Yesterday, I benched 185 lbs, a personal record. That’s two 45 pounders, two 25’s, two 10’s with a 25 pound bar.
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While working out, my brother and I were chatting about goals for 2025. These aren’t New Year’s resolutions that are vague and optimistic, but actionable tasks that are specific, measurable and recorded. It’s the difference between “start working out” and “go to the gym twice per week”
Nature: Best Science Images of 2024
Take a minute to check out those images, they are quite splendid. Well, a couple weren’t great, but the rest are amazing.
Sparky and I are relaxing with coffee, and he wanted me to post this photo of an ermine chimneying up a crack. Sparky told me that if he didn’t have to be my spirit animal, he’d quite like to be a dog weasel.
It was a bit harsh to remind him that I got him a weazel ball, and he is afraid of it. A weazel ball is a little scary looking. He doesn’t like how the weazel ball lurches around when it’s turned on.
Sparky was getting defensive. He shouldn’t start the day in a grumpy mood, so I reassured him. I said that when I met him at the orphanage, I thought he was a dog weasel. That was two years and 5 pounds ago, but he is still pretty weaselly.
That perked him up, and he thought we should try the weazel ball again. This year, Sparky has gained experience with RC cars, so buzzing, lurching motion may not be as unsettling.
This moron is in charge of the Department of Homeland Security. Any senator who voted for Mayorkas, can’t possibly object to Kristi Noem as the head of DHS.
His comments about the drone sightings in New Jersey and other areas are so disrespectful. He thinks we are idiots or that we should shut up and stop worrying.
A record 23 of NATO’s 32 member nations are hitting the Western military alliance’s defense spending target this year, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday, as Russia’s war in Ukraine has raised the threat of expanding conflict in Europe.
Trump doesn’t get enough credit for calling bullshit on NATO. In 2016, Trump made it clear that if member countries didn’t spend 2% of GDP for defense, the US may not be as supportive. The corporate media, progressives and anti-Trumpers cried about his incivility and lack of decorum.
In 2017, when Trump took office, only 4 countries were fully paid up.
I’ve been scanning and organizing old photos.
This is from Physics Day at Cedar Point in 2001. Johnny is the student in the center of the bottom row.
My sister stopped by to make Sparky and I look silly. That was nice.
Afterward, Sparky wanted me to explain Christmas. He missed the point of the whole thing. Now Sparky wants to meet a donkey so they could be friends, he accused me of making up camels because they don’t seem plausible at all and he wants to go to a stable. With all that straw, there must be a bunch of mice, and chasing mice is even more fun than Mr. Moose.
Failing at the true meaning of Christmas, I switched to Santa Clause and gift-giving. Sparky doesn’t understand gifts. To him, if he sees a toy, he has a toy. I asked if he wanted something special for Christmas. Something that he always wanted, but that wasn’t a dead raccoon or rotisserie chicken.
Sparky wants a bunch of mice. Not pet mice, but a bunch of mice running around the house. I wonder why I even talk to him.
I’m getting Sparky a dog warmer. It looks like this:
I’m not going to tell him about it, but just put it in his bed when he isn’t looking. Sparky would take umbrage at the suggestion that he needs pampering.
Sparky is fond of laying in front of a warm fire. The house is like 75o, but he loves sleeping in front of the wood stove. When I pet him, he is really warm. He’s a hotdog that looks like a haggis.
It isn’t pampering. With the wood stove, the house is warm, but my bedroom is cool. It’s great for sleeping, but Sparky doesn’t have a fluffy comforter. He wouldn’t want one, he is not for burrowing in to sleep. In the evening, he wants to sleep by the fire instead of going into the bedroom. That’s okay with me, he can do whatever he wants, but he eventually comes into the bedroom in case I need him for something.
In the morning, his ears are often cold. That’s how you can tell a dog is too cold.
I am an accommodating guy, but people who let their dog sleep in bed with them, seem gross. Sparky farts out of his mouth and has some glands in back that I don’t understand. He isn’t allowed on the couch until I spread out a blanket.
Besides, my bed is elevated, like this.
Sparky would spend the whole time peering over the edge, trying to judge whether or not he could survive a jump to the floor. Darn it, now I want to put Sparky in my bed to see if he would jump or not.
He would be polite about it. When I put him in bed, he would lick his paws a bunch of times to make sure they were clean. A bunch of slobber from a guy who farts out of his mouth isn’t my idea of clean, but Sparky doesn’t agree. Plus, those butt glands.
If he decided not to jump, he would spend the night sitting next to me, wondering what is expected of him. Sparky wouldn’t lay down because that would seem creepy, like he wants to spoon or something.
So, Sparky gets a bed warmer. I hope he doesn’t get me anything.
Time Magazine chose Donald Trump as the 2024 Person of the Year. Time explains that they choose the most consequential person, not their favorite person. For people who aren’t a fan of Donald Trump, note that Hitler and Putin have also been featured.
Mysterious drones over New Jersey
More than three weeks after dozens of mysterious drones began popping up in the New Jersey night sky, the public has still been offered no clear insight on what the phenomenon could be.
This is a huge story that reveals that corporate media and the federal government have failed. Finding the whole story is difficult, so I’ll pull from a few reports.
College Fix: Race-based programs at Ohio law schools
Five public law schools in Ohio are ending their scholarships and programs based on race following a conservative think tank’s investigation.
The Buckeye Institute, based in Columbus, Ohio, launched the investigation this year into five law schools at Ohio State University, Cleveland State University, University of Akron, University of Cincinnati, and University of Toledo.
It’s great that the Buckeye Institute got law schools to drop racist programs, but why did those programs even exist? Ohio has a Department of Higher Education intended to advise the governor and General Assembly on higher education issues. What have they been doing?
Ohio has a Republican governor with a General Assembly that looks like this:
If Ohio can’t address divisive progressive policies and eliminate DEI in state universities, then what are Republicans even good for?