Tuesday Views: 6 January 2026

2–3 minutes

LOCAL: I mailed pet rocks to a client in a box in November, but the box never arrived. Update: I refunded the client. Update: Pet rocks were found. ~~I file a claim.~~ Furnace died in my house again, so I bought another space heater. Update: Furnace repaired. So far, I am in interesting times. Update: REALLY interesting. I did some painting, bought a canvas, rinse, repeat.

2015 looking very 2026

I woke up Saturday and thought it was Wednesday Thursday Friday bad, but it turns out things are also Monday Friday Saturday bad. On Sunday, nothing bad can happen, it can only good happen. Tuesday is not applicable. Trump, triggered by Maduro’s “Trumpesque” dance parody, apparently freaked out and ordered his capture. Madura and his SO are in a jail in the Bronx. This dog has caught the car. Nicolás Maduro’s Public Dancing After Trump’s Threats Helped Convince White House to Capture Venezuelan President, Report Claims.

Images of Maduro in court sketches, very surreal. Trump just pardoned a drug lord from one country, but captures another for using machine guns or something ridiculous. It’s banana republics all the way down.

HOUSEKEEPING: I updated my registration at SAM and SBA, rewrote my capability statement for 2026, will explore grants independently. Financing a camera, building a D-wing, still scheduled. Building a better camera would be way cooler.

DRONE: This is very bad globally. Welcome to Philip K Dick’s “Iron Prison”, the panopticon of enduring global telepresent surveillance.

I am going to get to fly this week, dodging rain clouds. Unseasonably warm all week, so the furnace problem is not really so dire. I can dissociate from the madness of asymmetric wealth burning the world to the ground. Everything is fine.

SCIENCE: I am noticing a lot of press for advances in tissue regeneration, in Alzheimer’s and dementia research. Speaking of Greenland sharks with eyes open for centuries and whatnot.

This aged [indecipherable]. The evolution of Venezuela’s drone program with Iran | Miami Herald. Yikes! Exclusive: CIA carried out drone strike on port facility on Venezuelan coast | CNN Politics Wow, it’s almost 2026! It can only good happen.

ART: I paint. I ask you to make art instead of war. Try it. I have been reading an old Dadaist manifesto “Everyman His Own Foosball” to try to get a handle on things. I would be reading vintage nonsense at a time like this.

It’s like the truth of the world is a frying pan with no handle. Wisdom (knowledge plus empathy) is basically the handle adapted to lift the pan from the fire. Or wisdom is, I daresay, a pair of tongs or a long, insulated spoon so you don’t need a handle anyways. Or a proboscis of a hearty species and whatnot. Or wisdom is going out to eat or, in the case of modern politics, stealing ham from the neighbor’s refrigerator at 2 pm stark naked on PCP.

I found out Oliver Sacks made stuff up, so I have decided to just move on without his inspiration, either. Chomsky on the Epstein list. Dang. It’s like that every day. All these goofy, worthless heroes hoisting on their own petards.

Eye Candy