I have nothing to add. Just read it. newsletter.ofthebrave.org/p/im-a-nobel...

@greatdismal.bsky.social I thought of you when I saw this. bsky.app/profile/pure...

I'm just saying, people in tech pubs should call themselves docworkers. (I'll show myself out now.)

A fun trivia question: Whose version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah appeared in the (2001) movie, 𝘚𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘬? (Don't look it up until you come up with an answer.)

Tim took this lovely picture in Boston last night.

Also, when you're an airline CEO and no one who has any choice in the matter is flying, just remember that it's happening because of that guy.

I trust that the homeowner gets to keep the meteorite? www.cbsnews.com/news/possibl...

And the girl in "Hey Nineteen" becomes eligible for medicare this year. Now she has other reasons for not remembering the Queen of Soul.

Carat Beta 2 is out. If you're into Atmos multichannel audio and you have a local digital music library, check it out: github.com/jbloch/carat...

R.I.P. Tony Hoare (11 January 1934 - 5 March 2026). It's a good day to read (or re-read) his wonderful 1980 Turing Award lecture. It's every bit as relevant today as it was in 1980. dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...

They are celebrating Pi Day early in San Francisco.

This Serrano was planted last year. It overwintered!

In the unlikely event that any of you are immersive audio fans with digital music libraries, this should make your lives much easier: github.com/jbloch/carat/

So Hegseth is attacking Scouting America for treating trans kids with respect, including respecting their chosen names... at the same time he demands you respect the made up name for his department, which he changed illegally without congressional approval.

I used to read about countries like this (which we called "banana republics"). I would chortle and feel superior, and wonder how any country could act that way in the modern era.

More looting the treasury. I will not enjoy paying my taxes this year. It used to feel like a civic duty, now it feels like tribute to a tyrant.

This is not what democracy looks like. I believe the technical term for it is "looting the treasury."

This is how it works in a functioning democracy. We too had a president who led an insurrection, but he was not given a life sentence (or any sentence at all, for that matter). apnews.com/article/sout...

And the "Best Dangling Modifier of the Year" award goes to...

Well which is it? Are you for birthright citizenship or against?

Only ~480,000 of you have watched this FCC-banned Late Show interview. Surely another 20,000 of you would like to watch it, if only to teach Brendan Carr about the Barbara Streisand effect. youtu.be/oiTJ7Pz_59A

Agreed. Ditto for coding.

R.I.P. Fred Smith. If you aren't familiar with Television's eponymous debut album, do yourself a favor and listen to it today. variety.com/2026/music/n...

So Penis Station and Dullard Airport? abcnews.go.com/US/trump-pen...

People who should have known better voted for this failed businessman because they thought he'd be good for the economy. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/31/b...

Shouldn't the latest FBI Epstein document dump (you know, the one that prominently features features Trump and Musk) be called the "pedo-files"? (Asking for a friend.)

Imagine my surprise. This is a kakistocracy, a government that fears expertise and, intelligence, and competence. www.science.org/content/arti...

Today, I am proud to be a Californian. thehill.com/homenews/sta...

All hail the kakistocracy. I am old enough to have seen exactly what polio does to a person. Trust me when I say we don't want to bring this one back. More generally, we don't want to reject expertise in favor of fealty. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/h...

Imagine my surprise.

This is not what democracy looks like. Note that the man being kidnapped is a US citizen.

Tim took this picture in Boston last night.

R.I.P. Scott Adams. We all know what he turned into in recent years, but he wrote and drew some damn funny cartoons thirty years ago. This one, from 4/11/1994, is my favorite.

Cindy is knitting a cat hat for Matt.

This is not what democracy looks like. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

R.I.P. Bob Weir

Hmm... I don't think they're immigrants. But they do have customs. www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/ne...

TFW when the country you've lived in for all your 64 years, the country that took your mother in from the Nazi holocaust, the country your immigrant father fought for on the battlefields of WW II, the country that supported your undergrad education and your Ph.D. research, turns into a rogue state.

This was five years ago. The tyrant responsible is now our president, and doing his best to turn our erstwhile democracy into an autocratic oligarchy.

Fellow astrophotography nerds: I need this low-profile rotator to satisfy the back focus of my VC200L www.teleskop-express.de/en/adaptors-.... Sadly it's not available in US, & international purchase is hard due to the actions of our incompetent president. If you know how I can get one, please DM me

...and I am Marie of Romania.

Moon halo!

Imagine watching Sinatra, son of Dolly & Antonini born in Genoa & Sicily, respectively, and Martin, son of Gaetano & Angela, born in Montesilvano, Italy & Ohio respectively, (Angela to parents born in Monasterolo, Italy), and crusading against the value of children of immigrants to the U.S.

Nothing to see here. Ric Grenell continues to be the asshole he's always been. If he follows his idiotic letter with actual legal action, I predict there will be no shortage of lawyers eager to defend Redd pro bono. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Boxing Day rainbow!

This is not what democracy looks like. Also, I think you're supposed to burn them outright.

If you promise someone lingerie for Christmas but give them a parka, have you under-promised and over-delivered?

This is not what democracy looks like.

Christmas is coming, so tonight we're going to watch the Grinch. We're also going to listen to @stevenwilsonhq.bsky.social's wonderful new Atmos mix of the Who's classic "Who Are You." In honor of this holiday paring, I made some artwork with nano banana. It's called "The Who Down in Who-ville."

Here is an image of the Rosette nebula that I took Friday night from my San Jose backyard. It represents 4.5 hours of data (138 two-minute exposures). You can zoom in and it still looks good.