Damn, Jon! It’s been that long! It’s incredible, really, and I’m so glad it’s working out for you!

@wtg Good advice. This miserable backwater requires that I call the county - CALL! - before each and every election to request a mail in ballot. We’re doomed.

@Lisa said in Question for SK (and anyone else who'd like to chime in): something he could do after work, from home Maybe he can find an online tutor?

For those who suffered through the shingles vaccine, some good news. Last April I wrote a Ground Truths entitled “The Shingles Vaccine and Reduction of Dementia.” At the time many were unaware of this unanticipated relationship based on 2 large natural experiments. Two new studies this week have advanced our understanding about the potential biological impact of the Shingles vaccine, independent of its effects for preventing Shingles or direct action vs. herpes zoster virus and reinforced its protection from dementia, ~80% of which is attributable to Alzheimer’s disease. In this post I won’t get into the details of what I previously wrote (please link back for more perspective), but instead devote the text to the new findings. https://erictopol.substack.com/p/spotlight-on-the-shingles-vaccineagain?publication_id=587835&post_id=185215801&isFreemail=true&r=1v8sh2&triedRedirect=true Topol's earlier post: https://erictopol.substack.com/p/the-shingles-vaccine-and-reduction

Chas, If you are interested in board games but don’t have someone to play with, there are a lot of solo games out there! Some are made specifically for one player. Others are multiplayer games that have solo modes. It’s quite popular! But there is also a huge online boardgaming space as well! There are many popular board games that have iPad apps available. Some of them allow you to play against an AI player in game. Others allow you to play with other people. I do play a few apps against the AI on my iPad (Splendour, Railroad Ink, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Ganz Schön Clever, Evolution). There is also a site called Tabletop Arena which is board games that you play against other human players. Many of my board game friends have accounts and play a tonne online! I don’t enjoy the online experience for board games, but I am in the minority. Some of the games on BGA can be played with a free account, but there is (of course) a paid version which allows you to play all the games available - and there are a LOT! If you want more info about specific physical games that play well solo, I can help you out. If you want more information about Tabletop Arena and how to find people to play against who are happy to help a new player, let me know and I can ask some of my board gaming friends what they suggest!

Mark Rutte, the Trump Whisperer. https://apnews.com/article/rutte-nato-trump-greenland-aaeec48ee94881ffd838a66d85e92c2e

I was taught to strike a match and hold the small flame to the end of a frayed shoelace for a second or so. Melts the plastic threads together.

Wow. I need to rewatch the second half, fascinating. The first half reminded me of my daughters using a couple of early photography books for their art, one dedicated to various human motions with multiple photos of for example us jumping, another book of animals in motion eg horses galloping

So I was in the Range, do you have that shop in the States? Getting a few bits&pieces, checking their post christmas sale and came across... [image: 1769036242734-20260121_225356-resized.jpg] (pen is for scale) Cute, £8 down to an irresistible £2 so got a couple. Get home, MrsA likes them and wants to go buy more (I think for Chinese New Year presents 🤪)

@wtg said in US Treasuries So what will his response be? A 200% tariff on Danish blue cheese? Cheese, bacon and pastries

@wtg huh, never would have thought such a thing might happen with DOGE

@chas +1