The cat with the telling tail

Minnesota cat's 18.5-inch tail earns Guinness World Records title

Amanda Cameron said her family's 2-year-old cat, Mr. Pugsley Addams, has always had a long tail, and the subject even came up during his first visit to the vet.

 

We don't want no more of your equitable cheese

US warns French companies they must comply with Trump's diversity ban

"We inform you that Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-based Opportunities, signed by President Trump, applies to all suppliers and service providers of the U.S. Government, regardless of their nationality and the country in which they operate," reads the letter, according to a copy that French newspaper Le Figaro published on its website.

Forget the bleu. 

What is COP30, you may ask

Love motels and converted ferries: Brazil gets creative to host COP30

No, it's not an old-fashioned TV show about police. That was Car 54. It's the upcoming United Nations climate summit, to be held in Belem, Brazil.

The convention is expected to attract 60,000 visitors; Belem boasts only 18,000 beds — including the above-mentioned love motels. But, not to worry.

Lula [Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva] shrugged off the hotel crunch in a recent visit to Belem, suggesting those who cannot find accommodation should sleep "looking at the sky – it will be wonderful."

No room service but plenty of bugs, one imagines. And, hopefully, free. (Currently, rooms are averaging $1,500 per night.) 

The house guest from…well, you know

JD Vance rips into Denmark’s government, urges Greenland to embrace US for security and economy: ‘You have not done a good job ‘

“A lot of people are interested in it, a lot of people are making a play. We hope that they [Greenlanders] choose to partner with the United States because we’re the only nation on earth that will respect their sovereignty…

No kidding. He said that. 

The Vances are making an important State Visit™ to the U.S. Air Force base at the north of the island. They are accompanied by National Security Intern Mike Waltz and miscellaneous other officials.

Usha Vance originally was due to attend Greenland’s annual dog sled race farther south, but that visit was canceled after a hostile reception from local politicians and businesses.

After Canada and Greenland and Gaza and Panama

Trump Organization eyes multi-billion-dollar projects in Vietnam amid tariff risks

HANOI, March 28 (Reuters) - The Trump Organization and its partner in Vietnam are working on multiple investments worth billions of dollars in golf courses, hotels and real estate projects in the Southeast Asian country, a spokesman for the consortium told Reuters.

Saigon Greens has a nice ring, doesn't it? A little revisionist, perhaps. But it's a new, new world. 

How new, we are rapidly finding out. 

The new way to sell privacy: It might not be

Signal Ascends From Hacker Passion Project to Washington’s Top Messaging App

“There are so many great reasons to be on Signal,” he said on X. “Now including the opportunity for the vice president of the United States of America to randomly add you to a group chat for coordination of sensitive military operations.”

 If you're lucky. And then you can be called a sleezebag by the President.

But that's a (rather awkward) joke. Signal offers rock-solid encryption. (Meta's WhatsApp also runs on Signal encryption.) And it's free to use. A lot of people do. For various reasons. (And yes, some are criminal.)

But it's not approved for government-classified information because if the device on either end of the communication is hacked, the communication is too. Which is true of any messaging app.

And now, a little MAGA porn

Photos Show Kristi Noem's Visit Through Notorious El Salvador Prison

Got that? US Secretary of Homeland Security.

How it's done, right here

 

Yep, it'd work on me

Police wrangle loose donkey with mints

"He's a cheeky one and had escaped from his field before. He was causing a nuisance on the roads for motorists so my officers had to find him and take him back to his field. He loves mints and once he had chomped down on one he was braying for more and was happy to come back with us," Beards said.

There'll always be an England. 

When it hits the fan…

DOGE staffer, 'Big Balls', provided tech support to cybercrime ring, records show

WILMINGTON, Delaware, March 26 (Reuters) - The best-known member of Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service team of technologists once provided support to a cybercrime gang that bragged about trafficking in stolen data and cyberstalking an FBI agent, according to digital records reviewed by Reuters.

…things get…messy. Fast.

And who is this guy?

"He [Coristine] is now working at Musk’s behest inside DOGE and we looked into his background, and so we found, you know, several notable things, Erin. One of which is that this individual has founded multiple companies, including one with another unfortunate name, uh, “Tesla Dot Sexy LLC,” which he established in 2021. He would have been around 16 years old," the reporter said.

[He's 19 now.] 

The escalating cost of dumb

Secretive Chinese network tries to lure fired federal workers, research shows

Asked about the research, three intelligence analysts told Reuters the network appeared to be a prime example of how foreign-linked entities are trying to gather intelligence from staff fired or forced into retirement by President Donald Trump and billionaire tech tycoon Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

 Hey, they said they wanted transparency. 

A singular moment

 

This is our national security apparatus looking like two children who just got caught stealing cookies.

Great news!

The Space Station Is Too Clean, and It’s Making Astronauts Sick

Well, not for them. But I am canceling my spring cleaning project. 

Maybe next year.

No more bikes, you mopes

States push to shift road funds to transit and bike projects as Trump threatens cuts

CHICAGO (AP) — Hundreds of bicycle advocates were at an annual summit this month in Washington, D.C., when their cellphones lit up over breakfast with an urgent email warning that President Donald Trump’s transportation department had just halted federal grant funding for bike lanes.

Start your engines.

It's a scientific fact that oxygen causes rust. Stop breathing so much of it.

When is a president like a fiddle?

Putin gifted a portrait of Trump to the US president

The gift was first mentioned last week by [Trump special envoy Steve] Witkoff in an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Witkoff told Carlson that Trump “was clearly touched” by the portrait, which he described as “beautiful.”

When Putin plays it. 

[As opposed to whoever did that Colorado thing.]

The clown car gets a little too crowded

Top Trump Officials Debated War Plans on Unclassified Chat Shared With Journalist

Senior Trump administration national-security officials held detailed discussions of highly classified U.S. plans to launch airstrikes against Yemen’s Houthi militants using a commercial messaging service and mistakenly included a journalist in the conversation, U.S. officials said Monday.

Brian Hughes, spokescritter for the National Security Council, said — and I am not making this up — “The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials."

The classified, thoughtful policy discussion continued over the course of two days.

Next time they should put it on pay-per-view. At least make a buck. 

Well, you paid for it

Genetic testing company 23andMe declares bankruptcy

At stake is the fate of genetic data from the company's 15 million customers. The company has secured enough funding to continue operations while a buyer is found, and even though US law limits how genetic data can be used, the pending sale has raised significant privacy concerns.

Wait. You paid for it?

The way things are going it might not be long before the government does it for free. Think of it as just another benefit. 

Then, of course, the privacy concerns might be more than merely "significant."

Gotta love the headline

Universities Sprint from ‘We Will Not Cower’ to Appeasing Trump

Next, the Chick-fil-A White House Easter Egg Roll

White House seeks corporate sponsorships for Easter Egg Roll: Report

Sponsorships range from $75,000 to $200,000, with the promise of logo and branding opportunities, a report viewed by CNN found.

 Make America Ridiculous Again.

Don't try this at home — just yet

A Piece of Glass Thinner Than a Credit Card Could Solve America’s $25 Billion Energy Problem

Despite being lighter, these new doors can pass the most stringent hurricane testing in the country: Miami Dade’s building codes for hurricane resistance. This involves withstanding ​​air pressure equivalent to a major hurricane, and a two-by-four fired from a cannon at 34 miles an hour…twice.

Unless you live in Miami. Maybe.

But, wherever you live, it might be worth noticing this one observation:

Historically, the biggest reason that energy-efficient technologies get adopted is that building codes require them…. Without explicit regulations that enforce minimum standards, builders often seek deals on materials so that they can maximize profits, and businesses and individuals who rent out properties often have little incentive to reduce tenants’ month-to-month energy bills.

Regulations aren't all bad. Some are very good. For most of us.