As I watch footage of explosions in Beirut and dust clouds towering above apartment blocks in Tehran, I keep coming back to something that I witnessed back in the summer of '04, during my first tour in Iraq. But first, let's start with a question: Have you ever heard someone wail? 1/

Walked by the very worst place to fuck around today.

This, from Ada Palmer as part of The Chronicle's survey of 11 scholars on the future of higher ed, is what I needed to end the week.

Me: Hmm we really need Villa to be in a knife-fight for a Champions League spot so they need a result when they go to City on the last game of the season. Wolves:

They neglected the first maxim of boating: “Only go as fast as you want to hit the dock.”

the epidemic of men launching podcasts about nothing has gotten out of control to combat this I am launching a podcast WITH A WOMAN (veteran climate journalist Tracy Wholf) to talk about stuff that actually matters (the planet being destroyed by the worst people alive) Find subscribe links here:

Black Star players: "It is too damn hot here. And you are also telling me they get four feet of snow in the winter?"

Noon update after the lifting of the statewide travel ban:

How it started/How it’s going, etc:

SCOTUS has never taken up Big Oil's arguments to kill climate lawsuits before. What changed? For one, Alito didn't recuse himself, despite big $$ ties to oil companies that are defendants in many similar cases that would most likely be affected by a ruling here. And despite recusing in the past.

This was a legit midwestern lake-effect snow here in New England. Glad I got out in it before dark--so great to walk around the city and not see a single car, and instead people walking in the streets with smiles on their faces.

Folks, we did it. After years of traffic studies and meetings and hearings we finally stopped the traffic on our street!

⚠️ One of the most impressive #blizzard’s we’ve ever witnessed. Here’s another aspect: Ocean gusts over 100 mph, creating massive 45 ft waves, rouge waves up to 75 ft! Would not want to be sailing through that ⚠️

Suck it, old tymers.

I too fought in the Dewey Square trenches that winter. Those who lived, know.

glory to UMass Lowell

Canada's official position at the UN General Assembly should be no more 3-on-3 hockey

OMG. Canada, you are all now ready to be Arsenal supporters (my sympathies).

“Geez the US is killing another penalty?” Counts players. “Oh.”

Much of Florida is a financial time bomb for just this reason.

How we feelin’ about this, Providence?

The Top 1% of U.S. earners now have more wealth than the entire middle class

What is your favorite song in a 13/8 time signature? I'll go first. youtu.be/JBCMSmF1G1o?...

@heatherrandell.bsky.social - let Will know I got #JoyAsAnActOfResistance tattoo (because of Idles) and it has been life-changing. And, please thank him for that amazing OpEd.

Imagine being a coffee drinker and thinking that the Ottoman Empire was “ignoble.”

There was an article going around last week about how "environmentalists message has failed." Meanwhile...

Gianni Infantino: "I am friends to kings and dictators, my will is my command. No one can stop me. FIFA uber alles." New England Select Board: "Get outta he'ah." www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/17/s...

.@AstroKatie: "We got tricked by science fiction into thinking a futuristic city is all about flying cars and crystal towers and hologram billboards but what it really looks like is nice apartment blocks, good mass transit, pedestrian zones with shade trees and safe bike lanes."

"Prepare for bedlam. Each El Niño event in recent decades has gotten steadily worse, because each one drives the temperature to a new record." @billmckibben.bsky.social #climatesky

35% of Boston's nearly 300,000 households do not own a car. In Allston, Beacon Hill, Chinatown, Downtown, Fenway, Longwood, Mission Hill, North End, and the West End, more than half of all households are car free.

The 2000 election is the biggest historical hinge point of my life. [Insert *Homer biggest hinge point so far* meme here]

So, Prof. Hansen is suggesting that, in the Northeast US, when this snow melts it may be a couple years before it returns. And more... I appreciate McKibben reminding us that politics are temporary, physics much less so.

Elimination of emissions standards was one of the pretty clear policy stakes of the 2024 election and it received about 1% as much coverage as whether Tim Walz retiring from the national guard after 21 years was cowardly.

If I had explain American history in one sentence, I could do worse than "John Brown was hung for treason, but Robert E. Lee was not."

roses are red violets are terrific

I would love to know what sports memes people use in daily life. Football has so many of them! This one gets used in my house at least weekly: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJHU...

Does this Cuban-American ever reflect on the stupidity of thinking people from "other" cultures do not assimilate well?

If this had been built I would have stayed in Detroit instead of leaving 35 yrs ago.

I tried to watch this game "in the moment" and not worry about "what it means." It was not easy! Smarter people than me have said the only thing that will derail this team this season is injuries, and we sort of saw that last night. No doubt, lots for the "neutrals" to discuss.

Will @sethmagaziner.bsky.social or @amo.house.gov do this for the Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls? And, if not, why?

It is no Dune Imperium but I'd put it on the table. 🤓

I saw @laurentgontier.bsky.social online making these amazing maps and diagrams of Providence and I had to know why a guy in France was making such beautiful graphics of my town. He's been working on this incredible Atlas of HP Lovecraft. The copy he sent me is probably the only one in the US.

Edu is cooking (managers).

POST A TREE YOU PHOTOGRAPHED

Does anyone remember when the TX governor led a fake freak-out when Obama's FEMA ran preparedness exercises in that state? Me neither.

I mean look at this thing. Note cyclists getting ready for a bathing suit ride (it was -12° before the wind chill).

When Macdonald did this to the Big Ten they convinced themselves a vacuum repairman broke football with iphone copies of the same all-22 film everyone had already. Imagine what insane conspiracies the Patriots will imagine.

Going from Bad Bunny to Chris Collinsworth: