Enjoyed the new #McCartney doc tonight, Man on the Run. But then I followed it up with the greatest 24 minutes in TV history: youtu.be/QjvzCTqkBDQ?...

Pentagon bars press photographers over ‘unflattering’ Hegseth photos wapo.st/3OZLeeY

What's next, airbrushing out staffers who have fallen from favor? -- Pentagon bars press photographers over ‘unflattering’ Hegseth photos wapo.st/3OZLeeY

Two of my favorite finance commentators -- Justin Wolfers and Katie Martin -- on Ed Elson's Prof G Markets: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...

"I guess I'd do well ta Visit the Delta Someday if I get the time. But in the land of sky blue waters She'd love me then she'd turn me loose With 'The Other End of the Mississippi River Blues'" Who is this guy? He's Pat Donohue. Listen up here: youtu.be/K97TmW34Am4?...

Admirable list of what-ifs regarding Iran starts at 26:19. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...

Call me when you have some news — FBI obtains voting data from Arizona GOP’s 2020 review that confirmed Trump’s loss wapo.st/4dbM2au

Okay, I guessed on some. But my 12/12, 513, on this week’s Slate News Quiz beat average score by more than 200, and let’s not talk about the Slatester’s score. Can you achieve quiz perfection even faster? slate.com/news-and-pol...

This is hilarious. Judge rules that professional sore loser Kari Lake unlawfully ran Voice of America oversight body, voiding layoffs. I hope the guys who got cut sue her til she screams. wapo.st/4beEfpU

Wow! I managed to fix the YT "feature" that autoplays a thumbnail from the main page, with audio, when you hover over it. But don't ask me for the solution, because I tried so many things that I'm completely unable to follow the breadcrumbs. Hope it works tomorrow and beyond.

Check out these excellent quotations by Thelonious Monk: www.azquotes.com/author/20833...

"In this page-turning thriller, concert pianist Riley Forte is recruited by a covert security firm and sent undercover to a secret spy school in Bavaria." Oh brother.

Okay, enough of police procedurals and other fluff. Time to get serious (second time through, but first in about 15 years).

Warsaw, 1981? No, Vons in Santa Monica, February 2026. Don’t be fooled, those are reflections you see; those shelves are EMPTY. ⁦‪@Wegmans‬⁩official.bsky.social, come to LA; you’ll destroy Von’s, Ralph’s, Pavilions, WF, and Gelson’s.

What in the world did I just read?

Do authors keep lists of weird words they *must* use? Here are a few I’ve come across lately: phatic, soixante-huitards, inquorate, gallimaufry, murine, craquelure, ormolu, fetor, minatory, menhir, pleonasm, buxological, embonpoint, clafouti, nacoluthon, catachresis, enthymeme.

NYT Connections creators are cackling with malicious delight today. Find another victim, harpies. Connections Puzzle #989 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟨🟨🟨🟨

"Young men, between the ages of 20 and 30, are spending less time outdoors than prison inmates." Scott Galloway on the latest Pivot podcast. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...

"Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine has cautioned that a lack of munitions and support from allies could mean greater danger for U.S. troops, [...]" Well, what do you expect when you trash your allies? wapo.st/4cEYgbq

One thing I won’t miss when Colbert rides off into the sunset is the voice of the woman who introduces the show. There’s only so much 130db shrieking I can take.

Would it be too much to ask what the vote was? 7-2? 5-4? Unanimous? You won't find out here. Celebrate small victories, but this one was huge. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

“It could not be more absurd.” Oh yeah? Stand by. www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...

Ana Vidović plays J.S. #Bach - Partita in E-major (BWV 1006) Live performance: youtu.be/HK-CRj-XL-E?... via @YouTube

"She just did it, without asking." And I applaud this decision by the woman who brought us the American Ring, among other things. -- Inside the Kennedy Center’s scorched-earth Washington National Opera split wapo.st/4tyT4M7

NYT Connections creators are laughing at us today. Connections Puzzle #978 🟪🟦🟨🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪

Had a minor growth removed yesterday, resulting in a somewhat bulky bandage (why does it have to be bright white?). Convo: Me: Is any blood showing? Can I appear in polite society, or will people recoil in horror? Doc: Don't they do that anyway? I like this guy.

“The English commenced their career of extravagance somewhat later than the French; but as soon as the delirium seized them, they were determined not to be outdone.” Enjoying a classic: Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds; Charles Mackay.

If even a third of what is reported in this book is true—in terms of drug abuse, drug running, felonious theft, murder, suicide—then our military is in even worse shape than I thought. And let’s not forget local law enforcement and media. Sobering, alarming.

So close. My 11/12, 493, on this week’s Slate News Quiz barely edged the Slatester but beat average handily. Can you do better? slate.com/news-and-pol...

You know how some scenes just strike you as interesting, something to think about?

““We just hit the iceberg,” Dimon bellowed, as if he were standing upon the deck of the Titanic. “The boat is filling with water, and the music is still playing. There aren’t enough lifeboats,” he said with a wry smile. “Someone is going to die.” NR:

Just bought some Girl Scout cookies. She said, "We take cash, credit, Apple Pay, and Zelle." I'm giggling.

Ana Vidovic plays JS #Bach's Chaconne from Partita No. 2, BWV1004. youtu.be/uAg4RI39_mU?... via @YouTube

Every Face on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Explained youtu.be/Ey9OKcwa3Zk?... via @YouTube

Car’s in the shop to replace a throttle body. I feel like Hobbes with his “Quark, quark, quark.” Throttlebody Throttlebody Throttlebody. This is a Throttlebody:

(Call from unidentified number, which I usually ignore, but this time it claimed to be from my former place of residence) Me: Hello? Caller: (silence) I hung up. Then I saw he left a vm: "Goodbye." I don't know whether to giggle or to find this somewhat disquieting.

A real toe-tapper here: Who Walks In When I Walk Out (1953) - Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong youtu.be/2V6brdokPnU?... via @YouTube

Hooray! My 10/12, 438, on this week’s Slate News Quiz easily beat both average score and the Slatester. Can you do even better? slate.com/news-and-pol...

I find it strange that the bin I use for kitchen recycle is rated at 4 and therefore can't be recycled here in Santa Monica.

On strength of her appearance on Prof G. Markets, immediately subscribed to Katie Martin's Unhedged podcast. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/u...

"You Are the Smartest Person Who Has Ever Lived" That's what The New Yorker said when I maxed today's Name Drop. Who am I to argue with The New Yorker?

Interesting. The @slate Political Gabfest did not appear in its own Apple Podcasts feed today, yet it did show up on the site and in its daily overall podcast feed. Another mystery of 21st Century cyberlife. Gemini claims there were no new episodes today. Wrong!

“The times when the police could break in anywhere without a warrant were not upon them, not yet. After all, this was not the United States.” Sadly, prescient. The setting is Venice. The book is “Suffer the Little Children” by Donna Leon. It was written in 2007.

Another one: Philip Glass pulls world premiere from Kennedy Center wapo.st/45CaNrY

“Karamazov is a joyful book. It does have moments of joy, but they are only moments; the rest is greed, lust, squalor, unredeemed suffering, and a sometimes terrifying darkness.” Intro to Karamazov. Trying to decide if I’m up to it for a second time.

“The telefonino he thought of as belonging to Signor Rossi had spent the holiday on the top of his dresser, despised and rejected of men,” Another sly classical music reference by Donna Leon in her Commissario Brunetti series, this one from Blood From a Stone. #Handel

Today is Sunday, so...wouldn't it be nice to take a walk in the park? youtu.be/yhuMLpdnOjY?...

Okay. My 10/12, 426, on this week’s Slate News Quiz beat both average score and the Slatester. Can you do even better? slate.com/news-and-pol...

“‘It’s nice to know we all get money for nothing sometimes,” she murmured to Jimmy.’ Who knew Agatha Christie (d. 1976) was a Dire Straits fan? Hmm, maybe vice versa. That’s from The Seven Dials Mystery. youtu.be/ZC1Pdsppch4?...

“Greenland is mostly ice and Iceland is mostly green.” How many other lies was I told in grade school?