Tuesday: Hili dialogue

April 21, 2026 • 6:45 am

Welcome to The Cruelest Day: Tuesday, April 21, 2026, and National Chickpea Day, honoring one of the main ingredients of hummus. a delicious dish, and good for you, too. When I was in Israel I spent a lot of time trying to find the best place for hummus, which to me was Hummus Ben Sira in Jerusalem. I don’t have my photos of the place here, but here’s what hummus looks like: superb with lots of hot pita bread and raw onions and pickles:

Beyrouthhh at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the April 21 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz:

*The WSJ says that Trump now has five options vis-à-vis Iran:

As the U.S. prepares for another round of peace talks with Iran in Pakistan this week, President Trump faces five broad options.

1. Stick to his guns: Trump has presented Iran with demands to freeze enrichment of uranium for at least 20 years and remove highly enriched uranium from its territory, as well as fully end its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. These are red lines for the president, senior administration officials said.

Weeks of U.S. and Israeli strikes devastated Iran’s military and the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports is ratcheting up pressure on an already weakened Iranian economy, administration officials said. But so far, the Iranian government has refused to ease its blockade of the strait and signaled it will not abandon its nuclear enrichment program.

If Trump refuses to budge on these demands, there’s a chance that Iran relents in negotiations—but also a risk Iran refuses and war breaks out again.

2. Buy some time: Both sides could walk away from the talks in Islamabad without a final deal, but at least a “memorandum of understanding” that outlines the broad parameters of what an understanding could entail in the future and an agreement to extend the 10-day cease-fire in the war again. This would buy time for more diplomacy.

3. Compromise: There are ample ways to hash out a compromise, officials and analysts said. One idea negotiators are floating: Iran agrees to a 20-year freeze on enriching uranium to higher levels, but after the first 10 years can conduct nuclear-related research or produce a modest amount of low-enriched uranium for at least another 10 years.

Other variations of compromise could include Iran agreeing to give up its stockpile of 60 percent or 20 percent enriched uranium, but keeping its stockpile of lower-enriched uranium.

It’s unclear if Trump would accept compromise proposals here. There’s no discounting the likelihood Iran secretly enriches to weapons-grade levels again in the future.

4. Restart war: Trump has warned that he isn’t inclined to extend the cease-fire again if talks in Pakistan fail. Renewing the war would open Iran to another round of devastating strikes, but it carries risks for the U.S., too.

The war is controversial at home, opening rifts within the Republican Party and driving up energy prices and inflation across the U.S. Defense officials have also raised fears of the U.S. running low on critical munitions in the Iran war that would be needed for the U.S. military in other parts of the world.

5. Walk away: Trump’s fifth option to just walk away from the whole endeavor is the most unlikely, U.S. officials and people close to the White House said, but it’s a fear that senior Arab and European officials have raised in private discussions among one another after the first round of talks failed.

Trump could claim victory and walk away from the war, leaving a status quo that amounts to a nightmare scenario for many close U.S. partners: A wounded but intact Iranian regime, with an ability to keep imposing tolls on the Strait of Hormuz and the know-how to rebuild a nuclear program.

What? No stipulations about either regime change or Iran stopping the export of terrorism? As for the above, I’m no pundit but I’m betting on #4.  The unpopularity of the war largely reflects, in my view, the unpopularity of Trump combined with public ignorance of what’s happening in Iran.

*Carl Zimmer at the NYT reports on a new Current ‘Biology paper with a stunning result.  A male kea (Nestor notabilis), the world’s only alpine parrot (From New Zealand) lost his upper beak, probably in a rat trap.  That injury would normally prove deadly, but Bruce the Kea has learned to compensate for the loss in two ways. It was known previusly that Bruce, who lives in a wildlife reserve, was already famous for using a tool to groom himself: he put a pebble between his tongue and lower beak and groomed his feathers that way. Now he has a new behavior, one he’s used to become the dominant bird in the group:

Last year, Bruce delivered a second surprise.

Male keas fight for dominance. Those who lose fall to the bottom of the circus hierarchy, and they experience stress as a result. The alpha male ends up with the lowest stress levels.

To measure the stress among the nine male keas at the reserve, Dr. Taylor and his colleagues analyzed certain hormones in their blood. Much to their surprise, the male kea with the lowest levels was Bruce.

“We never expected him to be right at the top of the males,” said Alexander Grabham, a zoologist at the University of Canterbury and an author of the study.

The surprise prompted Dr. Grabham and his colleagues to look more closely. Reviewing videos, they discovered that Bruce had risen to the top with a new style of kea combat.

Male keas typically bite one another around the neck. Bruce can’t bite; instead, he has learned to joust. He rushes his opponents and slams his lower beak into their bodies.

Jousting proved a clever strategy. Bruce consistently won his fights, and the other males deferred to him. One perk of becoming the alpha male: Bruce got to visit the bird feeders first.

“Nobody ever tried to jump him or displace him,” Dr. Grabham said.

After enjoying a meal, Bruce permits lower-ranked males to preen his feathers and clean his bottom beak. “And when Bruce is done, he’ll give a kick or a little joust to say, ‘Right, that’s it, I’m done,’” said Dr. Grabham. “That to me is a sign of dominance.”

Here’s a video of Bruce jousting:

. . . and Bruce using a pebble to clean himself:

*The NYT Style Magzine‘s pretentiously named “How to be cultured” segment gives the opinions of actors Marcia ‘Gay Harden, Stephen Root, and Wendell Pierce about “11 unforgettabls film performances.”  (Article archived here.) How many have you seen?

  1. The supporting cast of “The Wizard of Oz.” (1939)
  2. Jimmy Stewart in “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946_
  3. Bette Davis in “All About Eve” (1950)
  4. Paul Newman and Robert Redford in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1950)
  5. Faye Dunaway in “Chinatown” (1974)
  6. Al Pacino in “Dog Day Afternoon” (1975)
  7. Meryl Streep in “Sophie’s Choice” (1982)
  8. James Earl Jones in “Fences” (1987)
  9. Cynthia Erivo in “Wicked” (2024)
  10. Eva Victor in “Sorry Baby” (2025)
  11. Michael B. Jordan in “Sinners” (2025)

I’ve seen all but #9 and #10, but this list is for punters, containing as it does three movies from the last year.  And, for crying out loud, how about Marlon Brando in “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Robert DeNiro in “Raging Bull,” Jack Nicholson in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” Humphrey Bogart in “Casablanca,” or, if you want to go modern, Jessie Buckley in “Hamnet”.  Oh, and of course Peter O’Toole in “Lawrence of Arabia.”  Don’t take your lessons on “How to be cultured” from the NYT!

*I’m getting stiff in my old age, so of course I clicked on a WaPo article called, “Just 2 minutes a day of this type of exercise may help you live longer.”  The key, or so DOCTORS SAY *the same ones who told us not to drink wine, perhaps) is to up the intensity of your exercise for brief periods. (The article is archived for free here.)

A recent study in the European Heart Journal looked at people who didn’t engage in formal exercise and found that just one to two minutes a day of vigorous activity, accumulated in short bursts, was associated with a significantly lower risk of chronic disease and death.

Not a workout class. Not a training plan. Just everyday life, done with a bit more intensity.

Exercise physiologists call this vigorous physical activity, or VPA. Sometimes referred to as vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity (VILPA), it includes things most people don’t think of as exercise: climbing stairs quickly, carrying heavy groceries, walking uphill with purpose or hurrying to catch a train.

These moments are brief, but they matter. Huffing and puffing, even for short periods, can shape long-term health.

This is not the same as high-intensity interval training, or HIIT. HIIT is structured and deliberate, performed in an exercise setting. VPA is opportunistic. One builds fitness and the other reinforces it throughout the day.

Two minutes can sound almost too simple. But physiologically, it makes sense. When you push your body harder, even briefly, you activate systems that don’t get challenged during lower-intensity movement. Your heart rate climbs, your muscles recruit more fibers, your mitochondria (which are like the battery packs to your cells) proliferate and your metabolism shifts. These adaptations drive improvements in cardiovascular fitness, strength and resilience.

The good news is that you don’t need long workouts or extreme training to tap into these benefits. Even small, manageable doses of intense movement can help counter the effects of aging. That could mean burpees at the gym, if that’s your thing. But even if it’s not, short bursts of effort in everyday life still make a difference.

For Joan [a walker], we made a simple adjustment. She kept her daily walks but added short intervals. Every few minutes, she picked up the pace for 20 to 30 seconds — not a sprint, but a brisk effort that made it harder to speak in full sentences. Then she recovered and repeated.

At first, it felt uncomfortable. That’s the point. Intensity should feel like work. But within a few weeks, she noticed a difference. She felt stronger. Her energy improved. Even her regular walking pace became easier.

As I tell my patients, “Pushing yourself means getting comfortable being uncomfortable. It’s the only way to grow. Mentally, physically and physiologically.”

I already do this; I’m gonna live forever!

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is and Andrzej differ about Nature, with Andrzej touting its advantages of “love, beauty, and passion.”

Hili: Nature is cruel.
Andrzej: Yes, but it also has certain advantages.

In Polish:

Hili: Natura jest okrutna.
Ja: Tak, ale ma również pewne zalety.

*******************

From CinEmma:

From Things With Faces:

From The Language Nerds:

Masih disses the Democrats, save the renegade Senator John Fetterman (whom she calls “the Big Man with Hoodie”), for their attitude towards Iran:

From Luana, who says, “Chicago is screwed.” Indeed. This is an arrant violation of institutional neutrality in Chicago’s schools (read the article):

From Malcolm: one minute of introverted cats:

Two from my feed.  This first one is of course AI, but well done–and creepy:

A lovely murmuration:

One I reposted from The Auschwitz Memorial:

From Matthew, the first post on a thread about ‘Able Seacat Simon. Below that is an audio version:

The Dickin Medal is the highest award that can be issued to animals in British military service. Bearing the words "We Also Serve" it has been awarded 75 times since its creation in 1943.Only one cat has ever received the award. This is the story of Able Seacat Simon, of HMS Amethyst. 🧵 1/25

— John Bull (@garius.bsky.social) 2024-08-06T12:36:52.079Z

Just to note that if you'd prefer an audio version of the story of Able Seacat Simon, the only feline recipient of the Dickin Medal (animal Victoria Cross) then I did one on Youtube a while back.That's here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v5N…

— John Bull (@garius.bsky.social) 2024-08-06T13:14:11.179Z

Savannah, Day 2

April 20, 2026 • 10:00 am

Just. a quick update on yesterday’s peramublations, which included sightseeing and food.

We’ve rented an Air BnB equivalent in downtown Savannah, and it’s on this lovely tree-lined street:

Only half a block away is Clary’s Cafe, an eatery made famous because it’s in the novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, a semi-true tale of life and a murder in  Savannah in the 1980s.  I read it before I came here, and it was pretty good.

Here’s Clary’s with an old-time sign. When I went to get coffee at 8 a.m. it was empty, but when we returned at 10 a.m. there was a 25-minute wait. The cafe became a lot more popular after it was featured in the novel as well as in the eponymous film directed by Clint Eastwood. From Wikipedia:

The author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt, described Clary’s as “a clearinghouse of information, a bourse of gossip,” where he came to know the characters who would animate his narrative.  James Gandolfini made an uncredited appearance as the cook in the two scenes filmed at the cafe.

A photograph of the cast hangs inside the restaurant, featuring Alison Eastwood (who plays Mandy), her father, Clint Eastwood (director), The Lady Chablis, John Cusack (John Kelso), Kevin Spacey (Jim Williams) and Jack Thompson (Sonny Seiler).

The unprepossessing interior, which does serve up good food.

Since one of my goals here is to eat as much Southern food as I can, I had that classic staple for breakfast: biscuits in sausage gravy. Very filling–and good.

And I decided to have dessert as well: bread pudding. (Do not food shame me! I don’t eat like this all the time!)

In the afternoon we spent walking around the Wormsloe Historic Site, From Wikipedia:

The Wormsloe State Historic Site, originally known as Wormsloe Plantation, is a state historic site near Savannah, Georgia, in the southeastern United States. The site consists of 822 acres (3.33 km2), protecting part of what was once the Wormsloe Plantation, a large estate established by one of the founders of colonial Georgia, Noble Jones. The site includes a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) dirt road lined with southern live oaks, the ruins of a small house with fortified walls built of tabby, a museum, and an area with recreations of colonial structures such as a blacksmithing forge and a house similar to those first built in the colony of Georgia (or as housing for enslaved people).

It was atmospheric even though not many of the original structures remain. Here’s part of the long and famous alley of live oaks. I love the Spanish Moss, which for some reason doesn’t seem to hang on the palm trees. Perhaps a botanical reader knows the reason.

I’m visiting with my oldest friends Tim and Betsy, whom I stay with when I go back to Cambridge, MA.  I’ve known Tim since 1967 when we lived in the same dorm at William and Mary; Betsy arrived as a transfer student two years later.

Here are the remains of Noble Jones’s house, a fortified structure built in 1745 not only as a home, but to withstand attacks by the Spanish and to monitor traffic passing through the narrows of the adjacent Skidaway River.  The walls were built of “tabby,” an early form of cement made of equal volumes of water, sand, lime, and ground oyster shells. (The shells were obtained from copious Native American middens.)

And after considerable discussion in the morning, we decided to have dinner at a place of great repute—the Driftaway Cafe, known for its seafood and excellent cooking. And yes, it lived up to its reputation.

As soon as I saw shrimp and grits on the menu, I wanted it. I asked the waiter if the portion was large, as I was famished, and she replied, “Yes, it’s very big.” And it was: a huge bowl of grits made with four types of cheese, loaded with plump fresh shrimp, and studded with bacon bits. I could barely finish it (washed down with sweet tea, of course), and I was glad I didn’t order the fried green tomatoes (another Southern dish) as an appetizer. All evening long I would groan sporadically, “Oy, am I full!”

This was by far the best shrimp and grits I’ve ever had: a Platonic dish!

Have a cigar: I’m a father (of 7 ducklings)!!

April 20, 2026 • 8:15 am

I was pretty much spot on about predicting when Vashti and Armon’s brood would hatch. I guessed Saturday or Sunday and, sure enough, some time between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Sunday, a brood of eight was seen in Botany Pond.  I wasn’t there, but my colleague Peggy Mason, neuroscientist and member of Team Duck, spotted them.

Sadly, one duckling was “off,” and couldn’t swim or hold its head up. It got stuck in the drain, and then in the rocks, and finally expired. Peggy removed the little carcass from the pond and we were all very sad.

The good news is that we’re left with seven healthy ducklings, whose first job was a swimming tour of the pond behind Vashti to get their bearings (they do learn the layout of Botany Pond within a day, as they’re smart as well as cute).

Vashti is a good mom, even trying to help the “off” duckling by nudging it, but she couldn’t help it.  She’s very solicitous towards the ducklings, and Armon stays nearby but doesn’t bother them.

Two members of Team Duck will be feeding them and looking out for them until my return. Everybody got fed yesterday (tiny pellets for the ducklings), though it’s not clear that the ducklings ate, as they survive on the remaining yolk in their bellies during their first day on the water. They will be fed twice a day.

And so, here are Vashti and her hard-won brood of seven; all photos by Peggy Mason. I am jealous as I was not there to see Hatch Day.

Vashti and the Magnificent Seven:

They are of course heavily imprinted on Mom and stay very close to her.

I was glad to see that they all made it onto the rocks and then from the rocks to the ground, where they huddled under Vashti to get warm as well as to get coated in her feather oil, which waterproofs them until they’re old enough to produce their own

Huddling under Mom.  I hope they all make it to fledging!  But Vashti has proven to be a good mom.

Monday: Hili dialogue

April 20, 2026 • 6:45 am

Welcome to Monday, April 20, 2026 and Big Word Day. My big word is probably the same as last year’s: “ratiocination.” It’s a word I learned from Hitchens and don’t usually remember what it means, so here we go from Merriam Webster:

Ratiocination:

1: the process of exact thinking : reasoning
2: a reasoned train of thought

By all means add your big words (and meanings) below.

Today will be a truncated Hili as I have touring to do.

It’s also Boston Marathon Day, Chinese Language Day, National Cheddar Fries Day, National Cold Brew Day (I’ve never had it), and National Pineapple Upside-down Cake Day, one of my favorites sometimes made by my mom when I was a kid.

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the April 20 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz:

*The U.S. attacked and then seized an Iranian ship that would not surrender.

A U.S. Navy destroyer on Sunday attacked and seized an Iranian cargo ship that defied an American blockade of Iran’s ports, President Trump said, posing a fresh threat to the fragile cease-fire that is set to expire this week.

Mr. Trump announced the attack hours after a White House official said the U.S. was dispatching a high-level delegation including Vice President JD Vance to peace talks in Pakistan, even as Iranian state media said Tehran had not yet agreed to a meeting.

The guided missile destroyer USS Spruance fired on the cargo vessel in the Gulf of Oman, Mr. Trump said on Truth Social, “blowing a hole” in its engine room before Marines took possession of the vessel. The president said the ship was under U.S. sanctions because of a “history of illegal activity” and that U.S. forces were “seeing what’s on board!”

Mr. Trump did not say whether there had been any casualties. Iran’s semiofficial Mehr news agency reported that U.S. forces had fired on an Iranian merchant vessel, but said naval units from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps had forced the Americans to retreat.

The attack occurred in the Gulf of Oman, south of the Strait of Hormuz, the economically vital waterway that has become a flashpoint in negotiations. Iran imposed a blockade on the channel itself, through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil normally travels, and the U.S. countered by blocking traffic to Iranian ports. On Saturday, Iran attacked two Indian vessels attempting a transit, acts Mr. Trump described earlier Sunday as a “total violation of our cease-fire.”

The fate of the strait is top of mind for American negotiators who Mr. Trump said would travel to Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, this week for talks. The stakes for the negotiations, should they happen, are high: failure would risk reigniting the fighting and extending the global economic upheaval wrought by the war.

Here’s a tweet from Jay showing how it was done:

*From It’s Noon in Israel: a split in the Iranian regime:

It’s Sunday, April 19, and according to Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei, “The statements by American officials are filled with contradictions and lies”—a sign, he claims, of their “desperation and helplessness.” Israel and the U.S. must have eliminated all the adults in the Foreign Ministry, because Baghaei is effectively playing a geopolitical game of “I know you are, but what am I?”

Despite Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi’s announcement on Friday that the Strait of Hormuz was “completely open” to commercial traffic, the IRGC Navy attacked several commercial vessels the very next day, declaring that no vessel of “any type or nationality” is permitted passage. This jarring disconnect may be a sign of something more serious than desperation: a coup d’état.

It is quite the allegation, but let’s look at the evidence. Beyond the strait’s schizophrenic travel regulations, the Foreign Ministry confirmed that new talks will occur, even though a date has not yet been set. Meanwhile, IRGC-affiliated media simultaneously announced that Iran has refused to participate in another round of negotiations with the United States due to “excessive” U.S. demands.

Furthermore, the institutions of the Iranian state seem to be picking sides. The Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters—roughly the equivalent of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff—has released a statement defending the IRGC attacks in the waterway. The Supreme National Security Council joined the chorus, declaring that Iran will control the strait until the war ends.

The split runs along a well-trodden divide: On one side, the political leadership, represented by President Masoud Pezeshkian, Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf; on the other, the men with the guns, led by an IRGC firmly under the control of Ahmad Vahidi.

. . . If there is a coup underway, its most immediate effect will be on the negotiations. Despite his denials, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf is the official on the phone with the Americans. But even if he agrees to terms, the current power struggle does not bode well for his ability to hand over regular Iranian dust, let alone the nuclear enriched powder.

I’m not a pundit, so all I can do is report this speculation.

*The NYT reports that Hamas is ready to hand over some of its weapons, but only a small allotment, and not near the total disarming demanded by the ceasefire:

Hamas is ready to relinquish thousands of automatic rifles and other weapons belonging to its police force and other internal security services in Gaza, according to two officials of the group.

Such a step would be a remarkable concession from Hamas, which until now has publicly resisted giving up any of its arms.

The officials said Hamas would be willing to turn over these weapons to the Palestinian administrative committee that has been set up to govern Gaza by the Board of Peace, the international organization led by President Trump to oversee the cease-fire.

Hamas has said previously it is willing to turn over the burden of providing public services in Gaza to the U.S.-backed committee. But the group has not disbanded its battalions of armed fighters, suggesting it wants to maintain influence in the territory despite Israeli and American opposition.

The proposal from the two officials falls well short of the full disarmament and demilitarization of Gaza — a core demand by Israel and a pillar of Mr. Trump’s peace plan for the territory. That plan would also remove Hamas from power and bar it from any role in governing.

Asked whether the committee would also be able to confiscate weapons belonging to Hamas’s military wing, the two officials did not provide a clear answer.

This is not nearly a “disarmament,” and Hamas remains firmly in command of southern Gaza. And it has expanded its influence into areas supposedly controlled by the Palestinian Authority, namely the West Bank. Remember that among all Palestinians, Hamas is far more popular than is the PA, which is one reason Israel is worried about the West Bank. If that area becomes a Hamas-run enclave, then we have another terrorist Gaza situation, but one embedded within Israeli territory.

*And another mass killing, this one especially bad because a man killed seven of his own children, and one not his own before he died in a shootout with the cops (it’s not clear whether he killed himself:

Eight children ranging in age from 1 to about 14 were killed here Sunday in a shooting that police described as a domestic disturbance. It was the deadliest mass killing in the United States in two years, data shows.

A spokesman for the Shreveport police, Chris Bordelon, told reporters Sunday that seven of the children were believed to be “descendants of the gunman” and that two other victims survived. “This is an extensive scene unlike anything most of us have ever seen,” Bordelon said.

Later Sunday, police identified the gunman as Shamar Elkins. Public records show that Elkins was a 31-year-old Shreveport resident. Elkins served in the Louisiana Army National Guard from August 2013 to August 2020, according to an Army statement. He did not deploy while with the National Guard and left the Army as a private, an entry-level rank.

Elkins’s brother-in-law, Troy Brown, who lived with him, said Elkins’s wife had recently sought a divorce. Brown said Elkins acted normally on Saturday, the last time they saw each other, but had been distraught in a recent conversation about his marriage breaking up.

“After the first argument about the divorce, he acted like he was losing his mind,” Brown said late Sunday after leaving a Shreveport hospital where he had visited Elkins’s wife and two of his own family members who were injured in the shooting. “He was upset about it. I would talk to him and he would tell me, ‘Bro, I don’t want to lose my wife.’”

Police said the gunman stole a car after the shootings, leading to a police chase into neighboring Bossier City that ended with his death.Louisiana State Police are investigating Elkins’s killing.

A whole family and their futures wiped out.  Another day in America.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Szaron is playing Pinker, and Hili his critics:

Hili: I dream of the return of the past.
Szaron: I can smell the present.

In Polish:

Hili: Marzę o powrocie przeszłości.
Szaron: Czuję zapach czasu teraźniejszości.

*******************

From Stacy:

From The Dodo Pet:

From Masih: the regime killed an Iranian nurse who tried to help wounded protestors, and then tortured her husband, both psychologically and physically. He tried to kill himself:

From Luana; I haven’t checked whether this “miracle drug” is really a cure for cystic fibrosis. It does appear to produce amazing results in 90% of patients–the ones with the right mutations.

From Simon on the Strait of Hormuz:

From my feed: a nice man:

One I reposted from the Auschwitz Memorial:

. . . and one from Matthew. Translation:

A soft little chirp, a gentle glide,
through waves that stretch the bounds of yesterday.
One brown heartbeat, eleven tiny hearts—
how beautiful pure existence can be.

Ein leises Pieps, ein sanftes Gleiten,durch Wellen, die das Gestern weiten.Ein Herzschlag braun, elf Herzen klein –so schön kann pures Dasein sein. 🤗

— Ellen (@ellenisback.eurosky.social) 2026-04-19T18:06:23.223Z

Savannah, ducks, and turtles

April 19, 2026 • 8:30 am

Well, I got my tuches to Savannah at about noon yesterday, and it was already steaming hot.  Since our Air B&B didn’t open until 4 pm (why so late?), I had to cool my heels somewhere for a few hours, so I decided to visit the Telfair Museum (a trio of museums downtown), buy a pass, check my bags, get some food, and return for some art-gawking before making my way to the apartment (conveniently located in downtown Savannah).

I parked my luggage at the Jespson Museum, got a recommendation for lunch, and slowly ambled through the famous squares of downtown Savannah to the Little Duck Diner (!), which looks exactly like the picture at the link. It’s duck-themed and serves duck in various guises, but of course I eschewed the waterfowl dishes. Here’s how it looks from the outside:

A logo from the menu (artist unidentified).

The menu is here, and I asked the waiter for recommendations, which is how I came up with the avocado grilled cheese sandwich, with two types of cheese, bacon, avocado, and tomato.  I ordered iced tea, and was asked “plain or sweet?”. You know you’re in the South when they ask you that, and of course I got the sweet tea, which, as usual, was so sweet it was almost like liquid dessert. That’s how the “table wine of the South” is served. Lunch:

On my walk to the restaurant, I noticed a small hole-in-the-wall store that sold only cobblers and variations on banana pudding—two dessert specialities of the South—and stopped in to plug the dessert-shaped hole in my being.  Again, the place had a duck motif!

The place was The Peach Cobbler Factory, of which there are several branches After ascertaining that the Peach Cobbler was made from canned peaches (fresh fruits are out of season), I had the banana pudding instead. It was a generous portion of that Southern treat, embedded in which were two vanilla wafers (obligatory) and a huge hunk of red velvet cake. It was excellent, and filled the remaining lacuna in my stomach:

I passed this restaurant after lunch, which had a truly Southern seafood menu (click to enlarge). I must get shrimp and grits on this trip. And I would die for some boiled (green) peanuts, which are delicious and which I’ve had only in Georgia

Oy, was it hot! I ambled back to the Jepson Center (one of the trio of museums), where they featured the art of Ossabaw Island, one of the 100 or so Sea Islands near the coast of Georgia (Savannah’s on the ocean). Like most of these, Ossabaw is accessible only by ferry and guided tour.  I’m keen to visit Sapelo Island, the home of the last community of Gullah people, a group of black Southerners with their own language and distinctive culture.  (They were, of course, enslaved before and during the Civil War.) Here’s an example of the Gullah language, also called Geechee, a creole language that mixes English and African words:

The art was local, but I was most interested in two paintings by Kahlil Gibran, a Lebanese emigrant whom most of us geezers know as a mystic and author of The Prophet (1923), a collection of quasi-mystical fables that many hippies and New Agers revered as “wisdom”. It was immensely popular and has been translated into many languages, but I wouldn’t recommend reading it.

I was surprised to learn that Gibran actually regarded himself more as an artist than a writer, and two of his paintings were at the museum. The first is a self portrait, which I photographed. The details of the painting are in the second photo below:

And a portrait of Gibran’s mother. The guy was a pretty good painter!

An artist from Ossabaw island painting in the Museum and photographed from above:

I might as well put up some photos from Botany Pond, as the ducklings will have hatched when I return (I timed this trip badly, but had no idea that Vashti would be nesting now).  The eggs should hatch today or tomorrow, and apparently one was rejected from the nest, as it was found below it but some distance from the ledge.

First, turtles. I’ve now seen all five, so they survived the winter, and they love to bask on the rocks. I believe that there is one yellow-bellied slider (Trachemys scripta scripta) and two red-eared sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans; they are subspecies) in the photo below.

We call this “turtle yoga”:

Nuzzling:

The pair of wood ducks (Aix sponsa) are there nearly every day, but they really should be mating and nesting. We have no tree holes at the pond (a sine qua non for this species to breed), so I have no idea what they’re doing. They are gorgeous, though.

The male (I haven’t named either one):

And the female:

Finally, Vashti on her nest. I’m worried that when the ducklings hatch, they and Vashti will be assaulted by the undocumented drakes who visit the pond. It’s probably good that I’m gone, as I’d be beside myself with anxiety. I have two very reliable associates who are taking care of the waterfowl in my absence.

Note that the nest is lined with soft feathers that she plucked from her breast.

(Armon is still here, ineffectually trying to drive away interloper drakes.)

A close up. Vashti is immobile when on the nest, so I can get quite close to her, but do so only to ensure that she’s still there (she’s hard to see):

On to more adventures in Savannah. Stay tuned.

Sunday: Hili dialogue

April 19, 2026 • 6:45 am

Welcome to the Sabbath that was made for goyische cats: Sunday, April 19, 2020, and Rice Ball Day.  Here’s my favorite kind of rice ball:  zongzi, rice wrapped around a savory or sweet filling and steamed in bamboo leaves. Here’s one unwrapped and one still in the bamboo leaves. It looks as though it’s filled with red beans.

Allentchang, Allen Timothy Chang {{GFDL}}, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

It’s also Bicycle Day, National Amaretto Day, National Chicken Parmesan Day, and National Garlic Day.

I am now in Savannah, Gerogia for some R&R. Food reportage in the offing but Hili is truncated today. And oy, is it hot! Temperature predicted to reach 89° F (32° C) tomorrow.

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the April 19 Wikipedia page.

Oh, and there’s a Google Doodle for the NBA playoffs; click to see where it goes. Basketball in April! This conforms to Coyne’s Sports Theory: “All major sports—baseball, football, basketball and hockey—will eventually be played at one time, as their seasons will overlap.”

Da Nooz:

*Well, the Strait of Hormuz is closed again, at least according to Iran:

Iran said Saturday that it had reasserted control over the Strait of Hormuz because the United States was maintaining a naval blockade, just hours after Iranian officials and President Trump had said that the critical waterway was open, raising hopes for an end to the six-week war.

The announcement added more confusion to the status of transit through the strait, where Iran had choked global energy supplies by menacing nearby ships during the war with the United States and Israel. Iran’s military, in a statement carried by government media, said it was now “under strict control” unless the United States ended its own blockade of Iranian ports.

A day earlier, Iran’s foreign minister called the strait “completely open.” At the same time, however, Iranian officials had insisted ships would still need Iranian permission and must travel an Iranian-designated route.

Nonetheless, Mr. Trump framed the Iranian announcement as a breakthrough and presented the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran as all but concluded. He immediately added, however, that the American naval blockade of Iran’s ports would remain in place until a deal was reached to end the war.

The president has often made overly optimistic claims about the war, which began in late February. Although Mr. Trump expressed confidence late Friday about the negotiations with Iran that he said would be happening over the weekend, no new face-to-face talks were announced as of Saturday morning.

Mr. Trump also claimed in a phone interview with CBS that Iran had “agreed to everything.” But Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, quickly denied Iran had agreed to any of their adversaries’ core demands.

And Iran fired on two Indian ships:

On Saturday, India summoned the Iranian ambassador about what it called “a serious incident” involving two Indian-flagged ships that were fired on. TankerTrackers.com, a company that monitors oil shipments, said two Indian-flagged vessels sailing through the strait had turned around.

A shipping monitor run by the British Navy, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, said it had received a report that one tanker had come under fire from two Iranian gunships. Another vessel, a container ship, was hit by an “unknown projectile,” it said.

The gratuitous Trump-dissing is par for the course at the NYT, but they happen to be right. The most egregious lie from the “President” is his claim that Iran really has undergone regime change, implying that the government could be taken over by the people and turned into a modern democracy.  Ain’t gonna happen,

*The latest from the WSJ is that the U.S. Navy is preparing to board ships going to or coming from Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, and seize the commercial ships.  And apparently those ships can be boarded anywhere in the world!

The U.S. military is preparing in coming days to board Iran-linked oil tankers and seize commercial ships in international waters, according to U.S. officials, expanding its naval crackdown beyond the Middle East.

The planning comes as the Iranian military continues to tighten its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, attacking several commercial vessels on Saturday as it declared the waterway was being “strictly controlled” by Iran. The developments sent shipping companies scrambling a day after Iran’s foreign minister said the strait was fully open to commercial traffic—an announcement that was welcomed by President Trump.

The Trump administration’s decision to step up the economic pressure on Tehran is intended to force the regime to re-open the strait and make concessions on its nuclear program, which has been the focus of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.

Trump said Friday that Iran has already agreed to hand over its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to the U.S., though Iran has rejected that claim. Also at stake is how long Iran might agree to forgo enriching uranium and whether Tehran would receive billions of dollars in frozen funds from foreign countries as part of a deal.

The U.S. has already turned back 23 ships that have sought to leave Iranian ports as part of a naval blockade of Iranian ports, according to U.S. Central Command. The broadening of the campaign will enable the U.S. to take control of Iran-linked vessels around the world, including ships carrying Iranian oil that are already sailing outside the Persian Gulf and those carrying arms that could support the Iranian regime.

Whether this will precipitate more violence in the war is unclear. I’m still worried that Trump is now backing off, and won’t insist that Iran completely abandon its mission to produce nuclear weapons.  That prohibition was declared Goal #! in the Iran campaign, at least in Trump’s initial announcement.

*I didn’t know that this series was running at the NYT, but apparently each month they give you links to five good movies you can watch for free.  Here are the latest five (with links): films that will discomfit you:

Safe (1995). Stream it on Tubi.

Are you allergic to the 20th century? Suffering and lost, Carol (Julianne Moore), a housewife from the San Fernando Valley, takes the flier bearing this message that she hopes will lead her to a solution about the mysterious physical maladies plaguing her. But ultimately, this is an omen for the century to come, for our pervasive sense of unease and overload in times that leaves you alienated at best, and perhaps genuinely sick at worst.

In Todd Haynes’s haunting masterwork, we follow Carol, struggling with an onset of various medical illnesses, as she goes down a rabbit hole to find answers. Decades later, a question still stirs fans: Is Carol actually sick?

The Parallax View (1974) Stream it on PlutoTV.

A cheerleader, a barn, naked bodies, Hitler. Connect those images as you see fit — that’s the ominous montage flashing before Joseph Frady (Warren Beatty), a kind of psychological test, in this searing scene from Pakula’s film.

During this sequence, Frady, the cowboy journalist investigating a mysterious string of murders following a political assassination, has perhaps reached some inner sanctum. And yet, the quietly devastating revelation of “Parallax” is that there really isn’t one. When he follows the trail of the group’s latest violent conspiracy, he is only met by more shadows and the barrel of a gun at the end of a dark tunnel.

The Conversation (1974). Stream it on YouTube.

Coppola wrote the script before Watergate, but this is a defining work of the paranoid reality the scandal opened our eyes to, one in which you never know who’s listening and what’s operating in the dark. In the film, Harry (Gene Hackman) is an expert audio bugger who slowly spirals after believing he’s learned of a murder plot in a conversation he’s been hired to record.

Even if you already know where the movie goes, what makes it spellbinding each time is its profound sense of melancholy in observing Harry’s solitary life. When you know that anyone might be watching or listening, it’s only logical to not only accept but insist that it’s better if we’re all alone in this world.

Blow Out (1981). Stream it on Tubi.

“Nobody wants to know about conspiracy, I don’t get it!” says Jack Terry (John Travolta) in Brian De Palma’s spiraling stunner. After inadvertently recording the audio to a car crash that kills an American governor and presidential hopeful, Jack begins to suspect foul play. A sound man for B-movies, he uses his footage to meticulously reconstruct the sequence of events, like a filmmaker mapping out the montage to a murder scene.

But is anyone paying attention? As Jack’s rabbit hole leads him to the film’s thrilling climax at a patriotic Philadelphia parade, full of stars and stripes, he’s the only one attuned to the possibility of sinister agents — everyone else is too busy marveling at the fireworks.

The Assistant (2019), Stream it on Tubi.

For both how harrowing and humdrum Kitty Green’s film is, it stands as one of the best works to speak to the #MeToo era. As we follow Jane (Julia Garner), an assistant to a production executive, across one single day in the office, we observe the small signs that begin to tell her of the routine sexual harassment that happens behind closed doors.

We never see what really happens or who her boss is, but instead how the casually manipulative and misogynistic rhythms of the corporate setting make these dark realities just part of the furniture of a workplace. The more Jane reacts, the more she’s glaringly out of step with the program. Green is intentional about the film’s structure, never really moving the story into a climax or reveal — the insidious mundanity of it all is what is most horrifying.

I’ve seen only “The Conversation,” but it’s a fantastic movie.

*Tabloid item! Who remembers Kyrsten Sinema, the renegade Senator who didn’t run again and has dropped out of sight? The Wall Street Journal reports that she likely had an affair with her married security guard, and the guard’s wife is suing Sinema not for adultery, but for “homewrecking.”

In October 2024, Heather Ammel found a message from another woman on her husband’s phone. “I miss you. Putting my hand on your heart. I’ll see you soon,” it said.

Ammel decided to write back: “Are you having an affair with my husband?” she texted from her spouse’s phone. “You took a married man away from his family.”

Then Ammel took a surprising step: She sued—not her cheating husband, but the woman who was having a romantic relationship with him. This was Kyrsten Sinema, the former U.S. senator from Arizona. Ammel’s husband, Matthew Ammel, was employed as a security guard for Sinema at the time.

North Carolina, where the Ammels lived, is one of just a handful of states with a “homewrecker law” that allows a jilted spouse to sue a third party for damages for a marital breakup. And it isn’t just illicit lovers who might find themselves in the crosshairs. Meddling in-laws, persuasive friends, even a therapist or clergy member are all fair game.

To win an “alienation of affection” claim, as it is known legally, a plaintiff must prove three points: that there was genuine “love and affection” between the spouses before the third party intervened. That this love and affection was alienated and destroyed. And that the defendant’s “malicious acts” caused the loss of affection.

. . .Notably, plaintiffs don’t have to prove that adultery was involved, as the alienation-of-affection claim covers emotional persuasion. A sexual affair is covered by another homewrecker charge—called “criminal conversation”—that many spurned spouses file simultaneously.

While proponents of these cases say that they support and strengthen marriage—serving as a deterrent for bad behavior—most states have scrapped them as relics of a distant past.

A few other states have such laws, but they’re not as “aggressive” as North Carolina, which once awarded a wife who sued her husband’s mistress $30 million.  I wondered what Sinema had been up to since she left the Senate. And do you think that the mistress should be the one to be sued? I guess a wife can’t get monetary damages from suing her husband; most states have “no fault” divorce laws in which the cheated-upon spouse gets no extra assets because of the adultery,

*The news is thin as the Middle East wars in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran are in a pause.  So let’s look at an item just auctioned for nearly a million dollars: a lifejacket worn by a woman who got off the sinking Titanic in a lifeboat.

 A life jacket worn by a passenger on RMS Titanic as she escaped the sinking steamship on a lifeboat sold at auction on Saturday for 670,00 pounds ($906,000).

The flotation device was worn by Laura Mabel Francatelli, a first-class passenger on the doomed ocean liner, and is signed by her and other survivors from the same lifeboat.

It was the star among items in a sale of Titanic memorabilia by Henry Aldridge & Son auctioneers in Devizes, western England, and sold to an unidentified telephone bidder for well over the presale estimate of between 250,000 and 350,000 pounds.

A seat cushion from one of the Titanic lifeboats sold at the same auction for 390,000 pounds ($527,000) to the owners of two Titanic museums in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and Branson, Missouri.

The prices include an auction-house fee known as the buyer’s premium.

“These record-breaking prices illustrate the continuing interest in the Titanic story, and the respect for the passengers and crew whose stories are immortalized by these items of memorabilia,” auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said.

A short video:

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is licking her chops

Hili: What a beautiful little bird.
Andrzej: I’m afraid you’re hiding your true thoughts.

In Polish:

Hili: Jaki piękny ptaszek.
Ja: Obawiam się, że ukrywasz swoje prawdziwe myśli.

*******************

From America’s Cultural Decline into Idiocy:

From Now That’s Wild:

From Jesus of the Day:

Masih reminds us not to forget the executed protestors of Iran:

From Simon; the Strait of Hormuz, rated:

From Luana, who is particularly interested in “Fat Studies” these days as its proponents often tell outright lies:

From Malcolm; cats that have grown up with d*gs:

One from my feed; don’t mess with ‘roos! (Sound up.)

And one I reposted ffrom The Auschwitz Memorial:

One from Dr. Cobb, sent with a frown emoticon:

The Pompei galleries in the Naples Archaeological Museum are endless, amazing and also so sad. Here’s Terentius Neo the Baker and his wife looking intellectual. You hope they got out, or simply weren’t there that terrible day.

— Matthew Cobb (@matthewcobb.bsky.social) 2026-04-18T09:07:07.546Z

Saturday: Hili dialogue

April 18, 2026 • 6:45 am

Welcome to CaturSaturday, April 18, 2026. It’s shabbos for Jewish cats, and here is an Orthodox Jewish cat from ChatGPT:

It’s also National Animal Crackers Day and Piñata Day.  The original animal crackers, devised in 1902, are known as Barnum’s Animals, and Wikipedia notes this about them:

The number and variety contained in each box has varied over the years. In total, 53 different animals have been represented by animal crackers since 1902. In its current incarnation, each package contains 22 cookies consisting of a variety of animals. The most recent addition, the koala, was added in September 2002 after being chosen by consumer votes, beating out the penguin, walrus and cobra.

Here are some of them:

Baseball BugsUploaded by Baseball Bugs at en.wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

I am flying to Georgia for a week, and posting will be light until my return. Bear with me; I do my best.

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the April 18 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz:

*The latest war news from It’s Noon in Israel, called “Quiet in the Middle East.”

It’s Friday, April 17, and as of midnight, for the first time since Feburary 28 there is no fighting in the Middle East. While this 10-day ceasefire agreement ostensibly returns the northern front to a pre-Roaring Lion status quo—where Israel can routinely strike Hezbollah targets—it is decidedly not Jerusalem’s preferred outcome.

Nor is it the preference of the Israeli public: 61 percent oppose the current ceasefire deal according to a poll by the Institute for National Security Studies. But if U.S. public opinion wasn’t going to stop Trump, I doubt Israel’s will.

The ceasefire isn’t a sign of realignment, just different priorities and different timelines. The U.S. is looking to extract Iran’s nuclear materials, and Israel’s war in Lebanon was hindering that removal. But the ceasefire was only the first step in Trump’s plan.

The second is the White House meeting between Trump, Lebanese President Joseph Auon, and Netanyahu, expected next week. It is designed to project a united front and avoid unnecessary public escalation—a diplomatic optic Israel accepts as preferable, even as it resents the diversion from its own military objectives.

The third step is an American push to promote a broad political arrangement in Lebanon, an ambition Israel is deeply skeptical of, given Hezbollah’s continued dominance in the country. Furthermore, Hezbollah’s noted preference for maintaining a limited level of friction could preclude a return to full-scale conflict—provided it successfully keeps its provocations below Trump’s threshold of tolerance.

The fourth step involves stabilizing the arena through coordinated, extended ceasefires. Israel is especially unenthusiastic about this outcome. Jerusalem is functioning on a significantly more compressed timeline than Washington. Now that the Strait of Hormuz is at least partially reopened, the immediate pressure on the U.S. has abated somewhat. Meanwhile, the shadow of Hezbollah is still cast over Israel’s north. While Israeli society has miraculously rebounded to normalcy after the war, living for an extended period under the looming threat of escalation isn’t a condition any country accepts joyfully.

The two key questions right now are: What is the effect of the ceasefire in Tehran, and what is its effect in Beirut?

Regarding Iran, the assessment in Jerusalem is that Trump remains firm on the nuclear issue. The diplomatic gestures in the Lebanese arena are intended to clear the board—creating the space for the U.S. to focus less on fielding Iranian complaints over Lebanon, and more on hammering Tehran into surrendering its nuclear program.

In Lebanon, meanwhile, IDF forces remain in place. The immediate question is whether the ceasefire will be extended to maintain the current holding pattern, whether renewed escalation will necessitate further military action, or whether advancing diplomatic talks will require an eventual IDF withdrawal.

Ultimately, the question of whether this ceasefire was worth it can only be answered in Islamabad. If negotiations there are successful and the regime is effectively neutered, Lebanon will have been a small price to pay.

Amit Segal is being optimistic here. What are the chances that the reimg is “effectively neutered.”  It angers me when Trump keeps proclaiming that there’s been “real regime change” in Iran.

*Trump’s Arch de Triomphe—or should I say “Arch of Trump”—was given preliminary approval yesterday by a panel comprising mostly sycophants appointed by Trump. The 250-foot structure, higher than the Lincoln Memorial nearby, will sit on an island in the Potomac River. But it’s not certain that it will be built.

A fine arts commission gave preliminary approval to President Trump’s plans for a triumphal arch in Washington, but the panel’s vice chairman suggested significant changes, including losing the statues of golden eagles and a winged angel atop the structure that account for a third of its height.

The Commission of Fine Arts, which is filled with Mr. Trump’s appointees, has an advisory role on the design of the project, but no enforcement power. It asked the administration to return with updated drawings before a final vote on the project.

The outcome reflected the tension at the heart of Mr. Trump’s efforts to leave his imprint on the architecture of Washington. Even as the president has sought to defang the entities that might normally stand in the way of his plans, the sheer scale and lack of consultation on his designs have fueled intense public resistance.

James C. McCrery II, the vice chairman of the panel who was also the original architect for Mr. Trump’s $400 million ballroom, took issue with the statues at the top of the 250-foot arch. Removing the statues would decrease its size considerably, to about 166 feet.

“I wonder if you need those up there,” Mr. McCrery asked, suggesting it might be “even a better, more Washingtonian design” without the statues.

Mr. McCrery, who while working on the ballroom project objected to its ballooning size, also asked for the replacement of the statues of gold lions included lower down on the arch.

“Work on the lions and find replacements for them,” he said. “As I said earlier, they’re not of this continent. They’re noble, they’re courageous, and they’re strong. They’re all those things. But maybe there are alternatives.”

He also raised concerns about a 250-foot tunnel that architects have planned to build underneath the arch as a path for visitors to cross under the busy roundabout. Mr. McCrery described it as “less than ideal” and a “security risk.

Before the vote, Thomas Luebke, the panel’s secretary, informed members that they had received a deluge of nearly 1,000 messages from the public: “One hundred percent of the comments were against the project,” he said.

Here’s who has to approve it further:

Plans for the arch have yet to go before the National Capital Planning Commission, which reviews structural proposals around the National Mall and is also led by Trump allies. There is also the question of whether the administration will seek congressional approval.

A group of Vietnam War veterans has sued to stop construction, citing a lack of congressional authority and arguing that the arch would obstruct the view between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.

The plaintiffs maintain that Mr. Trump cannot build it without the authorization of Congress. They cite the Commemorative Works Act of 1986, which details a multistep process for authorizing and designing commemorative works in the District of Columbia and says any such work must be “specifically authorized” by Congress.

Here’s spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, who can’t pronounce “arch”, nor has the ability to hold the picture right-side-up, announcing the monstrosity at a press conference:

*Ethan Norton, a senior at Wesleyan University, has written an op-ed at the Washington Post that is guaranteed to get me clicking: “Why Democrats are failing to reach young voters like me.”  It’s that the Dems can’t produce clickbait!

Arguing over party strategy and leadership in debates that raged even after replacing Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison.

That diagnosis overlooks the real problem: It’s not just what they’re up against, but how they’re communicating. Crying “constitutional crisis” won’t win votes — it’s hardly enough to get likes.

In the digital age, attention is earned, not assumed. In 2025, Media Matters reported that right-leaning digital programs commanded audiences nearly five times the size of those on the left — a disparity amplified by placement on social media. As MS NOW host Chris Hayes puts it, “if you can’t be heard, it doesn’t matter what you say.”

I know from experience. I study film and digital media, and as a young voter, I’ve scrolled past lifeless Democratic content, noticing how much more engaging posts from conservatives feel. It’s like eyeing your dinner companion’s unhealthy meal — you know it’s not good for you, but it looks so much better than what’s on your plate.

Friends who claim they don’t care about politics consume right-leaning media largely because it’s funnier and easier to share, such as the stand-up series Kill Tony — one of 80 right-leaning programs identified by Media Matters that are categorized as “comedy, entertainment, sports, or other supposedly nonpolitical topics.”

. . .Some Democrats understand how to capitalize on social media. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s vertical shorts propelled him into office. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) answers questions from followers on Instagram. Even Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) — hardly a digital native — shows up daily with YouTube videos, Instagram clips and shareable quotes.

Contrast that with Vice President Kamala Harris missing a chance to appear on Joe Rogan’s podcast in 2024. Some saw it as a tacit surrender, leaving a huge swath of the electorate untouched. This episode also underscores a misunderstanding of the attention economy.

Yes, but I loved watching Kamala Harris because she’s just completely out of it, and I guess she’s been that way since she fell out of a coconut tree.

Like everyone else, young voters are looking for authenticity. And right now, that boils down to one question: Does this person understand how to reach me?

Too often, the answer from Democrats is no.

Conservatives do not have an ideological grip on young people. They just have our time and attention.

So get creative.

Stop obsessing over what the message is, and focus on how it’s being delivered.

Yep, the medium is the message, and to hell with substantive content. Gen Z has spoken: put candidates on Joe Rogan’s show. (That’s not a bad idea, actually.)

*As always, I’ll steal three items from Nellie Bowles’s weekly news-and-snark column in the Free Press, called this week, “TGIF: The Luddite Party.”

→ NYC’s new government grocery stores: New York mayor Mamdani announced the first site identified for a city-owned grocery store. It shall be in an East Harlem marketplace called La Marqueta. Cute! It’s opening in 2029. The city will spend $30 million on the store.

In his 100 Day Address, the mayor said: “Some will insist that city-owned businesses do not work, that government cannot keep up with corporations. My answer to them is simple: I look forward to the competition. May the most affordable grocery store win.”

So, lemme get this straight: The La Marqueta store will pay no rent. It will pay no real estate taxes. And the city is putting $30 million into developing it. Totally fair and normal competition going on, nothing to see here. I’m so curious which will be cheaper, the stores that have to pay rent and property taxes—or the one that doesn’t!

→ A mystery that will never be solved: After affirmative action was banned and universities had to start judging kids on test scores and grades again, something strange happened at Johns Hopkins.

→ Quote of the week: “I was standing in front of my parked car on I-684 cutting the penis out of a road killed raccoon, thinking about how weird some of my family members have turned out to be. . . . My kids waited patiently in the car.” Who else could it be? It’s Robert F. Kennedy Jr. For those of you who might be freaked out by the admission, don’t worry. Bobby was cutting off the genitals of a dead raccoon apparently to “study them later.” It was research, heard of it? He’s a budding zoologist. It’s called primary sources. Onward.

*I found this video about Steinway Tower, the world’s thinnest skyscraper completed in 2022 in New York City. But nobody wants to live there! The 12.5-minute video below tells you why. I sure wouldn’t live there, even if I did have the dosh!  There are 59 luxury residential units in the building, and many are unoccupied. As Wikipedia says,

The tower’s early condominium owners included the government of Canada (which bought an apartment for its consul general) and the developer Christian Candy. Sotheby’s International Realty took over as the building’s condominium sales agent in July 2024, and Bonhams auction house leased the former piano showroom that September. The building had 10 unsold apartments by April 2025, and two of the original condo owners were recorded as having sold their apartments by August.

It’s all about construction and wind and I sure as hell wouldn’t want to live on the top floors, where swaying is intense.

 

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is peeved:

Hili: It’s not easy to preserve dignity when you feel like biting someone.
Andrzej: Amen to that.

In Polish:

Hili: Trudno zachować godność, kiedy ma się ochotę kogoś ugryźć.
Ja: Święte słowa.

*******************

From The Language Nerds:

From Meow, Incorporated:

From The 2025 Darw2in Awards!!!/Epic Fails!!!:

Masih is quiet, but the #10 cat makes a double entendre:

*From Luana, the fraught field of fat studies, many of whose activists insist that obesity does not produce morbidity.

From Ginger K., a civil discussion between a gender activist and Alex Stein, apparently a professional comedian.  There’s some conflation between sex and gender.

From Malcolm, a cat doctor. Seems dubious to me, but I do like cats making biscuits.

One from my feed.  That’s one freaked-out kestrel!

One I reposted from The Auschwitz Memorial:

And two from Dr. Cobb, soon to go to Chile. First, hammer-headed flies (the males are the ones with the long heads). Males in other but similar species butt heads as a way of sizing each other up:

And Matthew recommends this 5½-minute video as a good explanation of the expanding Universe: