In brief: Three interesting systems dot the landscape from the central Atlantic to the central Pacific. The Atlantic wave continues to see slowly building development odds, but it’s terribly slow moving right now. In the Pacific, Lenora will bring rain chances to the Sonoran Desert, while Kiko is ultimately looking like a storm to watch for Hawaii.

Atlantic tropical wave

Well, the tropical wave in the Atlantic has still failed to classify as an invest as of this writing. Odds of development are up to 80 percent today. And if you look at satellite, it appears that the wave is rather compact, or at least the thunderstorms associated with it are.

Whatever happens here, my guess is that this is not going to be a large system (in size) initially. The other story with this wave is how slow it’s moving. We’ve seen some systems book it across the Atlantic in recent years, but this wave is the Sunday driver of disturbances, really taking its time to come west. We’ll continue to say that this area should be watched for the Caribbean islands, but the fact of the matter is that most model guidance doesn’t bring it near that area until the earliest next Tuesday, if not Wednesday.

From a development perspective, the slow movement of the wave can be both good or bad. It gives it more opportunity to perhaps be impacted by external things like dry air or shear. On the other hand, it also gives it a chance to perhaps insulate itself from those impacts for a time, particularly by being such a compact system. Smaller systems can also ramp up fairly quickly, but they can also very quickly weaken if impacted by hostile conditions.

So, we still have a lot of time to watch this, but it does seem like the islands, including Puerto Rico will want to continue to monitor the progress of this system as it crawls west. There are still a number of model solutions that turn this to the northwest and away from the islands, so it’s not a guarantee that it even gets there. But we do know that there is at least potential for development with it that could bring impacts to the islands next week.

Beyond the Caribbean, the overall weather pattern next week has been trending toward a slightly stronger trough along the East Coast of the U.S.

What does this mean for the future of a possible tropical system? Well, for one it would likely begin to gain latitude at some point near or in the northeast Caribbean. It could turn before that point, but this overall setup favors something eventually turning northwest. This is not until next weekend though, a good 8 to 9 days away. So, yes, keep an eye on this if you live from Florida to the Carolinas or in Bermuda, but we have a long, long way to go.

Beyond this, another tropical wave may emerge off Africa next week that’s worth watching for the week of the 15th, but that’s way out there in time.

Pacific Hurricane Lorena

We talked the other day about Lorena possibly becoming a tropical storm or borderline hurricane. Indeed, Lorena did just that, becoming a stronger category 1 storm. It is now undergoing weakening as it moves into cooler waters near Baja, and it will likely come ashore later tomorrow as a disintegrated, post-tropical depression.

Where Lorena may leave its mark is via rainfall. Flood Watches are posted across the Sonoran Desert from southeast California through Phoenix into Tucson. Interestingly, a combination of factors, including the slow movement of Lorena, cloud cover overspreading the desert, and some reduced instability from storms overnight may act to limit how much in the way of thunderstorms can develop today across Arizona. There are always uncertainties, but it may be that the desert sees less activity today than perhaps initially thought.

The higher storm risks may end up being north of the major cities of southern Arizona and north of I-10. While rain rates and totals should cause some reports of flash flooding today or tonight, only very isolated areas seem to be at risk for something more significant. A few higher end totals of 2 to 4 inches may occur in spots, but those would be the exceptions rather than the rule.

Some of the higher end rain risks pivot into New Mexico and Texas this weekend.

Pacific Hurricane Kiko

In the middle of the open Pacific, Kiko has blown up into a monster hurricane the last couple days, achieving category 4 intensity, with winds currently still at 145 mph. However, it seems as though Kiko is undergoing an eyewall replacement cycle, as it has lost a little of its luster from 12 hours ago. You can see on the satellite imagery taken 12 hours apart how Kiko’s structure, while still extremely healthy, has degraded a bit.

Kiko marches onto the west, not currently threatening land. However, Kiko will be an intriguing item to watch as it relates to Hawaii.

You can see above how by Monday, Kiko is a few hundred miles west of the Hawaiian Islands. Kiko will dramatically weaken from where it is now, but it seems as though it may potentially maintain some degree of intensity.

Notice how Kiko will likely traverse water temperatures below 26°C over the next few days. For hurricanes, generally we want to see above those levels for intensification. So we should slowly see Kiko weaken. Now, what is somewhat interesting is how water temperatures do increase again around Hawaii. We’re at least 5 to 6 days out from any possible impacts in Hawaii, but this is a storm worth watching for the islands, both from a wind and rain perspective. At the least, this may be a Douglas (2020) or Linda (2021) type impact risk for the islands. Beyond that, it’s a little too early to say. But folks in Hawaii should be monitoring the progress of Kiko for next week.

In brief: The region will heat up today and Friday, with moderately drier air in place. A combination of factors, including a slow-moving front, will bring elevated rain chances this weekend, particularly on Sunday. Slightly cooler weather will follow.

Thursday

A close look at the radar reveals a few showers right along the coast this morning—that’s the stalled front that has brought modestly cooler weather into the Houston region this morning. Lows at Conroe have dropped all the way into the mid-60s, but most of the metro area has settled into the low 70s. Because this dry air warms efficiently, and skies will be sunny, we will see highs today in the mid- to upper-90s for much of the region away from the coast. With dewpoints in the 60s this afternoon it will be a slightly drier heat, but it’s still going to be pretty hot. Winds will be light, from the west at about 5 mph. Lows tonight will be a couple of degrees warmer than this morning.

Friday

This will be another sunny and warm day, with highs in the mid-90s for much of the area. However, winds will turn more southerly, with gusts up to 15 or 20 mph, and this will herald the return of the onshore flow. This is one factor that will lead to higher rain chances over the weekend, but only one. Friday night will see lows drop into the upper 70s.

Saturday

The first half of the weekend will see a few more clouds in the sky, but there should be enough sunshine to help push temperatures for most into the vicinity of 90 degrees, or just above. Rain chances are about 40 percent, but for the most part I think any showers that develop will be light to moderate, and not super impactful. With ample humidity in place, look for a warm Saturday night.

Sunday

Rain chances will peak on Sunday, likely in the 60 to 80 percent range. Why? Because the combination of a front dropping down from the north, along with an influx of moisture from the remnants of Hurricane Lorena in the Pacific, should bring a healthy chance of showers across the area. We certainly cannot rule out the threat of heavy rainfall, but at this time I expect most of the region to pick up between 0.25 and 1 inch of rain this weekend, rather than seeing any significant flooding. But we’ll keep an eye on it. Highs, for the most part, should top out in the upper 80s.

Next week

At this point it looks like the front will drag into Houston on Sunday-ish, and stall out near the coast. Depending on where the front stops, we could see some lingering showers next week for coastal areas, or they should remain offshosre. Regardless, we should see a couple of days in the upper 80s to 90 degrees, with nights in the lower 70s. Some inland areas may drop into the upper 60s again, so pretty nice overall. Most of next week should be sunny.

Tropics

A disturbance progressing across the Atlantic is increasingly likely to become a tropical storm, and then possibly a hurricane over the course of the next week. There remains a ton of uncertainty about where this will ultimately go, and since it is early September we need to keep an eye on its development. However, overall the odds of this system affecting Texas look to be quite low at this time.

During a recent visit to the Texas Panhandle and Concho Valley, a trio of exhibitions offered a look into the regions’ diverse artistic landscape. While these shows have since concluded, they provided an insightful platform for the work of three distinct artists: Cody Arnall, Daryl Meador, and Ezra Tucker. 

At the Charles Adams Studio Project (CASP) Satellite Gallery in Lubbock, Cody Arnall’s show Boredom and Failure (v.II) presented a collection of works that existed “in between perfection,” as the artist states in his exhibition statement. Arnall, a founding member of the local Co-Opt Research + Projects artist-run space, showcased an array of materials in the way of sculpture and video. The exhibition included small rocks from New Mexico, a video of a hammock-swaying viewpoint from Cloudcroft, New Mexico, and a pair of sculpted feet on the ground. A highlight was an awning that projected a mirrored sky onto the gallery floor, creating a subtle, contemplative dialogue with the video of treetops. The works felt like fragments of a journey, reflecting Arnall’s experiences as an artist in the Southwest, from Marfa to the radioactive hills of New Mexico.

Also in Lubbock, Daryl Meador’s exhibition Big Empty Blues at Co-Opt Research + Projects displayed textile art on the theme of labor. The show featured a series of quilts, many of which incorporated text drawn from the writings of musicians. Meador used a variety of fabrics, including waffle knit, and seemingly dyed some of the material to achieve amber hues and dirt-like textures. With phrases like “Labor is power” and the inclusion of a cinder block, the work ties the craft of quilting to material production. The tactile and visual language of the quilts, along with their thematic focus, created an emotionally resonant experience.

The San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts presented The Art of Ezra Tucker, a survey of works by the prolific artist, whose career began in illustration and transitioned to fine art. Tucker’s paintings, primarily featuring animals native to the Americas, were notable for their masterfully rendered light, form, and proportion. Despite their traditional subject matter, the works, which mostly dated from the last ten years, had a contemporary feel. Tucker’s technique was characterized by detailed under-drawing and a distinctive use of color, with thin washes for backgrounds and seamless brushwork, particularly in the subjects’ eyes. The exhibition provided insight into Tucker’s remarkable life story, from his upbringing in Memphis during the Civil Rights era to his successful career as an illustrator for major corporations and film studios before he fully embraced his calling as a wildlife and historical artist. 

The post A Glimpse of Summer Exhibitions in the Panhandle appeared first on Glasstire.

Brandon Zech and Jessica Fuentes discuss their most anticipated fall exhibitions in Texas, including a major survey of a groundbreaking British figurative painter in Fort Worth, lesser-known fabric works by a major American artist in Houston, a constellation of contemporary jewelry in Dallas, and more.

Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
October 12, 2025 – January 18, 2026

From the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth:

“Organized by Sarah Howgate, Senior Curator of Contemporary Collections at the National Portrait Gallery in London, Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting is the first major museum exhibition in the U.S. dedicated to the work of one of the world’s foremost figure painters, bringing together 50 works made throughout the artist’s career. Saville rose to prominence in the early 1990s, following her acclaimed degree show at the Glasgow School of Art. In the years since, she has played a leading role in the reinvigoration of figurative painting — a genre that she continues to test the limits of to this day. Her unique ability to create visceral portraits from thick layers of fluorescent, saturated paint reveals an artist with a deep passion for the process itself, an act that she experiences as both energetic and bodily.”

Robert Rauschenberg: Fabric Works of the 1970s
Menil Collection (Houston)
September 19, 2025 – March 1, 2026

From the Menil Collection:

“Organized for the artist’s centennial in collaboration with the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Robert Rauschenberg: Fabric Works of the 1970s will feature major loans from museum collections and the artist’s foundation, and will be the first museum survey of Rauschenberg’s innovative use of cloth in this era.

Born in Port Arthur, the artist was renowned for breaking down categories between art and life, expanding the definition of art. After a brief time at the University of Texas at Austin and serving in the Navy, he came of age in the New York art world of the late 1950s. By 1964, he was lauded in the press as the most important American artist since Jackson Pollock. In the 1970s, the artist turned to the expressive potential of textiles, from diaphanous silk and delicate lace to roughly hewn cheesecloth and stained drop cloths, in multiple series that celebrate the formal properties of fabric and present an unexpected array of artistic gestures.”

Constellations: Contemporary Jewelry at the Dallas Museum of Art
Dallas Museum of Art
November 9, 2025 – May 3, 2026

From the Dallas Museum of Art:

“Constellations: Contemporary Jewelry at the Dallas Museum of Art showcases more than 350 wearable works of art, many of which have never before been on view. The exhibition surveys nearly a century of creativity and celebrates the ingenuity of jewelry artists from across the globe. It provides a fresh perspective on contemporary jewelry, illuminating the delightful connections that unite established masters and burgeoning talents and transcend chronological boundaries and geographical borders. Featuring golden crowns formed to look like cardboard, enchanting necklaces made from plastic bags, and whimsical brooches resembling toast, Constellations does not simply highlight the treasures of a world-class collection, but captures the depth, breadth, and diversity of contemporary jewelry design.”

HOST: Raul De Lara
The Contemporary Austin
September 12, 2025 – January 11, 2026

From the Contemporary Austin:

“In his sculptural work Raul De Lara (b. 1991, Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico; lives and works in New York, NY) reimagines everyday objects — chairs, ladders, plants, and other household items — as surreal, anthropomorphic forms. Blending technical fluency in woodworking with material play, humor, and poetic sensibility, his sculptures challenge fixed notions of form and identity, suggesting both can be continually dismantled and reassembled. Sourcing his lived experience of migration, adaptation, and cultural hybridity, De Lara explores identity as a fluid and mutable construct shaped across borders and over time.

De Lara’s first solo museum show in Texas marks a personal and artistic homecoming for the artist, who immigrated to Austin more than 20 years ago. Leading up to HOST, he returned to Austin and visited the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center to study flora native to both northern Mexico and Texas: the firewheel, lazy daisy, and damianita. In the resulting works, he recasts wild-growing flora as houseplants, invoking the ways in which immigrants are subject to systems of classification, containment, and control. ‘Why can plants—but never people—be native to two places?’ De Lara asks, reflecting on the politics of assimilation and the systems that determine who or what is permitted to belong. A DACA recipient, De Lara articulates the paradox of contingence — living in a country while never fully belonging to it, or to the place he left behind. His plants evoke this liminal state: rooted, yet contained; sustained, yet unable to flourish.”

Larry Bell: Improvisations
San Antonio Museum of Art
August 29, 2025 – January 4, 2026

From the San Antonio Museum of Art:

“Larry Bell: Improvisations celebrates the artistic achievements of one of the most influential and renowned artists of the 1960s Los Angeles art scene. Born in Chicago in 1939, Bell has dedicated his career to exploring themes of light and surface by transforming industrial materials into physical realities. The exhibition, originated by the Phoenix Art Museum, includes works created between 1969 and 2024 in various media, ranging from intimately scaled collages to Bell’s signature floating glass cubes and monumental glass wall installations. The selected works demonstrate Bell’s ongoing innovations with industrial materials and processes.

The Dilemma of Griffin’s Cat, a large-scale installation that SAMA commissioned Bell to create for the museum’s grand opening in 1981, has been reinstalled in collaboration with the Bell studio to show the work again in a new context.”

Curious: Short Films by Liliana Porter and Lenka Clayton
Old Jail Art Center (Albany)
September 27, 2025 – January 10, 2026

From the Old Jail Art Center:

“Curious showcases two short films on loan from the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin. The pairing includes Drum Solo/Solo de Tambor (2000) by Liliana Porter and The Distance I Can Be From My Son (2013) by Lenka Clayton. Though their approach to film making is far from similar, both artists utilize what’s at hand to make truly curious works that incite a gamut of emotions for viewers, ranging from angst to joy.

Argentinian artist Liliana Porter explores the use of everyday objects in her prints, paintings, and conceptual installations. Porter favors readymades with a toy-like appearance, which she represents isolated or in groups in the midst of an empty, undefined background. Figurines, knick-knacks, and vintage toys are imbued with a sense of inner life through animation, performing in humorous, absurd, and sometimes moving vignettes.

British-American conceptual artist Lenka Clayton considers, exaggerates, and alters the accepted rules of everyday life, extending the familiar into the realms of the poetic and absurd. In 2013, Clayton attempted to objectively measure the furthest distance she could be from her toddler son in three environments: a city park, the alley behind their Pittsburgh home, and in the aisles of a local supermarket. Her trio of videos humorously underlines the challenging judgment calls that parents make about how much autonomy to give their children.”

The post 2025 Fall Preview: Six Texas Art Exhibitions to See this Year appeared first on Glasstire.

It’s been a few years since we’ve talked about terrible corporate gifts, so let’s do it again. To get you in the right mindset, here are some not-to-do’s shared from years past.

“When I was a kid, my dad’s employer had a vendor that would send a gallon metal jug of real maple syrup every year, which was awesome. Except one year they decided to change it up, but didn’t tell anyone. Mom got the attempted delivery card from the post office and saw where it was from, so figured she could take her time about going to pick it up. Apparently when she finally did, a couple of weeks later, the post office REEKED and the clerk glared at her while bringing up her package containing … a smoked pheasant. A not very shelf-stable smoked pheasant.”

“A few years ago, I was working in a telecoms company. This was before ‘smart’ phones were a thing — and to transfer your contacts from one device to another, you needed to manually copy them to your SIM card, then insert your old SIM into your new phone, transfer them to the new phone, and then finally put your new SIM card into the new phone — a complete pain to do!

One year, as part of an employee ‘Christmas stocking’ full of otherwise unobjectionable things, the company gave us a handy little device to help automate this transfer. You put your old SIM card in one end, and the new one in the other and voila! contacts transferred. Except this thing did not work. At all. What it did instead was wipe your old SIM card of all information — so that could be hundreds of contacts completely lost — and this was from a time when people didn’t back up their contacts (and some phones didn’t let you copy contacts, only move them, so the contacts were lost from the old phone too). Needless to say, this didn’t generate much Christmas cheer.”

“My prior company gave everyone a small tree and encouraged people to plant it. Now these were small seedlings maybe 2 inches inside of a small cup used by dentists for mouthwash and what not. Upon receiving them we read the name ‘Honey Locusts.’ They literally gave us locusts for employee appreciation. They also recommended we plant these on our property or randomly plant them on some one else’s property. These trees grow to be very large and my property couldn’t accommodate. Two weeks later an email went out stating, ‘Please do not plant your trees at work, we do not own the property.’”

“My company usually just does hoodies or jackets, one year was really nice laptop backpacks, another year they got everyone these really good emergency car kits — big red bags, first aid, mylar blankets, tire inflation, reflecting cones, flares, those cut the seatbelt tools, and more. Usually a success. Then came the new lady who convinced the partners that $100 gift cards were good.

You think, ‘No problem,’ right? Welp … you’d be wrong. They came in these big boxes which you’d open to find a hammer and a chunk of concrete that you had to bash your way through to get to your card … which were to things like auto parts stores or Cabellas or bass pro shops.

That was a loud afternoon followed by a damage assessment because we had desks smashed up, a ridiculous number of wireless mice destroyed … one guy missed his rock and slammed his cell phone dead center … a broken monitor and one dented hood by a guy who figured hurling it off the loading dock would be faster.

Been all hoodies ever since.”

“I once received a rock with the word ‘trust’ written on it in sharpie. Morale was particularly bad at the time and management thought “trust rocks” would help. Some rocks were thrown.”

Please share your own stories of terrible corporate gifts in the comment section.

The post let’s discuss terrible corporate gifts appeared first on Ask a Manager.

Remember the letter-writer whose boss said she was threatened by his “masculine energy”? Here’s the update.

I followed your advice and submitted a three-sentence resignation letter. It was freeing to not try to craft a longer letter. New Boss made some noise about trying to get me a counter offer to keep me on, but I quickly deflected and moved on.

I thought your readers would like a little more context info and an update on what happened after I gave notice. The organization is a nonprofit that provides entrepreneurship training to adults in a specific industry and is heavily reliant on federal and state funding to do the work. Applying for and spending government funding requires knowledge of complex bureaucratic regulations and processes. I’ve been writing and managing government grants since 2016 and I’m pretty well respected for my work within our niche field. The funding freezes, terminations, and general uncertainty at the federal level have been devastating for my org and our partners.

Besides the fact that New Boss (NB) has the personality of a flaming bag of dog poo, he seems to lack any knowledge or understanding of how to navigate government funding. The board shared NB’s resume with the staff before he was hired, and he had lots of grant writing and management experience listed. I was initially excited about him, because I looked forward to getting support for all of the administrative headaches that come with government funding. Unfortunately, he frequently behaves as though he’s never seen a grant regulation before. Instead of reducing the burden on me, he multiplied it as I had to frequently explain to him why the thing he wanted to do was not allowable. He seems to have memory issues to boot, as I often had to explain the same thing to him multiple times. I never felt like he adequately understood what I was telling him. One of my coworkers described the situation as trying to work for a squirrel with early onset dementia.

The one time he decided to write a grant, he cut me out of the process until the last minute when he handed me a complete disaster of a narrative and budget to edit the day before it was due. I worked until 10pm that day and was up at 6am the next day putting in the hours to make it submittable. The worst part was his budget, which was so uniquely formatted that I could barely interpret it. I had to explain to someone with “grant writing” all over their resume that funders do not accept bespoke budget formats and could he please translate into the proper format. I sent him a template with detailed notes on where things needed to go. He tried but was unable to translate it on his own. I had to beg a favor from our financial director to get her to format it correctly so I could focus on rewriting the narrative portion. The financial director then complained to me that she is having to waste hours of her time each month translating QuickBooks reports into NB’s bespoke format because otherwise he seems unable to understand the information.

Anyway, after I submitted my notice, I emailed the board executive committee asking for an exit interview with them. The org is too small to have an HR person and doesn’t really have any defined policies around exit interviews. Three committee members assented to my request and one refused. This person is going to be the next board chair and also led the board committee that hired NB. They are apparently very pro NB. Current Board Chair, who was CC’d on NB’s email featured previously, has been trying to step down for the last few months. I think this state of transition in leadership is the main factor in NB not being fired already. I had the exit interview with Current Board Chair, the treasurer, and a third board member last week. I came with very detailed notes about specific incidents and areas of concern I had about NB’s ability to successfully administer a nonprofit organization. The treasurer especially asked a lot of questions and it sounds like the financial director has also been raising concerns with them. Two other coworkers, including the financial director, also submitted notices in the weeks after I put mine in. I honestly don’t know at this point if NB will get fired or if the board will try to prop him up.

I’m on my fourth day at my new job and starting to care less and less about the situation at my old job. I would be sad if they totally imploded but it’s a giant relief that I’m not there anymore. I appreciate the advice you gave me and the thoughtful responses from your readers. I would like to apologize to all the Gen-X folks I offended as I was just trying to speak to a 20-year age gap between us.

Thanks again!

The post update: my boss said I’m threatened by his “masculine energy” appeared first on Ask a Manager.

Ator Thomas Peterson, you get down here immediately this instant!

HAMPTON, NH—Stressing its commitment to making everyone feel welcome regardless of athletic ability, national gym franchise Planet Fitness instituted a new policy Thursday that bans proper form. “We don’t want new gym-goers to feel intimidated by people doing squats correctly, so from now on, members will be penalized when they lift with their legs instead of their backs,” said Planet Fitness spokesperson Jim Kaplan, explaining that the gym chain’s trademark “lunk alarm” would sound for the first two offenses of appropriate posture, while a third instance of safe technique would result in a permanent ban from the club. “There’s no need to show off by working out in a manner that prevents injury, so just grab a grime-covered weight from our mismatched, disorganized racks and flop around. It’s easy enough to add more plates than you can handle. We’re also removing mirrors so you can’t check if you’re doing it right. And if you’re stretching, you better stop right there—warming up and cooling down will not be tolerated.” The new policy follows the company’s decision last month to provide members who show up in proper gym attire with pajamas and sandals they can change into free of charge.

The post Planet Fitness Bans Proper Form appeared first on The Onion.

Let’s get one thing straight: the Green Bay Packers are the only socialist team in the NFL.

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Every day, when I get home from work
I feel so frustrated, the boss is a jerk,
And I get my sticks and go out to the shed,
And I pound on that drum like it was the boss’s head.

Each time they score, this verse in the Green Bay Packers’ touchdown song reminds us of our weary plight clocking in and out of our miserable jobs. But then, it also grants us the greatest wish known to man: a vicarious opportunity to dunk on the enemy. To stand over him, looking down into his eyes in a way that makes him know that we know that his own children hate him. The Packers say to us, “This week, the Chicago Bears are the drum. Let’s do to them what you want to do to your boss.”

The catharsis that comes from watching your special guys do good at sports is unparalleled. It’s pretend, but it feels real, much like a crime wave in a city with progressive leadership. The Packers take it one step further, blurring the line between emotion and reality by being the only team in the National Football League (NFL) that’s allowed to break the fourth wall. The players catapult into the stands, quite literally into people’s laps, in a celebration known as the Lambeau Leap — sharing the glory with fans in a collective act of joy.

If you squint just right, the Green Bay Packers are the only socialist team in the NFL, and for much more material reasons than outlined above. Before you start, yes, there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism. But there is a difference between an al pastor burrito and Taco Bell.

For those of you who know nothing about sports, let this be a primer. Rich nerds are destroying the world. Therefore it is incumbent upon you to become jocks or at least jock-passing. Because the jocks, especially in the case of the Green Bay Packers, are doing a better job of teaching Americans socialist values than your reading group.

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Lesson 1: Solidarity

In 2011, the Packers were on top of the world: they had just come off an improbable playoff run where they’d had to win every game on the road, they beat an alleged rapist in the Super Bowl, and Aaron Rodgers hadn’t yet introduced himself to a new teammate by asking him if 9/11 was real.

But their home state of Wisconsin wasn’t doing so great. Scott Walker, who was the governor of the state even though his vibe is more “guy who’d cheat on his wife at a real estate convention,” was just beginning his unconstitutional assault on the collective bargaining rights of public sector workers.

A group of current and former Packers chose this moment, as newly minted Super Bowl champs at the top of the American zeitgeist, to stand in solidarity with teachers and nurses, saying:

We know that it is teamwork on and off the field that makes the Packers and Wisconsin great. . . . When workers join together it serves as a check on corporate power and helps ALL workers by raising community standards. . . . These public workers are Wisconsin’s champions every single day and we urge the Governor and the State Legislature to not take away their rights.

Heisman Trophy winner and emotional leader of the team Charles Woodson also spoke out:

It is an honor for me to play for the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers and be a part of the Green Bay and Wisconsin communities. I am also honored as a member of the NFL Players Association to stand together with working families of Wisconsin and organized labor in their fight against this attempt to hurt them by targeting unions.

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Lesson 2: Public Ownership

Many teams in major American professional sports get publicly owned, like the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. But only the Green Bay Packers are publicly owned.

They operate as a nonprofit by selling shares to fans on terms that would make a Wall Street executive kill himself: no dividends; no reselling of stocks; they only sell every ten to twenty years when they want to renovate the field or otherwise put more money into the institution itself; and no single person can own more than 5 percent of the team. And when they say nonprofit, they mean it. There is no majority shareholder hoarding wealth —  no gods, no owners.

Every single other team is owned by some idiot who knocked up a Walmart heiress or by a tech billionaire who can’t stop throwing drinks in people’s faces like a Vanderpump bit player, and if you’re lucky enough to have an owner who dies or has to resign because he calls Joe Biden the N-word, your entire fandom is at the whim of a faildaughter who needs to prove herself to daddy’s ghost by firing people at random.

Every NFL fan basically lives as a subject under Habsburg rule: I sure hope the next guy has all the chromosomes where they’re supposed to be! Except for Packers fans, who actually have a say in who runs the team. Now granted, it’s a small say, but if the team president or CEO spectacularly screwed up to the point where we needed to get rid of him, we wouldn’t have to fly a plane over the stadium begging him to do the right thing — we could just organize to vote him out!

This also expresses itself on the field, which leads us to the Packers’ third socialist teaching. . . .

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Lesson 3: A Planned Economy

The NFL quarterback is the single most valuable and important position in professional sports. To put it into leftist terms for you nerds, they must have the brains of Karl Marx, the might of Vladimir Lenin, the ruthless cunning of Joseph Stalin, and the ability to evade attackers for as long as possible of Leon Trotsky. Forget good; finding an even adequate starting quarterback is harder than finding an ice pick in a haystack.

It makes teams and, more specifically, their owners lose their minds. If you’re the general manager who picks the QB or the coach who trains the QB, and that QB sucks through no fault of your own? Sorry! Even if you’re great at your job, your owner will fire you because he is addicted to scoring a good quarterback.

To put it in terms we can all relate to: my dad was so addicted to sports betting that he stole my bar mitzvah money to pay off gambling debts (true). This type of robbing Peter to pay Paul behavior destroys teams (and families). Because if the owner is willing to blow up the whole thing, then the people in charge of the roster and the coaching operate out of fear. Everything becomes about short-term gains over long-term vision. Another way to look at it is mortgage-backed securities versus something like municipal bonds. One of these things can make you a ton of money right away, but it can also tank the entire economy.

The Packers have the luxury of time. There is no owner breathing down anyone’s neck, so they can be methodical when it comes to team building and structure. Famously the Packers have only had three starting quarterbacks since the end of the Cold War. Why? Because they have time and a long-as-hell leash. Both Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love were deeply unpopular draft picks who also happened to be incredible values at the spots where they were drafted. Instead of being chained to the present, the Packs’ braintrust saw that these dudes would be needed in a few years to become true-blue franchise quarterbacks.

Most teams with traditional owners would have pressured the general manager to draft someone that would help them Win Now, or forced the coach to start the rookie way too early. After all, these are for-profit ventures; we need butts in seats, and I need to make some f-ing mon-ey. But the Packers’ sustainable model, which owes 100 percent to the fact that they’re publicly owned, lets them do the right thing for the present and the future.

The Green Bay Packers have been my favorite team for as long as I can remember, and ultimately things like watching Jordan Love uncork a hero ball are why, not some spot-the-Illuminati-symbol-but-for-socialism thing. But there are some real lessons here on how a professional sports team, possibly one of the least human groups of humans, can make you feel involved while putting a better product on the field. And those lessons are surprisingly similar to the ones we’re trying to instill in our communities. Go Pack Go.

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Kennedy claimed the government, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lied about "natural immunity," that vaccines would prevent transmission and infection, and the "science behind cloth masks."

I didn’t think it was possible, but it turns out I wasn’t generous enough to Advance Local.

A few weeks back, we released our first monthly traffic rankings for U.S. local newspapers, and the big takeaway was the dominance of Advance Local, the chain that owns the dailies in Cleveland, Harrisburg, Newark, Syracuse, Birmingham, and a variety of other mostly unsexy American cities. In June’s data, Advance papers took 7 of the top 11 spots, beating out their peers in much larger markets. I laid out some of their strategy — statewide sites, an early digital focus, and a quick trigger in stepping away from print. (I could have added a lot of national aggregation, pop culture coverage, and a high story count.)

But it turns out I wasn’t giving them enough credit. You see, these rankings are based on traffic data for a list of about 250 papers, including every daily newspaper published in the United States’ 100 largest metropolitan areas. Since we’d only be reporting the top 25, I figured that was a safe cutoff point; after all, a market smaller than Toledo, Chattanooga, or Spokane wasn’t going to drive more web traffic than a place like Houston, Atlanta, or Denver, right?

Well, mea culpa. I didn’t account for the Advance Local magic.

Springfield, Massachusetts, is a city of 155,929 people, anchoring the 117th-largest metro area in the United States. It is neither the country’s largest Springfield, its most famous Springfield, or its most recently newsworthy Springfield. And yet the Advance-owned newspaper there, The Republican, somehow gets more web traffic than the New York Daily News, The Dallas Morning News, the Houston Chronicle, the Charlotte Observer, and a long list of other papers with NFL teams to cover.

That traffic goes to The Republican’s website MassLive.com — yet another example of Advance taking a city-bound print brand and blowing it up to state scale in digital.

Had I included MassLive in the previous rankings, which were based on June traffic data, it would have slotted in at No. 18. (My thanks to past Nieman Lab contributor Josh Macht — previously group publisher of the Harvard Business Review Group, now MassLive’s president — for gently nudging me about the omission.) Traffic dropped a hair in July, so MassLive only ranks at No. 20 this month. (Pathetic, right?)

With that, here’s the latest rankings of local newspapers’ websites, based on July 2025 data from Similarweb. A few items of note:

• With MassLive restored to its rightful place, Advance Local now accounts for 8 of the top 25 papers, including an astounding 7 of the top 9. Only the Los Angeles Times (No. 1), The Seattle Times (No. 5) and the Miami Herald (No. 10) joined them in the top 10.
• Big traffic gainers in July: McClatchy’s Miami Herald (up 66% over June) and Hearst’s San Francisco Chronicle (up 32%) and Houston Chronicle (up 43%).
• The Chronicle’s growth coincided with the summer’s massive Texas floods, which led to traffic spikes at a number of Texas papers. Visits at the San Antonio Express-News — also a Hearst paper — were up 50% from June to July, moving it from No. 66 to No. 44 in the rankings. The Statesman in Austin saw a 31% bump.

The post Mailman Too Old To Be Out There appeared first on The Onion.

DEDHAM, MA—Remarking that the adolescent had undergone some pronounced developmental changes during the course of his vacation, middle school sources reported Tuesday that eighth grader Ryan Alcorn’s voice had dropped six octaves over the summer. According to eyewitnesses present in Mrs. Jeterson’s homeroom, Alcorn opened his mouth during classroom introductions to reveal that the high-pitched voice he had possessed just the previous spring had been replaced by a deep, basso profundo rumble that caused students’ desks to vibrate several inches across the floor as he spoke. The boy is said to have briefly summarized the events of his summer for his peers in a low-frequency register typically only encountered in blue whale vocalizations, with several cracks reportedly forming in the room’s painted cinder-block walls during an extended “uh” as he attempted to recall the name of a beach he had visited. Sources later confirmed the entire class had begun bleeding from the ears after Alcorn leaned back in his seat and let out a sonorous yawn. 

The post 8th Grader’s Voice Drops 6 Octaves Over Summer appeared first on The Onion.

“A new history exhibit commissioned by the Trump administration has some historians perplexed…. The museum features over 40 AI-generated short videos of these historical figures coming to life to share their stories…. In one video, an artificially generated John Adams says, ‘Facts do not care about your feelings’—a phrase often used by conservative commentator and PragerU presenter Ben Shapiro.” — NPR

“A lot of people are saying, ‘Maybe we like a dictator.’” —George Washington

“You also had some very fine people on both sides.” —John Adams

“You go to the hospital. You have a broken arm. You come out, you are a drug addict with this crap.” — Benjamin Franklin

“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” —Alexander Hamilton

“I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know, and we are entitled to five more seats.” —Elbridge Gerry

“Look at these hands. Are they small hands?” —James Madison

“I am much better looking than Kamala Harris.” —Abigail Adams

“Horseface.” —Betsy Ross

“Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.” —Thomas Jefferson

“People are flushing toilets ten times, fifteen times, as opposed to once.” — John Jay

“What would happen if the boat sank, and you’re in the boat, and you have this tremendously powerful battery, and the battery is now underwater, and there’s a shark that’s approximately ten yards over there—by the way, lots of shark attacks lately, did you notice that? A lotta sharks—I watched some guys justifying it today, ‘Well, they weren’t really that angry, they bit off the young lady’s leg because of the fact they were not hungry, but they misunderstood who she was’—these people are crazy.” —John Hancock

“I think it’s all a witch hunt.” —Benedict Arnold

The president is not dead. Trump spoke live at the White House on Sept. 2. Even as rumors of his death went viral, he had been photographed by news outlets and his Truth Social posts racked up thousands of interactions.

The Ryan Walters saga of stupid continues. Walters is the Superintendent of Oklahoma, where he oversees a state education system that ranks near the bottom among states, while also carving out time to lick Donald Trump’s boots as thoroughly as possible. Between naked attempts to sell the Trump bible in state schools and attempting to make Trump’s favorite election conspiracy theories part of the state’s curriculum, you would think that he would be in MAGA’s good graces. Unfortunately, due to his own verbal missteps and a strange occurrence of mild porn showing up on a TV screen in a school board meeting, the administration has been giving him the cold shoulder as of late.

Perhaps as part of a plan to get back in MAGA’s good graces, Walters also announced that transplant teachers from “woke” states like New York and California would be forced to take an “anti-woke” teaching exam before being granted a teacher’s license. This supposed exam was to be developed by Prager U, itself a propaganda outfit run by Dennis Prager.

Here’s how Walters described the test back when we first wrote about it.

Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s superintendent for public instruction, told CNN that if applicants do not pass the test, they will not earn a teaching certificate to be able to teach in public schools in the state this school year, which begins for some Oklahoma districts on Monday. The superintendent’s office notified CNN on Friday that it had not yet been released as of noon, but that it was coming soon.

So, if you don’t pass the test, you don’t get a teacher’s license. I asked at the time what was to keep so-called nefarious, woke-minded, uber-communists from the Soviet states of New York and California from simply, you know, lying on the tests?

Well, it turns out I was overthinking it even by wondering that out loud. It turns out that the test is one in which failure is impossible.

First reported by Quorum Call’s Shawn Ashley, the 34-question test is available on the state department’s website. StateImpact took the test and confirmed it is impossible to fail. If test-takers respond incorrectly, they’re prompted to try again until they land on the correct answer. The test includes several questions on biological sex and transgender rights, as well as others on civics and U.S. history.

At the end, test-takers are presented with a certificate affirming the “demonstrated understanding of foundational civic knowledge and commitment to traditional American values, in alignment with the educational principles upheld by the State of Oklahoma.”

And so the open question is that what is the point of this test, other than more performative ego-fondling of the Trump administration? A test you can’t fail certainly isn’t “weeding out” all of these woke transplants looking to move to Oklahoma from the coasts. A test that let’s you keep answering the question until you get it “right” is less about withholding teacher’s licenses and more about the compulsory affirmation of Walters’ personal beliefs before the license is granted. So what are we even doing here?

Asked if a test that’s impossible to fail is effective at achieving this goal, Walters’ office did not respond.

“Sorry, that is not right. Try again.” This isn’t WarGames. Not playing is not an answer.

Texas’ rubber-stamp system allows drillers to release vast amounts of natural gas into the atmosphere.

fuck

memories

Fish: "I know that look. That feeling. 'The world is yours.' You understand the tongue of the murmur of the circuitry. It's a rush. Cherish it. But make no mistake, Girl. You're in it for the long haul. Sooner or later you'll find yourself covered in blue, recognizing the shitfest the ghosts upstairs orchestrated for what it is. And you'll remember this moment, cursing the spark that set you out on the road."

Techno-Mage, covered in blue bot liquid stares into the distance.

"Fuck."

https://analognowhere.com/_/tumuxg

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A small collection of recipes that I use and share again and again

Added by @mihobu in Food › Recipes.

Coffee drive-thru chain Dutch Bros. is making quick progress on its first location inside of 610. Dutch Bros has been in the Houston market since 2021, and their growth has picked up lightning speed compared to similar chains, Scooters, or 7 Brew. Over the past four years, Dutch Bros has worked their way from the suburbs into the Beltway and is now facing the “final frontier,” the inner loop. This new location is at 2301 ...

That’s it for SAVAGE SWORD OF SUSAN. What an eleven weeks it’s been. I hope you enjoyed the story. Provided that I survived the last eleven weeks, a print version will be on the way soon.

Up next are Destroy History: NEMS parts 2 and 3, taking us all the way to Christmas Eve. If you want to catch up on Destroy History, the archive is here.

---

One last little note, I drew a good face too small to really have it show up in the compressed comic image above. So here it is at a readable size.

The post Outrageous good fortune (SAVAGE SWORD OF SUSAN CONCLUDES!) appeared first on Bad Machinery.

A reader writes:

I have a coworker who grates on me for his reliance on ChatGPT.

We are in tech, so some amount of AI use is normal these days, no matter what my misgivings are. The problem is that regularly I will ask a question of our team, looking for context or additional information on a problem so that I can craft the right solution, and this coworker will just shove my question in ChatGPT and paste the answer to me in Slack in the thread where I asked my question.

These AI answers are often band-aid fixes that miss the entire point of me asking for context or detail on a problem to understand the root cause. Like if I had asked, “I have noticed a hole in the llama containment fence, the damage suggests vandals, has that historically been an issue, and should we look into deterring them or put up cameras?” the ChatGPT guy will reply with, “ChatGPT says we can patch the hole with a fence repair kit.”

This feels a bit belittling and sort of like mansplaining to me (I am female-presenting and also younger than him, but I have more expertise in this area). I also have a work ChatGPT account and could ask it for help, but that’s not what I am looking for when I post the question to the team.

How do I explain that this is (a) not helpful and (b) kind of feels like him saying, “Let me google that for you”? I have tried gently redirecting with, “Thanks but that doesn’t provide the context I was looking for, I need XYZ before we can say if that’s the best solution” but that hasn’t helped.

If it helps you resist putting him behind a llama containment fence, remind yourself that he’s making himself look ridiculous every time he does this. If he were giving similar responses in meetings, he’d look like he lacked a basic understanding of the work and didn’t have an appropriate understanding of the types of problems that come up in your work — and it’s the same thing here. He’s making himself look bad, and I would bet money that you’re not the only one who’s noticed it and is annoyed.

Some options for responding when he does it:

You: I have noticed a hole in the llama containment fence, the damage suggests vandals, has that historically been an issue and should we look into deterring them or put up cameras?
Him: ChatGPT says we can patch the hole with a fence repair kit.
You: I was wondering whether historically we’ve had an issue with vandals.

Or:
You: I know, that’s not what I’m asking about. I’m asking whether historically we’ve had an issue with vandals.

Or:
You: Please don’t run this stuff by ChatGPT, that’s not what I’m looking for — I’m need info about our specific context.

Or:
You: ChatGPT answers won’t help here, but do you have any insight into whether our specific spot has historically had an issue with vandals and, if so, whether we should be thinking about deterring them with cameras or another strategy?

In fact, I’d bet that if you use that last approach a few times, he’ll stop doing it completely because it’s putting him on the spot to provide something useful in a way he hasn’t so far — and you’d be doing it in a way where you appear to be engaging with him in reasonably good faith. He wants to discuss this? Great! Here’s what you actually need.

The post my coworker mansplains via ChatGPT appeared first on Ask a Manager.

NEW YORK – Sketch comedy institution Saturday Night Live has announced the addition of its first new Canadian cast member in decades, Veronika Slowikowska, contingent on her not being captured by ICE agents while entering the country. Slowikowska, originally from Barrie, Ontario, is known for her viral comedy videos on Instagram and TikTok, and will […]

The post SNL casts Canadian provided she can evade ICE at border appeared first on The Beaverton.

TORONTO – Eyewitnesses today confirmed reports that a pedestrian was walking in the road because a cyclist was riding on the sidewalk because a car was parked in the bike lane. “I was driving down the road when all of a sudden I looked up from my phone and saw this guy walking in the […]

The post Pedestrian walking in road because cyclist riding on sidewalk because car parked in bike lane appeared first on The Beaverton.

A reader writes:

This is a question not about my work, but about how to avoid creating negative work experiences for others — people in door-to-door sales/fundraising jobs.

I get a ton of door-to-door salespeople and fundraisers at my house. I am absolutely not going to make a purchase or donation in any of these circumstances, and I need to end the interactions as fast as possible (I work from home and need to get back to my desk ASAP). But I don’t want to be a jerk; these are humans just trying to earn a living, after all. I also think it’s kinder to them to stop the conversation quickly, since there’s zero chance their pitch will result in a sale/donation.

My current strategy is to interrupt the person as soon as they introduce themselves and say (in a kind tone) something like, “I don’t want to waste your time, so I’m going to stop you there because my answer is going to be a firm no. I realize you have a pitch prepared, but I will absolutely not be making a purchase/donation, so you can save your time and move on to your next house now.” If the person is soliciting donations for an organization I believe in, I’ll usually throw in “I appreciate the work you’re doing for [cause].”

Invariably, the person immediately segues into their pitch anyway, and I keep reiterating my no. Some folks give up after a few more rejections (usually fundraisers), while others tend to get pushy (usually salespeople). I try to stay kind, but in some cases the only way to end the interaction is to just close the door in their face while they’re talking.

I know these folks are likely required to follow a script and to keep pushing when they hear no. I also know it’s a tough job and they must get plenty of rude responses (one could argue that the solicitors are themselves being rude, but I don’t want to be rude in return regardless). They’re at work, and I want to avoid making their jobs more unpleasant — but I also need to shut down these convos quickly.

For folks in these types of jobs, is there some magic word that would make them accept that first no? Is there a type of non-jerk response that would close the conversation faster? Or is being rude / shutting the door in their face really the only way to end the interaction at my initial no?

I can’t just ignore the doorbell because I often have important packages I have to sign for, and a video doorbell isn’t an option at my house for various reasons.

You’re being far more accommodating than you need to (or should be). People who show up randomly at your door are not owed access to you; you decide how much of your time you’re willing to give them, and you don’t need to give more because they want it (or any at all, for that matter).

It’s really okay to just say, “No, thank you” and close the door. Truly. Say it politely, but you’re not required to let them control your time. You’ve delivered the essential information — that you’re not interested — and the interaction can end there. You don’t need to wait for them to give explicit permission to end it (and if you try to, many of them will keep you there longer than you want, as you’ve seen). If you feel awkward about just replying with a simple “no, thank you,” you can add, “I’m on a phone call so need to run” and then close the door.

If they were going to respect your initial no, they’d be assuming the interaction is over then anyway. Anyone who objects is someone who wasn’t going to respect your no anyway, so you certainly don’t need to facilitate them in further intruding on you.

And if it helps you feel better about it, you’re saving them time by not prolonging the interaction, too.

You could also consider a “no soliciting” sign, which won’t end the interruptions entirely but should cut down on them.

The post how do I say no to door-to-door salespeople without being rude? appeared first on Ask a Manager.

THE INCREDIBLE MR. LIMPET CALLED IN TO HELP.

These days, it seems like the only qualification someone needs to opine on what’s best for our nation’s schools is their own dimly remembered time as a student. Combine that with volatile, emotionally charged topics like politics and religion, and suddenly, everyone’s an expert and no one will listen to anyone else.

Well, listen up, smartasses: I’m a teacher. I’m in front of kids every single day. And if I can’t hang the Ten Commandments in my classroom, then how the hell am I supposed to get my students to stop coveting their neighbor’s wife?

Being an educator has always been tough; in today’s environment, it’s nearly impossible. So, when red-state governors proposed mandating that a poster displaying the Ten Commandments be hung in every classroom, I let out a huge sigh of relief. Finally, someone who gets it. Someone who gets that, yes, smartphones are a problem, artificial intelligence is concerning, the growing politicization of curriculum is alarming, and pandemic-related learning loss still presents challenges. But the biggest issue in K-12 education today, bar none, is our students’ constant, invasive daydreams about a new life with their neighbor Brian’s underappreciated wife, Denise.

Go ahead. Walk a mile in my shoes. Enter my classroom, with my students, and try to teach my lesson about the rise of prairie populism in the late nineteenth century. Floor is all yours. The second you utter the name “William Jennings Bryan,” you’ve lost the class. “He doesn’t treat Denise right,” mutters one student. “She’s an angel,” says another. Still others simply gaze listlessly out the window, sketching themselves and Denise in a two-seat convertible, zooming down the open highway.

Um, sounds like we’re thinking about a different “Brian,” guys.

And look: This isn’t a religious thing. Separation of church and state? No one’s a stauncher advocate than I am. In fact, like most of America’s teachers, I am a godless communist (well, I try to be—it can be tough to make all of the meetings). But the real world has a funny way of challenging ideology, and frankly, I can’t think of a text more relevant to today’s classrooms than the Ten Commandments.

Oh, you got them to stop coveting Denise for a couple of seconds (good luck with that) and think you’ve got the classroom running smoothly? Try and take a beat to review your lesson plan or—god forbid, have a sip of your coffee—and the moment you look up, the students are smelting a golden idol to Mr. Roberts, the physical education teacher. Is Mr. Roberts in great shape? Sure. Is he—when you think about it—probably the most logical person in the school community to make a false idol of and worship as a god? No question. But as I tell my students constantly, it’s about context, and every second spent lovingly sculpting Mr. Roberts’s biceps or sharpening the line of his jaw is a second we don’t get to spend on civil service reform under the Chester A. Arthur administration.

But maybe this isn’t actually about the kids. Maybe our nation’s classrooms are just another political football you’re using to try to score points. That’s fine. That’s the way these things go. But don’t pretend you actually care about our nation’s children, or our nation’s children’s neighbors’ wives.

copkiller

jerrycans

rabbit narrator: "No, my cyber-sibs, this revolution will not be televised. It won't even be streamed on matavids live. In fact it will never come. But if you want to watch a computer die, you tuned in to the right broadcast."

Cirno, holding Glenda, stands over a crt screen displaying a winXP wallpaper with an erected paper clip.

There's an RTFM potion, jerrycan and a lighter about. It's hot outside.

https://analognowhere.com/_/ccliax

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A federal judge in Boston on Wednesday ordered the reversal of the Trump administration’s cuts to more than $2.6 billion in funding research grants for Harvard University.