Cowboy Who?

Libraries have been trying to collect humanity’s knowledge almost since the invention of writing. In the digital age, it might actually be possible to create a comprehensive collection of all human writing that meets certain criteria. That’s what shadow libraries do - collect and share as many...

My electric toothbrush was acting up. The Internet says that I needed to reboot my electric toothbrush.

Pretty much no part of that last sentence made any sense 40 years ago.

My friend who worked on the development of the USB specification once sent me an email that said simply, “Just now, I had to reboot my mouse. Thought you’d like to know.” This is the same colleague who some time later told me about USB floppy drive price discrimination.

A colleague of mine has a cadence sensor on his biking shoes. He received a notification on the sensor app and proceeded to install a firmware update. He made a point to tell anyone within earshot, “I’m performing a firmware update on my shoe.”

Oh, by the way, my attempts to reboot the electric toothbrush were unsuccessful. I had to replace it.

Related reading: I tried to adjust the time on my alarm clock. I failed.

The post My electric toothbrush was acting up, so I tried to reboot it appeared first on The Old New Thing.

Brendan Carr, the new head of the Federal Communications Commission under President Trump, says the public broadcasters are being investigated for allegedly running commercials.

The Houston branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas had been scheduled to host Thursday's Thrive Small Business Summit & Matchmaker event. But the bank informed the chamber of commerce in an email late Monday night that it could no longer serve as host, citing Trump's executive order.

By the skin of our teeth, we’ve got the January SCW Q&A out the door. Many of the questions we got this month were – no surprise – inspired by our recent snowstorm.

Got a question of your own? Hit the Contact link in the blog’s header, or leave it in the comments below.

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Q. The city asks people not to let faucets drip because it lowers water pressure. I understand there are ways to keep pipes warm, but how much does a dripping faucet actually help prevent pipes from bursting anyway? I’d rather have lower water pressure than broken pipes but wonder if letting faucets drip even helps much.

A. We get asked this question so often, and our standard response is: We are not plumbers. We are just not experts in this area. So we can offer some general thoughts, but you should really consult a plumber, and your water utility.

My best advice, as a homeowner in Houston, is to know where the main water shut-off switch is to your house, and if you’re concerned about freezing pipes, shut off the water supply and drain your pipes (i.e. run faucets until nothing comes out) before going to bed on nights when the temperature is expected to be below 25 degrees.

As for dripping faucets, cities do not like that because it is not great for pump-based water systems. If too many people do it, it can reduce overall water pressure. If that gets too low, contaminants can get into the water supply, which can then result in a boil-water notice – and nobody wants that.

In unincorporated Harris County and those areas served by Municipal Utility Districts, it’s OK to drip pipes because water pressure there is generated by gravity – water towers and tanks – not pumps. During a freeze, your water utility will let you know what’s best.

So while homeowners may find comfort in dripping faucets, and many plumbers recommend it, be aware of what your utility is saying.

As my wife will attest, I am just about the least handy person on the face of the Earth when it comes to home maintenance.

– Eric

Q. Was it (January’s snow) really a “storm”? Traditionally, a storm is a violent event, typically bringing high winds, heavy precipitation, lightning, thunder, and other various tumults. While this event was unusual by Texas standards, it would barely have attracted notice in more northern locales. So my philosophically pedantic question is, does just being ‘unusual’ justify the use of the ‘storm’ moniker?

A. Ah yes, this is the kind of question we battle a lot in meteorology. Is it hot or warm? Cold or cool? A storm or just rain? And it gets to the heart of a more important question my colleague and friend Nick Lilja has asked, which is “What is severe weather, really?” Everyone has their own perceptions and definitions and to one-size-fits-all it is difficult.

But to the original question: The American Meteorological Society defines “storm” as a “disturbed state of Earth’s atmosphere, which can manifest itself in temperature, humidity, pressure, wind velocity, cloud cover, lightning, and precipitation.” Which seems to imply it’s OK to call our recent snow a “storm.” That is a really, really broad definition though. The AMS goes on to further define things. “Storms are organized disturbances that range in size from meters to a few kilometers (microscale, e.g., tornadoes), to a few to several hundred kilometers (mesoscale, e.g., mesoscale convective systems), to many hundreds of kilometers (synoptic, e.g., tropical and extratropical cyclones).” That still tracks with last week. So far so good.

The definition further goes on to read “Inclement and potentially destructive weather is often implied with a storm; threats can include heavy precipitation, flash flooding/river flooding, and high winds. From a local and special-interest viewpoint, a storm is a transient occurrence identified by its most destructive or spectacular aspect(s). In this manner we speak of rainstorms, windstorms, hailstorms, snowstorms, etc. Notable special cases are blizzards, ice storms, sandstorms, and dust storms.”

So from a meteorological and scientific point of view, last week’s snow was definitely a “storm.” Or more specifically a “winter storm.” But your mileage may vary. You may think a thunderstorm with frequent, intense lightning is very severe. By definition, lightning has nothing to do with a “severe thunderstorm,” which is strictly defined as a storm that produces one of one inch or larger hail, wind of 58 mph or stronger, or a tornado. Like any other definition in meteorology, there is a little vagueness to it from a human standpoint, and you’re not always wrong for thinking something is or isn’t a particular defined phenomenon.

– Matt

Q. When you say south of I-10, do you mean Galveston? Or does that mean anywhere directly below I-10 (Montrose, Downtown, Medical Center, etc).

A. Great question, and it’s one we get often. One of the challenges of forecasting in the Houston area is that it is big! We are covering, basically, an area from Sealy in the west to Beaumont in the east, from Conroe in the north down to Galveston by the Gulf. Interstate 10 is a key dividing line we often refer to because a) most people know where it is, and b) it very roughly separates “coastal” from “inland” areas.

However, with that said, there are distinct differences between, say, Hobby Airport and Galveston Island. So yes, “south of Interstate 10” does include Galveston, but it also includes half of this huge metro area. When we want to call out the coast specifically we’ll say “coastal counties” i.e. Brazoria, Galveston, and Chambers counties. When we seek to highlight only areas very near the Gulf, which includes Galveston Island, we’ll sometimes say “immediate coast.”

By the same token, when we write something like “far inland areas” we mean areas along and north of Highway 105. And when we write “a place that sucks” we’re referring to Dallas.

– Eric

Q. Could you explain why there are so many variations among weather apps? For example, the AccuWeather app shows (last) Tuesday being having a high of 38 while almost all the TV weather is showing Tuesday not going above freezing. If all meteorologists pull from the same info why such a wide difference in the forecasts?

A. There are a couple reasons for this. I’ve been doing this 20 years, and one thing I’ve said is tried and true: Put 20 meteorologists in the same room with the same data, and you will get 20 different forecasts. And I don’t mean widely varying forecasts; just a lot of differences in specifics.

But there are a couple areas where broadcasters, apps, and even the data we see on websites differs. Let’s say the high temperature occurs at midnight because a cold front is pushing through, but the daytime temperature is going to be 10 degrees colder. What’s the high temperature that day? What matters to you planning your day? Broadcasters, sites like ours, and the NWS website will all illustrate this either explaining it or by using arrows to indicate that something is changing that day. Your app almost certainly will not.

But more important than that, every app uses its own special sauce. In other words, they are all deriving their forecasts from raw model data provided by NOAA, the European Centre (ECMWF), etc. They then work it through some proprietary algorithm that they’ve developed that essentially “bias corrects” the model data. They could be using the last week of verification, the last month, etc. Every app is different in that regard. I saw a presentation recently at the American Meteorological Society’s annual meeting in New Orleans from someone at AccuWeather that discussed this topic. One difference in their forecast is that their forecasters can actually go in and override data for a location or area if they have a strong conviction to disagree. Most apps do not come with that. I would assume The Weather Channel app does something similar.

So ultimately, each forecaster has their own opinion. For the apps, most of the “opinion” is bias correction of data, whereas for TV broadcasts or our comments, the opinion is based on our assessing the data and our past experiences. There will always be differences, but one reason I like our app is that it’s pulling forecasts straight from the National Weather Service. Their forecasts are usually solid and steady, and they’re derived locally. But as a consumer, I would always encourage you to shop around to get a sense of what everyone is thinking.

– Matt

Q. I have a question- where did La Niña (warm and dry) go? Where do you think we’ll be Spring and Summer of 2025 – La Niña, El Niño or neutral?

A. According to NOAA’s most recent outlook, from late January, La Niña conditions are still present in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Most modeling indicates that La Niña will persist through the spring before transitioning to neutral conditions. As for what happens after that, well, it’s kind of a crapshoot. Most of the guidance indicates neutral conditions lasting into the summer (and the Atlantic hurricane season). However, as we like to say here on Space City Weather, we’ll see.

I think you may be asking why have we not had a warmer and drier winter, which is typical during La Niña? To which I would say let’s see where the average temperature and rainfall end up at the end of February. I think it’s quite possible we end this winter with warmer than normal temperatures and near normal precipitation, which would be consistent with what one expects from La Niña. We’ll be sure to report back on that at the end of winter about a month from now.

– Eric

NEW YORK—In a desperate attempt to revive their floundering brand amid declining revenues, WeightWatchers officials announced Thursday that butter was now worth zero points. “Joining the likes of cauliflower, plain Greek yogurt, and air-popped popcorn, butter will now be a WeightWatchers ZeroPoint food, so go ahead and eat—or drink—as much as you like,” said interim CEO Tara Comonte, adding that to make planning easier, the company would be releasing its own brand of frozen butter that customers could purchase in their supermarket’s single-serve meals section. “In fact, our scientists have found that the mere act of chewing butter can burn an extraordinary number of calories. So go ahead, enjoy a stick or two! And if you prefer beef tallow, that’s –1 points. ” Comonte went on to state that members could also buy additional points online anytime they felt hungry.

The post Cash-Strapped WeightWatchers Announces Butter Now Zero Points appeared first on The Onion.

WASHINGTON—Saying it was only by divine intervention that he was still standing, President Donald Trump stated during a press briefing Thursday that God had spared his life during last night’s midair collision of an Army helicopter and a passenger jet over the Potomac River. “Without the beautiful hand of God guiding that airplane away from the White House, I would have died in that terrible crash,” said Trump, who when informed by a reporter that the jetliner was on its approach to a runway at Reagan National Airport and not heading toward the Executive Residence interrupted to point out that the investigation was ongoing. “It’s very sad, what happened. Very sad. But it also could have been Air Force One in that crash, you know? God must have kept me alive for a reason, because it could easily have been me.” The president concluded his remarks by pumping his fist and chanting the word “Fight!” to himself as aides ushered him away from the podium.

The post Trump Claims God Spared Him In Airplane Crash appeared first on The Onion.

WASHINGTON—Hopelessly captivated by the animal’s cheerful energy and striking appearance, the U.S. populace reportedly converged upon a D.C.-area park Tuesday where sources confirmed that all 340 million Americans were vying for the approval of a cool dog.

Several reports indicated the charismatic, carefree border collie, named Scout, was first spotted dashing across Georgetown Waterfront Park, leaping high into the air, catching a Frisbee in his mouth, and then running back to drop the disc at his owner’s feet. Americans across the country were said to have gasped and stopped in their tracks before eagerly making their way to the cool dog, patting their thighs, and complimenting him in a higher-than-normal register.

“Oh my gosh, what an amazing pup,” said Connecticut resident and MRI technician Ken Piper, one of millions who descended upon the park to bend forward and offer the back of their hand for the easy-going canine to sniff. “Just look at that adorable furry face and those perky ears. He’s so calm and composed. He never seems to doubt himself.”

Sources said the entire population circled around Scout and jockeyed for positions near him, kneeling down on the ground and reaching out to shake his paw. The nation reportedly made countless overtures to court the border collie’s favor, such as whistling, jumping up and down, and barking in imitation of him.

In the hours since discovering the cool dog, Americans are believed to have offered him millions of tennis balls, squeaky toys, and knotted tug ropes, though none of the gifts have prompted the animal to reciprocate even a fraction of the interest being directed at him. 

“Hey, buddy, look at this stick! Here’s a stick,” said Kansas paralegal Erica Shane, who desperately pleaded for Scout’s attention among throngs of stick-waving Americans before she threw her own stick and it joined a hail of similar projectiles, all of which landed in a massive heap several feet behind the dog. “All right, buddy, goooooo get it!”

Millions of Americans are reported to have watched forlornly as Scout merely scratched at his left ear instead of heeding their frantic cries of “Go get the stick!”

According to a nationwide poll, 81% of respondents said they wanted to give Scout a nice, long belly rub; 98% described the border collie as “a good dog, a very good dog”; and 67% confirmed they wanted a big slobbery kiss from the pooch. 

No respondents indicated they had established a strong rapport with the dog, though all expressed confidence they would soon be best friends with Scout. 

While eyewitnesses said it briefly appeared that a Louisiana woman named Sonia Cattrall had gotten Scout to pursue her, it soon became clear the border collie had merely been chasing a squirrel and had not been engaging with any particular person.

At press time, tragedy struck as thousands were reportedly trampled to death, a stampede having ensued when all 340 million Americans frantically scrambled toward Scout to wave goodbye after the dog’s owner called him to her car.

The post Nation Vies For   Approval Of Cool Dog appeared first on The Onion.

SCOTTSDALE, AZ—Sources marveled at the single-mindedness and robotic efficiency with which area man Maxwell DiLuzio raised and lowered his pastry-laden fork Thursday, reporting that nothing could deter the 68-year-old as he forged ahead in his pursuit of numbness with a third slice of pie. “I can still hear that voice in my head telling me to slow down, but I won’t let it stop me,” DiLuzio said as he doggedly lifted another bite of warmed-over crust and fruit filling to his mouth, deriving no pleasure from the act in his relentless determination to eliminate all feeling from his experience of the moment. “You can’t quit just because your stomach is getting full. You have to keep pushing it down until that nothingness coating your tongue radiates through every part of your body and mind and you become completely devoid of all awareness,” he continued. “With any luck, I’ll be catatonic after this. If not, I know I have what it takes to make it through a fourth slice.” With DiLuzio mere moments away from achieving his goal of total numbness, reports confirmed the modern-day Sisyphus was forced to start over again, having vomited the entirety of his progress onto the kitchen counter. 

The post Area Man Forges Ahead In Pursuit Of Numbness With Third Slice Of Pie  appeared first on The Onion.

ROCHESTER, MN — Reports are coming in that a ham and cheese sandwich suffered a grievous injury in its internal ingredients, necessitating medical evacuation to the Mayo Clinic. “This is about as serious a case as I’ve ever seen,” said presiding sandwich physician Dr. M. Whip. “We’re running tests and prepping our knives for surgery.” […]

The post Injured ham sandwich rushed to Mayo Clinic appeared first on The Beaverton.

Trump has vowed punishing tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, which are Texas’ biggest international trading partners.

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

Earlier this month, we heard from someone whose CEO shared photos of his recent family vacation at a town hall after announcing budget cuts, no bonuses, and increased health insurance costs. And we’ve heard about plenty of other out-of-touch executives before — like the company that quizzed employees on the new boss’s horses, family, and vineyard (yes, really), or the manager who wanted everyone to share their best and worst moments of the pandemic, or the CEO who joined a meeting about layoffs remotely from a golf course.

Please share your own stories of out-of-touch leadership in the comment section!

KINGSTON, ON – Following a careful side-by-side comparison between your life and that of that one cat in your neighborhood who acts like you aren’t worth the dirt on her paws, a panel of experts is starting to think the cat has a point. “Usually, I would say all human and animal life is equal. […]

The post Local cat thinks she’s better than you and is probably right appeared first on The Beaverton.

“It’s not cake!” my wife screamed as the cleaver split the thermostat in our foyer. I pushed past her and sank my chef’s knife into the Ethan Allen sofa we had bought when we moved. Goose down spilled out of the gash. I looked at my wife and grimaced.

“Not cake!” our children screeched as they danced in the floating feathers.

Seven days prior, we had been selected for a new Netflix game show, Is It Cake? Extreme Home Edition. Once we’d signed the paperwork, we spent one night at the La Quinta off the interstate while the producers replaced one item in our home with a perfect replica made of cake. We had to find the cake within seven days in order to win the grand prize of $75,000. Our time would be up at sunset today, and the sun was getting very low in the sky.

“Hurry!” my wife shrieked. “Where is the cake?”

I tried to think. I had sledgehammered the pet memorial markers in the backyard to make sure no cake was hidden inside of them. My wife had crashed her Passat into my parked Honda Pilot to make sure the cars were not cake. After the children had gone to bed on Day 6, I had torn apart our modest collection of sex toys. Still no cake.

“Maybe the safe?” I yelled at my wife. “Did we look in the safe?”

We hurried to our bedroom and opened the safe hidden behind her boots. I punched in the code, and the door swung open. The contents all looked in order, but how could we be sure? I grabbed the handgun—it didn’t feel like cake, but there was only one way to know. I raised the gun above my head and fired four shots in rapid succession. The noise was deafening.

“What the fuck?!” Todd the cameraman shouted. “What is wrong with you? The gun is not cake!”

I eyed him. Was it part of his job to trick me? Was the fifth bullet cake? I squeezed off the rest of the clip, shooting skyward. Drywall rained down on us. The ceiling was not cake.

“I am fucking leaving!” the cameraman screamed into his headset as he backed out of the room. I was sure he was going to run back to the production van parked in front of our house, probably to stare at the piece of paper that described what item in our house was cake and to laugh at us.

My wife was holding the manilla envelope we had filled with paper bonds—our life savings.

“Is this cake?” she asked pleadingly.

“I don’t know,” I said. “We will be able to tell if we burn it.”

We emptied the $427,000 worth of bonds into our bathroom wastebasket. I grabbed one of the fart matches and threw it into the pile.

“Is it burning like paper or cake?” my wife asked desperately.

I looked closely at it. How did a cake burn? Ashes floated up around me. I leaned in further and inhaled deeply. I smelled no burnt sugar.

“Not cake,” I said quietly.

Tearing my clothes off, I ran to the front of the house. My children and wife followed. “Everyone, take your clothes off,” I screamed over my shoulder. “All of them—make sure they aren’t cake!”

We emerged from the house naked, and surrounded the production van. I climbed onto the hood and pressed my butt cheeks against the windshield.

“Does it feel like cake to your butt cheeks?” my wife howled.

“I can’t tell!” I cried and pressed my butt cheeks harder into the glass. I hopped down and shouted commands at my family.

“Everyone: put your hands on the van’s side—smallest ones in the middle! Now, rock the van to see if it’s cake!”

Our bare bodies worked in unison, shoving hard. We were on the door side, and the production team was trying to open it and escape.

“Don’t let them out!” I screamed. “They might be a jam filling!”

We rocked the van back and forth, pushing its center of gravity farther and farther outside of its axis until, finally, it crashed on its side. Glass and plastic covered the street.

“It’s not cake!” my wife sobbed, balling up her fists and slamming them against the tires.

I turned around and saw the last slivers of light coming across the horizon. My neighbor Brad emerged from his house.

“What in the heck, Dominic? What are you doing out here? Why don’t any of you have any clothes on, for Pete’s sake?”

My mind reeled. I grabbed the side mirror that had broken off the van and smashed it on the ground, giving it a jagged edge.

“You’re the fucking cake, aren’t you, Brad?”

Brad backed away, raising his palms to me. “Dominic, can a frankfurting cake talk? What has gotten into you?”

It was a persuasive argument. I lowered the mirror and looked down at my naked body. I was bleeding. My children sat on the pavement in a huddled mass, weeping. It was nighttime.

I looked up and saw Howie Mandel, the host of Is It Cake? Extreme Home Edition.

“We did not find the cake, Howie,” I said.

Mandel stared back, disgusted. Police sirens wailed and drew closer.

“You’re going to jail, Dominic.”

I thought for a moment.

“Is the jail cake?”

In brief: Houston faces the potential for a few thunderstorms as a cold front rolls through the area this afternoon. Once it moves offshore we’ll see several splendid, sunny days through the weekend. Next week looks warmer, and decidedly spring-like.

Thursday

A line of showers and thunderstorms associated with a cold front is near Austin and Waco this morning, and it will move steadily southeast toward Houston today. It is likely to reach areas west (Katy) and north of Houston (The Woodlands) by or before noon, and push off the coast by around 4 or 5 pm CT. For most of us, I expect these to be briefly passing showers, but some areas may see thunderstorms and damaging winds. Ahead of the front expect temperatures in the lower 70s, dropping 10 degrees after its passage. Lows tonight will fall to around 50 degrees in Houston.

Friday

Sunshine returns on Friday, with much drier air. We’ll see gusty winds from the north, perhaps reaching about 20 mph, during the daytime. Highs will likely rise to near 70 degrees. As winds die down we’ll see our coldest night on Friday night, as temperatures dip into the 40s by Saturday morning.

Saturday

This will be a fine day for just about anything. Expect low humidity and high temperatures of about 70 degrees. Skies will be clear and sunny, with light winds. Lows on Saturday night will fall to around 50 degrees in Houston, with cooler conditions further inland.

Sunday

As the flow turns more southerly, conditions on Sunday will be a tad warmer, with highs perhaps reaching the mid-70s. Skies will remain sunny, however. Lows on Sunday night will only drop to around 60 degrees in Houston.

Next week

This will be the warmest week of 2025 so far, and feel much more spring-like than winter-like. Expect highs in the mid-70s to 80 degrees, with a mix of sunshine and clouds. With dewpoints in the 60s it will feel modestly, but not oppressively humid. Nighttime lows will be in the 60s. There probably will be some scattered showers on some of the days, but I don’t see a huge signal for any rain showers. It does look like some sort of front arrives by next Saturday or Sunday to cool us down, and remind us that it’s still February. My guess is that it knocks lows back into the 40s, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

The Rice Military landmark is an art project started by the late John Milkovisch in 1968, when he began transforming the yard and home. It eventually was covered with more than 50,000 beer cans.

Toronto, ON – Addressing the media today, Ontario Premier Doug Ford presented compelling new evidence that bicycles – not cars – are the main cause of congestion in apartment building hallways.  “My bike-obsessed opponents make the ludicrous argument that cars are somehow responsible for traffic,” said Ford. “But that doesn’t make sense. Cars are fast. Traffic […]

The post Doug Ford points to study that bikes are primary cause of gridlock in apartment building hallways appeared first on The Beaverton.

This year (I know, it’s almost February), I’m going to expand my “Off-Topic” posting quite a bit, so I’m not longer going to be marking these posts as such… because now they are on topic!

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I wrote a post last year on my goals for 2024, and I found it nice to be able to share with readers and other people that follow me on the various online platforms what things I was thinking about. What made it even better was hearing what other people were thinking about or had experience with — that’s the power of crowds!

To be clear, I will not share all my goals because the bullet point list is over 3000 words long (I made a compressed version which is only 1500), but some of the key themes, if you will.

My general approach to what are kind of New Years Resolutions, but which I actually do, is to create both a goals document and an achievements document. The goals document sets out things I would like to do over the year, while the achievements one helps me recognize what I’ve actually achieved. The achievements element is important I think because it lets you feel rewarded when you do something good — an achievement that you did not plan for, which is a big issue with a traditional prescriptive list of goals; doing something good that you didn’t plan to do is still good!

Before I dive into my goals for the current year, I want to reflect or update you on how the goals in last years post went.

Reflection on 2024 Goals

Decluttering: This goal is something I’d say was a success, I think (not considering the many things I’ve got for my child) I own less stuff now than I did a year ago, and I was able to get rid of quite a lot of stuff when I “retired” from YouTube, and I’m also trying very hard to not introduce many new things into my life — an e-reader has been very helpful in that. That being said, I do think I have more to do on this topic.

Taking Weekends Off: This goal was not achieved. I think part of the problem is that the way I structure my week, it’s more of a three days on, one day off, type of affair (this lines up with how I exercise), which probably still provides me a lot of the rest I need. This goal is still kind of hanging around, but it’s not a top priority.

Eliminating Casual Social Media Use: I did end up using social media quite a bit less by the end of the year, though this was mostly a byproduct of Twitter collapsing, moving over to Mastodon, Instagram being much less attractive since Meta uses it to farm AI source data, and me finally setting some app time limits. I think the reduction in social media use will be even bigger this year.

Read 12 Substantial Books: For some reason I forgot that my goal here was 12 substantial books instead of just trying to consume 24 books of any kind regardless of quality (I just had to be interested). Looking back at the list I made of books I read, I think I hit about 10 substantial pieces, which isn’t bad (and I managed to read another Pulitzer winner: The Power Broker), but I think this goal is also worth carrying forward.

Spend More Time In Nature: This one I did okay on. I didn’t go camping, or kayaking, or skiing, but I did go on a hike in a national park, and I also picked cycling back up and managed to ride some trails I had not been on before. That being said, this has a lot more room to grow.

Lose Weight: This was a big success in 2024 since I did indeed lots of weight, though things sort of slowed down and then stabilized 2/3 of the way through the year. That being said, I wanted to lose weight and I did!

Getting Out of Debt: As of 2025 I am totally debt free, so this is another win in my books!

Trim Costs: To the extent I was able to, I also trimmed costs. I think the reality just was that there was less low-hanging fruit than I expected. That being said, I did switch to a different phone carrier which cut my wife and I’s bills in half, and I also helped a bunch of family members get on plans that cost way less while providing the same amount of data etc. so that feels like a win.

Buying Good Things: The motivation here was to reduce costs over time by buying high-quality non-consumable products (whereas for consumables I moved towards less-expensive, generic stuff). The idea here is to spend less over time and support more sustainable businesses by buying something reliable and long-lasting even if it costs quite a bit more upfront. Things here range from clothing, to furniture (not that I buy a lot), and other household products. One thing that I focused on in the latter half of the year was purchasing products with less plastic, and especially less virgin plastic, and I think there is a lot of synergy there.

So, on the whole I’d say 2024 was a success. I certainly didn’t achieve everything I set out to, but I achieved a lot, and many things I did were not necessarily planned. I had a kid in 2024, and while that was the plan I had no real way of know when exactly it would happen and so there was a lot of uncertainty around that.

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2025 Goals

My goals for 2025 are structured differently from the ones in 2024 — most notably in that they are in a single document as opposed to four dedicated to health, finances, “personal”, and job goals. I think this format makes it easier to have goals that bleed across categories, but also to make note of things you want to do that don’t fit into a clearly defined category. Instead, this year, my goal document just sort of has headers with “themes”. I am going to include both some of the themes and some specific goals here.

The first big theme is Experiences, which I think was largely inspired by the first book I finished this year (though I most read it in December), “Die with Zero”. This is by no means a perfect or even great book, but I think the core concept is great. The idea is generally speaking that far too many people are overly conservative with how they plan their lives and finances, and that having more fun and experiences is just generally underrated. The vibe I get here is similar to a friend I have who is much older and frequently mentions he “never has regret spending money on a trip”. Basically, we should all be a little more willing to spend money on things that will legitimately make positive memories – think going to Japan, not sitting in a cafe with a latte every morning.

Within this category I am specifically planning to take a couple of small local area weekend trips, and then either a big end-of-year trip overseas for a couple weeks, or a couple week-long regional trips, I’d also like to get out to some more concerts.

Next up is Health. My health got way better in 2024, and I think working on improving it, mostly by way of diet and physical fitness was a good way of taking my mind off of COVID-era health paranoia and focusing on something I could better control. As far as health goes, the goals include getting my weight down just a little bit more, continuing to work on my flexibility (last year I touched my toes for the first time since I was a child) — with the goal of doing the front splits, and continuing to exercise lots. There are also lots of little things like wearing sunglasses more often, having better sleep habits (I’d also love to shift to waking up earlier — but all of this is hard with a young kid), trying to improve posture, and better tracking things. I also have a bunch of exercise activity related goals, like doing a 5K swim, a 100K bike ride, and a 20K row, as well as maybe a marathon (all things which can count for experiences too). For my diet, it’s much the same: incrementally continuing to remove things which I deem fairly unhealthy while trying to reduce my consumption of modestly unhealthy things — this often takes the form of only eating something on alternating days, or shrinking the portion size. Part of improving what I eat is cooking more of my own food — last year I perhaps prepared a bit more, but I didn’t cook despite it being a goal, so that’s a priority in ’25. The last major component of health is mental health — part of this is the sleep schedule stuff, but it’s also spending even less time on social media and electronics in general.

Finance wise, I have a bunch of goals as you can imagine. One is to actually try and use my various credit card points in a higher-value way than I typically do, to offset the cost of the travelling I mentioned above. Another is to set aside money for my child’s education. I also want to keep engaging with my audience I built up through YouTube, which was effectively my job for the past 5-8 years, since I think that may point me towards potentially interesting future careers as my child grows older.

The last major category is Learning, which in some ways feels like the biggest category of all, even though I numbered the items in it and there are only about 9! The big ones pertain to relearning a lot of stuff I was more familiar with when doing my degree in Computer Science, namely Linux, programming, and mathematical proofs — by way of Leetcode, books, and some MIT Opencourseware courses. I also want to continue my reading goal as mentioned above, read my entire camera manual (something which I think is underrated — but they are long), practice my second language for 30 minutes per day, watch 36 films with a big chunk of them being in theatre, and more. I think this category may be the hardest one to fulfill since the time required is just so large, but I also expect it to be a very fulfilling one.

Suffice to say, those are my goals and themes for 2025! I would love to hear what you think, and what you are thinking about!

Advocates worry that rapidly shifting federal and state immigration initiatives will prompt more city police to funnel migrants without criminal records to federal agents.

Oluwole “O.J.” McFoy comes to Houston from Buffalo, New York, where a series of TV reports documented concerns over the absence of fluoride from the city’s water system, extensive travel expenses and government transparency. Houston Mayor John Whitmire called him an “outstanding choice.”

The state has vowed to assist the president in his efforts to revamp immigration. But the state’s biggest cities and school districts are more reluctant to help.

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

A reader writes:

This is not a current issue, but it’s something that has been eating at me for a long time. I’m trying to figure out if I unwittingly helped someone embezzle money. I believe the statute of limitations has passed for this (potential) crime in the state that it took place in. It has been 15+ years now.

My mother has always been a little shady with business her practices. I do not believe she has any qualms about “bending” the law. She is also very charismatic and I suspect would be quite an effective cult leader (i.e., good at talking people into things, frequently nefarious). I’m only mentioning this because it seems like important context to have.

She was the CEO and one of the owners of a small business (35-50 employees) that no longer exists. She had two other business partners who helped her start the company. This was a corporation so none of their personal finances should have been directly tied to the company.

She put me on the payroll at 13. I helped out at the office probably 3-5 times total between the ages of 13 and 16, so I was not a regular employee. I did things like cleaning and filing. I don’t recall seeing paychecks for anything during that time, though it was quite a long time ago and my memories of this are a little fuzzy. I do remember one incident pretty clearly though. When I was 18, I was given a paycheck and asked to sign it over to her. I had not done any work for this company for quite some time. And I certainly wouldn’t have made the amount the check was written for. I believe it was just under the amount that would have been reported to the government on taxes (I think $10,000 is the threshold). I did see the check and this was definitely a paycheck from the business. She said the money was going to be used for a personal expense. She specifically told me that it was all legal, so I did what she asked.

So, is any of this actually legal? Additionally, could she have been doing this while I was underage? Are there any details that would change the legality of the situation? I’m wondering if she found some sort of loophole that may not have been ethical but still legal.

Even though I was told it was legal, it felt off to me and I made excuses not to do it again. She was Very Not Happy when I wouldn’t do it again, which adds to my suspicion.

The situation is over now, and I am no longer in contact with her. I doubt anything would come back to bite me at this point, but I still wonder if I could have gotten into legal trouble.

It almost definitely wasn’t legal.

If you own a private business with no fiduciary responsibility to anyone else, you can pay someone for any “job” you want, including one that does no work at all.

However, if you’re doing it just so they can sign over their paychecks to you, now you’re committing tax fraud. This can be nuanced and I’m neither lawyer nor tax expert, but in general:

Since the income was reported as a payment to you and you weren’t earning enough to pay taxes yourself, that money wasn’t taxed … and even if you were earning enough to need to file a tax return, it’s likely that your mom would have had been in a higher tax bracket than you, since you were a teenager. Either way, that’s tax fraud. Interestingly, there’s a rule that taxes a child’s unearned income at the parent’s tax rate in order to prevent exactly this. But if your mom was classifying it as “earned” when it wasn’t earned through work, we’re back at fraud.

I’m also curious whether she paid the business’ portion of the payroll taxes on the wages you received. (If she was paying you as a contractor, not an employee, then this wouldn’t be required. It also isn’t required when paying one’s own children when they’re under 18, but you were 18 for at least part of it.)

Additionally, by fraudulently “paying” you, your mom was lowering the business’s taxable income — another problem.

It’s possible there were other legal problems too, like if your “cost” was expensed to another entity. And if your mom’s business partners didn’t know what she was doing, she may have been violating laws about her fiduciary duties.

If the business were a sole proprietorship, that would change some of this, but it wasn’t.

However, your mom was the one committing fraud, not you. It’s extremely unlikely that any of this could ever have come back to bite you — but if your mom had been audited, it definitely could have bitten her.

In these scary and uncertain times, community is more important than ever. And nothing brings a community together like a good old-fashioned chili cook-off! Whether you’re rich or poor, liberal or conservative, in perfect health or permanently disabled from the multiple gunshot wounds that nearly took your life, everybody can put their differences aside to appreciate delicious, homemade chili. So why, no matter how many times my chili takes home the blue ribbon, do people only see me as the mother of that ninth-grader who shot up his school?

It’s senseless.

No one can deny I make the best pot of chili in Hattonville. Year after year, I win the blind taste test at our annual chili cook-off. You’d think an achievement like that would put quite the shine on my reputation around town, but no. Everywhere I go it’s the same long stares and furtive whispers—not because they’re reeling from the zesty punch of Janet’s Famous Five-Alarm Fiesta, but because my son, Nathan, happened to murder 12 of their loved ones in cold blood.

What happened in that school was an unspeakable tragedy. I understand that. But there’s so much more to me than that one dark afternoon that shattered countless lives. I’ve been an active part of the community for years. I’ve served on the PTA, taught dance classes, organized bake sales—and I’ve done it all while raising three mostly wonderful kids. Oh, and then there’s the fact that I’ve won the Great Hattonville Chili Cook-Off four years in a row, with four different chilis. No one does that.

I won with turkey chili this year. Turkey! But still it’s always “There goes Janet Blevindale, the woman who raised a monster,” not “There goes Janet Blevindale, Chili Queen of Mackinshaw County.”  

Yes, I ignored some warning signs at home that could have saved lives. I failed to notice Nathan was going down a YouTube rabbit hole of paranoia and hate. And choices I made that seemed harmless at the time, like buying him an AR-15 for his birthday, look different with the benefit of hindsight. But I also taught my children how to pick the sweetest onions and ripest tomatoes. How to simmer the beef with just a splash of Worcestershire sauce. How to add the chili powder in stages, to build subtle flavors that don’t overwhelm. Why can’t anyone scream in my face outside Sunday mass about that?

How many of these things do I have to win, people? A hundred? A thousand? Just give me a number, because I don’t know how to improve on my chili any more than this town knows how to pick up the pieces and move on. Should I start baking pies? It worked for Barb Reynolds after she got that DUI: One scrumptious bourbon pecan pie, and all was forgiven! Is that what you want?

I wish my neighbors would judge me on my chili alone instead of on my negligent parenting. But they can’t. They won’t. No matter how fresh the peppers, how juicy the meat, or how perfectly the sour cream counteracts the spice, they have me pigeonholed as the woman whose son put their children in coffins.

Enough is enough.

People are heartbroken, distraught, angry, and they’re taking it out on me. I get it. But if these families really have a score to settle, then why don’t they enter their own chili into the cook-off and try to take me down? It would bring them some closure, and it would bring out my A-game.

Lord knows I could use the competition.

The post No Matter How Many Chili Cook-Offs I Win, Everyone Still Sees Me As ‘That School Shooter’s Mom’ appeared first on The Onion.

A very rare and very stinky plant, known commonly as the corpse flower, drew long lines at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden as locals sought to get a whiff, with the bloom occurring for the first time since it arrived in 2018 and only lasting a few days before it collapses. What do you think?

The post Visitors Flock To Sniff Flower That Smells Like Rotting Corpse appeared first on The Onion.

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Personally, I want to be murdered by my own creation, not someone else's.

Today's News:

SAVANNAH, GA—Having had no direct interaction with the man at any time during the process, local event planner Anna Callaway made it through one and a half years of preparations for a couple’s wedding without ever acknowledging the groom’s existence, sources confirmed Saturday. According to reports, Callaway never once made reference to a second person being involved in the wedding, which she began planning in mid-2023 with weekly meetings with the bride-to-be and her mother, daily calls to vendors, and numerous fittings for the bridal party. All discussions of the evening’s menu and entertainment reportedly occurred without the planner so much as glancing in the direction of the groom, even though Callaway and the couple were the only people present at a cake-tasting during which the three sat together at the same table for more than two hours. At no point did the planner respond to or even appear to register any comments made by the man, and she reportedly directed all questions about tuxedos and in-laws to the bride. At press time, Callaway was said to have finally learned the groom’s name when she saw it on a check that had bounced.

The post Wedding Planner Makes It Through Entire 1.5-Year Process Without Acknowledging Groom appeared first on The Onion.

MONTGOMERY, AL—Calling it a “revolutionary way” to experience the full wrath of the carceral state, the Alabama Department of Corrections unveiled Friday a new Death Row Fast Pass that allows convicts to skip the line for executions. “With the amazing Death Row Fast Pass, inmates can zoom past all those condemned individuals in front of them and get strapped to a gurney and injected with a lethal dose of toxic chemicals right away,” said state corrections commissioner John Brooks, adding that the pass, which costs just $39, could save death row inmates up to 40 years of wait time and also provides special access to a number of exclusive execution methods, including electrocution, nitrogen gas asphyxiation, and even firing squad. “Trust us, the last thing you want is to get stuck in some long line and have to waste valuable time in solitary confinement when you could be out there getting suffocated, poisoned, or shot to death by the state. Plus, with our Lightning Lane upgrade, if the execution doesn’t work, you’ll be first in line to try again.” At press time, Brooks added that the $60 VIP Death Row Membership offered complimentary nooses so inmates could just do the job themselves.

The post New Death Row Fast Pass Allows Convicts To Skip Execution Line appeared first on The Onion.