You know what's an underrated pleasure? Walking around barefoot on a chilly morning for a few hours, and then putting on warm socks, right out of the dryer. Mmmmmm.

Not underrated -- akin to canoeing and swimming all day, and putting on dry socks when the sun goes down and the campfire gets blazing.

The toaster oven works better when it is lugged in. And I would catch on to it not being plugged in faster if the timer weren't mechanical and therefore merrily ticks away counting down whether the toaster oven is plugged in or not.

I have had that same problem! The ticking gets you every time. Maybe it's an April Fool's from the toaster oven??

That's what I thought, Jesse!

Our appliances are getting too smart, I tell you what.

Not a prank.

Oh. Sad Now.

Well, it looks like Governor Asa Hutchinson is actually doing the right thing for once: [link]

I've long known him to be an opportunistic snake, so I'm sure this is more about potential economic repercussions than fairness and protecting civil rights, but whatever the reason the state legislature will have to double down on the bigotry rationalizations in a bright spotlight if they want to override a veto.

One of life's pleasure is to come in from riding on the back of a motorcycle in winter and climbing into a warm water bed. Bliss.

I've got a pretty good idea of what I want to do, but I can't find anyone who'll hire me to do it.

Unfortunately for people of Hil's cohort, the academic job market has been getting more ruthlessly competitive every year, with a big boost in difficulty during the recession that just isn't resolving.

We now have people applying for beginning Assistant Professor jobs with 25 publications in good journals. Ten years ago that would have been ample to receive tenure. Twenty years ago it would have been enough for promotion to Full Professor. Forty years ago it was considered a respectable total output for a 30 year career.

Now, it just gets you in the door for an interview. I'm sure that in math or physics, where each publication tends to be more important and of more lasting effect, the numbers are different, but the same ramping up of expectations is there. It's a very difficult environment right now.

On the other hand, there are lots of jobs in academia-adjacent settings: med schools, policy institutes,government and industry interested in quantitative skills or big-data applications. Usually with more reasonable hours less eccentricity to deal with. That's the big shift in where people are getting jobs.

I am not prepared for anything to happen to Joni Mitchell.

This might be my favorite prank today: Wonder Woman’s Invisible Jet Now on Display at the National Air and Space Museum.