I am just going to say it. Brandon Sanderson writes bland prose.

My dumb cat knocked over a glass mug I had just purchased yesterday, smashing it into a million pieces. At first I thought the situation was beyond absurd, that a cat who had never knocked a mug over before would knock this one over almost as soon as I bought it, but upon further reflection, 1/2

Stocks go up. Stocks go down.

Books I've read recently and my rankings 1. The City and the City (Mieville) 5/5 2. Embassytown (Mieville) 4.8/5 3. Light (Harrison) 2/5 3. Southern Reach series (VanderMeer) 5/5 4. The Yiddish Policemen's Union (Chabon) 5/5 5. This is How You Lose the Time War (el-Mohtar, Gladstone) 2/5

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025... Hey, a Trump decision I agree with! It's rare.

After I finished eating I forgot about my bowl But the cat did not

I'll be giving a talk on the mathematics of gemstone design at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in January. meetings.ams.org/math/jmm2026...

The Trump administration in collusion with Musk's DOGE killed 100,000 people by defunding USAID.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025... This court is fucked up

This was all fucking Elon Musk.

Lmfao

Can someone educate me on the filibuster? I read a while ago that changes to the Senate rules can only occur on the first day of each session and are established by a simple majority vote. Therefore, wouldn't there need to be more than 60 votes in order to overturn the filibuster?

Bataquitos Lagoon after sunset.

SCOTUS skeptical of tariffs. Some more good news. I wonder what tortured dissent Alito or Thomas will write.

Blue wave!

Great to see Dems doing so well today! I have this unfamiliar feeling called hope. Next up: Prop 50.

I think Vance should convert to Hinduism, personally.

www.chess.com/news/view/li... Interesting analysis.

Show of hands. Who finds Trump's initiating nuclear tests reassuring?

Biked from Escondido to Oceanside, 30 miles total. Took the Escondido rail trail to Vista, N. Santa Fe through to the San Luis Rey river trail, and then onward to downtown Oceanside. Took the Sprinter back. Bicycling seems to be better for my hip than hiking.

Quote from Timothy Mellon, who donated $130 million to the U.S. military, so you know who we’re dealing with: “Black people, in spite of heroic efforts by the "Establishment" to right the wrongs of the past, became even more belligerent and unwilling to pitch in to improve their own situations”.

"Saturated fat is good for you" was not on my bingo card.

With my aunt at the top of the Palm Springs tramway.

View from my workplace. Not bad.

Vegan kimchi "steak" bowl at Veggie Grill in Carlsbad.

San Diego VIBES. I love that I live here 💙🚫👑 #NoKings

This is pretty pathetic.

It's low-key hilarious how Fox News is trying to spin the No Kings protests. First they refer to it as "unrest," implying there will be violence. There was none.

HAPPENING NOW: A MASSIVE crowd of protesters flood the streets of San Diego for a “No Kings Day” rally showing their love for America and standing up against the corrupt fascist Trump administration. look how huge it is

I was there marching. I hope we got to a 100K!

Seeing all these huge crowds gives me a lot of hope.

Just got back from the downtown San Diego protest. Huge crowd! Similar to the 60K+ we had back in June. The atmosphere was very chill. People showing up in solidarity to support democracy.

FedEx sent me a tariff bill weeks after I got the actual product (a small piece of furniture from Istanbul.)

I'll be marching in the No Kings protest this Saturday, which Speaker Johnson refused to call by name, instead characterizing it as "anti-America." Speaker Johnson, respectfully, I am marching because I love America and am aghast at what you guys are doing to it.

It's well-known in certain circles, but I don't think a lot of people realize just what an awful human being Christopher Columbus was. Here's an excerpt from Zinn's "People's History of the United States" that I always come back to. 1/3

Argiope trifasciata - banded garden spider.

This is the way it's done.

Did my first bike ride in something like 4-5 years. It went well! Things to acquire: new pair of bike shorts and sunscreen.

Wow I hadn't realized how batshit crazy JD Vance's mentor is. Like, he is literally giving lectures on the antichrist. www.theguardian.com/technology/n...

Apparently the federal government is forbidding solo EV drivers from using HOV lanes, overriding individual states' preferences.

Rush is touring next year with drummer Anika Nilles! Set myself a reminder to attempt to buy tix when they go on sale this Friday.

These fuckers. US supreme court appears poised to overturn Colorado ban on ‘conversion therapy’ www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

My fitness levels are increasing since I started doing the elliptical three hours a week. Buoyed by this, I brought my bike into the shop to get fixed up and I can start riding again. Current plan is to work up to bicycling into work one day a week (19 miles each way).

Kit Carson park, Escondido

It's spotted orb weaver season in San Diego county.

Julius Caesar was the first Roman to put his own living face on coins, weeks before his death. It is one of the deepest cultural signifiers of something autocracies do and republics do not. “Render unto Caesar.” A practice so notoriously arrogant Jesus himself dunked on it with snarky wordplay.

Orb weaver in the sky.