Founded in 1965 with a vision of "alternative" higher education, Hampshire College will close. The vision included alternative curriculum, customize concentrations, portfolios for breadth, & narrative assessments. Independent, but lacking big endowments and donors. www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

We the people...know how to interact with citizens of neighboring countries, even if our leaders do not. www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2...

Higher ed in trouble? www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2... Not a huge surprise. My alma mater announced a comprehensive fee (tuition, room, and board) for next year at north of $92K! Compare to comprehensive state uni that granddaughter #3 is choosing at $17K.

Anything that deviates from normal is a conspiracy, including when things are precisely normal. COMIC ◆ www.smbc-comics.com/comic/curse-2 PATREON ◆ www.patreon.com/ZachWeinersm... STORE ◆ smbc-store.myshopify.com

Why Republicans like to promote the IDEA that they are better at managing the economy and increasing wealth: "As people do better, they tend to vote like Republicans—unless they have t00 much education and vote Democratic, which proves there can be too much of a good thing." Karl Rove 2001. [1/2]

Innovative state program to aid homeless folk with health issues on hold due to concerns that federal retaliation would www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2... Recovery from illness/injury harder if living under a bridge.

Our Brave Little State: All true, except sometimes...Canada seems awfully tempting!

#OceanOptimism 🌊 Marseille cut marine pollution—and #Posidonia #seagrass recovered naturally. A clear success of passive restoration: reduce pressures, and ecosystems can heal. #Restoration #Conservation #Mediterranean 🌍🌐🧪

www.nature.com/articles/d41... Hope AI doesn't catch "Tickettsia" from our article on learning epidemiology via fake epidemics: Communic-Able: Writing to Learn About Emerging Infectious Diseases. Yager RE, ed. Exemplary Science for Solving Societal Problems. Nat Sci Teaching Assn. 2010; 135–47.🧪

www.nature.com/articles/d41... Hope AI doesn't catch "Tickettsia" from our article on learning epidemiology via fake epidemics: Communic-Able: Writing to Learn About Emerging Infectious Diseases. Yager RE, ed. Exemplary Science for Solving Societal Problems. Nat Sci Teaching Assn. 2010; 135–47.🧪

Charlie Hebdo: "On peut dire merci à Donald Trump d’avoir déclenché cette guerre contre l’Iran pour au moins une raison : grâce à lui, le monde a peut-être pris conscience de sa dépendance au pétrole." Thank Trump for war in Iran for 1 reason: the world is now more aware of its dependence on oil!

As Trump orders UFO data released, a question hangs: If aliens exist, what would they think of us? apnews.com/article/extr... Hitchhiker's Guide would change to "Mostly harmless...to us, but deadly self-destructive to themselves."

Eulogy for the CIA Factbook: The free standard for world facts, long an educational staple, is gone apnews.com/article/cia-... Facts get in the way of alternative "truth"

The kids are more than all right. www.addisonindependent.com/2026/04/02/s... "“When I go into a room full of students who are asking me sophisticated questions I didn’t get the last 5..10 or 15 years,... it means the level of understanding & appreciation of the processes and the dynamics continues."

Saw this today in an epigraph to a novel, but then it reminded me of something! HMMM! Pro 28:20. "A faithful person will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished." And to quote another major cultural influencer, "'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished."

Oh, Canada!?! The border is so close and so tempting. www.vermontpublic.org/show/vermont... Yet, some of us still hold out hope!

We hoped for better. www.the-scientist.com/nearly-ten-p... 10% might sound like a small proportion of faked papers, but (a) that is still over a quarter of a million papers; and (2) it's CANCER, and you'd expect extra diligence in their research about horrible, fatal diseases.

www.cnn.com/2026/04/01/h... Who is surprised?

From VT Public: District Court rules Trump's 2025 exec order to defund public media violated 1st Amendment, and is therefore "unlawful and unenforceable." Ruling does not restore $2.1M clawed back last summer nor the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Do not expect federal funding to return.

Professional ethics? From selective citations to post hoc hypotheses, a majority of 1,500 Portuguese researchers admitted to “Grey Zone” ethical research practices, highlighting a widespread integrity crisis www.the-scientist.com/over-90-perc... Not our best look in current political environment.

Broadband internet is a basic public utility. We need it everywhere across the country. Reps in rural areas talked about rural development, jobs, and investment, but voted to end the ACP which brought affordable internet service to homes & businesses. onecountryproject.substack.com/p/rural-comm...

Trump’s new science advisers include 12 technology chiefs and one academic www.nature.com/articles/d41... “Historically, PCAST’s membership reflects the president’s science and tech priorities. ...This group is about what you would expect from the Trump administration..." billionaires & tech execs

Setting another record, and not in a good way. Arctic sea ice shrank to tie its lowest winter level as unprecedented heat shatters records globally. www.pbs.org/newshour/sci...

Trends in grade inflation in higher education. www.eurekalert.org/news-release... We KNEW we were smarter back then than the kids these days! 😜🧪

SARS-CoV-2 evolution is rapid, but restricted to a few genetic pathways. This study describes the limits of SARS-CoV-2 evolutionary change🧪. www.unmc.edu/healthsecuri...

How (some) plants adapt to climate change news.berkeley.edu/2026/03/26/o... And also seem to show the limits of these solutions.🧪

aje.news/jqlswu Trump doesn't have to invade Greenland. He just has to wait until his policies melt it.

Mike and I are about the same age so this is something we grew up on. The lauded Lynn Ahrens is the lead singer. I had the good fortune to get to know Bob Dorough (singing counterpoint) later in life; he was a huge force in jazz as well as loved for his many Schoolhouse Rock works.

Plus: North American location as soyese for rare-earth minerals. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... Minus: US investment from Cerebus, major DJT donor running several companies with legal issues, & several former execs in Trump govt

Progress in fits ànd starts? www.cbc.ca/news/science... curbing methane releases in Alberta's oil patch

Iran collecting tolls on passage thru Hormuz. selling oil east. apnews.com/article/iran... Using yuan for currency instead of #$US. Yes, Mr President, I AM "tired of winning." Please stop!

Perfectly normal way to run a meeting, right? apnews.com/video/trump-... I will never complain about a university committee meeting again!

The kid is all right! apnews.com/article/verm... Some dispute over eligibility, but our Brave Little State's constitution does not specify an minimum age for the governor!

Sign me up. apnews.com/video/scream...

Irony Dept: Local school canceled program for increasing "student understanding of what it means to be empathetic, inclusive, and accepting of others in their community" because of threats against students & staff! This is exactly WHY the program is needed! www.addisonindependent.com/2026/03/26/b...

A professional medical group rejects US govt $$$ www.the-scientist.com/in-a-first-o... “[I]t became clear that changes made to federal funding requirements in 2025 would impede our ability to meet some of our program goals and provide timely, evidence-based guidelines and recommendations for care."

www.npr.org/transcripts/... Reviewing the MAHA food pyramid.

www.nature.com/articles/d41... What now, indeed. And our "leadership" in DC says, "Après moi, le déluge...et aussi la tempête de feu."

Our Brave Little State adds its voice: www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2... “Here in Vermont, we believe in science and we follow science,” said Attorney General Charity Clark. Last year, a federal lawsuit attacked Vermont's "Climate Superfund Act" accusing the state of usurping federal power. 1/2

Methane leakers: Naming and Shaming. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) is no longer seeking research proposals to address specific scientific problems. The agency is focusing on ‘unsolicited’ research proposals of individual scientists. Under the new system, political appointees approve funding. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Just for fun: Scientists respond to "Project Hail Mary" film: www.nature.com/articles/d41... “'Seeing characters who think scientifically as living, breathing, funny people is very refreshing,' says Andy Howell, an astronomer who advised on the book that inspired the movie.”

Rural communities hit with double whammy: fewer students, but not enough teachers to teach them. onecountryproject.substack.com/p/thursday-t...

Fang M, Dun C, Wang D, et al. Trends in Insulin Out-of-Pocket Costs Among US Medicare Beneficiaries. JAMA. Published online March 19, 2026. doi:10.1001/jama.2026.2341 3 795 879 beneficiaries: Mean OOP cost for 30-days of insulin fell from $50.87 to $21.98. A government program that is working!

Homelessness is not just about city-dwellers OR poor people. onecountryproject.substack.com/p/homelessne... In our Brave Little State, one thing that is driving the lack of primary care physicians is the availability of housing. They accept jobs and then find out they cannot afford to live here.

In 24 years, just 77 cases of noncitizens voting were identified out of hundreds of millions of ballots cast. The SAVE Act isn’t about election security—it’s about voter suppression. The reality? Undocumented voting is virtually nonexistent. This is a modern-day poll tax that risks denying 1/2

Many vaccines confer indirect, health benefits when they have been put into use both for the people who are vaccinated and for society at large. Take the HPV vaccine which has driven down rates of cancers not only in women but also in unvaccinated men. www.statnews.com/2026/03/19/v...

Thwaites glacier could raise sea levels 2 feet if fully melted. Here are maps of places at risk of being underwater at high tide. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Michel Yakovleff, who served in leadership positions at NATO, said that for France to help the U.S. to secure the Strait of Hormuz would be the equivalent of "buying cheap tickets to the Titanic." Attribution correct; diff words in different, but same analogy. e.g ca.news.yahoo.com/fact-check-f...