Where's that Andrew Young? We need to talk universal basic income.

Looks amazing. Off topic but I was thinking about Charles III's famous garden at Highgrove (Georgian FTW) of course now owned by William with the ironic and strange twist that on the King's Duchy there exists a revenue producing toxic waste dump with a neighborhood next door who have tried and tried and failed to have the environmental situation remedied while their health deteriorates. I guess the scandal now is that he isn't seen to be the Defender of the Church and William doesn't seem all that interested in the role. I'd like to have a garden but don't think it's in the cards.

I didn't, actually. "Can you afford it?" Well if I could, I'd be living there. On second thought, the library is perfect. The main thing I don't like is the kitchen island. I'd make it minimalist, change it to stone, make it parallel to the wall with the stove, get rid of the bar stools, and then put a rectangular table parallel to the island.

WTF finally delivers the enlightenment I always expected.

Interesting. My brother has stage 4 bone cancer. My brother and I weren't in touch with each other. My father never told me. Looking back, it must have been diagnosed after my sister died. My sister-in-law (separated 14 years, couldn't accomplish a legal divorce by the time COVID hit by the time couldn't divorce her child's father because he needed health insurance, he just received Medicare, and they are finally getting a divorce...) told me people with his type of cancer usually die of co-morbidities like infections I didn't tell her this but I think she hasn't interpreted his heath situation exactly right. My brother refuses to talk about the details other than he did have a 5 day chemotherapy treatment during a 7 day NY hospital visit so I don't know them. I know by definition the cancer has spread to distant organs. Of course he could die with co-morbidities but the proximate cause of death will be cancer sadly. I love my brother even if he wasn't always good to my sister and me. He had a serious accident and traumatic brain injury including a 6 month coma when he was 16 or I think he would have been more sensitive and caring to his loved ones. I'm really hoping for him that he can and will improve his quality of life with his share of our inheritance. I want for him what I want for myself. No different.

Customer: "I want a refund please, HAL." HAL: "I'm sorry. I can't do that."

Yes, I'm ok. I'm walking a little every day and the pain is becoming less. I'm treating the wounds over and over so I don't get an infection. It's impossible to tell if the pain will go away completely. I have "aches and pains" from many times it didn't. I doubt I did any permanent damage. The real problem is there's something wrong with my right hip. I'm really lucky I didn't seriously injure myself. It was a close call. Thanks for asking, SK!

I have nothing good to say so I'm going to say nothing.

"U.S. birth rate continues to fall" https://www.npr.org/2026/04/09/nx-s1-5779627/birthrate-united-states-babies-immigration 710,000 fewer babies were born last year in U.S. compared with two decades ago The U.S. fertility rate continued its slide to historic levels, due to plunging teen pregnancies and far more women delaying motherhood into their 30s and 40s. In 2007: 4.2 million babies were born In 2024: 3.6 million babies were born

Wow!

A tucan was photographed in a tree in downtown Saint Petersburg yesterday. I randomly saw the post and the picture on FB today. I've never seen one. This is the first time I've heard of anyone seeing one.

Nicely done!

Link to video We are the poorer for the privatization and deregulation we have seen and those who come after us will be the poorer for the privatization and deregulation yet to to be seen. I remembered telling a much valued poster here, a stalwart contributor if ever there was one, that the Democrats were coming after Social Security. He said politely that I might be right but that he didn't believe it. Well, I had plenty of evidence, or I wouldn't have said it. I'll also note that when the Democrats held the Presidency, and both Houses of Congress, they made no attempt to use the regular committee process, that had been used to amend The Social Security Act from the start of the Social Security Act, to align what was then, and is now, a surplus, with what they knew then, and know now, will soon be a deficit. They did nothing if you don't count forming a meaningless advisory council that was privately funded by a billionaire with a lifelong agenda of privatizing Social Security. They behaved in a derilect and disgraceful way. Today, a faction of Democrats is trying to argue with a straight face that the Democrats lost to Trump because their policy positions weren't "MAGA" enough and is trying to fix the problem as they see it. I forgot who said you never die in the world in which you were born but there's truth in it. No, I do not want the TSA to be privatized.

BTW from yesterday's NYT: How Accurate Are Google’s A.I. Overviews? The company’s A.I.-generated answers look authoritative, but they draw on an array of sources, from trustworthy sites to Facebook posts. Regular link: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/technology/google-ai-overviews-accuracy.html Gift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/technology/google-ai-overviews-accuracy.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ZVA.gVON.lCi51gwbSqxm&smid=url-share

I don’t have them on the tv non-stop like I did last year. But I do check in. It amazes me that the parents are even able to get food in those tiny little chick mouths in the beginning.