Say goodbye to 2025 and hello to 2026. I hope you have an excellent holiday weekend and a Happy New Year. I'll be back on Monday, see you next year.
"For 2026, I wish you a year of 'enough': enough challenges to keep you strong, enough success to keep you inspired, and enough peace to keep you whole."
Wednesday, December 31, 2025
Phenotypic Plasticity
From AI Gemini:
Phenotypic Plasticity Defined
Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of a single genotype to produce multiple phenotypes (observable traits) when exposed to different environmental conditions.
Key Points
- It's an organism's capacity to change its characteristics (morphology, physiology, behavior, etc.) without a change in its underlying genetic code.
- A common example is the difference in leaf shape on the same plant depending on whether the leaves grow underwater or in the air.
Tuesday, December 30, 2025
Dickinson
'Beauty Is Not Caused' by Emily Dickinson 1830–1886
Beauty is not caused,
It is.
Chase it and it ceases.
Chase it not and it abides.
Overtake the creases
In the meadow when
The Wind
Runs his fingers thro’ it?
Deity will see to it
That you never do it.
Beauty is not caused,
It is.
Chase it and it ceases.
Chase it not and it abides.
Overtake the creases
In the meadow when
The Wind
Runs his fingers thro’ it?
Deity will see to it
That you never do it.
Retro
"Retrocausality is the idea that future events can influence past events, effectively meaning an effect can precede its cause, challenging our linear view of time. While a staple of science fiction, this concept appears in physics, particularly quantum mechanics, where interpretations suggest that measurements made now could retroactively determine the past behavior of particles, challenging classical causality but not necessarily violating relativity."
Monday, December 29, 2025
Wednesday, December 24, 2025
Cooper Flagg - 33 Pts, 9 Reb, 9 Ast Vs. Denver Nuggets - December 23, 2025
A superstar is born. He just turned 19, can you imagine 19.
Tuesday, December 23, 2025
Purpose
"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well." Ralph Waldo Emerson or possibly Leo Rosten or Thomas Carlyle, in other words, it's not clear who wrote it.
Baldwin
"Please try to remember that what they believe, as well as what they do and cause you to endure, does not testify to your inferiority, but to their inhumanity and fear." James Baldwin
Monday, December 22, 2025
Data
From AI Gemini:
The most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that excessive alcohol use is responsible for about 178,000 deaths in the United States each year, based on the average annual number of deaths during 2020–2021.
This significant figure includes deaths from both:
Chronic Conditions: Around two-thirds of these deaths are due to conditions that develop over time from drinking, such as liver disease, heart disease, certain cancers, and alcohol use disorder.
Acute Causes: The remaining one-third are from acute events, such as motor vehicle crashes, alcohol poisoning, and deaths by suicide where alcohol was a factor.
The CDC also notes that this number represents a notable increase (approximately 29%) compared to the 2016–2017 period.
The most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that excessive alcohol use is responsible for about 178,000 deaths in the United States each year, based on the average annual number of deaths during 2020–2021.
This significant figure includes deaths from both:
Chronic Conditions: Around two-thirds of these deaths are due to conditions that develop over time from drinking, such as liver disease, heart disease, certain cancers, and alcohol use disorder.
Acute Causes: The remaining one-third are from acute events, such as motor vehicle crashes, alcohol poisoning, and deaths by suicide where alcohol was a factor.
The CDC also notes that this number represents a notable increase (approximately 29%) compared to the 2016–2017 period.
Friday, December 19, 2025
Browning
How Do I Love Thee? by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
Dawkins
Just to be clear, I'm posting this not necessarily because I believe it or support it, but because it interests me. To me, faith should arise out of careful examination, evaluation, and evidence. Perhaps he's referring to accepting faith out of fear or societal and familial pressure.
"Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence."
"Faith is belief without evidence and reason; coincidentally that's also the definition of delusion."
Richard Dawkins
Thursday, December 18, 2025
Wednesday, December 17, 2025
Friedman
Night Before by Nicholas Friedman
A gaunt star leans out from the crown,
and along the skirt, a practiced randomness
of gifts grows like a moraine.
It bulges to excess
as we stack the rest. Our boy’s in bed.
Tapers stretch their resinous
legs on the tablecloth in deepening red.
And when he wakes, as he must,
to miracle, I’ll think of Herod
while he scours the many with a lust
for more. How some are taken.
How even he is just a guest.
A gaunt star leans out from the crown,
and along the skirt, a practiced randomness
of gifts grows like a moraine.
It bulges to excess
as we stack the rest. Our boy’s in bed.
Tapers stretch their resinous
legs on the tablecloth in deepening red.
And when he wakes, as he must,
to miracle, I’ll think of Herod
while he scours the many with a lust
for more. How some are taken.
How even he is just a guest.
Tuesday, December 16, 2025
18-Year-Old Cooper Flagg Makes NBA History With 42 Points December 15, 2025
This kid is one of the best I've ever seen.
Venom
From AI Gemini:
Research, primarily in laboratory and animal studies, has shown that honey bee venom and its main active component, a peptide called melittin, can effectively destroy breast cancer cells, particularly aggressive types like triple-negative and HER2-enriched breast cancer.
Research, primarily in laboratory and animal studies, has shown that honey bee venom and its main active component, a peptide called melittin, can effectively destroy breast cancer cells, particularly aggressive types like triple-negative and HER2-enriched breast cancer.
Food
From AI Gemini:
The Contradiction of Waste and Need
The severe imbalance in the U.S. food supply system:
Food Waste: It is widely estimated by the USDA, EPA, and other organizations that 30–40% of the food supply in the U.S. is lost or wasted, from farms up through retail and consumer levels. The 40% figure is a commonly cited high-end estimate. This massive amount of waste represents a significant loss of resources and contributes to environmental issues.
Food Insecurity: Estimates for the number of Americans who are food insecure—meaning they do not always have enough food to eat—are often around the 47 million mark, based on data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and organizations like Feeding America. This figure can fluctuate annually, but it consistently demonstrates a massive need.
The core message of "massive waste on one side, enormous need on the other" is a widely recognized and well-documented paradox of the modern food system in the United States.
Key Statistics on the Issue
Food Loss and Waste
The 30–40% waste figure amounts to billions of pounds of food each year, and the financial cost is estimated to be over $200 billion annually. Waste occurs across the supply chain:
Consumer Homes: A large portion of food waste happens at the household level due to spoilage, over-purchasing, and confusion over date labels.
Retail: Grocery stores waste food due to high aesthetic standards for produce and overstocking.
Farms: Crops are often left unharvested due to low market prices or failure to meet strict cosmetic standards.
Food Insecurity
The 47 million number represents people living in food-insecure households who lack consistent access to an affordable, nutritious diet.
Disproportionate Impact: Food insecurity disproportionately affects certain populations, including households with children, single-parent households, and communities of color.
Root Causes: The primary causes of food insecurity are typically economic, such as poverty, unemployment, high cost of living, and low wages, rather than a lack of total food supply.
The Contradiction of Waste and Need
The severe imbalance in the U.S. food supply system:
Food Waste: It is widely estimated by the USDA, EPA, and other organizations that 30–40% of the food supply in the U.S. is lost or wasted, from farms up through retail and consumer levels. The 40% figure is a commonly cited high-end estimate. This massive amount of waste represents a significant loss of resources and contributes to environmental issues.
Food Insecurity: Estimates for the number of Americans who are food insecure—meaning they do not always have enough food to eat—are often around the 47 million mark, based on data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and organizations like Feeding America. This figure can fluctuate annually, but it consistently demonstrates a massive need.
The core message of "massive waste on one side, enormous need on the other" is a widely recognized and well-documented paradox of the modern food system in the United States.
Key Statistics on the Issue
Food Loss and Waste
The 30–40% waste figure amounts to billions of pounds of food each year, and the financial cost is estimated to be over $200 billion annually. Waste occurs across the supply chain:
Consumer Homes: A large portion of food waste happens at the household level due to spoilage, over-purchasing, and confusion over date labels.
Retail: Grocery stores waste food due to high aesthetic standards for produce and overstocking.
Farms: Crops are often left unharvested due to low market prices or failure to meet strict cosmetic standards.
Food Insecurity
The 47 million number represents people living in food-insecure households who lack consistent access to an affordable, nutritious diet.
Disproportionate Impact: Food insecurity disproportionately affects certain populations, including households with children, single-parent households, and communities of color.
Root Causes: The primary causes of food insecurity are typically economic, such as poverty, unemployment, high cost of living, and low wages, rather than a lack of total food supply.
Gyaru
File this under subcultures.
"Gyaru girls are part of a Japanese fashion subculture characterized by bold makeup, dyed hair, and trendy, often revealing clothing, which challenges traditional beauty standards in Japan. This subculture emerged in the 1990s as a form of rebellion against societal norms, promoting a cheerful and outgoing lifestyle."
photo from Wikipedia Commons
Monday, December 15, 2025
Bukowski
"We're all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn't. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing." Charles Bukowski
Friday, December 12, 2025
Frost
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
Robert Frost
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
Robert Frost
Thursday, December 11, 2025
Wolves
From AI Gemini:
Wolves and humans share striking similarities in their social behavior, which is largely rooted in their evolution as cooperative, hypercursorial (long-distance) hunters living in complex family groups.
Shared Social Behaviors
The social structures and mentalities of wolves and humans share several key parallels:
- Cooperative Group Living: Both species thrive in cooperative family units (wolf packs and human clans/families). Survival, especially in hunting and defense, is dependent on group effort.
- Parental and Alloparental Care: Wolves and humans actively care for and protect their young, with multiple pack or group members (siblings, aunts, uncles) often helping to nurture and educate the offspring.
- Complex Communication: Both species use sophisticated methods for communication within their social groups, including vocalizations, body language, facial expressions, and scent (in wolves) to convey emotions, intent, and coordinate activities.
- Emotional Depth: Wolves exhibit complex emotions, including loyalty, friendship, camaraderie, and mourning when a pack member is lost, traits that resonate with human emotional experiences.
- Social Hierarchy and Order: Wolf packs have a structured social hierarchy, primarily based on the relationship between the parents (the breeding pair) and their offspring. This family structure provides order, stability, and facilitates the division of labor. Similarly, human groups, even small ones, have established social roles and authority structures.
- Conflict Resolution: Wolves employ post-conflict maneuvers like nose-touching and licking to reconcile after a dispute, which restores relationships and reduces group tension, similar to "kiss and make up" behaviors in humans.
- Attachment and Bonding: Studies have shown that even hand-raised wolves can develop attachment behaviors toward familiar humans, suggesting the capacity for forming deep social bonds was present in the wolf ancestors that gave rise to dogs.
The close ecological and social match between ancestral humans and wolves is believed to have facilitated the partnership that led to the domestication of the dog, which fine-tuned these shared social traits even further.
Comparison with Other Species
While the statement claims wolves are the most similar, it's important to note that other highly social species like elephants, gorillas, and dolphins also share traits such as caring for young, group cohesion, and intelligence.
However, the specific combination of cooperative pack hunting, reliance on a family-based unit for survival and raising young, and the long-standing, mutually-beneficial evolutionary history with humans (through dog domestication) makes the wolf-human social parallel particularly strong and deeply studied.
Wolves and humans share striking similarities in their social behavior, which is largely rooted in their evolution as cooperative, hypercursorial (long-distance) hunters living in complex family groups.
Shared Social Behaviors
The social structures and mentalities of wolves and humans share several key parallels:
- Cooperative Group Living: Both species thrive in cooperative family units (wolf packs and human clans/families). Survival, especially in hunting and defense, is dependent on group effort.
- Parental and Alloparental Care: Wolves and humans actively care for and protect their young, with multiple pack or group members (siblings, aunts, uncles) often helping to nurture and educate the offspring.
- Complex Communication: Both species use sophisticated methods for communication within their social groups, including vocalizations, body language, facial expressions, and scent (in wolves) to convey emotions, intent, and coordinate activities.
- Emotional Depth: Wolves exhibit complex emotions, including loyalty, friendship, camaraderie, and mourning when a pack member is lost, traits that resonate with human emotional experiences.
- Social Hierarchy and Order: Wolf packs have a structured social hierarchy, primarily based on the relationship between the parents (the breeding pair) and their offspring. This family structure provides order, stability, and facilitates the division of labor. Similarly, human groups, even small ones, have established social roles and authority structures.
- Conflict Resolution: Wolves employ post-conflict maneuvers like nose-touching and licking to reconcile after a dispute, which restores relationships and reduces group tension, similar to "kiss and make up" behaviors in humans.
- Attachment and Bonding: Studies have shown that even hand-raised wolves can develop attachment behaviors toward familiar humans, suggesting the capacity for forming deep social bonds was present in the wolf ancestors that gave rise to dogs.
The close ecological and social match between ancestral humans and wolves is believed to have facilitated the partnership that led to the domestication of the dog, which fine-tuned these shared social traits even further.
Comparison with Other Species
While the statement claims wolves are the most similar, it's important to note that other highly social species like elephants, gorillas, and dolphins also share traits such as caring for young, group cohesion, and intelligence.
However, the specific combination of cooperative pack hunting, reliance on a family-based unit for survival and raising young, and the long-standing, mutually-beneficial evolutionary history with humans (through dog domestication) makes the wolf-human social parallel particularly strong and deeply studied.
Born
"The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: Now is the time of monsters."
Antonio Gramsci - Italian Marxist philosopher and political theorist
Second
From AI Gemini:
Globally, it's estimated that approximately 4 to 4.5 people are born and 1.8 to 2 people die every second.
This means that for every person who dies, roughly two to two and a half people are born, resulting in a net increase in the world's population each second.
Globally, it's estimated that approximately 4 to 4.5 people are born and 1.8 to 2 people die every second.
This means that for every person who dies, roughly two to two and a half people are born, resulting in a net increase in the world's population each second.
Elysia Chlorotica
"Elysia chlorotica, also known as the eastern emerald elysia, is a sea slug that can photosynthesize by incorporating chloroplasts from the algae it consumes. This unique ability allows it to convert sunlight into energy, similar to how plants do."
Photo from Wikipedia Commons
Wednesday, December 10, 2025
Moment
Walk and touch peace every moment.
Walk and touch happiness every moment.
Each step brings a fresh breeze.
Each step makes a flower bloom.
Kiss the Earth with your feet.
Bring the Earth your love and happiness.
The Earth will be safe
when we feel safe in ourselves.
Thich Nhat Hahn
Walk and touch happiness every moment.
Each step brings a fresh breeze.
Each step makes a flower bloom.
Kiss the Earth with your feet.
Bring the Earth your love and happiness.
The Earth will be safe
when we feel safe in ourselves.
Thich Nhat Hahn
1900
From AI Gemini:
Determining a single "average weekly income" for 1900 can be difficult because wages varied significantly by occupation, region, and gender, and official comprehensive data collection was less standardized than today.
However, based on historical estimates, here is a general range for an average working-class American:
Estimated Average Weekly Wage in 1900
Average Annual Wage (Manufacturing): The U.S. Census reported the average annual wage for all workers in manufacturing in 1900 was about $487.
Approximate Weekly Wage: Assuming a standard 6-day workweek, this equates to a weekly wage of approximately $9.37
Calculation: $487 per year / 52 weeks approx $ $9.37 per week.
Daily Wage: This also aligns with estimates that suggested a daily wage of around $1.50 for a 6-day week.
Specific Wages by Occupation and Industry
Wages for skilled and public-sector jobs were often significantly higher than those in manufacturing or unskilled labor.
Job Category (Approximate Weekly Wage) Annual Salary (1900)
Unskilled Laborer $600 Roughly $11.50 per week.
Manufacturing Worker $487 About $9.37 per week.
Female Factory Worker $295.44 About $5.68 per week, highlighting the significant gender wage gap.
Firefighter $840–$1,134 Roughly $16–$21.80 per week.
Patrolman (Police) $1,000 About $19.23 per week.
Skilled Trades (e.g., Bricklayer) Often paid by the hour, with a bricklayer earning 46-50 cents per hour. Assuming a 60-hour week (common at the time), this could be $27.60 - $30.00 per week.
Keep in mind that working conditions often involved long hours (54 to 60 hours per week was common, and some industries like steel mills were 7 days a week). Additionally, a worker's wage often had to support an entire family, and sometimes even children worked to supplement the income.
Clinomania
Clinomania - noun
Clinomania is defined it as excessive desire to remain in bed or called as morbid sleepiness.
Clinomania is defined it as excessive desire to remain in bed or called as morbid sleepiness.
Tuesday, December 09, 2025
Trübner
Wilhelm Trübner 1851–1917 - 'Dog with Plate of Sausages', also known as 'Caesar at the Rubicon' 1878
Monday, December 08, 2025
Einstein
"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly."
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Friday, December 05, 2025
Augury
augury - noun
- a sign of what might happen in the future: These sales figures are a good augury for another profitable year.
- the skill of knowing what will happen in the future: His remarkable recovery defied all medical augury.
- a sign of what might happen in the future: These sales figures are a good augury for another profitable year.
- the skill of knowing what will happen in the future: His remarkable recovery defied all medical augury.
Thursday, December 04, 2025
Jobsworth
jobsworth - noun
A petty official who insists on following trivial rules at the expense of common sense.
A petty official who insists on following trivial rules at the expense of common sense.
MRI-Guided Cryoablation
From AI Gemini:
MRI-guided cryoablation is a real and effective medical procedure!
Cryoablation is a minimally invasive treatment that uses extremely cold temperatures to freeze and destroy cancerous and other abnormal tissue.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is used to precisely guide and monitor the procedure:
Guidance: Doctors use the detailed, real-time images from the MRI to accurately guide thin needles (called cryoprobes) directly into the tumor.
Monitoring: The MRI can clearly visualize the "ice ball" that forms as the tumor freezes (it appears as a black area on the scan), allowing the doctor to monitor the extent of the freezing in real time. This ensures the entire tumor is destroyed while protecting nearby healthy tissue.
Key Facts about MRI-Guided Cryoablation
How it works: A very cold gas (like argon) is circulated through the cryoprobe, creating a zone of freezing (the ice ball) that kills the cancer cells.
Minimally Invasive: It is an outpatient or short-stay procedure and involves only a small puncture wound rather than open surgery. This often leads to a faster recovery and less pain.
Cancers Treated: It is used for various cancers, including those in the kidney, liver, lung, bone, prostate, and soft tissue, particularly when surgery is not an option or for smaller tumors.
While the concept of freezing tumors (cryoablation) has been around, the ability to use MRI for real-time, highly precise monitoring has been a significant advancement in making the treatment safer and more effective.
MRI-guided cryoablation is a real and effective medical procedure!
Cryoablation is a minimally invasive treatment that uses extremely cold temperatures to freeze and destroy cancerous and other abnormal tissue.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is used to precisely guide and monitor the procedure:
Guidance: Doctors use the detailed, real-time images from the MRI to accurately guide thin needles (called cryoprobes) directly into the tumor.
Monitoring: The MRI can clearly visualize the "ice ball" that forms as the tumor freezes (it appears as a black area on the scan), allowing the doctor to monitor the extent of the freezing in real time. This ensures the entire tumor is destroyed while protecting nearby healthy tissue.
Key Facts about MRI-Guided Cryoablation
How it works: A very cold gas (like argon) is circulated through the cryoprobe, creating a zone of freezing (the ice ball) that kills the cancer cells.
Minimally Invasive: It is an outpatient or short-stay procedure and involves only a small puncture wound rather than open surgery. This often leads to a faster recovery and less pain.
Cancers Treated: It is used for various cancers, including those in the kidney, liver, lung, bone, prostate, and soft tissue, particularly when surgery is not an option or for smaller tumors.
While the concept of freezing tumors (cryoablation) has been around, the ability to use MRI for real-time, highly precise monitoring has been a significant advancement in making the treatment safer and more effective.
Wednesday, December 03, 2025
Duras
"You have to be very fond of men. Very, very fond. You have to be very fond of them to love them. Otherwise they're simply unbearable." Marguerite Duras
The National - 'Graceless' At The 6 Music Festival
The National is in my opinion, the premier band of the last 20 years, give or take. They check too many of the right boxes.
Tuesday, December 02, 2025
Hugo
"You have enemies? Good. It means that you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life." Victor Hugo
Monday, December 01, 2025
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