W
For years, Saturn appeared to be doing something impossible.
Measurements suggested the giant planet's rotation rate was changing over time, as if Saturn were somehow speeding up or slowing down. That puzzling result left scientists searching for answers. Now, researchers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) say they have finally solved the mystery.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260529043658.htm
Why the US population boom became a bust
And how immigration policies could strain the safety net
https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-POPULATION/AGING/gdpzaomqyvw/
Deep within a vault, where tangled cobwebs cling to the ceiling and a musky sweetness hangs in the air, a remarkable wine collection once owned by Josef Stalin has been unsealed for the first time this week.
The Georgian government, now the custodian of this extraordinary repository in Tbilisi, plans to auction off the roughly 40,000 French and Georgian rarities.
Some bottles in the collection date back to the early 19th century.
Proceeds from the sale are earmarked to establish a new wine education school in Georgia
https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/europe/stalin-wine-cellar-georgia-auction-b2985906.html
The Trump administration signaled Monday it is backing off on the creation of a $1.8 billion fund announced by the Justice Department that could send money to allies of President Donald Trump deemed to be “victims of lawfare and weaponization.”
It comes after a fierce and rare backlash from Senate Republicans, who threatened to team up with Democrats to block the fund. About half the Republican conference appeared ready to vote with Democrats to restrict or kill it, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said last week.
In a statement, the Justice Department cited a Friday ruling by a federal judge that blocked the fund on a temporary basis, saying it “disagrees strongly” but “will abide by the Court’s ruling.”
Cool beans.
A new study is changing the way we think about fog.
Turns out it's not just an amorphous blob of water droplets: "We found that millions of bacteria inhabit ... fog droplets," study co-author Ferran Garcia-Pichel of Arizona State University, said in an email to USA TODAY.
In fact, the research team found that bacteria floating in tiny fog droplets are alive, growing and breaking down pollutants in the air.
"Not only are they there, they are actively consuming atmospheric pollutants, and likely also growing in them. Fog is a habitat," he said.
One more.
US President Donald Trump has said musical performances celebrating the country's 250th birthday should be called off after several artists dropped out, citing the event's affiliation with the White House.
"Cancel it," he said in a post on Truth Social, calling the slated performers "overpriced" and "boring".
As of Sunday, only a few musical acts were still scheduled to perform out of nine featured artists originally announced on Wednesday. Martina McBride, The Commodores, Young MC and Bret Michaels dropped out.
Vanilla Ice and Milli Vanilli are still on for 26 June, as is Flo Rida on 2 July. Trump said he is now considering replacing the event with a "Make America Great Again rally".
Sitting in his dorm room at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Benjamin Brundage was closing in on a mystery that had even seasoned internet investigators baffled. A cat meme helped him crack the case.
A growing network of hacked devices was launching the biggest cyberattacks ever seen on the internet. It had become the most powerful cyberweapon ever assembled, large enough to knock a state or even a small country offline. Investigators didn’t know exactly who had built it—or how.
Brundage had been following the attacks, too—and, in between classes, was conducting his own investigation. In September, the college senior started messaging online with an anonymous user who seemed to have insider knowledge.
As they chatted on Discord, a platform favored by videogamers, Brundage was eager to get more information, but he didn’t want to come off as too serious and shut down the conversation. So every now and then he’d send a funny GIF to lighten the mood. Brundage was fluent in the memes, jokes and technical jargon popular with young gamers and hackers who are extremely online.
“It was a bit of just asking over and over again and then like being a bit unserious,” said Brundage.
At one point, he asked for some technical details. He followed up with the cat meme: a six-second clip that showed a hand adjusting a necktie on a fluffy gray cat.
Brundage didn’t expect it to work, but he got the information. “It took me by surprise,” he said.
Take his name off the Kennedy Center? Doesn't want to have anything to do with the Center anymore and plans to give it to Congress to deal with.
Then today:
President Donald Trump on Monday shrugged off the possible collapse of peace negotiations with Iran, telling CNBC, “I don’t care if they’re over, honestly.”
“I really don’t care. I couldn’t care less,” Trump told CNBC’s Eamon Javers in a phone interview midday Monday, saying he thought the protracted talks “started to get very boring.”
Trump had been asked about reporting that Iranian negotiators will stop communications with the U.S., and that Tehran will move to “completely block” the Strait of Hormuz, due to Israel’s military operations in Lebanon against the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/01/trump-iran-war-negotiations-oil-israel-interview.html
Oh, goody.
Meta is developing an AI pendant and will start testing it over the coming year, according to The Information. In addition, the company is reportedly gearing up to release up to four more models of smart glasses before the year ends, as part of an aggressive plan to make up for the massive losses of its Reality Labs division, which houses its hardware business.
While Meta has yet to confirm the report, it was pretty much a given that the company would start working on an AI pendant after it purchased Limitless in 2025. Limitless was the maker of an AI device literally called "Pendant," a clip-on Bluetooth microphone that listens and records everything you say or hear throughout the day so it can provide summaries, transcripts and a searchable database of conversations and things you record for yourself. "Meta recently announced a new vision to bring personal superintelligence to everyone and a key part of that vision is building incredible AI-enabled wearables," Limitless CEO Dan Siroker said at the time.
https://www.engadget.com/2184224/meta-developing-ai-pendant-more-smart-glass-models/
I sometimes think of people I knew and have met on the various forums over the years. Then, I wonder where many of them are now.
I was just thinking the same thing a couple of days ago and thought about starting a thread about it. I thought maybe some folks keep in touch with people who no longer post here. I'd love to hear how they're doing.
I was having a pleasant Sunday until you told me Latin is dead. Now I'm saddened by Latin's passing. Oh, Latin, I hardly knew ye!
Despair not. There is hope for you.
Maybe this will trigger a big push for people (kids and adults!) to take up piano. Wouldn't that be something!
Amen, sister!
Loved this bit from days gone by.
Link to videoWow, that's tough.
He popped into an online WTF piano party that @axtremus facilitated during COVID. OT literally flashed on the screen for like 10 seconds and then was gone.
Please let his wife (piqaboo?) know that I wish her strength.
In a way, it's a little peculiar that we focus so much on the drop out rate.
This is Payam's "hook". Find a "problem" and claim to solve it.
Problem: People drop lessons
Payam's solution: We make it fun so they don't drop out!
One thing I will say is that I think there's a whole bunch of us who are part of the great unwashed masses who don't necessarily have the time, skills, or inclination to devote to the fine points of learning to play piano.
Using myself as an example of the great unwashed...I don't have the ear that real musicians have, either literally (out of tune instruments don't bother me because I just don't hear that they are out of tune) and subtleties in expression and execution in performances escape me (because I also am not wired to make those discernments). Put me in a garden, OTOH, and I can spot and identify all kinds of plants by their branches/leaves/etc. A lot of people think they all look the same and can't tell them apart.
Another example...wine drinkers. There are those that can appreciate all kinds of nuances in various wines. I can't, or more accurately, never could (I don't drink alcohol anymore). People would wax rhapsodic about various flavors and aromas, and I would stare blankly. I either liked it, or I didn't. Before you say it....I know, I know, I'm a philistine....
Anyway, I wonder if people who are immersed in music, have a brain wired for it, and who devote a lot of time and energy to it, see this as the equivalent of cheap wine in the world of piano lessons, and somehow not up to their standards. We need to remember that for some people, cheap wine is totally OK and even enjoyable!
Maybe Payam will get folks into playing, enjoying, and spreading piano music widely. I think that's a good thing.
Just a thought.
Sounds scammy.
It's the brave new world.
I ran into the same kind of thing with a couple of products, where even after an initial purchase there's the requirement to buy something else. It's the whole subscription model thing, with appropriate social media hype, and an endless series of emails (or texts) asking you how much you love product X and please share your experiences on their Facebook/X/etc page.
It's exhausting. Who has time to talk about their tooth brush on a regular basis?
Because it sounds like 60 Minutes and the Payam backers made a coordinated effort
Where did you get that info? (I didn't have your video link to watch, so sorry if it was in there.)
