We just rolled out eyes at the non-takers and no-maskers, for whatever reason they gave, and muttered quietly "Darwinism in action". Guess that we are far more trusting of our NHS. Little doubt that it came from a Wuhan laboratory is there? Our first known case in November 2019: [image: 1785772840059-7566.jpg]

I love cream in my coffee so it looks like 5/6. Toast 4, buttered to the edges please. Steak also about 4 (at least cooked) I'm attempting to substitute fish for meat as much as possible.

After hearing my wife strum chords, I first got a flamenco guitar and a comprehensive teach yourself book which I can't find (this was from living in Spain and hearing it and fado in Lisboa in 1984. Soon realised lessons were needed for the technique, it was way beyond adult beginner. Then inspired by Andrés Segovia and David Qualey playing, I got a classical guitar, and a year later a steel strung parlour size folk style. Used terrific books by Frederick Noad mostly, Solo Guitar Playing vols 1 & 2. And attempted some from The Romantic Guitar by Carlos Bonell. And Qualey's music. I realised two things. After decades playing piano my fingers bend only like a piano player, guitarists fingers bend the other way too (the way your teacher stops you doing as a child). Lessons and a lot of concentrated time to learn the various keyboard positions are needed. I got to chapter 11 in the Noad book, this level: [image: 1785771486859-7564.jpg]

Summer for me is mostly a break from travel. My foundation role has me really busy from September to early December, and again from February to early June. I am doing one trip this summer - late August to Lake Garda, Italy (midway between Brescia and Verona) with Klaus and his girlfriend. But to give you an example of how busy my busy season is: Sept 4-10 - Barcelona for the European Respiratory Society (ERS) international conference September 14-16 - Washington for Congessional visits September 24-27 - Cape Cod for a three day bike ride fundraiser September 28-29 - back to Washington for more hill visits October 1-4 - Miami for scientific conferences and two board meetings October 10-11 - Rochester for my 40th high school reunion October 18-17 - Tampa for another bike fundraiser October 22-24 - Back to Barcelona for an ERS-sponsored symposium in AATD November 6-10 - American Association for the study of Liver Disease international conference December 4-5 - Nashville for a patient education day After that I get 6-8 weeks off and then a similarly busy spring. So you can see why summer for me is to relax.

So confident, so brave!

@admin @axtremus Thanks so much!

Nobody here but us egos.

day

[image: 1785719255641-img_3548.jpeg]

This is quite exciting. An internal version of Astra, OpenAI’s next major model family, solved 10 major open problems in mathematics, quantum complexity, and theoretical computer science. https://x.com/polynoamial/status/2083467194663571701?s=46

A friend married a guy whose middle name was Pucci. He was called Pussy.

Surprised. Black voters are among the most homophobic.

[image: f37e5e10-8cf4-11f1-a7ab-8b30adf0800a.png.webp]

Ancient mammoth remains and a Nazi shipwreck: Europe’s shrinking rivers reveal past relics https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/31/climate/shrinking-rivers-reveal-past-relics-in-europe?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc&recs_exp=up-next-article-end&tenant_id=related.en

I am going to take up yelling at clouds. Thank you, Steve.

Oddly, and off topic, I didn’t know who he was yesterday but this is the second reference to him I’ve seen today. He broke with Mamdani over the release of names and addresses of everyone subject to pied a terre taxes in NY (which includes him). His line “He took what was a good source of revenue and turned it into a wanted poster”.

LOL