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France to ditch Windows for Linux to reduce reliance on US tech

A little data center talk.

Nearly half of US data centers planned for 2026 canceled or delayed and it’s expected to get worse

AI companies and politicians love to tout all the jobs a data center brings, but they always fail to mention the contrast between the temporary construction-phase jobs and operational jobs.

During construction, the numbers are impressive — a large-scale data center can employ as many as 1,500 construction workers for up to three years, and a facility like the first Stargate data center in Abilene requires about 6,400 workers to build it.

Once operational, the workforce shrinks dramatically. It takes about 1,500 people to build a data center, but once it’s operational, the site employs fewer than 200 people. To put that in even starker terms, a typical 250,000-square-foot data center may have approximately 50 full-time workers — about half of which are contract workers.

The permanent jobs that do exist tend to fall into a few categories:

• Facilities/trades: electricians, HVAC technicians, pipefitters, and mechanical engineers who keep the power and cooling systems running
• IT operations: data center technicians who swap hardware, network engineers, and systems engineers
• Security and management: physical security staff, operations managers, compliance roles

Baby joeys are cute.

An orphaned baby kangaroo needs our help to survive. These little joeys are vulnerable and require constant care and love after losing their mothers.

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— Digital Brain (@yourdigitalbrain.bsky.social) April 12, 2026 at 9:10 AM

I’ll never understand Conservative Christians or the Religious Right. Trump has always mocked Christianity. The Christian support of him has made a mockery of Christ for well over a decade.

They didn’t complain when he started selling Bibles with his name on them, which include copies of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance, as well as Lee Greenwood’s only song, God Bless the USA.

It was a nothing burger for them when his pastor/spiritual advisor compared him to Jesus.

Nor did they care about his profane message posted on Easter, the most holy day on the Christian calendar, in which he condemns people to Hell.

But many of them get upset when he posts this image of himself as Jesus, even though he claims he’s a doctor in this graphic. Houston Chronicle – Texas leaders silent as Trump ‘Christ’ image spreads

No one was more perplexed about the person Dr. Trump was “tying to save” in the image than Jewish satirist Jon Stewart.

A concerned Jon Stewart spies a familiar face in Trump’s now-infamous “Jesus” meme…. pic.twitter.com/9SjFJElEvH

— LateNighter (@latenightercom) April 14, 2026

Buyers fret as the average cost of a new car nears $50K – Vehicle ownership has long been a big part of the American dream

New vehicles now sell for an average of nearly $50,000, up 30% in six years, and average monthly payments — based on 10% down and a 6-year note — recently hit $775. Looking for something on the cheap end? The share of vehicles listing for less than $30,000 is about 13% — down from 40% five years ago, per the car review site CarGurus.

To cope, buyers are spreading their payments out longer. Consumers choosing 7-year loans make up more than 12% of all sales, up from nearly 8% a year ago, according to auto buying resource J.D. Power. Such contracts wind up costing more in the long run because of interest payments.

Most of you really have no idea just how far the moon is from Earth.

Don’t forget the foam pad!

Jesse, Steve, Laddy, and Vlad….such an incredible feeling to welcome you aboard Integrity after a nearly 700,000 mile journey. Forever thankful for your service to our crew and the nation. pic.twitter.com/lJzNPkBIpq

— Reid Wiseman (@astro_reid) April 14, 2026

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LGBTQ+ Christians invited to speak at Baylor University to counter Turning Point USA event – A student-led event featuring queer religious leaders will offer an alternative to conservative programming at the Texas university.

Not a fake headline.

Zuckerberg builds AI version of himself to interact with Meta staff

If there’s one sporting event that annoys the living heck out of me, it’s The Masters. But I like this photo.

Hopefully Artemis II lands safely near San Diego today. They certainly took some amazing photos. They fought hard to make the Nikon D5 their camera of choice. They seem to hold up well to radiation, and here’s something the typical person wouldn’t think about: it also has to compensate for any shaking from the photographer. Not to mention, a major part of their training is to learn how to take photos, and this is the camera they’ve been training on. And yes, the Nikon D5 is already slotted for the moon mission in two years, even though it was discontinued in 2020.

Even cosmonauts use them on the ISS.

One of the more popular photos was this one of the Earth ever so gently blocking the sun.

What a lot of folks fail to see or appreciate is the aurora borealis, found at 12 o’clock to 1 o’clock.

How is Artemis II sending all the photos and data back to Earth? This is a first, and something under-reported. A laser. That’s a HUGE upgrade from the radio frequency (RF) systems of the Apollo era.

The median download internet speed in the U.S. is approximately 242–306 Mbps. Where are they beamed?

Ground stations in Las Cruces, New Mexico; Table Mountain, California; and Haleakala, Hawaii, receive these beams, chosen for clear skies despite challenges like clouds or spacecraft wobbles.

Here’s another article on the laser transmissions, if you’re interested. I guess that’s one reason it took so long to transfer the Death Star plans from Scarif to Yavin 4.

This dog in Ireland has no patience for his owner’s return.

The Utach Mammoth unveils new Zamboni design: ‘Zammoth’ – Team redesigns old ice resurfacing machine from 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics

Zambonis have come a long way from the very first one, the Model A made in 1949 from surplus Army parts. Before the Zamboni, hockey rinks deployed teams of workers who used hoses and squeegees to resurface the ice by hand.

I forgot that George Brett’s last at-bat was against the Rangers at ol’ Arlington Stadium.

George Brett last at bat in the big leagues.pic.twitter.com/sKtog8AVJd

— Baseball’s Greatest Moments (@BBGreatMoments) April 7, 2026

It was nice to see Pudge, in this third year, give Brett a sidehug. It would have been funny if then-manager, Kevin Kennedy, had stopped the game to put Nolan Ryan in for relief. But he would have been unable to, because a month prior in Seattle, Ryan tore a ligament, ending his career two starts earlier than planned.

Is this the sort of education one can expect from Southlake Carroll? Good at football, bad at science.

Former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy insists 1969 moon landing didn’t happen: ‘Genuine propaganda’

“There is a zero percent chance we went to the moon,” McElroy said. “Zero. Total, genuine propaganda.”

Trump team eliminates 400-mile border wall plan after Texans push back – Local sheriffs call for ‘technology-driven, and terrain-informed’ solutions to illegal crossings, which Big Bend residents argue is simply not an issue in their region because of its difficult geography

“I wish the president would be more informed as to what’s going on,” said Presidio County Sheriff Danny Dominguez about the work. “It’s a place where, if you cross the border, you got to at least walk three or four days… you don’t just walk across the river and expect to get picked up.”

‘Snoopy’, ‘Adolf’ and ‘Password’: The Hungarian Government Passwords Exposed Online

Baptism news from across the pond.

Pastor charged with manslaughter after man drowns during baptism ceremony

This happened on March 26 of this year. I admire the guy for shooting his shot. I just wish I could find a follow-up story. Anything, like, did he get to go backstage?

Just some church architecture I thought you’d appreciate.

Borgund Stave Church (Borgund stavkyrkje), located in Lærdal, Norway, is the best-preserved of Norway’s 28 remaining stave churches. Built around 1180–1200 AD, this iconic wooden, triple-nave structure features intricate carving, Viking-inspired dragon heads on the roof, and is a major tourist attraction operated as a museum.

The church of Borgund Stavkirke is one of the most beautiful in Norway 🇳🇴

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— ContempraInn 🌹 (@contemprainn.bsky.social) April 9, 2026 at 12:02 PM

I don’t understand the need for businesses, like my property management company, to access a $2.95 “e-Check” fee when there are options like the ACH, Bill Pay, Zelle, and Venmo. My guess, it’s just another way to make a little extra money. The only way I can avoid the fee is to write a check, drive from Grapevine to Southlake, and physically deliver it to their office during regular business hours.

Every now and then, I’ll pick up my copy of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, flip to a random page, and read for a little bit. This one line stood out, so I thought I’d share.

It can ruin your life only if it ruins your character. Otherwise it cannot harm you – inside or out.

Book 4, Verse 8

Artemis II

• What’s in a name?
  • Apollo and Artemis are divine twin Olympians, born to Zeus and Leto on the floating island of Delos, fleeing Hera’s wrath. Artemis is the virgin goddess of the hunt, wilderness, and moon, while Apollo is the god of music, prophecy, healing, and the sun. They often worked together, punishing those who disrespected their mother.
  • But get this, “Artemis was born first, immediately helping deliver her twin brother, Apollo.” With this in mind, perhaps NASA should have named the program in the Sixties after Artemis instead of Apollo.
    • So, how did the moon missions in the Sixties get named after Apollo?
      • The Apollo missions were named by NASA manager Abe Silverstein in early 1960 after the Greek god of sun, archery, and music. Silverstein selected the name while browsing a mythology book at home, believing the image of Apollo riding his chariot across the Sun was a fitting, grand metaphor for the ambitious space program. He also named the preceding Mercury program. Originally, the missions were going to be called Project Astronaut.
• I’m surprised that I haven’t run across anything calling this mission “woke” since it has such a diverse crew: a man of color, a woman, and a Canadian. That may be in part due to it starting in 2017, in the first year of Trump’s first administration.
  • I saw the Administrator of NASA, Jared Isaacman, being interviewed. Like all Trump Administration officials, he started off praising the leadership of Trump, even proclaiming how budget cuts to NASA would make the agency better. Here’s my prediction. Should this mission prove a success, and I think it will, be prepared for an announcement from the White House stating Trump’s name will be added to the Kennedy or Johnson Space Center. My prediction is that it will become the Trump-Kennedy Space Center. However, if I were an advisor, I would recommend not touching either but renaming Mission Control to Trump Mission Control. See, that’s how you stroke an ego.
    • Isaacman’s Wikipedia page states the co-founded Draken International, “a Florida-based defense aerospace company that operated one of the world’s largest fleets of privately owned fighter jets.” Honestly, I had no idea that fighter jets could be owned privately. I thought I saw something years ago stating that there was legislation to prevent any civilian from making or owning a fighter jet.
    • He broke the world record for circumnavigating the globe in a light jet. The previous world record was set at about 82 hours. He and his co-pilot did it in 61 hours, 51 minutes, and 15 seconds.
• Did you know that all 50 U.S. states contributed to the Artemis missions? That certainly brings a nice patriotic feeling, especially when it comes to our nation’s 250th birthday, but it’s not efficient, and it’s stuff like that that is why these things take so long and cost so much.

Christina Koch on Artemis 2 underestimates the Battery Ejection Spring pic.twitter.com/WAwQjTrahD

— non aesthetic things (@PicturesFoIder) April 4, 2026

Something hugely under-reported: Iraq trolling the U.S. with AI Lego videos.

Inside Iran’s meme factory – who is behind their viral campaign

From Lego Trump to anime-style battle scenes, Iran’s slick clips are being shared by millions. The ability to blend humour and propaganda using AI tech has surprised everyone, but Kevin L Schwartz and Olmo Gölz, experts in Iranian culture, argue that when you look at who is making it, nobody should be surprised

This is one of the latest aimed at Hegseth, even throwing in Epstein.

U2 surprised their fans with a beautiful little gift on Good Friday. They dropped a mini-album titled Easter Lily, offering songs of faith, hope, and love. Here’s a 54-page online magazine the band provided to accompany it. If you scroll down, you can view lyric videos for all the songs. If you are a fan of The Edge taking lead vocals, you’ll enjoy the first song.

Here’s a USA Today article about it.

Pure joy is getting to parent, like helping your son with his science fair project.

Nothing like firing the Army’s top chaplain during Holy Week, just the day before Good Friday. From Military.com.

Maj. Gen. William Green Jr., the Army’s chief of chaplains, has overseen religious support across the force and advised senior leaders on troop welfare and morale. A former enlisted soldier who later became an ordained minister, Green has served as a chaplain since the 1990s and deployed in support of operations in Iraq. He became the Army’s chief of chaplains in 2023 and was only recently promoted to major general.

From BaptistNews.com

Ousted Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George says U.S. soldiers deserve “courageous leaders of character” in outgoing email

Surely, this will earn him that Nobel Peace Prize he’s been craving. And yes, this is real.

And, so is this: Trump seeks $152 million to reopen Alcatraz as active prison

A reminder of when our country was served by presidents who deflected vanity and understood the bigger picture. My, how we have fallen.

Source (PDF) and source.

BoyGeeding keeps stealing my desk chair, so I ended up buying one on sale for myself. I was surprised it came with white cloth gloves for assembly.

This was a bit of a surprise. From an alum, here’s HSU news you can use.

Source

Care to guess how long residents of Washington, D.C. have had the right to vote in a presidential election?

Sixty-five years as of yesterday, when the 23rd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified on March 29, 1961.

While the amendment provides presidential voting rights, it did not grant D.C. voting representation in the U.S. House of Representatives or the Senate. However, due to the District of Columbia Delegate Act of 1970, D.C. has one non-voting delegate in the House. Since the 1964 election, Washington, D.C., has consistently held 3 electoral votes.

12 tons of KitKat bars stolen in chocolaty heist in Europe, Nestle says

A massive 12-ton shipment of Nestle’s crunch KitKat bars was stolen in a chocolaty heist that risks causing a shortage in stores right before Easter.

KitKat, owned by Swiss food giant Nestle, told AFP on Saturday that “a truck transporting 413,793 units of its new chocolate range has been stolen during transit in Europe.” The shipment disappeared last week while heading between production and distribution locations, the company said.

I found it interesting that the federal investigators I’m working with replied to an email at 3 AM.

Woman returns as doctor at hospital where she was born and worked as a janitor –
Shay Taylor-Allen will be one of Yale School of Medicine’s newest residents.

Texas House Speaker directs committee to study annexing New Mexico counties

In oil-rich West Texas, a town of 1,355 is building a $21M sports complex – The school district is leveraging its location in the heart of oil country to fund a massive athletics upgrade—before those tax dollars leave the region.