Claude Monet's paintings in HD

1,540 works of art by the French Impressionist painter Claude Monet, displayed over two hours in HD and accompanied by the piano.

A feast for the eyes, ears, and soul.

To Anyone I May Have Offended

The blithe, catch-all non-apology for today's miscreants, usually made on social media.

Another Triple Play

Triple plays in baseball are rare. How rare? Well, just 727 since 1876. That's 5 per season across the league.

All the more reason to be gobsmacked that the New York Yankees earned two triple plays in the last four days, and three in the last month, tying the single-season Major League Baseball record.

Last night's triple play, a 5-4-3 with two men on in the top of the 9th with a 2-1 lead, was the best Father's Day gift by far.

Sun Science

The United States Postal Service, USPS, just released a new set of Forever Stamps called Sun Science.

The photographs were recorded by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, a spacecraft launched in February 2010 to keep a constant watch on the Sun from geosynchronous orbit above the Earth.

"Heliophysics, the study of the Sun and its influence on the planets and the space surrounding them, has important implications for our day-to-day lives. Although the space between the Sun and Earth appears empty to human eyes, it is actually full of particles and energy from the constant flow of solar wind emitted by the Sun. That space is affected by a complex, ever-changing magnetic field that influences our entire solar system. Increased understanding of the Sun helps us better explain and predict its impact not only on Earth's climate but also on the near-Earth space environment and how it affects sensitive human technology, such as communications systems and satellite electronics. As humanity continues to explore space, a deeper knowledge of solar activity will also make it possible to identify and solve problems involved in communications, data collection, spacecraft and satellite design, and the effects space radiation has on the human body."

My dermatologist's business is booming.

UFOs, UAPs and OMG

Last month, 60 Minutes' Bill Whitaker reported about the growing concerns in the Pentagon, and now among politicians and the public, that the United States faces security risks from unidentified aerial phenomenon – UAPs – that move at speeds and directions unlike any current aerospace technology we know or understand. 

Whitaker interviewed former U.S. military intelligence officer Lue Elizondo:

"Imagine a technology that can do 6-to-700 g-forces, that can fly at 13,000 miles an hour, that can evade radar and that can fly through air and water and possibly space. And oh, by the way, has no obvious signs of propulsion, no wings, no control surfaces and yet can still defy the natural effects of earth's gravity. That's precisely what we're seeing."

As the X-File's Dana Scully said, "The truth is out there, but so are lies."

The Pentagon's report is due later this month.

Tuggin' Toobin

Last October, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin was fired by The New Yorker after he was viewed masturbating during a work Zoom call between employees of the magazine and WNYC radio, consigning himself to ridicule, "dick" memes, and the guarantee of an ignoble obituary. 

CNN granted a leave of absence which ended today during a mea culpa interview in which he again made multiple apologies while justifying his indecent and creepy behavior as "deeply moronic." Of course everybody does it, but that's no excuse to pleasure oneself on Zoom in front of work colleagues. Or is it? One has to wonder, what has changed for CNN to allow him to return during the height of the Cancel Culture and #MeToo era?

Clever CNN producers could do no worse than to capitalize on Toobin's tumescent notoriety with a new show format and concept. Pair Toobin up with like-minded liberal men who'll spend a half hour weeknights extolling their wokeness with each other while disparaging Independents and Republicans for their values and policies. 

The show's title? Circle Jerk.

Welcome to the Internet

"Could I interest you in everything all of the time? Apathy's a tragedy and boredom is a crime. Anything and everything all of the time." 

Bo Burnham riffs on the bottomless breadth and banality of browsing.

P.S. Harvard Business Review suggests we "control distractions to maximize focus" in "To Control Your Life, Control What You Pay Attention To."  

World Environment Day

The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!

First it was gas pipelines, then meat plants. Today, the latest ransomware attack has hit the ferries to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.

According to the Vineyard Gazette, "The Steamship Authority was hit by a ransomware attack early Wednesday morning that reverberated across ferry line operations, causing the website to crash, pausing vehicle reservations, and hampering credit card systems."

A day later – or is it a millennium later!? – systems are still down.