Apparent Doorways, 4th of the Dog Days, 526 M.E. (Aldebaran): "Regardless of what else is going on around you, make the best of what is in your power, and take the rest as it occurs." - Epictetus 

There was a whole lot of lightning yesterday. Despite the continued presence of the heat dome over the eastern U.S., or maybe because of the continued presence of the heat dome (I hadn't spent much time out of doors in days), I still got my steps in, 15,629 of them on a 5.8-mile Monroe. 

The weather forecast (I checked two sources) said no rain until late last night, but just as I had reached about the furthest point from my house, a gentle sun shower started. That wasn't an issue - I was already pretty wet with sweat - but soon after it ended I heard the rumble of thunder. There were several dark clouds in the sky, although not directly overhead, and I could see a great many lightning strikes off in the distance as I began the return portion of my walk. 

The sky got darker and darker as I walked, and the lightning closer and closer. I couldn't tell what direction the clouds were moving but regardless all I could do was continue to walk toward home. I felt like I was on the edge of a razor blade - I wasn't in danger, but danger wasn't far off at all. I completed the last mile of the walk and got in the house right before the hard rain started falling.

Later that evening, just as the sounds of the Independence Day fireworks were finally starting to subside, the thunderstorms came back. Those second storms were impressive not for torrential rainfall or fierce winds but for more lightning strikes per minute and for more minutes than I recall ever before. It was a full-on X-Men-style Storm vs. Thor lightning-bolt assault. Fortunately, there was no damage here, although trees fell elsewhere all over town. I'm amazed my house didn't lose power through it all. 

The storms returned around 2:30 am, which really bummed me out. Some new bed pillows had just arrived yesterday and, using them for the very first time, I had been enjoying a really good night's sleep (I hadn't fully realized how much my old, flat pillows were impeding my sleep). But the storms interrupted that restful sleep, although I was able to pretty quickly fall back into the Land of Nod (they're some really good pillows!).

Pow! A transformer blew around 7:15 this morning and the power went out, although it came right back on almost immediately, but every clock in my house is still flashing. A milder version of the storms passed overhead this afternoon - milder, but still more lightning that rain. There truly are electrical storms, not rain storms.

Before this heat dome settled over the U.S., the forecasts had said that one of the characteristics of a heat dome is they tend to dry out the ground, posing a wildfire threat but reducing the likelihood of thunderstorms. Boy, was that wrong, at least for this heat dome.   

"Do you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving until the right action arises by itself?” - Lao Tzu        

 

Vibrant Threshold, 3rd of the Dog Days,  526 M.E. (Helios): Happy Interdependence Day, for those of you on that other calendar.

Interdependence (pratītya samutpāda) means that nothing exists independently, everything is connected to the vast web of causes, conditions, and relationships. Realizing this interconnection dissolves the illusion of a separate ego-self and gives rise to profound compassion. 

Whatever it is that you call "you" - your memories, attitudes, personality, preferences, dislikes, and so on - are all dependent on past experience, and those past experiences were all caused by the presence and actions of others. Your memories, attitudes, etc. are interwoven with those of others - no person is an island. 

The web stretches infinitely across the universe. The memories, attitudes, etc. of others are dependent on still others, and so on and so on across all of space and time. If one gets past that sense of ego-self, "you" are the entire web and the entire web is "you." You are all men and women, dogs and cats, your fellow nationals as well as foreigners. You are refugees and immigrants, the homeless and the well-heeled, both the Palestinians and Israelites, the Russians and Ukrainians. You are sea urchins on the ocean floor and stars in the sky. You are space and time.

The United Snakes is not independent of the United Kingdom. The English gave us our language, our understanding of law, and the King James Bible, which still has a lot of influence on a lot of minds to this day. They gave us slavery, shipping hundreds of thousands of captured Africans to these North American shores with the intention to helping the colonies prosper so that Britain could compete with the other European powers. The Portuguese shipped many more slaves to Brazil for largely the same reason, but that's another story.

I don't blame the American colonists for slavery. The institution began some 150 years and many generations before the American Revolution. I blame the English, and I'm angry with the northern colonies that recognized the immorality of slavery but still allowed the slave-holding colonies to enter their union.    

I understand strength in numbers, but the new nation didn't have to be 13 colonies. The eight New England and Mid-Atlantic colonies could have seceded without Georgia, Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas, and formed a "more-perfect union" without those slave-holding states. Those colonies could have formed their own union, which they eventually did anyway as the Confederacy.

You might say that two competing nations on the same continent would likely have resulted in war, but that happened anyway, didn't it? You might say that including the slave states in the Union would have encouraged them to abandon slavery, but that didn't happen for some four score and seven years. If there were an abolitionist United States in the north and a slave-holding Confederate States in the south, slavery would have eventually ended, just like it did in Brazil and everywhere else in the civilized world. Post-slavery, the two nations would likely have eventually merged during the Great Expansion. But no, the Yankee cotton mills on the Merrimack and Hudson Rivers wanted their cheap cotton, and were willing to overlook their moral and spiritual objections to slavery in order to keep the Southern colonies and their cotton-picking farms in their new nation.

Shame of John and Sam Adams and John Hancock for overlooking their morals and including slave states in the new nation. Fuck Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton and John Jay for getting in bed with slave-owners and traders.   

Well, that took a turn, didn't it? I started off all peace-and-love and empathy, we're all one, and so on, and wound up at "fuck Benjamin Franklin." 

Must be the heat.

 

Each Note Felt, 2nd of the Dog Days, 526 M.E. (Electra): Today, both the Pope in Rome and Zohran Mamdani, the democratic-socialist Muslim Mayor of New York City, gave speeches extolling the United State's history of welcoming immigrants. When the Pope and His Honor agree on a topic, you know it must be something profoundly true. 

Atlanta experienced some relief today from the heat dome as an early afternoon thunderstorm blocked the relentless Sun, and the cool rain absorbed some of the heat that had built up on the sidewalks and pavement. Right now, it's a relatively springlike 78°, albeit humid with all the rain. Still, yesterday's heat index was reportedly 106°.

Tomorrow marks the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. This old man remembers the bicentennial celebration of 1976, and even in the wake of Watergate, the fall of Saigon, and Nixon's resignation, and a contentious Democratic primary with candidates ranging from Jimmy Carter to Jerry Brown to George Wallace, the mood was more upbeat and, well, patriotic than today. There were no blood-sport cage matches on the White House lawn, no partisan "State Fairs," and no gleeful media laughing at the paltry attendance at those partisan "State Fairs." Even Republican President Gerald Ford didn't use the occasion as a cheap campaign gimmick. 

The Stable Genius is orchestrating a 250th celebration by and for conservative Republicans, not even bothering to pretend to reach out to the broader nation, but using the opportunity to increase polarization and divisiveness. He'll be speaking tonight in front of Mt. Rushmore, that tacky tribute to Presidents of the past, with the obvious goal of having his followers imagine his face on the desecrated mountainside. Ogden Nash wrote, "I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree," and I feel the same way about Rushmore. That man thinks he can improve the natural beauty of the Black Hills by sculpting the heads of dead presidents into the mountainside says a lot about more about America's attitude toward its environment than it intended with the monument. 

And don't even get me started on Stone Mountain. While Rushmore at least presumably had reverential intent, Stone Mountain was an angry protest, meant to sympathize with white supremacists and to intimidate minorities. The ugly fruit of ugly intentions.

 

Dog Days Begin, 1st of the Dog Days, 526 M.E. (Deneb): And boy howdy have they ever. 

"Why not go to a place where it is neither hot nor cold?,” asked the ancient Zen Master.

Old Angus MacLise's Universal Solar Calendar had five seasons and Dog Days Begin was the second day of his Summer season. My New Revised USC has six seasons, and his Dog Days Begin would have fallen on the 28th day of my Midsommar. I moved it for obvious reasons to today, the first of the Dog Days. 

(For those of you keeping score at home, like Maclise's original USC, my New Revised USC has two winter seasons, Childwinter and Hagwinter, but also has two summer seasons, Midsommar and Dog Days, as well as Spring and Autumn. Each season is exactly 61 days long.) 

With Midsommar over, the season's avatar, the Sun Girl, is gone. Welcome to the new Dog Days avatar, who for now I'm calling "Barkley." 

Fittingly, now that the Dog Days are here, it's hot outside. My thermostat says the outside temperature right now (4:35 pm) is 100° F, and that doesn't consider the humidity. And the outdoor sensor's in the shade! One hundred degrees in the shade, and the heat index is reportedly 105. Unlike yesterday's overcast skies, it's sunny today, and while the sun causes heat problems on its own, it's also lowered the humidity (40%) from yesterday. The dew point right now is 69°, which is sticky but still Georgia tolerable.

Deneb is a walking day, but I stayed inside. One of the advantages of having a fixed routine is that you're allowed to break it, and there's no health advantage to walking outdoors when the temperature is at Spontaneous Human Combustion levels. I did go outside a few times today and it actually didn't feel all that bad, but I wasn't walking for miles beneath the blazing sun with only intermittent patches of shade.

The severe thunderstorms forecast for yesterday never arrived here, and for that I'm grateful. Severe thunderstorm means fallen branches, and falling branches hit power lines, and downed power lines mean no power, and no power mean no a.c., and no a.c. means old men living in old brick houses die of heat stroke. 

The heat dome is forecast to linger over Georgia through the weekend and into early next week. Dog Days End isn't until the 61st day of the season. 

"Why not go to a place where it is neither hot nor cold?,” asked the ancient Zen Master.

“Why don't you go fuck yourself," the hyperthermic monk replied, "you unhelpful old bastard?"

The Master continued to fan himself.

Launching of the Dreamweapon, 61st Day of Midsommar, 526 M.E. (Castor): The mysteries of the Universal Solar Calendar: the Midsommar season began with Establishment of the Dreamweapon and ends today with Launching of the Dreamweapon. The season also contained Separation of the First Stage (14th of Midsommar) and Dispersal of the Primal Cloud Mass (21st of Midsommar), as well as Day of the Outer Range (27th of Midsommar) and Forming the Inner Ring (37th of Midsommar). 

The names sound like Steam achievements from some post-apocalyptic video game. They evoke a sort of futuristic weaponry, partly nuclear and partly psychic. Note to self: write a short sci-fi story about an ICBM that carries not a nuclear payload but a weapon that can control the minds of the affected through dreams.

Accidental poetry. The names of Steam achievements can he arranged to form a sort of impressionistic free verse. I've recently started playing Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, the remake of MGS 3 (I never played the original), and the twelve achievements I've earned so far are:

War has changed.

I can totally see you: cinephile, young gun, beekeeper,

Prince Charming, ugly duckling, snake eater.

Mama said don't touch the sides. 

Can I keep it like he just doesn't care?          

Meanwhile, the heat dome continues over Georgia. Today's high returned to 95°, but the 60% humidity (dew point 73°) makes it feel like 98. It could have been worse, but a heavy cloud cover at least kept the sun off us, although it also trapped the heat in overnight. With all this heat and all this humidity, of course we're in for some thunderstorms, and right now the weather service has us under a severe thunderstorm watch, as well as a heat advisory for today and another heat advisory for tomorrow, and an air quality alert (ozone) to boot. I'm surprised they don't have us under a tsunami warning and an earthquake watch as well. Impermanence is swift.    

According to The Guardian, the Stable Genius has reportedly earned a "disgusting" $2 billion since entering office, largely through crypto schemes. "Everybody is profiting," he said by way of explanation. He just happens to have a lot of money, and in this rip-roaring economy, money earns more money. I know I've raked in a couple hundred thousand this year (sarcasm) and you probably have to, right? His words, as Shakespeare would have it, are "falser than vows made in wine." 

But vows made in the air? Now that's another thing. You may have seen the story in the news today about a Russian couple, masked and dressed in black, who somehow managed to climb to the very top of the spire on the Empire State Building - King Kong territory - for a marriage proposal (and assumedly an acceptance) and to unfurl a banner reading "When the power of love beats the love of power, the world knows peace." 

The police have recovered the banner and arrested the couple, who reportedly will be executed at dawn. Just kidding! They're rock stars and I love them! In fact, they already have a Netflix documentary about similar climbs they're done in the past.

 

The Iron Keeled Pentecost, 60th Day of Midsommar, 526 M.E. (Betelgeuse): If you're born in the Untied States of America, you're a citizen of the United States of America. Birthright citizenship. It's in the fucking Constitution. Even the corrupt and partisan Supreme Court agrees to that (except for Keg-Stand Kavanaugh), and ruled so today. 

I see it in broader terms. It's self-evident, I believe, that all children born anywhere in the world have certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Having achieved life, they should be all be granted liberty, every last one, although they may never actually achieve happiness. There are no guarantees. But they still all have the right to pursue happiness and no just government can deny them that right or any of the others.

It's hot. Life under the great southeastern heat dome continues. Today's high temperature of 95° felt like 103 because of the 49% humidity and oppressive dew point of 72°. Still, Betelgeuse is a walking day, and when you gotta walk, you gotta walk. I brought a bottle of water with me, but I still noticed the heat sapped my energy fast, so I kept my walk down to a Madisonian 4.9 miles. 

When I first stepped out the front door, I startled a deer in my front yard. It ran off. I live in the City of Atlanta, less than a mile from Interstate I-75 and from Peachtree Street, and yet I still get deer in my front yard. I love it. Any chance encounter with nature is a blessing. I saw two red-shouldered hawks on last Sunday's walk, and a rat snake while on a walk last week. Every living creature is a potential bodhisattva.

Also, an additional blessing: the heat kept the number of Homo sapiens on the trail down to a minimum.      

 

The Shouts from the Sea, 59th Day of Midwinter, 526 M.E. (Aldebaran): The heat dome is in full force here in Georgia. Today's high reached 95°, but the heat index reached 100. Tomorrow's forecast is about the same and the NWS heat advisory will remain in effect. 

Aldebaran is a sitting day so I wasn't outside in the heat most of the day. I did make a grocery shopping run to the supermarket though, but I made sure to open my car windows and vent the heat an hour or so before I left. 

It's Midsommar and the Dog Days are fast approaching.

In Europe, the heat dome has moved east. Czechia's already been eliminated from World Cup competition (they went 0-1-2), so they presumably won't be hanging around here much longer for the next round of games unless they've still got tickets to upcoming events and their lodging secured through the week (I don't know how these things work). However, temperatures in the Czech Republic are expected to exceed 99° F and north of Prague temps peaked at 107.2° on Sunday, setting a record for the country - one that was just set on Saturday. So fans won't be escaping the heat by leaving Atlanta but will actually be returning home to even more hellish conditions. 

England plays the Congo DR here on Wednesday. Great, on top of a heat advisory we now also have to worry about English soccer fans here. You have to believe the African team will be better acclimated to the heat in Atlanta than the Brits; however, England's still the heavy betting favorite and "Atlanta Stadium" (or Mercedes-Benz Stadium, as it's actually called) is air-conditioned. Still, those English soccer fans out on the streets and partying in the parks and pubs may well feel woozy from the heat.    

Also, I can't wait to see how all those visiting World Cup fans who can't get over ranch dressing react once they discover Atlanta lemon-pepper chicken wings.

 

Eighth Ocean, 58th Day of Midsommar, 526 M.E. (Helios): Today's the 180th day of the year. Fifteen dozen days down, and fifteen dozen and a few more to go. "Ocean" days in the New Revised Universal Solar Calendar falls on some but not all of the dozenth days, and to commemorate this auspicious dozen, the New Revised USC calls today "Eighth Ocean." 

Eighth Ocean falls on the 28th day of Summer in old Angus MacLise's original USC, which would be the 52nd day of Midsommar (Day of Fur Gale) in the New Revision. I moved it to today to observed the 15 dozen days that have passed so far this year. 

The heat dome's arrived. The National Weather Service officially released a Severe Weather Alert of possible threats to life and property for central, east central, north central, northeast, northwest, and west central Georgia - in other words, "Georgia." Heat index values were forecast up to 106-112° F from noon today to 8:00 pm tomorrow. The NWS advises to drink plenty of fluids, and stay in air-conditioned rooms and out of the sun. 

So of course, this 72-year-old man walked a 9.1-mile Harrison today (it's a walking day), out in the sun and away from a.c. I brought along a bottle of water to stay hydrated and I was fine. The heat index hit a high of 96° just as I was finishing my walk, which is warm, but not anything Georgians aren't familiar with. If you can't stand the heat, stay out of Atlanta.

The heat may be intense for World Cup fans visiting Atlanta from Czechia and Uzbekistan, but shouldn't be too much of a shock for the other teams playing here (Spain, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Cabo Verde, South Africa, the Congo DR, and Haiti). 

The Economist points out that air-conditioning is highly effective, and, at least in Europe, climate-conscious government policy keeps its environmental impacts relatively small. Specifically, the build-out of renewable energy in Europe’s warmest places means that judicious use of air conditioning won't melt the glaciers. 

However, I think it would be fair to say the Stable Genius' energy policy and views on renewables aren't as progressive as western Europe's. The Georgia Power Company uses a mix of natural gas, nuclear, and coal to provide my electricity, alongside "growing investments" (whatever that means) in renewables like solar and hydropower. To save the polar ice caps, I keep the thermostat at 78°, which feels refreshingly cool when I step in from outside, although once I acclimate, while still comfortable, I can tell that it's summertime.     

      

 

Dream Oven, 57th Day of Midsommar, 526 M.E. (Electra): Since this has apparently become a weather blog, I note that an area of low pressure is expected to form off the southeastern coast of the U.S. early next week. Slow development of this area, the western end of a frontal system, will be possible while it moves slowly landward. How this low-pressure system interacts with the high-pressure heat dome forecast for next week, I have no idea.

The weather is the real-time manifestation of climate change, and in my own experience, storms are becoming more frequent and more intense. I'm also still traumatized by the tree that fell on my house in October 2020 (PTSD, anyone?) and every storm warning now has me looking at the tons of timber still towering over my house in the form of tall pine trees. 

The eccentric English writer and lecturer Alan Watts claimed that consciousness evolved as a sort of radar system to detect danger to an organism, and if we identify our ego-self with consciousness, our warning system, then of course we're going to feel in constant peril and live in a state of anxiety. The American writer Michael Pollan reminds us that brains evolved to support bodies; bodies aren't life-support systems for brains.

The Facebook algorithm has picked up that, in my PTSD state of weather anxiety, I interact with posts about storm warnings and extreme weather events, and so has started feeding me a seemingly endless steam of storm alerts, take-cover warnings, and pessimistic prognostications about the weather. That's not healthy and it isn't helping any.

And yet . . . the sun outside is shining and birds are singing. Chipmunks and squirrels scurry around my yard, unperturbed about next week's weather, and deal with storms when they arrive. Ignorance, it's been said, is bliss.         

 

Day of the Sickness, 56th of Midsommar, 526 M.E. (Deneb): It's starting to warm up here in Georgia - the high temp today reached 90° but the humidity was still a reasonable 47%, so the heat index ("feels like temperature") was only 93°. Summertime temps for the this neck of the woods, nothing out of the ordinary.

I walked my eight-mile Van Buren today, and the nerdlings at Apple allowed me credit for a full 8.2 miles on my phone. 

A black rat snake was crossing the sidewalk as I walked today - not a particularly large one, about two feet long (they grow to six or seven feet). We both paused and eyeballed each other for a moment, and I allowed him to continue crossing the sidewalk without otherwise bothering him. We was heading toward Peachtree Creek, where I imagine there are all sorts of tasty prey for a snake, although what do I know? He was going on about his snake business and I was going on about my simian business. 

Earlier this week, as I was looking out my kitchen window contemplating Eliot's gravesite, I saw that a piece of tape or something was dangling off my roof. Great, I thought, a piece of the gutter or the roofing needs repair - more expenses.  I went outside to look closer and pulled the "tape" down off the roof to discover it wasn't tape at all but a snake skin. It was about four feet long and fully intact from tail to nose. Probably another rat snake - they're common down here and are excellent climbers. I've seen them go straight up the trunks of trees without seeming to grasp onto anything. But why was a four-foot (and probably longer now) rat snake on my roof and more importantly, where is he now? Could he get inside my house from somewhere on the roof? Say, down the chimney like jolly old Saint Nick? 

I may have a snake infestation problem in my house, but rat snakes are actually pretty chill (I had a six-footer as a "pet" when I was in my teens and it never bit me once) and at least I won't have mice or rats or other vermin. Still, if I feel something crawling across my feet while I'm sleeping at night . . .  

My sister called from Massachusetts today while I was out walking. She's now cancer free, but recovery from the long ordeal of surgery and chemo- and radiation therapy is still taking a long time. But she's now in that exclusive club of cancer survivors.   

 

Strand of Names, 55th Day of Midsommar, 526 M.E. (Castor): Tragically, the heat dome in Europe may have resulted in as many as 212 deaths in Spain alone. Ominously, a heat dome is forecast to develop over Atlanta and the Southeastern U.S. this week. Temperatures are forecast to climb into the 90s this weekend and reach the mid-90s by early next week. The heat index is expected to approach 100° by next Saturday and on Sunday, the temperatures could feel like 103° degrees. By Monday, it could feel like 105° in Atlanta. 

Heat domes are large ridges of high pressure that can extend up to about 1,000 miles during spring and summer. They create a region of sinking air, and as the descending air compresses and warms, it can push temperatures up to 30 °F above average and reach 100° F in the eastern U.S. The warm, sinking air also dries the ground, suppressing thunderstorm development, and often results in very little wind at the surface. When a heat dome persists for more than a week, it can initiate or worsen drought and produce long heat waves.

But that's all nothing compared to what's happened in Venezuela. Monday, a 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck the nation 39 seconds after a 7.2-magnitude foreshock, killing at least 188 people and injuring 1,500 more. Thousands are reported missing and buildings were evacuated as far away as the Amazon Basin in Brazil. The earthquakes are among the strongest in Venezuela in more than a century.

Geologically, the earthquake occurred as a result of shallow strike-slip faulting near the complex plate boundary between the Caribbean and South American plates. At the location of the earthquake, the Caribbean plate moves eastward relative to South America at a rate of about 20 mm/year. This movement is primarily accommodated by the complex San Sebastian fault system, which extends along the northern coast of Venezuela.

The two earthquakes constitute a doublet sequence, defined as two earthquakes of similar magnitude that occur close in time and proximity, likely due to  complex, rupture-interaction processes.

Northern Venezuela has a history of large, damaging earthquakes. However, there have only been seven magnitude 6 or larger earthquakes in the area over the past century. The region recently experienced a doublet in September 2025 consisting of a 6.2 and 6.3 earthquake west of this week's event. The most devastating modern earthquake in the area was the July 1967 magnitude 6.6 Caracas earthquake, which caused around 240 fatalities, hundreds of injuries, the collapse of multiple high-rise apartment buildings, and widespread destruction.

And as if all that weren't enough, in the last couple days, earthquakes also shook Japan (6.9), California (5.6), and Papua New Guinea (5.4). 

Heat domes and earthquakes. Impermanence is swift. Sometimes it feels like Mother Gaia is trying to shake off that pesky species that's causing so much havoc with the climate and ecosystems.

 

Day of the Millrace, 54th of Midsommar, 526 M.E. (Betelgeuse): As luck would have it, yesterday's pleasant weather continued into today, a walking day, as I took in my eight mile course. Even better, my stingy phone finally gave me credit for a full 8.1-mile Van Buren, instead of the seven-point-something distances it's tried to claim in the past.  

Europe hasn't been as lucky vis a vis the weather.  The continent is suffering under an intense heat dome, bringing dangerous conditions to much of Europe. Spain set a new daily record for the month of June and in southwest France it reached 112 °F yesterday at Pissos in France’s hottest day on record. The UK has issued a “Red Extreme Heat Warning” for today and tomorrow, with temperatures forecast to soar to at least 102.2 °F, which would obliterate the UK’s previous June heat record of 96.1 degrees. In France, at least 40 people have drowned while seeking relief from the heat. Heat-related deaths are difficult to track in real time, though French authorities compared this heat wave to one in 2003 that killed nearly 15,000 people.

Moving right along, I was delighted to find this quote by author Joyce Carol Oates on Elon Musk: “So curious that such a wealthy man never posts anything that indicates that he enjoys or is even aware of what virtually everyone appreciates – scenes from nature, pet dog or cat, praise for a movie, music, a book (but doubt that he reads); pride in a friend’s or relative’s accomplishment; condolences for someone who has died; pleasure in sports, acclaim for a favorite team; references to history. In fact he seems totally uneducated, uncultured. The poorest persons on Twitter may have access to more beauty & meaning in life than the ‘most wealthy person in the world.’”

I couldn't agree more. I've felt the same way for many years, from well before he even entered politics, about the Stable Genius. So full of grievances, so paranoid that someone, somewhere might be taking advantage of him or, worse, laughing behind his back. Like Musk, the more that he has, the more he seems to want.

In Japanese folklore, there is a spirit called the "hungry ghost," an unfortunate apparition with a mouth so small it can never eat enough to satisfy its hunger, its longing. Musk and the Stable Genius are the opposite - "big-mouth ghosts" - spirits whose enormous mouths can never be filled. Their mouths grow ever larger as they eat more and more. 

I don't wanna be no ghost. I'm so glad I'm not Musk or the S.G.

Last night, two New York House Democrat incumbents, including the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, lost their primaries to left-wing Democratic Socialist challengers backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

The pangram in yesterday's Spelling Bee was "marijuana."

The times, they really are a-changing.