HONOR! — GCN
The Nobel Prize committee should announce the World Cup winner tomorrow
Kelly just received a multiyear deal with SiriusXM. Her on-air comments defending Epstein's child trafficking make it clear: she should NOT have a platform with millions of listeners. Sign the petition now to demand that SIriusXM cancel Megyn Kelly’s show NOW! sign.moveon.org/petitions/re...
I grew up being told "the older you get, the more conservative you become." I'm finding that the older I get, the more I just want our society to be more tolerant, charitable, kind, peaceable, and ensure that everyone has what they need to survive and thrive.
