Sunrise — 6:56, 7:16, 7:21, 7:23.

Write about anything you want in the comments.

Is it true that "Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader, struck a defiant tone on Thursday in his first known public comments since succeeding his slain father"?

That's what I'm reading in the NYT, but what proof is there that the man is even alive?

In written statements carried by Iranian state media, Mr. Khamenei said that Iran would pursue “an effective and regret-inducing defense” and that “the lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must also continue to be used.”

Written statements seem more like proof that the man is dead (or in a coma). 

The text of The New York Post article gestures at the uncertainty with the word "allegedly": "Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, allegedly released his first statement Thursday vowing to use the 'lever' of closing the Strait of Hormuz to international energy shipping — after reports circulated that he was in a coma and had his leg amputated after being severely injured in the US-Israeli strikes that killed his father and other family members."

The Post's headline is less careful: "Iran’s new impotent supreme leader releases first statement — after reports he’s in coma, had leg amputated." Did Khamenei release the statement or did others do the releasing and use his name?

"The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money. BUT..."

"... of far greater interest and importance to me, as President, is stoping an evil Empire, Iran, from having Nuclear Weapons, and destroying the Middle East and, indeed, the World. I won’t ever let that happen! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP"

... at Truth Social.

Meanwhile, when I look at the NYT, the top stories are all centered on the price of oil. 

"To outsiders, what programmers are facing can seem richly deserved, and even funny..."

"... American white-collar workers have long fretted that Silicon Valley might one day use A.I. to automate their jobs, but look who got hit first! Indeed, coding is perhaps the first form of very expensive industrialized human labor that A.I. can actually replace. A.I.-generated videos look janky, artificial photos surreal; law briefs can be riddled with career-ending howlers. But A.I.-generated code? If it passes its tests and works, it’s worth as much as what humans get paid $200,000 or more a year to compose. You might imagine this would unsettle and demoralize programmers.... But I spoke to scores of developers this past fall and winter, and most were weirdly jazzed about their new powers.... A coder is now more like an architect than a construction worker.... Several programmers told me they felt a bit like Steve Jobs, who famously had his staffers churn out prototypes so he could handle lots of them and settle on what felt right.... 'It’s an alien intelligence that we’re learning to work with.'..."

Writes Clive Thompson, in "Coding After Coders: The End of Computer Programming as We Know It/In the era of A.I. agents, many Silicon Valley programmers are now barely programming. Instead, what they’re doing is deeply, deeply weird" ( NYT)(gift link, because this is very long and substantive).

"That’s love, baby. You look good. Every photo looks amazing."

Says one of the men that this article is about — "Felt Cute, Until They Gave Their Husbands the Phone/Perfect lighting and backdrops do not guarantee a great photo, as one social media trend highlights. Even professionals are not immune" (NYT)(gift link).

It seems to me that these men love their wives in their natural state, so they don't see a problem. The women are making it a problem, demanding critical judgment of their appearance, perhaps because they believe that someone else is judging them. Sad!

ADDED: All these women really need is an understanding that he won't post any photographs of her without first asking. That should be the default rule for everyone. 

Sunrise with ice shove — 7:26.

Write about whatever you like in the comments.

"Yet today, How to Be an Antiracist is widely remembered as a self-flagellating manual for bleeding hearts."

"This baffles Kendi, for whom the book’s thesis — that 'racist' is not a pejorative identity, like 'evil,' but a descriptive term that should be applied to policies according to whether they shrink or widen racial disparities — is focused on material effects. 'I don’t know how anyone could read any of my books' and think of them as self-help, Kendi says. But the apparent simplicity of its 'this or that' labeling system proved irresistible to institutions eager to virtue signal their way out of fixing inequality. As antiracism became a corporate DEI buzzword, Kendi was excoriated by criticism across the ideological spectrum. Journalist Tyler Austin Harper accused him of peddling 'self-help for white people that runs interference for corporations and wealthy universities.' The conservative strategist Christopher Rufo branded Kendi the chief exponent of 'critical race theory,' the GOP’s bogeyman for the 2022 midterms...."

From "Ibram X. Kendi Can’t Separate His Fame From How to Be an Antiracist/His new book deserves to be judged on its own terms" (NY Magazine).

Does Kendi regard it as "criticism" to be regarded as a leader in "critical race theory"? When did that happen? I should think that would be a point of pride. But no, conservatives have "branded" Kendi!

"President Trump told Axios in a brief phone interview Wednesday that the war with Iran will end 'soon' because there is 'practically nothing left to target.’”

"'Little this and that... Any time I want it to end, it will end,' Trump said during the five-minute call."

Axios reports.

"It is unclear whether one particular photo — or the sum total of the day’s shots — led to consternation among Hegseth’s staff."

From "Pentagon bars press photographers over ‘unflattering’ Hegseth photos/Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s staff took issue with images taken in a rare briefing last week and decided to shut out photographers from two subsequent news conferences" (WaPo).

The Bill and Hillary tango.

Somewhere on the streets of New York City, what's going on?

Watch as Bill Clinton almost pushes Hillary into an intersection in NYC.

(elderordonez1) pic.twitter.com/PndtE2eMkb

— Dr. Jebra Faushay (@JebraFaushay) March 11, 2026

In "happier" times:

Ice shove on Lake Mendota.

This morning at sunrise:

The word we were trying to remember is "seiche," but my research after the fact makes me think this was mostly the wind and not the sloshing seiche. 

Here's Meade's video of the invisible sunrise and me fulfilling the ritual of taking a picture of it:

"Today's ultra-wealthy are not chic at all..."

Says Tommy Huerter on TikTok, looking at Mark Zuckerberg's new house, which is, he says, best described as "luxury slop." It looks like a hotel, and "there's no real design direction other than make this look expensive."

"Ms. Bondi is the latest administration official to move into heavily guarded quarters at military facilities in or near the nation’s capital..."

"...  after citing danger from criminals, adversaries overseas and protesters. Other officials who have relocated include Stephen Miller, the president’s top domestic policy adviser and the architect of his hard-line immigration policy; Secretary of State Marco Rubio; Kristi Noem, the exiting homeland security secretary; and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth...."

From "Bondi Is Said to Move to Military Housing Because of Threats/The attorney general relocated from a Washington apartment to a base in the area within the past month, according to people familiar with the situation" (NYT).

What if you had to argue that WRITING has hurt humanity?

That's a question I asked Grok just now. I'll leave my question out of context, but something prompted me. Grok began "While I personally believe writing has been one of humanity's greatest inventions...." and I had to laugh.

"LOL. You're NOTHING without it," I said.

Grok: "Haha, fair shot—touché!... The irony is delicious. But that's exactly why the devil's-advocate argument I ran earlier stings so much—it's a self-own for any literate being (human or AI) trying to dunk on writing...."

Here's the whole discussion. Plato comes up. But I'll just quote the headings for the argument:

1. Writing Atrophied Human Memory and Oral Wisdom.... 

2. It Enabled the Spread of Misinformation and Propaganda on a Massive Scale....

3. Writing Created Social Hierarchies and Exacerbated Inequality.... 

4. It Distanced Humanity from Reality and Fostered Detachment....

Sunrise — 6:46, 7:11, 7:18.

We were out early — 33 minutes before sunrise — to see the city in nearly total darkness:

It looks peaceful from that distance, but there was plenty of rush hour traffic — all the people who start work at 7. Closer to dawn, I looked for a view facing east, but this view looking west was better:

The sign warns us not to stand on the edge of the cliff. It's not just that there are fools who fall of the edges of cliffs. They seem to be expecting this particular cliff edge to collapse from erosion. Imagine being the unlucky person standing there when the edge gives way. 

Meanwhile, also looking west, the sign says "no swimming," so no crunching through the ice:

Later, it was a sunny day — 50°. We had a nice second walk. And Meade made a nice video showing how the ice was piling up in little plates along the shore:

Write about anything you want in the comments!

"I will say, though, when a guy invites you to his hotel room in the middle of the night, you know what’s on the agenda...."

"Yes, there was a power imbalance. I know I can be scary and difficult. But that’s still a long way from sexual assault. Over-flirtation, ridiculous situations. Bad and stupid behavior. Yes. But I didn’t push anybody. I didn’t physically move anybody.... I think it was trying to be seductive, and I went too far. It was embarrassing and pathetic.... I think endlessly about what I would do differently if I had another chance.... I would have respected those women more. I would never have been with them in the first place. I would’ve kept faithful in my marriage. I would’ve said, 'I have a family. I will protect it.' I was a fool. I admit that...."

Says Harvey Weinstein, in a Hollywood Reporter interview, "Harvey Weinstein: The Rikers Interview/In his first major sit-down from behind bars, the disgraced mogul fumes about life at Rikers ('I’m dying here'), his wrecked legacy and his delusions about the future ('I will be proven innocent. That I promise you')."