Best Of

I wouldn't call this 'stupid ****' but I didn't know where else to put it -

@Bob_Luken's birthday reminded me that he's one of the nicest/best people I know, which got me thinking…

I have lots of people in my life who would tie for the "nicest/best people I know," but a large chunk of them are a part of this group here.

gov't officials need to be emotionally and mentally adults, not just physically..How sad:

The Kennedy Center’s President Trump-appointed leaders say it’s on the verge of bankruptcy, and can only be saved from “fiscal collapse” by putting his name back on the building.

Kelvin wave.

https://abc7.com/post/el-nio-related-kelvin-wave-headed-socal-could-bring-dangerously-high-sea-levels/19824476/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelvin_wave

"There have been studies that connect equatorial Kelvin waves to coastal Kelvin waves. Moore (1968) found that as an equatorial Kelvin wave strikes an "eastern boundary", part of the energy is reflected in the form of planetary and gravity waves; and the remainder of the energy is carried poleward along the eastern boundary as coastal Kelvin waves. This process indicates that some energy may be lost from the equatorial region and transported to the poleward region.[3]

"Equatorial Kelvin waves are often associated with anomalies in surface wind stress. For example, positive (eastward) anomalies in wind stress in the central Pacific excite positive anomalies in 20 °C isotherm depth which propagate to the east as equatorial Kelvin waves."

Has she walked into one of the spiders that build gigantic 5' webs yet?

pouring here, 3" so far got a roof leak, dripping through the ceiling light. The joys of home ownership, could be worse,.. I could be the landlord, lol.

It's like highlighting a regular word on mobile by long pressing the word, but it selects the whole URL. Play around with it some. It also may be differences in browsers since I use security and privacy focused browsers: Brave on PC and Quetta on mobile.

I have been watching this happen since the introduction of GPS and cell phones,

Large-Language Models as a Cognitive Virus

The researchers argued, however, that LLM use is spreading in a way that could be compared to a “cognitive virus,” causing humans to experience a loss of crucial cognitive skills.

According to the researchers, a “runaway consequence” is possible.

Abstract
Large-language models (LLMs) are rapidly becoming part of human culture, reshaping how information is produced, transmitted, and used. Here we propose that their diffusion can be understood through a viral analogy, with LLM use spreading through populations, becoming embedded in cognitive and cultural practices. We model transitions among uncoupled, coupled, and persistently dependent users, and show that the interplay between social transmission, recovery, and collective reinforcement can generate tipping points and technological lock-in. A central consequence is the possibility of runaway dynamics: once a critical threshold is crossed, small increases in adoption can trigger rapid population-level shifts toward persistent dependence, with abrupt losses in cognitive competence. The same framework, however, identifies conditions for cognitive immunization, based on reducing transmission and facilitating reversibility. Our results highlight how LLM adoption may involve nonlinear collective transitions with important consequences for cognitive autonomy.

https://arxiv.org/html/2609.03344v1

‘A f***-up of epic proportions’: Blame game begins after Iran-backed Houthis’ lightning advance down Red Sea coast

https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/12/middleeast/yemen-houthi-saudi-us-blame-intl