Cowboy Who?

Texas is experiencing its largest measles outbreak in 30 years. The virus has infected more than 600 people and killed two school-aged children.

As of Tuesday, April 22 at 10 a.m., Performing Arts Houston has opened ticket sales for Eldorado Ballroom Houston, a series of programming curated by Solange Knowles for Saint Heron.

The six-event series will take place June 10 through June 20, 2025, across three Houston venues: Jones Hall, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the historic Eldorado Ballroom. Named in honor of the Eldorado — a significant space for touring Black musicians in the U.S. from the 1940s to the 1970s — the series pays tribute to Houston’s Third Ward, where Solange embarked on her artistic career.

Programming begins on Tuesday, June 10, at Jones Hall, with On Dissonance (An Evening of Classical, Symphonic, and Opera Works). The opening event features works by Julia Perry, Tania León, and Solange Knowles. Jeri Lynne Johnson, Founder and Artistic Director of Philadelphia’s Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra, will conduct musicians from the Houston Symphony.

The Eldorado Ballroom will host an experimental performance by interdisciplinary artist Autumn Knight and singer-songwriter and producer Liv.e on Wednesday, June 11, and a night honoring Black musicians’ contributions to Zydeco, Folk, and guitar-driven music, on Saturday, June 14. 

See the full programming schedule and purchase tickets via the Performing Arts Houston website.

The post Tickets on Sale for Solange Knowles for Saint Heron-Curated Programming appeared first on Glasstire.

During an Arts and Culture Committee meeting earlier this month, the City of Houston explained that it is not currently planning on rehiring the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs (MOCA) Director, which was previously held by Necole Irvin.

Ms. Irvin stepped into the role in 2021 and departed the organization a few weeks ago. During the April 9 City Council Arts and Culture Committee meeting, Councilmember and Vice Chair of the committee Mario Castillo asked about the City’s intention of rehiring the MOCA Director position. Steven David, Deputy Chief of Staff, indicated that there is no plan to fill the vacancy.

Mr. David remarked on HAA’s essential work to implement the City’s arts programming, which includes the management of granting initiatives, the City’s Civic Art Collection, and public art opportunities. He then explained that the administration believes there are redundancies regarding MOCA’s duties and the work that HAA has been contracted to conduct. He noted that there have been contract management issues leading to funds allocated to MOCA “sitting there” and projects not moving forward. Mr. David pointed to the City’s decision last Fall to adjust HAA’s contract from $25 million to $15 million, noting that the action was taken because there was excess money not being spent.

When asked about the City’s long-term plans, specifically if MOCA will continue as an office in the future, Mr. David said he did not know what that might look like moving forward. He was clear to state the Mayor’s support of the arts. Mr. David reiterated, “What we weren’t seeing was the blend between MoCA and the HAA contract. The work wasn’t getting done for some reason. We are currently in fact-finding mode.” He noted that the City is working to assess the situation, and in the meantime, HAA does have direct oversight from the Mayor’s administration.

Taylor Jackson, the recently appointed CEO of HAA, shared that the organization has promoted Shareef Rabie, from Senior Grants Manager to Senior Data Analytics Manager. In this new role he will assess the impact of the arts on Houston’s economy.

Additionally, Councilmember Julian Ramirez asked about the City’s Civic Art Ordinance and its alignment with state law, an issue he raised in July 2024. His concern was that the Texas Local Government Code Section 444.029 indicated that no more than one percent of construction cost should be used for art projects; however, the City’s ordinance allows for no less than 1.75 percent to be spent on art acquisition or conservation. Mr. David noted that the City’s attorney has reviewed this concern and advised that the City’s ordinance is not inconsistent with state law.

The post City of Houston Pauses Rehiring Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs Director appeared first on Glasstire.

WASHINGTON—Looking around with despair as he searched for an open seat in the Pentagon cafeteria, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was reportedly forced to drink his lunch alone Wednesday. 

According to witnesses, the 44-year-old former Fox News host wandered through the lunchroom and took slow, deliberate steps past tables filled with jovial military officers who quickly turned away from him to avoid making eye contact. After locating an empty table in an isolated corner, Hegseth is said to have sat down and begun slowly unloading a brown paper sack that concealed a 750-milliliter bottle of Dewar’s White Label blended scotch, a 12-ounce Miller Lite, and an airplane-sized nip of Fireball for dessert.

“Well, I guess I’m on my own today,” said Hegseth, standing out in stark contrast to the rest of the cafeteria’s occupants, who sat packed around tables chatting enthusiastically with their colleagues. “I was really hoping to be able to hang out with all my awesome friends at the Department of Defense today, but there was only one seat left, and they told me they were saving it for someone else.”

“It’s no big deal, though. I actually wanted to sit alone,” Hegseth added. “But if anyone needs a seat, these chairs are totally open.” 

Several reports indicated this was the third day in a row Hegseth had been shunned by personnel from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, leaving him no choice but to drink lunch by himself. Witnesses confirmed that when Hegseth walked by several tables with open seats, his fellow Pentagon employees moved hastily to cover empty chairs with their bags and coats as he passed.

A wide-eyed, grinning Hegseth was reportedly even so bold as to approach a table of prominent, highly decorated U.S. Navy officers and—undeterred by their icy body language—pull up a chair to sit down. A slurring Hegseth then attempted to engage in small talk until the members of the group rolled their eyes, picked up their trays all at once, and told the defense secretary to “fuck off.” 

“No way is that loser Hegseth sitting with us,” said Adm. Christopher Grady, vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, who looked over his shoulder and scoffed at the sight of Hegseth hunched over his bottle and muttering to himself. “That guy is so weird. I don’t care how pathetic he looks over there moping all by himself. He smells like shit, it looks like he hasn’t changed clothes in a week, and he needs to take a shower.”

“Yesterday he came up to my table carrying a bottle of Aquafina that I’m pretty sure he had emptied out and refilled with vodka,” Grady continued. “His breath reeked so bad I thought I was going to puke.”

On Wednesday, Hegseth was seen trying to sit down with a pair of bespectacled cybersecurity officials as a last resort, but they immediately moved their laptops and turned their backs to him. He stood up from their table only to bump into a tall, muscular four-star Army general and spill whiskey all over himself, at which point the entire Pentagon cafeteria burst out in raucous laughter.

“Aw, no, no, no!” said Hegseth, who looked down, noticed the Dewar’s dripping down the front of his pants, and hastily attempted to cover it with his hands. “I swear I didn’t piss myself. I just spilled whiskey on my suit. See?”

“Everyone stop laughing,” the defense secretary screamed before running off in tears to hide in the Pentagon bathroom. “Stop it!”

At press time, a concerned Pentagon custodian had reportedly discovered Hegseth fast asleep on the restroom floor.

The post Unpopular Pete Hegseth Forced To Drink Lunch Alone appeared first on The Onion.

The Mother is a hilarious and harrowingly honest graphic memoir about Tendency contributor Rachel Deutsch’s journey into motherhood, from first dates to a first birthday and everything in between. Provocative and candid, The Mother illustrates the joys, challenges, and absurdities of modern parenthood in a way that will resonate with new and seasoned parents. We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from the book below.

Rachel Deutsch’s The Mother is available at your favorite local bookseller.

Excerpted from The Mother by Rachel Deutsch, 2025, published by Douglas & McIntyre (2013) Ltd. Reprinted with permission from the publisher.

WORCESTER, MA—Blinking in disbelief as the individual passed him on the street alive and well, local serial killer Aaron Samuel Christensen confirmed to reporters Tuesday that he could have sworn he killed that guy already. “Is my memory playing tricks on me, or did I not just flay and disembowel that guy two weeks ago?” the bewildered murderer said as he racked his brain trying to place the strangely familiar man, adding that something about the guy’s face made him all but certain he had already peeled it off and worn it around his apartment as a mask. “Was he the one whose ears I tried pickling with that new recipe? Can’t be, he still has both. For some reason I have this crystal-clear recollection of dumping his weighted torso into a river and going home to preserve his skull in a jar of Windex, but here he is walking around with two arms and his eyeballs still in the sockets. Weird! Maybe I should cut back on the killing if I can’t keep my victims straight anymore, or at least until I clear out some more space in my freezer.” At press time, Christiansen was reportedly relieved to learn he wasn’t going crazy after the man explained that he was actually the twin brother of one of the serial killer’s previous victims.

The post Serial Killer Could Have Sworn He Killed That Guy Already appeared first on The Onion.

CHICAGO—Acknowledging the profound and deeply bittersweet paradox, local man Gary Lanetti reported Tuesday that “grief is the price we pay for love” as he clutched an empty package of salami close to his chest. “Opening yourself up to true love unfortunately means leaving yourself vulnerable to experiencing the deep, sorrowful pain of having eaten it,” said the visibly distraught Lanetti, tearfully reckoning with the now-empty plastic that once contained his beloved Columbus Craft Meats Italian Dry Salami. “There is a 12-ounce hole in my heart now that the meat is gone, but I know that utter emptiness I feel is directly proportional to the joy that swelled inside me when the salami was still here. Nothing I can say or do will ever bring these cold cuts back. Yet, anytime I open the refrigerator door, I expect my salami to be there greeting me, tenderly planting its grease on my lips. All I have now is the painful memory of what could have been, and all the sandwiches left unmade.” Lanetti added that he would be holding his kielbasa a little closer tonight.

The post ‘Grief Is The Price We Pay For Love,’ Reports Man Clutching Empty Package Of Salami appeared first on The Onion.

The post Trump Pardons Kid Rock For Whatever Inspired Statutory Rape Lyric In ‘Cool, Daddy Cool’ appeared first on The Onion.

In brief: After Houston picked up some needed rainfall over the last two days, we will continue to see shower chances for a few more days. By this weekend we should be sunny and fairly humid. Although it won’t feel quite summer-like, it still will be rather warm for late April.

Much-needed rainfall

After a fairly dry spring so far, nearly the entire Houston metro area picked up at least 1 to 2 inches of rain over the last two days. Some areas received as much as 5 inches. I will make two predictions as a result of this. First, by this weekend, your lawns will start to take on the appearance of a jungle with the combination of rain and sunny skies helping everything to green up and grow rapidly. And secondly, I fear that we’re going to see an outpouring of mosquitoes for the first time this spring. So goes the circle of life in Houston.

Tuesday

With that said, we are not yet done with rain. Overall chances are fairly low today, probably 20 to 30 percent area-wide, although perhaps a bit higher near the coast. Once this morning’s patchy fog gives way, we should see partly sunny skies with high temperatures in the mid-80s. With dewpoints around 70 degrees it will feel fairly sticky outside. Winds will be fairly light, from the south at about 10 mph. If showers do develop, they are most likely during the afternoon or early evening hours. Lows tonight will only fall to around 70 degrees.

Wednesday

A passing disturbance will raise the chance for showers and thunderstorms to at least 50 percent on Wednesday. A couple of readers have asked about timing, but I don’t have a real clear picture. There could be showers at sunrise and near sunset, but at this time the most widespread and organized activity is likely to occur during the afternoon hours with peak heating. Some rain could be briefly heavy, but I don’t expect any severe thunderstorms. With mostly cloudy skies, temperatures should peak in the low 80s. Expect another warm night.

Thursday and Friday

These should be partly sunny and warmer days, with highs in the mid-80s in Houston, and possibly a bit warmer for areas further inland. Both days will have a slight chance of some thunderstorms and rain. Right now I’ll peg those chances at 20 percent, but there remains some uncertainty in the overall pattern.

Saturday and Sunday

The weekend looks warm and mostly sunny, with high temperatures in the mid- to upper-80s and plenty of humidity. Expect modest southeasterly winds of about 15 mph, with higher gusts, on both days, so that will help MS-150 bike riders with a tailwind at times, and a cross-tailwind at other times. It’s about the best you could hope for for a long weekend ride. Unfortunately for IRONMAN participants, dewpoints in the vicinity of 70 degrees will make for a very sticky race. Personally, I find it very difficult to run in such conditions and cannot imagine running a marathon in that kind of humidity. Good luck to all.

Next week

Much of next week looks partly cloudy, humid, and warm with temperatures in the upper 80s. It still appears as though some kind of pattern change is in the cards for later next week, with the return of some rain showers and possibly some cooler and drier air. It’s far too distant to have any confidence in the details, however.

With apologies to the great Joni Mitchell.

All right, I’ll just say it: I really, really like our town’s new parking lot.

And I know how controversial it was, given that it replaced paradise. Those were some of the longest, angriest meetings of the zoning subcommittee I’ve ever attended. But you know what took even longer and made me even angrier? Trying to find a parking spot before those meetings. And that is thankfully no longer a problem, thanks to this pristine, gorgeous slab of pavement stretching out as far as the eye can see.

Look, we have a lovely little downtown. The Italian restaurant, the gazebo, the pink hotel, and the highly affordable tree museum ($1.50 for a ticket in this day and age is simply unbeatable)—it’s all great. But the fact is, the easiest way to get there is to drive, and if you’re going to do that, you need a place to park your car. And sure, it may have been an easier political sell to pave over the shuttered sludge factory than the idyllic green space filled with laughing children and frolicking puppies where it never rained and all your problems just sort of melted away, but was that space really contributing as much to our town as the sludge factory? Or at least as much as the sludge factory will contribute once our town’s economy turns around and it reopens.

Plus, rain is pretty important. So getting rid of paradise may have actually helped save our town from a devastating drought. But you don’t hear all of those paradise obsessives talking about that now, do you?

You know, I wouldn’t even mind building off of this recent parking win by adding a few more options. The new lot is great, yeah, but I do sometimes worry it isn’t big enough. Like the other day, I had to park in a spot between two other cars, so I couldn’t even get out in my usual way of swinging my door wide open and shouting “IT’S GO TIME, BABY! WE HAVE ARRIVED!” to no one in particular.

Well, I shouldn’t have gotten out that way, at least. I did anyway because it’s kind of my thing, and it left a serious dent in one of the other car’s doors, which never would have happened if there were more available spots.

Maybe we could build an auxiliary lot where the tree museum is? I know I was just praising it, but do we really need a museum dedicated solely to trees, what with our town’s dire parking shortage and the abundance of tree videos on YouTube? It’s worth thinking about at least.

I’m getting ahead of myself, though. For now, we need to keep the focus on preserving the parking lot we already have, as these paradise fanatics still won’t give up their doomed fight. Just the other day I saw one of them circulating a petition to get rid of one of the three rows of parking spots in the new lot designed exclusively for stretch limos and replace it with that playground in paradise powered by memories of the first time you tried chocolate chip cookies on the absurd grounds that “sixteen parking spots for stretch limos is enough.” Can you believe these people? That lyric about not knowing “what you’ve got till it’s gone” from Cinderella’s classic 1988 hair metal hit—and absolutely no other song—has never rung truer.

But still, a man can dream, can’t he? Maybe someday I will finally arrive in our glorious downtown and be greeted by nothing but a sea of parking lots with plenty of available spots and no distracting trees, tree museums, or utopias to get in the way. Now that sounds like paradise to me.

**UPDATE**

You crazy cats! You bought up every single copy in less than 24 hours. My goodness. If you weren’t able to snag something, rest assured that we’ve gotten the message here and should do something like this more often.

Shay and I are getting things signed and packed and heading your way. Much love to you all!

Ten years after my last downsizing, I’m again selling books that have accumulated around the house. Shay and I are going back to sea, so whatever I have here is up for grabs!

The post Signed Books for Sale! appeared first on Hugh Howey.

Less than a month ago, I wrote in Nextgov/FCW about serious concerns I, and many others, have with a number of the Trump Administration’s early procurement-related actions. These include refusing to pay for contracted work already duly performed; the dramatic increase in the government’s use of “termination for convenience” clauses; questions about the appropriateness of GSA mandating contract adjustments mid-performance; arbitrary staffing cuts; and more.

As I said then: buckle up, there’s more to come.

Indeed, on April 15, the president signed what could be a very impactful, procurement-centered executive order. And this one has the potential to move the needle forward in important and positive ways.

To start, let’s set aside some of the rhetoric surrounding the order and focus instead on what it actually requires. There are two key parts. The first is establishing a requirement for agencies to procure commercial, rather than custom, software. The second is a major streamlining of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, the 2000+ page tome that governs most all federal procurement.

While not entirely new, both goals are well worth supporting and pursuing. Done right, the order offers the potential for real transformation. So, what will success require?

First, it is essential to pay attention to and learn from the lessons of the past. For example, the development of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act, the most significant reform effort in recent history, was one of the most collaborative policy initiatives I have ever been involved in. Great care was taken to involve all relevant stakeholders to engage in open dialogue among agency, congressional, industry and third-party experts. Further, it was not only remarkably collaborative, it was also entirely non-partisan. Only through that kind of open and collaborative process was it possible to build the requisite trust so critical to success. Beyond the importance of collaboration in any major change effort, the reality of our contemporary politics makes it all the more critical. To be clear, the politicization of acquisition really began more than twenty years ago and since that time, real or perceived procurement errors or “scandals” have all too often become proxies for broader policy battles. That cannot continue if we are serious about empowering the acquisition workforce and transforming the culture. That workforce needs to believe their leaders have faith in them, will support them and see them as part of the solution rather than the source of the problem. Without that, real change will prove elusive.

Second, the new EO is not the first time a preference for commercial solutions has been established. This was a core component of FASA — and the evolution of FAR Part 12, which governs commercial items — and has been the focus of most every reform effort since.

Here, too, the FASA experience and what followed offers important insight. Most significantly, there is a big difference between the commercial buying authorities as they were originally envisioned and the FAR Part 12 of today. The original FAR Part 12 recognized that the core tenets of public procurement could be achieved in a system that was not burdened by traditional government-specific contracting requirements that were principally the product of the days when the government — particularly the Pentagon — was a monopsony buyer.

Unfortunately, since the passage of FASA, some 150 contract clauses have been layered on to the original FAR Part 12, many of which have no statutory basis. That would be a great place to start the FAR review.

It is also notable that when opportunities have emerged in the past to take a “clean sheet” approach to federal acquisition, especially the Federal Aviation Administration’s Blue-Ribbon Panel and the evolution of Other Transactions Authorities, the end result often looked very much like Part 12 — as Part 12 was originally envisioned.  And in both of those cases, achieving the full potential of the reforms has been inhibited by a tendency to add unnecessary FAR clauses — or “non-FAR” clauses that have much the same effect — and which serve as primary obstacles for commercial companies entering the federal market. This is particularly true of a continued reliance on government-unique cost accounting procedures that bear limited resemblance to the accounting standards that govern the rest of the economy and of often arcane, zero-sum approaches to intellectual property and technical data rights.

Third, the real inculcation can’t happen without a clear future vision and the commitment of the human and other resources that will be needed. FAR transformation is a multi-functional, cross organization challenge and must be approached as such. Contracting professionals do not operate in a vacuum.

FASA, especially its aftermath, taught us that simplifying the rules was not the same thing as making acquisition “easier.” Indeed, in some ways it made it more complex. Commercial buying itself requires different and varied skills and culture than traditional FAR models. We almost certainly underestimated the human capital component of what it would take to affect the kind of major changes we envisioned.  This remains an unavoidable reality. Driving sustainable change, especially in the world’s largest and most complex organization is not merely a matter of simplifying rules and capitalizing on technology. For change like this to take hold, thoughtful, data-supported talent management and development, rather than arbitrary assumptions or personnel cuts, must hold sway.

There’s a lot to unpack in the FAR and all of the agency supplements covered by the order. And doing so in 180 days is a mammoth undertaking. But much of the crucial groundwork has already been laid.

And complicated as it may be, every time I wonder if yet another such effort is worth it, I remind myself that one of the government’s first uses of artificial intelligence was to help acquisition professionals decipher the acquisition rules. That’s crazy. Now, we have another chance to change the game. Let’s not squander it.

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Approaching Zeke’s Projects, I am welcomed by the scent of smoking bratwursts, smiling faces, and a sense of warmth. The site on Sylvan Ave, which once housed Cluley Projects, now accommodates artist and gallerist Zeke Williams. In February, the gallery opened its first exhibition, Selections from the Collection of Melissa Culling and Zeke Williams, a group show featuring works from a handful of Dallas and Fort Worth-based artists. 

I comically noticed how almost no one used the front door as they came in and instead opted for the garage door that Zeke lifted, letting in the cool Texas wind. It all felt so casual and laid-back. The breeze followed behind me as I entered the gallery, greeted by a floor-to-ceiling white cloth wall foregrounded by several photos dancing delicately in front of my eyes; these are the images of Chloe Scout Nix. 

Originally from Waxahachie, Texas, Chloe obtained a studio arts degree from Southern Methodist University. During her time in Dallas, she worked at Galleri Urbane and presented exhibitions of her photographic work at various galleries and project spaces, including 500X and the Oak Cliff Cultural Center. Chloe recently graduated with an MFA in photography from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, where her thesis show received press coverage from Hyperallergic. 

What I initially noticed about Chloe’s work were the uncommonly thick frames, which accentuated the intimate moments and encounters depicted on their faces. The uniqueness in depth added to the pleasure of viewing the almost-erotic images. Chloe created this body of work over the last year while experiencing a prolonged desire for closeness. While Chloe is not an intimacy coach, she believes that images can teach us the gestures of intimacy, and she performs them for us in front of her own lens.

In you made me hate country music, Chloe’s body is cropped by the frame; she is wearing denim-on-denim with black socks, sitting in a child’s pose on a lacquered floor with her hands tucked between her legs. Atop Chloe is her ex-lover clad in denim, too, but with white socks. Why is he sitting on her? Is she trapped? Is she comfortable? Is she just being used? The image reads almost fetishistically with the denim-on-denim action and Chloe acting almost like furniture. The material symbolism of denim is evocative of Western wear, individualism, and rebellion.

Even more erotic is a short film called starving, where the viewer has the privilege of witnessing the artist in a private moment of calm ecstasy. You can find Chloe tucked away in a white cube at the back of the gallery, but you can only see her through a small horizontal partition. And if you slip on the headphones hanging below the box, you can hear a Shepard’s tone pitch, leaving you with the sensation of suspense and anticipation; it is very intimate. 

i will kill your daddy also highlights the physical form of relationships. Sometimes, it’s hard to decipher where one person begins, and the other ends with limbs intertwined and fingers grasping for each other.

Chloe’s head resting on the shoulder and lap of a sister-like friend; the comfort of a familial loved one, a hug from your dad. Some relationships depicted feel unfamiliar, brooding, and invasive, like tickling and beneath you. The first reveals the tongue of a stranger licking at the artist’s eye. In the other, the tattooed arm of a bartender reaches down to gingerly tuck some hair behind Chloe’s ear. 

During her time here, I had several opportunities to speak with Chloe, and she was such a joy to be present with. Like her work, she is touchy and intimate, placing a hand on my elbow and wrapping me in a hug as I am introduced to her by a colleague. Chloe also participated in the Dallas Art Book Fair at Dallas Contemporary, where she sold copies of her written work, photos, posters, boot-shaped candle holders, shirts, tote bags, and quaint ear stickers. I am enveloped in the cozy, mellow hug of Chloe’s images and personhood, and I can’t wait to see what she does next.

I am excited to see what is to come from Zeke’s Projects where, as Zeke himself says, the stakes are low, but the seriousness is deadly. I will come back for a hot dog any damn day. 

 

Chloe Scout Nix: i will kill your daddy is on view through April 26th at Zeke’s Projects.

The post Review: “Chloe Scout Nix: i will kill your daddy” at Zeke’s Projects  appeared first on Glasstire.

But this is a really great one from Richy Boston! #CowboyWho

#Kento #RoninWarriors

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. My boss leads the worst staff meetings ever

Every month my boss leads an all-staff meeting, and it is awful. Normally he is a pretty good boss, and I enjoy working with him. But this meeting is regularly 1.5-2 hours long and largely irrelevant to half the staff because it is mostly geared towards one team (out of 4). My boss also tries to make these meetings “fun” by asking people for personal pictures — at one meeting he showed pictures for 45 minutes before even getting to the business/informational part, during the height of our busy season. I manage a team of 10 people and regularly receive feedback from them that they find the meetings tedious and uninformative and my boss only gives out praise to one team (not my team).

I have tried speaking with him about this, mostly related to the personal photos part, which I feel can get off the rails towards inappropriate. That went nowhere so I dropped it since I understand that it’s impossible to make a meeting relevant to every employee.

But recently other managers came to me with similar issues, and we decided to push back together. Another manager and I asked him for a meeting and presented some of the feedback we had received from our teams. We asked him to keep the meeting to an hour, present important information first, spread praise evenly between teams, and allow employees to opt out of the “fun” parts by having picture/story-sharing at the end. These changes would make a huge difference to most of the staff.

Unfortunately, this feedback was not well received, and the fallout has been rough. My boss told me that he spoke to other employees and they “love” the meetings and get a lot out of them (I assume this is from the team who regularly gets praise). He also said he wants the meetings to be about “culture” and not information because we are fully remote and don’t see each other often. He essentially blamed me and my team for not finding the meetings relevant. He suggested that I train them to share more in the meetings. I told him I am not willing to force people to share personal pictures/stories and that while culture is important, the most we can require from an employee is to be respectful and helpful. I was dismissed until we could go over this again.

At this point I don’t hold any hope he will change the meetings, but I would like him to understand I’m not going to force my team to participate beyond attending. I’m at a loss on what to do.

The changes you asked for were very reasonable!

But he doesn’t agree with you, and it doesn’t sound like he’s going to. This might just be what you’re stuck with (as it sounds like you’ve concluded, too).

However — you said “other managers,” plural, came to you with similar concerns, but it was just you and one other who met with your boss about this. If there are managers who haven’t yet addressed it with him directly, you should push them to. It’s possible that if he keeps hearing it from others, it’ll eventually get through.

But as for getting him to understand that you won’t force your team to participate beyond attending: is there any reason to assume he’s going to keep making an issue out of that? It sounds like he suggested they participate more, you said you won’t require that, and it ended there. I wouldn’t assume that part is going to keep coming up (especially since he didn’t raise it himself until you broached it).

2. Our old manager is constantly undermining our new manager

About a year ago, our manager (Veronica) moved to an adjacent department, and someone on our team was promoted to manager (Jane). Jane has a lot of very relevant experience and took the job mostly because nobody else wanted it, although she is qualified.

Veronica was an excellent manager and really helped improve our department. During the transition period, she still attended and ran all of our meetings. Well, a year later she is still doing that. If Jane says anything, Veronica immediately discredits what she says and/or speaks over her. I would say 30-50% of our meetings is Jane trying to get a word in and Veronica shutting her down or trying to make her look incompetent. At this point, the meetings are infuriating to attend and are completely unproductive.

If Jane goes on vacation, Veronica takes over even though we have a very competent assistant manager. She posts unnecessary announcements, meddles in our work, and speaks poorly about Jane during meetings. We also get emails from Veronica contradicting what Jane has told us to do. My coworker was once specifically told in writing to do something X way even if Jane tells her otherwise. The majority of the team has commiserated about how crazy this all is.

Jane is aware and is fed up. She thinks it’s ridiculous and embarrassing, but she is close to retirement so I think she’s just not up for fighting. She did recently mention that she had thought of bringing it up to their boss but isn’t sure how to approach the conversation. (They report to the same boss, who seems approachable although I have not had much one-to-one interaction with him.)

Is there anything I can do? If Veronica gives me direction contradicting what Jane says, I go to Jane, but other than that I am not sure what else can improve our crappy working environment.

Encourage Jane to bring it up with her boss! What you’re describing is ridiculous, and if her boss is at all decent, he’d want to know it’s going on so he can either intervene himself or coach Jane is how to shut it down. In fact, if he eventually does hear about it through sources other than Jane, he might be alarmed that she never told him it was happening.

You could also encourage Jane to tell Veronica that while she appreciated her help during the transition, she’s going to be running her team’s meetings herself now, thinks it’s causing confusion to have them both there, and will let her know if she ever needs to pull her in as a resource, but otherwise prefers to handle it independently from here. Ideally she’d also tell Veronica to stop trying to fill in for her when she’s out — that she has an assistant manager who will be running things, and she doesn’t want Veronica stepping on the assistant manager’s toes or undermining that person with the team.

But Jane really needs to tackle this herself; having someone else (you) alert her boss to the situation would risk reinforcing that the approach she’s taken thus far has been too passive.

3. Giving feedback as a project lead, not a manager

I am a project lead on a large team. I work on one specific project myself, and if anyone else on the team is also working on it, I’m involved and review their work. I have no managerial authority over them, and level-wise am either equal or slightly more senior. I have no problems giving feedback relating to the work itself, but I’m struggling to figure out how I should handle feedback that I think would normally come from a manager.

For example, people frequently come to me with problems without putting in any effort to fix it themselves first. If I was their direct manager, I’d have no problem pushing back on what they’ve tried first or directly setting the expectation that they should try to fix the problem before coming to me, but that seems maybe heavy-handed to do as just a project lead?

Another example is having to remind people multiple times to do tasks that I’ve already reminded them to do. Again, if I were their direct manager I’d have no issue addressing the pattern, but that feels like overstepping when I’m not their manager.

Am I off-base in thinking these are things I shouldn’t handle myself? And if not, would these types of things fall into the “not my business” bucket or the “escalate to manager” bucket?

You can definitely push back when people come to you with problems they haven’t tried to solve themselves first, even though you’re not their manager! One low-key way is to ask, every time, “What have you tried so far?” If you ask that every time, most people will figure out pretty quickly that they’re supposed to be doing that … and if they don’t, it’s okay to say, “I’m always happy to help when you get stuck but I want you to learn this stuff, so try to ____ (check the training materials/check the documentation/look at how we did it in the past/whatever makes sense here) first, and then if you’re still not sure, come to me at that point.”

But having to remind people to do things is “escalate to manager” territory; that’s a performance issue that their manager should be aware of. However, before you do that, try saying, “I’ve noticed I’ve been having to remind you of tasks, which I shouldn’t be the one tracking. Can you come up with a system to make sure you catch all that stuff on your end first?” Then if it keeps happening, talk to your boss about it (at which point you can say that you’ve specifically flagged it, but to no avail).

4. Do I have to sign a non-disparagement agreement?

I work at a nonprofit that has been taken over by an appointee of the new administration, but I am not a federal employee. Our staff is being slashed, with employees who are excellent at their jobs and vital to basic operations being let go. The new administration is completely non-transparent — I am more likely to hear about staffing changes in the news than through internal channels, and they have otherwise been dishonest in both internal and external communications, particularly in regard to finances. I think it is only a matter of time before I am also axed.

Most employees being let go been required to sign non-disparagement agreements. I plan to fully disparage the new administration if let go, even if it means not getting severance. If I am called into HR to be fired or otherwise given notice, what options do I have? What consequences should I expect if I refuse to sign? Any advice to keep my wits about me in the moment?

It’s very typical to be asked to sign a non-disparagement agreement in return for severance (along with a general release of any legal claims). The thinking is they don’t want to give you money they don’t need to give you if won’t agree not to badmouth them in the future. It’s a way for them to extract some advantage from the severance agreement for themselves.

You can decline to sign, but it will almost certainly mean you don’t get severance. There aren’t really other consequences, though! You can simply say, “I’m not comfortable agreeing not to speak publicly about what’s happening, so I won’t be signing.” (Or you can be even vaguer and say you’re not comfortable signing without specifying why, or say nothing at all and see if they even ask.) It’s unlikely to be a big deal; they’ll just make sure you understand that you won’t be receive severance if you don’t sign, you’ll confirm that you understand that, and that should be that.

It’s possible they’ll think you’re not signing because you plan to sue for something, and if they have any reason to think you have fodder for that (such as a plausible discrimination claim), they might offer you more severance to try to incentivize you to sign. Or they might not; just know that’s possible and don’t be thrown off if they do.

You can also ask for time to look over the agreement and think about it; that’s normal, and they won’t pressure you to sign on the spot.

Disparage away!

5. Is it OK to say my coworker is on maternity leave?

Many of my coworkers are currently out on maternity or paternity leave. When I follow up on outstanding/ongoing work on their behalf, I state in the email that the other person is out for a few months and I will be helping them out. This inevitably elicits the response, “I hope they are okay.” Is it okay for me to specify that they are out on maternity or paternity leave? Or is that an invasion of privacy?

Obviously, the people they work with most often and the people in our department know why they are out, but due to the nature of the job, we are in touch with many people on a semi-regular or an infrequent basis.

Generally most people are comfortable with it being known they’re on parental leave, but it’s not impossible that someone might prefer it not be shared. One way to know for sure is to check their out-of-office message. If it’s stated in there, it’s definitely okay for you to share that information too. Otherwise, if you’re unsure you can always check with their manager — “is it okay for me to share with clients and others that Jane is on maternity leave, when explaining why I’m stepping in to handle something?”

The post boss leads terrible meetings, old manager is undermining our new manager, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager.

Demonstrations, taking place on the 250th anniversary of the start of the American Revolutionary War, addressed a range of grievances.

The postal giant will stop shipping packages to American consumers after a rise in red tape at customs.

“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared detailed information about forthcoming strikes in Yemen on March 15 in a private Signal group chat that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer, according to four people with knowledge of the chat.” — New York Times

I’m a Wife Guy, just like my boss, Grand Moff Tarkin. That’s why I don’t get the big deal around this so-called Signalgate 2.0. Is a man not supposed to talk to his wife about his day anymore? If you ask me, our beloved Empire is under attack—and so is the sanctity of marriage.

You can listen to the lamestream media heads in Coruscant mutter and moan about things they don’t understand, or you can get your truth straight from me, a guy who actually works on the Death Star. My life is on the line here, folks. I may be only a lowly maintenance worker for this space station’s thermal exhaust ports, but if you had access to those blueprints Tarkin sent out to his wife, you’d know how hot and explosive things can get around here. So if I’m not worried, should you be? Should anyone?

And let’s keep in mind that Tarkin promotes a healthy work-life balance on the Death Star. I don’t hear that being celebrated in the press. For me, Tarkin sharing confidential intel with his wife on a public, nonsecure messaging application is him just putting his money where his mouth is. He’s not all about the work, all of the time. Sometimes he’s kicking back with a blue milk, chatting about the kids, sports, or highly classified blueprints with the love of his life. And if he occasionally mixes things up and gets gabbing with his fraternity bros from Eriadu, old coworkers, or the editor of The Naboo Atlantic, more power to him.

I can’t help but keep thinking that’s what this is all really about: taking a good guy down. The spite of some people… Just because Tarkin has what they want—obscene wealth, a devoted wife, beautiful kids, and a successful career constructing the galaxy’s first planet-obliterating super weapon—they want to hold him accountable.

And I’ll say it. Others are thinking about it anyway. Do you really believe the media would be so fired up about Tarkin if he had shared Death Star blueprints containing vital information about the whereabouts, or lack thereof, of a fatal flaw deep in the thermal exhaust ports with his boyfriend? Yeah, I don’t think so either. Suddenly, he’d be labeled some sort of progressive hero. Maybe even a rebel.

So let’s just cool it with the hysterics (which, incidentally, is what I now need to go do with the thermal exhaust ports). The Empire is safe. You are safe. I am safe. And this big, beautiful space station of annihilation is safe.

The next time you see some screaming headline about Tarkin’s alleged evil, either with leaking classified materials or just being sort of lackadaisical with human life, I’d invite you to be like me and give white men in power the benefit of the doubt. Lead with kindness. Trust in our side—the literal Dark Side.

What’s that saying? “It’s always darkest before the dawn.” I don’t really know what it means, but it sure is dark right now, and that’s just how I like it.

Kalley Huang and Erin Woo, reporting for The Information (via Ed Zitron, who summarized it on Bluesky):

Meta Platforms over the past year asked Microsoft, Amazon and others to help pay the costs of training Meta’s flagship large language model, Llama, according to four people briefed on the discussions. Meta’s overtures reflected worries about the growing costs of its artificial intelligence development, according to two of the people. [...]

Meta in particular has faced questions about the business logic behind its AI development, given that Llama is open-source software, freely available for anyone’s use. That makes it difficult to turn into a business. And Meta makes money primarily from advertising and has little experience in selling business software.

While Meta held its most serious discussions with Amazon and Microsoft, it has also discussed the idea with Databricks, IBM and Oracle, as well as representatives from at least one Middle Eastern investor, according to two of the people briefed on the discussions. Meta was still in discussions with companies about the Llama Consortium as recently as the start of this year, the two people said.

“Would you consider throwing a few sacks full of your cash on this bonfire of our cash that we’ve been burning?” is a hell of a pitch.

In its discussions with other companies, Meta primarily asked for money. It also sought servers or other resources that would offset the cost of training its models, according to two of the people briefed on the discussions. In return for their assistance, Meta discussed offering other companies promotion of their services alongside Llama — for example, a Meta executive might appear at a conference hosted by a consortium partner — or providing more insight into the training process for the model, one of those people said.

Pay a little and a Meta representative will show up at your developer conference. Pay more and a Meta rep won’t show up at your developer conference.

The lawsuit signals a sharp escalation of a feud between the elite institution and the new presidency.

A reader writes:

I’m an admin in a small office, with a centrally located desk. One of my coworkers, Miranda, literally never stops talking. I counted for a while and she averages two major interruptions per hour, mostly extended monologues about personal minutiae, intimate relationship problems, or absolute and total nonsense.

Basically, her entire internal monologue is externalized at all times. She announces everything she’s doing. She tells me long stories about how she managed things like “loaning her bike to someone” or “changing the exact location of her keys” that follow the entire storyline of the item through all its moves over a period of 24 hours.

She is utterly oblivious to both subtle and direct feedback about this. For example:
Me, doing math: “Sorry I can’t talk right now I have to focus on this.”
Miranda: “Yeah, I know, I’m just going to go to the store because I’m out of groceries and last week my friend came over and ate all my salad and since there’s no salad at the store ever…”

My boss knows this is a problem, and I know his inaction is a problem. I wear headphones a lot, which sucks because I’m also a receptionist.

One of the consequences of this situation is that among all the nonsense are relevant work facts, but because of Miranda’s processes they are only concrete facts 10% of the time and the other 90% they are “in process” work facts, so the details are all subject to change.

My short-term memory cannot function under these conditions. I have ADHD and focusing on my own job is hard enough. It is functionally impossible for me to also absorb this waterfall of constant information, sort through it in real time for the bits that might someday be important to me, record those, and move forward with any kind of larger understanding. It would be an entire job, like one of those movie jobs where a harried assistant follows some crazy magazine editor around managing their constant changes of mind. That’s not my job, I have a job, she does not need an assistant, I am needed elsewhere.

I told my boss recently that given the status quo, I can commit to writing down important information during meetings and keeping my operating system updated with the finalized schedules I’m given, but that I am not able to mentally track any of this, ever. He’ll ask me to remember things from within the week (what day was X going to happen?) and I can’t, not because I’m generally bad at that but because I am constantly overloaded by so much content that it’s impossible to maintain any kind of cognitive clarity. I was told 900 details yesterday and 890 of them were irrelevant nonsense so the 10 good ones randomly mixed in did not stick. Since I can not stop the deluge of mind-numbing, banal storytimes, constantly listening to her entire verbal process is incredibly derailing, and the best I can do is try to work around it is by purging my entire brain at the end of every day in order to live a life of relative sanity. Want info to stop flowing off of me like water off a duck’s back? Get her under control.

Is this a reasonable boundary I’m drawing? It’s an unreasonable situation, I’m actively job hunting, and while I very much like working with my manager I’m aware that he should be doing more about this than he is. Given that he’s unwilling or unable to actually manage Miranda (because as you can guess, her time management skills are appalling and her productivity is often shockingly low), am I doing the right things?

It’s a reasonable boundary to draw, but whether that matters depends on how your boss responded when you laid it out. If he agreed it’s reasonable — and will continue to deem it reasonable the next time you can’t answer a question due to Miranda overload — then sure, maybe this is the best way for you to manage the situation since he won’t manage it himself. But his continued agreement will be key, so you’ll have to see how that plays out.

Meanwhile, though, do your job duties require you to frequently interact with Miranda? If not, would your boss be willing to tell her that she cannot interrupt you during the day, period? Maybe he’s not willing to coach her through how to streamline her communications but would be willing to give her a blanket “you must leave LetterWriter alone.”

If he’s not, do you feel like you have the capital and standing in your workplace (including the backing of your boss if Miranda gets upset) to tell her that yourself — to say, essentially, “I cannot do my job when you come by to talk to me, so you cannot come by anymore”? And to immediately cut her off when she does with, “I can’t work while you’re here, so I need you to leave so I can finish this”?

Ideally, you’d get comfortable being really assertive about cutting her off, in ways that would feel rude if you were doing them to anyone else but which are warranted with her. I’m talking about things like holding up your hand in a visual “stop” motion and saying, “I need you to stop talking because I have to focus on something else” or bluntly saying, ““I need you to stop talking and leave my desk.” Again, that’s going to feel rude, because it would be with someone who wasn’t being so inappropriate themselves.

Consider, too, whether a big-picture conversation with Miranda could help. For example: “I can’t get my job done when you keep coming over to talk to me. It’s making it impossible for me to get my work done, so from now on I need you to send me anything work-related in an email so that I can process it later. That’s the only way I can get my job done.”

Otherwise, though, keep wearing your headphones and when she shows up at your desk to talk, say “can’t talk right now” and just keep working and ignoring her. That’s going to be hard to do! It’s going to feel impolite. It’s also probably your only option.

The post my coworker’s constant babbling is drowning me in info, and my boss won’t help appeared first on Ask a Manager.

The president amps up attack against US central bank boss calling him "a major loser" for not lowering interest rates.

The Jamaica Beach Police Department, which serves part of Galveston Island south of Houston, is asking residents to reach out if they see any packages on the beach.  

“This and That” is an occasional series of paired observations. See past “This and That” posts here. – Ed.

Today: Gallery patrons looking at art

 

 

*************

No matter how original, innovative or crazy your idea, someone else is also working on that idea. Furthermore, they are using notation very similar to yours. – Bruce J. MacLennan

The post This and That: C. Meng and Joe Fig appeared first on Glasstire.

WASHINGTON—Staunchly defending his decision to share sensitive military data in messages to his wife, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Monday, “There are no state secrets in a healthy relationship.” “Communication is key in every strong marriage, and that includes communication about airstrikes on foreign adversaries,” said the Pentagon chief, who called the mere idea of withholding classified information from one’s spouse “toxic” and “unhealthy.” “In fact, when I told my therapist we were attacking the Houthis, the first thing he asked me was ‘Did you tell your wife?’ The real scandal would have been not telling her. I mean, if she’d had war plans, I would’ve wanted her to text me.” Hegseth added that the best marital advice he had ever received was to never go to bed without saying you’re going to bomb Yemen.

The post Pete Hegseth: ‘There Are No State Secrets In A Healthy Relationship’   appeared first on The Onion.

VATICAN CITY—Saying he couldn’t help but think “I told you so” in the wake of the bishop of Rome’s death, Cardinal Giuseppe Betori of Florence confirmed Monday that he was feeling pretty vindicated after having spent all of Easter dinner telling Pope Francis to ease off the butter. “Yesterday I kept telling him, ‘Your Holiness, I can hardly see your mashed potatoes underneath all that butter you’re putting on them,’ but he refused to listen and look where it got him,” said Betori, explaining that he’d repeatedly warned the supreme pontiff that he needed to watch his saturated fat intake because he wasn’t 65 anymore. “I don’t like being right, but I did explicitly tell him that peas stop being healthy when you insist on eating a pat of butter with every spoonful. He probably went through half a stick on the dinner rolls alone. The salted kind, too. It made me gag. He kept saying he needed all that butter to give his body energy to recover from his pneumonia, but we can all see who was right in the end. The way he was wolfing down the stuff, it almost seemed like he wanted to go.” Betori added that Francis really should have known better, having watched Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI die in 2022 after housing four buckets of heavily buttered popcorn.

The post Cardinal Who Spent Easter Dinner Telling Pope To Ease Off The Butter Feeling Pretty Vindicated appeared first on The Onion.

The colossal squid, the heaviest invertebrate in the world, was captured on video swimming in the deep sea for the first time since it was identified a century ago. What do you think?

The post Colossal Squid Caught On Camera In Deep Sea For First Time appeared first on The Onion.

Let’s make one thing very clear: So far, there is almost no proof that JD Vance is directly responsible for the death of Pope Francis. All we know is that the vice president met with the pope and, a few hours later, the pope was dead. To draw a line between those two facts would almost definitely be a little bit premature.

Here’s what we do know: After their meeting ended and Vice President Vance left the room, the pope was still alive. We can deduce that he was alive, because he was heard asking an assistant, “Ho appena incontrato il volto del diavolo?” which roughly translates to, “Have I just encountered the face of the devil?” It’s a very common question that has been asked in many languages after encounters with JD Vance.

It should also be noted that there is a relatively low chance that spending just ten minutes in a room with Vice President Vance is enough to cause someone to die—out of either a feeling of deep disappointment in humanity or, as online forums describe it, “too much cringe.” This probably could not happen, and is unlikely to have happened a few dozen times already to other people who have met with Vice President Vance previously.

When thinking about the potential for JD Vance to have instigated the pope’s death, phrases that come to mind include “completely normal,” “nothing to see here,” and “move along, folks.” Why? Because there are at least one or two more rational explanations. For instance, we can’t rule out the possibility that the pope secretly met with someone else a little bit later on, whose general vibe is even worse than that of Vice President Vance’s.

Why speak out so soon? We feel that it is important to get ahead of these accusations, as they have been leveled at Vice President Vance far too many times before—and they have, for the most part, proven to hold relatively little water and are pretty unlikely to all be true.

JD Vance has already posted a heartfelt, emotional tribute to the man whose death he almost definitely didn’t cause. So, let’s get this straight: There is barely any evidence that Vice President Vance killed the pope. It’s not the most likely thing that could have happened, so stop spreading rumors that he’s the only suspect.