MTH

Pepper the smoky gray kitty who is almost as hard to photo as his black buddy. He is sitting on a table looking at the camera with the intensity of a predator eyeing up its prey.

Pepper's smoky coat goes dark in the camera, but he's kind of a light gray when the light is on him. Vase of flowers behind him and pulled blinds. He's staring at the photographer like he's looking at dinner.

It's #caturday and Pepper is making a statement. I'm not sure what it is, but since that usually occurs around 3am and involves a bloodletting (mine) I'm sure the wheels are turning. 🐈🐈‍⬛

I'm old enough to remember when getting a DUI in high school was (for some kids) seen as a rite of passage they bragged about.They thought it "cool." That, and taking an open drink with you in the car (srsly)... At least now it's mostly problem/repeaters and not everyone on the road after 4 pm

Yup, was going to say there was a direct link between when my son hit middle school and the first gray hair.

Election Records Handed Over to the FBI in Maricopa County, Arizona, Could Be Fatally Flawed, Experts Say Unlike in Fulton County, Georgia, where actual ballots were seized, a federal grand jury subpoenaed digital data related to a partisan audit of the county’s vote.

Several election experts, including some who watched the audit of Maricopa County’s election in person in 2021, said any investigation based on the data would be fatally flawed.

2/

I read the “Save America Act,” so you don’t have to. Most of the media apparently *hasn’t* read it because, if they had, they would be sounding the alarm about the provision in Point 1, below, which almost none of them have even mentioned. I hope this summary helps raise awareness. 1/

FCC Chair Brendan Carr threatens broadcast licenses over Iran War coverage

ICE agents reveal daily arrest quotas and surveillance app in rare court testimony Under oath, officers said they were told to make eight arrests a day and given special tech to help choose ‘targets’

ICE agents in Oregon testified under oath that they used a custom-made app to identify neighborhoods and people to target & had daily arrest quotas they sought to meet during operations

✏️ @theguardian.com

Childhood cancers linked to PFAS water contamination A recent study published by the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology examined the link between some childhood cancers and water sources contaminated by two PFAS chemicals - PFOS an...

"Children born in areas with PFAS contaminated water sources had an increased risk of childhood cancers," PFOA to a rare eye cancer, while PFOS was associated with both eye and a nerve cancer. Other environmental factors may be contributors. 🧪 www.ehn.org/pfas-water-c...

Between 39–51% of American Indian/Alaska Native peoples live on or within 10 miles of reservations, but 73% of deaths from police violence in this group occurred on or near reservations. The authors call for a public health response to these deaths. Image shows map of US with reservations and dots apparently indicating deaths from police violence in dots.

"Between 39–51% of American Indian/Alaska Native peoples live on or within 10 miles of reservations, but 73% of deaths from police violence in this group occurred on or near reservations. The authors call for a public health response to these deaths." PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

What the U.S. Government Is Dismissing That Could Seed a Bird Flu Pandemic Egg producers suspect bird flu is traveling through the air. After a disastrous Midwestern outbreak early this year, we tested that theory and found that where the wind blew, the virus followed. Vacci...

To combat bird flu spread, other countries have authorized poultry vaccines.

The U.S. hasn’t, amid political and economic pushback.

Without a vaccine, experts say the virus poses an escalating threat: “The minute it transmits to humans, it’s done.”

(Published Nov. 2025)

""Perhaps the clearest sign the administration is concerned about the Iran war is that Vance is distancing himself from it. ... Sources told the journalists that Vance is “skeptical,” “worried about success,” and “just opposes” the war."

Just so we're all clear, this is a war crime and would be punishable by life or death under U.S. law.

Exclusive | Trump Administration Set to Receive $10 Billion Fee for Brokering TikTok Deal Investors in the social-media platform’s U.S. business agreed to give the government several multibillion-dollar payments, sources said.

What in the world www.wsj.com/tech/tiktok-...

I see "Today, I went for a walk in the snow and had some tea. It was fun." The three dots on the right under the message offers "translate" which takes me to Google Translate.

Yeah, mine is a mix of dry (sand and cobble on the hill tops) and a little sandy loam in the dips and flats.

They could be even more precise--using tech like mRNA but a lot of that was de-funded. And still, there are side effects with all these things, especially delivery medium and unintended feedback responses. I've just had to leave a study that was working because the side effects left me ineligible.

A Superfund site in Minnesota is spreading, disrupting a tribe’s way of life Little progress has been made despite 40 years of cleanup on Leech Lake Reservation. Locals fear for the health of surrounding lakes and the Mississippi River downstream.

"[I]f contamination spreads, it could become a problem for communities downstream. Pike Bay and Cass Lake, the 15,000-acre body of water that gives the city its name, are part of a chain of lakes in Minnesota that form the headwaters of the Mississippi River." 🧪🌿

wisconsinwatch.org/2026/03/minn...

Magic School Bus?
In the last year I had two types of infusions that use engineered materials to target cells (not sure if they qualify as microrobots). It's an area ripe for breakthroughs in treatment of chronic illnesses like cancer ... but stymied by NIH cuts, so, you know. Screw us.

I have mostly sand that doesn't hold water well ... glad it was no till with residue on it yet because my house was yawing and cracking all night in some of those gusts. No wind records shown for my area east of MSN, but they had to be close to 60 mph.

Long Overlooked as Crucial to Life, Fungi Start to Get Their Due Fungi create soil, sequester vast amounts of carbon, and contribute $55 trillion to the global economy, but knowledge about them is scarce. Now, mycologists are pushing to get the international scient...

"The lack of knowledge about the world’s fungal kingdom, in spite of its essential role in maintaining life, has led to a campaign to elevate the importance of fungi to the same level as flora and fauna." 🌿🧪 e360.yale.edu/features/fun...

Mining’s toxic timebomb: dams full of poisonous waste are dotted around the world. What happens when they burst? While tailings dams are meant to last for ever, extreme weather events are making many unstable – with devastating consequences for nature and humans

"Tailings dams ... litter landscapes around the world. Often, they hold huge quantities of poisonous, harmful material. ... more extreme weather driven by the climate crisis has changed the risk profile of many structures." 🧪🌎 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Indiana Governor Signs Bill to End Low-Earning Degrees Indiana’s governor has signed into law a bill that aims to eliminate all academic programs at the state’s public universities and at Ivy Tech Community College that fail a new federal earnings test.

Mike Braun wants Indiana to be ignorant. Being knowledgeable and curious terrifies small, stunted, evil people like Mike Braun.

Hit me hard in the feels ... it was a powerful story about grief, love and sacrifice.

The planet is overheating. Why is the news looking away? Since 2021, global media coverage of climate change has dropped 38 percent. Blame wars, political chaos, and Jeffrey Epstein.

I'm sure it has nothing to do with the shuttering of hundreds of news outlets. 🙄
Earth is the hottest in 125,000 years, but global news media coverage is down 38% since 2021, largely due to the daily chaos of the Trump administration, COVID, politics, Epstein, and war.
🌎🧪 grist.org/language/glo...

Microplastics May Be Disrupting the Body’s Immune System New research reveals how microscopic plastic particles build up inside the body’s “cleaner” cells, disrupting a key biological process that helps prevent inflammation and disease.

With 400 million tons per year of plastic production, microplastics may be inhibiting the body's natural cleaning mechanisms for removing dead cells, leading to inflammation and autoimmune issues. With the extent of microplastic impact still unknown. 🧪🌎
www.wired.me/story/microp...

Amid Crowded Skies, FAA Kills Rule Aimed at Regulating Space Junk The agency once said that pieces of space debris “pose a significant risk,” but the Trump administration has backed off a rule that would have required companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX to remove rock...

NEW: The FAA once said that pieces of space debris “pose a significant risk,” but the Trump administration has backed off a rule that would have required companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX to remove rocket parts from orbit within 25 years of launch.

Chief Justice Roberts’s Vendetta Against the Voting Rights Act He’s been railing against it since the early 1980s.

John Roberts attacked the Voting Rights Act when he was a lawyer in the Reagan administration. On the Supreme Court, he's been working to make his wish to destroy the law a reality. bit.ly/4uduYXR

Two oil tankers have been hit by Iran in the strait of Hormuz.