#Ryo #Cye #RoninWarriors

One Two Three Four, open up my secret door! #CowboyWho

In brief: A major series of atmospheric river-driven storms will impact the West heading into next week, this time focusing more on California. The storm system that hits Tuesday night and Wednesday may be particularly significant there. Elsewhere, windy weather will have a hold on the Front Range & Foothills today in Colorado with dangerous fire weather possible. Warm weather is in control for most places for a good bit of the rest of 2025.

Western Weather is wild!

The last couple posts have been heavily policy-related matters (though I do want to point you to a later night update yesterday from Alan Gerard’s Balanced Weather), so let’s focus mostly on actual weather today, because the West is in for it. The firehose is turned on and will not turn off anytime soon. However, it will take aim at differing parts of the West Coast at different times. The heaviest precipitation will exit Oregon today and push into Northern California while weakening. This leads to a generally calmer day Saturday across the West. On Saturday night and Sunday, the moisture plume revs back up, aiming primarily at parts of southern Oregon and northern California, north of the Bay Area.

That continues Monday, with perhaps a slight downtrend in precip intensity. By later Tuesday and into Christmas Eve, it appears that a significant storm is going to deliver a multitude of hazards to California, including flooding rains, mudslide risk, debris flow risk, strong winds, and extremely heavy snow in the Sierra. This comes in two or three “waves” of action continuing into Christmas Day. Each one gets slightly colder, so snow levels will slowly drop through the event as well. Things reset next Friday and Saturday with a focus on British Columbia, before perhaps the next plume aims at the Northwest again on the following Sunday or Monday before New Year’s.

The key point: The most significant impact of this multi-day atmospheric river event will probably occur Tuesday night through Thursday, focused primarily on California.

You can see from the chart above that estimates atmospheric river “intensity” for the Bay Area that the intensity picks up today, Sunday, and Tuesday night into Wednesday, with the strongest of the event occurring then (pushing into category 5 level intensity). Let’s talk about total precipitation expected in California. Snow-wise, it looks like a solid 3-to-6-foot type snow event for the High Sierra, with the potential for higher or lower amounts depending on the exact setup that unfolds, but let’s go with that estimate right now as a placeholder based on the most recent data. Liquid-wise? We’re looking at perhaps as much as 15 to 20 inches of liquid equivalent in the northernmost Sierra and just south of the Shasta area.

Expect a flurry of watches, warnings, and advisories to be issued in the next couple days, and expect travel across California to be impacted by this series of storms, especially Sunday into Wednesday.

Front Range & Foothills windstorm

Another round of particularly powerful winds will occur today across the West, with a focus on Colorado again for perhaps the most significant impacts. A combination of low humidity and wind gusts in excess of 70 to 80 mph will be possible primarily west of the immediate Denver and Colorado Springs metros. Red flag warnings are posted in these areas with extremely high fire risk.

Additional wind events seem likely on Sunday and Wednesday as well, though hopefully slightly less intense than today. Precipitation looks to be at a premium in the Front Range and Urban Corridor, with perhaps some good snows possible in northwest Colorado this weekend and later next week, especially for Steamboat and Winter Park.

Warmth continues

The rest of the country looks generally warm over the next 6 to 10 days, with average temperatures well above normal and a flurry of new record highs expected.

Will the pattern change at all as we roll into 2026? We’ll see. For now, just buckle up for a wild ride out West and a warm one for most everywhere else.

Newsy bits

Whatcom County, WA: In Washington, the governor toured damage in Whatcom County from the recent record flooding that occurred in that area. As is often the case, a lot of good things were said after local, state, and tribal officials met, but the real test will be if any of it leads to changes.

Fraser Valley, BC: Meanwhile, over the border in British Columbia, the province’s premier echoed frustration with Canadian federal government inaction on the repeated flooding that is occurring there due to overflow from the Nooksack River into the Sumas Prairie and eventually Fraser Valley. The premier also spoke to Washington’s governor. It appears any concrete relief is going to have to occur with cooperation between the U.S. and Canadian governments.

Denver & Phoenix: Denver and Phoenix have little in common, being on opposite ends of the Colorado River politics spectrum and in different basins of the river entirely. The two cities are scrambling to future-proof their water supplies as the basin’s crunch deepens and negotiators have missed recent deadlines on how to share a shrinking river that 40 million people depend on. Both cities are quietly embracing solutions, from reservoirs to grass removal and planning for the potential of water cuts.

Mount Dora, FL: An update on flood damage from a very localized major flooding event earlier this autumn that occurred north of Orlando.

In brief: It is chilly across Houston this morning, with some outlying areas falling all the way into the upper 30s. Most of us are in the lower 40s. This is as cold we are going to get for awhile, and in fact a rather swift warm-up will begin 24 hours from now. We’ll then be unseasonably warm through the Christmas holiday.

A brief reminder that it’s winter

It is fairly chilly out there this morning. Some locations in Montgomery County, including the usual spots like Conroe, have fallen into the 30s and may be experiencing some frost. Most of the rest of the Houston metro area is in the 40s. Our weather is clear, and cool, and just about normal for this time of year when our days are the shortest.

If you like winter (and I know many of you do not), make sure to spend a little time outside today. Because when you look at a forecast for the days ahead it is kind of wild. We are briefly cold, and then it’s at least a solid week of rather balmy weather, with highs near record maximum temperatures. I’d love to tell you it won’t be humid, but with dewpoints solidly in the mid-60s, it will be. And we are going to be prone to early morning fog, which I don’t think anyone likes. (If you do, explain yourself in the comments!)

On the upside, beyond the fog, there is very little to be concerned about. We aren’t going to have snow or icy roads, and there is no signal for any kind of severe weather. So while it won’t feel exactly festive out there, family gatherings should not be impacted by the weather. As a forecaster, selfishly, it also makes our job a bit easier during the holiday week when there are lots of activities with families and friends!

Friday

Today is really going to be a lovely winter day. Overnight winds have calmed down, and we’re going to have a sunny day with highs in the mid-60s. There is literally going to be nothing to complain about, although I know some readers will take that as a challenge. We are going to have one more passably chilly night, with lows in the upper 40s for most of the region. But with the onshore flow resuming on Friday night, we are going to warm up quickly on Saturday morning.

Saturday through Tuesday

After Saturday morning we’re going to see steady-eddie weather, with highs in the upper 70s to 80 degrees, a mix of sunshine and clouds, warm nights in the mid-60s, and a chance of morning fog. Rain chances will be close to zero each day. Really, I don’t expect much change from day to day, which is how it goes with potent high pressure systems like this.

Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day

For those who don’t know, Boxing Day is December 26th, and celebrated in Canada and elsewhere in the Commonwealth nations. No one is quite sure why it’s called “Boxing” day, but it has nothing to do with fighting. And I thought I would call it out this year because there is a Canadian astronaut, Jeremy Hansen, flying on the Artemis II mission around the Moon early next year. He and his family have spent a lot of time in Houston, while he trains at NASA, and Jeremy is a swell fellow.

Anyway, I don’t expect much change in daytime temperatures during the second half of next week, but we could see a slight diminution in humidity, and this would allow for nighttime temperatures to drop by a couple of degrees. My prediction for Christmas Day remains the same as it’s been for more than a week now: Highs in the upper 70s, a decent amount of humidity, and partly sunny skies. Rain chances are very low. You can trade ugly sweaters for ugly sweating, if you like.

Is it ever going to feel like winter again?

Yes. Most of our trusted models show a significant pattern change around Sunday, Dec. 28, or Monday, Jan. 29. Since that is at the edge of predictability, we should take it with a grain of salt. But I remain hopeful that winter will eventually start to feel like winter again.

Since the forecast is pretty well locked in we’re going to take a full weekend off here. See you on Monday!

It’s “where are you now?” month at Ask a Manager, and all December I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past. Here are three updates from past letter-writers.

There will be more posts than usual this week, so keep checking back throughout the day.

1. Our office didn’t have bathrooms or water, but they wouldn’t send us home (#3 at the link)

After your response was published, I reported the incident through our anonymous compliance network, who forwarded it to employee health, not HR. I got a lukewarm response, something about management being in contact with HR the whole day, but it never addressed why we all felt like we were being held hostage. I let their response simmer until last week, when we were again without water.

I responded with, “Thanks, it’s out again today. We’ll see if the onsite management’s response is different this time.” And then today, both Compliance and Employee Health show up! We all had brief meetings with a rep who assured us that we are allowed to leave and work from home without retaliation. Apparently they weren’t thrilled that we felt like we weren’t allowed to go, even though we are all hybrid and obviously set up to work from home.

Employee Health was really accommodating as well, and several brought up other issues that will be worked on too.

2. I was hired to replace someone who won’t retire

Thank you for sharing my letter a few months back. I wrote about being hired to replace someone who wouldn’t retire. I appreciated your and the readers’ feedback. It definitely made me feel less crazy and encouraged me to put myself first and look for new jobs, without feeling guilty.

When I quit, I didn’t call out my ex-boss on everything I disagreed with — questionable accounting and leadership choices. I decided … not my monkeys not my circus. But I did make it clear to him that the work wasn’t what I wanted and that I had brought this up months before. It was awkward but necessary. And now, that job is so very far in the past!

I was hired as the head of finance for an animal shelter, and I couldn’t be happier. A year ago, I changed career paths to non profit work (and moved across the country for grad school) only dreaming of a job with this kind of impact, for animals and their families.

3. How long should I wait for a new manager to turn things around? (#3 at the link)

I’m in Germany, where we have strong employee protections. One of them is something called an Überlastungsanzeige — roughly “work overload notice.” It’s a formal notification to your employer that your workload is exceeding safe or reasonable limits, so if something goes wrong they can’t claim they weren’t warned. It also obligates management to take action.

I filed one, copied our union rep, and it escalated all the way to the CEO. That revealed the real problem: my boss’s boss had been blocking the hiring we desperately needed and also not been completely transparent with the CEO on what was going on in our department. We have now hired two additional sys admins starting in November.

In the process, I also pointed out my significantly higher contributions compared to my colleagues, set clear workload boundaries (which ended up becoming binding for everyone in the department), and laid out changes to our processes that I wanted to see.

That lit a fire under management and my boss, specifically, really went to bat. They told me they would look into a promotion and significant raise for me, and even created a brand-new role that I got to define. The new processes were adopted and they’ve already reduced my stress levels significantly.

Taking Alison’s advice, I started job hunting anyway as I didn’t know what the outcome of all this was going to be. Last week I received an external offer that included everything I’d been negotiating with my current employer. I told my boss I needed something in writing about the new role and raise before I could turn down the other offer. He delivered that written confirmation, so I declined the external job.

The recruiter wasn’t thrilled (apparently some miscommunication on their end), but I never made a commitment and got back to them politely within three business days. If they choose to see it as me using them for leverage, so be it — I made the right call.

I also reached out directly to the hiring manager from that other company because he had really impressed me during the interview process. We agreed to stay in touch, since we’d both like to work together in the future if the opportunity comes up.

So now I’m much happier, much less stressed, and starting in January I’ll have a new role, more money, and I’m already looking at a much better-functioning department.

Thanks to you and the readers for the advice.

The post updates: the office without running water, the person who wouldn’t retire, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager.

I’m on vacation. Here are some past letters that I’m making new again, rather than leaving them to wilt in the archives.

1. I worked for my mom and now she won’t stop bugging me with work questions

Five years ago, I was offered a job at the company my mom had been working at for 20+ years. At the time, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my career and I needed the insurance and a higher wage, so I accepted the offer despite my knowing it was ultimately going to be a bad situation.

Unfortunately, I stayed for five years in the horrible working conditions. One of which was working directly for my mom all five years. During my five years at that company, I took it upon myself to change/update many processes and procedures to enable people work more effectively and efficiently. I also created many instructions on how to do my job so if and when I left, anyone would be able to sit down and do my job.

On my departure this past November, I made it clear I would be available to answer questions, but they would have to contract me for work if necessary. I also strongly recommended they hire at least a temp for my last two weeks so I could teach them before I left. Unfortunately, the COO decided they didn’t need to replace me and my mom could take on my job. This is not the case, but it’s their business, not mine.

Because of this, I keep getting calls from my mom. These calls are for things I left instructions for, things she used to do for 20 years, things I trained her on prior to my departure, and things you could easily Google. I would understand if it was a question about where some information was, but when she calls me on a Friday afternoon on my way home from my current job asking if I could stop by the office and help her create a PowerPoint for a big meeting, it feels like she is crossing a boundary. Sometimes, she’ll even call and text me about work-related issues while I’m at my new job until I respond.

When I tell her I cannot help her in this manner, but she could contract me, she pulls the “daughter card” and says I should do it for her as a favor. I don’t know how to react to this. I keep trying to remind her that I can’t do this as a favor because it used to be my job, she gets silent and offended and eventually hangs up. Is there some other way I could get my old boss/mom to stop calling me with work-related questions?

If your mom is generally reasonable, you could try talking to her about this at a time when she’s not calling you looking for help. Go out to lunch with her or something and say, “Mom, it’s really important to me to make a clean break from Old Company and be able to focus on my new job. It’s not healthy for me to get pulled back into Old Company, and I definitely can’t answer questions while I’m at my new job. I tried to leave a lot of documentation when I left, but I can’t help beyond that.” You could even say, “One reason I left was because it wasn’t good for our relationship to be working together and I was looking forward to just being mother/daughter again.”

But if she’s not generally reasonable — and I suspect she might not be, based on what you’ve described — then you’ll need to just keep repeating, “No, I’m sorry, I can’t help with that.” Say it kindly but hold firm. At some point she’s likely to figure out she’s not getting anything from you and it will lessen (one hopes). But be aware that you’ll need to be consistent; if you give in and help one time in 10, you’ll train her to keep asking. If you’re really backed into a corner, though, you can also try, “Hmmm, I don’t remember — it’s been a few months now.”

Also, consider screening her calls for a while. Call her back a day or two later so that she doesn’t get the immediate gratification of reaching you instantly when she has a work question. And mute phone notifications from her while you’re at work.

– 2019

2. I don’t get my own parking pass because I’m married to a coworker

I recently started working at the same company as my husband. We are in different departments, have different schedules, and are in buildings three blocks apart. Both buildings are in the downtown area of our city where parking is prohibitively expensive. The company offers reimbursement for a parking space in local parking garages that brings the cost down to about $40 a quarter from $300 a quarter.

I never planned on commuting with my husband. I have not been bashful about saying this to anyone who asks. He runs late and we have different work schedules. I also don’t want the responsibility and stress of waking him up and keeping him on task. He is getting better at doing this on his own, but the progress has been hard fought due to mental illness. I’m afraid if I’m around pushing and pulling, he will lose that progress.

My company (specifically the HR department) is now saying that as we are a married couple we can only have reimbursement for one parking pass. I reemphasized that I wanted my own pass and pointed out that we have schedules that sometimes vary by multiple hours. They talked to my manager and she said that I can move my schedule to match his when it is only an hour or two separate. HR also said I could use the bus when our schedule varies too much.

Is this something I can/should push back on? I want to be viewed as an individual employee not the wife of so-and-so. I kind of feel like a brat being stuck on this but it is one of a couple surprises in the first week that mean I am taking a larger pay cut than I initially thought.

Yes, push back on it. They’re making presumptuous assumptions about what will work for your marriage, and it’s odd. I could maybe see them asking if you’d need a pass or not, but their insistence on this once you said you did is bizarre.

You shouldn’t receive fewer benefits simply because you’re married to another employee. I’d say it this way: “It’s not possible for me to share a parking pass with my husband because we’ll be driving to work separately, due to often having different commitments in the evenings. My understanding is that this is part of the benefits package offered to all employees, and I don’t want to miss out on part of the compensation package simply because of my marital status. Since I won’t be driving to work with Bob, I do need my own pass, like any other employee would.”

Present “we won’t be driving to work together” as an unalterable fact — regardless of any schedule changes they offer — and see where that gets you.

– 2018

Read an update to this letter here.

3. Should I send employers a lottery ticket with my resume?

I have been job hunting for a while now without much success. I’m looking for creative ways to get noticed by employers, and I had the idea to send my resume along with a lottery ticket and the message “Take a chance on meeting me!” My thinking is that it’s a cute way to stand out and some hiring managers might be intrigued enough to call me for an interview. Do you see any downsides to this?

Nooooo, do not do this. It’s really gimmicky, and it’ll look like you don’t trust your qualifications to merit an interview on their own (or understand why people get hired). It’s so gimmicky, in fact, that if I would have called you for an interview without the lottery ticket, this would make me hesitate to do it, both because the gimmick would raise questions about your judgment and understanding of professional norms and because I’d have qualms about reinforcing whatever thought process led to this.

The way you stand out to employers is by being a highly qualified candidate with a resume that shows a track record of achievement and writing a compelling, personalized cover letter. I know that’s frustrating — how will you stand out if other people have those things too, after all? — but that’s the only way to do it, at least if you want to screen for good employers who hire competently.

– 2019

4. My office wants to make me use a nickname

My name is, let’s say, Jane Smith. I just received this communication on messenger from my office manager:

Quick question: do you have a fav nickname you like to go by?
How do you feel about “JS”‘? lol
On a scale of 1-10, how excited are you about Smithy?

I believe this is part of an overall strategy to improve office culture. How do I politely say I like to go by my first name/last name combination. Or just the former. Apparently everyone in the office got the same request and it’s mandatory. I have to submit a nickname by Monday! I honestly don’t have a nickname. My boyfriend suggested that I request to be referred to as “Your Majesty” but I’m a little worried that my coworkers might actually start calling me that.

“I feel strongly that names are personal and I don’t go by a nickname or want to go by one. So just Jane for me.”

If you’re pressed, “Really, I’m just Jane. In my family, names are a meaningful and personal thing and I would feel really uncomfortable having a nickname.”

And if you’re up for it: “I appreciate that this is an attempt to make the culture here friendlier. Being forced to go by a nickname I don’t like and don’t use would be the opposite of morale-boosting for me. If we want to improve the culture, maybe we can talk about (insert actually useful thing your office needs here).”

– 2019

The post my mom won’t stop bugging me with work questions, office wants me to use a nickname, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager.

It’s “where are you now?” month at Ask a Manager, and all December I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past.

Remember the letter-writer trying to decide if her coworker was harassing her or just annoying? Here’s the update.

I was away from my desk the day my question was posted so didn’t get to interact with the commentariat but I did go thru and read all the comments. Thanks all for your advice!

It got worse before it got better.

Early August, Joe asked me what I wanted my nickname to be as he was going to give me a nickname. I replied, “I don’t do nicknames at work.”

Later that month, he said to another one of my coworkers, “Too bad ‘LetterWriter’ doesn’t have any sisters.”

End of August, he started calling me “Hotshot.” I asked him to stop and reiterated that I “don’t do nicknames at work.” He continued calling me “Hotshot” behind my back when he thought I wasn’t present. I asked him to stop and told him he could call me by my name. It was uncomfortable. I then heard from a few teammates that he continued using this nickname when I wasn’t present.

Around that point, some coworkers from a previous job reached out and asked me to apply at their company. I got the job and, during my resignation, I laid all this out for my boss Friday afternoon.

To my boss’s credit, there was an HR investigation started within four hours, they had me work from home Monday, and Joe was suspended that Monday pending investigation.

He was suspended my entire notice period and I never saw him again. They fired him for cause about four days after I left the company.

I feel bad that he’s most likely in a hard financial position in a less than great job market. I honestly didn’t think much was going to come of my complaint, but HR spoke to everyone on the team and the other gals so perhaps I didn’t have the only complaints. All I can do is trust their process and hope he’s doing okay.

Thanks again to all the commentators!

The post update: is this guy harassing me or just annoying? appeared first on Ask a Manager.

TELL HER NO! TELL HER SHE’S A WARTHOG! NEIL!!

MACKINSHAW, NE—Emphasizing that he didn’t want to seem paranoid but it was the only way he could make sense of it all, high school senior Geoffrey Lesseder stated Monday that he was starting to suspect the three school shootings he had been in might be about him. “At first I thought it was due to a lack of universal background checks, but now it feels personal,” said Lesseder, adding that despite attending multiple high schools in states with vastly different gun laws, high-caliber rifle bullets always seemed to fly in classrooms when he was present. “I don’t want to be too self-centered, but what is the common thread that connects all these shootings, if not me? God, do all these shooters just think I’m annoying? I especially got weird vibes from that last one—the way he glared at me as I was clamoring past my dying classmates toward the supply closet it was like he hated me or something.” At press time, Lesseder had reportedly decided he would know for sure if there was a fourth school shooting in his vicinity.

The post Student Who’s Been In 3 School Shootings Starting To Think This Might Be About Him appeared first on The Onion.

WAYNE, NE—After coming together and pooling resources to save Christmas for the town’s most impoverished family, a tight-knit Nebraska community reportedly did jack shit this week to make the holiday better for its second-poorest family. “Getting to see the smiles on the Turner kids’ faces when they realized they were going to have a merry Christmas after all was a heartwarming moment that made me feel proud to live in a small town like ours,” said elementary school teacher Linda Clark, who sure as fuck didn’t bake a Christmas ham for the Hoffman family two blocks away, who are functionally just as poor. “The holidays are a time when we make sure we’re looking out for the least fortunate members of our community. As for the second-least, well, it’s a slippery slope. I mean, if you spend all day decorating a Christmas tree for the second-poorest family, then the third-poorest is going to want help buying presents, and pretty soon you’re on the hook for everybody, which, come on, sounds like a total nightmare. Of course, we wanted to help the Hoffmans out, but after all the charitable acts we just did for the Turners in order to emulate Christ during this season of giving, we were pretty wiped out. But if there’s one thing I know about our little town, it’s that if you’re down on your luck enough to be clearly the worst one off, we’ll be there to lift you up.” At press time, reports confirmed the Hoffman family was looking through a window at the town Christmas party being thrown for the Turners, which they had not been invited to attend.

The post Community Does Jack Shit To Make Christmas Better For Town’s Second-Poorest Family appeared first on The Onion.

TORONTO—Accusing the HBO drama of egregiously misrepresenting their experiences off the ice, the National Hockey League Players’ Association blasted Heated Rivalry Friday for what it described as incredibly unrealistic depictions of anal sex between players. “The show’s portrayals of hockey players having sex with each other are wildly misinformed, and we are disappointed by the producers’ utter failure to accurately represent what we do to each other behind locker room doors on a daily basis,” read a statement cosigned by each of the NHLPA’s more than 750 active players, adding that the series’ glitzy, overwrought lovemaking scenes miss the mark on even the most basic details regarding the day-in, day-out sexual encounters that define their lives between games. “Yes, it’s true that we as professional hockey players spend the majority of our free time cramming our cocks into each other’s hot, hungry assholes—the show gets that right. But beyond that, every instance of anal sex you see on screen is pure fiction. It’s clear they didn’t bother consulting any actual hockey players, as the butt-fucking on the show could not be further from what really occurs.” The statement went on to say that while the show’s anal sex scenes are “ludicrous,” its depictions of oral sex between hockey players are pretty much spot-on.

The post Hockey Players Blast ‘Heated Rivalry’ For Unrealistic Depiction Of Anal Sex  appeared first on The Onion.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered diplomatic correspondences to cease the use of Calibri font and revert to Times New Roman, attributing the previous change by the Biden Administration to misguided diversity initiatives. What do you think?

“The people of Calibria won’t be happy with this.”

Rosemary Stern, Truffle Garnisher

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“And after all that time I spent learning how to read in Calibri.”

Danny Bodjanac, Timpani Tuner

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“While we’re at it, I don’t like Garamond. It’s condescending.”

Alberto Esposito, Essay Reviewer

The post State Department Reinstates Times New Roman Font Over DEI Concerns appeared first on The Onion.

things you can do with a 6

9

Cirno comes home carrying boxes of billiard balls. Cirno and Glenda decorate a cactus tree with 6s and 9s.

https://analognowhere.com/_/heugxu

• archive
• support/store

It’s gonna kill him, but it’ll do wonders for his arthritis.

There she is, Cilla, our songbird queen.

The post We never got to do it appeared first on Bad Machinery.

“Also a nice pair of socks.” Luke and the Panel (Ian MacIntyre and Clare Blackwood) talk the Liberals’ scheme to get Conservative MPs to cross floor, Poilievre’s disastrous CBC interview, and the immediate politicization of the weekend’s tragedies. Then the Approximately 10 Minute Long Quiz discovers the worst reason to get fired from your job. […]

The post Carney asks Santa for majority government, some scratch-offs appeared first on The Beaverton.

WASHINGTON—Praising the recipients for their acts of true American cowardice, President Donald Trump proudly announced a new “Dodger Dividend” on Wednesday night for anyone who successfully avoided military service. “Today, we celebrate the millions of patriots willing to step up and do whatever it takes to avoid being shipped off to war and getting themselves killed,” Trump said in a primetime televised address, claiming that the $1,776 payments were the least he could do for those willing to risk everything by faking a medical condition, falsifying a student deferment, or forging National Guard reserve-duty papers on behalf of the nation. “Whether their wealthy father paid a doctor to claim they had bone spurs, or they got drunk and shot a bullet straight through their foot, or they spent an entire week soiling their pants before visiting the draft office, these Americans deserve every penny. To those who claimed family hardship after backing their car over their grandmother in the driveway, we salute you. You’ve earned it.” Trump added that he would also be awarding a “Deserter Dividend” to anyone who willfully abandoned their post or went AWOL while serving.

The post Trump Announces New ‘Dodger Dividend’ For Anyone Who Avoided Military Service appeared first on The Onion.

A guide to exhibitions opening in spring 2026 at Houston area art museums and institutions, including the Blaffer Art Museum, the Galveston Arts Center, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Moody Center for the Arts, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, and more. 

Blaffer Art Museum

The Uncanny In-Between puts a contemporary, subversive twist on traditional Korean ceramics. Curated by Sso-Rha Kang and running from January 10 to March 14, 2026, the exhibition features work by Audrey An, Wansoo Kim, Hoon LEE, Hayun Surl, and Hae Won Sohn. According to the Blaffer website, “Despite commonalities of Korean heritage, these artists navigate the nuances of cross-cultural influences culling from personal, familial, and cultural histories.”

Mud + Corn + Stone + Blue, running January 17 to March 14, 2026, will consider historical entanglements between the United States and Central America, with artwork from the U.S. Corn Belt and from Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras. The traveling exhibition hinges on major regional conflicts dating to the 1960s, touching on how these histories are entwined with the U.S. corn industry. Mud + Corn + Stone + Blue will be presented at both Blaffer Art Museum and Lawndale Art Center (February 27 to May 2, 2026).

Galveston Arts Center

Bruce Lee Webb: CURIOS, in the Strand Gallery from January 10 to April 4, 2026, features the work of Waxahachie and Fort Davis artist Bruce Lee Webb with the added context of artworks and objects he has collected across decades. According to the Galveston Arts Center website, Mr. Webb’s “studies of characters and culture have guided his fascination and research into topics, including honky-tonk cowboy music, visionary art, occult oddities, fraternal order societies, and antiquarian books.” The artist’s work features “musicians, folklore, and locales of personal significance painted in ink on vintage cotton seed bags and waxed cotton.”

Lawndale Art Center

End Cash Bail A Poetry & Visual Art Exhibition, January 14-17, 2026, at Lawndale Art Center, will take a firsthand look at the impact of incarceration in Texas jails through poetry, paintings, collages, cyanotypes, photography, and more. Curated by ACLU of Texas Artist-in-Residence KB Brookins, the exhibition aims to reveal the wide-ranging impacts of the Texas jail system.

Art League Houston

Art League Houston (ALH) will present three exhibitions, opening January 16 and running through April 19, 2026. 

The photography-based exhibition magic mirrors, by interdisciplinary artist Jamie Ho, will place the Han Dynasty-era magic mirror as its centerpoint. In a description provided by ALH, “When a beam of bright light hits convex, polished surface of a magic mirror, an image is reflected onto the wall. The object is considered synonymous with how the Western world views China, as both technically advanced and shrouded in mystery.” Ms. Ho’s work uses GIFs, sculptures, new media, and installation to generate mirror images that trouble the long history of public spectacle and display of Chinese American women and femme bodies. She generates a world that prioritizes queer modes of joy, humor, and play as an act of resistance against assimilation into the hegemony of American culture.

The River Entered My Home, by Austin-based collaborative duo Hammonds + West, engages “grief work” in sculptural installations incorporating drawings and poems that articulate the experience of living amid a fragile, changing ecosystem. The artists question individual and societal contributions to the environmental crisis, inviting viewers to “dwell in wreckage, suspended between flood and fire, stasis and loss,” as distinctions between natural and human-made disasters collapses.

And I Feel Fine / Y Me Siento Bien is an ongoing series by Mateo Gutierrez examining intersections of domestic and border-related traumas. This latest installment explores what ALH describes as “distinct but emotionally synchronized realities: the aftermath of American mass shootings and the journey of migrants seeking entry into the United States.” In merging these narratives, Mr. Gutierrez’s multimedia work “exposes a singular American ethos of violence that permeates the national psychology both within and beyond U.S. borders.”

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Frida: The Making of an Icon will be on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) from January 19 to May 17, 2026. The expansive show will feature more than 30 artworks,  memorabilia, and archives of Frida Kahlo, along with 120 artworks by five generations of artists she inspired. In contrast to prior exhibitions on Ms. Kahlo’s work, the MFAH describes Frida: The Making of an Icon as “the first major exploration of the artist’s transformation from a relatively unknown local painter to a universal icon and global brand.”

From March 1 to May 10, 2026, the MFAH will present Buddha/Nature, an exhibition exploring Buddhist teachings in dialogue with nature. The show will pair five Buddhist masterpieces from the Xuzhou Collection with a selection of works by six international artists. 

And from March 8 through September 7, 2026, in the Cullinan Hall of the Caroline Wiess Law Building, Ernesto Neto: SunForceOceanLife will be on display for the first time following its 2021 MFAH debut. According to the museum, “Over the course of several weeks, a team of a dozen people will once again construct a labyrinth of interior pathways for visitors to explore while suspended 12 feet in the air.”

Moody Center for the Arts

Imaging after Photography will run from January 23 to May 09, 2026, at the Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University. According to a press release, the exhibition will explore “the mercurial nature of images, the evolving dialogue between photographs and reality, and humanity’s ever-changing relationship to technological advancements,” in relation to recent developments with artificial intelligence systems. Works by global contemporary artists, including Nouf Aljowaysir, Refik Anadol, Gregory Chatonsky, Sofia Crespo, Joan Fontcuberta, Lisa Oppenheim, and Trevor Paglen, will offer “nuanced vantage points on the history of photography and its intersections with machine learning, asking questions about human perception, and technological intervention.

Sofia Crespo, the Moody’s Spring 2026 Leslie and Brad Bucher Artist-in-Residence, will present a monthlong exhibition in March 2026. An Argentine artist based in Lisbon, Portugal, Ms. Crespo’s practice explores convergences of artificial intelligence and biological systems. According to the Moody Center website, Ms. Crespo works with Norwegian artist Feileacan Kirkbride McCormick as the collaborative duo Entangled Others, investigating how organic life and artificial mechanisms simulate and evolve in congruence.

Houston Center for Contemporary Craft

As described on the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (HCCC) website, Clutch City Craft, on view February 28 to August 8, 2026, will survey “the craft communities that have built the infrastructure and material culture of Houston, demonstrating how traditional craft knowledge is at the heart of one of the leading industrial production centers in the nation.” The exhibition is part of Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026, a yearlong collaboration that brings together organizations and creatives across the country. Handwork 2026 is an initiative organized by Craft in America and the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in celebration of the U.S.’s semiquincentennial.

Menil Drawing Institute/The Menil Collection

The Menil Drawing Institute will present The Gift of Drawing: Cy Twombly, March 27 to August 9, 2026, featuring a selection from 121 drawings recently gifted to the museum by the Cy Twombly Foundation. The drawings cover a three decade span from the 1950s to the 1980s, in a range of materials, techniques, and themes such as classical antiquity, eroticism, and nature. According to the museum, this will be the inaugural presentation of many of the pieces, including Scent of Madness (1986), a series of ten watercolors.

In April, the Menil Collection will present John Akomfrah: The Hour Of The Dog, an immersive video installation by British filmmaker and artist John Akomfrah. The museum co-commissioned the piece with the Baltimore Museum of Art. Mr. Akomfrah undertook significant research, including oral history interviews and accessing prominent archives, to create the work, which examines Civil Rights-era non-violent protests and other efforts seeking racial equity.

The post Exhibitions Coming to Houston Area Art Venues In Spring 2026 appeared first on Glasstire.

Glasstire counts down the top five art events in Texas.

For last week’s picks, please go here.

1. Juan Ramos: Sisyphus Strut
Artpace (San Antonio)
August 28, 2025 – January 4, 2026

From Artpace:

“After 23 years, Juan Ramos returns to Artpace with a reflective exhibition following his 2002 Texas Artists residency in our International Artist-in-Residence program. In his 2002 Artpace exhibition, Southside Loteria, Ramos created a two-screen video projection with a narrative soundtrack exploring the south side of San Antonio where he grew up. The nearly seven-minute piece follows four characters, each with a personal monologue, blending drawn and filmed imagery. For his 2025 exhibition, Ramos reflects on his career by connecting formative works with new directions. Central to the show is Southside Loteria, alongside a preview of his graphic novel-in-progress, San Anto Sentinels, displayed salon-style with illustrations and text. The exhibition also features video works and a looping soundtrack of twelve songs from San Antonio bands that Ramos has been in.”

2. Tyler Deauvea: Fear Not: It is Only Your Blessing
David Shelton Gallery (Houston)
October 24, 2025 – December 20, 2025

From David Shelton Gallery:

“Fear Not: It is Only Your Blessing is about overcoming the inconsistencies, anxieties, and perspectives that can prevent us from embracing positive change that is forcing itself to happen. It explores the discomfort that often comes with adapting to new realities — and what that inner work looks like. The exhibition also touches on the unpredictability of change: how plans can shift and unexpected situations can arise in the midst of transformation. Misdirection and setbacks are often opportunities to recalibrate, refocus on what truly matters, and approach our paths with renewed clarity. Deauvea conceived this concept when everything was smooth, momentum was high, and there were no major setbacks. But shortly after its conception, he suffered an injury from which he is rehabilitating, and he lost his job. It isn’t solely about loss, though. It’s about leaning into the work that lies ahead, with the belief that everything is unfolding for the greater good — even when it’s hard. It’s about doing the emotional work and being honest about what that process looks and feels like.”

3. Ruben Nieto: Quantum Entanglement of a Supernova
Cris Worley Fine Arts (Dallas)
November 8 – December 30, 2025

From Cris Worley Fine Arts:

“Widely recognized for his dynamic Comic Abstractions, Nieto now expands his visual language with a body of work that fuses cosmology, mythology, figuration, and organic forms into a rich symbolic landscape. Rooted in the artist’s Central American heritage, these works draw from the visual traditions of epigraphy, evoking the layered complexity of ancient inscriptions while reimagining them within a contemporary, cosmic framework. Titles such as The Birthplace of Pegasus, Looking Across the Universe for Pegasus, Crowning Stars, and the exhibition’s namesake, Quantum Entanglement of a Super Nova, underscore Nieto’s exploration of the interwoven forces of myth and science, past and present. Vibrant, gestural, and enigmatic, Nieto’s paintings reflect on the mysteries of origin, transformation, and interconnectedness, inviting viewers into a world where cosmic phenomena and ancestral symbols converge. With Quantum Entanglement of a Super Nova, Nieto offers a bold new chapter in his practice — one that transcends the comic frame and enters a realm of universal storytelling.”

4. Jad Fair: Papercuts
Yard Dog (Austin)
December 6 – December 31, 2025

From Yard Dog:

“Jad Fair is an American musician, singer, and visual artist, best known as the founder of the lo-fi, experimental rock band Half Japanese. He is also known for a prolific solo career and numerous collaborations with artists like Daniel Johnston, Yo La Tengo, and Teenage Fanclub. Fair is also a visual artist who creates paper cuttings and drawings, and his work is exhibited internationally. Yard Dog first showed Jad’s paper cutting art in 2001, and we’ve done a number of shows of his work over the years. We’ll be showing 30 new paper cuttings.”

5. The Global Language of Headwear: Cultural Identity, Rites of Passage, and Spirituality
San Angelo Museum of Fine Art
August 22, 2025 – January 4, 2026

From the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts:

“The Global Language of Headwear includes 89 hats and headdresses from 42 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America, and is a tribute to the stunning diversity of the world’s cultures. With a few exceptions, the pieces are from the mid-to-late 20th century, and many are still worn today in parts of the world for revelry, ritual, and the rhythms of everyday life. More than utilitarian objects of material culture, each hat is a unique work of art — not merely because of the skill required to make it, but also as a singular expression of creativity and cultural meaning.

The profusion of shapes, styles, and materials, as well as the ingenious use of embellishments to decorate the hats, are limited only by imagination. The Global Language of Headwear is organized into five thematic sections: Cultural Identity, Power, Prestige and Status, Ceremonies and Celebrations, Spiritual Beliefs, and Protection. Hats and headdresses communicate timeless ideas — not only of beauty, but also of what it means to be human. The exhibition will be displayed with a special focus exhibit of Chinese children’s hats from the collection of Suzanne Sugg.

The post Top Five: December 18, 2025 appeared first on Glasstire.

It’s “where are you now?” month at Ask a Manager, and all December I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past.

There will be more posts than usual this week, so keep checking back throughout the day.

Remember the letter-writer who thought one of their employees might be trans and was wondering how to signal support (#3 at the link)? Here’s the update.

Thank you for publishing my letter in July. Your advice and the comment section were both very useful. Everyone was very kind and a lot of people had good advice.

I decided to follow the advice of not saying anything to Jane or focusing particularly on her, instead turning my focus to making work a safe environment for anyone. I also didn’t go back to the YouTube channel, figuring that Jane had a right to keep her private and professional life separate. Not to mention, I didn’t feel comfortable going into the comments section to say “Hi this is your manager” and being a silent follower, or commenting without her knowing who I was, felt too close to stalking. At the end of the day, if I started to stream outside of work as a hobby, I don’t think I’d want anyone at work to watch, much less someone I report to. And if I want to watch streams of video games, I’ve got more than enough choice without having to watch this channel in particular.

Jane didn’t end up coming out, but another employee did, about a month after I wrote — and, funnily enough, around a week after my letter was published. To keep with the Disney names theme, let’s say Eric came out as Ariel, a trans woman. I made it known publicly that I wouldn’t tolerate any discrimination towards her, and that anyone under my supervision who gave Ariel a hard time would answer to me. I also started educating myself on gender identity; I had started before this happened, but I can’t lie and say it didn’t motivate me to spend more time on it. What was a vague possibility — managing a trans person — was suddenly an immediate reality.

The good news is, our team really was as open-minded as I hoped they would be. It took some time for everyone to get used to the new name and pronouns, but they were all gracious when Ariel corrected them if they slipped up, and at this point no team member is slipping up anymore. One person did try to ask, within my earshot, if Ariel was considering bottom surgery, then looked horrified when I asked if I’d heard them inquire about a coworker’s genitalia. I hope the question was born out of misplaced curiosity rather than actual malice, but either way I knew I had to shut that down. As I said in a comment on my first letter, as far as I’m concerned my coworkers might as well be Barbie and Ken dolls with no genitalia. I don’t want to know, and I won’t have my team trying to know either. Luckily, shutting it down once and mentioning that this could be grounds for a sexual harrassment complaint was enough, and it didn’t happen again. I made sure to mention to Ariel she shouldn’t feel obligated to answer such questions, and she was free to come to me if something like it happened.

The bad news is, the rest of the company wasn’t so great. (And yes, I know several people said that even if my team was open-minded, everyone might not be; congratulations, or condolences, you were right about that.) Nothing was done that could give Ariel grounds to make an official complaint about discrimination, because the law was followed to the letter … but not so much to the spirit.

We all wear company-issued uniforms, and despite a lot of push back, that uniform is still partly gendered. Women are allowed to wear skirts or trousers, but men have to wear trousers. They refused to give Ariel a skirt until she legally changed her name and gender. Until she did, they were (legally) allowed not to count her as a female employee. Similarly, she still had to introduce herself as “Mr Eric X” on the phone and in her signature, because they wouldn’t switch her info until the legal change was made (which, in our country, can take a month to over a year, depending on where you live).

I pushed back against this as much as I could. I insisted the spirit of the law matters just as much, if not more, as the letter. I also offered a sympathetic ear to Ariel when she felt the need to vent about this whole process. Our team also rallied behind her and offered support. It took multiple complaints to HR, as well as people “casually” commenting in front of higher-ups that they didn’t think our company was so backwards, and they might have to consider looking for a new job that aligned more with their values, to make the process go smoothly. Ariel finally received her new uniform and was allowed to introduce herself as her real identity, as should have been the case from the beginning.

Unfortunately, I can’t say the lesson was learned, since now the company is trying to use Ariel as an example of how inclusive they are, in a “look, we have an openly trans woman working for us” way. In fact, the former head of HR had the gall to say in their retirement speech, “I’m proud to have worked for a company that accepted Ariel, a trans woman, with open arms” or something to that effect. Everyone in the audience was extremely uncomfortable, none of us more than Ariel, of course. On another occasion, a new employee was being introduced to everyone and when it was Ariel’s turn, boss said, “And this is Ariel, our very own trans lady.” This was met by immediate outrage from the team, and I pointed out that one, people aren’t minority tokens (just like you wouldn’t say “this is our very own BIPOC employee”), two, this was objectifying as it implied Ariel belonged to us, and three, he had just outed her without consent or warning. While he made a show of apologizing, I later got informally reprimanded behind closed doors for undermining him. I still think calling him out on the spot was the right thing to do, and all the reprimand told me was that my boss didn’t actually get what he’d done wrong. I reported the incident to HR, but as far as I know nothing came out of it. It is, of course, possible that my boss got a talking to or a warning and I wasn’t told about it, but it doesn’t seem likely.

It’s not a perfect update by any means (I’m not even sure it qualifies as a good update) and I know the entire situation has led Ariel to reconsider working for this company. If she does find a new job somewhere else, I’ll be sad to see her go as she’s a very competent worker and a very nice person to work with, but I can hardly hold it against her. I’ll be happy to provide her with a glowing recommendation if she ever needs one, and I’ve told her that. I’ve been updating my resume myself, though I won’t be looking to leave just yet; I want to be here to support Ariel as long as she stays with us.

Thanks again to you, Alison, and to everyone who commented with advice on how to be more inclusive and handle my initial situation.

The post update: I think one of my employees might be trans — how can I signal support? appeared first on Ask a Manager.

Two-cycle alligators. Sounds like they’re running a little rich.

The post Trump Assures Struggling Nation He Has Plenty Of Money appeared first on The Onion.

Here are my favorite posts of 2025, in no particular order:

1. my employee keeps insisting he looks much younger than he is (but he doesn’t)
Because humans are weird, and I love that.

2. good things that came from socializing with coworkers: marriages, dog adoptions, and more
Because this was heart-warming, and these things are easy to overlook.

3. how much deference do good managers want from employees?
Because breaking down this kind of question is one of my favorite things.

4. my team doesn’t want to work for a client whose politics they disagree with
Because a lot of people are grappling with this right now.

5. my colleagues are upset that we’re not “speaking truth to power” on social media
This one too.

6. my new team thinks they’re incredibly overworked, but they actually do nothing
Because this is a fascinating mystery.

7. does HR-mandated manager training ever fix bad bosses?
Because this question lurks in the background of so many other questions here.

8. will I offend my coworkers if I invite them to my religious wedding?
Because I learned a lot from this letter.

9. my boss loves being told she’s beautiful
Because this is hilarious.

10. the unflattering photographs, the cat medicine, and other times people used their power for good
For obvious reasons.

This was also the year we added the sagas tag for letters with multiple updates!

The post my favorite posts of 2025 appeared first on Ask a Manager.

In brief: In today’s post we take a look at what parts of the country will experience a White Christmas. It won’t be Houston of course, nor any place within 1,000 miles. We also discuss our brief cooldown tonight, warming weather for the weekend, and when it might get cold again after Christmas.

A White Christmas?

Will anyone in the Lower 48 have a White Christmas this year? Only a very few areas will be cold enough and wet enough due to a large ridge of high pressure establishing itself over the United States. Here’s a map showing 3-day snowfall totals preceding Christmas morning. Unless you live in the Pacific Northwest, Sierra Nevadas, Rockies, the upper Upper Midwest or New England area, you’re out of luck.

Thursday

Last night saw periods of dense fog, but this has begun to clear even before sunrise this morning, helped by light winds. In the fog’s wake we are going to see mostly sunny skies later today, with highs generally reaching the mid-70s. A front dropping down from the northwest may shave a couple of degrees off these highs for far northern areas, but for central and southern parts of the Houston region, the cooler air is unlikely to arrive until around sunset or after. Temperatures will drop quickly this evening, reaching the low 40s by Friday morning for all but the immediate coast. Winds will be gusty overnight from the north.

Friday

If you wonder what late December is supposed to feel like, Friday will be the day to step outside. We are going to see normal highs for this time of year, in the mid-60s, with sunny skies. Winds will be from the north, then the northeast, eventually swapping to come from the southeast overnight. This will moderate lows to fall only into the 50s for Houston.

Saturday

The first half of the weekend will bring gusty southerly winds as the onshore flow returns in force. Skies will be mostly sunny, with highs pushing into the mid- to upper-70s. Lows on Saturday night will only drop into the 60s, nearly 20 degrees warmer than normal for this time of year.

Sunday

Another day in the mid- to upper-70s (a few inland areas might briefly touch 80 degrees). Skies should be partly cloudy, and there is the barest chance of light showers during the daytime. Probably not for most people, though.

Next week

We will fall into a familiar pattern for pretty much all of next week: Highs in the mid- to upper-70s, lows in the low- to mid-60s, partly sunny skies, and so on. Because of the thickness of a ridge of high pressure sitting over the southern United States, our weather just isn’t going to change much. We’ll see plenty of humidity for late December, and the potential for foggy mornings depending on dewpoints and winds. Daily rain chances will likely be on the order of 10 percent. This pattern will hold into Christmas Day, and likely into Friday or Saturday of next week.

After this point the majority of our modeling is showing a change about 10 days from now, ahead of the new year. There is enough agreement in the models that I’m reasonably confident we’ll see a return of winter before the end of the year. This far out we can’t be certain, but it does seem likely.