Dolphins swimming alongside the ship. (4/5)

Here is a diagram of the cargo hold. (3/5)

Here is a navigation display on the bridge, and a scene of passengers marking progress on a chart. (2/5)

I logged one interesting thing each day on the transatlantic crossing with the Neoliner Origin. Here for example is the engine room and cargo bay. (1/5)

The new book from Roger Barnes: "Sailing the Shallows is a manifesto for a different attitude to sailing, far removed from the ostentation and complexity of modern-day yachting." I may have the opportunity to meet the author this summer. www.bloomsbury.com/us/sailing-t...

This email from a fake vanity marketing scheme, pretending to be from a "Boozy Book Lovers" club, was even more pathetic than usual: "The way you explore [insert key theme, character dynamic, or narrative strength] gives the story a depth that feels both impactful and highly discussion-worthy."

Near Cleveland while on business travel Chicago to Boston. #NotJetSet

Yesterday we shouted "No Kings." We have demands and are organizing. To learn more, see xrboston.org.

The Jerusalem Post writer criticizes the American peace-and-justice movement for favoring a two-state resolution. But the writer would also oppose a one-state resolution with equal rights and justice. In this table, which cell does the writer favor? And which cells actually deserve our support?

Great comments from Lukas. Note that journalists use misleading photographs showing a rustic scene surrounded by solar panels implicitly extending beyond the horizon. Here is a satellite map showing that region of rural Denmark, with the same Hjolderup solar installation visible (outlined in red).

To understand what energy prices are sustainable, it is good to read the annual Lazard's report. Super affordable: solar when the sun is shining. Moderately affordable: solar plus batteries. Solar plus batteries are the future of prosperity, but not always cheaper than the cheapest fossil fuels.

Caught the northeast regional home to Boston from DC overnight after the party last night, so that I could teach on Boston Campus today. Slept fine with Turtl product and an eye patch. Not happy though that the "cafe car" has no coffee (!). @Amtrak, you know I'm usually your biggest fan. #notjetset

Certainly not Swifties. Reviewer #2 comments are here (not double-blinded).

Lunch hour, Mystic River, in January. #notjetset

Sometimes an activity ... such as skiing ... can be enormously carbon intensive if we fly to a downhill skiing resort and zero carbon if we stash some used skis in the rafters of a garage, wait patiently for a seasonal storm, and be sure to set aside work when it arrives. #notjetset

Folks ordinarily prefer warmth over cold, a fine restaurant over a rough bench, a professional cocktail over a flask of (edited out for conformance with rules), and yet we loved the @appmtnclub.bsky.social's Zealand Falls Hut and Zeacliff ledge in New Hampshire this weekend. #notjetset #flyingless

Nine years ago, the solution for our holiday photo Rebus puzzle was a song title from a Broadway musical we were obsessed with at the time. Hint: person 1 (1 word, a contraction), 2 (1 word), 3 (2 words), 4 (2 words). Digression: around that year I started to no longer feel tall (even at 6 feet).

On food group priorities: After all the anticipation over an upside-down pyramid (What foods will be favored on top? What foods on the bottom?), the actual graphic has no direction: meats in one corner, fruits and vegetables in one, whole grains in one, all equally lovely, nothing ever bad. (2/3)

This September, USDA announced it would no longer collect the survey data for this report series. The USDA press release said the USDA study "failed to present anything more than subjective, liberal fodder." The American people will not find out what happens in 2025. (5/6)

Then, the hardship of the COVID-19 era, especially as temporary safety net supports were rescinded in recent years, again increased rates of household food insecurity. Food insecurity reached 13.7% of households, the highest in many years, in this week's official USDA report for 2024. (4/6)

Then, unfortunately, progress stalled and food insecurity spiked during the Great Recession. Afterwards progress resumed, but slowly enough that official documents stopped mentioning the solemn target of cutting household food insecurity by half to 6%. (3/6)

In the 1990s, there was a bi-partisan consensus in favor of reducing household food insecurity in the United States. The USA adopted a solemn target of cutting the rate of food insecurity by half from 12% to 6% of U.S. households. Progress looked good during the first several years. (2/6)

Happy New Year! (Photo from the @xrboston.bsky.social and Free Puppet Library section of the #BostonFirstNight parade last night).

Not as cool as Kendra's, and surely just a Boston area thing, but she did say "minor" celebrity interaction. Check out the photo bomb surprise in our family photo at Midwinter Revels at Sanders Theatre last week.

You may like this one for local interest in your line of work.

Our holiday card photo each year is a "rebus puzzle," where the solution is a holiday lyric or phrase of some type (commonly a Christmas hymn title). While we are working on sending out this year's, here is the photo from 2023 for your amusement.

If you are interested in the math underlying how the Thrifty Food Plan determines the maximum Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), this annotated figure is the hors d'oeuvres. And the Food Policy article is the entree. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

What We Lose as USDA Household Food Security Reporting Ends A conversation with Norbert Wilson, Emily Engelhard, and Lauren Fiechtner. Nov 20. duke.is/r/at78

The compostable cup on a private jet taken by a friend of a friend of a friend recently.