That's great news!!

Fluffy black and white dog smiles next to a couch

Brody update - he’s back to being a shameless popcorn beggar and smiley boy.

Your Key Survival Skill for 2026: Critical Ignoring In an age of endless low-quality information, it’s time to fight our instinct to seek out and absorb all we can. It takes practice.

I don't know why it never occurred to me that the same skill of "critical ignoring" which we must all apply to the news also applies to art and pop culture

obligatory link to my piece on this:

www.wsj.com/tech/persona...

I can't tell you what a premium there will be in the future on human-generated writing. In an age of AI-everything, attention remains the scarce resource.

MAJOR UPDATE: I found the best free restaurant bread in the United States www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

Bullshit, I don't want to walk to class in the rain

George Washington looking on, head in hands

(Not that there are 100 million- but that proportionally they are just about that much of the population.)

In Texas, there *are* that many- they are the largest plurality population. It tipped over a couple years back.

So yeah, as they said... Race gets taken very weirdly in Texas.

... Gwen, is this a Latino woman mad that there is a large Indian/South Asian/East Asian population in Plano where the tech and medical jobs are. Is this what I see here.

God I hate it in DFW.

RT by @NHC_Atlantic: Hurricane season is coming! Join the 2026 Hurricane Awareness Webinar Series starting next Wednesday, April 29 at 2 PM ET. Hosted by @NOAA SECART & GoARCT, with sessions through May 26. 🔗 pic. https://x.com/NWSNHC/status/2046574680015081552

In the most incredible timing, my best friend who is starting a civilian contract at an Army base for the next year just texted me to complain that she got five vaccines yesterday!

Yup. Guns and germs and steel.

The fact that we have now eliminated even one (but functionally multiple, even if the US is fucking losing it) of those diseases is a medical achievement beyond any imagination.

Why are we throwing that progress away.

This was a requirement, not a question. If you didn't have the titers, you were getting a new MMR. Polio was non-negotiable.

They took it seriously. A stomach bug went around the entire wing in about a month. I nearly got my room quarantined by getting viral meningitis. Disease kills armies.

To *enter* the Air Force Academy for basic training I had to provide evidence of or receive a new vaccine on the spot for:

- Polio
- Flu
- MenA/MenB
- MMR (could be skipped with valid titers)
- Regular vaccine record (Tdap, Chxnpox, HepA, HepB, etc)

Secretary of War Pete Hegs... # © • 39m The War Department is once again restoring freedom to our Joint Force. We are discarding the mandatory flu vaccine requirement, effective immediately.

Make this make sense.

Area warlord fails to understand what the number one killer of soldiers has been in history

Anecdata:

I am now sent pitches on companies using / applying / innovating with AI with a frequency and stridency that reminds me very much of the peak of the crypto/blockchain frenzy

99% of them are about as substantive as those (totally empty-headed) crypto ones were

Severe Weather Outlook for Thursday, April 23, 2026, highlighting FEMA Region 7. A slight risk area (yellow) extends from south-central Nebraska through eastern Nebraska and much of Kansas, including cities such as Hastings, Lincoln, York, Salina, Hutchinson, Wichita, and Manhattan. Surrounding this, a marginal risk area (dark green) covers a broader region from western Nebraska and Kansas into western Iowa and much of Missouri, including Omaha, Sioux City, Des Moines, Kansas City, Columbia, and Springfield. General thunderstorms (light green) extend farther outward across the central Plains and Midwest. NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center branding is shown.

Severe thunderstorms will be possible from northern Oklahoma into southern Minnesota on Thursday. Large hail to very large hail, damaging winds, and a few tornadoes are possible. Visit weather.gov for updates over the next couple of days.

The first test flight of a Europa-1 first stage (F1), a repurposed British Blue Streak missile, from Woomera, Australia, 5 June 1964.

Launch of Ariane 4 V22 on 15 June 1988 from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana, carrying Meteosat-3, PAS (PAN AM SAT) 1 and Amsat P3C.

Launch of Vega VV13 from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana on 21 November 2018, carrying the Mohammed VI-B Earth observation satellite for the Kingdom of Morocco.

Ariane 6 liftoff on 4 November 2025, launching the Copernicus Sentinel-1D satellite from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

From Europa and Ariane 1, to Ariane 6 and Vega-C, we have a long history of Europe's launchers 🧡

The first Europa flight took place on 5 June 1964.

Nowadays, ESA provides Europe with autonomous access to space through the Ariane and Vega launcher families, which will continue to evolve.

Stark rain shadows in the Bay Area today. Berkeley (1.24”) and Concord (0.03”) are only separated by 20 miles, yet massive differences in precip. Santa Cruz Mountains 2” while San Jose just 10% of that.

Hills squeeze out moisture on the windward side and cause a drying effect on the leeward side.

The remarkable life of Super Typhoon Sinlaku.

KALSHI RULE #4 WEOPERATE UNDER U.S.LAW Because Kalshi is a federally regulated U.S. exchange

Hey, I also operate under US Law. Glad we’re all just getting that out there, non-suspiciously.

My "we operate under US law" shirt etc etc

$461,666 for the charity bowl as of 8:50PM MDT on Monday. Day one

Good night, raise hell, praise Dale (and Satan) #charitibundibowl

the edsbs charity bowl has now raised more money than the entire amount the sugar bowl foundation gave to charity last year ($435,600 on $74 million in net assets)

A photo of a wetland scene featuring various labeled wildlife species standing near water, including an American Alligator, Great Blue Heron, Wood Stork, Roseate Spoonbills, Black Vultures, Great Egret, and a Limpkin against a green, forested background.

I hiked out to a sinkhole that hosts hundreds of alligators and stumbled across a rather surreal surprise: a grand gathering of #Birds.

This is even funnier now knowing he was the QB who lost to Columbia and ended their 44 game losing streak.

EDSBS Charity Bowl Benefiting New American Pathways

Let's try something silly. I'm a traffic engineer, and if you donate $25 in the #CharitibundiBowl to Western Michigan, I'll answer a question you have about traffic lights.

www.edsbscharitybowl.com

... now hang on.