John B. Cole
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johnbcole.com
John B. Cole
@johnbcole.com
600 followers 2.4K following 980 posts
Dairy cattle geneticist, mediocre Python programmer, eccentric cat gentleman, Irish bouzouki owner, LSMSA, LSU.
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johnbcole.com
Surprised to see a power armor stand in Sioux Falls, SD.
A yellow A-frame work station on the tarmac at the Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA, airport which resembles the power armor stands seen in Fallout 4.
October 16, 2025 at 8:47 PM
johnbcole.com
The booths for two USDA agencies sit unstaffed at World Dairy Expo today. Just across the lobby, the FBI recruiting booth was fully staffed. This is how Republicans in Washington, DC, prioritize things. Food and fiber are less important than cops, as though we don't have enough of those.
Two empty booths at Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin. The photo was taken on October 2, 2025 during World Dairy Expo, a major agricultural trade and livestock show. The booth on the left is for USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service. The booth on the rightis for USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. Both are unstaffed because of the shutdown of the US government.
October 2, 2025 at 11:26 PM
johnbcole.com
The Fullcat could be cousins with our cat!
A long-haired black cat (left) and a short-haired gray-and-white cat (right) sitting side-by-side on a rug by the back door, looking towards the camera.
August 24, 2025 at 1:22 AM
johnbcole.com
Does anyone know what kind of bird this is? Seen in southern Wisconsin.
Photo of a blue bird with a white breast and white-tipped tail feathers sitting on a fencepost in the parking lot of the Kelch Aviation Museum in Brodhead, WI.
June 19, 2025 at 2:54 PM
johnbcole.com
There's three "K"s in "Cybertrukkk", boys.
A photo of the back end of a Tesla Cybertruck. The roof is blue and the tailgate is a neon orange-red. "Cybertrukk" is written on the tailgate in a style mimicking a graffiti tag. Vinyl (I guess) is peeling off the rear bumper. The license plate reads "MYTESLA" and has a US flag background.
June 8, 2025 at 1:34 AM
johnbcole.com
No Enclave activity at Project Purity.
A photo of the front portico of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC.
May 27, 2025 at 4:16 PM
johnbcole.com
These days, landing at National feels like Mordor has an airport, and DC doesn't deserve that.
Photo of the Pentagon taken on final into DCA.
May 27, 2025 at 3:39 PM
johnbcole.com
Do you like selection indices? Here's the change in correlated response to selection over time for the 24 traits and trait composites in the 2025 revision of Lifetime Net Merit.
A 6-by-4 graphic showing the correlated responses of selection for 24 traits and trait composites to 12 different indices. The traits are: Row 1: Milk, Fat, Protein, Productive Life, Somatic Cell Score, and Body Weight Composite; Row 2: Udder Composite, Foot and Leg Composite, Daughter Pregnancy Rate, Calving Trait $, Heifer Conception Rate, and Cow Conception Rate; Row 3: Livability, Gestation Length, Health $, Residual Feed Intake, Milk Fever, and Displaced Abomasum; and Row 4: Ketosis, Mastitis, Metritis, Retained Placenta, Early First Calving, and Heifer Livability. The indices compared are Predicted Difference $ (1971), Milk-Fat-Protein $ (1976), Cheese Yield $ (1984), Lifetime Net Merit (NM$) 1994, NM$ 2000, NM$ 2006, NM$ 2010, NM$ 2014, NM$ 2017, NM$ 2018, NM$ 2021, and NM$ 2025. Over time, the weight on production traits (milk, fat, and protein) has decreased and more weight has been placed on fertility, longevity, and health traits. This has resulted in slower but still favorable trends for yield, with dramatically improving trends for non-production traits. NM$ 2021 and 2025 place considerable negative emphasis on residual feed intake and body weight composite while maintaining favorable trends for other traits. The goal is to produce efficient, healthy, long-lived cows that are profitable.
May 20, 2025 at 9:39 PM
johnbcole.com
No clue of this is actually correct, but apparently I've actually tried to take a derivative outside of calculus class (found on the back of a page of Larry Schaeffer's animal model notes).
It's some attempted math. It looks like the partial derivative of maybe a variance component estimate?
March 19, 2025 at 1:57 AM
johnbcole.com
Left: A framed print of a painting of James McMurtry by Darren Hess; center: a signed promotional photo of McMurtry; right: a framed poster and tickets from McMurtry's spring 2024 tour with Betty Soo.
March 15, 2025 at 5:46 PM
johnbcole.com
More Land Grant universities need to remember that they have schools of design and do more interesting branding. Washington State's cougar logo is quite striking.
Red Washington State University logo, which stylistically resembles its cougar mascot, on a white background.
January 12, 2025 at 6:42 PM
johnbcole.com
Some of my friends wonder what I actually do for work. Here's an exciting action shot of me talking. So, basically what I've done since y'all have known me.
John B. Cole is standing at a lectern with a laptop on it. He's doing something awkward with his hands. Not shown is the audience to which he's talking about genetic improvement of dairy cow fertility at the November 2024 DCRC meeting in Arlington, TX.
November 15, 2024 at 12:49 PM
johnbcole.com
#ProofOfCat
A short-haired gray-and-white cat sits next to a long-haired black cat on a windowsill. Both are staring intently out the window.
November 11, 2024 at 8:38 PM
johnbcole.com
Is it really National Black Cat Day somewhere?
Buster, a black-ish cat, is curled up likr a donut in the crook of my arm on my desk.
October 28, 2024 at 4:15 PM
johnbcole.com
The choice in this election is very clear. This is what we're voting against.
The front page of The Washington post from Thursday, January 7, 2021, with the headline, "Trump mob storms Capitol".
October 27, 2024 at 1:43 PM
johnbcole.com
Bacon Inspectors.
A gray-and-white shorthaired cat and a long-haired black cat are sitting on a long windowsill looking attentively out the window.
October 21, 2024 at 4:52 PM
johnbcole.com
#JudgyDominette didn't see why the dairy science meetings are worth all this hassle.
June 16, 2024 at 3:11 PM
johnbcole.com
Buster halp.
May 22, 2024 at 3:28 PM
johnbcole.com
Post a PERFECT album from the 1990's that ISN'T Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden or Alice in Chains.
April 6, 2024 at 12:55 PM
johnbcole.com
Since y'all asked, #ProofOfCat
Buster, a long-haired black cat, sits possessively on my right hand.
February 7, 2024 at 2:29 PM
johnbcole.com
My righr-hand cat.
February 5, 2024 at 7:36 PM
johnbcole.com
This is fun, you can get a word cloud from your Google Scholar profile: shiny.rcg.sfu.ca/u/rdmorin/sc....
February 5, 2024 at 3:02 AM
johnbcole.com
I thought this photo of the snow in Wisconsin yesterday turned out pretty good.
January 10, 2024 at 7:52 PM
johnbcole.com
Whoa, you don't see this very often. Flights into ORD are currently ground-stopped.
January 9, 2024 at 9:39 PM
johnbcole.com
I just learned in behind schedule in posting a 2024 cat photo. Apologies.
January 2, 2024 at 3:24 AM