For New Year's, talked to my friend Olga, who runs goods to the front lines from Kharkiv. She's moved everything from generators to a mobile hospital and ambulances. As seen in Mother Jones (below), CNN, NYT, and elsewhere. The work is staggeringly challenging. DM me if you would like to donate.

I would use the lava to heat a hot plate and use that to cook the chicken. This turned out exactly as I expected.

If this doesn't result in Grok being banned in Europe I would be shocked.

We're hiring! Senior position in the learning sciences. "We seek a scholar whose research has focused on the development & application of learning technologies to achieve just & equitable educational learning opportunities, teaching practices, policies, & systems." careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...

The semiannual AIP History Newsletter is out! The feature article highlights a surge in scholarship around experiments on quantum entanglement. The topic is most associated with tests of Bell's theorem but the history predates and is broader than those efforts. aip.brightspotcdn.com/83/0f/cc825f...

British Caledonian was the first airline to ban smoking on international flights, and the first thing they discovered was that they were saving nearly $10K per week per aircraft on cleaning bills. It didn't become long after that that the other airlines did the same.

Philip Roth, author of The Plot Against America which imagines Charles Lindbergh setting up a fascist regime in America was asked back in 2017 what he thought about Trump becoming President. His observations are still true today. Sadly. www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...

I used to tell my staff that the one constant is change but PhD historian to furniture restorator is a leap. Glad Thomas is doing well with it (doing something you like is always the key)

When I decided to become a climate scientist, I thought I’d only need do it for a decade or so – because it was so obviously urgent, surely we would fix it by then? And then I would go back to studying galaxies. Now, thirty years in, I have a different plan for what’s next ⬇️😄

In 2026 I want all of the decent people to remember one thing. You aren’t meant to be this disciplined, this self-sacrificing to survive. The environment is supposed to support good living. We can have that. You are not a failure. That is politics. That is all.

Wondering if it's a good or a bad thing that I've drained the battery on my iPad reading books the last couple of days (which was a reminder to switch to the kindle). My New Year's resolution is to read one physical book each week instead of ebooks all the time (new bifocals, so it should be easier)

Maybe Rubio needs to change his title to Secretary of damage control?

“Until now, everything Mosseri (and #Meta more broadly) has said has focused on growth, promising to connect the world and empower creators. His latest memo is different. It is not about expansion; it is about containment and control.” #AI whoever can prove their users are real has an advantage.

Russian criminal drug gangs (or the state, take your pick), also use cryptocurrency to shift hundreds of millions of dollars out of Europe to bypass financial controls. Explain again why it’s so great?

I’m pretty stunned that 1A doesn’t mention Dr Who in a program looking at why media is obsessed with time travel. (Interstellar was a good choice, along with Primer and Back to the Future).

Fantastic news for paleontology that the Paleontological Research Institute in Ithaca NY is staying open this year! Intensive fund-raising was successful & enough to pay off the mortgage for their building, helping to preserve this long-standing institution for national & international science. 🧪

Reading this deeply reported article by Adam Entous on the US approach to Ukraine and Russia was painful for me as an American. I will provide some of my thoughts later on here. This is probably the most important piece of journalism in 2025 on foreign policy.

Happy New Year!

I'm sure this won't have any implications for the whole country.

In the US MAGA kleptocracy, a black market thrives. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

For those who didn't spot it right away... Sure seems like having AG Letitia James swear him in is saying it with his whole chest. A great start.

Alternative take, the document is firm and unshaken as it's in a vault. The implementation of it however is on a SCOTUS swamp and it will continue to sink until it's choking foul water.

In the 1970s Goddard lost thousands of magnetic tape data from the early space missions because of poor house keeping (a flood) and they got rid of the machines to run them. Do you have faith that the new overlords will know what they will be throwing out?

"The Maryland Department of Health (MDH) today recommended that health care facilities require masks in all patient-facing settings."

“The resolve of our adversaries — and their desire to surprise us — remains unchanged and relentless.” And judging by our inability to correctly perceive the threat of Russia even after countless direct confrontations and surprises, we remain at a disadvantage and without imagination."

Reading is my escape from reality, particularly this year (325% higher than normal according to Goodreads). Some have been stinkers, some have been good, but I’m pleased that the last book of 2025 was actually a great one. Touches on ethics,independence movement, corporate conspiracies. I enjoyed it

This is old news. There was a person I was very attracted to in the mid-90s, we went out on a date and I found out she worked for the heritage foundation. That was a deal breaker (and my liberal views for her I think).

The question that must be asked first is if AI is not more likely to *harm* all of humanity

1/n Powerful and gut-wrenching photo-essay presentation in @washingtonpost.com by Jonathan Edwards. Investigative/explanatory journalism at a very high level. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/int... If you haven't lived in DC, you may not appreciate how much this is a city of **trees**.

"But why should an audience dictate art? Is a movie about a crazy, middle-aged dame only worth being made if it can be profitable? Or is it enough to try and tell a story, to create a piece of art, and have it resonate with even one viewer, or possibly, with only the artists themselves?"

The word "Delve" has suddenly increased by 28x in journal abstracts. Why? It's because #OpenAI uses human feedback to refine its models, and many of these humans are from Nigeria, where “delve” appears more frequently in English spoken in formal settings. #AI #scholarlypublishing

Christina Pagelis a mathematician and a physicist and Professor of Operational Research at UCL. She is also the most diligent monitor we have of the Trump regime’s relentless assaults on American democracy.

It's pretty clear to see (well as long as you don't make obvious that you're complaining and end up in jail, or accidentally fall out a window). The question is at what point will the military decide it's better to replace Putin than follow his commands.

“Birders in the United States spend $107 billion per year, including $93B on binoculars, feeders, cameras, and other equipment; and $14B on travel. That’s more than the GDP of New Hampshire.”

Strange how this keeps happening. Anyone would think it was asymmetric warfare.....

If you’re not paying for it, you’re the product.

I thought it would be bad (and was in shock so many Americans were forgetful) but I was mad (and still am) that the democrats didn't seem to have a plan to combat the Trump Adminstration despite going on about Project 2025 during the campaign (we'll skip the media ignoring all the warnings).

RSF discovers Belarusian surveillance malware targeting Android phones, requiring physical access: rsf.org/en/exclusive...

The world of 2025 as seen in charts

““Average hold times peaked at about 2½ hours in March, but dropped starting in July as employees were diverted from field office duties to fix what had become a public relations crisis. Average wait times for callbacks remain an hour or longer” Funny how incompetence leads to problems.

I’ve noticed a lot of adverts on YouTube that are right wing messages in disguise, clearly aimed at targeting swing voters in Virginia.

Along with making headaches for larger military powers, I’m surprised asymmetric warfare or terrorists groups haven’t deployed them more already (although they are slowly starting to be used in Yemen for example). People say 2025 was the year of the drone. It’s really 2026.

Hey, @barnesandnoble.com has a 25% off sale on preorders for their members from 12/30 to 1/1. Preorder _The Subtle Art of Folding Space_ at a discount. Debugging physics! A family reckoning! A status report in the form of an egg tart! #BNPreorder www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-subtle...

Two cartoons for the day. Talking of which, in that press conference the other day, was I the only one who thought Trump sounded out of it? It sounded frail, confused and ill.

In the article the staff at the smaller schools talk about how the phone rings non stop from people seeking advice, partly as schools act more like social services than schools, which suggests a solution to some of the issues they are facing: move additional services into the empty school buildings.

How the Washington Post began the year. How Democracy Docket is ending it. Support independent media. hubs.ly/Q03CbHTt0

We should not just sit back for any of this. We should continue to resist in 2026 the way we have in 2025. A Democratic Congress in 2027 should actually use all the powers available to that institution. But the moment Trump took office was the moment there would be harms we can only mitigate

gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/30/o...

The National Science Foundation just had a big reorganization. Here are five things to know. ⬇️ https://scim.ag/4baWBcS

Suspending Doctors Without Borders is definitely a thing healthy countries do