The 28-year-old press secretary for President Donald Trump shared several stories with her 2.6 million Instagram followers on Sunday, after also facing ridicule on Saturday Night Live this weekend. Karoline kicked off her weekend updates by posting photos and videos from her Palm Beach getaway, revealing “the ocean is my happy place” alongside footage of her coastal drive. She then shared a snapshot of her meal at the Four Seasons Hotel in Palm Beach, where rooms can cost guests as much as a staggering $2,781 per night.

Maybe if she didn’t want her social media posts to be publicly analyzed, she should: not publicly post things unless she wants them analyzed; not have chosen a high-profile job in front of all the world’s media; or saved things she wants kept personal for a shared family text, an alt posting account, or locked to approved users.

Because Congress lets him.

Man, that 100°W longitude is just a killer, isn’t it?

Federal officials say immigration raids have begun in North Carolina.

It’s not just Maryland, it’s the entire PJM area.

Bulkhead seats can also be the seats directly in front of a bulkhead, which really suck because often your seat cannot recline while the person in front of you can. Not only do you lose footroom, you lose personal space.

A friend of mine’s cat does a less aggressive but similar thing. They now have a ritual every morning and every night, where she gets out a paper towel, the cat jumps into her lap, and she rubs/scrubs away at her ears for a few minutes. My assumption is that my friend’s cat has a mild allergy of some kind.

Assuming that it is an allergy: My personal philosophy on this sort of thing is that I’d rather prevent / minimize the allergen from reaching the cat, rather than letting the allergen reach the car and then treat the symptoms: allergic reactions cause inflammation, which can increase your risk of other health issues later on.

My personal suggestions, in the order I’d make them, due to the effort or side effects involved:

1. I’d try gently rubbing the inside of your cat’s ears once or twice a day, maybe with a tissue or paper towel. Hopefully this will help reduce her desire to scratch while you’re working on diagnosis.

2. Cats can be allergic to their litter, particularly the dust, clumping agents, or fragrances. Don’t switch to a corn-litter, as that’s a common-ish food allergy in cats, plus if you have one allergy, you’re likely to have others. There are litters marketed as hypoallergenic, but I’m not sure how truthful those claims are. You’re looking for one with no fragrances, no clumping agents (an older-style fragrance-free clay litter might work), and minimal dust. Note that some cats get annoyed at litter changes, so you may need to mix old and new litter in increasing percentages over like a week for her to accept the new litter. Once it’s full switched, give that a couple weeks and see what happens.

3. If the litter-change doesn’t work, try transitioning your cat (transition over a week or so to avoid stomach upset) to a hypoallergenic cat food. Give it a couple weeks and see if things are better. If it is, then it’s likely some kind of food allergy; you can look over the ingredients between the hypoallergenic food and her regular food, to try to determine what she’s allergic to so that you can switch her to a less expensive or more readily available food. [You’ll want to check wet food, dry food, and all treats.]

4. If it’s not a food allergy, it could be an environmental allergy (the litter is an environmental allergy, but it’s also the easiest thing to change). Does the problem get better and worse at different times of year? In that case, it might be something like a pollen allergy (indoor cars can also have pollen allergies). You can get the cat tested for those, not I’m not sure it’s worth it because I’m not sure what the allergist would recommend. My suggestion would be to vacuum and dust the house thoroughly, especially the areas where the cat spends much of her time to get rid of any allergens currently present. This does include things like cat trees, cat beds (wash it if possible), etc. Once that’s done, I’d put pillowcases or similar small pieces of cloth in her favorite nesting places, and wash those weekly using a fragrance-free laundry soap. I’d install HEPA filters on your HVAC system, and consider one of those room-purifying air circulator units if needed. Doing one thorough cleaning, putting down a washable barrier layer that gets washed regularly, and limiting pollens getting into the house should significantly reduce environmental exposure, particularly if she’s an indoor cat.

I agree that Benadryl is an option, but I’m leaning against it being your first option because it doesn’t work in all cats and, like I said, I prefer addressing the cause and not the symptom. But if it is an allergen and you can’t figure out the root cause, then Benadryl may be your best option. If you go the Benadryl route, check with your vet for dosing, frequency, safety and side effects (or they may have a recommendation for another allergy medication as well).

Good luck, and please let us know how you get on!

Tools to lend, sewing machines, kricut, 3d printers, museum passes, etc.

“The government does not announce that they have become fascist. They announce that anti-fascists are the enemy.”

tl;dr:

Shutdown and staff cuts are hindering US government response and information analysis. But flu cases in UK are 3x what they were last year, flu cases in Japan are 6x what they were last year, flu cases rising sharply in Canada.

“The annual flu shot doesn’t prevent people from getting infected with the flu. It’s mainly used to lessen the severity of the illness. […] This year’s vaccine is up to 40% effective in preventing hospitalization among adults.” Get vaccinated, try to avoid exposure.

He made a post on reddit like five years ago, doing a brain dump on various features and stuff.

Also putting his mattress and pillows into an allergen case.

USPS has something called a “Mail Imaging program”, where they photograph the outside of every piece of mail that goes through their system. They use it to process the mail, but law enforcement does request copies of all stored images related to people and addresses they’re investigating.

They also have the “Mail Covers program”, where law enforcement will proactively request USPS to monitor and forward information on all mail to and, as far as possible, from a given person or address. That information is limited to the outside of the envelope but, if they see something they deem suspicious, they can get a warrant to open the mail. I’ll also note that privacy guardrails on the program are notoriously lax: something like 20% of covers were approved without the necessary paperwork, and 15% weren’t adequately justified.

If you’re wondering what the big deal with getting data from the outside of the envelope is, you might be interested in “Finding Paul Revere”.

They’re just waiting for a better case before overturning it.

Duffy said that ATC resignations and retirements rose from about 4-per-day before the shutdown, to about 15-20 every day now. No it’s not going to get better quickly.

A) This is someone’s blog (it even says so in the URL). It’s been in existence for just over a year, and the very first page from it on The Way Back Machine is

Zendaya’s Powerful Quotes on Feminism & Self-Confidence - You know, I really look up to strong voices like Zendaya. Her words always push me to be brave and chase my dreams, no matter how old I am. With Zendaya 2024 quotes, Zendaya inspires us to stand up for what’s right and fight against unfairness. It’s amazing how Zendaya talks about the importance of women supporting each other. Through Zendaya’s feminist quotes, she shows us that being confident is key.

B) The “article” posted isn’t even news. Though it has a posted-date of today, the “article” itself states

The closure comes just days after Republicans pushed through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act […] Trump is expected to sign it into law on July 4.

C) I’m not going to bother searching for it, but I strongly suspect the content of this “article” was stolen from some other website and was posted to increase the click-rate - something that you’ve encouraged by posting the article here, where it doesn’t belong: it’s well over 4 months old so it isn’t “news”, it definitely doesn’t come from a timely source, and I suspect it’s “publishing” stolen content.

Weren’t we already doing this?

While I like the idea of challenges to get them used to computers, I’d also suggest balancing these with challenges that may help them outside the digital/technological world. Maybe challenge them to write a short story or a letter to their grandparents in cursive. Maybe hand-stitch a running hem, mentally add and subtract numbers, walk a quarter-mile every day. Later on, maybe have them plan out and cook a really simple meal, or do some kind of simple repair or put together a flat-pack table or something. Solder or glue something.

I dunno, it just feels like so many skills aren’t being taught to kids and they graduate with little knowledge of skills that make your life easier and less expensive - simple repairs, being able to research stuff, being unafraid to do things on your own. Don’t get me wrong, I applaud your kid’s drive and your desire to make them ready for the digitally-focused world they’ll live in, I just see too many kids graduating and needing a massive amount of hand-holding for even the simplest things.

Considering that Walmart is one of the largest corporations benefiting from deliberately underpaying their workers and telling them it’s the government’s job to feed them, I find that my field of fucks is barren.