Thematically appropriate posting, part one. www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv6O...

Check out this Vox story on donation after cardiac death: www.vox.com/future-perfe... . It raises the issue of unintentional recirculation of oxygenated blood through the brains of NRP donors during organ procurement.

This is very good, describing how the Court isn’t so much handing power to the executive, as it is taking it for the Court, who can then dispense it or withhold it depending on whether they agree or disagree with the executive in each case.

So we’re doing “who’s a real New Yorker” discourse, and as I do when this comes up, I note that at the very beginning of the 20th C, O Henry wrote down how you get to be a New Yorker: www.online-literature.com/o_henry/4529/

🎵 make a little birdhouse out of drones

Bro sent this photo of a green anole that just wandered up to him, and I'm sharing with you because there isn't enough lizardposting.

Life goal: Get a plaque this good

Check out the fancy little model of the Guggenheim I built over the weekend. A pleasant couple of hours, not absurdly difficult, and the product is really cute. It’s from an Australian company: www.littlebuildingco.com

You come to me, on the day of my son's wedding, which I am not attending

I went to Deep Springs and what this article doesn't tell you is that you get issued a cow and she's yours for life. Transfer admissions officers at other colleges need a lot of wining and dining to keep accepting us with our cows. So you should think twice before you try to scale the model.

Possible answer to “who has standing to block Trump’s stolen slush fund”.

also according to NYT, one "settlement" idea the White House and DOJ are batting around is the IRS dropping any audit into Trump, his family, & businesses it's a federal crime for presidents to ask the IRS to conduct or terminate an audit into a particular person ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...

This is right. The government didn’t “settle” this case. Trump brought a frivolous case and voluntarily withdrew it, and then the Justice Department said they’d agreed to set up this insane slush fund for him. It has no legal connection to the case, and there’s no legal authorization for it at all.

The prosecutions of Comey are unjust and worthy of numerous people being fired/impeached, but he's still a combination of dipshit and liar. He was very much "in politics" when he broke multiple DOJ policies with his little stunts like the press conference and the late letter.

I'll just note that critical race theory predicts quite a lot about the current racial retrenchment and for being *correct* it was pilloried in the press and by some academics.

I have long held the belief that much of people’s anger at Citizens United should be redirected to Buckley v. Valeo

Underground Empire was immensely clear and readable for a generally dry topic. I try to understand what I can about international financial systems out of a sense of grim obligation, but am usually too bored to retain much; Underground Empire managed to get past my resistance to the topic.

This is right, and not just singing but chanting. People need to know their lines if they’re going to participate, and they’re not going successfully learn them on the fly. I show up at protests, and would like to make some well-organized noise, but the actual chanting works badly.

It’s not ‘too harsh’, but a honest answer would be “I expect his answer is ‘my wife handled it’ and I expect he’d react to the question from me as evidence that I was either dumb (for not knowing he wouldn’t have useful advice) or rude for making him admit he had a sexist advantage.”

So much this. That trash should be ashamed of himself every remaining day of his life.

The existence of public sector unions puts pro-union politicians in the uncomfortable position of acting as management in a labor negotiation. That's fine. The expectation there should be that the pro-labor position is "negotiate in good faith" not "they have to give the union everything they want"

A war powers resolution will not be enough. Yes. We need to assert congressional authority and stop this illegal war in Iran. But, Trump is clearly an unstable warmonger at odds with the will of the people. Removal is the top priority. No more war criminal in the White House.

Halfway there. I want promises to impeach and prosecute the culprits.

Halfway there. I want promises to impeach and prosecute the culprits.

Every Democratic senator and representative should issue a statement like this. And every Republican, but I’m not holding my breath for it.

Hey @schumer.senate.gov ; @kirstengillibrand.bsky.social — keep up!

From DM Bozorg: “Our state policymakers in Albany have an opportunity to make a real dent in the housing crisis. Reforming the state’s environmental review process sounds wonky, but it is fundamentally about a critically important question: whether we are able to deliver a more affordable city.”

I posted a while back encouraging people to leave public comments on NRP, a transplant organ procurement technique with some potential to accidentally allow procurement organs from living patients. Here’s a story on efforts to publicize the problem: www.theassemblync.com/news/health/...

My man? Thin.

Quite a few: Hopkins “Carrion Comfort”, parts of “Terence this is stupid stuff, most of the first fit of The Hunting of the Snark, Millay “I, being born a woman and distressed”; a bunch of Dorothy Parker; Ozymandius, a bunch of Frost. All from my teens and twenties — nothing I add now sticks.

two questions: can you recite any poems by heart? if so, which ones?

In the words of Mandy Rice-Davis, “He would say that, wouldn’t he?”

Beannachtaí lá le Phádraig oraibh! Best Paddy’s Day song ever. Cracks me up every year. #SpeirGorm youtu.be/OCbuRA_D3KU

I have the impression that Obama’s record level of deportations is largely counting new entrants turned back immediately after crossing the border in the same category as deporting people residing in the US. Deportation of undocumented residents was much lower. But I don’t know where to check this.

I have had COUNTLESS convos where reporters ask me “okay but Trump hasn’t actually deported as many people as Biden (or Obama), right?” and what I try to stress in response is “the real story is how hard it is, and getting harder, for us even to know.” Must-read. apnews.com/article/trum...

I did this accidentally by only paying for basic cable. The only shows the kids found entertaining were the Food Network, and suddenly my ten-year-old was “plating the food.” Now he’s a firmware designer who is appalled by the low quality of other people’s potluck contributions.

I love this so much! Nothing against people who have private cars in NYC, but there’s no reason to keep subsidizing their car storage by letting them use public space for free.

NEW: Mamdani's City Hall is discussing charging fees for currently free on-street parking — a policy change that would not only create a new revenue stream but also seize a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve the streetscape. buff.ly/9C0Iq34

I want the GSA and DOT to hire up an 18F-like civil-engineering design firm. Cities can call up DOT Corps for the design phase of transit projects instead of AECOM or Turner. Better, leaner, public-interest-focused designs go out to bid, and a GSA Corps staffer can help with oversight!

Posted without comment

And I am now quietly pleased: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/n...

A Truffula-Tuft processing plant called Maslow’s Hierarchy of Thneeds

Hey, @mayor.nyc.gov ! I’m watching this tracker to see what happens with the Fordham Road bus lane (and everything else, sure, but I want that bus lane). Make it happen! datawrapper.dwcdn.net/d4DpD/18/

I’m not an expert, but this plan sounds terrific for anyone in Upper Manhattan, and also for the parts of the Bronx served by the 2, the 5 and the 6. Unless someone explains to me what’s wrong with it, I’m in love: nyc.streetsblog.org/2026/01/13/w...

Slightly diminish a band They’re Unlikely To Be Giants

Endless Column, by Constantin Brâncuși, 1938, 📸 by @stephenmally

Silwa is a man of principle! Some very weird principles, to be sure, and it’s possible he’s just eight cats in a cunning disguise, but still admirable.

I'm trying to gin up public comment on an issue of transplant policy: Normothermic Regional Perfusion, or NRP. Click through for a full explanation, and possibly to avert a zombie apocalypse (although there are more realistic risks): www.unfogged.com/archives/wee...