the main thing to learn from Avi Loeb's career is that if you're going to come out as a crank, do so after you've gotten tenure

Shenzhou-22 is set to launch without crew on November 25. for crewed launches, CSNA always has the next capsule and rocket ready to go when they launch the previous one. so they launched SZ-21 a few weeks ago, then the SZ-20 crew came down on that one, and SZ-22 will take SZ-21's place

my favorite Dutch cheese is Edam, but that's only because i'm a crossword puzzle enthusiast

if nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do

whenever i make risotto my internal monologue starts going "just keep stirring, just keep stirring" à la Dory from "Finding Nemo"

tangentially, i wonder if cities have started to notice thefts of 67th Street signs increasing to match the disappearance rate of 69th Streets

have you listened to Copland's Symphony No. 3? my local symphony orchestra closed last season with it, and when they got to the fourth movement (about 27:30 in this video) i was like "hmm, i've heard this before..."

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZvg...

it's very probably real - there's a song "I've Got a Little List" in which Ko-Ko sings through a list of folks he could do away with if the Mikado were to demand that he fulfill his duties as Lord High Executioner. said song is commonly updated/modernized.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NLV...

New York and LA should offer an equivalent to Israeli birthright trips to every theatre kid in the lower 48

it takes some cojones to write a 50-minute symphonic piece about yourself and title it "A Hero's Life" when you're just thirty-four

incidentally, the Shostakovich symphony i really want to see live at some point is 7 - although i worry it might not live up to that CSO / Bernstein recording

last week the local symphony orchestra here did Copland's "Appalachian Spring" and "Lincoln Portrait," followed by Shostakovich 5 after intermission - very interesting American vs. Soviet contrast there

the LA Phil is playing (along with a couple other pieces) Elgar's "Enigma Variations" next weekend, which is absolutely worth checking out

(also the world premiere of a new cello concerto, which could be interesting)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTa8...

the USAF planned to retire them in FY2026 (starting in October), but Congress included language in the latest funding authorization bill that limits the number of airframes they can retire this year

fun highly niche job: U-2 landing chase car driver

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih57...

the SR-71 gets all the fame, but the U-2 is still in active service 70 years after its first flight. (upgraded versions, that is, not the same airframe.)