Words want out

The word ‘But’ asks that it not appear in these sentences

The words “Nevertheless,” “Still” and “However” jointly concurred in “But’s” statement, though “Nevertheless” looked visibly tired and strained.

[Washington Post]

News of the day

Al Michaels calls Taylor Swift Travis Kelce’s ‘girlfriend’ during Chiefs vs. Broncos game

Also Sophie Turner unfollows Priyanka Chopra on Instagram amid Joe Jonas divorce.

And you thought there was nothing going on.

TGIF

Following up

Capt. Obvious in the New York Times

• Economic Diversity at Top Colleges: An expansive research project on admissions shows how students with parents earning in the top 1% attend selective private colleges at much higher rates than other similarly qualified students.

  We are shocked.

We…

New York Seeks to Limit Social Media's Grip on Children's Attention

New York State officials on Wednesday unveiled a bill to protect young people from potential mental health risks by prohibiting minors from accessing algorithm-based social media feeds unless they have permission from their parents. 

…meaning, emphatically, they (but we too, let's face it) pass laws and formulate regulations to avoid having to think about stuff. Or do anything, really.

What else could explain laws like this? How could they possibly be enforced? We can't enforce all the laws we already have. 

Meaning they.

Harry's hair

Prince Harry’s luscious new hair chopped by critics: ‘Looks like a fool’

Moving on with the important news of the day…

Some people just can't take a joke

A Danish artist who submitted empty frames as artwork is appealing court ruling to repay the cash

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A Danish artist who was given a pile of cash by a museum in northern Denmark to create a piece for its exhibition on labor conditions two years ago submitted two empty canvases — titled “Take the Money and Run.” The exhibit caused a stir.

From Aeschylus to X

Aeschylus, a Greek dramatist who wrote around 500 BC and a U.S. Senator named Hiram Johnson in 1918 are the two leading candidates among several in a spirited discussion of who first proposed truth is the first casualty in a war.

Whoever said it first, it's worth saying again today. Frenzied reporting from war zones is often incorrect, sometimes due to the proverbial fog of war and sometimes, regrettably, as propaganda. It can be quite a while, sometimes even years, before one figures out which is which.

So the flurry of impassioned reporting from the assembled media, the U.S. Congress (or whatever's left of it), and Elon's X needs to be taken with a judicious grain of salt.

My personal formulation: Believe half of it.

It's up to you to figure out which half.

CLARIFICATION: There's plenty of stuff swirling around about events in the Middle East that's obviously untrue, or at least highly suspect. But then there's this, for example, from The Washington Post this morning…"U.S. and Israeli government officials have given diverging assessments of Iran’s involvement in the violent incursion of Hamas militants into Israel…."

WAY too much news today

It's fascinating, in a morbid sort of way, how innovative we are at finding new ways — and reasons — to persecute each other.

In millenia of trying, we still haven't figured out how to live in the same cave. Or have we been trying, really?

One good thing, though: No Bears game today.