I feel like this past year was the start of America's Brexit equivalent insanity.

Absolutely wild given that the Keyes Constant, the number of people in the US who are batshit crazy in every poll or election, is something like 27%

Pileated Woodpecker at Starved Rock Illinois 1/15/2026 #bird #woodpeckers

Carolina Wren at Starved Rock, Illinois. 1/4/2026 #birds #wrens

They kidnapped the head of a Latin American country, replaced him with an insecure white racist who has spent his entire life arguing that Latinos are subhuman, and made clear that their primary aim is to plunder the country for its resources. If it isn't yet clear, yes, we're the fucking baddies.

A number of studies show that various vaccines (shingles, RSV, flu) are associated with “off-target” benefits like reduced cardiovascular risk, lower rates of dementia, and lower Alzheimer’s risk for older people. [nytimes.com]

Oh boy do I feel this Crisis of Spatial Awareness.

They can distinguish good craic from sand parrot drivel.

SportSky is 100% better if you mute the word "refs"

A broken clock being wrong about a broken clock is about as "This is AI" as you can get.

Pretty cool www.bbc.com/news/article...

all this is both foolish and unnecessary

A look inside how drug companies gouge for life saving drugs. Incredibly appalling. This is yet another reason why governments should have universal healthcare and be able to directly negotiate drug pricing. www.propublica.org/article/revl...

Made a new playlist

Suggested edits:"but held off publishing what they knew to avoid [further] endangering US troops [who were already being foolishly endangered and will be even further endangered in the days, weeks, months & possibly years to come in the service of bringing freedom to the mislocated American oil]".

Your fact of the day: The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in six American citizens suffers a food-borne illness annually. In the UK, the figure is one in 132. bylinetimes.com/2020/02/28/f...

Something to dream about during my current longest ever Long-earred Owl drought. #BirdLinks www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts...

The year is 2003. I’m 17 years old. I’m watching Democrats fail to appropriately oppose an illegal war for oil. The year is 2026. I’m 40 years old. I’m watching Democrats fail to appropriately oppose an illegal war for oil.

Oiligarchic death spasms

Amazing record for the FIFA

First cool bird of the year. My buddy Rufus, the red morph Eastern Screech Owl. Year List Bird num. 1 #birds #owl

It sure didn't take very long for Trump and his minions to ruin the new year.

This person went on a buying spree over the past 24 hours. Fresh wallet. Only existed since Dec 27th and has only bet on Venezuela-related markets. polymarket.com/@0x31a56e9E6...

grim posthumous scenario i had not previously considered: you post a picture of the missile headed straight for you, and are memorialized by a bunch of random assholes complaining about alt text

The moon over Lakeview. Chicago last night.

The way the press is treating chatbots, like they have agency and they “know” things all of a sudden, crossed the line recently from dumb and obsequious to something else entirely. Treating them as alive and making conscious decisions is an almost religious belief. It won’t age well.

My cat is workshopping a new slogan for 2026: "You whine, you dine".

One thing I wrote about here is how technology has made buses *way* more convenient while techno-futurists were obsessed with flying taxis and self-driving cars.

Is the position of Bally's that foreigners can't legally win money in their casino? I'm pretty sure the whole justification for Chicago allowing a casino in the city was tourism. Did the revenue modelling account for denying international tourists their winnings? www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...

Yo Priztker Khan, don't let Newsom steal a march on ya!

Just flat-out declaring that everything Adams did as mayor after the indictment—in the final fifteen months and five days of his term of office—was presumptively corrupt, and undoing everything that's in his immediate power to undo with a single stroke of the pen. This is the way.

It's striking that progressives like Tim Walz and Zohran Mamdani evoke the middle American attitude that, "Yes, we can fix these social problems because we're Americans and it's the right thing to do!" While the "America first" right only emulates failed and failing nation-states elsewhere.

Adjusts hat to a rakish angle.

New York media is extremely reluctant to treat Mamdani as his own person and instead are constantly comparing him to others. I get it. You spent time and effort getting to know other mayors and now it is mostly irrelevant and you have to start over and that's like work.

Nighthawks at the Diner street mosaic, Rogers Park, Chicago

‘Their first instinct was to loot’: how Trump’s acolytes are plundering the Kennedy Center

Parce qu'on en aura besoin en 2026, les corneilles nous apportent leur soutien ! Ces autocollants dessinés par Mila S. seront distribués lors des visites corneilles à venir

Marge Piercy, On New Year's Day (via languagehat.com/on-new-years...)

Dawn walk by Belmont Harbor, Chicago. Starting the new year off spectacularly.

Good New Year's Morning in Chicago. These are my kind of fireworks.

So cool to be accidentally living in North Korea.

Richard Kearton - Young Long-Eared Owls, negative about 1895-1905; print 1905. www.getty.edu/art/collecti...

I believe everyone should have the right to vote but only competent shoppers should be allowed in grocery stores.

I’ve spent this morning morbidly watching the MTV channels close down and the final songs played were: MTV Music - Video Killed the Radio Star (Buggles) Club MTV - Don’t Stop the Music (Rihanna) MTV 90s - Goodbye (Spice Girls) MTV 80s - Together in Electric Dreams (Oakey and Moroder)

Young Bald Eagle over Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary, Chicago. 12.30.2025 #Birds #BirdsOfPrey

Long-tailed Duck at Montrose Harbor, Chicago. 12.30.2025 #birds #ducks

If you have fewer than 300 tabs open you don't have untreated ADD. Or maybe you should switch to a new tab & look up ADD to see if tab count is a diagnostic criteria. Then check and if The Mayonnaise Clinic is a legit source of medical information. Then lookup the etymology of Mayonnaise